Chapter E2N16: The Ladder of Genesis.
" #$ sCr$ Ee cH#$"
The mutated magicians… or perhaps the newly born guardians— screamed in an odd, screeching tone.
They appeared to be communicating in a language only they could understand. It seemed like they had figured out the location of the survivors.
"Sc #$ee #$cH." (Guardian A)
" #Sc2#$rEe #$cH." (Guardian B)
The guardians that devoured Paracelsus all began to swarm that way.
"Your orders, Ma'am." (Saint C)
Kanzaki closed her eyes, discarding all feelings, all thoughts.
"Are there any left who still retain their sanity?" (Kanzaki)
"Yes, Madam. With us and the other independent orders combines, we should still possess roughly thirty percent of our forces." (Saint C)
So thirty percent of their forces still remained.
The saints, clearly at their collective wits' end, shook their heads as they looked at Kanzaki for a solution.
"Assemble all remaining forces!" (Kanzaki)
"Will we die, Madam?" (Saint A)
"They still draw breath. Hope is not yet lost." (Kanzaki)
"Y-Yes, Madam!" (Saint A)
"Go, then! Relay my message!" (Kanzaki)
One after the other, the saints filed out of the room with the speed of bullets. Kanzaki let out a brief sigh as she reloaded her gun and checked her blade.
They will indeed perish.
If not from death or madness, but from what Kanzaki had planned to do.
Though the means might have been different, the end result remained the same— the extinction of their consciousness.
But it was all right.
Let it all end like that.
Fear gripped her heart like a frigid, steel gauntlet.
Yet having savored it like this, Kanzaki, for the first time in her life, had finally come to understand how truly talentless people felt.
They were weak, fragile beyond measure; feeble enough that Kanzaki could probably kill them with a mere bump.
This frailty of theirs made Kanzaki want to protect them, to love mankind.
Her love for mankind was the same as its protection.
Yet that was but the arrogant, self-indulgent love of those in power.
In her current weakness, Kanzaki had finally understood it.
The woe of misfortune.
Indeed, a normal human being was weak. Yet they craved no such love, no such protection.
They required no overprotective guardians to watch over them. Such was the fundamental essence of living a normal life.
They were content with that.
Magicians were tasked with the protection of humanity, but all they should have done instead was guide them.
Not to protect the truly talentless, but to help them stand up on their own two feet. To make them carve out their own path.
Kanzaki had finally realized the hubris she and the other magicians shared.
Leaving the confines of her devastated Public Disciplinary Committee room, Kanzaki stepped into the hallway to regroup with a number of familiar faces.
"Our blades are yours, Madam Kanzaki! Till the bitter end!" (Saint D)
"I know my life isn't worth much, but it is yours to do as you wish, Madam!" (Magician A)
"We await your orders!" (Magician B)
Magicians and saints alike submitted before Kanzaki. This included people from opposing factions as well.
The chorus of mad joy reverberated across St. Maurice. Yet these were the few brave souls that had managed to withstand the brunt of its mental contamination.
It was hard to tell how much time they had left, but—
"The alchemists are strengthening the barrier, correct?" (Kanzaki)
"Yes, madam. All of them have been working tirelessly to strengthen it!" (Saint D)
Thinking back upon it, Kanzaki felt a wary smile tug upon her lips.
This was a barrier that the supposed real mastermind of the Calamity— Archbishop Laura Stuart— had erected.
Kanzaki could not figure out the demon's real intentions.
What was her true wish?
Was it really to damn them all? Or was it to save them?
If she truly wanted to destroy all existence, why would she go out of her way to erect this barrier?
A barrier that had become mankind's last bastion.
Until the very end, the demon proved to be an embodiment of chaos, dichotomy, and contradiction.
"The barrier's core area is our last line of defense. We must exterminate all guardians before they get a wind of its location!" (Kanzaki)
"Yes, Madam!" (Saint D)
"We shall not abandon our duty as protectors of this world— not till the moment death claims us all! That is the reason for our Church to exist!" (Kanzaki)
This was it.
Death meant the end— permanently. And with that, Kanzaki realized that she stood on equal footing with the truly talentless, normal people.
It filled her with joy.
And so, after a deep breath… Kanzaki sealed the fate of all surviving magicians in St. Maurice.
"This is an order! Exterminate all opposition with your life at stake… and then, seal the city permanently." (Kanzaki)
No one will ever be able to escape this place.
Not guardians, not mortals, not anything… ever.
Akin to a temple, using Laura's own barrier, St. Maurice would be disconnected from the rest of the world— something that would effectively trap her and her comrades in this hell forever.
Kanzaki's heart clenched in pain. She prayed that this would be enough to spare her world from ruination.
By the time, we had reached the third temple, we managed to shake all our would-be pursuers.
We would soon reopen the rift, and attempt to take a shortcut back to the sixth temple by traversing the Qlippothic Abyss.
"Oh, you guys met the big ol' Rahab." (Anna)
Seeing the vast orange skies and the rolling oceans, Anna asked us, having figured out whose doing it was.
"He prefers to be called Aiwass now, I think. And yes, we did." (Touma)
"He doing okay?" (Anna)
"Well, he seems to be." (Touma)
Anna gleefully chirped a series of quick phrases along the lines of "oh I see I see, that's good to hear, yup~! before leaping outside.
"Um… Kamijou Touma-kun? May I have your attention for a moment please?" (Elaine)
"Yes?" (Touma)
"I, um, just have a feeling that this adventure might be juuust a bit too much for my poor old heart…" (Elaine)
I shot an understanding glance at the reopened rift.
"Are you afraid of the ocean?" (Touma)
"That's not it! I mean just look at that place! That's just plain old scary! We have to walk on water?! What if we fall?!" (Elaine)
"There's no need for concern. Nika will be ferrying us, so we'll be fine." (Touma)
"Yeah, that's great and all… but still… how do I put it…" (Elaine)
Taking a firm grasp of the inner side of the opening, Elaine carefully peeked into the abyss… then let out a brief shriek.
"Nopenopenopenopenope! All my nope!" (Elaine)
"Aww, you little baby. Fine, I'll carry you. Hold on tight!" (Anna)
And just like that, Anna effortlessly lifted Elaine up.
"Ahh, a princess hold, huh. Except it's not Prince Charming carrying me, but a witch…" (Elaine)
"Mhm~ This time, you've got the Divine Witch of the Night, Anna, watching over you, not St. Mary! Be grateful, normie!" (Anna)
"Nyahahaha! You're right, both works!" (Elaine)
After shooting a sideways glance at Elaine and Anna's harmless nonsense, I stepped outside.
A motorized surf-board manifested under my feet the moment it touched the water's surface.
It was Nika's doing.
"Those two are really kind, aren't they…" (Nika)
"How so?" (Touma)
"They are not treating me any differently because of what happened." (Nika)
"I get a feeling they might have simply forgotten about all of it, though…" (Touma)
Hearing my words, Nika gently giggled to herself.
"Maybe so. Let us go now. To the seventh temple… the final destination of our journey." (Nika)
"Understood. We're putting an end to all this." (Touma)
Nodding in response, Nika moved our three surf-boards forward.
Our journey once again began… but with a cruise across the primordial waters this time.
We surfed as swift as the wind, leaving the phase we entered behind, going onwards and onwards to our destination.
"I got a question, Kamijou-san! You mentioned one Mr. Ai Wass, correct?! So, what is he like?" (Elaine)
Elaine, I have a feeling you're not pronouncing his name correctly.
"He is a colossal serpent." (Touma)
"Oh, I get that much. But how big is this "colossal"?" (Elaine)
As if in response, over the horizon, the waters of the ocean swirled into a whirlpool, and a second later, a huge column of water erupted to the skies like a massive water spout.
"Space reinforcement, "Air", Level 1!" (Nika)
Nika hastily tapped into her air magic to erect a protective umbrella. It seemed like the previous encounter with Aiwass had left a deep impression upon her.
This was no rain, however, though: the incoming wave of water splashed against her umbrella like a tsunami.
"Hey, you over-sized lizard! If you're gonna show up, show up all gentle-like!" (Anna)
"Gahahaha! Ah, my apologies! In any case… little human, if you're wondering what "colossal" means, take a good look at me!"
He must have been eavesdropping upon our conversation. Such a capricious ancient god.
"S-So huge… his snout looks like a building." (Elaine)
"Wahahaha! You'll make this old man blush! So, Host of Akasha, I hear you're on your way to the seventh temple?"
"Yes. I believe I'm ready to face the truth." (Nika)
"Come now, if things get out of hand, just play dumb! Like it's completely above and beyond you! In your shoes, I'd do just that for sure."
"Huh, you do say some surprisingly good stuff from time to time." (Anna)
After a few moments of hesitation, Nika's expression melted into a refreshing smile.
"Alright. If the need arises, I'll do just that." (Nika)
"I'm afraid I cannot assist you in any other way. All I am now is an old man with an oversized body. All I can do is make your journey through this abyss more comfortable."
"Aiwass." (Nika)
"Aye?"
"We'll manage… somehow. So, don't succumb to madness until then." (Nika)
"Of course, my friend! Who do you think I am?!"
Once Aiwass had returned to below the waves once more, we continued onwards to the Amen=Ra temple.
Our journey was fraught with winds fierce enough to freeze us to the very core. Beyond this ocean was the [Truth] of everything— and we had almost reached it.
"I think the rift was somewhere around here…" (Nika)
We stopped for a moment, then continued onwards at a leisurely pace until Nika managed to recall the exact "inner" and "outer" co-ordinates needed to access the rift from the abyss.
"The sixth stratum was… Heidelberg, I believe." (Anna)
This empty world was already destroyed due to the battle I had with Noah. But the temple itself had been restored to its former glory, no thanks to the post-liberation restoration process.
"Correct. It only held one part of my book." (Nika)
"By the way, who was the guardian of this place?" (Anna)
"Noah— the Divine Mandate. I defeated him." (Touma)
"Noah, huh. Nasty guy! Alright, gotcha! Elaine, could you find us the entrance to the last temple?" (Anna)
"Guuuuys! Over here!" (Elaine)
Elaine waved in our direction, pointing out the exact location of the entrance.
"That was fast! W-Well, the mental burden increases the longer one takes to find it, so I suppose it is a good thing." (Anna)
"I agree." (Touma)
Something felt out of place.
"Elaine, how's your head? Are you alright?" (Touma)
"Eh? Do you perchance have some doubts regarding my awesome intelligence?" (Elaine)
"That's not what I meant. Are you hearing any voices?" (Touma)
"Hm… Oh? Not really, no." (Elaine)
Exactly. The echo of that vile, aggravating chorus had died down in my ears as well.
I could count myself lucky.
Yet now that something that had always haunted my mind was gone, I couldn't help but feel uneasy.
However, I had no time to linger on such trivial concerns.
All I needed was to focus on at present was the climb upwards.
"Let us go, everyone!" (Touma)
All three of us nodded in agreement.
And with that, we had finally entered the gates leading to the final— the Isis=Urania temple…
…and strangely enough, the chorus remained silent, even as we journeyed across to the exit door.
"Ah, I know this place." (Touma)
"Kamijou-san, there would be very few people who wouldn't recognize this place." (Elaine)
"London…?" (Anna)
"Looks like it…" (Nika)
The Isis=Urania temple belonged to the city of London, an amalgamation of mankind's history.
Oddly enough, none of the unpleasant chill I would experience in the presence of a guardian was assailing my senses. The skies, however, emanated an ominous purple glow.
"Right then. Elaine, where to?" (Anna)
Elaine surveyed her surroundings, then pointed in two directions.
"Let's see… There's definitely something in the direction of the Buckingham Palace… and another might be down there at Mayfair." (Elaine)
"Hmm, if there's something that will prove to be an answer to all this, it might be at the Buckingham Palace. Can't say I'm not interested at what's over at Mayfair, though." (Anna)
"In that case, how about we head over to Mayfair first. A small detour like that shouldn't take that much time." (Touma)
"Right-o. Lead on, then!" (Anna)
Mustering a half-smile at Anna's words, I promptly took to the skies and headed for Mayfair.
Like Elaine had said, this place had an outrageous magical signature.
However, the magic I sensed from this place was different from the usual ones, it didn't feel malevolent.
Instead what I felt could only be described as something very passive— like the faint residual afterglow of a white dwarf.
Which, in turn, lent the sensation a kind of forlorn, immaculate beauty.
We reached the central square and beheld the "object" that Elaine's eyes had led us to.
"Is this…" (Touma)
Their backs had turned to steel and melted into each other, their bodies— one clearly masculine, the other feminine— were entangled together in an allusion that resembled the two-headed Roman deity— Janus as they towered above us like giants.
"Um… are they magicians…? They look kinda big, though." (Elaine)
Nika began to visibly tremble.
"Magic Gods Athena… and Thoth…" (Nika)
They were apparently Magic Gods and Nika's acquaintances.
But whatever the case might be, I could say one thing for certain. They were already dead, both physically and mentally. The chains binding the two Magic Gods drained them of their powers, true, but the more visible reason for their demise, however, was…
"Durandal…" (Anna)
We were at a loss for words.
The massive blade had been buried clean into Athena's swollen abdomen, exiting through her back to impale Thoth in his heart.
"What's wrong?" (Elaine)
Elaine must have noticed the abrupt change in the atmosphere. She restlessly glanced at the both of us, trying to get an answer.
"Durandal's a holy blade that Archangel Gabriel once gave to mankind." (Touma)
A brilliant, dauntless sword that would yield to nothing. Archangel Gabriel gave it to a certain French knight, whose quest for honor and glory led him to refuse reinforcements, thus landing him in an early grave.
Of course, the blade itself was by no means responsible for his death.
However, the knight's conviction that he had been chosen by the blade may or may not have clouded his judgment, effectively influencing his decision to deny reinforcements.
A brilliant divine blade that— in some sense— unwittingly ended up becoming a cursed instrument of doom.
Following the knight's death, the sword was handed down to the French king, and was ultimately said to have become part of its national treasure.
"However, Durandal was in the possession of the Madam of Versailles. To think that she would just give it away to him…" (Anna)
"Seth… right?" (Touma)
The very pinnacle of mankind, the perfect human created through the efforts of the Roman Catholic Church. I had heard that they had bestowed upon him all kinds of sacred artifacts.
"Seth killing these two means that they were supposed to be the guardians of this stratum." (Anna)
"But how come he just up and discard such an amazing sword like this?" (Elaine)
"Should I try to pull it out?" (Touma)
I hoped atop Athena's thighs, and took a firm hold of the sword's golden handle.
The blade seemed to be lodged inside their body quite firmly. But I figured, with my strength, I could just yank it out… at the obvious cost of their corpses being ripped to shreds.
"Think you can do it?" (Anna)
After nodding, I silently increased the strength of my pull…
"Wait. It might be better not to disturb it." (Nika)
Nika's words made me pause.
"Why? They are dead anyway." (Anna)
"I just have this feeling." (Nika)
A callous look in her eyes, Nika walked up to the virgin goddess and placed her hand gently upon her belly.
I decided to give in to Nika's whims.
This blade was most probably equal or inferior to the Joyeuse. Archangel Gabriel, despite being the Power of God, was primarily a messenger.
And as such its blade would likely not be superior to the sword of Archangel Uriel signifying the Wrath of God.
Not to mention that the nature of my magic name made all divine relics completely obsolete.
I did not need Durandal.
But still, I couldn't help but wonder…
"What is it?" (Nika)
"Ah, nothing." (Touma)
Could I ever mature into being her knight in shining armor?
I found myself wrestling with that one particular thought, but ultimately decided not to voice it.
"Nika. These two are Majins, correct?" (Touma)
"Yes. There is no mistaking it: they are Magic Gods Athena and Thoth. I don't know why their skin turned to steel, but I believe it to be their own doing." (Nika)
Nika voiced out her opinion in a very matter-of-fact way.
"You mean… they committed suicide?" (Touma)
"No. Rather than suicide… it feels more like they died a martyr's death." (Nika)
"So they willingly sacrificed their bodies for a certain goal?" (Touma)
Nika nodded.
What goal could have been so grand that two Magic Gods had to sacrifice themselves to accomplish it?
I could detect no external sources of magic nearby, apart from the Magic Gods' own residual magic afterglow.
All that towered above us… was truly a corpse.
"Let us go. There's nothing for us to do here." (Touma)
Even if there once was, we were far too late.
"Understood. Farewell, Athena and Thoth. May your spirit find peace. Amen!" (Nika)
With a hue of regret, Nika finally pulled away from the two Magic Gods.
Afterwards, we headed to the other landmark pointed out by Elaine: the Buckingham Palace.
Anna's voice fell down to a whisper as she eyeballed our destination— the Palace's rooftop.
"Hm… all that's left here are traces of someone else's presence… Guess it must be Seth and Azura…" (Anna)
"Isn't that good news? I mean, that means they are gonna fix this mess right up, no?" (Elaine)
"I very much doubt that." (Touma)
That would be far too convenient.
Furthermore, I felt convinced that things couldn't have been that simple.
"Here we are— the end of our journey. Or that' what it's supposed to." (Anna)
"Wow, you're right. Um…" (Elaine)
Nika's feet softly touched the rooftop's surface as she landed. A moment later, the very clouds parted, revealing a flight of stairs.
"…" (Anna)
"…" (Nika)
"Holy moly…! What is this shiny thing?!" (Elaine)
"…!" (Touma)
So, it was really true… what Noah had once claimed.
That this was not a crusade… but a pilgrimage.
"Now that's what I call a surprise…" (Anna)
"…The Ladder of Genesis?!" (Nika)
Nika appeared confused as to why it would appear at a place like this.
So this was the Ladder of Genesis— also known as Jacob's Ladder: it was a stairway clocked in dazzling starlight, its steps piercing the clouds as it ascended to the realm of Nirvana above.
It metaphorically felt like a spider's thin thread dangling from the skies above to aid a person escape a burning building.
Both Elaine and I gazed in awe at its otherworldly visage.
Anna and Nika however seemed far less moved, considering this most likely wasn't the first time they beheld the Ladder of Genesis.
All I could read in their gazes was a tinge of nostalgia at seeing its steps again.
The stairwell itself was wide enough to accommodate two people ascending it side by side.
We decided that Nika and I would take the point, with Anna and Elaine trailing a step behind.
Anna took a firm hold of Elaine's arm to make sure that she wouldn't slip and fall out.
"C-C'mon, I'm fine!" (Elaine)
"Oh, no. I know you too well. You're going to take a peek at the scenery below and lose it. It is inevitable. And when it happens, you'll end up falling." (Anna)
Hmmm… yeah.
I could see Elaine doing that.
Nika, however, cast a pensive look at the stairs. Just to be on the safe side, I decided to take her hand.
"Oh. Thanks." (Nika)
We needed to look out for each other.
I did not know if it was possible to fall from the stairs— in both senses of the word— but it never hurt to take precautions.
In a world such as ours, bereft of the grace of God, we had but our sanity to cling to. And I would not succumb to madness here.
We took a first determined step together.
It felt peculiar somehow, a part of my brain associating the feeling beneath my foot with fresh soil, another with hard yet smooth glass.
The moment we did so, a sense of complete isolation overcame us as we were forcibly disconnected from the materialistic plane of Assiah, instantaneously elevating our minds to the state of Atziluth.
A bitter-sweet feeling spread across our entire being, almost as if the four of us were the only people left in this universe.
And so we began to climb… or should I say, ascend… to the root of everything. The place where everything began.
With every step, we felt our bodies become lighter, almost as if our constitution itself was being rewritten— our existence shedding all unnecessary burden as it strived to become freer and freer in every sense of the word.
In normal situations, this would be an intriguing and quite possibly a fearsome thought.
Yet none of such negative emotions assailed our minds.
We felt neither fatigue, nor hunger or corruption.
All that mattered was… to ascend.
"If you think about it calmly… this is a pretty f*cked up place, isn't it?" (Anna)
I heard Anna speak from behind us.
She was correct.
The rest of us nodded silently in agreement. Nika glanced backward and downwards at the hellscape below.
Far underneath our feet, the Abyss of Qlippoth stretched infinitely in all directions in its chaotic and natural glory.
As we continued to ascend at a steady pace, everything we experienced— the pain, the hardship, the agony— felt like a thing of the distant past, coupled with the sensation that being concerned with such trivialities was beneath our dignity.
At the end of the staircase was the answer to all this.
We felt more and more certain of this.
But that couldn't be any more farther away from the truth. I knew that.
This place was the end destination of all in existence, but… we were different.
It was here at the end of everything that our journey for [Truth] really began.
We would find no peace here.
We knew that.
Yet we would not give in to despair and fight.
That's what I had decided, what we had all decided.
No matter the opponent, I would emerge victorious.
I will forge the peace of our making.
I would make the impossible possible, transcending overwhelming odds, meeting the tyranny of madness with power strong enough to cast it into nihility.
I had all decided this out of my own free will.
For all our sakes.
And I would not let anyone come in the way of that conviction of mine. Not even my very own weakness.
After a climb that felt like an eternity, we had finally breached through the clouds of stray consciousness that blanketed the staircase world.
The consciousness in the clouds, however, did not bother us negatively at all.
Mental contamination was pretty much nonexistent at this point.
And thus, once we made through what felt like an oversized mass of discarded desires and feelings, we beheld a massive gate shimmering in light.
"Whoooooaaa…" (Elaine)
"Hey girlie, if you pick up your jaw from the floor in three seconds, legends say that you can still use it." (Anna)
I paid Anna's nonsense no mind. But I couldn't blame Elaine for being so surprised.
In front of us, was a massive gate of white stone and gold, looking both divine and terrifying at the same time.
A gate leading to the source— in other words, the boundary separating Adam Kadmon from the rest of Creation.
Nika gazed up at its towering enormity, narrowing her eyes.
"It looks just like how I mentally pictured it. Nothing seems different. Yet something about it feels… odd." (Nika)
"No kidding, Ms. Sherlock. There's no reason a place like this should have such an atmosphere of eerie dread about it." (Anna)
"Huh? The gate's… already open?" (Elaine)
Elaine was right, though we couldn't quite make out what was on the other side through the narrow opening.
"So that robot really did make it this far. A bit anticlimactic, huh." (Anna)
Considering the hundreds of lives our world sacrificed for the sake of this moment… I couldn't help but agree.
But at the same time, this gate was but the beginning.
Freeing my mind from obstructive thoughts, I walked up to its colossal doors and pushed.
The doors opened without as much as a creak, granting us entry to the world beyond— to the realm of Adam Kadmon, the "origin" world.
"…!" (Touma)