Chapter 65: Nightmare in the Ninja Manor: Give Up Delamair!

All right! Now we should be able to move forward. Let's go!

Okay! Now we should be able to move forward. Let's go!

What? Who are these guys?! Underlings of Delamair, huh? If they're trying to block our way, we won't go easy on them. Let's do this!

Hey! Who are these guys, anyway?! They look like Eastern statues or something. Are they some kind of guard bot? If they refuse to budge, we'll just have to move them ourselves... Whatever it takes! Let's do this!

Delamair!

There's no escape, Delamair! I owe you for what you did to my father!

So...you've made it this far at last... Well done, little girl. Hmph. It seems you've gotten off scot-free, thanks to the Riftbreaker the Synth Humans made... But your luck is about to run out. Your existence has become a nuisance, as far as our company is concerned. I'll pay you back for what happened on the Gulfagin...with interest!

Enough chit-chat. Give us back the Book of the Time Dream that your underlings stole, now.

The Book of the Time Dream? Is that what you call it?

You've come all this way to retrieve it, and you don't even know what it is? Ha! Your naivete knows no bounds! Hmm, perhaps I should be asking you where you found it in the first place?

Well, I can ask you all about it later, once I've finished beating you to a wet pulp. Now, I'll make you regret the pain you inflicted on my poor Gail Carrigo 1 and 2! Brace yourselves! I'm about to transition this place through phase space!

Phase space? What's that?

The graveyard where your souls will reside for all eternity! How fortunate you are, to be so blessed!

Ohm, ohm... Come forth, o most sinister guardian spirit of the East... Ascend, o Miroku Disaster!

Wh-What?! What just happened?!

Huh?! Is this...

I-Is that who he was talking about? Miroku...Disaster?!

This overwhelming sense of having entered the afterlife! This apocalyptic spectacle! I have a bad feeling about this!

Watch out, everybody! Here it comes!

We made it back here!

The jig is up, Delamair! Now, give us back the Book of the Time Dream.

It seems I have no choice... Very well. I concede victory to you, for the time being. You may have the book.

Obviously...

Delamair! We've got a score to settle! You owe me for my father!

Hmph... Be patient, little girl. No need to rush these things.

What, so you're begging for your life at the last minute? You pitiful loser!

I just thought you all might want to know what that thing is. Don't you?

You know what the Book of the Time Dream is?!

Yes, of course I know. If you cut me down here and now, you may never find the answers you seek. Well? Are you still determined to take my life, Kikyo?

What are you saying?!

This grudge you bear against me was based on a misunderstanding in the first place. Your father surrendered of his own free will, and personally chose to spend his last days aboard the Gulfagin.

Why, you...!

Kikyo, wait! Please!

Aldo?

I understand how you feel, but could you hold back for just a little while? We have to find a way to solve the riddle of the Book of the Time Dream and the Goddess of Time... The Book of the Time Dream might be the only key left for us, now that the chapel has fallen into ruin.

But...

Aldo is right. I'm asking you, too... Please, Kikyo!

I beg this boon of you, Miss Kikyo!

Kikyo...

Hmph. No need to worry, Kikyo. I'll be happy to face off with you as many times as you like, after this. How dare a measly little girl like you look down on me, the great Delamair?! Do you really want to make an enemy of the entire KMS corporation?!

Ugh... Fine, then. If that's how it is... I'll stay my blade, just this once.

But you listen to me, Delamair... We are absolutely settling this someday! And don't you forget it.

You're welcome to try, any time. I shall look forward to it.

Thank you, Kikyo.

So, Delamair? Tell us. What exactly is the Book of the Time Dream, huh?

Hmph... Very well. Be sure to listen carefully.

The device that you call the Book of the Time Dream... It is a remote device linked to the main system of Xeno-Domain.

What?! Xeno-Domain?! What are you trying to say?!

It may have once belonged to Professor Chronos himself. It's locked with voiceprint authentication, and seems to be currently refusing to respond to any words we've tried.

A device from Professor Chronos?! So you're saying this thing from the Oracle in Antiquity crossed the sea and was given to the Daughter of Time?!

I see. Xeno-Domain... So that's it.

Kamlanage!

Mildy?!

You must be members of that revolutionary group... The Chrono Clan, I believe? But how did you get in here?

I swear, this place is overrun with riff-raff! What are the security guards even doing?!

It hardly matters how many guards you post, does it? It's easy enough to get in, if you can teleport. I'm sorry to break it to you, but no power in the universe can stop us, KMS Eastern Branch Chief Delamair.

So, the Book of the Time Dream is a remote device used by Professor Chronos to connect to the Xeno-Domain main system?

I see... In that case, it would seem that the one who stands against the darkness, the one chosen by Time, is...you, Aldo.

Me?! I...I'm the...?!

Indeed. If you speak aloud the words in that ancient record, the Book of the Time Dream ought to respond.

......

You all had the chance to really visit the Chapel of the Goddess of Time before it fell into ruin, didn't you?

Yeah... You're right, we did.

I'm sure they registered your voice when you did. The person at the chapel, I mean.

My voice? Registered...to the Book of the Time Dream? But...what for?

Perhaps they recognized your true identity and role, and entrusted their futures to you all.

The Daughter of Time at the Chapel... She entrusted her future to me?

And perhaps she somehow knew what would transpire... Unfortunately, I don't know any more than that... But there is some sort of link between the Chapel of the Goddess of Time and the Xeno-Domain main system.

But...how do you know that? Kamlanage?

I can see it myself. The Past, the Future... All sorts of things.

You mean... You can use Visus?!

......

I can't follow a word of whatever you've all been talking about! What is this Chapel of the Goddess of Time?

No need to worry, you'll find out soon enough. You'll see exactly what we've all been talking about.

So, Aldo. Will you try using that in front of the Chapel of the Goddess of Time in Angal?

Yeah... Sure. Let's give it a try.

If you don't mind, would you accompany us, Delamair?

Hmph! As if I require an invitation from a child like you! I intend to see this with my own eyes!