Age of Chaos (2)
The monstrous bird Kai Draa tore across the desert, its shrill cry slicing the sky.
'Habitz has become a demon.'
The creature was a Latusa; the rider on its back was Kashan's empress, Woerin.
The project that had been the only way to punish the atrocious had failed, and she had lain feverish for three days.
When she couldn't shake the fever, she kicked off the covers and went riding to clear her head.
'I failed.'
A headache throbbed at her temples, and her heart—one that had endured through the ages—pounded as if it would burst.
The fallout from failing to eliminate Habitz had spread across the world, and Kashan had suffered enormous losses.
'An uncertain future—why is it so suffocating?'
The fever's cause wasn't so simple to dismiss.
'What am I supposed to do now?' According to the Mitochondria Eve incident, Kashan would fall, and Woerin would have a miserable end.
'I won't be able to protect Shirone.' Universal love embraced all, but she would not use her power for Kashan's glory.
'Gaold won't work.'
There was only one person for him.
'The Buddha is gone, the polar line has weakened. Miro won't be able to withstand the atrocities.'
A frightening thought flashed through her mind.
'Habitz. Atrocity.'
The way for Kashan to continue its glory, as Gando had said, was to join hands with Gustaf.
'If I become an atrocity, he might hold on.' For Mitochondria Eve, a choice like that would be far too easy, but…
'Shirone.'
If she did that, any beautiful ending with the one she loved would be lost forever.
"What do you expect me to do?!"
She'd gone outside because she couldn't bear to be caught screaming like a human in the name of Teraje.
"What do you want me to do?!"
Woerin's cry rode the wind, and a black swarm descended from the sky.
'Demons.'
Kai Draa dropped altitude and skimmed low over the sand, but it was already too late.
"Humans! Seize them!"
The 24th Flying Brigade of Hell's 16th Legion spotted Woerin and the Latusa and immediately changed course.
"You filthy vermin!"
Organte, commander of the 16th Legion's 2nd Division, was a demon with a hulking body sheathed in a gray, brainlike carapace.
"Die!" His long, tubular tongue could be thrust into the ground to unleash shockwaves in every direction.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
Sand shot up ten meters as the corpses of slain demons tumbled and spun in the air.
"You won't catch them."
Kido, cloak flapping, dropped his center of gravity and moved out of the circle.
"An earthbound spirit."
The desert heaved like a bog; Organte's tongue lay knotted and grotesque.
"You bastard!" Dozens of barbs erupted from Organte's shell and rocketed forward like arrows.
Kido adjusted his glasses and muttered, "Won't taste good even if I eat it."
To a man who had mastered the Law of Earth, the ground meant something entirely different than other beings did.
Like a shark dragging a lion into the sea, like a bird dragging a whale into the sky—
'Become one with the earth.'
To Kido, who was almost the earth itself, everything moving on the ground was an ant on his palm.
"Ugh! What is—?"
The sand rolled like waves, and in an instant Kido was behind Organte, swinging his spear.
When the spear crossed Organte's plated arms in an X, the blade slammed home with a heavy thunk.
"Heh heh heh. Fast enough, but lacking force. Your weapon can't cut me."
Kido held the blade to the shell and said, "It didn't touch."
"What?"
"The point where we feel a collision is actually nothing but the repulsion of charges."
Nothing truly touches.
"The positions of electrons are probabilistic; that veil of probability wraps the atom. In short, collisions don't occur on the level of particles."
Incarnation Art—Dominion of the Source.
Kido's eyes sank as if drawn into an abyss by intense concentration.
"So if I find the probability that the atoms of my blade pass between the atoms of your carapace…"
The blade began to part the shell and penetrate.
"Hey, wait." Organte's expression went slack with disbelief.
"Wait a minute! This is insane! Who fights like this?!"
Even if he tried to pull free, tremendous gravity pinned his legs; he couldn't move.
"Damn you! Coward! Fight me properly!"
The blade that had slid through Organte's arms finally reached his crown.
"It's not without flaws. It's quite difficult, and very slow."
As if touched by a hot iron, the demon's face split cleanly in two.
"Argh! No! No… gag!"
Kido let go of his superhuman focus only after the blade passed across the face and down the throat.
Whew.
With a thud, Organte's body collapsed forward.
"Where—?"
Kido scraped flesh from the corpse with his nails, lifted his head, and squeezed the blood into his palm.
Blood dripped from the tongue; through the "taste of memory," the demon's recollections bled into him.
"…You must have loved once." It was a time before he became a demon.
"What is love?"
Kido, who'd been staring at the sky in thought, suddenly bowed his head, then shrugged and laughed, shoulders shaking.
"Heh heh heh. What does it change if I say it like a human?"
He still couldn't fully understand Shirone.
"Yeah, I'm inexperienced."
He sprang up and swung his spear.
"I admit my shortcomings… that's probably the hardest thing."
Having shaken off his doubts, he turned—and a tremor rolled in from the horizon.
"What now?"
"Ha ha ha! What luck. To think the human we ran into would be the Empress of Kashan."
Over two hundred demons of the 24th Flying Brigade closed in to surround Woerin and the Latusa.
"Hmph. What are you going to do if some useless demon spots me?"
The Latusa shrieked while Woerin drew the sword fastened to the saddle.
"Well, an empress is certainly not the same as a common human…"
Dalmang, the brigade commander with right-angle pyramids at his temples, hefted a gigantic toothed greatsword.
"So this ought to be a delicacy, then?"
Killing intent glittered in Woerin's eyes.
'Can I take them out? It's touch and go.' She'd learned many techniques through Mitochondria Eve, but the body passed down through generations inevitably imposed limits.
'I haven't internalized them.'
No matter how sublime a technique, there were bounds to the combat power the body could produce.
"Attack! Let out the fury Kashan has held inside—capture her alive!"
Winged demons dove at the Latusa, and Dalmang charged, swinging his toothed greatsword like a windmill.
"Ha! Try catching us!"
Woerin met them with a tight weave of magic and incarnation art; a tense clash erupted.
"Oh? Not bad."
Yaksha physique, Prajna incarnation art, and powerful magic burst forth, yet Dalmang remained composed.
"Heh heh, already tired?" He'd never slacked on training, but real battle burned stamina far faster than practice.
'I'm really weak. Did I focus too much on aesthetics?'
She almost hated her predecessor.
Kiyaaaaaa!
At Kai Draa's cry, Woerin turned to see dozens of demons impaled on its body's spears.
"Latusa!"
"Where do you think you're going?"
As Dalmang whipped his greatsword at Woerin, a sharp sound sliced the air.
Piiiiirrr!
A distinct tone rang from the spearholes—subtle, but Woerin remembered it all.
'This sound?'
Something rolled at a blur faster than the eye could track, and Dalmang's head came off in an instant.
"Commander!"
As the demons cried out, the shadow of a wagon wheel cut across the area.
Scores of demons were sliced apart as Kido finally stepped out of the slaughter.
"Well now, human empress. Long time no see."
Kido smiled a sharp smile and pushed up his glasses; Woerin narrowed her eyes.
"What are you doing here?"
"We'll talk later. First, let's finish this." Demons came in many kinds, but Kido's years wandering the desert had made him no less dangerous.
"One, two, three, four, five!"
As he counted, demons fell in quick succession and the winged ones rose into the air.
"Not an ordinary man! Attack from above!"
"Arrogant demons."
Kido spun like a top and rolled across the sand on his back.
"To those who feed on the earth… why do you lean on the sky?"
Incarnation Art—Earthbound Spirit.
As if an invisible hand rose from the sand to grab their ankles, the demons were yanked back down to the ground.
"Argh! What is this!"
It felt like a one-ton iron ball had been strapped to them.
"Slice, slice, slice, slice, slice." Spears whirred, bodies spun, the world seemed to whirl; Woerin watched the carnage in a daze.
'He's stronger.' The self-proclaimed Goblin King now carried an entirely different presence than when he'd faced Fungjang.
"Slash, slash—huh?"
In the heart of the desert, among piles of demon corpses, only Kido kept spinning.
Bouncing out of the roll, Kido planted both feet in the sand.
"Hyah!"
He stopped dead in front of Woerin; a cloud of dust billowed and covered her from head to toe.
"Puhahaha! Goblin traditional makeup."
Smearing mud before a fight was goblin custom.
"Anyway…"
Woerin brushed the dust off and asked, "Why are you here?"
Kido didn't answer. He turned, tore a chunk of Dalmang's flesh free, and chewed it.
Woerin's brows tightened.
"I'm on a pilgrimage for enlightenment. Doesn't the so-called King of Humans know that?"
Of course she knew—she simply didn't care.
"What enlightenment?"
"Love."
Kido stepped closer.
"Goblins are strong, but they don't love like humans. I'm searching for love beyond mere feeding and breeding."
When he'd protected Shirone in Andre's labyrinth, Kido had felt human emotion for the first time.
"Hmm. For someone saying that, aren't you enjoying demon meat a bit much?"
"Ha ha ha! Of course. I have to eat."
Enlightenment still seemed distant.
'How barbaric.'
Kido wasn't wearing pants; a goblin's thing dangled between his legs.
'It's huge. He's short, but—'
Sensing Woerin's glance, Kido braced his hips with pride rather than embarrassment.
"I am the Goblin King."
"…Anyway, thanks. You helped me. I'll reward you—if you want anything, say so."
"No desires. If anything, I want true love. But you can't give that to me, can you?"
Woerin glanced down at Kido one more time, then shook her head in mock alarm.
"I'm not that kind of person. Want me to introduce you to a human woman?"
"Haha! No thanks! I'll find my own love. And it doesn't have to be human, either."
Kido turned and waved.
"Have a pleasant journey. Watch for demons."
"Wait."
Woerin's eyes flashed.
'He could be useful.'
Kido was strong, he'd been Shirone's friend, and above all he had the ability called the "taste of memory."
"Will you come to the Imperial Capital with me?"
"The Imperial Capital?"
Kido's mouth opened slightly.