Heaven's Labyrinth (9)
Let's turn back time for a moment. Back to before I paid a visit to Bais's house.
"This isn't magic, kid. It's just sleight of hand."
"I'm not a kid. My name is Ruina."
The man playing with a ball of light in front of the orphanage tried to brush me off the moment I shouted "You're a mage!" That clichéd reaction only confirmed it for me. That was magic. A thrill ran through me, making my whole body tremble. Magic really existed in this world. As expected, my faith hadn't been misplaced.
The man let out a small sigh. "I was only supposed to be checking things out. I slipped up."
"You used magic in a public space. You don't really have any excuses. You wanted to be found out, didn't you?"
"It was an isolated spot. I let my guard down."
"The orphanage isn't isolated. Take that back."
At my words, the man shook his head and pushed himself off the orphanage wall. "Even if you told people, they'd just think you're crazy. Don't go blabbing about it."
"Wait a second!"
I grabbed his arm. The man, who had been about to leave without a care, frowned. "What?"
"I've wanted to be a mage ever since I was little."
"A mage? That's your dream?"
He burst out laughing at my words, then lowered his head. "Magic is nothing like what you think it is."
"That can't be true."
"Don't delude yourself. Magic is—"
"No matter what form magic takes in this world, it'll be something I've already considered, right?"
I blinked, genuinely confused. What kind of method could possibly be different from what I'd imagined? Unless...
"Do you have to shove a magic staff up your nostril and twist it to use magic?"
"...To command spells, you must devote your entire life to them."
"That's it? How ordinary. It just means you have to take countless risks to earn a spell's recognition, doesn't it?"
"Yeah..."
The man scratched his head, then suddenly fixed his gaze on me. It was a look I'd seen somewhere before. Like Kelton's...
......
...?
Huh. What was I about to say again?
Anyway.
The man studied me with a curious expression before speaking. "If you truly want to learn magic with all your heart, I could take you on as a disciple."
"I'm so excited."
"But to do that, you'd have to cut all ties with your current life and follow me—"
"Just a moment."
I went back into the orphanage, greeted the head nun, packed my few belongings, and returned to him.
"Let's go."
"You don't hesitate, do you?"
"It's one of my strengths."
The man's name was David. He taught me magic diligently. There were times my entire right arm got burned while commanding spells, but fortunately my mana circuits remained intact. That meant I could keep learning magic.
"This way of commanding spells is quite unusual. It almost feels like I'm a summoner."
"Summoner isn't a real class, Ruina..."
"It exists in my world."
To command a spell, you had to earn its favor. You had to make a deal with it. Fairly. With the scales perfectly balanced.
...?
Something about that felt off, but I collected spells without dwelling on it.
"This 'Perfect Dim Sum Spell' is really appealing. How do I make it mine?"
"What about this 'Turn Water into Beef Bone Broth Spell'? I need to claim that one right away."
"The 'Automatic Organization Spell' is a god. You're mine now."
Spells piled up.
"I've succeeded in commanding the Immortality Spell. With this, I can collect magic forever."
Again and again. Endlessly. Without rest.
"David, do you have any new magic? If not, go make some. Or should we found our own magic school? These days all mages just hunt wild spells instead of creating their own. We need to change that flow. We have to mass-produce spell creators if we want more magic—"
"...That."
"That? You like that idea?"
"Stop it!"
Suddenly, David shouted. I was genuinely startled. Why was he acting like this all of a sudden?
Ah, I got it.
"You want to found a magic graduate school instead of an undergraduate one? The attention to detail is nice. As expected, graduate students produce better results than undergrads."
"You... you..."
"You really like it?"
"What are you?"
"Ruina?"
David, we've known each other for years now. How do you still not know my name? This is ridiculous. Absolutely ridiculous.
While I worried about David's dementia, he exhaled sharply, his lips trembling. "Why... why are you never satisfied?"
"What do you mean?"
"How long are you going to keep collecting magic?!"
I didn't understand. What did my collecting magic have to do with David? Just in case, I asked, "Was there a spell among mine that you wanted?"
"Even if I created a world overflowing with magic, or a world without any magic at all, or a world that repeats a single day, or manifested that strange world in your head, or added magic to that strange world—why? Why does it never end?"
"David?"
"When will your desire finally bottom out?!"
Hmm. David was pleading desperately, but I couldn't understand a word. Still, one thing was clear.
"David, wouldn't it be easier to secure more magic by grinding up actual PhDs instead of graduate students?"
"Aaaaaaaaagh!"
David screamed, clawing at his face. Was he being attacked by a new spell? Before I could finish that thought—
Crack.
The sky split open.
I looked up. Then I was horrified.
"Don't tell me that's a new spell too?"
"Aaaaaaaaagh!"
David's scream grew louder. And then the world collapsed.
The modern world crumbled away, replaced by a burning fantasy landscape. Memories returned. Right. I'd had no talent for magic at all, so I'd caused all sorts of incidents trying to use it even once—and the world had ended because of it. I'd forgotten.
Crack. A fissure appeared in the sky. The world collapsed again. This time, it was a completely modern world. A world without magic. The memories came back. I nodded at the world destroyed by nuclear war. I'd made a mistake while searching for magic. It was a minor slip-up, so I hoped everyone would overlook it.
The cycle repeated—worlds collapsing, new ones emerging. No, it wasn't new worlds appearing. It was all the worlds I'd passed through so far manifesting. Like peeling an onion, every world I'd traversed appeared before me. In every single one, I'd done the same thing: wandered in search of magic.
Hmm. I crossed my arms. Now I understood. I'd been caught in Bais's sacred law, lost my memories, and wandered the Maze of Greed because of it. I understood that now, but...
I muttered in a disappointed voice, "There are still spells I haven't collected yet. Can't I just gather those before we go?"
Immediately after—
CRRRACK!
The world split in half, and my body spun around. The moment I landed in the mountains, I clicked my tongue. The hospitality here was terrible.
BOOM—
At the sound of a light explosion, I turned my head. All sorts of holy power and magic were clashing around the fortress. Those were the Evil God's priests? Bais had picked the wrong fight. I immediately activated my unique magic, Growth. Half-formed wings, half-formed arms, half-formed horns attached themselves to a massive body, and Steel charged toward the fortress, smashing through the walls.
Flash. Red light pierced the world. I slipped through the evaporating enemies with light steps and arrived at the fortress basement.
Clink. The lantern swayed. Standing behind the bloodied Leon, I greeted Bais.
"Hello."
"You... how did you—"
"I played around for a bit, and they told me to go home?"
"That doesn't make any sense..."
If you weren't going to believe me, why ask? Anyway. I took in the kaleidoscope spread out behind Bais. Thousands of fragmented scenes repeated dizzyingly similar images. The moment I saw it, I understood Bais's goal.
"You're trying to turn the fake Holy Grail into the real one? In chess terms, that's an excellent move."
Bais launched chains. I blocked them with a wooden giant and shook the lantern. A red line extending from the lantern targeted Bais. However, Bais didn't even flinch as he deflected the attack. Had he distorted it? No, it was different. This was—
"You absorbed the attack."
"......"
"How did you absorb it? Hmm, shall I guess? You sent the attack to an entirely different space, didn't you? Your unique magic's name is probably something like Labyrinth?"
If this had been our first meeting, I wouldn't have been able to deduce this much. But considering all the sacred laws Bais had used so far, this was the conclusion I'd reached. Unique magic Labyrinth. It was... truly tempting magic.
Bais manipulated his chains and unleashed sacred laws. The sacred laws embedded themselves in the wooden giant and exploded. The wooden giant, having absorbed the mana, healed its wounds and swung its fist at Bais.
BOOM! The massive physical force struck Bais, but he didn't move a single millimeter from his spot. Swish! The chains sliced powerfully through the air, pushing the wooden giant back. Using both his unique magic and a sacred relic made him incredibly troublesome.
"Lady Ruina!"
Leon struck the chains with his sword. That gleaming sword was new—I hadn't seen it before. Was it a sacred relic? To think he'd succeeded in manifesting one. Leon had grown much stronger while I was away. I exploited the opening Leon created and unleashed magic in rapid succession. Wondering if the Devouring Flame might work, I tried it, but it only bit at empty air before vanishing. Neither this nor that worked. Hmm. I racked my brain to find a way to break through Bais's magic. And then—
———!
A heavy wave swept through the room. The thousands of kaleidoscope scenes unified into one. A single image of a man carefully placing something on an altar. At the same time—
Crack. The kaleidoscope shattered, and a single object appeared in its place. It was a pure white cup. A chalice that glowed white even in the darkness of night. This cup, containing the powers of immortality, healing, abundance, purification, and wisdom, was a miracle crafted by the God of Desire using the bones of the Avatar of Desire. Most people called it by another name.
The Holy Grail.
Not the fake Holy Grail that Toltpier had imitated, but the real Holy Grail created by a god, crossing parallel worlds to descend upon this place. At its beautiful form, Bais burst into maniacal laughter. And before his laughter even ended, the life force flowing from the true Holy Grail shaped a single form. A human form.
"We have to stop him!"
When Leon swung his sword, starlight raced through the air toward Bais. But Bais absorbed Leon's attack without any difficulty.
「———.」
The will of a massive being residing somewhere else gently descended upon this land. An avatar. A god borrowing a mortal's body to manifest in this world. So that's what he'd been doing? This had to be stopped. Because every time an Evil God-side avatar appeared, the world descended into chaos. And if chaos broke out, how many of my magic repositories would be destroyed? I didn't even want to imagine it.
Right now, while the body the avatar would inhabit wasn't yet complete, we could still interrupt the ritual. But to stop the ritual, we first had to defeat Bais. How could we break through that ironclad defense and destroy the vessel the God of Greed would inhabit?
The answer was simple. We had to smash through the iron wall. Bais wasn't distorting space. He was redirecting all external impacts to another location. The difference between the two was significant. To put it in metaphor, Bais was constantly carrying around a scarecrow that took attacks in his place. To break through that? Obviously, we had to destroy the scarecrow. It meant the problem would be solved by pouring out firepower that couldn't possibly be withstood.
I sank calmly into thought. Within the lantern, flame elements danced. From these flame elements, I discovered the characteristic of "fairness." Then, realizing that all fairness is completed by following rules, I reached the second tier. Realizing that fairness is born from mutual loss, I ascended to the third tier. I had uncovered the principles of "rules" and "restrictions."
I'd thought a great deal about this fairness. My contemplation of fairness, which began with the head nun in my previous life, had endlessly expanded like tree branches. Recently, a question had suddenly occurred to me. Was I currently in a fair state? The actions I'd repeated had become "rules." Thanks to activating magic inside the lantern every day, my magic was now enhanced whenever I activated it within the lantern. This repeated rule had eventually become a restriction. In exchange for the restriction that I "must" activate magic I'd personally learned inside the lantern, its power was enhanced.
If it were up to me, I'd add even more restrictions like this. But restrictions weren't something I could add as I pleased. Restrictions were nothing more than rules completed through repetition that then evolved further. But... was that really fair? One side unilaterally imposing terms—could that truly be called fair? No. It wasn't. What was truly fair was... yes. Something like this.
Without hesitation, I thrust my right hand into the lantern. And I tightly grasped the flames. If we were truly fair to each other, then just as the flames burned me, I should be able to burn the flames as well. Imposing the terms we each desired upon one another. That was fairness.
I pulled the grasped flames out of the lantern as if drawing them forth. The flames screamed, but I paid no mind and used them to ignite new flames. Flames burned using flames as fuel. Flames devoured flames, endlessly being born. The red light that had illuminated the room transformed into blue light. Blindingly bright blue flames rippled above my hand. Before I could even admire their beautiful form, my lips moved first.
"Flame Thunder."
Immediately after, a pillar of blue light cut across the world. Everything pierced by the blue pillar evaporated. Bais, the vessel the God of Greed would inhabit, the walls, the ceiling—everything. Moonlight poured down through the walls and ceiling that had evaporated along the pillar's path. I walked briskly beneath the moonlight and met the dying Bais's eyes, then summoned and grasped a dagger mixed with black and gold. Then I swung it toward Bais.
Thud. Bais's breath stopped with the dagger embedded in him, and I savored something that had flowed into me through the dagger before smiling brightly.
Unique magic Labyrinth. You're mine now.