[598] The Cube of Time (5)
Fermi waited for an answer, staring into the silence.
If we twist the incident, Mother can live.
But to Fermi, Yolga was more than a mother; to deny her death felt like an insult.
He needed to know why. Why Yolga had to go up to the upper echelon, why someone so extraordinary couldn't come back to her family's arms.
"People lose their way a lot in life."
Yolga finally spoke.
"But, Fermi, worrying about right and wrong is a good thing no matter what. When you stop caring about that, the value of being human disappears."
"Even if I were the greatest villain in the world, would that still be true?"
Yolga smiled kindly.
"Good and evil are things humans choose. They don't choose us."
She laid a hand on Fermi's shaking shoulder.
"Always remember that you can still choose. If you remember that, even if you lose your way you can find it again."
All parents shelter their children, but Yolga's words embraced Fermi's entire being with a gentle, encompassing warmth.
My mother. My own mother.
No—she was the mother of the whole world.
"Was that an answer? Maybe it's my reward for receiving something nice."
"It's more than enough."
When Fermi turned, Yolga hurriedly asked, "Where will you go now?"
"Forward."
Fermi smiled as he turned his head.
"I've chosen."
Time: 2 hours 13 minutes.
Place: Supernatural Psychical Science Research Society.
It was a savage battle.
Mustang, who wielded fire, cold, and air, unleashed a kind of magic that seemed unlike anything else in the world; Anchal, director of the Jincheon Space Agency, drew forth every illusion he could to defend. Shirone's Elysion didn't target anything so much as the space itself, bearing down on Edgar and Nain, and Miro's Gwaneum pounded at Yolga as if possessed by madness.
She really is strong, Miro thought.
It wasn't just level—Miro herself transcended humanity.
I can see why Gevin chose you.
If Yolga had risen to the Prajna realm from the lowest of places, Miro looked down on the world from somewhere higher than human thought.
I want to rely on her.
Feeling safe beside Miro was a different temperament from Yolga's all-embracing kindness.
If I am humanity's mother…
Miro was humanity's father: at the front line of crisis, taking all pain without complaint and sacrificing himself to protect humanity.
Yes, Miro. We weren't wrong.
But the world demanded only one of them remain.
With humanity's end approaching: did people need a father, or a mother?
Yolga smiled contentedly.
You've grown well.
The face of a young man flickered through Miro's mind.
So it wasn't the end.
"Miro, I can't hold back any longer."
The kindness left Yolga's face.
Prajna-Fa Maria.
"Is that so? Now this'll be fun!"
Because Fa Maria spelled destruction, Miro accelerated Gwaneum's barrage.
Anchal smashed Mustang with a Jincheon magic sledgehammer, and Shirone had already felled Edgar and Nain.
They probably thought they couldn't buy time.
Miro thought that—but Yolga was smiling.
"What—!"
Just as Gwaneum's Paradise Fields flew in from both sides to crush her, a flash snatched her away.
"Guh!"
Fermi, freed from photonization, gritted his teeth and slid across the floor, smashing his head against the wall.
"Fermi?"
Yolga turned to him, startled.
He was drenched in blood, each part of his body bearing grave wounds.
"How did you end up like this…?"
"Heh. They're formidable, those who target you."
To stop Yolga's death, Fermi had fought the Mars unit—and taken out fourteen operatives.
He'd used numerous advanced magics, but he couldn't avoid grievous injury while eliminating the kingdom's top fourteen assassins.
Yolga pushed Fermi to the floor and scanned the research society.
At Gevin's gate lay Edgar and Nain's bodies. Mustang lay dead beside a bleeding, kneeling Anchal.
She turned finally to Miro and spoke.
"Don't disappear. Instead, grant me a favor."
"No—don't ask. Don't disappear. Just come out with me."
"Diiiiieeeeee!"
At that moment Nickel, captain of Mars, burst into the research society.
Blood from the operatives Fermi had slain spattered his face; his eyes burned with mission resolve.
"I'll kill you!"
Idiot! That isn't Hexa!
Nickel, ignorant of the situation, naturally saw Kazra's prince as the child Miro was holding.
"No!"
Warnings blared in Yolga's ears as the activated in rapid succession.
"Danger!"
A girl's scream meant certain death.
"Danger!"
You die.
"Danger! Danger! Danger!"
You die, you die, you die.
She spurned dozens of chances to live and strode toward a future that led only to death.
Nickel's sword pierced her back.
"Hah!"
Yolga's head snapped up toward the ceiling as Nickel twisted the blade and drove it in deeper.
The child must die!
A trained soldier's mind was cold as a machine.
Thousand-Hand Gwaneum — Single Strike.
Just before the blade would have plunged into the prince, Gwaneum's palm flew and tore Nickel's face from his body.
Behind the kneeling, collapsing Yolga, Fermi rose, clutching one shoulder.
"Mo—"
But Miro spoke first.
"Why?"
It was incomprehensible.
"This child is fated to be imprisoned forever anyway! Why keep doing such foolish things?"
"That's something she must choose for herself."
Miro had watched the limit of Yolga.
"Miro, trust us. Believe that our power can protect the future."
"If I leave here, I won't remember. I'll be erased! You stupid sister!"
"No—you'll remember, I'm sure of it."
Yolga smiled as if her life itself was burning.
"You're not stupid."
She will remember.
Miro clenched her fists.
She would remember what Yolga passed on through death.
Yolga's body fell back with a satisfied look, and Fermi hurriedly caught her.
Mother.
He felt he had to say it.
"Mo—"
"Fermi, thank you."
Yolga raised a hand and stroked Fermi's cheek.
"Your choice changed the world. I'm proud of you—"
Her hand fell limp.
"My son."
Yolga left Fermi's side.
Just like nineteen years ago.
"Thank you, Mother."
He no longer grieved; he sent her off with a smile that matched hers.
"Fermi! Get down!"
As Shirone shouted, powerful electricity crackled around Fermi.
Clutching Yolga's corpse, a dark figure grabbed Kazra's prince and darted him toward a corner.
"Hah! Hah!"
Lycon, blood streaming from his head, clamped his hand around the child's neck and glared at Fermi.
"Traitor. How dare you use me?"
"Speak plainly. Were you using someone—or being used?"
Knowing Fermi's character, Lycon asked bluntly.
"Where's the Object? Hand it over."
"There isn't one."
Electricity coursed through Lycon's hand as he tightened his grip.
"If you don't want to kill an innocent human, bring me the Object."
Lycon, who knew Yolga's identity, also knew the child she'd protected with her life could be useful for blackmail.
"Even if that's true, there isn't one. It's all been destroyed."
"Then find a way. It's your specialty, isn't it? Make one if you have to and bring it. If you don't, the child dies."
No one could prise the child from Lycon while he was wrapped in electricity.
"Lycon, you'd better make a good judgment. You won't like making me angry."
"Heh. That was true until now. But not anymore."
Lycon's gaze turned to Yolga's corpse.
He'd thought replicating the Object by exploiting a missing mother was all there was. But seeing things laid bare, he realized Fermi was, after all, human.
"Stupid child. Missing your mother that badly…"
Lycon's misunderstanding was natural—he had no sense of how the upper echelon's tangled incidents would reshape the future or what Fermi truly sought to protect.
"You don't need me to explain. But the moment you refuse, life will get miserable."
"Isn't that right, Fermi?"
A flash of killing intent lit Lycon's eyes.
Crack—electricity burst. The child's cries stopped; Lycon tossed down the corpse and unleashed an electric spell as he fled the research society.
"Lycon!"
Fermi roared in rage and gave chase while Shirone immediately checked Kazra's prince.
"He's dead. Let's rewrite the incident."
It was a pity Yolga's will had been broken.
"Do as you please. I'm leaving."
But Miro had to preserve the lesson Yolga had taught about how vital human choice is.
Your last memory, sister. I will take it with me.
To do that, she had to leave now.
"If I leave Istas, the closed timelike curve will shut completely. That will close the incident."
If the incident were twisted, Yolga's death would play out another way and Miro's resolve would be nullified.
If Hexa were trapped in the space-time barrier, Shirone wouldn't be able to remain here either.
"I don't know when, but if we meet again someday, remember what happened today."
Miro stepped over the threshold of the research society.
Time: 2 hours 35 minutes.
Place: Warehouse No. 9.
Even as Shirone activated Istas's core mechanism, Anchal's nagging continued.
"Shirone, just end it here. Twisting the incident further is dangerous."
Shirone didn't answer.
"Think carefully! If it spirals into the worst-case incident—!"
"We will meet."
"What?"
Shirone's eyes snapped open as he pressed the confirm button.
"I will meet Gevin."
"How? How will you meet Gevin?"
Gevin definitely existed—in the world before Miro entered and before the incident occurred, at 00:00.
I don't know what Gevin is thinking…
Hearing Istas reorganize itself, Shirone left the warehouse.
I must convince him!
Time: 2 hours 42 minutes.
Place: Istas Warehouse No. 72.
Miro trudged on, soaked in blood.
If she left Istas like this, time would be isolated and only the incidents she'd experienced would keep cycling.
"Shirone."
With the exit in sight, Miro came to a halt.
"Don't come. Whatever you're thinking, you must never come here."
It was a warning for Shirone, who would emerge behind Anchal's illusion magic.
Rumble!
No sooner had the words left than Istas vibrated and the structure began to shift.
"You idiot…!"
Turning, Miro saw Shirone running.
I will meet Gevin no matter what!
It should be possible—if he could reach 00:00.
"Sibulsangpokmae!"
The closed curve of Warehouse No. 72 began to open.
Time: 00:00.
Place: Istas Warehouse No. 72.
Miro, cradling Hexa, looked toward Gevin waiting just outside the exit and asked, "How much time do I have?"
When she heard Gevin's words, she nodded.
"Don't worry. I'll make sure it succeeds."
"Geviiiiin!"
The moment Shirone's illusion, blazing with temporal energy, appeared and began to run, time began to flow backward.
As Miro moved in reverse and vanished beyond the veil of light, Shirone leapt through the exit.
"Get out!"
The starting point of the 2 hour 48 minute record.
But for Shirone, that one second in the past was also the present…
I know you're there!
At last, Sibulsangpokmae leapt across the barrier of time.
Time: -1 second.
Place: Unknown.
(End of Volume 24)