Chapter 65
Chapter 65
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 65
Chapter Title: Unseen Things (5)
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Shina threw down the evaluation sheet and apologized to Alpheas.
“I'm sorry, Headmaster. You came all this way to observe.”
“Haha. It was a difficult topic, wasn't it? Isn't that what paranormal psychic science is all about? Don't worry about it.”
“I will give them a stern warning.”
Alpheas raised a hand as if to say it was fine and walked toward the exit. But just before leaving, he turned back to look at the empty stage. The corners of his mouth, hidden by his beard, lifted.
‘If it was going to end like this, they wouldn't have even started. Right, Shirone?’
* * *
“Alright. Phase one is complete!”
Regardless of the audience's reaction, Shirone and his group rushed back to the club room. The real battle was about to begin.
“It definitely worked, don't you think?”
“Yeah. I could tell just by the look in their eyes.”
They had already anticipated that the presentation would end anticlimactically, given the students' high expectations. But Shirone had actually hoped for this exact situation. The more trivial people thought it was, the stronger the psychological access became. The crux of the psychological trap he had planned was this:
Mass hypnosis.
The keyword was the bell tolling at midnight. As long as they understood the content, it didn't matter how childish it seemed. The keyword imprinted in their minds would lead them into terror.
“Shirone, it's all up to you now. All you have to do is succeed.”
“Got it. I'll meditate here for a bit.”
“You have to succeed! We're counting on you!”
They had done their best for the past month. Now, the baton had been passed to the final runner, Shirone.
“I need to concentrate, so give me some space.”
Shirone stopped Nade from massaging his shoulders and sat down on a chair in a secluded spot. He had six hours left. Within that time, he had to bring his mental condition to its absolute peak.
‘One. Two. Three.’
With his head bowed low, Shirone slowly progressed through the numerical sequence. Nade and Iruki, careful not to even breathe too loudly, quietly moved away.
The success or failure of this presentation depended on whether he had the mental fortitude to sustain the photon output for over ten minutes. But the work wasn't over for the others either.
Iruki had to install the remote control device for the holograms, and Nade had to service the core into which Shirone would pour his photon output. As everyone worked busily, the day grew dark, and midnight approached.
In the pitch-black darkness, all alone, Shirone's eyes flashed open. After five hours of running the numerical sequence, Shirone's mind was like a finely honed sword. A moment later, the door opened, and Nade's quiet voice drifted in.
“Shirone, it's time to go.”
Shirone stood up, looking unstoppable. And like a gladiator heading into the colosseum, he followed Nade out.
* * *
The core for the hologram devices was installed in the sewer running beneath the central park. About ten fiber optic cables extended from the massive device up to the surface, where they were split into hundreds of strands by a multi-adapter.
The operation involved a staggering 300 hologram devices. Shirone was amazed by Nade's mass production capabilities, but the pressure on him grew just as much.
Although he had succeeded in maintaining the photon output for ten minutes before, this was his first time doing it for real. No one knew what unexpected variables might arise.
With ten minutes left until midnight, Shirone walked over to a machine ten times larger than the prototype.
Nade handed him the input/output terminal with a grim expression, and Shirone gripped the crystal sphere with both hands. Iruki held a stopwatch and kept time. It couldn't be too early, nor too late. The holograms had to be activated at the exact moment the bell rang.
“Are you ready? We have to start now.”
Shirone took a deep breath and nodded. Iruki raised his right hand and watched the clock. When the time came, his hand dropped decisively. At the same time, Shirone's numerical sequence began to accelerate at an incredible speed. The power of the light erupting from his hands was incomparably stronger than before. His friends were amazed that he had managed to increase his photon output level this much in just a month.
‘More, stronger!’
The light source grew so large it seemed to swallow Shirone whole. Nade rushed to the core device to check the transmission efficiency. Seeing him frozen with a shocked expression, Iruki asked in frustration.
“How is it? What's the percentage?”
After a long silence, Nade spoke in a trembling voice.
“Seventeen percent.”
“What?”
It was a much lower figure than they had expected. What on earth had gone wrong? But there was no time to analyze it. If they didn't succeed now, everything would be over.
‘The radius is too wide. This is impossible.’
Shirone had sensed it the moment he began. As soon as he started channeling the photon output, a feeling of emptiness flooded his mind, like pouring water into a bottomless jar.
The information transmission efficiency of the fiber optic cables was 18 percent. Connecting them in parallel had drastically weakened the transmission power.
Shirone continued to output photons for several minutes. But no matter how hard he tried, the output efficiency wouldn't rise above 17 percent.
Iruki realized there was no point in trying any longer. If they activated the device in this state, most of the holograms would just shatter into fragments.
After five minutes, Nade managed a smile. Even though they had failed, he was proud of Shirone for reaching an impossible goal through tremendous effort. It was all his fault for designing it poorly.
“Shirone, that's enough. We did well. Let's stop here.”
Shirone didn't answer. To be honest, he was so angry he could die. Nade, Iruki, everyone in the Paranormal Research Society had worked together and given their all for this project.
And this was the end? Having to admit defeat with tears in their eyes when they hadn't accomplished anything yet.
‘After all we've done to get here.’
Shirone hardened his resolve and closed his eyes. He hadn't poured everything he had into it yet. The light source in his hands began to swell, gradually enveloping his entire body.
“N-No way!”
Nade realized what Shirone was thinking.
Immortal Function.
He was once again stepping into the forbidden realm where he could lose everything.
“Shirone! Stop! Don't do it!”
Nade and Iruki shook Shirone's body. But Shirone's mind, racing toward nirvana, was unfazed by such minor disturbances.
Shirone's light source had already swallowed him and was expanding outward. Thinking that something terrible would happen if this continued, Nade cried out with a tearful face.
“Shirone! Please stop! I can't lose you! We can give up on the society! Please, just stop!”
At Nade's voice, Shirone's eyes flashed open. Faint light was leaking from the eyes, nose, and mouth of Shirone, who was staring fiercely ahead.
“N-Nade...”
“Yeah, Shirone! Let's stop! Let's end it here!”
The corners of Shirone's mouth lifted slightly.
“I'm not... afraid anymore.”
The moment Shirone closed his eyes again, a massive light filled the tunnel. His mental energy began to spread out infinitely.
There was no stopping him now.
Nade and Iruki stumbled backward, their faces blank with shock. All they could do was pray desperately for Shirone's safe return.
In the realm of infinity, Shirone felt a familiar sensation.
The feeling of everything that made him who he was becoming meaningless. But this time, he did not forget his own existence.
‘I won't look away. I'll stare it right in the face.’
An unknown monster was flicking its tongue, about to swallow Shirone. Shirone recalled Armin's advice. Never look away. Armin himself had shown that possessing the key to infinity didn't mean one had to disappear.
‘I will overcome it. I will... subdue it.’
The monster's maw opened, revealing a black throat as it lunged at him. Even in that moment, Shirone didn't turn his head, staring fixedly into the darkness of its throat.
“Grrrraaaaaah!”
As his consciousness, which had been spreading out into the world, collided with the barrier of his Spirit Zone, a severe headache washed over him. He had caught it. Shirone gritted his teeth and endured. The overflowing energy that surpassed his limits was all channeled into the photon output.
“Shirone! Are you okay? Say something!”
“Check the output first!”
At Shirone's shout, Nade turned back to the core. Output efficiency: 22 percent. The efficiency, which hadn't budged by even 0.1 percent, had jumped by a whole 4 percent.
“Oh! It's going up, it's going up! Shirone!”
“Aaaaaaaah!”
Shirone focused even harder. The infinite mental energy flowing in through his Spirit Zone traveled down his arms and was injected into the crystal sphere.
Nade screamed. Output efficiency: 36 percent!
‘More! I need more power! More!’
His Spirit Zone trembled. Even with its strong durability, it couldn't block the surging mental energy. It felt like it was compressed hundreds of times and about to explode. His mind was on the verge of exploding.
“Aaaaaaaaaaaaaah!”
Output efficiency: 59 percent.
“Shirone! Just a little more! You can do it!”
Even the level-headed Iruki was screaming. The needle on the gauge began to swing wildly, as if caught in a storm.
Shirone transformed his Spirit Zone into a defensive form. He heard an auditory hallucination of the frame twisting and groaning as it tightened. The moment the force resisting the pressure and the resulting output power shot out through his hands, he felt a sense of deprivation, as if the world had turned off.
Output efficiency: 87 percent.
“Ugggggggh!”
His whole body trembled, and his brain shook violently. Shirone realized anew just how incredible a mage Armin was. Applying the power of infinity to reality was truly an insane act. One wrong move, and he could be crushed by a force even greater than that of entering nirvana, losing his life.
Shirone pushed all his mental energy into the only open outlets—the palms of his hands. Even though he had fully expanded the outlets, the power of the photons didn't diminish in the slightest.
Output efficiency: 100 percent.
“Aaaaaaaaaaaaaah!”
The moment Shirone squeezed out his last bit of strength, a red light on the core's lamp turned on.
Nade trembled before the absurd result. The ravenous monster that had barely registered 17 percent even with the power to sustain photon output for ten minutes was now screaming as if its belly would burst.
“We did it, we did it! Iruki, start it!”
Iruki, who had been watching in a daze, hastily grabbed the remote control device. As he pressed the button with a trembling hand, light shot up the lines to the surface. From there, it traveled through hundreds of fiber optic strands, spreading like a web across the entire academy.
Dong. Dong. Dong.
The bell tolling midnight rang out.
* * *
“Phew. It's already 12 o'clock. Time really flies.”
Maria, who had been studying in her dorm room, closed her book and stretched languidly.
A faint bell toll could be heard from outside the window.
Finding herself unconsciously thinking of the presentation, she quickly shook her head to clear the thought.
But the more she tried to forget, the more it bothered her.
Nade's words about ghouls appearing and eating people wouldn't leave her mind.
“Agh, what the heck? Why did I have to think of that?”
Shirone already knew that you didn't need to brainwash someone; just planting a keyword would make them imagine things on their own.
‘If you match the frequency of the soul, you can see ghosts?’
One thought led to another. Maria rubbed her arms, feeling a chill, and turned toward her bed. At the same time, her heart dropped. Her pupils trembled, and a powerful electric shock shot up her spine and struck her brain.
“Uh... uh...”
A rotting corpse was trudging around her room.
Maria couldn't stop her jaw from chattering.
A soldier with emaciated ribs showing turned to look at her, raised its arms, and began to approach.
“Aaaaaaaaaaaaaah!”
A scream so loud it shook the windows erupted. But there was no one to hear her voice. The same screams were echoing from every room down the hall.