Chapter 101
Chapter 101
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 101
Chapter Title: Meeting God (3)
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Shirone felt as if he'd been struck in the head with a hammer. While he could have accepted this place as the afterlife, meeting a god was an entirely different matter.
“You’re a god?”
“Is that so hard to believe?”
“Well… I never knew gods existed, but even if they did, I wouldn't have thought they’d be this human.”
The woman smiled.
“Every creation is bound to resemble its creator. It's like how any object made by humans inevitably embodies human thought and form. Plants, animals, mountains, and seas—they all resemble God. But the degree varies. The standard is creativity. A squirrel, for instance, is more creative than a rock. In that sense, humans bear a strong resemblance to God. And you, Shirone, are one of those who resemble God the most.”
The woman reached out and caressed Shirone's face.
“Shirone. Won't you create a world with me?”
Shirone was confused. Everything was too sudden, too unfamiliar. Above all, the woman's words that this wasn't the afterlife lingered in his mind. Perhaps a small glimmer of hope could emerge.
“Is there no way to go back?”
The woman looked at Shirone as if surprised, then shook her head.
“I'm afraid not, Shirone. There's no way back. Wasn't it your choice to end your life? Do you want to go back now?”
“That's not it. I was prepared for this, and if it weren't for you, I wouldn't have even regained my consciousness. Ah, um… is it okay to call you that?”
“Of course. 'God' is merely a concept. I don't have a name.”
“Then may I ask one more thing?”
“Hehe, anything.”
“Why are you lying?”
The woman's brow furrowed. That alone felt like it made the temple tremble.
“Gods do not lie. No, we are beings incapable of lying.”
An omnipotent god would be incapable of lying, as any word they speak could be turned into truth. But Shirone read it in the woman's eyes. She was hiding something.
“When I asked if there was a way back, you said no. But that's not true.”
“Whether a way back exists or not, since I've said it doesn't, there is no way back. That's why.”
“That's what I mean by a lie.”
“You don't understand, Shirone. I said there is no way back. Therefore, you cannot go back, ever!”
“Then let me rephrase. Your will is irrelevant. What I want to know is whether a method to return to the original world exists.”
“No such method exists!”
“Another lie!”
The woman's shoulders flinched. Shirone didn't miss her reaction. As she became flustered, the scenery of the temple wavered as if submerged in water.
“Are you… really a god?”
He had been suspicious from the start. Of course, there was no reason why the human conception of a god had to be the real thing, but even so, the woman's reactions were far too human.
The woman nodded as if she understood something.
“Shirone. We have different concepts of what a god is. That's why this misunderstanding arose. A god is not as sublime a being as you think. We are merely the architects of worlds.”
When the woman held out her hand, a glass sphere floated above her palm. Inside the sphere was the scenery of a small village, with people dotted here and there.
“As you can see, I created a village. A model, of course. But I can also move people like this.”
The woman put her finger into the glass sphere and moved a farmer who was feeding a horse to a nearby field.
“There, the farmer has moved. The fact that space has changed means time has been granted. Can you find any difference from the world Shirone lived in? There is none. This is what a god is. I have now become the god of this village.”
The woman held the glass sphere out in front of Shirone's eyes.
“A god is ultimately just an architect who can create a dimension one level lower than their own. But why is a god perceived as an absolute being? This is the interesting part. This farmer will not sense that any force was at play in his move to the nearby field.”
The woman brought the sphere back and held it up with both palms. As she spread her arms wide, the village instantly expanded, covering the temple.
Shirone looked around. He was now inside the village. The two stood at opposite ends of a path, facing each other. The other people remained motionless.
The woman approached a farmer who was tilling a field.
“This farmer doesn't know how incomplete the world I created is. That's because he was born here. There is only one way to find out.”
“The Immortal Function.”
“Correct. The Immortal Function expands one's senses to the whole. This village is contained within a glass sphere. Therefore, it's no exaggeration to say that no world exists beyond the sphere.”
The woman placed a hand on the farmer's shoulder. The farmer turned into light and covered the entire sky. In that state, when the woman extended her fist, the scenery contracted, and the entire village was once again contained within the glass sphere.
Shirone stared silently at the glass sphere. It was filled with the light that had spread from the farmer.
“This farmer expanded into the whole through the Immortal Function. But even so, he cannot perceive my existence. And that, Shirone, is the same for you.”
Shirone felt the farmer's state was not someone else's problem. If the woman hadn't attempted to hijack him, he too would have dispersed into meaningless light.
“What do you want from me? What can I do, knowing such a fact?”
“This is it, Shirone.”
The woman pressed the glass sphere between her palms. The sphere shrank, compressing into a black dot.
“A Spot…”
“Yes. This is the true nature of the world we live in. The world you inhabit is, in the end, just a single point. But within it, an infinite world unfolds. It is a spacetime matrix.”
The woman showed him directly. The scenery of the glass sphere vanished into a point, and a new world was born. A world within a world, and then another world… Then, as she clapped her hands together, the glass sphere disappeared. Billions of worlds were annihilated in an instant.
“Please enter the spacetime I have created. Create your own spacetime there. By doing so, a perfect universe will be born.”
He didn't know why, but it seemed she wanted innovation in her world. It wasn't a particularly unpleasant offer. Becoming the god of another world as a reward for accepting death seemed like a decent ending.
“I can't do that.”
The woman asked back, unable to understand.
“Why? You have no cause or reason to refuse.”
“Because if I enter your spacetime, I would have to sacrifice someone like myself again.”
A flicker of sadness passed through the woman's eyes. But the change in emotion was brief, and she quickly returned to a cold expression and spoke to Shirone.
“What does that matter? It will be a world you created, after all.”
“But you are not a god.”
For the first time, hostility surfaced in the woman's eyes.
“You are a human being, existing in the same world as me. The proof is that you brought me here before I completely disintegrated. If you were truly a god, shouldn't you exist outside the world?”
The woman didn't deny it. But that didn't change the outcome.
“Shirone, you must obey me. I brought you here for a purpose. If you refuse, I can have you undergo the process of dissolution right now.”
His mind had been reconstructed by the woman's power, so perhaps she was free to reverse it. But now that there was even a slight possibility of returning to his original world, Shirone had no intention of meekly complying.
“I will not be broken down.”
The woman extended her hand toward Shirone and invoked the omnipotence of dissolution. But Shirone did not dissolve. It was because he had already entered the Spirit Zone.
“You've solved another puzzle. An excellent choice.”
The woman's arm slowly lowered.
“I see now. The Spirit Zone was also a Spot.”
A Spot could be delved into infinitely by the principle of the spacetime matrix. That was why Shirone, a spiritual entity, could once again enter the Spirit Zone.
“And this place… is your Spirit Zone.”
Shirone concentrated the energy of light. The woman frowned, displeased. The crimson glow rising from Shirone's body was pressing down on her with a menacing aura.
The Adamantine Path (1)
Five days since Shirone's death.
All the students had regained their memories. The children, in particular, were confused. However, as they too were gifted individuals with stronger minds than ordinary people, the aftereffects were not as severe as expected.
But the real ordeal was just beginning.
The incident where the school was overrun by the freaks exposed the vulnerability of its security facilities. Especially for a school operating under a dormitory system, safety was supposed to be the top priority.
The biggest problem was that a student had died. And it was none other than Aryan Shirone, who was held in high regard as one of the academy's rising stars.
At the request of Iruki and Nade, Shirone's body was in the infirmary, not the morgue. Technically, a funeral should have been held, but even the faculty were treading carefully.
The reason the student council hadn't yet moved to assign responsibility was that Shirone had not been officially declared dead.
In essence, they were scheming to evade responsibility by leaving Shirone in a state of limbo, like a lingering spirit.
Of course, not a few teachers felt pangs of conscience over this approach. They were currently gathered in the faculty meeting room, stressing the urgency of the matter.
“We must hold Shirone's funeral immediately. We also have to inform his parents. If we don't handle this now, the academy's policy will be condemned in the future.”
“This is not a decision to be made lightly. If word gets out that a student has died, the repercussions will be enormous. We could lose the reputation we've built up in an instant.”
“So are you suggesting we lie and say a dead student is alive? The truth will come out eventually! The stance the academy should take now is to make a declaration of conscience. It's not our reputation at stake; the entire academy might be shut down.”
“Who doesn't know that? We're just saying we need a little more time to think it over.”
“Why don't you understand that the more we delay, the more disadvantageous it becomes? Currently, the whereabouts of Arcane's disciples are also unknown. Letting the criminals escape is another critical failure. We must act now.”
The teachers who were postponing Shirone's funeral were currently divided into two camps. Those making political calculations wanted to buy as much time as possible and let the students' anger subside.
On the other hand, there were also teachers who genuinely couldn't accept Shirone's death. Notably, Etella and Thadd, who were directly involved at the scene, and Shina as well, were among those who doubted Shirone was truly dead.
“Headmaster, please say something! I heard the student council is convening today. The faculty must also take action.”
The faculty's impatience was also heavily influenced by the student council. If the students, backed by their numerous powerful families, began to file complaints against the academy, they would miss the opportune moment to act.
“My position is to wait and see.”
The majority of the teachers rose up in protest.
“Headmaster!”
Alpheas understood their feelings. The more time they wasted, the worse the academy's situation would become. But for him, there was something more important than the academy's survival: Shirone's true condition.
Is Shirone dead?
It was an absurd question to raise in a magic academy, a symbol of intellect.
That made him all the more cautious. If the one who died hadn't been Shirone, would he even be entertaining such a doubt?
‘I must think rationally. But I can't.’
Perhaps Shirone was receiving special treatment. But even knowing that, Alpheas couldn't shake the subtle feeling lodged in a corner of his mind.