Law War (1)
The killers' refuge, Melkidu.
Giyorugi stood where the Catacomb leaders and Maryu's followers had gathered.
"Is that all?" Elder Euprafus asked.
"Elka and Amidale are dead. The Catacomb is down to only four now," Deacon Marit said.
"We still confirmed the Emblem's power. If we hold on a little longer, we can kill Yahweh," Giyorugi said as he set down the Devil's Bible.
"No. We end it here," Giyorugi added.
Gultan spoke up. "What do you mean? We have to run for our lives. We should spread the Satanic Church far and wide!"
"It's not as easy as before now that Yahweh has seen through us. And more than that… we can't run."
That was true.
"He tracked my quantum movement. That bastard Yahweh—he has a detection that transcends time and space."
Giyorugi's words made sense, but Gultan still had a basic question.
"Is that really so?"
"What do you mean?"
"You were born from Yahweh's magic, aren't you? Yet you don't seem to harbor much hostility toward Yahweh. Could it be that—"
A cold, silvery aura rose from Giyorugi's body and made everyone, including Gultan, shiver.
"Gultan, watch your tongue."
"Huh? …Yes."
Although all the Catacomb leaders were of division-chief rank, in that moment the pecking order felt decided.
"You don't need your own thoughts. Among demons, only I understand Yahweh."
Marit lowered herself, taking a submissive posture.
"I trust Giyorugi. Everything is unfolding exactly as you predicted."
"…Bring Seina."
The Catacomb leaders watched Giyorugi walk into the forest.
He truly was a strange demon.
The higher a human rises, the more the magic of the inner world seems insignificant. But Giyorugi was a special case. To approach Yahweh's realm, he had compressed his impure emotions to the extreme.
The more you suppress magic, the larger it grows.
That colossal magic had been expelled beyond its master and plunged into hell.
That was the leader of the Satanic Church—Giyorugi.
He was a demon born from Yahweh.
"Phew."
When Shirone confirmed that Gultan had been lost, he put a hand to his knee and winced.
Mika said, "Let's head back for now. The impact from the Emblem's spear was greater than expected. We need rest."
The spear wound had closed, but Maryu's energy still coursed through the body like poison.
That had been dangerous.
The breach in the Hand of God wasn't caused by a photon-based ability.
"It was a mind technique—an attack that ignores the physical. If Maryu's numbers had swelled anywhere near a hundred million, lives would have been at risk."
"A spear to kill Yahweh."
Giyorugi's plan—to found the Satanic Church to assassinate Shirone—had been accurate.
"We must stop it before it grows any larger." Shirone lifted his head with a strained expression and teleported back to where he had been.
As the flash landed, Eden shouted, "Shirone!"
"Of course…"
Looking around, they found that the Maryu—followers of the Satanic Church—had all vanished.
Nade and Iruki stepped forward.
"What happened? What about Seina?"
"We lost her. She even disappeared from the phase space. It must be one of Giyorugi's hidden codes."
Iruki nodded. "Same here. They were swallowed in red light and vanished. But if she's not in the phase space…"
"Guhk! Guhk!"
Maximus coughed up blood.
Eden applied emergency healing with divine power, but the penetrating wound to the heart was beyond simple treatment.
Shirone approached. "Maximus."
"They probably went to Melkidu. The killers' refuge. The Catacomb's hideout. I hear it only manifests in reality during the deep night filled with negative energy."
"Don't talk so much. I'll treat you now." Maximus shook his head.
"I know my own condition. I know Seina's skill, too. And… I will be fine."
Maximus looked serene.
"I used to believe I could turn back time. If I had acted differently then—if I had chosen another path—would I have been happier? In the end, I succumbed to the devil's temptation."
Shirone listened with a sad expression.
"What I realized too late was that no matter which decision I made, it would have ended the same. Avoiding regret isn't about making the 'right' choice; it's about living responsibly for the choice you made. I was foolish." Maximus turned to Shirone.
"When everyone can take responsibility for their causes, humanity will be united. But that's impossible—or at least a very distant future. If you want to save mankind, you must dig into their causes to the very end."
The original cause.
"Perhaps even the sin of having been born. That would be unbearably difficult, but…"
Maximus took Shirone's hand.
"If no one even dares to dream, nothing marvelous will ever happen. But if even one person dreams, then it isn't the end. So please, until the last moment…"
An impossible dream.
Staring into the air with a faint look of surprise, Maximus passed from the world.
"Rest in peace."
Shirone rose and surveyed the people.
The priests who had escaped Maryu stood with bowed heads, still unable to put on their clothes.
"Return to the Holy See."
There was no answer.
"Go back and make this public. If we fail to stop the Satanic Church, a great disaster will strike."
"B-but!"
One priest spoke in a dying voice. "What right do we have…?"
Shirone's eyes hardened.
It wasn't that reason. They had reveled in a bestial delight they could not commit while wearing the mask of humanity.
Even repentance wouldn't save them—excommunication was certain, and the condemnation of believers worldwide would follow.
The priests were miserable.
'I'd rather die than admit I did such a thing with my own mouth.'
Eden moved to Shirone's side.
"There's nothing we can do. For those people, the title 'priest' is more important than faith itself. If it were the other way around, they wouldn't have fallen into the Satanic Church to begin with."
Iruki said, "First, we must get Seina back and then deal with the rest. Maximus said Melkidu, right? We have to go there."
Nade asked, "A place that appears in reality only during the deep night full of negative energy—where in the world is there such a space?"
"There is such a place," Shirone said.
"In regions untouched by human footsteps, the Law of space can develop independently. The civilizations of peoples hidden in jungles are vastly different from ours. The observer's gaze is different. If that tendency persists for a very long time, it becomes something like the Burstak Triangle or the Celestial Mountains of the Mino Range."
Iruki nodded. "You mean cases where ships suddenly disappear, or gravity strengthens and stones float. But it would take a very long time for that kind of system to become established."
"Yes. In places like the Burstak Triangle, an observational vacuum persisted for over ten thousand years. The currents were so strong that ships only circled the triangle. That relative isolation created holes in the Law. Of course, with advances in navigation, those places are shrinking. Other regions are disappearing one by one as civilization expands."
Shirone raised a finger. "But places untouched by civilization still remain. I've been to Andre's Labyrinth. Cities like the Codename that ranks every population, or the White-Black that forces a binary choice…"
"Ah."
He had heard of them before.
"Melkidu will be a place with its own Law. Maximus called it the killers' refuge…"
Eden frowned. "A place governed by a killer's gaze, then."
"…Probably."
The thought alone was terrifying.
Delta Headquarters.
The national intelligence office at the heart of the Tormia sector felt like a steam bath.
"Phew."
Strict entry control was one thing, but Dante's radiating heat didn't help.
"Ah, dammit!"
Finally unable to contain himself, Dante slammed the table. Three employees turned to him.
"Boss, calm down."
"…Sorry."
He quickly apologized and tried to regain his composure, but his overheated mind showed no sign of cooling.
With a cigarette in his mouth, Dante studied a chart of relations among the twelve nations of the Holy War.
'Rim, Garto, Temica's whereabouts.'
Weaving through a network more complex than a spider's web, Dante calculated every possibility.
'The problem is we keep missing.'
Even now, the leaders of the twelve nations would be meeting in the shadows.
Tormia was no exception.
But the intelligence that had come in diverged sharply from Dante's predictions.
'It's because of that pyramid.'
The angels' decline was the immediate change, but that alone forced each nation to rewrite strategy.
Dante was the world's best at processing information, but a changing system strained him.
'When a system changes, the meaning carried by information changes. An apple can become a knife. This isn't information warfare.'
It was a Law war.
'So we need an expert who can extract the meaning contained in information—a specialist in the Law.'
That was why countries were flocking to the Moon Kingdom.
'An alliance, then. Regardless, we need an expert on our side. But if we let just anyone in… security collapses.'
Tormia had talented people, but Dante couldn't trust them. Once something leaked, it would be over.
Even seeing Plu approach Gis made it clear there was no one worthy of trust.
He stubbed out his cigarette, shrugged on his coat, and headed for the door.
"I'll get some air for a moment."
"Boss…"
The employees watched the closed door with solemn faces.
"It's hot in here too." Outside Delta Headquarters, a breeze cooled his sweat and Dante lit another cigarette.
"Ugh, annoying."
As he watched guards patrol, voices came from beyond the wall.
"Let us in!"
"Huh?"
The accent was familiar.
"The Law is changing! If we don't warn humanity, disaster will come soon!"
A guard shouted, "You need a state-issued pass! There are plenty of competent people besides you!"
"I am Liria of the Akeanis Order. I'm a mage who worked with Miro in Sion!"
"If you keep this up, we'll have to involve international law…!"
"Liria?"
At the voice from behind, a guard turned, stepped aside, and said, "Sorry. This woman was causing a disturbance."
If someone came from headquarters, there was no need to check the badge on their chest.
"Oh? Dante!"
Liria cheerfully raised her hand and tried to come forward, but the guards held her back.
"No, you can't!"
"Dante! Please tell them! Something huge is happening in the world right now!"
"Ah?????"
Dante walked over in a daze.
"A time wave will surge soon. If we don't suppress the pyramid's power— Kyaa!"
Before she could finish, Dante pulled her into an embrace.
"Um… Dante?"
Liria awkwardly blinked, and Dante let out a breath of relief.
"Haahhh." Saved.