Demonic Hell (2)
The moon had risen, but the place where the four archangels had fought still held its heat.
The largest traces were the enormous grooves that stretched over ten kilometers in three different directions.
From those three directions, Satiel, Yuriel, and Reyel walked almost simultaneously.
The three archangels who met in the center kept silence for a long while.
Yuriel was the first to speak.
"…She left."
Satiel's fist flew, and Reyel quickly caught her wrist.
"Calm down."
"Let go."
Satiel kept her gaze fixed on Yuriel as she spoke.
"I mean it. You should let go. If you don't, you'll be the first to be annihilated by me."
Yuriel spoke into the air.
"There's nothing more petty than blaming others for defeat."
"Blaming others?"
Satiel ripped free of Reyel's hand and stepped forward.
"You were the one who didn't do your best! Do you think I didn't notice? Would you betray Heaven too?"
Yuriel remained silent.
As Satiel reached out, the judicial halo Nostalgia began to spin at a terrifying speed.
"I'll tear it apart."
Just as she was about to launch the attack, Yuriel said,
"Ikael…"
Her fingers twitched, and Yuriel met Satiel's eyes head-on.
"Why would she leave us?"
Reyel said, "She probably chose her blood over Heaven."
Only after saying it aloud did he realize how bizarre the situation was.
'I see. This is really strange. An angel—an archangel—having a human child.'
Yuriel said, "This isn't about sentimentality. The fact that Ikael chose Hexa means she willingly abandoned Heaven."
Satiel felt her patience hit its limit.
"So what? You're angry about that now. What do you want to say?"
"It's not that I want to say anything so much as I can't even imagine it. That an angel could betray Heaven—never occurred to me."
Reyel asked, "So you just let her go? Simply because you can't understand it?"
"I will fight Ikael."
Yuriel turned her body.
"But from now on, this will be my fight, not Heaven's. I will define this war by my own will."
Satiel didn't understand, but Reyel thought it might be the natural result.
'Yuriel has always been slow to act and awkward at expressing herself, but she always did what Ikael wanted.
'The greatest sense of loss might not be Satiel's but Yuriel's.'
No—maybe his own as well.
'Yuriel is gone. The archangels remaining are Satiel and me. Then I…'
Honestly, Reyel didn't want to choose anything from the moment Ikael left.
'So that was what Ikael was. The only direction in a world without direction, the only meaning to an angel who didn't know the meaning of existence.'
"Get lost too."
Satiel spat.
"I don't need a conflicted archangel. Besides, you don't want to be with me anyway, do you?"
Reyel, who had been looking at Satiel quietly, said nothing and turned away.
Satiel ground her teeth as she watched Reyel disappear into the darkness.
"Those things call themselves angels?"
The holy radiance began to redden again.
"What archangels? What noble beings of the cosmos? In the end, they only envy humans!"
Her secondary Mara Galio extended its hand.
"Lady Satiel! Preserve the holy radiance—"
"Ikael! Ikael! Ikael!"
Red tears brimmed in Satiel's eyes.
"Why is it always Ikael? What's different about me? Ikael can do anything and be forgiven—why can't I!"
Looking back, one wondered if anyone in the universe had received as cosmic a love as Ikael did.
"From now on, I am the archangel."
She wiped her tears with her arm and declared, "All troops, listen! I will punish Ikael, who betrayed Heaven! I am the most noble angel and the only one who will carry out Anke Ra's will!"
Her voice rang out, but only an empty echo returned.
"I will annihilate every human Ikael loves! I will set the Law right!"
Watching his liege cry out like that, Galio felt miserable.
'No matter how much she yells…'
Her voice could not shake the world like Ikael's.
Shirone washed up in the dormitory and walked down the hall toward Amy's room.
It was past midnight, but from the signs at the doors, others didn't seem able to sleep easily either.
"Amy."
Amy came out at the knock, smiling softly as she led him into her room.
"Come in."
Shirone could sense the deep sadness still lingering at the edge of her smile.
"I came because I was worried."
"I'm fine."
To her, Garcia had been both a mentor and the benefactor who made up the largest part of her life.
"I'm sad, but I promised myself I wouldn't cry. I don't want anyone to cry when I die."
She also seemed to feel, in her bones, that the war wasn't over.
"I met my mother."
On the other side of the planet it was daytime and incidents were breaking out across the world, but the only story Shirone could happily tell was this.
"Really? Your biological mother? Then maybe—"
"Yeah, Ikael. It's a little awkward now, but it'll get better with time. I'll introduce her to you."
Amy was delighted as if it were her own matter.
"Of course. What happened?"
The two sat side by side on the bed and laid out everything they had been through so far.
Amy was cautious when talking about Nane, but Shirone understood.
"I suppose that's how it had to be. I too came to this point through Nane's philosophy."
"I still feel uneasy. To be honest, I was shaken. Not by Nane, but by what she proposed. Bringing that up makes me feel like I'm betraying you…"
"Yeah. I felt the same. For the sake of humanity, you and your friends left. That's how it is, Amy."
Shirone put a hand on Amy's shoulder.
"What's hard for me was hard for you too. That's the heart, and now you know."
Amy suddenly thought that Ultima might not be as distant as she had imagined.
"Shirone—"
There was moisture in Amy's voice as Shirone turned to her.
Her hair had been burned short by the fire, but that couldn't change who Amy was.
The silence lengthened, and that stretch of time seemed to press against the backs of their faces.
Just before their lips could touch, the door banged open—
"Amy, what are you—oh?"
Tess's voice made both of them jolt, their faces flushing to the ears.
Tess grinned. "Shirone's here too. Am I interrupting?"
"Ha, no."
Shirone waved her hand, but Amy gave Tess a half-lidded glare.
"What are you asking as if you don't know?"
Tess, amused by Amy's reaction, pointed outside the door with a loud smile.
"Come out. Let's drink."
"At this hour? Aren't you tired?"
"Nade says everyone except the wounded is to assemble in the mess hall. We haven't all gathered in a while—time for a welcome. Rian doesn't really know the magic-school crowd anyway. Neither do I."
"Ah, right."
Shirone was on friendly terms with everyone, but there were people she didn't hang out with inside the circle of friends.
"Okay, let's go."
As they headed to the mess hall, the corridor was noisy with echoes even before they arrived.
"Oh? Shirone! Shirone!"
Nade, who had already downed two mugs of beer, stood up chewing meat and beamed.
"Aha, they came together after all? See, I told you. I knew they'd be together."
When Amy's eyes hardened as she found the instigator, Nade clutched his belly laughing.
Dorothy brought more drinks and food.
"Thanks."
If Shirone hadn't come, this rookie might not even exist now.
"Don't mention it. We fought together." In the convivial atmosphere, the drinks kept flowing and everyone's cheeks flushed.
Even as everyone traded war stories, Rian sat smiling quietly and sipping his drink alone.
"Nice to meet you."
Iruki spoke to Rian at the next seat. "I've heard a lot about you from Shirone. Of course I've seen the hundreds of reports too. Let's get along."
Just as Rian's beer glass emptied, Iruki held out the bottle toward him.
Everyone watched warmly as Rian took the glass respectfully with both hands and offered it.
A brief awkward silence followed, and Iruki stared at him as if surprised.
Tess frowned and shook her head.
'Ugh, that stiff guy.'
A friend of Shirone's.
Rian thought he couldn't be casual because he was his liege's friend.
"Allow me to introduce myself. I'm Rian, Shirone's knight. I look forward to working with you."
Amy said, "Uh, Rian. You don't have to be that formal. We're all friends and about the same age."
"Sorry if I ruined the mood. But I can't be the first to be rude."
Shirone smiled gently.
'He's still nervous.'
They blew off steam with boasting about battles to shrug off the stress.
But Rian was different.
When he was protecting Shirone, there was no way he would ever let down his guard.
A dependable, trustworthy friend—but Shirone also believed in having fun.
"All right, Rian. Make yourself comfortable. We're on the same team now after all."
Only then did Rian accept the glass with one hand.
"All right, all right! Let's drink until our noses go lopsided. Cheers!"
A few more rounds went around, and the table's topic shifted to the Ultima system.
Iruki asked, "What will you do? Honestly, the Ultima system is the only breakthrough, but can it really work?"
To unify humanity's minds.
"I have a few alternative ideas. I want to discuss them with Miro when she arrives tomorrow."
Amy was surprised. "Alternatives?"
Beyond the solution itself, the mere fact there were alternatives hit her shockingly.
"Yes. They aren't perfect, of course."
"For example?"
As Tess, who was always loud, asked, Shirone thought for a moment and stood.
"All right, I'll try it here." Conversation paused and everyone turned to watch as Shirone brought her hands together and closed her eyes.
Light spread between her palms, quickly becoming a clear, radiant glow.
"Miracle Stream? What are you—?" Shirone opened her arms, looked around at everyone, and with a playful glint in her eye said, "Time to wash away your sins."
The light pouring from her palms filled the mess hall.
"Sahanora."
"I—???"
Rapture descended, and ten minutes later in the mess hall—
"Waaahhh!"
Nade was sobbing uncontrollably.
"I'm sorry. I never knew there was such love in the world. I didn't know… I'll live a good life. Waaahhh!"
Iruki cried out in disgust. "Ah, stop crying! What sins have you committed in your life that your tears won't stop?"
It was probably some kind of brain-reawakening effect, but—
"You jerk! You cried too! And who was it who sobbed in the cathedral looking at me? You're the crybaby!"
"…Living a good life—what a lie."
Shirone agreed. "Haha, it's not that easy. But the light of agape purifies the human heart. I'll explain why that's important at tomorrow's formal meeting, but it will help establish an integrated mental system."
Dorothy asked, "But doesn't that sound too technical? We were so moved and satisfied."
Shirone gave a wry smile. "Given the situation, this isn't wishful thinking. We have to make it work. After tomorrow's meeting, I plan to go on a pilgrimage across the world to spread this light."
"Pilgrimage?"
Nade and Iruki's eyes lit up at the same time.