The Final Participants

Night of the final challenge

December 11th, 2050

Road to Heaven’s Reach

“It hurts…” a young Ruby cried. She wore a white laboratory gown with a series of numbers printed on the lapel. She crouched on the floor of a white-painted room, hugging herself in pain. Several cables sticked out on the back of her head, all connected to a giant machine on the wall behind her. That machine had several cylinders of glimmering bronze attached to it. “I can’t take this anymore,” she cried. “Too much light…”

“She needs to focus.”

“Can we maintain the output levels, please? We need to make sure this works properly.”

Ruby clutched her head and wailed a high-pitched scream.

“See? It’s not helping. Make sure the aether is stable before you adjust it again.”

Daiki Tennojima watched behind a glass wall as the young Ruby suffered for their science. His reflection appeared ever so slightly in the glass, his expression stoic and calculating. This was a necessary step to save the world.

“Grandfather, please…” Ruby turned to face his direction. She shouldn’t be able to know where he stood from the other side, but she looked directly at him, pleading. “I can’t take this anymore… make it stop…”

“Wait a minute… How does she know where you are, sir? This can’t be her eye working, is it?”

“Are we finally seeing results?”

“Grandfather!” Ruby stood up and walked towards Daiki from the other side. She stood close enough to the glass wall that it strained the cables attached to her head. “Please!”

Sparks of fire appeared around Ruby’s body, and when she looked up, eyes wide in horror, the right one had turned completely bronze.

“Why are you making me see all this! Make it stop!”

Rei jolted awake from the terrible nightmare he just witnessed.

But he wasn’t actually sleeping and it wasn’t actually a dream. It was a memory of his vision, triggered by the call he received earlier that day.

He breathed heavily, wiped the sweat from his brow, then leaned his head on the window of the car. They sped past the streets of Shinjuku, its neon lights acting like fireflies.

The memory just now… it was slightly reminiscent of Ayane’s memories as a research experiment. The details were different of course, but the pain… Rei knew Daiki was strict and took his work seriously, but to think he’d allow such horrors happen to his own granddaughter.

Research subject, huh?

“You okay there?” Souichiro asked from the driver’s seat. His voice betrayed a hint of concern.

“I’m fine,” Rei said. “I just… remembered something.”

“The boss is safe, but she’s completely drained,” Kiyotaka said to Rei on the phone earlier. “The insurgents are everywhere in the city so we’re going to lay low for now. The challenge is likely to continue, so if you can make it to the shrine, then go. We might catch up with you, but even if we did, the boss wouldn’t be able to fulfill her task in time. She said it’s all up to you now. She’s counting on you, Rei.”

Rei clenched his fists. How the hell did it come to this?

Though perhaps… it was fate. His life was intertwined with the Anti-Exalt Faction after all.

Focus on getting the prize, Rei told himself. It didn’t even matter if Souichiro won the contest. The man was in it for the money and Ruby sure as hell have a ton of that.

“What a terrible ability to have,” Souichiro remarked. “Heard all about it from Yukari. An entire life’s worth of memories? How do you even process that?”

“I don’t,” Rei answered flatly.

The vision of Daiki Tennojima’s memories was the most Rei has ever dealt with. The constant stimuli from his family, friends, acquaintances, work, surroundings, not to mention the stakes involved, made sure it was always in his mind.

And yet, despite that, the old man remained an enigma. What Rei heard about Daiki Tennojima from other people wasn’t always the same as his vision. He supposed that was the whole point of him peering into the man’s memories—to learn who he really was from his perspective.

But the differences only grew bigger the more memories he remembered. Almost like it was a different person who happened to live a similar life.

Ruby clearly cared about her grandfather. She chose to live with him instead of following her parents overseas and remained faithfully by his side to the end.

Kiyotaka mentioned how the man took him in after the loss of his own family.

His apprentices cared about his legacy to the point they’d die for it.

In a casual conversation he had with Lucia, she mentioned how the man had a playful rapport with his research partners in Nevada, sometimes leaving them with puzzles to tinker with.

Yet in Rei’s vision it was mostly about work. And bitterness. And now a memory of treating Ruby horrendously?

So, which was it?

Daiki Tennojima cared and didn’t care. He made connections and avoided them. He was strict and lenient. One or the other.

Full ascension or no ascension.

“I don’t know how the damn quiz will go,” Souichiro said, “but we’re here. Consider ourselves delivered.”

Rei blinked and forgot where they were headed.

Heaven’s Reach Shrine sat on a hill at the highest point of Shinjuku. It was far from the hustle and bustle of skyscrapers and railcars, separated by a spiraling road with nothing but earth, trees and bamboo. At the end of that road, facing east, was a tall set of stone steps leading to a giant torii gate of the deepest color.

It was austere in simplicity, quiet in setting, spiritual in presence.

But as the day turned to night, and the rain ceased to fall, the heavens sang the mightiest sound of bronze. Up in the highest shrine in the world, the chromatic clouds felt alive somehow.

Surely, this time around, that was lucky.

“Is anybody up in the shrine yet?” Rei asked as he stepped out of the car, his breath like smoke. “We passed by so many vehicles.”

“I see people,” Souichiro said with a hand over his forehead. “And the truck that’s been following us the whole time finally caught up.”

A grey van pulled up next to Souichiro’s blue sports car. The door opened and out came Lucia wearing a fresh ivory coat, blonde hair styled perfectly, expression cold.

“Hey there,” Rei said. “We good?”

Lucia’s flat expression broke into a smile.

“We good,” she said. “My task is to make sure you reached the shrine, Reiji. Though I have to say, watching you lose repeatedly in the arcade felt rather… sad.”

“What did I say?” Souichiro tapped Rei in the arm. “You gotta work on those combos, man. Anyways, that’s another exalt with her task completed on the shrine. I’m three for three and it’s almost time for the finale. We better book it.”

Lucia shrugged when Rei gave her a look, and three of them went on to ascend the stairs to Heaven’s Reach. “Keep your eyes peeled, lady and gent,” Souichiro said. “Make those aether shields extra thick. There might be some pissed-off rebels out there tonight.”

The climb felt longer than it should with Rei trying his best to sense aether in every direction. That wouldn’t help against tactile weapons, of course, but he also hoped Ruby would make it before time ran out.

“Ah, crap,” Souichiro whispered under his breath the moment they reached the top. “There goes my win condition.”

In the middle of the shrine, past the torii gate, was a giant cherry blossom tree in place of a traditional sanctuary building. It was probably seventy meters tall, twice the size of the biggest trees out there, with a full crown of pink blossoms despite the coming winter.

Beneath the shade of the tree were several security personnel wearing black suits, body armor, and the winged symbol of the Tennojima Research Institute. With them were three familiar faces: Ruby’s granduncle, Keisuke Yamaguchi, the Tennojima family lawyer, Jirou Kawasaki, and one of the participants in the challenge, Hidenori Matsumoto—who happened to be human and therefore a thorn against Souichiro’s task.

“Ah, welcome!” Keisuke greeted. “We were worried nobody else would show up after… well, the chaos happening all over the city. But rest assured, I had the entire location secured using the institute’s private guard.”

For somebody who quit the contest from the start, the old fellow was surely committed to it. Rei wondered if the old man ever got Ruby’s order to cancel the challenge.

The lawyer on the other hand looked deathly pale, as if he lost several years off his life in worry. The man paced near a giant black box, half as tall as him, next to the tree. It had a rectangular monitor sticking above it, which probably meant the box was a machine housing the institute’s Artificial Intelligence.

“Bad news, pretty boy!” Souichiro yelled at Hidenori. “You can’t be here tonight! I’m afraid we’re gonna have to throw hands if you insist!”

Hidenori looked like he hadn’t slept a wink. The bags under his eyes were thick, and his stylish head of hair had lost some of its brown color, likely due to the rain earlier, while he shivered under a giant grey coat as if put on last minute.

“You look like you barely crawled your way up here,” Souichiro added. “I commend you for not backing out, but now that I think about it, your task was make sure Queen Tennojima made it here safe. I don’t see her around.”

Hidenori looked to the side. “I was hoping she’d get here,” he mumbled. “I ran away as soon as I got the chance, but…”

Souichiro looked at his phone. “Yo, lawyer-man! Are we supposed to have our tasks done before or after the time limit? We got about twenty minutes left.”

“I s-suppose before would be best,” Jirou answered, “though the third challenge will happen here as well, so there wouldn’t be any rush…”

“Yeah?” Souichiro summoned his aether and made his right hand glow. He pointed his index finger like a gun at Hidenori. “Well, I’m not taking any chances. I already heard Gen’ichi bit the dust, so there’s only one person left in my way.”

Hidenori raised his hands in surprise. “W-what? What did I do?”

“My task is to make sure only exalted made it to the shrine,” Souichiro explained. “So, like I said, you can’t be here.”

“That was your task?” Lucia interjected in surprise. “How is that fair to the competition? I thought the tasks were rigged in Tennojima’s favor somehow, but why would Daiki-sensei only want exalts?”

“Hell if I know,” Souichiro said. “Last chance, dude! Leave before I make you!”

Hidenori shrieked. “Wait, wait!” he cried, waving his hands in panic. “I can explain! I’m actually exalted!”

Souichiro raised an eyebrow, glancing slightly at Rei and Lucia.

“I’m just hiding it!” Hidenori reasoned. “I ascended but never had the chance to fully develop my abilities! And… well, my family isn’t fond of it because of my father’s work!” He turned to the two old men. “Y-You know him! He used to work in the institute! He’s the reason I’m here!”

Keisuke nodded. “Professor Yoshifumi Matsumoto was a brilliant mind. To think his son would one day ascend. Ironic.”

“Prove it!” Souichiro spat, then made his aetheric light gather at the tip of his finger.

“Give me a second!” Hidenori shouted. “I’m not too used to using aether!” The man closed his eyes and hugged himself. Little by little, lines of aether sprouted across the man’s body from his shoulders to his arms and legs. The most basic of aether coating.

Rei wasn’t even surprised.

“You seeing this too?” Souichiro asked him and Lucia. “I can feel aether.”

Lucia nodded.

“I see it alright,” Rei confirmed.

Souichiro lowered his hand and extinguished his light. “Guess I’m at four out of three exalts now. That better give me some bonus points, lawyer-man!”

Hidenori sighed in relief, then rid himself of aether.

“W-Well then,” the lawyer said, sighing in relief, “I suppose we can all wait the few minutes until the time is up. Afterwards we can proceed with the question-and-answer portion of the challenge.”