[450] The Beginning of Change (2)
First Rebel Army headquarters — command and control room.
While Shirone had taken Kanya and Rena away, Crud briefed Gaold and his group on the battle.
The damage from Babel was worse than expected: they immediately lost forty percent of their forces, and fifty-three percent of their supplies were rendered waste.
The briefing's main point was that an all-out war with Heaven was impossible in their current state.
It was remarkable that Shirone's party had unified the Second Rebel Army, but their headquarters had been severed just the same.
"Soon the large Tagis will be finished at the Nightblind munitions works. But we're desperately short on personnel. Even if we avoid angels and Mara, there's no way through the People's Division fairies and the Guard Division giants to reach Arabot."
Sein agreed.
Neutralizing Heaven's air-defense system, Aegis, was solely to breach the outer defenses.
After that, it would depend on how long the rebels could hold out and how far Gaold could push.
'And Shirone. To cast God's Punishment, he has to at least get to the entrance of Arabot.'
Once mass accumulates at high altitude, it takes roughly fourteen minutes to fall to the ground.
Sein had already finished the calculations by firing a laser nearly vertically and using the fourteen-minute fall time to predict where the descent would strike Arabot's center.
They set such a difficult ultra-close strike because the operation's focus was retaking Miro.
Depending on Miro's condition, the variables would change in real time.
So triggering God's Punishment early and narrowing the chance of recapture would be a loss.
'I want to watch the situation until the very last moment, even if it's risky. In that sense, Shirone's infiltration requirements will be key.'
Everyone was lost in thought when someone knocked and Shirone entered. Kanya and Rena followed, both unsure of the reason.
Crud, who knew Shirone had left to comfort the two sisters, stared in puzzlement as Shirone came in with them.
"What's wrong? Do you have something to say?"
"I have a request. Where is Babel right now?"
"The metal angel? It's in Kuroi quarantine storage."
"Please take me there."
"For what? The metal angel is classified as Level-1 security within headquarters. I understand the grief of losing family, but we can't open it casually."
"Maybe I can reactivate Babel."
"Reactivate Babel…?"
Crud looked incredulous.
Sein had said the metal angel's system was a product of a higher-order existence beyond the angels' information network.
'Has he been persuaded by the two sisters?'
He had watched clearly when Kanya swung Signa and tried to destroy Babel as the machine shut down.
"Sorry, but that's—"
"Please allow it. Shirone might be able to do it."
"Plu."
Crud was a steely commander in meetings, but he was a little warmer toward Plu.
"What do you mean by Shirone might be able to do it?"
Plu was still the only one who knew Shirone possessed the Ultima system.
There'd been no time to report everything that happened at Second Headquarters; First Headquarters' follow-up actions were too busy and the other team members needed rest.
'How should I explain this?'
Only someone who possessed the Ultima system could truly understand it, and Shirone having liberated Babel was something Plu hesitated to say aloud.
He certainly didn't think Shirone was to blame for the First Headquarters' disaster.
But others might think differently.
'Better to hide what can be hidden.'
Shirone couldn't fully ignore his conscience, but Plu was a mage through and through.
"First, take Shirone to Babel. He'll explain the details there."
When Sein made the formal request, Crud had no choice but to lead them to the warehouse where Babel was isolated.
Security was tight, but the fear in the guards' eyes could not be disguised.
This thing had literally driven the headquarters to the brink of annihilation.
"All right, how exactly are you going to reactivate this thing?"
Babel stood with her head bowed as if asleep, but Shirone sensed from the moment he entered the warehouse.
'Output is intact. Only the commands are gone.'
The current of charge that constituted Babel came through clearly via the Ultima system.
Feeling as if he could raise her to her feet at any moment, Shirone slowly approached and Crud said, "Wait, are you really sure? If—"
Even if Shirone reactivated Babel, if she attacked the rebels as before they'd all be wiped out.
Sein spoke up. "You don't have to worry. The angel's algorithms were completely destroyed. We've already confirmed that through the Iron Wheel."
Even Sein, however, could not know exactly how Shirone would reactivate Babel.
He guessed the system grafted into Babel was a revolutionary information framework that unified every signal in the world.
The closest analogue in our world would be binary code, but this was a level above that.
'Connecting to Babel.'
Shirone closed his eyes and resonated with the Ultima system. The panels set in Babel's eyes flared red.
- New user detected. Ultima system connection established.
An invisible signal expanded between Babel and Shirone as their information integrated.
'This is…'
Connecting to Babel for the first time overwhelmed him. What Babel saw, he also saw.
- Babel primitive program active. Gaia Code Number 2 detected.
- Absolute non-aggression target. Entering algorithm configuration mode.
Shirone's will began converting automatically into Babel's native programming language and input.
- Primary objective: protect the rebels.
- Secondary objective: if protecting the rebels is impossible, swiftly eliminate the enemy.
- Tertiary objective: if eliminating the enemy is impossible, protect Kanya and Rena.
If the third algorithm activated, the battle was already bleak.
It was a program containing Shirone's sense of responsibility for the two sisters' grief at losing their father.
The algorithms progressed into fourth and fifth tiers, interlinking in complexity.
That humans and machines could resonate as a single signal was a technology far beyond telepathy.
- Shirone algorithm applied. Babel program online.
Babel, who had been kneeling, hummed like an engine and rose. The guards watching the quarantine simultaneously trained their arcs on her.
Even Crud, who knew Babel's overwhelming presence, swallowed and took a step back.
With clanking footsteps she walked straight to Shirone, took one knee, and paid respect to Gaia Code Number 2.
"Babel. I carry out Master Shirone's orders."
Hearing Babel's voice for the first time, its tone was remarkably calm and clear—nothing like the cruel executioner he had imagined.
"How… can this be…"
Crud was shocked to see the weapon that had ravaged their headquarters assume an attitude of submission toward Shirone.
To have subjugated Babel, who had even broken the angels' mental frameworks, implied the Nephilim's mind surpassed the angels.
'Is this the light of Sector 73?'
In any case, if Babel became an ally, nothing could be better. With her overwhelming might, she could more than restore the combat power First Headquarters had lost.
But Shirone thought differently.
You couldn't treat Babel purely as a war machine for efficiency's sake.
Who would want to fight alongside the machine that killed their family?
As expected, when Kanya saw Babel rise, murderous intent flooded her eyes and her fists trembled.
The loathsome machine.
What made it worse was that it was made of metal so strong human strength couldn't even break it.
Shirone said in a calm voice, "Babel, from now on, follow my orders."
"I will carry out Master Shirone's orders."
Shirone glanced at Kanya and said, "If Kanya wishes, I will destroy you right here."
"Shirone!"
Plu shouted.
Why destroy an ancient weapon that rivaled angels?
Gaold, however, lifted a corner of his mouth.
War is the collision of everything, and in human fights, emotion matters more than tactics.
With half the rebels having lost family, if they didn't resolve Babel's disposition properly they wouldn't regain their fighting spirit.
'That's like you, Shirone.'
Shirone's method was certainly radical.
Perhaps if Kanya destroyed Babel, that outcome would also be acceptable—an act of humanity, or audacity.
'Heh. Well, you don't know war.'
Babel answered calmly. "If Kanya wishes, I will destroy myself."
With the choice given to Kanya, the guards who had lost family watched her with cautious eyes.
'I want to kill it. I want to destroy it. But—'
Kanya bit her lip until it bled.
It was strange. There was not the slightest murderous intent coming from the machine that had mercilessly slaughtered rebels.
There had been no intent from the start. It had only been a machine seen through human eyes.
"When this war is over…"
Kanya gritted her teeth and turned away.
"You will definitely pay for it."
Babel replied in a gentle tone to her retreating back. "When the war is over, I will pay the price."
* * *
Shirone couldn't sleep late into the night.
It had been the only choice he could make for Kanya, but he worried whether he had only made her pain worse.
While restless, Julu knocked and came in.
"Were you sleeping?"
Shirone sat bolt upright. "No. Come in."
Although they worked as a team, Julu was still a difficult senior to Shirone.
"How are you feeling?"
Shirone guessed why she had come.
He couldn't honestly say his emotions had been entirely absent over the matter of Babel's destruction.
"Sorry. It won't happen again. I'll pull myself together so it won't interfere with missions."
Shirone forced a steady look.
He had less experience than his teammates, but he had no intention of being a burden.
What followed, however, was unexpected.
"Shirone, you don't have to push yourself so hard."
A hot, heavy lump rose in Shirone's throat. His eyes reddened and he couldn't speak.
"Humans aren't that strong. The mind governs the body. Then what governs the mind?"
Shirone waited silently for an answer. Julu gently placed both hands on his chest and said, "It's the heart."
"The heart…."
"The heart has no substance, so it can't be trained like a muscle. Gaold, Sein, Miro—they have incredible willpower, but they know sorrow and sometimes they shake. No matter how diamond-hard your spirit is, sorrow is sorrow."
Shirone confessed honestly. "Actually, it's agonizing. I feel like it's my fault that Kanya's father died, that the rebels died."
"Accepting sorrow is natural, but if you hold it in too long you'll break. Now, I'll teach you the secret of detachment. Try this."
Julu placed her hand on Shirone's chest.
"Body, mind, and heart are all connected. Put yourself into the cycle of your breath. Then you can pause the heart's activity for a moment."
All living things breathe. Focusing on the breath is a return to the basics of life.
"Inhale, exhale. Inhale, exhale."
Life, in the end, is breathing.
Focusing only on that, the intrusive thoughts in Shirone's mind drifted away from reality.
A minute passed, and Julu, seeing Shirone already slipping into sleep, slowly laid him down and, in a Middle Eastern tongue, said, "Shirone, the human heart is a hell. If you ever fall into that hell, don't forget the breath of detachment."
With a pitying look, Julu stroked Shirone's forehead, rose from the bed, turned off the light, and quietly left the room.