[731] The Body (4)
* * *
Aganos Imperial Castle.
The steward of the 3.8th floor—where the archmage lay sleeping—followed Gando into Woorin's chamber.
"Your Majesty, Shirone's debts have all been cleared."
When no answer came, the steward added cautiously, watching for a reaction.
"There isn't a single debt left."
It had been Woorin's order.
'But it might not be Teraje's judgment.'
Gando thought.
Normally you'd leave even a single second of leeway in Shirone's debt to engineer a decisive moment.
I would have gladly paid the price of permanently neutralizing one remarkable archmage from the Empire for that chance.
'What could have changed the Empress?'
Woorin spoke in a soft voice.
"I understand. There will be compensation soon."
The steward flinched and waved his hands.
"No, Your Grace. I did not expect—"
"Accept it. You've worked hard."
"Your Grace's favor is boundless."
No matter how loyal, even the most devoted steward's heart quickened at the thought of a reward from Woorin—the most magnanimous woman in the world.
"Your Majesty, why issue such an order?"
After the steward left, Gando asked.
An empress could fall in love, perhaps, but clouded judgment did not suit Teraje.
"Nothing's changed. I'm simply rearranging the board."
Gando did not yet know.
He did not know through what torment Woorin had waited until this day after Shirone accepted Karator the Mudeung Dragon's proposal.
'This is the world Shirone lives in.'
At last they could meet.
"Gando, the world will change. All the things we've treated as petty will crash down on us."
What truly mattered was—
Woorin finally turned, wearing a warm smile he had never shown before.
"The true beginning of the Great Purification."
* * *
Imir's fist that cleaved the void vibrated through the air.
'What the hell?'
Even when he struck at the speed of thought, his body was so solid not a hairline crack appeared.
'To be caught by Simta.'
But the psychological blow when your body's actions don't produce the expected result was considerable.
'An angel's power?'
By his memory, the magic circle the mage had just cast was Ikasa's Valhalla Action.
Shirone, who had grabbed Seong-eum's sacred tone and rolled across the ground, writhed.
"Ugh!"
He had siphoned up the time of 19,000 people and surged past Seong-eum's domain, yet the shock to his main body was beyond imagining.
'So this is Imir...'
He had faced countless powerful foes, but never one who could warp space-time with sheer physical might.
"Princess! Are you all right!"
As the ether waves faded and the space snapped back, Mungyeong checked on Seong-eum.
"Princess...!"
What finally came into view was Shirone sprawled over Seong-eum.
'H-how—?'
While Mungyeong stood stunned, Seong-eum's eyelids slowly opened.
"Mm."
"You're conscious? If you'd been a bit later, it would've been bad."
No one knew the danger of opening the Immortal Function to its extreme better than Shirone.
"Huh?"
Before he could even gather the memory of a moment ago, Seong-eum blinked at the unreal sight.
Shirone's face filled his vision.
'That's strange. Why is he so close?'
The instant Shirone's weight pressed against his skin and the awkward position registered, Seong-eum's composure collapsed.
"O-oh—oh—"
All his luminous wisdom and cold reason vanished; only a bewildering shock swirled through his head.
"Y-you-you, y-you-you-you...!"
Mungyeong had never seen Seong-eum stammer like that.
"Ho-how dare you! On my, my body...!"
Before he finished, Shirone scooped Seong-eum into his arms and teleported, putting distance between them and Imir.
"Pull yourself together. It's not over yet."
During the brief teleport Seong-eum, having regained his wits, shoved Shirone away and rose.
"Hmph. I merely underestimated my opponent."
The judgment was worthy of someone raised in the Ivory Tower, but he could not hide how flushed his face had become.
'What a disgrace...'
Never having allowed another's touch, the weight of Shirone still felt vivid.
'To accept help from a rival.'
He could not repay the life-saving hand with ingratitude, and it tormented him.
"Absurd fools."
What snapped Seong-eum fully back to attention was Imir's battle aura, as if surpassing the limits of life itself.
Watching Imir hunched as if about to spring, Shirone said, "Be careful. If we don't finish him here—"
"I know."
Seong-eum's eyes regained their usual steel.
"I'll take responsibility. I'll never let that monster loose on the world."
It was only a molar of his true body, but even so it possessed force enough to obliterate a city in an instant.
"You don't look like the ones who woke me..."
When it came to combat, Imir's animal senses rarely erred.
"Simta?"
The moment Imir's eyes widened, Shirone and Seong-eum felt their bodies twist.
'Immense pressing...!'
It was an ocular technique on a completely different level.
"Die."
As if the ground itself would cave in, Imir's body vanished with a thunderous roar.
'He's coming!'
The speed was unavoidable by mere perception, and a Valhalla Action circle flickered above Shirone's head.
'Huh?'
The causality-reversing calculations had finished, but an overload shook the Spirit Zone.
'No! If this breaks...!'
Then everything Shirone and the 19,000 lives within were experiencing would vanish in an instant.
"Shirone!"
Before Rian's voice could reach him, Imir twisted direction at terrifying speed.
'This is him!'
At last Rian's combat instincts awakened, each cell humming.
'A swordsman?'
The instant Rian's eyes met his—
'Cut.'
Being cut first in spirit meant the swordsman before him used the same technique.
"Ughhh!"
Imir raised his arm to block the great straight sword, and veins bulged at both of Rian's temples.
'Damn! It blocked!'
It was Rian's first taste of the shock from Simta.
"Who are you?"
The scent was familiar and therefore irritating, but Rian's appearance didn't match Imir's memories.
"Imir?"
Late to realize, Rian narrowed his eyes—and Imir struck Rian's abdomen with a foreleg kick.
"What a nuisance."
There was a ripping sound; Rian's elbow area tore and his body flew like a cannonball.
"Rian!"
Kido, arriving late, caught him, but the impact sent them both tumbling.
"Aaagh!"
Barely steadying himself, Rian dropped to his knees and glared at Imir.
His arms dangled from the handle of the great straight sword lodged in the giant's palm.
"Imir."
Since meeting in the heavens, memories of drawing his blade over and over flashed like a slideshow.
"Hmm, a Sim Sword. Even so..."
Plucking the great straight sword free and letting Rian's arms fall, Imir planted vertically.
"There aren't many blades that can cut through my muscle."
Imir set the sword horizontally, gripping both pommel and tip, applying force that threatened to bend it.
"Fuuuuuh!"
Unimaginable power pressed down and space itself shimmered around Imir.
"Going!"
Air was sucked inward and detonated, shaking Andre.
Kuuuuuuung!
Mungyeong, who had tilted his head at the roar, looked again at Imir and went pale.
'No way.'
Despite power that could kill with wind pressure alone, showed not the slightest deformation.
"Krkrkr. Kkkkk."
Imir nodded and turned to Rian.
"Now I understand why I woke."
The great straight sword was probably an objet.
But to Imir's knowledge only one being could conceive a concept that could never be destroyed.
"What's your relation to Ozent?"
Rian flexed his severed arm as he stood.
"I am Ozent Rian."
"Huh? Ozent?"
Imir raised an eyebrow.
Rian's rugged, masculine features gave no hint of nostalgia for Ozent.
"I don't remember... but—"
Unlike other parts, Imir's molar had been buried independently in ruins a very long time ago.
"Well, we'll find out by clashing bodies."
That was Imir's way. Gripping the great straight sword like a spear, he hurled it with tremendous force.
Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!
Watching his blade vanish through the wall, Rian's face twisted.
Imir dusted his palm and said, "This isn't a sword you swing by copying halfheartedly."
Unless one wielded near-kingly giant power, one could not grasp 's true terror.
"First, let's deal with the nuisance and then begin."
As Imir turned, Mungyeong, who had been guarding Seong-eum, drew his sword and shouted, "Shut up! Who told you to—"
His words cut off in the middle. Shirone and Seong-eum, shocked, looked past Imir's shoulder.
Creak! Crack!
At the macabre sound of a living thing breaking, Imir slowly turned his head.
"R-Rian..."
Kido, who had fallen, trembled as he looked up at a goblin-like wraith resembling Rian.
"I've been waiting for this day, Imir."
There had always been Imir at the tip of a blade.
"Is that so? I don't know who you are."
Rian's back ruptured; muscle fibers burst and fluttered like heat haze.
"Don't take a single step back—come to me. Or you'll regret it."
Rian's incarnation technique was always strong, but—
"Interesting. I'm curious to see what happens."
He faced Imir, the King of Giants, a being said to be the strongest ever.
"Kruuuuh!"
Rian's eyes rolled, and the fluttering muscle fibers rewove themselves, drawn into his body.
Musculature unlike a human's—made solely for combat—like a goblin given flesh.
Divine Transcendence—Metamorphosis.
"What a pathetic imitation...!"
As Rian charged, shattering the ground, Imir twisted his torso with terrifying force.
On the seesaw of time leveled horizontally, when both bodies moved as if forever unreachable—
"Yaaahhhh!"
Blows exchanged at the speed of thought.
'Simkwon! Simta! Simkwon! Simta! Simkwon! Simkwon! Simta! Simkwon!'
The sound of flesh tearing rang out in rapid succession across Andre, and Mungyeong shuddered.
'What on earth is that—'
Even the sound alone conveyed pain.
'What kind of warped man is this?'
Imir felt curiosity for the first time.
'Ozent Rian, huh. Ozent... huh?'
As the barrage poured in, Imir's eyes sharpened when he saw Rian's face.
'Blue hair.'
He wasn't Ozent.
'I see.'
So that was how it had unfolded.
'Smilre!'
Staring at Rian's Simkwon extending at incredible speed, Imir burst with exhilaration.
"Long time no see, Ozent!"
With a bang their jaws snapped, and the watchers squeezed their eyes shut.
"Gahk!"
A molar flew from Imir's mouth and pierced the cavern with tremendous force.
Kraaaang!
Mungyeong, aghast at the wall cleanly punched through, turned his gaze back to Imir.
"Pfft!"
Spitting on the floor, Imir wiped his lips and said, "…second time."