The Sin That Couldn't Continue (4)
A soft light gathered above the unconscious Ikael's head and formed into a sphere.
When the sphere of holy light returned to its original shape, her eyelids lifted on their own.
'Where am I?'
The first thing that came into view was Satiel's anguished face.
"Archangel, are you all right?"
Ikael sat up as if gravity no longer applied to her, straightening her torso and looking around.
It was Jebul's chamber.
"What happened?"
"That is…?"
Satiel told Ikael what had occurred after she lost consciousness.
"So that's the conclusion… the war's been postponed. Kariel sealed the Gaiaans in the Metagate. The front should be stable, but—"
Heaven still felt tense.
"I see."
"What happened, Archangel? What took place at the council?"
Ikael fell silent and drifted into thought instead of answering.
'No one knows yet.'
No one knew she had opened the sanctuary's door on her own, or that she had defied orders and stood between the angels.
That meant Anke Ra had shown no reaction...
'Is he going to cover it up?'
The Gaiaan's cry she'd heard before losing consciousness rose from the far edge of her memory.
—What kind of god would go back on his word?!
"Hah."
Ikael pressed her hand to her throbbing forehead.
"I must see Anke Ra."
She sprang to her feet and headed for the door. Satiel called after her.
"An order has been issued for all angels to stand by! No one is to approach the sanctuary!"
"It's fine."
Ikael opened the door.
"They'll be waiting for me."
Rising into Jebul's sky, Ikael flew straight for Arabot's spire.
She stopped when she saw the door she had opened by her own will.
Where had she gotten the courage to do that?
'No — it was my choice.'
Choices belong to the chooser, and so does their responsibility.
"Anke Ra, this is Ikael."
When there was no response, she reached toward the door.
Just before her fingertips touched it, the door made a faint creak and slowly drew inward.
Ikael took a long breath as she looked at Anke Ra, whose holy light pulsed as usual.
Gefin was still held to Anke Ra's nerves, and her heart ached again.
"Enter, my daughter."
The moment Ikael stepped forward, the door closed.
Kukukukukuku!
She had heard that sound a thousand times, but now it felt like it was blocking her escape.
Ikael opened her mouth.
"Why…?"
"Do you want to ask why I did not punish you?"
"Yes. And I want to know exactly what happened at your meeting with Gefin."
Anke Ra pushed Gefin's body toward Ikael.
To keep the luminous sphere steady, she had to concentrate with all her might.
"Gefin made me an offer. He asked who was fit to become a god. We wagered everything."
Startled, Ikael looked up at Gefin.
Seeing his soulless face, only his pupils emitting light, she could no longer hide her expression.
"Ikael."
Anke Ra asked, "Have I done wrong?"
At that question, Ikael felt as if her mind had plunged to the bottom of an abyss.
A god does not err.
"...Anke Ra."
"The world simply exists."
The strange voice she had heard before returned—majestic, utterly without malice.
"There is no right or wrong. I simply exist perfectly, and I sustain that existence without end. Anke Ra judges only for the sake of the world."
Ikael listened in silence.
"My daughter, everything in this world is under my definition, but you are the most special."
"I know."
"Not merely because you were first." Ikael waited with a puzzled look.
"When my being did not yet know itself, a fierce light burst within me—an amplification. That is you. A concept standing on the border between non-existence and existence. That is why you are different from the other angels."
"You mean I'm different?"
"At the moment of amplification, the world split in two: the world of non-existence and the world of existence. The reason you are the purest angel in the universe is because another you took all your tainted part with it."
It was the first time she had heard that.
"Satan Lucifer. The symmetry point of the Law. Born at the same time as you, yet he bore the eternal darkness in your stead—an opposite being. In a sense, you could be called twins."
Ikael's sphere of light trembled violently.
"And now he—"
"He no longer exists. He purified himself in the other world and was extinguished. Now only the concept of Satan remains."
"Why?"
Anke Ra lifted Gefin high.
"Lucifer struck a bargain with Gefin. To protect you, Ikael, Lucifer agreed to be purified in Gefin's stead."
"T-That… no. That can't be—"
As she shook her head in denial, a very old memory flashed through Ikael's mind.
'So that's why he—?'
Gefin had flown in front of the photon cannon she fired and taken it in his back.
'No.'
The first kiss that made her realize her heart.
'It can't be!'
The countless moments of connection she'd shared with Gefin even amid the fierce fighting against the Gaiaans.
"I wasn't… the one."
Light tears streamed down Ikael's cheeks.
What had she been expecting?
'How happy I was.'
The uncontrollable joy when Gefin said he would remain in Heaven surged back.
"It was only an illusion, Ikael."
Anke Ra's nerve endings reached out and wiped the tears from her cheek.
"The heart is merely an illusion created by the system. Gefin was an anomaly that sought to destroy the world. Why didn't I punish you? Because there was no need. You were only infected by the Gefin anomaly."
"O God, I—"
"Fear not. I defined this world. And you are the beginning that defines that definition—the entirety of my thought."
If Anke Ra is the brain, Ikael is the thought.
"Yes, I could not swallow Hexa. But look—Gefin is still contained by my power. Perhaps this is perfection: isolating an error that arose because a system exists back into the system. And now the Law is stable again."
Gefin's body drifted closer to Ikael.
"My beloved daughter. If I were deceiving you, I would not be a god. But if I am a god… this is right."
Anke Ra said it firmly.
Anke Ra does not deceive.
Because he is cold.
"The Ultima System will soon be dismantled. I will give you humans. I will make humans who will not fear, who will not be confused, who will only praise you."
"Ugh… wha—"
Kneeling with her face buried in the ground, Ikael's shoulders shook uncontrollably.
Satiel, who had been waiting for Ikael to return to Jebul, flew to her side as soon as he found her.
"Archangel!"
Satiel flinched at Ikael's blank face, but his greater worry was Gefin.
"Have you seen Anke Ra? Why did this happen? What became of Gefin?"
The moment Ikael heard Gefin's name, her face contorted with rage.
"Do not speak that name in front of me."
"What?"
"He revealed his true nature to Anke Ra under the pretense of a council. A con man—nothing more, nothing less."
There was no falsehood in Ikael's words.
'And he humiliated me too.'
He had intended to fight Anke Ra to the death, yet he hadn't even given her a hint.
'He used me. In his heart, someone like me never existed.'
"But Archangel, Gefin—"
"Satiel."
Seeing Ikael's terrifying gaze, Satiel fell silent without meaning to.
"Do not make me repeat myself."
Ikael walked back to her room and Satiel slowly cleared a path.
"No one is to approach Arabot's sanctuary. That is an order from the Archangel."
Anke Ra instructed the angels to find a way to dismantle the Ultima System.
Kariel found the solution.
"The Elixir of Unification. It will integrate the Gaiaans. Once processed, the amount of Black Elixir will be more than enough. It's just difficult to harvest. If we send angels, there will be no problem."
"Integrate them? Wouldn't that only make the enemy stronger?" Uriel asked.
"It's simple. The core of the Ultima System is forcing a single righteousness onto diverse personalities. We could not destroy that single righteousness. Then we will collapse the diverse personalities instead."
Satiel slammed his hand on the council table and stood.
"I object! We can't annihilate the Gaiaans when we don't even know whether Gefin lives or dies! All procedures must proceed only when the truth is transparently revealed!"
"Don't worry about that. The giants created by the Elixir of Unification will be separated back into humans. There is no other way to remove the Ultima System."
"How is that different from murder?"
"You don't understand. It isn't murder. Humanity will prosper more than before—under our control."
Satiel could not contain himself and turned to Ikael.
"Archangel! Say something!"
All eyes in the council fixed on Ikael, but no answer came.
Her vacant stare into the distance had become a familiar sight at the Council.
Long years had passed since the meeting, yet her condition had not improved at all.
"...That will be all for today."
Those words, too, were familiar.
"Hah."
Ikael tossed and turned on her bed all night.
'Why is this happening? Everything's over. The world is stable and I'm the Archangel.'
She had thought time would soothe the pain, but instead the ache grew each night.
'They used me! Liar!' Anger flared so fiercely it made her skin crawl.
'Could there have been another reason?'
She found herself wondering if there had been some other motive.
'Was it all a lie? Everything?' She'd known him for so long that even her angelic reason could not accept it.
"Gefin…?"
The moment she breathed his name, a wave of emotion welled up inside her.
"Ugh!"
With a sob, she rose and flew toward Arabot's spire.
Panting when she reached the sanctuary, she glared at the door.
'Gefin is here.'
At her speed he would be a second away.
How many times had she come here, unable to resist the impulse? She reached out desperately.
'I want to see him. Even if it's just his face. Just once, once more… then I could forget everything.'
—The heart is an illusion.
At Anke Ra's words, Ikael bit her lip and hurriedly withdrew her hand.
She clenched her fists, shut her eyes to calm herself, and looked once more at the sanctuary door.
It was as still as if no one lived there.
'It's over.'
Turning away with a sad expression, she spread her wings of light and returned to her chamber.
'It's all over now.'
Another night passed.