The Sun That Rose at Night (4)
"There's no time!"
At Shirone's shout, Euntara asked, "What?????"
But before anyone could answer, Shirone became a streak of light and tore across the night sky.
"Mika!"
- Time until the solar wind arrives: 7 minutes 48 seconds.
"What the—!?"
It was midnight at the cathedral.
To stop the solar wind, he'd have to traverse roughly half the planet in about seven minutes.
'I can't use a simultaneous event.'
In the emptiness of space, no one could define Shirone for him.
- Blocking it is one problem. What's coming at the planet now is the strongest Law in the universe.
Mika's bluntness grated at the moment.
"We'll manage somehow."
Shirone's resolve was the strongest thing in the universe right then.
The instant he left, Amy and Ikael arrived at the cathedral.
"Ugh!"
Amy, who had suppressed the embodiment of flame, drew a deep breath. The air hitting her after so long was so electrifying it numbingly thrilled her brain for a second, but she quickly steadied herself.
"What happened?"
Ikael scanned the area as he approached. "It's the cathedral. We arrived faster than light. They must have transmitted via quantum signal."
Amy saw it then.
"Huh?"
From the west—a direction where nothing should ever rise—a small light swelled until it looked like a gigantic sun.
When Neid hesitated, Iruki motioned for him to come in.
'Can't read the mood at all.'
Iruki felt nothing special from this Imir either.
'I've heard about this. When someone reaches such an extreme level, lesser beings don't even sense them.'
'Are we… insignificant?'
Neid didn't think he was insignificant, so two possibilities opened up: either Imir was unexpectedly manageable, or Imir had become a monster beyond imagination.
"Imir."
Gaold stepped forward. "Seeing you from here feels different. But this won't be easy. This isn't your world." Imir remained silent.
'He speaks as if he knows me.' Gaold's words carried a sting, the kind Miro would call a level-one unconscious probe.
"Well, fine. Strangers and old acquaintances both. I see you gathered the best you could."
The instant Imir's killing intent flared, one side of Neid's face twisted completely.
"Ugh!"
It was like a tiger meeting a dinosaur; Iruki looked troubled. 'This is serious. If that thing frightens him…'
At that moment, a butterfly of light darted to Jin Seongeum. She read the data reflected on her retina and stepped back.
"A new mission has arrived."
And perhaps this mission would be the decisive variable that determined the fate of the world.
Without a word, Jin Seongeum vanished on an ether wave.
"All right—those who will go, go."
Imir waved his hand at them. "Attack them all."
No one gathered here had ever considered themselves capable of losing.
'Thousand-Hand Kannon.' Beginning with Miro's avatar technique, everyone's signature skills erupted simultaneously.
Amazingly, the result was…
"Heh heh heh."
Utterly one-sided.
"Kyaa! Somebody help!"
Those sheltering in Delta headquarters—regardless of rank—ran for their lives.
"Kill them! Kill them all!"
Could this even be called a corridor anymore?
Where the field's curtain had vanished, blood, pus, and flesh clung to the walls.
"Ugh!"
A fiend's ivory-sharp arm pierced a maid's back and hoisted her up.
"Argh! It hurts!"
"Such pretty music."
When it swung its arm, the maid tore free with a ripping sound and was flung into a wall studded with human hands.
"Oho! Ohoho!"
A corpse's hand, as if sprung from a grave, grabbed and tore at the woman's body.
The demons snickered. "Pathetically weak. What has Hell's army been doing? I should've enlisted myself."
Even weak denizens of Hell were indistinguishable from devils to humans.
"Don't be careless. The spaces merged and they only exploited the gap. Humans are strong. The destruction of Hell's army isn't an accident."
"True enough… hmph."
They'd bypassed every human defense and broken through, so their success made grim sense.
"Well, Satan will handle it. Meanwhile, let's have some fun. Look—there's an abundance of rare materials here."
Severed limbs, blood, entrails—on the Other Side, they were as valuable as gold and jewels.
When one fiend turned its head, the limp maid scrambled away in terror. "Please spare me!"
"Hehe! First things first—I'm hungry."
As the fiend raised its drill-like arm, a burning sound struck its eardrum.
"Huh?"
With an explosive pop, half its face flew away.
"Kiiiii!"
The fiends who saw their comrade fall wore terrified faces and rushed toward the corridor's end.
Mito Shirano, head of the International Tribunal, strode in, grumbling. "What is this? Where did you come from?"
The soldiers were busy protecting their nations' VIPs, so mages from the five main departments had stepped up.
Socrates, who'd just blown off a demon's head, said, "The spaces overlapped. This is serious. The sector's barrier has been completely breached."
"Hmph. The dead deserve to stay dead. Who's the fool who thinks someone will protect them in this situation?"
Shirano's words were practical, but protecting innocents still mattered.
Alpheas said, "The Tormia ecclesia will handle the dining area. We need a wide space to evacuate people."
"Understood. Please do."
Shirano's tone softened. Alpheas was a respected mage, and Vice-Principal Olivia was a certified Rank-2 archmage.
"I'll go too!" Dorothy, the grand military officer, stepped forward; Liz, attending for economic reasons, insisted on joining. "Me, me too."
Their faces were tense, but they were professionals, so Alpheas accepted.
As the ecclesia mobilized, departments from each nation found their roles on their own.
Socrates licked his lips. "What—if you all leave, what are we supposed to do?"
"Cut the vacillation. You used to be the chairman—show some responsibility." Shirano strode forward and snapped at the fiends. "Where's your leader?"
The nations' active forces couldn't leave their rulers, so the fiends couldn't expect a full commitment.
'Might as well meet him once.'
Perhaps that was the privilege of someone retired from the front lines.
"We'll escort you," the fiends snarled and charged. "Heads only."
"Hoho." Shirano's nails reddened like a swamp-colored witch's; Socrates paled and stepped back.
Underground in Delta headquarters.
When the midnight bell stopped, Havitz lowered his sword and nodded. "I lost."
Defeat always stung, but this time it felt oddly not entirely bad.
'I should grant the wish.' His heart raced at what condition the Wizard who'd kissed him might demand.
"Say it. What do you want me to do?"
"No."
The Wizard answered casually. "A draw."
Havitz frowned. "…I don't understand."
"The proposition I offered in this game was this: you either love me, or you hate me."
"Right. So you wanted a kiss—" Havitz felt a pang.
"You hate me."
The Wizard nodded. "You couldn't kill Shirone or Wuorin anyway. I can't be defeated, so I'm done with games like this. Win or lose, I hate you."
"…You win."
That was the rule.
"What do I care about your true feelings? You proved it—your loving me is a fact."
"You're wrong."
When the Wizard first proposed the game, one thought floated in his mind: a draw. Victory or defeat wasn't the point. Havitz enjoyed winning because it was fun; if losing were pleasure, he'd gladly lose. You couldn't catch him that way. If the Wizard had demanded death as the victory condition, would he have killed himself? He didn't know. His heart was chaos.
'But this way…'
The Wizard said, "It's over. Don't seek me again."
And she left. Havitz was stunned. A severing.
'How is it, Havitz?' Natasha—who carried the image of the outside world—watched his reaction. 'How does it feel to have it happen to you?'
"Uh…"
A tear ran down Havitz's cheek. "Aaaaah!"
Sorrow gave way to a flood of rage that contorted his face. Crack! As his face seemed to shatter and bones snap, Kido lunged his spear forward. "Wuorin! Stand up—!"
But in the next instant everyone froze at Havitz's form.
"Uoooooo—"
His hair had fallen out; his face and body were blackened like charred coal. Only the pearl-white of his eyes moved. Vanishing, laws against death, the disorder that had composed him—gone. What remained was malice.
"I will take it."
It was pure cruelty. He should already have been annihilated.
Kukukuku—!
Gaold's air-press hit, but nothing should have survived. Miro sensed a buffering effect: someone was absorbing the energy aimed at the planet.
'A planetary shield?'
He'd heard Shirone had been treated harshly, but that wasn't the point—the giant's fist was a centimeter from his face.
'Thousand-Hand Kannon.'
A safe distance. 'Hundred Strikes.'
Time slowed and countless palms of Kannon slammed into Imir's arm. But the force was enormous.
"Ugh!"
The punch that destroyed Miro's avatar punched through Eden's shield and struck home. Kraaaang!
"Miro! Eden!"
The two women rolled; Rian charged and swung her greatsword. "Yahaa!"
True brute strength. Imir's focus wavered as the attack struck his arm, but a smirk soon lifted his mouth. "Heh, is that all?"
Imir's divine eye pierced his opponents. "Is this the end?" Rian's heart dropped—no swordsman who rose again and again after being broken remained now.
"You can't fool my sight."
Imir pushed the greatsword aside and twisted. "Shall we see?"
As he threw his punch, a torrent of flame flew in and tore through his flank.
"Aaaaah!"
Even cells that shrugged off lava burned. "Graaah!" When the flames died down, the staggering figure glared forward with furious eyes.
"Who are you now?"
Amy sat before them.
"Huff."
"Amy!"
Tess rushed over and draped her cloak over the now-scorched woman. "What happened, you idiot!"
"Hehe, long time."
Tess's eyes filled with tears at Amy's confident smile—the same reassuring smile as always.
"What? So taciturn. You got so strong."
Ikael said, "This isn't the time to relax. There's something more serious."
"More serious? The world's already like this—what could be worse?"
"It's coming."
Ikael's gaze turned to the night sky. "Huh?"
In an instant everyone realized another sun was approaching from space, following the one already in the sky. Something traveling at light speed burst into brilliance.
"Guh!"
In a world turned to daylight, a man wreathed in radiance wore a sad smile. Amy's face went blank.
"Is it Nane?"
The final code chosen by the god of the outside world.
"Amy." Great Sun Tathāgata. The End of History (1).
Wings of light unfurled across the heavens.
The blast shoved Shirone aside, and at last the boundary between night and day became visible.
'There!'
The line of sunlight snaked across mountains and fields.
Crossing it, the sudden view nearly blinded Shirone. 'Almost there.' Breaking through the atmosphere, he shot into space and checked the time.
- 68 seconds remaining.
Invisible at that distance, an immense energy approached at the speed of light. If it couldn't be stopped, half the planet would be scorched and extinction would follow.
Detected earlier than the solar wind was a disc-shaped craft—an artifact of alien life.
'Teraforce.'
By human standards it flew exceptionally fast toward the planet's far side, where the cathedral stood.
'So it has come.'
The final clash of good and evil. If evil won here, Teraforce would erase humanity from the cosmos.
'User protection device.'
No one would want to live under absolute evil.
- Yahweh.
The voice of Teraforce's justiciar spoke. - To humanity's representative: we will now judge humanity's end.
Shirone did not oppose it—he couldn't; more importantly, he believed in the power of good.
"I will never lose."
- May that be so….
The justiciar's distant signal returned. - Do you intend to block the solar wind?
"Yes."
Only about thirty seconds remained.
- Shirone.
"Yes?"
Even the justiciar hesitated over one question—Amy's death. As a race that hears all humanity's voices, the Omega knew the records.
- To the one standing to block the sun for humanity: if you can save everyone, would you sacrifice one life?
"Yes."
Shirone added, "If it's my life, then as many as needed."
What else could he say?
As the Teraforce vessel vanished beyond the planet, the justiciar bade farewell. - Good luck.
Shirone gathered himself and moved toward the titanic energy he now felt.
- Time until solar wind arrival: 9 seconds. 8 seconds.
'Miracle Stream.'
His mind, risen to Yahweh's realm, formed a lens-like membrane far greater than the planet.
- 2 seconds. 1 second.
Rumble!
As the solar wind traced the curtain, the entire defense shook and Shirone's head swam. "Arrgh!"
A vast haze rose over the land battered by dragon-and-angel combat. "It's hot." The fire dragon Infercus looked up; the sun from eight minutes earlier still burned in the sky.
Argan said, "They intended to roast it whole. Even with the Messiah blocking, look at this radiative heat."
If not for Hexa's barrier, everything on the surface would have burned. Asriker said, "It's coming." Shirone fell without wings.
* * *
"Nane."
Unlike Miro's terrifying glare, Nane's face was calm.
"Why have you returned?" Nane kept his silence—a sign that he'd come down as an entity of the outside world.
"To destroy it?"
"No."
Nane shook his head. "There was nothing here to destroy in the first place. I came to return everyone—to paradise without pain or hatred."
Perhaps that was his intention.
"Is that… the Buddha's conclusion?" Miro disliked the notion.
"It's not a conclusion; it's the truth. When you awaken, you will see. Attachment to this world is an insubstantial illusion."
Shura flew in. "Great Buddha." She was the one who had returned from the outside world—the only person who knew this world's secrets.
"Yes, Shura."
"Did you learn anything? What is this universe? What will we become when we awaken?"
Nane knew the truth the false god sought. "Do you want enlightenment?"
"Yes. Teach me."
Knowing and awakening differ; Nane could only do one thing.
"Teach."
Slash.
A blade of light arced like a flash and pierced Shura's torso.
"Ugh!"
Her eyes rolled back; she lost consciousness and plunged toward the ground.
"Damn!"
Neid couldn't watch her fall and caught her. "You okay?"
"Ugh! Ugh!" Even struggling to breathe, her gaze stayed fixed on the Buddha.
'Why?'
Nane said, "Awaken from your dream. The pain is temporary. Abandon attachment and be freed from the suffering you carry."
"Hey! Snap out of it!"
Shura conflicted within waning consciousness. 'If I give my life now, will I learn the universe's secret?' she wondered.
"Graaah!"
Shura, using her gestalt ability, shattered the sermon with the power of falsehood.
"Hah! Hah!"
She glared into the air; Nane's face softened with pity. "Why do you resist?"
Who could say why? "I don't know. I was ready to die to learn the secret. But I think…" That. "It doesn't feel like the truth."
"It is the truth."
Nane answered with certainty. "I'm not trying to kill you. I want to give you everything I've felt. According to my teaching, once you start, your questions will resolve themselves."
That might be true. But—
"Then you should have killed me."
"If you were truly the Buddha, truly right, you would have killed me without giving me time to question. Then I would have awakened in the outside world. But you didn't."
Miro saw through it. "So you're still… not perfect?"
Shura nodded. "If you were truly merit, you wouldn't care what happens to this world. But the Buddha returned—so there's some attachment, a heart fixed on this world."
"Haah."
Nane could not deny it. His gaze drifted slowly to Amy on the ground.
'Indeed.'
Even after awakening outside, he could not avert his eyes from the attachment of a past life.
"So that's why you came."
To break even that last remaining attachment and free all of humanity from suffering.
"Teach."
Behind Nane, a fan of blades gathering every color of the world spread like a folding fan.
"Ku—"
Infinite blades shot down from the horizon at light speed. The Buddha's enlightenment sought one thing only.
"Get out of the way!"
It was Amy.
"Aah—!"
Shirone clutched his head and woke. "You all right?"
When he looked up, all twelve apostles stood around him, wearing worried faces as if in competition. 'You lost consciousness.' Shirone shouted, "How long was I out?"
"About three seconds. Not long, but the shock looked severe."
"There's no time."
A bad feeling settled in him—more fear than he'd ever known.
"What in the world—"
His words choked off and then— "Huh?"
An abnormal torrent of tears poured from him. "What? Wha—?"
His face crumpled and his whole body trembled as if struck by lightning. "Messiah! What's wrong?"
"Arrghhh—!"
The tachyon signal ran backward in time and revealed one fact: a pact with Fermi.
"A—Amy."
Combining conscious and unconscious probing of a moment he'd never reexamined, he found the truth: "Amy dies."
The pain was more unbearable than his own death or the extinction of humanity.
"Noooo!"
Shirone activated a simultaneous event; his body evaporated. Kraaaang!
As the sermon devastated the earth, the scattered party searched for Amy.
'Nane—you…'
Miro read the Buddha's intent. "Protect Amy! Even if it costs our lives, we must save Amy!"
The condition for the Buddha's perfection—and for Yahweh to lose everything—was Amy's death.
But a titanic wall stood in the way of Miro's command: Imir.
"Gahahaha! This will kill them!"
The king of giants beyond limit pushed back even the mightiest. Gaold's expression hardened. 'He overwhelms them.'
New arms sprouted from Imir's shoulders and flank. "Heh heh!" Six massive fists whirled like a hurricane, throwing everyone who charged them aside.
Even so, Nane's sermon relentlessly hunted Amy, the fire avatar.
"E. Mer. O. Sa. U. Ni. Shi. Te. Ry—" Each syllable became a blade, piercing the avatar at incredible speed.
"Ugh!"
Half the avatar reverted toward human form. 'The avatar is breaking.'
"Ja. Yo. San. Chi. Na. Ryoku."
Finally the fire avatar was wholly undone and Amy rolled on the ground. "Ugh!" She curled to her shoulder; blades impaled the air around her and a cylindrical pillar of light rose.
"Amy!" Miro's Thousand-Hand Kannon and Zulu's force metrics deployed together but were useless. 'The concept itself fails.'
A void-time.
Shirone was not the only one who could manipulate tachyons.
"Let go! Let me go!"
Trapped in the cylinder of light, Amy floated as innumerable events overlapped.
"Change your mind."
"No!"
No argument swayed Amy from her conviction. "I won't change." Had she lived another life she might have, but—
'She met Shirone.'
No matter how many times time rewound, she would choose that moment over and over. "I will never forget."
Nane could not alter Amy's result. "…Is that so." Everyone felt the same. Even if there were a heaven outside, who would abandon their beloved and die?
'Even if it's just a dream…'
Would you wake from the dream of being with your loved one?
'But.'
How many suffer in this mundane clash of good and evil?
"I will return everything." As merit.
Kukukukuku!
The world trembled; battle on the ground stopped and every gaze turned skyward.
"Th—That is…"
Above the horizon, a golden Buddha rose chest-high, wearing a kindly smile. Two enormous hands surged up from beneath the earth and joined as if in prayer, covering Amy.
"No!"
The party unleashed every attack they had at that empty air, but they could not break the Buddha's righteousness.
The palms closed gradually, compressing Amy within.
"Guhhh!"
Nane hesitated. 'I can feel it.' Amy's breath—her living presence. The Buddha's final pity trembled so pitifully between those hands. 'Truly… truly—will I erase this woman?'
'I can.'
Even with the power to destroy the cosmos, his heart would not wholly shut.
He would destroy that pity.
"Amy!"
At the same instant Shirone arrived via a simultaneous event, Nane's shout shook heaven and earth. The moment the Buddha's hands met, Shirone was struck as if by lightning and collapsed to the ground.
"Ahhhh—"
With his palms pressed together and head bowed, blood-swept tears fell from Nane's eyes.
"Take refuge in Avalokiteśvara." Karmis Amy—dead.