[464] The Call of Ra (6)
"Ikael… why…"
Shirone stared at Ikael with a mournful look.
Her brow furrowed, the face before him was nothing like the kindly impression that lingered in his memory.
What on earth was she hiding?
No—why had she changed?
The Ikael who had said she sided with humanity after meeting Gefin was gone; in her place was the solemn dignity of a grand archangel, wielding overwhelming authority to control humans.
If they had been even a little slower, the First Rebel Command would have exploded.
Countless lives would have been lost.
More terrifying than the fact that Shirone had struck her was the thought that someone might die by her hand.
"Enough. You came here to make a peace accord, and now you flip your words like that?"
"Shirone, there is no eternal peace. I offered only a truce. But human decadence has reached the heavens; by the Law they must be annihilated."
Anke Ra sought an answer to the vanished one's question. This truce existed for that single purpose.
Ra's will pressed down so intensely—even forbidding the activity of angels, his own appendages—that it reached deep into Ikael's being. Still, he could not simply let arrogant humans run wild.
"The negotiations are over. We will annihilate the rebels here and establish Heaven's authority."
"Do you think it will be that easy?"
Gaold and the others moved up behind Shirone.
Around them, hundreds of rebels sat mounted on Guroi, battle-ready. In the distance, the roar of Titans' engines could be heard.
From Ikael's perspective, it was contemptible.
No human could harm an archangel. The stature of the Law itself was on a different plane.
If possible, a Law that transcends Law. Something that surpasses humanity.
'Like that person…'
Ikael shook her head decisively.
She would think no more.
"Prepare. It's coming."
A dense battle aura unfurled from Ikael.
Even if it weren't Ataraxia, the force was powerful enough to make mountains and trees tremble; Shirone and his group tensed.
Gaold fixed Ikael with a sterner glare than before.
The archangel's actual might was, as expected, immense.
But they could not afford to lose.
Even if victory were impossible, there was a reason they absolutely could not be defeated.
Kukukukukuku!
The ground beneath where Ikael stood crushed inward; cracks radiated in a circle.
Her body coiled, filled with terrible explosive potential, ready to spring forth.
Before any human could perceive it, she could reach the entire Rebel Command. In short, the first target would certainly die.
Even Cage Team B, which had intended to stay out of it, had no choice but to assume defensive positions at range.
'The one who must be removed first is—'
Ikael's eyes snapped open and she lunged forward.
'Shirone.'
Although Ra had forbidden the angels' activity, the archangels—born from the primal concept—were not bound by Ra's Law.
They were surely watching this place in real time through their "bending gaze."
Ikael closed on Shirone so fast that the entire scene, including him, seemed frozen in time.
'If I don't show my will, the authority of the angelic commander will be shaken.'
She had already made a mess of things.
If it wavered any further, the archangels would fall out of her authority and act on their own judgments, and that would create enormous obstacles to fulfilling Ra's will.
'Therefore—'
Eliminate Shirone.
By the time that thought formed, she had already halved the distance to him.
Then the world began to move again.
Babel and Gaold shifted almost simultaneously, followed by Sein, Zulu, and Armin.
Then Kangnan, then Etella, Shiina, and Kuan took up counterattack stances.
Even when Plu executed the Dawkins algorithm and began to move automatically, Shirone did not budge.
In the state of adamantine armament, perception sharpens enormously.
Thus his stillness was entirely his choice.
Being quick-witted is, in a way, an unhappy thing.
You see what you need not see, and think what you need not think.
Ikael gritted her teeth and bared her nails at Shirone.
She would tear out his heart.
Dodging the strike Babel swung, she thrust her five fingers toward Shirone's chest.
A wind that had been building for dozens of meters struck Shirone, whipping his robe back.
At that instant, Ikael's hand froze.
'Why…'
Shirone's face, drenched in sorrow, appeared.
'Are you crying?'
Tears streamed down the beloved eyes he looked at.
They exerted a restraint stronger than the authority of an archangel or even Anke Ra.
How much of herself had she poured into this boy?
With every counterattack halted, Shirone spoke in a trembling voice.
"I just… wanted, like before… just once… to be held…"
At Shirone's words, Ikael's halo quivered violently.
Her memories had been erased. But the memory that erasure had occurred had not been erased.
On the thinnest edge of that erasure—smaller than a particle—was an emotion deeper than the universe.
She had truly lost her memories, but she realized with absolute certainty that what had been taken was something she must never have lost.
She had to accept that it was unbearably precious.
Ikael slowly lowered her hand.
She couldn't embrace Shirone, but she could not harm him either.
'I can accept it.'
Ikael stepped back slowly.
With every step she took away, the tension pressing on everyone's shoulders eased by what felt like tons.
When Ikael returned to her original spot, a dazzling multicolored panel flared to life before her and a triangular Mara manifested.
Only a few of Gaold's group knew that Ashur was Heaven's greatest spellblade.
"Ikael."
"Speak."
Ikael kept her gaze on Shirone as she answered, her tone casual because she already suspected what was coming.
"There's a backlash. Kariel has called the Fire Giants into the Second Heavens and Yuriel has synchronized with him. The remaining archangels have scattered across Heaven with differing aims."
They had noticed as well.
Although Ikael had regained her original power, there was now a fatal flaw.
If she could not command everyone by sheer force, the archangels would act on their own judgments.
Of course, after forbidding the angels' activity, only Kariel and Yuriel were likely to stray so far as to reject Anke Ra's message.
But at least the three maras commanded by the other archangels were in positions of freedom.
'A true upheaval for Heaven. But this is another burden I must shoulder.'
Ikael asked, "What about the movements of the ordinary angels?"
"They're not leaving the First Heavens. Bound by the higher Law of archangelhood, they won't act recklessly."
That was not a guarantee.
If any archangel provoked another backlash, it would affect the ordinary angels too.
"Let's return. Negotiations have failed."
Ashur nodded, looking uneasily at Shirone.
The sin Ikael had committed had been expunged when she was reinstated, but only Ikael had lost her memories.
So Ashur had some sense of the relationship between Ikael and Shirone.
Yet that made the situation even more abnormal and dangerous.
To fully reinstate Ikael, the cleanest option would have been a reset—erase the incident entirely so no variables could arise.
But Ra had not done that.
'No—could he not do it?'
Could that be?
Even the Ultima System had failed to stop Ra's reset.
So the inability to reset suggested a situational constraint unrelated to Ra's power.
'In other words, Ra is currently unable to attempt a reset.'
An electric shiver ran through Ashur.
'Damn it. The timeline we're in…'
They had struck into the timeline before the subordinate incident completed.
So the war between Heaven and the rebels was only the visible layer; beneath it, a high-level psychological war was being waged.
On humanity's side someone—an individual, a group, an organization, or something larger—was controlling the timeline.
'That's why Imir does not move. Everything's completely tangled.'
If the other side made the first variable, the event they were experiencing would be the first to escape the reset.
In other words, the raw timeline was flowing.
Even supreme spiritual beings like angels could not predict temporal variables beyond causality.
Anke Ra was not suppressing the war so much as fighting alone—
Against whoever controlled the timeline on humanity's side.
'Then I should keep my mouth shut too.'
They couldn't know how today's small variables might affect Heaven; for now, they had no choice but to follow Ra's judgment.
Biting the frustration of being unable to even predict the near future, Ashur signaled Ikael to return.
Just as Ikael was about to fly off, Gaold asked, "Where is Miro?"
Although the rebels' morale had been shaken by today's events, Gaold knew she would come. That must be why Kariel had locked Miro in Lakia.
"She's in the Second Heavens."
Ikael answered plainly.
Ashur had a vague sense of what Gaold intended; Ikael felt it too.
To command seven archangels, it was safer to keep the most dangerous elements—Kariel and Yuriel—somewhat restrained.
"I see. Go find her."
Ikael didn't answer; she shot up like light and vanished from the command's sight.
* * *
The mood at the Rebel Command was solemn.
They had ruined Heaven's unprecedented offer; there was no one to blame but themselves.
The officers held heated meetings through the night without deciding on war, and Gaold's group gathered their thoughts in private.
Whatever they decided, the project had to proceed.
That was true not only for Gaold but for Shirone as well.
'Ikael.'
Why had she been so cold to him?
If it were only a misunderstanding, admitting it would end it.
But in the end, she had been unable to attack.
In that hesitation lay the words Shirone had desperately wanted to hear.
A knock sounded and Sein entered; Shirone forced a smile.
There was a faint bitterness—he could guess the reason for Sein's visit.
"How are you feeling?"
It was odd for a servant like him to care about emotions, but Shirone did not dislike the question.
"I'm not sure yet. It doesn't feel real."
"I won't ask about the exact nature of you and Ikael's relationship."
Sein meant it.
That was Shirone's private matter.
"I know. You fulfilled the contract terms, so I won't hesitate either. Devise an operation to activate divine punishment."
Sein nodded.
For now, that was the most important matter.
"If Ikael differed from what you expected in some part…"
Sein raised a second point.
"Then it was probably Anke Ra's Akashic Record that activated."
"Are you saying Ikael lost her memory?"
"That's possible. If part changes, the whole changes. Anke Ra is a whole, so it doesn't matter how it changes, but we'll exploit the variables that arise. Ikael also falls within that scope."
Shirone understood what Sein meant.
It meant the war wasn't over yet.
"You will carry out an independent mission. It's best if Zulu supports you, but there's a small complication on our side. Plu will attach to you."
Shirone felt pleased.
He'd sensed it even at the Second Command: Plu was the most reliable ally.
"Yes. I'm very happy about that."
"Rest. I'll tell you when the operation is set."
Sein finished his business tersely and turned to leave.
Just as he opened the door, Shirone said, "Thank you."
Sein paused, searching for his final words, then closed the door.
"...It's only part of the tactics."
Probably so, but Shirone felt much lighter than before.
'Ikael.'
He would see her.
That was his sole reason for coming to Heaven.