[776] Chain Reaction (2)
* * *
When Meirei arrived in Sion, she sprang up from the bed, clapped a hand over one ear, and dropped to her knees.
"Chief Justice."
The message came from Terraforce, who had been filibustering to block punishment for Shirone's apostasy.
- The situation has turned.
"I heard."
Nane's sermon—the Law of the Heart, transmitted to every living being in the universe via quantum transfer—had been imprinted on all.
Because it worked on the heart, most people didn't even realize they'd received information, but those who knew of apostasy understood.
'Now you may apostatize.'
- Anke Ra — or more precisely Nane, who swallowed Ra's dream — has herself voided the third clause of the Absolute Three Principles.
"What will happen to Shirone?"
- Apostasy is approved. Gaold as well, of course. Terraforce's judgment will continue. Only...
The Chief Justice chose his words carefully.
- Then the judgment will have to be carried out with the destruction of the entire system at stake, not just the planet.
The end of the world was approaching.
"What should I do?"
- Help Sion and stop the evil. Miro will guide you. Prevent the day Terraforce destroys the entire universe...
The transmission cut off.
"Nane survived."
Gaold's party had searched the Celestial Middle for two days but failed to find Nane and Shura.
They only confirmed she was alive after hearing the sermon while heading to the Antarctic on Kaidra.
"But the Buddha is gone now."
Miro sensed an opportunity.
"Assuming Shura is alive, finding Nane won't be easy. But now we can end the game. Once we return to Sion, we'll launch an all-out offensive against evil."
Seal the altar and punish the Most Wicked, and the world will bloom again with radiant goodness.
Zuru, seated in Kaidra's cockpit, said, "Yahweh will take care of sealing the altar, but even leaving that aside, the demonkind are strong. It won't be an easy fight."
Everyone except Miro glanced at Gaold.
'The demonkind are surely strong. But if it's Gaold...'
A mage who had transcended limits and defeated the Buddha—if it was Gaold, even a hellish army of over two billion seemed worth trying.
'The only problem is...'
Sein watched Gaold and Miro in turn, who kept a visible distance between them.
Since the battle ended they hadn't exchanged a single word; now they wouldn't even look at each other.
'He must be confused.'
When Miro carried everything herself it had been simpler.
"But now the balance has shifted."
Miro needed Gaold, and Gaold still loved Miro.
Sometimes it felt irrelevant.
'You don't have no feelings, do you?'
Reluctant to admit it, Sein nonetheless recognized that the only human left in Miro's heart was Gaold.
Miro felt Sein's gaze but pretended not to notice, sweeping her hair back.
'This is maddening.'
Pushing someone off as if it were someone else's problem.
Of course, as far as "someone who can be called a man" went, Gaold was the only one for her—but it was a speck of feeling.
That speck was so tiny she couldn't tell whether it was love, friendship, or pity.
'I should have just had a little romance back then and ended it.'
Back at Alpheas School of Magic.
If she'd accepted Gaold's confession during the survival test level six, in the blazing-heat stage, maybe things could have been different.
'Would the outcome have changed?'
Maybe.
'That's why it's complicated now.'
If Gaold had already won Miro's love before this outcome, she could have handled it.
'But if I accept him now...'
What would happen to Gaold?
The law that had shaped him—the law sustained by his single devotion to Miro—would collapse if he finally attained what he'd been fighting for.
'He could die. Or...'
A mind strong enough to defeat the Buddha would inevitably dull, and in the worst case be ruined.
'Does he know?'
Gaold probably knows.
'That's why he's been turning away from me.'
Having fought through hell twice and finally surpassed Miro, he still could possess nothing.
'And yet he still fights.'
Miro, briefly taking Gaold's perspective, looked up at the sky with a desolate expression.
'Whether the world perishes or not doesn't matter to you.'
He was the sort of man who could spend the rest of his life with the woman he loved and leave the world at any moment without regret.
'That's fine. If you want, I'll do that for you.'
Isn't the pain enough?
'You've already done so much for the world. If you become a wreck I'll take care of you, and if you die I'll be buried by your side.'
Yet Gaold's choice was to stay by her side to the end and fight for Miro.
'And now you say you can't even love me?'
Miro had avoided Gaold because she feared this situation would come, but now the time to decide had come.
"Hah."
Miro sighed; Arius's shoulders twitched.
'Poor human...'
* * *
"Shirone! Scramble! Get ready!"
By the time Minerva burst into Shirone's house, he had already finished his preparations.
"You're quick."
He'd learned the circumstances from Taeseong before Nane's sermon reached him and before he even fully registered it.
'Gaold has returned.'
He'd transcended limits, defeated the Buddha, and with Nane permitting apostasy, there was no longer a ruler of the world.
Gaold's shockwave set off a chain reaction in the Laws, and as a result Shirone also escaped Terraforce's judgment.
"This isn't the end, right?"
Minerva nodded.
"The Buddha's disappearance is only the beginning. If there are no righteous, a world of chaos where anything is permitted will come."
"The Most Wicked will grow stronger."
Minerva handed over the files on .
"We have to block it. Let's go to Kashan. Even if we use , we need the Church's support for the crusade."
Shirone had intended to go to Uorin anyway, so he followed Minerva outside without protest.
As they prepared to exit to the Corona Kingdom through the magic circle on the first floor of the Ivory Tower, four now-familiar figures approached.
'Card players?'
Minerva smiled.
"Oh my, what a surprise. Fossils who haven't left the White Inn in fourteen years come visiting?"
The bald old man, Agaya, said, "The game ended. We're here to tell you the result."
"Oh? Who won?"
Gudio, with the red beard, said, "The one who wanted to keep the game."
Universal Love.
Though it was just a card game, it wasn't an unpleasant result to hear before a fierce battle.
"What will you do now?"
The gaunt, skull-like man, Ness, said, "Reality has changed, so we're going to run the simulation again. This time, the one who wants to end the game will be—"
"There's a more interesting game. Want to come?"
For the Law to precisely target the Most Wicked, the card players were indispensable.
The slit-eyed man, Myers, asked, "There's gambling more fun than this?"
"No matter how fun, it's still a simulation. It's time to show our skill in the real match."
"What match?"
"A game where you bankrupt the one who must be taken by force."
"..."
Myers looked to his companions for their opinion, but Minerva already knew the outcome.
'Because these people...'
were truly gambling-obsessed humans.
"Is the stake enough?"
All four spoke at once.
* * *
Aganos, the imperial palace in Kashan.
Summoned around midnight, Uorin had paced the vast palace restlessly since dawn.
'Shirone is coming!'
With Minerva.
'Of all people—her.'
Uorin's excited eyes narrowed.
'It doesn't matter. How long have I waited for this...'
It wasn't a wait that could be measured by a human lifespan.
'At last I will meet Shirone!'
Though it was only a change in memory, for the one whose memories had changed it was indistinguishable from real time.
"Gando!"
The doors opened at once.
"You called?"
"Everything is ready, right?"
"If you hadn't called me thirty seconds ago, I'd be checking it now."
Knowing there would be no mistake in receiving Shirone, Uorin would not get angry today.
"Thirty seconds is stingy. It must have been at least five minutes."
"My steps are not that slow."
True to his nickname Ure, he had dashed down the two-hundred-meter corridor and arrived in an instant.
"Anyway, it's fine."
Anyway, it's fine.
"I need to put on makeup. Send the coordinator. Keep it light. Lip color a bit redder..."
Gando looked worried.
"Your Majesty is the strongest and most beautiful in the world. I don't think you need anything more."
"Why do I care about being beautiful? Shirone has to like it. Send the coordinator."
"Your Majesty."
Gando risked his life with his words.
"Are you really okay with this? I've never seen you so shaken."
Uorin changed her earrings and said, "...I know."
"Don't you understand? Shirone is the tool necessary for Your Majesty's daughter. If you love Shirone—"
Right here we'll die.
"Will you become a daughter again and love your father?"
Gando, having blurted it out, closed his eyes, waiting for Uorin to order his execution.
"Gando."
The name she spoke was Gando.
"Yes. As you said, Teraje is not an individual—it's history. But you know. Shirone has come along with that history now."
Gando didn't want to hear it.
'Kill me! You must kill me, Your Majesty!'
If the vast history called Teraje were to be defined by a single human named Uorin, Kashan's future would not be guaranteed.
"At first survival was the goal. But the moment Shirone took the start of my memory, I have waited only for this day and guarded history."
Gando shouted desperately.
"Kill me! Just kill me...!"
"Son."
The instant Uorin spoke, Gando felt as if he'd been struck in the head with a hammer; he couldn't think of anything.
Son.
He had thought it a word that didn't exist; at that moment he couldn't even name the feeling.
"There is no Uorin without Kashan. I know I'm shaken, and I know I'll be criticized by the world. So..."
Uorin looked at Gando and smiled sadly.
"Can't you just cheer for your mother?"
A sudden slackness released him, and hot tears silently traced down his cheeks.
"..."
Bowing his head and wiping his tears, Gando steadied his trembling voice and said, "I'll arrive by evening. Get some sleep if you can. I'll make sure preparations proceed without a hitch."
"...Thank you."
The door closed with a quiet sound.
Left alone, Uorin placed her hands on the dressing table and looked into the mirror.
"I know."
Teraje, who rose to the throne of history by endlessly analyzing the past based on base incidents.
"I've come this far."
In a playtime as long as history itself, the moments she had enjoyed spontaneous events were fleeting.
'Life is enough with just once.'
Why she endured the same events, the same lines, replaying the tedious sequence as many times as it reset was because...
'The only unknown left for me.'
It was for the most brilliant event in Teraje's life.