On the Brink (2)
"Yaaaaaah!"
Fried climbed straight up Argantis's main trunk, sword held down in a vertical stance.
Blue electricity flared in his left hand, tracing an arc as it scraped along the surface of the demonic tree.
Kwak kwak kwak kwak kwang!
An explosion shredded the grotesque, vomit-spewing maws, crushing them horribly.
This won't be enough. He had to seal Argantis's summit.
He pushed Schema's mobility to the max to match the backflow, and in that moment a horrible cry rang out.
"Kill them!"
Demons fell from the sky, thrusting red spears.
Fried's legs lifted as he blocked with his blade, and he began to fall again.
"Kruuu!"
He drove his sword into the shell of the demonic tree that flowed like a torrent and clenched his left fist.
Flames, lava-bright, flared up.
Watch.
At first he had swung his sword just to remember his son.
By the time his grief was bearable, he had become a spellblade—master of both sword and magic.
"Eat this!"
The fire detonated in midair.
"Kieeeeee!"
Demons melted, and the fireball that had been dragging Fried down reversed course and carried him back toward the summit.
There?
Seeker's laser swept the center.
No time! And exactly at that point, Argantis began to convulse as if preparing to explode.
"Fuuuuuu!"
He gathered electricity in his left hand; the charges collided and lightning roared around him.
Kwa-rurururung!
A tremendous bolt struck Argantis's crown, and a chilling scream rose.
Hroooooooo!
As the surface was seared by electricity and sealed, the summit swelled up like a balloon.
Fried cranked up the power.
"Uaaaaaaah!"
At last the upflowing liquid began to descend, and the swollen section started to contract.
Success!
They had averted the worst-case scenario—acid rain.
"Ugh?…"
But as Argantis stopped vomiting, an unexpected new development occurred.
"Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh!"
A sickening sound burst from Argantis's mouth, and it began to thrash violently.
This is… like a strangled man making one last desperate twist.
Chang! Chang! Chang! Chang!
The rings of the Annihilation-of-Three-Thousand-Worlds that had been attached at the summit shattered, pulling Seeker's aim off target.
The Seeker on the ground groaned.
"Ugh!"
They were doing everything they could to hold it, but this time it was beyond control.
Minerva's voice carried to them.
"The aiming point has shifted."
When Seeker turned his head, Shirone stood beside Minerva, his face pale.
"What happened?"
As the divine punishment drew closer to the ground, Shirone's consciousness returned.
But the acceleration was so extreme that laser guidance was no longer possible.
"We can't strike it like this. If we miss even slightly, the shockwave will slam into the ground."
"…So it can't be stopped?"
"There's still one way."
Shirone stepped past Seeker and moved forward; Minerva followed.
"What are you going to do…!"
Minerva froze the moment she saw Yahweh's light flare from Shirone's body like a blaze.
"I'll twist the Law."
Something Nane couldn't do—only Yahweh could.
But even for Shirone, trying to hold a ten-ton object traveling over Mach 40 was a daunting challenge.
"You could die."
Seeker said, "The Law is a seesaw. If you can't handle it, your own Law will be destroyed in return."
As the world's top authority on Law, he was probably right.
Fried flew in from the sky.
"Damn it! This just keeps getting worse! What now?"
Shirone looked up and smiled.
"It's okay."
Whether he could do it didn't matter.
"Who's weak, who's strong—none of that matters anymore. We're fighting together." Seeker's face flushed faintly.
Fighting together?
The one thing Yahweh wanted.
Shirone was willing to sacrifice himself.
Mental transcendence.
Surely Yahweh's state of enlightenment was among the highest heights.
We can do this. Change the trajectory.
The light wrapping Shirone's body swelled outward as if it could burn the whole city.
"What is that?????"
Amanta turned her head; awe filled people's eyes as the sky flooded with radiance.
"Ah, ahh… I don't know what that light means, but it's the one thing they hunted for in hell."
As Shirone gripped the divine punishment falling toward the ground with his mind, his face contorted.
This is far harder than I thought.
If it were only a matter of pushing it away with a powerful Law it might be possible, but this required hitting the aim point precisely.
Veins bulged at Shirone's temples and the small veins in his eyes burst.
Blood-tears streamed down his face. Minerva grabbed his shoulder and shouted.
"No! You'll die if you keep this up!"
Shirone didn't hear her.
Just a little more!
He had never wanted to pull something off so badly.
This is the result of fighting together. The Five Greats of the Ivory Tower were people who never bowed to compromise and held fast to their convictions.
If all of them had gathered here, perhaps humanity still had hope.
I have to do this. I must… Shirone's body shuddered as blood flowed from his eyes, nose, and ears.
And at that moment—
It moved.
The ten-ton spear that had stubbornly refused Yahweh's command began, faintly, to alter its trajectory.
"Kruuu!"
Shirone's pupils rolled upward and Minerva's face went ashen.
"Shirone! Snap out of it!"
Shirone's eyes snapped open.
"Here!"
As the divine punishment's path corrected, it set at an angle that could pierce Argantis's trunk vertically.
Shirone, spent to the bone, sank to his knees, planted his hands on the ground, and panted.
"Hah! Hah!"
"Done? Did it work?"
He was exhausted to death, but Shirone lifted his head and managed a strained smile.
"Yes. For now…"
"It's not over yet."
Seeker said in a grief-tinged voice. "It's moving again."
Shirone turned his face hard toward the front; Argantis was making a last, desperate thrash.
Hrooooooo!
Hidden in the clouds, countless branches spread from the demonic tree's crown and shook.
Pung! Pung! Pung! Pung!
The air ripped and a cataclysmic roar pounded their eardrums as if the world itself were dying.
"What is it trying to do?"
Fried asked, and Minerva answered.
"It has no will. It's flailing with all its strength. But at this rate its trajectory will be altered."
If the angle changed even slightly, the divine punishment would pierce Argantis's body and crash down to the ground.
"We have to cut those branches."
It was the only option, but given the fall time there'd be no chance to return.
Fried slung his sword over his shoulder and said, "I'll go for the branches."
"You—"
Minerva's surprised look met his wry smile.
"I can't help it. Even if I made it back in time, I probably couldn't cut them all down."
Someone would have to sacrifice themselves.
"Mr. Fried…"
"I'm going."
Just as Fried readied to launch, a familiar voice came from behind Shirone.
"It's too high to see, you know?" Everyone hurriedly turned and Fried asked, "…Who are you?"
A blue-haired youth with a great sword strapped to his back shaded his eyes with his hand and looked up.
Shirone could hardly believe it.
"Rian?"
Rian squinted one eye and smiled.
"Looks like you're in a bind, Shirone."
A flood of thoughts pressed in, but Shirone seized the crucial point.
"There's no time! If we don't move fast—"
"Don't worry."
Rian placed a hand on Shirone's shoulder and stepped forward. Fried's brow tightened.
"Do you even know what you're saying?"
"Maybe…"
Rian looked up to the edge of the sky, then kicked off the ground and launched himself at terrifying speed.
"He's going to cut it, isn't he?" Seeker shouted. "Hurry! I can't hold it any longer!"
The Rings of the Annihilation of Three Thousand Worlds trembled violently and began to crack.
"It's coming."
Minerva said, looking up. "We won't be able to match the timing."
Rian climbed Argantis at a terrifying pace, but the divine punishment fell faster than expected.
As he charged straight for the sky, Rian spotted a single point of light burning aloft.
"About here?"
With a grinding sound his muscles twisted and he took on the yaksha body able to withstand the impact.
What is he going to do?
As Seeker murmured that, Rian drove off the trunk and leapt outward.
"Kruuu!" And at that moment, the Five Greats realized.
"This madman…!"
There wasn't time to cut branches.
Is he going to cut it clean through?
Rian gripped his great sword with both hands and his waist twisted to its limit.
"Fuuuuuu!"
He fell from roughly two-thirds up Argantis's height.
Though thinner than the lower sections, it was still well over a hundred meters thick.
"Yaaaaaaah!"
Divine transcendence—Idea.
If the capital of Kashan were a painting, Rian's blade was the single streak of light that split the canvas from edge to edge.
Shick.
The Five Greats' eyes widened as the upper part of Argantis, severed along the cloud line, began to fall.
He cut that…?
Shirone clenched both fists.
"Rian."
He was the strongest yaksha.
Rian finished his decisive blow and, still falling, looked down at Shirone.
"So don't worry, Shirone." Now I'm here.
Behind Rian, a gray spear exceeding Mach 40 plunged straight down.
Thud.
The moment the spear tip met the center of the demonic tree—
Pupapapapapapapow!
A sound louder than thunder rampaged downward into the earth, and the massive trunk began to explode.
Argantis howled in agony.
Kraaaaaa!
The spear pierced the trunk and slammed into the ground beneath; the earth rippled like waves and the shockwave tore up root systems.
Most humans cowered and covered their heads in terror, but the Five Greats watched that immense sight in stunned silence.
"We stopped it."
Minerva murmured. "We stopped it."
Kurrururung!
A city-sized dust cloud rolled outward on the ground's waves in concentric circles.
"Rian."
Shirone stared into the dust.
Although Argantis had been pierced, the divine punishment's shockwave had struck very close.
"Rian!"
He called, fearing Rian might not be all right. A shadow emerged from the dust and walked toward them.
"Phew, that was something. Shirone, was that your magic?"
Rian appeared, clothes tattered, the great sword slung over his back.
No wounds?
More precisely: his limbs had been torn away by the shockwave and then regenerated.
"You… all right?"
As Shirone and the Five Greats watched in astonishment, Rian reached them.
"Any enemies left?"
Having confirmed the demons were all gone, he finally turned to Shirone and said, "Long time no see, Shirone."