On Infinity (5)
The paladin of the Rami Church remembered the ancient ruins he had seen during his pilgrimage.
Traces too artificial to have been made by humans, yet far too deliberate to be the work of nature.
Who are these people?
The paladin looked over Shirone's group.
"I am Seinada, a senior holy knight attached to the Oracle Administration Bureau of the Rami Church. Who are you?"
"Iruki."
Currently unemployed.
"I'm Nade."
Same situation.
But several holy knights standing in formation behind the paladin found those names familiar.
"Iruki? Nade? I've definitely heard those names somewhere…"
They had been key figures in the World War; even rumors would have carried their names.
"You're the Valkyrie General!"
Seinada narrowed one eye at the remark, and another subordinate spoke up.
"Then Nade is… Nade Grom?"
Learning they were bigger figures than expected, the holy knights' swelling confidence ebbed slightly.
Seinada turned to Shirone.
"And you are?"
Nade, thinking the moment his, stepped forward.
"Hah! If we're speaking of this person, he's my friend, one of the Ivory Tower's Five Great Stars, the era's—"
"Shirone," he said.
That was enough. The murmurs that had been buzzing fell utterly silent.
They were clearly surprised, but their reaction wasn't what Nade had expected.
What? Why hostility…?
Shirone knew why.
The Rami Church—the largest denomination in the world—would not be pleased to see someone fighting alongside Sion.
When Miro established Sion, great seekers from all the world's religions gathered. Many figures had come from the Rami Church too, but the Holy See had not welcomed that.
Putting aside pride in being the world's largest faith, Sion's philosophy simply didn't fit with the Rami Church.
Miro believed righteousness could connect people regardless of which god they worshipped. The Rami Church was different. They considered any religion that worshipped a god other than the one true Cria to be heretical.
"Are you Yahweh—the one who founded this religion of universal love?" Seinada's tone was far from kind.
"It's not a religion. I just want people to know that this world is worth existing."
"Ha. That's how all those cults get inside holy sanctuaries. No matter how pious they sound, without God's blessing they're only shells."
Seinada curled her lip as if a thought had just occurred to her.
"Look at Sion. You chased depth and purity and fell apart, didn't you? Those who do not hold God in their hearts will inevitably be swallowed by evil."
Iruki asked, "Are you saying you're different?"
Seinada proudly drew the holy sword Astasia.
"Behold."
When divine power was poured into it, the blade shone with a clear blue light unlike any other sword.
"To fight as God's messenger requires not just will but martial strength worthy of it. Holy arms, potent divine power, and a rigorously trained organization."
It was a thoroughly human viewpoint, but Shirone did not criticize another's faith. For now, they were comrades facing the same enemy.
"All right. We'll be on our way. Please take care of the people left here."
From the civilians' perspective, entering an organized system was the safe choice.
"Don't worry about that. But first I want to hear what happened here. And… if possible, I'd like to take Shirone to the Holy See for an inquisition."
If it were possible.
Yahweh's might had reached him as rumor, and now he had seen it with his own eyes.
Alone, he could not handle it. Unless the church's top holy knights intervened, she would—he thought—need more drastic steps.
"How about joining God's crusade? If your mission is to purify the world's evils—"
Aid from the Rami Church would boost the Ultima Project's efficiency, but Shirone shook his head.
"Sorry. We'll go our own way."
What Shirone wanted was true unification, not forcing everyone into a single doctrine.
Even if interests aligned now, they would split at the end. It was better not to entangle themselves from the start.
Seinada asked sourly, "Why?"
Careful with his words, Shirone answered as gently as he could.
"We travel simply to help people in need. That's enough."
Giving without expecting anything in return—that is love.
Watching Shirone's party's steady gazes, Seinada fell into deep thought.
At the center where the Hand of God had struck the earth, Prejudice at 5 o'clock lay sprawled.
Of course, the place was not the physical world but an inner plane.
Kik. Kiek.
Across a lava-flowing rocky expanse, countless ghouls had gathered.
Just as they began to show themselves one by one, a tide of ghouls swarmed her at once.
"Food… food…"
Siok, an apostle of Satan—yet the starving ghouls would devour anything they could eat.
"I'll eat!"
As the ghouls surged like water, an old man with sagging jowls appeared beside Prejudice at 5 o'clock.
"Back off."
Sloth at 4 o'clock.
What one does not want to happen must not be allowed to happen.
"Kieee! Kieee!"
The ghouls that had charged Prejudice at 5 o'clock ignored her and began tearing into each other.
They recognized one another as kin, and whatever Sloth at 4 o'clock did not want simply must not occur.
"I-I'm sorry!"
The latecomer ghouls scattered like spokes and vanished in every direction.
"Tch." Sloth at 4 o'clock clicked its tongue, folded its hands behind its back, and gave Prejudice at 5 o'clock a light kick.
Only then did Prejudice at 5 o'clock wince and writhe, and Sloth at 4 o'clock smiled and asked,
"Are you coming to your senses?"
Prejudice at 5 o'clock leapt up and, seeing the leering old man, realized the danger.
'I almost died.'
"You deserved that. Tell Yahweh about this."
"Huh?…"
Grinding her sharp teeth, Prejudice at 5 o'clock screamed until her eyes bulged.
"I'll kill youuuu!"
Even as hell's roar echoed, Sloth at 4 o'clock showed no particular emotion.
"Don't be so upset. Alone you're weak. Yahweh—doesn't he claim to understand the heart?"
Prejudice at 5 o'clock sprang to her feet.
"I'll kill him. Where is he?"
"He's still around. Mixed in with those saintly leeches and the like."
"Oho, a delicacy has come."
Ordinary humans were entertaining, but nothing was as thrilling as corrupting a holy knight.
"Let's go. This time we won't fail."
Prejudice at 5 o'clock strode forward, and Sloth at 4 o'clock turned to follow with its hands clasped behind its back.
"Will you really do it? The target is Yahweh."
"Why? Are you afraid?"
Sloth at 4 o'clock offered a faint smile and slowly followed her.
"…Impossible."
Seinada made her decision.
"I forbid it."
The Rami Church, while fundamentally opposed to evil, had a long history of judging heresies.
"Why? Is helping people wrong?"
"Because your decision lacks God."
Seinada's blade burned a deeper blue.
"Do you know the difference between holy doctrine and heresy? Heretics always try to make themselves into gods. What you're thinking is the very definition of heresy."
A killing intent rose; Shirone answered coldly.
"That's enough. There's no need for us to fight among ourselves."
"I know you're strong. But this is God's command."
The servants of God raised their weapons at once, and Seinada sprang forward, charging.
"This is everything we are."
"Damn!"
As Nade and Iruki took combat stances, a scream came from behind.
"Kyahhhh!"
The fighting stopped and everyone turned; Ravika writhed in pain.
"What happened!"
Seinada was the first to run to her.
"It hurts! My body… my body… Ugh!" Ravika's face began to contort as she let out a violent cry.
Gag! Gag!
Her features twisted left and right, beginning to resemble someone else, and then the bones of her body started to shift.
Seinada's eyes widened.
"A corporeal possession?"
A person's emotions leave marks on the flesh; time's traces show on the face. But such sudden, bone-twisting, extreme emotion manifesting in a living body—within her doctrine that was the hallmark of only one thing: Satan.
What on earth—what kind of evil had nested here?
Siok.
The twelve powers that sustain Satan's chaos.
A roar split the air—Ravika spread her upper body like a bow and bellowed. She was no longer the woman they had known.
When she relaxed and the sound died, her face had become Prejudice at 5 o'clock.
"Who are you?"
Seinada's sword, aimed forward, trembled.
"Siok."
Shirone stepped forward. "I don't know what enemy the Rami order has fought before, but this is probably a kind of evil you've never faced."
"Siok—"
As Seinada muttered, Prejudice at 5 o'clock moved.
"Kill Yahweh! They blaspheme and mock your god, and they will harm you!"
"Ugh!"
A hidden code activated and light flared in the eyes of the holy knights behind Seinada.
It was the Seongan phenomenon: a trait ingrained by brainwashing since childhood that automatically resisted demonic temptation.
"Kill! If you don't kill now, you will be the ones struck down!"
"Argh!"
Several of the knights, their eyes blazing as if about to explode, drew their swords and reversed their grips.
"Forgive me, Seinada!"
Then, lifting their heads, they drove their blades into the exact weak points at their throats.
About twenty of them collapsed with thuds. Nade gaped in disbelief.
"What? Why so easily…?"
Seinada's nose wrinkled. "Damn it!"
When an evil too potent for Seongan to block grips a mind, they were taught to choose death.
They had trained their whole lives for that; the indoctrination had embedded the will into their unconscious.
'They are not weak. They're the greatest holy knights.'
Only the force of the evil shaking their minds was of unprecedented severity.
"O God!"
Seinada's Seongan spread a golden light as she tried to burn the corruption from her heart.
Ihihihihi! Ihihihihi!
But all that greeted her was mocking laughter; her mind sank deeper into desire.
"Ahhhhh! Aaaahhhh!"
Tears of searing heat streamed down as she slowly raised her sword in despair.
'I must die. I cannot be used.' The years of baptism and training to preserve faith in Cria flashed before her.
"Purge the evil!"
She squeezed her eyes shut and shouted, raising the sword to drive it in.
"Ugh!"
Suddenly something caught and the blade froze just in front of her throat.
"Don't give up."
When she opened her eyes, Shirone was holding the hilt firmly, bracing against her.
What power—?
He prided himself that his strength matched any knight's, yet her arm didn't budge even a centimeter.
Lightlike smoke rising from Shirone's hand wrapped the blade.
"Let go! I'd rather die than become a puppet of evil!"
"You can do it. Don't limit yourself!"
Stupid—wasn't it the martyr code in her unconscious that triggered because she couldn't cross that limit?
"Hrrrgh!"
She pulled with all her might and her arm began to bend little by little.
Like a senior holy knight, Shirone's eyes flashed; with his other hand he drove forward.
Shirone lunged while pulling the hilt and slapped her forehead with his palm.
With a hollow resonance, an immeasurable wave of light slammed into her mind.
"Hah!"
At the same moment, dark drops like ink spurted from the back of her head.
'Ah, ahhh.'
As the evil left, emotion flooded her cleared heart and her shoulders trembled.
'The human heart…'
Even the tears that fell seemed made of light.
'Is it—this infinite?'