Forbidden Realm (3)
"Shing."
Taeseong called, but Ssing did not answer.
"This is your last chance. Soon—"
"I know."
As Taeseong forced the word out, the door split in two and crashed down.
Baal, commander of the First Legion of the Infernal Army, strode in.
"What a sight."
His brazen entrance—smashing through the gate—made Yangji and Eumji both frown.
How?
Even Raska of the Humanity Safety Enforcement had risked everything to bypass that door with a suicide circuit.
Yangji ground his teeth. "He cut the Law. He's gotten too strong." Even Eumji thought that, in the physical realm, he might overpower Satan himself.
Baal advanced. "My blade can now cleave the world. Thanks to humans. It's a pity—such an ending." He could feel Taeseong's and Ssing's Laws perfectly entangled, keeping them immobile.
"Taeseong. Star of Reason."
Even as Baal approached, Taeseong could not move a finger.
Ssing bit her lip.
Please—
In a gamble that wagered humanity's last moments, there was no room for variables.
Please, let someone—anyone—persuade me. For the first time in her life, the woman with the world's most unbreakable will wanted to be convinced.
But no such person existed, and she could not loosen the bindings.
Baal raised his sword. "Evil prevails."
At that moment the floor bulged and a doll-like, gooey figure shot up like slime.
Taeseong's eyes narrowed. "Mimun!"
A first-rank operative of the Humanity Safety Enforcement—an impersonator who could turn flesh into slime.
Unlike Shirone, who fought demons, Mimun climbed the tower slowly but in a straight line.
"I'll cut your throat."
One of Mimun's limbs had turned into a blade and struck—but it hit only air.
Before she could grasp what had happened, a diagonal flash raced along her body.
"No!"
Taeseong shouted. The body split in two, each writhing in a different space.
"Graaah!"
Though Mimun sustained herself by liquefying flesh, Baal's strike was on another level entirely.
It won't regenerate. He severed my ability. At this rate I'll be reduced to a single-celled thing.
She could only keep her neural cells alive for a few minutes.
"Don't worry."
Baal stepped forward and raised his sword. "I have no taste for perverse pleasures."
When Mimun's neck was cleanly severed, Taeseong bit his lip and let tears fall. "Is this humanity's last flailing?"
Baal wiped his blade on the ground and took a step toward Taeseong—but Ssing's face went blank.
"Huh?"
Mimun's slime was rising again. Realization crossed Baal's face and he twisted.
"Persistent…ugh!"
The slime lashed out at incredible speed and slammed Baal into the far wall.
"Graaah!"
A shock even the strongest demon would struggle to endure.
"You—"
Baal clutched his aching chest and glared at the writhing mass. "You're not human."
The slime assumed a form—not Mimun, but a man.
Taeseong, astonished, breathed, "Argones."
The father of living things—another Administrator.
The Elf Forest.
Green Ocean lay cloaked in darkness from the black dragon Abyris's breath.
From beyond the abyss the white dragon Asraiker sensed Yuriel approaching.
"…Wouldn't it be better to rest? Fighting within the shadow of the abyss is meaningless."
Yuriel did not slow his pace.
He had been struck by the threefold breath—the fire dragon, the black dragon, and the white dragon—and was in rough shape. But his anger matched the wound.
"I will destroy it."
"At the end of this war."
Yuriel's movement froze.
"Do you truly think there will be a victory?"
He didn't even know what action he was taking himself; whatever it was, it would be terrible destruction.
"God denied the angels. Even if Ikael enforced it, there's no reason to follow now."
"This is my fight."
"Hoho." Asraiker's gaze softened, distant. "A fight, eh. Come to think of it, we have fought a long time. I think I'm beginning to understand."
"Understand what?"
"Something most human, perhaps." "You are one of the eight archangels born from primal concepts. Yet you're the only one who doesn't follow the original concept."
"Me?"
"The head of the White Order is certainly Ikael, but that's a conceptual superiority. You are likely the only archangel with the power to annihilate an angelic commander."
Yuriel had no rebuttal.
"How simple must the mind be of one who can destroy everything? And yet you carry so many burdens. Perhaps it's because there are things you cannot destroy."
"You mean Ikael?"
"No." Asraiker spoke with deep eyes. "Longing."
A terrible scream tore through the fairy laboratory where Crown lived.
"Kyaaaah!"
Then silence.
"Hmm." The elf woman captured during the day stood before a mirror with a dry, doll-like expression.
Even the fairy who made the mirror trembled, unbelieving.
"This is—"
When her throat was split open she cleared her throat. "Is this…me?"
She murmured in a solemn tone at odds with her pretty face, awkwardly feeling her own body.
The elf man who had been captured with her asked, "You…who are you?"
Turning slowly, she answered, "Crown."
They had suspected it, but hearing it from her mouth brought tears.
I'm sorry I couldn't protect you, Erin.
On the surface it was a simple experiment.
Drill a small hole in an elf's skull and implant Crown's brain.
That an experiment impossible by human technology succeeded was entirely because of Crown's ability.
"Not bad."
Erin, staring at her hands in turn, said with satisfaction, "She becomes an elf."
"You monstrous bastard! Do you know what you've done? You've denied the laws of nature—ugh!"
When a nearby fairy activated its restraints, Crown—no, now Erin—raised her hands. "Enough. Release her."
"But Lord Crown—this one—" "I want to experiment."
Because his status as king remained despite his new body, the fairy complied.
The freed elf stood. "Return Erin."
"If that is your wish, I'll consider it. But only if you defeat me."
"What?"
"Don't you get it? The reason to cross species barriers boils down to one thing: to become a better being. If you're weaker than you were as a fairy, then the elf's intelligence and body are useless."
"All right. I'll beat you at whatever you choose."
Beyond rescuing Erin, he could not stand his race being belittled in front of everyone.
"I'll oblige. Pick your weapon."
"Bow."
At Erin's command, a fairy brought a bow.
"The rules are simple. If you land even one shot anywhere on my body, you win. You won't be allowed to aim for the head."
If he hit the head, Erin would die too.
"All right."
They stood only four meters apart. At that range, any skilled man could hit a fly, let alone an elf.
He focused on Erin's right shoulder. He wouldn't aim for the head.
Loading three arrows at once, he loosed them toward Erin's forehead.
"Sorry."
It was his only chance to kill Crown.
"Wind dart—Aruore." The wind-spirit arrow launched at Mach speed, the sonic boom coming after.
"Lord Crown!"
By the time the fairies cried out, it was already over—just not as they expected.
"What the—?"
Erin stood at the tent's entrance, holding the elf's severed head.
"If it's that easy, it's not even worth experimenting."
"Gurgle—gurgle—"
The elf man gurgled. Fear of his people's annihilation outweighed the fear of death.
This creature is neither fairy nor elf.
A monster.
"Wind magic Aios. Basic even for elves, yet it's been exceeded." Even the elf fairy Enox—or no, even angels—couldn't have subdued Crown.
The worst part was that the body was the one the elves cherished: Erin's.
"This isn't Erin. Don't be deceived."
If the elves accepted Crown into their hidden place without knowing the truth, it would mean annihilation.
"E-Enox…sir."
He couldn't even cry out; he died with tears of blood streaming down his face.
"Tch."
Erin tossed the head aside, a twisted look on his face. "Being too fast is annoying. I was going to let you barely dodge, but that got boring—so I killed you."
The fairies couldn't even breathe.
"In any case, the implant was successful. Nothing compares to this body. It's even superior to humans." It was the finest body the planet could offer.
"C-Congratulations on your success."
They removed part of the pineal gland between the elf's hemispheres and implanted Crown's brain.
Normally the host's immune system would revolt—shock at the violation of self-preservation—yet—
"I can do it."
Born with the "best" spirit-fraction, Crown instantly took control of the host's systems.
Crown called this state "boarding."
"…Curious."
Erin's eyes deepened. "Is this life?"
No one had ever looked at life from outside life itself.
What was he seeing?
Curious fairies leaned in, but he was lost in his own thoughts.
"Well, I suppose I'll enjoy using this body for a while. At least until a stronger one appears."
"Lord Crown. What will you do with this body?"
Crown's skull lay on a tray. The fairies dared not approach.
The gaze he cast at the body that had been his until ten minutes ago was cold.
"What defines me?"
Body? Mind? Thought? Memory?
Those are only concepts I can entertain because I am myself. If I were no longer 'me,' even those would be meaningless.
"What defines me is the particular concept of 'I'—that idea descending from beyond."
It was the missing link.
The moment I board myself, the idea disappears, but Crown saw it clearly.
"Therefore I am…"
The Awakened.
Crown seized the corpse on the table, stuffed its torso into his mouth, and tore it free with his teeth.
"Eek!"
The fairies trembled at the sound of bone crunching as he murmured, "I am not him." It was now nothing but fuel for consumption.
"Wait for my orders. We will go to the elves' hideout."
"For what purpose?"
If feeding were for reproduction, then—
"Domination."
Crown spread his arms. "I will become king. My descendants will flourish upon this land and come to rule humanity from the shadows."
The moment the world's master began to change had arrived.