Final Chapter (1)
The boundless realm of Nothingness.
"Everything is an illusion."
But because his mind was drawn there, it could not be dismissed as a mere illusion.
"This is my beginning."
The first illusion Shirone chose was the moment the iron spear was planted in this world.
He did not strictly need to check, but on such a long journey he wanted to be thorough.
The Ivory Tower's Great Earth Temple.
When he opened his eyes, beneath his feet lay his planet—blue and beautiful.
"And...
Veron, who had just driven the iron spear in, was receiving Nane's sermon on the surface.
Nane's sword had swelled to unimaginable size and, grazing the planet, carved a straight wound across the earth.
Taeseong asked, "Well? You faced him directly, so you should know. If it had been Shirone, could he have stopped this sermon now?"
Her words were evidence.
"He's back."
Taeseong frowned.
"...Shirone?"
More troubling than the silence was the look in Shirone's eyes, as if he already knew everything.
"Taeseong."
"Ah, I—"
As if a system crash had occurred, she flustered like never before.
"If I tell the truth, history will change." Of course, the Twelve Apostles, Uorin, and Richard's trinity would cling to the established history.
"I'll be back."
It was meaningless anyway.
His body unraveled into the light of the Miracle Stream and, in an instant, he arrived at the altar on the surface.
Veron, facing death, said to Shura, "Go to Hexa. Do not make the meaning I left in this world into nothing."
"No! You know how much I hate that brat! What about the Ten Elders?"
In this slightly twisted history, Shirone could hear their conversation for the first time.
"Did he know?"
In the end Shura came to him, and the iron spear he left behind became humanity's only hope.
Shirone looked up at the sky.
"Nane."
The moment he saw Nane's face, gazing at the world with detached serenity, a fire boiled up inside him again.
"If I can subdue the Buddha... the unhappy future won't come."
Drawing his mind's power to the utmost, Shirone rushed toward Nane.
"Hand of God."
Even then they had clashed over the truths of the universe; in hindsight, how immature they had been.
"That's not it. Truth... is not something you can define with mere reason. It's the hearts of all humankind and the suffering that corresponds to them."
"Nane!"
When a photon cannon was born on that great palm of light, Nane's eyes widened.
"What is that... what kind of awakening is this?"
But his surprise lasted only a moment. Nane's body trembled and his gaze emptied.
"Shirone."
There was a touch of anger in his voice.
Nane extended his palms toward the photon cannon tearing through the atmosphere.
Great Sun Tathagata.
Attaining a Buddha-like state comparable to Yahweh, Nane's body shone like the sun.
Bang.
The photon cannon was destroyed into nothing, and Nane asked, sorrow in his face, "Yahweh, is it truly something you cannot give up?"
"Tachyon."
Nane, too, had transcended space-time on the signal of an impossible frequency to arrive here.
"As expected, it's not easy."
Shirone said, "You are the one who should give up. Do you think I would go this far without understanding humanity's desperation?"
"Even that heart, once awakened, is only an illusion."
Nane moved his arms. "If you cannot cast off your vexations, you will only repeat the samsara of the Saba world forever."
Kukukukuku!
The incarnation of the Great Sun Tathagata rose above the horizon and began to fold its hands as if to embrace the world.
A painful memory surfaced.
"No."
"Namu."
Even Nane's murmured mantra struck Shirone like a traumatic blow.
"Namu Kwanseum Bosal."
Shirone turned.
"Amy!"
The two palms of the Great Sun Tathagata softly covered the world and then met completely.
"Om."
A life was extinguished.
He hadn't seen it with his own eyes, but it was vivid in his head as if he had.
Frozen, Shirone turned and saw Nane's face, tears of blood streaming from his eyes.
"Do not turn away from the truth, Yahweh."
The next moment, charged with murderous intent, Shirone shot at Nane like an arrow.
"Naneee!"
And—
"Sermon."
The world flared, and Shirone's consciousness was severed.
Hah!
In the realm of Nothingness where nothing existed, Shirone opened his eyes.
"Illusion."
It felt as though his heart were being torn apart.
"I'm sorry, Amy."
Thus the first journey ended without him seeing the one he loved.
"But now I know."
The moment Shirone tried to change Nane's life, Nane would pursue him as well.
"There must be a way. As long as Amy lives I can fight at Yahweh's level. If I can only break Nane... things will go more smoothly than I thought."
"Going."
When he fashioned the second illusion, a universe began to be born again inside the realm of Nothingness.
As long as the iron spear remained, there was no fear of losing the way.
Uorin's brow creased.
"Ugh!"
Shirone's tachyon affected the iron spear and exposed it directly to the time wave.
"Already finished the first cycle?"
Kido's expression was grim too.
Being subjected to a wave that ran faster than normal time felt like one's very life was being drained.
"How fast is it?"
Uorin shook her head. "I don't know. Vibration has no fixed value, but roughly eight hours passed per second."
An incredible acceleration.
Rumble!
At the vibrations washing in from outside, Huama lifted his head and peered toward the entrance.
In the distance, a throng of demonfolk could be seen.
"It's begun."
Those who had won the war of good and evil came to collect the last spoils.
"We will begin the count."
At the moment humanity's destruction entered its final countdown, the World Leadership vote concluded quickly.
Counting would take about ten minutes, but the outcome was already known.
While people shuffled cards with Lampah, Armin sat lost in thought.
"Shiina."
Shiina wasn't on the survivor list, and no identification had been confirmed before that either.
"Please be alive."
Keira took Armin's hands. "Here—drink."
Armin smiled as she accepted the tea. "Thanks."
"You don't need to pretend. Anyway, I respect how much you love your sister." Armin said again. "Thanks."
Keira let out a short laugh, sat beside Armin, stared at the ceiling, and asked, "What will you do after the war?"
An oddly timed question, but perhaps such thoughts were allowed now.
"I'll paint."
"Haha! That thing from your spy days? It was alright. But are you sure? If I have to feed you, a mage would be more practical."
"There are things I want to put on canvas."
"What things?"
"I don't know."
"Come on."
"I can't decide yet. I'll wait—for the sights, the moments, the scenes I want to show all of humanity. I'm waiting to paint those."
"I see."
A smile touched Keira's mouth. "That's like you."
The door opened.
"The count has finished. Shirano, on behalf of the World Leadership, will now announce the result."
"Thus, all kingdoms shall make their final stand centered on Tormia. We register Pony, King of Tormia, as the leader of the World Leadership."
The square erupted in applause.
No one objected—this would be perhaps the heaviest position in the world.
Even the Holy See of the Rami Church, which had once contended with Yahweh, had to bow to Melchidew's truth.
"Now, let's hear the inaugural address."
Shirano stepped aside and Pony mounted the stage.
"I..."
She paused for a long moment and looked at the people.
'I'm the world's leader.'
Even if the seat were nothing but responsibility, she was satisfied—if anything, precisely because of that.
'I've achieved my dream.'
So she spoke what she wanted to say.
"As King of Tormia, I have always tried to be humble toward other nations."
Silence filled the hall.
"Not because Tormia is weak, nor because others are strong. Behind me are people I love and respect deeply—their lives, their existences."
If that was responsibility.
"And now, in a position to be responsible for all humanity, I will again be the most humble. The authority in my hand is not divine; it is what you have given me."
She opened her palm.
"If someone must die to end this war, I will gladly give this one life!"
As she clenched her fist and shouted, a thunderous cheer rose.
"Fight! Fight!"
Morale surged, and in every eye there was a solemn resolve never to lose.
"It's approaching."
Ultima.
And at that moment, only one man kept his mouth shut with a bitter expression—the last survivor of Gustav's 4th regiment, Zeta.
Kuan said, "It's not a matter of immortality."
Precisely speaking, it was the Crown riding in his body.
"At the terminus of reincarnation, death holds no special meaning. So why go on living?"
Shiina listened.
"This is a matter of existence. How long can you persist? If you linger too long and there's nothing new, we will collapse too."
The law of the universe.
"Missing link. Forgetting is necessary. The Illuminati fight against the void. If there is truly nothing, then it will simply be nothing."
Shiina hardly cared.
"Kuan, what happened to you? You promised you'd fix what was broken."
The Crown limped and spoke, "This body is unbearable. How could I have fought like this? Was I conned?"
"Don't dodge the question!"
The Crown laughed. "I restored severed nerves with mine. But I can't touch the mind, can I?"
"Liar! You're the con man! If you're the one keeping Kuan from coming out..."
"Well, there's no way to prove it. But it's true. Honestly, I'd like to hear the manual too. How do you even synthesize this? At this rate we can't fight."
"Who are you even fighting...!"
As Shiina opened her mouth to argue, a roar split the sky.
"Hmm."
Twelve dragons struck at the Terraforce ship intercepting the surface.
"It's begun."
To the Illuminati, right and wrong, motive and affection meant little.
They only wanted to find something in the anomaly this world had produced—something akin to a miracle.
"A world that refuses forgetting."
Perhaps the outside world had reached this stage too easily.
"A method to transcend Infinity."
As Shiina flinched, Terraforce troops appeared from every direction.
"Humanity, judgment is complete. We will judge you according to the will of God."
"Do something. You made the god, so you can persuade them, right?"
The Crown shrugged. "That doesn't make me God. Being a god means computing the multiverse..."
The combatants rushed forward.
"Exterminate them!"
"Ugh!"
Shiina cast a freezing spell, but alien technology outmatched magic.
"Terraforce is strong."
"You—!"
At the Crown's casual remark, as if it were someone else's problem, Shiina glared fiercely.
"Do not resist! There will be no suffering!"
A combatant slammed her down and pressed a plasma blade to her throat.
"Kuan!"
Hearing Shiina's cry, the Crown felt his consciousness overturn.
"...Huh?"
Something immense flooded in.
"Huh?"
—Protect Shiina.
A single signal was received in his mind, and the world's scenery shattered into fragments.
"Whoa."
Faced with a fact only the Illuminati could anticipate, the Crown trembled.
'This one's cognition breaks the symmetry of the universe.'
The extreme of asymmetry.
The next moment, along the rapidly tilting axis of the world, every combatant rolled and fell.