Fractal Plane: Beyond Public Eyes

Chapter 9 - Render of Bounds

1

"Just what kind of Nullity are you?"

How did the Nullity materialize in the real world? Why did his Armament appear? What was this thing's connection to Yui Kimura?

None of these were of any importance as of this exact moment. Those thoughts were shoved aside, and he focused exclusively on the enemy in front of him.

Fighting it was easier said than done, and Kazuki fought the grasp of danger that threatened to overtake him.

The presence of the Nullity felt so overwhelming that he struggled to have his feet move forward.

This power... It's not just a Class B. It's a Class A!

For some reason, the Nullity had become even stronger than when he faced it in the house of mirrors.

"Assimilator's Core!"

Yelling the name of his Armament's special ability, Kazuki brushed his hand over the shield, transforming it into its crossbow form.

"A-ra-ta..."

The weak voice broke his concentration, and he found himself looking at the other person in the room. Kimura, despite being in pain, tried to force herself to stand up. One of her arms was stretched out, evoking an image of trying to grab hold of Kazuki's hand from afar.

Then, her body fell limp. It looked like all control had been wrested away from her.

The eyes that rolled back gave Kazuki a nightmarish sight that he did not expect to be seeing tonight.

Her hand started shaking, and it seemed that she herself was torn between reaching for help and pushing him to run. If it was anything similar to what he commonly saw in media, this could be her soul still fighting for control.

Grunts and piercing shrieks, let loose in short intervals. Kazuki sensed the air in the room change with each noise.

It was almost certainly a bad thing, but on the flip side, at least it seemed that the tiny bit of resistance from within had done its part in holding the Nullity back.

He looked back at the monster to see that its wildly moving limbs and hair started to slow down in their motion.

Kimura screamed once more, and at the climax of her shout, a wave of magical energy materialized around her hands, soon creating a connection, a line of magical particles, between the two of them.

Then, it manifested.

A pole with a ball adorned with bolts on one end. A staff with a microphone at its tip, and he felt immense magical power just by looking at it.

Armament?! Kimura, you...

More questions opened up for Kazuki to ponder on, yet he kept his aim on the monster.

He visualized the trajectory of his shot as the gathering of energy started to make his left arm shake.

"Take this!"

With his yell, he let the arrow of light loose.

Just like before, the arrow of light went right through the Nullity. It was not for naught, however.

"Aaaarrrrggghh!"

Kimura continued to scream, and after the first instance of reacting to the shot, the Nullity had instead hunched down, surrounding the helpless girl with its limbs and hair.

Kazuki had no time to react before everything from the Nullity impaled the girl who was just beginning to regain her footing. The strands of hair had found themselves on different parts of the girl's back, and Kazuki can sense a miasma flowing from the strands' contact points to the body of the Nullity.