Ch.356[Final Chapter] The End (3)

Cartesia gazed at the boundary between the 7th and 8th dimensions.

An unimaginable unknown space. Driven by curiosity, she had tried to enter it many times, but never managed to set foot beyond it.

Eidel slipped into that space naturally, without being repelled.

Was it because he was truly the avatar of Demon of Laplace?

She would never know for certain. There was much that Cartesia didn’t know. If she had been omniscient and omnipotent, she wouldn’t have felt curiosity.

“What am I supposed to do now…”

Cartesia collapsed onto the floor of the imaginary space. She coughed up a handful of blood and breathed heavily, trying to calm her trembling shoulders.

“…hic, huu.”

In truth.

All that talk about not being sad because death was natural—it was just bravado.

She would wait here until her dying day.

Because her companion would have to pass through this space to return.

***

[— (……)]

[— (You are aware of this space. You think, therefore you exist. Let us continue our communication.)]

I don’t know who is speaking to me. The voices sound overlapped.

There is only one thing I must do. Find and eliminate the root cause of all this. With an unbreakable resolve even in the face of destruction, for the sake of my family and lover below, for humanity and the Federation.

And for myself.

I spoke to “The End” as it wished.

[— Nature has no purpose or intention. We don’t know why we were born, nor why we live, and we are destined to disappear into endless emptiness without understanding anything.]

[— We have wandered for eons searching for intelligent beings who would completely submit to this fate. After all, destruction should not be repeated over and over. And finally, we found you.]

[— (Please ■■■■ the ■■ to proceed to the next step.)]

[— Have you seen the neural network of your world? The universe is a brain. You would understand better if you could string galaxies like beads and view them from afar.]

[— This world is itself a massive life form. Just as the creatures you know form groups, reproduce, and eventually fall ill and die, the cosmos too will one day wither and twist.]

[— (Please ■■■■ the ■■ to proceed to the next step.)]

[— It’s fine if you don’t understand. Destruction is inevitable. It’s causality. The research you’ve been doing has been nothing but kindling that hastens humanity’s extinction rather than its prosperity, but in the end, you’ve made a great contribution to the universe’s cycle.]

[— Stars will find their places, and separated forces will converge. From the moment the universe first began to pulse, through the long ages, it will finally complete one cycle today.]

[— Now, accept the end of one cycle and welcome a new evolution.]

Evolution. A new evolution, they say.

Isn’t it just death in the end?

Die, be reborn, die again.

In fact, this is something all life should accept. Because we all die someday, we live each day so intensely.

But.

It’s too soon now.

At this rate, this universe won’t live out its natural lifespan.

Yes.

This isn’t providence.

The Demon of Laplace has made this universe sick. I came here to cure this disease. I barely managed to hold onto my fading consciousness. Gritting my teeth, my eyes sharp as daggers.

I looked straight ahead.

[— You may take pride even if you cannot accept it. That is the first step to becoming complete. Accept the fate that already holds you and witness me with dignity befitting your pride.]

[— I am.]

[— (Please ■■■■ the ■■ to proceed to the next step.)]

[— You.]

A large sphere appeared from the complete void. It was so immense that its boundaries appeared flat, impossible to gauge its size. Neither color nor sound existed.

But I could tell by instinct alone. This was the universe. The collection of unknowns that scientists had desperately tried to understand but never could.

This universe where I and everyone else had lived was another black hole with its edge at the event horizon.

“…Ha.”

I’m not sure what emotion I’m feeling right now. Since I’m the first human to see what others couldn’t, perhaps it’s the joy of discovery.

Or maybe it’s the strangeness or curiosity of maintaining my sanity despite glimpsing overwhelming cosmic horror.

Or perhaps.

Fear, awe, remoteness.

Whatever it was, it was my emotion. And based on that, I made one judgment: that I must never lose hope, no matter what.

This is…

Within my grasp.

I will find the answer this time too.

[— Your mission is complete. Now contribute to this world’s cycle of eternal rest followed by rebirth after immeasurable time. Understand this providence, and for the day that will come again, dedicate your all and return to the void, not even as dust.]

“Shut up.”

[— Revere. Admire. Into the sticky darkness, with me. Sink.]

Yes, it is certainly worthy of reverence. But I need to make something more certain.

What I fear is the universe itself, not “someone” hiding here.

Nature itself should be silent. There’s no need to usurp as a god, nor to be swept away beyond oblivion.

Humans are imperfect beings, but…

Shouldn’t we celebrate what deserves celebration before we go?

“Hoo.”

I took a deep breath in a place without air, then turned on my transmission. I didn’t understand everything perfectly, but I could at least comprehend and accept my capacity and the mission given to me.

I was certain.

Perhaps, at this moment, I could speak it.

The language of this universe.

[— □□ □□□ □□□ □□□ □□□ □□□□?]

That’s what being a physicist is all about.

***

The language of nature, constructed with the grammar of numbers, stripped away complex forms. The blurry world became clear. White and black began to be clearly distinguished.

Then, truth burst forth from the lips of a lowly being.

[— Do I still appear to you as a being like yourselves?]

“The End” could only hesitate as it crawled across the surface of the black hole. Something was wrong. How could there be an avatar that disobeyed so… that violated causality?

[— (Please □□□□ the □□ to proceed to the next step.)]

[— (……)]

“The End” felt the flow. Communication was being transmitted. It continued like a majestic current.

[— Everything has been exposed. Your plan to bring a creature that was living perfectly well elsewhere, simply because it had the same fractal structure, to implement what you call the providence of nature. All of it.]

[— (Please □□□□ the □□ to proceed to the next step.)]

[— I have no intention of playing along with this plan. From the moment I had that thought, I began to diverge from you. I sprouted as a different cell. Let’s see how far this coincidence can go.]

[— (Please respond.)]

[— (You have instructed the other party to follow the natural order.)]

[— (Rejected.)]

[— (Please □□□□ the □□ to proceed to the next step.)]

“The End,” the Demon of Laplace, hesitated for a long time. If it didn’t proceed to the next step, it would be trapped in eternity, and it too couldn’t escape this yoke.

So.

It proceeded.

Since things had come to this, it would abandon this world-line again and move on to the next, to absorb the homogeneous nucleus before it into its own bloodline.

To become stronger, stronger, stronger.

Because it sought to create a complete death beyond the cycle of the universe.

The phantom hiding in the black hole extended the chain of causality, expressing expectation. The gap between the two beings was profound. From the moment Eidel Rheinland was here, he alone could not stop the predetermined sequence.

However.

It was ultimately prevented.

[— Demon of Laplace. Before the true nature, you are just another life form of a higher dimension, equally powerless.]

[— (□□□/□□□ □ □□□□ reveals its divine name.)]

[— (Angel of Heisenberg.)]

The information of all particles cannot be measured simultaneously. No matter how sophisticated and advanced the technology, something will eventually go wrong.

Therefore, exact causality could not exist.

[— You were finished the moment I observed you.]

Golden eyes turned toward the core of the end.

The name of those eyes was also the universe.

***

7th dimension.

A signal came. Eidel’s coordinates had been transmitted. Cartesia questioned whether these values were really correct, but there was no time for pure curiosity.

To ensure her precious companion’s sacrifice wasn’t in vain, she passed the coordinates down to the lower dimension as soon as she received them.

4th dimension.

Ireh Hazlen marked those coordinates with tears in her eyes. She activated the cutting-edge dimensional converter equipped with alien technology and placed a graviton cannon there.

No, it wasn’t just a graviton cannon.

A shell containing anti-graviton pairs.

Every particle has a corresponding antiparticle. Gravitons were no different.

Prons and Aether could move as antiparticle pairs under certain conditions, and by converting them according to specific rules in another dimension, mathematical antisymmetry could be achieved.

This was a theory researched and established by many scientists, including Ireh and Cartesia.

They replaced the barrel equipment at the last moment. This was based on the judgment that the Demon of Laplace, unlike other demons, couldn’t be defeated with “just” a graviton shell.

[Lock on.]

[Target point: ‘NULL’]

Only the particles were different; the firing mechanism was exactly the same. That’s why they could proceed quickly. Creating antiparticles was something that could be done quickly with space-age technology.

[Unable to identify target point.]

[Proceeding with renormalization of position function according to integrated fire control system.]

[Renormalization complete: ‘Eidel Rheinland’]

Ireh’s strength was draining from her body. Limits were approaching every minute, no, every second. But she had to do it.

Ireh summoned her last strength to press the fire button.

“Keuheuu…”

She couldn’t muster the strength. Her vision was blurring. Matonica and everyone else had long since lost consciousness.

The curse of Laplace was worsening by the second.

‘I can’t collapse.’

One step forward. Everything was riding on this. It was a gamble with the fate of the universe at stake. Dying without even getting to see your cards—what a trivial ending.

Just as her hand was slipping, at that moment…

“…Here, take it.”

Another hand grabbed hers. Ireh slowly raised her head. White hair, golden hair. It was Zernya and Rustila.

“Cough, sister.”

“Press it, quickly…”

And from behind, she felt support at her waist.

“I’m, cough, here too.”

“…Can’t be a burden to my brother.”

It was Seti and Sonia. Seti slid down partway, but with Sonia’s support, he somehow managed to help hold Ireh up.

Ireh smiled warmly. With a trembling voice, she squeezed out her last strength and spoke.

“Everyone… see you later.”

And so the five people, with gravity’s help, pressed the firing authorization button and then slid to the floor.

That was enough.

Finally.

Humanity’s desperate struggle reached the 11th dimension.