[536] The Final World (4)
A heavy silence settled over the temple.
"Answer me. What did you do to me? And what do you mean by 'slave'?"
The Regent had no combat skill, but there were plenty of powerful warriors ready to protect his light.
"Priest, summon Ra's guardians."
The priest swept his hands, grabbed cords from different places, and connected them together in front of him. Sparks flashed where the cords met, and the priest himself vanished in an instant.
'So he can do that too.'
Not long after, the priest returned. The doors clattered open and four figures burst in like a gust of wind.
"Avatar of Ra, we follow your command."
The Regent pointed at Shirone and issued the order.
"Punish this heresy that usurps the name of the god. The language of light is never fitting for a slave."
Sensing that the guardians' prayers were unusual, Shirone braced and focused.
'They're different, too.'
The colony's leaders were mutants born from the Tree of Life at a one-in-a-hundred-thousand chance.
Their abilities spanned the biological, mental, and phenomenal—born with overwhelming power to lord over the Children of the Sun.
"You must be an Ancient. I hear you refused Ra's baptism?"
Yoga, the only woman among the guardians, stepped forward.
Her green hair was tied into a complex knot atop her head, her bangs cut straight above her brows.
"That wasn't baptism—more like brainwashing, right? What did I do to deserve this?"
"There is only one sin."
Yoga aimed her palm at Shirone and said, "Your existence."
Silver Mirror.
Her arm turned into silvery metal and, with a ringing snap, burst outward.
"What the—!"
Metal shards whipped like a torrent. Shirone blinked out of existence and reappeared at the temple's edge by teleportation.
"I'll go."
Karof, who stood beside Yoga, cracked his neck from side to side.
Medium-built and well-balanced, the sides of his head were cleanly shaved, his long hair falling over the top. His face contorted, hair sprouted across his skin, and at last his face became that of a savage dog as he lunged toward Shirone's flash.
"Rraaah!"
Four claws slashed in. Shirone, having canceled his teleport, rolled along the floor.
"Damn—!"
As he righted himself, shards of the Silver Mirror flew in.
'Frenzy!'
A veil of light repelled the mirror fragments, and Karof staggered as if struck by dozens of clubs.
'Photon Cannon!'
Shirone snatched a globe of light and hurled it; the flash stretched and slammed into Karof's abdomen.
"Ugh!"
Sent flying, Karof only reached the place he'd been standing before he could plant his feet again.
His disguise fell away; he dropped to his knees with nothing but his bare body, cheeks puffed and eyes wide.
"Rraaah—!"
Even in the guise that gave him great strength, he couldn't withstand the impact and sprayed blood.
Yoga formed the seal, the Silver Mirror shards gathered at her shoulder and reassembled into an arm.
Using her palm like a mirror to check her face, she dispelled the metallic trait from her arm and said, "What? You could've avoided that."
Karof shook his head.
"That's not the point. The light—"
—That light carried physical force.
Faced with that inexplicable fact, the two guardians who hadn't joined the fight fell silent.
To the Children of the Sun, light was life itself.
Even without the doctrine that Ra's worshippers would gain immortality, their people could not survive without light.
"Hmm."
Only the priest who administered doctrine could make a call in a situation like this.
'Among mutant abilities, those who command the language of light have existed across generations.'
For reasons unknown, it likely stemmed from the Tree of Life's activity being based on light.
'And now a new language of light has appeared—on an Ancient, no less. Is this Ra's revelation? Or—'
Having reached his conclusion, the priest bowed his head to the Regent.
"Avatar of Ra, two suns cannot exist in the colony. It may be uncomfortable, but I beg you to exercise your solar authority and persuade these pitiable children."
Now that things had escalated this far, there was no choice but to put the matter to the colony: which of the two lights would they choose?
"Very well! I will gift them a sun while Ra sleeps!"
The Regent understood power's logic too. If he backed down here, only death awaited him.
"It will be in three hours. Tell the priests to prepare."
The priest said so and addressed Shirone.
"You who brought discord to the colony, I grant you a final chance. At the hour the colony grows darkest, you and the Regent will contest the power of light. If you win, you shall become the colony's new leader. If you lose, you must take your own life."
"I don't want to be the leader. And I won't kill myself."
"Don't get cocky. You may be using a strange tongue to impersonate Ra, but what you've seen of the guardians' power is not the whole of it. If you want to live, you'll have to prove yourself with everything you've got."
Though the judgment was left to the colony, the priest had no doubt the Regent would win.
When everyone left, only the guardians remained to exchange opinions.
"What do you think—about this match?"
At Yoga's question, Karof answered as if it required no thought.
"Of course the Regent will win."
"But that slave's light is strange."
"Hmph. What does that matter? We've served the Regent for generations because light is life. Light that destroys life is useless to the colony."
Karof turned and the other guardians returned to their rooms. Yoga lingered, staring in the direction Shirone had gone and muttered, "Light that destroys life, huh..."
Meanwhile, Shirone was guided by a doorkeeper to a place where he could rest.
He'd gotten a rough sense of life in the colony: it was simple.
The Children of the Sun did nothing; the Ancients took care of most chores.
Descending below the slaves' floor, he found Woodga and Hamei sitting in a small room, basking in light.
"What are you doing here?"
Woodga, trembling with rapture, opened his eyes.
"Oh? You survived? Thank goodness."
"I'm not out of danger yet. I asked what you're doing."
"What else? Basking in the sacred chamber's light. Huh? But you're a slave—you should use honorifics. Since you can understand speech, you must have received Ra's grace too."
"That was... just postponed for a while."
"Hmm, I see."
Woodga dismissed it casually. It was probably connected to the Regent's Sun Festival in three hours.
"Only those who've done something blessed can enter the sacred chamber. You get the light up close. Today was supposed to be Hamei's blessing, but they let me join."
"Basking in light is a blessing?"
Hamei said with a rapt expression.
"It's the greatest blessing. When you soak in strong light this close, you feel tremendous power. It's the best feeling in the world."
"It's hard on the body if you stay too long, but only the Regent can make light like that. The slaves are pathetic. They don't even get to feel how wonderful it is."
'Strong light...'
Alone in the room, Shirone thought.
He could run now, but maybe that was exactly what the Regent wanted.
'There's a way. Or rather, I'm not sure. I should run a test...'
At that moment, a band of cord connected ahead and the priest appeared.
"…The time has come. Ascend to the topmost level."
The priest approached Shirone, connected the cord, and the scenery changed in an instant as they arrived atop the colony's roof.
The Regent flexed his upper-body muscles, loosening, and four guardians stood in a row beside him.
Below, hundreds of the Children of the Sun had come outside and were looking up.
"Avatar of Ra! Immortality! An eternal future!"
"Listen, all of Ra's people!"
Silence fell over the plaza.
"I will personally punish those who impersonate the name of Ra with false language. From this moment I will bestow the power of blessing!"
When the priest handed over two devices linked by optical fiber, the Regent took them in both hands and faced Shirone.
"Watch the power of my authority closely. If you cannot produce a light stronger than mine, I will cut your throat."
Shirone inspected the devices without answering.
The optical fibers ran to the colony's ceiling, and the trapezoidal handles glowed faintly.
'A device that transmits light?'
The Regent hoisted the devices skyward and opened his ability.
"The sun does not go out even in darkness! I will prove it through my own body!"
Both his fists glowed, and as light flowed along the fibers, the crowd erupted again.
"Waaah!"
Glass spheres installed throughout the colony began to glow, and soon the entire structure luminesced.
Every Child of the Sun, moved, tipped their crowns toward the light and prayed.
"Ra! Ra! Great Ra!"
"Impressive, as expected."
Karof nodded in satisfaction at the pageant of light that drove back the night.
As long as the Regent stood, the Children of the Sun would not perish.
That was why, even without combat skill, a wielder of the language of light would inherit the regency.
Convinced he had displayed sufficient power, the Regent released the device and the light died down.
Still, the aftershocks rippled through the night air; people shivered with the pleasure of the light for a while.
"Now, it's your turn."
The Regent sneered and stepped aside.
'A light bright enough to illuminate the whole colony...'
When Shirone appeared, murmurs rose. His words were muffled, but hostility rode the sound.
'I have no choice.'
Shirone focused; his eyes snapped open.
"Heretic, present the device—"
The priest, bearing the device as he approached, went pale.
A small light began to trace a path above Shirone's head and a vast circle took shape.
'Super-Magic Amplification Formation—Ataraxia.'
It was an ability from a memory that surfaced when he opened the Immortal Function.
As Ataraxia spun into its complete form, the Regent cried out, sensing danger.
"This is the heretic's language! Drag that slave out now!"
To the others it was merely a contest to determine the sun, but for those involved it was life and death.
"The Regent is right. Eliminate the heretic."
Just as the four guardians lunged, a handful of photons began to gather in Shirone's hands.
"Light?"
It was definitely light.
But at first it was only enough to illuminate the immediate area, and it dimmed as time passed.
'I need to align the polarization.'
Growing anxious, the Regent mocked Shirone.
"So that's all you used to impersonate Ra? There's nothing more to see! Kill the heretic now!"
As the guardians prepared to spring, Yoga held them back.
"Wait a moment. That thing..."
The dot of light buried in the night left Shirone's hands and rose upward.
When it crossed Ataraxia—
"Wooooooah!"
An enormous explosion of photons erupted in the sky.
The sphere of light, far larger than the colony, emitted an intensity that swallowed the people's silhouettes.
In a world of blinding white where nothing could be seen an inch ahead, the crowd's screams filled the air, struck by the rapture of the overwhelming light.
"Aaaah! Aaaah!"
Woodga howled and wept with pleasure as if his mind had flown apart.
It felt as if his blood were evaporating, the energy spinning so fast his body might explode at any moment.
"Brother... brother..."
Hamei, trembling with emotion, clasped her hands and lifted her face in tears.
As the photons dissipated, people could finally make out the light that had risen into the sky.
"Ah... ahhh..."
"Ra... Ra has descended..."
A sun hovered above Shirone's head.