The Strike of Ruin (3)
Iruki pointed at the map.
"The Abyssal Cliffs."
A gorge stretching along the border between Tormia and Kazra—a valley some 160 kilometers long.
"People tend to think it's a place full of ambushes, but Balkan will come through here."
Geographically it was a valley, but the Abyssal Cliffs were a gigantic feature more than seventeen kilometers wide.
"More importantly, if they come through here it's the shortest route to Tormia. And we already lost half our forces on the Kanian Plateau."
It was damage taken in barely a day's fighting.
And Amy...
Iruki pushed the thought away and continued.
"But because their losses are so heavy, we can strike at a weak point. With their Valkyrie forces depleted, they won't think to lay traps across such a vast formation."
"They haven't, in fact."
Iruki nodded.
"Yes. There are no traps. Only an elemental bomb that could blow the entire gorge apart."
A breath escaped the room.
Because this strategy could end the war, the commanders were on edge.
"We'll stop them here."
The commander's baton pointed to the center of the gorge, seventy kilometers from Tormia.
"The elemental bomb's power is unimaginable. The terrain will absorb some shock, but it won't spare our troops—or nearby cities."
The commander said, "This is a chance bought with countless sacrifices. We have no option to refuse. All we can do is detonate it at a point that minimizes the expected damage."
Iruki fell silent.
"Commander."
"Yes. I'm not the type to conscience-sit alone. The operation goes forward as planned. The day of decision has come. We cannot allow even the smallest mistake."
When he finished with resolve, the other commanders left the conference room looking relieved.
Aromi approached Iruki.
"Is it hard to decide?"
She knew the weight of the commander-general's office, so seeing him falter made her uneasy.
"No. It's not that."
"Then—could it be because of Major Amy?"
He couldn't deny it.
We couldn't recover her body.
If it had been settled for certain, he wouldn't be tormented like this.
If she were alive, she would have returned to the unit. Had she been captured by the demon army?
With Hell's legions pouring down, it would be like dropping a bomb on her head.
"Commander, forgive my presumption, but..."
Aromi hesitated.
"If Major Amy survived and is being held by the demons, it might actually be kinder to put her out of her misery. You know how cruel the demons are." Because of what the demons were capable of, Iruki found himself agreeing, at least in part.
"The reason Balkan didn't notice the Gitaruman variable..."
Iruki finally voiced the thought he couldn't shake.
"is that their scope of thought is different from ours. They can read the crowd's movement, but not flows outside their sphere. They can't worry about things they can't even conceive."
"Right. But why bring that up now...?"
"Because I'm like that now."
He couldn't shake the feeling he was missing something.
"If Amy were captured, she'd undergo unspeakable things and Balkan would use that. There's no surer way to shatter my reason."
"Hmm."
"But there's been no sign at all. Maybe Amy wasn't captured after all."
Aromi wanted to offer hope, but this was a moment for cold judgment.
"Commander, even assuming—it's a stretch to infer that—"
"I know."
Iruki knew it too.
"Even if Amy were captured, there are a hundred reasons not to announce it. It could be a ploy for Shirone, or for Yahweh. So maybe it's paranoia, but—" The wish to protect a cherished friend could have skewed his thinking.
"The noise keeps coming. By experience or logic, nothing feels clear."
Aromi realized Iruki had returned to cool analysis.
"You mean something might be happening outside the commander's assumptions."
"Yes."
Iruki looked over the abyssal gorge.
"As with Gitaruman, that could determine the success or failure of this strategy."
Where on earth was Amy?
* * *
"Haa. Haa."
In a hut built in the mountains of the central continent, Amy's breath came ragged.
Her hair was cropped short; bandages were wrapped over a body that had suffered burns all over.
It was a relief the heat hadn't penetrated to the deepest layers of her skin; the scabs would come away soon.
"There's no sign of waking," Shura said, watching Amy lie on the bed. "Her body has recovered, but the real problem is her mind. It's fundamentally different from samadhi."
Samadhi springs from the providence of the great void, but Amy's multiple splitting felt distinctly artificial.
"She's dug herself in and sealed the exit. She can't get out on her own."
Nane bit her finger and said, "Untie the bandages."
"What are you going to do?"
"She's got her eyes closed, her ears blocked—she's shut off every sense. Mere human transmission won't drag her out of the abyss." Shura loosened the bandages around Amy's abdomen, revealing new flesh and reddened skin.
Nane drew a circle of blood sigils around the navel, sat cross-legged, and said, "Stand well back. This won't be bearable."
To bring Amy back would require a sermon strong enough to give a rock enlightenment.
"Don't overdo it."
When Shura stepped out of the hut, Nane lowered her eyelids with a gentle smile. Her lips parted.
"Mahāprajñā—"
The peculiar cadence of her sermon flowed without end, and the trees and plants around the hut began to tremble.
"Ugh!"
Shura, charging through the forest, clapped her hands over her ears.
This wasn't sound.
Nane's voice, driving images into the mind, bypassed the ears and struck directly at the skull.
"Form is emptiness, emptiness is form—"
As the sermon vibrated through the hut, Amy's body felt as if it were burning hot.
"Hah. Hah."
Even without consciousness, thin breaths leaked from her ragged throat.
"Shirone."
At the Earth Sanctuary of the Ivory Tower.
With the five great stars called by Taeseong gathered, Shirone finished speaking.
"Argonesra."
It was shocking.
"So what—whether Nane wins or Habitz does, the world's going to end?" Fried said with disgust. "Don't make a mockery of the Ivory Tower—do you think we'll just sit idle while that happens?"
Silence followed.
"Hey, what's with everyone? Don't tell me you're scared?" Minerva said.
"This isn't about fighting. A fundamental system is activating. The best thing is to end it before it gets to that point. That's why she looked to Shirone." "Before Nane realizes it, Shirone must first build an integrated mental system."
There were no objections.
In that sense, none of the Ivory Tower's stars had told Shirone this.
Amy is missing.
If even Taeseong couldn't find her, then some particular person or force had taken her.
It could be Nane. It could be Habitz.
"I can't reveal it now."
Sing spoke up. "Shirone, before you prepare for the end, there's something you don't know."
Minerva turned pale. 'Tch! That stubborn one.' Sing, who believed everyone but himself to be an illusion, felt no need to prevaricate.
"Something unknown?"
"From the central continent—" Sing began, and at that moment the Earth Sanctuary trembled.
"What is that?" A tower on the ground might shake, but the Earth Sanctuary floated in space; it shouldn't tremble.
Taeseong's face went bitter. "It's finally arrived."
Through the window looking down on the planet, something burned fiercely from air friction.
"A dragon?"
Blue scales crackled with electricity as a massive form rose vertically—a sight both wondrous and terrifying.
Shirone remembered the creature.
"Blitz—the Thunderwing Dragon."
One of the twelve Apostles of the Dragon Clan who guard time, a species Shirone had met in Andre's first world. It was one of the few first-rank dragons capable of leaving a planet and entering space.
Kuuuuuuuung!
Blitz pressed its enormous body against the ceiling of the Earth Sanctuary and bent its long neck to peer inside.
"Taeseong." A cold voice spoke directly into everyone's minds, bypassing air.
Taeseong looked up. "Apostle of Time, what brings you here?"
The dragon's great eye scanned the sanctuary and fixed on Shirone. "Our Core seeks you."
"The Core...?"
The peerless dragon Karatorusa.
"Has it awakened from slumber?" The legend of Karatorusa—leaving a promise that it would take on what none could handle—was famous.
"Something enormous is coming. The awakening of the Core is only a matter of time. Shirone, you who opened the senses of the void, follow me. The Core will speak to you."
Shirone stepped beside Taeseong. "What will it tell me?"
"How to fight."
"Against whom?"
Blitz turned its head sharply and looked down at the planet's northern hemisphere. Its gaze fell on Dongbang Jungcheondong.
The Celestial Peak.
At the highest heights of Dongbang Jungcheondong stood a shrine built by humanity's strongest mage.
Geopin's Gate.
A vast iron sphere engraved in angelic script trembled high in the sky. The sphere rippled like a liquid and then detonated violently, blasting the peak to pieces.
Kwaaaaang! What remained in the blast was a tunnel so vast it could swallow all of Jungcheondong.
"Is this the spirit realm?" A black orb split open and a foot sprang out, striking the ground.
Kuuuuuuung!
A small hill exploded outward.
"Heh heh, how small." Countless giants revealed themselves, and fairies rose into the sky.
Angels and their retinue—the Mara—strode arrogantly through the tunnel, and finally four archangels appeared.
Their conceptual roles were partly lost, but the force they radiated made the world tremble.
Uriel, Archangel of Destruction, said, "At last. It took longer than expected."
Rayel, Archangel of Light, added, "It could have taken longer. That's odd—the dimensional barrier seems to have been breached too easily."
Uriel muttered, "Miro...?"
What could have happened to Miro, the human cleric who once alone held back Heaven's host?
The giants and Maras, who had waited for this day, could no longer hold back and roared.
"Fight! Punish these arrogant humans who deny the gods!"
Ikael watched them. 'Shirone.' She could not share their fervor—Hexa was here.
"Commander of the angels! Issue the sortie order! Teach these muds of men the dignity of the gods!" Ikael began to speak softly.
"...Ataraxia."
Her holy radiance expanded at tremendous speed, scattering a wheel of multicolored light.
"Ugh!"
As if by a lie, silence fell.
"All forces, advance."
Only her voice amplified and echoed.