[769] Breaking the Precepts (4)
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Wigo's ancestral home was a vast temple built on the grasslands fourteen kilometers from the capital, Gardan.
Aside from the monks' sacred site in the Eastern Midheaven, it was the place that sheltered the largest number of ascetics in the world.
But most of them were participating in the Zion Project, so the temple was quiet when Shirone arrived.
"Wigo?"
Wigo's cousins swarmed over as soon as they heard the head of the Magic Association had come.
"What's going on at the main house? And who are these people?"
When the Terrafoss High Judge pronounced judgment on all humanity, those of virtue made up less than one percent of the population. That these people had not entered Zion was proof their cultivation had not reached the ultimate virtue.
Wigo introduced them himself.
"These are the stars of the Ivory Tower. This is Saint Arian Shirone, and this is Saint Mirak Minerva."
"Arian Shirone?"
To the Sky family relatives who had backed Wigo, Shirone was a name that still hurt.
"A remarkable visitor indeed. What business would one of the Five Great Stars—the pinnacle of the world—have in such a humble place...?"
Before the mood overheated, Garcia explained.
"Wigo has requested instruction. He asked if we could provide a place suitable for an avatar duel."
The cousins' faces flushed.
'At last you've got your chance. Well done, Wigo.'
Miro didn't consider Shirone his disciple, but it was undeniable that she had once apprenticed under him. If they could suppress Shirone here with avatar magic, they could reclaim the title of the world's foremost ascetic house.
'It's not only Wigo's fault.'
Reading the hostility in the cousins' eyes, Shirone finally understood where Wigo's twisted resentment began.
'There's no master here.'
The house head Kasia could not have been oblivious to his son's inner turmoil, yet he had taken everyone to Zion—supposedly to protect humanity from demons.
'Thank you.'
Shirone's expression changed.
'I'll straighten Wigo out myself.'
The cousins retreated, pale-faced.
"Ugh! Wh-what is this?"
Even with shallow cultivation, the Sky family could not fail to feel the chill seeping into their bones. With the warmth of Yahweh removed, Shirone appeared a flawless mage even to Garcia—certified first-class archmage.
'Is this really a mage under twenty?' Garcia thought, stunned.
Her mind was like absolute zero—utterly motionless. It was an extreme, arctic stillness.
"Heh heh, how is it? Amazing, right?"
Minerva stepped beside Garcia.
"Pure to a fault, and ruthlessly calm in the Spirit Zone. The mental state every mage dreams of, isn't it?"
"...I can see Wigo's psyche now."
Garcia admitted. He had wanted to experience it at least once.
"To be unshaken by every stimulus...what must that feel like?"
"You'd be better off giving up. Mages should be like that. Much better-looking than when you were Yahweh, too."
Garcia clamped his mouth shut at the trifling remark.
"Let's go. I want to finish this quickly."
When Shirone's voice vibrated through the Spirit Zone, Wigo felt his mind chill and stiffen.
'Tch, what—establish dominance first.'
An Infinite Mage who had mastered every magic in the world—faced with a perfectly pure mind, there was no match.
"Again, this is a contest of avatar techniques. Directly using magic on one another is—"
"I know. Show us the duel site."
Wigo turned toward the training ground.
"Follow me."
Shirone cast Fly, and she, Minerva, Garcia, and the cousins followed.
'Ha! Put on airs all you like!'
They arrived at a vast clearing large enough to concentrate solely on avatar combat. No walls cut the horizon; the place had been specially provided by South Namiamond.
"All right, all right! Since we're here, let's start quickly!"
Clapping to stir spirits, Minerva looked to Garcia. "You're really not taking the bet? It's not that you can't bring yourself to wager on your country's hopeful, are you?"
"I don't gamble on another's suffering."
Garcia said firmly. "But if you're only asking my opinion, I'd back Wigo."
"Hohoho! So your pride survives, at least."
"...Is that so?"
He didn't mean to diminish a Five Great Star's skill, but Wigo had spent his life fighting a constructed labyrinth of thought.
'That's how this manifestation was built.'
There is no eternal champion because later rivals can analyze and absorb the best. Today, Wigo's efforts were about to bear fruit.
"No direct physical attacks. The outcome will be decided only by avatar combat."
It wasn't a serious concern for the two of them, but the mental impact would be considerable.
"Understood."
Shirone initiated her casting sequence and her Radiant Angel avatar rose, towering as if it would pierce the sky.
Wigo's cousins widened their eyes.
"Whoa."
The presence of the time device made the scenery ripple grotesquely; it was dizzying.
"How splendid."
Now showing his teeth, Wigo sneered openly and unfolded his own avatar technique.
"Then I'll show you my weapon."
When he triggered his sequence, a dense smoke like white paint rose along Wigo's shoulders.
"Celestial Knight."
The smoke climbed to the height of the Radiant Angel and condensed into a knight in white armor. The figure was lean and lithe, the armor's surface smooth as if coated.
Its silhouette was slender enough to be mistaken for female, and in each hand it held a nine-meter blade.
'Not only large, but sharply defined. It'll take tremendous force to break that.'
For the Sky family, who studied states of being from birth, casting sequences were their proudest specialty.
"What do you think? This is the Celestial Knight. It shouldn't be ashamed to face a Five Great Star."
To facilitate the avatar duel, Shirone kept more than three hundred meters away from Wigo.
"...Begin."
At the ongoing disdain, Wigo's nose curled and he unfolded his avatar.
"You won't even be able to follow it with your eyes!"
A twenty-meter-tall avatar closing in made Shirone's mind reel.
'It's over!'
The Celestial Knight crossed its blades in an X and slashed for the Radiant Angel's throat. Shirone inhaled sharply.
"Phew!"
That took one second.
The area around the Radiant Angel warped violently, and suddenly it found itself floating higher than the Celestial Knight.
'Angel's Punishment!'
As a streak of light dove toward the Celestial Knight's broad back, Wigo opened his eyes wide.
'I already knew!'
The white-armored avatar reversed its front and back and charged straight at the Radiant Angel.
'Dump!'
The Celestial Knight's flank bent along an impossible trajectory and dodged Angel's Punishment.
As the impact swept the ground, the twin greatswords extended into countless blades and pierced the Radiant Angel.
"Ugh!"
Shirone's brows knotted.
"This isn't the end!"
The white armor of the Celestial Knight rippled like liquid and surged forward in every conceivable posture.
'This is...!' Shirone finally realized.
"Can my Dump be evaded?"
From angles with no discernible corner, blades flew and pierced the Radiant Angel.
Each strike was potentially fatal, and a huge shock battered the mind wielding the avatar technique.
"Hooouuuu!"
Shirone's gaze stayed clear.
'You still think you can hold out? Well, you won't break, will you.'
A bitter smile spread across Wigo's mouth.
"May you suffer forever."
The Celestial Knight utterly destroyed the Angel's physical form, then assaulted the Radiant Angel in an unimaginable shape.
"...An impressive avatar technique."
Minerva watched with a cold, serpentine expression and exhaled a long plume of cigarette smoke.
"Form collapse is logic collapse. So does that mean it can print thought itself?"
"Dump is a Law."
Garcia said, "Wigo can output everything he conceives through the Celestial Knight."
It was that kind of Law.
"Even if a dilation of time stretches the present, reaction is still a consequence after cause. But Dump..."
"Outputs cause and effect simultaneously."
"Exactly."
If it's mental rather than physical, it's possible; that unique individuality manifesting was an avatar.
"Is it meant to surpass Miro?"
Minerva didn't care for Wigo's psyche, but the first thought on seeing the Celestial Knight was that fact.
'The contemplative stance that embraces and understands every angle of the world—that is Miro's Thousand-Handed Guanyin.' In contrast, the Celestial Knight was Wigo's outward, expansive stance presented to the world.
"This avatar bears the Sky family's temperament. In depth of state, I'd say it doesn't lag behind the stars."
"Hmph."
Minerva snorted—her only reply to Garcia's assessment.
'I will win! I will win!'
The Celestial Knight showed in brutal clarity what logic collapse and total output of thought looked like. It wasn't beautiful. Freed from human aesthetics, it became the most functionally efficient form in the universe.
'Want to know what's truly terrifying?'
If it were only Dump, its level might be laughable, but—
"The Sky family's thought fills the heavens."
The Celestial Knight struck the Radiant Angel along trajectories that even blocked time's variables. Blades embedded in the Angel's body until there was nowhere left to pierce.
"Krrrr...!"
Shirone groaned; cold sweat beaded on her forehead.
"Are you holding out because of pride?"
The Celestial Knight withdrew, pulling its swords free.
"What a disappointment. If you knew you couldn't win, you could at least admit it gracefully—that would be a beautiful sight."
"Yes. You are truly strong."
Shirone slowly lifted her eyes.
"If I admit defeat here, will you finally be satisfied?"
"Don't be ridiculous."
The Celestial Knight exposed Wigo's anger and thrust countless thorns outward.
"Where do you think you'll find an excuse to slip away?"
Gritting her teeth at the form of an Unlocker's thought pouring in, Shirone understood.
'He's far more twisted than I thought.'
She had never intended to take it lightly from the start.
'I'm sorry, Kasia...'
From now on, even an avatar duel could not guarantee Wigo's life.
'I don't think there's any other way.'
When she first realized this, she thought it would never be used on anyone but Nane.
'Angel's Punishment!'
The Radiant Angel drove its spear down.
"It's useless!"
As Wigo's thought printed, the Celestial Knight avoided the light spear in an astonishing form.
'That was one second.'
The Angel—composed of the time device—passed through thrust, insertion, and resonance stages and changed form dramatically.
'And this timeline...'
Shirone gritted her teeth and activated her avatar technique.
'It bounces!'
Radiant Angel's avatar magic—Time Vibration.
"What—!"
Even in a moment so brief it could be called the smallest unit of time, Wigo's thought squeezed through the gaps and took shape.
'Why is it coming again?'
What was even more baffling was that in this short instant Angel's Punishment was already flying at them again.
'Dump—!'
Only when he barely avoided the three-thousandth spear with everything he had did Wigo realize what was happening.
'The same second is vibrating.'
Elapsed time was still the beginning of a moment.
'How long will this go on...?'
At the point the trillionth repetition reached 6,281, Wigo's thought finally hit its limit.
'I don't know anymore.'
The instant he let go of the taut cognitive tether, time flowed into the standard of the senses.
"Aaaaaaaah!"
It felt as if his mind were being torn apart.
In that distant, receding consciousness, the last reasoning Wigo perceived was the infinite repetition of a particular one-second slice—time, each second carrying different events, vibrating a hundred thousand times over.