Bungo Stray Dogs - Volume 8 Chapter 4 Part 4

High above Yokohama, the passing clouds covering the night sky like a lid glittered white in the moonlight.
Beneath those clouds were explosions, booms, and the sounds of the earth splitting. Screams of the dead and dying could be heard as well.
A propeller plane was flying between the cruel world below and the utterly serene world above the clouds.
“Master Chuuya! We will be arriving over the battlefield shortly!” Adam shouted so his voice was audible over the engine.
They were on a two-person, single-engine aircraft. Although the fixed- wing plane wasn’t that fast, it was relatively nimble. It was not, however, mounted with any sort of weapon. Adam was sitting in the cockpit while Chuuya was seated behind him, sternly looking down at the surface.
“Take a good look. A single skill user should not be capable of such sheer destruction!” Adam yelled as he gazed at the catastrophe below while recording it. “More importantly, the duration until its evaporation is several orders of magnitude greater than any ordinary black holes created through physical processes. Are you certain you want to land on top of that?”
Chuuya didn’t respond as he coldly glared down at the surface.
“My risk-evaluation module is recommending we retreat,” Adam said sternly. “Simply avoiding that black sphere is not going to be enough. Do not be fooled by its appearance. It looks black because it is absorbing light and preventing it from escaping—however, those sucked into the sphere will not merely be crushed to death. Their bodies will be torn to shreds until there is nothing left. You see that wavering red halo of light around the sphere’s surface—specifically, the light outside the event horizon? That aureole is the concentration of light around the sphere by means of a gravitational lens. The redshift, which is attributed to the Doppler effect, is making it appear red. Put simply, you could even call that thing a hit box. Once you get close enough to touch it, the tidal force—that is, the difference between the gravity close to the black hole and the gravity far away from it—would tear you to bits until you died.”
“You’re puttin’ me to sleep, damn it,” barked Chuuya, still staring down at the surface. “One look at that thing makes it obvious that it’s dangerous. I’ve experienced it myself, after all.”
Light illuminating the past glowed in Chuuya’s eyes. Only two days ago, Verlaine had grabbed him at the roadside and forced the Gate open inside him. That alone made an entire building crumble into nothingness in the blink of an eye.
The same thing was happening now, but in continuous succession. It was hell on earth.
Over half the trees in sight had been destroyed, turning the forest into a wasteland. Had this battle happened in the heart of Yokohama, then there would have been thousands, if not tens of thousands, of casualties. That was why Dazai chose this remote area as the battleground.
“This really pisses me off. Everything ended up going just how Dazai planned it,” Chuuya spat. “But there’s no goin’ back now. Verlaine has to pay, and I’m the only one who has a shot at making that happen, since we have the same skill.”
“Please be careful,” Adam said with a nod. “Even with your skill, if you make direct contact with that sphere of gravity, you will not be able to fully neutralize the effects. If possible, approaching the enemy from directly above without being noticed would be—”
His voice vanished midsentence, then was followed by a scream: “Watch out!”
Not a moment later, the sphere of gravity was already right before their eyes. Adam swiftly pushed the yoke back to evade, but the violent gale, created by the extraordinary suction force, was causing him to lose control of the aircraft. The plane was doomed; there was no escaping this onslaught.
Adam pulled the ejector-release device on his seat as quickly as he could, launching both Chuuya and himself out of the aircraft. The gravitational sphere immediately tore the aircraft into pieces and swallowed it.
They both flew through the air. Adam then grabbed onto Chuuya’s wrist.
There was a sudden pop, followed by two parachutes opening.
“This isn’t gonna work! We’re basically sitting ducks! Adam, cut the parachute lines!”
“But—”
“Do it!”
Adam pulled the automatic pistol out of the holster at his waist and fired four consecutive shots, each precisely cutting a paracord. After a brief delay, Adam and Chuuya were free-falling toward the ground.
“Impressive.” Chuuya grinned. “Now, let’s do this! Adam, calculate the orbit of our free fall!”
“Very well.”

Adam slipped behind Chuuya, then pulled a cord out of the port in his waist. This was normally used to connect another port with a wired communications device, but he wrapped it around Chuuya’s waist and shoulders, then tucked it back into his own waist. The two became one single bullet falling through the night sky.
“Initiating gliding phase.”
Adam pressed both of his sides, and protrusions popped out, which he immediately pulled. A silver sheet suddenly appeared that formed triangular bat-like wings from his arms to his waist. The wings picked up the nighttime wind, transforming Adam and Chuuya’s free fall into a diagonal glide.
“These artificial patagia were created for chasing after fleeing criminals at a high altitude,” he explained while still staring ahead. “I will maneuver our orbit; you should focus on neutralizing the opposing gravitational force!”
“Yeah, yeah.”
The roaring wind rushed past Chuuya’s ears. But despite the high wind pressure blowing against his eyes, he didn’t even squint. His eyes remained locked on the target. Chuuya and Adam were flying right into the enemy like a shooting star.
“Damn you to hell, Dazai! I’m gonna string ya upside down once we get back!”

Two hours earlier:
Dazai was hanging upside down. His legs were tied together and wrapped around the end of a street lamp.
“Which is why we need to have you, Chuuya, leap out of an airplane to get near Verlaine and defeat him.”
Despite hanging upside down, Dazai’s expression was no different from usual: sleepy-eyed and slightly annoyed.
“Uh-huh.”
Chuuya took a seat in a chair while hostilely glaring at Dazai. Adam glanced between them, perplexed.

“Er… What exactly is going on here?”
They were on the side of a runway at an air depot located in a ravine far from the city’s hustle and bustle. It was so quiet you could almost hear the stars twinkling in the dusky sky. Two mechanics were working on a propeller aircraft in the hangar, but their voices couldn’t be heard from this distance. Chuuya was holding a rope wrapped around Dazai’s waist multiple times like a spinning top.
“We’re saving time this way, Mr. Robot Investigator.” Dazai smiled indifferently.
“This is being economical with your time?”
“Yep. After all, the ambush of our lifetime is about to begin.”
Adam looked back and forth between Dazai and Chuuya once more. “Humans truly speak in riddles. I could not find a single analogous phrase in my database for comparison.”
“Look, don’t worry about it. Humans don’t understand him, either,” said Shirase, who was standing a short distance from Chuuya with his arms crossed. He looked utterly defeated.
Chuuya silently tugged on the rope. He pulled and pulled before standing up and walking backward, pulling some more. The rope around Dazai began to unravel as he spun around and around. Nevertheless, he continued explaining his strategy.
“We’re going to use a body double for Mori and lure Verlaine out. Once we do that, we’ll have every fighter in the Mafia strike, and if we manage to drive him into a corner, he’s probably gonna open his Gate as a last resort. Once that happens, we’ll have Chuuya approach him by plane,” he said as he slowly twirled, his voice getting louder or softer depending on which way he was facing. When the rope had been pulled as taut as possible, and Dazai was hanging diagonally, Chuuya let go.
“Once Chuuya gets close…” Dazai spun. “…Verlaine’s probably…” And spun. “…going to attack…” And spun.
“…but that’s…” And spun.
“…exactly what we want…” And spun. “…because Chuuya’s going to use…” And spun. “…his ability to neutralize gravity…” And spun. “…until he’s close enough…” And spun.

“…to touch him.” Dazai stopped spinning. “And once that happens, we win— Blergh.”
He vomited.
Adam watched almost as if he pitied him. “I am still having trouble comprehending what is going on.”
Chuuya returned with more rope, which he began tying around Dazai’s waist. “I’m gettin’ my revenge while he explains the plan.”
“Uh-huh…”
“I have every right to, considering what he did. He’s the one who leaked info about N to Verlaine to buy time, knowing that I’d be tortured. The detective died as a result of that, too, so there’s no way I’m lettin’ this bastard off scot-free,” Chuuya explained, shooting Dazai a menacing glare. “I’ve got a hundred and ninety methods for exacting my revenge on him, and this is the second mildest out of ’em all. If I went with just about anything else, he wouldn’t be able to work the control tower during the upcoming fight. Pisses me off, but I had to compromise somewhere.”
“Uh-huh.” Adam’s neck faintly moved as if he didn’t know whether to nod or tilt his head to the side in confusion. “I understand no better now than before I heard the explanation.”
“Don’t sweat it, Adam, old chap. I didn’t catch a lick of that either!” Shirase said, patting Adam on the shoulder in encouragement.
“”Old chap’…?”
“Allow me to continue,” said Dazai with his ever-unchanging expression. “Once Verlaine fully opens his Gate, a singularity monster will be controlling his mind. He’ll be asleep, essentially, and this monster will automatically attack anything hostile. That’s what we’ll be exploiting. Verlaine won’t be able to make any rational judgments in this state, which means he won’t react to any nonhostile contact. That’s why we’re going to have one group attack and act as a decoy while Chuuya approaches him unarmed.”
Dazai paused, then smirked with a sense of grim destruction.
“Then we slowly feed him poison—tenderly, lovingly, like giving candy to a child.”
Chuuya rapidly glided, tearing through the night sky like a flash of lightning. The wind howled into his ears like a thousand wolves, but he was not afraid. His body had become an arrow that was shooting straight for Verlaine.
Verlaine looked in Chuuya’s direction. Verlaine’s eyes were clouded over with an utterly pure, transparent emotion: hatred.
He cast his overwhelmingly spiteful gaze upon all living creatures, hitting them like a wave that would make the average human lose consciousness. Chuuya, however, didn’t even blink.
Verlaine created a black sphere and threw it at Chuuya.
“Enemy projectile approaching! Calculating a change in trajectory via air pressure and gravity. Preparing to rapidly descend and evade!” Adam shouted as he switched his position.
He folded his wings, causing him and Chuuya to rapidly descend the night sky like a seagull diving into the ocean. The cannonball of gravity immediately flew over their heads, which was enough to cause them to rise. Chuuya looked back at Verlaine. They were moving with such incredible speed; at this rate, they were bound to collide into him in only a dozen or so
seconds.
Dazai’s plan was thorough. Verlaine was weak to poison just like Chuuya, but of course, Verlaine had full knowledge of this weakness. He would never carelessly eat something that could be poisonous, and he would deflect any projectiles or poison-coated bullets with his skill.
That was why Dazai purposely had Verlaine open his Gate. He wanted to rob Verlaine of his free will and judgment. Dazai said they mustn’t attack him because he would counter with an even more powerful attack. They couldn’t express any hostility, either, because they would be met with a hatred hundreds of times more powerful. Chuuya was to approach Verlaine without any ill will, pat him on the shoulder like a friend, then stuff poison into his mouth.
Adam was in charge of creating the poison. It was a very small amount of liquid in a clear pouch, less than the amount of saliva produced from spitting on the ground. And yet once ingested, it would take a mere five seconds for the target to lose consciousness and never wake up again.
“Second wave incoming!” Adam’s shout returned Chuuya’s focus to the enemy. “That was quick! The Schwarzschild radius is slowly increasing as well!”
He was not seeing things. A colossal black sphere big enough to swallow an entire car was already forming over Verlaine’s right hand. He threw it like a cannonball.
Adam, however, was still off-balance from rapidly descending a moment earlier. It wasn’t long before the sphere was right in front their faces.
“We won’t be able to dodge it…!” Adam yelled. Chuuya opened his eyes wide.
“Ahhhhhh!” he shouted while releasing his skill in its entirety.
He grabbed onto Adam, reversing their bodies’ gravity to neutralize the black hole’s pull.
Every vein in Chuuya’s body began to bubble. His bones and muscles creaked. This domain defied common sense—nothing like it could be found on earth but only in space nearby massive celestial bodies. It was a world outside of reason that no human could ever reach alive.
Their environs distorted. Even their voices were absorbed into the black sphere. The enhanced gravity slowed the flow of time, making their surroundings appear to be moving faintly faster. Even those surroundings became warped under the gravity, making it difficult to see anything.
It seemed like an eternity had gone by until Chuuya had finally pulled them out of the giant gravitational sphere as if he were holding his breath and swimming through a giant bubble. His clothing was torn to shreds. Every blood vessel in his body ached terribly after being ripped apart, but at least he was still alive. Nothing serious.
“Incredible!” Adam cried, impressed. “Master Chuuya, you are perhaps the first person on earth to ever go through a gravitational field like that and survive!”
“What an honor.” Chuuya’s voice remained stiff. “But it’s still a little too early to be proud of myself just yet. Take a look at him.”
As he called attention to something up ahead, Adam followed his gaze.
He gasped.
A myriad of black spheres was forming around Verlaine’s hands. There were probably over twenty of them around the same size as the one that just hit Chuuya and Adam. This cluster of spherical black demons was not of this world. They seemed to come from the abyss of space itself to devour the laws of physics.