[723] The World We Live In (4)
Duel of the Laws — White vs Black.
Survivors: 9.
White: 4 survivors.
"We still have a chance."
That included Marco, the man who'd tried to force Shirone into harmonizing the laws from the carriage.
"Just now four people in Black died all at once. Three of them were the only ones who ever moved as a team."
It was information Marco had confirmed through his weapon card, Periscope, so it had to be accurate.
"Black will fight as individuals to the end. If we start acting together now, we've got a shot."
Breeze, the White zone's hairdresser, said.
"Hmm, that's probably for the best. But first we need to decide by vote—whether to reveal our cards."
If someone holds a life-or-death weapon card, it's only natural they'd be reluctant to share it, even with allies.
At first, White's participants had aimed for minimal cooperation, but in the end six people had died.
"I'm against it. Isn't it too early to combine cards? Black only has one more person than we do anyway."
The objector was a man in his mid-fifties named Ballard, a guard in White. Trained as he was, he'd have the edge in a straight fight—but in White-Black, weapon cards were everything.
"He's got a good card."
Marco wanted more than ever to pool their cards.
"Fine. Let's decide by vote then. I, Breeze, and Atria are for combining cards."
The sixteen-year-old Atria raised her hand.
"I haven't even said anything yet."
She might not hold an advanced card, but if she meekly agreed to pool them she'd be underestimated.
"Well, whatever. Cards are just—alright. So what'll it be? Team or solo?"
Atria lowered her head sullenly.
"Team."
"You'd go along with it and still act coy…"
Marco sighed and turned to Ballard.
"All right, it's over. Three votes for, one against."
Ballard's face creased.
"Damn voting."
"Hey, if you ignore White's rules—"
"I know. I'm a guard. My job is to beat people into following rules. And you're young, trying to teach me."
When life in White had been peaceful, Marco had been on good terms with the residents.
'I'll make it back alive.'
Thinking of the family waiting at home made a father shamelessly determined.
"Then let's share cards from now on. We'll pool everything, then redistribute roles—combat, support, scouting…"
As Marco patted his pockets and spoke, a sound of spatial transfer announced Shirone's landing.
"What, what is that!"
Everyone in White sprang to their feet.
"How are you still alive?"
Marco felt like he'd seen a ghost—the Periscope had shown four survivors in White, so this was impossible.
Shirone stepped forward, holding out a Seeker card.
"I'm Black. I came to make an offer."
"Seeker…"
Breeze's eyes lit up as she stared at the profession card, and Marco's thoughts spun fast.
'A Seeker showed up? So it's four versus five? If Shirone joins White, not only would he team up with us, he'd give us the numerical advantage. We'd win.'
Shirone's expression turned sour.
"Why are you so surprised? Did you think I'd die after activating the harmonization of the laws?"
"No, of course not. I said it wouldn't be particularly dangerous. We were looking for you too."
Everyone knew it was a lie, but none could admit the truth.
"Forget what happened—why not move with us? If you join, the scales tip to White…"
"I'm Black."
Shirone cut him off.
"I came only to make a proposal. If you accept, I won't do you any harm."
A murderous glint entered Ballard's eyes.
"Hey, kid. You think a Seeker's a cure-all? This is a battlefield where laws must harmonize. There's no reason we can't be like Black."
Marco stopped Ballard.
"Wait. He might become an ally—no need for a fight. Why not vote?"
Shirone snorted.
"You want to vote?"
A photon from a Photon Cannon pulsed into being above his palm, and the participants' faces drained of color.
"M—magic…?"
Shirone flung the vibrating orb of light as if to shake it off; it struck the rock with a thunderous boom and shattered it.
'A Seeker and yet a mage? Is that a weapon card? No—he hasn't drawn a card. Then—'
He'd been a mage from the start.
"Could it be… you killed the Black team?"
There was no other explanation for four Black participants dying at once.
"Yes. Black or White doesn't matter. If you don't accept my offer, your four will be the same."
Marco fell silent at the chilling threat, and Breeze, frightened, asked, "What's your offer?"
Shirone reached out and stepped closer.
"Show me every card you have."
* * *
Labyrinth Andre — World No. 1.
'A dragon. A real dragon.'
He'd seen the sea-dragon Kaios on Galliant Island, but never spoken this close to one.
'And Karatorusa, no less.'
Karatorusa, the mountainless dragon called king of dragons, was believed to be gone from Shirone's world.
- When no one can bear it, I will.
Only the rumor that he'd spoken that before eternal sleep in some unreachable wilderness remained.
"Karatorusa, I have found one who remembers reincarnation."
The lightning dragon that had dragged Shirone from the cave landed beside Karatorusa and spoke.
'Definitely different.'
Compared to other dragons, its body was lean and sleek; its sharp beak was like a blade.
"That seems likely. But this is likely the first reincarnation, Blitz."
Shirone's eyes snapped open.
'Blitz? That dragon?'
Though Karatorusa had become legend after falling into eternal sleep, Blitz was the most famous dragon in Shirone's world.
Blitz, the thunderwing dragon.
Among the Twelve Apostles he was considered the strongest in combat.
The image of Blitz raining down lightning while flying supersonic symbolized him, and Shirone had imagined that scene from countless works of art.
"…I see. The first incident."
Blitz, having absorbed Karatorusa's experience, looked down at Shirone with cold eyes.
"A drop of poison burned into the flow of time. It must be removed before it spreads."
So far Shirone's actions had only saved a few primitives, but they would spawn an entirely different history.
"You know."
The dragons' understanding meant they fully grasped the reset.
Karatorusa said, "One from the future, we are apostles who guard time from the terror of reincarnation. But because of you, hundreds of millions who could exist in the future will vanish."
If some transcendental being tried to alter the system by resetting reality, the dragons were its antithesis.
"I accept responsibility. But I can't ignore people in danger."
That was Shirone's karma.
"We cannot delay any longer. For the hundreds of millions you could erase again, you must disappear."
Plasma breath hissed between Blitz's clenched teeth.
"No. No."
Mitochondria Eve stepped in front of Shirone, arms spread wide.
"Stand back, one who remembers reincarnation. If you do not remove this, your design will become useless."
What lay under Mitochondria Eve were details essential to the apostles who guard time.
"You can do it."
Mitochondria Eve strained to speak.
"Shirone can… he can stop it."
"Stop it?"
Karatorusa, momentarily lost in thought, turned to Shirone, then his eyes snapped wide.
"Krrrk!"
A light-filled pressure flooded Shirone's head—the sensation was like an ocular technique clearing, but of utterly different intensity.
'My memories are being forcibly opened.'
It was a kind of mental hacking, and Shirone fought with everything he had to block Karatorusa's access.
'To the Ultima System…!'
When the primitive verb constructed in binary was dismantled, the great dragon threw back his head to the sky.
"Raaaargh!"
"Karatorusa!"
Blitz shouted, glaring at Shirone as a sphere of lightning formed before him.
"How dare you—!"
Karatorusa's voice halted Blitz.
"Ultimate Language."
Karatorusa lifted a colossal eye to the heavens where the dragons had turned.
"I see… is that so?"
If the perfect signal that realizes the world is the verb, the Ultima System was the higher-order signal that implements that verb.
"So you could come here. You opened the seal of time with the Ultimate Language."
More precisely, they had used the Ultima System to open the spacetime prison Geofin had made.
"You can do it, human. If your signal is added, twisted history can be corrected."
"By what method?"
Karatorusa's explanation was strange.
"If time prior to now isn't sealed, you cannot undo events that have already occurred."
This was World No. 1.
"Then you must forcibly correct history in a state where it can't be reversed. Predict every variable that will occur from now on and remove them."
"Is that… possible?"
"With the apostles of time and the dragonfolk's computational capacity, yes. Roughly 673 years from now, history will flow as if you had never come."
It would be the time when that drop of poison is purified.
"The problem is it can't be done by removing things along the stream of time. It must happen simultaneously. Hence a master code is needed—the Ultimate Language. You must directly permeate the world and apply the outcomes we derive."
"The Immortal Function, then."
To infinitely expand the self and input new variables across space-time into the Ultima System.
The faint insight that had been dawning in him crystallized.
'This is how to unseal Andre.'
Even if Shirone explored 19,000 worlds at once, each Shirone was a distinct life.
'I don't want to die.'
Therefore, to unseal Andre they needed something that would willingly make him sacrifice himself.
"Human, you may not be that person now, but in your world in the distant future seek me out. Blitz will guide you."
Blitz met Shirone's eyes and nodded with a gaze steady as time.
"Sacrifice yourself. Throw away your life for the hundreds of millions who will vanish because of you."
For the lives of those yet to be born.
"For the future."
Mitochondria Eve's eyes filled with tears.
'I can wait. I can endure.'
It was not an eternal farewell.
But she knew how long it would be before they met again.
Ten thousand years, at least.
The magnitude of longing she would bear alone through an aeon, waiting for Shirone to return.
"You must choose, human."
Shirone drew a deep breath and looked up at the sunset-streaked sky, lost in thought.
"I…"
Hundreds of eyes waited for his decision.
(End of Volume 29)