The Weight of Existence (1)
As the world leaders processed the Apocalypse information, they all had the same question.
If Maya must be killed… how far do the methods of killing extend?
What if the assassin is a spy for a particular country? Or if an indirect killing occurs amid the chaos?
With standards so vague, most nations agreed that killing with a blade would be the most precise—
"The crossbowman."
The Iron Kingdom, which had been poised to become the world-leading state, played an extreme card.
Keiden was cautious.
Why are they doing this? It's dangerous. Why isn't anyone stopping them? Am I the only one watching?
Fermi thought, If I hadn't obtained future information, Shirone wouldn't have stopped the procession of people.
By now the audience would have been swept up in the human wave, and in that chaos it would be the Iron Kingdom who killed Maya.
But Fermi also thought, I knew, and then the Iron Kingdom knew. The Iron Kingdom will not kill Maya.
Those who felt dissonance at the prophecy—that killing Maya would make a nation the world leader—were not few.
And now every country knows the information.
If retreating meant defeat, Iron would have planned for both possibilities.
Because Shirone stopped the human wave, Iron would of course try to kill Maya... and because Iron tries to kill Maya—
Keiden escapes.
That was the future Fermi assumed when she revealed the Apocalypse information.
Keiden hesitated.
I think I'm the only one who knows. No—surely they're not just watching even though they know? What kind of stunt is this?
You couldn't blame the fear of someone who didn't know the future, but his right hand did not hesitate.
"Ugh!"
As the Blade Technique activated, a razor-sharp aura neatly cut the crossbowman's neck.
He really killed him.
He might not have been an assassin, but either way the right hand had moved.
"Keiden?"
As the applause stopped, Maya turned backstage with a stunned look.
A scream followed.
"Kyaa! Somebody's dead! What's going on?"
El Kiana shouted. "What is this? Murderer! Security, what are you doing? Hurry, that person—"
When she turned, she froze.
"Huh?"
Hitmen from every country had climbed the stage, drawing their weapons and rushing in.
"Get aside!"
"Ah—"
El Kiana wanted to move, really wanted to, but couldn't so much as twitch a finger.
Seeing the hitmen's eyes grow cold, she instinctively thought in that instant, Am I going to die?
Just as a blade was about to strike her neck, Reina grabbed her waist and they tumbled across the stage.
"Idiot! Run!"
"Gah!"
As El Kiana ran for the exit, Reina scanned the stage turned into a slaughter zone.
Was this what Lai meant? But why target us? No—it's aiming at—
The crossbowman's position flashed to her mind.
"Maya!"
The moment she shouted, assassins from every country formed a ring around Maya and swung their blades.
We must kill her first, no matter what.
"Yaaah!"
At that cry—at Keiden's cry—a tornado rose where Maya stood.
Maya, who had been tightly shut-eyed, lifted one eyelid and saw Keiden's broad back.
"Are you okay?"
"Yeah. Who are these people?"
"I don't know either. Why are they targeting you? Just a moment ago…" They'd been clapping through tears.
"A swordmage?" someone holding two daggers in reverse grip said. "A bit clumsy." Of course they were top-class hitmen, but Keiden kept his mouth shut for another reason.
The fate of the Red Cross Star has weakened. He sensed that the damned fate that had followed him had faded.
Still—the only reason he could use the Blade Technique was his right arm acting on its own.
It's like fighting with one arm. And it's not even under control.
Keiden decided what he could do to protect Maya.
"Maya, run."
Even though the enemies could hear him—
"I can't win." Dropping his pride and speaking honestly was the only way to move Maya.
"Keiden—"
"Go, now! Don't stall me!" He wasn't the type to say that, so Maya, with tears in her eyes, teleported in an instant.
"After her!"
The hitmen moved and Keiden blocked their way.
"Yaaah!"
He bellowed, but in truth there was nothing else he could do.
After all, it's me. I'm the one moving. He simply didn't realize it.
Please… that I had loved Maya far more than I thought.
When the blue electricity of Lightning Impact struck the stage, chain explosions erupted.
The hitmen, realizing the sudden surge in power, finally wore grave expressions.
If we delay, we'll miss.
But if they focused on Keiden, hitmen from other countries would snatch the prize first.
"Let's work together."
Practical and quick, they negotiated fast.
"Kill her first, then we'll compete again. Agreed?"
There were no amateurs among them; the hitmen signaled agreement by turning back to Keiden.
Keiden exulted. Done.
The power of his Blade Technique remained, but his body, aside from his right arm, had to act rationally.
They should all attack me. Then while I'm dying, Maya can escape.
He prayed sincerely.
"Why don't you know?" Seriel asked. "You don't pick fights you can't win. Where in the world is there something even the gods don't know?"
"That's the point," Fermi said, turning from the window. "Because not even the gods know, no one does. No one in this universe can know what Keiden will do."
"The only problem is—"
When Fermi had checked earlier, Keiden's escape applied only to the right arm.
"It means he isn't the human himself. It's not that he only has a right hand. True escape is only possible when one completely breaks free from the prison called the body."
"A prison called the body."
"Yes." Fermi smiled bitterly. "They don't know."
Keiden felt a chill. What the—?
His right arm deftly blocked the attacks of the twelve best hitmen.
What is this arm?
Even though it was attached to his body, he couldn't control it, so it didn't feel like his.
The hitmen's faces tightened too.
"Not bad."
These lightning-fast killers had already been unable to finish him for three minutes.
A genius with the sword? No—it's strange. I've never seen swordwork like this. It's unpredictable.
Unlike the hitmen acknowledging Keiden, he himself felt unsettled.
Damn it!
He felt like a slave to a part of his own body.
No. I'm definitely the one moving. There's no eye on the hand… It's clearly reacting to information my own eyes take in.
But—why don't I know?
Since it moves through the brain, if the right arm can do it, he should be able to.
Whatever it is, it's inside me. It's peering outward. Desperately fleeing—the fate of the Red Cross Star.
Even if the Law changed, Keiden's heart remained fixed in that place.
Damn.
He hated it so much.
I don't care about magic or swordsmanship. What I wanted was painting. I wanted to paint the greatest Maya!
At that moment, a hitman's dagger sliced through the back of Keiden's right thigh.
"Ugh!"
"...Got it."
This guy—it's only the right arm.
When Maya reached the exit, she froze.
El Kiana dangled by her legs, held in Pope Constantin's hand.
"Ma-Maya! Save me!"
As she took that desperate step, her eyes met Constantin's.
This person… is not human.
Her breath seemed to stop.
"Curious. You, and this woman too. Does that mean there's no particular reason you want to change?"
Who could have no regrets in life? But all those experiences made her song, so she was grateful for the present.
"It doesn't matter."
Maya appearing before him now must also be the result of God's will.
"Die."
The moment light shot from Constantin's hand, El Kiana kicked Maya.
The divine power—likely exorcism—lightly sliced Maya's fringe.
"Run!" El Kiana shouted.
Maya, who'd fallen on her butt, asked without realizing, "...Why?"
She wasn't especially cruel, but she wasn't someone who would help others while she herself was captured.
Right. Why did I do that? Even she wondered.
I really hate her. A goody-two-shoes sicko, unlucky, stole my part—
"Kill me instead. That girl must not die; she's the star of the cathedral's finale performance," El Kiana said.
Do you even know what that means?
"The world's best… diva." If sound carries both heart and information, her voice is the ultimate wave.
Maya's eyes filled with tears.
"El—"
The Pope cut in. "Diva?"
Then he strode toward Maya.
"A song that does not praise God is nothing but heretical sorcery."
"Keiden!"
Keiden, on one knee and swinging his right arm, heard Maya's voice.
"Maya!"
Surrounded by the light of divine power, El Kiana and Maya floated at the Pope's sides.
"Behold! Proof of God! His power! Corrupt humans! The age of God begins now!"
The kings of the nations rose from their seats, but key officials watching the crisis remained.
That's the Pope, right? He's insane.
Meanwhile Albino realized what had come had come.
Was this it?
No matter how the causes changed, they always reached the outcome God desired.
Maya will die.
It cannot be stopped by any cause.
"No!"
Keiden shouted, but now only his right arm remained intact.
"O God! Accept my faith!"
When Constantin cried out, fire lit in his eyes and Maya's pupils rolled upward.
"Maya! Maya!"
Keiden once more betrayed his own fate.
Why can't I have what I want?
Stubborn one.
The hitmen's attack range now reached his nape, but there was nothing to be seen.
It's not even a grand wish. Just to be by Maya's side. That's all.
Is that really so?
As Maya's body shuddered, Keiden clenched his teeth and straightened his knees.
"I truly want it."
Perhaps what he wanted wasn't so modest—
"Maya."
The whole of one human heart.
At the moment a hitman thrust the final killing blow, Keiden grabbed the sword with both hands—
Blade Technique—Seomhye.
In an instant a geometric arc, as if painted in light, blazed across the stage.
"What—!"
At a speed they couldn't react to, the hitmen's bodies were cleaved into pieces.
"Graaah!"
Even the Pope's arms were severed near the elbows, and Maya and El Kiana fell.
Albino's eyes trembled with shock.
How…?
Could the outcome be changed?
The afterimage of the flash faded, and Keiden exhaled slowly, turning his body.
The Pope staggered back.
"Y-You…"
The Omega core keyword: Cross Keiden.
"Get away from Maya."
Escape from God's prison.