[594] The Cube of Time (1)
Time: 1 hour 57 minutes.
Location: Istas Warehouse No. 9.
'No one's come yet.'
Anchal, who had been checking the interior, perched on Istas's control console and anxiously tapped her foot.
If time truly looped infinitely, then the person who'd activated the mechanism should come back here too.
"Damn it!"
As Anchal followed that train of thought, she realized she had overlooked one thing.
If this room's incident already belonged to the time when Istas had been moved, nobody would be coming here.
'Because the incident has already been twisted.'
Thinking she needed to confirm, Anchal strode toward the entrance, but Shirone burst in, throwing the door open roughly.
"Shirone?"
"Anchal!"
Shirone ran up to her the moment he saw her.
"You've been waiting here this whole time?"
"No, I just arrived. What's going on?"
He bit his lip and walked to the control console.
"It failed. The incident keeps changing; I can't stop it."
"What are you talking about?"
Anchal, who had left Shirone and come here straightaway, couldn't make head or tail of it.
"Damn! What do we do? How the hell—"
Shirone began operating the mechanism without hesitation; it was obvious he wasn't doing this for the first time.
When Istas began to vibrate, Anchal shouted in alarm.
"What are you doing? I told you it's dangerous to twist the incident."
"Everyone's going to die anyway!"
Shirone bellowed.
"We have to reverse it. I—"
"Tell me what happened. I haven't encountered the incident yet."
Shirone turned his head with a devastated expression.
"It's my fault. From the start, I shouldn't have had Yolga meet Miro."
"What?"
Anchal still couldn't understand.
* * *
"Excuse me."
Shirone had used Istas's equations as reference and arrived at the Paranormal Psychical Science Society.
When he opened the door, the Geffin gate Fermi had activated stood tall inside.
'Has Miro not arrived yet?'
"Shirone."
Miro's voice came from outside the door.
Time: 1 hour 48 minutes.
Location: Paranormal Psychical Science Society.
Before Shirone could speak, Yolga stepped forward.
"Miro, do you have to go this far? What reason is there for us to fight?"
"I thought the conversation was over. If you block my path again, I'll have to deal with you myself."
Yolga's companions snorted.
"Do we look weak? If you insist, you'll be the one who dies."
"Save the trash talk. I'm talking to Yolga."
At Miro's provocation, Edgar's face flushed; his mechanical arm roared as its cylinders pumped.
"You wanna try me now?"
Edgar leapt forward.
"I've never liked you! I'll kill you right now!"
As Miro unleashed the avatar of the voyeur, Shirone shoved in between them.
"Get out of the way, kid!"
Armand's robe billowed as a tentacle whipped forward at high speed.
"What the—!"
Kakakakakang!
Edgar's mechanical arm blurred into an afterimage and shielded him.
He managed to block it, but he was pushed back to where the two-meter-tall bulk had been standing.
"Ughhh!"
The tremor ran up his metallic arm.
"Edgar, you okay?"
Mustang asked, eyes not leaving Shirone.
"That one's no pushover."
Shirone drew his tentacles back.
"Yolga, you promised."
"Yes. I will honor that promise."
Miro scoffed.
"Shirone, don't trust what Yolga says. You'll lose yourself if you do."
Miro's words had a point, but if she didn't act like this, she would be erased.
"You know. The result has already been twisted. If Miro can persuade Yolga, she'll kill herself."
Miro's expression grew serious at last.
She knew Yolga's nature better than anyone, so it was clear she wasn't lying.
"Then may I join?"
A voice Shirone recognized, and when he turned, Fermi stepped in beside Miro.
"You—"
Before Shirone could speak, Yolga asked, "Who are you?"
There was an instinctive pull; Fermi's pupils flickered for a moment.
"I'm a merchant. I smelled money in here."
But he didn't reveal his identity.
He hadn't opened Istas's upper levels for a sentimental reunion. What mattered was not the past but the present—and the future.
He was the one most capable of coldly confirming what had happened in this place at this time.
'Coldly. Dispassionately.'
"Nice to meet you. I'm Yolga."
"I've heard of your reputation."
Fermi finished the handshake and nodded to Edgar, Nain, and Mustang—whom he'd followed and called uncle and aunt in his childhood.
"You take after Fermi."
Mustang muttered, a barb in his tone, but Yolga only smiled.
"Save the chatter."
Miro decisively put distance between them.
"I won't make any deals. Interfere with my mission and I'll kill you."
"Miro, that's not like you."
As Yolga stepped forward, the avatar of the voyeur extended dozens of arms to block her approach.
"Sis, you have to understand. I'm sorry you followed me in, but I can't stop."
"Your actions will lead everyone to ruin. The Adrias family, the Ardino family—"
Yolga could already foresee the future.
"I said I have a reason. I'll guard the barrier in Geffin's stead. That's enough for now."
"No reason can come before the result. I'll take responsibility. I don't know what's wrong, but I'll fix it."
"If it were solvable, I wouldn't be doing this."
"Then speak up!"
Yolga shouted.
"What is that child? Why is Geffin trying to leave? Why won't you tell me?"
"Sorry."
Miro could not tell Yolga.
"Just die."
The avatar of the Thousand-Handed Kannon inflated massively and slammed down on Yolga.
The floor shook with a boom, and Yolga's scattered companions drew their weapons.
"Attack Miro!"
"No, it's fine."
At Yolga's voice, Miro's brow twitched.
Prajna—Saint Maria.
Yolga, unmoving, withstood the Kannon incarnation's bombardment that ignored time and space.
'This is Mother's…'
Fermi looked up at Yolga's exposed avatar.
A beautiful woman of face and torso lifted her head to the ceiling. Her eyes were closed, blood pouring from them like tears, and a metal chain gag was bound across her mouth. Seeing her, one could guess how much of the world she could take upon herself.
'Annoying.'
Yolga had been good even to Miro.
But when faced as an enemy, the avatar of Saint Maria—who absorbed any shock—was arguably the most irksome thing in the world.
"Miro."
Yolga spoke from the heart.
"Please. Trust my judgment this once."
Yolga put her hand on her knee and bowed deeply, and Miro's expression soured further.
"This is why—"
The Kannon avatar swelled.
'Sis says no!'
Thousand-Handed Kannon Strike.
Yolga's body wavered under the violent attacks coming from all sides, and thicker blood-tears streamed from Saint Maria's eyes.
"Now you've done it!"
Nain gripped his sword and charged at Miro.
"Hah! Pathetic—"
Just as Miro prepared to counter, Shirone flew in and struck Nain.
Four tentacles slammed the sword repeatedly, sending Nain crashing into the wall.
"Ugh!"
"Breaking a promise is unforgivable."
Like passing a baton, Edgar lunged at Shirone.
"Idiot! Miro attacked first!"
The brawler schema, charging with metal fists, was excellent, and in an instant Edgar vanished from Shirone's sight.
'Armand can find him!'
Armand transmitted the image held in retinal afterimages, and just as Shirone twisted his body, Shirone saw visions of dozens of punches flying at once.
Kakakakakang!
The robe was struck, and when the metal ruptured, Edgar's eyes went wide.
"What the hell is this!"
With his body protected by the Ringer's carapace, Shirone fell back and compressed a Photon Cannon.
Before he had time to be startled by the swelling orb of light, flashes poured out one after another.
"Uoooh!"
Edgar swung both arms to deflect the Photon Cannon, but the moment the impacts connected he realized.
'This ignorant—!'
Light had physical force.
And enough force to shatter his arms.
Quarrrrrng!
Edgar was driven back against the wall, his body disappearing into the haze created by the bombardment of light.
"Ughhh!"
When he reappeared, Edgar was curled tightly, hiding his whole body behind his forearms. Just seeing him trembling was enough to estimate how much force had struck him.
'Edgar was overwhelmed by power?'
Mustang thought so, but Yolga's reaction was different.
"…Geffin?"
Miro flinched and met Yolga's eyes.
Her sharp insight quickly pieced together the clue by glancing between the child in Miro's arms and Geffin—Shirone—and anger finally appeared in Yolga's eyes for the first time.
"Miro, you—!"
"It was an unavoidable choice."
"Miro!"
As Yolga shouted, Saint Maria's eyes snapped open and the chain gag snapped free.
Two arms burst from the shoulders of the torso and charged toward the Kannon avatar.
Prajna—Break Maria.
Maria and the Kannon avatar collided, and Istas trembled.
"Abandon it! That child is a time bomb!"
"You're the one who should give up!"
Yolga was too good a person; she couldn't rage unless she abandoned herself.
"Everyone fall back!"
The moment Nain's words escaped, the surface of Break Maria began to bubble like molten lava.
"It's going to explode! It'll blast everything away!"
The force of the many lies Yolga had taken to heart collapsing at once was as strong as the world's malice.
"Sis! No!"
That was why Yolga had come here.
'This has to end. That child must not exist!'
"Shirone!"
Miro threw a Hexa and pushed the Kannon avatar to the limit.
"Get into Geffin's Gate!"
"Ugh!"
As Shirone extended a tentacle to receive the Hexa, light flared from the child's body and it vanished.
Depreciation Bargain—Reverse Teleport.
A top-grade photon-type spell that instantly teleports the desired target to the caster.
The one who cast it was none other than Fermi, and the Hexa was in his hand.
"Give me the child!"
"Hmm."
Fermi, staring at the child, smiled meaningfully.
"Shirone, is this you?"
Shirone's heart thudded at the look in his eyes.
"You, don't tell me—"
But his moment of madness was brief; Fermi approached Yolga and extended the Hexa.
"Here, I think you need this."
"Ah…"
Prajna—Saint Maria.
Yolga's avatar closed its eyes; the chain gag was forced back into her mouth and her two arms vanished from the shoulders. Holding the Hexa, Yolga sank to her knees.
'This child—'
It would break the laws of the universe.
What that would mean could not even be reached by extreme insight, but the moment humans leaned on something beyond humanity, the future was lost.
"No, sis. You can't."
As everyone watched, suspended in time, the Hexa twisted its face and burst into cries.
In the quiet, the child's wails spread, joined by Yolga's sobs.
"How could you use a child—"
Yolga was still a good person.
"Sis."
As Miro stepped forward, a sharp chain sickle flew and struck the Hexa squarely on the crown of its head.