Ankh / Whirlwind strike 

[Nothing is everlasting]
Abyss opens its jaws
Craving you it pursues with no end
Change is the world's desire

An illogical labyrinth of perception
[Legends and paradox]
The boundary melts, the stars creak
[No one knows the vast depths of space]
Someday I’ll understand the significance of incompleteness as completeness and abnormality as normality

Is this pain too much for me

Time flows, comes unstuck, and decays
Outside the pre-established harmony
Together with these wings that are nothing more than dust
Aiming beyond, fangs carving
[Seeking truth in the void]
Tearing through spacetime
Breathless growing story
Layering imperfections

Factors breaking in the chain
Quantum errors fill the brain
Equations vanish in strain
Algorithms breach domain
Reason bends to nothingness
In paradox I still remain
Seeking order in anomalies

Unstable Laplace prediction code
[Singularity resonates]
Vibrations guide consciousness
[Dimensions fall deep in mind]
Uncovering the meaning of the question, the finite becoming infinite as well as coincidence and the inevitable

Where is the life intended

Shadows blur, blend, melt
The abyss of the Gaussian plane
Egotistically betting on my own existence without a form
Firing, controlling, piercing, in an instant
[Drowning deep in the noise]
Penetrating the singularity
Nameless falling glory
Layering imperfections endlessly

No reason to hesitate
[Fight until you turn to dust]
Time bursts open, spills, and scatters
The criticality of the azure principle
The freezing logic, the scorched constraints
Fluctuating, revolving, warped causality
[One day return to that “blue”]
Break through infinity
Light flies away…
[Let the fire]

Translated by DEADRKGK

TRANSLATOR'S NOTES

Technoplanet stated this song’s namesake is the Deep Blue chess computer by IBM. It was the first computer to ever win a chess match against a human player, and won against the then reigning human champion Garry Kasparov. Deep Blue’s victory set a precedent for Artificial Intelligence, and has inspired countless books, films…and this song! [wiki] [tweet 1] [tweet 2]

“Incompleteness as completeness” could be a reference to Camellia’s song “Completeness Under Incompleteness” from SOUND VOLTEX III GRAVITY WARS. [wiki] It’s probably just a coincidence, but it’s cool, right?

“Pre-established harmony” is a reference to Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz's philosophical theory “harmonie préétablie.” This theory is about causation under which every "substance" affects only itself, but all the substances (both bodies and minds) in the world nevertheless seem to causally interact with each other because they have been programmed by God in advance to "harmonize" with each other. [wiki]

“Laplace prediction code” is a reference to “Laplace's demon,” a notable published articulation of metaphysical causal determinism by Pierre-Simon Laplace in 1814. According to determinism, if someone (the demon) knows the precise location and momentum of every particle in the universe, their past and future values for any given time are entailed; they can be calculated from the laws of classical mechanics. [wiki]

“Code” is likely an English-Japanese loanword that’s supposed to convey “law” or “theory”---but since the original line is in English, I decided to preserve it.

“Gaussian plane” is a translation & localization from “虚数” (kyosū, lit. “imaginary number”). This is used in anime and manga to mean “alternate dimension.” The literal meaning of the term ties to imaginary numbers in mathematics and complex planes, also known as Argand planes or Gauss planes. [wiki]

“Singularity” in the line “Penetrating the singularity” is likely a reference to gravitational singularity, given the other science and space related lyrics. [wiki]

“Criticality” is a term in nuclear physics, meaning the state in which a nuclear chain reaction is self-sustaining but not growing. [wiki]

As for “azure principle” (蒼き理), I was unable to find anything matching this term.

Slavery/trafficking, violence and body horror, suicide

In this world, power is everything.

Ankh learned that right after he turned five. He was once picked up by a community that roamed the desert with their livestock, and lived there. In his daily life, there was an ever-present threat of sandstorms accompanied by lightning, or monstrous creatures such as sandworms that could swallow humans or even large carnivorous animals whole. In the face of such phenomena, humans were simply insignificant.

However, they had a weapon called "knowledge." That knowledge was passed down among them in communities, and continually refined. In so doing, they could act as a single organism. Unanimously, everyone said:

"Human lives are fragile and short. But a community will never meet its end."

They believed that firmly, until they met an existence even more powerful...

"Boss! These guys are carryin' a lotta food!"

"Take it all! Every last scrap!"

The end always came abruptly. The cue was trivial. In order to avoid a sudden sandstorm, the leader turned their route into a mountainous region, where they were attacked by a group of Scavengers who made their base there. All of their accumulated knowledge was powerless before a group of outlaws. They tried desperately to put up resistance, but their strongest who led the charge were killed in a trap at the very start, forcing them to go on the defensive. By the time the one-sided massacre was over, the only survivors were powerless children and elderly. The weak had no choice. They would be put to hard labor for the Scavengers or sold off to a caravan.

"...Grandpa...Grandma..."

While his comrades were subjected to merciless violence, Ankh had stayed hidden behind the livestock, waiting for a chance to strike back.

"G-Get ready, and stab."

The bone knife he gripped in both hands was small and shoddy. Still, in order to retaliate, Ankh repeated those same words like an incantation, and waited for the right—

"Heh heh, found you."

He suddenly heard a man's voice above his head. That was all it took to shake Ankh's composure.

"—Ahhh!"

"You'll sell for a good price."

"D-Don't come any closer!"

Ankh resisted with a trembling voice as the half-naked man reached for him. His body wouldn't move right from the tension and fear. Still, he raised the knife like he was taught—and charged straight forward. The man swatted the knife away with one hand and effortlessly lifted Ankh with the other.

He's gonna kill me!

He scrunched up his face at the suffocating stench of blood when someone's voice rang out ahead.

"Sandstorm! It's coming!"

Fortunately or unfortunately, the sandstorm had changed course and was headed their way.

"Let's bail outta here!"

At the words of the man who seemed to be their leader, the Scavengers who had pillaged everything scattered like ants. Ankh was tossed away, and all he could do was watch. Before he knew it, the screams and roars he should have been hearing had gone silent.

"E-Everyone..."

Ankh stared at the scene beyond the livestock. It was hell. The gruesome spectacle of the Scavengers' "leftovers" stretched as far as the eye could see.

"No... Noooooo!"

He instinctively leapt out to check for any survivors. But no matter how hard he searched, not a single one was breathing.

"Gramps, wake up! Wake up!"

The old man who taught him to hunt animals—

"Grandma, get up!"

—and the old woman who taught him how to cook and store meat were now silent lumps of flesh. Even so, Ankh pulled their cold corpses to keep them away from the sandstorm, even just a little bit. Meanwhile, his comrades were getting sucked into the sandstorm.

"Nooooooooo! Don't take them all away!"

But Ankh's screams echoed in vain.

Whoooshhh.

"Whoa—"

Ankh disappeared into the sandstorm as it picked up speed. His sense of up and down vanished instantly. He couldn't even keep his eyes open anymore. Just as he wondered if this was how he would die, a voice welled up in his heart, in defiance.

No!

That's right. He couldn't die in a place like this. The voice surged once again.

Hate!

The Scavengers who killed his family. The sandstorm that swept away everything. The irrational world that affirmed them.

I reject it! All of it!

That inner voice gave Ankh the emotion of anger. The anger roiling at the pit of his stomach spurred on Ankh once more after he had given up on life. Ankh's eyes snapped open, and he saw it—something writhing at the heart of the sandstorm.

That's...Death. The god of death.

The silhouette of Death gradually became clearer, and it was about to show itself before him.

Like hell I'll die!

Ankh unconsciously stretched out his arm toward that thing and squeezed his fist as if to crush it.

"Diiiiiie!"

As if his desperate scream reached it, that thing began to twist and distort—and dispersed. Immediately after, the violently whirling sandstorm faded in response.

"I...did it..."

Feeling like he had resisted the world, if only a little, Ankh chuckled. Then, glaring bitterly at the vast blue sky that filled his vision, he lost consciousness.

"...Ugh..."

When Ankh next regained consciousness, he was in the desert. Somehow, he had escaped death when the wind knocked him onto a tall sand dune.

"Where...am I...?"

How long had he been out for? No matter how hard he thought, it was impossible to guess.

"This is a waste of time."

Ankh stopped using his head on meaningless things and poured all of his nerves into surviving. All alone and abandoned without food, an ordinary person would have chosen death. But Ankh was different. All the knowledge his community accumulated over generations still lived on in him.

Swsh, swsh.

He heard a faint sound and spotted a sand lizard passing in front of him. He slowly aimed his arm and focused his power. The next moment, the sand lizard distorted with a pop.

"Hah, haha..."

Ankh held the unmoving lizard in his mouth and bit off as much as he could. As the blood dribbled from his mouth, Ankh vowed, "I'm gonna live. Live, and when I meet those guys—"

—he'd kill them.

An unquenchable flame of anger burned in his heart. Ankh stepped forth toward the endless, vast horizon.

Nearly ten years had passed since that tragedy. Ankh had kept on living just to take revenge on the Scavengers who took away his family, and he was finally trying to seize his opportunity.

"Damn! These guys are persistent!"

Several sand rats with human riders dashed through the undulating sand dunes of Wasteland. At the front was a man in a tattered white cape that looked to be what caravan merchants wore. He turned to look behind him.

"Eeek!"

There was a group of men armed with knives and bows, close enough to be seen. Each of them was dressed in their own style with no sense of consistency. They were dressed like true lawless Scavengers.

"If they catch me, it's over...! I gotta get away—Ah!?"

Just then, the sand dune suddenly collapsed under him. The sand rat lost its balance and they tumbled down onto the sand together.

"...Bweh! W-What was that, all of a sudden!?"

"Sheesh, wasting your time running."

"...!"

He heard a voice behind him and hurriedly turned around. There stood a brown-skinned young man with a hand on his chin and a stare sizing him up.

"Wha—you're just a kid!"

He was probably about fourteen or fifteen. But the murderous intent he felt from the boy was not so childlike. Just what kind of hell had he been through?

"What's it to you? What, you thought you could tame a little kid?"

The boy drew closer, brandishing the knife in his hand.

"G-Get away from me!"

Seeing the knife, the man tried to keep his distance, backing away with his bottom to the ground.

"If, if it's food you want, you can have all you like! If you want, I can show you to my hideout! J-Just spare my life!"

"It's too bad."

"Huh? S-Sure is, huh!"

"Too bad that you won't be going back to your comrades."

"...Huh?"

He readied the knife and dashed toward the man.

"You massacred my family! Now you diiiiiie!"

"Eeeeee—!?"

The man put up his right arm to stop the boy's act of violence when—

—Whoosh!

At that moment, something shot rapidly from the man's mechanical arm—a harpoon-like weapon with a barbed tip. That deadly weapon shot at the base of the boy's throat—and plunged in deep.

"Guh...!?"

"Bwahaha! What a pushover! I gotcha good~!"

His pleading for his life had been an act. Assured of his victory, he raised one arm and swayed his hips rhythmically.

"I am the one they call Boogie Lance!"

Whistling, Boogie Lance operated the winch built into his mechanical arm.

Screee...

Boogie Lance loved to dance along to the vibrations of the winch as it pulled in his prey. The tempo changed subtly depending on the size of the prey, and his favorite was when he brought down human-sized prey.

"Oh, yeah, this is it. That pulse, like a heartbeat, that's what gets me excited!"

He began to shake his hips to the rhythm of his own pounding heart, but there was something different about the usually comfortable tempo.

"...Hm?"

Feeling something was off, Boogie Lance stumbled forward.

"Bweh!?

"Idiot. You're not even gonna check if your prey is dead or alive?"

"Wha—what...?"

He looked up to see the boy, cool and composed as if nothing had happened. The boy looked down at him with a daring smile, no sign of the harpoon stuck into him. It was unbelievable—he felt it with his hands. The smile vanished from Boogie Lance's face as he looked at the boy's neck. Like he had been waiting for it, the boy lifted the hands pressed against his throat.

"Huh... Ah!?"

The harpoon that should have been there had been crushed into a crude lump of iron.

"M-My partner, who pierces the skin of adult sandworms... What's going on!?"

"Who cares? You're about to die."

The boy tugged forcefully on the wire extending from the iron lump, dragging Boogie Lance to his feet in the blink of an eye.

"Can't believe the Scavenger boss I've been searching for all this time would be such a coward."

"Ah... What...are you talking about?"

"Oh, just the leader of some guys who were too scared of a sandstorm to kill me. Nothing special."

"Oh, ohhhhhh, I remember! You're from back then!" Boogie Lance said, but he hadn't the faintest clue. He just wanted to buy time to find a way to survive. Whether or not he knew that, the boy touched Boogie Lance's neck with his fingers.

"W-Wait—Oh, oh, I know! I've got a big transaction coming up! There's this amazing thing called a 'mobile city' you don't see often around here, where—"

"Enough yapping. You're pissing me off."

"—augh!?"

Just then, Boogie Lance writhed as if he were suffocating. His fingers were only touching his neck, but he felt a strong force twisting it.

"Ngh...gak...uh..."

Then, after a number of groans, Boogie Lance was finally released from his suffering.

"—Ga-hah, hah... Hee, hee hee, bwahahahaha!"

"...What's so funny?" the boy asked.

"I'm just so happy that you're just like me! One day you're gonna be—"

"See ya, 'Booby' Lance."

Those were the last words Boogie Lance ever heard.

"..."

Ankh just stared at his palms, as if checking whether the sensation of killing Boogie Lance was real. Then, his comrades gathered around him.

"What's wrong? You're staring."

"What?"

"D-Don't glare at me like that... This is the guy you've been chasing all this time, right, Ankh? I know you went to all the trouble to kill him, but how's this gonna help Rad rest in peace?"

"Something happened to Rad?"

"This guy's friends ambushed him. We managed to turn it around and beat them, but Rad..."

Rad was weak. That was all. No one else in Ankh's community had fighting strength like him. They were a group of former orphans and Scavengers.

"...I see," Ankh muttered, and buried Rad with his comrades.

As they headed back for their hideout on sand rats, Ankh thought, I thought I'd feel more relieved, but it hasn't cleared my mood much at all..

Once they finished burying Rad, Ankh and the others returned to their hideout built in the cave. His comrades, all worn out from fighting with Boogie Lance's gang, fell fast asleep, but Ankh didn't feel like sleeping yet. He left the cave and sat down on a rock he had carved with his power. At some point, getting lost in thought here had become part of his daily routine.

He gazed up at the sky and idly muttered, "What am I supposed to do now?"

Stealing food, taking lives. He polished his skills in battle. He gathered comrades in similar circumstances. Having devoted so much time to his vengeance, when he thought back on all his actions, Ankh was starting to think he was the "same," like Boogie Lance said.

"Shit, it's all his fault."

If he had dispatched of him quickly without exchanging words, he wouldn't have had to deal with these feelings.

"I'm not like you Scavengers."

He repeated those words over and over, as if casting a spell on himself. After a while of that, Ankh suddenly recalled what Boogie Lance had blurted out.

"A mobile city? I think he said something like that."

As the name implied, it was probably a city that moved.

"I only ever heard 'city' in stories Gramps told me to put me to sleep."

But Boogie Lance spoke like he had really seen it.

"That 'transaction' he mentioned is bothering me. Well, better go see."

With a new objective, Ankh decided to set off alone for the mobile city the next day.

After several days of searching, Ankh finally caught sight of something that seemed to be it. Looking at it from a distance he thought it was just a mountain at first. But as its vague outline took shape, he realized that it was a giant structure. It was armored with metallic walls, with gigantic wheels ten times his own height in length and width. The way it shook the earth as it moved, it would be more fitting to call it a monster of steel. With such a large frame, it probably not only could rival adult sandworms, but put them down with ease. To prove that point, Ankh didn't see a single sandworm attack on his way to the mobile city.

"Awesome... No, wait a sec!"

Recalling his original goal, he approached the slowly-moving city. He hid himself under a tattered cloth the same color as the sand, and looked for a spot to jump on.

"...Bet I can go there."

Ankh spotted a long ladder extending from the center of the wheels. It was likely used when examining them. The ladder seemed to be constructed so that it could move up and down, and it was the only one of several that was still hanging down.

"Okay."

He made up his mind, patted the sand rat's hind, and ordered it to approach the wheel. Then, just after getting as close as possible, he leapt onto the ladder.

"Listen, I need you to follow this thing! Got it!?"

"Pi!"

Ankh gave instructions to the sand rat, swiftly scaled the ladder, and tried to sneak into the mobile city.

He found a passage into the mobile city in the center of the wheel and proceeded cautiously so no one would spot him. So far, he hadn't sensed anyone around. This place was likely the city's lowest layer. He tentatively tried to open a nearby room, but it was locked shut.

After climbing a few levels, he finally saw signs of other people. Looking over the wall, he could see men dressed in rags with dark red stains. They gripped harpoons in their hands like the one Boogie Lance used.

"I thought they'd be better dressed here than the caravan guys, but the people who live here aren't much different from us, huh?"

Barring extraordinary circumstances, these were opponents Ankh could handle alone. But since he didn't know their abilities, he couldn't be seen here. So Ankh changed course to a passage leading to the mobile city's outer wall that he had seen on the way over.

"...Tch."

He climbed up the outer wall, feeling a wind chill on his skin that was unthinkably cold for Wasteland. After a while, he laid eyes on a wide open hole. It was probably a window of some kind. The moment Ankh thought he could get inside there—

"—pull one over on me, of all people!"

"!?"

He suddenly heard a woman shouting from inside the hole. He held his breath and observed. Soon, he couldn't hear her voice anymore, and silence returned.

"...Better be careful."

Still paying close attention to the hole, he steadily climbed his way up. Then, after checking that there was no sign of anyone inside, Ankh entered the room.

"Whew... Made it in somehow."

Ankh was about to search the surroundings for clues when—

—Clink.

"Whoa!?"

He let out an involuntary yelp at the high-pitched noise. He drew his knife instantly and looked in the direction of the sound, still keeping his focus beyond the door.

"Who're you?"

"Nn...uh... Ah..."

There was a girl in chains with a collar around her neck.

The girl was shaking in the corner of the room, but Ankh didn't relax his guard yet, cautiously closing in with the knife in his hand. She seemed to be trying to say something, but he couldn't really understand her, maybe because she was paralyzed with fear.

"Mmm, ah!"

"Huh? The hell're you trying to say?"

As he got closer, Ankh took another look at her, and somehow realized who she was.

So this is what that 'transaction' meant.

It wasn't clear if she was connected to Boogie Lance's transaction, but from the countless scars on her body, it was easy to imagine how horribly she had been treated.

Power controls this world. The path the powerless follow is decided for them.

The girl was a tool to fulfill the desires of the powerful.

"...Hm?"

Ankh suddenly noticed that the girl was pointing desperately at her neck.

"Nn, nnn!"

"You can't talk, can you?"

The girl nodded.

"What are you even doing in a place like—"

He started to say something, but the words caught in his throat.

Can she...not see?

Looking closer, her gaze went behind him.

"Shit, that's messed up."

If she had been treated that badly, she probably wouldn't be hostile to him. Ankh put the knife in his pocket and walked away to find information on the city.

"Uh, uhhh!"

"Hey."

Whenever he got further away, the girl raised her voice.

"I've got business here. If you make a racket, I'll have to kill you. Got that?"

"Mmm." The girl shook her head.

"Huh? You wanna die that badly?"

"Mmm."

"Sheesh, which is it...?"

She couldn't communicate in words, and she couldn't watch his responses with her eyes. Ankh thought she was just a weakling when he first saw her, but she apparently had a stubborn side.

"Oh, is it that you wanna escape?"

"Mm, mm-hm!"

The moment he understood what she was trying to say, the girl's eyes filled with tears.

"Huh? Whoa, what're you crying for...?"

Ankh, who lived his days bringing down lawless Scavengers, had never dealt with this before. But seeing how the girl could only cry made him recall his powerless old self, and they seemed to overlap...

Ankh let out a long sigh and said. "Fine."

He slowly approached her and reached a hand out to her collar.

"Break."

The next moment, the collar broke apart with a creaking sound. With nothing supporting them, the chains fell to the floor, startling the girl. She stared in his direction with her mouth agape like she still didn't understand what happened.

"I destroyed your bindings. Let's go."

"...?"

With that, he lifted her up in his arms.

"——!?"

"You're lighter than I thought. This'll be fine."

"Nn, ahh!"

"W-Whoa, don't struggle! Are you hurt somewhere? Sorry, just bear with me."

Ankh changed his posture to carry her on his back and faced the window he had just come through.

"I'm gonna take you outta here with me. If you still wanna live, whatever you do, don't let go, you got it?"

The girl nodded slightly and tightened her arms around his neck.

"All right, let's go!"

He had completely deviated from his original goal, but Ankh didn't feel a shred of regret.

Maybe this isn't so bad.

It was the first time he had used his power for someone other than himself.

"What is the meaning of this!?"

Helhenir, the woman who ruled the mobile city, was outraged when she saw the room completely empty.

"Just when I thought Boogie Lance broke our deal, now... What's this?"

Unable to complete her transaction with Boogie Lance's gang or take it out on the girl's body, Helhenir was about to vent her anger onto her subordinates, when she spotted the collar lying in the corner of the room. She picked it up to observe.

"What happened?"

The collar was mangled, like something had twisted it apart.

"I don't know how an iron collar could be destroyed, but—"

Helhenir's gaze shifted from the collar to the window. Someone had left footprints there.

"Locate the intruder."

"Yes!"

"But leave them alive, will you? I'll be the one to kill them!"

Helhenir crushed the collar in her grip and angrily smacked the wall with her steel arm. Even her subordinates, who usually sided with those who tormented the weak, did not want to incur her wrath. They shouted as if they might burst into tears, then hurried out of the room.

Silence fell inside. Only Helhenir remained, hugging the chains that had bound the girl tight as if to check for her warmth.

"Whoever did this, don't think you'll get away with stealing what was precious to me. Only I can do such a thing as I please."

Helhenir's eyes burned with dark emotions toward the girl who was gone, and the thief who swept her away. The chain of revenge that Ankh should have severed was about to return in an unforeseen way.

----------

From the day he took the girl with him, Ankh's life completely changed. Thinking that he couldn't guarantee her safety at their current location, he relocated to a place lined with tall mountains. The sandworms and carnivorous beasts couldn't reach them there, and he determined they could be somewhat prepared for abnormal weather, like sandstorms.

Ankh and the girl also came up with a set of symbols so that they could communicate. Ankh learned many things from their conversations. The girl said her name was Hilde, and that she made a living as a laborer before being sold to that mobile city. It took a lot of time to get this far, but for Ankh and the others, who did nothing but fight, it was a fresh sequence of events.

"Hilde, is there anything bothering you?"

"No, I'm fine."

"Okay. You don't have to hold back, you know."

"Yes. Thank you."

"Even Ankh really mellowed out, huh~?"

"Hilde's the boss's girl—none of you mess with her!"

"Shut up already! You want me to punch your lights out!?"

Some of their companions had started to tease him about their relationship when they saw how diligently he took care of her. But Ankh didn't want their relationship to be anything more. Hilde became terribly distraught whenever she was touched, likely because it brought back the terror Helhenir had carved into her.

Hilde noticed Ankh's attitude and asked, "Ankh, why did you save me?"

"I just...felt like I had to, I guess."

"I see."

Hilde drew the symbols with her finger and smiled gently. The smile made Ankh feel strangely uneasy, and he turned away.

"W-What?"

Hilde was supposed to be the younger one, but sometimes she acted quite mature, like an entirely different person. She couldn't see nor speak, so what made her so compelling? No matter how much he recalled what the old folks taught him, Ankh couldn't find the answer he was looking for.

Ever since meeting Hilde, Ankh put a stop to his transitory way of living and began fighting to protect the community. They gained more comrades, and little by little gained more capabilities. As that happened, they ended up facing a different problem: securing food and water.

The amount they had now wasn't enough to keep everyone from starving. They got more involved with caravans and other communities to make up the difference, but reality was not so kind. The newcomers were killed when they went out to steal. Back when Ankh burned with vengeance, he managed to accept his comrades' deaths. In this world where power was everything, he thought it was only natural for the strong to trample over the weak. But that way of thinking was changing greatly since he met Hilde.

"We can't keep going like this. If we want to face tomorrow feeling secure, it can't go on."

While his companions were sleeping, Ankh got lost in thought on his own about a rumor he had heard lately. "A mobile city... Maybe I could change their lives there."

Apparently, there were places to mine for resources in the area, and a community of about 500 people was coming in search of them. It had its own ecosystem with iron manufacturing and blacksmithing, as well as the production of ammunition for firearms. Ankh had learned firsthand that knowledge could keep people alive. That was why he was considering sneaking in and learning their craft. If he could learn it and teach it to his comrades, then maybe they could say farewell to living one step from death. It was a far better bet than spending every day in danger. There was just one reason Ankh couldn't commit to it.

"Can she survive if I'm gone...?"

"—"

"...!?"

He felt a presence behind him and turned to see Hilde leaning against the rocks.

"Hilde, you're awake?"

"..."

Hilde gave a small nod and traced her finger over the rock below her feet.

"I'll be fine."

"You mean you were listening?"

Hilde gave an awkward, apologetic smile.

"I have better ears than them."

"So you heard... Well, yeah. I was thinking about a way we could all make a proper living."

"I think you should. You worked hard, so I can survive a while. Everyone will help."

"But, I..."

The biggest reason Ankh was so hesitant to leave was Hilde.

"Ankh, do you think I can't live without you?"

"Don't be st—Uh, no, that's not it."

"You're a bad liar, Ankh."

"I..."

Strangely, Hilde was good at seeing through his lies. According to her, his voice would tense up when he lied.

"...It's just, when I'm gone, I can't protect you if something happens. I...I hate that."

"So that's what you think of me. Makes me a little sad."

"H-Huh?" Ankh choked out, a tightness deep in his chest.

Hilde giggled while hiding her mouth. He had played right into her hand. When he realized that, he automatically turned away. As if to rub it in, the faint sound of clothes rustling tickled his ears.

"...Sorry, guess I'm easy to read."

"I think that's a good thing."

"Hmph."

"I'll be fine. I treasure the life you gave me."

When they first met, communicating with her had been difficult, and it took too long just to get her to understand he wasn't an enemy. It wouldn't have been strange for her to throw herself away any time. So Ankh had thought, but contrary to his expectations, she slowly opened up her closed-off heart to him. Now, they could even have simple conversations like this. Her thin body must have gone through all kinds of horrifying things. Even though she was around his age, or a bit younger, Ankh couldn't help but wonder how she came to worry about others so much.

"Hilde..."

Gently, he reached a hand out to her cheek—and slowly lowered it without touching her. They had lived together for a long time since building their community, but Ankh hadn't touched her since the day he saved her. He was scared to touch her. She was like a delicate, ephemeral flower who seemed as though she would fall apart the moment he did. Someone like him shouldn't touch someone like her, he thought—because he was the same kind of person as the men who took everything from her. It was the first time he had felt such painful feelings.

Hilde smiled at the perturbed Ankh and traced her finger over the rock.

"Thank you, Ankh."

What were her words for? As he felt nameless emotions pulse violently within him, Ankh placed his hand on the traces she had written.

They exchanged no further words and simply let the time pass by. After a while, Ankh muttered, "Oh, yeah."

"Hilde, can you hold onto this for me?"

He took out the knife from his pocket.

"This is yours?"

"Yeah. If something happens, you can protect yourself with it."

Ankh blended in with the peddlers and slipped into the mobile city. Then, he succeeded in selling himself to a workshop in the city and took up a job as an apprentice engineer.

As he mastered the craft with his natural dexterity, he came to understand the reality of the mobile city. The city only provided the minimum foundation to live on, and it was not self-sufficient on its own. Each city had its own role, some collecting and processing resources, others producing the food supply. This city was one of the former. They would trade with other mobile cities or communities of traveling merchants, and set off for new places. This cycle was the reason mobile cities continued to be a major influence in Wasteland.

It happened one night, when he had fully adjusted to the city's atmosphere. Ankh noticed that the air within the city was suddenly abuzz.

"What? We're not supposed to be going to the next mining site yet, so what's all the fuss about?"

He called out to a scrawny man nearby, "Hey, what's everyone so excited for?"

"Ya haven't heard? Maneater's comin' by today, first time in a while!"

"Maneater...?"

"Haven't even heard o' that? Y'see, Maneater is..."

The mobile city specializing in human hunting, or Maneater, as the name implied, was a city whose role was to hunt down people wherever it went. The humans they collected as "resources" were then sold to traveling merchants, and those left unsold were used up in "freakshows" so the city dwellers could let off steam.

"Heheh, you're in luck. It's not every day they stop by. Don't just polish your tools forever—you better hurry or you'll miss the show!"

As his colleague ran to the square, Ankh stayed motionless.

"Freakshow...? Don't tell me that's how Hilde ended up like that..."

Ankh hurried to the square, compelled by his inner rage.

"All right, you oil and grit-covered bastards! Are you ready? Let me hear your souls cry out!"

A roar arose from the buildings all around the square. There were walkways across the three-story buildings' walls from which the square could be seen. The walkways and staircase landings were already overflowing with men awaiting the show. Ankh pushed through the men to watch from the second floor walkway, looking intently at the stage erected in the square. On stage were a group dressed in black capes, and men and women in tattered clothing. The group in black were probably members of the Maneaters.

"Listen! You lot are lucky to be here today! Lucky bastards, I tell you!"

The crack of a whip echoed across the stage. The men and women at center stage shook in fear, as if on the verge of death from the men roaring at them.

"Let's introduce the performers of today's tale, shall we?"

The person who seemed to be the leader pointed at each performer in turn. There was a young couple, some food-starved orphans, and then, as this show's highlight, a former servant girl.

"...Huh?"

"This woman was branded a servant and miraculously survived, beloved by the goddess of fortune! If you eat her flesh, good fortune will surely come your way!"

Ankh couldn't believe what he was seeing. She should have been in the furthest possible place from danger.

"Hi...Hilde..."

But reality was different. The Maneaters had collected her, and she was right in front of him now.

"A fight to the death!" "Kill! Kill!"

The audience's fervor grew. Ankh's heart, by contrast, had suddenly grown cold. The next moment, Ankh leapt toward the stage.

"Hilde!"

"...!"

Just as the young couple were about to start killing each other, Ankh's appearance sent the square into an uproar.

"I'm taking Hilde! I won't hand her over to anyone!"

Bang!

The commotion died down instantly. With the crack of a whip, everyone's eyes gathered on the man in black, who shouted, "Oh-hoh! What's this, now? Seems one of the mobile city residents is close with the former servant! Oh, what a tragedy! Another act of the goddess of fortune!"

The man had even incorporated the sudden intruder into the essence of Hilde to boost her marketability. In that moment, all of the mobile city dwellers became Ankh's enemies.

"...I'm gonna kill every last one of you!"

Lost in his own rage, Ankh thrust his arm out at the man restraining Hilde and exerted his power, yelling, "Twist!"

The next moment, the upper half of the man's body made a horrible noise and twisted apart, as if it was squeezed.

"Ngh—!"

The man breathed his last as he heard the sound of something tearing.

"Ahhhhhh!"

Screams arose from everyone at the sudden ghastly sight. The screams turned to chaos, engulfing the area in an uproar. Not understanding what happened, the man with the whip and the black cape stood motionless, while those who were captured left and slipped in with the mobile city residents. Taking advantage of the chaos, Ankh rushed to Hilde's side.

"Hilde!"

"Ahn!"

Hilde shook her head vigorously. Ankh stopped in his tracks, sensing that she was saying don't come closer. That made the difference between life and death for him.

Bang!

Just as he heard a resounding explosive sound, something whizzed past Ankh's eyes. That something passed through the scrambling residents and crashed into the wall.

"Huh!?"

Ankh moved from where he was at once, and something rained down after him in rapid succession. The residents hid behind the iron blocks they sat on and observed. A number of nails as tall as a child were stuck into the floor.

"Shit, the hell's going on?"

"Good reflexes. So you were the trespasser in my city."

"What?"

He could see someone in the direction of the voice, up on stage. It was a woman with an uncanny air about her. She was probably about thirty years old. Her mouth was covered by a metallic mask, and her right arm had been replaced with a steel prosthetic from shoulder to end. The skin visible under her open rubber suit was affixed with thin metal plates, and that patchwork of metal and skin only made her eerier. Her appearance was a perfect match for the woman Hilde described.

"Helhenir...!"

Not expecting to hear her name, Helhenir narrowed her eyes and sneered.

"Oh, you know my name, then?"

"I heard all about you from Hilde."

"Hilde? Oh, you mean this?"

With that, Helhenir pointed her gun at Hilde. Her body trembled with fear, perhaps remembering what Helhenir had done to her.

"She has a name. It's Hilde!"

"Hmph. Don't tell me you've fallen for it? Well, I suppose a body like that would still be enough to satisfy a brat like you."

"Shut your mouth, you bitch...!"

Ankh thrust his arm toward Helhenir. If he used his power, he could reduce her to a lump of flesh in an instant, no matter how heavily armed she was. But the moment he took aim, Helhenir grabbed Hilde by the neck and lifted her up.

"Agh..."

"Hilde!"

"I don't know the principle behind it, but sure enough, you have a special power."

"..."

Ankh said nothing, only glaring back.

"Hah, you're easy to read. Now then, dance for me!"

Seeing that he was at a disadvantage, Ankh fled into the crowd of residents as they watched from afar. He thought he could buy time, but Helhenir kept firing nails with no regard for the residents. The residents were caught in the crossfire and pierced with nails one after another. Pained cries rang out all around.

"Hah! You're pretty light on your feet!"

"Aren't these guys your allies!?"

"Hm? Who do you think I am? I'm the leader of the Maneaters. I can procure as many humans as I like!"

"Shit!"

The battle was fierce. He wanted to close the distance somehow, but there was nowhere to hide around the stage, and Helhenir was holding Hilde up like a shield where Ankh could see her. If he got too close, she might hurt Hilde. If he used his power, he could turn her into a mass of flesh in an instant. But with someone to protect, he couldn't do so recklessly.

"Think... Gotta find a way to get the jump on her."

Ankh hid on the roof of a building and tried to find a way to turn the situation around. As he observed Helhenir...

"Hm?"

He noticed something strange about Hilde.

"No way... Is she...?"

Hilde was drawing something with the blood on her toes so that Helhenir wouldn't notice. It was their own language, created for just the two of them to connect with each other, that only they would understand.

"Run til the attack stops."

"If you understand, respond."

Even now, threatened by the very person who instilled terror in her, Hilde was doing her very best to ensure Ankh's victory. Ankh announced his presence to Helhenir so they could face her together.

"I'm right here, Helhenir!"

"What, tired of running?"

"Yeah...I'm ready!"

As he shouted, Ankh ran, buying time until Helhenir's nails were exhausted. Then, he would finally have his chance to strike back—

—Shunk.

The shower of nails raining down on him came to a stop. The moment Helhenir's attention was on Ankh and the pressure on her neck eased, Hilde held her knife in an underhand grip and drove it into Helhenir's stomach.

"Gah...!?"

With the sharp pain, Helhenir's posture slipped, and she let go of Hilde. Ankh didn't pass up that momentary chance.

"Diiiiiie!"

As Hilde crouched down, Ankh shot his power at Helhenir and landed a direct hit. He stepped down near the stage and rushed to Hilde's side.

"Hilde!"

"Anh!"

Ankh stretched a hand out to her. The moment Hilde was about to respond in kind, her eyes went wide, like she noticed something.

—Shunk.

At that moment, a nail pierced Hilde's chest. It was a precise strike at her heart.

"Ah...gh..."

"Hilde!"

Impossible. I'm sure I killed Helhenir.

Ankh had seen Helhenir get twisted, from her arm to her torso. Just like the man in the black cape who died, no human could survive that. But Helhenir was still alive. She stood up, swaying, the right side of her body gone. That part hadn't been flesh, but a metal prosthetic arm.

"The arm I held out to protect myself happened to save my life. You really are a goddess of fortune."

"No..."

"...You are mine. I will not let you go to anyone else..."

Ankh couldn't hear what Helhenir said anymore. He just kept holding Hilde so she wouldn't go anywhere.

"Ah...nn..."

"Don't go... Please don't go..."

Hilde's body was rapidly losing warmth in Ankh's arms. There was no saving her. He knew that. Even so, he couldn't help but reject Hilde's death. Just then, Hilde's mouth tried to form a shape, as if to tell him something with her remaining strength...then stopped moving.

"Ah... Hil...de..."

"You are my child. My...child..."

Helhenir stood shakily. Ankh stared at her in a daze, having lost the person he meant to protect.

"This...is the result you chose. The result you wanted," Helhenir said, and pulled the knife from her stomach. Then, she brought it to her own neck. "I will end my life...by my own will. You deserve...to suffer in this world...forever."

With a smile of contentment on her face, Helhenir uttered her curse against the despair-stricken Ankh, and firmly slashed her own throat.

"Was it fun, playing pretend at being a family?"

With those final words, Helhenir died. Her life as the wise leader who brought together a small community had crumbled when her beloved child was murdered by outlaws. She was just one more person whose fate was twisted by a world where power ruled all.

"..."

Ankh was wracked by anger and sorrow with no outlet.

I wanted to spend more time with Hilde. I wanted to talk with her more. I wanted to be together forever.

What came after her lost words? What was she feeling, what did she want to convey? Ankh would never know the answer.

----------

The person he wanted revenge on was dead, and he had lost both the person he wanted to protect and the place he belonged. Ankh had lost everything. As he sat in a daze, someone approached him. The residents of the mobile city, with weapons in hand.

"Boss's enemy!"

"Diiiiiie!"

Daggers closed in on him. But before they could reach him, Ankh slaughtered the residents with his power.

"Ahhhhhh!"

Ankh slowly stood and faced the frightened residents, trembling with rage.

"I'll kill you... I'll kill you! I'll chase you wherever you go! Every last one of you!"

There were no "ifs" in this world. No matter how painful the journey, there was no option but to tread the path that remained. Even if all that awaited ahead was destruction. The boy chose the path of revenge once more, and took his first step toward destroying the world.