That Winter (4)
Shirone relaxed his stance and stepped toward Gai.
"I'm Rian's friend—"
As Gai's blade flashed like lightning, a straight gust of wind drove forward with razor intent.
It was only wind, but enough to cut the skin. Shirone sidestepped and tilted his head.
"You can't afford to let your guard down during a war," Shirone said quickly. "I'm Rian's friend—Shirone. I heard the Ozent family's eldest son is abroad as a spy on royal matters."
If that were true, Gai wasn't necessarily an enemy.
"A spy?"
Gai laughed with his sword resting on his shoulder. "Who said I'm a spy?"
"Your family—"
Gai's laugh died off.
"I heard someone say my cute baby sibling got a friend. Maybe that kid is one of the Ivory Tower's Five Great Stars?"
He sneered, but Shirone kept his manners.
"Yes. I'm one of the Five Great Stars." Shirone lowered his stance.
"How's Rian?"
"We parted a year ago, so I haven't had exact news. But wherever he is, he'll manage."
"I see. That's a pity."
The moment Shirone felt a tremor, the ground beneath Gai erupted with a bang.
"I wanted to at least pass on his last words."
Gai's figure surged forward before Shirone could react, and Shirone teleported.
"Slow!"
The blade sliced across his throat.
"What—?"
Sensing a shift in time, Shirone stumbled dozens of meters back and gasped.
"Ah—time."
Gai, who had once plucked an archmage's throat like a bunch of grapes, knew well the oddities of magic.
"Then how about this?"
The black-haired genius ran 'fold' across all seven pages of his schema, and a human silhouette popped into the transparent air.
Not faster than light, but the blade arrived before Shirone could even begin a thought.
'Even if you carry a god in your head, the vessel is still only flesh.'
Dizziness was Shirone's only thought; before his nine senses could open, a flash sheared across.
Kuuuuuu!
If the sun had a sound, the air burning right now would roar like that.
"Annoying."
Minerva grabbed the back of Shirone's collar and kept retreating without stopping.
At such a reckless interval she couldn't read Gai's movement, so she halted at two hundred eighty meters.
"You all right?"
"No. I almost died." Shirone answered honestly. "I've never seen a swordsman that strong. Would fighting Rian feel like this?"
"It's not merely inexperience… that's the wrong word. If we're the pinnacle of magic, that is the pinnacle of swordsmanship."
Minerva's expression was grim. "Honestly, if they're the same rank I'd still avoid a swordsman. No matter how strong the mind, the body is direct. You have to keep your distance and fight strategically."
Against a lower-ranked swordsman you could overwhelm them head-on, but this was how you were supposed to face a swordsman of true caliber.
'Or maybe someone of equivalent skill is on our side.'
He wanted to see Rian.
"Keep at least three hundred meters away. Otherwise you won't get the reaction time before the magic manifests."
"No. I don't want to fight." It wasn't only because Gai was strong. "He's Rian's brother. I don't know why he's in Gustaft, but fighting him here is a loss."
"Kid."
Gai heard the voice from three hundred meters out. "You don't know Rian. Just as I abandoned my family for the sword, Rian did the same."
Shirone used sound magic. "No. I know Rian. If that's his reason to fight, you'll be disappointed in me."
"Maybe. I don't know how he grew up. But listen—I'm not going to die here, am I?"
Gai took a charging stance. "This time I'll kill."
Shirone's eyes narrowed at the murderous aura visible even from afar. "Did you really abandon Tormia? If there's something you can't say—"
"Shh."
A small voice boomed like thunder. "What kind of Five Great Star talks so much?"
He wasn't an opponent one could spar with while chattering. Shirone fell silent.
"We must avoid him at all costs. Attack from both sides."
Minerva took a deep draw from her pipe, and Gai's killing intent rose straight up like a drawn blade.
An emergency alarm blared inside Ex-Machina.
"Damn! What is this?"
Iruki stared at the result Ex-Machina's transcendent computation had produced. "Failed? Why?"
Every simulation they'd run thousands of times reached the same conclusion: in real combat, they couldn't kill Habitz.
Gudio ground his teeth. "The variable was imaginary from the start. By the numbers, Habitz should have left the capital to protect Abella."
Ex-Machina had calculated that the piercing the heart would be the law it followed.
"Even Alfapishi's snare can't bind Habitz with the Law?" Iruki shouted.
"It's too early to give up!"
"What are you going to do?"
"We're in Bashken anyway. If we twist the Law acting on the , we can chase Habitz again!"
Ness's skull-like eyes widened. "No! It's too dangerous!"
The Law governing the was a gargantuan interlock of all Laws within a two-hundred-kilometer radius.
"Because we can—"
"Not yours," Albino said.
"I'm doing it."
Light poured from Iruki's eyes as he engaged Overdrive.
'Cancellation!'
His Spirit Zone, which had tracked the 's location through Ex-Machina, canceled the Law.
"Uaaah!"
It carried a weight utterly unlike canceling an ordinary spell; blood tears streamed from his eyes.
"Iruki! Stop! You have to stop!" The 's trajectory—aimed straight at Habitz—began to brake and curve.
"Just reset the coordinates!" The rest, the 's core would handle.
'My head's going to explode!'
Which would happen first: Ex-Machina's processors frying, or the changing coordinates?
"Iruki! If you die here, there's no future!"
Yes.
'No—the place to die is here!' He knew that if they failed now, the end of reason would come.
'The world of chaos will open.'
Blood-red filled Shirone's vision and even Ex-Machina's monitors vanished.
"Go!"
At last the 's path aimed once more at Habitz and chaos re-aimed itself.
"Done it!"
The men playing cards clenched their fists. 'Well done, Iruki! You did it!' Agaya—who had been watching the front without flinching—stood to check on Iruki.
"Iruki! Iruki!"
He convulsed, blood streaming from his eyes, nose, and ears. "Die, die!"
Even as the aimed for his heart, Habitz slipped into a frenzy and killed indiscriminately.
"My word…"
As Valkan licked his lips, a soldier ran up. "Sir! Evacuate now! Head to the outer residential district—"
Before the report finished, a scream tore the sky.
"What!" At the edge of sight, a dagger—skittering like an insect that had lost a wing—whirled through the air and pierced soldiers.
Abella realized and cried out. "Honey! Stop now and go!" Habitz, who had frozen in place, spotted the flying dagger.
'A game of tag?'
From its trajectory, you could tell how much someone wanted Habitz dead.
'Then run.'
Grinning, Habitz grabbed Abella's hand. "Puhahaha! Valkan! We're getting out!" The thought sprang from chaos like a fish—and for Habitz that thought was always right.
"Natasha! Take His Highness!" With Natasha covering Habitz's rear, the guards flooded out of the city.
The screamed in pursuit. "Damn! Why so fast?"
The dagger threaded people like a needle through paper and flew straight at Habitz.
"Dance of the Reaper."
Natasha stopped, turned to the , and cast an incarnation— a skull in a black robe materialized. "I'll smash it!"
She sprang like a spring and thrust her hand at the , making the air wail.
"This—?!"
The twisted to avoid Natasha's hand, ignored her, and flew toward Habitz.
"Your Highness!"
Valkan shouted.
"Huh?"
Habitz blinked and turned; the blade of the had already arrived, gleaming coldly.
"What—"
At the same moment the world froze gray.
"Aaaaa."
A dirge rose from the sky, and twelve figures in black clothed in sword-armor rose from the ground where Habitz stood.
"We are Siok."
Each 0.666 second.
"Receive him."
A doll—its skin as if peeled from magma—surfaced and bared burning eyes.
"Pitiful, victim of the Law." Habitz glanced briefly at Satan, then poked the stunned Abella.
It didn't even feel like a poke.
"Who are you?"
"I am the root of all magic, including you. I am Satan. I have come in person to save you today."
"Save me? From what?"
Satan's hand dripped blood as he pointed at the hovering .
"The blade of hatred that even I cannot touch. You can never escape. How about a bargain with me?"
Satan brought his finger to his eyes. "Become my servant and purge the world. Together with the demon kin, stain this world with evil."
"Hmm."
Habitz, hand on his chin, considered. "No."
Satan's eyes widened grotesquely. "Are you willing to die?"
"I never thought about that. I don't like you because I still want to play with my friends a little longer."
He wanted to play with Abella a bit more.
"You'll be dead in less than a second."
"That one second is the fun part. It's that one second."
Habitz hated boring things even for a tenth of a second.
"...Clinging to love. Was I mistaken? I thought you were fit to receive my grace."
Satan sank back into the magma. "You will regret it."
Listening to the grand dirge, Habitz gripped his wife's wrist with eyes full of joy. "Let's go, Abella."
To a world of eternal freedom.
As that 0.666-second instant released, the flew at Habitz with full inertia.
From 0.777 seconds, a flood of thoughts slammed into Habitz's head at once.
'Conquer the world with Satan?'
He hated the idea of bringing parents to the playground.
'What nonsense. There are still so many things we can enjoy on our own.'
0.888 seconds.
0.999 seconds. Up to here is the instant.
Rage (1)
Rage (2)
Rage (4)
Apostasy (1)
Apostasy (2)
Apostasy (3)
Apostasy (4)
Engagement (1)
Engagement (2)
Engagement (3)
Engagement (4)
Engagement (5)
Acceleration (1)
"0.1 step."
Eave (1)
Eave (2)
Eave (3)
Eave (4)
"320893. 23091. 3494539. Parabola 23 degrees..."
Rain (1)
Rain (2)
Rain (3)
Rain (4)
Obituary (1)
Obituary (2)
Obituary (3)
Obituary (4)
Memory (1)
Omega (2)
Confrontation (3)
Fanaticism (1)
"Freedom!"
"It hurts! It hurts! Aaaah!"
"1,411?"
"Oh—7." "But I can catch it."
The one who ordered that the fourth Gustav unit be kept alive was Ninth Legion Commander Paimon.
"87 years, 2,875 gyeong, 3,241 jo, 644.2 eok, 8.9 million, 7,109 hours remaining." The man with the chain-scythe muttered those figures in a daze; no one dared speak. Ithaca looked at Shirone.
"He's not using any power-up buffs. From an educational standpoint, that's an excellent decision."
'Destruction God 707.'
Meanwhile Yahweh2 and the Operator waged a fierce search.
"Rukia—"
Rupist answered.
"Ughhh!"
"Trigger (3). I see."
If he's right...
Omega Year 999 (1). "What the—what information is that? If I blurt it out without realizing, what then?"
-3 seconds, -2 seconds, -1... "Ooooo!"
Ku ku ku ku ku!
"Yes."
Final Chapter (4)
0.888 seconds.
'I need to have children with Abella, and with Smodoro I'll conquer every woman in the world.'
0.999 seconds.
'How—'
Grinning with a grotesque smile, Habitz spun quickly.
'What a fun world!'
1 second.
"Ugh!"
There was a thud as the sound of the embedding was heard, and everyone's motion froze.
"H-honey."
Abella turned to the man behind her—Habitz.
"Why...?"
But his neck had not turned, and blood pushed through her lips.
"Your Highness."
All who discovered the lodged in Abella's heart—