Exo Universe (4)
Constantine, heading for the annex, proselytized every person he passed.
"Believe in the god Cria."
"??????Yes."
Everyone he touched turned away, expressionless.
'I am...'
Constantine was not an o-parts relic.
'I am God's agent.'
Perhaps it was fate that someone who hadn't been exposed to the pyramid's wavelength should gain this power.
'I beg your pardon, God Cria. Was there still temptation in me? I confess I harbored doubt without knowing it.'
Tears fell.
He had believed in God despite the world's suspicions, but now he realized that even God could be human.
But this time was different.
'I saw it with my own eyes. I heard it with my own ears. The work of God—its brilliant proof.'
If something existed, it could be believed, and that belief was absolute enough to call him pope.
Thus, from God's perspective, his faith became immutable law.
"Heh heh, the age of God...
To kneel before a transcendent Absolute, not a world shaped by humans.
Just the thought sent his heart racing.
'I will dye the whole world in God's name.'
And beneath that name, Constantine—myself—would stand tall.
'A world-governing authority?' Everyone in the holy war sought legitimacy through Constantine's sanction, but—
"Nonsense."
He had no interest in human nations.
"1 hour 49 minutes 12 seconds. 11 seconds. 10 seconds."
A sudden voice made him turn; a vagabond stepped out from a corner.
Dirty clothes, unwashed hair down to his shoulders—he looked almost cadaverous.
"Kitra?"
Seeing a dried, twisted snake coiled around the man's neck, Constantine's intuition flared.
'Why is the king of the Paras Kingdom here?'
What did it matter?
"1 hour 48 minutes 42 seconds. 41 seconds. 40 seconds...?
"Kitra."
To make another believer, Constantine reached out a hand.
"Praise God Cria."
"36 seconds. 35...
The counting stopped.
"Cria?"
When Kitra turned his head, Constantine felt his soul freeze.
"Ah—ah ah...
Unlike Constantine, moved to tears, Kitra was indifferent.
"God has no name."
With a thud Constantine dropped to both knees and prostrated himself in a posture more miserably raw than any Rami Church ritual—it was instinct.
"Save me."
...This was God.
At the moment of contact, the forms, tendencies, and doctrines humans imagined became meaningless.
Kitra asked, "You haven't lost your heart, have you?"
"My heart is yours alone. Use it as you will."
"Kill Maya."
'Maya?'
The name sparked a question in him, but he couldn't summon the courage to look up and ask Kitra.
"I will obey your will."
As Constantine rose and left the corridor, Kitra turned the other way.
Until the universe closed...
"1 hour 46 minutes 55 seconds. 54 seconds. 53 seconds."
"Ahhhhh!" Satiel's spirit screamed.
No.
Amid the cosmic shift in Law, the angels had kept their hearts, but that did nothing to change the outcome.
God circumvented countless causes to enforce the result He desired.
'What God, the Whole, the Universe wants—
Void.
By photon-scale reckoning, in about an hour and a half the universe would be scattered into a state smaller than particles.
After that would come eternal nothingness, and beyond that the realm of infinite-nothing where even the concept of nothing cannot exist.
'It can't end like this.'
They had always fought prepared to be annihilated, but the pressure he felt now was of another order.
Not because there would be no resurrection.
'Even if I am annihilated... as long as this universe exists, it will continue in someone's heart.'
'But it will become nothing.' Hatred for Ikael, loathing for Goffin—everything would collapse into a momentary illusion.
Roaring Law surged, and the spiritual forms of the seven archangels began to scatter into particles.
Ikael fought with everything she had.
'If we break here, it's over.'
If the seven archangels' primal concepts were dismantled, the universe's dispersal would be instantaneous.
'It's bad that Uriel isn't here. With just seven concepts, slowing time is the best we can do.'
Even that wouldn't last long.
"Ikael."
A familiar voice reached her.
"Amy?"
"I'm here."
When Amy—the embodiment of fire who had fused with the sun—linked to Ikael's spirit, Ikael was stunned.
Huh.
She was far stronger than before.
"I'll help."
Amy's arrival prevented the archangels' disintegration, but it only bought an hour.
Ikael spoke plainly. "I'm sorry. I can't stop annihilation. If Amy stays here, she'll be in the same fate."
She wanted to spend whatever time remained with Shirone.
"No. We'll survive."
"What???"
While the archangels' minds focused on Amy, she smiled and said, "Shirone is building something incredible."
"Mi Ka."
- Construction progress: 87.9546 percent.
It was a sight to behold.
Whatever it was, its scale was something no one born human could ever witness.
The Shirone Sphere already surrounded the sun, leaving only detailed assembly.
'There's less than an hour and a half left now.' At the current speed it would finish in three hours—by then the universe would be gone.
'I have to more than double the speed.'
A simultaneous event is like ten fingers coordinating to play an instrument.
Losing a finger doesn't make the others play faster.
'But the material is different.'
It was like the score changing mid-performance, demanding intense, split-second concentration.
After the Apocalypse, the Sphere's assembly speed had increased significantly.
'That gives us about three hours, but this time it's a different order. If we're careless, the simultaneous event will fail.'
Shirone was cautious.
'If the result can be secured, there's no reason to hesitate. But the problem is...'
Could he finish in time?
If focusing on the materials broke the simultaneous event, everything would be for nothing.
He had no choice.
"Faster."
Deciding that, Shirone increased the assembly speed; the space producing material glowed red-hot.
"Guhhh!"
In the state of complete unity, his mind swam, and the foundation of the simultaneous event began to tremble.
Shaking—
"Ugh!"
Shirone, who had been holding back the procession at the Delta headquarters entrance, suddenly clutched his head.
"Yahweh!"
The southern warriors called out in alarm, but Shirone lifted his head.
'I won't give up.'
The moment the procession entered Delta, Maya would inevitably die.
'Maya.'
Imagining her song, Shirone opened his eyes wide.
"Hand of God."
A hand of light, filled with a defensive intent, shoved the procession back—instantly creating a twenty-meter gap.
"Yahweh, you are an error."
Even as they were shoved and rolled, the procession repeated the phrase without changing expression.
A chill ran through Shirone as he concentrated his wavering mind to a single point.
To merge two focal points into one—
"It's not an error."
It was a difficulty akin to sight-reading an unfamiliar, lightning-fast score.
"It's heart."
Reina had told him when he was a child that Shirone was good at sight-reading.
Law and heart clashed again, and the human procession began to be pushed back, endlessly receding.
"Shirone will—"
"Anyway, he'll pull it off. He always finds the best method in any situation and executes it," Fermi said by the window.
Seriel smiled. "He's been like that since school."
"It's not just technique. Cool judgment, the courage to gamble, situational awareness to set the bet, calculation speed, an unbounded variety of methods, and the flexibility to force open what's blocked on one side."
Fermi turned. "There's a lot contained in what we call being good. Solving a problem is the sum of human abilities. As far as I know, that guy's problem-solving is the finest among mages."
"Since when are you praising Shirone? You're acting strange today. What's going on?" Seriel asked.
Fermi looked back. "Maya dies in ten minutes."
"What!"
Seriel sprang up. "How can you say that now, you madman? You knew and you're just sitting here?"
"You can't stop it. God's will enforces results. We did everything we could."
Fermi pointed toward the main gate. "Shirone will stop the human procession. That's why I can lie to you."
"Lie? To whom?"
"To God." Talking to someone with too broad a view could make you feel mad.
"If Shirone succeeds, God will take a detour. It's a strategy possible because Shirone can do it. Right now countless unknown causes are probably entangled. And when it reaches the point God wants—"
Fermi slammed his palm into a fist. "We'll hit back."
"I can't understand. No—I don't even want to understand. Is Maya really going to die?"
"I don't know."
Fermi spoke softly as he imagined Maya's song reaching its climax. "Even God might not know." Then he ran to Kaiden.
Even after Maya's voice faded, the annex still seemed saturated with the phantom of her song.
The silence was broken only by low gasps scattered through the audience.
Panier lowered his baton.
Well done, Maya.
He drank in her flushed, breathless face.
Now you are the best in the world.
"Bravo!"
Someone stood and shouted, and applause erupted from all sides. Maya's expression finally eased.
It's over.
In truth, she could no longer hear the clapping, the whistles, or the praises.
I can go home.
The relief of having fulfilled her duty felt like owning the world.
"You were the best! Maya!"
Turning toward the voice from behind the stage, Kaiden was clapping.
Right. You were always by my side.
Only after the performance did everything that had happened begin to land as reality.
Maya broke into tears belatedly and bowed to the audience.
"Thank you."
As the applause swelled, her colleagues took her hands and led her to center stage.
"Go forward, Maya. You're the star."
Watching the jubilant troupe respond, Panier smiled.
You'll never want to do this again.
Isn't it a bit cruel to fight fear for so long for such a brief joy?
Ha—no, not at all.
You can't leave this behind.
You'll come back. This feeling now will be more thrilling than a lifetime of happiness.
Backstage, Kaiden clapped as fervently as the audience.
Good job. Good job, Maya.
As his heart swelled seeing her among the world's best performers—
"Hm?"
His clapping hand dropped without him noticing and closed on a sword hilt.
No one noticed.
What?
From the darkened side of the stage, a man was aiming a crossbow—