[488] A New Variable (1)
'Dawn is breaking.'
Amid the chaos of battle, Shirone sensed the sky grow light.
Armand's pupils, which had been dilated to draw in every scrap of light, slowly contracted, and the terror-stricken faces of the Kergo warriors snapped into sharp focus one by one.
"Kill them! Do not fall back!"
Even the Kergo chieftain, bellowing that, was as pale as a corpse.
They had honed their schemas over centuries of heresy hunting, yet the Elysion Shirone wielded belonged to some utterly foreign realm.
As the boundary of the Spirit Zone vanished, dozens of photon cannons ripped through space like claws, sweeping left and right.
Their blades could not cut Armand, and the tentacles kept swallowing corpses without end, feeding Shirone's activity.
When the multiple frenzied blasts finally detonated, grotesque screams filled the air.
Dozens of light sources flared, crushing the entire Kergo hunting party.
Alone, Shirone's eyes were full of sorrow.
He had dozens of reasons to fight etched into his mind, but with each life that ended, a reason was erased. Now he barely knew what he was fighting for.
'I'm afraid.'
He had not come to Heaven without resolve—not as a mage, not as a member of the Gaold Team. What truly frightened him was that even that resolve had grown numb; he felt nothing.
"Rian."
The composed expression on Shirone's face twisted, and tears fell.
"I'm so scared, Rian."
"There! After them! Don't let them escape!"
Once more the heresy hunters renewed their pursuit.
As long as Shirone moved about reeking of blood, they would chase him to the ends of anywhere.
A Kergo warrior came at him like an arrow and brought his poleblade down vertically; Akamai's pupils activated Antithesis.
Before the motion could finish, Armand's tentacle burst the enemy's face.
What followed was the same one-sided slaughter.
Kuzen's feeding-metabolism left Shirone no respite for fatigue.
Ringer's armor allowed no wounds, and Kensor's absolute restoration permitted no injury.
Within all those enhancements, the Ultima System stamped magic into every space Jikji could perceive.
Akamai subdued foes, Galtomic's mana amplification pushed the force to its limit, and approaching enemies were sliced apart by the tentacle blades.
"Damn it! It's a monster! Not human!"
The pursuers, who had assumed the Light of Sector 73 was only symbolic, trembled with terror when they faced Shirone's martial might—like confronting a god.
"Elysion!"
Shirone's gaze, driven by Jikji and aimed through the world, flashed. Countless photon cannons sprang from the ground and shot straight up into the sky.
It was as if massive bursts of blinding light rose in clusters.
Adapting to attacks that struck up from beneath one's feet is almost impossible for human eyes; the enemies died without even reaching Shirone.
When the next wave of battle ended, a doleful sorrow rolled over him like a tide.
"Peope."
Shirone pressed a hand to his chest to check Peope's state.
The fairy was not dead, but his life force was clearly much weaker than before.
That faint life lashed Shirone's will onward.
"I have to get to Arabot."
Shirone's robe, darkened by the blood of so many, quickly absorbed it and converted it into energy.
On that power he pushed forward, step after step.
The closer he got to his destination, the more the number of trackers thinned.
Arabot's sacred aura might account for some of that, but it also occurred to him that, aside from Shehakim, something major could be happening in other regions.
At last, when Arabot's ramparts came into view, Shirone teleported and halted at a chosen spot.
'This is the first point.'
Sein had designated three points from which Divine Punishment could be cast, and Shirone had trained his descent trajectory to match.
If he cast magic here, Heaven would be destroyed.
But Shirone ignored the point and walked on.
If no special tactical orders were given, Divine Punishment was to be cast from the point closest to Arabot—so long as it didn't pass noon.
If Plu had been present, judgment conditions might have been more favorable, but in the end it would likely have made no difference.
'I'll meet Ikael. Hold on a little, Peope.'
Shirone vaulted over Arabot's walls.
He arrived before both the Gaold Team and the rebels—the first to reach Arabot.
He paused at the second point.
Even though he could see the spire where Anke Ra lived in the distance, no one stopped him.
It wasn't until he passed the third point that he finally met someone, just two kilometers from Arabot.
Leaning his back against the spire, the Archangel Ikael of Amplification waited for Shirone.
"So you came in the end, Shirone."
How many battle lines had he crossed to reach this place?
Ikael's eyes, as if dried out, gave away little sign of feeling.
Faced with her clear hostility, Shirone's steps did not waver.
"I have a favor to ask."
"I refuse. You and I are enemies. If you come any closer, I will have no choice but to kill you. Actually…"
Ikael's body slowly tilted.
She had every reason to shut down any opening to her thoughts.
"In any case, I will kill you."
Bang! The air detonated and Ikael vanished.
She reappeared directly behind Shirone.
Her fist, sped up by amplification, cut the air and stopped; her brows tightened.
Shirone was already ten meters away from Ikael.
Above them, Ikael's Judicial Halo—Valhalla Action—rotated.
Though reduced to a fallen angel and bound in most of her powers, the Judicial Halo's capability remained equal to any angel's innate might.
Seeing the Valhalla Action, it was natural for Ikael to recall the Ataraxia link Shirone had passed on.
'To wield two angelic judgements…'
No one in Heaven could do that. Therefore Shirone must die.
Having made her decision, Ikael launched again.
Even Armand's neural enhancements could only leave an afterimage of her speed.
Bang! The air exploded once more as Ikael drove out her fist.
"...."
But once again, Shirone had vanished.
Ikael's Valhalla Action consumes the time normally assigned to causes in order to prioritize outcomes.
Giving Shirone that time was clearly her choice.
Yet she did not think she had erred—this time she had been sure he could not dodge.
'How did he see it?'
Ikael turned slowly and confirmed that Shirone had already slipped behind her.
Armand's tentacles fluttered, preparing to engage.
But what startled her more was something she could not see.
Shirone no longer had a mental fulcrum.
And that ability—unmistakably—was Gaia's power, a memory clearly imprinted in Ikael's mind.
"Elysion?"
Ikael muttered without meaning to, wincing as the thought hurt her.
"Ugh!"
She had already braced her mind, but another sense strained toward the edge of oblivion.
'You must not remember.'
That was Anke Ra's will.
Quickly regaining control, she snapped back to a cold gaze.
"You've grown much stronger. In only a few days."
She had perceived the Ultima System and dodged with Valhalla Action.
That might have been feasible, but Ikael could only think him foolish.
"Is that all you have to face me with?"
You can only dodge once. If I press a flurry of strikes, Valhalla Action's nature means you won't evade them.
In truth, she didn't even need that—she could have moved so fast that Jikji wouldn't even detect her.
Shirone took Peope from his arms, and Ikael's gaze fell on the emaciated fairy.
"He's still alive. You could revive Peope, couldn't you?"
Peope was a familiar name to Ikael—the fairy who had brought Shirone when he first arrived in Heaven.
But this was wartime, and Peope had aided a heretic.
"Don't be mistaken, Shirone. You cannot bargain with me. I doubt you'll even survive this time…"
"You know you can kill me."
Cling!
A magic circle of Valhalla Action formed above Shirone's head.
"Because Archangel Ikael must be the most powerful being in Heaven."
"…What are you trying to say?"
Shirone looked up at the circle hovering above him.
"Valhalla Action reverses cause and effect. That means an action can reach its result immediately…"
Ikael's voice sharpened.
"Are you mocking the angelic commander now?"
All angelic judgements reside in Ikael's mind—she is the source of every judgement.
"That's why I'll explain. If you reach the result already, there will be no returning."
Shirone turned his gaze back to Ikael.
"There are several magics woven into this Valhalla Action. I'll amplify a laser with Ataraxia and fire it into the sky. Then, at an altitude of six thousand kilometers, I'll cast another spell using divine particles to compress mass. That will form a spear of light with a mass equivalent to ten tons by planetary standards."
Ikael's face began to contort.
"And that spear will strike directly into Arabot."
"Shirone…"
It was possible.
Ikael, who predates Uriel's destruction and Kariel's birth, could not be unaware of that.
The real problem was the Valhalla Action itself.
Shirone's explanation was long, but by exploiting Valhalla Action's judgement, all of that could happen in an instant.
"I'm sorry for how I use the magic you taught me. I can't tell you the exact point. If I told you, you could predict and kill me before I cast. But in the end there will be no way to stop me. So…"
Shirone held out Peope with desperate eyes.
"Please spare this fairy. I became like this to save him. Let me do what I can."
Ikael shook her head as if to dispel the conflict.
Peope was not the issue.
If Shirone invoked Divine Punishment, few in Heaven would survive unscathed.
No— a direct hit could be strong enough to obliterate even archangels.
"If you cast that magic, do you think you will survive? The cost of Valhalla Action will leave you immobilized for a very long time. Doing such a thing will cost you your life as well."
"Don't you understand yet?"
As Shirone stepped closer, Ikael retreated to keep her distance.
In raw power she was unmatched in Heaven, but every choice now lay in Shirone's hands.
"I have a mission to destroy Heaven. But if you let Peope live, I will say I'll abandon that mission. So…"
Shirone's stride, now closer than before, stopped abruptly.
"Whatever you decide, my dying is of no concern."
Ikael's nostrils flared.
All circumstances and scenarios were arranged perfectly in her head, yet she could make no choice.
"...."
Boom. Boom.
In the long silence that followed, the sounds of war thundered across the skies from the First to the Sixth Heaven.