Strike of Ruin (2)
"An integrated mental system means..." Shirone trailed off.
If the order of the world was structured into a system, there was one more thing to reveal.
"The mind."
The Chief Justice said.
"Yes. Material information is based on light, but the mind is formed through quantum signals. In the end, it works like this."
A hologram flickered into being in the void.
"When we perceive, a quantum signal activates and combines with the information that comes in via light, and the world is instantiated."
Shirone looked absently at the hologram of a planet.
"This hologram is not the substance. If you zoom in you can view every corner of the planet, but from the outside it's nothing more than a single stream of signal."
The Chief Justice turned to Shirone.
"The Tenth Sense perceives the minimal unit of all signals that make up the world. That's why it is the administrator."
"Answer me. Why did you erase my memories?"
"Even an answer to that question could cause distortion in your thinking. I can tell you if you want. But I want to make one thing clear first: it was your wish. Not anyone else's—your past self's."
If that was the case, Shirone didn't want to dig it up.
Still, since it was his past self's choice, the reasons were easy enough to imagine.
"To stop Nane."
"Yes. The moment you awakened the Tenth Sense, there were two administrators of this secondary world. And the ways to reach Ultima would be different for each."
"If Nane reaches Ultima..."
"He'll become a true Buddha. Perfectly righteous. That's the problem. In a world that has lost vitality, the users can no longer exist."
"Users? They can no longer exist?"
"If the Void becomes perfected, the biotic program Argones is expected to trigger. It will annihilate all life. Put in terms from the outside world, it will forcibly sever users' connections and eject them."
Pisho's warning finally made sense.
"Do you believe there's an outside world?"
"We can't know. It's not a matter of belief. Terapos is the system that protects the world—a kind of user-protection program. Just as Argones will trigger if the Void perfects, if Evil perfects, we destroy it."
"Judgment?"
"I know you don't like the word. But strictly speaking, it's not judgment. The essence of evil is chaos. Intelligence cannot survive in a chaotic world. We aren't judging; we're taking measures to protect this world."
Shirone understood why the Chief Justice had come.
"So the end is approaching."
"That's right. If the Void wins, the universe closes; if Evil wins, humanity is extinguished. Neither outcome is desirable. From Yahweh's standpoint, neither is welcome."
"We'll fight. I'll stop Nane, and I'll stop Havitz. To do that... I have to reach the Ultima system before anyone else."
"Terapos hopes the same. But it's not easy to unify all users' minds."
The Chief Justice turned his body.
"When the users' minds—those countless signals—are unified into one, Ultima is perfected. That's why Gaia's people were able to break free from the administrator Anke Ra. And it's also the only way you can completely suppress Nane."
Shirone chewed on the Chief Justice's words.
"Prepare yourself, Shirone. The end is coming. On Judgment Day, everything will be clarified."
When the Chief Justice activated the mechanism, the communal iron barrier slid aside and a full glass window appeared.
Beyond it, an ivory tower rose from a polar plain entirely covered in ice.
"Grrr!"
In a cave on the central continent, Gaold was groaning.
"It's been three days stuck here already."
Gangnan's remark meant Gaold had been suffering unbearable pain for three days.
"Aaahhh!"
A scream shook the cave violently.
"Gaold!"
As Gangnan surged forward, Julu grabbed his shoulder and shook his head.
"It's dangerous. There's nothing we can do."
Gaold was likely out of his mind, and if the Air Press went off, it would be instant death.
"But..."
"I'll go."
Miro strode forward. Gangnan glared fiercely and snapped at her.
"Don't you know you'll only make things worse if you go? Why do you stay with him instead of leaving?"
Why indeed?
Miro had accompanied them this far and had been treated worse than a mangy dog by Gaold.
'You awful bastard!'
No one could tolerate that pain.
It was easy to imagine how much Gaold must hate a woman like Miro in that torturous sensory hell.
'Hold on to the end!'
A selfish thought.
But it was precisely because of such a Gaold that a crack had formed in his previously perfect mind.
'Because of you, I'm stuck with this!'
He endured with a selfish heart, but if the mental disturbance worsened, even the contemplative spirit of the Thousand-Hand Kannon would break.
"I'll give you a smack!"
Hearing Miro, Gangnan shouted.
"I told you to wait! You could die! Don't you understand Gaold's power?"
Miro turned back coldly.
"Do you think I'm like you? I could take that bastard down right now."
"Guh!"
Gangnan had no good reply; this woman was capable of things nearing Gaold's severity.
"Kraaahhh!"
Gaold's scream reverberated through the cave once more.
"I'm sick of this!"
Rolling up her sleeve, Miro strode to the end of the cave and saw Gaold curled up.
"Hey! How long are you going to keep doing this? When you say you're protecting the world, when are you going to do it? Don't be such a weakling!"
"Go away."
A hoarse voice echoed in the cave.
"Disappear from my sight! Get out! Go die and be gone from the world!"
Gaold, shouting like that, unleashed a torrent of blasphemies that couldn't be spoken aloud.
Miro, fists clenched tight, ground her lips together and took every word.
"Hah! Hah!"
Gaold exhaled raggedly; even that sounded like swallowing a razor blade.
"Done? Feel better now? How do you even stand it usually, wanting to skin me like that?"
"G—go away."
Gaold's dying voice angered Miro.
"Don't get the wrong idea. I didn't come because I liked you. I came to finish this properly. And I've decided now. You won't do. Let's end this here."
"Alright, so please just go..."
"Hey! Seriously!"
Miro's eyes flashed and she moved with the intent to swing a punch.
"Even if you leave, I'll land one blow!"
She lit the area with a flash spell and thrust her hand toward Gaold's collar—but froze, unable to move.
"Uuuuh..."
Even light seemed painful; Gaold's shriveled body trembled, curled up as if in agony...
"…Hey."
He was no longer in any state that could be called human.
"You idiot."
Miro, who could no longer hold back her feelings, crumpled in grief and tears fell.
"What happened to you?"
Gaold bowed his head in shame and covered his face; the sight was all the more pitiful.
'I wish he'd just died...'
Even death seemed like a blessing.
"Why are you such a fool?" Miro clutched Gaold's emaciated body and rested her cheek on his shoulder.
"Sniff! Huh…huh!"
Feeling Miro's trembling through his skin, Gaold kept his mouth shut.
"Waaah! Waaah!" Perhaps for the first time in his life, he fully revealed his emotions and could not hold back the sobbing.
The strongest seeker of humanity.
The superhuman mind that had never tolerated the slightest flaw was cracking open.
That evening.
"Huh. Huh."
Gaold, wrapped in a blanket in front of a campfire, trembled. Gangnan handed him a spoon.
"Here, eat."
Gaold opened his mouth slowly. Gangnan supported the spoon from below and fed him little by little.
Across from them, Miro sat watching with cold eyes between her knees.
"Hoho. Quite the sight. Might get into something doing that."
"What business is it of yours?"
Gangnan replied nonchalantly, stirring the bowl of gruel with his spoon.
'Jealousy?'
She admitted she felt a little sick pleasure, yet the thought that Miro could be jealous was absurd.
Gaold lifted his gaze.
"Miro."
For the first time since leaving the cave, when Gaold called her, Miro brightened and stood.
"What? Want me to feed you? See, I'm better at this, right?"
"Stop talking about leaving."
Miro narrowed her brow.
"That line again? Whether I leave or not is my decision..."
"You're in a dangerous state."
Gaold's words made her lips clamp shut as she realized she'd been seen through.
"You're different from me. If you can't maintain the supreme mental state, you can't fight. You want to save the world, don't you? Go back to your place."
"What's my place?"
"The apex. Human emotions don't suit you. If you fixate on one thing, you lose sight of the whole."
One reason the Thousand-Hand Kannon avatar was so formidable was that there were no blind spots.
She observed the world from every direction and could strike from any situation.
Miro sank back down into her seat.
"I'll handle my business." If matters of the heart were that easy to reverse, she would have done it long ago.
"If you can't do it—"
Gaold extended his index finger.
"Shall I help?" A terrifying killing intent radiated from him as the air itself compressed at his fingertip.
The surrounding atmosphere trembled at the force. Gangnan swallowed, and Miro glared at his hand.
'Gaold would really kill him.' If the Thousand-Hand Kannon avatar were operating normally, even an Air Gun would be evadable.
But if that was possible, it meant that in this heart she had already killed Gaold.
"You—"
Just as Miro opened her mouth, a demonic cry came from the cliffside behind the group.
"Kyaaa!"
They were still some distance from the main battlefield, but demons were everywhere on the central continent.
"Tch! Move!"
As Gangnan pushed himself up, Gaold, Julu, and Miro scattered in all directions.
Demons poured down the cliff like a waterfall, and those who could fly filled the sky.
'Air Gun!'
Gaold turned the hand that had been aimed at Miro and fired an air projectile at the cliff.
Kraaaaang!
One shot demolished part of the cliff, but the demons surged forward through the dust.
'Roughly over a hundred thousand, it seems.'
They appeared to be moving from somewhere to somewhere.
"They're fighting!"
Julu's summoned cougar leapt into the barrage where Air Guns were being fired non-stop.
"Kraaang!"
Gangnan, guarding Gaold's side, smashed the remaining enemies with his fists.
"This spot is bad! Fall back and fight!"
It was too close to finish them off with the Air Press without hitting their allies.
"Miro?"
Julu asked as she retreated with Gaold.
Only then did Gangnan look around and point somewhere with startled eyes.
"There, over there…!"
Above the demons, the avatar of the Thousand-Hand Kannon swayed precariously.
"Charge!"
Miro's avatar attacked the demons, but its power was hardly worthy of being called an apex.
"Puhahaha! Tickle, tickle!"
"What—?!"
At the moment she turned her head, a massive club came crashing down right in front of her.
'Missed!'
A blind spot had formed.
"Die!"
Just as Miro's head was about to be crushed, an afterimage flew in and swiftly wrapped around her body.
Kraaaang!
The shockwave of an Air Shield exploded, and Miro saw who had pulled her into the embrace.
"G—Gaold?" Gaold's eyes, checking on Miro, showed a flash of relief for an instant.