Fanatic (2)
Gustaf Havitz, the Desire King, seventeen.
Sein and his companions, who shared the wave in his mind, suffered serious mental damage.
Sein bit his lip until it bled.
Damn it. A miscalculation.
He'd counted on being able to track Havitz's location, but hadn't factored in the nature of the wave.
No—was that really it?
Sein had never been careless enough to overlook a variable when a problem was staring him in the face.
I did calculate it. It's just not sticking in my memory; I must have noted it in the stream of consciousness.
The problem was that the psychic wave that thing emitted was unimaginably horrific.
You can't prepare for what you don't know. Havitz's desire felt like a pure quality that couldn't be shaped into a form.
You can't define the nature of fire as a shape. But just as everyone knows fire…
All people have Havitz's heart buried deep inside them.
He loves so intensely he can just as quickly come to hate.
A chaotic being who, because he loves so much, could commit any atrocity.
That was the domain Havitz ruled.
Sein spoke.
"Eden, snap out of it."
The Iron Wheel Eye spun faster, and Eden's mind—engulfed by terror—began to clear bit by bit.
As soon as she reached the thought that something of Sein's had been sacrificed to produce the current effect, Eden's expression changed.
"Yes, I'm sorry."
She flinched so violently the name Yora felt meaningless—there was no time to dwell on shame.
Kill Havitz. It's simple.
Just as their resolve was hardening, Kuan, Armin, and Meirei lunged at once.
"Hmm."
Even as enemies closed in, Havitz lounged comfortably, simply nodding his head left and right.
He looked so nonchalant it sent chills down their spines, but Armin steeled himself.
He's alone. There isn't a single demon guarding him. If we kill him before he erases the incident…
Before the thought finished, a Spirit Zone opened and a slow spell took hold of Havitz.
As the pendulum rhythm of his nod slowed, Meirei fired an acoustic cannon.
"Got it!"
They all still perceived Havitz.
With his body and mind bound by slow and sound, Kuan's strike would be straightforward.
I want to kill him cruelly, but—
Moving like Pierrot the clown, Kuan slipped out of Havitz's perception and raised his sword.
"Consider yourself lucky."
Just as he closed the ten-meter gap in an instant, Havitz slowly opened his mouth.
"Haa?…"
Time stretched, but from the sound and expression it was clear he was only about to yawn.
Sein's thoughts raced.
"Completely at ease. But that swagger ends here. You cannot die."
All elements analyzed through the Iron Wheel Eye pointed to Havitz's death.
But—
"…Haaah."
There was no such future for Havitz.
The wasteland sky flashed; lightning scraped the earth, and an instant later a deafening crack tore through the air.
Kwarrrrung!
They survived because the sound reached them later, but the blast that detonated right before them was enough to shatter composure.
"Ugh!"
Armin cast a flicker spell and retreated, Kuan and Meirei threw themselves with all their strength.
"What the—!"
When a staggering Armin turned, black smoke was climbing into the sky.
"Hmm, I didn't sleep last night, so I'm tired."
When the smoke cleared, Havitz was on the scorched ground, nodding his head exactly as before.
"What's wrong? What did I do?"
Everyone watched dumbly as Sein slowly looked up at the sky.
Since when were there clouds?
This wasn't magic.
Countless elements of nature had long since aligned to mark this exact time and place for a lightning strike.
He had simply been standing there.
Even if you can read the weather, humans can't calculate exactly where lightning will hit. You can't say he aimed for it.
Only desire.
He'd been tired from a rough night's sleep and simply wanted to stay put.
An accident triggered from chaos.
That was all.
"You weirdos. You call me here and aren't even doing anything? Are you trying to kill me?"
Havitz yawned again, pulled down his trousers, and peed right there.
"Pss."
Even watching him urinate like a child, Sein and the others could only look on.
He was defenseless, but that too was an action compelled by his desire.
Should we reapply slow?
Armin fell into indecision.
If I cast slow now, the chance of lightning striking again is high. No, it will definitely happen.
Maybe right above his head.
Wait—if I don't cast slow, will lightning not strike?
Armin shook his head.
The order is wrong. This isn't about my will. Lightning that is going to fall will fall.
That's the law of nature.
So to be precise, my thought changed because lightning struck a moment ago.
If the lightning hadn't hit, I wouldn't even be having this thought now.
Right now I don't want to cast slow. But if that desire not to cast slow is itself a change caused by the lightning, then maybe I should cast it now?
But having that thought is already a change caused by the prior thought.
He was caught in an endless loop.
Damn it!
Armin was normally gentle, but now profanity rose up in his throat.
How can someone like this exist? A fixed future.
He sleeps when he wants, eats when he wants, kills when he wants, strikes when he wants…
He's innocent in every act.
In the end, Havitz can do whatever his desire commands.
"Armin, don't overthink it." Sein said, and at the same time ramped up the Iron Wheel Eye's rotation ferociously.
"I'll handle it."
The sky darkened, and the Sun-Moon Radiant Ring—two luminous halos fused—began spinning at the speed of light.
A fixed future. Once you experience it, you get a feel for it. Whether lightning strikes, a gale blows, or an earthquake hits—just stop it.
"Pss. Pss."
While Havitz's stream of urine continued boringly on, Kuan moved again.
If Sein can block the fixed future, I'll kill Havitz before he notices.
At that moment, a violet aura rose from Havitz as he looked down at the ground.
Kuan drew out twelve external gravities and circled endlessly around Havitz as center.
When the external gravities vanished, he landed and, carried by inertia, limped a few steps before stopping.
What was that?
As Kuan asked, everyone blinked and scanned the area.
Lilia asked, "What are we doing here?" To kill someone.
I know that. But who exactly?
They hadn't noticed that Havitz's avatar vanishing had been activated.
"Ah, that felt good."
Havitz finished and shivered his shoulders, tugged up his trousers, and gripped his greatsword.
"Now shall we kill?"
Sein was chosen as the first target simply because his face rubbed Havitz the wrong way.
"You look like a corpse."
But the conclusion born of his desire was a rational, logical choice.
"One at a time."
As Havitz swung his greatsword through the air toward Sein's neck—
It stopped with a soft thunk as if blocked by a transparent barrier.
"Hah! Hah!"
Eden had rushed to Sein's side and raised a shield with both hands.
"Hmm."
Havitz casually sheathed his sword, leaned in, and twirled his mustache as he shoved his face into Eden's.
"Can you see me?" His long face filled her vision, but Eden could neither see nor hear him.
Why did I cast a shield?
She had acted reflexively in response to the terrible wave of murderous intent picked up through the divine frequency.
A tremendous psychic wave. Her hands shook violently with fear again, but Meirei's power was certain.
"I can't hold this long!"
Eden's face flushed. From her perspective, Meirei had shouted something utterly implausible and insane.
It was like someone in broad daylight walking up to a stranger and making bestial noises.
If she hadn't been hearing the wave of intent, her mouth would never have opened.
That's it.
They all felt as if they'd been given the answer.
We're missing something.
Sein's nose wrinkled.
I've activated the Sun-Moon Radiant Ring. That means there's an opponent to fight. I simply missed that fact for some reason.
Hypnosis? Hallucination? Mental magic? The Law?
Or maybe I'm mad. No—absolutely not. The wave of murderous intent is close.
We decided to kill.
Who it is doesn't matter.
Kill!
When Sein voiced the concept nearest to what Havitz represented, everyone moved.
Don't think.
Like machines, at the instant power surged toward where the murderous intent emanated—
"Huh?"
For the first time in his life, Havitz felt bewildered.
This can't be.
Their combined effort bore fruit, but the key was still Meirei, who carried the divine frequency.
There! The murderous intent turned to confusion, but Kuan clearly heard the location of the kill target.
Honestly, this still feels insane.
As a child he might have brandished a stick and imagined a monster being struck, but I'm an adult.
I'm not that 'pure' to make imagination become reality.
Still, I'll cut.
Not from childlike innocence, but the resolve of a swordsman who'd trained his whole life.
The wind screamed as Kuan's sword cleaved cleanly through the air.
He did it.
Everyone paused, and Kuan—arriving a beat late—frowned as he looked back at where he'd swung.
Maybe it was an illusion after all?
At that moment Sein discovered twelve dark silhouettes where Kuan had sliced.
"Armin! Stop!"
Because the scenario had been simulated in his head so many times, his tongue obeyed like it knew the words.
Stop!
Time froze, and twelve figures in black robes appeared in view.
Siok!
Though many logical holes remained, information about the Siok surfaced quickly.
At that instant Havitz canceled his vanishing.
"…Quite interesting."
Relief—he'd finally recalled it—hit Sein like a spark, and he clenched his fist.
Grrr!
How could they forget Havitz?
I don't know what those are, but—
When the twelve Siok opened a path to left and right, Havitz strode forward.
"Can you read my mind?" Sein and the others didn't answer.
You could imagine hundreds of ways to figure out a location. There's no reason to explain.
"This'll be fun, won't it?"
Havitz's eyes curved like a gull's.
You thought I wouldn't know?
He knew the location. He read minds.
What let him leap the logical gap between those two was—
It's my mind, isn't it?
Everything Sein and his party did was a chemical reaction with Havitz's mind.
It's a feeling. Merely knowing the location wouldn't have triggered that response—I get that feeling.
Sein murmured.
Yes. Before being atrocious, before being chaos, he is the emperor of the Gustaf Empire.
Havitz was no fool.
"So then." Madness glittered in Havitz's eyes as he sized up each member of Sein's party. "Whose ability is it?"
A terrifying thought flashed through Sein's head.
A predetermined future.
Is that something humans can interfere with?
Even if there's interference, how would I know? Time is just a whole.
Sein's mind spun fast.
So Havitz leaving the battlefield was also part of time's flow. Why? Because the Element Bomb Project succeeds in the future? Or—
His thought stalled.
Pale and blank, only the first question rose to the surface.
Why did Havitz choose this place instead of the battlefield?