Trigger (1)
Between the 95th and 85th floors of the Ivory Tower, what had once been ten separate levels had collapsed into a single, vast battlefield.
Shirone looked down at Baal from hundreds of meters up, his eyes hardening.
The photon cannon of the Hand of God detonated without mercy, and moments later a tearing blast sounded.
Baal's strike—an overwhelming surge of force—ripped through the photon cannon and scarred the tower's inner wall.
"Ugh!" As the Miracle Stream trembled, Shirone exhaled roughly and scanned the area.
96th floor:
For the first time, the 95th floor had been breached.
"Open the way, Yahweh." Baal didn't look well, but he still seemed to have reserves.
Shirone thought.
He said he'd annihilate the Ivory Tower. If that's true, then what he ultimately aims for is Taeseong.
Many stars had once revolved around the Ivory Tower, but the focal point had always been Taeseong.
She scolded, she soothed, she decided — humanity had been something she kept safe in that way.
Defining evil is an act of intellect. When standards vanish, evil gains legitimacy.
In the post-apocalypse world, evil would become the new intellect by which the world lived.
Mika relayed information.
- Thirty minutes have passed. Bipa's preparations are complete. She's waiting for Shirone.
Even a brief pulse of current let Baal sense an enemy move.
"He's plotting something." Otherwise, there'd be no need to desperately hold the lower floors of the Ivory Tower.
He's keeping my demon realm in check.
If the Deadly Cross were to activate, catastrophe would fall not just on the Ivory Tower but across the entire northern hemisphere.
Pushing me out of the Ivory Tower would be the best outcome. But can he actually do it?
As long as his will remained rooted in the tower, no force could drive him out.
"Yahweh."
When Baal raised his greatsword overhead, a chill of killing intent slid across the blade like oil.
It was a life-or-death resolve manifesting as raw power.
"Do you take me lightly? Even without the Deadly Cross, I can annihilate the Ivory Tower."
Probably so.
The force Shirone felt from Baal was enough to pierce the 97th and 98th floors.
This had to be the final attack. If they lost here, there would be no second chance.
With the Hand of God blocking the front, Baal's eyes sank into a deep abyss.
"Go."
The word left his lips and, as if cutting the scenery with a blade, a vertical line scored the landscape.
A hand of light—its distance impossible to judge—seized that line.
"Grrrr!"
As if a palm had been sliced open, fragments of light exploded along the vertical cut like a fountain.
97th floor.
Even without holding back, the power was monstrously destructive.
98th floor!
With only the last floor left, Shirone poured his strength into the Hand of God.
"Hold!"
Yahweh's will collided with Baal's, and the space of the 98th floor began to warp.
A shockwave thundered; Shirone's body slammed into the ceiling of the 98th floor.
"Ugh!"
From that position, looking down, he saw Baal—his face demonic—rising up.
"Yaaah!" To avoid falling into the enemy's trap, Baal unleashed a wholehearted, crushing surge of force.
Shirone's eyes widened.
He intends to climb to the very top.
The sheer, spine-tingling power stoked a heat in Shirone's chest, admiration even for an enemy.
When it struck the Hand of God, the boundary between golden and purple light became sharply defined.
Baal's will strengthened.
Break through.
But the harder he pushed, the stronger Shirone's will in the Miracle Stream pushed back.
Stop it!
His body constricted, and the pressure in his abdomen swelled as if it might burst.
Is this Yahweh?
How loathsome it might be to demons was irrelevant to Baal.
Only the weak whine. Whatever Yahweh is, surpass it and that's the end of it.
So he thought.
Can it be surpassed?
Not because Baal's will was weaker than Shirone's.
He had drawn all of humanity into his embrace. That would be a tremendous weakness in any situation, but—
Yahweh's will would become something no one in this world could touch.
Lucky humans.
He understood the feelings of other demons.
I want to crush it. I want to burn every ounce of my will and truly feel Yahweh's power.
From the first moment his body began to be squeezed, Baal hid a burning pride.
Oh Satan.
All demons sprang from him; their power was meant to serve Satan's purpose.
Is the time right? If I open the demon realm and strike the Ivory Tower with the Deadly Cross, the mission will be complete.
A meteor strike is hell's ultimate weapon, and the Ivory Tower's value as a prize would be enough.
From the vibrations in the Hand of God, Shirone guessed Baal's intent.
No.
He had to stop the demon realm from opening before humanity reached Ultima.
"Grrrr!"
In an instant a thought flashed through Shirone's mind, and Baal's eyes widened.
The restrained torrent of force exploded outward and his sword lunged at Shirone.
Is he retreating?
If it's to prevent the Deadly Cross, he had no choice—but he couldn't simply give up.
Is this a trap?
Shirone knew one of Baal's abilities was to manipulate hearts like law.
Yahweh is one who handles hearts. If he can change even my heart, it becomes reality.
Baal's mouth twitched.
I won't be fooled.
Without any certainty, he thrust his sword at Shirone with everything he had.
And then—
What the—
Baal's greatsword pierced Shirone's abdomen and passed through.
I actually got stabbed—
He realized it at the same instant.
Oh no!
But it was already too late; the Hand of God swept them both up.
Thud, thud, thud—the metallic sounds from the control room echoed on the 99th floor as Baal looked forward.
Shirone, impaled through the abdomen, knelt on one knee clutching his belly.
That method...
There's a trick that succeeds one hundred percent.
If you want to show a vanishing-finger trick, you simply cut the finger off.
When the greatsword pierced the abdomen, for that moment no one could help but believe it.
Because it was the truth.
Baal walked toward Shirone.
"But what does that prove? You're mortally wounded and you haven't hurt me."
As if refusing to give him time to heal, he raised his sword again.
"Die."
At the same time, Bipa in the control room pressed a button.
"Magnetic field reversal."
The moment the sixty-eight-ton battery popped out with a thud, Baal's body vanished.
In the stunned reflection of the shock, his eyes saw Shirone struck by that same battery.
Was this it?
Flung away from the Ivory Tower at incredible speed, Baal pushed his force to the limit.
"Grrrr!"
But all he could do was withstand the impact; he couldn't even twitch a finger.
When Shirone's silhouette shrank to a dot, Baal's nostrils flared.
"Arrrrgh!"
A roar of rage was swallowed by the blizzard.
The outer wall of the 99th floor collapsed, and the tower's center of gravity plunged downward.
"It's falling!"
In the dizzying sensation of freefall, Tokei screamed and Bipa bit her lip.
The remaining outer walls would buffer the impact, but only by architectural standards.
When the 100th floor slammed into the 98th, an enormous vibration made their bones ache.
Please, please!
If even a one percent miscalculation occurred at that scale, the tower would slam into the ground.
"It's... it's stable." Tokei muttered, and Bipa watched the tower-balance readout on the control screen.
The tilt that had seemed vertical was increasing from 0.1 degrees to 0.38 degrees.
It's tipping! It's the wind. Facing the one uncontrollable variable, three-star resident Arte waved a fan.
Wind.
A bell rang and a violent gale began to whip around the tower.
"It's still tilting!"
From 0.6 to 0.72 degrees.
The Ivory Tower was the largest structure in the world; if it tilted more than one degree, not even a typhoon could save it.
"Arte! Increase the rotation!" Tokei ordered, calculating fluid dynamics, and the wind worsened.
Whoooooosh!
"It's upright! Just a little more!"
As the tower, which had been oscillating within plus-or-minus 0.5 degrees, regained its center, Arte let out a breath.
"It's nearly a vacuum. We'll have to keep it like this until the tower's connecting construction is complete."
They had the most powerful Blow-type mage, so fine adjustments were possible.
Still, being stuck in the control room unable to help Shirone left a bitter taste.
"You knew from the start, didn't you?" Bipa shrugged as she felt Arte's thin gaze narrow on her.
"Improvisation. Pure improvisation."
Meanwhile, like Baal, Shirone was stuck to the inertia of the battery.
Too fast.
The projectile alone weighed sixty-eight tons.
Propelling something like that with electromagnetism was in a different class from explosive thrust.
The Miracle Stream kept his body from tearing apart, but the wound Baal had given him remained.
The Arctic headwind sapped his body heat; even holding on to consciousness was a struggle.
How far will it fly?
With the Corona Kingdom visible beyond the horizon, the battery began to trace a parabola.
It's falling.
The Miracle Stream would protect his body, but a graceful landing seemed unlikely.
Battle cries rose.
"Hold the line! If we lose the Huig-occupied zone, it's a straight shot to the Corona Kingdom!"
At that moment a general looked up.
"What is that?"
A massive chunk of metal flew in fast and drove straight into the heart of the demon lines.
Kraaaaang!
Shirone, thrown onto the snow, shuddered.
"Oof."
The battery rolled two hundred meters after the crash and crushed the demons in its path.
The demons stared dumbly at the gruesome scene.
What the hell—
When they turned back, they found Shirone, his chest soaked in blood.
"Yahweh?"
The demons who had been approaching in a daze took a step back, and the squad leader barked.
"Hey! Hey, what are you scared of? When did we ever fear Yahweh? All of you, get over here!"
His words made sense, but a single company approaching out of curiosity still felt wrong.
One demon murmured.
"…Looks like he's hurt."
He still seemed conscious, but Yahweh's light wouldn't leave his chest.
"He's been stabbed."
Was Yahweh stabbed with a sword?
Before they could wonder who would do such a thing, the demons' eyes filled with elation.
"Heh heh heh! Heh heh heh heh!"
The squad leader's shoulders suddenly broadened.
"Ha, has Yahweh come to repent? Coming in person to bring us some tasty juice."
Shirone spoke.
"Stop the war. If you keep senseless killing, I won't stay silent."
Laughter erupted from all sides.
"Puhuhuhu! What did he just say? Hey, do you even know what state you're in?"
Shirone's eyes hardened.
"I'm almost healed." The laughter cut off, and the demons exchanged glances before rushing him all at once.
"Kill him! Tear him apart!"
Like water pouring into a pit, the demons closed in and formed a mass.
"Aaah! What is this?!"
Toxic smoke spread; demons whose skin began to melt scattered in all directions.
"Almost healed? What a bluff."
Shirone turned at the voice and saw a familiar female silhouette.
"Minerva."
Minerva, pipe in her mouth, turned with a smile and winked.
"Welcome to the Huig-occupied zone." As of now, this was the fiercest battlefield in the world.