A Horrible Truth (7)
"Ta— Taeseong...
There was no intent to kill, no malice.
No— even if there had been, Shirone probably couldn't have responded.
It was that vast.
"Why me...
In Shirone's lonely fight for humanity, the size of the trust he had placed in Taeseong—
Taeseong withdrew her hand in a smooth motion.
"Huck!"
Shirone collapsed to the floor, and he stared for a moment at his own blood-soaked hand.
Shing's gaze dropped.
"Shirone."
A clean, fatal strike.
All Shirone could manage was a faint twitch.
"I see."
Taeseong flicked the blood off and said, "Why such a pointless act?"
Shing shivered as if her very soul had frozen and, shoulders trembling, asked, "Did you lie to us?"
"What are you talking about?"
Even Shing, who had distrusted Taeseong, asked that because she had overlooked one thing—
That Taeseong was not human.
"I am an Administrator. I cannot leave an intruder from the outside world alive."
When Taeseong flipped Shirone's body with her foot, Shirone's face—twisted in pain—was revealed.
"Ugh! Damn!"
"I stopped his heart. Revival is impossible. Do not trouble yourself with trying."
Shirone ground his teeth.
I'm dying.
He tried to move his heart with Miracle Stream, but it wouldn't budge, as if turned to steel.
'A Law code was injected. Revival...'
Shirone's eyes rolled back; the edges of his consciousness narrowed to the size of a needle's eye.
What came to him in that last instant was a single image:
- Save yourself from the horrible truth.
'It's infuriating.'
His faint breath faded; his eyes showed the whites, and Shirone did not move.
He was dead.
"Uh..."
Shing stared, stunned.
She had watched Shirone die right in front of her, but her thoughts refused to form.
Only one thing moved: rage.
"I'll kill you."
Taeseong took a step forward, watching the murderous light in Shing's eyes without emotion.
"You still speak foolishly. I have no life. And now humanity is finished."
Stopping before Argones, she said, "Begin."
"Hmm." Administrators each oversee their own domain, but in the end they are programs running under God's computational engine.
Shing didn't know how much they knew of one another, but...
"Cell Buster."
Argones's expression darkened.
When his body split into countless anti-cells, Shing, belatedly coming to her senses, thrust out a hand.
"No!"
But by the time Taeseong had reclaimed her freedom, nothing could stop it.
"Ugh!"
Taeseong blocked Shing's Law; Argones dispersed into innumerable cells and shot up into the sky.
It's over.
Pride had always burned strongest in her; the instant that thought crossed Shing's mind, even her fighting spirit evaporated.
"Ugh!"
She dropped to her knees and wept.
Taeseong approached.
"I didn't want it to come to this. If possible, I wished to live with the children I created."
"Ugh... how—how could you—" Shing could no longer hear anything; Taeseong turned away.
"Please, in the next reincarnation..."
She rose into the sky as well, and only her cold voice remained in the Ivory Tower.
"Do not make this mistake again."
Left behind were weeping Shing, the stunned Umji and Yangji—and Shirone's corpse, the sight of which drew a raw, wild cry.
Imir's consciousness.
The group who had exited the gate on Deep Level 1 turned back in shock.
"Mr. Luber."
Luber, still clutching Ultima, remained lodged in Imir's mind.
"I'm sorry."
Sein, Miro, Gaold, and Gangnan didn't understand what he meant.
"O Great One."
Monga wore an expression of pity.
"You've made a grave mistake." And at that moment, at the Ivory Tower, Taeseong had stopped Shirone's heart.
"Gah!"
They realized the full circumstances too late; before they could do anything, Shirone had already fallen.
"You—"
Miro lunged first, followed by Gaold, Sein, and Gangnan.
"The outside world—"
Luber said, "No one must approach it."
At the same moment the incarnation of the Thousand-Armed Avalokiteshvara raised its voice and the gate snapped shut.
"One second."
Graaah!
Imir's superego punch had already reached within arm's length.
Boom!
A shockwave swept the air from Deep Level 1 and exploded in a blinding flash.
After the blast cleared, Luber looked up at the giant fist stopped right before him.
"Take it."
Luber handed over Ultima, but the giant's fist did not move.
The Avatar, Imir, asked, "A bargain?"
"No. Is there anything left to take?"
Shirone's party had returned to reality, and all that remained in that reality was humanity's annihilation.
"Annoying."
Of course, if Ultima had been extracted, Imir's future might have changed—but if he'd feared that alone, he wouldn't have relinquished a blow to Gofin.
So—
"Graaaah!"
Imir seethed.
The Avatar's roar was violent enough to stop a living heart, but Luber stood calm.
"Take it."
As the giant's thumb and forefinger closed on Ultima, it vanished and a black hole opened again in the sky.
"I hate owing debts. If you want something, say it."
"Will you go to the human world?"
"If so?"
It was the hottest battlefield in the multiverse.
"Destroy it. Thoroughly. If the last one left is you, then I will acknowledge you as the strongest."
Luber and Monga vanished.
"Hmph."
Imir felt no particular objection to the proposal, but resented being placed beneath something that called itself a god.
'Wait. You're next.' In any case, with a deal struck, Imir now knew what he had to do.
"Kukuku! Time to play properly." The extinction of all humanity.
Shing's heart plummeted into an endless pit.
"We failed."
Soon anti-cells would cover the world and humanity would revert to primordial cells.
"If I had been stronger. If I'd pushed harder..."
"O Great One."
Umji and Yangji stood where she had looked.
"Thank you for everything."
"You two..."
Shing understood what they intended.
"I don't know how long we can hold, but we can at least buy humanity some time to react."
They planned to use the power of the Taeguk to slow Cell Buster's Law, even if only briefly.
"No— we still need you. Yahweh is dead. If you leave too..."
Yangji shook his head.
"You know already. Human thought can't reach a perfect Taeguk. We're ready."
Rumble!
Thunder rolled across the sky; the silver anti-cells began to divide.
"We don't have time. Let us do it."
Shing ground her teeth.
Even if they could hold Cell Buster for a moment, what would it mean?
Why fight to the end? Because someone must take responsibility.
"Please."
At Shing's decision, Umji and Yangji smiled and nodded together.
"Goodbye—"
The two who opened Immortal Function shone brilliantly; their consciousnesses scattered into the world.
Shortly after—
Rumble! Rumble!
The anti-cells that had filled a tenth of the view began to converge back into a single point.
What formed was a massive aggregation of cells, round like a moon.
Feeling a vibration as if it might explode any second, Shing hugged herself.
"We have to think."
In the brief time bought by the two of them, humanity had to find some way.
"Please—"
In parched anxiety, her eyes fixed coldly on the pale, frozen form of Shirone.
"Ahhh!"
Gangnan screamed and woke.
Through dream after dream, nested dreams, she had arrived at—
"Gasp! Gasp!"
A temple both unfamiliar and oddly familiar.
'It was a horrible nightmare.'
That thought lasted only a moment before she realized this place was Galliante Island, not far from Tormia.
"Shirone!"
This wasn't an ordinary dream; when she turned, the others were awake.
Well—not all of them.
Miro approached Arius, who lay peacefully on a blood-soaked bed.
"Farewell."
As she touched his brow, she looked around the temple the Kergoins had prepared.
"No one came in."
It was sealed, but the stillness deeper than silence felt ominous.
And one person still unawakened.
"Shirone! Snap out of it, Shirone!"
Gangnan shook his shoulder, but Shirone lay motionless, like the dead.
"What happened?"
Gaold stepped closer as Sein spoke. "It's probably the aftereffect of the simultaneous incident. He must have taken a fatal blow in another space."
"But that's odd. Simultaneous incidents are Avatar techniques. If it were truly fatal, he couldn't be sustained."
After a pause, Miro said, "He's dead."
Everyone turned to Miro.
"Dead?"
"He received a fatal injury, but his consciousness remains. In other words, his heart is dead, but his brain is alive."
Gangnan spread his arms. "Does that make sense? A stopped heart means death."
"How would you know?"
Gangnan fell silent. "You've never had your heart stop, have you?"
"Th-that's..."
"Of course it's an unusual case. But because such a strange thing occurred, this situation came to be. That is, Shirone is currently dead, but—"
Miro raised a finger. "He's alive."
Two—
'Please! Please!'
Shirone pressed his hands to his chest, desperate.
'Beat!'
Thump! Thump!
When his still heart finally began to beat, a tremendous shock slammed through his body.
"Uaaah!"
He shot upright, and the one more astonished was Shing.
"What— what is this?"
She watched, bewildered, then crawled to the injured Shirone.
"Shirone! Shirone!"
"Ugh!"
His body craving blood felt as if it were on fire; the wound on his back remained.
"Stop the bleeding—!"
Blood gushed; Shing focused her Law.
With Miracle Stream's healing added, the hemorrhage was quickly staunched.
"What happened? Weren't you dead?"
"You were."
His heart had stopped, so of course he had been.
"But his brain hadn't failed."
"I'm sorry, Shing. Because of me—"
"No."
Shing shook her head. "It wasn't decided by someone else's words. I accepted it because I was convinced by you."
Those words were enough to bring gratitude.
"Cell Buster has been activated. We need to find a way to stop it."
"Where is Taeseong?"
This time Shing was angry. "Don't you get it yet? We were deceived. After all, Administrators are just God's henchmen!"
Shirone had thought so too. Yet—
"Why target the head?"
"Huh?"
"Why the heart? She could have smashed the skull, or shattered the body. Why stop the heart?"
"Are you crazy? Taeseong tried to kill you!"
"I know. But I don't understand. This thing called God, a perfect computing device—can it make such a mistake?"
"That's—"
Shing had no answer.
"This is important. We have to check for sure."
"For what?"
"Maybe Taeseong—"
Just as Jet in the Apocalypse differed from many other Jets.
"Had an error." In other words—a mind. A heart.