The Right Choice (3)
Taeseong's pupils lost their focus.
Her eyelids trembled as she absorbed the shock, and after a moment she let out a long breath.
"Haaah."
The aftershock from moments ago must have caused it.
'The ground shook this far away.'
Odaesung's expression watching Taeseong grew grave.
'Is she really going to be all right?' Taeseong was a star.
But when she existed as an incarnation, she assumed the status of a living being.
'To manage planetary changes.' The star wouldn't split immediately, but if shocks like this accumulated, the order would destabilize.
'Earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions. Regardless of war, countless humans would die.'
So Taeseong used the method of separating herself from the star system.
She absorbed the majority of the shocks applied to the planet to stabilize the system.
Freed asked, "Why go this far?"
"Humans can die. No—if humans disappear, wars will disappear too. Life will flourish on the planet again, and everything will return to its place."
"The reason nature is beautiful... is because humans said it was beautiful."
Freed fell silent.
"When this universe first came into being, things simply stayed where they were. Grass fed on the sun, insects fed on the grass, animals fed on the insects...
"Even then, Taeseong smiled.
"There was no reason. It was a system. A very cold system. But one day humans said, 'This is beautiful.' From that moment, astonishingly, my system became beautiful."
Odaesung listened intently.
"Humans give meaning to many things. This is comfortable, that is unpleasant. Give a flower a special name and presenting it becomes an expression of love...
"Maybe it started then.
"For me, a system within a system, the truth or falsehood of the outside world doesn't matter. We call humans 'users' because they give meaning to everything. The beings that define this world are the ones who use it. If humans all disappeared...
"If there is no one to define her—
"Nothing is beautiful. There would only be a cold system that proceeds according to the Law."
Before the mother of the world, Gaia's maternal love, Odaesung was briefly moved.
"But they're using it wrong."
Amanta said, "Humanity can never be unified now. If such a high-level mentality had existed, we wouldn't have come to this. Taeseong is clinging to a difficult hope."
"It's not hope. It's expectation." Taeseong corrected. "Humans must reach Ultima again, and without that power we cannot stop Anke Ra, or the Buddha."
"In that sense, human survival is important. When humanity forms an integrated mental system, the greater its destructive force, the more the Law will change."
"With all due respect..." Sein said, "they probably won't reach it. I, for one, see others as illusions. Geopin is gone and humanity is divided. Ultima ended in the age of the Gaians."
"No."
A fragile thread of hope remained.
"It continues. The will of the Gaians passed from Geopin to Shirone."
Minerva asked, "Can Shirone lead all humans to Ultima? Taeseong knows how self-centered humans are and how little they understand others."
"One moment will do." Taeseong put strength into her eyes. "If current humanity were to reach Ultima it would take a long time. But in a single moment, if they could be perfectly integrated...
"You could strike the world.
"The messiah Geopin left behind—Shirone—will do it. But before that, as many humans as possible must survive. That's why I want to meet Rian."
If the legion commanders opened their demon realms at once, if those who had reached the heretical heights waged all-out war—
"This shock is only the beginning. Soon even I won't be able to hold out. Before that... ugh!"
Taeseong curled up in pain.
"Taeseong! Are you all right?"
Odaesung rushed to check her, but Taeseong's bewilderment outweighed the pain.
'Why?'
Even though she had routed the shock signal, the residual waves were transmitting pain to the planet.
By human standards, it felt like the bones were ringing.
'Imir.' She recognized it from a similar shock long ago.
"That's enough. Let's leave quickly."
Despite her words, Taeseong still looked pale. Freed clicked his tongue and glanced back at the thicket where he had tossed Gaold.
'Damn it! Because of one lunatic... Gaold, who loses his memory when he's bored, went berserk and delayed us.'
He couldn't abandon him—leaving Gaold would ruin the planet.
"Hey, get up. We're leaving."
Freed walked into the thicket to sling Gaold over his shoulder, brow tightening.
"Dammit..." he muttered.
Minerva asked, "What are you doing? Bring him. We're almost there..."
"He's gone."
"Huh?"
Freed looked back at the group and said, "I said he's gone."
In the grass where someone had been lying, Gaold's warmth still lingered.
To escape the endlessly spreading shockwaves, Miro linked mass teleports.
They finally arrived on a mid-slope of the Jijeo mountain range overlooking Bashka.
"Phew. Crazy bastard."
Even Miro recoiled at Imir's destructive power.
"Huh?"
A distant roar like white noise rose from the city below and every eye turned that way.
"My God..."
Beyond Bashka's walls, demons had gathered like a spreading sea.
Amy said, "Now tell me. What am I not being told about this operation? What's the point of the flower field?"
"The cathedral issued the orders," Dante explained.
What Dante said was shocking, but Amy's gaze only steadily calmed.
"...I see."
More than any explanation, it mattered that Iruki had made the decision.
'If that person said no, then it was a no.'
Cold above all else, but not someone who would gamble with lives for efficiency.
Lupist summarized, "To sum up: the flower field was annihilated and demons are massing at Bashka. If the elemental bomb detonates, this whole area will be a sea of fire. The demons' elite have already left this area, though. Also, Heaven's army is pursuing us."
The officers listened to the screams rising from Bashka and fell into thought.
'I want to enter the capital and fight. But what would that accomplish? If the elemental bomb detonates...'
"We're leaving from here."
Miro said, "We don't need to fight directly. Ideally, the elemental bomb could even take care of Heaven's army. From now, we move stealthily and get out of the blast radius."
No one objected.
But everyone couldn't take their eyes off the tragedy unfolding in Bashka.
'We're not running away. We're withdrawing to fight another day.'
They steeled themselves to leave when two luminous wheels began to turn in the sky.
"No—we can't leave."
"Sein."
As the solar-lunar wheels deactivated, Havitz's assassination squad revealed themselves one by one.
Meirei was not visible.
'Havitz took her?'
Miro scanned every direction, though not a prophet.
'However...' In her assumptions this was plausible. 'Kuan lost one eye.' That had happened, too, so Miro swallowed her feelings and asked coldly, "What do you mean, we can't leave?"
Sein said, "I read Havitz's mind. Ninth Legion commander Paimon plans to open a demon realm timed with the elemental bomb's explosion. And when the demon realm opens, terrible things will happen."
"What kind of demon realm?" Miro asked.
"A hospital." Sein answered. "But not an ordinary illness—it will sicken not only bodies but human hearts. I don't have time to explain in detail. We must enter Bashka right now and take out Paimon."
Dante stepped forward. "Wait. If they're going to open a demon realm, they don't have to time it to the bomb's explosion. Why is that timing important?"
"Because Havitz wants to savor it." Sein said. "What if a judgement humanity thought was best produces the worst result? Humanity will fall into despair, and the more despair, the stronger the demons grow."
"Satan will have his day."
Miro's words made Sein nod.
"Right. Kill Paimon before the elemental bomb goes off. We'll have to enter Bashka."
Even if it meant being caught in the explosion.
"It makes sense."
Though the chance of death rose sharply, everyone's expressions were oddly relieved.
Miro's ears twitched. "They're coming."
The sound of giants moving echoed from the far side of the Jijeo range.
Miro looked around the group. "We go into Bashka."
No one opposed. Soon the mass-teleport flash bent toward the capital and struck down.
The hellish army trampled the visible humans mercilessly, without ranks or standards.
"People, spare me! Waaah!"
They could hardly be called an army; this was their true nature.
"Give it here! It's mine!"
"No! I grabbed it first! It's mine!"
Two demons arguing ownership held a woman's upper and lower halves between them.
"Kyah! It hurts! It hurts—!"
Unable to withstand the demons' strength, the woman's spine was wrenched and she was torn apart.
"Kuh! Kuh!" The demons around the shocked woman licked their lips and turned away.
"It's fine! There's plenty anyway! Kahaha!"
Demons cared for neither the strong nor the weak, nor for anyone's station.
"Found one! Mine first!"
Like humans classify breeds of livestock, demons had particular tastes—young women.
"Please, save me! Save me!" A child cried.
"Waaa! Mommy! Mommy!"
Of course, some odd types showed no interest in youth or beauty.
"Kahaha! Come here! I'll gouge out your eyes first!"
If one knew where demons were born, one would ask no questions about their tastes.
The smell of blood, the stench of entrails, the reek of filth.
As human innards burst out, Bashka's streets filled with a foul stench.
Paimon raised her arms and shouted, "Hohohoho! Wonderful! This is hell! I feel right at home!"
Where she looked, giants taller than the walls pushed their faces through.
People panicked.
"Ahh! What is that!"
"What are the capital's defenses doing? Get rid of those monsters now!"
Most forces had been sent to the flower field, so there was nothing left to defend the citizens.
At the center of that gruesome scene, Paimon stared at the sky and stoked the will of the demon realm.
"This will do."
She, too, was a commander and knew there were deeper intentions hidden within the allied forces.
"Heh heh. Go on. Do as you please."
She would show them what the worst imaginable could look like.