The Absent Being (3)
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After Shirone annihilated Ionas, Ikael's holy-light form no longer trembled.
Instead, it lit the sky with a brilliance brighter than anything else in the world.
'Gepin.'
Like pouring cold and scalding water into her chest at once, pain and exultation tangled together.
'Really, really…'
Ikael saw in Shirone the face of the man she had loved most in the world.
"Our child."
It felt as if the man she had loved above all else was right there; Shirone, who looked down at her with a careful gaze, reached out his hand.
"Ah—"
Just as Ikael lifted her arm to take his hand—
"Compose yourself."
Archangels closed in around them.
Even Uriel, who had quietly supported Ikael until now, showed only a calm hostility.
"You know what will happen if you go to Shirone here," someone warned.
On Ikael's left stood Uriel, on her right Rael, and Satiel guarded her rear. As she glanced side to side and felt them, the Maras blocked the approach ahead.
Satiel said, "Give it up. No matter who you are, you can't stop all of us. And we won't make exceptions for your personal situation."
Ikael felt the archangels' killing intent prick her like thorns.
"Heh."
One corner of Ikael's mouth tilted up.
Uriel, Rael, and Satiel were at a loss in the face of that unfamiliar discordance, wondering across the sweep of history whether an archangel had ever sneered at someone.
Ikael asked, "You think you can't stop me all together?" The answer had already been voiced.
She turned and looked the archangels over. "Answer me. You said I couldn't stop all of you. Did you truly believe that?"
Though they had already declared it, the archangels—almost as if under a spell—rechecked their conviction.
Could it really be so? Could we… subdue Ikael?
"Shirone is my son."
She had kept those words in her heart for so long that simply speaking them sent a tremor through her.
'I'm not afraid.'
Gepin was gone, but his son—so like him—was reaching out a hand.
"I have wandered through many ages, but I will not yield now. As archangel I command: if you stand in my way—"
Ikael finished coldly, "Do not expect any more respect from me."
Satiel unfolded a Judicial Halo—Nostalgia—and snapped, "Respect? That's for us to demand. You're no archangel. You're a cancer that betrayed Heaven's armies by fighting for humans."
Before the clear law of Heaven, Uriel could not let personal likes or dislikes show.
'…Do we have no choice but to fight?'
The Judicial Halo Ragnarok unfurled; Rael activated his accelerator.
"You abandoned your authority yourself. Do not blame us," they said.
"My authority was given because I am me."
Ikael let out a hollow laugh. "It's not something you need to mouth, worry over, or even try to break."
The instant the words left her, the three archangels and the Maras in front charged at once.
Their momentum felt almost cosmic, but Ikael's gaze only sank deeper into an abyss.
She spoke, "〈증增〉."
At that moment, countless lives on the ground saw another sun appear in the sky.
Imir, trapped by the Law of the , writhed as if in agony.
Shirone and his group could only watch, calming their racing hearts.
They didn't know exactly how the Law would kill Imir, but the Law began to draw everything in the universe into making that event happen.
It was beyond human imagination—the only thing visible around Imir was the black surface of space that occasionally flashed with iridescent color.
"Grrrrrr!"
A murderous intent sufficient to wipe out every being in the universe began to squeeze Imir's heart.
'Die, please die.'
Even those who did not believe in gods clasped their hands together, because honestly they never wanted to fight like this again.
'Just vanish.'
Should the universe be sacrificed?
As the black space rose, covering her throat and then her whole body, Imir glared at Shirone and snarled, "If you—"
Her words were choked off as the swallowing space sealed her mouth and then her face.
All Shirone's group could see was probably a black orb that seemed to contain the entire universe.
"Is it over?"
Moments later the black sphere vibrated ominously, announcing annihilation.
Kukukukuku!
The ground shook as if from an earthquake; buildings swayed and tilted.
'Doesn't matter. If we can stop it here—'
At that instant white cracks began to spider across the blackness.
The fissures accelerated; from the grotesquely gaping seams a golden light exploded forth.
"Kyaaaah!"
Imir roared with limbs spread wide, and the black space clinging to her like a shell burned away without residue.
Even after witnessing that with his own eyes, it took Shirone a long moment to bring the word failure to his lips.
'That can't be.'
The never collapses before it kills its target. If it cannot eliminate through a specific event, it will manipulate circumstances to take the victim's life—that is its function, not merely an attribute of power.
'Yet it couldn't kill Imir…'
Both those who knew the and those who didn't felt the same realization.
"There is no way to kill it." At least, not in this universe.
A chilling truth crawled over their skin.
"Nice try."
Imir stepped forward looking slightly worn. "Not bad, whatever that was. But—"
She released a shockwave and hurled herself at everyone stunned by the blast.
"Take cover!"
The incarnation of the Thousand-Armed Kannon formed an iron barrier with countless palms.
"Yaaah!"
When Imir struck it, Miro's body wavered for a moment.
"Huuuu!"
She recovered quickly, drew a long breath, and swept both arms.
Thousand-Armed Kannon—Twin Thunder Palm.
The moment Imir was trapped between her joined hands, an incalculable barrage of blows pressed in from the edge of time.
"Huhuhuhu!"
Imir's smile in such a situation felt monstrous.
"Weak."
She stamped a foot and the earth heaved.
"Weak, I say!"
A razor-sharp sound, cold enough to chill the teeth, rode atop the roar of the earth as something was hurled aloft.
"...I—"
Perhaps instinct. Imir, who'd just delivered a straight blow to Miro's face, turned her head.
'What—?'
A fist-sized air projectile ripped through the atmosphere toward her.
As she moved her other hand to block it, there was a thud and Imir's body was pushed back.
"Grrr!"
The projectile in her palm ruptured and its shell tore apart.
'That hurts.'
The impact drove through bone and out again.
Imir was shoved dozens of meters backward; Shirone's group watched in stunned silence and slowly turned.
"Ugh—?"
A dying sound, and someone stepped out from the shadows of an alley.
At first they took him for a corpse.
His hair was unkempt; his gaunt face was skeletal. He was a thin man.
"Ah, ugh—?"
Even speaking seemed painful and his legs were stiff, but Gangnan recognized him at a glance.
"Gaold."
More than joy, Gangnan felt bafflement that someone in that state could have come this far.
He looked around like someone lost, and when he saw Miro having escaped death, a flicker of life returned to his dark, deathlike eyes.
"Don't cry."
Gaold said in a dazed voice. "Smile."
Sein stepped forward. "Gaold, you—"
A stench rose as they approached, but compared to his condition that was a small thing.
Miro asked, "Why did you come?"
When Shirone's group looked her way she wore an expression of indifference.
"You should have died. What do you think you're doing showing up like that?"
Gangnan's eyes widened. "Is that what you say? Who saved your life?"
Miro pushed his hand away as if to tell him not to interfere.
Even if she hadn't needed to preserve the crystalline perfection of her mind, she would have said the same.
"Go home. Your part is done."
"I can't go back."
"Why not?"
Miro ground her teeth. "How pathetic can you be? I told you I liked you. I said I'd be your woman if you wanted. You were the one who turned me down. And now I can't stand people like you."
"...Right."
"Then get out! Disappear from in front of me!"
"All right, Miro. So—"
Gaold tipped his chin and faintly smiled. "Smile."
Though the words made no sense, Miro hardened her eyes and bit her lip.
As Gaold took a step forward, Imir—watching the torn palms—lifted her head.
Though the emaciated man limped nearer, he somehow did not look weak.
'He is the apex of something.'
Imir sensed it.
'If I am a being infinitely distant from sensation—'
She straightened her torso and displayed her will to survive.
"The being closest to sensation."
"What are you babbling about?"
Gaold, one eye half closed, murmured, and Imir's mouth curled.
"...Good thing you came."
To smash everything and become the universe's dignity.
"I am the strongest!"
As Imir threw her weight forward, Gaold's face twisted like a demon's.
'Vacuum Press.'
Imir halted with a heavy thunk; her waist dropped suddenly.
"Kuk! Not bad, but—"
She trembled and slowly raised her head as Gaold's nerves began to spike all at once.
"Kuk, kukkukku!"
Yet his expression, like Imir's, wore a wicked grin.
"You, claiming to be king of giants?"
At Gaold's peculiar taunt, Sein—sensing something amiss—reached out a hand. "No! If there's a fall here—!" If Gaold breaks his restraint here, everyone in the city will die.
"Huuu—!"
Gaold's eyes rolled upward as if deaf to the warning.
'Pain?'
In a lightless mental space, an endless one-way corridor stretched out.
'What is pain?'
Gaold stood at its start and walked toward the blades extending from the destination.
A blade pierced his abdomen.
'It is pain.'
Feeling the blade cut through him, he did not stop.
He pressed on; another blade awaited to pierce his shoulder.
'Go on.'
The blades multiplied—piercing his brow, his heart, his thigh...
At last countless blades that could impale an entire body awaited before Gaold's eyes.
'Move forward.'
Though his whole body burned as if aflame, his legs would not halt.
If he stopped here the pain might lessen, but if that meant death...
"Grrrr!"
Gaold charged with everything he had.
"Uaaah!"
Thousands of blades sliced through him; there may have been no end—but
'I will not stop.'
To hurl oneself toward the pain ahead—that was—
"My life!"
As Gaold's spirit compressed to an unfathomable point, Shirone and his companions felt their eyes rocked by the shock.
"Crazy bastard—"
At the same moment, an immeasurable Air Press crushed down onto Imir's body.