[476] As Far as the Road Behind (3)
"He went in!"
Gaold was certain.
The instant the tingling explosion of Vacuum Press erupted from his fingertips, he felt Yuriel shudder—clear and unmistakable.
It was a certainty that hit him like ten million times his sense of touch.
There wasn't a speck of dust nearby, but the warping of the atmosphere alone had reduced visibility to nothing.
As air rushed outward, the battlefield—momentarily in a vacuum—was struck by a backblast whose force made a typhoon seem trivial.
The air spun and converged, turning into violent turbulence that birthed hundreds of whirlwinds.
Through that wind's motion, Yuriel could be seen curled into the Geukrak-gon, protecting his huge frame.
"Is this really a human technique?"
Having fought countless battles, Yuriel knew the superiority of nonaction didn't guarantee victory.
If there existed a human technique an archangel couldn't foresee, then being pushed back a moment wouldn't be a shameful thing.
Miro was a prime example, but Gaold had reached this point relying solely on muwi—nonaction.
"Krrrgh!"
Gaold, his hair streaked white with exertion, surged forward again and again.
Vacuum Press could serve as a powerful defensive field, but used differently it became a bomb that detonated ultra–high-density air pressure.
"Interesting."
The Geukrak-gon slammed into the Vacuum Press with a thunderous roar.
Frictional heat seared the air and a massive cloud of fire rose as if a bomb had detonated.
The blistering heat reached those on the battlements, and Sein, who was dismantling Ergh's magic circles, grew even more anxious.
"Damn. He could be dead."
The air had literally turned to flame.
Even someone like Gaold might be killed by that power.
Sein activated the Sun–Moon Light Wheel and shouted, "Cover me!"
Two toothed wheels pierced Ergh, severing Sein's awareness from outside information completely.
Zulu and Armin arrived to protect the exposed Sein.
A slow magic field spread. Zulu's summoned cougar slashed at the approaching enemies with razor claws.
But as time ticked on, the number of fallen angels only increased.
"We won't hold here for long, either."
There was no way to confirm Gaold's survival, and the fighting on the battlements was steadily being pushed back.
"Is this the power of angels?"
The gap between angels and fallen angels was as wide as heaven and earth, and the concept-born abilities they wielded had an otherworldly quality no mage's spells matched.
"We were never meant to win from the start."
Zulu commanded the cougar and said, "Just focus on stalling. We still have one chance left."
"Do you think Gaold's alive?"
"No."
Zulu looked toward Kangnan, who was fighting Urotas—the fire giant mage—at the very front.
"It's not about living or dying. It's whether you can give up or not."
Thunk! Thunk! Thunk!
Each time Urotas's fist slammed the ground, Kangnan felt her heart drop.
He was the last of the fire giants—yet a full battalion commander and an unusual mage among giants.
"Fire sigil!"
When Urotas paused, pressed his palms together, and cast, a blazing sigil burned into Kangnan's forearm.
"Tch!"
The flame instantly materialized and flared, sapping strength from her arm.
Urotas's magic was sigilcraft: inscribe a sigil with the gaze of fire to burn away dominion. Once a sigil took hold, it immobilized the target as if nerves had been severed.
The range conditions sounded finicky, but given the opponent was a giant with brute strength, it was an infuriating skill.
"I'll avenge my clan!"
Realizing this opponent couldn't be beaten by stubbornness alone, Kangnan twisted smoothly and slipped into his reach.
When Rammui's straight, brutal strike hit, Urotas hastily put distance between them and tried to inscribe the sigil again.
Flames licked Kangnan's right thigh and control drained from her; she slammed her foot into the ground like a battering strike.
She darted forward like an arrow, and a whip-like roundhouse kick snapped into Urotas's flank, pushing the giant back.
"Uoooooh!"
Urotas's eyes blazed as a sigil seared Kangnan's sternum.
"Gah!"
Flames ignited, burning away the surrounding dominion; her heart staggered as if it had stopped.
Urotas's fist flew. Kangnan raised her arms to shield her face.
Years of endless repetition had turned those movements into reflex.
The impact pierced her guard and her consciousness blurred.
"Kuh!"
When she came to, what she saw was the battlement's rampart thrusting up toward the sky.
Tears fell from her eyes.
"I… I can't be like him."
Even having risked everything, she couldn't even reach the outskirts of where he had stood.
"Hngh!"
Kangnan clenched her fists and rose.
Emotions didn't matter. She had cast everything aside to come here for a single purpose.
"I will… I will bring him back."
By now the fighting atop the walls had reached a fever pitch.
Shiina's freezing magic bound mara; Kuan darted in and cut the frozen bodies.
Etella poured yin–yang shockwaves into a giant mara until it exploded, while Zulu and Armin used every technique they had to block the fallen angels' grotesque powers.
And Sein… had finally reached the central processor of the first-form mara, Ergh.
He threaded through countless interlaced circuits, severing every connection with the Sun–Moon Light Wheel.
As the glow of the real-world magic circles began to dim, Kariel's face tightened.
They were holding out far longer than he'd expected.
From his vantage—humans were insects—it was infuriating.
"I want to wipe them out right now…"
But Kariel's mindset differed from Yuriel's.
"There's a much simpler solution."
Realizing it was time to put plan B into motion, Kariel approached Miro and reached out.
If he detonated the mana-suppression sigil he'd implanted in her head, her face would be blasted apart.
Miro, sensing Kariel's intent, simply stared at the battlefield in silence.
The area before the Hall of Corruption was rutted with craters from Gaold's air pressure; wherever Yuriel had touched, deep chasms yawned.
"You've grown stronger, Gaold."
Looking at Gaold sprawled flat on the ground, Miro smiled for the first time.
Gaold was strong, but he could not defeat an archangel.
That was the fundamental concept.
Destruction is not about one destroying a thousand or a thousand destroying one—destruction is simply destruction.
The universe flows from beginning to end, and humans, being later in that order, cannot surpass the preceding concept.
"What am I doing? I'm just a woman, after all."
That Gaold could hold an archangel for over a minute already showed what level he'd reached.
"Still… honestly, it moved me a little."
Kiiiiii.
When the sigil in her head hummed, awaiting detonation, Miro slowly closed her eyes.
"Goodbye… everyone."
Gaold stared into empty air with hollow eyes.
"Let it go."
Had he ever poured so much of himself into anything in his life?
He felt an achievement so complete it was as if he'd accomplished something despite having nothing.
"Yeah—give it up. It was never mine to begin with."
It was a simple conclusion when he thought about it.
Why couldn't he forget her? He could flip his heart like turning a palm.
"I'll be head of the association again. I'll meet a woman far better than Miro. I could be an enormous拒—no, have the most potent power in the world. I'm sick of this."
Hot tears streamed down Gaold's face.
This was the end.
If only he could forget Miro… the world would be his.
Only Miro…
"Hngh! Sob!"
Gaold ground his teeth.
"Damn it! Because I can't do that…!"
He needed nothing—no woman, no fortune, no honor, not even happiness.
"I'm the one doing all this damn hard work!"
Only Miro.
If he could laugh with her for even a single day—or even a single minute—he'd pay any price.
"Goddamn it. Why can't I even have that…?"
Could he not possess her?
That dark thought ignited his hell again, covering the world in flame.
"You still want to try?"
Lying there, Gaold pushed himself up.
His nerves writhed through his body like monsters as he bent forward, compressing Vacuum Press and launching himself.
Kraaaang!
A gust of heat that seemed to melt skin surged—and Miro opened her eyes again.
Kariel glanced over the battlefield with renewed interest, then widened his eyes and turned his head.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Ergh's magic circles shattered in sequence, and Sein's awareness snapped back to reality.
"Now! Go in!"
"Damn it…!"
Kariel accelerated the detonation of the sigil he'd planted in Miro's mind.
The roaring noise inside her skull furrowed Miro's brow; cold sweat broke out at her temples.
"Run! Hurry!"
As Sein and the others rushed at Miro, fallen angels scrambled to form a barrier of flesh.
They weren't thinking offense or defense—only of filling the space—such desperation showed how frantic they'd become.
"Break through! There's no time!"
Kuan, Etella, and Shiina threw everything into opening a path.
When that very narrow single lane opened, everyone dove through.
Kuuuooooong!
A fallen angel descended at top speed from the sky and sealed the lane again.
She landed half-collapsed, threw up her eyeless red gaze, and seized Miro's wrist.
"Pulse Barrier!"
Synchronizing everyone's biorhythms to freeze motion at once, the fallen angel halted them; Sein went pale.
The sigil's explosive light leaked through the bones of Miro's skull.
"Too late!"
"Yaaaaaaah!"
Then a tearing shout rang out from below the wall.
Kangnan, knee raised, flew like a cannonball and struck the fallen angel's cheek, smashing past.
Miro's head had roughly 0.8 seconds left before detonation.
In that sliver of time, only Sein could finish all the calculations.
Sein—whose reactions matched the speed of nerves—finally pierced the blockade and reached Miro.
"Hmph—already too late."
Kariel, thinking faster still, curled a lip.
"0.4 seconds—can we make it?"
Even fitting the Sun–Moon Light Wheel was a tight squeeze.
0.3 seconds.
The iron wheel turned; Sein's awareness began to lock onto Miro.
0.2 seconds.
At that moment the servant's computation made a decisive call.
"Approximately 0.03 seconds late."
Emotion surged faster than light and his chest tightened.
"Damn…!"
0.1 seconds.
The sigil implanted in Miro flared with a fleeting, blinding radiance and burned fiercely.
And then… time stopped.
Stop.
Armin—who had closed the distance with flicker magic that leaps through space-time—cast Stop. Kariel's mental activity froze, and the detonation sequence halted at 0.1 seconds.
"Huh? Uh—"
A belated tear slipped down Sein's cheek; servant though he was, he went slack for a moment.
But no one could blame him.
Even Miro—who had kept her composure until now—showed emotion in her eyes.
"Hurry! Escape!"
The instant Armin cried out, Sein and Miro—who had been looking at each other—moved together.
Miro reached out, but Sein wrapped his arms around her waist.
"I'm sorry, Gaold. Please understand this."
Without time to look back, he teleported them beyond the battlements and shot into the sky.
"Gaold!"
On the ground, when Gaold looked up, Sein's voice—choked with feeling—twisted as he shouted.
"Leeeet's goooooo!"