Fleeting Eternity
It was a space with nothing great about it. It was a space filled to the brim with something. The present moment was an instant. The present moment was eternity. All contradictory things were originally one and the same. Because there is void, all things exist. Because there is life, there is death. Because there is darkness, light exists. Because there is good, the concept of evil can be established. Because we know hope, we can speak of despair. The reverse is also true. Creation and destruction, beginning and end—they are two sides of the same coin. If you know the beginning, the length of every moment in between loses its meaning. If something exists only between the single concept of beginning and end, then both the instant and eternity are ultimately nothing more than a process within a single moment. Thus, even this brief instant can be stretched into infinity.
The time had come for the incantation that would caress all creation and interfere with the very laws of providence. O great yet insignificant time, be silent.
"O fire, burn the myriad worlds according to my will."
"O water, submerge the world according to my will."
"O earth, swallow all things according to my will."
"O lightning, strike down and reap all life according to my will."
"O wood, sprout buds and announce the beginning of all life according to my will."
"O ice, summon winter and announce the end of all life according to my will."
"O light, illuminate every creature in the world according to my will."
"O darkness, blind the eyes of every creature in the world according to my will."
⟨ Ars Magia ⟩
According to my will, flames roared up and formed a perfect sphere. According to my will, water rippled and coalesced into a sphere. According to my will, soil and stone rose and shaped themselves into a sphere. According to my will, bolts of lightning crackled down from the sky and condensed into a sphere. According to my will, the roots of a growing tree wove themselves into a sphere. According to my will, vapor froze solid and became a sphere. According to my will, light bloomed and shone brilliantly as it formed a sphere. According to my will, darkness writhed and took on a spherical shape.
The ten elements that formed the very foundation of this world were now drifting around me.
"All things originally begin from the root of the source. Even you are nothing more than a thick branch, so return to the source. Take on the form of the primordial."
The ten elemental spheres began to merge and split repeatedly. Just as one and infinity were the same, merging and splitting were no different. In the end the sphere transformed into a translucent square object. It was hot yet cold. It shone brightly yet was dark. The beginning and end of great magic now rested in the palm of my hand.
Incomplete beginning and end. The symbol of perfect apocalypse.
Lancelot looked slightly rattled.
"What the hell is that magic...?"
"An incomplete beginning and end. And the symbol of complete apocalypse."
It was the crystallized form of a spell that even Werner in his prime had needed a full week of bed rest after using once.
"...So this is what it feels like. To hold all creation in the palm of your hand..."
Honestly, even Werner had never been able to wield Ars Magia perfectly. It was nothing more than a wide-area annihilation device that forcibly released the magical restraints holding these violently repelling forces together, letting the backlash explode unchecked. A fifty-point spell—successful in theory, but lacking any proper control method.
Still, even incomplete, it operated on an entirely different level from ordinary magic. It was the ultimate lethal technique that had once erased an entire island nation. If I used it now, it would swallow not only me and Lancelot, but Camellia, Squar, the children she had with her, and every city in the vicinity.
But I no longer cared. My own life? The lives that would be dragged in? None of it mattered. I had to kill this bastard right here. If I didn’t, far more lives would vanish meaninglessly. In that case, a certain degree of sacrifice was inevitable. Every endeavor carried unavoidable sacrifice.
[You idiot. That’s not how you do things.]
Lee Baek? Why was her voice reaching me? She was definitely dead.
[Didn’t you say it yourself? An instant is eternity. That’s why I can speak to you in this tiny gap. Stop it right now.]
"Get lost! I’m going to kill that son of a bitch!"
[If you do that, you’ll only end up proving his point. Is that really okay? That’s not the way you keep your pride even in death.]
"Then what the hell do you want me to do? There’s no other way!"
[Our Baek-sa. My beloved friend. No—Werner. There will always be good adults around you. So don’t make such a hasty decision.]
"What?"
[You’ll understand soon. And… I love you.]
The moment my first love whispered those words, it was erased as though it had never existed.
Then someone grabbed my wrist. It wasn’t Camellia. The hand was warm, yet trembling faintly.
"You absolute idiot… Are you really planning to wipe out an entire region?"
"Old… Old man…? What the hell is going on…?"
I wasn’t the only one shocked. Camellia, who had been wallowing in despair, stared with her mouth agape. Even Lancelot’s pupils had dilated in disbelief.
"Heavenly Demon… Weren’t you definitely dead…?"
"I was certain I had killed you… Did I make a mistake…?"
The Heavenly Demon answered while coughing up blood.
"Yes, this seat certainly died. However…"
He clenched his fist tightly, eyes blazing with the same fiery will as before as he stared us down.
"If you thought mere death could stop me, you are gravely mistaken. For the sake of my comrades, leaping across the boundary between life and death is well within my power."
"Even so, the fact that you’re a walking corpse on the brink of death remains unchanged."
"Black Wing Sword Saint—or rather, the demon merely wearing his skin… Today I shall take your life. I will take your life and restore my master’s honor."
That bastard was the Heavenly Demon’s master, the Black Wing Sword Saint? From what I’d heard, the Black Wing Sword Saint was a man without a single grain of impurity, yet this creature was nothing but a mass of corruption.
"What an amusing jest. A third-rate mage who, swept away by rage, pulls out a dangerous spell intending to die together. A third-rate swordsman who drops his blade because of mere emotion. And the Heavenly Demon, swayed by sentiment. What could such a gathering possibly accomplish?"
"We can do this."
The Heavenly Demon seized the Ars Magia resting on my palm and crushed it, absorbing the immense magical power contained within.
"I’ll borrow this for a moment. And with it… the burden it would place on your body… will not exist…"
He absorbed not only the magical energy of Ars Magia but even the strain it imposed on the body.
"Old man, if you absorb it like that…!"
"In any case, I was only granted the briefest of reprieves. Saving at least one foolish young man who made a poor decision takes priority."
As he spoke, the Heavenly Demon’s body began to change. From an old man to a young adult, then from a young adult to a white-haired boy.
"Returning to youth…? Even if you use that now, it will only extend your short remaining life by a few minutes. The fact that you will still die remains unchanged. And to abandon the conviction of never defying providence just for those few extra minutes of life is truly ugly."
"Black Wing Sword Saint, you would never understand it even if you lived a thousand lifetimes—the meaning of something that must be protected even at the cost of one’s pride."
"What…"
The Heavenly Demon opened his hand. A transparent spherical barrier instantly formed around both Camellia and me. It looked as if we had been sealed inside an enormous orb.
"Old man! What the hell are you doing?! Release this right now!"
"Heavenly Demon! What is the meaning of this?!"
"Noisy little children. When an adult offers you something, you should have the grace to accept it gratefully."
The Heavenly Demon looked at me and smiled brightly.
"Among us… there are no traitors. Tell Zeke not to push himself. Tell those two idiots to stop fighting. And to Squar… tell him not to cry even when he hears of my death and last words. Tell him that having the greatest friend in the world like you made me happy."
He approached the transparent sphere and placed his hand against it directly opposite mine.
"Even if this transparent membrane of energy stands between us, it is no different from our hands clasping together. Even if the wall between life and death separates us, it is no different from me always remaining by your side, youngest."
Before I could answer, the transparent sphere shot upward at tremendous speed, shattering the ceiling and ascending toward the surface.
The sound of your left eye bursting.
"…Why didn’t you reveal the existence of the traitor?"
Remembering the traitor’s sorrowful eyes and the expression he wore as he drove the blade in, the Heavenly Demon had chosen not to speak of the traitor’s existence.
"A man like you would never understand even if you lived ten lifetimes. There is no need for me to explain it."
"So that is the end of your last words?"
"No. My last words are…"
The Heavenly Demon gathered energy in both hands. Not the crow-feather black he had been taught, but pure white energy like drifting clouds formed perfect spheres. A technique he had created after witnessing Werner’s magic, not one derived from anything the Black Wing Sword Saint had taught him…
"It will be the sound of your left eye bursting."
White Heavenly Sky Fang.