[732] Two Perspectives (1)
The Ivory Tower Artificial City.
The seven Stars summoned by Taeseong had lost track of time as they spoke of the world.
"Yes, I will do so."
Countless agenda items were settled.
"But…."
From primordial history to the present, there seemed nothing Taeseong did not know, and at last the Stars' questions neared the core.
"What does Ra truly want?"
At Tzuoi's question, the six other Stars fell silent in thought.
"To become a god," said Heukgangsi—an answer that, by failing to dissolve the question, was close to being wrong.
Mini countered.
"What do you mean by 'god'? A creator? If that's what you mean, Ra cannot be a god."
Borbor, still crouched like a spider, lifted his gaze to Mini perched atop his crown.
"The fact that we exist already implies a creator. A god is a god; it doesn't mean we can become gods."
A god is a god.
The ghostly goblin Arte fanned himself.
"If one can create, then we would be no different from gods. That's mere nihilism. A true god would be something that transcends nihilism, wouldn't he?"
The dreamer Ruber turned his eyes to Taeseong.
"I'd like to hear from you now. Taeseong, what do you think Ra desires?"
"Rightness."
Taeseong raised a finger.
"If a god created the universe, then that god is absolutely right within that universe. Whatever he does is right. Therefore, if Ra realizes absolute rightness, he could be called a god as well."
"A god is absolutely right."
Ruber lifted his head, eyes misty.
"In dreams, everyone is right. Perhaps a god is a being who dreams an unbroken dream forever."
"That's it. Our nobility lies in that."
For the first time Taeseong rose and peered down at the planet glowing beneath the glass floor.
"From cosmos to nature, from nature to life—on a cosmic scale we are endlessly weak. Yet we are dreamers."
Taeseong turned a benevolent look to the Stars, as if waiting for them to speak.
"We can dream our own universe. Even if this place is the dream of a god, we must keep dreaming."
Silence fell. Taeseong closed her eyes for a moment, then slowly opened them.
"The time when that dream will be broken is drawing near."
* * *
In the World of Nothingness beyond the Gate of Annihilation, Nane had sorted through many thoughts.
Ra Enemi's true body still lay motionless, and at some point his events had been transmitted into them.
"Have your thoughts been settled?"
Nane answered the Ra Enemi of the past.
"Already."
"Then why the conflict? What obsession remains for one who has realized emptiness?"
The world Nane had realized was, in the end, an endless succession of suffering, and at the end of that suffering lay eternal Nothingness.
"Annihilation is always right. Only one thing…."
Nane approached Ra Enemi's true body.
"Except that it is irreversible."
There was no hesitation in accepting Ra Enemi's proposal, but it could not be undone.
"Because it is irreversible, it is absolutely right."
That was also true.
"If my final duty is to save sentient beings groaning in suffering…."
Ra Enemi answered.
"Devour my dream. Become the irreversible Right, and save the sentient beings you desire."
From the start it did not exist—so it was emptiness.
Why do you suffer?
Pleasure, pain, misfortune, happiness—once passed, they leave no substance, mere phantoms in a dream.
"Awaken."
Nane decided to become a Buddha and awaken the hearts of sentient beings tormented in the secular world.
"It is now your dream."
As Ra Enemi's true body dissolved into particles of light and seeped into Nane, their Kar rating began to climb without bound.
Kar rating: 99.9999999999... percent.
From Nane's body—having assumed the mudra of preaching—infinite blades unfurled in a circle.
"Only those who awaken shall escape the emptiness of suffering."
Nane was almost right.
Thus their words became a powerful truth that would affect this world….
"Open your eyes."
The moment their tongue moved, the World of Nothingness split with rifts of light and shattered.
"What, what is that?"
As Kanis' eyes widened, the Harvester grabbed him and Arin and sped away at incredible velocity.
Still, Kanis could not look away.
"What on earth is happening…."
An energy field of mingled crimson and black expanded without end in the shape of a sphere.
Explorers stationed near Paitaros scattered as Arin relayed a shocking truth.
"Kanis, the boundary… it's disappearing."
"What boundary?"
"The boundary of Transcendental Sight. I can see something peeling away. What you're seeing is probably the same as what I see."
Arin's Transcendental Sight pierced the veil of the otherworld by discerning the nature lodged in matter.
'That means….'
Reality and unreality were merging.
"Kanis, something's coming out of there?"
The energy field the Harvester pointed to was enormous—over a hundred meters across.
"Damn it! Demons! Prepare for combat!"
From that vast space, grotesque denizens of the otherworld appeared, babbling in incomprehensible tongues.
"Imprint our terror! Conquer this world!"
The salvo marking the start of the Great Purification had sounded.
* * *
"Finally arrived!"
Buddha Mahaggaruta—one of the Five Great Stars who guarded Taeseong's chamber—snapped his eyelids open.
As the blazing light about him calmed, his eyes—unlike a human's—revealed themselves.
"Is the time come?"
He unfolded his cross-legged posture and planted both feet on the floor. When he looked up, the surrounding scenery poured down like a waterfall.
"The Five Great Star?"
The seven Stars turned their heads at the figure of Mahaggaruta that had entered the Artificial City.
'Mahaggaruta? No—he's not human, is he?'
Mahaggaruta's eyes, freed of killing intent, showed a single eyeball with two pupils.
"You have come, Mahaggaruta."
Taeseong greeted him with a sad smile. Mahaggaruta joined his palms and bowed.
"A moment ago, Nane became a Buddha."
"What? What did you say?"
Tzuoi shot to her feet; Borbor and Mini gaped in disbelief.
Taeseong answered calmly.
"I see. Will you be departing now?"
"Two rights cannot exist in one universe. That is the dialectic."
Nane had encompassed the whole world, and surely within it was Mahaggaruta's rightness as well.
Arte asked, "What will happen to the altars?"
"Nane has devoured Ra Enemi's dream. Altars around the world will soon open, and reality and unreality will no longer be separate."
Ruber said, "Everyone will awaken from their own dreams and dream only Nane's dream. It will be a nightmare. Countless people will suffer."
"Even a nightmare is still a dream," Mahaggaruta replied, having understood Nane.
"If I am one Right, Nane is another. He chose to free dreamers from this world's suffering."
Tzuoi said, "I don't want that. I just want to live and suffer."
"That, too, is a phantom created by suffering. Once suffering is gone, you come to understand."
In the irreversible moment it becomes truth.
"Nane is what one sees from the farthest distance. Life endlessly reincarnates and endlessly suffers. From afar, this universe is ultimately a single living thing. That living thing wanders in eternal suffering. Without any meaning."
Mahaggaruta looked across the universe.
"It would not be wrong for someone to cut it off. Annihilation is always right—except for being irreversible."
Because it could not be undone, Mahaggaruta could not choose.
"Now my rightness will vanish and Nane's will guide the world. We can only hope that his 'rightness' proves truly right."
Taeseong said, "If he is wrong…."
There was only one contingency in which Nane might be wrong.
"What if all sentient beings form an integrated mental structure and, as one will, reject him?"
Mahaggaruta wore a troubled expression at Taeseong's refusal to abandon hope.
Life implies selfishness; for that reason, we can never truly become one.
"….Find a new Star. There will surely be someone to replace me."
Taeseong's eyes grew moist.
"I will miss it."
A kind smile touched Mahaggaruta's mouth, and his eyes flashed their last gleam.
"…."
As if he had never existed, the Buddha vanished. The Stars' thoughts grew tangled as they stared at the empty space.
'Where did he go?'
To the empty World of Nothingness, or to somewhere beyond that.
Arte asked, "Taeseong, give us guidance. How should the Ivory Tower act?"
"I will look upon the surface."
Taeseong drew a deep breath to calm herself and peered sharply at the planet beneath the glass floor.
'What is happening?'
Her body, fading gradually, finally turned transparent like air and disappeared.
Rank-2 residents gaped, jaws slack.
'This is Taeseong's ability.'
She could feel every event on that planet as if through her skin.
'Gaia.'
Because she was that planet itself.
* * *
Imir's presence was overwhelming.
"Kahahaha! This is electrifying!"
Even as Shirone and Jin Seongeum, Rian and Kido attacked together, cave walls burst under the punches he threw.
'This is chaos. The shockwave alone could kill me.'
Denai, the earthbound spirit, was crushing the floor into a swamp, but Imir didn't even try to break free.
"Pathetic things…!"
Buried to his waist, Imir shoved forward and a fist from Rian struck his face.
'Yes—this is it.'
Sparks bursting in his head sent a thrill through Imir.
'This is what it feels like to be alive.'
What if he had to live in a world with nothing heavier than himself? What if the strongest stimulus was no more than a breeze tickling the skin?
'I would have gone mad.'
For Imir, Rian's punches were pleasure even when they hurt.
"Here I come!"
With no time for Simta to activate, Mungyeong ground his teeth at the monstrous brawl.
'Damn it! I can't even get in.'
He felt insulted that even lowly goblins were helping to restrain Imir.
"More! Keep raining them down!"
Imir, thoroughly exhilarated, threw a punch that suddenly vanished—and then slammed into his own face.
"...."
The impact was tremendous, but his body's durability had likewise exceeded that of ordinary life.
"What a miserable…."
Imir's gaze shifted to where Seongeum, projecting an ether wave, panted for breath.
'It doesn't work. What a broken-down body.'
Having struck Rian's solar plexus, Imir turned toward Seongeum and strode forward.
"That's why you have to be dealt with first."
This kind of fight wasn't fun.
"Shirone, I'll bind Imir's feet—attack. If the two of us combine our strength, we have a chance."
Instead of an answer, there came the sound of someone collapsing to their knees.
"Grrrrr!"
When Seongeum turned, Shirone was grinding his teeth, hands trembling violently.
"What's wrong? Did you get hit…?"
Seongeum's heart dropped.
'It's going to explode.'
The moment Shirone's face burned with a transparency beyond pale, the entrances to 19,000 worlds began to tremble at once.
'It's coming. Something enormous….'
Insight.
The wheel of Emptiness was drawing to its end.