Free Tyrant's Stars: Parts Three and Four by Hideyuki Kikuchi

disappeared, followed by a good portion of the shaft.
    “What sort of foolishness is this?”
    The count’s mistake was trying to extract the spear. He had only about half of it back out when a sideways swipe of the club came toward his trunk. His spear went flying, and the club passed through his chest before the count made a great leap back, landing in the same place that his spear had fallen. Holding his weapon at the ready, he charged at Seurat. He appeared to be only a few steps from Seurat when something strange happened to the Nobleman. As if an invisible door had opened, he was drawn up into the air.
    Suddenly, there was silence. Seurat’s gargantuan form looked terribly out of place lying there in the golden sunlight. After about a minute of trying, Seurat managed to sit up and then put enough strength into his legs to stand. The two holes that had been blown in his chest were already fading. That was the unholy power of his replay cells.
    He intended to launch an attack on the count’s vehicle. Greater Noble or not, in this sunlit hour his foe would have no choice but to sleep in his coffin with nothing save the darkness for a companion. This was a perfect opportunity. No matter what kinds of mechanical security devices the car might be equipped with, it had to be worth a try.
    The giant was about to start walking, and then he looked over toward Sue. Normally as expressionless as a stone Buddha, his face rippled with shock waves.
    There was no sign of Sue.
    It was impossible to enter or escape one of his mazes, but in this case someone had completed the circle, which, ironically enough, made escape from it all too easy.

CHAPTER 4

I
    After Seurat had scanned his surroundings twice and then run off, there was a rustling in the bushes near where the cyborg horse was tethered to a tree, and then Sue appeared. Something strange rested on her left shoulder. It appeared to be a man’s left hand. If someone took a picture, it could’ve passed as an example of spirit photography. But that wasn’t all, as it actually said to her, “He left, eh?”
    “Uh, yeah,” Sue said.
    “You know, considering I just freed you and everything, you look mighty displeased.”
    “I’m not. I’m really happy. But he’s not a bad guy.”
    “Probably not,” the left hand said, agreeing with Sue for the first time. “But he’s the enemy just the same. In which case, you should hope he gets his as soon as possible . . . but I don’t suppose you’ve got that in you. Get up on the horse. Let’s get going.”
    “Going where?”
    “There’s a set place for us to rendezvous with the count’s vehicle. No matter how hard Seurat looks, he’ll never find the car. Still, I’ve gotta wonder where the hell D is at. He ain’t doing much of a job of guarding you, little girl, if I had to find you first.”
    “Um, D—well, D was. . .” “What happened?” the left hand asked her, and apparently it sensed something in her tone of voice, because it put even more strength into its fingers. And then it flipped around from behind Sue, did a little hop, and skillfully balanced itself on her shoulder again.
    “He had this power used on him, and then got knocked into the water . . .”
    “What?”
    Sue recounted the battle between D and the giant.
    “Hmm, it’d take more than that to keep a man like him down, but water—and running water at that—doesn’t sound good. Okay, what do you say we go hook up with Braujou, then go out looking for D?”
    “Good enough,” Sue said with a nod. She’d been concerned about D all along.
    The two rode along for about ten minutes before they came across Braujou’s car in the forest. On entering the vehicle, the voice of the count immediately rained down on them, saying, “I see you’re fine.”
    Hearing the unmistakable ring of relief and concern in his words, Sue was a bit bewildered.
    “You sounded quite nice,” he continued.
    “Excuse me?”
    “When you sang that song. What’s it