[319] One Third (5)
"If someone helped another for payment, that would be illegal. But the situation itself is the same. What if Fermi just helped someone on a whim? Could you really call that unfair?"
Olina had no answer.
"The graduation exam candidates are ranked from first to thirtieth. But the gap between students isn't the same each year. Some years the levels are close and competitive; other years a singular talent appears and sweeps everything. Fermi's case isn't any different."
"Even so, deliberately failing is a problem. It goes against the purpose of the graduation exam."
Alpheas shook his head.
"Think about Shirone in Class Four. He'll probably be in the graduating class next year. If Shirone went pro right now, what level would you put him at?"
Olina put a finger to her lips and thought.
"Hm. If you limit it to combat ability, he could probably hold his own up to Rank 8, I'd say. Honestly, below Rank 6 it's all the same—just people leapfrogging each other."
"That's easy to say from up here. From the students' perspective, even a Rank 10 mage is a tremendous hurdle. And that's natural. But there are always outliers who transcend the usual level. You can't argue fairness just because a few of those kids are included."
"That may be, but…."
"Competition next year will be far tougher. The squad moving up to the graduating class next semester could be called the strongest in history. Do you think they'll complain just because their year's competition is harsher?"
"But those kids wouldn't intentionally fail."
"You don't know that. I'm not saying they will deliberately drop out; I'm saying it's hard to set a clear standard in cases like this. Whether there's lobbying or not, the free-competition system doesn't change."
Olina rested her chin on her hand and let out a tight sigh.
For now there was no way to topple Fermi's autocratic setup. What in the world could drive a pro-level mage—one whose skills even raised questions about rule violations—to do this?
"In the end, there's no way to save Amy. It's a pity."
"Are you certain Amy would have passed a hundred percent if there'd been no collusion?"
Alpheas' leading question made Olina's face sour.
"If we judge by talent alone, yes."
"Carmis' crimson gaze is famous across the continent. She soaks up whatever you teach like a sponge. Talented at everything, you could say. And she is, in fact, very beautiful."
Olina gave Alpheas a cold look. It wasn't exactly wrong, so she propped her chin on her hand and snorted.
"…Being too pretty is also a drawback."
"I've watched her since she was twelve. She'll pull through."
They both turned to the window. The school, which had seen so many incidents over the year, lay quiet now, like a stage after the curtain fell.
So another year at the School of Magic came to an end.
Momentary Rift (1)
Heaven — Sixth Heaven, Jebul.
The angelic city of Jebul housed two kinds of mecha systems.
One was Ingris, which contained the Akashic Record; the other was the Grand Cosmology Hall, the research laboratory of the archangel Kariel.
The Grand Cosmology Hall, which Shirone had razed with his photon cannon, had been neatly restored.
The central control system, a massive pillar-shaped structure, was the tallest edifice in the Hall. Beside the pillar that emitted multicolored light, a galactic sphere that tracked the motions of the stars turned smoothly.
The Grand Cosmology Hall had returned to its former appearance. Heaven had not.
Since Shirone left, a wind of change blew through First Heaven, Shamain. The citizens no longer accepted Ilhwa's teachings as the only truth, and some among them had become radicalized.
The more that happened, the more the angels threw every resource they had at piercing the Labyrinth's spacetime.
At the vanguard stood the archangel Kariel.
The Archangel of Birth, who had tried to cast the Elixir of Life on Amy, Tess, and Arin when they were captured by the fallen angel Ikael.
The most intellectually gifted of the archangels, he had analyzed the meta-gate Shirone left behind when he returned to his original world.
At last he found the coordinates that led to the land of Earth. But to reach it, they would have to break through the Labyrinth's spacetime.
"Even with the coordinates, we have to punch through it. And that's tricky."
"If so, restoring the coordinates was meaningless, wasn't it?"
Kariel turned at the grand voice.
Realizing who spoke, he smiled. Another archangel, Uriel, floated in midair in pristine heavy armor.
Angels are taller than humans, but Uriel was tallest even among them, reaching three meters. He was broad as well; his chestplate nearly reached his chin.
Kariel fluttered his wings of light and rose to the top of the central computation system. A forty-meter-high screen stood there, countless numbers scrolling across it.
"Not necessarily. There are now a substantial number of Nephilim in the land of Earth. Even if we break the Labyrinth's spacetime, they could probably erect a firewall. But with the coordinates, we can ignore that."
"Break the Labyrinth's spacetime? Wasn't that strategy dismissed long ago?"
Only Anke Ra could dismiss an archangel's proposal. In fact, when the Last War was cut off by the Labyrinth, Anke Ra forbade any probing of the land of Earth.
The archangels didn't know why, but they could not defy Anke Ra's will, who presided over the Akashic Record.
Kariel didn't give up.
The decisive catalyst had been Shirone's appearance. His existence had changed the citizenry. And that change was amplifying with time.
"I don't mean to oppose Ra's will. Think of this as precautionary. The land of Earth will have to be conquered someday. If we wait until then to make preparations, it could be too late, right?"
"Then…you're not certain about this experiment either."
Kariel lifted one corner of his mouth.
He had never once lacked certainty. It was just that each time they tried, the Labyrinth had responded with uncanny swiftness and blocked them. It felt like they were playing a game with her from some unseen place.
But today, she would have to relent.
The Labyrinth's spacetime would be pierced. Anke Ra would not want it… but what could one do? It was simply fate.
Kariel flew past the galactic sphere toward the western wall. Uriel watched briefly, then summoned a fearsome gust of wind and caught up with him in an instant.
"All right, this is what I'm showing today."
"...."
Uriel had no immediate comment.
Kariel's masterpiece took up a quarter of the enormous Grand Cosmology Hall: a rectangular wall forty meters wide and seventy meters high.
Until a moment ago Uriel's stature had seemed titanic, but in front of that wall he suddenly looked small.
"It's quite large."
When Uriel acknowledged it, Kariel grew even more triumphant.
"I wondered why we couldn't break the Labyrinth's spacetime. Dimensional walls are, by nature, unbreakable. But with this celestial sheet, we can. Like freezing an unbreakable liquid so it shatters—this will strike the Labyrinth's spacetime directly."
"A direct strike. In short, this sheet is the Labyrinth's spacetime?"
Delving into specifics would make that misleading, but in simple terms the idea wasn't wrong.
Well, why not? Kariel hadn't called Uriel for his head so much as for his arms.
"If this sheet breaks, the Labyrinth's spacetime should break too. I wanted to add amplification circuits, but that's impossible without Ikael's help."
Uriel avoided answering.
Ikael would not help. Not only was she imprisoned for an unpardonable crime, but Shirone's actions had made it seem even more certain that she sympathized with humans.
Kariel tapped the celestial sheet.
"So? Want to try?"
Uriel hesitated over whether to shatter it.
Kariel claimed that breaking the sheet would break the Labyrinth's spacetime. And that would go against Anke Ra's will.
No one could stand against Ra's will, Uriel thought—not because Ra was strong, but because he was the whole. Whatever future came, Ra was still Ra. Kariel knew that, which made his move reckless.
Uriel decided to be honest with himself. From the start, the one who really bothered him wasn't Ra but Ikael.
Why…had Ikael abandoned them?
Since ancient times the angels had carried divine will to the land of Earth and had also carried out its destruction. Uriel had been instrumental in that destruction; his power had overturned continents and split seas in two.
But even Uriel had begun to doubt when rumors spread that Ikael might be taking the humans' side.
Ikael was always right.
No—that wasn't a matter of right and wrong. Even if she were wrong, he wanted to follow her. If it was his nature, he would devote himself to that conviction even if it was a mistake.
Kariel had likely lived with similar thoughts.
Angels had no concept of a mother. But if anyone could be called a mother, it was Ikael—the chief among archangels who had cared for them since birth.
Uriel glanced at Kariel. That innocent smile of his brought a very old memory to mind.
Kariel hadn't always been like this. Mischievous and perverted as he was, he hadn't always been obsessed with bringing things into being. He used to create amusing, ingenious devices and give them to Ikael; she would laugh and pat him fondly.
"Kariel, I could destroy it. You know I could. Do you really want this?"
"Haha! This time it won't be easy. No—truthfully, it has to be destroyed. I want to annihilate the land of Earth as soon as possible. If we break the Labyrinth's spacetime, today will be that day."
"Why so impatient? Ra still hasn't sent any message. Imyl still hasn't awakened. Is this really necessary?"
Kariel glanced toward the outer reaches of Jebul. The uprising in First Heaven, Shamain, had spread to Second Heaven, Rakhia; battles between citizens and fallen angels raged there.
"Shirone changed Heaven. And this is only the beginning. We must break the Labyrinth's spacetime and wipe out the humans as soon as possible."
Kariel's urgency wasn't entirely unreasonable.
But for an archangel who had destroyed countless earthly realms to be so worked up over a citizens' uprising was still odd.
"Do you think annihilating humans will bring Ikael back?"
Kariel's face hardened at once.
"…What do you mean?"
"Ikael's guilt has already been erased. The incident itself no longer exists. Gevin disappeared as a result as well. With that much cleared, shouldn't at least the two of us forgive her?"
Kariel's radiance expanded at a terrifying speed.
When a luminous ring over forty meters in diameter unfurled, the Grand Cosmology Hall's mecha system sounded emergency alarms. It was as if the system reflected Kariel's current state of mind.
"Guilt erased? Then what are these filthy memories left in us? I don't care about Gevin! I just find Ikael disgusting! Don't you dare bring her up again!"
"Are you really going to fight her? Kariel, I'll ask you again. I'm asking if you truly intend to fight her."
Kariel's expression mixed sorrow and rage.
"She bore a human child!"
His halo sent out a ripple like a wave. As the mecha system toggled on and off, the Grand Cosmology Hall flickered.