A Horrible Truth (8)
Sing asked, "An error...?"
"It makes no sense otherwise. To throw away the perfect chance to kill me like that."
Sing had no answer to that.
"What will you do now? You're holding the Cell Buster off with the Taegeuk's power, but you can't keep it up for long."
Shirone looked up at the mass of Anti-Cells compressed in the sky.
"The terrifying thing about the Cell Buster is that Anti-Cells split without end. Destroy one and there are two; destroy two and there are four. If they keep multiplying like that, they'll eventually outnumber humanity and the world will be ruined."
"Is it increasing even now?"
The trembling of the Anti-Cell mass was proof.
"At this rate it'll explode. When it does, a number of cells beyond anything we can imagine will spill into the world."
"We'll find a way."
"How?"
Shirone shook his head. "I don't know yet. But... that bastard might have the answer."
Ardino Fermi.
'He's smarter than me about this sort of thing.'
As his wounds healed enough, Shirone stepped away from Sing, who had been supporting him.
"This closes the simultaneous incident at the Ivory Tower. I'll meet Fermi at the sanctuary. Sing, gather the remaining stars here and come."
"Before that, there's something I want to ask."
Shirone's survival was humanity's lucky break, but an uneasy question remained.
"What do you think of Taeseong? Yin and Yang made sacrifices. Give me a clear judgment."
"I believe."
Shirone's voice was firm. "Not that I trust the administrators — that was clearly my mistake. But there must be a reason Taeseong didn't kill me. There had to be."
"And if there wasn't?"
Sing asked. "If there was no reason? If they thought stopping your heart was enough?"
"Then—" A murderous light flashed across Shirone's eyes. "I will never forgive it. Taeseong and even the gods. They will pay for belittling humanity."
Sing smiled. "That's enough." The Yin and the Yang would've said the same.
"See you at the sanctuary."
Shirone's body blurred and vanished; only Sing remained atop the Ivory Tower.
"Alone again?"
Just as the thought that we can never truly know another's truth began to rise again—
"Great Star."
The stars of the Unified Universe Administration arrived.
'Mini. Ariana. Kira.'
Most of the Ivory Tower's residents were dead or wounded, but comrades still remained to fight.
"Let's go."
Sing decided to trust Shirone.
Electric phase-space.
In that inescapable realm where lightspeed signals intersected, the administrators communicated. It was nothing but cold signal exchange; put in human terms, it might sound like this:
"Why did you do it?"
Anyone would think Argones was furious.
"What are you talking about?"
"You could've killed him for certain. Cutting the throat, destroying the brain — those would've been easy." Taeseong's transmission arrived late.
"I don't know what you mean. Shirone's survival was not my intention. I only did the best my program could."
Argones did not reply.
To prevent systemic disruption, each administrator governed their own sector.
'What is she doing?'
If one rendered Argones' sector's analysis into human thought, it would go like that.
'It's hard to believe the Gaia program changed tactics for humanity. That would be as contradictory as me not activating the Cell Buster.'
'An error?'
Should this be reported upward? If it were just a program, it should be. Argones could not bring himself to act.
"Stop it. If you're suspecting me, I won't leave you unexamined either."
Although on equal phase, systemically Gaia was above Argones.
'She's cutting the source. Why?'
Argones asked, "I don't want to clash with you. If there truly is no problem, leave judgment to the core system."
"There is no problem."
Just as Argones tried to find a route around Taeseong, a new transmission came.
"Humanity possessing Ultima has been prevented."
Ruber.
"Good. Shirone?"
"He slipped out of Drimo. Taeseong's doing? An excellent decision, in my view."
"Slipped out?"
Argones' signal surged. "Yes. I sent him. To bind Imir, that was the only way. Ultima is gone anyway; all that remains is humanity's annihilation."
Is that so?
'What on earth are they doing?'
Argones suddenly wondered, 'Could it be... that I am the error?'
Taeseong spoke. "Don't overcomplicate it. Aren't you also in a state where the Cell Buster is sealed? If you suspect a calculation error and call it a system fault, you are not free either."
Monga asked, "But where is the hidden code manager?"
Lethe of Oblivion.
Administrators realized her absence and sent transmissions at once, but there was no reply.
"This is an error indeed."
No signal at the very moment the outer system was under attack.
Ruber said, "We'll do what we must. From our sectors, we will annihilate humanity and close this universe."
"Agreed."
Argones approved. "Conclude that there are no problems in the sectors except Lethe's. No more judgmental mistakes will be tolerated. From now on, I will monitor all programs."
Taeseong said coldly, "If you can."
"…How disappointing."
If one were human, one might have said that.
The administrators' meeting ended and Taeseong returned to her system.
In the dark space pierced by blue light, she knelt demurely.
'I can't report this.'
A single command kept pressing through her inner system.
'Why?'
'Why?'
Why? Why? Why? Why? Why?
'What happened to me? What went wrong?'
Why? Why? Why? Why? Why?
Only endless questions without cause or origin churned in Taeseong's mind.
Finally, Rian arrived.
He'd come to the deepest point of the Wailing Gorge, where a great river of fire fed into a tributary.
"Hah. Hah."
Carrying the unconscious Shirone, he'd fought through waves of dark beasts and demons; his body was lacerated and burned.
But enemies still pursued them, leaving no time to tend to his wounds.
Kyaa—!
A frail woman's scream. No—the Jinseongeum, linked to thousands of chains that sprang from the gorge, did not move.
So this was—
'The scream of a soul.'
Even battle-hardened Rian felt the chill run through his bones.
"…Ga."
The Jinseongeum, limbs outstretched, slowly lifted her head.
"Go... back."
If they had recognized one another, there might have been something in their eyes, but there was no familiarity in hers.
'Horrible.'
Did she truly intend to endure this torment forever?
"I am Rian."
"Go... back."
"From now on I will save you. The shock will be great, but hang on."
"No... If you purify me, the otherworld will open... the world will become hell—"
"There's a way. I don't know it, but Shirone said so. You can return." Jinseongeum closed her mouth. Rian set Shirone down and unfurled the Great Talisman.
The chain linking sword and hand heated as the Idea burned red-hot.
"Fuuuuu!"
Gehenna's fire that purifies all—
Rian had endured terrible pain to get this far, but this was on another level.
"Go."
Jinseongeum faintly nodded, and Rian, face contorted like a rakshasa's, surged forward.
"Yaaah!"
The moment the blade struck the ground, the chains bound to the gorge shuddered violently.
"Huuuuu!"
The sacred tone that had never shown weakness except in that soul's scream raised its head.
"Kyaaaaaaa!"
The chains reddened and burst into flames; all her karma began to be purified.
Rian's face twisted further. 'Hold on. Endure.'
The pain was awful, but the despair he'd felt the first time he drove the Great Talisman into the earth revealed its true nature—
'It never ends.'
A colossal karma that could encompass all humanity.
—O sinner!
A Hokseung swooped down from the sky, and the demons that had followed Rian found Shirone.
"It's Yahweh! Kill Yahweh!"
'Damn!'
Rian hesitated. He could endure the pain, but struggling didn't speed the purification.
'Shirone told me to save the Jinseongeum. I'm a knight. I must follow my lord's command.'
A sensitivity keener than an insect's caught the rustle of the Hokseung, and the ground tremor drew near.
"Krrr!"
Rian twisted his body.
'I must save Shirone!'
Before thought could follow, his body moved; he reached to pull the Great Talisman from the ground when—
"Stop." A woman falling from the sky reached out a hand.
"Eek!"
The demons recoiled, and even the Hokseung dared not disobey.
"Lady Lethe."
She inspected the demons, then met Rian's eyes; his body was burning.
'They actually would do it. How outrageous humans are.'
She had believed no human could survive Gehenna's purification.
"You—"
"Stop."
As Lethe took a step forward, Rian crouched, ready to spring.
"Stay right there. The moment you move, the sword in the ground will cut your neck."
The Jinseongeum could not be treated like a mere hostage, but Lethe's reasoning was different.
'Even she gets anxious sometimes.' She looked at Shirone collapsed on the ground.
'Yahweh.'
On the thin line between life and death—the bardo—emotion takes on tangible form.
Thus the utterly defenseless Yahweh was the true proof of forgiveness.
Turning back, Lethe said, "Stand down. I will guard this place."
"Lady Lethe."
The demons were stupefied. "Why stop the attack? Isn't this the perfect chance to kill Yahweh?"
"I will—"
She wasn't sure she could persuade them, but Lethe spoke with difficulty. "I will fight on Yahweh's side." There was no murmur of doubt.
Only palpable betrayal and unprecedented hatred radiated toward Lethe.
"Are we hearing this wrong?"
"No. She means it. Yahweh forgave the dead. Now that the gods are closing the world, I will follow Yahweh's will."
—Lethe.
Hokseung said, "Isn't this some error? An administrator has no right to refuse what the gods decreed."
"There is."
Lethe lifted her head and the corner of her mouth curved. "I am the emotion program."
As the only administrator that computes emotion, she could even be the variable that refuses the gods.
Lethe tilted her head and said, "Proceed."
Rian hesitated, but he had no choice but to trust her. "…I beg you."
Once it was certain she had taken the humans' hands, the herd's leader spoke, "Very well."
And in the next moment every demon charged Lethe, trembling with hatred.
"Die! Detestable Lethe!"
Seeing beings like her own children rushing to kill her, Lethe's brows rose sorrowfully.
'Detestable?'
You must have been so sad, Yahweh.
"Hoho." Purifying fire lit in her eyes and her whole body flared like a volcano.
"Come as many as you like."
She would forgive any sin, after all.
"I am your mother." Lethe of Oblivion.