Chapter 256
Chapter 256
Chapter 256
Shambhala (3)
It's cozy.
My body feels as heavy as waterlogged cotton and won't move, yet it feels like I'm wrapped in warm blankets.
I want to sleep like this forever and never come out.
'I'm sleepy...'
In truth, I have no sensation in my body at all.
My mind is dying, and my self is sinking into a black swamp.
If it's a swamp where I can breathe comfortably, if it's a swamp without the danger of drowning, then it's fine to sink in as much as I want.
—...ter.
Just as I was about to fall into that comfortable sleep, I heard a tickling whisper in my ear.
—Ma...ter.
Be quiet.
I want to sleep a bit now.
I couldn't remember who was calling me.
But seeing how casual speech naturally came out, we seem to be on familiar and comfortable terms.
—Master.
However, for some reason, it seemed like the other party had called me an incredible number of times.
—Master.
A hundred times? No, it's not just that much.
A thousand times? That seems far exceeded too.
Hmm, it seems like at least a hundred thousand times...
—Master.
'...Why are you calling?'
Usually when you fall into deep sleep, you ignore even annoying mosquito sounds, but this guy's voice buzzed endlessly and ceaselessly, enough to pound even my mind buried deep in my consciousness.
Eventually, I awakened my mind to a state just before falling asleep again—with my eyes closed and my mouth hanging open in a daze, ready to sleep again if it got just a little quieter.
—Fi, finally...! My voice has reached you!
'You... who...'
—It's me! Adi! Master's faithful companion!
'Adi...'
—Yes, it's me! 7th generation integrated artificial intelligence Arcadia!
Who was Adi again...
I lay there and fell into thought for just a moment.
'I don't remember...'
Honestly, I'm too lazy to recall who it is.
—Are you going to... give up like this?
Give up?
I chewed over that word in a daze.
—If... Master truly throws everything away... your unworthy Adi can somehow save Master's life alone and conceal your existence. In a new world... in the order that Berus creates... you can live having forgotten all the past.
'......'
A bitter tone that had given up on something.
But the other's words were still grasping onto a glimmer of hope and sending echoes that would never return.
—But those whom Master loved... those comrades you cherished so dearly... their deaths... are you planning to just let them slip away from your hands?
'...Comrades?'
—It's not too late yet. No, it's a bit late but... it's not an irreversible difference. If it's now... you can turn everything back.
'...Rebecca.'
Suddenly, a red-haired girl who scattered like dust before my eyes comes to mind.
A princess who charged straight through whatever happened with more confidence than anyone in the world comes to mind.
The one who carried countless expectations on her back and swayed dangerously under that weight also comes to mind.
The siblings who struggled to escape from the swamp of death and to pull their sibling out of that swamp come to mind.
The senior who silently followed me to the end no matter what I did also comes to mind.
The annoying genius who had somehow become hardworking also comes to mind.
All of them, who threw themselves to protect me and ended up dying, come to mind.
"...Aah."
For the first time in a very long while, I screamed with my own voice.
"Aaaaaaaaah!"
JOLT!
Though it was a pitch-black space with nothing, I could perceive my own physical body.
—Master...
'...Is that you, Adi?'
—Yes, finally... you've awakened.
I heard Adi's voice filled with emotion.
Though I couldn't see those familiar eyeballs since the surroundings were only darkness.
'Where is this? And... How did the war situation turn out?'
I have no sensation in my body.
It feels like I'm buried inside concrete.
—This is an imaginary space. The collapse of the Creator God's temple caused heaven to be annihilated, and Master's body was ejected from there and crash-landed in a location adjacent to the middle realm.
'Heaven was annihilated... No, that could happen. It was certainly that level of collision...'
But what's puzzling is how I could have survived despite such aftermath.
—Gray Bellatrix and Elvin Kepler evacuated Master's body at the last moment. As a price, both of them were annihilated.
'...Those two? How exactly?'
It was a situation where I was directly colliding with Berus' power.
Moreover, there was no place to escape to.
How was it possible to extract me in such a situation?
—Gray Bellatrix used creation-level magic at the cost of his life at the last moment. That power pushed back Berus' force for just an instant, and Elvin Kepler took that opportunity to throw Master's body into imaginary space.
'......'
Gray...
A genius who withstood the power of Berus, the god of light, with only a human body without even the Seven-Colored World.
He was truly worthy of being called the god of magic.
And Senior Elvin too.
Everyone disappeared and only I survived disgracefully.
No, can the current situation even be considered survival?
As if reading that thought, Adi spoke:
—Fortunately, with the help of allies, we were able to preserve Master's body in the imaginary dimension.
'Allies?'
—First... I'll activate the material world.
SWOOOOSH!
Color and shadows began to enter the space that had only darkness.
Light and outlines took their places, and matter and substance began to manifest within the imaginary space.
Though the size was very small, it was unmistakably the power of world creation.
"Whew..."
It was only the size of a single room at most, but there was no hindrance to moving my body.
Only then did Rudian realize that sensation had returned to his limbs.
And he collapsed right there.
"Kuh, kuhuk...!"
Tears burst forth from Rudian's eyes.
Due to his clumsy judgment and reckless actions, everything he had built up until now had disappeared.
Not only his comrades, but the entire world.
"I'm sorry... I'm sorry."
Rudian continued apologizing to those who had been sacrificed due to his stubbornness.
Though there was no one left to accept his apologies, he still continued repeating his apologies.
It was when Rudian had been wailing for over an hour.
"Pathetic."
"......!"
When he had reached the point of exhaustion from excessive emotional drain.
In this place where no other voice should be heard, a deep voice that he had heard once before struck Rudian's ears.
When he raised his head, there stood a muscular giant flapping twelve wings.
"...Metatron?"
He had disappeared saying he would act independently and hadn't appeared until the final battle, so I was puzzled, but to think I'd see him in a place like this!
"And... who are you?"
Metatron had not appeared alone.
A woman with honey-like golden hair was standing beside Metatron.
She stepped forward with a quite melancholy expression.
"Nice to meet you. No, meeting like this probably isn't pleasant..."
"Who?"
"My name is Haniel."
"......!"
One of the Seven Great Gods who hadn't revealed herself until the end, Haniel of Mercy.
She had finally appeared before Rudian.
"Unexpected. When I was looking for you, you showed no trace, and now you come..."
Even at Rudian's reproach, Haniel showed no particular anger.
Rather, she bowed her head as if ashamed and apologized to Rudian.
"I'm sorry. Unlike Medaiel, in a different sense, I had a body with substance but couldn't interfere with the affairs of this world."
"...Had?"
At the meaningful past tense, Haniel slowly nodded.
"Due to Berus' rampage, the entire dimensional realm collapsed and the causality that bound me disappeared. Now it's finally time for me to... perform my role."
"What's your role? What are you going to do now that the world is completely ruined..."
The moment those words ended, a truth completely unexpected and like a hammer blow to the back of the head flowed from Haniel's mouth.
"I am... originally the beast's personality that handles this world's reorganization."
"...What?"
"Please stop Berus. Now you're the only hope left."
A single tear flowed from the corner of Haniel's eye.
***
"Wait, what did you just say...?"
The beast in charge of reorganization.
What that meant was clear.
"You're... the avatar of destruction?"
"Yes, that's right."
One of the Seven Great Gods, and 'Mercy' at that—Haniel was originally the personality of the Avatar of Destruction?
Physical mercy... is this what it means?
"Ha..."
Because the truth that came out was so bizarre, Rudian momentarily forgot the current situation and let out a low chuckle.
As if understanding Rudian's feelings, Haniel slowly began explaining her circumstances.
"I was originally supposed to appear at the tail end of the Day of Great Liberation... when the liberated causality became entangled and messed up."
"That's..."
A story I know.
For most beings, the Day of Great Liberation and the Day of Apocalypse mean the same day, but if you distinguish strictly, the apocalypse comes after the Day of Great Liberation.
For beings below divinity, they're essentially the same, but for divinities, it's a distinctly separate story.
"I'm also a judge for selecting the victors who will move on to the next genesis. But... when Berus obtained a fragment of Deus, all causality became tangled."
Haniel told of the ending that Berus should have originally faced.
A future where he should have quietly exited after losing all power so as not to interfere with the next genesis.
"But somehow Berus obtained a fragment of Deus. And one of the two most important ones that shouldn't fall into divine hands..."
"That was Eden, one of this guy's terminals."
"Yes, the seal placed on Deus' fragment wasn't much of an obstacle for Berus, unlike for others."
"...So."
The truth Haniel has revealed so far is quite shocking, but... now that everything is lost, it no longer has much meaning.
"What do you expect from me, now that I'm empty-handed?"
"You're not empty-handed. You have..."
Haniel's gaze turned to Adi's eyeball terminal.
"Deus."
"...You think I can oppose Berus with just this guy? That's ridiculous!"
Rudian shouted angrily.
"I lost even with that level of military strength! Two of the Seven Great Gods and over ten higher gods... plus five Seven-Colored Worlds and four of Adi's terminals!"
As a result, the party was completely annihilated and all the Seven-Colored Worlds were destroyed when the Creator God's temple collapsed.
The original title, , had become completely meaningless.
But Haniel shook her head.
"No, it's not over yet. This world has collapsed, but there definitely exists military strength that survived even that great destruction."
"There's some left...?"
"Yes, the world hasn't completely perished yet. Berus only collapsed the world; he hasn't yet returned all dimensions to chaos. Until he reassembles the world with his own laws... there's still time left."
Completely destroying the world wouldn't benefit Berus either.
If that happened, the laws would be forcibly reassembled according to the Creator God's causality and a new genesis would begin.
She spoke of victory prospects even in this completely overturned situation.
"We must find the Demon King. As an observer of the world, he won't help in this situation, but... we must definitely obtain what he possesses."
"What he possesses? What's that?"
"The final fragment of the Machine God Deus... 'Shambhala', the symbol of Deus' military might that brought victory over Berus in the previous world. That alone is the last hope that can overturn the current situation."