[308] Master of the Incarnation (6)
"Ignore me one more time and I'll blow the whole place to hell."
Bosun realized the situation was far worse than he'd thought. Someone willing to cast magic at their own parents had to be out of their mind.
Orcamp slid down to sit beside Eliza. It was humiliating to show such a thing to the nobles, but he had to stop Kazra's destruction at any cost.
'Damn. This is the nation I helped build.'
With Orcamp the last to kneel, Bosun naturally became the spokesperson. He turned to Shirone and said,
"Now speak. What do you want to hear? If there's anything you desire, I'll grant it."
"Who ordered the assassination of my parents? Who was it?"
The nobles exchanged glances, trying to read each other. Then their eyes settled on one man.
Bosun raised his hand before anyone else spoke—he already knew whom they were staring at.
"I ordered it. If you want revenge, take it. But… how about ending it with me?"
"Cut the crap. Do you think I'm going to forgive you?"
"You won't forgive me, of course. But think about it coldly. No one's dead yet. Even if you kill us all, could you stand against Her Majesty Empress Teraje? And isn't your beloved family staying here?"
Bosun went straight for Shirone's weakness.
If Shirone was holding a bomb yet still trying to expose the people behind his parents' deaths, it meant they still had value as hostages.
Believing this might be his last chance, Bosun rose with his hands up, as if he had no intention of coming closer.
"I'll do as you wish. Everyone involved in this assassination attempt, myself included, will accept legal responsibility. Take your family and go home. I, Aimar Bosun, an officially certified Grade-4 mage, guarantee it here. So why not settle this by talking?"
Shirone's expression darkened.
Killing everyone present wouldn't ease him. But destroy the castle and his family and friends would vanish with it.
"Charge! Charge!"
A commotion came from outside the Grand Hall. The alerted garrison stormed in, fully armed.
But the looks of grim resolve on the soldiers' faces turned to bewilderment as soon as they arrived.
"What… what is this?"
The sight defied imagination. The Grand Hall—the castle's heart—was horribly shattered.
Most shocking of all: everyone, including Orcamp, was kneeling.
'Now!'
As Shirone's gaze flicked toward the soldiers, Bosun teleported.
By the time he reached Shirone he had already drawn a dagger from his sleeve.
'This is my last chance. I have to stab his heart!'
Shirone was taken aback by Bosun's sudden attack. Bosun, seemingly resolved, thrust the dagger without hesitation.
It sank in with a squelching sound, piercing through the force of murderous intent.
Bosun grimaced.
Shirone, whom he'd expected to be groggy, reacted more nimbly than anticipated. Shirone twisted with all his strength, causing the blade to lodge in his side instead of his heart.
"Damn."
Shirone couldn't name the feeling swelling inside him.
Reason had fled, replaced by a beastlike ferocity. The thing driven into his body was not only pain but a crushing shame.
The moment Bosun met Shirone's eyes, he cast Earth Skin.
Soil built up quickly over Bosun's skin. The durability of Earth Skin from an officially certified Grade-4 plant mage was as strong as rock.
A Photon Cannon slammed into the earthen shell. Thousands of fissures webbed across the wall of earth and it shattered.
Horror distorted Bosun's face. Perhaps the impact had pierced through—the blood spurted from his mouth.
"Uaaaaa!"
Shirone clutched his side and writhed in pain.
Above them, the Photon Cannon swelled at an incredible rate. The photon column, already a meter in diameter, made onlookers pale.
By abandoning compressive force to gain sheer size, it had become something else entirely. No longer just a Photon Cannon—it was a Gravity Cannon: a siege gun meant for buildings, not people.
The Grand Hall descended into total chaos. Nobles went ashen and screamed; guards wandered helplessly, doing meaningless things.
"Rena!"
Attendants of House Ozent, following the garrison, armed themselves and rushed in. They too were stunned.
"Subdue the nobles! Now!"
Rena barked the order.
The shocks rocking the Grand Hall indicated a full emergency across the castle. If they didn't restrain the nobles now, they'd lose even their lines of retreat.
The attendants moved in, blades to the throats of the high nobles.
As Rena expected, units under command flooded the hall. Senior officers charged in, unprepared and breathless.
Screams, wails, cries to kill Shirone, Rena's commands—all sounds tangled into a single indistinguishable roar. No one could convey meaning; they only howled.
To Amy, it all looked like laughter. She found herself smiling, too.
Faced with the unbearable, astonishingly her mind calmed.
'If this is the end, what a magnificent finale.'
Through the cacophony filling the Grand Hall, a gentle voice reached Shirone.
"Shirone."
Silence fell as if on cue.
Everyone turned to the entrance. Olina stood there, face set, clutching Vincent's arm.
Seeing Shirone drenched in blood with a dagger in his side, Olina swayed as if dizzy.
Vincent steadied her, but she pushed him away and stepped into the Grand Hall alone.
People made a path. Her lips trembled as she approached Shirone.
"Don't go."
Eliza's voice stopped Olina in her tracks.
"Shirone's gone mad. If you go, you'll die."
Eliza wanted Olina not to go to him.
Shirone had tried to kill her. If anything happened to Olina, the pride of the bloodline would not forgive it.
Olina drew a long breath and turned toward Eliza. Seeing Eliza's dazed, hollow face, a fire rose in Olina's chest and everything went dark.
Smack! Olina's palm struck Eliza's cheek.
The nobles couldn't believe what they were seeing. No parent could remain rational after seeing their child's belly stabbed, but the one being struck was none other than Kazra's queen.
Eliza didn't understand what had just happened.
When she turned back to her slapped face, Olina was crying. That was stranger still—why was the one who struck someone the one in tears?
"What did you… do to my son?"
Pain came late, and tears blurred Eliza's eyes. It hurt so much.
That pain became a ready excuse for Olina; she no longer needed to answer for her words.
Orcamp did not rebuke Olina. If anything, he postponed it.
There was no doubt she'd been the one to halt Shirone's rampage; for now, they had to place their hopes on her.
"Stop Shirone at once. The line of Kazra must not be severed—"
Olina turned on Orcamp like a bolt of lightning, eyes flashing.
Orcamp blinked hard at the image of a slap in the air. But the king's authority would not be humiliated after all.
When Orcamp opened his eyes, Olina had seized his wrist and trembled, then turned coolly and walked back toward Shirone.
"Shirone."
Shirone did not answer.
Looking at Olina felt like being a child who'd committed an unforgivable mistake. He had caused an irreparable disaster. The instinctive fear of disappointing one's parents overwhelmed him.
Olina's gaze, which had cut like a blade in the past, today wore the kindest smile.
That made Shirone's chest ache all the more. He could not say why.
"Shirone, do you know how pretty you were when you were a child? Your smile was so cute—like a little girl. At those times your father used to pull a foolish face. Then you'd laugh even bigger."
Olina told stories of the past.
"You were such a gentle child. Even when you were angry, you didn't show it and you couldn't hurt anyone. If your friends got mad, you'd say nothing and come home moaning."
Olina's eyes went soft. Yes, there had been such days.
And in what felt like an instant, the infant who had come like a blessing had grown into this young man.
"But I never worried. Being able to feel others' hearts is a noble thing. I'm so glad you grew up kind."
Olina stroked Shirone's cheeks with both hands. Her handsome son looked more exhausted than she had ever seen.
"You're so gentle you don't even know how to be angry. You're so furious inside but you can't hurt others, so you end up hurting yourself to show it."
Olina hugged Shirone gently.
"Seeing you so badly hurt, our son must have been very angry today."
Shirone's vision blurred. Clear, salty tears flowed—different from the blood-tinged tears he'd cried before.
His eyes stung as if squeezed. A poison that had filled him up to his jaw felt like it was draining out. His chest tightened so much he could barely breathe. All his emotions surged to his eyes and the words leaked out as if wrung.
"Mo-om…"
It was the voice of a lost child calling desperately for his mother in a strange place.
Olina burst into sobs, pressed Shirone's face to her chest, and rubbed his back.
"Yes, my son. Let's go home with Mama. Mama will take you home. Don't worry—come with me."
"Mom… Mom…"
Sobbing, Shirone gasped.
"They tried to kill my mother. Those people… they—"
"It's okay, Shirone. You protected me. I'm not afraid at all. For you, I'm not afraid to die."
Olina held Shirone's arms as he hiccuped like a child and smiled beautifully.
"Shirone, children are their parents' future. That's why I would do anything for you."
The enormous rage that had ruled Shirone began to collapse like a crumbling building, sinking quickly toward its base. The aura of hatred dropped from level ten to nine to eight.
The Level-1 deep binding seal recovered.
Shirone's incarnation flared in bright light atop the archangel statue. The Behemoth slipped back and retreated into the sealing circle. As the pillar of light vanished, Geffin's security device disengaged.
Shirone returned to his true self.
His physical body took the aftershock hard. Before he could even register the pain, consciousness faded. As his eyes closed, the Spirit Zone collapsed and the ataraxia disappeared.
Olina sat down with her collapsing son.
She might be someone who could die for her child, but she could not bring him back to life. She looked at those who had tried to kill him and said,
"Please, spare our son. I beg you."
No one in Kazra stepped forward. But Amy and Rena moved quickly.
First, they confirmed Shirone was still breathing. He might be brain-dead, but the biggest problem was blood loss. Without a transfusion immediately, he wouldn't last an hour.
"Amy, I'll take Shirone. You and the attendants go ahead and prepare the operating room. We need to start with a transfusion, so have his mother come along and tell the doctors his blood type."