[202] 2. Age of Upheaval (2)
At point-blank range, only Arin — the one whose Metagate had been taken — stared down at her empty hand in disbelief. She looked as if she didn't even notice a fallen angel standing right beside her.
"Hmm, this is a Metagate, isn't it? Even citizens aren't allowed to use these. For a heretic, that's bold."
Arin's face drained of color at Ikasa's voice.
They had been more than thirty meters apart. How could the Metagate possibly have been snatched away?
Worse, grabbing an object while moving at high speed meant it had been accelerated by raw physical force.
"Hmm, you brought a Metagate here? Don't tell me… did Miro send you?"
Shirone didn't answer. He instinctively felt he mustn't give her any information.
"Hoho, if you don't want to say, that's fine. I can just analyze this and get the coordinates anyway."
The Metagate was high-tech equipment of the Mecha. If Ikasa dismantled it using Mecha tech, she could read the coordinates stored in it without even activating it.
Of course Ikasa had already guessed. Especially that boy's move to stop the elixir incident — that had been remarkable. They were definitely from Miro's loathsome hometown.
Ikasa sashayed through Shirone's group, her slender form swaying.
Everyone was defenseless, yet no one could move.
She stopped where the women stood.
When the tall angel peered down, Amy shrank back to the extreme. Still, she refused to give in to fear and held her gaze to the end.
"By any chance, are you a virgin?"
Amy's face flamed crimson. By any measure that was a low blow.
"W-what did you say?"
"Kekeke! So it seems. What about you girls?"
Ikasa pointed alternately at Tess and Arin. Both their faces went red, no exceptions.
"Hmm, is that so? For humans, you're remarkably patient."
Ikasa leaned in and examined Arin closely: black hair, black irises, a pale face like moonlight.
"Oho, you're an eastern race. I like that."
Ikasa was pleased. She had come intending to vent twenty thousand years of grievance, but she'd unexpectedly found a rich reward.
Coordinates that recorded Miro's hometown—and three girls. That alone might be enough to earn her promotion back to angel.
Ikasa spun her halo and activated her angelic power.
"U-uh?"
As Amy, Tess, and Arin rose into the air, a cluster of light reflexively coalesced before Shirone's eyes.
"No! Stop!"
Photon Cannons fired and, at the same time, Canis and Harvist launched a pincer attack. Rian hefted his greatsword and charged as well.
Ikasa extended a slender finger and swept it from left to right. Every attack bounced off an invisible curtain.
Shirone shouted, unable to shake his unease.
"Let the girls go! Come down! Fight us!"
Ikasa looked at them as if they were pathetic, then soared high into the sky with the three girls.
Shirone felt his heart about to burst.
This could not end like this. If it finished so helplessly, he wouldn't be able to bear it.
Ikasa accelerated her halo as she rose toward the heavens.
A burning vortex formed before her eyes and a massive shape condensed from it. Its black body was crossed by orange bands; its exact form was still unclear.
"Tabu, kill the heretics. I'm going to Lord Kariel."
"...Yes, Lady Ikasa."
Ikasa vanished rapidly into the northern sky. Amy's voice calling after someone trailed behind.
Shirone stared up at the sky with a stunned face. It didn't feel real.
He had known coming to heaven involved risks, but he hadn't imagined it would be this helpless.
'I... I was the one who insisted we come.'
Shirone squeezed his eyes shut.
It was his fault. He should have warned them not to come to heaven. He'd thought having a Metagate would make it a little safer. How foolish. Angels were beings beyond human imagination.
Kuuuuung!
The black mass slammed into the ground. Its surface was so smooth it could have been stone. When it uncoiled, it rose into a gorilla‑like form.
Thin orange bands ran across it in symmetrical patterns, their contrast oddly nauseating.
The triangle floating above its head identified it as a one‑horned Maraim. It was much smaller than the Mara seen at Nor's shelter, but it didn't look weak.
"Kekeke! I am Tabu. It's been a while—let's enjoy the fight."
Shirone's group took up battle stances, but their will to fight had been crushed the moment the girls had been taken.
Tabu, unconcerned by their morale, curled up like a beast delighted at play.
"My power is being suppressed, so I can't show off much..."
Tabu's orange bands flared and an intense heat erupted.
"For the likes of you, this is more than enough."
With that, Tabu kicked off and charged.
Rian ran in and swung his greatsword. Tabu neither dodged nor blocked. As if Rian were invisible, it ran straight and rammed his blade.
Bang! A shockwave detonated and Rian was hurled into the air.
Tabu arched its back and stared at Shirone upside down. Then it flung itself forward in that posture. The sight of Tabu's inverted face coming at them was indescribably strange.
Beyond human logic, Shirone cast his Radiant Barrage. A curtain of light struck Tabu, but it came through as if unaffected.
"Kekeke, interesting magic."
Tabu's face came right up close. Where eyes should have been, orange vertical lines ran; its mouth was split like a fissure with no lips.
The Radiant Barrage expelled mass at twenty times per second, but Tabu took it in stride.
It let its tongue loll down to its sternum and taunted Shirone.
"Keke. Sad, are you? That your girl was taken?"
Murderous resolve lit Shirone's eyes. He had to get Amy back.
Ironically, the moment that resolve sharpened, Shirone pushed Amy out of his mind.
As his focus condensed, the power of the Radiant Barrage intensified.
This time Tabu couldn't hold out. Driven back by the barrage, it began to scramble the battlefield with indescribably strange movements.
Not creative—primitive.
Like a monkey it moved with springy, elastic motions, striking heavy, rock‑like blows, and Shirone's group could only parry at best.
'Is this the power of a Mara?'
Its raw force might be less than the whirling serpent, but by rank Tabu would be higher.
Speed, strength, balance, combat intelligence—even aside from size, it surpassed the whirling serpent.
If Ikasa hadn't been weakened, might this monster not have been disastrous?
As Tabu's fist hurtled toward Shirone, a Shadow Wall shot up from the ground.
Bang! A noise erupted from the other side of the shadow.
Tabu didn't withdraw. It simply shoved harder, as if to force its fist through.
The fist punched through the Shadow Wall and struck Shirone's brow.
The first defensive layer absorbed the impact, but still his world spun.
From Shirone's shadow, Canis sprang up.
"Ordinary attacks won't work. Open the Immortal Function now."
"What are you talking about? When did you open that?"
Canis looked incredulous. He knew better than anyone the power of Photon Cannons fired under Immortal Function—yet they couldn't even wound it?
"A laser isn't possible?"
"That'd be difficult. It's small and fast."
Energy accumulation needed more than five seconds. Against Tabu, whose movement patterns couldn't be predicted like a large whirling serpent, that tactic was impractical.
"Still, try. I'll hold it; you attack when it's ready."
Canis cast the power of darkness. Shadows gathered like capillaries, seized Tabu's ankle, climbed its knees, and bound its wrists tightly.
As Shirone's laser pressed on Tabu, its body began to glow red. If it held like that, no matter how durable, an explosion would be only a matter of time.
"Khahaha! Satisfied! This is as far as you go!"
With a thigh‑propelling leap, Tabu tore the dark bindings that held its limbs as if they were paper.
In an instant its form became a speck high in the sky.
Had it been impossible after all? The dark power specialized in engineered force, but it wasn't particularly strong in raw physical restraint. To hold Tabu would require far greater binding strength.
"Canis! Stall it a little longer!"
Shirone decided to gamble on photon sculpting. It had been judged inefficient before, but having just succeeded with Shining Impact, his circumstances had changed.
While Harvist engaged Tabu, Canis watched the spheres of light gathering toward Shirone.
Because the light seemed weaker than Shining Impact, it looked like an attempt to lower particle vibration and shape them.
It was a clever idea, but would it work?
- Even if you suppress vibration, you can't grow it to a usable size. Like Shining Impact, it'll just explode.
- No. It doesn't look like compression.
At Harvist's words Canis turned his head again.
What Shirone had shaped with the sphere of light was a tiny ring no larger than the gap between forefinger and thumb.
'That bastard! Could it be—?'
A startling thought flashed through Canis's mind.
Light magic can't perform the kind of fine modeling dark magic can.
But sculpting itself might not be impossible.
The light rings Shirone made began to replicate, again and again.
A chill ran down Canis's spine as he watched.
There it was: a form that could be made from photons.
A fractal structure.
A fractal is a shape that replicates its form to constitute the whole.
Shirone had gathered the minimum particles to form the simplest shape, then conceived of replicating it indefinitely.
Once one form existed, copying it was instantaneous.
From the sphere of light gathered in Shirone's palm, a chain poured out like a stream.
Because this reversed usual attributes, it consumed more mental energy than ordinary magic, but it was the only strategy available against Tabu.
Tabu, who had been chasing Canis, noticed something odd and turned toward Shirone.
Chains dozens of meters long shimmered and undulated around him.
Light — the power called angelic force. Among them, photon sculpting was considered the hardest.
"You filthy human scum!"
Tabu roared and lunged. Shirone swung his arm and flung the chain.
The chains, made of interlinked rings, began to coil around Tabu's body. They started at the ankles, wrapped the waist, cut under the armpits, circled the neck, crossed into an X and descended to bind the thighs.
Klak! The sound of stone scraping rang out.
Tabu's fist stopped inches from Shirone's nose. The trembling punch betrayed its fury.
"Grrrrrr!"
Tabu was immobile.
The rings of the chain, given gravity, pulled on each other and increased tensile strength.
Even the slightest movement let them bite in and tighten.
Division Head Lee Girin stared at Tabu bound in the chains of light, unable to believe it.
Who on earth was that boy?
Even among angels who wielded light, few could master sculpting.
Canis too found it hard to accept.
It wasn't a simple chain. Shirone had used fractal technique to form the shape and used mass to generate tensile strength.
This was a different dimension from Shirone's previous magics. There are equivalents to Photon Cannons in other branches—lasers and Radiant Barrage, too.
But chain magic belonged to the exclusive realm of light particles; no other school could imitate it.
- The Unlocker's field is evolving at a terrifying speed. Everything it produces shatters common sense. After Shining Impact, now Shining Chain?
Canis fell silent. It was good their ally was growing stronger when they needed to retrieve friends, but his own aggressive pride felt deflated.
- Canis, your heart's racing. Don't overthink it. You came to heaven to get stronger. You can surpass Shirone.
- Yeah. Someday I'll have to. For now, focus on the situation.
Comforting himself, Canis walked toward where Tabu was bound.