[467] The Outbreak of War (3)
Seventh Heaven, Arabot.
Outside Heaven's outskirts the armies of Heaven and the rebels raged, but Arabot, at the center of the concentric rings, remained eerily still.
Beneath the spire, far from cannon blasts and screams, Ikael stood watching smoke rising in the distance.
There was no emotion in her eyes. Only a will—dried and desiccated—remained, solely to carry out Anke Ra's intent.
A stabbing sensation approached, and reflexively her halo expanded into a ring of light.
Chiiiiing!
The ring spun at an unprecedented speed—an indication that her thought processes had likewise peaked.
Only a handful in Heaven could put Chief Angel Ikael on edge like this.
"What are you guarding?"
A handsome, gender-ambiguous man walked up to Ikael's left.
Rayel, archangel of light.
"Or are you waiting for someone?"
Short in stature but with shoulders twice as broad as other angels, Metatron, archangel of presence, appeared to her right.
Then, facing them, Metiel and Satiel—the archangels of union and dissolution—materialized.
"So the war has finally started. And as an ignoble invasion to boot. I'm disappointed, Ikael."
Surrounded by the four archangels with the Arabot spire at her back, Ikael's expression remained cold.
As she scanned their faces, one thought rose in her mind.
'Phael isn't moving.'
Phael, archangel of annihilation.
The four archangels gathered here were powerful manipulators of source concepts, but Phael's presence held a special significance for Ikael.
If Uriel, archangel of destruction, could be considered her equal in brute force, Phael was practically her nemesis when it came to amplification.
And the feeling was mutual.
They had each, for the time being, chosen to watch one another rather than act.
'Lucky, I suppose.'
"Hey, Ikael."
Metatron tilted his head and stepped closer.
"I know what you're thinking. But isn't this reckless? Even you can't take on all four of us at once."
"Why did you raise a rebellion? A refusal of Anke Ra?"
As Rayel stepped forward, blue electricity shimmered across his form.
A being whose source was light—not mere magic.
If struck head-on, even Ikael might not be safe.
'He's not calling Mara. He's already deployed her to the battlefield,' she thought.
Rayel said, "Our stance on Anke Ra is firm. But it's not you."
Satiel advanced.
"Is Chief Angel Ikael a thing of the past now? To be swayed by a mere human is a far graver sin than a fallen angel. This is a stain you brought upon yourself."
For the first time a murderous glint surfaced in Ikael's eyes.
"Arrogant fools."
Provoked, Metatron activated his halo.
A brutal gravity field unfolded, bending the very skyline toward him.
"Perhaps you've been Chief Angel too long. Even the first angel—there is no real superiority among archangels. Let us settle this here."
At the end of Metatron's words, the four archangels unleashed their powers in unison.
Electromagnetism, gravity, the weak force, the strong force.
The four fundamental forces of the universe were applied at once, pressing down on Ikael.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
Four impacts detonated simultaneously.
As the archangels' figures vanished from sight, Ikael's nose wrinkled in displeasure.
The halo expanded to dozens of meters in diameter, and a massive Ataraxia rose like a pillar of light into the sky.
The overwhelming force, amplified, swept across Arabot.
Flash!
All of Heaven could see the colossal surge of energy climbing above the spire.
* * *
Heaven, Fifth Heaven — Matei.
In a city of giants—everything far larger than human scale—the rebel command's main base fought desperately.
Mecha technology was specialized for the great-giants, and the Guroi mechs—2,000 of them, a quarter of the total—had been deployed.
"Advance! Push forward!"
Commander Crude, riding a Titan, fired ten thermal beam cannons in all directions to urge his troops on.
Guroi pilots responded by directing overwhelming fire at the charging giants.
Two hours into the war they had advanced two full kilometers.
But the deeper they pushed, the fiercer the enemy counterattacks became, and the stats of the giants appearing rose exponentially.
"Damn it!"
What had been a two-kilometer advance had been reduced to almost nothing.
The Guroi units were being driven back helplessly by a legion of giants whose Ilhwa's liquor level had passed stage three.
Bullets couldn't penetrate muscle, and they held little advantage in sheer strength.
"Yaaaah!"
Kanya locked the Guroi's barrel forward and poured a frantic hail of rounds.
Reason evaporated with the outbreak of war; fury over her lost father and the memory of a mother who'd died young because of Ilhwa's liquor pressed on her mind.
"Sis! Stay calm!"
Rena, equipped with infantry gear Piper, shouted while pulling the Arc's handle.
Explosive rounds spat forth—and an armored giant materialized before her.
Orsimo, commander of the First Giant Battalion.
"Waaahhh!"
Bang!
He blocked the bomb with his shoulder armor and swung a massive greatsword.
A strike imbued with Skima power exceeded the mecha's mechanical limits; Rena couldn't even react to the speed.
"Rena!"
Kanya twisted toward the image of her sister on the multi-vision and fired desperately.
But the Guroi's reaction time couldn't match her panic.
How had she forgotten? That there were still people she had to protect.
'Idiot!'
Tears swelled and regret flooded her.
At that moment, with a clang, someone stopped Orsimo's sword.
"Kugh!"
Orsimo's fierce face crumpled like a beast's.
As the Heaven Guard battalion commander, he knew mecha tech inside and out, but the apparatus now blocking his path was unlike anything he'd seen.
"Ba—Babel?"
Rena staggered and looked up.
Babel's back, reflecting the sun, threw back a muted light.
Shirone's algorithm had prioritized rescuing Kanya and Rena. In other words, Babel was always monitoring their status.
Sensing the sisters' crisis, Babel had cut down enemies in her path and abandoned the battlefield to rush here.
"Would a mere machine try to take on a giant?"
Orsimo gripped his greatsword with both hands and swung with enormous force.
But even a battalion commander's strength couldn't wound Babel.
The blade struck her arm with a clear metallic ring, and Orsimo's eyes widened in shock.
From the tremor transmitted along his hands he could tell how solidly built she was.
- Target eliminated.
Babel flicked the sword aside as she rose and, with a light stroke, severed Orsimo's neck.
She landed in a swift motion, and Rena, who'd been staring in stunned silence, muttered without thinking, "Th-thank you."
A machine could not feel, but she was human—and her gratitude for the savior of her life was sincere.
Watching that, Kanya bit her lip.
A tangle of feelings wrenched through her like twisted vessels in her heart.
Babel had been the one who killed her father.
But this time she had saved the sister she loved most.
That was why Kanya was confused.
How was she supposed to accept the metallic angel standing before her?
Chiiiiing!
Kanya leveled the Guroi's barrel at Babel.
Her father's image pierced her mind; the more she thought of it, the more sinister Babel's form seemed.
'Sis…'
Babel turned and looked at Kanya without expression.
A barrel trained on someone was an unmistakable intent to attack.
But in Babel's algorithm, retaliation against Kanya was not registered.
Clack.
The Guroi's barrel slowly lowered.
Kanya, as if expelling the turmoil inside her, shouted at Rena, "Don't ever leave my side again!"
Leaving those words behind, she pushed forward.
Her head had cleared with the resolve to protect Rena, but the knot of emotion remained.
Gradually, through the corpses of giants, a path opened.
* * *
Second Heaven, Lakia.
Except for Shirone and Plu, Gaold's party watched the pillar of light shooting up from Arabot.
There was no way the rebels had reached Arabot so quickly—an unknown variable had appeared.
Armin said, "That's energy no human could produce. Probably an archangel."
Julu said, "If the archangels are at odds, that's our chance. We must go now."
Gaold had no objection.
Even if the archangels gathered to block them, he intended to sweep them aside and press on.
Sein said, "We move. Once the operation starts, improvisation or mutual aid is unnecessary. Each of us will expend everything only to complete our own mission."
Shirone would infiltrate first; the rest would be sent to rescue Miro.
Miro should be deep in Lakia; once they rescued her, they could enter Jebul through Arabot.
Gangnan said, "Even if they change the Akashic Record's coordinates in Jebul, we have no way to return. Miro's space-time is already broken."
"We can only trust them."
Gaold thought of Frankwine, leader of the Night-Blind—who would deliver what he promised on time. There was no other way off Heaven.
For now, Gaold didn't care. Rescuing Miro was the priority.
"Full speed. If anyone falls behind, we leave them."
With that, Gaold launched himself forward.
At tremendous speed each followed, bringing their strengths to bear.
At Lakia's entrance, countless fallen angels and fire giants waited with grim expressions.
'Miro…'
Gaold accelerated.
Finally, finally they had come this far.
The damn gears of time that had been stuck—unable to close a twenty-meter gap—began to tick again.
Distance to Miro: 42.7 kilometers.
"Stop them! Do not let them come any closer!"
The fire giants hurled enormous balls of flame.
A wave of fire rolled over the heads of the giants arrayed across hundreds of meters.
"Fire!"
It was a tsunami of heat.
Gaold's eyes shone brilliantly as the flame-tide, which would burn the world, bore down on him.
There was no need to hold back any longer. Miro waited beyond this.
"Arrghhh!"
Gaold's face contorted like a demon; veins and nerves throbbed.
Pain amplification x5,000,000.
Kuaaaaaaang!
An unprecedented shock.
The tsunami of fire was obliterated in an instant by atmospheric pressure that crushed everything.
At the same time, fallen angels flew in from left and right, their wings of light beating.
Armin cast Stop and dozens of angels froze simultaneously.
Iron Wheel Eye—Equalizing.
Sein's pupils spun as he rapidly controlled the environment.
Raising atmospheric pressure wasn't generally tactically optimal, but this Equalizing was designed solely to boost Gaold's combat capabilities.
"Advance!"
The fire giants charged at Gaold.
What had stood like a tidy horizon began to warp with individual emotion, and they all lunged at Gaold.
Distance to Miro: 40.3 kilometers.