Omega (4)
'I see.'
When Shirone fell into Apocalypse as a debt from the Valhalla Action, he had met Argo.
That also proved the immortality program hadn't activated in the real world.
Of course, Shirone would have to accept many more Omegas before he could reach that memory.
'The void isn't infinite.'
Having already grasped Gaia's reasoning, he could understand it without experiencing it.
'Even if you split time endlessly, higher-dimensional time still flows.'
A gruesome scene from the Andre Labyrinth's 19,000th world suddenly rose before him.
All humans had lost reason, writhing like insects in a narrow passage to survive.
Perhaps that would be the final fate the immortality program would bring humanity.
'The immortality program can't last forever.' That was why Geffin sought to break the cycle of reincarnation and leap to a higher dimension.
'But Anke Ra won't acknowledge the outside world.'
The era Shirone lived in already proved they would interfere with the Gaians' escape.
'This is the beginning of war.'
In other words, the beginning of tragedy.
"Hmm."
Yorham sighed.
"Must it be us?"
There was no answer, but among the Gaians an explicit reply wasn't really necessary as a means of communication.
"If not us, then who?"
Geffin rose and looked around the assembly.
"Let's go—to the end of the world."
The moment he finished speaking, every Gaian in the room shot both hands into the air.
"Waaahhh!"
A thunderous roar shook the walls. Yorham shouted loudly.
"The Gaians will spread into Infinity!"
Shirone knew the enormous sacrifice this decision would demand of the Gaians.
'But they're already prepared.'
Why they didn't fear it was simple.
'Because they are one.'
They differed in age, sex, and disposition, yet their reasoning was enforced by a perfect standard.
It was a unity qualitatively different from a race that could merely read one another's information.
'The pinnacle of intellect.'
How would it feel for all humanity across the world to support only me— for the individual to once again become the whole?
'How magnificent.'
To know what is right and to do it.
Tears fell from Shirone's eyes—he who had carried so much to save the world.
'I want to be there, too.'
He wanted to crawl into the ranks of the Gaians.
'It's so hard. It's so lonely.'
Someday, humanity in Shirone's world would also be unified.
After countless conflicts and rebuttals, a day would come when they found the answer.
'We must fight.'
Shirone wiped his tears and reached for another Omega.
Countless individualities celebrated Gaia's new beginning in their own ways.
"Beyond Infinity."
From the Omega signal, Geffin's voice seeped into Shirone's mind.
Left alone on the Antarctic continent where all life had vanished, Yuriel turned Miro's words over in her mind.
'You say there is no emotion in my destruction?'
Since when had the universe's mightiest archangel been swayed by human words?
Yet she couldn't leave because those words were true.
'Archangel Ikael.'
For the archangels of birth and destruction—Kariel and Yuriel—only she had been the cause.
'I don't care who you love.'
What was astonishing was the very fact that an archangel could love someone.
"What is this thing called love?"
Kariel, who obsessed over that and pondered it endlessly, had ultimately destroyed himself.
'Did she at least realize it?'
Had Yuriel's only partner, at the brink of annihilation, finally found the answer she had so longed for?
'Disgusting.'
Adrias Miro.
Whenever she thought of her, an indescribable disgust made Yuriel's seraphic light reel.
"Next time I'll kill you."
Not by annihilation, but by murder.
Having opened the Judicial Radiant Wheel, he had gathered a concept of destruction on a different dimension from anything before.
"Is this enough, human?" The instant the white flash struck, Yuriel's body cleaved the Antarctic continent.
Kururururung!
The force was one of the top five planetary impacts in the planet's history.
"Ugh!"
Before even a dying cry could fully escape, the planetary avatar rolled its eyes and collapsed.
"Taeseong!"
Four of the Great Earth Wardens gathered at the Earth Cathedral rushed to her side.
"Pull yourself together!"
Even as a planet's avatar, there was a terrifying sense that even that incarnation could now be annihilated.
"This is impossible."
From the vantage at the Earth Cathedral's feet, the Antarctic continent was disappearing from the planet.
Amanta said, "This is only the beginning. If those bastards run rampant here, extinction is only a matter of time."
"Fried…"
At Taeseong's call, Fried, who supported her, nodded urgently.
"Are you coming round?"
"There's no time. At this rate the planet will stop functioning. Take me to the central continent."
"The central continent?"
Minerva raised an eyebrow. "There's no need for you to go to the battlefield, Taeseong. The Ivory Tower's stars are sufficient."
"No. There's someone I must meet."
Fried asked, "Do you mean Shirone?"
"No."
Taeseong shook her head, clenching her eyes with force. "Ozent Rian. I must meet him."
A body heated crimson like a meteor piercing the atmosphere cut across the sky.
"Sons of bitches…"
Son Yujeong, ranked second in the Council of Ten.
"Bother my friend?"
An ordinary being's body should already have been burning away under such heat, but her temperature climbed without limit.
"There."
Finding the hellish Satans wasn't hard.
A sight of Hell's army—no fewer than two hundred million—pressed together and advancing could be seen even from the sky.
"Intruders!"
Demons on guard in the heavens flew at her, brandishing tridents of flame.
"Hmph. Mere monsters."
Having lived for over ten thousand years, she had grown bored of the demons of the other world.
"Yeoui."
The instant her crimson club began to spin rapidly, it lengthened to an incredible extent.
"Invincible Windmill."
When the rod reached a diameter of four kilometers and turned, the sky stained a deep red.
Its maximum length matched exactly the scale the user could allow.
"Get out of the way!"
The rod—effectively near-infinite and without loss of tension in theory—swept up the demons.
"What the—?"
Habitz's party, who had just entered the Abyssal Cliff, turned their heads in unison toward the sky.
"Hah."
A gigantic crimson sphere, clearly visible from the ground, swept over and gathered the demons.
Balkan's gaze hardened.
'It's not about size.'
Or perhaps size was precisely the issue.
By rough estimate, the force to swing a four-kilometer rod fast enough to leave an afterimage was immense.
"She's coming."
As Yujeong stomped on a demon and crashed to the ground, she slid as if on ice.
"Kraaah!"
The brigade commander's face split and he writhed in agony before dying. Yujeong turned toward the remaining enemies.
The air around her heated as if a scorching boulder had fallen nearby.
"Fuu—"
The demons watched hot steam pour from Yujeong's mouth.
"Satan, show yourself," Balkan thought.
First, since he couldn't read the crowd's intent, it was clear she had come alone.
Second, she was dangerous nonetheless.
"Quick—"
Yujeong took a deep breath, clenched both fists, bared her teeth, and roared.
"Come out, I said—!"
Her voice, tearing the air, carried a bestial violence that spoke of raw power.
While Balkan frowned and considered how to handle her, a horse stepped forward.
"I'm Satan, you say?"
Habitz stroked his mustache and spoke.
"Is that you?"
At that moment, Yujeong hushed her voice.
Her animalistic nose had caught a scent of chaos stretching back to the dawn of time.
"Well, fine."
As she spun the Yeoui rod between her fingers, Yujeong vanished from their sight.
Once Habitz had been thoroughly beaten—and as Yujeong suddenly closed in to swing at his flank—
"Huh?"
Through the blur of afterimages, a girl whose eyelids seemed to have been carved away came into Yujeong's sight.
Natasha, who had pushed the club away with the back of her hand, crouched and dove into her embrace.
She blocked it.
A chill ran through Yujeong.
While most demons couldn't even perceive her movements, this one met her gaze directly.
So that's it, huh? Yujeong thrust the rod forward, and in the slowed flow of time she could clearly see the crease in the air.
Twisting her torso to dodge, Natasha landed a palm strike on Yujeong's abdomen.
What's so solid about this?
The force was so great Yujeong felt her fist might fracture—strength no living creature should possess.
Hah, with just this pathetic punch—
Pushing power into her belly, Yujeong withdrew the rod to strike again.
What—!
Still pressing her fist to Yujeong's stomach, Natasha kicked off the ground and bent her arm.
Like a hammer driving a nail, she smashed her elbow with her pelvis and Yujeong was hurled back violently.
Got it!
Having disrupted the opponent's balance, Natasha flew at Mach speed and unleashed a flurry of blows.
Habitz's army listened to sounds they could not see and merely imagined the combat.
"Argh!"
Natasha's wide hook landed square on Yujeong's jaw.
Ka-ka-ka-ka-ka! Yujeong was dragged across the ground and thrown back; only when she glared forward did their forms resolve.
Is this the limit of what Natasha can do?
While Balkan withheld emotion and judged the scene, Natasha raised both backs of her hands.
"You're really tough."
Blood ran profusely down the backs of her hands; bone jutted from a break.
Balkan's expression soured.
'A hard-to-break type.'
If Natasha's fists couldn't destroy it, physical attack was almost useless.
Yujeong adjusted her stance and slung the Yeoui rod over her shoulder.
"Hmph. You're pretty fast too."
Balkan could find a way if he wanted, but he didn't want to waste strength before the main event.
"What do you want?"
Yujeong wiped the blood from her lip and touched her slightly swollen cheek.
"Free my friend. Mortasinger. You dragged him into Hell, didn't you?"
"Mortasinger?"
Balkan, who had no interest in the other world, looked to Habitz.
"I don't know."
Habitz couldn't really be ignorant of Mortasinger, whom the Satan himself had taken to Hell, but he only used him as a tool to mock Yahweh—recalling him was a bother.
"Is that so?"
Yujeong snorted and bared her teeth.
"Then I'll make you know."
A murderous intent spread, and Balkan hastily reached out as if to anticipate the next move.
"Wait. Ha—Habitz—"
But before he could finish, a violet avatar of Satan rose from Habitz's body.
'Vanishing.'
All causal links tied to Habitz were severed; no one could perceive him anymore.
Yujeong felt no dissonance either.
"What are you going to do? Bring my friend back, fast. Before I smash all of you to pieces."
Habitz, having dismounted, drew a long sword and slipped behind Yujeong.
"Interesting human."
A cold blade touched the nape of her neck.
"No—are you not human?" He moved the sword slowly from side to side, but it didn't cut the skin as if the edge were dull.
"Ah."
Habitz's eyes curved like a seagull's.
"You're connected."
He would attack the idea itself.
Sssk ssck.
And finally, red blood began to stream from Yujeong's slender throat.