[758] The Doctrine of Evil (5)
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The otherworld before Shirone seemed filled with everything humans loathed.
After passing a field of villi lining an intestine, he came upon grotesque statues straight out of religious paintings.
'This is unexpected…'
Following Vaseto through the otherworld had been fine, but at some point the real-world landscape vanished.
'Miro…'
Sion's law to shrink the Spirit Zone was pressing down across the entire world.
The thin border that could once be torn at any moment had become an iron wall.
"I'll cheer you on."
If it was a choice made for humanity, he had to accept it — and he admired her resolve.
'No more tailing is possible.'
Having lost Vaseto, Shirone planned to find an exit as quickly as possible and return to the real world.
'This is strange. Really strange.'
By the time he reached this place, he had counted well over a thousand demons.
'You can't get back to reality from here anyway. Most forces should be stationed around the Spirit Zone…'
Every nation had fierce fighting near the Spirit Zone, so this was odd.
'The Spirit Zone is the frontline between demons and humans. It's impossible unless one side gives up…'
Maybe both sides had already done so.
Gurgle—
Water ran along the entrails and the outer wall where Shirone stood shook violently.
"This—!"
A gust of wind swept through the places he'd passed, followed by the stench of rot.
Krrreeee!
At the nauseating sound, murky filth poured in like a flood and Shirone shot up into the sky.
"Ugh!"
"Save us! Save us!"
Skeletons carried along the filthy current raised bony arms toward Shirone.
Universal love.
"Take my hand!"
The moment he grasped a hand, the shoulder tore free and the arm that came away from the torso turned to black ash.
'Soul purification.'
He had learned sealing altars was often futile, but he couldn't help taking the offered hand.
'But never this severe…'
Minds from the real world seeped into the otherworld and were recycled as energy for the demons.
'The coven's sexual revelries, the gatherings of demon cultists.'
Collective consciousness born in such places was so powerful and provocative it could paralyze the brain.
But sometimes an individual's consciousness could erupt with equal force.
Death.
'They're already dead.'
Few could overcome the terror of death—unless they were devout believers certain of salvation or ascetic seekers who had embraced life's meaninglessness.
At the instant that overwhelming fear exploded, their consciousness was sucked into the otherworld and fell into hell.
'I'm sorry.'
Thinking of their fate—falling into the place called the Grill and being melted in hellfire—he involuntarily thought of Ikael.
'You might be right.'
Shirone forced himself not to let his eyes water and shook his head.
'I mustn't break.'
Yahweh's realm loved everything that existed, but the residents of this otherworld had no substance.
'They're only hells we created.'
True salvation wasn't shutting the world down; it was freeing these beings through humanity practicing love.
When the grotesque soul purifications ended, Shirone descended back to the surface.
The woman's face attached to a grotesque statue had shifted; it now grinned with a wide, gaping mouth.
"…"
Her mouth was stuffed full of soul detritus.
Suddenly her pupils turned toward Shirone and she began to chew the debris while laughing.
"Kya-ha-ha! Kya-ha-ha…!"
Bang!
The statue's face, struck by a photon cannon, popped off and rolled across the floor.
"Haa…"
Who was he fighting for?
Sometimes—no, often—when he looked at a world ruined by human thoughtlessness, his anger boiled over.
"How dare you damage a statue of purification!"
At the shout, vicious demons surged in and filled the rotten intestine passages.
"Answer me."
O human heart.
"How can we make you understand love?"
There had been seekers in hell's history who came asking that very question, and the demons had an answer ready.
"There is only one way."
A horned demon stepped forward and spread both arms wide.
"Submit and worship me. Then I will love you."
Because only I am precious.
"Puahaha! Perfect answer! Correct answer! Seeker of the Way! Why agonize over something so simple?"
All the demons spread their arms.
"Worship me!"
Shirone squeezed his eyes shut, and when lids as heavy as the world opened again—
"Kill him! A seeker's flesh is divine!"
Yahweh's light swept out.
"Kuhahaha! Isn't that infuriating? You're foolish to expect compassion from humans! Your light is strong and burns us…"
Even as demonic cries overlapped in the heart of hell, Shirone did not stop the light.
"I'm not afraid! So I will not yield! Until the moment of utter annihilation, we will fight!"
Scorching the demons in that area with Yahweh's light was the only way to seal the altar.
"How wretched! Foolish, foolish…!"
Where the scream-like shout faded, a void as vast as Yahweh's radiance opened.
"Void."
It was neither dark nor transparent.
The kind of 'nothingness' beyond human thought was so strange few could endure it unless they were Shirone.
Because they could not bear that nihil—
"Let there be light."
Shirone had grown accustomed to filling sealed places with material.
'My skill is still lacking.'
Even creating a statue of the archangel from the primal psyche in the pure white space soothed him.
'Ikael.'
From Hexa's memory he saw her clutching her chest and wailing.
'It must have been a miserable sight.'
Why did recalling that memory wash the anger from his heart?
"Laktas Vera Imera! (Submit to fear!)"
Startled by the familiar voice for a moment, Shirone turned to the hellscape outside his material boundary.
"Igor."
The lord of fear, Igor, rode a blind black steed and approached with a blue-flamed spear drooping from his hand.
"This isn't your territory, is it?"
By real-world coordinates he should be in Radum.
"I came to reclaim the mark of submission."
Igor's words stalled before the freshly laid pure-white boundary Shirone had created.
It had nothing to do with him, but he must have felt an aversion to stepping in.
"Hand it over. I fight for Satan."
The necklace on Igor drifted from Shirone's hand, turning into blue starlight as it floated toward Igor.
"You found me with this."
Just before the starlight reached Igor's grasp it stopped and no longer advanced.
"…Refusal?"
For now Shirone was still Igor's master.
"What happens if I refuse?"
"Satan would annihilate me. But even so, a new name of fear would simply appear."
The more a human emotion is felt, the faster it revives in the otherworld.
"A new name, huh…"
The name Igor belonged to the Governor of North Eimond as well.
"Is this connected to that incident?"
"Not particularly. There are many Igors in the human world. Some use fear as their weapon."
That emotion fused with souls melted in hellfire and gave birth to the lord of fear, Igor.
"He came first; I came afterward. Don't confuse them."
If an emotion was strong enough to become a general in hell, one could guess the human Igor's character.
"Tell me what's happening where I am."
Igor fell silent.
"The condition is the annulment of the vow of submission."
Because he still wanted to fight for Satan, Igor nodded gravely.
"The one who gave you personality, Igor, no longer exists in this world."
"Dead?"
"Absorbed. Half of the kingdom's army you now occupy are not humans but demons."
"Demons?"
Changing form meant altering not only substance but function, so even for demons it wasn't easy.
This wasn't an illusion spell; Shirone had reached Yahweh's level and could not have missed it.
"How could that be…"
Shirone realized all at once.
"Garas?"
"Right. Half-breeds of demons and Garas have taken over the army. Garas are a significant species. Ever since they entered the kingdom, immense energy flowed into the otherworld. From that influx, demons were born who pushed out the old legion commanders and became the new commanders. Even you couldn't be certain of victory."
He had never guaranteed victory before, so Shirone only felt his heart beat a little faster.
"You know demons are born from energy sources like the Grill, right? They differ because each inherits some aspect of Satan. Conversely…"
"So Satan is the conglomeration of evil."
The demons called themselves evil, but like humans who revere virtue, they believed evil was truth.
"How far into North Eimond have they penetrated?"
"All of it. The kingdom you're in has already been occupied by demons. It was a decision made by a human named Igor."
"He chose himself?"
"He truly wanted to become fear. So he offered his body to a being greater than himself. Therefore the one who rules that country now is effectively a demon—someone who can still assume human form."
"…A legion commander."
If only the top dragons among dragons could change form, one could grasp a legion commander's power.
"Satan's 72 Legions — 24th Legion Commander, Maraduk."
Maraduk, the Destroyer.
"We are all parts of Satan. Especially the legion commanders inherit Satan's strongest aspects. If you think of it as making me submit, even Yahweh would lose his light."
While Shirone brooded, Igor spoke.
"This is as far as I can tell you. If you want to know more, you'll have to annihilate me."
"…I'll give it back—the necklace."
At last the blue starlight seeped into Igor.
"You could have annihilated me like this."
"I know. But…"
Even the fact that he could share anything with a demon was priceless to Shirone.
"You helped me."
Igor wheeled his black steed.
"There won't be another time like this."
As he rode into the hellish distance and Shirone watched, Igor suddenly reined in.
Was this truly the right thing to do?
In that brief time the emotions Shirone had shared through Igor's necklace might have lingered.
"Not entirely impossible."
Igor sounded as if speaking to himself, but—
"A demon that repents of its sins."
To Shirone's ears it thundered.
"Heh, the problem is that they're almost nonexistent."
Having drawn a clear line, Igor vanished without looking back.
Shirone could not move for a long while.
'There was one.'
His fists clenched.
'I can fight longer. I am not wrong!'
A fire seemed to ignite in his chest; he drew breath as if suffocated, and hot tears streamed down his cheeks.
'I will never give up. No matter how wicked humans may be…'
They were not necessarily all evil.