Massive Adjustment (3)
Shirone watched with sorrowful eyes as the god's planet drifted ever farther away.
'It looks so small like that...
Why can't it be united?
We fought desperately for humanity, and yet it feels like we couldn't save a single life.
The Ultima System.
To know what's right, to accept differences, to dream of a world where everyone is cherished...'
"Was that so foolish?"
—If you become strong enough to protect the whole world, listen to everyone's stories.
Gorphin's words floated into his mind.
"I'm sorry."
I guess I'm not as strong as Father.
Tears fell from the ache of being misunderstood and from his longing for Gorphin.
Ikael watched him.
'How hard it must be.' Without Gorphin, even she herself couldn't have fully borne Yahweh's heart.
When Shirone wiped his eyes and went into the room, Ikael laid a hand on Amy's shoulder.
"Go."
"But... am I even qualified?"
What could she possibly say?
"Qualification doesn't matter. Just stay by his side. That alone will be a tremendous help."
Just as Gorphin had been for Ikael.
"All right."
Summoning her courage, Amy walked to the door.
"Shirone."
When she came in, Shirone—still sniffling—hurriedly covered his face and stood.
"Oh? Yeah."
"Is something wrong?"
About that planet now drifting so far away.
"No, it's nothing."
She knew Shirone wouldn't speak about what had happened in the simultaneous incident.
"You've been through a lot, haven't you?"
Amy sat beside him and patted his back; Shirone burrowed into her arms.
Amy was startled for a moment, but seeing his trembling shoulders she composed herself.
She asked in a whisper, "What's the matter?"
"...I feel like I'm ruining everything."
Amy's eyes reddened.
"The thought of saving everyone ended up making it so I couldn't save a single person. Everything's a mess. I don't even know what I'm fighting for anymore. Mr. Lupist was right. The world would probably be better off without me."
"That's not true."
Amy stroked Shirone's head.
"You're just walking a path a little further than others. It only feels like you've lost your way because you can't see the end. But you're running straight. From the moment I met you...
A timid boy who knew nothing of the world—
"Until now."
—until you became Yahweh.
"There's never been a time I disliked you."
When Shirone, having calmed, slipped out of her embrace, Amy flashed a mischievous grin.
"Yes—Ultima."
She tapped his chest lightly with her fist.
Not knowing how to react, he blinked; she averted her eyes shyly and said, "People don't understand you because they can only see their own destinations. But you're not alone. No matter how far you go, there are people who will go with you to the end. Me, our friends, Ikael..."
"Amy."
When Shirone choked up again, Amy moved closer and hugged him face-to-face.
"You're not wrong. I believe that."
"...Yeah."
His tears hadn't entirely stopped, but now Shirone could move forward again.
230th floor of the Ivory Tower.
Bound by the power of the Taeguk, Taeseong stared at Shing with a cold expression.
"Shing, we—"
The moment Taeseong opened his mouth—
"Kuhk!"
Eumji and Yangji both scowled, and the power of the Taeguk began to collapse.
'Why?'
The fate of the Gemini Throne had been twisted by the pyramids erected around the world.
"Shing! The Law is changing!" Yangji shouted.
"Ahhh! It's over! The universe will be destroyed! Everything's finished!" Eumji howled.
As the binding force weakened exponentially, Taeseong looked left and right and suddenly lunged forward.
Shing shouted, "Stop!"
The Law's ultimate, absolute enforcement.
A dogmatic stubbornness that destroyed plausibility froze the Law of this instant completely.
"Hah. Hah."
Eumji and Yangji panted.
'For now, we've stopped the Taeguk from collapsing. But this also means Shing can't move.'
Rebound-bound, Taeseong made a pained face.
"Shing, don't do this."
"You were trying to kill me after all."
"No! I was trying to help you! If Baal brings down the Ivory Tower...!"
"Shut up. I don't want to hear illusions. I will judge, and I will act."
Taeseong sobbed. "Why can't you trust me? You know who I am. I've been fighting for humans, to protect my children."
Shing's nostrils flared. "...You can't prove it."
Proof that anyone other than I is not an illusion.
"In a situation where humanity's fate is at the brink, that's no idle fantasy. If you can't prove this proposition, Selbuster could destroy humanity."
"I will stop him. I'll persuade Argones. He'll listen to me."
"I told you to shut up!"
As stubbornness hardened, Taeseong's mouth set, and Shing's body froze in the world.
First Legion Commander Baal rapidly reversed the tower while Shirone met heavy resistance.
"Damn it! Why must this go this far?"
"O Daeseong! Surrender!"
By the time they reached the 172nd floor, many residents who followed Shing's philosophy were gathered there.
"Catch him on this floor!"
Even the ordinary residents here were famed as top intellects abroad.
Above all, among those pressuring Shirone were people listed among the world's 100 most dangerous figures.
"O Daeseong! I will refute you with my death!"
"Ugh!"
An old man drew a short blade and tried to cut his throat; Shirone charged.
He grabbed the blade and shouted, "Stop! What are you doing?"
From the roof of a square four-story building, a man in a suit reached out and cried, "For the enforcement of truth!"
"Blique."
One of the world's 100 most dangerous—he'd embezzled thirteen trillion gold in a financial fraud.
"Shirone, you're wrong. Don't you realize your single judgment could bring about the annihilation of all humanity?"
"No. I will protect them."
Seeing Shirone's unyielding eyes, Blique sighed. "I can't help it. I respect you, but..."
He pointed downward. "I will destroy them."
Where his finger pointed, a woman was strangling her husband.
"No!"
Shirone teleported over and shoved her away; the iron door slammed shut.
There wasn't a moment to check the man's condition before a thud sounded.
The woman had smashed her head against the wall.
"Yiaaa!"
Shirone leapt forward and cradled her head to his chest.
"Ugh! Please... stun her with Miracle Stream."
"Stop it!"
With a thud the woman collapsed and the building's lights flickered on.
Shirone looked ahead and his eyes trembled in shock.
"What the—"
There were residents caught in traps set all around, linked through complex mechanisms.
'Where do I start?'
He analyzed the mechanisms with his insight, but the complexity made his head swim.
'No, more than that... the design of the mind is even more intricate.'
'I can't save them all.'
The basic mechanism: if you save the residents on the left, those on the right die.
'They separated by man, woman, old, young; they calculated pain intensity, types of death, the state of the corpses...'
It was a trap containing every calculation that could attack Shirone's conscience.
From the devices' peculiarities he could name the designers.
'Pito. Decker. Magrasia.'
A labyrinth designer, a drug researcher, a cult leader—masterpieces crafted by members of the world's 100 most dangerous.
"We will deliver our will." Pito, trapped in an iron cage, cut his rope with a knife; a massive blade swung toward his neck.
"Ugh!"
Before he could decide, Shirone rushed in and spread Miracle Stream.
The smoke of light seized the blade just as a syringe in an opposite cage descended.
"Ughhhh!"
When a woman with a needle in her wrist had poison injected, her whole body trembled.
Shirone pulled out the needle and thought, 'If I pull this out... seven iron cages will catch fire, and three cages will open and fall through the floor below.'
The Ivory Tower's residents were the kind who would perceive Yahweh's essence and use their own lives as bullets.
'Why go this far...'
Their convictions struck at Shirone's spirit.
'Am I really wrong?'
After extinguishing the burning cages, he went down again and grabbed a falling iron cage.
'This is the only route.'
He finished the calculation, but Blique's design was cruelly perfect.
'I was deceived.'
It had been arranged to look like a solvable puzzle, but in truth there was no answer.
As every visible trap in the building activated, the residents were driven toward death.
The sight itself became a bullet that pierced his heart.
"Huh? ..."
They're all dying.
'I'm ruining everything. It's because of me; if it weren't for me they wouldn't have died...
Maybe the Ivory Tower residents could have shattered Yahweh's spirit.'
At that moment, Amy's words leapt across spacetime and struck his mind.
'You're not lost.'
It only feels like losing your way because it's too far and you can't see the end.
"You're not wrong."
Clutching his wavering mind, Shirone's eyes snapped open and the Hand of God awakened.
It split into tens of thousands of tiny hands and operated every device in the trap.
'How could anyone think to make something like this?'
No matter how he tried to disarm them, the traps were wired two, three times over so death seemed inevitable.
'They must be solved simultaneously.'
Problems without answers can, from far enough away, become their own answer.
'Done!'
As the traps disengaged, hundreds of planted bombs simultaneously hit their detonators.
At the moment the great blaze rose, Shirone merged with the Hand of God.
'No matter how far it is.'
With a cause that overwhelmed every specialty.
'I will run to the end.' As the bombs detonated and the building shook, Blique closed his eyes gently.
'This is the end.'
With a roar the building exploded and a gigantic golden hand stretched up into the sky.
Feeling a warm current along his back, Blique opened his eyes and understood.
'Did it not waver?'
A moment later the Hand of God set every resident gently on the ground—none missing.
All were unconscious; the only one awake was Blique, who approached Shirone.
"You've won."
Shirone had been the one to enforce his will.
"It was an honor to face O Daeseong."
Shirone said sharply, "Don't ever do this again."
"All right. The conclusion's been reached. In any case, it seems our power alone is insufficient."
The instant Blique finished speaking, a talisman flew at Shirone's feet.
"Kuk!"
He leapt back and the one square meter where he had stood melted into lava.
'This is?????'
It was an ability he recognized.
"I'm sorry to meet you like this, O Daeseong."
A man plastered with talismans from head to toe shook the charm wedged between his index and middle fingers.
He was Heukgangsi, a three-star resident of the Law Department.