[795] Beta Fish (5)
"Arian Shirone."
It was the name of the only person in this world currently capable of wielding the Ultra-Unification Force.
'Is that really possible?'
At the instant the universe flicked back on—an instant that condensed every Law thought to have existed in the Planck era.
'They don't stand a chance.'
This was not to belittle Boridalma and Hyega, but the Ultra-Unification Force was poison to seekers.
'Not even the most righteous Buddha could destroy it. But what if it's an off-regulation type?'
Tenth-ranked in the Ten-Path Council; his realm couldn't compare with the higher ranks, but inside his mind was a wholly different universe.
"There is no Yahweh of yours inside me."
Mortasinger, having touched down, charged at Shirone and cast her magic.
"Hidden Piece."
Aether waves spread out and a massive mechanical cube dropped over Shirone's head.
'Can't dodge this.'
Such was a Law—or an equivalent exchange.
"Ugh!"
Shirone watched in disbelief as his right hand vanished.
"What—!"
At the same time the world split like a puzzle and his bodily sensations tangled into chaos.
'The world didn't split.'
Shirone's body—scientifically speaking, his schema—had been split.
"It's begun."
Boridalma, checking Hyega's condition, watched Shirone as if staring at a scrambled cube puzzle.
An off-regulation Hidden Piece.
Using aether waves as its base, Mortasinger could split a target into ninety-eight cubes.
By taking one piece, the puzzle completed and space itself could be scrambled like a cube.
'Istas!'
Shirone thought of the mecha structure he'd seen in heaven and the Istas at the magic academy at the same time.
With his sight shifted toward his ankle and concentration tightening, the blocks began to move.
'The nerves are alive.'
There wasn't a clear, scanner-like schema.
But the unconscious map of where each organ should be was still there.
"Hohoho! Futile!"
By the time Shirone managed to move one eye back toward its proper place, his lower body had become an even greater mess.
One side scrambled the puzzle while the other reassembled it, and Shirone's thinking sped up.
'Got it!'
Blocks rushing at Mortasinger pushed like a wave and began restoring him to his original form.
'What is she thinking...'
Shirone's cognitive speed, trained his whole life, ranked among the best in the world.
"Give me my hand back."
He'd reconstructed the puzzle, but Mortasinger still held the Hidden Piece that was his right hand.
'How do I release it?'
By nature the off-regulation type would have a condition, but Mortasinger had already swapped Hidden Pieces beforehand.
From the ninety-eight partitioned pieces of space—including the radius around Shirone—the areas above both his eyes had been removed.
"It's over!"
Just as Mortasinger declared victory, a photon cannon shot toward her.
Shirone's brain, reduced to a Hidden Piece and about to be swallowed by darkness, emitted an unusual brainwave.
'You won't be able to dodge.'
The photon cannon's velocity itself forced Mortasinger into a Movement Zero state.
'Because it's the fastest speed.'
There was only an instant left before impact, and he sank into the darkness, certain the Law had decided it.
"Kyaaah!"
Mortasinger hastily released the Hidden Piece, twisted space with aether waves, and deflected the photon cannon.
'As expected.'
When Shirone's vision returned, Mortasinger lay collapsed, clutching her shoulder.
'Even with the same aether waves, her realm is shallower than Seongeum.'
Even for a nonbeliever, how far one could twist the Laws was a different matter.
'If it had been Rian, he would have dodged.'
Rian's conviction could bend the Laws of the world.
"Shi-ro-ne!"
At the call from the stage, Shirone's Spirit Zone rapidly expanded.
'Is this the limit?'
He had been watching throughout the fight, and now the guards could no longer hold the stage and had cleared a path.
"Kyaa! They're coming! They're coming!"
When the Everliving charged, Jeistin stepped forward to block and the contestants shrieked.
"What are you doing!? You took all the money! You're supposed to protect us!"
No amount of shouting would help—the guards were already beaten and couldn't assist.
"Pull yourselves together! We protect our own bodies!"
Pony, aided by Maya, struggled to raise a water barrier, but the Nor people's group magic overmatched her.
"Why should we protect our own bodies? Who are these bodies for? Get up already!"
As the Everliving stormed onto the stage, pandemonium broke out and Jeistin was helpless.
'They really are strong...'
These were fighters strong enough to stage national-level terror rather than a beauty pageant.
"Kyaaaaaa!"
When the Kergoin raised their curved blades and howled, Rangi leapt into action.
"No!"
Rangi grit his teeth.
'I can do schema too, you know—'
As he swooped in with a hawk-like kick, the Kergoin's torso bent like rubber.
"...Huh?"
Rangi's face went blank; the speed was so great he couldn't even see it up close.
"Lowly folk of the earth."
A crescent blade traced a flash, and Rangi's body was thrown backward with terrible force.
Where the Kergoin frowned, Shirone was holding her.
"You okay?"
"Huh? No, that's—"
Though he'd seen Shirone a few days ago, the cold energy in his eyes was like nothing Rangi had ever encountered.
"Hey! Shirone!"
Pony shouted.
"You told me to stop these people? This is beyond criminals!"
"Anyway, I stopped them."
Pony ground her teeth and a wall of water rose up and crashed down.
"Now it's your turn."
As nearly two hundred people took over the stage, Shirone sprang forward.
When the flashes of his scatter movement fanned out like a net, the Everliving formations collapsed instantly.
"Wow..."
Everyone was stunned to see those who had routed elite guards fall in heaps.
Flashes rained down; the Everliving dropped from two hundred to a hundred, then to fifty.
'Pony lied.'
Rangi watched Shirone rip through the enemy lines like electricity.
'She couldn't deny it?'
As a mage, Shirone shone with the most beautiful light in the world.
"Mortasinger, let's go back."
Boridalma approached, supporting Hyega.
"I don't know why she's here, but this is Hexa—the kind even other commanders couldn't handle. You can't win."
"Hmph! Who says we can't?"
Most of the Ten-Path Council didn't care about rank or realm depth; those things alone meant little.
"Kill them all!"
Beautiful things of the world.
"Hidden Piece!"
The off-regulation activated again and the entire stage split into ninety-eight blocks.
As the pieces scrambled like a puzzle, the blocks containing the contestants were shoved toward her.
"I'll burn your faces off!"
She lit fires in both hands and charged the space; sparks flew from Shirone's distant gaze.
With a bang, flames swept through the contestants.
"Kyah! Save us...!"
That was one second.
'Time Vibration!'
And as that second tremored without end, Mortasinger clutched her head and screamed.
"What, what is—?"
One second repeated within a single second, and the contestants saw the world split into countless blocks.
As swathes of information danced past, the world gradually began to take shape.
'Found it—the final puzzle.'
Shirone's back, turned to Mortasinger, rippled up like an emergence, and the situation reversed.
"Who are you?"
If the source of the trauma was beauty, the release condition for the off-regulation was to reveal one's face.
When a Wind Cutter flew toward Mortasinger's face, the Hidden Piece released and the scene snapped back.
"No! Don't look!"
Losing the will to fight, she flew toward the mountain and Boridalma and Hyega followed.
"Now! Arrest them!"
The guards, coming to their senses, shouted to apprehend the terrorists, and Shirone looked toward the mountain.
'The Everliving community. Have they lost somewhere to go?'
With Anke Ra gone, it must have felt like being abandoned by God.
'I thought they'd lost the meaning to fight.'
Except for one.
'Judging by the power, at least someone comparable to the Ten-Path Council. So why do this?'
The more he thought about it, the less sense it made.
* * *
The evening papers put out an extra for the first time in a while.
Every paper led with the beauty pageant terror, and everyone's attention was pinned there.
"Phew, what a mess."
When Jeistin returned to the guild, Shirone—eating with the others—asked.
"What happened? What did the organizers say?"
"They're continuing. The higher-ups accepted that most of the terrorists were captured, apparently."
Shirone was stunned.
"But some are still out there, right? Even the ringleader. And they'll still continue the contest?"
"Because it makes money. You know how it is."
"What about the contestants?"
For the first time Jeistin showed fatigue.
"They thought their ears would bleed. They want counseling, psychiatric meds, all that."
Shirone could picture it without seeing.
"Will they cooperate quietly?"
"What choice do they have? It isn't just picking pretty people. The official slogan is making the world peaceful through beauty. Anyone who runs will be slammed by public opinion."
Shirone thought of the street demonstrations.
"There are a fair number who resent the pageant. This will be their chance."
"Right. So they'll go ahead, but—"
Jeistin sighed.
"They want you to be their bodyguard. If you deliver an official line, they won't go on without that handsome man."
"Can't be helped. I know people too. Stick me in."
Jeistin shook his head.
"Not that. They want you assigned to protect them personally. So you have to be in the waiting room. Even the bathrooms, showers, dining area—they want you to accompany them."
Shirone's eyes went wide.
"What? Are you crazy? I'm a man! How can I accept that? And tomorrow is swimsuit day!"
Then go and tell them yourself! Grown women bawling 'Mom, Mom'—what am I supposed to do? They won't trust anyone but you! It's total panic!
A groan escaped Shirone's throat.
"I'll try to talk them down."
"Do what you want. But it won't matter. Word of who you are has already spread among the contestants. No one will refuse the world's greatest mage as their protector."
His head already throbbed.
"We'll all bunker down tonight, but the real problem is tomorrow when the contest resumes. What are you going to do? The guards want you too. I hear these attackers weren't messing around—those terrorists released demons all over the world?"
They were the kind of organization that had routed special forces from multiple countries.
"…Okay. I'll do it."
Other countries' delegates would take quick measures, but the one to guard the stage now was Shirone.
"Hey, you."
One-Eyed placed a hand on Shirone's shoulder.
"Do you... need an assistant?"
Shirone turned and read the eager faces of the other members.
"No. I don't need one."
Shirone said it firmly and removed One-Eyed's hand.