[511] The Question Left Behind (1)
"Ugh! How dare a lowly creature—dare to touch me… me!"
The angels hiding throughout Jebul under Anke Ra's orders were helpless against Garas.
Garas who had inherited Yamang's underlings' traits through the Physics Machine—and the Garas now mercilessly trying to breed with the angels—were completely different organisms.
They had undergone such a brutal evolution it could only be called a massive explosion.
Leaving offspring in the bodies of angels, the highest beings of Heaven, was the optimal choice for species preservation.
Their already powerful instinct to preserve the species surged without restraint, and as a result the reproductive ability of every species except angels vanished.
Garas' form, craving only angels, swelled into gigantic tadpole-like shapes and multiplied by cell division.
Merely touching an angel fertilized Garas' seed, and even when they were ripped off they would self-detonate to somehow transmit their information.
"Rather than suffer such humiliation…!"
The angels chose self-annihilation, and the more they did so the fewer of them remained.
"Kyaaaak!"
A swarm of Garas filling the corridor was incinerated without a trace by the radiance from Reiel, Archangel of Light.
"Krak! Kralarak!"
Satiel, Archangel of Dissolution, watching the rear, disassembled the last Garas' body down past the molecular level.
They all knew Garas would never touch their bodies of their own accord, yet seeing them lunge in was still chilling.
"Despicable things. How dare they defile angels?"
"No wonder they were called an otherworldly quarantine species. Whatever the case, this is serious. We've already lost half our angelic force."
Anke Ra was waiting for Satan to be annihilated.
Knowing that, the two archangels' task was to keep as many angels alive as possible.
There were future contingencies to consider; if Satan's power grew any more, they might not even be able to reset things—it would be the end.
"Pathetic."
What enraged them most was that most of the angels were choosing extinction.
'I was too arrogant.'
Remembering humans fighting to find hope in despair, Satiel reconsidered the noble meaning the angels embodied.
Kuuuuuuung!
A roaring came from the gate of Arabot, which bordered Jebul.
Satiel's face creased as he peered down.
The rebels were pouring into Arabot.
"Advance! Forward! Victory is at hand!"
"Execute Ra!"
Only an hour earlier the rebels had seemed doomed, but the tide had suddenly turned.
As the angels vanished, their minions—the mara—had also disappeared.
Seizing that small ember of hope, the rebels smashed through Arabot's walls.
'Hope is in sight!'
Every eye burned with the fury of comrades lost and the resolve to win the war.
But the rebels did not know.
Even now, something like divine punishment was falling toward the heart of Heaven.
Time left until Heaven's destruction: 3 minutes, 21 seconds.
* * *
Satan strode through Jebul, smashing every building he passed.
He was so colossal he needed no specific target.
Wherever he went became ruin and the end.
"This is amusing."
From his high vantage he looked down on the wretched world—fragile, pathetic beings that would crumble if he so much as set a foot on them.
"Kukuku. Kahahaha!"
Satan's laughter was stronger than thunder; the air trembled and the trees shivered.
"How far will you grow?"
Ikael's triangular mara Ashur watched Satan's wanton destruction alongside the giant legion commander Girshin.
"By strength alone, he already rivals Imir."
And because he existed outside the Law, there was nothing they could do until Ra's will activated.
Even Girshin did not posture before Satan's might.
"He's certainly strong. I couldn't match him either. But—"
Turning to Ashur, Girshin widened his eyes.
"Do not dare compare him with His power."
Ashur's signal could unbalance a triangular mara, but for Girshin the strongest was always Imir.
True strength is a kind that allows no relativity. The only one in Heaven who had reached that state was Imir.
* * *
"Stand down. I'll handle him."
Etella stepped in front of Miro as she approached Satan.
Miro's face, glimpsed like a stolen look, was colder than any she had shown before.
"What is it? Have something to say?"
"Oh— I…."
Etella scrambled to collect herself but couldn't finish her sentence.
Even the Thousand-Hand Guanyin's Thunderbolt Barrage failed to so much as shake Satan.
The will that could shatter any evil was shattered before Satan.
Miro looked down at Etella's ruined fist.
A human hand does not end up like that unless it was swung with utter resolve.
"I don't intend to blame you. After all, you can't fight with that fist, can you?"
Etella bit her lip and swallowed her tears.
'What follower of good? What monk fighting for the world?'
Along with her strong conviction came a deeper helplessness.
Miro walked through the path Etella had opened.
She clasped her hands, turned them outward, and shoved—her shoulders and elbows popping.
Tilting her neck side to side as she closed the distance, Satan turned his head.
'What is this?'
Because his height pierced the sky, one couldn't judge distance by sight, yet strangely Satan could clearly sense Miro approaching.
Her aura was different from Etella's. Satan's boundless malice flared like wildfire.
"Kukukuku! What's this?"
Kuuuuuuuuung!
When Satan stamped, a 100-meter radius was leveled.
Sein, who had moved Etella out of the way, swept the dust cloud aside with the wheel eye.
"Where's Miro?"
Sein's face suddenly went pale as she expanded the Spirit Zone; her synesthetic sense placed Miro directly beneath Satan's sole.
"She's gone mad."
Satan raised his foot in puzzlement, and there, with her right hand forming a seal, was Miro.
The indentation where his sole had pressed in was dented, but against such vast flesh it was hardly a pain.
"How amusing, human. You dare oppose me, the incarnation of evil."
"Amusing? Who are you calling amusing?"
Miro, who had stared at Satan coldly, suddenly relaxed and sneered as if nothing had happened.
"No—the truly amusing thing is your ugly face."
Grrrrrr.
A rough sound came from Satan's throat as he bared his teeth.
"Gwahahahahaha!"
But in the next instant his laughter snapped into fury, and the humans below covered their ears.
"Insignificant human filth!"
At some point his laughter had stopped; with eyes blazing like coals, Satan fixed a murderous gaze on Miro.
It was the first time the one who had rampaged through Jebul with impunity showed homicidal intent toward a single target.
"We have to stop him!"
Sein grabbed Etella's shoulder as she leapt forward.
"Wait. Miro will have something planned."
"I know how strong Miro is. But scale magic won't work on Satan."
Satan existed outside the Law.
Only a will so strong it could alter the Law could destroy that absolute chaos.
"You still don't know Miro well enough."
Sein glanced at Miro.
"She made walls of dimension to protect humanity. She was the only one who could do that. But Miro wasn't originally that kind of person. Her spacetime was a great blessing for us, but it must have been a shackle for her."
Etella found it hard to accept.
Miro's spacetime was the apex a scale mage could reach. If even that was a shackle, could such a being still be called human?
"Then what kind of person is Miro?"
"To be honest, I don't know either. I can't define that reckless woman."
Etella's face showed bewilderment.
"But one thing is certain."
Sein looked at Miro, who had taken a threefold posture, accentuating the curve of her body by thrusting her hips outward.
"The Miro I know can do everything a human dreams of."
Before Satan's overwhelming bulk, Miro did not shrink; she wore a relaxed smile.
"Heh heh, I'll rely on another will again."
"Wooooooo!"
Satan roared and raised his fist to the sky at her.
This time would be different.
If he crushed her with all his strength, even Miro would be nothing but a trivial creature.
Just as he brought his fist down with that confidence, his motion faltered and his eyes widened.
A mysterious energy emanated from Miro's body.
A shimmering aura wavered like heat haze, condensing in the void until a manifestation began to take form.
The visage of the manifestation glowed a calm blue, a childlike smile at its lips.
Mental Transcendence — Prajna.
Etella murmured in a daze.
"This is impossible."
The afterimage of the manifestation grew and grew.
Growing without end, it was more than enlargement; it was expansion.
The manifestation rose to match Satan's height.
Satan, watching silently, slowly lifted his head to the sky.
Finally surpassing the limits of normal sight, Miro's manifestation detached into space.
Its final size: roughly 128 times that of a planet.
The sky filled with Miro's manifestation so it could be seen across the hemisphere.
"A— ahhh…."
Arius sank to his knees, moved to tears, and raised his hand to Miro.
This was Miro.
Before her, any human became nothing.
The manifestation of the compassion that looked down on all the world.
It was why even Arius, once called one of the Seven Dark Sorcerers, willingly humbled himself.
'This ends it.'
Miro released her threefold posture and swung her hands in a wide circle; the giant manifestation mirrored the motion.
As those enormous arms stretched from one end of the sky to the other, the world seemed to tremble.
"Thousand-Hand Guanyin…."
Etella's voice trembled.
From the crown, the manifestation's two arms descended left and right, splitting into afterimages at the smallest units of time.
Those countless afterimages trailing like tails surged toward Satan—a sight that was the greatest revelation of her life.
'The power of a manifestation…'
Miro concentrated her will to the utmost, clasped her hands, and opened her eyes wide.
'Compress it into a single point!'
Prajna Paramita — Pure Land Chamber.
No sound, no smell, no form.
All Satan could sense was that 180 million palms were flying in from both sides.
Realizing the grave danger, Satan's pupils darted wildly.
He didn't know what the outcome would be, but even if he had to sell his soul, he didn't want to endure that technique.
'I must dodge!'
But where?
The moment he understood, strength drained from Satan's body with a sudden whoosh.
"Damn it…."
Dr-dr-dr-dr-dr-dr!
"Kraaaaaaaah!"
When the manifestation's palms clapped with a planet between them, 180 million shockwaves struck at once.
Satan's entire body convulsed as if crushed.
The force of a giant manifestation compressed into a single point and striking was a sensation fit only for the end of the world.
Each cell of Satan's body swelled like balloons; his reddened skin bulged and puckered like embossed leather.
His flesh twisted and distorted to the point of losing its original form, then exploded with a pop and began to shrink rapidly.
"Kieeeeeeeeeee!"
A wicked scream ripped through the sky.