The Meaning of the Incident (4)
Yupra, slumped against the wall, glared at Shirone with cold, fierce eyes.
"Grrr—!"
He emitted a low, bestial growl, raised his sword again, and charged.
Shirone drifted into thought.
'Is the human heart free from the Law?'
The Veron problem.
Seeing the gold on the floor, a beautiful reason before him, immense power in hand….
'How many could remain unshaken?'
A world governed by the Law.
And now the cold god had intervened directly in causes, manipulating human hearts.
'OOPArts.'
A human who has lost his mind is no more than an object.
"Yahweh, you are an error."
So even the words leaving Yupra's mouth were the god's manipulation of his cause, delivered through him.
Cold sweat broke out.
'Amid overlapping incidents, Yupra must have chosen life over and over. In the end, though, he produced nothing beyond becoming God's tool—an OOPArt.'
There was only one reason.
'Because he is an animal of desire.'
Because he cannot choose displeasure, cannot accept death, refuses to yield.
'His own desires collide with others' desires, and that process becomes a predictable Law… computed by God.'
"Can the human heart be manipulated? Are we merely instruments of the Law?"
The instant the blade touched Shirone's throat, a surge of light shoved Yupra aside.
He slammed into the wall with a thud, and the smoke of light slowly took the shape of a hand and pressed down on him.
"Don't talk nonsense. I'm not an error. As long as I exist, the Veron problem remains valid."
Because it could not be wrong.
Yupra said nothing.
The god had manipulated him through the Law, but it did not possess the ability to read his true nature.
"Yahweh."
The light died from Yupra's eyes.
"You are an error."
As if a machine had stopped, his head dropped completely forward.
'Death.'
No—was it a disconnection?
When Shirone extinguished the Hand of God, Yupra's body collapsed where it stood.
Having seen the result of an OOPArt with his own eyes, Shirone turned his gaze to the fallen Glenn.
"Please save Glenn. Please—"
'He's not an OOPArt.'
He'd come close, but Rukia's arrival had kept him from completely losing himself.
"Let's check him first."
The demon's left hand's joints had been twisted, but because he'd pulled his hand away quickly there were no broken bones.
Shirone restored his vigor with Miracle Stream and poured in the light of Agape.
"Kuuuu! I'll kill you, Rukia. I'll kill you."
Shirone shook his head.
"Even if it's Yahweh, he can't change the cause that made Glenn who he is. He experienced countless incidents and, through that process, reached this state by his own will."
Still believing in the power of the heart, Shirone refused to say God had controlled him.
"To deny one's entire life is a hard thing. But in the end, the only one who can change a heart is the person themselves. You have to trust Glenn."
Rukia wept.
"I saw it too. Glenn's past, and how High Priest Maximus treated me—what that emotion was."
Shirone told her the news that Maximus had died in the village of Heaven.
"I see. Now I don't know anymore. I believed in Glenn. Love… I guess it isn't always just beautiful."
"It is beautiful."
Shirone supported Glenn as he spoke.
"What the feeling is called doesn't matter. What matters is the heart that follows through."
"The heart that follows through…"
"If you truly love Glenn, don't give up. Whatever it is, it will be beautiful if you carry it through." Rukia rose, something having clicked.
"Now I understand why I didn't become like Glenn or Yupra. I had to come here."
Come to think of it—
Although an overlap of incidents had occurred inside the pyramid, Rukia's cause had not changed.
"I see."
There was only one reason.
"To God, Rukia was already a completed result. Meeting Ares, Glenn bringing you here—none of it was coincidence. But… why?"
Why would God need Rukia?
"The demon's left hand."
It was the sudden change that came to the girl who had performed miracles with God's right hand.
Rukia shouted, "I think I know how to meet God! Find people for me!"
That must have been why God had summoned Shirone here.
'He'll use me as a tool too, no doubt. But things won't go the way you calculate.'
It sounded like an auditory hallucination.
- Save yourself from a terrible truth.
"All right. Let's go."
Following Shirone, Rukia looked at Glenn's unconscious face.
'No one can save him. You must, Glenn. I won't waver either.'
Green Ocean.
The Elves' defenses against the Fairy invasion were pure natural might—the raw force of nature and the flood itself.
Ancient trees lashed branches like whips, and rock golems crushed smaller bodies beneath them.
Kuuuung!
The terrifying roar made the fairy ranks falter.
"Tch! They're putting up quite a fight."
"We expected this much. More importantly, we must focus on capturing the specimens."
The Crown wanted the Elves.
"That's only after we break through this bizarre forest. Cowards—hiding behind nature."
"Whatever they are, they have incredible power. They control the entire flood."
At that moment a majestic vibration rolled through the battlefield.
"Still not ready?"
The fairies turned to see the archangel Uriel striding forward.
"Ah—the archangel."
He spun his Paradise Wheel as he spoke.
"Stand down."
Before anyone could answer, Uriel charged into the forest and slammed the Paradise Wheel into the ground.
'Cheonboryun.'
A several-hundred-meter radius of forest exploded.
"Ugh!"
As the leader of the Fire Clan, Protea, crouched, the seismic wave hit them.
The Elves' leader Enox stepped forward.
"What happened?"
"The microcosmic link was momentarily severed. The archangel's power is unbearably brutal."
The Fire Clan had mostly perished in the demon wars; only a dozen or so remained.
Plarino, who controlled rivers to quench the inferno, spoke in a voice full of despair.
"At this rate we'll be pushed back. Why does Yahweh not come? Are we truly… unable to enter human lives?"
"No, Plarino."
Enox said, "We must save ourselves. If we lack the fighting heart—the will to fight and struggle like humans—then even if Yahweh comes, nothing will change. We will become livestock."
"But—"
"Humans feared too. Humans suffered too. You cannot reach the center of the world without overcoming that."
The center of the world.
"Now! Elves, advance! How long will we bear the shame of being cowards before the fairies?"
Three hundred Elves agreed with a look.
"All units—!"
Before Enox finished, an immense shockwave surged a hundred meters ahead.
"Gah!"
When wind magic blew the dust aside, the hulking form of Uriel approached.
'Immense power… among beings with will, it's likely one of the greatest in the universe.'
"Why involve yourself in a fight between species?" Like Yahweh, the archangel had no reason to meddle in the Elves' war with the fairies.
"Perhaps," Uriel said, lowering his stance, "because I am also a species."
Even that simple posture felt like the calm before an explosion.
The Elves' faces paled; Enox himself felt faint.
"End this war."
The fairies shouted.
"Lord Uriel! Spare the Elves—"
Before the plea finished, Uriel whirled his Paradise Wheel and charged.
'Is this the end—'
As Enox sank into despair, a man struck Uriel's flank head on.
With a crash Uriel was sent flying, and the faces of both Elf and Fairy went blank.
"…Who are you?"
A handsome man in a gray coat, curly hair, eyes of steel—striking and unusual.
"Golden Dragon Metira."
Then the sound of armor rupturing, and the remaining twelve apostles descended at once.
"Ah."
Red welled in Enox's eyes.
'So Yahweh did not abandon us.'
The poison dragon Poine smirked.
"It's cheating for another species to barge into a place where species wager their fate. Isn't that right, Uriel?"
He strode, pounding the earth.
"An uninvited guest."
At the center of the twelve, the blond boy—radiant dragon Phaeton—split his mouth into a grin.
"What? Getting cold feet? Don't worry. I can handle someone your size on my own."
"One-twelfth."
Uriel raised his right arm.
"If you fight with one arm, balance will be restored. If you like, I can spare the Paradise Wheel as well."
"Hohoho! Hohohoho!" Phaeton's laughing grin hardened, and half his face shifted into a dragon form.
"You—come here, little one."
When Uriel beckoned, the boy's eyes flashed.
"Damn—"
Before Phaeton could move, the fire dragon Infercus surged at Uriel.
"Let me have some fun."
Her leather tights ignited as she charged, turning the arena into a sea of flames.
Enox gritted his teeth and cast water magic.
'Now it begins.' The war between Elves and Fairies.
Whoever won this war would be absorbed into humanity and change the future of the world.
'Who will carry it through?'
The outcome of the species war was already passing through the Law's filter and piling up at the destination of information.
Apocalypse.
Suddenly the ground trembled, and Shirone's mining team looked around.
"What is that?"
The tremor wasn't strong, but it felt like the whole world was changing.
"Shirone! Look at this!"
The relic in Marsha's hand rusted and began to age rapidly.
"A new future is stacking up. At an incredible speed."
Shirone bit his lip.
'That means the Law is changing drastically. Has some major variable been applied?'
Sedimentation of time.
With current incidents being shoved into the past, the mining team tensed.
"Is it over? Is it finished?"
A wholly different Apocalypse-world awaited them than before the quake.
"…It's clean."
Instead of messy ruins, a cutting-edge, mechanical city had risen.
Marsha asked, "So who won? The Elves? The Fairies? Who built this city?"
Seven androids emerged between the buildings.
"Huh?"
They had egg-shaped heads with black liquid displays for faces and silver metallic bodies.
'Like high gears.'
All wore identical monk robes, and electronic prayer beads graced their necks and hands.
"Sentient beings detected."
The androids turned in unison.
"Tch! We've been spotted."
Under guard from the Parrot Mercenary Corps, Sanskrit scrolled vertically down the androids' displays.
"Form is emptiness; emptiness is form."
Shirone was struck more by the depth of enlightenment written on their screens than by their mechanical voices.
'Buddha?'
Marsha asked like someone desperate for reassurance.
"Shirone, these are enemies, right? Please tell me they're hostile. Then we can run without looking back."
"Form is emptiness; emptiness is form."
Humanity's final evolutionary stage—Final Type Z.