Exo Universe (2)
"Distinguished guests from every nation, we have achieved a grand unification in the face of a global crisis. All agreements have been documented and delivered; tomorrow morning, for the first time in history, a world government spanning the entire globe will be elected..."
While the closing ceremony continued, Yein and the others in the waiting room drew slow, steady breaths.
"Hoo. Hoo."
Kaden handed Maya a bottle of water.
"Here. Drink this."
Her throat was so dry one bottle wouldn't have been enough, but she only rinsed her mouth.
"You don't need to be nervous. You're the best."
Maya probably wouldn't even remember whether she answered.
At the sight of that unfamiliar cold expression, Kaden swallowed hard and moved to a seat in the corner of the waiting room.
El Kiana shot him a scornful glare.
'Honestly… can't you see I'm concentrating? A pro is finished the moment they get nervous, you idiot.' That she was having stray thoughts at all was proof she was tense.
'Hoo, no! Focus, focus!'
Silence returned; only the sound of conductor Panier turning a page could be heard.
'What an annoyance, that one.'
If Kaden had been even a little less tactful, he would have been thrown out of the waiting room.
'Nothing must happen.'
Yein was a slave to jinxes; even the smallest feeling could make her world collapse.
That sensitivity might be sharp enough to kill a person, perhaps…
'Thirty minutes.'
If she hadn't learned to control it, she wouldn't have made it this far.
'Nothing must happen. Just like this—pour everything out and then leave.'
Afterward, whether she drank herself under the table and got carried to the infirmary—what did it matter?
A knock sounded.
'Damn it…!'
A jinx.
Panier, restraining a shout, spoke in a cold voice.
"Who is it?"
A man with a sword at his hip opened the door and Reina stood up.
"Rai."
"Wait… can we talk for a moment?" She glanced at the conductor; Panier nodded without expression.
Getting angry would only make the jinx bigger.
"Go ahead."
Reina, equally sensitive, lowered her voice as they stepped into the corridor.
"Are you insane? Do you know where this is? Even with special status you'd never get clearance to come in here."
"I heard from Grandfather. I can't tell you details, but it's dangerous. Follow me."
"Grandfather?"
Clump was presently stationed in Delta as commander of the garrison at the Tormia temple.
"What are you talking about? There's less than thirty minutes until the performance."
"You idiot, we're all going to die. That's why Grandfather couldn't pretend not to see me. Come now."
"No. I can't go."
Does a pianist abandon the stage thirty minutes before the performance?
"If I'm not there, more than thirty people will lose their minds. I can't let that happen."
"Then you'll die…!"
Rai ground his teeth.
What family understands a person better than family—her stubbornness matched his own.
"Do what you want."
"Go back to headquarters. Don't stay here because of me."
There was no answer.
Reina's chest grew heavy; she knew her younger sister would stay.
'A child for whom family is everything.'
Cold as she seemed, she was the most sentimental of the three.
The eldest was the eldest, the second the second, the youngest the youngest—she'd been doted on, but…
'Somewhere along the line she must have felt distant. Me, Guy oppa, Father, Grandfather too.'
Maybe Rai's obsession with the sword was his way of proving himself to the family.
'Go your own way now. Whatever you become, we'll always be here.'
Reina exhaled deeply.
"Hoo."
Having fought countless jinxes, her steeled mind snapped back into focus.
"You must do it—the performance."
For Yein, that was everything.
Habitz asked, "You say you can't kill me? You can't kill you? Why?"
"Because of that law. Any being could kill me, and I could kill any being. We share the same Law."
Shirone said, "But Satan can avoid Yahweh in any situation. Have you ever thought about that? What kind of Law lets you evade me no matter what the possible outcomes are?"
"I don't know. What is it?"
Habitz defined nothing.
"Because you die." Shirone continued, "Satan exists outside the Law. Probabilistically he has the advantage in most cases, but with Yahweh it's different. Your chance of survival is zero percent. It's absolute death—ironically, that's why you could have escaped me with certainty. In short, you and I are extremes at opposite ends of the Law."
"No, listen. A moment ago I tried to stab you—"
"To summarize." Shirone cut him off. "You could still, even now if you willed it, run away from me. But because of that—if you attempted to kill me, you could not avoid death in any situation."
That explained why Habitz's instincts had screamed.
"You were going to stab me?"
"Only in hindsight. I don't know what future that would have made, but if you had stabbed my back…" Shirone paused as he replayed it, then said, "You would have died. By whatever means, I would have found a way to kill you."
A thought flashed through Shirone's mind. 'Perhaps Satan… unable to kill the Yahweh who masters the heart, corrupts other humans' hearts instead.'
"Ha."
Habitz laughed dryly, then went expressionless and cold. "Siok."
When Siok's twelve fanatics closed in on Shirone, Habitz used banishing to circle around them.
'He's spouting nonsense.' Siok's twelve hidden codes began to spin and throw Shirone's mind into disarray.
"Yahweh."
If you are strong, defeat us. Prove your power—ascend to the top of the world and make everyone follow.
"Hoo."
Shirone was not indifferent.
Precisely because he had mastered the heart and stifled every desire, he stood in a more precarious place.
"Stand back."
He would not break—because he would not bend, he was Yahweh.
"Kraaaah!"
When the hidden codes failed, Siok, enraged, tried to start the fight.
"Ugh!"
The banishing that had uncoiled left Habitz rolling in the mud past Shirone again.
"Lo—Lo—Satan…"
Even Siok had to admit it this second time.
'Really?'
Satan cannot kill Yahweh.
"Hmm."
Sitting soaked, Habitz checked his trembling legs.
'Fear?'
No, that couldn't be right.
"What is this now?"
As Habitz lifted his sword to sever those legs, Shirone stepped forward and said, "It's useless."
"Wait. Let me deal with this first and I'll fight properly. Why does your body keep—"
"Habitz, do you believe in God?"
Habitz stopped and turned his head.
"God?"
"Not the God we argue about—the true God that rules every dimension. Honestly, I have my doubts."
"If this is a discourse on God—"
"But," Shirone said, "I would rather there be a God."
Then he kicked Habitz in the face; Habitz's body went limp and collapsed.
"Yahweh!"
Siok bared his teeth, but Habitz lay there calmly, getting soaked by the rain.
"If there were a God, everything would be fair and equal, no one would suffer—do evil and lightning would strike…"
Shirone ground his teeth. "Why must only we sacrifice? Why does no one take responsibility? Because there is no God? Because no lightning falls from heaven, because a blade doesn't spring out of nowhere to cut your neck—does the world become a joke? Because someone endures, sacrifices, and shows consideration, does that give others the right to act however they please?"
"Hmm."
Habitz considered carefully. "I think I get what you're saying. Like when I throw garbage away, someone else picks it up and puts it in the bin. If nobody cleaned, the streets would get filthy, and over time everyone would live in a dump."
"Right."
"But the person who cleans feels wronged. Why am I always the one cleaning? They fling filth everywhere—why must I be the one to keep the street clean? Then one day a thought hits."
Habitz sprang to his feet. "If nobody ever threw garbage in the first place, the street would always be clean. There'd be no need for someone to sacrifice, and everyone could live happily."
Shirone spoke honestly. "…I don't really get it."
"What?"
"If there's always someone to clean, people will keep throwing trash. Even if a hundred people all throw garbage, one of them will step forward to clean. The person who least wants to live in the filth will shoulder the trash for the other ninety-nine."
Shirone fell silent.
"Of course that one person will feel wronged. They clean it all and the clean street is enjoyed equally by a hundred people. But nobody ordered them to. If they don't want to, they can stop cleaning. Then someone else will step up, won't they?"
Habitz pointed at Shirone. "Like you."
The rough breathing mixed with the sound of the rain.
"Everyone keeps postponing and postponing until you end up taking it on. But you had no choice. You do it because you can. So keep doing it."
Habitz said it like an annoyance. "Spend your whole life cleaning other people's garbage, you idiot."
"…Photon Cannon."
Shirone grabbed Habitz by the collar, hauled him up, and swung his left fist.
'Infinity!'
As Habitz's jaw twisted, a blinding flash crashed into his skull.
"Arghhh!"
A shattering headache followed; he clutched his head and howled.
"Siok! Protect Satan!"
Siok activated a non-existent sliver of time—the 0.666 seconds—and pushed Satan out beyond the Law.
"…Superluminal."
Siok's eyes widened at Shirone's voice.
"How…?"
The speed of light is invariant because it is the signalling speed that composes this world. Until a signal arrives, nothing can exist; that is the light-speed barrier.
"Can you reach time that doesn't exist?"
A superluminal cell pierces the zero-information vacuum—the true emptiness between signals.
"Photon Cannon."
This is the Photon Cannon's signature—conjuring something from nothing, the wizard's lost one-frame secret.
"Infinity."
Apply this cell to matter and—
"Aaaargh!"
It becomes an atomic-destruction spell that fires particles at 99.9999% of light speed.
After Siok's shriek faded, only Habitz remained, writhing.
"Does it hurt?"
He was in no condition to answer.
"Pain is tragic because it's lonely. In the festival of life you fall alone into hell. No one can take your place. It's the only thing you bear entirely yourself."
Habitz charged.
"Kiiiii!"
Focusing all his fury into his greatsword, he tried to strike Shirone's neck, but—
"You made a mistake."
Shirone slowly placed his hand on Habitz's chest.
"Kuaaah!"
The atomic-destruction magic shredded his body again; Habitz screamed and staggered.
"Ughh! Ughh!"
As Shirone stepped closer, Habitz's legs instinctively widened.
'Run. Run—run… huh?' He understood.
Shock washed across Habitz's face as he turned to Shirone.
'Is this… fear?'
It was the single definition born from chaos.