Forbidden Realm (5)
The hall fell silent.
This wasn't about dividing people into good and evil to pass judgment.
"What will this change?"
The truth was he didn't want to curse the sinner, nor preach virtue, nor punish the wicked…
"I just want to solve the problem."
He simply hated the ultimate expression of chaos—willingly doing something while knowing you could never be held accountable.
Hearing Shirone, Baal realized.
'It isn't Yahweh.'
If Miracle Stream harmed only magic, Photon Cannon Infinity was harmful to everything.
'An atom-destroying capability.'
Yahweh, having purged all the ma inside him through sojeonghwa, might no longer be able to rage.
'Similar.'
To Baal, Photon Cannon Infinity certainly bore the traits of sojeonghwa.
Only a difference between quanta and particles—the method of one-to-one destruction was the same.
That made his stomach turn all the more.
'Lost to a mage?'
To have reached the final height of chaos only to be trampled by the pinnacle of intellect—
'Don't be ridiculous! It's not over yet.' The methods of evil.
Neither the pride of the First Legion Commander nor the pride of being the strongest among demons mattered now.
"Y-Yahweh."
Twisted on the floor, he rolled over and propped himself on his elbows.
"I will repent."
Reason had won.
But Argones, watching, and Taeseong both wore grave expressions.
'Shirone.'
Those at the extremes of the world—good and evil—were extremes, but their aims were oddly stable.
'Now he's the strongest even among humans. He can choose anything. If he turned to ill will…
humanity's future could be dragged to ruin.'
"Right."
Shirone relaxed his fist and stepped back.
"That won't bring back the dead, but please repent. Mourn them sincerely."
If no one repented, the day evil disappeared from the world would never come.
Taeseong's eyes brimmed with tears at Shirone offering another chance.
'Yes, that was it.'
Yahweh likely hadn't chosen a path to do harm on purpose.
"Thank you."
Baal pressed his forehead to the floor and, looking up, spoke coldly.
'This ends now, Yahweh.' The First Legion Commander's demonic Deadly Cross.
With ma as strong as it was now, the time it would take the asteroids to arrive would be greatly shortened.
'Of course, the force would be unimaginable.'
The moment his body exhaled purple smoke, sparks flew from Shing's eyes.
"Shirone! That bastard—"
Baal lifted his face.
As if a different shell had been pasted on, the molecular structure of his visage was grotesquely warped.
"In the end, it's my victory, Yahweh."
"No!"
As Taeseong shouted, Argones leaped forward and cleanly severed Baal's neck.
"...Too late."
The Administrator was the first to realize what was coming, and Shirone looked out past the vastness of space.
'They're coming.'
Huge masses of asteroids.
When Baal's body was utterly annihilated, the ma that had soaked the air unleashed a harsh voice.
- Gwahahaha! Now that I am ma, you can't kill me. How's that? Can you handle this? Even if you shatter the asteroids, the aftershock will wipe out humanity! You couldn't protect them! Did you really think I'd repent?
"No."
It was expected.
"I only hoped. Nothing will change. We'll keep reaching out—no matter how you mock us, no matter how you despise us, even if you fall for a few eloquent words like this…
The answer is clear.
"What is right is ours."
There is no sanctuary for demons anywhere in this universe.
"Once every hour."
Light smoke rose from Shirone's body.
"Elikia."
Seven million users of the Ultima System began to deny the demon-realm system.
- What are you doing!
It was only 0.3 percent of present humanity, but if human justice were everything…
'That also means—'
it was 0.003 percent of the entire universe.
- No! This can't be! How could—!
"Enough."
Erasing asteroids—which were dust compared to the universe—was an easy task.
Shirone spread his arms and the cross-shaped radiance shot pillars of light into the heavens.
- Yahweh! You will die in agony! One day the humans you love will kill you—!
Sensing annihilation, Baal cried out, but his end was marked by a scream all the same.
- Oooooooo! Oooooooo!
After a sound like being sucked into an abyss, the flash vanished and silence fell.
All eyes turned to Shirone.
"What… was that?"
For Shing, who handled the Law, the flash she'd just seen was the greatest shock of her life.
"Elikia. No…"
Shirone turned to her and said,
"Ultima System."
Shing's face went blank; Eumji and Yangji, who supported her, frowned.
"Shing."
Her power of conviction was weakening.
'She's being persuaded.'
What seven million people had defined was overwhelming enough to crack Shing's philosophy.
Argones, who had been watching the Gaia beside him, thought the same.
'If it's truly the Ultima, denying the demon realm is simple.'
What about Selbuster?
He couldn't decide.
'This level of force cannot be stopped. But at least it looks like Ultima. If this is the fuse and the real thing completes…
even the gods might not know the outcome.'
'Should we deal with it now?'
Taeseong asked.
"Argones, you promised. Humanity hasn't trespassed into the realm of gods yet."
He looked to Shirone.
"Release me. If the otherworld system is destroyed, a breach will open and reality and hell will overlap."
The demons would descend into the present world.
That was why Shirone planned to make Tormia the world's governing state—to prepare.
"Shing, perhaps we'll never truly know another's truth. But we can stand together. Not by logic, but by heart. If there's any feeling left toward me…"
Shirone reached out his hand.
"Fight with me." Shing still had no answer, but inside her mind a fierce battle raged.
'Shirone. A bit more… convince me.'
Uorin was exhausted.
"Huff! Huff!"
Headaches from visions of the future, attacks by assassins from different nations, the terror of crossing the thin line between life and death.
Kido looked at her.
'She's at her limit.'
Both physically and mentally.
'She's holding on at the edge, but if even a little more shock hits, she'll collapse.'
Mitochondria Eve had existed across human history, but this Uorin was different.
If any experience could be thought to give something to this new self, she might hold on…
'I have no daughter. Right now she is the only one.'
She'd endured to bear Shirone's child; those years of patience meant everything.
'After waiting tens of thousands of years, this life is precious. And she's crossed death's door dozens of times.'
Should she rest?
As she thought that and looked back, Uorin suddenly went pale and sank down.
"Huff!"
Kido rushed over.
"What is it? What happened!"
She stared at the ceiling, trembling, and said in a broken voice,
"Elikia, Elikia… it didn't activate."
"Hm?"
She turned her head and said,
"It was used somewhere else. Shirone isn't protecting me. I am… no longer—"
Through Uorin's eyes, Kido watched the collapse of her mind in real time.
"Uorin, calm down! Hey!"
Uorin covered her face and screamed.
"Ah! Aaah!"
Die, die, die, die.
Tens of thousands of years of life meant nothing.
"Snap out of it! Hey!"
Kido grabbed her shoulders and shook her, but a broken will doesn't mend easily.
Uorin clung to Kido and cried,
"What can we do? Havitz will come. Havitz will kill me and steal my power! It's over!"
Overwhelmed by despair, she screamed again.
"Ahhhhh!"
"Please, come to your senses!"
Kido slapped her hard. For an instant, Uorin's eyes cleared.
"Havitz isn't coming! Right now you remember Havitz! That means Vanishing wasn't activated!"
"So that's why Shirone didn't use Elikia! Nothing's over yet. We—"
At that moment Kido sensed movement.
"Who's there!"
Something sprang from the corner at the end of the corridor. Kido gaped.
A brain was floating along.
"A brain?"
Hearing that, Uorin turned, forgetting even fear, and frowned.
"You…."
Kido turned his head.
"What is it? Do you know what that is?"
"Adam."
Around the brain, a phantasmal form unfolded and transformed into a man with metallic hair.
"A human? He's kind of strange."
"He's a Gaia. And… my husband."
While Kido blinked, Adam walked calmly down the corridor and spoke.
"Long time no see, Uorin. No… her real name is—"
"Lilith."
The name she had before becoming Eve.
Neid looked around.
"Is this Melkidu's core?" Kain asked.
"Yeah. More precisely, it's the path to the Hall of Evil. One thing to note: this isn't some undercode—it's a forest that exists in reality. Time flows here just as it does in the real world."
Shirone understood why Kain had aged.
'Even if you try to trap time through the void, to bring users into the core you have to come out into reality. Only a few hours might pass for every five years, but if he's become middle-aged, you can imagine how long human history has been.'
Pushing through the trees, a massive golden altar rose before them.
Kain pointed toward the Hall of Evil.
"As you might guess, I didn't create this place. The original Melkidu referred to the Hall of Evil. But when I entered this forest…"
"I made a strange system."
Iruki said it and Kain laughed cheerfully.
"Haha! Wasn't it fun? Anyway, come in. All evil is recorded here. And if you erase it, it's erased in reality too."
Curtis' face darkened.
They entered and found stairs leading downward; a luminous corridor stretched on without end.
Eden asked with a serious look,
"How far is it?"
"Well, as far as human history? Honestly, I don't know where the end is. I've never gone all the way. If you explore a place like this, you'll age and die. Besides…"
Kain entered the first hall among the openings along the corridor.
"This is my favorite place."
They followed Kain's gaze to a gigantic portrait hanging on the wall.
"Wow…"
Its scale alone was impressive, but whoever painted it had created a strangely unsettling work.
"Not every figure gets a special boon, but this one is special. Yahweh would know him, right?"
Shirone said.
"Mitochondria Eve."
At those words, the group studied the portrait closely.
"Uorin?"
She was beautiful, but completely unlike her present form, and the impression leaned toward evil.
"This is her original form before regressive evolution. The one who planted the concepts of good and evil into humanity."
Neid was stunned.
"What on earth did she do to bring about good and evil?"
"She…"
Shirone looked at them with a bitter expression and said,
"She touched the forbidden fruit."