Ch.353Gravity Bomb (11)

Whoosh.

The dimensional gate opened.

Beyond the gate, a supermassive black hole revealed itself. Dark and majestic. It was a moment when the neural bundles spread throughout the Queen’s body stood on end.

‘I’m going to die.’

Humanity hadn’t simply created the gravity cannon.

They had completely modified it. So that with just one shot, it could erase the outer god belonging to that black hole from this world.

It was the fruit of suppressed rage and killing intent.

Whoosh.

The gravity cannon raised its head. What it was aiming at was the dimensional gate. Jade-colored starlight flowed along the silver rails. Evidence that the Stellarium was operating.

[Lock-on.]

The firing control device indicated precise targeting.

Death.

The Queen was now, for the first time, feeling the sensation of death on her skin.

“Queen Aurore.”

A voice was heard.

Eidel von Rheinland.

It was him.

Eidel surveyed the battlefield. There were too many dead. In less than 10 minutes, hundreds had bid farewell to this world.

One step away from the eradication of outer gods.

They were those who departed without seeing that light.

“…You.”

Blood vessels bulged on Eidel’s brow.

“I will never forgive you.”

His eyes were filled with fighting spirit.

The gravity cannon aimed at the Queen’s core. The Queen shook her head repeatedly. She sighed and opened her mouth.

“…At this point, I have to admit it. Eidel von Rheinland, it’s exactly as the Iron Fortress said. You’re not just a human. You’re a child of Laplace.”

“Shut up.”

The Queen’s pupils glowed red. Even at this moment, her avatar was falling toward the gravity cannon. Whether to devour before dying, or to die before devouring. That was the question.

The Queen was half-doubtful.

Therefore.

Aurore charged forward instead of taking time to think.

‘I’ll destroy it.’

If she could just destroy that gravity cannon, there would still be a chance.

‘I’ll stop it.’

If she could just stop it before it fired, she could avoid death.

‘I’ll kill him.’

She firmly believed that if she could just kill Eidel von Rheinland, the rest of the humans would be nothing but a disorganized rabble.

As her survival instinct rang alarm bells, she became calmer instead. The Queen led the remaining monsters and avatars to collectively project firepower toward Eidel.

Simultaneously.

“Ah…!”

Seti von Adelbein Rheinland.

She also fired poisoned needles at the white-haired, golden-eyed girl. It was a tactic to disperse attention. The speed was unprecedentedly fast.

However.

“Too late.”

Eidel had already pressed the firing approval button.

BOOM!

White light erupted from the end of the barrel.

The birth and end of the universe. The formation and separation of the four fundamental interactions that make up the world. Among them, the weakest interaction, but one whose range of effect is infinite, even affecting other dimensions.

Gravity executed the outer god.

The charge.

The crime of looking down on humanity.

The sentence.

Death.

BOOM!

The gravity cannon brought down the hammer of justice. The sky, which had been dyed azure, suddenly turned completely white. People tightly closed their eyes.

The gravity projectile, transmitted across space-time through folding theory, hit the center of Aurore’s black hole. There wasn’t even a sound. It was a wavelength in a spectrum that humans could neither hear nor see.

At that precise moment of impact, the artificial intelligence closed the gate. This was to prevent harmful gamma rays from flowing out.

And.

The Queen.

Collapsed in an instant.

“…”

Aurore had been about to point her fingertip, honed like a blade, at Eidel’s chin. She remained frozen in that position, unable to advance further.

‘If only… if only I had reached a little further.’

She could have killed him.

If she had just 0.01 seconds more.

Even if she had died, she could have prevented the end from coming.

Hissss.

The Queen began to disintegrate into powder, starting from her fingertips.

“Ha.”

Her consciousness was fading.

She could tell that her headquarters had turned into a white hole. It was her end, her death. Her neural network was torn to shreds, making it impossible to continue the act of “thinking.”

Now Aurore would wander through distant dimensions and eventually be forgotten.

Die?

Me?

The reality that had befallen her was too vivid to deny. Painful, bitter, numbing. Every cell that made up her being felt as if it was being torn apart by high heat.

The Queen stretched out her disappearing hand. She smiled bitterly.

“…Well, humans. You’ve won.”

“Any last words?”

“Hmph, I regret not being able to see the curtain call…”

That was the end.

Fizzle.

The Queen and her subordinate monsters, avatars, and even the other outer gods who followed her soon turned completely to ash and scattered.

What remained was a handful of dust, pools of blood, and hundreds of corpses of heroes who had done their best to protect the scientists.

Eidel observed a moment of silence for the fallen, then turned his gaze to the sky.

[— ■■■ ■■■■ ■■ / Existence deleted.]

Finally.

The grand finale had come to an end.

***

Ireh couldn’t believe her eyes. She blinked several times, trying to grasp the situation.

The Queen had disappeared.

Hit by the gravity cannon.

That Queen, who had seemed so strong, so invincible, was dead.

Ireh stood up. She let out a hollow laugh.

“…Ha, haha. Hahaha.”

It wasn’t just Ireh. Everyone who had been pushed to their limits in that short time went crazy.

Were they insane?

No.

It was unbelievably absurd, and they were also overjoyed.

The survivors rose one by one. They approached Eidel. Hope was glimpsed in their steady gait. Hope was also reflected in their eyes.

“Everyone. We’ve caught one for now.”

Eidel announced calmly. Everyone’s faces straightened at that moment.

People surrounded Eidel regardless of rank or status and tossed him in the air. No one cared whether their hands were stained with blood or dirty with dust.

“We won! We won!”

“We really won, right? We don’t have to see that outer god anymore, right?”

“Professor Rheinland, you did it! This is an achievement that will go down in history!”

Cheers and shouts echoed through the research facility filled with piles of rubble. It was a scene of budding hope. Seti and Ireh watched from a step away.

They had no choice but to watch from a distance. The guard of researchers and professors was so strong that there was no gap to squeeze through.

“Put me down! I said put me down!”

Eidel finally came down. He sighed deeply and scratched his head.

“It’s not completely over yet… but good job, everyone.”

“Are there more outer gods to catch?”

“One on Descartes’ side, and one on Maxwell’s side… and finally, Laplace.”

That was the reason they couldn’t completely let their guard down. Ireh nodded secretly.

Still.

‘If we’ve come this far, we’ve come further than ever before.’

Ireh had never defeated Aurore before. Her life had changed from the moment she met Eidel and gained science as a weapon.

‘Just a little, just a little more.’

When they caught Renatus, defeated Stern, and conquered Laplace.

If that day came when they no longer had to worry about outer gods, Ireh planned to formally propose to Eidel. Even if he was a married man, she didn’t want to be separated from the prince who had saved her.

Meanwhile, Seti was watching her brother being tossed in the air and thinking:

‘Going up smoothly and coming down is just like my company’s stock.’

Typical younger sister characteristic. Doesn’t worry about her brother unless it’s important.

“Ugh, Eidel…!”

Rustila, with broken ribs, also rose, suppressing her groans. Zernya, who had been treating her with holy spirit techniques, exclaimed in surprise.

“You idiot, don’t get up during treatment!”

“But, the current situation…”

“You can congratulate him later, so stay still! You have a fracture!”

Rustila put her head down weakly.

It hurt. But it was okay. Because things had worked out well. It was almost a miracle that they could still live and breathe on this planet.

Zernya, watching Eidel from a distance, chuckled.

“My husband is indeed amazing.”

“…Isn’t he?”

Rustila nodded weakly.

“Young master, well done.”

Sonia relaxed her expression. She too could now feel at ease. If they could just successfully repel the remaining outer gods, all that would be left was to frolic in bed with the young master.

‘Not long until the sensory module is installed.’

Everyone was acting as if the war was over. Only Eidel and Ireh were worried about what came next. Eidel checked on Rustila’s condition, confirmed that her injuries weren’t fatal, and stepped forward.

“I’m sorry, but it’s too early to rest. There’s another black hole we need to attack right away.”

“Which black hole?”

Eidel pointed to the sky and answered.

“The Sagittarius black hole at the center of our galaxy.”

***

Sagittarius A* black hole.

This black hole was originally inactive. It hardly did anything, very rarely just sucking in nearby gas and dust.

That was the case until Cartesia, the God of Wisdom and Curiosity, was its owner.

Now that Renatus was the new owner, it had become a completely different black hole. It was actively emitting prons and increasing the concentration of madness in all directions.

Therefore.

The Federation had designated it as a black hole that needed to be stirred up as soon as the gravity bomb was completed.

“…Cartesia, my daughter.”

“Shut up. Who’s your daughter?”

Inside the black hole.

Cartesia was currently binding Renatus.

Of course, she was no match.

Just 3 minutes.

While buying time to give the Eastern Research Institute some leeway, Cartesia’s main body had been reduced to tatters.

Slither.

Renatus approached, trailing pink mist.

“You’ve grown quite a bit. But you’re still just a half-baked thing. No matter what you do, you can’t defeat this father.”

Renatus approached Cartesia. He intended to finish her off right here.

“Not running away and coming back, how admirable. Be eaten by this father and become the foundation for a feast.”

Snicker.

Cartesia laughed.

“…Because I have something to rely on.”

“Something to rely on?”

BOOM.

A roaring sound came from far away. This happened even in the world inside the singularity where external physics didn’t apply at all. Renatus hesitated.

“What was that just now…?”

“Want me to tell you what that sound was?”

Cartesia giggled. The moment she heard that sound, she was certain. That her other half, Eidel von Rheinland, had eliminated the Queen.

“The Queen bitch is dead.”

“Dead, you say?”

“Yes, and you’ll soon be in the same situation.”

Cartesia checked her assets. She had left quite a lot of prons and coins. This would be enough for an emergency escape.

Tzzzt.

Cartesia created a backdoor. She threw herself through it.

“Die well, Renatus.”

“This girl, talking to her father like that!”

“You’re not even male.”

Soon Cartesia’s form completely disappeared. She had descended to a lower dimension.

Woong.

Abnormal signs were felt inside the black hole. Renatus sensed the crisis. He, or rather she, forcibly opened a dimensional gate and followed Cartesia to manifest on the ground.

And upon manifesting, what appeared before her eyes was.

“…Ah.”

A large.

Beautiful.

Gravity cannon.