Chapter 106: The One Who Beckons a New Tide

Sunraku: "DAAAAAH, I LOST—!!"

Having respawned at the entrance, I don't even care that the stares of the surrounding players are all focused on a single point—me. I just scream from sheer impulse. Damn it all. At the very, very end, I prioritized offense too much again. Since my opponent adapted to ultra-high-speed maneuvering, Kingfisher—its right wing and left leg damaged, its mobility utterly crippled—had no real chance of winning. Though, looking back, I was definitely lured in. If my legs had at least been intact, maybe I could've forced another draw. But the gap in playtime is just impossible to overcome.

Sunraku: "The reversal assault worked well, but I never thought she'd actually dodge it..."

I didn't expect her to pull off midair movement like throwing a super ball at full force indoors. I know I'm one to talk, but with movement like that, is her equilibrium really okay?

Sunraku: "As expected, without any blade-lock gear, once you get cornered, it's over..."

As time passes, the meta advances. Things must be different from back when I used to play—when all the machines were mind-numbingly sluggish. Kingfisher was originally a machine built as a hard counter to the story bosses. But even if it's just for a change of pace, I do plan to play around for a while, so I'll need to change up my build... While I'm thinking about that, someone tugs sharply at my sleeve. Right—this version of Sunraku is wearing normal clothes. My half-naked life has gone on so long, I've gone numb to a lot of things.

Rust: "That kettle-head and that name... there's no mistake. Kingfisher...!"

Sunraku: "Huh? Ah... Rust? Oh, Rust. Thanks for the match. GG (good game)?"

Rust: "GG (good game)... that's not what I—!"

I turn around. There stands a girl's avatar equipped with a visor—one of the selectable options in character creation—her eyes behind the visor blazing brilliantly as she stares at me. Incidentally, "kettle-head" refers to the headgear of the Enhanced Human-type character "Gadgetman" in Nephilim Hollow: an accessory called the "Nephilim Fusion Assist Unit (Old Model)." According to the setting, it's a tool used in the early experiments of fusing with Nephilim... There's all sorts of heavy lore behind it, but the name comes from the fact that it looks like nothing other than a kettle. Equipping it significantly obstructs the normal avatar's field of vision, so it's not a very popular piece of gear. I just kind of put it on and then retired from the game, so it's stayed that way ever since.

Rust: "Why did you come back...?!"

Sunraku: "Huh? Why, you ask..."

I mean, you don't really need a serious reason every single time you play a game. As I'm thinking that, a young man with quite a tall build—who had been standing behind Rust like an attendant—speaks to me, his voice younger than his appearance suggests.

Mold: "Sorry about this. Rust is... well, like this. But she's happy you've returned to the game."

Sunraku: "Uh, ah, is that so..."

Looking more carefully, Rust is tugging at my sleeve as if pressing in close, but I don't sense any hostility. How to put it... she's like a dog that just found a bone. And this player here, Mold, is basically her owner, I suppose.

Rust: "Quickly... rematch...!"

Mold: "Ah, no, I'm really sorry... She's just gotten a bit too excited."

Rust: "Mold, shut up...!"

Mold: "Ow!?"

Kicked in the shin, Mold cries out in pain. Rust, having delivered the kick, raises her voice with a threatening edge. It's easy to get distracted by their married-couple comedy routine, but in short: this is a direct rematch request from the #1 ranked player herself. And my answer goes without saying.

Sunraku: "Nah. Can't right now."

The moment I say that, it's as if Rust bursts into flames. In an instant, her aura becomes even pricklier. Her eyes narrow, and she asks quietly:

Rust: "Why?"

Sunraku: "I mean, if we're gonna do this, I want to build a new Nephilim and all."

When I started up the game, it loaded quite a lot of updates. And unlike Constipation—which has taken laissez-faire to the absolute extreme—this game probably gets new content added on a regular basis. I'll be back to SLF in about two days anyway, but even so, sticking to just Kingfisher feels a bit dull. Hearing that, Rust's atmosphere softens. Mold apologizes again—"Ah, really, I'm so sorry." Personally, I don't dislike hardcore players who've dedicated their lives to a game. There are certainly those obnoxious types who get too invested and force their own rules onto others, but at the very least, it's preferable to those who stay perpetually cynical and never play seriously.

Rust: "...Then, tomorrow. Rematch tomorrow morning."

Sunraku: "Hmm... okay."

Beneath my mask—where my face can't be seen—I flash a fearless grin and accept Rust's match request.

That said, afterward, I got approached by all sorts of other players, so building the new machine ended up happening a bit later.

In Nephilim Hollow, to build a new Nephilim, you must clear three processes.

First: capturing a wild Nephilim...

I repeat: capturing a wild Nephilim.

In this game's setting, Nephilim are giant ball-jointed mannequins that fall from the heavens. Most Nephilim that descend have their eyes open. These "open-eyed" specimens function as enemies, attacking players. Players take on missions issued by their affiliated organization, "Nephilim Company," and subjugate Nephilim. Occasionally, during these missions, "closed-eyed" specimens are found. These closed-eyed specimens serve as the base frames for the Nephilim that players pilot. Beyond the first Nephilim provided during the tutorial and the ones obtained during the story, if you want to build a third or fourth machine, you must locate a closed-eyed specimen and purchase it from the Company.

Sunraku: "Hmm... oh, this is a type that wasn't around back when I was playing."

Next: obtaining the clothing-parts to dress the captured Nephilim.

The base frame of a Nephilim is, quite literally, a ball-jointed mannequin. Therefore, armor and armaments must be "dressed" onto it, like adorning a doll. These can be acquired from the Company, the black market, or from items listed by other players. Each route has its pros and cons, but since I'm building one anyway, I want to find some interesting parts.

Sunraku: "A wheel that auto-pilots across the ground and explodes. This... is totally a Panjandra—"

Finally: by dressing the acquired parts onto the Nephilim and giving it a name, it fuses with the player for the first time, becoming a fully controllable Nephilim.

Sunraku: "A name, a name, huh... Well, this time it didn't coincidentally end up kingfisher-colored, so I'll just name it based on how it looks."

Let's see, if I translate that into English... no, German is also tempting... Alright.

Sunraku: "Your name is..."

The #2 ranked player, Superballman, was bewildered. This morning, he'd heard that "Kingfisher"—the player whose name remains etched in Nephilim Hollow history as the one who once destroyed the meta—had returned. Superballman has fought Kingfisher before. After all, during Kingfisher's only period of activity—the ranking match where the strongest player, "Rust," fought her second defense battle—Superballman was the very first to face "Kingfisher." In other words, it was none other than Superballman who was the very first to become Kingfisher's prey. Back then, the jade-green wings that had wiped the "Heavily Armored Quattro Cannon"—which dominated the meta aside from Rust's "Crimson Wing Union"—completely out of the environment had abruptly ceased after the ranking match ended in a draw with Crimson Wing Union. At the time, Superballman had only just started Nephilim Hollow and challenged the ranking match with a template Heavily Armored Quattro Cannon build. He was trampled effortlessly and defeated. But now, things are different. After the Heavily Armored Quattro Cannon was driven to extinction, Superballman continued his research within the rapidly shifting meta. His beloved machine, "Bound Dog"—equipped with a flexible laser that can bend its trajectory once via manual player control—eventually carried him to the rank of #2, the man most likely to topple the absolute champion Rust.

Superballman: "What... was that...?"

Was it fate's mischief that he happened to encounter it in a random match he'd casually queued for? Player name: "Sunraku." Without a doubt, that name belongs to the one who pilots Kingfisher. And the form of that Nephilim—which was not Kingfisher—meant one thing: just like back then, Superballman had earned the honor of being the first to fight that new machine. And just like back then, he was utterly shut out. Having respawned at the entrance in a daze, he muttered the name in disbelief.

Superballman: "Fiddler... Crab...?"

Superballman. A formidable opponent indeed. His Bound Dog, which curves its laser like reflecting light off a mirror to launch back-assaults from directly ahead, was incredibly troublesome. But this thing... "Fiddler Crab" couldn't have asked for a better test opponent. Just like Kingfisher, it's undeniable that the first-sight-kill factor contributed to the victory, but this Fiddler Crab's build is focused on PvP.

Sunraku: "One draw, one loss. I'm not a fan of ending with a losing record."

With my SLF frustrations in tow, it's time for the Phoenix takedown. Let's do this.

Nephilim Giants that fell from the heavens. In appearance, they are ball-jointed mannequins. Open-eyed and closed-eyed specimens exist. The former are enemies; the latter serve as base frames for Nephilim. At the end of the story, it's revealed that an extraterrestrial civilization had scattered Nephilim as weapons throughout every universe to oppose an approaching threat, but Nephilim contaminated by that threat began rampaging. The campaign scenario concludes with the defeat of the final boss, "Grigori"—the primordial Nephilim, the very first to fall into the world. Nephilim possess the trait of "adapting" to the weapons of any civilization. Whatever they clad themselves with, they can master.