Great Adjustment (4)
Shirone's expression grew serious.
"Heukgangsi."
Aside from being a shaman from the Moon Kingdom, much about him remained shrouded.
Those talismans were troublesome.
A method that enforced the Law through power sealed into objects was hard for Hexa to block.
"Do you really intend to stop me?" Unlike the townspeople, Shirone, a star of the Ivory Tower, had no obligation to show mercy.
"You won't know until you try."
The moment Heukgangsi finished speaking, flashes of teleportation bloomed around Shirone.
Tanjura. Daehho.
A first-rank star and his satellite from the Law Division.
Borbor.
Then Borbor, a second-rank star of the Balance Division, landed behind Shirone and pinned him down.
Six stars in total.
They outnumbered him, but it didn't feel like a fair balance.
"You could die." Under the talismans that hid his face, the corners of Heukgangsi's mouth twitched.
"How human of you to say that. Who do you think we are?"
In the Ivory Tower, where even residents risked their lives, conviction mattered more than life.
As the residents regained consciousness and fell back against the tower's outer wall, the fight began.
The Miracle Stream shot up to the ceiling, and the stars and satellites shifted their positions in unison.
Chief Justice Tanjura shouted, "For inciting discord in the Ivory Tower in the face of humanity's crisis: 300 years imprisonment! For losing judgment in intoxication: 273 years imprisonment!"
His ability, Verdict, activated and a binding force began to fill Shirone's body.
Borbor shook her head. "It's useless."
All of the Law Division's stars wielded the Law, but even they couldn't stop Yahweh.
Of course Tanjura knew that.
Still, he kept issuing sentences. "For ignoring the Chief Justice's ruling and fleeing: 600 years! For failing to repent and appealing: 987 years!"
The more Shirone resisted, the heavier Tanjura piled on the penalties.
He'll be caught eventually.
The hundreds of talismans Heukgangsi had sent were gradually clinging to Shirone like a tail.
"For failing to repent, plus 800 years! Another 800 years! Again, 800 years!"
When the total passed twenty thousand years, Shirone's movements were finally restrained.
"Death."
As Tanjura pronounced the final sentence, his satellite Daehho drew twin swords.
The Guillotine, activated while in a detained state, had power on par with Rian's divine transcendence.
It's over.
Talisman after talisman stuck to Shirone, and the guillotine's cutting edge snapped toward the nape of his neck.
"Hand technique!"
Shirone vanished.
"Damn it!"
If everyone's certainty reached one hundred percent, Shirone could deceive their minds.
A double-edged sword. But it never fails.
Matters of the heart aren't something you can fix instantly just because you understand them.
"Danger!"
Borbor shouted. A massive fist of light flew at Heukgangsi.
I can't stop it.
Crouched in the air, Heukgangsi burned every talisman clinging to his body.
Light burst forth, and through the Hand of God Shirone felt a tremendous shockwave.
Blocked?
A long, thin breath was heard. "Fuuuu…"
Freed of the talismans, Heukgangsi's body shone like the sun.
"It's been twenty years since I last revealed this form."
"Baekgangsi."
Though the talismans were gone, the Moon Kingdom's shamanic script was etched into his flesh.
Tanjura smoothed his beard. Heukgangsi has no satellite. If his seal breaks, he becomes a wholly different person.
According to Taeseong, Baekgangsi was fourth-rank.
A being of shadow and light—something like Luber; a creature not quite human.
Like fuel evaporating, a heat shimmer ran over Baekgangsi's long, hardened body.
"O Yahweh, I was born as a Law weapon of the Moon Kingdom. Eighty-eight shamanic spells dwell within me."
Each one was among the most fearsome shamanic arts.
What a turbulent life he'd had.
Treated as a weapon rather than a person, yet he had become a star of the Ivory Tower.
Everyone carries their own burden.
The stars of the Ivory Tower were impossible to persuade because they'd chosen those burdens themselves.
Tanjura fluttered his fan. "We are not ordinary residents. We can kill, but we cannot give life."
Still, it rankled that Shirone had been judged innocent.
Hand technique, huh. Chilling. To the victim it must feel like betrayal, but that's the reality of it.
In this state, the verdicts are useless. To stop Yahweh, we must break his heart first.
Borbor, who had reached the same conclusion, spoke to Mika who dwelled within her body. "Scan the Odaeseong." If Mika, an electromagnetic lifeform, scanned Yahweh's emotional data, she could imitate it.
- This is a dangerous tactic. Yahweh's emotions are projected to be of a type not present in our database.
It's the only way.
Once she mimicked his mind, Borbor could reshape the target's emotions as she wished.
Lead him into self-loathing and shatter his heart.
Mika, the satellite, sparked electricity and the Miracle Stream twisted like a snake.
It reacted?
- It seems faster than I expected. I thought I knew Shirone, but facing him as an enemy is a whole different difficulty.
"O Great Star."
Baekgangsi's body rose like steam. "I accept it as an honor."
His flesh, a lattice of shamanic seals, became a single talisman surging toward Shirone.
The authority of power.
A fist engraved with a spiral struck the ground; the floor shuddered and an explosion ripped out.
Shirone felt his skin prickle.
As expected, not easy.
While Tanjura's verdicts bound Shirone's body, Borbor's gaze probed him.
I don't want to kill him.
After all, weren't they fighting for humanity?
"…Stop this."
"Still impressive. To be so relaxed in front of the Ivory Tower's stars."
Baekgangsi didn't relent.
"Yet we cannot afford to be so indulgent."
Hieroglyphs carved into his abdomen began to distort, flexing like muscles.
Three-Thousand Worlds.
His belly split open, spilling kaleidoscopic fragments that spun like a mandala.
Buddha?
Each color recalled a sermon to Shirone, and he defended with the Hand of God. "Open."
A massive wave of energy scraped across Hexa's surface and pierced the Ivory Tower's walls.
Grrr!
It was probably the quintessence of the human talisman called Baekgangsi—power unlikely to be used twice.
Using something like that… on a human rather than on the world.
"You fools!"
Tanjura's sentences again shot past twenty thousand years, and Borbor drew Shirone into an embrace.
Mika—
At the instant the sparks flew—
- Scan complete.
A dry voice, then Borbor's mind accepted Yahweh's emotions exactly as they were.
This ends it.
In the mental plane where distinctions vanished, Shirone and Borbor faced one another.
Tears welled and ran from her left eye.
"…Huh?"
An emotion so vast he hadn't felt at first washed over him.
Aaaaaaa!
In the mental world, the tears became a flood and filled the space she occupied.
- Shock! Shock! Consciousness is being cut off...
Even Mika's voice was drowned by the storm of feeling, and Borbor realized.
I can't even mimic this.
She couldn't bear even a fraction of the devastation Shirone felt.
How can anyone endure this?
No—why must it go this far?
It's too unfair. One human… forced to shoulder so much in this world.
That grievance broke through her limits, invaded her mind, and her consciousness snapped.
"Borbor!"
With the other stars watching, Shirone seized Borbor and shouted, "Snap out of it!"
A jolt of current ran through her, and the eyelids that had been clamped shut slowly lifted.
Mika?????
- Defibrillation complete. But she'll die soon. Her mind is already destroyed.
Like a rubber band that lost its snap, her mind could no longer grip reality.
"...O Great Star."
Borbor spoke. "I'm sorry."
They couldn't persuade the divine.
Whatever Borbor said would be phantom information to a god—illusory.
'I'm no different. Knowing humans best yet unable to trust them.'
But Shirone was different.
Whether it's real or fake doesn't matter.
Even if it's a phantom, if such a heart can exist in this world, that would be beautiful.
"Please send the Odaeseong."
Of course the stars of the Ivory Tower wouldn't change their minds for a few words.
"Please."
For the first time, Borbor showed her face. That's what she felt.
Hmph.
When Borbor died, talismans flew from every side and sealed Baekgangsi's body.
"O Great Star, know that changing your mind wasn't the reason. This is grief for losing a great star."
All the Ivory Tower's stars had liked her.
"Borbor…"
To Shirone, the life Omega knew of her lasted until she was four, but that was enough.
"She was a person of great courage."
- Her heart has stopped. While blood flow is cut and brain death progresses, Mika transmitted a message to Borbor.
'Right. Biologically, she's already dead. You should leave my body now. Thank you for the time.'
Mika seemed to be thinking.
- I will remain here.
'I can't think anymore. If you stay here, you'll die too.'
- Yes. That would be so.
Because Mika had no heart, Borbor found the satellite's words puzzling.
- It's more constructive to parasitize your silence than to parasitize another mind.
Heh. I see.
With Mika, death felt less like an end and more like a long sleep.
When I open my eyes again—
A life review flashed by.
Born in Morai Market, Borbor was abused by a stepfather from age three.
By the time she left home at seventeen, she'd had three fathers, each worse than the last.
While her mother sold goods, all she did was sit on the market floor.
"Hey, look at that lanky girl. Hey, twig!"
Around twelve she'd grown so fast her flesh couldn't keep up, and she became a target for mockery.
"Hey, you! Play with us and we'll pay you. Want to come with us?"
With poor policing, traffickers would approach her in broad daylight.
"We'll treat you well. Come with us." Each time, Borbor simply hunched her thin frame and watched the street.
I wasn't afraid.
The scariest thing was home.
She became the market's tragic curiosity, reduced to spectacle.
Ah.
Then one day she realized something.
They aren't looking at me.
She saw there was no difference between people gawking at her and her gawking at them.
"…Borbor."
Shirone looked at the cooling Borbor with sad eyes and took her hand.
Rest in peace.