The Law War (3)
Ivory Tower, 230th floor.
No one could move.
Taeseong was held by Sing, and Sing was keeping the fates of Eumji and Yangji from being twisted.
"Huu."
Raska, who had guided Shirone here, came to his senses and slowly stood.
Sing's eyebrows twitched.
'Damn it.'
With the balance of power perfectly locked, Raska was the only variable.
"So, what now?"
Raska smiled as he approached them.
Eumji sobbed.
"We're done for. That thief's going to kill us. First he'll break our fingers. Then he'll tear my body to pieces—"
Raska's nickname was the Butcher.
"Hmph. Try it, then. I'm only holding Taeseong; if I switch targets, that kind of bastard won't last a second. I'll finish him and come back to hold Taeseong again."
Yangji said stoutly, but Sing's thoughts sided with Eumji.
'I can't let Taeseong go. Even if it costs a life, I have to keep him bound to this spot.'
Taeseong turned his gaze to Raska.
'Let me go.'
Even unspoken, as someone in Shirone's faction, he would make the right call.
'Sister.'
Raska remembered Minerva's words.
"Are you saying Sing is right?"
The Human Safety Enforcement Unit had decided to follow Shirone, but her words struck hard.
"Yes. Taeseong is an administrator connected to the outside world. As long as we don't know his true intent, caution isn't a bad thing. Sing knows that. He's playing the villain role."
"Then why not just join Sing's faction?" Minerva fell silent.
"Because of Shirone?"
"We are the ones who stirred chaos in the world. I don't think any of us have the right to argue about this judgment."
"Tch. Who says so? Fine — what do you actually want to do? Do that, then."
"I just…"
Minerva looked at Raska.
"I want the world Shirone hopes for to come. I don't want anyone to get hurt."
'Needlessly soft-hearted.'
Raska turned, walked to the outer wall, and pressed his palm to the glass.
He cast a metal spell; with a grinding scrape the glass split and a clean hole opened.
Taeseong stared, bewildered.
"Raska."
"Sorry, but I don't want to get involved in this. To be honest, I don't even understand what you're all arguing about."
Minerva worried.
"Don't fret. I'll hold the demons. You lot can stay here and play house."
He glanced at the Blizzard's veil and, with a sound of steel, sprang out.
"Raska!"
Taeseong called, but only the sharp whine of wind cutting returned.
Shirone descended the tower in a hurry.
Since Borbor's death, the Ivory Tower residents who followed Sing had not appeared.
'A memorial.'
Their own form of mourning.
- Baal has reached floor 80. Cumulative fatalities: 764.
At Mika's report, Shirone gritted her teeth.
Even without Stars, the tower's residents included world-class powerhouses.
'We're helpless.' A clear bell tone—its distance impossible to judge—rang in her ears like an auditory hallucination.
"Fengsheng 風聲."
Since it was probably unavoidable, Shirone extended a Hand of God.
The entire 112th floor was swept by a storm; artificial trees were uprooted and hurled away.
When the wind died down, a man in white stood at the downward entrance.
"Mr. Arte."
Arte, a third-rank resident of the Balance Department, had a satellite Tokei perched on his shoulder.
"There's no time. Baal is slaughtering the Ivory Tower residents as he climbs."
"I know."
Shirone drew a trump card.
"Borbor—"
"I know. I heard from Tanjura. She asked to be allowed past the Great Five."
Arte lowered his fan and spoke coldly.
"If she requested death, I can bend my will for a few hours."
The ant-like Tokei's face turned sorrowful.
"Even to a demon, she seemed a good person. To leave like that…"
Shirone asked, "Then why are you stopping me? Residents are dying even now."
"It's as if… you speak as though one of the Great Five wouldn't be killed by Baal's blade."
"Eh?"
"The reason I'm stopping you is that if you go down now, you'll die a wretched death." Of course, he knew Baal's strength.
'An army of hell.'
That he was the First Legion Commander meant he was one of the strongest beings in the Otherworld.
"You might die. But you have to fight, right? You can't run."
"No. You must run."
Tokei said.
"Shirone, there may be no one with over a fifty percent win rate against you, but this is different. We must think about Baal's demon realm."
"Deadly Cross."
Arte said.
"Baal's forces are the strongest in hell. But that's not all. If one of the Great Five tries to annihilate him, he'll surely open the demon realm."
The result would be meteor strikes—the kind of force that could erase human history in an instant.
"And he's not an enemy we can stall for time against. We must have a plan for the demon realm."
"Do you have an operation in mind?"
A woman's voice answered.
"Let me explain."
Shirone turned and saw a woman approaching, her pupils formed in concentric rings. They had never met face-to-face, but if anyone in the Ivory Tower had a telescopic sight installed, it would be her.
"Bipa."
She was the tower's weapons systems supervisor.
"I watched Baal fight. The demon's ability—the Gangui (剛穀). Nothing in battle is absolute, but even if the tower's Stars attacked together, he'd still be a tough opponent."
Shirone accepted that.
'Gangui…'
A kind of divine transcendence.
The will to cut projects itself into the blade; in theory, there is no limit.
'Hidden Codes usually grant demons combat advantages that break logic, but…'
Baal was different.
'This isn't a cheat. His immense will is what makes him the strongest.'
A true swordsman.
Bipa continued.
"Baal is killing residents as he climbs from the first floor. In that way, when he reaches the top, he calls the Ivory Tower destroyed."
The simplicity of that logic was very swordsman-like.
"That buys us time. The operation's core is floor 99—the tower's internal power control room."
Bipa pointed down.
"There are 3,200 massive 68-ton batteries there. They power the environmental circulation system from the 100th to the 199th floors. We plan to reverse the system and generate a powerful magnetic field."
Shirone's face drained.
"The tower won't remain intact. It would become a railgun firing 68-ton rounds."
"Exactly. The tower must not stay standing. I intend to blow up the 99th floor."
"If we strengthen the magnetic field, all 3,200 batteries will eject outward in all directions at once. Boom. Baal will be blasted away too. If the outer wall of the 99th floor loses more than seventy-two percent, the upper tower can't bear the load and will come down. Twenty-eight percent of the resistance will absorb the vibration at the moment of impact. Thud. That way the 100th floor will slot precisely into the 98th. Kuuuuu."
Bipa struck a pose as if bringing the tower down and wiggled all ten fingers.
Shirone realized: 'Is she insane?'
If even a single calculation was wrong, the tower would tilt and smash into the ground.
"We can't kill Baal, and we can't just let him be. So the best option is to blast him outside. It's the clear answer."
'Where had I seen her before…'
She spoke such an absurd plan with total calm; Shirone felt a wash of déjà vu.
"The gear mark."
Bipa, the tutorial manager of High Gear, pouted.
"I don't care much for reality, but I don't like my house getting blown up."
Arte interjected, "How long will that take?"
"At least thirty minutes. We have to hack the main system. Keep Baal from reaching the area while we do it. From as far away as possible." Shirone spoke up.
"Mika."
- Baal's current position: floor 82. If Tanjura evacuates residents, his speed may increase. The earliest intercept point is floor 86.
Floor 86.
'That leaves thirteen floors.'
Shirone said, "I'll depart now. I'll hold Baal for thirty minutes—make the operation succeed."
Please let this not be madness.
With a flash of teleportation, she left the floor. Arte glanced back at Bipa.
"Just curious—which side are you on? Sing? Or Shirone?"
"Obviously…"
Bipa only smiled.
A streak of light traced a spiral down the Ivory Tower's exterior.
When she arrived at the 86th floor, a swordsman with a violet longsword stepped out from the opposite entrance.
'Baal.'
With black hair falling to his shoulders, he was more beautiful than human.
"Yahweh."
Shirone didn't bother with formal titles.
"Do not block my path. By Satan's command, I will erase the Ivory Tower from the world."
"Why the Ivory Tower?" Even if he were Baal, he couldn't read Satan's mind, but one thing was clear.
"Evil is defined by intelligence."
If intelligence doesn't exist, what we call evil is nothing but pure chaos.
"We are not a calamity, Yahweh."
When Baal emitted a violet aura, the plants on the 86th floor all began to writhe.
'This is Gangui (剛穀).'
The instant that force filled his blade, Baal swung at Shirone.
So fast it paradoxically looked slow, and Shirone was struck by Hexa.
'Hand of God!'
The two forces collided and the evacuated 86th floor was razed. Golden flashes spread, threaded through with purple streaks like spiderwebs.
'Fast.'
It was ironic that the pinnacle of Hidden Codes resembled divine transcendence.
'Baal is real.'
An impact on par with Rian's strike lifted Shirone, swept by the Miracle Stream, and sent her upward.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Each ceiling she shattered through left a count in her head.
'87th floor. 88th. 89th.'
If she lost herself she'd be pushed back to the 99th floor, so Shirone slashed on the brakes.
'I've already been pushed six floors.'
She stopped at the 92nd floor, floated a Hand of God, and fired a Photon Cannon.
Just as the gap opened and Baal's form was spotted.
'There.'
The Photon Cannon plunged vertically, tearing a massive hole through the floor's center.
Baal poured every ounce of strength into drawing up the Gangui's energy.
"Kruuuuu!"
91st floor, 90th, 89th, 88th—
"Yyaaaa!"
When a vertical stroke of violet light cut through, the Photon Cannon split into two and dispersed.
"Phoo!"
Baal exhaled deeply, looked back toward the entrance, and checked which floor he occupied.
85th floor.
"Yahweh…"
For the first time, a demon showed on his face.