Bungo Stray Dogs - Volume 8 Chapter 4 Part 7

My main core performed an emergency reboot three times, which allowed me to somehow regain consciousness. However, I had no idea where I was. I did not even know what physical position I was in.
Swirling around me at an incredible speed was a whirlpool of darkness. The irregular gravity was causing every one of my gauges to go haywire. I could not scan my surroundings, either.
I eventually arrived at the conclusion that I was most likely inside Verlaine. There was no other explanation as to why I could not contact the outside world through any means of communication. The powerful gravitational force was trapping the radio waves in here with me.
Even my timepiece was abnormally fast. Perhaps time was moving more quickly here due to relativity.
This place was extremely dangerous.
“Master Chuuya! Where are you?!” I shouted after raising my sound pressure as high as it could go. However, my voice did not even reach my own hearing components. This was no different from being in outer space. A stormy light flashed by my eyes in intervals.
All of a sudden, the alarm went off in my core system, which was followed by a brief report in my feed.

Confirming deployment of Emergency Status Number 812. Approval to use Emergency Response Protocol B. Overriding final mission objectives and unlocking functions B1 through B12.

I remembered everything at that moment: the situation, the estimated amount of damage and casualties—and the real reason I was sent on this mission.
It appeared I really was inside Verlaine. The singularity inside him was released, which swallowed Master Chuuya and me as well, since we were closest. Master Chuuya was in trouble.
“Temporarily putting Emergency Response Protocol on hold. I must find my highest commander Master Chuuya first.”
I used a jet of air to maneuver my body forward.

“I’m coming to save you!”
The space tempest was so dark that I could not even see my own fingertips. I advanced into the chaos.
Dazai watched as the Mafia’s hopeless onslaught continued. Heat waves, fire, and rays of light enveloped the beast. The skill user waiting in the rear had started their attack. Trench mortars, anti-tank missiles, grenade launchers, and a myriad of other firearms immediately followed, covering the monster in flames.
But every attack was blocked by the bubble-like black holes emerging around the creature. Physical bullets were either swallowed by the black holes or pulverized by the light the holes released. Then, they vanished without a trace.
The ice-creating skill user produced cold air, but the beast’s energy was far too grand; the drop in temperature merely reduced the quantity of heat for a split second. The skill user who could liquefy mass tried to make the ground under the beast cave in, but the creature’s feet were far too big. It ended up doing little more than causing them to faintly sink into the ground.
All other skills bounced off the beast’s surface one after another.
“It’s hopeless,” muttered Dazai in blank amazement. “We’re no different than the citizens of Sodom who provoked God’s anger. The scales are tipped against us. It’s not even a fight anymore.”
“Dazai, sir.” Hirotsu came rushing over with a radio in hand. “The mercenaries we paid will be arriving shortly in their aviation units.”
“”Aviation units’?”
Almost simultaneously, the deep bass of three engines could be heard approaching from the east. Massive lumps of iron—heavily armed air-to- surface attack helicopters.
These weren’t transportation vessels that had been stolen and modified to function as gunship helicopters, nor were they spotter helicopters used for scouting and attacking. These were ferocious animals designed with only one thing in mind: crushing the enemy with overwhelming firepower.
The three attack helicopters spewed flames in unison. And they weren’t being stingy with their ammo, either. Each aircraft simultaneously fired sixteen homing rockets—a total of forty-eight rockets. A single one had enough firepower to pierce a tank’s armor and turn it into dust.
The beast’s body burst into crimson flames. It howled.
The homing rockets did not explode the moment they hit their target, but instead, right when they were close enough to engulf it in the blast. This proximity fuse made it possible to attack the enemy before the missiles were absorbed into the black holes. Few, if any, skill users in the Mafia harnessed a power greater than this.
The beast shook its head in aggravation.
“What incredible power,” Hirotsu marveled, holding a hand in front of his face to block out the blinding light. “Though large, it lacks any long- range attacks. If we keep this up, then perhaps…”
A stone-faced Dazai narrowed his eyes. “No…”
The howling beast glared at the attack helicopters hovering in the sky, and the pungent stench of death began to fill the surrounding air.
“…?!”
Everyone there saw it.
The night sky was vanishing. Light from the moon and the stars was swallowed by the colossal darkness forming over the beast’s head. That darkness began to condense until it became a train car-size black orb that could fit in the beast’s mouth. It was pure nothingness; this darkness would devour all worldly logic.
And with a roar, the beast launched that dark orb.
First to vanish was the terrain. The ray of darkness bore a hole deep into the earth and moved forward as the beast lifted its head. It dug into the land, carving a perfectly straight cliff into the earth.
The torrent of darkness directly hit the first attack helicopter. It wasn’t even destroyed in the blast. It just ceased to exist after the vortex absorbed it. The second and third helicopters were pulled apart by the tidal power, simply from being too close to the torrent. Countless parts turned into fragments of what they once were before pelting the surface below.
It was over in the blink of an eye. In that brief moment, the beast did nothing more than breathe darkness, destroying three of the latest and greatest weapons.
“What…?” Hirotsu stared at the sky as if he had forgotten to even breathe. “What…was that?”
The surface was hollowed in a straight line, creating a cliff so deep that the abyss below seemed endless. The scar in the land appeared to continue all the way to the horizon.
“Ha-ha… Are you kidding me? It just shot a black hole like a laser.” Only Dazai’s lips were twisted into a smile as he stood wide-eyed. “This isn’t even a skill anymore. In fact, this shouldn’t even be possible on Earth. It’s closer to a physical phenomenon you’d only see in a galactic system or inside the sun or something. It doesn’t even feel like we’re fighting a living creature anymore. It’s useless. There’s no way we can win.”
The beast began to move.
While a single step took seconds, the sluggish speed was just enough time to produce a shock wave with the end of its foot. Nevertheless, the creature was so massive that no matter how slow it moved, it was still as fast as an express train.
It was heading toward the hill where N was standing. He was on the verge of drawing his last breath, still laughing as he looked down at the destruction he caused.
“Ha-ha-ha! Yes, this is who you are, Verlaine! You were right! You’re not human! You’re something even greater! A beast that will devour the entire world! Go forward and let your singularity ravage the city! Flatten the entire planet! Use every last bit of your power until you evaporate and disappear along with the singularity! Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!”
The beast as it walked was reminiscent of a moving jet-black mountain. Its eyes saw nothing—not the surviving Mafia members, not N by its feet. Not one thing. All that was in its line of sight were the distant glittering city lights of Yokohama.
“Do you see that, Verlaine? That is your ending!”
N’s laughter turned shrill before eventually becoming what sounded like a scream.
“You, an unparalleled being, are going to die because of me, a pathetic human! Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! Die, Verlaine! This is for my little brother! Ha-ha- ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!”

The beast raised its foot into the air. N screamed with laughter and tears in his eyes.

The sole of its foot flattened the entire hill, N included.
Hirotsu and Dazai closely observed the beast’s movement from within the woods a slight distance away.
“It started walking,” muttered Hirotsu in disbelief. “It’s heading toward Yokohama’s residential district.”
“It’s the embodiment of hatred,” Dazai said as if he were reading a line out of a book. “It responds to attacks. In other words, it responds to hatred. Some people downtown must have noticed the attack, so it’s responding to their presence and heading toward Yokohama.”
“At this rate…”
“Yeah, millions of people will die.” Dazai took out his radio. “Looks like it’s about time to call it quits.”
He then adjusted the frequency of his radio and said, “Hey, Mori? You should probably run. He’s heading that way.”

Mori was sitting at his desk on the highest floor of the Port Mafia’s headquarters while gazing out the window. The room was dark with a clear overlook of Yokohama’s nightscape. His eyes, however, were fixed on the far distance beyond the city.
The sky was faintly flickering red; the forest fires illuminated the clouds hanging over the battleground.
“I could see that attack all the way from here,” Mori said calmly. “Some rather incredible things appear to be happening where you are, huh?”
“You don’t even know the half of it,” replied Dazai. “That thing’s another Arahabaki. Nine years ago, Arahabaki turned Suribachi City into a giant crater the moment it was awakened. If that thing unleashes that same kind of power nonstop within the city, then Yokohama’s gonna sink to the bottom of the ocean. There’s nothing more we can do.”
Mori’s expression didn’t change at all. He simply took a quiet breath before replying, “Dazai, do you know why I’m the boss?”
“Mori,” Dazai chided in exasperation. “We don’t have time for this.”
“I don’t possess an incredible skill like you or Chuuya. Instead, however, I am a little better at something than the two of you. I can always predict exactly how many men I need to send into battle. I’m naturally intuitive in that sense.”
Dazai fell silent for a few moments.
“Are you telling us to defeat that thing?”
“You told me to run, but where would I go that would allow me to escape from a monster like that?”
Mori’s tone was calm. It was the voice of a man who spoke only facts.
“I am more interested to see how you all—how Chuuya and you— overcome this danger. I’m sure the moment you pull it off will mark the beginning of a new era.”
“Yeah, no problem, boss,” replied Dazai, clearly annoyed. “Except that Chuuya’s probably dead. He was closest to the monster when it emerged, and I’m not getting any response when I try to radio him. Even if he was defending himself with his skill, he’s probably in that beast’s stomach as we speak… Do you want to know what I’m thinking?”
Mori didn’t reply. He only shrugged faintly. After waiting for a few moments, Dazai continued:
“I think this is a perfect opportunity. A skill like that would undoubtedly wipe me from existence without a trace. I wouldn’t suffer or feel any pain, and it wouldn’t leave a hideous, disfigured corpse. This is a once-in-a- lifetime chance, as far as I’m concerned.”
Mori didn’t immediately respond. From the look in his eyes, he seemed to be considering which words to choose as they lingered on his tongue. He tapped a finger against his lips in silence.
“I believe you’re correct in your assumption,” replied Mori after a few moments. “But you are going to face the beast and fight until the very end. That much I know, too.”
“Yeah, you’re right. That was a long shot. But let me hear why you think that, just for laughs.”
“My reasoning is extremely simple.” Mori smiled. “If that monster kills you, nobody will be able to save Chuuya, and he will die as well. In other words, you will finally get the death you have always yearned for but with Chuuya by your side.”
A full ten seconds of silence went by until Dazai broke it.
“Hwaaah.”
“Was that a yawn I just heard?”
“Look, I know what you’re trying to do, and it’s not gonna work. You can’t manipulate me. Good-bye.”
The radio then cut off. Mori held his radio with a faint smirk.

Dazai froze with the radio still in his hands.
He then curled into the fetal position and screamed, “With Chuuya?
Anything but thaaaat!!”
Chuuya advanced through the darkness. It wasn’t clear whether he was progressing through time or space. He didn’t know if this was even a physical place or a conceptual darkness representing the afterlife.
But he could see someone in front of him.
They were obscured by the raging, disorienting darkness, but someone was definitely there. They were floating in space just beyond the faintly blue mist of darkness. It was a familiar face.
That was when Chuuya realized: It was him—a younger version of Chuuya floating in the bluish-black liquid.
He was asleep. Countless familiar tubes and cords were jammed into his spine. All of a sudden, Chuuya heard a voice coming from his side.
“Paul, hurry. The guards could be here any minute now.”
Startled, he looked in the direction of the voice and saw another familiar face: a man with long, wavy black hair and quiet eyes. He was wearing a researcher’s white lab coat to sneak into the facility.
Arthur Rimbaud was looking this way.
“Paul, what’s wrong? This child is Prototype A2-5-8. There is no question about it. What are you waiting for?”
“I know.”
It was Chuuya himself who responded.
He looked back toward the glass cylinder and could faintly see a man in its reflection. It was a man wearing a black hat—a young Paul Verlaine.
Verlaine placed a hand on the glass; he had such long fingers. At the sound of Verlaine’s voice, that hand became a fist that broke the glass. Bluish-black fluid spewed out, and Verlaine’s hand grabbed the young Chuuya, pulling him out into the world.