Chapter 421
Chapter 421
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 421
Chapter Title: In Heaven (3)
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A harrowing scream erupted in the Grand Celestial Chamber.
Blasted by an electric current, Arius flew ten meters before tumbling across the floor.
Apoptosis, the magic that dives into one's own thoughts, had trapped him in the concept of eternity, a place where time did not exist.
It was a form of mental death, and the shock of his return was beyond compare to the terror of a newborn infant.
“Aaargh! Aaaaaargh!”
Arius couldn't stop screaming.
Everything was chaotic and unsettling.
Only the faint afterimages lingering in his memory gave him a vague sense of who he once was.
On the verge of that oblivion, a thread of intellect trickled in, connecting with his memories.
The screams subsided only after the scene of him casting a spell to dodge Captain Walker’s sword in the Kazura Royal Palace surfaced in his mind.
‘Damn it, I can’t do this job anymore.’
Wiping the drool that had dripped down his chin, Arius stood up, a sense of doubt creeping in as he took in the unfamiliar sight.
“Where…?”
The person who pulled him out of Apoptosis should have been one of the Seven Grand Mages, and if so, this should be their secret hideout, unknown to anyone else. Yet, the scene before him was entirely different.
Everything was cast in a pale violet, metallic hue, with incomprehensible machinery glowing and operating all around.
“Are you the one they call the Tomb Raider?”
Arius turned around with a look of displeasure.
But he soon had to crane his neck, his pupils constricting in shock.
An aureole above its head, wings of light several times larger than its body.
It was an angel.
‘Why an angel…?’
Just as the question was about to fill his mind, he swiftly suppressed it with the mana for Flicker.
I have to escape.
Thinking could come later.
Flash! As his body turned to light, Uriel’s hand shot out, faster than an instant.
“Kugh!”
Caught by the neck, Arius dangled three meters in the air, struggling.
It felt less like he was being choked and more like his very spine was in a vise.
“He-help…!”
When Uriel slammed him down, Arius, now smashed into the floor, arched his back like a bow and groaned in agony.
He then managed to push himself onto one knee, looking up at the angels.
“Damn it, who the hell are you?”
“I am Uriel, the Angel of Destruction.”
“U-Uriel?”
One of the eight archangels in Heaven.
Arius’s gaze quickly scanned his surroundings.
Taking in the equipment, the devices, and even the Galaxy Mirror, he realized he was in the Grand Celestial Chamber.
‘Then the one next to him must be Kariel…’
With two archangels present, even Arius of the Seven Grand Mages had to admit his chances of leaving this place alive on his own were nil.
“There is something I wish to show you.”
Kariel lifted Arius into the air, flew before the Galaxy Mirror, and threw him down again.
“Ugh!”
Landing on his chest, he gasped for breath, then realized someone was in front of him and laboriously raised his head.
A woman was sitting cross-legged.
“A human?”
Uriel spoke.
“Adrias Miro.”
Arius’s eyes widened in shock.
“M-Miro? This woman is Miro?”
For a Scale Mage, Miro was an unforgettable name.
But even for the Tomb Raider Arius, this was the first time he had ever seen her face.
So this is what she looks like.
She was an ordinary girl, the kind you could see anywhere in the world. The kind who might make you turn your head for a moment if you passed her on the street.
But the epithets attached to her were all superlatives: the best, the last, the final, the strongest.
That was why Arius couldn't help but stare, mesmerized, at the face of the young girl with her eyes closed.
Beautiful, just by existing.
Hastily shaking himself back to his senses, Arius analyzed the situation based on his existing knowledge.
Archangels, the Grand Celestial Chamber, Miro.
‘Damn it all. So it’s finally come to this?’
Miro being in Heaven could be interpreted as a sign that the final war was imminent.
‘What in the world is going on? Does the world below even know?’
He wanted to talk to Miro, but she showed no signs of waking.
Arius turned to Kariel and asked.
“Did you put her to sleep?”
“No. Miro has entered the Dimension of Emptiness. You should be able to return her to normal.”
‘The Dimension of Emptiness…’
Arius’s face contorted.
‘Damn! It’s Samadhi.’
Things were finally starting to make sense.
As long as she was in a state of Samadhi, they couldn't kill Miro. And that was why they had brought him, the Tomb Raider, here.
“Destroy Miro’s state of Samadhi.”
Arius snorted.
When Uriel had caught him, the words “save me” had come out instinctively, but now that he had regained his intellect, death was not his top priority.
If he were to pull Miro out of her state, her spacetime would be destroyed, and all that would be left was the destruction of humanity.
‘Not that I really care, but I don’t like things going their way.’
Still, he had no intention of giving up.
This was a chance to explore the mind of one of the greatest mages in human history.
He wanted to know what was inside this woman’s head.
What she liked, what she disliked, what she felt ashamed of, and what secrets she would take to her grave.
“Destroy her Samadhi?”
Arius frowned and spoke.
“Are you kidding me?”
“If you cannot, you will die.”
“You don’t really think that’s a threat, do you? This woman is humanity’s strongest Scale Mage. Anyone who dives in, not just me, will be crushed by her Egoist.”
“Then you have no choice but to die.”
As Kariel extended a hand, Arius raised both of his as if to calm him down.
“Wait. I’m not saying I won’t do it. I’m just saying we need to find a roundabout way.”
“A roundabout way? For the mind?”
“If I dive in now, I’ll just get swept away by her Samadhi. But what about Drimo? In Drimo, where all thoughts flow, I will collect Miro’s thoughts. From there, I’ll find a keyword powerful enough to break her Samadhi.”
“A keyword?”
“Every human has trauma. Trauma so severe it takes their breath away just to remember it. I’ll make a powerful net with things like that and cast it into the abyss. And then, when I pull? I’ll have caught the big fish named Miro.”
Kariel stared intently at Arius, who was chattering away excitedly.
Is he sane? To be so enthusiastic about destroying humanity.
‘I just can’t understand them, this species called human.’
Arius laid out his condition.
“But Drimo has a multi-dimensional structure, so it’s not a place I can investigate at will. So give me some information. You guys must know, right?”
“Hmm.”
Suddenly, Kariel’s aureole expanded into a halo.
As Arius’s face turned pale, a black sphere materialized, tearing through space.
“Come forth, Brahma.”
“Kiiiiiii!”
A hooked nose emerged first, followed by a red-skinned face.
Its eyes were hatefully slanted, and its teeth were irregular.
Three glowing triangles floated above its brow, and beyond its crown, its brain was connected, flowing down like hair, unlike a human’s contained within a skull, reaching the tips of its short feet.
Kariel’s familiar, the Tri-Angle Mara, Brahma.
A being known in some parts of the human world as the god of creation.
“The lowly Brahma greets the great Archangel Kariel.”
“Follow that human into Drimo. Cooperate with whatever he intends to investigate.”
Arius looked dumbfounded.
‘Damn it, Brahma?’
As a mage, it was shocking that the god of intellect from the myths looked so grotesque.
But he quickly regained his composure.
This was an opportunity.
By borrowing the knowledge of the Tri-Angle Mara, he could access the deepest parts of Drimo, places humanity had never reached.
‘Hehehe, the god of magic is smiling upon me.’
Arius approached Miro.
I will uncover everything about you.
And when I return, I will have become a god of this world.
“Shall we go? Heaven seems to be quite busy as well.”
Brahma extended a single strand of its brain, pushing it through Miro’s mouth and into her own brain.
As the region of the brain that governed Drimo activated, a small spacetime tunnel appeared before him.
Arius leaped in without hesitation, and Brahma followed close behind.
“Hoo.”
Only after the spacetime tunnel closed did Kariel collapse to his knees.
Summoning the Tri-Angle Mara had been an act that, it was no exaggeration to say, had wrung out every last bit of his remaining power.
“Are you alright?”
“My strength will return with time. Once Miro awakens, humanity is finished. I’ll gain a voice in the Archangel Council as well.”
“It might not succeed. Due to the Law of Familiars, Brahma is not in a normal state either.”
The total power wielded by the three Maras an angel commands can never surpass the power of the angel itself.
This follows the principle that a consequential concept cannot exist without a preceding one.
This was the Law of Familiars.
As Kariel’s presence weakened, the Tri-Angle Mara Brahma could not exert its full power either.
“It doesn’t matter. Brahma was born as an imitation of my intellect anyway. That thing can make a judgment in one second that would take ten thousand prudent humans to reach through compromise. It might take some time, but it will be more than enough to succeed.”
It would take time. But what did that matter?
If that was the last of the time left for humanity, anyway.
* * *
Silence gripped the strategy room.
Niflheim.
A place forbidden even to the borderlanders of the mainland, inhabited only by the wicked specters that were once an object of terror for humanity.
Krood, once again, offered practical advice.
“Let me be clear, it’s an extremely dangerous place. Considering the value of the Black Elixir, it’s a place many should have challenged, but even those attempts ceased thousands of years ago. The reason is simple. If you go, you die. So choose wisely.”
Sain asked.
“Do you think we have a choice? In this situation?”
“Even if you don’t go to Niflheim, we can maintain the alliance. This isn’t the only opportunity. But what I mean is that these three conditions must be met if the First Command is to engage in an all-out war.”
The safe route would take a long time. The fast route, on the other hand, was too dangerous.
“Gaold, what’s the call?”
Sain deferred the decision to the commander.
But in reality, it was just a formality. With Miro’s fate unknown, there was only one choice he could make.
“We’re going to Niflheim.”
“Hmm.”
Krood let out a long sigh.
“I hold you all in high regard. That’s why I want to advise against it. Using the light of District 73 to grow the rebel forces is also a good method. Why the rush? Is there a particular reason?”
Haste breeds mistakes.
Gaold knew this fact as well, which was why he was desperately trying to maintain his composure.
But objectively speaking, time was not on their side.
They might not be able to kill Miro in Heaven while she was in Samadhi, but they also weren't the type to orchestrate something like this without a countermeasure.
“You don’t need to know that. We will meet the three conditions as quickly as possible. Then you should have no complaints, right?”
“Of course. Provided you can.”
Krood remained skeptical until the very end.
“From now on, we split into teams. I, Kang-nan, and Zulu will enter Niflheim.”
Sain asked.
“What about the rest?”
“Armin, Shina, Etella, and Kuan will handle the Munitions Community. Shirone and Plu will persuade the Second Command. For now, this is the only way.”
In Sain’s mind, too, this was the best allocation of personnel, considering the difficulty of the missions.
“Then I’ll stay here and formulate a strategy. I also need to figure out the planetary movements.”
For God’s Punishment to strike Araboth properly, a precise forecast of the impact point was necessary. To achieve that, understanding the planet’s motion was a prerequisite.
“Are you really going? To Niflheim?”
Krood couldn’t understand Shirone and his group.
Splitting up when they should be swarming the place with ten people, or even requesting support from the rebel army.
“Are you guys sane?”
Gaold said as he left his seat.
“No.”
(End of Volume 17)