Milestone

“All I hear is nonsense.”

Namgung Soyu walked up behind Kang In-ho, who had been silent. Her red eyes scattered a fierce energy.

“I don’t like your condescending words or dogmatic tone.”

She grabbed Kang In-ho’s hand and pulled it behind her. Though there was a height difference, she gave the impression that she was protecting him with her spirit.

“I don’t know the details… but I know that my disciple’s bizarre journey didn’t start because he wanted it to.”

The heat from Namgung Soyu’s hand flowed into him.

“If absolutes like you had done your jobs properly, this situation wouldn’t have happened… Why are you shifting the blame onto my disciple?”

Thump. Namgung Soyu gently stepped on the ground, causing it to sink and make a loud noise.

“Shouldn’t you be bowing your head and apologizing first?”

Namgung Soyu bared her teeth as she looked up at Gabriel, who was far above her.

“I regret to say that I share her opinion.”

Chunhyang also came forward, standing in front of Kang In-ho.

“My husband sacrificed himself for the sake of causality. Furthermore, isn’t it due to the magic of Dimension Management Gods like you that my husband came all the way here? So, words like ‘you haven’t realized’ or ‘foolish’ are not appropriate for the current situation.”

Her loosely opened golden eyes glared at Gabriel.

“That’s right. Ahjussi went through so much trouble traveling between worlds. It’s a bit ridiculous that the people who caused it are now acting all high and mighty, don’t you think?”

The Magical Girl also chimed in.

“You dare rebuke Saint, you incompetent beings who call yourselves gods?”

Maria, with a stern face, stood behind Kang In-ho.

“……..”

Gabriel remained silent, looking at the four women blocking her path.

“Why? Are you angry that you’re speechless before beings more insignificant than yourself?”

Namgung Soyu sneered with a twisted smile.

“You misunderstand.”

Gabriel slowly said, looking at each of them one by one.

“I don’t expect you to understand.”

“Even if the other girls don’t, my disciple and I aren’t fools.”

Namgung Soyu retorted, and Gabriel slowly opened her mouth.

“Mortal, Namgung Soyu. Would you accept it if I told you that your teacher, Yeomjin, was actually a virtuous man who met a tragic death?”

“What?”

Namgung Soyu frowned.

“Do you believe that Ranael, the 3rd Class Dimension Management God who led your disciple, Kang In-ho, to this fate, was actually a human who sacrificed herself for thousands of people?”

“I ask again. If Ranael hadn’t cast the spell on your disciple, would your meeting with your disciple have even been possible?”

If there had been no Dimensional Shift, Kang In-ho and your meeting would not have happened.

Gabriel once again cast her gaze upon each of them.

“I ask again. Is there good and evil, perpetrator and victim, here?”

“…B-But still.”

The Magical Girl tried to argue something, but couldn’t easily continue.

“Fate… or inevitability… What do you think this is?”

Gabriel asked.

“Do not deceive us with words.”

Maria drew her greatsword. It was a declaration of her intention to attack if necessary.

“People who say that God doesn’t exist when unwanted things happen just say they were lucky when things go their way.”

Gabriel looked into Maria’s heterochromatic eyes.

“Even if I talk about fate and inevitability, it will just be God’s tyranny to you.”

As if she had said it countless times, Gabriel’s voice seemed to be mixed with a slight fatigue.

Gabriel turned her eyes back to Kang In-ho, who was surrounded by the women.

Seeing the trembling under the man’s eyes, she opened her mouth again.

“The story has gone in a slightly different direction… but the words I said to you earlier had no intention of lecturing or avoiding responsibility. I was just talking about inevitability, and I was just making you aware that you don’t understand it yet.”

“So, I’ll say it again.”

“The six souls will return to their original dimension, and the Ancient shadow will be destroyed.”

Gabriel once again spoke the will of God.

Kang In-ho’s head became complicated at Gabriel’s words.

The ambiguity of good and evil.

The absence and non-existence of God.

Fate and inevitability.

What Gabriel was trying to say was not clearly conveyed.

He wanted to believe that she was just mocking him with difficult words.

However, Kang In-ho had a baseless belief that Gabriel would not bother with such effort.

Over Gabriel’s shoulder, the figure of Lee Mina, bound and screaming, came into view again.

He bit his lower lip hard.

The helplessness he felt after a long time. Frustration surged, and anger towards himself dominated his body.

“Master.”

Someone pulled him out of the drowning anger.

It was Isis, the only one of the five women who had not stepped forward.

“Isis.”

“Master’s stress level is increasing. May I say one thing before it reaches its limit?”

“…Is it necessary in this situation?”

“Yes.”

Isis nodded calmly.

“What is it?”

“What the Dimension Management God just said has 72% similarity to a thought that existed in my dimension about 1,000 years ago.”

“…Is that what you need to say now?”

Isis looked at him with eyes that said, “You didn’t understand, did you?”

“Give me a short summary.”

He pressed his throbbing temples.

“Yes. It is the idea that what is commonly called fate is not predetermined. It is not that a designated fate leads an individual, but that an individual’s choices create events, and the arrangement of those events is the individual’s fate.”

Kang In-ho’s eyes widened.

“It may sound like a chicken or egg wordplay to Master, but from an ideological point of view, this relationship between cause and effect was considered important and caused a great ripple in the academic world at the time.”

“……..”

“And there is one more thing I would like to say.”

“…What is it?”

Isis slowly raised her hand and placed it on her chest.

Her gray hair, close to white, fluttered in the wind.

“I have intelligence, and there is also an algorithm that can be called emotion.”

She gently pressed the part of her body where a person would have a heart.

Instead of a regular heartbeat, the vibration caused by the machine operating was transmitted to her hand.

“But that doesn’t mean I can be defined as having a soul.”

The only being who was not swayed by Gabriel’s words set a milestone.