Trigger (2)
The 1 o'clock of Pride frowned.
"Ugh!"
Before the shockwave could tear Habitz apart, she altered the choice of the past and restored it.
Dangerous.
There was no cause to something that sprang from Nothing, so there was only the briefest instant to judge.
If only the 4 o'clock of Sloth had been here now…
What could be done? A comrade had shoved her and sent her to her death.
Fwoooosh.
From the body of the wizard who'd pulled off the preemptive strike, the mirage of the Void God rose again.
Its limbs twisted into ever more grotesque shapes and long tongues writhed like eels.
"Now! Attack—!"
The moment Siok shouted, the Void God's form seeped back into the air.
"Negation Seal: Centripetal World."
The wizard's hand signs grew more elaborate, and second and third shockwaves detonated around Siok.
"Grrr!"
Pride at 1 o'clock clung to a hidden code, but the barrage's tempo only increased.
"Attack! He can't hold much longer!"
Prejudice at 5 o'clock cried out. "You're a worm! A worm who can't do anything!"
She thought it was over. Even if she denied it, Dogma at 3 o'clock would refute her claim. Vengeance at 10 o'clock had laid a curse, and Delusion at 9 o'clock had driven the wizard into an illusion.
But the wizard's response was—
"Void God."
Simply letting the grotesque tree-incarnation seep back into the world.
"White Porcelain Rotation."
Hands of branch sprang from the dozens of whirlpools born behind her. As those hands seized the air and spun like twisted ropes, Siok's face contorted.
"Ugh!"
The hidden codes were all shattered.
I will reverse the laws.
The system the wizard perceived integrally included the reverse world as well. Hidden codes weren't human logic, but her logic wasn't human either.
Then what is it?
Habitz answered Siok's question.
No one knows.
A world only wizards can feel, and the creativity born from that world.
"…Well made."
Whoever had raised the wizard into a weapon—Habitz shivered at its efficiency.
Still immature. Too little experience. The physical impact wasn't that strong. But—
Potential.
Limitless potential.
Something that would likely bloom in the far future, dragged into this moment.
"You want to kill me that badly?"
Habitz felt a kinship with the wizard—she was a being you couldn't stop even if you foresaw her.
"Heh heh heh."
A perfect last act.
"Let's play!"
The muscles in Habitz's face slid back and the face of Satan itself showed.
Faster than Siok, sharper than a blade, claws brushed the wizard's cheek.
"Ultra-Void Rotation."
When the wizard brought both hands to his dantian, a massive column of air plunged down vertically.
Kuuuuung!
The force shook the ground, but Satan only flexed his waist a little.
"Heh. Yes. Your creativity—undodgeable, unstoppable—but…"
When his cloudy amber eyes fixed ahead, a flood of malice surged.
"You're too weak to be interesting." As the wizard's facial muscles twitched for the first time, Wander at 6 o'clock stamped the ground.
Now!
Responding as if to a fighter's kick honed for two hundred years, the wizard cast—
Air Shield.
The veil of air snapped, and the man's shin smashed into the child's side.
Every rib broke.
Thrown sideways without a groan, the wizard jammed one foot down like a brake. The pain, like his organs spilling, made his legs give out and one knee hit the ground.
Should I heal him?
If it wasn't fatal, attack should take priority.
He's going to die.
From the body's reactions it looked like a shock that would stop the heart in about three seconds.
I don't know. Do I gamble?
Even after Shirone and countless trials, experience had its limits.
No choice.
The Void God was being absorbed back into the world and her wounds began to recover rapidly.
Habitz would not miss the only chance to strike when the possibility of a counter vanished.
"Still young."
Death still lingered in Satan's mind, but hypotheticals were useless before chaos. Habitz—his flesh bared red as if flayed—swung both arms at once.
Just before the wizard's face would have been smashed—
Huh?
Habitz—no, Satan—was seized by a sensation he'd never felt before.
What the—
The wizard was suddenly far away, and two clean lines marked the ground.
Pushed back.
What had done that?
Habitz lowered his head and saw that only his sternum had returned to human skin color.
The wizard shot into the sky, bent one leg and spread both arms.
"Boundless Creation."
Along his centerline, chakras at the brow, throat, chest, navel, genitals and perineum flashed. Then tens of thousands of chakras opened and light poured from his body.
Habitz could not put it into a category. He neither let down his guard nor fell into a trap of thought—but he had missed one thing.
Genius.
A transcendent human notion that could imagine things not even in the universe.
Light-sprouts budded along the wizard's arms, and all eleven Siok surged.
"Kill them!"
The sprouts tripled, then multiplied in fractal patterns, filling the sky.
He keeps imagining.
Destruction, transformation, creation. As that mechanism of strange creativity ran in an infinite cycle, the incarnation of the Void God bloomed.
Its form was…
…What?
It didn't exist in the universe. Just seeing it was a shock that felt like a heart would stop.
"Transcendent Form."
Habitz thought. Form is everything. It begins from shapes smaller than the minuscule particles that make up the universe—waves smaller than that.
Then what phenomenon does that form produce?
As if answering him, the wizard slowly pressed his hands together and sealed.
"Borderless."
The eleven Siok watched red petals blossom like light at incredible speed.
"Ultra-Space Wave—"
The fruit of imagination sublimated into flowers and began to bloom from the heads of every Siok.
I can't stop this.
It was something that existed only because the wizard imagined it—not a physics that belonged to the universe.
Nihility at 12 o'clock ground its teeth.
This damn it… everything resets.
Bang!
As his head exploded, the remaining Siok on the ground widened their eyes.
He aimed for 12 o'clock from the start.
Even with ten Siok still alive in that surreal scene, the wizard was composed. To her it wasn't surreal.
"Can I finish this now?" The wizard landed, formed a seal; the Void God trembled and then vanished.
Aenghwa.
He will die.
"Kraaaaa!"
Sensing annihilation, Satan swelled his body huge and red flowers erupted over him.
Siok, crazed, charged.
"O Satan! Protect us!" The wizard drew a circle with a finger, aimed it at Satan, then drove his opposite thumb through the circle.
"Descent of Bloom."
Thousands of flowers burst into bloom and the unknown shock made Satan's body shrink.
"Kraaaa! Kraaaa!"
Shock, restraint, suppression, transformation—every physical force reverted Satan back into Habitz.
"No!"
As Siok panicked, the wizard lunged at the staggering, half-naked Habitz.
Kill him here.
Until Satan's destruction—maybe one to one and a half seconds.
I did it.
In that razor-thin time—
I will kill Satan.
But it was also enough time for a man on the brink of success to dream.
If I kill Satan…
There is no greed. Even if the whole world were offered, she would be indifferent; the only sweet thing at that level was—
Shirone oppa.
She, having dragged her mind up to a saintly height, longed for a small, childish thing.
Will he praise me? Will he say I did well? But desire—
Huh?
The instant Habitz vanished from perception, her pupils trembled.
What am I doing here?
Through the voice in her mind she realized Vanishing had activated, and Habitz exuded killing intent.
Grrr!
Even as he launched from the ground, the wizard couldn't shake the confusion.
Why? Why is this happening?
He didn't know. But the wizard's brilliant elasticity clung to that unknown state and snapped everything back into place.
"Habitz!"
The moment the wizard perceived him, Habitz's fist drove into her abdomen.
Kyurk!
An adult's fist slammed into a child's body that couldn't respond; the breath was knocked out.
Gasp! Gasp!
Siok lunged like a fiend.
But Habitz was first, and his greatsword rested at the wizard's nape.
"O Satan! You must die!"
The wizard still couldn't move, and not cutting her throat felt unbearably risky.
Please kill me. There will be no second chance.
But Habitz's thoughts were different.
"Phew."
He who had nearly died drew a deep breath to the sky and spoke to the wizard.
"You okay? That hit pretty hard."
"…Kill me."
She had lost herself. If she thought about fighting again, or exploiting a guard and striking unexpectedly, the moment she had that thought Habitz would vanish again.
"The match is over. So kill me."
"Hmm."
Habitz pulled the sword from the wizard's throat and sagged down as if his legs had given out.
"That was close. Impressive. To pull a single thing out of pure chaos—that's something even I can't do."
Because it was a paradox.
"Kill me! I said kill me!"
"But paradox isn't a natural state. The failure was not maintaining it longer. In five years—no, in a year—you'll be able to kill me perfectly."
The wizard slowly straightened his back.
"A day will be enough."
"Maybe. Honestly, I don't even know what accident you had. Shirone must have sent you."
The wizard ground his teeth.
Let's die.
Better to end his life here than show his master disappointment.
"What do you want? If you plan to keep me alive, leave."
"You're going to commit suicide?" Habitz watched the child bite her lip in silence.
What is this woman to me? He didn't want to know, but he was certain he didn't want the wizard to die.
How curious.
Meeting Gustav's 4th Unit would be fun, but it hadn't made such a strong impression.
Ah, right.
He wanted to play more.
This woman sees me. She offers some comfort.
Should I bother people? No—better to fight on Shirone's side. Whatever we do will be fun…
The voice in the wizard's mind said.
I hate him.
A trace of sadness crossed Habitz's eyes, then he slowly rose and said, "If you want to kill me, come find me anytime."
"O Satan! Huh!"
When Siok sank into the earth, the wizard looked up as if she didn't understand.
"You mean, come find you?"
"Yeah. Of course you can't kill me just by wanting to. But you might as well try as far as you can, right? Better than dying."
The wizard fell into silent thought, but Habitz already felt as if he'd heard.
"Today was fun."
After Habitz walked into the forest, she stayed where she was for a long time without moving.
Sob…
The hypnosis broke.
"Waaaah! Waaaah!"
The wizard, returned to a seven-year-old child, began to cry bitterly.