Trigger (4)
"What's going on?"
Lupist and Plu froze at the corridor window after leaving the Dragon's Conference Room.
A massive pyramid loomed faintly beyond the horizon.
A structure so vast it would take years to build even with modern technology.
Impossible.
Something like that couldn't have been erected in an instant.
Shirone came running.
"Lupist."
He was the one who had reactivated the simultaneous incident at Delta headquarters after Ikael and his party departed for the sun.
An agreement Shirone hadn't been told about had been reached, but they gave no sign of it.
Plu asked, "What is that?"
"It looks like something moved by the Paras Kingdom. Probably… a structure from an ultra-ancient civilization."
Lupist's expression went grave.
"As far as I know, it was built by direct intervention from the outside world. Why now, of all times?"
"Ultra-ancient civilizations existed before human history. It's only a guess, but I think it's a passage that connects to the outside world. The world's systems will probably change soon."
Shirone reported on the angels' condition.
"The angels that have minds haven't changed. That means they aren't an immediate threat to humans."
"That may be so, but the ripple effects will be huge. And the intensity will increase over time."
A Delta administrator approached.
"The emergency council for the Holy Campaign is starting. Representatives of each nation are instructed to gather at headquarters immediately."
Other nations, too, seemed stirred by the current events.
"Kit will probably come as well," Lupist said. "Go. Something's going to be said. It's better to hear it first and then respond."
"Please go on ahead."
Lupist turned at the unexpected reply, but Shirone kept silent.
The Wizard.
By now some kind of resolution should have been reached. The silence felt strange.
"I need to stop by somewhere first."
When Shirone ran down the corridor, Lupist and Plu exchanged looks.
"You didn't notice?"
"No."
It was only a matter of time, anyway.
At the place where she had fought Havitz, the Wizard had sat lost in thought for a long time.
Tears had nearly dried. Slowly, she raised both hands and gripped her throat.
"As I thought."
She should die.
With her spirit already broken, there was no way she could face Havitz again.
As her grip tightened and oxygen was cut off, the scenery began to sparkle.
Her face flushed red, but her expression didn't change.
"I'm not afraid to die."
What she truly feared was Shirone's face looking down at her corpse with pity.
"Sorry, oppa."
Consciousness blurred and death drew near, but her heart grew lighter.
Perhaps because she had carried so much.
Sob. Sob.
Tears fell.
I'm going to die.
It would be better to meet Shirone as a corpse than to disappoint him by surviving.
Just a little longer.
Her mind convulsed from shock; pain had already faded when—
"Waaaah!"
The Wizard finally released her hands.
"Promise me one thing."
Shirone said.
"Do whatever you want. If that's what you think, I'll support you. Just… don't ever think it's impossible."
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry…"
She had to fight.
Her destiny, her genius—that was what she existed for.
Clutching her trembling legs, the Wizard stood.
I will kill Havitz.
She could no longer look on indifferently, and yet she understood him more than before.
If I don't kill him, it won't work.
That, too, was how Gustav's Fourth Regiment had targeted Havitz.
"Havitz can't be killed," Balkan said.
"The event in which Havitz dies won't occur. So, to kill Havitz…"
"You mean we mustn't kill him," Zetaro finished.
"Right. It's paradoxical, but as long as we care for Havitz, we can still get close to him."
Natasha asked, "What about Vanishing?"
"You can't expect purity from him, sure. But that's because you don't really know Havitz," Smodo said.
"You're saying there's no way to stop Vanishing, but you can stop him from triggering it," someone supplied.
It was a contradiction, but—
"The first time I realized it was when I married Abella. On our wedding night she bound Havitz to the bed," Zetaro recalled.
"I rushed to his room after noticing a late assassination plot. It was touch and go."
"No, it was already too late. If Abella had used Lawkill, Havitz would've died. But then… Havitz told Balkan to leave."
"It was all a joke. Toward a death that approached with goodwill, Havitz almost seemed to be waiting for it. Even his own death must be interesting to him," Smodo said.
"It's easy to say, but in practice it's hard. A mind that can sustain such contradiction isn't human."
"Or it's sincere."
Balkan turned his head. "You—yes, you."
Three pairs of eyes turned to Zetaro.
Havitz wandered the forest, murmuring.
"Deliciously chewy."
Having committed every evil imaginable, there was one thing he had never experienced.
What it meant to die.
Ten shadows formed at his feet, and Siok reappeared.
"O Satan, did you call?"
Still thinking the Wizard must die, the fanatic could not complain about his god.
"We're down two. The teeth are out."
"We apologize."
At present, four o'clock and twelve o'clock were in a state of death.
But that was only from the human perspective; from the god's viewpoint, the concept did not vanish.
"Choose quickly."
Havitz pressed, though haste wouldn't help. He wanted to play it out properly.
"All right."
Siok.
The twelve seats that—while the spirit seal remained closed—were the only ones able to cross between reality and hell.
Deep inside the caverns of the otherworld.
Ettella lay turned toward the dark, sleeping as if dead.
She had asked again and again about the purification time.
87 years, 2,875 cycles…
When she heard that this was the seventh longest interval since the otherworld's existence, she broke down.
I wish I were dead.
Even in sleep she wished it. If she could close her eyes and forget herself, she never wanted to wake again.
Huh.
Even sleep had grown tedious; when reality returned, clear tears fell.
Linked by the Taeguk chain, Shagal leaned against the cave wall lost in thought.
Time was in overwhelming supply.
Boss.
Raiden, the circus troupe leader.
He had killed Tia, the only person he'd loved, and Shagal had driven a dagger into Raiden.
Was it all a lie?
The Leaf Circus had never existed in the world.
Or had it?
Falling into hell and becoming this, a thought surfaced.
Then what is real?
Were the others living with the true version of things only in their memories?
His gaze went to Ettella.
Tia.
Her face was hidden, but to Shagal she was surely Tia.
Because I think so.
In truth, he didn't even know Tia's face, nor who she really was.
"Tia."
At Shagal's voice, Ettella's shoulder twitched, but she didn't move.
The chain scraped coldly across the floor, and like a beast he crawled up onto Ettella.
The same acts, the same days.
The Taeguk chain made the other's emotions feel chillingly like one's own.
Shame, rage, pleasure, and fury intertwined until nothing remained conscious.
A whirl of yin and yang.
Rian asked, "Pharma Heavenly Star?"
"Yeah. The plan is to attack the demon realm through the Sacred Tone. Theoretically possible, but we don't know how effective it will be."
"Vicious," Jingang said, resolute.
"Even if it succeeds, the Sacred Tone won't become free. Even if the body disappears, the tone remains. Jingang knows this and still seeks revenge."
Rian, thinking with a bitter expression, turned to Shirone.
"You won't just let it be, right? I'm here now. If we purify the tone's karma with Gehenna's fire…"
"Even then, we can't bring it back to the real world. The only way is to use Siok." Twelve fanatics making a rent in time.
"The number twelve in the Law means perception. Humans perceive a whole by dividing it into twelve: twelve hours, twelve constellations, twelve apostles, and Siok. None of it's likely coincidence. Even if Siok dies, the concept will be replaced by someone else."
"You're saying we put the true tone into Siok's seat. But… where do we find it?"
Richela, the killer whose face hung at Son Yujeong's waist, took interest.
"It's probably in the Pyrotechnics Corps' System Control Branch."
All eyes turned that way.
"The System Control Branch?"
"I've heard of it. Living bodies who fall into hell are usually taken by the Black Riders. But exceptionally, elites handpicked by Satan go there."
"Elites."
Shirone propped his chin. "Those who fell for Satan's temptation. Then Mortasinger should be there too."
Mortasinger, ranked tenth on the Tenfold Council, was also why Son Yujeong had followed Ikael into the human world.
"Mortasinger?" Son Yujeong grabbed Richela's hair and hauled her up. "Where is he now?"
"No—if you ask me—" "Answer me, damn it!"
Grabbing the chain and swinging it fast, Richela spat a ring-shaped spray of saliva.
"Aaah! I don't know! All I know is he's somewhere in the west of hell! And that's not even certain!"
"Stop," Shirone said.
"You idiot! What do you know?" Son Yujeong snapped.
When she wouldn't listen, Shirone spoke again, with real force.
"Stop."
The long chain at her throat tightened sharply, and Son Yujeong's eyes flew wide.
"Hyaaah!"
Kneeling like that, she turned to Shirone with a worldly, miserable look.
Hmm?
Only after regaining herself did she feel the presence and let her gaze wander off into the distance.
Shirone's face grew serious.
"Rian."
"Yeah. What is that?"
A strange, indescribable energy shimmered like heat haze in the mountain cave.
Hiyaa?????
As if nothing had happened, Son Yujeong puckered her lips and stood, and Shirone gave the order.
"Let's go."
They teleported and landed in front of the cave. Groans came from the darkness.
A man and a woman.
Shining.
Shirone formed a sphere of light in his palm and advanced thirty meters. Faint silhouettes emerged.
Faces they all knew.
"Ettella-sensei?"
If it had been a lovely romance, Ettella wouldn't be crying—Rian realized at once what had happened.
"This trash…"
He opened his large flat map and charged, and Shagal turned his head.
Like a beast, he sprang free and instinctively raised both arms; throwing knives rained down in thudding volleys.
Son Yujeong gaped.
Wow—what murderous intent…
Dozens of daggers flew at once, but Rian didn't fall back.
"Urrrrgh!"
With one swing he deflected the knives and used the broad surface of his large map as a shield to press forward.
"Huh?"
At that moment Shirone spotted the chain linking Ettella and Shagal.
"Rian! Wait—"
Before he finished, Rian pinned Shagal to the wall with the power of divine transcendence.
"Guhk!"
Unable to withstand the pressure, blood sprayed from Shagal's mouth in a crimson fountain.
At the same time, Ettella—who had been covering herself—gagged and spat blood in the same way.
Realizing it belatedly, Rian withdrew from Shagal's beastlike glare.
"What the—? Why is this person—"
Shirone murmured in a grave voice.
"The Taeguk chain."
It had become a worst-case entanglement.