[672] Lord of Fear (3)
Existence and nonexistence.
Like the two sides of a coin, they're defined separately, yet the sense of presence perceives them as a single whole.
As the microcosmic window cleared, Igor, Lord of Fear, reappeared.
"How are you still alive?"
The sight of Igor filling the horizon—countless of him all speaking in unison—was truly terrifying.
But Shirone's gaze was fixed on Ra Enemi, the one who had engineered the present situation.
What could he be planning?
That even Igor, a commander of the otherworld, acted under someone's design meant Ra Enemi's ambition was far larger than anyone had expected.
"Will he be able to get out again this time?"
A lance of azure flame filled the space and surged forward, but Shirone no longer dodged.
So that was it.
From the moment the first Igor drove his spear into the ground, the coin had already been flipped.
Flip it back.
The spear passed through, tearing open Shirone's face and piercing his torso and limbs.
But like the moon's reflection on water, ripples ran through him and his body was instantly restored.
This place was inside his mind.
He had expected it, of course, but there's a gulf between guessing something and actually sensing it.
Igor's presence felt through Shirone's Seventh Sense as clearly as if he had grasped a real object in his hand.
"You weak thing!"
Igor hurled spears like a madman, but they no longer reached Shirone.
Igor's influence clearly held sway over the mental realm of nonexistence.
Yet Shirone could control his mind as if it were a body, and the Spirit Zone's reinforcement emanating from there was unrivaled.
"Disappear."
Shirone reached out; a halo formed and a prismatic flash flew like a dagger, instantly pouring in one hundred percent of the information.
"Kraaaaah!"
Overwhelmed by the presence of absolute knowledge, Igor screamed as if being torn apart; a photon cannon, amplified by a mana device, thumped and vibrated through Ataraxia.
The world flooded with white light, and Igor's scream faded into the distance.
Aaaahhh….
The space they occupied contracted and was endlessly drawn into Shirone's mind; the events flowing across Shirone's retinas in the otherworld vanished.
….
Blinking, Shirone lowered his gaze to his chest as if checking the battlefield he had been fighting on, then looked up.
The azure spear was still lodged in the floor, and Igor sat in silence atop his steed.
"Pull out the spear. Remember—you too can be annihilated here."
"Car de Suma (Unique)."
Igor's right hand slowly closed around the spear.
"Anke Ra (Ra)."
"He ordered you to plant fear in me, didn't he? To dominate my past."
Gevin had clearly said Hexa bore no responsibility.
So why did Shirone carry memories of a past he had never lived through?
Igor spoke.
"Ra Enemi is an event that exists only in the past. Yet that event is dangerous enough to tear down the borders of the otherworld. We are comrades of space, but enemies that must never meet. If you vanish, Ra Enemi will vanish too."
That was why Igor himself had appeared—to eliminate Shirone.
"That may be possible. But if the realm of existence is dominated, this world won't remain safe either."
"….Yes."
"Release my comrades. I have no intention of giving up."
Igor studied Shirone's expression intently.
"Can Ra be stopped?"
"It's not because it's possible that I'll do it."
"Ra Enemi will ultimately tear down the world's boundaries. Do you think you can handle that?"
Countless nonexistences that had only been able to interfere would become real and roam the world.
Judging by the current situation—
Even mercenaries who had trained themselves were being forced to relive past traumas.
If the border fell and Igor poured into the world, Shirone could swear any place would become hell within a day.
"You know it can't be avoided, right? If you can't stop it, everything ends."
Igor rifled through his robes with a wary look and produced a small, softly glowing blue flame.
"Mark, you who have overcome fear. Receive this sign."
Igor extended his hand; the blue flame flew like a seed and settled on Shirone's palm.
To his Seventh Sense the blue flame appeared as a necklace in the realm of existence.
"Where fear exists, there I shall be."
Igor's necklace as Lord of Fear.
When Shirone placed it around his neck through the sense of presence, Armand sent an immediate signal.
- New brainwave detected. Paralysis of a series of mental processes accompanied by fear.
It forcibly erased fear.
For Shirone, who had nearly been dominated by Ra Enemi's control of his past, it was an essential item.
"That will define our positions. Find me when the time comes."
Igor, repeating himself as before, opened a vertical rift in space and vanished.
When Igor's power was released, the members trapped in that horrific nightmare groaned and passed out.
The core members, however, quickly grasped the situation once Igor had gone.
"Did we get him?"
"Uh, well…."
Just as Shirone opened his mouth to answer, Shagal's voice sounded from outside.
"Dieeeee!"
Then the clanging of metal rang out at incredible speed, and everyone rushed out of the structure without hesitation.
"What's that?"
Kuan and Shagal, freed from the past memories, were engaged in a brutal display of martial skill.
"Shagal, huh."
At Lupist's remark, Etella's eyes hardened.
That person's skill left no room for doubt.
Even against Kuan—ranked among the top of the Heaven members—he did not falter, and his juggling of dozens of daggers at once was overwhelmingly masterful.
'That one—my master…?'
Indeed, the skill was unquestionably genuine.
But that did not justify murdering Archbishop Karsis.
"I'll take her!"
Without asking for permission, Etella launched herself forward.
If her technique had been sloppy she would have been cut the moment she closed the distance, but she slipped through a gap in the expected movements with uncanny precision.
'I won't take revenge!'
Etella gritted her teeth and unleashed an onmyō wave strike.
'But she must explain!'
Shagal's gaze turned toward the aura felt from the side.
Faster than the eye, his hands moved; three daggers crossed like teeth and embedded hidden blades in her forearm.
Seven sheaths' worth of blades sank into her arm in an instant, but no blood flowed back, and Etella pressed deeper and landed a palm strike.
"Cross-resonance technique."
Shagal's eyes widened as he arched his back; a fist brushed past.
A vibration in the air slammed into her abdomen, compressing her lungs and forcing her eyes wide.
"Ugh!"
To avoid Kuan's following flurry she had to swallow her pride and create distance; retreating ten meters drew dozens of preloaded daggers toward her.
'What the—? Suddenly?'
She didn't feel cowardly, but she was annoyed at being interrupted just as her blood had begun to boil again after Igor's disappearance.
"I'll kill you first—"
As Shagal swept his hand to snatch daggers, his face suddenly went pale, as if his soul had left him.
They had fought with all their senses; this was the first time he'd really seen the opponent's face.
Except for a pair of glasses, everything about that face matched a familiar memory.
"Tia?"
Shagal's expression turned so strange that even Kuan lowered his sword and looked to Etella.
"Do you know her?"
"No."
Etella shook her head firmly, but Shagal could not allow even the smallest doubt.
It wasn't just a matter of appearance.
Even if a hundred people who looked exactly like her stood there, Shagal trusted himself to pick the real one.
He couldn't deny what his heart told him, but—
No, that can't be. She was definitely dead.
Hadn't he held her cold corpse and screamed?
Hadn't he sensed it with his five senses?
He sniffed, trying to catch the scent of the scene, but trapped in the mundane brain his sense of smell wouldn't work properly.
'Come to think of it, how did Tia look…?'
His head spun; dizziness rose.
"What's wrong with him?"
As Kuan grumbled at his staggering, Etella charged again.
'I can't let her get away!'
I must catch her and ask why she killed Rafael.
"Submit quietly! Murderer!"
"Aaaah!"
Shagal covered his face with his left hand and swung dozens of daggers with his right; Etella's motion froze.
It felt like being trapped in vibration.
Not one blade flew at her; doing nothing was the only way to avoid attack.
Feeling caught in a death mold, Etella swallowed hard.
Shagal denied everything.
No! This can't be!
- Forgive him.
Raiden's voice sounded.
"Arghhh!"
Shagal twisted and ran; Etella tried to pursue, but he was no shabby opponent to catch once even a sliver of distance opened.
"This is bad…!"
Etella bit her lip in self-reproach as Lupist approached.
"Let him go for now. Something serious is happening; we don't have time to fuss over this."
Igor had disappeared, but while trapped in the mundane brain, operations were impossible.
"We can disable the mundane brain."
At Shirone's words Lupist turned his head.
"How?"
"By removing the trap."
Shirone had looked beyond the realm of existence with his sense of presence.
"He's over there."
Shirone led the group to a serpent statue wedged between structures.
A two-meter-tall snake, hood spread like a king cobra, appeared as a man's corpse to his sense of presence.
Sorry.
Shirone cast a small Elysion burst into the man's skull; the face shuddered with a thunk.
To the others it simply looked like the cobra's face falling cleanly away.
Hoho?
The familiar scene gradually emerged.
Structures that had pulsed like hearts hardened into solid stone, and a bright morning sun rose in the sky.
Yet Shirone felt something else.
So complex.
Countless spiritual entities—imperceptible to ordinary senses—were being transmitted vividly through presence.
If he reduced that vivid sensation to an extremely faint level, would it become a portrait-sense?
Shirone glanced at Lupist.
"Wake the others. We were shaken, but we won't be so easily fooled from now on."
Jane asked, "What happened?"
It would take a day to explain in words, so Shirone chose a simpler method.
An object that had become a thing in the realm of existence transferred its intrinsic weight to the nape of his neck.
Ah—so that's how it's used.
Shirone stretched out his hand; Igor's necklace flared with blue flame.
Air around his palm scattered into ash as it burned, and everyone watched, stunned.
"Did you open the presence?"
Those watching were baffled, understanding what Meirei's remark implied.
Come to think of it, her prayers had definitely changed.
As Lupist fell into serious thought, a dull voice came from the otherworld.
"Raktas saga'ar vero dem (Do you require fear?)."
"No way…."
The ground thudded, and Igor, Lord of Fear, arrived leading his dead horse.
He approached Shirone and turned his head toward the others; Rian's eyes widened as he pointed.
"Lord of Fear?"
Behind Shirone, Igor stood with the azure spear drooping, his figure oddly at odds with the morning sun.
Arian Shirone—Car value 90.2 percent.
(End of Volume 27)