Chapter 73
The Schneider Family originated from Alexandra's grandfather, Otto Wolfgang Schneider, who was known as Germany's Sword Meister.
He was the finest soldier and Officer, a Monster who wielded a katana like a demon.
Showcasing the Divine Skill of slicing through bullets with an electric katana, he made a name for himself in the 1st Corpo War. He formed a connection with Nikola Dusk, the Creator of Dusk City, and alongside him, placed his name on the city's Founder's List.
Thus, the Schneider Family became one of Dusk City's First Generation Noble Families.
His investment in the new metropolis was not wrong, and Schneider Electrics Corp., which he founded after retiring, still remains one of the massive corporations responsible for Dusk City's infrastructure.
Unfortunately, however, he ended up dying while trying to protect Nikola Dusk during the infamous 2079 Dusk Assassination Attempt Incident.
From 2079 AD to 2107 AD, the Schneider Family has been led by his son and the Current Family Head, Eugene Schneider.
He successfully expanded the business his father started, ensuring the continuation of the Family's prosperity, and had two sons and one daughter.
Having grown up under the influence of a strict father, he was similarly Thorough with rules and principles, and this applied equally to the children who shared his blood.
Eugene Schneider taught his Eldest Son and Second Son the culture, business Management, and Self-defense Techniques required of Nobles from a young age.
Thus, the thirty-two-year-old Eldest Son and the twenty-seven-year-old Second Son grew up to faithfully Fulfill their roles in the companies belonging to the Schneider Family, striving for Family Glory.
While their relationship couldn't be called good, they wouldn't fight over the Family's rights as long as Eugene Schneider didn't grow old and lose his current vigor.
And finally, the late-born Third Daughter.
Alexandra Amadeus Schneider.
She was not a Successor.
Her age was one factor, and in a Conservative Noble House, gender could also be a restriction.
It might have been a different story if her abilities were exceptional enough to ignore such restrictions, but that wasn't the case either.
*Above all, she herself had no greed for the Family Head Position or the Management of the company.*
Even Eugene Schneider, who had strictly trained and raised his two sons who looked just like him, was extremely lenient when it came to Alexandra, who looked exactly like his late wife.
She was his adorable, Precious Daughter, the Apple of his eye, and he let her do whatever she wanted. Within reasonable limits, of course.
Thus, the current Tomboy Rich Young Lady was born.
She dabbled in all sorts of aristocratic and elite hobbies, but what she found most Interesting was the Family Swordsmanship left behind by her grandfather.
As if proving that the blood of the Schneider Family ran true, she became infatuated with fighting, war, katanas, and samurai like a tomboy.
And so, at the blooming age of twenty.
The Blonde Young Lady, whose appearance was blossoming as radiantly as a flower, had caused so much trouble in the social circles of the Dusk Upper Class that she was placed under House Arrest. During this time,
through her Attendants' access Rights, she heard Interesting news from the Ronin Community she usually kept an eye on.
A rumor about a figure known as the “hand Butcher,” suspected to be a Pure Asian from Neo Tokyo, working as a Manager at a Small Outskirt Bar and secretly a Reclusive Master.
The information about him stimulated the Young Lady's romanticized fantasies in many ways. An Asian Swordsman from Neo Tokyo hiding his true strength...
Wasn't he the perfect fit for the image of a Ninja or samurai she had always imagined?
Her Eldest Brother and younger brother above her each commanded a Direct samurai Unit numbering in the dozens.
This was because the Force of one's Subordinates was also an important factor in the Succession Competition.
In contrast, all she had were the two Attendant Bodyguards her father had assigned to her.
Both were considerable Experts who had made names for themselves as Ronin in the past, loyal figures armed with Top-Grade cyberware and rigorous training, but their loyalty was directed at her father, not her.
She wanted Her Own samurai.
A Warrior who would listen only to their Master's commands and do anything for their Master.
Part of it was because she was lost in her romanticized fantasies of samurai, but this was also Dusk City, a place drenched in Orientalism.
A loyal samurai Serving a woman was a Regular subject of cinema films, a fantasy that any Noble Family Young Lady would have entertained at least once.
The only difference was that Alexandra Amadeus Schneider was a tomboy who stood out even among other Young Ladies, possessing an exceptional level of drive.
Her mind was made up.
The figure known as the hand Butcher seemed perfectly suited to be her exclusive samurai. At the very least, he was the best Candidate among those she had found so far.
And she was someone with a fierce possessiveness, never giving up on something once she decided to have it.
It was to the point that the New Model “01 Albatross she had obtained after relentlessly begging her father to buy it for her—having seen Mitsubishi Corp.”s Display Aerodyne flashing as it flew along the skyline when she was young—was still stuck in a corner of the Aerial Vehicle Parking.
Thanks to her years of living as a tomboy, sneaking out without her father's knowledge despite being under House Arrest was not difficult.
She paralyzed the cyberware that sent real-time Location and Safety Alerts to her father through special means, threw a massive tantrum at the bodyguards who were with her twenty-four hours a day, and headed to Bar Dragon's Lair.
Since she was on her way to recruit a Warrior from Neo Tokyo, she thought she shouldn't lose the battle of spirits as his future Master. So, she even secretly stole the Family Heirloom, the Legendary Katana "Kokuyōtō," from its Display case and brought it along.
It was a Bestowed Sword given directly by the Emperor to her grandfather, Otto Wolfgang Schneider, when he saved Tokyo on the Brink of Submersion—a city evaluated as having the best Technology of its time—from Terrorism through a Special Operation.
It contained a power source capable of replacing the electricity of a small city for a month,
and it was said that only someone possessing the Genetic Code of the Schneider Family could unleash the sword's true abilities.
Of course, that was merely the Minimum Requirement.
The Security Procedure of this sword, created by Japan's Artificial Intelligence before it was Infected by the FAIV Virus, demanded extremely strict conditions from its user,
and the only ones who had met them so far were her grandfather, Otto Wolfgang Schneider, and her father, Eugene Schneider.
Because of this, there was even a saying that only the One Recognized by the Sword could become the Family Head of Schneider.
She had Taken the katana out of the Display case and swung it countless times before, but the black obsidian blade had never responded to her.
That might be why she fearlessly brought Kokuyōtō all the way to the Outskirt Bar, Dragon's Lair.
In her head, she knew it was an incredible weapon, but when she actually used it, it was nothing more or less than a sturdy, well-made sword.
...That was a stroke of luck for me.
Thanks to that, the katana ended up coming all the way to me.
The Life Data of the Blonde Young Lady, Alexandra Amadeus Schneider. The Stream of Consciousness stretching out from there.
The Link Data unfolding within the vast cyberspace.
Tech/Nano Corp., Schneider Electrics Corp., Dusk Watch, the Relic Servers of administration Skyland...
All the Databases and Matrixes existing in Dusk City flashed past in an instant.
And now, before my eyes was the Schneider Family tree.
From the Former Family Head Otto Schneider to the Current Family Head Eugene Schneider, from Eugene Schneider to the Eldest Son Heinrich Schneider, the Second Son Fritz Schneider, and the daughter Alexandra Schneider.
All of them branched out from the same bloodline and bore the surname Schneider, thus fulfilling the Minimum Requirement to Activate the katana's abilities.
The Answer lay within their genes.
From the Biometric Information of the Founding Family Head buried in Discarded City Data and the old records of the Schneider Family, to the Biometric Information of the Current Family Head and his children, tightly bound by top-Top-Tier Security Services, Classified-Level Firewalls, and White Artificial Intelligence.
I had plunged into The Deep Sea of cyberspace to find them. Because it was an untraceable Area on the clearly exposed surface.
Fwoosh.
My vision was dyed pure white.
The outward appearances of the figures making up the Family tree, and beneath that, the cells building their bodies, the chromosomes within the cell nuclei.
The thousands of genes inside the Twenty-Three Pairs of Chromosomes.
The chemical substances containing Biometric Information within the double helix Structure of Deoxyribonucleic Acid.
I could see it all.
The Base Sequence Blueprint made up of four types of alphabets pierced into my brain.
TGAGGGTGAAGGACCATAAAACTCCAGTC...
It was a Flood of Information, far too much for one person to take in, and on top of that, unclassified and unsorted. I felt something trickling down my nose.
The result of dismantling the blueprint formed from the stage of a human's birth down to the Genetic Unit, and then absorbing it.
I didn't know how I was able to interpret it, or how I could contain it with my Brain Capacity.
Everything flashed by, and along with the sensation of my brain melting, I somehow just knew. It felt as natural as knowledge that had always existed.
I knew that Otto Wolfgang Schneider possessed an exceptionally advantageous Factor Combination regarding the Essential Amino Acid Conversion Gene and the Electrolyte Balance Maintenance Gene, which were favorable for Physical Strength Exercise.
I knew that his factors were passed down to future generations, giving all the figures of the Schneider Family outstanding Genetic Traits in physical factors that determined Athletic Ability, such as Muscular Endurance, agility, and Physical Coordination.
I also knew that one couldn't have everything; as a trade-off, the combination of the Hair Follicle Cell Development Factor and the Male Hormone Regulation Gene was disadvantageous, and their Immune Cell Factor was Poor, making them a bloodline that had to Watch out for Male Pattern Baldness and Alopecia Areata.
I knew Schneider.
I knew Otto, Eugene, Heinrich and Franz, and Alexandra.
I could also recognize their genes passed down through generations, and the Artificial Mark creating a consistent, overlapping pattern within the Encoded Base Code.
Srrk—
I reached out toward the sparkling Sea of Factors.
I pulled out a few strands of repeating traits from among the brilliantly colored threads building up the DNA composed of 3 Billion Base Pairs.
The pattern drew a single katana shining in pitch black, like looking at an Obsidian Scalpel. Just looking at it made me feel like I would be sucked in.
This was the key to unlocking the Biocode Lock, security system Stage 1 of the black obsidian blade, Kokuyōtō.
I had obtained the Schneider Family's Bio-ID that I wanted.
As I raised my head, I saw the infinite Universe of Cells and Chromosomes before my eyes, illuminated by countless stars and electrical signals blinking and bursting.
Alexandra Amadeus Schneider's Nerve Cells, Muscle Cells, Skin and Heart Cells... A chain of twisting, spinning curves rotating while containing all that information.
Red, blue, yellow, green, purple, cyan, black.
From among the particles flashing blindingly in full color, I pulled out a single Black Japanese Sword held in my hand.
Was it because I was holding it in my hand on the Outside, or was it because this katana was also Connected to cyberspace?
It wasn't hard to find. Just by imagining it, it appeared before my eyes.
I pushed the Black Key into the handle of the Tech Weapon, where The Deep blue Energy Fusion Reactor shone beneath the surface of the Polymer Carbon Alloy blade.
Vwoooom—
The Microchip rang out, heating up red-hot.
Through the Net Link, through the cyberspace Beneath the Surface, the Replicated Genetic Key was transmitted.
Ruumble.
*At the same time, the World that had stretched out grain by grain like a forest of glowing trees, like roots of light, gradually began to Collapse.*
The chip couldn't hold out any longer.
The Cyberdive, executed in an abnormal manner, was coming to an end in an abnormal way.
My vision blinked red.
Dark red, blood-colored spots embedded themselves in my sight, sounding a WARNING alarm alongside a ringing in my ears.
Blood burst from both my nostrils, and my head throbbed as if my brain were shrinking amidst the intense dizziness.
...I hadn't even managed to tear into the remaining conditions to Activate the katana yet.
I needed to look into the security system a little more. Otherwise, even after obtaining the Genetic Code, I wouldn't be able to use the sword properly.
As the World was once again dyed black and fading away, I reached out for the black obsidian blade with that single thought.
Even within the Digital Cybermatrix, I felt the Cold, chilling metallic touch against my skin as I Lost Consciousness once again.
...
...
...
[Linking...]
...
...
...
⟰⟰⟰⟰⟰⟰⟰⟰
[Bio-ID does not match...
Beep.
Error occurred, correcting...]
[Correction complete. Bio-ID recognition complete. Welcome,
Aaron “Jo Nakamura” Schneider.]
When I opened my eyes, the first sound I heard was a stiff Mechanical Voice. The Mass of Iron held in my hand was calling out to me.
[1st Bio-Condition met. Conducting assessment to determine if the 2nd and 3rd physical/mental requirements are met...
Bzzzt.
...Skipping assessment. Special Authority Approved.]
[built-in Technology,
Razor Aura blade,
Activating.]
The katana moved.
With a bizarre Whirring sound, the blade gradually split apart, revealing an empty space like a lid opening.
The surface descended downward, exposing the pitch-black, empty void inside. From within it, a faint blue light leaked out.
Seeing the change in the black obsidian blade, Ned Ludd frowned for a moment, but without hesitating in the slightest, he swung down the Plasma Katana in his hand.
It was likely a Judgment stemming from the fact that a similar phenomenon had occurred earlier, but nothing had happened and it had merely been a fake.
He must have thought that this time, too, it was nothing more than a bluff, a Trick, and that it was right to just cut me down and end it.
It was a rational Thought Process in its own way, but if he had seen the expression on Alexandra Amadeus Schneider's face behind him...
He might have made a different decision.
The blonde Noble Family Young Lady was making a face I had never seen before in my life.
Eyes Wide Open as if they would pop out, mouth gaping wide to reveal her teeth, pupils trembling as if an earthquake had struck.
Her gaze was directed entirely at one single place.
────────────.
Unlike Ned Ludd's katana, which was wildly leaking crackling noises, it didn't make a single sound.
As if proving that this was what a true High-end Tech Product was, light poured silently from the suddenly opened interior of the sword.
It was a captivating yet ominous Blue Beam.
Pure energy, tinged with a piercingly Cold blue light, gathered and pierced the empty air.
It felt as if even the air was burning from the scorching heat.
The Laser Aura, created by combining heat rays and Compressed Blue Plasma Technology, blazed and formed the shape of a blade.
It spewed forth from the katana's handle and cleaved the space before my eyes.
Moving exactly as I wanted, exactly as I swung it, and—most importantly—a sword of light capable of cutting through anything as long as it existed in the World, a Lightsaber.
"...Badass."
I wanted to spit out a cooler line, but with my exhausted body and mind, that was the only word I could think of.
I barely managed to swing the Light Katana with my heavy arm. Somehow drawing out the last remaining ounce of strength in my body, I moved the hilt that anchored the Laser Aura.
And that was enough.
The most dangerous situation would have been Ned Ludd moving faster than me, attacking me before I could even move the activated katana.
But was it because squeezing out every last drop of my strength to swing had an effect?
Or was it because Ned Ludd, belatedly seeing the Laser blade, twisted his body to dodge with a look of sheer horror?
His katana didn't reach me, and my katana cleanly sliced through his sword.
Srrk.
The Red blade, which had been spewing Plasma Heat, was sliced as smoothly as tofu.
It passed through so lightly that it didn't even feel like I had cut through anything.
Just, light passing through. That was all.
And in the next moment, the sword Ned Ludd held split cleanly in two, letting out a cracking sound.
If it hadn't been for the previous Process of steadily hammering away at the sword, it might have just ended at cutting it in half like that. There might not have been any more drastic effects beyond that.
But that wasn't the case. The efforts I had made, rushing in and clashing like a madman, definitely bore fruit.
Just as water drops can break a rock, enough load had already been applied due to the multiple impacts.
The internal cracks, the Plasma Heat Ray, could no longer withstand the intense External Stimulus acting as the final trigger, and caused a short circuit.
Going beyond merely showing signs of collapsing, it burned black and sparked a larger flame than before.
Like a Time Bomb, as if it would explode if touched.
Fwoooosh.
At the red flames rising from his fingertips, the precursor to the Explosion, Ned Ludd muttered in disbelief.
"No way—"
BOOOOOOOOOOM────!
And those were his last words.