The Veron Problem (4)
Ability name: Image Copy.
A magic that outputs whatever you've memorized as a copy—classified as an unregulated type.
"This is pretty valuable. Because…"
When Fermi activated the spell, the document he'd been holding a moment ago duplicated exactly.
"Because it can revolutionize labor. Once you memorize something, you can keep reproducing it." That was why time was short.
"So? What are you going to do with that?"
"Information entropy. The value of information changes depending on how many people know it. For example…"
Fermi leaned forward.
"Our little tastes between the two of us—that absolutely mustn't leak out, right?"
Seriel's face flushed faintly.
"You want to die?"
"Anyway, that's the point. Right now the only ones who know future information are me and Shura. The king of Iron will probably find out too…"
Fermi handed over a copy.
"Here, take one."
Seriel knew the papers' value, so even sensing a prank she had to take it.
Then realization hit her.
"You didn't—"
"Yep. Information everyone knows is worthless. From now on I'm going to send this document as an official notice to all twelve holy nations. In short, this info becomes trash."
"But is that okay? If everyone knows it, we can't control it anymore. Unless there's a way to update the info."
"That won't work." At the end of Omega year 999, going back to the Apocalypse would be impossible.
'Even if we went, mining wouldn't be feasible.'
Divine intervention was almost certain.
"There's no need to update it. The document only contains info on the Temple Map Bureau. I didn't put anything truly important in it."
They probably wouldn't care anyway.
"Truly important info?"
Fermi fell silent, thinking of Amy's death, and Seriel didn't press further.
'Sorry, Shirone.'
He apologized to his eternal rival because the only person who'd accepted his thinking so far was Shirone.
'No one else would—'
No one would try to erase the memory of a loved one's death once they knew it.
Leaving Seriel, Fermi opened the window and watched the countless events outside the delta.
'The hour of the end.'
Feeling the world's compass spinning, Fermi raised his hand.
'Image Copy.'
With dozens of identical documents in his hand, Fermi murmured, "How far can humans see?"
They wouldn't run away.
'I am the son of Yolga.'
One who sees far.
No—one who sees the end.
Turning his head again, Fermi scattered the stack of papers out the window at once.
White sheets fluttered like butterflies, and everyone outside the main building looked up.
"What's that?"
Fermi smiled at Seriel.
"Entropy zero."
Thus… the future was reset to zero.
Meanwhile, Shura, who'd gotten the information from Fermi, walked the corridor with cold eyes.
She skimmed the papers fast—anything about the World Map Bureau didn't concern her.
What occupied her mind instead was the question Fermi had thrown.
'They call it the Veron problem.'
It was the story of Veron, ranked first among the Ten Elders, and the iron stake he'd planted in the Iron Kingdom.
'His will imprinted that time and space beyond the Law, and it still remains engraved.'
An iron stake driven into the world.
'Can humans truly change the future?'
If knowing the future and acting differently was itself already a predetermined future?
'Veron pushed that problem to the extreme. It wasn't just a philosophical pillar. The iron stake still withstands the divine Law and remains embedded there.'
If a god could pull the pillar, it would be the god's victory; but if not…
'Humans can change it.'
They would produce a future entirely different from the god's will.
'I will wait.'
Shura clenched the papers.
As long as the iron stake remained in the Iron Kingdom, she would grant whatever the king desired.
'Until the true king returns.'
Climbing the Ivory Tower, Shirone's face was pale.
'There is no end.' The demon legions had split into first, second, and third divisions and occupied key points on each floor.
"Kill Yahweh—!"
Demons swallowed by the flash of the Miracle Stream screamed and rolled on the floor.
"Kraaaah!"
They should have been purified already, but only halves of their bodies had melted away.
'He's grown stronger.'
Above all, how much stronger First Legion Commander Baal had become was the real concern.
"Kill them! Fear not annihilation! The more we resist, the more Yahweh will suffer!"
The demons had lost fear.
'It isn't bravery.'
Putting the importance of making others unhappy above one's own happiness is…
'Ataraxia.'
An inevitable demonic nature?
"Kraaaah!"
Before the amplified force, even the demons couldn't keep their forms this time.
Where the flash passed, only a pair of ankles remained.
"Haa! Haa!"
Shirone pulled himself together again.
'They're stalling for time.'
Keeping Shirone tied here was Baal's strategy to remove Taeseong.
Of course, the Ivory Tower's stars guarded the upper floors, so Baal couldn't reach them easily.
Now Shirone couldn't be sure.
Passing between the demons reduced to ankles, emotion welled up in him.
"No one rejoices in another's misery."
They're only unhappy now, and so have no other way to be happy.
"They're just following the methodology of evil." He wanted to believe that.
Shirone hated evil too, and believed people should be held accountable for their actions.
'I want to believe they can change.'
If good and evil are strictly determined by cause, what choice do humans really have?
Shagal screamed.
"They don't change!"
Half his mind had flown away from the pain transmitted along the Taeguk chain to Etella.
"What do you know?"
Blood-tinged tears ran from Shagal's eyes as he slaughtered the demons blocking his path.
If all the past were memories manipulated by a god—
"You've never lived like I have!" Who wouldn't become Shagal?
"I am evil! Absolute evil! I'll kill everything! If I kill them all and only I remain… will this hatred vanish then?"
"Uaaaaaah!"
The pain drove Shagal to his knees.
Etella's tragic emotions fed Shagal's rage, and that rage fed back into Etella.
Thus the Taeguk swelled without limit.
- Remaining purification time: 82 Hae 873 Gyeong 7,601 Jo… Haa…
The informant sighed.
It was clearly a broadcast accident, but Riona, the pyrotechnician informant, didn't care.
'Four Hae of time evaporated at once.' That's how massive the karma was.
Of course she knew, but if this had been their first time entering the world, Riona couldn't have imagined it.
How on earth would they purify this karma?
'This result…'
The thought deepened as the two who seemed destined for eternal hell reached their conclusion.
Vivian, who was in charge of Rian, asked, "Riona, what are you doing? Your announcement has to be precise. What if the boss finds out?"
"Who knows. I suddenly thought—what's the point of all this? Maybe we too…"
They were administrators; they understood.
"This is the last place, isn't it."
There wasn't much time left until the god closed the world.
"It was fun for us, wasn't it."
Riona patted Vivian's shoulder and turned her gaze back to the vision.
"The last evil of humanity."
As the informant on duty, Riona felt obliged to witness Shagal's end.
Shirone was certain.
'If you can't choose, there's no unity.' Those Gaia who reached an integrated mental state were people who'd mastered the heart.
'I have seen their world.' Because everyone understood each other, it wouldn't matter what happened to this cosmos.
'Toward that realm…'
Arriving at the 23rd floor, Shirone took in the desolation waiting for him.
Three-star resident Arte and satellite Tokey lay on the floor with their throats cut.
'The Balance Department is annihilated.'
On one side, Hukgangsi of the Law Department and Supreme Judge Tanjura, and his satellite Daeho, were fallen.
"Ugh!"
When Shirone confirmed Hukgangsi's breath had stopped, Tanjura let out a harsh groan.
"Tanjura!"
Shirone rushed over and cast a Miracle Stream, but it was useless.
'He's already dead.'
Only Tanjura's upper torso remained; he forced a smile.
"The Supreme Judge's sentence—suspended execution. I kept a pitiful mind until the Five Stars arrived."
His brain still worked even though his heart had stopped.
"What happened?"
"As you can see… annihilated by Baal. He's become a monster. A monster made by humans."
Shirone ground his teeth.
"We did our best to hold. If we chase quickly we might still make it in time."
He wanted to head to the top floor immediately, but he couldn't let go of Tanjura.
Tanjura shook his head.
"It's fine. I'm dead. If I have one regret, it's that I won't hear the answer."
Is the Tao correct?
"I don't think anyone can truly know another's truth. That's the limit of my intellect. But…"
Tanjura put his hand on Shirone's shoulder.
"I must be wrong. Right?"
At the end of his life, the answer Tanjura wanted didn't match his intellect.
"I don't know either." Shirone couldn't say.
Suppressing rising tears, all he could give was a grand hope.
"Believe that. I'll prove it." Tanjura grinned.
Then, as if not to burden anyone further, life quickly drained from his pupils.
"Fuu."
Shirone's jaw trembled, but his gaze toward the upper floors burned with lethal intent.
"Evil."
The righteousness everyone accepted crumbled like a sandcastle before sordid desire and rage.
'They wanted to protect it to the end.'
The light of intellect was dying.
Ivory Tower, 21st floor.
The first wave of demons following Baal were slowly slaughtering the tower's residents.
"They really have gotten stronger. Call it intellect or whatever—the end result is they can't stand against us." The demons, idly passing time, suddenly turned toward the stairs.
"Ho?"
Shirone walked toward them, smeared with blood as if soaked in it.
"What, why are you late? Now I see Yahweh is totally lazy? And then what—"
A curl of light smoke wrapped a demon's body and exploded; flesh scattered like shrapnel.
The demons finally grasped the situation and wiped the smiles from their faces as Shirone spoke.
"I believe nothing is immutable."
"Hey, save the sermon—"
"But you won't change."
A demon fell silent.
"Just don't change. Stay evil in front of my eyes. At least for the next few seconds."
"Isn't that obvious?"
Shirone pressed his feelings down with all his might.
"Still, I have to believe you can repent. I want that to be true. But… I'd prefer if you didn't."
"Hoo—"
The demons burst into laughter.
"Puhahaha! What's he on about now? Yahweh, you drunk? Why're you babbling?"
"Why?"
Shirone's eyes snapped open.
"Because I'm mad."
The moment Yahweh's wrath exploded, a blinding light filled the 21st floor.