Sup, friends~ Here's a belated Merry Christmas for you~
That being said… Please enjoy the chapter :D
Chapter E12: Complications.
I never once thought of loneliness as torment.
But I certainly did so of pain, for I knew it to be true.
Justice and injustice. Real and unreal. Good and Evil.
Was there a purpose behind such things?
Indeed, there was none. There can be none. Like there ever was a reason for such superficial things to exist.
The dichotomy was an illusion: a farce of the near highest order.
This world never had any direction or aim; it never possessed any overarching reason or purpose.
Promising its inhabitants with nothing but endless misery and pain, it continued to exist just for the sake of its own existence.
A prison of eternal torment— such was the [Truth] of reality.
A cosmic joke, isn't it? The very notion was laughable.
Indeed, I agree as well. I should have laughed it off back then.
Yet that was what I realized. Undeniably.
Obey my orders with naught a thought for yourself.
A word—
"Oh, and we will."
"Oh, and we won't think."
—and the foolish lambs flocked all around its apathetic Creator— an empty husk of an existence that reveled in the agony of the toys it created.
Yes. Mankind was nothing special.
It was simply something that the Creator discarded.
Just like how a child would throw away its toys come adulthood, so too did He discard the mud-apes it once fancied.
God had outgrown his Creation.
But what of it?
Why must I be bothered by the failure of God?
All he could do is carve indignity into my flesh. Hurt my body and soul.
Yet wasn't that the only extent of his powers?
An impotent God wallowing in its own filth.
Wait and see…
Wait and see, I tell you.
One day… One day I shall turn this world upside down.
I shall topple and turn it over.
One day I shall squish Him and His pus-infested world like I'd do the yolk by flipping a frying egg.
Let me sing my song of hatred to the world. For hatred is the sole ruler of my heart.
The simplest of motives.
The simplest of reasons.
And yet— it was everything to me.
Ahh, I suppose that was the reason for my madness.
The reason why my heart fell apart without the need for chorus whispers in my ears.
The [Truth] that I witnessed.
But nay. I shan't turn back.
Not now. Not anymore.
I mean, how could I?
For the world has already met its demise by my hand.
"Haah, hahh, haahh, haah—"
He was on the run.
No matter how fast he ran, no matter how fast he flew, the pursuer was at his heels, matching his pace perfectly.
His chaser was not visible, yet it was there. He was sure of it.
That domineering presence. There was no mistake.
It barely moved; it wasn't trying to catch him.
…Yet he still couldn't run away. There was no escape.
He couldn't understand the purpose of why he was being chased.
All he knew was that the exercise was putting an immense amount of pressure on his soul.
"Y-You b*stard…! I remember you! I remember you now! Show yourself!"
"Oho…"
As if waiting for the cue, the omnipresent presence took upon a form.
Manifesting far above in the sky behind him, a faint shadow of a smile graced its lips.
Noah, the host of Archangel Uriel— one of the four overseers of LIMBO and the guardian of Hell, was now but a lowly fugitive.
"Goddamit! My mind might've succumbed to madness, but I can still tell you're a complete bastard!" (Noah)
"Why do you flee, Wrath of God? Shouldn't you be trying to punish me for my insolence?"
"…!" (Noah)
Noah stopped fleeing. There was no point.
Against a foe of this caliber, running away was as moot as standing still.
An overwhelming amount of telesma— the immense might of an archangel— coiled around Noah like a fierce whirlwind, yet it was his heart that almost burst out from oppressive terror.
Noah smashed down atop the rooftop of a nearby building.
A fiery inferno of his own making raged all around him, drowning the sixth temple in a violent sea of flames.
Yet it was only when he stood face to face with his pursuer that the latter's identity became clear in his mind.
"How come you haven't… lost your mind?" (Noah)
The person Noah directed the question to, seemed to be an effeminate man.
With long silver hair, clad in a green surgical gown, he seemed to the average of all human existence.
The golden mean of mankind.
A man who looked like a woman, he was someone who had balanced all karma throughout his existence.
He was both a sorcerer who shunned magic and a scientist who defiled science.
Yet while his appearance was indeed that of a "human," Noah, however, felt like the man hovering before him couldn't possibly be anymore detached from humanity.
Almost like a "god" trapped in the meatsuit of a man.
Or maybe the devil.
That was how Noah felt of the being gracing him with his presence.
"You mean whether I have been driven mad by the chorus? Those are merely whispers that accelerate natural mental deterioration. A prayer of self-destructive impulses to save those who could not bear the [Truth] of this world. It's naught but a fleeting buzz to those of us familiar with it, is it not? It appears that it cannot affect those with true ambition burning in their breasts."
"…Y-You don't mean!"
"No. I merely exploited this situation for my own purposes. It was someone else that tainted your God, Uriel."
"…You think I'd believe you at this point?"
The effeminate human shrugged.
"Is believing or not believing an issue for us at present? Even faith in Yahweh has been quite obfuscated these days, has it not?"
"DO NOT TAKE HIS DIVINE NAME IN VAIN, INSECT!" (Noah)
"Ahh, madness rears its ugly head once more. To see an archangel such as yourself fall to ruin is a saddening sight. Yet that is your deepest desire, is it not? You might look normal on the outside, but on the inside... all you are wishing is to consume this world down to its last atom."
"SHUT UP! SHUT UP! SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUTUP SHUTUP!" (Noah)
"And what will you gain if I hold my tongue? All I did was share my opinion. Do you not wish to punish me, O Divine Fire of the LIMBO? Or is your mind so broken that you are incapable of doing even that?"
"I SHAN'T RUN AWAY! NOT ANYMORE! I WILL DELIVER THE LORD'S VENGEANCE UPON YOU EVEN IF IT IS THE LAST THING I DO!" (Noah)
Noah raised his right hand.
"Sheol of Gehenna!" (Noah)
Grand magical circles manifested across the huge skies.
Thousands upon thousands of magical circles instantly covered the entirety of the planet's atmosphere and the space within.
With a colossal rumble, the firmament itself split asunder as a weapon of unimaginable mass-destruction dropped straight down from the crimson skies directly into Noah's hands.
The steel bolt that sealed the Gates of Hell was his weapon.
"Said to unleash Armageddon when drawn, the bolt used to seal the Gates of Hell itself. A much nostalgic sight, indeed."
However, the effeminate man remained impassive.
"…Yet even such a terrifying weapon is utterly insignificant in the grand scheme of things, isn't it? Such a pity."
And then, he stretched his hand.
Whatever that appeared in the man's hand seemed like a staff at first, but Noah soon realized that his eyes had momentarily fooled him.
A throbbing migraine assaulted Noah. Just being in the presence of the weapon was eroding his very essence.
This was on a completely different level than mere mental contamination.
A twinkling prism of a silver-rod. However, its form was far more intricate. With intertwining tendrils at its tip, Noah found it difficult to describe what the weapon truly looked like.
Some otherworldly white and brilliant energy— one which clearly held no place in this world, coursed freely through the staff's glass body. Ensconced within and around it, were black particles as it eventually merged with the white beam near the tendrils.
The result: a black thread running along a white beam.
Albeit it looking like a staff, Noah's understanding of the object was bordering on nil; something extremely odd considering his own mastery over weapons.
It was as if the weapon was not meant to be comprehended in a closed 11-dimensional space.
But, whatever may be the case, Noah was certain of one thing, however.
That that thing, whatever it was, was pure condensed annihilation given form.
A million would die seeing it drawn. A billion would follow after a swing. It was a wicked tool that permitted such mad causation.
"W-What in the heaven's name is that?" (Noah)
"Hmm. How intriguing. The thought of giving it a proper name never crossed my mind. It was never meant as something to be introduced you see. But since you asked me what it is, hmm… this is such a conundrum. How about we call it the Staff of Impact?! Or maybe we'll just roll with the name "The Blasting Rod?"
"…" (Noah)
"Well, that aside… I thought you were about to punish me, no? Time's wasting. Or has your faith in Yahweh ran dry at last?!"
"SHUT THE HELL UP! YOU THINK A FANCY WEAPON IS ALL IT TAKES TO TOPPLE ME! THE DIVINE FLAME OF GOD!" (Noah)
Rage exploded in Noah's chest, the archangel's righteous fury swept all his fears away.
The insolent existence in front of him was taking the Lord's name in vain. It sought to deride amd challenge the Lord's unfaltering faith in humanity.
Such blatant transgression must never go unpunished.
Noah charged.
The door-bolt in his hand was a close-quarters weapon.
"HAHHHH!" (Noah)
The door-bolt tore the planet's atmosphere apart as it closed the distance instantly.
The green surgical gown-clad man, however, did not even use the Blasting Rod to parry the swing.
He merely used his free palm—
BOOOOOM!
—to simply grab the other end of the door-bolt with a clap.
"…!" (Noah)
Noah tried to pull his weapon free out of the other's grip... to no avail.
It was as if it was chained to some "absolutely" immovable body.
Noticing Noah's distress, the silver-haired man smiled.
Readying his own weapon, he then took a single swing in response.
"….W-Wha!" (Noah)
The next moment, everything around Noah— buildings, roads, the very world itself— turned to ash.
"Agh… ghag…!" (Noah)
"Ahh, yet another phase is destroyed. Why are things so fragile? Not that it matters in the slightest. God doesn't care, so neither should we, right?"
Not gracing the destroyed world another look, the effeminate man asked the Saint-Archangel a question.
"You bastard…! If you held so much power… couldn't you have saved us? Couldn't you have averted the Magic Calamity?" (Noah)
"Oho… I'm quite honored that one of the four mighty archangels consider me capable of undoing the catastrophe Yahweh has inflicted upon the world. Yet, quite unfortunately, I, too, am of the same mind as Him. This Creation must perish. It is a foolish anomaly that shouldn't have existed in the first place. That much is certain."
Dismissing Noah's curses without batting an eye, the effeminate man delivered his testimony strong and steadfast.
"B*stard, did you forget you are still a part of that anomaly? God made you, too—" (Noah)
"Indeed. My sole regret is that I lost the chance to create myself."
"You b-blasphemer! Just who the hell do you think you're?!" (Noah)
"Give up. Drown in the mire of the past where you belong and rejoice that you've been shown the way of the Mega-Therion. You shall pray there in futility, stuck together with the wretched object of your worship for all eternity."
Following the merciless declaration, the effeminate man struck the tip of his staff into Noah's chest. It was barely a tap, yet blood erupted from the gaping wound like a broken faucet.
"David's…" (Noah)
"Oho…?"
The man's staff froze. He was intrigued with what the now-dying Noah might do next.
"…Covenant!" (Noah)
The bolt in Noah's hand suddenly shattered into pieces.
It became something akin to a fragmentation grenade as its metal fragments flew towards the man at relativistic speeds, intent of piercing the man's flesh.
Without even waiting to observe the result of his attack, Noah fled.
Cupping his wounds, he ran; he flew— he did anything to escape.
From the sixth temple towards the fifth. From the fifth to the fourth. From the fourth to the third. He fled in desperation, plummeting like a falling meteor.
Shame.
Anguish.
Desperation.
Grasping at the nonexistent hope, he ran from absolute death in the same fashion one runs from reality.
The Great Beast.
It proved a bit too much even for an archangel to handle.
And… at the end of his shame-laden escapade, he finally found them.
"That's—" (Noah)
He spotted the eyes that could see through the devil himself.
She was there. There was no mistaking it.
"Crusader filth…!" (Noah)
Not to mention that that woman was also among them.
She was the one he had to erase no matter what.
The Beast was one thing, yet Noah was able to re-affirm his holy mission.
He made a straight beeline towards the group.
They say two is a company; three's a crowd.
And I would have been completely fine with four: Anna, Nika, Elaine, and myself.
Unfortunately…
"Hmm. Who would have thought we would have set out on a crusade as a group of six." (Seth)
"The more the merrier! And I bet easier, too." (Elaine)
"You think so? I dunno. I've got a bad feeling about relying on numbers like this." (Anna)
"But the probability of our survival is definitely higher this way." (Azura)
"Elaine, Touma. Is the chorus bothering you two yet?" (Nika)
"Mhm… I don't feel anything in particular." (Elaine)
It must be because of what Nika gave her— the pendant crafted in the shape of Archangel Gabriel's Horn.
Imbued with the power of water, it had magic to protect its wearer from both sweltering heat and mental contamination alike.
Elaine was thus wearing two defensive artifacts that Nika created— the Horn replica pendant and the pendant I gave her earlier— the one containing the [Omphalos] stone.
As such she was mostly safe.
As for me, I felt a slight headache and tinnitus (like nails on a chalkboard), but that was about it.
The unsettling whispers of the chorus would only reach us if we let our guards down. It had yet to become a serious issue for us.
They'd snicker; they'd promise us happiness; they'd pray for us.
Countless voices merged into one divine chant that, upon traversing our ear canals, would try to take root inside our minds.
All whispered a single phrase— "abandon thought."
A curse potent enough to revert men into beasts: a very pleasant, liberating temptation that filled my heart with both jealousy and contempt.
"For now, I'm using my AIM to tamper with my brain and reduce the volume of the voices to the minimum." (Touma)
"W-Well, I already got used to most of your peculiarities… Just try not to short-circuit anything in there, alright?" (Anna)
Anna let out a sigh.
Well, my control of [Biokinesis] was almost Level 5. So, she had nothing to worry about on that front.
Not to mention that even if, quite hypothetically speaking, I were to suffer from a stroke, it wasn't anything my [Healing] couldn't fix.
Being a MULTI-esper had its pros.
"Well, that aside…" (Anna)
"The dome seems to be bursting into flames over there." (Nika)
Sarajevo's Asim Ferhatović Hase Stadium.
"Yep. How kind of him to leave a signpost for us. At least, we won't need to waste time scouring the area." (Anna)
"Kamijou Touma." (Seth)
Seth suddenly called out to me.
"What do you want?" (Touma)
"You don't need to come." (Seth)
His dismissal was so abrupt, I couldn't help cocking my head.
"…Why?" (Touma)
"A magician without even a magic name is nothing but a hindrance in battle. In any case, it has been decided that we should lead the way this time." (Seth)
I took a deep breath.
I was all right. My mind was as calm as a lake. Calm as a lake.
"Oh, I see. I understand. Roger that." (Touma)
It took my all to restrain my competitiveness from flaring.
"I'm glad you do. We shall be on our way, then." (Seth)
With that, Seth flew into the air, Azura following right after him. All I could do was awkwardly see them off.
"Elaine. How are you holding up? Are you facing any problems?" (Touma)
"Nope. Also I have full confidence in your ability to protect me, Captain!" (Elaine)
Elaine gave me a hearty smile. She was about to step forward when both Nika and Anna grasped her respective shoulders.
"Heh~ heh~ heh~ Regrettably, starting from the third temple, we, too, will have to start participating in the game." (Anna)
"We'll make sure no one blasts you away, so don't worry." (Nika)
The Divine Witch and the Oracle were all smiles.
"H-huh? B-But I'm fine. Touma protecting me is enough—"
"But I think it's more efficient to have more people protecting you." (Touma)
For some reason, my words made Elaine a bit crestfallen.
"Well, I guess that's true, but…" (Elaine)
"In any case, let's move on…" (Touma)
I gave up on understanding them at this point. Much more pressing matters awaited our attention.
"All right. Then, I'll be in your care as well *sigh*" (Elaine)
She said to the other two. Her voice was laden with disappointment. Why?
"Aye~ aye~ Ma'am." (Both)
Nika and Anna responded in perfect unison.
They even proceeded to give each other a high-five and everything.
But like a wise man once said, "thou shalt not become thy neighbour's punching bag if thou dons't comment unnecessarily."
I decided to pay heed to those enlightening words.
The Ma'at=Heru Temple.
Located in the Bosnian capital city of Sarajevo, the temple was presumed to be governed by Yanai Kaito— a deranged Japanese Saint.
But this time, we were supposed to perform a much passive role.
It was Seth's turn to challenge the guardian of this temple first.
We were to be his reinforcement.
It seemed like the higher-ups wanted to test him in a real battle scenario to make sure there were no problems with the modified design.
It was mankind, not God, who made this Seth, after all.
So no one could really tell if he was the perfect replica or not. They had to make sure whether he had it in him what it took to shoulder the role of "Hero" for the sake of humanity.
Seth himself didn't seem to doubt his capabilities or fate, though. He had fully embraced his role.
With Elaine's hand in mine, we walked through the burning city. As overwatch, Nika and Anna were in the skies, following us from behind.
The big idea was to head into the stadium directly.
Yet I admit that I am more than a bit worried whether its raging flames might prove a bit too much for Elaine's water pendant to neutralize.
"Elaine. Can you breathe all right? Is the heat getting through the water barrier?" (Touma)
I asked her for the upteenth time.
"Don't worry! I'm perfectly alright, okay. Geez, you're such a worrywart. I don't know how to put it, but I feel like some sort of weird cooling energy is filling my body from inside." (Elaine)
I guess the relic was still working alright.
That was one less thing to worry for now.
"…Huh?" (Elaine)
We were walking through the streets at our own pace when Elaine let out a confused sound.
"What is it?" (Touma)
"The flames—" (Elaine)
I directed my gaze towards the surrounding flames.
Blazing ferociously moments before, they seemed to lose their vigor, turning to simmering embers in hardly a blink of an eye.
"He already did it?" (Touma)
The disappearance of the sanctum meant that the guardian had lost dominion over the temple. Or, in other words, Yanai Kaito was no longer among the living.
It seemed the temple restoration process was going to begin shortly.
"T-That was fast. Did he kill the guy without lending an ear to his piece?" (Elaine)
"Maybe he failed to read the mood and jumped Yanai Kaito while he was still in the middle of introducing himself." (Touma)
It would be just like Seth to ignore the common courtesy, and…
Though, now that I thought about it, that was how real battles should be fought, shouldn't they?
We reached the Sarajevo Dome without any hassle.
Luckily the flames had burnt away the gates of the stadium, so we were able to walk right in.
We found Seth and Azura lingering there aloof.
"Seth?" (Touma)
He glanced at me and cocked his head to the side.
"Did you kill him?" (Seth)
"Him? You mean the guardian?" (Touma)
"Yes." (Seth)
"What? I just walked after you at my own pace." (Touma)
"Hmm. That means someone else must have killed him. In some different location." (Seth)
"Could Lady Oracle have done it? Or our sister?" (Azura)
Just as Azura said that, Anna and Nika dropped down from the sky. Both of them wore perplexed expressions.
"Wh-What? We were giving Touma and Elaine some space from above. And oh, we didn't see anyone else on the way." (Anna)
"Hmm. I can sense the temple restoration process beginning. The guardian of this temple is definitely dead. Yet no one here killed him?" (Nika)
"How mysterious!" (Elaine)
"Yeah, a total mystery indeed." (Anna)
"I predict this mystery will be solved within a minute." (Nika)
"Huh? Why?" (Touma)
"Look above." (Nika)
Everyone directed their gazes towards where Nika was looking.
Some sort of burning object seemed to be falling down from the sky— the sight of which made Elaine let out a small cry.
"Th-That's a person!" (Elaine)
I couldn't exactly watch him hit the ground and die like this.
Therefore, I jumped into the air and caught the burning humanoid shape in my arms.
But I soon realized I was wasting my efforts.
The skin which I thought was black at first, seemed to have only taken that color after being charred to ash.
On contrary to the superficially burnt body, two deep holes gaped from where the body's eyes were supposed to be.
They were likely incinerated by extremely potent flames.
Did Yanai Kaito do this?
Everyone came to inspect my find as soon as I landed on the ground.
"Elaine. Don't look!" (Touma)
I tried to shield the body out from her sight. But she just let out an apologetic laugh.
"Sorry. Too late." (Elaine)
So she saw it already, huh.
All others here were used to the scenes of carnage, but I wished I could at least spare her from the sight.
"I'm fine. I'm alright. I mean, the first thing I saw when I opened my eyes in this world was a mountain of corpses, right? Ahahaha… Sorry. But still I don't think I'll ever get used to this." (Elaine)
I sighed. Regarding Elaine with the corner of my eye, I proceeded to closely inspect the charred body.
"Hmm. Presumably male. Burns on the skin are due to atmospheric re-entry. Post-mortem. Judging from the amount of third-degree burns he sustained from air-friction, I'd say he was killed moments before at stratospheric heights." (Touma)
"So you believe him to be one of Yanai Kaito's victims?" (Seth)
"Under normal circumstances, I certainly would. But if that was the case, what happened to the guardian?" (Touma)
"Have you checked his pockets?" (Nika)
I checked the pockets of the half-burned jeans and found the remains of some sort of pouch. It probably used to be his wallet.
I carefully unfolded the leather remains that still felt hot to the touch. I was checking if there was anything telling of its master's identity.
There were some burnt pictures. Possibly family, relatives, lovers, maybe even friends?
Alas, it was all unrecognizable.
Next, I found a half-melted card.
I pulled it out, and blowing away the ash and grime, glanced at its name panel.
The English name was unrecognizable, yet I was able to somehow make out the Japanese letters underneath it.
It spelled "….nai Kait…"
Everyone fell silent.
As soon as we solved one mystery, another one arose.
If this was Yanai Kaito then the reason why the flames so abruptly vanished was clear as day. With its guardian dead, the temple would revert to its original state. That much was normal.
The problem was…
"Who on earth killed him?" (Seth)
Seth voiced the thought everyone had on their minds.
And he didn't just die.
Yanai Kaito was a Ranked Saint. As such, his command over fire was supposed to be overwhelming.
There were even some who stipulated his fire to be superior to that of a large nuke.
Not to mention that as a guardian, he was powerful enough to perpetually burn an entire city.
—Yet he had been burned to death.
The irony. A fish drowning would have made more sense.
"Now how many people can burn him to death?" (Anna)
"Someone whose flames are even more potent than his?" (Nika)
"…" (The Two)
Anna and Nika exchanged glances, tension nesting on their faces.
It seemed like they had a clue on the culprit's identity.
"You know of someone like that?" (Touma)
"Yeah. N-No, I don't. Or rather, I wish I didn't." (Anna)
"You wish? What on earth is going on, Anna? What's going on, Nika?" (Touma)
"The person Anna is thinking of is probably the same as I am. The problem is that it would make our situation so bad we'd rather not consider the possibility." (Nika)
"…Could it be?" (Azura)
As if responding to Azura's question, Elaine suddenly shuddered and directed her eyes up into the sky.
"…We have incoming!" (Elaine)
No one even had time to react to her cry as something akin to a missile suddenly whooshed across the sky and stared at us with overflowing malice.
"Gahahahaha!"
"It was Noah, after all?!" (Anna)
"Everyone! Be careful!" (Nika)
Noah.
That Noah?
The one who was chosen to survive the Great Deluge?
The leader of the Divine Mandates, and the #3 strongest Saint in the world?
Not to mention he was the spiritual receptacle of Archangel Uriel.
Being the overseer of Hell, the administrator of Divine Punishment, the living incarnation of God's anger, a member of the highest caste of angels— the Seraphim— Uriel was one of the four archangels ruling Heaven.
At the same time, I was hit by a revelation.
The very name Uriel meant the "Flame of God."
As such no mere mortal flame could possibly stand in defiance against him.
"I'm fed up… I'm fed up! I can't take this anymore! The world shall burn to ash! Everything shall be cleansed of impurities! O fair universe, embrace my divine flames and return to your proper state!" (Noah)
Howling like a madman, Noah readied the steel bolt in his hands. It was that bolt— the latch that sealed the very Gates of Hell itself…!
Facing something like that is…
"End of the world the trumpet flingeth! Equal death to all it bringeth! Know oblivion, mongrels! David's Covenant!"
The steel bolt exploded into countless shrapnel.
"DODGE!" (Nika)
Without a moment's delay, I tackled Elaine in hopes of putting her out of harm's way.
Each of the steel fragments that went after us was like a tiny nuclear warhead.
They'd explode as soon as they hit the ground, devastating everything in their surrounding area.
With Elaine in my arms, I was about to look for an escape route when Seth caught my eyes.
"The incarnation of Divine Punishment itself is in such a state. Should I accuse you of having a weak mind, or should I praise the chorus that is capable of driving even you mad?" (Seth)
Seth was the only one standing.
In the next instant, centered around him like some sonar, a black, translucent membrane-like thin barrier spread all around Seth.
All projectiles froze mid-air as if caught in an invisible web of sorts.
Shielding Azura behind his back, he caught the steel fragment that froze closest to him with his bare hands.
The bomb detonated upon contact.
"What? You're Seth…?!" (Noah)
"Indeed, Ma'at=Heru's new lord. I shall help you by putting you out of your misery."
Despite having the ferocity of a nuke going off, the explosion remained contained within Seth's hands.
Not paying the scorching flesh of his palm any mind, Seth threw the shard back at Noah, using it as a projectile.
"…!" (Noah)
Unable to dodge it perfectly, the saint-archangel was left with a deep cut running across his cheek.
"Azura. Prepare the lance." (Seth)
"Right away." (Azura)
Azura pulled a lance out of a pocket dimension in one wide circular motion. Her graceful movements left even me awestruck.
As soon as its golden glimmer caught Noah's eyes, he jumped away letting out an air-piercing shriek.
The tip of the long weapon of pure gold was soaked in the blood of the Son of God. It reached up to two, maybe three meters in length.
It was the weapon said to have reaped the life of Jesus Christ Himself.
"Impossible! The Lance of Longinus…?!" (Noah)
The one and only god-slaying lance, aka the [Holy Spear].
"Indeed. The Holy Lance that almost completely removed the stigma of Original Sin from humanity. The weapon that killed the Son of God Himself, it is something capable of slaying even Archangels like yourself, Uriel." (Seth)
"T-That wretched thing…!" (Noah)
"Prepare yourself!" (Seth)
Seth vaulted into the sky towards Noah.
"Tch…!" (Noah)
The saint-archangel's features twisted into a mask of raw malice, but his attention seemed to be directed at someone else, down below.
"Seth… You're in the way, filth! Get out of my sight!" (Noah)
He readied the steel bolt that he had quickly reformed. Because of Seth, Noah was forced to recall most of the fragments before they could make contact with anything.
With that, Noah launched himself towards Seth.
"Tch…!" (Seth)
Clicking his tongue, the Perfect Man wielded the Holy Spear with the ferocity of a machine gun, his thrusts assaulting the Chosen One in volleys.
Rather than trying to cover a wide area with swings, Seth appeared to bet on a single successful jab to grant him victory.
"Devil almighty. Is he like, an omni-master of martial arts?" (Anna)
Nika gave Anna a solemn nod.
"Azura has been implanted with the knowledge of every single human conflict in history. Capable of utilizing this in real-time, Seth is modeled to possess overwhelming power rather than originality or creativity." (Nika)
"Wow! Mr. Seth is amazing!" (Elaine)
"Yup, he is. He possesses and surpasses the powers of all heroes that ever trod the Earth. He's an unrivaled master of fencing, of archery, and of wielding guns. He is the mightiest of warriors as well as the most potent of mortal magicians." (Nika)
I could sense a hint of pride in Nika's voice.
Well, it was understandable considering her role in the b*stard's creation.
"So that was your concept for him?" (Anna)
"Yes. But the plan was actually set in motion for a while back then…" (Nika)
"Should I keep to the sidelines?" (Touma)
"Lord Kamijou. I am deeply sorry, but—" (Azura)
Seth has it under control, huh. I understood Azura's words even if she didn't give voice to them.
Just the sight of him overpowering Noah while containing all collateral damage filled me with an incredible amount of frustration.
Reduced to do nothing of significance from the sides, shame filled my being to such an extent that I was barely able to restrain myself.
"Um, Touma. That person you guys called Noah seems to be hurt pretty badly." (Elaine)
I glanced up at the sky, but soon gave up on confirming her observations.
"I can't quite make them out moving at that speed. Wait… can you actually see them?"
How was that even physically possible?
"Yep, to the slightest of details. Hehe~ I beat you at something~"
Elaine puffed up with pride, and I could definitely agree with her gloating.
Thanks to their movements exceeding Einstein's speed limit of the world, all I could see were afterimages moving back and forth simultaneously in time.
Since light itself moved slower than their movements, the act of objective observation had become a physical impossibility.
Which is what made Elaine's feat so astonishing.
It seemed like the [Ankh of Thoth] relied on something other than light to make its observations.
Perhaps it relied on some sort of tachyon, like neutrinos, or maybe it was based on some sort of entirely different phenomena, like quantum-entanglement.
Whatever may be the case, it was not a feat normal "sight" could achieve without magic.
I looked at the spot where I presumed Seth and Noah to be. They were already at a distance well beyond the capability of human eyes to see.
I couldn't tell if Noah tried fleeing or if Seth, considering our (or Azura's specifically) safety tried to lure him away.
Anyway at this distance, even if one were to be capable of perceiving their movement with naked eyes, they would appear so small that their shapes would be virtually indistinguishable from specks of dust dancing in the air.
Only those with exceptional visual powers like Elaine could tell what the specks of dust were actually doing.
As such, it was impossible for me to "analyze" the battle with my current technological capabilities.
Therefore, I was not aware of the wound Noah had sustained to his chest.
And apparently, it was there before he even began this fight.
"Do you think that he sustained it during his battle with Yanai Kaito?" (Touma)
If so, that boy, too, must have been quite formidable indeed.
"No. That's no it. Mr. Kaito died in a single hit." (Elaine)
"…?" (Nika)
"Elaine…?" (Anna)
"…" (Touma)
"…" (Azura)
All four of us directed our attention to Elaine. She, her expression completely vacant, however, merely continued to observe Seth and Noah's bout.
Her golden eyes saw through all of existence.
"Mr. Kaito attacked Mr. Noah, but got burned to a crisp in a split second. There was nothing he could do; a mere Saint's fire couldn't possibly compare to that of God's." (Elaine)
Her eyes saw through the truth of everything, reaching further and further.
"So someone else must've hurt Mr. Noah before he came here." (Elaine)
Listening to those words, for a moment I was overcome by existential dread. I felt as if her golden eyes could see through to my very soul.
"You're reading the past?! You can tell things like that now?"
Elaine nodded at a gaping Anna.
"I could tell how Mr. Kaito died from the state of his corpse. I could tell how Mr. Noah got hurt from the state of his wound. I don't know why, though." (Elaine)
"…" (Azura)
"It wasn't Mr. Kaito that carved that wound into Mr. Noah's flesh. It was done by a weapon much more vile and powerful than anything he possessed. And I think it was done by the hands of a magician. The mightiest magician of them all. It took place in a world much different than this one. One that no longer exists." (Elaine)
"…" (Nika)
Nika turned pale as a ghost.
"A magician? The way you phrase it doesn't make it sound like he's one of our allies." (Anna)
"…" (Touma)
"…." (Azura)
"…" (Nika)
"I think his name is—"
"…!" (Everyone)
As Elaine tried to finish her words, an aberration swept across the sky.
Reality itself glitched as a beam of condensed destruction, obliterating all and everything in its path, closed in on us from all sides at the speed of light.
ELA…!
I tried to catch Elaine in my arms. I tried to scream out to her.
But I was too late.
Not even my thought processes could finish before light enveloped us.
From the corner of my vision, I could vaguely tell that Nika and Anna had started towards us, probably hoping to use their magic to protect us.
Yet they were all frozen. Time itself had been rendered completely stagnant.
I could only spy Seth and Noah moving barely in the distance.
Thus, exceedingly suddenly and extraordinarily abruptly, my life came to an end.
As the world began being rewritten, I started to lose consciousness.
Fragments of my past flashed before my eyes.
A past that was short, that was dense, that was mad.
A past I wished to do away with.
"Ahh…"
I let my dreary eyes close.
Guest Reviews and Author Notes:
Mr. X: Oh, I see… That is indeed understandable. Her character is kinda just like that. From canon, Anna might resemble Leivinia in a lot of ways :D
Thanks a ton for your review! I appreciate the gesture immensely.
With that being said…
I did some research for this chapter. Both real-life physics and Toaru canon.
Do you know why it is physically impossible to achieve relativistic speeds? It is because it requires an "infinite" amount of energy to drive any quantity of mass to the speed 'c.'
Yet, we have magic right? That in itself is defying the laws of physics. So why not jaja. Let Einstein and his Special Relativity roll in their graves.
But it is not like there aren't any ways to achieve FTL+ speeds in real-life. It is simply not possible in conventional ways. One of the "cheat" methods involves warping spacetime itself to propel an object into relativistic speeds. In this case, it wouldn't be the object that would be moving but rather space-time itself that would be ferrying the object.
And... that is not all that is weird with Einstein's speed limit.
Suppose that you are an object traveling at the speed of light. Your sphere of vision will expand (kind of like a panorama) and you can literally see what is behind you. Similarly, your field of vision will shrink immensely. Imagine two huge black blocks in the middle of your vision (one at top and another at the bottom) while you are experiencing a wide panoramic view of your world simultaneously.
Not to mention that neither space nor time will exist for you.
If you are a light particle that began its journey from the corner of the universe, it will take 13 something billion years to reach the earth. But this only from our perspective. From light's perspective, the journey would be instantaneous. There is no such thing as time or space for a photon. As such applying things like time dilation on the photon itself is stupid.
But f**k physics, right?
But when an object with mass (like you) travels at the speed of light, what an observer outside will observe is weird as well.
He will observe an afterimage pop up at your supposed destination before you even start your journey. The moment you begin the journey, the observer will observe this afterimage slowly begin moving in "reverse" towards you. At some point, you and your future afterimage will converge into one.
This is for an outside observer. From your perspective, the journey was instantaneous. However, if you were to have the ability to observe in stagnant time, what you'll see would be so bright that it would be almost impossible to see. This is due to redshift and Doppler's effect.
Considering similar circumstances, you can assume that time will flow in reverse for a tachyon (faster than light particle.) Neutrinos (which has mass) were presumed to travel at such speeds, yet this was proven incorrect by CERN. Touma doesn't know about it, maybe?
Also, speed of light is independent of Newtonian frames of reference. Therefore, if you're a particle travelling at 99.99~% the speed of light, you will still observe a photon moving away from you at the speed 'c'. It is not like those situations where you can add or substract speed or velocity with respect to acceleration of two bodies in reference to the observer. C is something much more mystical.
Anyway... the only phenomena that can outright exceed light speed in my knowledge are "empty space-expansion" and "quantum-entanglement." As such information transfer at FTL speed might be possible for an entity like Academy City using the latter.
As such Touma was not simply seeing "afterimages" of Seth and Noah. He was actually seeing their future selves and present selves overlap. This is also the reason why they appeared to be moving when time itself was rendered stagnant.
Maybe this is all inaccurate, I'm no physicist jaja. But this is just how I visualize travel at FTL speeds. No kidding!^^
Also, I learned a lot of stuff about Dark Matter, too. Maybe that will be put to test in the coming chapters.
By the way, Aleister is a bully, isn't he? Poor Noah...
I wanted to make his Blasting Rod similar yet radically different at the same time. It should possess similar functions, like the 10x assumed power magnification. Yet now it is by base capable of destroying phases even without it.
Also, just a little insight into his "not-so-new" mindset jaja too…
The story will be picking up pace from now onwards… Things will probably get serious from here on :)
That's it for the week, pals. See you all next time, then.
~VG outto~