[738] Toward the Stars (2)
* * *
"Come in. This way."
Room 12 on the third floor where Minerva stayed was a small space with sparse furniture and a single bed.
One bed was bad enough; even for a couple it looked far too cramped.
Shirone saw a long broom leaning against the wall that must have been hers.
"A witch's broom."
Minerva's broom was listed in history books as one of the fastest things in the world.
She shrugged off her outerwear and asked, "What sort of play do you like? I don't have strong preferences—tell me and I'll oblige."
"As I said before I came in, that's not why I followed you," Shirone replied.
Minerva tilted her head and laughed. "Who's going to believe that? Men are like that. If you came this far, you must have had something on your mind, right?"
It almost felt like their lines had been swapped, but Shirone didn't care.
"I would have gone anywhere I could sleep. And you promised to take me to the Ivory Tower."
Having removed all her outer garments, Minerva looked Shirone over in front of the folded pajamas. "So I kept my promise. This is part of the Ivory Tower."
Shirone's eyes went wide. "This is the Ivory Tower?"
"More precisely, it's like a terrace of the Ivory Tower. The Corona Kingdom was founded by residents of the Tower. Since the residents can't leave the Tower in their lifetimes, they need a space with various conveniences. It's also handy for receiving guests."
"Then where is the Ivory Tower?"
Minerva slipped on a silk robe as she spoke. "You can take the magic circle beneath the palace. Other than that, there's no ordinary way to reach the Ivory Tower."
Because nothing is absolute. "Except you—if a mage reached a transcendent state while still in a human body, they'd find some way."
Minerva collapsed onto the bed in a provocative pose. "Make me happy tonight and I'll let you use the palace's magic circle. Sound fair?"
Shirone gave her a look. "I'm used to that look. Anyway, nice to meet you. Let's get along as future members of the Five Celestials."
"The Five Celestials? Me?" Minerva's expression turned serious for the first time. "Mahagaruta has left the world. The seat is vacant, and I came back to the Ivory Tower to mourn him. It's not decided yet, but Taeseong would probably agree with me."
The vacant seat among the Five Celestials would be Shirone's to fill.
"Left the world…?"
"Yes. He completely opened his Immortal Function. He went back to that world, so to speak."
Minerva sat bolt upright. "I don't get it. Why go back? What's in this world besides eating, screwing, and fighting…? Honestly, I agree with Nane—if he finished everything—"
She shrugged. "He'd be fine. He'd go back to before he was born. You know? Before you're born you don't even have the thought that you're alive."
"But we're alive."
An obsession with existence—that was Shirone's only realization that let him return to this world.
"Calling murder evil is a human thing." Minerva snorted. "If Nane killed most of humanity, he'd be the worst murderer. But if he killed everything, that wouldn't be a matter of good and evil. It transcends existence."
Shirone didn't waver. "The reason you can love even the smallest creatures equally is because of extremely low kar. But you're human too. You should think about why Geopin couldn't achieve his will and had to transcend the photon plane."
'Geopin left as well.'
Shirone crouched against the wall. Minerva patted the bed and said, "Don't sulk—get up. I'll really only hold your hand while you sleep."
There was no answer.
* * *
It had probably been a nightmare.
Even as Nane drove a prismatic sword into him, Shirone couldn't so much as move a finger.
"You are an insignificant creature."
Pain turned to despair and ravaged his mind; even knowing it was a dream, he couldn't open his eyes.
"Ugh—!"
The gaze of a being with near-perfect kar looked down with a severity that froze his heart. "You are the lowest—"
A blade of darkness slowly drove down through his solar plexus. "The most inferior existence."
"AAAAAHHH!"
Light burst from Shirone's body, dispelling Nane's afterimage, and darkness coalesced around him.
'Small-World Creation…'
When Shirone realized he was in Armand's space, his mind at last steadied.
"It's natural to fear a predator." From where a small torch flared came the soft rasp of a blade being sharpened.
"Armand…"
The body that had been a tangle of monsters smoothed into the shape of a beautiful woman.
"A world won't circulate without predators, and a world that doesn't circulate is dead."
The blade, ground since the moment it was born as a demon sword, had become so thin it was like glass.
"What are you sharpening the blade for?"
"…Promise me."
The blade vanished entirely. "There will be a single chance."
Armand turned her head and lifted one corner of her mouth; the torchlight flashed on her sharp fang. "One chance to swing me for the sake of all life. Don't miss it."
She raised her hand and particles of light, soft as down, floated up and drifted toward him.
"Material."
When Shirone gently caught the light, the darkness dissolved and a huge eyelid opened far away, letting light pour in.
"Huh?"
He heard the harsh Arctic wind and felt a chill.
"Brr—cold."
Waking and looking about, Armand's robe had vanished without a trace.
'It wasn't a dream.'
Armand, who had synchronized with Shirone at every breakthrough, had changed her function. 'Material.'
When Shirone opened his palm, a dense, substantial light swelled like a balloon.
"I see."
As an Infinite Mage, if he could control all information as the light of Yahweh, there was no reason to keep the form of a sword.
"For example…"
When Shirone formed the idea, Material's radiance faded and converted into matter—a heavy lump of gold gleaming in the morning sun.
"The source information that can become any material."
He dropped the gold like a rock onto the floor, summoned Material again, and produced soap, toothpaste, and a toothbrush in quick succession.
"…I kind of feel bad."
With engineering knowledge he could make far more complex things, but this would do for now.
It was truly an infinite tool fitting an Infinite Mage, but Shirone savored Armand's last words. "There will be one chance," she'd said.
When that chance came, Material would revert to Armand and wield the concept of Infinity.
"What are you muttering about?" Shirone looked up to see Minerva smiling like a cute little girl.
There was no need to confirm her corporeal form now, so Shirone shook himself and stood. "Nothing. Are we going to the Ivory Tower now?"
Minerva, who'd watched Material coalesce up close, seemed to already know. "You were really loud last night—crying and screaming, making such a racket I couldn't sleep a wink."
This was why sharing a room felt burdensome.
"Sorry. I had a nightmare."
"Yeah. You were cold too. Your coat vanished, and no matter how much I shook you you wouldn't wake."
Shirone opened his eyes groggily. "Really, that was it?"
"That's it."
Minerva swung her broom and headed for the door. "Wash up and come out. I'll wait outside."
Her quick escape was more suspicious than before, but there was no way for him to prove anything.
'What kind of Five Celestial is she?'
That he felt no fear even facing the terrifying witch was proof Shirone had earned the right of the stars.
On the first floor, the residents who'd been playing cards last night were still at it. Minerva, broom taller than some people, gestured and pointed outside.
They trudged through snow piled to their knees from the night before. At the palace the royal bloodlines came out to greet them.
Unlike foreign envoys, they didn't fear the star—an indication of the relationship between the Corona Kingdom and the Ivory Tower.
"Long time no see, Lady Minerva. You're as beautiful as ever."
"Hohoho! For a grandmother over seven hundred, I'm still young-looking. Ambassador, you've aged while we weren't looking."
"After twenty years people naturally grow old."
Despite Minerva's barbs, the ambassador smiled. "Did you return home because of the altars?"
"Yes. I don't think Nane can be stopped. I have a feeling this world will be finished soon…"
Minerva suddenly knit her brows and jabbed Shirone's head with her finger. "It's all because of this fellow. I can't believe this so-called Infinite Mage couldn't stop someone like Nane and ended up here."
Shirone felt indignant. "Try facing him yourself before you say that. If you're so angry, why don't you stop him yourself?"
"You, of all people who were taught, talk nonsense. You couldn't stop him either—how would I?" she snapped.
The ambassador bowed his head to Shirone. "Thank you for protecting human life. Humanity always receives help from the Five Celestials."
"I'm not a Five Celestial yet. And… I didn't fight only for humans."
The ambassador, who'd welcomed the stars for decades, understood Shirone's exact meaning. "I see. You must have deep reasons. Please, follow me. I'll guide you."
As they followed the ambassador, Shirone asked, "By the way, what is an altar?"
Even after opening his Immortal Function and gaining Infinite Omnipotence, Shirone was still clueless about omniscience—knowledge didn't naturally exist to him.
"It's a gate that removes the boundary between reality and the otherworld. It's meant to pull the hell humans created into reality. According to the Ivory Tower's investigation, 3,600 altars have been constructed worldwide."
"3,600…"
"If the altars activate, this world will become hell. The Law will lean toward Nane, and after that will come eternal annihilation."
"Why would it lean toward Nane?"
"You're the only one who thinks it wouldn't."
Only Shirone denied Nane. "How many people do you think would still find hope amid dreadful suffering? Nane is right. The only real refuge for living things is ultimately annihilation. You're the one denying that."
Minerva's eyes went cold. "Imagine being born into a body that feels pain from the start—where every breath tears your throat, every sight burns your eyes, every word wounds your tongue."
She stopped and faced Shirone. "Would you still choose life? Could you endure that pain every day, every second, until your lifespan ran out?"
Shirone couldn't be sure.
"I know someone like that."
He knew such a person, but he could never tell them to live that way.
"Gaold, right?"
"Yes. The reason he endured the pain was love for Miro. But in the end he fell into hell. And I… was telling everyone to keep living like that."
"Then you understand."
It would be a hard fight. "If Nane hadn't gone to extremes, you wouldn't have ended up at the opposite extreme. Ordinary people? They're like shrimp crushed between whales when two titans clash."
Minerva patted Shirone's shoulder. "Anyway, the number of people in this universe who'll support you will match your kar value. Start pushing up from there."
The ambassador said, "We have arrived."
A magic circle leading to the Ivory Tower awaited.