Ivory Tower Grand Assembly (3)
"But it's called a grand assembly?"
Shirone led Mini and Ariana into the parlor and asked.
"Yes. It's a direct order from Taeseong. All residents who hold the title of Star are to gather with their satellites."
"I see…"
Shirone's face was calm as he poured tea.
"Did you know?"
He'd been lost in meditation and hadn't noticed any summons.
"No. But I suspected." Habitz's situation was dire, and the moment the project failed, he'd had an instinctive feeling.
'I can't kill them.'
If no action produces the desired result, it means the target stands outside the Law.
With hell's forces tainting the world, it made sense that Taeseong would call everyone together.
"You've been through a lot."
Mini looked worried at how haggard Shirone seemed compared to before.
"No department in the Ivory Tower fights like Shirone. You need rest."
Of the Ivory Tower's five departments, the Integrated Cosmos Administration handled the broadest range of duties.
"The best rest is fixing the problem at hand. I won't run away."
Ariana's eyes hardened.
'Stubborn, just like they said.'
The state of being called Yahweh wasn't a burden a normal human could easily shoulder.
Even Miro, humanity's strongest struggler, couldn't push the Law's radius beyond the bounds of good.
'How is that possible?'
As Ariana let her gaze drift, Shirone looked at her and smiled.
"I'm really fine."
A light bloom of relief crossed Ariana's face.
'Cute.'
She wanted to pin him down and press him into the ground.
'That I like him means…'
True to their pair dynamic, Mini—who shared the same taste in men—activated Scale magic.
As if she'd magnified an object, her body swelled until it nearly brushed the ceiling.
"This won't do. For the Five-Star's recovery we'll have to take drastic measures."
Shirone blinked in bewilderment and asked, "Drastic measures?"
Mini loosened the front of her suit coat and, exposing her cleavage, said to Shirone, "Come on in. If you bury yourself in a woman's breasts, you won't think about anything."
It did look big enough for Shirone to fit.
"No, I—"
He knew they enjoyed bawdy humor, but this forwardness was a first.
"There's some logic to it."
Ariana rose and, matching Mini, loosened her coat and stepped forward.
"Trust us. This is scientific. Bury yourself in a woman's breasts and all your worries disappear."
Shirone's heart thudded; the earnestness scared him.
"Why are you all like this?"
"Mini, grab him."
A gigantic hand filled his field of vision.
"Wait! Wait, wait!"
He instinctively stepped on the table to jump up, but another hand lunged from the other side and seized him.
"Got him. Put him in! Put him in!"
"S-stop!"
Just as Mini dragged Shirone toward her front, the door opened and Mongin Ruber entered.
"My Five-Star."
Mini and Ariana froze mid-action, and Shirone flushed like someone caught in an embarrassing act.
"Ah—Mr. Ruber…"
Ruber glanced around the room and smiled with his eyes.
"Was I interrupting a good time?"
"No! Not at all! Please help!" Mini set Shirone carefully on the floor, deactivated her Scale magic, and stammered.
"Ahem, so this is—"
Ruber turned to Mini. His smile stayed, but the emotion in his eyes went cold and dark like a viper.
"Didn't I tell you to show proper courtesy to a Five-Star?"
The two women snapped to rigid formality.
"We're sorry! He's been troubled lately, so—breasts…"
"Hmm."
The sharp edge in their posture vanished.
"That's true."
Ruber stepped closer to Shirone and continued, "But the Five-Star's anguish isn't solved by that. This time, you were mistaken."
Mini hung her head sullenly. "We're sorry."
Ruber being sterner than usual meant he understood the weight of a grand assembly.
He was visibly on edge.
'If he's only a two-star I'd let it slide, but to joke like this…'
As the only one in the Integrated Cosmos Administration who'd experienced a grand assembly before, he disliked the irreverent mood.
'What happened?'
Ruber studied Shirone for a moment, blinked, then called out, "Monga, come out."
From behind Ruber a pale, egg-like face with round pupils popped out like a child's head.
He was about the height of a five-year-old, and the huge pupils that took up half his face looked unsettling at first glance.
"Hello. I'm dream designer Monga."
Ruber introduced him. "This is my satellite Monga. Like me, he's a Mongin. He handles various chores under me."
Mini's eyes widened.
'Ruber has a satellite?'
Even after working with him, she'd never heard of Ruber's satellite.
'The Ivory Tower knows very little about Mongins. For him to attend anyway…'
Ariana felt it too.
'This grand assembly is no joke.'
Those who'd received the title of Star—and especially the Five-Stars—never backed down.
Their ways to enforce conviction were nearly infinite; the more allies, the better.
"A dream designer?"
Shirone leaned over to study Monga. The boy's face broke into a wicked smile.
When his pupils rose to meet Shirone's eyes, the scenery began to warp.
'What is this?'
Time slowed; Monga alone threw his mouth wide and howled.
"Kraaaaaa!"
For a split second it was absurd—then the boy's face dissolved into black liquid that surged toward Shirone.
'I have to avoid it…'
Like a dream, Shirone's movements lagged the instant he thought, and the black liquid covered him.
'So simple, even for a Five-Star.'
Only a Mongin could directly penetrate the REM border—the line between consciousness and the unconscious.
Unlike other mental-line mages, they had the terrifying advantage of being absolutely unavoidable.
'I'm above you in dreams.'
Nightmares, demons.
One of Monga's tricks was to feed on the dreamer's anxieties and swell in size.
A low growl. The inner beast opened its eyes, and every grievance Shirone had held ignited.
'W-what is this?'
It kept swelling without end.
Even Monga lost control for a moment at the enormous rage—something never seen in any human dream.
'They call themselves Yahweh? What kind of universal love is this?' Tears almost came at the magnitude of the unresolvable rage.
'This is dangerous. He could die.'
Ruber had warned not to go easy on him.
'Ah, screw it!'
When Monga removed the nightmare filter, the suppressed emotions inside Shirone inflated at near light speed.
"Uwaaaah…"
Monga suddenly realized how huge his creation had become and was terrified.
Dreams had no bounds, but he could no longer gauge the distance from one end of himself to the other.
'Does he carry this inside him all the time?' he wondered.
'How does he endure it?'
Under normal circumstances Shirone should already have suffocated and the dream cut off.
'Where are you?'
Monga searched within his own mass but was too vast to determine position.
After concentrating, he finally felt Shirone buried in darkness.
Even amid that dreadful nightmare, Shirone simply sat quietly with his eyes closed.
'Is this Yahweh's mind?' There was rage, but not like that.
'He's just enduring it.'
Monga had designed countless nightmares, but he'd never seen anything so chilling.
Shirone's eyes opened slowly.
"Love."
In that timeless instant, a thin shaft of light pierced the demon's darkness.
Until then, Monga hadn't noticed.
"Huh?"
A sensation rolled in from an incomprehensible distance.
"O-oh?"
The moment Monga realized, the light expanded at the speed of light and incinerated the demon—and the whole dreamscape with it.
"Aaaaah!"
The fleeting dream ended; Monga screamed and was flung into the wall.
"Uwaah! Uwaah!"
Mini and Ariana looked dazed, but Ruber's expression was grave.
'Monga—the nightmare crafter—was frightened.'
What could have scared him so much?
The answer seemed written in Shirone's calm, direct gaze.
"I was wrong. I won't do it again." Monga couldn't meet Shirone's eyes; Ruber nodded.
'I think I understand.'
Monga had seen in Shirone's heart something that must never surface in this world.
'A perilous double-edged sword.'
If universal love were to break for any reason, this world would end.
"You provoked Yahweh's wrath, Monga."
Ruber spoke as if it were someone else's problem. Monga puckered his lips in hurt.
Feeling some responsibility, Ruber spoke frankly to Shirone. "I'm sorry. I was overly anxious before the grand assembly."
"That was a vicious nightmare."
Despite his words, his eyes were calm.
'If this is the case, the grand assembly might be worth it.'
Mini and Ariana, who'd arrived earlier, visibly relaxed now that Ruber had explained.
"I'll explain. This is only the second Ivory Tower grand assembly since humanity's birth. We'll likely discuss the current situation, but also…"
Ruber sighed. "The tone of the talks will probably drift toward punishing the Five-Star."
"Punish? Who would punish a Five-Star?" Mini asked.
"Not Taeseong, of course. But this is a meeting where the Five-Stars from all five departments gather. Since the failure worsened things, they'll certainly harp on it."
"I'm prepared."
Shirone's words drew a nod from Ruber.
"The current Five-Star should be able to withstand their attacks. And take this." Ruber produced the .
"This is the item Shirone registered. This meeting is not to be taken lightly—take it with you."
It would also be a good chance to make contact with Minerva, who might be their only ally at the assembly.
"But one person still hasn't arrived." Ruber had heard that Integrated Cosmos Administration included four Stars.
"Sorry!"
The door burst open and a dark-skinned woman hurried in.
Mini put a hand on her hip. "Why are you so late?"
"Yessir! I'm late! I'm terribly sorry!" She wore a shabby martial robe cinched with a belt—very much a mountain girl.
Shirone, staring at her thick, frog-thigh-like calves, asked Ruber, "This person…?"
"Yes. This is Kira, a one-star resident of Integrated Cosmos Administration. She's an undead mage."
Kira bowed at a perfect right angle. "Greetings! I'm Kira! And this—"
Moments later a giant skeleton over two meters tall strode in and rested its chin on Kira's shoulder.
"This is my satellite Etron! I found him in the mountains!"
Instead of a greeting, the skeleton clacked its jaw.
"Shirone, me, Mini, and Kira—these four belong to the Integrated Cosmos Administration. The total number of Stars is twelve."
"The number of Stars?"
"The total number of Stars differs by department. It's a measure of standing, but don't worry about it. Some departments don't even have a four-star, so it's not absolute."
'So our department isn't especially high-ranked.'
Ruber addressed the Stars. "All twenty-seven members of the Ivory Tower, including Taeseong, will attend. Don't let your guard down."
"Yes!"
The Stars and their satellites answered crisply.