The Tomb of the Gods (2)
Imir had already left.
He was probably waiting for Shirone and the others somewhere in the deepest part of the maternal psyche — deep level 1.
"But…"
Kangnan's voice cut in.
"Is it really a nightmare? Imir seems way too calm for that."
Arius replied, "He wasn't calm. You can tell from how he left immediately. He didn't cry from fear, but he was clearly uncomfortable with the situation."
Miro asked, "What was making him uncomfortable?"
"There's something I should say first." Monga spoke up. "The dream isn't being controlled right now. Imir isn't defining us as anything. It's in a kind of text state — a stalemate."
"Arius, any way out?"
"If we can find a keyword tied to the unconscious in deep level 5, yes. The problem is the only clue we have is the pupils, and there are over ten billion of them."
Gaold muttered, "There has to be some special pupils in there somewhere, right?"
They all scanned the surroundings, but only about a third of the whole flickered at any given moment.
"Fear. Fear."
Arius checked the eyes again. "This dream is our only hint. Why would ten billion pupils scare Imir? The dismantling of the Ultima System? The fact of being defined itself?"
"Maybe they're not eyes," Shirone said.
"More precisely: this dream doesn't contain only pupils. There's a vacuum-like state, and there's us too — or rather, us as undefined entities."
"Hm, I see."
Arius, lost in thought, suddenly snapped his head up. "The Tomb of the Gods."
As if struck by a revelation, he said to everyone with an excited edge, "Yes. This is a nightmare. Imir said it himself — his memories are the Tomb of the Gods. I'd dismissed that as impossible before, but with Imir it makes sense."
"Explain it so we can understand," someone said.
"Using this REM realm as the reference, stage 6 is where the conscious and the unconscious separate. In other words, this place is an intermediate zone where conscious and unconscious are mixed. But look at this dream — there's nothing. In short, nothing is being registered as conscious."
Sein asked, "Because it's too powerful?"
"Yes. For Imir, every material thing is lighter than air. There are no special stimuli transmitted through the senses. It's this vacuum-like condition."
"So only hearing remains. But why does that make it a nightmare? Reality's the same."
"In reality there are things. Since his birth Imir has defeated countless strong foes — beings revered as gods in some civilizations. For Imir, sensory experiences amount to little more than those encounters, a handful of truly strong opponents."
The faces of the foes Imir had fought flashed through Shirone's mind.
"Those sort of memories are usually placed in the realm of consciousness — you know, memories you can never forget. But for Imir it's the opposite. The unconscious, starved of sensation, soaks up those stimuli like a sponge."
"And what remains in the realm of consciousness?"
"Only a shell. The surface may have been almost empty. That's what makes this serious. Probably, below the REM realm — from deep level 5 onward…"
Arius intoned solemnly, "The strongest foes that gave Imir the greatest stimuli in his life are holding out there."
The Tomb of the Gods.
"They exist in reality. Somewhere out in the universe they must be. But they're not in this dream. That's why it's a nightmare. Every strong foe has vanished, and he dreamed that he could feel nothing. That's likely why he provoked us."
Miro said, "Got it. So how do we go down?"
"In the end, it's those eyes. The way to escape the nightmare is to give Imir stimuli equivalent to the opponents he fought — to make him enter the Tomb of the Gods."
Silence fell.
Normally volunteers would have rushed forward, but because the opponent was Imir, everyone needed to think.
Miro asked, "So… who's going to do it? No — before that, what exactly are we supposed to do? Hit him really hard?"
Arius said, "Those pupils don't even define our bodies here. Kangnan's schema might give a small chance, but magic seems best. Shirone or Gaold should try."
"Hey, what about me?"
Arius avoided a direct answer. "Try attacking. Whoever among Shirone and Gaold has the greatest single destructive power should do it." When neither answered, Miro snorted.
"Yeah, well said. Gaold, between you and Shirone, who's stronger if you both go all out?"
Gaold replied nonchalantly, "We're not children; that's petty…"
Still, it was quietly surprising he didn't give a firm answer.
"What, what's up? Are you going to back down in front of Shirone too? Scared?"
"Are you Satan?"
In the end Gaold stepped forward, and before long Air Press was cast.
"Ughhhh!" A tremendous pain surged through him, but the ten billion pupils did not define the magic.
"...It didn't work?"
Everyone who had been relieved because it was Gaold finally realized the gravity of the situation.
"I'll try." Shirone's voice sounded, and Gaold said, "Wait."
Kangnan intervened. "Don't get proud. Imir is the strongest enemy. Even combined we might not be enough…"
"It's not about that." Gaold's voice was serious. "Even though it's my spell, I can't gauge its power here. Shirone won't be able to either."
Miro tried it herself. "Yeah. There's no sense of reality at all. You have to run with everything you've got, but it's like imagining it. You can't set a standard that way."
"But I can find a standard."
Gaold said, "Use pain as the benchmark. Keep increasing power based on how much pain you feel, and you'll reach a realistic maximum — your true all-out."
Kangnan was worried. "Will that be enough? Even if they reach a realistic maximum and the nightmare still doesn't break…"
Only Gaold had a standard, and the Gaold Kangnan knew wasn't someone who would give up.
"Gods," Gaold said, splitting his mouth into a grin.
'Wanna see your face?'
As he cast Air Press, Gaold's perception of pain began to climb without end.
"Ughhhh!"
He was already at full power, but still the nightmare didn't budge.
'So you're the master, huh?'
As Kangnan feared, Gaold ran even faster toward the corridor of blades stretched before him.
"Aaaaaaa!"
When Gaold's desperate scream rang out, Kangnan pushed her schema to the extreme.
"Gaold! Gaold!"
A faint sense of physical sensation appeared, but it was still far from reality.
"Stop! You'll die before you can even fight!"
"Quiet, wait."
Miro said coldly, "There's nothing we can do to help anyway. Let Gaold handle it."
Kangnan was so furious she could have ripped Miro's throat out.
"Aaaaaaa!"
Gaold's scream was the nightmare itself, and finally Sein spoke.
"Miro, it's taking too long."
It was the first time Gaold — who could subdue an opponent in an instant — had ever sustained Air Press for so long.
"He'll die."
Until Miro told him to stop, Gaold would never stop.
"If he dies, he dies. Are you going to live here?"
Sein loved her too, but at a moment like this she couldn't hide a chill.
In the end Shirone stepped forward. "All right, for now—"
At that moment the pupils fluctuated and a faint vibration ran through everyone's bodies.
"Sensation…"
It was being defined.
Gaold's beast-like form, howling, began to be outlined by the nerves passing through his body.
"Aaaaaaa!"
With a boom, a hole hundreds of meters across opened in the floor of the nightmare.
A formed Monga said, "The nightmare is over."
At the same time Gaold collapsed to the ground and breathed raggedly.
"Hah! Hah!"
"Gaold!"
As Kangnan lunged, Miro reached him first and patted his back. "Wow, nice. Well done. Very well done."
Seeing Gaold's shoulders tremble, Kangnan momentarily lost her reason. "You really pulled through, huh? Worth bringing you along after all—"
Before she could finish, Kangnan grabbed Miro by the collar and hauled her upright.
She didn't stop there; when she lifted her arm, Miro's toes dug into the ground like spikes.
"You crazy?"
Miro's gaze, watching Kangnan growl like a wolf, was icily cold.
"What the hell, all of a sudden?"
"I knew you were unhinged before, but listen carefully. If you toy with Gaold one more time, I swear I'll crush you."
Miro glanced at Gaold for a moment. "I've known for a long time that you're stupid."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Aren't we here to fight for the world? You punched a hole through the way out. If I'd stopped Gaold, would we have gotten these results?"
"Is that… your idealism?"
"Yeah. I fight because there are people who get crushed by evil, swayed by weak emotions like you. I take everything on my shoulders and hold the line to the end."
Kangnan hauled Miro up even higher. "Say it. Say you'll never use Gaold again."
"No way. Do you even have the right to tell me that? Besides, Gaold wanted to."
Kangnan raised her fist. "You might actually get hit for real."
The group moved as if to stop a fight, but Miro's killing intent came first.
"Let go."
The incarnation of Thousand-Armed Kuanseum surged up, thousands of arms aiming at Kangnan.
"This is your last chance."
In that tense moment, as if Thousand-Armed Kuanseum might act, Gaold pushed himself upright.
"Miro."
From his back, hotter than before, energy poured out like flame.
"You're right. We came here to fight. I won't fall this easily either. But—"
His quiet voice gained strength. "Don't touch Kangnan."
Kangnan's head snapped around, and Miro's pupils wavered for a brief instant.
'You did that even in heaven.'
Even though he had given his life to save Miro and then charged into danger to save Kangnan again, Gaold had done so.
"Sir…"
Gaold gave a dry smile. "Heh, don't worry. We've come this far; we've got to go catch them. Gods and all."
Miro did not know. She didn't know how, when Gaold had fallen into hell and lost consciousness, a fourteen-year-old girl had managed to protect him.
'You'll never know.'
When human feeling clawed into her heart, Miro desperately steadied herself.
'I mustn't break. I mustn't break.' Her eyes cooled rapidly and, as if nothing had happened, she smiled brightly and raised both arms.
"All right. Fine. Sorry. Can you release this now?"
Kangnan, still angry, was more concerned about Gaold's condition. She let go of Miro's collar and supported Gaold as they moved away.
"You're really okay?"
"I said I'm fine. Still, your temper is awful. When will you ever fix that habit?"
"Who started it first? Why — are you actually scared I'll hit you?"
"Ha! You're lucky you didn't die. Still, you'd better have the guts to say those things."
"Huh?"
Gaold, lying with his head on Kangnan's knee and catching his breath, pointed at her with his index finger. "You said you'd become the world's strongest woman, remember?"
"Oh."
She remembered vaguely — had she really said that to Gaold?
"How old were you then? When was that…"
"You'll make it."
His eyelids fluttered closed and Gaold sank into even breaths as he fell asleep.
Miro placed a hand on Gaold's forehead and took in the sight of Kangnan smiling.
She thought Kangnan was pretty.