[548] Code Decomposition (1)
"Shirone!"
Rian hefted his greatsword with his back to the sun.
There was no way to jolt Shirone's memory back without delivering a shock to his mind equivalent to death—or greater.
'Shirone, this is—'
Rian clenched his teeth and swung the greatsword with everything he had.
'This is my finest one strike!'
As the massive blade tore through the air at brutal speed, a black fissure traced a flash-like arc.
The Laws nullified Rian's Denai, and the pyramid's shield peeled away like grape skin.
'Annoying Denai,' Shura muttered, scowling.
There was no time to look back, but the terrible will infused in the greatsword rode the code and came through clear as day.
"...."
Shirone only watched, composed.
Even Armand's robe, which ought to react as nimbly as nerves, showed no defensive motion.
As expected, when the greatsword came to a dead stop before him, Shirone spoke to the visibly frustrated Rian.
"Rian, you cannot awaken me."
"Guhk!"
Watching the hand clamping the greatsword tremble uncontrollably, Shirone shifted his gaze toward the path Rian had taken.
"You've cut down hundreds to get here… but—"
His eyes swung back to Rian.
"There is not a trace of hostility in your blade."
As if conceding Shirone's observation, the trembling left Rian's arm.
"Yes. You're right."
He couldn't kill.
The Shirone Rian knew wasn't the kind of person who'd only awaken at the sight of death.
"Rian, how much of this is the truth? What—what are you to me?"
"I am your sword."
Rian swallowed a tortured groan.
"My flesh, my blood, my bones! They are all yours!"
When Rian's voice—like a hand of truth—seized Shirone's heart, a fragment of information from a very distant memory surged into Shirone's mind.
'But… if Rian's words are true, if all this is a lie… what am I?'
Shura shouted.
"What are you doing! Kill him already!"
As the Yaksha-woman's blade lunged for Rian's neck, he twisted the greatsword in a panic and blocked. His eyes widened.
"Ugh!"
The force—strong enough to destroy Denai—sent Rian's body flying, and the Yaksha-woman sprang up the steps.
'Truly mysterious.'
To her, Rian remained an alien presence even after ten thousand years.
'What Law is this?'
A yaksha's Axing distorts Law, but whether the body can endure it is another matter. Usually, the stronger the distortion, the more grotesquely the Law acting on the body twists. That was why no normal humans remained among the Synod's executives.
'It's not Schema, though.'
Rian's Axing showed no regard for the body at all. Perhaps transcendental regeneration was part of it, but even a death-knight could not crawl from the fallen realm of death back to life—normally.
'Shall we test it?'
The Yaksha-woman, having detonated her Nirvana power, began to spin terrifyingly in midair.
Laws mounted like an imaginary inline eight-cylinder engine activated in sequence, and a fearsome eight-strike barrage surged as if to split Rian in two.
"Rian! Ugh!"
Just as Shirone was about to rush to him, a vast flood of information invaded Shirone's mind.
Through the Mucus, the digital Ra linked to Shirone attempted an integration ritual.
- Human, become one with me.
"Not yet, not yet!"
As long as the brand of truth Rian had carved into his heart throbbed, he could not leave the world like this.
- You and I will change the world.
"Arghhhhh!"
The digital Ra and Shirone's minds connected, and the memories of the two beings began to merge.
'Gwaneum Storm Palm.'
When Gwaneum's palm flew toward the pyramid, Shura stepped forward and triggered a defensive Law.
Gestalt of Cohesion—The Ten Commandments of Negation.
A huge inverted cross erupted before Shura and stopped Gwaneum's palm.
"You're insane. Let's go see it out there," Miro ground through her teeth.
For one who was open to the world, handling the Laws of an enclosed realm was like building anything freely from toy blocks. If the real pyramid is the unique number one in the Law's channel, the pyramid here is the "pyramid Shura named," corresponding to number two. The boundaries of Law are segmented like blocks; the world's limits are clear. That meant Shura's Laws could be wielded as precisely as real-world magic.
"Let's go all the way, then."
Miro glared at the defense-oriented Shura and increased the scale further.
"Profit! Profit!" Marsha—struggling with the slime and unable to break free—looked to Fermi and shouted, "Do something! At this rate, it's over!"
Fermi, also held fast, clicked her tongue and checked Shirone's condition.
'Tch, we can't stall any longer.'
'Cold magic. Hyper intercooler.'
Fermi activated the great-mage spell she'd bought for a hundred million gold; a veil of cold mist rose around her. The Mucus creaked as it froze, and the ground glittered like arctic ice.
Marsha watched the Mucus freeze from the bottom up, preparing to break free.
At the same time, a colossal avatar of Gwaneum fell from the sky and crushed a quarter of the pyramid.
Koouuurrrrr!
With the pyramid's defensive Laws gone, it collapsed, and Shura stuck out a snake-like tongue and sneered.
"Abominable humans…!"
Even on his own turf, he'd only managed to misdirect Gwaneum's attack a little. Still, Miro hadn't lived ten thousand years either. That a creature with a mayfly's lifespan could sway such a titan of concept was incomprehensible to the immortal Shura.
"Krrrk!"
Disconnected from the digital Ra, Shirone couldn't withstand the pyramid's tremors and toppled forward.
"Consul!"
Just as the yoga pyramid they'd been watching from the ground tried to climb, a strange sensation pierced Shirone's back in rapid succession.
"Ugh!"
He turned and saw Marsha plunging the blade of impiety into him again and again.
"…What did you do to my body?" Yohga asked, noticing the smoke of desire leaking out—but Marsha offered no answer.
"Die."
As Yohga reached to shatter a shard of mirror, darkness swallowed the surroundings.
"What's that?"
Fermi grabbed Marsha's hand and teleported.
'Dark magic. Veil.'
When Marsha emerged from the darkness and turned, a shadow dragged from the pyramid had formed a sphere that trapped Yohga.
"From now on, we attack together."
With Shura's shield destroyed, there was no longer any need to divide attention. Fermi used varied magics to disrupt the colony's guardians while Marsha plunged the blade of impiety wherever she could. The smoke of desire bared their positions, but Fermi's veil magic and crowd control skill were impressive; she blocked the guardians' approach effectively.
'They said she's Shirone's rival. She really is formidable.'
The depreciation trade didn't manifest as some exotic rule-breaking power, but it had the advantage of outright ignoring elemental affinity. Wielding opposing elements—light and darkness, water and fire—at once meant she could respond to every variable. Judged by mission performance alone, it was hard to find a more professional mage.
"We must neutralize them as quickly as possible. There's no time," Fermi warned.
As she spoke, the Mucus peeled off the frozen section and moved a new mass of slime up toward Shirone.
"Shirone!"
Rian lunged for the pyramid again, but the towering barrier of the Yaksha-woman stood between them now—an obstacle even he found daunting.
'Nirvana power!'
The endlessly accelerating cycles of Law gave the Yaksha-woman's body abnormal activity. The pattern was simple, but as RPM climbed, both speed and force rose.
Kwaaaaang!
When her blade slammed into Rian's, the shock twisted every bone in his body.
"Krrrgh!"
The two yaksha glowered at each other like beasts.
Then Rian's regenerated left arm caught the hilt of the greatsword, and the Yaksha-woman went pale.
Sensing the monstrous force about to break forward, Rian swallowed Denai and swung the sword.
"Yyaaaah!"
Mach speed surged.
Before a wave of Law that nothing could stop, the Yaksha-woman broke her cycle and twisted her body. When the greatsword slammed into the ground with a thud, Rian's arm muscles tore—she exhaled raggedly.
"Hah. Hah."
The weight of Rian's single strike was like the weight of the world. He didn't feel like he was losing, but to be honest, he had no idea how he could win.
"Move aside. I—I'll get to Shirone…."
Rian's forward stride halted.
The Yaksha-woman's wolfish face curled into a grin that bared the whites of her eyes.
"Will you… go all the way?"
For the first time, Rian took a step back.
"Really… with me…?"
Her pupils settled back into place, but they were no longer those of a normal human.
"Will you go to the end?"
Axing—Nirvana E-Engine.
With a bang the ground fractured and the Yaksha-woman's form vanished. All eight cylinders bore nothing but acceleration; her body split into afterimages as if torn.
Rian reflexively raised the greatsword.
At the same time dozens of gashes opened across his undefended flesh and blood burst forth.
"Krrrgh!"
A speed that would normally shred a body to pieces. Yet the Schema honed over ten thousand years held her steady.
"Not yet, not yet."
Between the Yaksha-woman's muttered words a laugh slipped out as if she had two vocal cords. She'd never experienced the limit of speed because any enemy had died before reaching it.
'But you're different.'
Rian was different. If this man neither dodged nor fled, she could pour everything into him and he would answer in kind.
"Damn it!"
All Rian could do was guard his neck with the blade. With no time even to regenerate, flesh tore away and his body felt aflame.
'Am I failing to protect my lord again?'
Rian's gaze collided with Shirone's atop the pyramid.
"Rian…."
Shirone stared at the bleeding Rian in a daze. Information that began in the furthest reaches of memory slammed into his mind, and a powerful emotion swelled that could crush every memory here as trivial.
- I am Ozent Rian.
His name was Ozent Rian.
- Let's be friends. What do you say?
The moment he grasped the offered hand, everything in life changed.
- I am Shirone's sword!
He had always watched Shirone's back.
"Rian. How could I… how could I ever forget you?"
As the recovery rate of the information hit ninety-nine percent, hot tears streaked down Shirone's cheeks.
"Riaaaaan!"
Even through the gale generated by the Yaksha-woman's motion, Rian heard Shirone's voice clearly.
'Yes. I don't care if I shatter completely.'
Rian gripped the hilt as if to crush it, and at the peak of acceleration the Yaksha-woman let out a cry of ecstasy.
At the moment he felt certain he could kill anywhere, the pale Bakdo unraveled like a vicious drill in afterimages and poured down on Rian.
Rian bit his jaw as if to break his teeth.
'My flesh, my blood, my bones!'
Then he swung both arms with everything he had.
'They are all yours!'
VROOOOOM!
An iron-hued sphere enveloped Rian's body.
The Yaksha blade's repeated strikes smashed against the iron sphere; it flashed as if on fire, and the Yaksha-woman's afterimages were flung outward.
"What is—?"
With Denai coursing through both arms, Rian swung the greatsword and momentarily covered every direction in defense.
"Krrrgh!"
All the muscles in the arms gripping the greatsword shredded away, leaving gaunt bone.
"I'm coming! Shirone!"
Using the Laws' power to clutch the hilt, Rian sprang off the ground.
Patter-patter-patter-pow!
Rian vanished, and the ground around the Yaksha-woman detonated in a chain on both sides, surging forward.
'He's shuttling back and forth so fast he can't be seen.'
Left or right?
As her pupils darted, the Yaksha-woman fixed her gaze as if realizing something and trembled.
'I can't tell.'
Even the grotesque sense fell silent—and a chill ran over the Yaksha-woman's entire body.