Entering the Fray (1)
Woorin stepped out of Aganos, the imperial capital, wearing a shabby robe.
There were no attendants; only Kido, who alone could protect her, walked at her side.
A thunderous boom echoed in the distance.
"Negotiations broke down?"
Kido pulled back his hood and scanned the sky above Aganos's main gate.
Woorin didn't slow her pace.
"They probably didn't even try. To be exact, Havitz will do whatever he wants."
Havitz's chaos was the ultimate spontaneity, rampaging freely outside the world's Laws.
Kido fell into step and asked, "If Havitz is impossible to predict, what do you mean by a predetermined future?"
"The Law is a collection of Ideas. Outside the Law is Chaos. Where Idea and Chaos interlock, a particular result is produced. So Havitz has a predetermined future too, but—"
"You can't compute by Law the way that future will come about."
Woorin nodded.
"The world has already lost its reins. The wheel of good and evil turns fast, with humanity at its center. There isn't much time left before the world ends."
"Then why are you—"
Kido stopped himself and fell silent.
The world is ending.
What could Woorin possibly want to leave behind in a world of ruin that had nothing more to give?
A woman's voice called from above.
"Your Majesty."
A figure in a white owl mask circled and landed before them. When she removed the mask, a pale face with heavy eyelids came into view.
It was Yula, leader of the Wind Unit.
"How are things?"
"All directions are blocked. Over ten million hell-armies have completely sealed the capital."
Ninety-nine other Wind Unit members, apart from her, were combing the city for openings.
"I see…"
A shadow fell over Woorin's face, and Kido tried to sound braver than he felt.
"Don't worry. We don't have to fight ten million. We'll push through the weakest point."
"That figure already makes that meaningless." Woorin cut him off. "There isn't a single gap."
"Find one. We'll break through there."
"Understood."
Yula shot back into the sky at once.
"We should go too. We need to get as far away from the capital as we can. Our only option is to melt into the crowd."
They slipped out of the alley and saw demons brutally ravaging the people of Kashan.
This was hell.
Black-winged demons filled the sky so thick the sun was gone.
"Move."
Kido, his spear hidden beneath his robe, led Woorin onward.
It was fortunate there were so many humans in the capital. The demons' acts were monstrous, but if they'd been pure killing machines, there would have been no time to run.
"Please! Save us, please…!"
There was no one to help them.
But to Woorin, who had once ruled Kashan, those desperate cries struck deep.
"Don't think of anything. I'll do the thinking. Just focus on walking."
Kido's movements as he guided them out of the demons' sight were taut with tension.
"Ha ha ha! This one's mine!"
A two-meter demon charged, axe stained with blood.
"Run!"
They sprinted, but whichever way they turned it was nothing but demons.
"They're running! They're running!"
Predators who had spotted fresh prey swarmed the few who still moved with life in them.
"Damn it!"
Kido halted, the robe snapping, and drew the double-bladed spear he'd hidden.
"Stay where you are!"
He shouted to Woorin and spun across the ground with incredible speed.
In an instant the demons were torn to pieces.
"What—what is this?"
Realizing these weren't ordinary fugitives, the demons rushed in to encircle them.
"Graaah!"
As if shredded by a machine, demons' flesh sprayed outward beyond Kido's radius.
There was no end to them.
Even a machine would be dulled after grinding through so many.
"Kido!"
At Woorin's cry, Kido saw through the spinning afterimages to the rear.
Three demons had slipped through his ring of blades and were closing on Woorin.
"Damn it!"
Sliding forward like a blade across earth, he cut the legs of the one clasping Woorin's robe. It howled.
Craaaah!
As her clothing tore and Woorin's face was revealed, the demons froze.
"The Empress—The Empress!" A prize Satan had long desired.
"Contact base!"
Winged demons stamped off the ground to take to the air, and Kido's eyes widened.
"Iyaaaah!"
The Law of the land-spirit activated at its limit, dragging dozens of demons to the ground.
"Guh! Th-this is…!"
Using gravity to pull them in, Kido spun the double-bladed spear at a terrifying speed.
Bwoooooom!
The blades' afterimages coalesced into spheres.
"Kraaaah!"
Like moths to a flame, demons striking the blade-spheres thunked and were ground down.
Haa! Haa!
When the spinning ceased and he looked around, the nearby demons were annihilated.
Kido checked on Woorin.
"You all right?"
"Yes. But they'll swarm again." Woorin said.
Kido shrugged off his robe. "Put this on for now. If your face becomes known—"
"Your Majesty."
Citizens of Kashan hiding in side streets came forward with stunned faces.
"Is it really… the Empress?" Woorin stared at them pale, biting her lip and avoiding their eyes.
They'd heard the rumor that Woorin would be handed to Gustaf to save Kashan; the shock in their faces ran deep.
Kido narrowed his eyes and studied them.
They couldn't bring themselves to speak, but their expressions asked the same thing: where was she going in those ragged clothes, with no attendants? The answer formed in each person's mind.
She's running away.
Sensing the situation's seriousness, Kido stepped before Woorin and shouted, "Move aside! Anyone who blocks our way dies!"
Having seen Kido tear demons apart, the crowd recoiled.
Still, they couldn't bring themselves to flee—perhaps because of the anger burning in their hearts.
"Ha ha ha! Gather over there! Have yourselves a good time!"
From the opposite block a pack of demons, eyes bloodthirsty, charged forward.
"Follow me! Quickly!"
Kido grabbed Woorin's wrist and tugged her toward the people blocking the path.
There was no choice but to kill them.
Just as he swung the double-bladed spear to sever a throat, the crowd miraculously split left and right.
"Go. We'll buy you time."
Kido didn't understand their decision, but Woorin left without a word.
I am the Empress. A noble life.
Their foolish judgment—grasping at meaning at the edge of despair—was naive in the extreme.
On that naivety I stand. If everyone already has reasons to live, then I alone will think and move to survive.
"Long live Her Majesty the Empress! Long live Kashan!" Behind the fleeing Woorin came the cries of people being trampled by demons.
Havitz.
Woorin ground her teeth.
Havitz! The whole legacy of Terraje was being destroyed.
Aaaaah!
Woorin clenched both fists and looked up, releasing a raw scream.
Breaking through the atmosphere, Shirone's eyes took in the vast territory of Kashan.
There isn't time. Get as close as possible.
The glass sphere Shirone had been repairing with Material's power finally melted away in the heat.
It's all there!
At that moment, Shirone—wings of radiance unfurled—dove at full speed toward Aganos, Kashan's imperial capital.
Incredible.
Even with twenty kilometers still to go, Hell's army already covered sky and land as far as the eye could see.
"Division commander! An aerial being is approaching!"
At the sentry's report, Vanessa, commander of the Third Division of the Seventh Legion, flared red-eyed.
Clad in heavy armor like a charging rhino, he dragged a two-ton iron ball chained behind him.
"Yahweh—"
The moment he saw Shirone's face, his own features twisted grotesquely.
"All units, deploy! Execute that loathsome Yahweh!"
"Kiaaaah!"
Transformed by hatred and loathing, the demons bared their fangs and poured forward.
Before the horizon could fully form, Shirone realized the ground was trembling.
They're coming.
A black mass had filled to the edges of his sight and was rushing forward with terrifying force.
Universal love.
He wanted to believe there was no sin beyond repentance.
A thousand times, ten thousand times—I could forgive. A hundred thousand, a million chances I might give.
But if that blind love had warped a child named Havitz—
I must teach him!
Shirone's eyes snapped open. The incarnation of the Radiant Archangel shot high into the sky.
What he's doing wrong.
Angel's punishment.
As the archangel finished the motion of casting his spear, a lance of light slammed into the ground.
Kwaaang!
A shockwave gouged a massive crater, yet tens of thousands of demons immediately reformed the space.
"Khehehehe! It's Yahweh! The stupid Yahweh!"
As their voices swelled, Shirone drew out .
I won't let it run rampant.
With the heart of one who loves all.
So how angry is he? If I can bear even half of the anger I must shoulder…
Half of half.
Endlessly endure it, split it and split it again.
Finer than dust—a shard of anger, a single particle in that fury—
Even half of half!
slipped from Shirone's hand and began to vibrate, expanding to more than ten meters wide.
"Listen to me!"
The that left Shirone screamed as if to tear the sky apart.
Kiiiiaaaaaah!
One demon saw it first.
"What is that?????"
The moment the flying thing was perceived, the sound of demons being pierced came from all around.
Puff-puff-puff-puff!
No one could see 's trajectory.
"Kraaaah!"
Only the belated screams at the moment of annihilation echoed endlessly, like reflections in a fourth-dimensional space.
Vanessa gripped the handle of his iron flail and shouted, "What's happening?!"
Each time a black afterimage zigzagged, demons fell.
Watching thousands of his troops erased every second, Vanessa's shoulders trembled.
What is that…?
A black monstrosity, as if Yahweh's wrath had been projected, prowled the battlefield.
The brigade commanders' voices quivered.
"Y-Yahweh—"
Vanessa's expression turned grave.
We're afraid.
Of Yahweh, not Buddha.
"Don't be ridiculous! Isn't this proof that Yahweh is no different from us?"
"Uuaaah!"
All the demons arrayed behind Vanessa began to flee in terror.
Kiyyyaaaaa!
howled a second time, and Vanessa's hearing was permanently gone.
Grrrr!
As the blade that swept the front returned in a straight line, Vanessa swung his flail with all his strength.
Guh!
But before the iron ball even rose, pierced straight through his chest.
Vanessa fell to his knees. In his eyes was the reflection of Shirone, wings spread.
"R-Run—"
Shirone passed by in an instant.
"Strike her."
Face pressed to the ground, Vanessa muttered weakly.
"Satan…"