[771] The Doubt of Emptiness (1)
He arrived in the Kingdom of Corona.
'So this is how it feels.'
Perhaps because the mission was over, the still unfamiliar, cold landscape felt as comforting as home.
"Let's eat before anything else. What good is becoming a star if you don't even have time for a meal?"
Shirone entered the White Inn where he had been staying.
"Welcome back. Oh my?"
A middle-aged woman's eyes lit up at the sight of Shirone and Minerva entering together.
"You two have gotten close. Could it be…?"
"It's business. She's one of the Five Great Stars too."
"Hmm, is that so?"
The woman looked a little disappointed.
"Something quick to eat."
When Minerva put on a busy act, the woman went into the dining room without complaint.
Shirone sat and looked toward the corner table.
"...."
The four who had been playing cards were still seated in the exact same arrangement, passing cards the same way.
'Surely not.'
They must have gone home, and by coincidence all four had worn the same clothes.
Minerva, reading Shirone's expression, turned and asked the four players.
"Who's winning?"
The bald old man answered.
"Everyone's losing. If the game doesn't end, there are neither winners nor losers. Only the game wins."
Shirone listened.
'Only the game wins.'
It sounded like a description of the current world, where Yahweh and the Buddha stand opposed.
"How long will you keep going?"
"...Until the game ends."
Minerva rummaged through her coat and pulled out the promissory note she'd received from Nam Eimond, shaking it.
"Mind if I join a round?"
The four stopped their hands at once.
"What are you doing?"
Shirone tried to stop her from gambling, but Minerva had already lifted a chair.
"I'll introduce them properly. These are the 'Card-Playing People.' They're a famed sight at the Ivory Tower. A popular photo spot for tourists, too."
The owner called from the kitchen.
"A specialty of the White Inn!"
Minerva surveyed the game.
"Fourteen years ago, four men driven mad by gambling—arguably the world's greatest gamblers—entered the Ivory Tower. They made a wager. Who, in the end, would win the game?"
"What kind of game?"
"Tests, life, anything. It doesn't matter. The participants' dispositions differ: one who must take, one who must give, one who wants to end the game, and one who wants to keep it going."
Shirone looked again at the Card-Playing People.
"Who do you think will win?"
"Obviously the one who must take—"
Shirone shook his head.
"There won't be a winner."
"Ironic, isn't it? But that's life. For the game to end, one side's balance must collapse."
Minerva set the promissory note on the table.
"I'll bet on who wins this round. If I lose, you can take all this money."
The bald man asked, "...If you win?"
"Then stop the game. The 'Card-Playing People' will no longer exist in this world."
The red-bearded man across the table said, "Alright. Who'll win this round?"
"Hmm, let's see...."
Minerva studied the hands carefully as Shirone swallowed.
'Break the balance.'
If someone interfered with a perfectly meshed game of good and evil, selfless giving and ruthless taking, and caused a crack—
'Who would be the victor?'
Minerva, after scrutinizing their hands for a long time, scratched her head.
"I have no idea. I'm no gambler. In times like this, trust your gut. Who wants to keep the game going?"
"Universal love, or Shirone."
The gaunt, skull-like man said, "It's me."
"Good. I'll bet on your side."
The Card-Playing People were the world's supreme servants—beings who could win at any game, from pure intellect chess to probabilistic card games to athletic contests swayed by emotion.
Minerva had input a new variable into a simulation those four had been running for fourteen years.
'How will it change now?'
She'd staked a vast sum on the side that wanted to keep the game going; if Minerva won, the game would be destroyed.
'This is complicated.'
Those who wanted the game to end would have to shift to oppose her.
'A chain reaction. Everyone's thinking will change.'
"Begin."
At the words of the man with ink-dark eyes, the four hands moved in a blur.
They drew cards, laid them down, picked from the pile.
'What kind of rules are these?'
The speed was so great Shirone couldn't track the progress; three minutes passed.
"Results are in."
Minerva watched the table with interest; Shirone rose.
"The winner of this round is...."
The bald man turned his gaze to the red-bearded man.
"It's you, Gudio."
The one who must take—ruthless.
"...."
It was only a game, but those who ran it were figures at the apex of action and reaction.
"Ha, unlucky. You could've won."
Minerva clicked her tongue and returned to her seat; Shirone stared at her, baffled.
"Are you serious? What about the money?"
"What can you do? That's gambling. You win, you take it all. You lose, you give it all."
"No—you could've said that from the start—"
"Let's go. We've got mountains of work; why bother eating first?"
Minerva grabbed her jet and left. Shirone looked back at the Card-Playing People.
All four ignored the promissory note; heads bowed, they replayed the round in their minds.
Shirone shook his head.
"I really don't get it."
When Shirone followed Minerva out, the owner came out belatedly carrying the food.
"Oh my, you're already gone?"
The bald man lifted his eyes and asked, "Do you agree?"
They all nodded.
"It's very slight. I didn't think it would affect anything, but this looks like it'll split by a hair."
Gudio said, "At this rate, the game will end."
That meant one player's stake would run out just before the pot revived.
"Who's the final winner?"
Because the four don't play each role alone, to see the outcome they had to actually run the round.
"Start."
As the four hands crossed at phenomenal speed and cards flew back and forth, the promissory note slid to the floor.
The owner watched for a moment, dipped a finger into the soup, tasted it, and muttered, "What a waste. Can't throw it away."
* * *
After parting with Minerva at the Ivory Tower, Shirone arrived at the Great Earth Temple where Taeseong stayed.
"Heh— you look tired."
Taeseong greeted him with a knowing smile.
"Minerva is quite tireless."
"I've heard. Still, I needed to confirm—are you really going to register 〈법살〉?"
"Yes. I want to use it a bit."
If Shirone was the owner, Taeseong had no objection.
"I understand. And..."
Her voice turned cold.
"I need to talk to you about the rules of Paradigm-Breaking."
Shirone braced himself and waited silently.
"You've probably heard, but Paradigm-Breaking is dangerous."
"Because it invades the higher system?"
Taeseong wore a sad expression.
"I don't like hearing you put it that way. As I've said before, nothing is predetermined. All life on a star simply lives by its own will."
"Then what's the problem?"
"It's not that we are inside a system; we are the ones who make the system."
Taeseong pointed to the world below.
"Humans live by will, but when those wills gather, patterns emerge. That's a system, and it lets one imagine we might be part of a program. Strictly speaking, that's an imagination that flips cause and effect."
Of course that imagination could be true.
"The reason Paradigm-Breaking can't be tolerated isn't because someone decreed it so. The act itself threatens the system we made."
Taeseong spread her arms and countless stars were born in a fan-shaped display.
"In the backdrop of the universe there's the natural order, and from that the biological order emerged. Humanity occupies a point within that biological order."
A star exploded, punching a hole in the cosmos.
"The most potent force within the natural order can pierce the higher cosmic order. That's Paradigm-Breaking."
"From a human perspective then..."
"Yes. From the standpoint of the biological order, it would be power enough to destroy the natural order. The most powerful magic you could wield before reaching Yahweh's realm was divine punishment. Even that doesn't reach Paradigm-Breaking."
The star Shirone lived on surfaced as an image, flickering like a tiny firefly.
"Any magic is the same. Typhoons, volcanic eruptions—stars shrug off natural disasters. They aren't destroyed even by most asteroid impacts. Even if your divine punishment struck from ten thousand miles away, it would only scar the star's surface. For a human, it's like a tear in the skin."
Even if humanity pooled all its resources, what would be destroyed would be their civilization, not the star.
"A system isn't made because someone decided it; it became a system because it was born that way. But you have broken that rule."
Shirone could destroy a star.
"That is Paradigm-Breaking."
"Of course I can withstand your power, but Terrafos are different. Unlike the natural order, what governs the biological order is mind. If a mind decides to do so, a star might be destroyed."
"Imir?"
Taeseong nodded.
"Even Anke Ra won't tolerate Paradigm-Breaking. It's cheating in the game. Think about it—if a being with will could destroy a star..."
If one could freely shatter the higher system.
"Who would want to live here?"
Values, reasons, and purposes of existence lose meaning before someone wielding Paradigm-Breaking.
"There's controversy."
Taeseong turned.
"Terrafos are minds far superior to humans. They insist there must be no cheating in this contest. If it isn't a fair fight, separating winners from losers is meaningless."
Taeseong raised a finger.
"That's why there's the limit—the cap of the biological order. You have transcended that cap. In the universe's caste system, you are not a living creature. You are a kind of force of nature."
Anyone who understood what Shirone could do would have to nod.
"So what should I do now?"
"Nothing. You transcended that limit by your own will. What I want you to understand is that there are beings who consider that cheating."
"Terraforce."
"Yes. Their council will judge. It seems the chief justices of Terraforce have authority, but it won't be easy. Stay at the Ivory Tower for a while and watch how things unfold."
"And if they dismiss it?"
Taeseong looked back at Shirone.
"Nothing will change. But if you continue to defy the ruling to the very end..."
Her gaze was colder than ever.
"Terraforce will excise you from the system to protect the users of this star."