[770] Breaking the Precepts (5)
A spear of light pierced the celestial knight, and the ground rippled like a wave.
Because its mass had been adjusted, the Rupture's force wasn't unleashed, but its speed was far greater.
"Uaaaaah…."
Struck by the shock, Hugo drove both knees down and was about to collapse.
"Huk!"
He planted his elbows and stopped his face from hitting the dirt.
'What am I…'
A convulsion ran through his brain and along his nerves; only after a long moment did he begin to parse what had happened.
'How long was I trapped?'
One second.
And yet Hugo's mind held the memory of that one second repeated a hundred thousand times.
Hugo's cousins murmured.
"What the hell just happened?"
Angel Punishment is a world-famous avatar technique, but Hugo falling from a single blow made no sense.
Garcia felt the same.
'I don't know. What on earth occurred?'
Hugo, besides Naemonde, was one of the world's top talents.
And since this was an avatar duel—not an attack on the body itself—no technique should produce that kind of shock.
"Any idea?"
The fact Garcia spoke first already hinted at how absurd the mood was.
Minerva said, "Vibration."
The amused, spectator expression vanished; she now had the cold eyes of a witch.
"…"
Garcia chewed on the word. She'd said only one thing, but the Mage Association president's mind pushed through countless possibilities and settled on a single conclusion.
"You mean the one second vibrated?"
"Right. It bounces the timeline. The line shuttles back and forth between A and B, but the amplitude of the vibration is one second. Still, within that one second of vibration countless one-seconds are distributed as probabilities."
Garcia listened in silence.
"Then the question is, how did Hugo himself perceive that vibration?"
The cousins leaned forward.
"The answer is cognitive dissonance. He probably felt the instant and eternity at the same time."
Just hearing the explanation almost induced cognitive dissonance.
One cousin asked, "How's that possible?"
Minerva waved her index finger up and down.
"This is the timeline vibrating. If you try to feel the one second at a specific point between these vibrations…"
Her finger kept moving.
"There is no 'one second' there. The finger has already passed; only probability remains."
Thus the instant.
"On the other hand, if you perceive the one second at that specific point—"
Her finger stopped.
"The probability collapses, so it's no longer a vibration."
Garcia said, "Probability becomes one hundred percent. It becomes a real one second."
Thus eternity.
"The outcome depends on the observer's intent. But Hugo vibrated together with Shirone's one second. In other words, they were in resonance."
Minerva pinched her thumb and forefinger in turn.
"So Hugo experienced two things at once. One: the experience of a hundred thousand seconds rushing into a single second. And the other…"
Now Garcia understood.
"The experience of one second repeating for a hundred thousand seconds. That's why he felt both an instant and eternity at once."
Minerva lowered her hand.
"Strictly speaking, it's neither 'instant' nor 'vibration'—there's no term yet for the kind of temporal perception Hugo had."
Shirone called it Time Vibration.
"But looking at Hugo's face, you can imagine what that experience felt like."
Hugo, still dazed, was terrified at his own inability to speak.
'Could I be turning into an idiot?'
Reliving a deadliest fight—especially its most brutal moment—a hundred thousand times was a memory he never wanted to repeat.
"You all right?"
At Shirone's voice, Hugo slowly lifted his gaze and looked up.
"…"
The horrific memories pressed in from the vibration; his pupils trembled with fear and he toppled backward.
"Huuuuu…."
Shirone watched him with a pitying expression.
'I didn't want to use this on anyone else.'
It had been a means to resist Nane's void.
'Integration of Siok and Bakji.'
Shirone's super-sense perceived Ideals and could integrate all the world's information.
'That was the gateway.'
And now, through resonance, he had reached the point where he could make that entire set of information vibrate and shake the world.
"If you can shake the world—"
If our world's timeline endlessly shuttled between points A and B—
"The past and future would overlap."
The present would dissolve, and the world would unwind into a realm of probabilities with no fixed value.
"Therefore, there would be neither an inevitably coming future nor an irrevocable past."
A kind of time slip.
"Creating a phenomenon that reverses time."
Hugo slowly raised his head and saw Shirone wearing a sorrowful expression.
"This is why I opposed Nane's art…"
Though still imperfect.
"It was the only way to save everything."
Hugo's face crumpled and clear tears rolled down his cheeks.
'What have I done?'
Yahweh of universal love.
A man who carried the burden of not tolerating even a single bit of suffering in the world.
'Father.'
Depth of attainment isn't everything.
'I was foolish.'
Seeing how vast Shirone's heart was made his own narrowness feel shameful.
"Go to Sion."
Shirone held out his hand.
"It was an excellent avatar technique. Fight with us. The world needs people like you."
"Ah…."
At last Hugo found his voice.
"Thank you."
Seeing Hugo in tears, the cousins fell silent as if realizing something.
Minerva said, "You think it was only one second?"
Garcia might not have thought so at first, but after hearing it she couldn't deny it.
"Repeating a moment can't save the whole. Nor can it erase all suffering. But…"
Minerva thought of Beron.
"A man left a question for this world: can humanity change the future by its own will?"
"The Beron problem. If the Law already determines the result, then Nane's art would be right."
"That's why it's not merely one second."
Shirone's answer to the Beron problem had been 'yes.'
"He destroyed a determined future. He directly threw down the gauntlet at Nane's enlightenment."
If the future can be destroyed—
"Whether the world truly is suffering has now entered a phase you can't know without seeing it through to the end."
Shirone supported Hugo as he approached.
"If he rests, he'll recover."
As the cousins escorted Hugo away, Shirone turned to Minerva and said, "Let's go. We've wasted too much time."
Garcia stepped forward.
"On Hugo's behalf, thank you. If we can help in the future, please don't hesitate to come to us."
Minerva narrowed her hawkish eyes.
"Hey! You never said that to me once! How dare you, a mere Mage Association president, try to toss yourself against one of the Five Great Stars?"
You have to look human to be treated like one.
Minerva felt even more dislike toward Shirone.
"I'm glad Hugo's safe. The more people who can help Sion, the better."
For the first time Garcia spoke frankly.
"Yes. Gustav's movements look ominous, and the Holy War is recruiting talent from across the world. I'm thinking of applying to Valkyrie soon."
"What? The Association president?"
"It's not decided yet. I'll take the test. It's time to join forces. I'm not ignoring personal career or the kingdom's honor, of course."
"Oh, naturally."
Not everyone had to be a Yahweh.
'If you're the world's greatest fire mage, you'd probably pass the test easily. Maybe even a free pass.'
Shirone gave nothing away.
"I hope it goes well. If we meet again someday, I look forward to working with you."
That was what Garcia wanted to say.
"I wish you luck."
The jet carrying Shirone belched flame and tore across the sky at Mach speed.
Watching the temple recede, Shirone turned to Minerva.
"We're heading to the Ivory Tower?"
"Of course. Time Vibration itself is a Rupture. They'll say something. If that happens, leaving for Kasan will be a few days later."
"Why would their reaction take so long?"
"You'll see when you hear it."
He disliked getting tangled with Terrapose.
"Instead, I'll handle the petty matters. There's the Naemonde issue and registering 〈Beopsal〉."
"Register 〈Beopsal〉?"
Each of the Five Great Stars may register one additional thing at the Ivory Tower besides themselves.
"No matter how it's used to punish the worst, it's an ultra-class killing weapon. Registering it at the Ivory Tower will let us use it freely. Otherwise there'll be massive global backlash."
"I see."
"I'll entrust 〈Beopsal〉 to you. Maybe it's finally found the right owner…"
It was an oddly sentimental remark.
'Indeed, for Minerva, 〈Beopsal〉 is…'
Handing over an object steeped in horrific pain and a shameful past wasn't easy.
"By the way, what do you want as your wish?"
"Hm?"
"You lost the bet. What's your wish?"
Minerva grinned.
"You're secretly hoping, aren't you?"
Shirone waved his hand flatly.
"Not at all. Better to get it over with. I doubt it'll be a normal wish anyway."
What sort of wish could a Five Great Star have?
"Hmm. Fine."
Minerva turned in the jet and looked at Shirone's lips with a honeyed gaze.
"What will you do about this?"
A shiver ran through Shirone; Minerva spread two fingers.
"I'll give you a choice. Something you can do right now, and something you can only do later. Pick."
'Something I can do right now?'
Shirone ran a mental list, swallowed, and said, "Something I can only do later. So if I can do it now but postpone it, that doesn't count?"
"You're sly. Of course most things I like you can do right here. But what about marriage? You can't do that here, can you?"
"…Are you sane?"
Minerva laughed.
"Just kidding. Fine. Sold to the 'must-do-later' option! Promise me?"
"You can't expect me to agree without knowing what it is."
While the jet cut through the clouds, Minerva drifted into a faraway look.
"Time Vibration—"
"Huh?"
"Suppose later… if a chance truly comes for you to save everyone…."
Her voice grew more serious than before. Shirone listened, but she quickly shook her head.
"It's better to save it for last. Makes it more agonizing, right? I'll tell you when the time comes."
"How can you keep something like that a secret? What is it?"
Minerva stayed silent for Shirone's sake.
'You won't be able to accept it.'
Life is suffering.
Though she traveled with Shirone, her essence leaned closer to Nane's philosophy.
'Don't save me, Shirone.'
That was what she truly wanted to ask.
"Honestly, if you keep this up, I'll cancel the wish and everything! You're just teasing people."
Shirone's grumpy complaint made Minerva smile despite herself; tears welled in her eyes.
'I should wipe them away.'
The witch's heart, which could never be clean.
'I'll wipe it with moonlight.'
Their view crossed the Mediterranean as the Akkad Desert on the northern continent drew near.