[583] In the Name of God (2)
* * *
Every Scramble participant's gaze fixed on a single point in the sky.
Electricity from the ground had discharged into the atmosphere, and lightning was falling back down from above.
"What is that?"
Hershi put off even analyzing it and simply watched the spectacle.
The last time he'd seen lightning of that scale in combat was when an Electric Monster Lycan faced a professional mage.
'That's where Nade is.'
Lightning so violent you wouldn't dare scan it with sonar.
At last a tremendous light flashed as if the world had been ripped, and a thunderous roar erupted from the summit.
Then everything went quiet.
* * *
"Nade! Wait!"
Sabina ran back the way she'd come.
Even she hadn't expected Nade to possess that much mana.
'The biggest problem is—'
Once a spell manifests, its effect becomes tangible even to the caster.
If the discharge had enough force to raze the mountaintop, there was no way Nade could be unhurt.
"Nade…!"
Back on the battlefield, Sabina froze, unable to call his name.
Everything had turned to ash and collapsed; the only person left standing on the ground was Nade.
'It was like that before…'
The terror she'd felt when Nade had gone berserk hit Sabina's chest again.
It wasn't merely weakness of heart.
What was happening to Nade now was clearly some kind of phenomenon—a real, dangerous aura.
Where Nade had walked, Prins lay sprawled, his mustache and clothes burned black.
As Nade raised lightning in his right hand and reached out to cut off his breath, Prins spoke.
"…Please—spare me."
There was a lifetime of sincerity packed into those words, because Nade truly intended to kill him.
If murderous intent had grades, Nade occupied pure, unadulterated savagery—no speck of anything else.
It was a different order from an animal killing to eat or a person killing for gain.
'There's no purpose.'
It was as natural as a storm. Typhoons, earthquakes, lightning—these kill life without meaning; this was a predator at the topmost pyramid of killing.
"Why should I spare you?"
Prins, who'd been watching Nade, lifted his eyes to the sky as if to flee the sight of him.
He couldn't stand to look for even a second.
Nade, conversely, observed Prins as if inspecting the corpse of prey.
The shuddering of his terrified body, the ragged breaths of a living creature.
Then Nade noticed bandages on Prins's fingers, lifted his foot, and lightly stamped down.
"Aaaah!"
"Don't make a sound."
The cry cut off as if sliced by a blade.
"Huup! Huup! Huup!"
As Nade moved closer to his face, Prins's nostrils clung and un-clung with each terrified inhalation.
"Don't breathe."
The breathing stopped.
"All right. Die like that."
'Don't breathe!'
Prins couldn't force himself to think that holding his breath would change anything—Nade was more terrifying than death.
'Am I going to die…?'
"Tell me. Why shouldn't I kill you?"
Just as consciousness was slipping, Prins's eyes snapped open.
'There's still hope!'
In Nade's second question Prins had sensed a trace of humanity.
'He hasn't completely crossed the line. No—he's desperately holding back it seems.'
How that was possible no one could say, but it was clearly Prins's last chance to live.
"If you kill me… I'll be expelled. I'll go to prison. The kingdom's bigwigs will come after you."
"I don't care."
Humanity drained from Nade's voice again.
"Ugh! Huh!"
A whimper escaped between Prins's clenched teeth.
"Think. Use your head. I don't know—so you have to convince me."
Nade declared.
"Three seconds."
"Huuh! Huuk!"
Prins squeezed his eyes shut and sobbed.
'Think! You have to find an answer!'
A brain facing imminent death demanded a solution at unprecedented speed.
Brain, nerves, every cell in his body synchronized and poured out every scrap of energy they had.
'There must be a reason I can't kill him.'
A peculiar neural pattern—never seen before—flashed, and all the knowledge he possessed rose up at once.
When that produced nothing, his mind traced back through every past experience.
The day he decided to become a pervert, the overflow, infancy nursing at his mother's breast…
Even back to the fetus in the womb, embryo, the split experiences of sperm and egg—he searched them all and finally landed on—
"Die."
'Found it!'
Prins's eyes flew open.
"If you kill me—"
The afterimage of electricity trembled before his retina.
"You'll never be able to come back."
"…"
Using the last air in his lungs, Prins continued.
"You're holding yourself back desperately. If you cross the line here… you'll never be able to come back. So…"
A squeezed sound crawled up his throat.
"Spare—me…"
There was a snap as the electricity in Nade's hand fizzled and died.
"Take out the master card."
Prins fumbled in his pocket without even noticing how his broken finger twisted.
"Tear it."
When the card split with a crisp sound, Nade rose and walked away.
With every step Nade took, Prins's body convulsed.
'Nade…'
Sabina reached toward the receding figure.
She was relieved he hadn't crossed the line.
'But…'
What she realized today was that she could not go near him.
No one in the world could stand beside him.
Not unless he gave them that space.
"Ha."
Sitting on scorched rock, Nade covered his cursed face with both hands and exhaled.
The image projection from Attarch's inspection had revealed his true face.
Letting it out like that had restored some reason, but what flooded in afterward was bitter regret and self-loathing.
'This face. This face!'
Even without a mirror, his mother's image etched into his mind told him what he had become.
"Damn it!"
The two hands that had covered his face rose like awls.
Each time his nails scraped his skin, a crimson line scored his face.
"Arghhhh!"
Just hearing Nade's cry made Prins gasp.
"Huup! Huup! Huup!"
Bloodshot eyes drew in air; tears welled up.
Nade. Prins. Both retired.
* * *
The sixth-day Scramble Royal ended, and Shirone's team filtered back to their hideout.
"Iruki, what happened? Why did Nade—?"
Shirone asked as soon as he arrived.
According to Lulu's signal, Nade had left the area and been ruled out of bounds.
Iruki waited in silence for the other team members to arrive.
Sabina, exhausted, shook her head at the look Iruki gave her.
'Hmm. So it ended up that way.'
They probably wouldn't see Nade for a while.
'It's happened before.'
The memory of that rain-soaked night of bloodshed flashed through his mind.
'Still, no one died. He held on to the end. Well done, Nade.'
"Iruki, tell me. What happened to Nade?"
Iruki hesitated.
But he'd prefer Shirone not know—especially not Shirone.
"Shirone, Nade likes you more than he likes me."
"What are you talking about all of a sudden?"
"So trust me. Everyone has secrets they want to hide. You did too."
"But I—"
"Yeah, you told us. So hear it from me. Nade will come back to us. For now, focus on the match."
Shirone pressed his lips shut.
A moment later Dorothy arrived, and finally Amy trudged through the brush.
"Amy? What happened to you?"
She was dust-covered, like Shirone had been at the end of the first-day Scramble Royal.
"This is no joke, Kayden."
She flopped down and stuck her tongue out.
"He chased me like he had rabies… Shirone, how did you stand him?"
"Did the target switch to you? That's cowardly—"
Amy shook her head firmly.
"No. This is between the two of us. I have feelings to sort out. Anyway, I'll take Kayden tomorrow. Is that okay?"
With Shirone needing to stop Eden, Amy was the obvious choice.
"Right. We have the numbers, so it makes sense to lock one person down."
"Also, Attarch retired. He was fighting Kayden and couldn't make the mid-gathering—what happened there?"
"He negotiated with me."
"With you?"
Knowing Shirone's temperament, it was unlikely he'd agree to such a thing.
"There must be a reason."
"Yeah. It's about Istas. Complicated to explain. You'll hear it clearly if we win the Scramble Royal."
Iruki summarized.
"We've collected twenty-eight Scrambles so far. The opponents have thirty."
"Sorry. I wanted at least to tie."
Dorothy bowed her head.
"Considering we were up against insect magic, this is a decent result. One day left. It'll come down to my duel with Hershi."
Sabina asked, "What's the plan?"
"I'll pair with Dorothy and we'll move as a unit. Hershi will probably team with Pisho. They'll use today's collected Scrambles and gather tomorrow's summoned ones to assemble the strongest hand."
"So it'll really be like a card game."
"Exactly. But there are many external variables. Amy will handle Kayden, and Shirone has to destroy Eden's Infinity."
"Then should I reshuffle my hand now?"
If Shirone is going to face Eden, he should have an Infinity prepared too.
"First, there's something to confirm."
Iruki asked, "You cast Ataraxia during the day, right? How was it?"
Everyone turned to Shirone.
"To be honest, it's a seriously strong barrier. Even with more output, it probably couldn't have been broken."
They'd all seen a photon cannon pass through Ataraxia enough times to be shaken.
"That strong, huh…"
Iruki offered a new thought.
"To give Shirone an Infinity, we'd need to use twelve of the Scrambles we currently have right now."
They needed a set to convert Shirone's ●○●●○● (Annihilation) into ○○○○○○ (Infinity) and a separate Infinity Shirone would hold himself.
"So that makes two Infinities? Isn't that fine?"
"Then the enemies would also make two Infinities. After that it's all-out war. But that's meaningless. As long as you possess Scrambles, you can make Infinity anytime, and a coalition team with Pisho would have the advantage."
"What do you plan to do then?"
"From now on it's on Shirone. Can you really break Eden's barrier?"
Shirone hesitated, and Amy asked, "What would that mean?"
"If Shirone can break the barrier, I won't reshuffle Shirone's hand."
"But Eden could still call Kang, right? If he has a master card."
"That's why it's a one-shot chance. It's for the sixth and final strike of the Scramble. If Eden doesn't have a master card, he can't call Kang, and if the barrier is destroyed the match ends."
Dorothy said, "You'd also save twelve Scrambles that way. And if Eden does have a master card, then we'll make two Infinities at that point."
"That's exactly it. Tomorrow will be a battle of combinations. It'd be a waste to spend twelve Scrambles on Shirone now. So I'm asking—Shirone, if you can break Eden's barrier, I'll use those twelve Scrambles in the card game against Hershi. Can you do it?"
"Hmm."
Shirone thought carefully for a moment, then lifted his head.
"I can."
He had no other choice.