The Law War (2)
The arch of fire unfurled on a cosmic scale; the surface of the sun was flooded with light.
"Ah."
Satiel, born with a beautiful voice, felt the angels' homeland as a presence.
"This place is unchanged."
Another archangel, Reyel, approached her and scanned the surroundings.
Except for the absence of their haloes, the silhouettes of light were exactly as before.
Flames rose from every direction, coalescing into a vast birdlike silhouette that swooped toward them.
"Welcome, beings of light."
"Phoenix."
Satiel moved toward the being that guarded the sun.
"The poor angels are losing their light. The sun no longer shelters them."
"Because God regards this universe from a different perspective now. The feeling has shifted."
Since it was a matter of feeling, whether the change was large or small didn't matter.
Only God's thought mattered.
"I want to undo it. Let me go to the core. I will correct it there."
The phoenix cocked its head.
"Why?"
"Hm? Of course—for the angels…"
"If the universe's feeling has changed, shouldn't it simply proceed that way?"
Is that so?
'Why am I worried about the angels on the surface?'
The phoenix spoke.
"Satiel, a new kind of angel will be born. They won't need to be what we once were."
Satiel already knew that.
"But… if the universe's Law changes and angels become other beings… then what were we from the start? Merely parts that composed the universe?"
"Satiel."
As if her thought had been read, Satiel's silhouette flinched.
'They must have seen it.'
Inside the sun, which melts all matter, only pure minds could exchange thought.
'The heart. The power to choose for oneself. If my halo is maintained by that…'
Depending on the phoenix's judgment, her mental form might be absorbed into the sun.
"Do not worry."
The phoenix folded its giant flaming wings and gently stroked Satiel's head.
"This place is home to those with the spirit of light. Go to the core. But it will likely be useless."
Without all eight archangels—the first concepts that formed the universe—assembled, the task would be difficult.
'I will make it happen.' If anger was also a kind of mind, Satiel would not stop until she had revenge on Ikael.
"Let us go."
When the phoenix spread its vast wings and enfolded them, flame instantly swallowed the area.
The Zodiac's twelve houses.
"Your Majesty! Anomalous signals detected!"
The metal sphere Exoborus, which regulates the Laws of the universe, began to malfunction.
"Kuuu!"
Electricity crackled in Kitra's eyes.
'Is someone disrupting the signal?'
Though Exoborus held their entire universe within it, Kitra perceived the change instantly.
'A specific signal is blocking the time waves. An action trying to return things to the original world.'
The corner of Kitra's mouth lifted.
"Heh."
The wheels of Law did not turn lightly just because two archangels could move.
"No force can reverse fate."
As the electricity from Kitra's eyes raked the walls, the space emitted a howl. Ooooo!
When Exoborus resumed its forward motion, successive time waves surged and overlapped in an instant.
The places affected by the temporal overlap were the pyramids scattered across the world.
Kitra's gaze steadied.
"We're only a little late."
Pharass Kingdom, Pyramid of Truth. Ooooo!
The characters carved into the inner wall flared, and a chilling wail filled the air.
"What is that?"
The moment Shirone turned.
Shirone and his party had been sent back to the moment they first set foot inside the Pyramid of Truth.
"Curious."
Ares said, extinguishing his lantern.
"There shouldn't be any place for light to enter. How are we able to see?"
Shirone fell silent.
He had a clear memory of someone saying, "It's like electricity," and everyone must be sensing the same thing.
'This isn't a time-skip sensation.'
It was an actual overlap of time.
"Shirone, this…?"
Ares—his crimson eye lit—looked at Shirone with a grave expression.
"Yes. We've been sent back."
"A reset?"
That would be the natural assumption, but Shirone deduced from the simultaneous occurrences.
"No. It's a closed time loop. A phenomenon confined to the pyramid."
Like the upper tiers of the Magic Academy's Istas.
"Events flow along time waves. Time waves from the past have overtaken the waves of present reality. From our point of view, it looks like we're going back into the past."
"So then we can't move forward into the future?"
"I don't know that yet. It's likely a one-off phenomenon," Shirone said as he examined the simultaneous event.
"Mika."
He felt currents along his body, but the voice transmitted through brainwaves was nothing but static.
'She still can't break through.'
Crackle, crackle.
Because the pyramid itself was a massive electric current, they could not receive Mika's signal.
Meanwhile, the rest of the party remained mute.
Their pupils looked dead; they seemed unconcerned with whatever happened to time.
Shirone felt bitter.
'Here, human lives are disassembled piece by piece. It is cruel to be held responsible for all those causes.'
As Maximus had said.
'What is this ultra-ancient civilization? Why are human lives being dismantled here?'
A figure emerged from the darkness.
A being called In—naked body, a pyramid for a face—revealed itself.
Kanis reacted first.
"You bastard."
Dark energy thickened, and Harvester swelled until its body brushed the ceiling.
"Kanis, calm."
As Shirone spoke, Kanis charged forward with Harvester leading the way.
"Yaaaaah!"
He could not bear responsibility for the possibility that Arin might be kin.
'I'll kill it. Killing will fix it.'
It felt as if removing the being before them would erase all the causes.
In raised a hand.
When an immaterial wave swept the passage, Shirone and his companions vanished from sight again.
Shirone ground his teeth.
"Why do you do this? What meaning does disassembling human life hold for you? Answer me! How long will you keep doing this?"
"Until you meet God."
In said.
"Meet the God who exists every moment within the chain of cause and effect. Then you will be able to leave." The general meaning was clear enough.
'I see.'
King Kitra of Pharass accepted In's baptism and stepped out of the pyramid.
'Blind acceptance of consequences. Even if you die now, even if you are torn from the ones you love—if you accept that it is all fate, then you may be said to have met God. But…'
Can he still be called human?
'Free will extinguished, the heart lost, following the flow of Law…'
Shirone's face contorted.
"Kitra is already… no longer human."
He had become an artifact of the ultra-ancient civilization while retaining a human body—an OOPArt.
'This is serious. Every lifeform that enters the Pyramid of Truth turns into an object.'
In said.
"Abandon your heart. When you choose nothing, only then will you meet God."
"Your Majesty, preparations are complete. Let us go."
At the diviner of the Gate Kingdom's word, King Munryong of the Moon Kingdom rose from his seat.
"Very well."
Facing Pharass's Law assault, they chose not compromise but war.
'Kill Kitra.'
They entered a mountain four kilometers from Delta; the cave entrance was sealed by an iron door.
The moment the diviner opened the gate, a hot reek of blood drifted from the darkness.
"Oi?! Oi, oi?!"
A man in rainbow-colored robes ran through the cavern, brandishing a bell-adorned blade.
The Moon Kingdom had developed arts manipulating ghosts; they planned to use them against Kitra.
"Hmm."
Munryong had been familiar with shamanic practices since childhood, but he wasn't an expert.
"The netherworld?"
"Yes. The living world and the afterlife are not strictly separated by spatial barriers. It's an exchange of qi. You can think of this place as a junction of two energies."
"Then there are ghosts here."
"Yes. In the West, demon-summoning was once popular, but Princess Jinseong of Jincheon blocked those psychic domains, making them impossible. In the East, however, the study of ghosts—manipulating qi—developed. You can compare it to Western magic versus Eastern Law."
Unryong pointed ahead.
"What is that man doing?"
The man in rainbow robes danced on his blade, then approached a pig tied by a rope.
He slit its belly; entrails spilled out. Gwaeeek!
"He's taunting a ghost. What is the most bitter emotion to humans? First is grievance—unjust suffering. When misfortune strikes for no reason—run over by a carriage, dying far from home, a fatal misstep—resentment pools in the spirit; this is called han. It clings to one's life force and disrupts metabolism. They say the blood runs backwards—if it takes hold properly, one can cough blood and die instantly."
Even as he explained, a chicken's neck was snapped and the shaman's face was drenched in blood.
"That resentment I shoot out is called sal. Once possessed, one refuses food, wastes away, and dies. Of course, those with the qi of tiger-kings might endure, but what we're invoking now is no ordinary sal."
As bells and drums numbed the mind, the talismans hanging from the rope shook violently.
"We amplified the han of a maiden assaulted by bandits with the kingdom's strongest sorcery. Once released, it will fell not only tigers but even flying dragons."
A woman's scream rang out.
Kyaaahhhh!
Breaking through the talismans' defense, the han was felt, and Unryong felt lightheaded despite having eaten nothing.
"…truly vicious."
"Indeed. But this is not the end. The terrifying thing about han is its limitless nature. We'll provoke the ghost, provoke it further, and prepare the strongest sal."
"The key will be how strongly the han is made. Do you need anything else?"
"We already have the kingdom's best spellbook and experts. We only wish to repay Your Majesty's favor." Munryong stroked his beard.
"I heard that after pyramids were erected across the world, requests for liaison from other countries increased."
"Yes. Everyone is desperate to understand the situation."
"Does Kashan make the list?"
"Of course. No nation handles the Law better than the Moon Kingdom. But why do you ask…?"
"That sal you mentioned."
Unryong squinted one eye and indicated the shaman.
"Must it be cast on exactly one person? Depending on the method, couldn't it target several people?"
"There are sals that strike many at once. What scale are you thinking of?"
"Hm—eleven?"
Munryong turned his head.
"So, to all the kings in the temple?"