Chapter 211
Chapter 211
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 211
Chapter Title: The Truth of Heaven (5)
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“A double lock!”
“That’s right. A meticulous fellow, indeed. I’ll show you Arcane’s memories now, so you can see for yourself.”
Harvest’s memories flowed in. It seemed Arcane had come to Heaven with a companion.
Along the way, he had entered Ingris alone.
Naturally, Eureka presented a contract.
Arcane accepted the proposal in exchange for the right to freely browse Ingris. She had been mad even back then, so she attacked Arcane the moment the contract was sealed.
‘Master…’
Unlike Canis, who had been utterly helpless in the fight, Arcane fought Eureka on equal footing, not pushed back in the slightest.
‘No way. How is he casting magic while his words are being edited?’
Canis delved deeper into the memory.
The solution was brilliant, just as one would expect from Arcane. He had completely erased all his memories with Abyss-type magic.
If thoughts vanish, there are no concepts to be sold.
But that wasn't all. Arcane began to restore the morphemes of language one by one.
He attempted to find Mara's name by assembling every possible language from the morphemes and checking them against the editor's reactions.
At one point, as countless words were repeatedly assembled and dismantled, Eureka suddenly screamed.
Pale, she flew away without a backward glance to a place where Arcane could not reach her.
Arcane's language combination roulette had stopped on ‘Eureka.’
“…Is this even possible? He combined tens of thousands of languages in that brief moment.”
“There's no limit to what can happen within the mind. Still, I doubt he could write a novel with it. It's all mathematical. He laid out the morphemes, created an algorithm, and just spun the roulette. Guess his brain was still sharp back when he was young. In any case, the fact that he made me proves he's a genius. If he hadn't been so stubborn about dark magic, he never would have remained a mere third-class mage.”
Canis felt a sense of pride in being Arcane's student.
Besides, wasn't it because of the note left by his master that he had been able to defeat Eureka?
Eureka had probably hidden until Arcane left. During that time, Arcane must have found information about Eureka and recorded her serial number.
Arcane’s final memory entered Canis’s mind. A shiver ran down his spine as he learned the true reason for the double lock.
Arcane was conveying the location to his student not through records, but through memory.
Canis walked to the spot where Arcane had last stood. Then, mimicking his master's movements perfectly, he reached his hand toward the panel.
‘Thank you, Master.’
Of course, Arcane couldn't have known back then that he would one day take Canis as his student. But the message he left for the successor who would one day arrive here was clear.
O mage, be an eternal boy.
Canis took out the panel Arcane had designated, converted the language, and checked the sentence displayed on the glass plate.
The Book of Light and Darkness.
Canis flipped through the pages, scanning them quickly. One phrase among them resonated with him, and he stared at it intently.
Harvest placed a hand on his shoulder and said.
“You've achieved your purpose for coming to Heaven.”
“No. Not until I get back safely. I have to save Arin.”
“Right. Think they’ll be alright over there? A fair bit of time has passed.”
Canis handed the panel to Harvest and went to the central control unit.
“It's about the right amount of time for Rian to arrive. Copy the records. I'll try to disable the mecha system.”
Harvest placed his palm on the glass plate and copied the text in its entirety. It was a method of memorizing the entire pattern of vibrations as he flipped through the pages.
Reaching the central control unit, Canis found himself unable to touch anything. Cold sweat trickled down his forehead.
He understood the principle from secretly watching Eureka touch the screen, but it was impossible to handle equipment he had never seen before like an expert.
“Damn it, why is this so complicated?”
Canis started pressing buttons at random. What was the worst that could happen? It breaks?
At some point, a complete map of Jevul appeared.
When he touched the Great World Exhibition, the screen zoomed in, revealing a long list of numerous items.
He went into the security system, and an option to disable the mecha system caught his eye.
Canis chose to disable it without hesitation.
Several areas that had appeared as dotted lines on the map now showed as solid lines.
“Canis, I've saved all the records. I only memorized them as patterns, so I'll have to convert them to language when I have time.”
“Great. I found something, too. Looking at the map, every district in Jevul has a portal to Ingris. In other words, this place is the heart of Jevul. So, if we take a portal in reverse, we should be able to exit at the portal closest to the Great World Exhibition.”
Canis and Harvest ran to the end of Ingris.
It was a relief that things were working out, but that didn't mean the situation had improved.
Arin was still there.
He could only hope Rian wouldn't be late.
@
Massive chunks of Ikael's memories flooded into Shirone's subconscious. The timeline was jumbled, but everything moved faster than the speed of thought, so he couldn't perceive any contradictions.
Shirone was shocked to see the form of Ra that Ikael revealed. It was the epitome of grotesqueness. Yet the intellect it contained surpassed that of the humans of the current age.
“Even if the parts change, the whole remains perfect.”
Ra was the first intelligence to realize the existence of the universe.
“The universe is an object abandoned by God. No one knows this exists! But I have given it meaning. Therefore, this universe is mine.”
The first beings Ra gave meaning to were the angels.
The First Causality Entity subdivided into the Second Entity, and from there, into Giants and Fairies. They each acted according to the law, spreading Ra's will.
Ikael took Shirone to another world. Countless creatures lived there, but none could bestow meaning.
A giant, two kilometers tall, arrived through a dimensional gate. When the giant stood up, its face pierced the clouds, and the mountain ranges bowed below its waist.
Ikael also told him about the giants.
The Anecdotal Arts consisted of ten stages in total, and only giants who surpassed the sixth stage could depart for a new world.
The giant let out a roar. Its body began to gradually disintegrate, its blood and flesh raining down.
A long time passed again… and where the giant had fallen, humans began to appear, one by one.
As the humans who had formed a society were developing their civilization, an angel came and blessed a young woman with a child. One day, the child would become a Nephilim and lead people to Heaven.
As time passed, changes began to occur in human society.
Humans who had acquired the ability to bestow meaning grew rapidly and, eventually, became intoxicated with their own power, distancing themselves from God.
The armies of Heaven descended and punished them.
The battle was one-sided. Heaven's power was immense, and the angels and Mara destroyed numerous civilizations.
Nevertheless, humanity prospered tenaciously, and they repeated the same mistakes.
Then one day, on an island in the south called Galliante, a group that denied God appeared.
Archangel Ikael personally intervened. She, who could activate the power of all things, amplified Galliante's volcanic activity by more than twenty thousand times, triggering a massive eruption.
Time flowed quickly, and a world similar to the era Shirone lived in unfolded.
Humans were still enjoying prosperity.
Anke Ra, judging that their irreverence had reached its peak, finally decided to annihilate humanity.
The Final War. It was the end of the world.
Shirone watched the situation in Heaven at that time.
A portal tens of meters high stood open, and before it, the army of Heaven—composed of giants, fairies, and their subjects—was preparing to march.
The vibration of angels filled the sky, and the roars of armored Maras echoed across the land.
‘No! Absolutely not!’
Forgetting that the scene before him was the past, Shirone screamed. There was no way to win. If Heaven's army entered, it would be the end of the world.
When the order to attack was given, a massive army led by the angels poured into the portal.
Shirone's consciousness also followed them into the portal. After passing through a brilliantly colored tunnel, he saw the exit.
His stomach churned with tension. This is a memory of the past.
But if so, how on earth did humanity fend off the army of Heaven?
‘There's no record of such a war in history.’
When the destination came into view, the Maras roared, their fighting spirit blazing. Shirone flew ahead of them. And the moment he reached the end of the portal, he froze.
What unfolded before his eyes was not his original world.
A pale, empty space. And there, a woman stood.
It was Adrias Miro.
“Guffin, I will not forgive you.”
Miro was crying. Gazing at the massive army alone, she held out her fist and cast her magic.
Then, something incredible happened. As if blocked by an invisible barrier, the Maras at the forefront began to stop.
The angels looked at Miro, perplexed. The Maras, on the other hand, pounded on the barrier, letting out monstrous screams.
“You profane thing! You will pay the price for betraying Ra!”
“Remember this well, Miro! The end has only been delayed! When that time comes, we will kill you first!”
Shirone understood the whole truth.
She had created another spacetime in the rift between Heaven and the human world, severing the link.
That was… Miro's Spacetime.
From the ranks of angels, a burly man flew to the end of the portal.
It was Archangel Uriel.
“How long do you think you can last like this? There is no way to avoid the Final War. We will surely return. Use the little time you have left wisely.”
Miro bit her lip until it bled. As the new spacetime filled the void, the distance between them grew.
Uriel glared fiercely at Miro before turning away. Then, the angels also began to return to Heaven, one by one.
But the Maras remained until the very end, spewing curses. They screamed with desperate voices until the gradually receding figure of Miro was out of sight.
Shirone also moved away with the army of Heaven, but he couldn't take his eyes off Miro.
He understood why the great mage Arcane had gone so far as to erase his memories to keep this from the world.
One day, there was a moment when humanity was on the brink of annihilation.
And Miro, even now, was staying in her own space, delaying the end of the world.
5. The Angel’s Magic Formula (1)
Shirone opened his eyes.
The first thing he felt was refreshment. It was as if he had woken up from a long sleep.
Just how long had he been asleep?
As that thought crossed his mind, Shirone sat up and shouted.
“No! My friends…!”
Ikael reassured Shirone.
“Don't worry. You weren’t asleep for even five minutes.”
“But why does my body…?”
“Your mind has been cleared as my light permeated it. I can activate all things, after all.”
Just as she said, the mental energy he had exhausted fighting from Igirin to Taboo was completely restored.
“Ah, thank you. I didn't realize…”
“It’s alright. By the way, how does it feel, knowing the secret of Heaven?”
Shirone recalled the memories Ikael had shown him. It was hazy, like a dream, but it was definitely not a dream.
He had learned a tremendous truth. The fact that Miro had done such a thing was especially shocking.
“The ability to connect dimensions is exclusive to angels. But for a long time now, we have been passing on the angels' abilities to humans.”
“So that's what the Nephilim are.”
“Yes. The Nephilim have the role of guiding humans to God. But some Nephilim do the opposite. Such civilizations mostly break away from God's will and build their own independent civilizations. Just like the world Shirone lives in.”
Shirone understood why the principles of ancient magic were different. At some point, humans had broken away from God's will, and the magic they had developed independently was the Spirit Zone.