[In the end, the four Burst Linkers who were carrying out PK were expelled from the Accelerated World.]
[You have my sincere thanks.]
[I made a lot of Burst Points too, so it was a net gain for me. More importantly, one of those guys said something that caught my attention.]
[You mean that mysterious legion.]
[Do you have any idea what it is?]
[As for legions, new ones are being born and disappearing all over Tokyo every day, so... I have heard rumors on BB Net a few times about a legion that specializes in PK. Though it was basically an urban legend.]
[Then there’s still no solid information.]
[Still, a recent patch limited each Burst Linker to only one chance to increase their child, so PKers who abuse the so-called child system probably won’t be able to run wild like they used to.]
[That’s a relief. Anyway, if something like this happens again, let me know. I’ll lend a hand then too.]
[Thank you.]
[Ah, come to think of it, you said you made a legion too. What was its name again?]
[The white legion, Oscillatory Universe.]
[Right, that was it. Quite the difficult name you picked. Well then, see you again, White Cosmos.]
[Yes, Swallow.]
*
After logging out of the chat, White Cosmos, a high-ranker in Brain Burst and a member of the Pure Colors, leaned back in her chair in the real world and let her body go limp.
"So the plan is half a success..."
Her languid voice carried a strange sensuality and mystery despite sounding like that of a young girl. Anyone who saw her now would never guess she was an elementary school student. In her eyes, fixed on the empty air, there was a brilliance of insight and intelligence that seemed to transcend her age.
Even she could not help but feel a headache when she thought about the person she had just been chatting with.
"A sharp sword is definitely necessary... but that one is too sharp..."
Her drawn-out tone held a trace of fatigue. And a little awe. That was how Cosmos felt about him. She recalled the day she first met the Burst Linker called Ultramarine Swallow. A duel that began with a sudden intrusion. And then the blue samurai avatar that appeared.
His swordsmanship was certainly graceful and powerful, but that was not what left the deepest impression on Cosmos. It was the heavy dignity he exuded simply by standing there. The moment she first saw him, her body would not stop trembling. Only later did she learn that it was a kind of information pressure, but that only raised more questions.
At the time, the Swallow swordsman’s level had clearly been 1, and the amount of time he had spent in the Accelerated World could not have been all that different from her own. So how had he possessed such dense information pressure? At first she thought the developer of Brain Burst might be pretending to be a player, but after everything she had seen of him since then, that did not seem to be the case.
In the end, Cosmos gave up on solving the mystery and changed her line of thought. No matter how monstrously strong a Burst Linker was, an individual was still an individual. A sharp sword would certainly help her plans, but if it was not hers, then in the end it would only become an obstacle. She could use him as long as she guided him well, but she might have to deal with him before long.
As she considered several plans for that, a notification appeared on her interface saying someone was contacting her. Cosmos gave a light wave, and the other party’s voice reached her ears.
"Chairwoman?"
The voice that addressed her as chairwoman was quiet and gentle, almost like that of a scholar or a teacher.
"Yes, Vice."
"I’m calling to report on the matters you ordered. Are you available to talk?"
"Yes. Go ahead."
"First, regarding recruitment. As you instructed, we succeeded in bringing Argon Array into the fold."
"Good. Her abilities will definitely be useful to our plan. Anything else?"
"We do have some promising people, but they’re a little too full of personality. I think you’ll need to step in personally."
"Understood. More importantly, did you find Luminary’s whereabouts?"
The urgency in Cosmos’s voice was unlike her.
"Unfortunately, we still haven’t fully confirmed the location. However, it still seems most likely to be hidden in one of the [Tokyo Five Great Underground Labyrinths]."
At those words, Cosmos’s eyes gleamed sharply.
"The other Seven Arcs can be left alone. But Luminary must be secured no matter what. Vice, make that your top priority."
"Understood. And lastly, about the PK players. The PK group that had been appearing around Akihabara recently seems to have been expelled from the Accelerated World. We’re still investigating the reason, but..."
"I know. The Swallow swordsman handled that personally, so you don’t need to worry about it."
"Oh? Is that so? As expected, he lives up to his name. They must have been fairly high-level Burst Linkers too."
"That level was still earned through PKing in the first place. In the end, they were nothing but riffraff."
Coincidentally, her thoughts matched those of a certain samurai exactly. From the beginning, Cosmos had never expected them to be able to hold the Swallow swordsman back.
"That’s rather sharp of you... Considering you were the one who taught them about PK and its methods, Chairwoman."
At Vice’s words, Cosmos did not answer and simply moved on to the next topic.
"Come to think of it, what’s happening with the PK groups?"
"Hmm, most of them are moving around in small parties, but there are some fairly large ones too. A brazen bunch that even call themselves a PK legion."
Cosmos asked,
"What’s the name?"
"They call themselves Supernova remnant."
Supernova remnant. The remains of a star formed by a supernova explosion. Even though it was a word she would never have any use for in daily life, the clever girl easily interpreted it.
"Supernova remnant?"
"They probably named themselves that to match the legions created by the Pure Colors. After all, all of them took their motifs from terms related to the cosmos, didn’t they?"
Indeed, not only her own legion but the legions of the other Pure Colors all contained terms related to the cosmos. Then Vice asked,
"But Chairwoman, why are you letting the PK players run loose? Of course, even if you had left them alone, they would have shown up on their own eventually. Still, the PKs expelled from the Accelerated World this time, and your actions in general, make it seem as though you’re deliberately cultivating them. I wouldn’t think your personality would leave those sorts of people around on purpose."
Of course, PKers like that ran counter to her own aesthetics. But they were useful. Cosmos answered,
"To put it simply, they’re bait."
"Bait?"
"We create an easy-to-understand evil in the Accelerated World. That way everyone’s hatred and attention gather there, and it becomes easier for us to move behind the scenes. Of course, there are a few other reasons as well, but that is the most important one."
"So it’s a kind of smoke screen. Hah, the way you put it really does make it sound like we’re the villains. In that case, are you the demon king, Chairwoman?"
"Vice."
"Yes?"
"If you fought the Swallow swordsman, could you win?"
"......Chairwoman, if you didn’t like my joke, I’m truly sorry."
"I’m asking seriously right now. Could you win?"
Vice fell silent for a moment, apparently weighing the gap in strength between the two.
"Hmm. If I think about his abilities back when he was really running wild... even if I had the best conditions, the best opening, and launched a surprise attack in peak condition, I’d probably lose ten times out of ten."
In the end, that meant he could not win.
"Then what if you used that thing?"
This time, Vice answered Cosmos’s question with confidence.
"Then I’d win for sure."
At that definite answer, Cosmos nodded and said,
"Focus on training for the time being, Vice. You may have to step in."
"Understood, Chairwoman. Then I’ll contact you at the next report."
When the call ended, Cosmos rose from her seat. In truth, asking the Swallow swordsman to deal with those PKers had only been an excuse. It had been a kind of test to gauge his true skill. If she could happen to learn something about his real-world identity or weakness in the process, that would have been best of all, but she had not expected it to be resolved so easily.
After hearing the full details of this operation, Cosmos became certain. That was not the kind of beast that could be tamed. If she tried to use him carelessly, she would be the one to get bitten. So she had to eliminate him when she still could.
Just as she was thinking that, a new guest arrived before her.
"Big sis! Big sis! Listen, I finally reached level 5!"
The guest was a cute little girl with ebony hair and skin as white as jade. Wanting praise from her older sister and parent, Cosmos, the girl hugged her tightly and acted spoiled with all her might.
Cosmos stroked her beloved little sister’s head and smiled with maternal gentleness. But even with that soft smile, a chilling light lingered in her eyes. Those eyes were not looking at the girl before her. They were fixed on something much farther away, and much deeper.
White Cosmos
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