The Villain's Counterattack (2)
Imperial City Aganos.
Gando, Emperor of Kashan, never failed to pay his morning respects to Uorin.
"Mother, I'll come in."
When he opened the door, Uorin lay on a bed so large you could roll around on it ten times over.
She wasn't asleep.
'Still at it?' As always, she must have spent the dawn in Under Coder.
She'd been into virtual reality before, but since stepping down from the empress's seat it had gotten worse.
"Mother."
…Huh.
She slowly opened her eyes, stared drowsily at the ceiling's patterns, then pushed herself upright.
"Ow, my head. What time is it? Could you tell Kido to bring me some honeyed water?"
"It's morning. Are you really all right? Where exactly have you been logging in every dawn?"
If it were only a casual session in Under Coder, she wouldn't wake up with a headache like this.
"Mm, it's fun. It's like… a 'deep place.' Call Kido, will you? My head's spinning."
Gando couldn't hold back any longer.
"You need to look after your health. The temple will be reorganized soon. Kashan isn't as strong as it used to be."
The demonic beast Argantis had been deadly.
"The other countries are in similar trouble. The kingdom I built isn't easy to topple."
"I'm not doubting your ability. The problem is that Heaven's armies have been quiet. There are even rumors some states have joined them. If this continues—"
"Ah, shut up. My head aches and you just chatter. Since you became emperor you've gotten insolent."
Gando flared with anger.
"You're the emperor, Mother! Teraja is Kashan! There's only so far I can carry things."
'At least he knows his place.' That was why Gando's neck was still intact.
"All right. I'll find a way. Go about your duties. But aren't you seeing any women?"
"What will you do about the temple?"
"Ah, don't—!"
Uorin snapped, then sighed at Gando's earnest expression.
"I'm not just loafing. I go into Under Coder every day to gather information."
Gando snorted.
"That place is full of social misfits. What information do you expect to find there?"
Uorin chuckled.
"You may be boring, but Gando, the world you know isn't everything."
"That may be, but could you at least deal with the real problem? Yahweh has been appearing across the world, performing miracles. Most nations have benefited, but Kashan is an exception."
"Shirone…"
Uorin's gaze darkened.
"Apart from Tormia, Kashan has been Shirone's biggest patron. And yet he's completely ignoring us. We need to respond somehow."
"Shirone won't come."
"Why not?"
"He wouldn't want to meet me."
It was natural Shirone would keep his distance after the Adam and Eve incident.
"It's an old story. But eventually we'll meet. For now, there's a more urgent problem."
Sitting at her dressing table, she brushed her hair and said, "Open the inner gates. Tell the palace guard to cut back on patrols if possible. Preserve our forces—that's the top priority."
Gando frowned. "I don't understand the order. Why open the inner gates to preserve our forces?"
"How frustrating."
Uorin, her white hair neatly combed, looked at Gando in the mirror.
"That Yahweh doesn't appear in Kashan means… through a chain reaction in the Law… that Satan is coming."
The teacher who had heard the Wizard's words checked Shirone's state and belatedly realized.
'Indeed… it feels different.'
Knives, fire, beasts, a lake of slush—things that had threatened human life since ancient times. For some reason he couldn't name, his heart pounded as if facing one of those threats.
"All right."
When the Wizard strode toward the training ground, the previously rough terrain smoothed out in an instant.
"Hmm."
Rampa hummed.
'He's grown again. In a three-minute fight he makes a leap that carries a lifetime.'
Walking the path the Wizard had cleared, Shirone felt relief.
'Thank goodness.'
He was a strong child.
The enemy the Wizard would face next was Havitz: a viciousness no one in the world dared touch.
'Skill in abundance. But if he can't master his mind, he'll be consumed by Satan.'
It was time for firm, overwhelming instruction.
"Begin."
The golden haze that wrapped Shirone rose up twenty meters high.
"Wow."
While everyone else admired it, the Wizard flinched and took a step back.
"Huh? The Wizard—"
The unprecedented sight left students and teachers who knew her dumbstruck.
"She's someone who hates losing more than she fears death…"
Only Amy and Rampa truly knew how excellent the Wizard's judgment was.
Bartok asked, "That Odae-seong technique she's using—what is it?"
The Wizard who had easily subdued him before was now on guard; curiosity was natural.
"Quantum superposition," Rampa said. "If the mind changes the Law, then Yahweh's mind exists only as probability. It looks like he's standing still, but every possible action is overlapped."
"Is that even humanly possible?"
"Isn't she right in front of you? In any case, Odae-seong is sincere—her intent from the start is to crush the spirit."
Bartok turned to the Wizard. "Does she understand what that ability is?"
"She does. Even if she can't fully grasp it, she'll feel it intuitively. That's ultra-logic."
"She's not moving. Does that mean she hasn't found an answer?"
"That's still within the limits of common sense. The Wizard's creativity transcends real-world logic. If you tried to give her thought a form, wouldn't it be similar to Drimo?"
Bartok swallowed.
"How curious. What on earth is stirring in the mind of that genius who's met Yahweh's ultimate—"
All the mages felt a chill and watched the Wizard.
At that moment she spoke.
"Wow."
An image filled her head that she had never once imagined in seven years.
"What's that, big brother?"
It was unusual for the Wizard to ask before understanding—she felt it before she comprehended.
"Hexa."
Shirone stretched out his hand, and a life-sized Hand of God sprang forth and aimed at her.
"It's a technique that deals with the mind. It's gentle to good people but punishes the wicked. So… it might hurt you."
"Why should I be punished?"
"You know."
The light in the Wizard's eyes dimmed again.
"It doesn't matter. I'll win." No sooner had she said it than she leapt back a great distance and cast a spell.
An excellent decision. But even that wildly creative notion couldn't erase all of Shirone's possibilities.
"Ah ha! Now I get it!" She'd realized something, and her magic grew even stranger.
Shirone's smile trembled. "This is dangerous."
As the Hand of God charged at incredible speed, a glint of killing intent flashed in the Wizard's eyes.
"Huh? It's nothing special?"
While evading, she countered, and Shirone grasped the core of her thinking.
'I see.'
If human logic is a complex maze, the Wizard's logic is an infinite open field with no walls.
"La la la, la la la." In that thought-space the seven-year-old Wizard hummed and roamed freely.
'Block off infinity first.'
When the Hand of God advanced, a massive wall dropped with a thud into the Wizard's open field.
"Yikes!"
She stared at the barrier for a moment.
Even Iruki, at the peak of servanthood, could only shape thought as mazes. But—
"It's fine. I can go around."
She could traverse in all directions.
"I'll plant it here."
Stopping where she pleased, she scattered a seed into the ground; a sprout burst forth instantly.
"Grow, grow."
The sprout took on a definite form, suggesting new possibilities, and swelled into a colossal world tree.
Kruuuung!
"Yahoo! I knocked it down."
Just as the world tree toppled the barrier, the real-world Shirone felt, for the first time, a genuine sense of crisis.
'Truly an incredible talent.'
While dodging the Hand of God, her magic evolved in real time.
"Shirone, isn't Odae-seong being pushed back?" Bartok asked, and even the Ten Circle members murmured.
Although the duel didn't have fixed thought-walls, one could sense advantage from momentum alone.
"Odae-seong is a defensive-type mage," Rampa said. "You can't simply say offense or defense is better, but they fight differently. Attackers focus on the target; defenders read the whole situation." Amy's lips curled faintly. "It's a problem because it's too huge."
The Wizard spread her arms toward the endlessly growing world tree and hopped about.
"I knocked them all down!"
The trees she planted destroyed every barrier Shirone erected.
"I won! Silly big brother!"
Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!
Faced with her blunt, relentless attacks, the Wizard kept retreating.
"No matter how many walls you build here… huh?"
No matter how far she'd withdrawn, something touched her back. When she turned, a black barrier stood there.
"Why is this here? This isn't even the duel arena…."
Fiddling with her seeds, she suddenly realized and turned her head.
Shirone's black barriers had been erected endlessly beyond the horizon.
For the first time the Wizard's expression stiffened.
"Why is this here—"
He had turned a radius so far beyond her sight into barriers.
It was still vast space, but—
"Infinity isn't truly infinite."
Rampa couldn't suppress a laugh. "While the Wizard focused on the target, Odae-seong watched places her thought couldn't reach. From there he unfolded his strategy, gradually narrowing the radius."
Bartok muttered, "If creativity that could expand endlessly is trapped in barriers, from now on it's just logic."
"Exactly."
Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!
Barriers closed in from all directions; the Wizard's face grew pale.
"Hmph! There are still plenty of places to dodge!"
Still, Shirone remained cold and tightened the noose toward a perfect trap.
Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!
"Why? Why?"
As paths formed and she was forced to change direction, unease crept over her.
"I don't know where this is!"
No matter how many forks she wandered, she found no exit—only black walls.
At a fork at the end of a deep tunnel, the Wizard instinctively turned right.
"…It's blocked."
She pressed her hands against the barrier, looked up, then ran the other way.
How naive to think a remaining path would be a way out.
"Ugh—"
Waiting for her was only another black barrier exhaling cold.
Kukukukuku!
The ground shook, and when she looked back down the single-way path, the Hand of God charged with tremendous force.
Rampa murmured coldly, "Checkmate."
Shirone's gaze flashed with killing intent as he rushed the Wizard, who had Movement Zero.
"I won't. I hate losing."
Tears lined the Wizard's face; the Hand of God swelled to enormous scale before her eyes.
"Well…"
She squeezed her eyes shut.
"I was wrong."
Krarrrrrrr!
The walls of thought collapsed. Those watching the duel gaped in stunned silence.
"Yes."
A gentle voice.
Feeling a hand stroke her head, the Wizard opened her eyes and saw Shirone's face.
"You're a good child."
Wena the Wizard, seven years old.
For the first time in her life, she met an adult.