In the Flower Field (1)
Plu approached Lupist, who was waiting for Hell's army, and reported.
"As of now, processing for asylum of all 286 survivors is complete."
Some, like Nade, remained in the Kingdom of Tormia, but most fled to foreign lands.
The other survivors—Lupist and Plu—chose to stay on the battlefield.
There was a high chance they'd be swept up when the elemental bombs detonated, but Lupist hated the idea of fleeing without fighting.
"Shall we go, then?"
With the Tormia allied forces, joined by the Order, forming a crane-wing formation, Lupist stepped forward.
"Let me come with you."
He looked back to see Dante approaching.
If Lupist's memory served him, Dante wasn't attached to any formal unit.
"Surprising. I expected you'd be holed up in the bunker."
There was no mockery in the tone.
What would draw the demons—Bashka and the like—was not elite operatives but the sacrifice of large numbers.
"I got tired of being cooped up. If not now, when am I supposed to get some air? Rather, I should ask—why are the guildmaster and the chief secretary here?"
The Dante Lupist knew wasn't the sort to be swayed by emotion.
"Of course it's not just will that brought me here. Call it efficiency."
"Efficiency?"
"In any case, I'm not going to die." Too confident? Maybe. But his words changed the expressions of the nearby commanders.
'Someone who can speak positivity even in the most desperate situation—that's what a captain is.'
A herald cried from the flank.
"Enemy sighted!"
Turning to the front, a sea of Hell's army rolled over the horizon, red as blood.
"We'll need to break their morale first."
Lupist molded steel on his palm and moved to step forward, but Dante intercepted him.
"Leave that role to me."
"You?"
Dante's skill was known, but this enemy wasn't an ordinary demon.
The fact the demons' numbers had dropped since the war meant the survivors were the elite, the veterans.
"If you fail, it won't be only you who dies. The army's morale will be crushed."
As Dante passed Lupist, he added, "Do you know why I'm the final custodian of the flower field? My Red Line rank isn't high, after all."
He did have a brilliant mind for information handling, but—
"Because I'm the kingdom's best defender."
When the demons closed to two kilometers, the ground began to rebound like a rubber mat.
Plu glanced back at Lupist.
"Guildmaster, will you really let him go?"
"Let's see how it goes."
If Dante had been someone who couldn't read the situation, he wouldn't have made it this far.
Like a lone sailboat in the middle of the ocean, Dante stood alone on the plain.
'Central computation magic circle.' Taking in the massed army, he activated Pascal and a magic circle over two hundred meters in diameter bloomed.
"Ughhh!"
Countless other circles spun up and assembled into a three-dimensional mansion.
"Commander! Over there!"
Balcan had been far from the vanguard, but even he could make it out clearly.
"What the hell is that now?"
Lasers fanned out like nets and starlight bubbled and boiled—stunning enough visually, but the real shock was its scale.
'Something enormous.'
Dante's eyes widened.
"Information Castle!"
The starlight detonated into a white glare and transformed into an object of unbelievable size.
"Huh?"
The demons noticed the shadow it cast and all lifted their heads at once.
"Is that a castle?"
Seeing a full-scale castle materialize as if from reality itself left them dumbstruck.
"It's just magic! Push it down!"
Like a school of anchovies charging a giant ship, the demons accelerated their rush.
-Welcome to Information Castle. Entering user settings mode.
Dante sat in the control room chair and watched the demons through the multi-screens before him.
They provided distortion-free close-ups and an all-around view with no blind spots.
"Automatic control and strike. Target priority: nearest first. Firepower level: maximum."
-Set. Please enter authorization code.
Dante laced his fingers and stretched his hands.
"Playground."
-Entering defensive engagement. Targets acquired: 287. Barrage in 4 seconds, 3, 2...
"Shall we play properly?"
As the voice finished counting, three thousand gunports along the outer wall opened.
Since Ikael left with Guphin, Heaven had fallen into turmoil.
Anke Ra had kept silent about why Ikael departed, but the angels had their suspicions.
'It's all because of humans.'
When hatred of humans took root in their minds, expansionist policies became fashionable.
Giants were sent across the cosmos, and it was at this time that giants entered Shirone's world.
A giant who reached the sixth stage in the tales could disassemble its body up to the clouds and cause humans to flourish.
A new humanity.
But Adam and Lilith, who had settled here long ago, no longer existed.
A vast stretch of time passed.
Omega year 987.
Heaven, having overcome the absence of its archangel, enjoyed the greatest prosperity in its history.
Cities for citizens rose alongside giants and fairies, and the fallen angels were kept under separate control.
"Sigh."
Then one day, something happened behind the worried back of Satiel.
"What is this?"
She turned instantly to see dozens of glass panes shimmering, revealing a translucent boundary.
Like a puzzle assembling, Ashur's form took shape out of the panes, and when the panes vanished the real figure stepped forward.
"Satiel."
"Ah, Ashur?"
It wasn't that a three-pronged Mara brazenly infiltrating an archangel's chamber startled her.
'Ikael.'
She snapped to attention and ran to Ashur.
"What happened? Is the archangel safe? And Guphin? What happened to him?"
"They are all safe. Thankfully."
Satiel exhaled in relief.
"Do you know how long it's been? If there's any reason they can't return..."
"Ikael is looking for you. If you're willing to accompany her, I will guide you."
Satiel's eyes flicked left and right as she paused.
"Without reporting to Anke Ra?"
"Yes. That's why I came." Ashur could block signals—not as permanently as Guphin's Hexa, but it worked.
"Phew!"
Satiel blew out a big breath, puffed her cheeks, and paced the room, conflicted.
'I hope she refuses if possible.'
Even if Satiel sided with humans, taking someone from Heaven's highest place was dangerous.
But Ikael had a reason to meet Satiel, and Satiel understood that—she could not refuse.
"If you're uneasy..."
"I'll go."
She decided and stepped forward.
"Take me to the archangel now."
That Ikael was still called "archangel" was Ashur's only comfort.
"Yes. Excuse the breach of protocol." Ashur activated the signal and hundreds of glass panes—planes from every angle—closed around them.
'Transport.'
With a clear shattering sound, the panes broke and they were gone.
"Where are we?"
Satiel arrived instantly at the destination and took in a remote landscape of forest and sea.
"Follow me."
Without explanation, Ashur urged them on, and Satiel followed without protest.
Meeting Ikael came first.
'Is Guphin here too?'
A baseless excitement fluttered through her as they cut through the woods. Ashur stopped at a cave in the cliff.
"Ikael, I brought Satiel."
"Good. Tell her to come in." Ashur stepped aside and Satiel, tense, strode forward.
Even without holy light, the cave was bright, and at its end she saw the person she had longed for.
"Guphin??????"
Guphin, who had been struggling to soothe a wailing infant, turned his tired face.
"Oh, Satiel. Long time no see." Until that moment, she had never imagined this.
'A human child?' It was something an angel's logic could not reach.
"Satiel."
Snapping back, she knelt before Ikael.
"Archangel! Why are you hiding in such a shabby place? Come back to Heaven with me."
"Thank you, but there is something I must tell you first."
Ikael reached both hands toward Guphin.
"Hand him to me."
"Wait a bit. I think this one peed. I need to change his diaper again."
"It's fine. Give him."
Satiel stared blankly as the child was passed from Guphin's arms into Ikael's.
"Archangel, that child is—?"
"My child."
Satiel felt as if she'd heard something she couldn't comprehend.
"What?"
But when she looked up, Ikael held the child with a blissful smile.
"Can you believe it, Satiel? He's my child. Proof that Guphin and I are joined."
Satiel's mouth fell open.
"W-what? How could an angel have a human...?" Guphin smoothed the child's hair and smiled.
"Ha! I told you I'm a genius. It's Hexa technology. I'll call it Agape."
Satiel finally grasped the reality.
"The archangel and Guphin..."
Ikael turned, showing the child's face, and spoke excitedly.
"Yes. Guphin and I succeeded. Now we can be joined. No one will be left out."
Of course that made sense, but—
"Satiel, help us. This child is the proof; Anke Ra won't be able to refuse. We can go further. This isn't the end."
Naturally.
"The reason I called you is because there's no one else. After all these years of fighting for humans, you're the only one who can do this. I beg you, Satiel."
Their achievement was too miraculous to be sealed by the blessing of only two beings.
"And one more thing."
Ikael added with a tender look.
"Would you be willing to give this child a name?"
"A name."
A human born of an angel.
As someone who could link to the Idea, he more than deserved a name.
But the first thought that rose in Satiel's holy light was—
'Why?'
At that moment, Shirone stopped receiving the Omega records.
Records received through eleven senses, beyond the five, weren't vivid by human standards but—
'I can feel it.'
Because of that, they reached Shirone with a clarity beyond human thought.
'I can feel, in every way, how much Guphin and Ikael cherish and love this child.'
So he could not go further.
'I know.'
He knew that Ikael's child would ultimately meet a horrible death without even a name.
'And how, after a very long time, Satiel would come to hate humans so viciously.'
Even without direct confirmation, Shirone could well imagine what would befall them.
'But—
The child who was soon to die was not Shirone.
'Then why?'
When Igor resurrected Shirone's deepest fear within him, he had undeniably experienced the death of that child.
'It wasn't implanted information. It was my memory.'
It had been from the child's perspective.
And the image of Ikael clutching her chest and wailing convulsively remained vividly before Shirone's eyes.
Shirone accepted the Omega records again.
'What happened?'
He needed to know what the name Hexa meant in the tragic events that had befallen them.