[201] 1. God's Mercy (6)
Shirone shuddered and forced himself upright. They said the load per unit area had dropped below seventy percent, but without indomitable will it would have been impossible.
The faithful stared with shocked eyes. If Shirone had been a giant like Rian, maybe it wouldn't have been so surprising, but for this slight Shirone to stand was nothing short of astonishing.
"You give your very lives to God. You do whatever He commands. And yet you call a single second nothing? If a second was so worthless to you—does your god so miserly that he cannot grant even one second of mercy to those who trust him?"
Igrin bit down hard on his molars.
159 to 159.
Belief and doubt were exactly balanced. If even one count swung the other way, his authority would vanish.
Rian's movements became much lighter. He who had once borne nearly a hundred percent of the load could easily have swung his greatsword at fifty percent.
Rian gave up the statue pose and began pounding the glass orb filled with black liquid. With repeated blows it cracked with loud snapping sounds and a stream of fluid seeped out.
"Damn it! Damn it!"
The more they hit it, the more anxious they grew. The amount leaking from the cracks alone would not be enough to prevent the subjects from drowning.
The faithful watching the tightrope between life and death swallowed.
It was clear this would work against Igrin. People instinctively side with the weak.
Igrin resorted to his last means.
"Do not be deceived! The scales of my heart judge you! If any here harbors doubt, I will personally shave fifty years from your lifespans!"
Fear—the most effective tool for maintaining power—immediately reclaimed the faithful's belief.
216 to 102.
His authority began to revive at a swift pace.
As the load strengthened, Shirone's knees buckled again. He gritted his teeth and held out, but it was beyond his power.
Most painful of all was that he could feel the faithful's attitudes turning away.
"Shirone..."
At that moment Kanya walked to Shirone.
Her face was ashen. How could she be sane when her mother lay submerged in black water?
"Can she really... live? My mother. Could she leave while smiling in front of me, Rena, and Dad?"
The faithful glanced between Kanya and the glass orb.
Leaving while smiling in front of their family. The time required for that was one second.
"Of course. Your mother is not yet her time to die. You will meet again and smile."
Tears streamed down Kanya's cheeks. Nothing else mattered now.
She only wanted to see her mother. She wanted to see the mother she had seen that morning one more time.
"Then please save my mom, Shirone. Please save my mom. I don't want it. I don't want Mom to become a giant."
27 to 291.
Igrin's eyes widened at the blow to his mind. His authority plunged to the abyss.
Before a gasp could escape his lips, the price of imposture took effect.
He dropped vertically and slammed his knees into the ground. He could not move a finger.
"Now! Everyone, go and stop them!"
With the load gone, Shirone and his companions stamped the ground and sprang forward.
Time was tight. No—time had already been exceeded.
Rian took a full swing and shattered the glass orb.
Amy shut off the switch to the liquid tank.
Tess drove her sword into the device's seam and an explosion erupted from within.
Family members rushed over and pulled the subjects from the shattered orb. But they were coated in sticky fluid, so their condition could not be immediately determined.
The faithful approached with tense expressions. If they had died, decomposition would have already begun.
No one had the courage to witness such a gruesome sight.
The families began peeling the liquid off. Flesh color gradually emerged, and eyes, noses, and lips appeared.
Fortunately, decomposition had not progressed. Kanya's face became a mask of tears when she recognized her mother.
"Mom! Mom!"
She hadn't dissolved in the liquid, but she wasn't breathing. Kanya's father dashed in and began artificial respiration.
Opening the airway and compressing the stomach caused a thick fluid to regurgitate and the mother to cough.
The faithful burst into cheers.
In this moment, the Law had no hold on their minds. The only thing that mattered was the joy of a life returning to a family's arms.
Ding. Ding. Ding.
The bell that marked the end of the Ilhwa rite sounded.
A solemn silence settled over the central plaza.
The revived subjects, supported by their families, looked up at the bell. According to the Law, their lives ended today, but as of yet no one had died.
2. Age of Upheaval (1)
The bell tolled twelve times.
Its sound etched itself into the memories of everyone gathered in the central plaza.
They were still the faithful, and they still followed Ra's Law—but whether that would continue was now uncertain.
"Captain! Are you all right?"
Pheope flew to Igrin.
Seeing Igrin's kneecaps shattered, Pheope felt guilty. She was ashamed she had done nothing while her comrades had been fighting.
Igrin forced a smile, as if to soothe his startled junior.
"I'm fine. This is the penalty triggered when the regulation ritual was destroyed. It's something I must endure. Are you all right?"
"Yes. I'm perfectly fine."
"That's a relief."
Pheope could not bring herself to meet Igrin's eyes.
She must know he hadn't participated in the fight, yet she offered no rebuke and instead worried over his well-being.
Igrin had always been an intimidating superior, but in this moment Pheope could not deny him.
Igrin scanned the plaza with a troubled look.
The tilted statue, the smashed glass orb, the device billowing black smoke.
The Ilhwa rite had been completely invalidated. Today was a day of upheaval for Heaven.
Perhaps the repercussions would be greater than when Miro came.
Miro had been far stronger than the blonde boy. Precisely because of that, she had not acted recklessly. She understood better than anyone the consequences her actions could have for Heaven.
What happens now? An age of cataclysm approaches. From today, Heaven will change.
Pheope suddenly stepped in front of Igrin in a fighting stance. Shirone's party was approaching.
Igrin would be immobile for the next twenty-four hours. On top of that, his knees were crushed. No matter what happened, this time he must not give in to fear.
"Go away! The fight is over! If you insist on attacking, I'll deal with you myself!"
Igrin stopped Pheope.
"I'm fine, Pheope. I would like to speak with this boy myself."
Pheope, embarrassed, quietly made room and stood beside Igrin.
Shirone crouched to meet their eye level as much as possible.
Accustomed to seeing only flying fairies, the grounded guests' size struck them for the first time.
They were truly no bigger than a handful.
Igrin lifted his chin as if unthreatened.
"Hmph! Child from the world of the earth, even if I have lost, that does not negate the Law of God. I too am only a mid-rank among the seventy-two ranks of the fairies, so today's victory will not deify you."
"That doesn't matter. I only wanted to save the life of someone who helped me. Is that so wrong?"
Igrin did not think it wrong. But considering the future impact on Heaven, he could not make guarantees.
Is one life more trivial than ten? No. But what if it were a hundred million? A billion? What judgement would you make then?
Miro had understood that. That was why she had withdrawn from Heaven. In the brutal reality where one must sacrifice one for the many, she had sought the only answer she could find.
But this boy was not that. He did not weigh efficiency when doing what was right. He clearly believed human life could not be measured.
An extreme form of goodness.
Igrin felt what Arkein had felt before.
"Leave this place."
It was the only thing Igrin could say.
"You have sown confusion in Heaven. I cannot even predict what will happen next. So leave. Disappear from our world as soon as possible."
"But we—"
Before Shirone could finish, a red flash flared in the east.
The group turned in surprise.
A burst of light shot up from the Second Heaven, Rakia. Judging by the distance, it was an enormous discharge of energy.
Everyone in the plaza covered their ears.
A vibration shook the heavens as if the world itself were being undone.
Like the strike of a drill, the red flash struck the center of the plaza. As the light faded, an angel whose winged light was torn to shreds appeared.
Igrin's pupils trembled in shock.
"A fallen angel, Ikasa... Why is he here?"
The Second Heaven, Rakia, was where fallen angels were exiled.
Although the Second Heaven could admit entrances from the First Heaven, it was very rare for a fallen angel to come into the realm of the faithful. Their pride—as once dwellers of the Sixth Heaven—would not tolerate interaction with humans.
Igrin realized that the seed of chaos Shirone had planted was already beginning to change Heaven's Law.
"I am Ikasa, a lower angel. I looked down upon the sacred Ilhwa rite, observed this riot, and descended to this land."
Shirone could not stop trembling.
Over two meters tall with crescented eyes. He still bore an angel's beauty, but his temperament was entirely unexpected.
If the angel seen at Nor's shelter had evoked a brilliant sun, this one gave the air of a dying sunset.
"You are those who deny God. Loathsome beings. Foolish creatures who know not what love they have received and dare to blaspheme God."
Ikasa glared at Shirone with hatred.
A fallen angel is a denizen of the Second Heaven, therefore ranked below those of the Third Heaven, the Shehahkim who had obtained eternal life.
Lower even than humans—that such a being would deem humans inferior. Why does God cherish humans so?
Anger that had been nurtured for twenty thousand years teetered on the point of exploding.
"I will judge you in God's stead."
Ikasa's holy aura expanded into a luminous ring one meter in diameter. A huge ring of light formed rails that accelerated glittering particles of light like stars.
Igrin's face turned pale. Fallen angels had lost much of their power for their crimes, but even so, this was beyond what a shaman could handle.
"Ikasa! You mustn't! If a fallen angel opens that ring...!"
"Hohoho! Heretics die anyway! Consider it an honor that I personally deal with them!"
The energy pouring from Ikasa sent Shirone's mind reeling.
The difference in power was an absolute chasm. This could not be. Such a being could not exist in the world.
Shirone turned with all his might. Time seemed to slow as if under a spell. The breath he had exhaled hadn't even reached his throat.
By the time he was finally ready to make a sound, only one thought filled Shirone's head.
"Run!"
Arin was already holding the Meta Gate and preparing to activate the device.
But even for her, a single second was unbearably long.
Faster! Faster! She only had to press the button with her finger, but the remaining two centimeters would not close.
A gust of wind passed behind Shirone. The Meta Gate that had been in Arin's hand vanished as if by magic.
The group stood stunned.
Ikasa, with his left hand on his hip beside Arin, held the Meta Gate up before his eyes and inspected it.
It wasn't invisible. It wasn't as fast as light or as swift as the wind.
But it had been undeniably quick.
A speed somewhere between living and natural—proof that they had been different from humans from the moment of their birth.