Fine Tuning (2)
The lunar surface.
Gazing at the immense light burning on the ground, Shura wore a sorrowful expression.
"The Buddha..."
The time he spent at his side to learn the secrets of the world was not wasted.
"He really is leaving."
Whether it was Nane or Anke Ra, the shockwave that burst beyond the ceiling would shake this world.
"I could just wait. But why..."
Why does my heart feel so hollow?
"O Buddha."
Shura murmured with a rueful look.
"Have a good journey."
It wasn't time or space.
Nane simply passed through a distant nothingness and waited for a new finite world.
'The secret of the world.'
Where did we come from, and where do we go?
'This is different from death.'
What Nane was attempting now was to leave the world, transcending even the cycle of life and death.
There was none of the long tunnel many report at death's door, no white expanse.
Beyond the primeval boundary.
Just—
An undefinable void.
Nane's body slowly began to surface above it, like calm water on a black lake.
There was no sense of mass from being submerged, and though there was no light, his sight was not hindered.
At that moment Nane realized the self called "I" and concentrated his consciousness on what made him who he was.
'I'm going—'
The thought slipped out of his mouth.
The first impression that came was that it felt no different from before leaving the photon realm.
Lying on the surface, Nane rose to his feet and stepped lightly forward.
As the will to stand filled him, the surface supported his body as if it were solid.
"Don't touch me. Please—don't."
While walking, he realized his eye level had changed and turned his head.
Something that might be him flickered behind a curtain of darkness where even light did not penetrate.
A grasshopper's face.
Its back was grotesquely hunched, and gaunt arms and legs ended in hooklike claws.
'Is this the other side...?'
Perhaps only Nane could have done this.
The moment the sound from his own throat reached his ears, he understood everything.
"AAAAAAH!"
The grasshopper-man etched in the darkness threw back its hideous jaw and howled.
The otherworld.
Lete, head of the pyrotechnics guild, led six great generals and arrived at Magrit's fortress.
Behind them, countless demonkin, trembling with the sting of betrayal, shouted curses.
"Execute the traitor Magrit!"
"A disgrace to demonkin! A worm who sold himself to Yahweh! I'll choke the life out of him myself!"
As the accusations flew, murderous intent flared from each of the great generals.
'What could they possibly say?'
Yet before Lete they could not claim righteousness.
'We'll die together. Forgive us, Archduke.'
Lete turned and ordered, "Show us the way."
None of the great generals moved. Baeksa bit her lip awkwardly.
'Open the gate? I'd rather die.'
None of them would willingly open the path for Lete to annihilate Magrit.
"If you're still deluded—"
Lete's body burned with hellfire as he spun around.
"Then you'll die clinging to that delusion."
Just as the generals closed their eyes, prepared to be erased, Execution Captain Itaka stepped forward.
"I will open it."
Her hair, black as shadow, dragged along the ground and spread outward like ink.
Mo-o-nom's single eye hardened.
"Itaka."
"I have no choice. The Archduke has sinned. Our loyalty must serve even when hell itself needs aid."
Mo-o-nom, who had reached the fourth-generation upheaval, could not possibly be ignorant of that.
'Damn him. Still so arrogant to the end.'
With no other way, she would shoulder all responsibility to try to save at least her comrades.
"How touching, Itaka."
Lete, who would normally smile at such camaraderie, now had cold eyes.
"But it's pointless. If you erase the Archduke, you will also be punished."
The demonkin behind them agreed.
"Right! Kill the great generals too! These traitors who brought shame on demonkind!"
Their hatred for Magrit equaled their contempt for Yahweh, and their rage toward the generals overflowed.
Itaka said, "I will follow your will." Her hair spread like a rushing current and climbed the gate.
Kukukukukuku!
As the inner scene revealed itself with a thunderous sound, the demonkin raised their fists.
"Drag out the Archduke! The Archduke—!"
At that moment a voice echoed from the sky.
"The Archduke is not at fault."
The demonkin looked up at once, but there was nothing particular to see.
"He cherishes hell more than anyone. That is why he accepted my offer."
Shirone walked through the forcibly opened path amid the sea of demonkin.
Oris muttered, "Yuphee????? No... now he's Yahweh."
But the big cat's eyes still held the afterimage of a juvenile devil.
Meanwhile, unaware of the situation outside, Rian carried the Great Map bound by the Chain of Gehenna.
"A sword that severs the chain of karma. Does that mean it can free the primal tone?"
"That depends on how much karma you can bear. Of course I hope you can..." the Archduke trailed off.
If the primal tone were freed and the psychic barrier opened, a second invasion of the demonkin would follow.
Rian turned. "I see. In any case, thank you." It would have been fine to let it go, but Magrit finally asked, "How about you kill me?"
Rian regarded him. "Embarrassing to say, but I know many techniques to conquer the human world. In short, when the psychic barrier opens, the most dangerous enemy will be me. If you tried now, you could kill me."
Rian examined the Chains of Gehenna connected to through the palm of his hand.
"I will not judge."
He knew how pathetic and difficult that stance was.
"You helped Shirone. At least for now. If in the future you interfere with Shirone, I will cut you down then."
"Do you think such an opportunity will come twice?" Magrit asked, heavy-hearted.
"To slay the greatest mind in hell—if you want to later, you'd have to break through legions of soldiers first."
"...Still, I'll cut you down."
"And what if you can't? If in the end you're unable and your lord dies?"
Rian's gaze turned cold. "You can cut me down."
A look that allowed no other choice—only to cut.
'This thing is merely a sword.'
Perhaps the mistake in this moment was neither Rian's nor Shirone's, but Magrit's own.
'Reality or hell, any philosophy—just cut him down. Is it truly right to simply let him go?'
Shirone's sword was strong enough to make the proud Archduke stoop to such petty calculations.
"See you on the battlefield."
Through the huge hole in the dungeon floor, Rian stepped out beyond the fortress walls.
The silence caused by Yahweh's appearance was brutally shattered by the demonkin's fury.
"KRAAAH! Yahweh! Yahweh!" The demonkin's eyes were so bloodshot at the sight of their loathsome enemy they seemed about to burst.
"Yahweh."
Lete stepped forward. "How brazen. You put on the hide of the demonkin you detested and played a part—now you show that disgusting face to us?"
"Keep Magrit out of it."
Shirone spoke plainly. "He didn't betray the demonkin. He negotiated with me for hell. Which of us benefited more will be shown by the outcome, but both of us did our best."
If Lete annihilated Magrit, Shirone's task would be simpler, but he couldn't be cowardly. That wouldn't be conviction.
"Ha! Ha! Ha!" Lete erupted into a furious laugh. "You always say the same thing. Even now you talk like you're for the demonkin, but in the end you'll wipe us out. Isn't that why you came?"
"Why did you do it? Answer me. If you were so confident, why disguise yourself as a demonkin and profane our children? Do you think demonkin are so laughable? You son of a—!"
"As for that..."
Though his time as Yuphee was brief, the empathy he shared with demonkin had been sincere.
"I apologize. I never treated you as laughable. To make an excuse, it was to prevent a bigger fight."
If Son Yujeong had not intervened, perhaps it would have passed quietly.
"That's not an excuse!"
The one who hurled a tearing shout was not Lete but Stealth Captain Oris.
"How dare you—!"
Words could not satisfy her fury; Oris pushed off the cat's paw and charged at Shirone.
'You bastard!'
How could she erase the betrayal that had made her briefly feel affection for what she most hated?
'Kill him!'
Oris's sharp claws swooped toward the nape of Shirone's neck as if to tear it.
"Damn it!"
The instant her hand met Shirone's eyes—eyes devoid of any will to fight—it stopped dead.
"Why don't you dodge? Do you think someone like me is easy?"
"Sorry. I lied to you. I never intended to hurt you, but it was still my fault."
The cat's eyes ignited. "Lies. You knew I couldn't kill you! That's Yahweh's nature!"
Shirone confessed honestly. "I wanted to leave it to your judgment. But... I admit I knew."
"Yes. That's you. Pretending to love without prejudice, but in the end you do as you please."
"Then what will you do?"
Shirone wore a sad expression. "I can't die by your hand, nor can I kill you. I can't save everyone, nor preserve everyone."
No one knew.
Even the Buddha, who once alone understood Yahweh, was no longer in the world.
Every death was a lonely death.
'Should I really stop?'
If stopping or fighting both cost the same, why suffer needlessly?
"...How can I trust you?"
Oris's murderous intent slackened. "How can I believe that after shamelessly deceiving me, you didn't mean to hurt anyone?"
"You don't need to trust me."
Shirone shook his head. "To trust someone is to trust your heart. Do what you want."
At that moment Lete shouted, "Tear him apart! Rend Yahweh, who mocks the demonkin with his three-inch tongue, to pieces!"
Hearing the demonkin charge with a horrible roar, Oris's hand trembled.
'It's a lie. Even this look, the words—everything is a lie to cover himself.'
As time flowed slower than thought, the demonkin lowered their weapons.
'Don't be fooled again. He'll change his stance before he dies. He'll kill me. Before that, I...'
Before there was even room for hell's war machines to escape, the demonkin surged against Shirone's back. Oris sobbed.
"Ughhh—"
With a thud the ground shook, and the demonkin looked around bewildered.
"What the—? Where did he go?"
Lete turned his cold gaze. "Oris."
Twenty meters away, Oris held Shirone in her arms, breathing hard.