Simultaneous Incident (5)
Vashka Castle.
The royals clutched their heads in terror as the royal guards writhed.
"Kruuu…!"
Yahweh's wrath.
The red Miracle Stream stained the large chamber like spilled blood.
"I—I didn't order this."
Adolf XIII met Shirone's gaze, his legs gave out, and he dropped to his backside.
Shirone's face didn't flinch, but he looked as if he'd seen a ghost.
"Then who gave the order?"
"My younger brother, Robbins. Please believe me. I didn't know anything until he said something."
Having been harshly punished once for lying, Adolf XIII condensed his answer to the bare truth.
"Your brother, huh."
Shirone knew Robbins was as cruel and cold as Tena—if not worse.
'Even worse. No matter what, trying to kill a blood relative… And Commander Bedium.'
He'd known since school that Raiken's father was the Black Line's deadliest hitman.
But the Bedium Shirone had profiled through Omega far exceeded his expectations.
'The reputation as the strongest hitman is only the surface. He drifted across nations and assassinated two kings. Forty-seven cabinet-level officials.'
Those numbers were achievements Bedium had racked up before Shirone was born.
'And the world never flipped because his backers were never exposed.'
The saying came to mind: the best assassins are the ones no one knows about.
"Where is the prince now?" If Robbins was connected to Bedium, they had to find him immediately.
"I don't know. Really."
This time Adolf XIII didn't close his eyes, and Shirone attempted a quantum transfer.
'Failed.'
Quantum transfer was a powerful function of simultaneous incidents, but it had its drawbacks.
'If you know the coordinates in time and space, spatial transfer can always succeed.'
Photon signals are cold.
'The mind is different. To exist simultaneously in another space, the observer's mind must act. And the mind is unstable and uncertain.'
For quantum transfer to succeed, the mind perceiving Shirone had to be one hundred percent certain.
It wasn't an impossible condition.
Family could be certain of Shirone with less than thirty percent of the information.
'But someone like Robbins—who has a priori information—cannot concretize me.'
That was also why Shirone had stationed most of the Twelve Apostles at strategic points beforehand.
The royals glanced around nervously.
'What are they thinking?'
It was incomprehensible why they remained seated even after hearing the assassination plot against Pony.
Shirone muttered with pity.
"…stupid brat." Adolf XIII's shoulders twitched, but Shirone's gaze drifted beyond the ceiling.
"Huk! Huk!"
Suppressing the terror of death, Pony stared at the light rising over Raiken's shoulder.
'Shirone. Shirone…'
As electricity flowed through her throat, her nerves leapt and her limbs spasmed uncontrollably.
"What are you looking at? It's been a while—aren't you going to at least nod to an old classmate before you die?"
Despite his words, Raiken's pupils examined Pony like someone seeing her for the first time.
"I thought she was a decent woman." Pressing hard on Pony's throat and lifting her waist, Raiken drew out a chain sickle.
"Well, that's life."
After the cold scrape of metal, the chain sickle plunged toward Pony's brainstem.
"Gahk!"
Just before she could feel the blade, a powerful shock struck Shirone's back and sent Raiken flying into the wall.
"Who's there?"
Crouching like a beast and yanking at the chain sickle, his eyes landed on a familiar face.
"Oh, for God's—"
It was the second face he hated most in the world; with disgust layered on top, it became the worst.
"Pony, are you all right?"
Shirone ignored Raiken's stare and went to Pony, hauling her upright.
"W-what happened?"
Her body still in shock, she blinked back to consciousness with a bewildered expression.
"Get out of here. Can you stand?" Sparks burst ahead as Raiken swung from behind Shirone.
Just before the chain sickle could slice the nape of his neck, the Miracle Stream wrapped completely around his arm.
"Kruuuu!"
As if forgetting how to use strength, no matter how he tried his muscles wouldn't move.
Shirone stood.
"Raiken."
Raiken's arm moved on its own and drove the blade deep into his own throat.
"Kiiiiii! Kiiiiii!"
He howled like a snake in a last threat, but Shirone's expression was unchanged.
"Long time no see."
The snake sound cut off abruptly.
"You're still obnoxious. Still wandering around with your Savior complex?"
"Yeah. Sorry."
The days of arguing over whose philosophy was right were long past; Shirone went straight to the point.
"Where is your father, Bedium?"
Raiken tried to break the Miracle Stream, but nothing worked.
'Damn. It came to this?'
Despite having been trained by the world's strongest hitman, the gap in skill was too great.
"This is a mental technique. It's an interaction between you and me. If your mind were stronger, you could push the Miracle Stream aside and move." Shirone didn't sound convinced.
"Kill me."
Shirone considered the sincerity behind the words.
"Heh. I know you'd beg and I'd spare you. But I don't want that, so kill me instead."
"Why? Out of shame?"
"No. If you owe your life to someone, you'll have to give up something worse than death."
Raiken split his lips into a grin.
"You want to know where Commander Bedium is? Fine. I'll tell you. If that's what you want."
Shirone's eyes widened.
"Stop!"
The Miracle Stream shattered, and the chain sickle sliced halfway through Raiken's neck.
Blood spurted sideways in a wet arc, and Pony stared at him with stunned eyes.
"You…."
Staggering, Raiken opened his bloodied mouth.
"Kekeke. See? I won."
He had won against Shirone's mind—but the price was his life.
"…stupid brat."
Sadness welled in Shirone's eyes, and Raiken shook his head as if to deny it.
"I am an assassin."
His lifeless body thudded to the floor.
Silence followed. Shirone savored Raiken's final words and nodded.
"Bedium will come."
To avenge his son's death.
"You even broke the Miracle Stream and tried to use your own throat to kill me. Yes, you are an assassin."
A villain of the world, yet he carried his conviction to the last moment.
"Evil is strong."
Which is exactly why they needed far more help.
"Pony, the one who hired the assassin is Prince Robbins. But the other royals are accomplices in all but name."
"I expected as much. I didn't think they'd act this quickly, though."
"It's because I came. They were trying to keep you and me in check. And I, Shirone, have made a decision."
"I want you to lead Tormia. We'll need your help to fight the evil ahead."
"My help?"
Shirone explained the principle of quantum transfer and the Ultima System project.
"Time is tight. A capable leader could shorten things considerably—someone who can rally people and focus them on a single goal."
"I know what you mean."
Pony said.
"But I have no kingly qualities. You know that, Shirone. People who are ashamed to lie cannot lead everyone. I can only be responsible for myself."
"I know. That's why I came to you."
Thoughts flickered through Pony's mind as she blinked.
"If I become king, I will negate kingship."
A mage is called a child of reason because they question even the privileges granted to them.
"That's enough."
Shirone smiled.
In the streets of Vashka, relief workers pointed to the sky and shouted in unison.
"Whoa! What is that?"
A dragon covered in long, grass-like green scales flew overhead.
The small, cute girl form had vanished; the creature now dominated an entire city block.
"Is this a good spot?"
Choosing a suitable place, Eitra inhaled and prepared to breathe.
'Breath of Life.'
A dragon's breath boasted power comparable to an angel's halo of judgment.
Special organs charged the breath; charge times varied by dragon.
Eitra's breath had an exceptionally long charge cycle among the Twelve Apostles—an astonishing one hundred hours.
"Kraaaaaaa!"
Eitra opened her massive maw and exhaled. A golden gale swept across Vashka.
"Ah, ahhh…."
Wounds inflicted by the demons closed, and the injured began to stand one by one.
Miro and her group were stunned.
'Incredible regenerative power.'
After releasing her breath over all of Vashka, Eitra folded her wings and descended to the ground.
People cheered.
"O great dragon, save us! Glory to Tormia!"
After witnessing miracles several times in a single day, they felt as if Tormia had been chosen by the gods.
A maid announced.
"Your Highness, Pony requests an audience."
Shock washed over the royals' faces. Adolf XIII went pale.
'Huh, how—?'
Shirone had clearly been in the room; the assassination plan hadn't leaked.
When Pony entered, speculation fell away and only brutal reality pierced their minds.
"Damn it—"
Forgetting royal decorum, he cursed aloud, though his time on the throne was already at risk.
Pony's gaze swept over the kneeling royals and the fainted guards, then landed on Shirone.
'It's real.'
Seeing Shirone again so soon after parting felt like a memory glitch.
Shirone addressed the royals.
"As of this moment, Pony will succeed to the throne of Tormia. As a Star of the Ivory Tower and one of the Five Great Stars of the Integrated Universe Administration, I cannot crown as king someone who assassinated kin and stole others' achievements to mock the people."
The royals intuited Shirone had been the one to resolve Vashka's catastrophe.
"How dare you—"
Forty-four years of waiting dissolved like a bubble, and Adolf XIII was consumed by rage.
"Pony! You—how could you—! Ugh!"
At that moment, the Miracle Stream struck his heart; the king's face went as white as paper.
He collapsed with a thud, clutching his chest, his eyes filled with sheer terror.
"Huff! Huff!"
Shirone said coldly.
"I don't want to waste time. Confess your crimes to the people and renounce power. Then I will deal with you as a human being."
"Ugh…." Adolf XIII's face crumpled in anguish.
Even if someone had held a blade to his throat, he wouldn't have been this terrified.
'My heart—my heart is stopping…'
That faint, rare shock that one might feel once in a lifetime still lingered in his mind.
"Then from now on—"
Just as Shirone was about to speak—
"Your Highness! There's been a serious incident!"
The doors burst open as nobles and officials from the castle rushed in.
"A giant, a giant…!"
Shirone and Pony turned to look at each other.