[428] The Definition of Life (4)
Plu couldn't make sense of Shirone.
"You've been here before?"
Babel was called the grave of angels.
It was a place that had existed long before the denizens of Heaven were born, so it was inconceivable that Shirone—only nineteen—had ever been here.
"Honestly, I'm not sure…"
"Hmm. Like déjà vu?"
Normally it wouldn't merit much thought, but coupled with the iron golems collapsing just before they attacked Shirone, it couldn't be dismissed.
"Let's move somewhere else for now. This place is too dangerous."
"Wait. Are you really going to leave that?"
One of the team pointed at the electricity over the cone.
Even if it wasn't an elemental spirit, it was too valuable to abandon.
Plu felt the same, but she had a bad feeling.
The teammate who'd died hadn't been untalented—he'd been shredded by shrapnel without so much as a reaction.
"Shirone, what do you feel?"
Shirone stared at the glowing electricity.
It wasn't clear, but a faint, distant impression washed over him, as if it had happened long ago.
'Have I seen that before?'
Muttering as he searched his memories, Shirone spoke.
"Ultima."
"Huh? Shirone, what did you say?"
"Eh?"
Shirone turned his head in surprise.
"You just mumbled something. Ultima?"
"Oh? Did I really say that?"
Plu nodded.
She was precise; she wouldn't be mistaken, so it had to be true, but Shirone genuinely couldn't remember.
"We should inspect it."
"You know it could be dangerous, right?"
"That's precisely why we need to check. The controls for Babel's traps should be in the control room."
She had a point.
"Fine. But I'll do the inspection."
"Senior, that's—"
"Listen. This is usually the deputy's job."
Because Shirone had to be kept alive at all costs, Plu risked herself and stepped forward.
She produced a Phoenix and cautiously brought it near the electricity. It crackled and flared as if provoked, but there was no further reaction.
"Hmm, doesn't seem dangerous."
As if waiting for that assessment, the teammate lunged and grabbed the electricity with his bare hands.
"It's mine!"
He was the man with the long philtrum who'd been assigned by Raysis to watch Shirone.
Cold-blooded enough to have been given that task, he was still only human in the face of greed.
As electrical power climbed up his arm and began to be absorbed, he was sure it was an elemental and shouted,
"Spirit, contract with me!"
Blue light spread through the control room and the elemental's power flowed into him.
A vast concept filled his mind and his pupils rolled back without warning.
"Th-this can't be. This is so… immense…"
Murmuring in ecstasy, his face suddenly blew apart.
Shirone and Plu stared, dumbfounded, at the man whose face was gone.
"How foolish. Even if you're impatient, what are you hoping to gain by biting without checking?"
It wasn't mere impatience. The Nor people's hunger for elementals ran deep.
For Shirone and Plu, who could cast spells anywhere through the Spirit Zone, it was an incomprehensible mindset.
Plu glared at the last teammate. He shook his head, raised both hands, and backed away.
There was nothing more valuable than life—an excellent choice.
"Shirone, you going to keep going?"
Plu asked, urging them to stop, but the man's death only strengthened Shirone's conviction.
Babel was sealed with Hena. It had existed before the denizens were born.
"Those who entered here would have been angels or Nephilim. In other words, the Immortal Function was standard. The iron golems appeared because someone who wasn't Nephilim came in."
Plu agreed; given the circumstances, Shirone's theory was very likely correct.
But with two dead already, she couldn't help but warn him.
"Still—be careful. There could be contingencies."
Shirone nodded and reached toward the electricity.
It didn't sting. Electricity crawled up the back of his hand like a living thing.
"Ugh!"
Then a wind roared in his head, like a drill boring into his skull.
Ultima system—the all-universe integrated information system.
By the law index, Level 1.
Unique, indivisible concepts that overlapped with nothing tore through his mind at near-light speed.
"Guh—!"
Shirone understood why the man's head had burst. He felt his own head might do the same.
When the Immortal Function opened, an immense release flooded him and Ultima's concepts poured out into an infinite channel.
His mind went blank.
Only a thin, blue shaft of light seemed to connect him to the outside of that channel.
The last teammate swallowed and stepped closer.
"W-what was that elemental like?"
Shirone turned, surprised.
"Say that again."
"Ah, I was just curious what attributes the elemental had."
With the drone's interpreter turned off, Shirone listened to the man's voice and suddenly became certain.
He couldn't catch the pronunciation, but the meaning sank into his head as if by itself.
'Who built a system like this?'
It wasn't a matter of the denizens' language. Any symbol in the world could be integrated into a single signal and deciphered.
When Shirone pushed his hand into the cone, the electricity passed through the back of his hand and machinery started up.
The flow of information read as clearly as blood through veins.
"So that was the control device."
Shirone nodded at Plu's remark, connected to the main circuit, and scanned Babel.
A bird's-eye layout of a structure so vast it could be called a castle formed in his mind and floated freely.
Thud! Thud!
When the control room wall opened, tube-shaped glass conduits appeared.
They spun rapidly as a red cylindrical light shot up.
"That's the main elevator."
Using the same principle as the Ara-bot's elevator, it transported the three of them a hundred meters underground in an instant.
"Whoa—it's huge."
The control room was so vast its far edges were hard to make out.
A giant screen floated at the front, far larger than life, and beside it stood a cone-shaped pillar identical to the one in the control room.
Shirone slid his hand in without hesitation.
Why did it feel like he'd been here before? Maybe the answer was in these records.
He accessed the control logs through the Ultima system and the screen lit up.
While Shirone skimmed calmly like reading a book, Plu's screen flickered as pages flew by in afterimages.
At some point the screen froze, and strange characters—neither Hena nor the denizens' tongue—slowly appeared.
Only Shirone's eyes followed them.
Through Ultima's single signal, meaning flowed into him in a way he could understand.
Record: Babel Project
Radiant Omega 133 — The First Humanity, Gaia, after its birth, overcame all biological barriers such as sex, inclination, and individuality to establish an integrated mental system.
Omega 187 — Gaia attempted photon-realm departure via the Ultima system but was blocked by Anke Ra's Akashic Record barrier; attempt failed.
Omega 201 — Gaia initiated war with Heaven. Collision between the Ultima system and the Akashic Record.
Omega 387 — Anke Ra attempted the First Reset. Gaia prevented it using the Ultima system.
Omega 412 — Anke Ra's Second Reset attempt failed.
Omega 666 — Gaia was defeated in the final war. Gaia's population reduced by 90%.
Omega 689 — First resistance begins. Gaia analyzed the angels' infinite algorithm and succeeded in implementing Halo.
Omega 717 — Gaia created a strategic extermination weapon to eliminate Anke Ra. Named Babel.
Omega 738 — Babel enters mass production.
Omega 777 — Gaia defeated in the Second Resistance.
Omega 799 — (record redacted), a Gaia representative proposes the possibility of a second photon-realm departure.
Ultima system approval granted.
Omega 892 — (record redacted), talks with Anke Ra. Breakdown.
Omega 927 — Anke Ra dismantles the Ultima system via the elixir of anecdote.
Gaia splits into Kergo, Nor, and Meka.
Omega 987 — (record redacted), Ikael's (record redacted) announced to the denizens.
Great chaos in Heaven.
Omega 999 — The last Gaia (record redacted), photon-realm departure.
End of record.
'What is this…'
Shirone stood with his mouth open.
It was a file chronicling the events between humanity called Gaia and Anke Ra before the denizens were born.
Gaia, having formed an integrated information system, built an ancient weapon called Babel capable of killing Anke Ra.
But they lost the final war and were split into the three races Kergo, Nor, and Meka.
The record divided the entire span into percentage-like chunks, so it was impossible to know how long a single year represented, but one thing was clear.
The last remaining Gaia—the one marked on the screen as (record redacted)—was the one who left this record.
'There are two kinds of redaction. One hides a Gaia's name, the other hides what Ikael called a great crime.'
The screen reset.
A single line, probably carved by the last Gaia, flickered.
Beyond infinity.
Shirone kept staring until Plu couldn't hold back and came up beside him.
"What is it? Why are you staring at something you can't even understand?"
Shirone shook his head. He didn't want the team's ears prying into the Ultima system.
"I'll tell you later. First there's something we need to check. Follow me."
He activated the controls and an iron wall opened to reveal a passage.
Babel lay at the end of that path—the ultimate weapon the first humanity built to kill gods.
'What will it look like?'
They passed through the corridor and entered a chamber resembling a womb.
A single beam of light shone down like a spotlight, and something humanoid knelt there.
It was a woman of smooth, black, glossy metal, cables hanging from the ceiling plugged into her.
The team went pale.
"A-an angel…"
"No. It's Babel."
Plu asked, "Babel?"
"Babel isn't the place's name. It's an ancient weapon that mimics angelic powers."
"What are you talking about? You've been spouting weird stuff since earlier. Explain properly—"
Wheeeee!
The chamber's systems powered up and electricity flowed in.
Power was being supplied to Babel through dozens of cables, as the Ultima system relayed.
This region was constantly struck by lightning, so supply wasn't an issue, but the output was enormous.
Babel, drawing all the facility's power, began to vibrate violently.
It was like a fetus finally being born after draining its mother's nutrients through the womb.
Babel's slender neck straightened, and the legs that had been kneeling rose as if freed from gravity.
Over two meters tall with a lithe form, blue wings unfolded and revealed a beautiful face.
It bore a striking resemblance to someone Shirone knew.
"Ikael?"
Red light flared in Babel's eyes and a blinding white halo spun above her head as a high-frequency roar pierced the air.
"Sh-Shirone. Get out of here."
Plu trembled.
Its power, imitating an angel, was beyond imagination.
'Was the association head planning to fight something like this?'
Babel hovered about a meter off the floor and took in the three people below.
- Babel program activated. Kariel algorithm applied.
- Primary objective: eliminate intruders.
Crackle!
Babel dissolved into a tangle of electricity and vanished. At the same time, a blade as sharp as a knife froze upright inches from Shirone's face.
Only after hearing a clear, tinkling sound from his fingertips did Shirone register his situation.
His arms felt locked in place; only Babel's face slowly approached him, studying him.
- Alert! Alert!
- Upper algorithm: attack prohibited.
- Cause analysis: Gaia Code Number 2 detected. Scanning for Ultima system application. Application confirmed.
- Result: designated as absolutely off-limits.
Babel, whose eyes met Shirone's, slowly withdrew the blade and stepped back with metallic clanks.
- Kariel algorithm reapplying.
- Secondary objective: eliminate all denizens.
Wheeeeng!
The halo spun and Babel's body rose lightly.
Just as the three terrified people lifted their heads, electricity wrapped around Babel and with a roar she pierced the ceiling.
"Ugh!"
The three who steadied themselves in the shaking chamber could only stare, stunned, at the neat circular hole she had made.
Black Angel Descends.