In the Flower Field (2)
It's a sad story.
When Ikael asked Satiel to name the child, Satiel agreed and returned to heaven.
Gaphin asked, "Are you sure? I know Satiel's temperament well, but heaven isn't an easy opponent."
Ikael smiled. "Have you already forgotten? Which angel sided with humans most fiercely when you were struggling?"
Gaphin had no answer. "I know that, but—"
"Don't worry. And with you and me here, who would dare harm this child?"
Ikael, leader of the angels, and Gaphin, whose power rivaled a god's, were heaven's strongest couple.
"Are you scared, perhaps?"
Only then did Gaphin recover his smile at Ikael's tease and lift his chin. "Ha! The only one I fear is you. So then… shall I try and fell a mighty foe?"
As Gaphin leaned forward, Ikael twisted his waist to shield the child. "Wait! Our baby!"
Gaphin halted in alarm; when he checked the child, it was beaming at its father.
"Don't worry."
Gaphin hugged Ikael's shoulder and stroked the child's cheek with his other hand. "Daddy will protect you."
Meanwhile, back in Jebul's chamber, Satiel felt as if she had woken from a dream.
But it was real, and the affectionate sight of Ikael and Gaphin would not leave her eyes.
"A name."
She had nodded when asked to give it a name because she was confused, but after returning everything became clear.
For whom had I fought…?
Countless days of struggle for humans flashed by. She had done her utmost.
And yet the one Gaphin chose was Ikael—the very one who had always stood in Satiel's way.
"I loved him first…" Tears of light rolled down her cheeks; the sacred light-body flowed like molten streams. "I loved him more. I fought harder for him. So why? Why Ikael?"
She had never dared cast her heart toward him. I should have said something. If I'd told him I liked him first…
Might there be a child who resembled Satiel?
The sacred light-body dripped like lava onto the floor, and when she came to her senses again, the space had changed.
Where am I?
Arabot's sanctuary.
She turned; the doors were wide open, and Anke Ra stood before her, his great chest beating with heavy thuds.
"Why have you summoned me, Satiel?"
Satiel couldn't remember asking for an audience, but since Anke Ra showed no anger, it seemed she had requested one.
"Ah, well—"
Anke Ra's eyelid rose, and Satiel's jaw trembled.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
Giants who had risen to the upper stages of the Art of Life Fusion marched through Matei, the city of giants in the Fifth Heaven. Their stature wasn't especially tall, but every time those massive weights hit the ground the city shook.
What's going on…
Archangels and the Mara had gathered—this was the first attempt ever in heaven at this ritual.
"Is this really possible?" Uriel asked Kariel, who was in charge, but neither of them looked certain.
"We can't guess."
Most of the giants in Matei had gathered as towering bronze statues that reached the sky.
"This is the first day they challenge the tenth stage of the Art of Life Fusion. It's not something you measure by probability."
"Up until now, the highest was the seventh stage?" Girishin, the giants' legion commander, was the only seventh-stage giant and ruled Matei's giants.
"You can't say it's impossible. The giants participating in this ritual are all ancients—an integration of Gaia people." The first-born giants travel to Jotunheim to receive a new Law.
That is stage one.
From that point, giants gain identity; raising the ritual's stages becomes extremely difficult. Considering that using subjects they'd only reached the third stage, the unity of the Gaia people was truly astonishing.
"Still—jumping to the tenth stage so suddenly… it's like integrating ten billion Gaia people, isn't it?"
"Exactly. If it succeeds, this will be the first and last giant to reach the tenth stage. He'll surpass Girishin and rule all giants."
"The king of the giants."
Under Anke Ra's direction, Kariel proceeded through the ritual step by step.
Success, success, and success again. Lamps in the pyramid-linked bronze statues continued to ignite.
"Is this what the Gaia people are capable of?"
Kariel, who had fretted over losing so many giants, was suffused with grim pleasure. As the lamp on the eighth-stage bronze statue lit, Girishin's face contorted.
Uriel watched him. 'His pride must be stung.' Having been at the top of the giants until now, he had suddenly been demoted to second place; such a reaction was natural.
'But I have my doubts too.' Uriel's gaze traveled to an immense bronze statue that stretched beyond sight. 'Why is something like this necessary?'
He knew something of Girishin's martial might. And yet the tenth stage… would anything in this universe need to be that powerful?
"Ninth stage…"
Finally the barrier broke. All the mid-levels melted and flowed into the central bronze statue. It took a long time to fill it—the statue was enormous—but the watchers lost track of time.
"It's over."
With a murmur from one of the Mara, the bronze statue's vibration ceased and the plaza fell silent.
The countless giants had vanished, leaving the square desolate, and a sound came as the statue opened. Though low, the boom tore at the eardrums, and everyone's gaze turned upward.
All they could see was the empty interior of the casting.
"Why?"
Thud!
Just as someone began to speak, the ground shuddered. Looking down again, a figure barely the height of a Gaia person stood with its head bowed.
A coalesced body?
It bore a thick wall of muscle no ordinary training could create.
'Coalescence is a difficult technique. For the Art of Life Fusion to succeed and produce one…'
While Kariel analyzed the situation, Girishin stepped toward the bronze statue.
"A newly born giant."
Acting on Anke Ra's command, the ritual had been performed, and Uriel moved as if to stop it.
"Let it be for now," Kariel said with a meaningful glance.
'The life-unification technique, even at the seventh stage, was considered dangerous to heaven. How much more different will the tenth be?' It was pure curiosity.
"I am Girishin, commander of the giants."
Girishin stopped before the newborn giant, drew his sword, and spoke. "They say you have been chosen as the king of giants, but the giants' Law strictly values martial supremacy. We'll settle it here—"
The newborn giant lifted its head, and Girishin, feeling his breath leave him, dropped his sword.
A clear metallic note echoed as the newborn giant slowly looked around. Kariel's face went pale.
'Killing intent?'
No—not killing intent. Its very existence was so overwhelming that making eye contact caused recoil. No angel showed it outwardly, but even the sacred light-body trembled.
"Imir."
At the name, spoken like a whisper, Girishin's legs trembled. "I am Imir."
All creatures have natural enemies, but Imir was not something any creature could hope to contend with.
'King of the giants. No, king of life itself.' Girishin immediately prostrated himself. "Forgive my rudeness, Your Majesty. By your command, I will pacify the world."
Imir, instead of replying, turned his gaze toward Arabot's spire.
'I want to fight.'
He did not even possess the ordinary curiosity about his birth.
"This world is—"
When Imir pressed one foot down, the stone floor caved beneath him.
"Too weak."
No sooner had he spoken than an enormous explosion erupted where Imir had stood.
"Ugh!"
Because those assembled were angels, Mara, and mid-stage giants, none were harmed, but the plaza was devastated.
"Such wanton behavior!"
Kariel suspected a flaw in Imir's disposition, but Uriel focused on the origin of the blast.
"He held no hostility toward us."
"No hostility? To do this in front of archangels…!"
"Look there."
The entire radius had collapsed into a hemisphere; Uriel pointed to where Imir had stood. "Imir did nothing. He simply bent a knee and straightened it." Kariel stared blankly at the footprint stamped clearly in the crater's center.
Uriel said, "That's exactly the problem. The fact he held no hostility in front of archangels means… he's not different from Girishin."
All the angels fell silent at Uriel's analysis, and then another explosion came from the Arabot side.
Boom!
With a single leap Imir arrived at Arabot and buried his fingers into the spire's wall.
"Hmm."
He had meant to make a brace, but his strength was so great the support crumbled to dust.
'This is unpleasant.'
There are plenty of solid materials in the universe, but Imir seemed to live as if solids did not exist. 'I feel nothing.'
Expecting it would take time to control his power, Imir launched into the air and stamped his foot down.
Pow!
The shockwave lifted his body like a gust, and moments later the ground collapsed with a thud. He smashed through the wall like soft tofu, and the sanctuary doors stood only inches away.
For some reason a thought flashed—he shouldn't open them recklessly.
"Anke Ra."
It was an animal sense. "I have come at your summons."
As the doors opened, Anke Ra—an enormous mass of muscle—greeted Imir.
Imir, who had been giving off a peculiar pressure, smirked. "Are you stronger than me?"
"It depends on what you define as strength."
"No."
Imir stepped a little closer. "There is no standard. I am stronger than you. Why should I obey you?"
"Because I granted you the blessing of birth."
"No—that was a curse."
Imir closed the distance, spread his palm, and pressed beneath Anke Ra's eye. When he applied force the flesh tore; one could hear the sound of living tissue being rent.
"See? Even with a little pressure—"
"Do you want to feel it?"
Imir looked up. "To feel force, flesh, the sensation of impact, the shock?"
"…Can you do that?"
"It's not about doing."
Anke Ra's tendrils moved swiftly. "MacClain Gaphin."
The fingers that had been tearing Anke Ra's flesh stilled, and Imir's body reacted to the name.
"Gaphin."
Though ten billion individual personalities had already been integrated, it was as if all their voices could be heard.
—Gaphin is the strongest.
Anke Ra, connected to Satiel's sacred light-body, let sparks leap from his eyes and said, "Go."
The doors opened by themselves. "I will guide you to Gaphin."
Imir slowly turned, took in the ruined scene before the collapsed wall, and leaped down.
A moment later, a powerful shockwave shook the spire.