An empty sky.
In the empty space, Drain was standing alone, looking down on the lower bounds. He was mow the only one in The World.
But there was no pleasure in his expression. Instead he frowned with unrelenting pain that spread through his whole body.
The Sophia Corp’s Urania had been a more formidable and difficult adversary than he initially assumed.
In order to defeat her, he had no choice but to use the energy of the black forest. He was forced to blow up his large fleet and the horde of rats which had taken a lot of time and effort to make with his own hands.
He would no longer be able to produce a large horde of rats since he could not take advantage of the black forest. Now, at most 100 rats could be produced. This was the original limit of the Schicksal PC Drain.
But he told himself that there was nothing wrong.
It would take time, but he could start accumulating black forest energy over again.
Besides, he already had enough rats to begin the "Exodus."
The loss would pay off. He could make up for it. It was an acceptable loss.
As he thought about that, Drain suddenly turned his eyes towards something hanging from his chest. An arm the color of rust. The carcass of Urania that had been completely cut off at the elbow.
It used to be completely golden, but now it had lost its shine and turned to a dull rusty color.
Drain pulled the arm off of him and threw it away.
The arm drifted away from Drain and fell outside of the bounds.
Without looking at it, Drain disappeared, leaving behind a transfer effect.
As soon as the glow effect disappeared, all that remained was Urania’s left forearm and a remarkable silence like death itself.
When being forcibly disconnected from The World, for an ordinary PC it’s only a matter of being disconnected.
However, circumstances are different for those who operate a Schicksal PC. It is a disconnect protocol that is performed in an irregular manner and a patient who did not correctly use the VR scanner, which is a medical treatment device, and will immediately pay the price.
Ryuuji, who was lying on the sofa in his office and who had logged in with the VR scanner, suddenly felt a jolt like a lightning bolt to his whole body and his conscious faded away.
Suddenly, something cold was being pressed against his cheek. It was the linoleum floor.
Ryuuji fell down beside the sofa with his arms and legs spread-eagle.
David put his hand on Ryuuji’s shoulder and trembled.
"Ryuuji, are you okay?" he asked.
"This is serious. Urania lost. And the rats… did you see the rats, Ryuuji? The rats all together…"
Ryuuji stood up, tried to speak and steadied himself by David’s hand. His feet were unsteady and he was about to vomit, but he held back. He needed to hurry. Would he make it in time?
He ran to a sink in the back of the office.
He made it in time. He hunched over the sink and vomited.
He experienced the illusion of being pulled forward while he spit up bitter bile. An aftershock occurred. The symptoms that should have dwindled in the past few days now resurfaced thanks to the forced disconnection. It was due to having a strain placed on him while not having fully recovered. Sweat dripped down his forehead.
Ryuuji waited for a while and was able to relax, so he turned on the faucet, took some water with both hands and drank it to wash the back of his throat. He washed his face and wiped it with a towel.
When he returned to the sofa, David was calmly checking things to confirm them as he tapped on the computer’s keyboard. He was trying to log in again with his goggles on.
David raised his head and spoke.
"It’s no good. I can’t enter The World."
"What?!"
I tried it with two people, but the result was the same.
According to the official page, CC is also investigating the cause, but the prospect of recovery was not good. There seemed to be something wrong with the network line connected to The World rather than The World itself.
Ryuuji and David looked at each other.
It was a desperate situation.
Just before the two were disconnected, on the ALGOS monitor they witnessed the rats disappear one after another, being sent further and further away from the town.
The cyberterrorist Yuri Seto’s plan had succeeded.
How many rats have now flowed outside of The World?
How many people were bathed in the light of death?
In half a day, in mere hours, the first victim would jump from somewhere high up. The number would spread and increase like a chain. It could no longer be stopped.
"It seems this, too, is probably his doing," David said with a stiff expression.
The only way to cancel the effects of the rats would be to remove Drain from The World. However, unless they could log in to The World, they would not be able to catch Drain, who had crawled into the digital world.
"He intentionally caused a server error and blocked the connection from the network line."
Ryuuji recalled the image of the swarms of rats making their own path as they ran, looking for food.
Drain became a form that besieges The World. It was for stalling for time. Until one of the rats did its job, he had entered The World to lock himself away and protect himself.
That’s not all. He locked himself in the The World to start making rats again. The more time he would spend, the more the rats would multiply.
And when CC Corp’s repair efforts are completed and operations are resumed, they will unleash the rats again. At the same time, this will cause a server error. This will create an infinite loop.
They were merely forestalling the inevitable. They had fallen into Drain’s trap.
"Ryuuji, this is bad," David said. He rarely showed a sense of impatience.
"What should we do? Is there any we can do? Victims will start appearing soon. We have to try something."
Ryuuji folded his arms.
He had to calm himself down. He had to keep himself calm.
Actions decided in frustration usually fail.
However, the more he wanted to be calm, the more Ryuuji felt as impatient like David.
He looked at the clock on the wall. It was close to 2:00PM. It would be evening in a few hours. The victims would probably start appearing around six o’clock.
In order to solve the current situation, he had to destroy Drain inside the network. he has to get into The World and take him down. But how to log in?
Just then, a cell phone ringtone sounded throughout the room.
David looked frustrated at the ringing.
Ryuuji’s coat was hanging on the back of a chair. The cell phone was ringing in one of its pockets.
Ryuuji and David looked at each other.
Ryuuji stood up and pulled out his mobile terminal. It was not the one received from David, but the one he used before that was ringing.
Only the word "Unknown" was displayed on the mobile terminal’s screen.
Unknown?
Ryuuji answered the call.
"Hello," he answered, but there was no reply.
Someone was talking in the background. His mouth was away from the handset and he seemed to be talking to a person next to him.
There was something familiar about the voice. It was Tokio Kuryuu’s voice.
Ryuuji listened closely.
"…Yeah, I heard the analog sticks are good. …But, I thought he probably said they were adequate. Just to be sure, I should check once more. Yeah. That’s right. I’ll ask which is better. Wait a second, hey, wait… that’s not a pressure point. Don’t poke me… huh? Jeez. What are you doing? Ahahahaha…"
He heard a laugh that was very out of place.
He waited for a while, but Tokio did not notice it, so Ryuuji cleared his throat.
"Tokio? What’s wrong?"
"Oh, Mr. Sogabe. Hello."
Tokio hurried back to the phone.
"I am coming to Hakone hot spring now. So I’d like to ask you again about souvenirs."
Hot spring? Now that he thought of it, Ryuuji recalled that he had to do something like that.
Ryuuji remembered Tokio coming to the office and talking with him. When was that? About two or three weeks ago. It was around the time when there was no contact with Yuri Seto. It seemed so long ago now.
Ryuuji realized that he had regained his composure.
It seemed that he had relaxed while listening to Tokio’s voice.
"Are you working right now? Sorry. Well then, I’ll leave you be. Sorry to bother you."
Tokio was about to hang up the phone.
It seemed he felt that Ryuuji’s situation was different from usual.
At that moment, something took shape in Ryuuji’s head. He could not understand its identity at first.
"Wait. Hold on a second, Tokio."
"Yes?"
"Are you using a phone card right now?"
"Yes. I got a hold of one. It’s the first phone card I’ve ever had."
"A phone card, in other words…"
Something took shape in Ryuuji’s mind.
"You’re calling from a public phone, aren’t you?"
"Yes, that’s right," Tokio said hesitantly.
"Oh, is that bad? I figured I’d showed off with my cool card, so I used it and bothered you. Sorry."
"That’s not a problem. No, that’s not it at all. It’s the other way around. I think your timing was great," Ryuuji said earnestly.
"Huh?"
"Any souvenir is fine. I will be grateful to receive anything. Is it a high-end hot spring? Please enjoy yourself.. Have a nice time at the hot spring. Bye now."
He said things matter-of-factly and hung up.
He stood up, took the jacket he had hooked on a partition screen and put his arms into the sleeves.
"David, let’s go."
"Where to?"
"Nishiarai in Adachi City. To a data machine research museum."
Ryuuji went outside with a VR scanner. A light rain started to fall.
"We’ll arrive in an hour. We’ll get there before the flash effect gets out."
"How will we get there?"
David followed behind Ryuuji.
"I will borrow the unit connection machine’s equipment."
"A unit… connection machine?"
The two of them got into Ryuuji’s car.
"In Japan, the old telephone lines are still active," Ryuuji explained.
"Yuri Seto is using the rats to do something to the network line, blocking entrance to The World. However, if we’re at a public phone, we may get into the The World. We could get into the telephone system through the old telephone line and log in using a specific signal from that location. A good old-fashioned hacker’s trick," said Ryuuji who then turned the ignition key.
"Seto has been in an American prison for a long time. I am not sure about the communication situation in Japan. I might be able to apply a blind spot to his confinement."
Taichiro Sugai accepted Ryuuji’s sudden request and allowed them to borrow the equipment.
With the box containing the unit connection machine, Ryuuji and David hurried to the station.
They soon found a telephone booth.
Ryuuji opened the door and exposed the dusty booth to the wind and rain and he went into the narrow glass-enclosed box.
He pulled out the unit connection machine, connected the power cable and connected it to the outlet of the modular jack on the phone’s receiver. He specified the type of line and tried pressing the data communication button.
It seemed it was able to start without any problems.
David opened the door of the phone booth and thrust his head in, looking down at Ryuuji who was sitting on the floor.
"I talked with the station and they blocked entry from here."
"That’s very helpful," Ryuuji said, expressing his gratitude with the VR scanner in hand.
"Is there anything else I can do for you?"
Ryuuji answered in a doleful voice.
"Will you stand by me and hold my hand?"
David snorted, closed the door halfway then stuck his head in the booth again.
"I’ll pray for good luck."
"Thank you," Ryuuji replied.
David closed the door fully.
Ryuuji took a deep breath and put the VR scanner on his face.
Relax, Ryuuji thought to himself. There should be no mistakes from here on. Only one chance at this. I must ensure that this bullet hits Drain.
Before the rats devour the brains of the victims. Before suicides by jumping occur.
The device’s physical condition was very bad. He couldn’t say this was going smoothly.
But people always have to go through the eye of the storm.
Now, it was time for a "trial."
Hidden Forbidden Holy Ground.
The oldest Lost Ground, Hulle Granz Cathedral.
It is an isolated island jutting out from a lake, and a stone building rises from it with the sunset behind.
Drain was looking at the setting sun. An inexpressible sentiment came to his mind, but he quickly shook it off.
It was a small sentiment.
The location of the problem was here.
There ought to be "light" here, Drain thought.
It must be here that the former president of Cyber Connect Japan is said to have worked. Drain had to reach that place. Then, for the first time his “trial” would lead to a true completion.
While he indulged in this thought, something wriggled at the edge of his sight.
It was a rat.
Drain stopped moving.
His rats must already have everything in place where it should be. There were no rats wandering around aimlessly. Because he did not have more room for something to be under his control.
He stretched out his right hand and grasped the rat.
Did it carelessly forget its instruction?
Drain’s eyes opened wide.
It was not one of his rats.
It was very similar. Perhaps it was originally what he had invented.
But now it was being handled by someone else and it was moving by a different program.
He noticed that the rat kept transmitting some kind of data to the outside and Drain quickly came to a realization.
The rat made a squeal and vanished.
Someone had sent it in to find his whereabouts.
Just then something happened.
A noise sounded out in the cathedral.
Drain did not hesitate.
He ran down the path to the cathedral, pushed the double doors open and entered.
The inside was quiet. There was no one in the corridor. There couldn’t be. He was supposed to be alone in The World right now.
But, at that moment, Drain stiffened at the sight of something that could not be.
Something that ought not to be there. Something that should not exist. Something that had been lost since The World R:2.
The statue of the goddess Aurora.
An strange groan escaped from Drain’s mouth.
No. This was not the goddess statue. This was not a goddess statue at all.
The face was overlooking the visitor with an expression of compassion.
A face that Drain could never forget.
A face that he should never come across since he was separated from it by death at an early age.
A momentary rage spread through Drain’s entire body.
It is because he realized who did it.
At that moment, in this place, in this situation, there was only one person who would possibly try to imitate such a thing.
"Flugel!"
As he shouted this, a shot accompanied by a tremendous pressure hit Drain’s left temple.
Brieler Roessel’s bullets took away any thoughts that might have been going through his mind at that time.
Flugel. who was lurking on the left side of the front doors of the Hulle Granz Cathedral, shot bullets at Drain’s head from a distance of two meters.
He took a hit and Drain’s long hair danced about.
Just as the doors got caught by a gust of wind, Drain fell to the right. He thought that the purple fabric was fluttering away and that it collapsed quietly. Rather, he fell down to the floor between the wooden pews and he stopped moving.
Suddenly frost began to fall on Drain’s PC body and began to cover him with a thin layer of ice.
Brieler Roessel’s freezing effect was activated.
As Drain’s data was freezing, Flugel listened to the crisp sound of ice and put away his gun.
Flugel’s whole body was stiff and tense.
He finally succeeded in firing off a bullet. It sealed away the devil Drain.
The power of the rats should be nullified by this. It had not been more than 30 minutes since Flugel logged in. He was able to settle things before victims started appearing. He managed to make it in time.
He took a big deep breath and looked down at Drain.
He could not see Drain’s face which was hidden by his long hair and the pews.
Then Flugel saw the goddess statue..
He had shot a Chim Chim tree located in the area with Breiler Roessel, modified its data and brought it to the cathedral.
Based on information about Yuri Seto that he had obtained from Taichiro Sugai, he got a picture of Seto’s mother who had died when Seto was a child. He reproduced her appearance on the fake statue in order to make Seto drop his guard.
It seemed to be a callous move, but he could not keep taking the current situation too lightly.
Flugel remembered that David was waiting for his report back in the real world. David would likely be distracted by the outcome of the surprise attack.
He thought he’d report that he succeeded peacefully.
Flugel tried to turn on the whisper mode switch connected to his mobile terminal, but he could not.
His left hand was still stiff. He was still tense. He smiled bitterly and tried to shake the tension out of his hand.
Just then, the Spear of Wotan protruded from behind him, passed through the right side of his lower abdomen and skewered his right wrist which held Brieler Roessel.