Apostasy (3)
Rian dreamed.
Or perhaps the signals encoded at the genetic level had simply unfolded themselves as images inside a dream.
Imir looked down casually at Smille, who had perfectly taken human form.
"Has she really gone?"
The only injury he'd taken from that strike was a single lost molar.
As his true body, he could regenerate it anytime—but he didn't want to.
"This doesn't feel satisfying."
That half-finished feeling was more unpleasant than the emptiness he'd felt after destroying countless weaklings.
He wanted a fight that would smash his whole body to pieces.
A fight where he coughed up blood, screamed, and unleashed every ounce of power he had—one that would still be barely winnable.
Imir had a few natural enemies besides Ikael's tri-pronged Mara Ashur, but the only one who had pushed him to the brink by meeting force with force was Ozent.
'This world is too light.'
When Imir reached toward the sun and clenched his fist, the air swayed sideways.
"It doesn't even feel real." A world like a sheet of paper that crumples the moment you touch it, before you can even savor the sensation.
To him, a true rival was the only tool that could sharpen every one of his senses.
"Did he kill her?"
Kariel, still dust-streaked from the blow he'd taken from Ozent, approached.
When the holy radiance flared, his wounds mended quickly, but his expression stayed grim.
"No. She's asleep."
"What do you mean?"
Imir pointed at Smille.
"She collapsed the boundary of life and regressed—an inverse evolution. She reverted to a primitive form, then nested into this woman."
"That's impossible."
At the end of cells converging through reverse evolution stood Argones, called the father of beings.
"That violates Argones' law. No creature can become a Myukus by its own power."
A featureless organism itself was called a Yukus.
"Impossible," Imir nodded.
"But she transcended that impossibility and reached it. Form is only the shadow of certain signals. As long as the sun remains…"
Imir stamped on his shadow and the ground sank inward by a hand's breadth with a boom.
"Shadows are not destroyed."
They only change.
"This is why apostasy could be reached with a mere human body. If you want to break him, not the shadow…but—"
Imir looked up at the sky. "You have to destroy the sun."
Kariel, who had been lost in thought, opened cold eyes and stepped closer to Smille.
"Good. Better this way."
In any case, the apostasy element had faded on its own; if they killed Smille, there'd be no further threat.
"I'll kill this woman."
No need for angelic justice—he could simply slit her throat.
"Wait."
Imir stopped Kariel.
"You cannot kill her." He had promised Ozent for a reason: so they could face each other again someday.
"Don't be arrogant, Imir."
Kariel's eyes hardened. "You have already violated the principles of apostasy. Even if Anke Ra ordered it, if you stand in my way you'll receive severe punishment."
"I don't care."
The spot where Ozent had struck him still throbbed.
"For a while, everything will feel hollow no matter what you do."
Kariel's face twisted at how lightly Imir had taken the great angel's killing intent.
"Tch!"
But in the end he had no choice but to turn away.
Unlike Ozent, a giant who'd reached apostasy by sheer force offered no hope of victory.
'Right now, only Ra can stop Imir.'
As Kariel left, Smille made a small groan and opened her eyes.
After a moment of tossing, she snapped awake, saw Imir's face three meters above her, and bolted upright.
"Brother!"
Ozent was nowhere to be seen.
Realizing she was naked, she stepped back and glared at Imir.
"Who are you?"
"King of the Giants."
Unable to explain the situation, Smille finally asked, "And you are?"
"You've already died once."
Imir told her what Ozent had done while she'd been imprisoned.
"...That's how you were able to live. Cherish the life he passed on to you."
"My brother…"
Smille stroked her belly.
In a way this was also a tale's miracle, but it didn't feel frightening or wrong.
'My brother is inside me.'
Together forever.
"So what will you do now? If you want to go to heaven, come with me. I'll protect you until then."
Smille shook her head.
"No. I'll stay here."
"You'll stay?"
From above it had seemed as if humans still lived there, but it must be a society completely unlike heaven.
"Are you sure? You might never be able to return. You'd be abandoning family and home."
"No. A new life will begin."
Smille looked past the trees.
"My name is Smille."
After a moment she smiled and turned back to Imir.
"Ozent Smille."
Seeing the sincerity in her eyes, Imir nodded and turned away.
"We'll meet again someday." A bat trailing from the forest chased after Imir in the high sky.
'What an odd dream.'
Rian woke feeling as heavy as a thousand pounds and slowly opened his eyes.
A blade was falling toward his neck.
"What—!"
He reflexively raised his hand to block, and the sharp sword sliced his forearm.
"Ugh!"
Muscles twisted like whirlpools as his arm took the blade.
He'd avoided amputation, but the scene that met Rian's clear-eyed gaze was shocking.
Hunters were fighting countless soldiers, and Jenia was countering with a dark blade.
"Rian!"
As Jenia shouted, Jaive soldiers hurled spears at him.
The moment seven spear tips pierced his body, the middle of their shafts swelled like balloons and split apart.
"How…?"
Could human flesh really stop steel?
Glaring at the terrified soldiers, Rian flared his nostrils and kicked himself out of bed.
'Where's the sword?'
was nowhere to be seen.
"Attack them all! Kill them no matter what!"
When the captain shouted, the soldiers who'd been fighting the hunters all surged at Rian.
"Hah!"
Rian scoffed and thrust his fist; armor dented and bones cracked.
"Ugh!"
Like an explosion at the center, the soldiers shattered outward and Jenia hurried forward.
"What happened? You wouldn't wake no matter how much I shouted! You've been asleep for three days."
"Three days?"
Even after a brutal fight, his will wouldn't be that weak.
'Was it not a dream?'
He must've been forced into a state of suspended consciousness.
"My sword?"
Jenia said, face grave. "They took it. You passed out and the constabulary moved you here. But this morning a large army attacked— they're trying to kill you."
"A large army?"
Rian's eyes narrowed as he looked at the hut's door.
There was no sound, but the killing intent pressing through it was overwhelmingly strong.
He opened the door. Thirty of Jaive's royal guards—the Shinjang—stood in formation.
Beyond them, a thousand soldiers had completely encircled the hut.
"Rian??????"
Constable Benof held .
"Why are you trying to kill me?"
There was only one reason.
Because he was too strong.
"Rian, we acknowledge your deed in slaying the vampires, but the collateral damage was too great."
It was nothing but official pretense.
To King Mayer, vampires were a threat that could shake the kingdom's foundations. If they could be eliminated, some casualties might be tolerated.
But the scene Rian had caused during the raid was beyond anything humanly possible. The two-day delay was because some argued to bring Rian into the country rather than just kill him.
Benof had argued that way, but Mayer decided: kill when you can kill.
Rian, who'd fought half-awake, wasn't naive to their intent.
"Return my sword."
Rian stepped forward and twenty Shinjang mirrored him, each twisting at the waist and gripping their hilts in the same stance.
'Strong.'
These were not the guards he'd faced in the Colosseum—they were the royal first army's elite.
"You intend to kill me?"
The aura from the kingdom's finest swordsmen was suffocating, but Rian walked forward as if calm.
'They pierced the sunlight with their collective killing intent?'
Sale, captain of the first guards, frowned.
"Is that Jaive's decision? Even with a war against the demons looming, you'd have us kill him?"
"Because it's war."
Sale said, "The Gustav Empire has absorbed the demons. The future is nothing but blood-drenched warfare. The world's balance will break and the existing order will collapse. Great powers will fall; perhaps a kingdom once weak will suddenly rise."
Jaive was a great power, and Rian—whom they could not control—would be a threat by any means.
"Even if the world perishes, you would protect Jaive alone?"
"That's the king. And we are soldiers who obey the king."
The killing aura called the sun grew denser and the hunters behind them flinched.
'My skin feels like it's burning.' Sale said through clenched throat.
"This is your last chance. Abandon Tormia and join Jaive. We'll offer unprecedented treatment—enough to rewrite precedent."
"Of course I'm a citizen of Tormia. But I will not fight for Tormia."
"...Do you think you can placate us with that?"
"Because it's the truth. I judge nothing. My destination is pure strength. And the one who can wield it is—"
The air trembled with the Law of Maha.
"Only my lord, Arian Shirone."
He was going to Shirone.
"Hand over the sword. Human or demon—anyone who stands in my way I will cut down."
Realizing he meant it, Sale reached for Benof.
"Give me the sword."
Sale glanced at the Benof handed him, then tossed it to Rian.
"Captain! His—Your Majesty—"
"Quiet."
Sale stepped closer to Rian. "We're desperate enough to attack a sleeping swordsman. The king's command is absolute. We must take your head."
It was probably impossible.
"So then—"
"No way! Captain!"
As his men cried out, Sale assumed a drawing stance and unleashed perfect killing intent.
'End it with me.'
Jaive's strongest draw technique unfurled and a vertical flash of light sped toward Rian.
Another beam was born that split that flash top to bottom.
"For the great self—aaaah!"
With a single step, the ground split with a boom and Sale's neck was cleanly severed.
"Phew."
The eyes that had created yet another death simply glittered, calm.
'No hesitation. I only take responsibility for every death.'
"You bastard!"
As the Shinjang moved to rush forward, their commander raised a hand to stop them.
"Stop! It's over!"
There was fury in his eyes, but he would not betray Sale's will.
"We withdraw. We give you half a day. If you're still in Jaive by then—"
The commander ground his teeth and turned away.
"I will sell my soul to tear you down."
After collecting Sale's body, the Shinjang left and the thousand troops dispersed.
"You okay, Rian?"
Smiling, Rian patted Jenia on the shoulder and stepped back into the hut.
'I'm going, Shirone.'