At the Edge of the Cliff (4)
It was past midnight.
"Phew."
Amy, having passed the higher command's orders down to each company, went to the bathhouse late.
Her body ached, but maybe today would be the last day she could wash in peace.
"Cold."
When she slipped out of her clothes, the chill made the fine hairs on her skin stand up.
The silence in the empty bath felt unbearably hollow, so she turned the tap quickly.
The enemy numbers—forty million.
No matter how long the border, her unit would face forces more than ten times their size.
Arithmetically, it was impossible to hold them. Was there some special strategy? Or...
Was this the last desperate stand of those driven to the brink?
This could be my end.
Amy closed her eyes and let the warm water run over her head.
The door opened.
"Amy?"
Tess, a sergeant in the cavalry, came in with a bath basket at her hip.
"Tess, you still up?"
"I'm on duty tonight. You?"
"Can't sleep, I guess."
Tess had been Amy's friend since the academy, so she understood.
More than death, it was the fear of never meeting again.
She wanted to see Rian.
Tess, standing beside her, turned the tap and got splashed.
"You'll survive. You will—definitely."
"...Yeah."
Tess noticed the red glint in Amy's eyes and slowly took in her bare body.
"Almost healed."
Under Garcia's training, the burn scars had seemed endless. Now only a small scab remained on her shoulder; it would fall off soon.
"It's thanks to the master. Training was brutal, but he made sure recovery was top-notch."
"By the way, your skin's really fair. Maybe I should try that too?" Tess joked. Only someone who's endured cycles of burns and regrowth could know the pain of peeling skin.
"Hmm. Is that it?"
Tess stared at Amy's water-slick skin with heavy eyes.
A chill ran through Amy. She turned, adopting a defensive posture, and Tess gave a lecherous smile.
"Don't. That's an order."
"Heh—using rank now? Well, if you insist." Amy rinsed the soap off at lightning speed, grabbed her basket, and dashed for the door.
"I'll go out first!"
Tess snorted at Amy's hurried retreat and let the awkward pose drop.
"So naive..."
Amy's heart hammered and her lower stomach churned.
The tension wouldn't ease.
Tess stood under the shower a long while, then slammed her fist against the wall.
"I'm going to die."
It would be a battle with near-absolute odds of death.
No matter. If I can kill even one more—
Ever since her father fell to the demonkind, she'd vowed to die on the battlefield.
At least one of us must survive.
Amy. Rian, you'd understand, wouldn't you? She didn't need an answer.
The capital of Kashan was beyond hope of easy restoration. With only makeshift shelters across districts, the Odaesung had come to see Shirone.
"We'll return to the Ivory Tower," Minerva said.
"The hellish army is pushing south, so this place should be safe for now. I'm worried about Taeseong, too."
Having seen Argantis's power, Shirone nodded without protest.
"Yes. I'll finish my work here and follow." Fred glanced at Rian.
A Knight of Maha.
The realm of the apostates.
True to the rumors that he handled the extremes of divine transcendence, the power of that one sword exceeded Fred's expectations.
"When you return, bring that swordsman. Taeseong will want to meet him."
When Shirone turned, Rian answered at once.
"Wherever Shirone goes, I'll go."
That single reply made the Odaesung feel as if the Ivory Tower itself were being pressed.
"Interesting fellow."
Fred gave a rotten smile and left; the others followed him out of Kashan.
"What will you do now, Shirone?"
"I have someone to see." Shirone smiled and headed for Aganos. A black shadow fell from the sky then—Yula, leader of the Wind Troupe.
"Shirone, the Empress summons you." Shirone barely flinched at the altered honorific and followed her.
The underground facility beneath the imperial palace had a massive tunnel gouged through it where Argantis's roots had passed.
"You've slain a tremendous monster."
"This is only the beginning."
Yula bowed at the rusted iron gate.
"Enter." At the grating sound, the door opened and Uorin waited in a shabby room.
"Welcome, Shirone."
Contrary to expectation, she wore a bright expression.
In a corner cot, Kido sat with his abdomen bandaged.
"Well, long time no see."
"Huh? Kido?"
Shirone didn't expect Kido to be with Uorin and asked, surprised.
"What happened?"
"It's a long story. In any case, fate put me on the same boat as this woman."
Uorin gestured to a seat instead of explaining Kido's presence.
"Sit. I called you because I have something to say." Shirone took the sofa opposite, and Rian stood behind him.
Two apostates.
No matter how strong individuals might be, they were still bound by social systems. Yet these two could, between them, stand against a nation.
"Sorry for the shabby place. Given the situation, I had no choice."
"It's fine. I'm just glad you're alive."
Uorin stuck her tongue out.
"There was an embarrassing moment."
Kneeling before Havitz had been nothing more than that feeling to her.
"That was for you, Shirone. How could a pretty woman like me die? Besides, you should at least once hold an empress in your arms."
Shirone changed the subject.
"What about Gando?"
"He hasn't woken. Pathetic. They say his life isn't in danger, but I can't promise anything."
Shirone finally relaxed a little.
"Don't worry. He's strong. And you're safe. Now we have to rebuild Kashan."
Uorin snorted.
"I never thought you'd pity me."
"No, I mean—"
"I know. But I am Kashan. The temple remains. And I actually like this kind of thing—the tougher the problem..."
Uorin crossed her legs and smiled.
"The thrill of conquest is intoxicating." Her confidence was infuriating, but it beat a defeated look a hundred times over.
"Still, I'll abdicate the title of Empress of Kashan."
Shirone's eyes widened.
"Abdicate?"
"There's no merit left. Honestly, I realized it when the 'Lawslaying' project failed—that the era Terrase could control has ended."
Uorin shrugged.
"There are Nane, Miro, Shirone, Gaold. Oh, now even Rian. Each reached the pinnacle with their own philosophy. But if you ask me who's the strongest human now, I'd say Havitz without hesitation."
This was a brutal age.
The idea that good always triumphs over evil belongs to sanitized history. People like hero tales—victories won after bearable suffering, overcoming manageable hardships. There's no truth in that. In reality, nobody wants the truth.
The oldest Terrase used that method to dress the empress's history.
"But now it's impossible. There's no way to dress up this maddened world. What remains for us is not history but terrible truth."
Uorin pointed at Shirone.
"Want me to tell you the truth I see?"
Shirone waited silently.
"It's over, Shirone. Whether good or evil wins, the beautiful tale of the hero will no longer be written. What's left are each person's despair, remorse, anger, and—"
Uorin's eyes shone.
"—pain."
"Keuaaa!"
Gaold's wail ripped through the deep mountains of the southern continent.
"Uaaah! Uaaaaaa!"
Two days had already passed.
Even without fighting, merely being alive had become unbearable agony.
"Sir! Are you okay?"
Gangnan shook him in distress, but Gaold's face only twisted more.
"It hurts. It huuuurts..."
A voice leaking from unconsciousness.
His hair had gone white. His eyes rolled back; foam flecked his mouth as he convulsed.
Gangnan had seen this too many times in the south.
"Keuaaaa!"
The pain surged without limit; Gaold crawled face-first across the ground.
His ten fingers clawed at the earth as if to tear it up, yet no one could take his pain for him.
"Die—just die—"
Tears ran down Gangnan's cheek.
"Just die! Please—just die already! What's the point of living like this?"
She blamed Miro.
"Go to Sion now! Kill them all! Do whatever you want and finish it!"
"Miro—Miro..."
Was that all they could say besides it hurts?
"You stupid bastard!"
Gangnan climbed onto Gaold's chest and gripped his throat with both hands.
You're being used! How could that woman know how much you hurt? Even one-ten-millionth?
"Uuuugh..."
She couldn't bring herself to break his neck.
"Just end it."
Releasing him, Gangnan hugged Gaold's face and wept.
"Let's...just die. Let's die together." Gaold's breathing slowly steadied, but his consciousness did not return.
"Please...please..."
Zulu watched the curled, trembling Gangnan with indifferent eyes.
Pain.
At Shirone's words, Uorin nodded.
"Yes. On the other side of prettily packaged history, the pain people don't want to face is left out. I'm giving up Kashan because I no longer want to look away—because I love you."
"Uorin, I—"
"Listen to the end. I'm not asking you to hold me right now."
Shirone stayed silent.
"From now on I will be not the Empress of Kashan but a woman. Nothing will really change. In the end you'll accept me."
"How can you guarantee that?"
Shirone knew how wide Terrase's designs were; he couldn't dismiss it lightly.
"You will never surpass Nane."
"Oh—it's sprouted." Nane looked at the fresh green shoot, and Shura, towel on her head, approached from behind.
"Yes. The sprout has broken through."
Nane was quiet for a long time.
"What are you thinking?"
"That it's beautiful."
Had even the Ten Elders' monster become a maternal figure when next to Nane?
Shura smiled playfully.
"What kind of flower will bloom? Or will it just be grass?"
"Beauty is not the flower. It's that I planted something here. That intent."
Shura listened closely.
"Gaold's pain, Shirone's philanthropy, this world—they all must have sprouted from a single heart."
Everything begins with planting a heart.
"Why?"
A golden light shimmered from Nane's back.
"If it had never been planted, it would not exist."
Nane dug her hands into the soil, scooped out the sprout, and Shura stepped back several paces.
"Bu—Buddha..."
Is it awakening again?
"Clinging, anguish, chasing happiness in illusions that never were!"
The moment Nane pressed down on the sprout—
It vanished.
The Buddha's aura dissipated.
"Yet it's still so beautiful because—"
When Nane slowly withdrew her hand, the sprout lay preserved, unharmed exactly as before.
"Because I planted it."
She placed the sprout back into the hollow, gently covered it with soil, and said, "This is the last problem of this world, Shura."
They were close.
"It's the only thing I will surpass." Relieved, Shura gave a little tumble and landed on her backside.
To be continued in the next volume.