The Measure of Desperation (2)
* * *
Omega 689.
The Gaiaans, once strong enough to check Anke Ra, had seen their numbers crash after Sojeonghwa.
"Ataraxia."
When Ikael's judicial wheel of light flared, six archangels surged at the Gaiaans.
"Damn it…!"
With the population cut by Sojeonghwa, the power of the Hand of God had visibly waned.
"Ragnarok."
As Yuriel, wrapped in white lightning, charged, a massive rift opened through the space crowded with humans.
"Hold the line!"
The Gaiaans closed ranks with the precision of cells knitting a wound, and Metiel clicked his tongue.
"Still struggling, are they?" The age of resistance had arrived.
Having avoided the Hand of God's strike, Rayel raised her hand to the sky.
"Small mass-velocity projectiles."
Hundreds of tons of metal filled the heavens and were launched at supersonic speed.
It struck with the force of a small meteor; the Ultima System shuddered.
"Endure! For the sake of the new age!"
Before the Hand of God could reform, Rayel, archangel of light, dove in and swung her scythe.
It was a blunt, straightforward attack, but the sheer physical impulse arriving at near-light speed could not be stopped.
"Ultima System!"
From the Gaiaans' core, an invisible defensive membrane ballooned up like a bubble and expanded rapidly.
"Hmph."
When Rayel brought her scythe down, a horizontal flash pierced the shield without relent.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
Powerful chained explosions traced the flash, igniting scorching heat that followed in sequence.
"Do you only feel satisfied when everything dies?"
Rayel rose into the sky, spinning the accelerator and lifting her chin with arrogance.
"Satisfied?"
Light flickered in the Gaiaans' pupils.
"Are you speaking to me?"
When billions of voices unified into one, the Hand of God balled its fist.
"The same pattern. It won't work anymore."
As Rayel spun the judicial wheel of light at near-light speed, preparing to spring—
"Stop!"
Satiel stepped between them, arms wide.
"This is enough fighting. If one side is wiped out, everyone loses."
Rayel snorted.
"Stand down, Satiel. I've tolerated you so far because I accepted your neutrality. But if you side with the humans, that's another matter."
"I'm not taking sides. I'm saying there's no point in continuing this war."
The Gaiaans thought.
'No point?'
Among those who had resolved to leave the photon realm, only humans remained—only Geopin.
'Right. Why are we fighting?'
It had been so long that they had nearly forgotten what they were fighting for.
Satiel spoke to their representative.
"Request a ceasefire. Angels and humans could join forces to build a new world."
"We've come too far for that. If this is the end, what of the ancestral wars that spanned eons? What of the trillions who died in Sojeonghwa?"
Ikael amplified her voice.
"Do you still call yourselves gods? Look—war is lost, and you stand in tatters. As far as I'm aware, there are no such gods."
A voice answered from the ground.
"Do you think I'm more pitiable than you?"
Geopin, draped in rags, breathed harshly and limped; Ikael frowned.
'Still fighting in that state?' His anger at Anke Ra had swallowed him whole; he looked little better than a wreck.
'Sojeonghwa was halted, but…'
The kind of rage that could destroy the world was more than one human shouldered.
Ikael ground her teeth.
'Foolish humans.'
The enemy's fall was satisfying, yet the sight of his ruined figure sent a stab of pity through her.
'Indeed, they've fought so long.' From the dawn until now.
"Give it up, Geopin. The Gaiaans are declining, and you're not in a normal state either. This war is our victory."
Geopin let out a dry smile.
"That can't be."
"Why? Why do you insist on carrying everything alone? Swallowing Sojeonghwa just to hold onto your mind must be exhausting."
A fresh, wrenching pain twisted through him; Geopin clutched his chest and grimaced.
"Kuuuu!"
"Arrogant, all of you. You are not gods. You are mutations that destroy the world's balance."
"Maybe so."
Geopin admitted it readily.
"We may be errors that tear this world apart. Among them, I may be the worst error."
"If you know that, stop. You're already barely holding against Sojeonghwa's fury—why fight?"
"Because I refuse."
Geopin's eyes blazed.
"I hate this cold world. I don't care whether I'm a god or not anymore. I will become a god."
"Don't mistake delusion for reality. This is a perfect world. We are beings born of the Law."
"Is that what a god is?"
Ikael fell silent.
"If you simply make perfection, does everything end?"
From this moment, Geopin's philosophy would fully reject the world's Law.
"To call yourself a god and then show no compassion for the creatures in the world you made…!"
A vast hexagon of light rose.
As Miracle Stream spun into a dragon fist, a tornado of light swept the area.
Metiel murmured, "He's lost his mind. Consumed by rage." At the same time, six archangels reversed the Miracle Stream and struck at Geopin.
The joining of supreme concepts shook the world, and thunderbolts fell from the sky.
'I thought he'd become a wreck…but Geopin was still Geopin.'
As the battle of equals continued, Ikael snapped her eyes open and unleashed Ataraxia.
The archangels' power was amplified to its extreme.
"Got you!"
Within the domain of Movement Zero, all six landed their strongest blows on Geopin at once.
'It's over. There's no way to avoid it.' Rayel was sure—when—
"Kuuuuuu!"
Geopin bared the whites of his eyes and drew the Miracle Stream toward himself.
'That cold world—!'
Light-smoke compressed between his palms and flared brilliantly.
'I won't accept it!'
Brake.
"What—!"
An overwhelming, inescapable inertia slammed in, flinging the six archangels off in the same direction.
Even amid the failed strike, none of them grasped what had happened.
"How…"
Ikael, realizing for the first time, set aside the bearing of a commander and trembled with awe.
"The rotation stopped."
For roughly three seconds the planet's spin was braked; volcanoes erupted, earthquakes shook, and tsunamis rolled across continents.
'All because of one human…'
If a desperate wish poured from a heart could alter even the Law of the universe, was that what it meant?
Ikael muttered without realizing it.
"A god with a heart…?" If there were a god who watched the world endlessly and felt compassion for the suffering of creatures—
'Under that god's mercy—'
Angels and humans, mountains and seas, fields and trees—
'Would not be insignificant.'
Geopin's hands, wreathed in Miracle Stream light, flared as he lunged at the archangels.
"I will become a god!"
When Yuriel raised her arm to take a defensive stance, Geopin's eyes suddenly bulged.
"Ugh!"
He spat a mouthful of blood, lost his composure, and staggered in pain.
'Damn!'
Anke Ra's anger surged like a wave; his cells went into shock.
Yuriel rotated the Gukrak-gon.
"…Do not blame me."
Geopin hurriedly activated a Hexa, but before it could complete, the Gukrak-gon struck his abdomen.
His body seemed to vaporize and flew like an arrow.
"No!"
Satiel cried, spreading her angelic wings.
"Sa-ti-el!" But under Ikael's voice, powerful enough to shake heaven and earth, she could not pursue Geopin.
"*Sob!*"
Ikael unfolded a massive Ataraxia and looked down—the image of the noblest being.
"Satiel, I will no longer tolerate your recklessness. I command you: do not move a single step."
The order descended to Satiel, and no angel left their position.
'I've never seen him so angry.' Ikael turned toward the direction Geopin had been flung.
"I'll finish this myself. Hold the Gaiaans here."
She thought it only right that Geopin should be ended by her own hand.
Where the gouges on the earth ended, Ikael landed and faced him head-on.
"Again? We're getting sentimental."
Geopin leaned against the rubble of shattered rock, his body stained with blood.
"Poor thing, human."
Ikael walked forward slowly.
"We've truly fought a long time. Had I known your end would be so pitiful, I would have ended you sooner."
"Heh heh. Heh heh heh."
Geopin's shoulders trembled as he laughed and asked, "How does it feel? To have felled the strongest enemy who opposed you."
"It is neither good nor bad. I am a noble archangel; I have no feelings for humans."
"Is that so."
Geopin remembered—Ikael getting angry, irritable, flustered, and, sometimes… even smiling.
"Well, history belongs to the victor. Record it as you please. But do be honest about the part where I was handsome."
"Is that all you have for a last word?" Geopin looked up at the sky and fell into thought—burdens he wanted no one else to bear.
"Yes."
A spark flickered in Ikael's eyes.
"Still arrogant to the end. You went so far as to bring down a god in human form, yet you leave no legacy?"
"What can I do? I took a direct hit." Ikael spread her wings and lunged like a drawn blade at tremendous speed.
The swordpoint halted abruptly before her. Geopin calmly watched the tips of her fingers and asked, "Why? Have you really grown fond of me?"
"Shut up."
Though it was the moment she'd dreamed of her whole life, everything fuzzed into confusion once it arrived.
"Surrender."
Ikael said, "It's not too late. Hoist the white flag and yield. I'll take responsibility and protect you."
"I told you no."
"Get a grip! I offered help! I'll have history mark it a draw!"
Geopin didn't even blink.
"Do you—like me?"
"Don't be ridiculous. I'm not doing this because I like you. If you die, that Hexa—"
The possibility of everything being linked.
"Are you really going to end it here? Was your mercy in watching over the world only this much?"
"Impossible."
On Geopin's palm the Hexa rose, chiming with a clear tone.
"The Hexa is a signal that descends from higher dimensions to lower ones. It's like an idea. But to link you, the signal must be sent in reverse—from the lower to the higher dimension."
"An incredibly difficult thing. Like a painting piercing paper and popping into reality."
Ikael's gaze wavered.
"Impossible, you say?"
"But—"
Geopin pointed at the sacred light sphere.
"If Ataraxia could amplify the Hexa's signal to infinity, who knows?"
Ikael, testing the possibility with an archangel's senses, shook her head gloomily.
"No. They can't be coupled. Even if you amplify everything, the Hexa is a signal outside the Law."
"It can't be decided so hastily."
"Hmm?"
As Ikael blinked, Geopin extended the Hexa toward the sacred light sphere.
"Shall we try?"