Ch.199Human Bomb (2)

Ortes thought.

‘The melodrama is over!’

While he couldn’t help but feel somewhat sorry for the two people’s circumstances, the truth was that their lives had become tangled because they had been chasing Ortes and Carisia to death (in the literal sense).

How rational a plan it would be to blow up the Commander and take out Haltos in the explosion as well! Arguirion would be dismantled and the Pope’s plans thwarted!

He had even received permission from the soon-to-be-deceased Commander herself. After confirming that Haltos had lost his mind worshipping the extra-dimensional beings, the Commander had entered a state of resignation, expressing with her entire body that death would be better than living like this.

So he called for Carisia. Since his own direct attack would obviously be intercepted by Haltos, he needed firepower that Haltos couldn’t counter to eliminate the Commander in one go.

As soon as Carisia heard Ortes calling her, she made her decision. She knew Ortes’ character. If it was something he could do, he would quietly proceed and achieve the best possible outcome.

Conversely, he was also quick to recognize “things he couldn’t do.” Usually, Ortes could assign her any random task and she would bring results while complaining, “Boss, why are you making me do this?” But even Ortes had his personal limitations.

For example, casting magic without a magic engraving drive, or registering magic patterns in a mana core to recognize user permissions. There were quite a few things that Ortes could never accomplish no matter how hard he tried.

This was something Carisia quite appreciated. She herself wasn’t a complete being either, so it meant they could fill in each other’s deficiencies.

Ortes was the person with whom she had shared the most time since awakening in this world. She could intuitively understand what meaning was contained in that brief call just now.

1. Ortes needed her for something.

2. Ortes was in the middle of fighting the Commander.

3. From a combat perspective, the one area where Carisia had a clear comparative advantage over Ortes was large-scale firepower.

Ortes needed firepower. Beautiful, massive firepower.

Light condensed at Carisia’s fingertips. It was the light that Ortes feared and called the “Death Beam.”

A beam containing the literal “radiance of death” was fired.

***

I shouted Carisia’s name loudly and rushed toward the Pope. While Carisia eliminated the Commander, I needed to keep the Pope occupied.

The sudden change of opponent. The Pope seemed bewildered, having anticipated neither my intrusion nor Carisia’s attack.

“Brother. Truly…!”

“Yes, truly this is what I’m doing. I want to live!”

“What meaning is there in living in such a broken world?!”

The Pope’s words were remarkably similar to Haltos’s. The hatred of these two people, positioned at complete opposites, was so alike.

“How about considering the people who are trying to live in that broken world!”

The Pope swung his scythe again. A slash that crossed space. The precursor to attack regeneration. Having moved away from our previous fighting location to deal with Carisia, he seemed to find it difficult to use the attacks he had set up earlier.

I won’t make the same mistake again. Instead of keeping my distance to avoid his attacks like before, I get as close as possible.

The Pope’s great scythe and my high-frequency blade collided. Not across space. Right in the Pope’s face, sparks flew.

The Pope stepped back, and I stepped forward, thrusting my blade. As my sword aimed at the Pope, Carisia’s light aimed at the Commander.

The Pope cried out.

“Do you intend to make others live in hell! Child of the White Light!”

I responded on behalf of the busy Carisia.

“Yes. I intend to let them ‘live.’ Not leave them to die like you do. Though it’s somewhat ironic that the means is killing.”

A straight line extended from Carisia’s fingertips, cutting through the darkness. That was how it began. The next moment, the line expanded its scale to become a plane. A terrifying radiance illuminated the chaotic space.

A white night (白夜) where everything appeared white. Physical sight became meaningless. I moved my sword within the white blindness.

The Pope, too, didn’t rely solely on vision for combat. His powers were far too mighty for that.

But at the same time, he wasn’t accustomed to fighting without sight.

Neither was I. If one had to name the person in this world who relied most on vision, it would be me.

But the difference between the Pope and me was that even in situations where physical sight was sealed, I could see everything.

I could see the Pope extending a net of holy power. He was trying to track my movements using fluctuations in holy power instead of sight. But that was a mistake. If it was a technique with form, I could interfere.

The net of holy power contracted from where I extended my sword. Realizing his attempt was futile, the Pope tried to retreat. Simultaneously, the trajectory of his scythe enveloped him. Unable to know where an attack might come from, he attacked in all directions to defend himself.

But my victory condition wasn’t inflicting a fatal wound on the Pope. It was to stall for time until he could no longer reverse the Commander’s demise.

The more the Pope retreated, the more certain our victory became.

Carisia’s torrent of light subsided.

We won.

But my “eyes” presented a harsh reality. Beyond the fading light, there was a moving figure. Alive and moving?

The Commander had wanted death. Had the Pope succeeded in using the holy path again while being pursued by me, regaining control of her body?

The information my eyes perceived expanded. One body.

Countless souls.

***

The moment Haltos detected the approaching torrent of light, he wrapped his body around the Commander. It was an action that even he couldn’t understand, perhaps one that even the extra-dimensional beings controlling his body couldn’t comprehend.

Commander Alkipe was surprised by the unexpected action. Was this the doing of the last fragment of the Haltos she knew?

She took one last look at Haltos’s form, then closed her eyes.

‘What an end.’

‘…’

‘Still, I’m glad you were by my side.’

Haltos’s body and will melted away in the light. The luminosity was evident even through closed eyelids. The Commander sensed that she would be the next to disappear.

But her intuition was wrong. The remnants of Haltos that hadn’t been completely destroyed began to writhe.

At the moment when Haltos’s self weakened infinitely and decomposed into magical power, the extra-dimensional connection lurking within him burst forth.

Nastion. The final contingency prepared by the most virtuous follower of the Cause.

Haltos’s body had already been filled with the blessings of all of Arguirion. The extra-dimensional mass of magical power condensed beneath the human shell burst through the frame of the body.

Within it was dissolved all the wills of those blessed by Arguirion, by the extra-dimensional. A turbid collection of those who dreamed of the Cause. This suspension of selves flowed into the extra-dimensional connection that gripped the left side of the Commander’s body.

Haltos’s body, left without self or will, became a living dimensional rift emitting extra-dimensional magic from each and every cell. The limitlessly ejected extra-dimensional magic blocked the torrent of light.

The union of Arguirion. However, because too many selves had melted together, no single will could be focused on. The suspension of wills shared only one major objective: the realization of the Cause.

The extra-dimensional will, which had instantly broken the antagonistic state with holy power based on overwhelming magical power, moved the Commander. Forward. Forward.

Toward the Ten Commandments.

Ortes witnessed it.

The terrible mixture of selves swirling beneath the Commander’s body. A mental mosaic chanting only the Cause.

The holy path that the Pope had established remained only very faintly, serving only as a medium for using sacred artifacts.

The astonished Pope aimed his scepter. But the suspension of Arguirion inside the Commander was not singular. Conceptually, it wasn’t an entity that could be stopped by halting one.

However, even the totality of Arguirion couldn’t yet surpass the Pope’s powers.

The Pope held the scepter in one hand and the great scythe in the other. He intended to physically extract Arguirion and bestow the holy path again.

Watching this scene, a different plan stirred in Ortes’s mind. The elimination of the Commander had failed. Then they needed to seek another way to claim victory.

Both the Pope and the totality of Arguirion were aiming for the Ten Commandments. The Hydra Corporation Alliance had already secured many of the Ten Commandments. They could afford to lose one.

‘But how?’

With artificial Ten Commandments unusable now, did Ortes or Carisia have something that could destroy a Ten Commandment?

Ortes signaled to Carisia. Carisia shook her head. The Infinite Sacred Light was still an unknown realm. Again, Ortes looked at the totality of Arguirion.

A mixture of souls, a mass of extra-dimensional magic, limitlessly compressed within the shell of holy power.

Wait? Ortes tilted his head.

‘Magical power packed inside a shell of sacred artifacts?’

This seemed very familiar.