Chapter 99
Chapter 99
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 99
Chapter Title: To Infinity (3)
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‘Foolish… So foolish…!’
He had approached me first, offered me coffee, yet I had callously pushed his hand away. Amy squeezed her eyes shut, as if to block out the scenes steeped in regret. Then, with all her might, she screamed.
“Shirone!”
Shirone smiled. He was glad Amy had regained her memories. At least in his final moments, he could depart as the Shirone who remained in someone's memory.
“Thank you, Amy.”
Shirone's tears fell onto Amy's cheek.
‘Why are you crying, Shirone?’
Amy was anxious. Something was wrong. Then, the moment she saw the will to live gradually fading from Shirone's eyes, she realized.
“Shirone! No!”
“I'm sorry. For not keeping my promise.”
Hugging Amy, Shirone fully unleashed his Immortal Function. His consciousness expanded to infinity, his sense of self beginning to dilute like ink in water.
‘Goodbye, everyone…’
Father, Mother, the Ogent family, my friends at school. Having received the love of so many, Shirone could smile. A colossal light filled the space below the cliff. The falling students, Iruki, Nade, and even Thadd were engulfed in the radiance and vanished.
The next moment, a massive flash of light shot up vertically.
It was a Mass Teleport, moving a staggering 400 people at once.
‘Ah, so that's how it is.’
Lying on the ground, Arcane watched the flash of light that soared above the cliff disperse into dozens of streams. Only in his final moments did he finally understand. Where he had been. And what a wonderful life he had lived.
‘It's a playground you could spend a lifetime in and still want more. Isn't that right, Alpheas?’
And so, the legendary grand mage who had once taken the world by storm departed from it.
“Master?”
Before Arcane's body, Canis stood stunned. Wasn't he his disciple? Yet, he had left without even a final word, doing only what he wanted until the very end.
“Were we really nothing to you? Were we just tools?”
Canis ran to Arcane and shook him by the collar.
“Get up! How could you do this! It should have been me who died! Why did you leave me all alone!”
Arin approached Canis with sad eyes. Reflected in her Super Gaze, his form was that of a person made of a murky liquid. The figure was never still, constantly spreading out like a fluid and then rising back into a human shape.
“It's not your fault, Canis. He didn't die because of you. That man used us. He was a villain of the highest order.”
“Kekeke, what do you mean it's not? Looks like you've finally realized.”
Harvest said in a gravelly voice.
“That's right, Canis. They all died because of you. Arcane, me, and someday, Arin will die too.”
Arin, who had been glaring at Harvest, quickly turned her head to Canis. As expected, he was in shock; his human form collapsed, dissolving into a puddle of liquid that clung to the ground.
“Why? What did I do? Because I survived in Radum? Because I'm just an unlucky bastard?”
“Because you're weak.”
Harvest's conclusion was simple.
“How long are you going to live just hoping for others to acknowledge you? There's no such thing as 'I must live for this reason' or 'I must die for that reason.' Arcane simply lived his own life and then passed on.”
Arcane gave his life as the price for upholding his evil creed. Harvest fulfilled his contract as a magical creature, even choosing to self-destruct.
‘And I… what was I trying to die for?’
He couldn't find a single reason. He was nothing more than a blindfolded colt, running wild. His life had been made of nothing but empty shells.
“Like Master…”
“Yes, and like that boy.”
In the center of the 400 sprawled-out students, Shirone lay collapsed. He had said he wouldn't let anyone get hurt. And he had upheld that conviction to the very end.
Canis approached Harvest and checked his condition.
“How are you?”
“How am I? I'm dying. I can't live unless I'm parasitic on a living being.”
Arin said.
"You can form a master-servant contract with me. Canis has exhausted his mental energy; he won't be able to handle it."
Harvest shook his head.
“I'm sorry, but I can't do that.”
“What? Why not? You'll just perish at this rate!”
“Because my master is Canis.”
Harvest's words pierced Canis's heart. It was time for him to raise the banner of his own conviction. Could he endure it? A single misstep, and they would both lose their lives.
“Harvest. I will accept you as my subordinate. But I will not forgive a second betrayal.”
“Kekeke. I'll serve you well, Master.”
“Canis! It's too dangerous! If something goes wrong…!”
Arin stopped speaking. Mud was seeping into Canis's liquid form, solidifying it. Would he one day be able to attain an unshakable heart? Like the image of Shirone she had seen with her Super Gaze.
Canis placed his hand on Harvest. As the subordination contract proceeded, Harvest began to drain what little life force he had left. His consciousness sank into darkness, and his eyes slowly closed.
Away from Canis's group, Alpheas stood grimly. He had narrowly saved the students, but the losses were far too great.
“Headmaster.”
Etella felt the same. From this day forward, the magic academy would undergo a great change. The students who regained their memories would be thrown into chaos, and the mistake Alpheas had made 40 years ago would come to light.
“Etella, I am a sinner.”
“Don't blame yourself too much. If life is so unforgiving that it cannot tolerate even a single mistake, then human existence itself is a sin.”
Alpheas shook his head. Anyone can make mistakes. But every action has its consequences. Like Arcane, he had no intention of running away.
“He was the one who elevated dark magic to the ranks of grand magic. Harvest can be called an innovation in the field of memory transfer. Abyss Nova will be registered as a standard spell with the Magic Association.”
Before Arcane's body, Alpheas clasped his hands and mourned his death.
“Grand Mage Arcane, who was always a boy at heart. The path of magic you walked will be carried on by future generations.”
When Alpheas opened his eyes, he seemed relieved. Etella, on the other hand, was still worried. An incident where the entire student body's lives were threatened was not something that could be handled internally.
“Headmaster, what are your plans for the future?”
“What is there to say? I am merely awaiting my own judgment. Let's leave the matter of punishment to the experts and instead praise today's hero, shall we?”
Alpheas looked around, searching for Shirone. The more he saw of the boy, the more he realized his talent for surprising people. Even he couldn't say for sure if he could teleport 400 people at once.
“Something's wrong!”
Where Shirone lay collapsed, Amy was on the verge of tears.
Sensing the grave atmosphere, Alpheas and Etella quickened their pace. In the distance, Iruki and Nade were running toward them.
But before they could arrive, Amy screamed.
“Shirone isn't breathing!”
*Meeting God (1)*
Shirone expanded, growing vast and faint. Forgetting even his lingering attachments to the world, he was seeping into everything. Then, a powerful force pulled him into a single point. If humans possessed something beyond life, this event could well be called a hijacking of the soul.
“Gasp! Gasp!”
As Shirone's consciousness was reassembled, his memories from before he attempted the Immortal Function returned. He shuddered for a moment at the fear of death, then let out ragged breaths as he checked his condition. Other than being naked, there seemed to be nothing particularly wrong.
“Where am I?”
It was a space filled with white. In this place where a monochrome landscape stretched out infinitely, it was impossible to perceive distance. He tried walking slowly, but it didn't even feel like he was moving forward.
‘This is very strange. It feels like all my senses are paralyzed.’
Shirone suddenly had a peculiar thought. As an experiment, he slowly bent his knees and then stepped forward as if climbing stairs. To his surprise, his body floated up.
“Huh?”
Shirone climbed the endless stairs. He stopped for a moment to look around and was left speechless.
“...”
He didn't feel like he had climbed to a higher place. No matter where he moved, the scenery remained the same white landscape as before.
“There's no distance.”
If it cannot be measured, space cannot be established. To test his hypothesis, Shirone tried going down this time. His guess was correct. No matter which way he moved, he wasn't actually going anywhere.
Just as he had lost all reason to move, he heard a woman's voice.
“Impressive. To see through the meaning of this space. You truly are worthy of being here.”
Shirone didn't turn around. In this place, the concept of direction didn't even exist.
“Who are you? Am I dead?”
A beautiful woman walked out from a crack in the white landscape. As a sense of distance was created, the scenery changed in an instant. A colossal temple, larger than anything he had ever seen in his life, looked down on Shirone as if to crush him.
“Whoa…”
The scale was beyond imagination. Not even the ancient temples were this large. Hundreds of pillars supported the ceiling, each one approximately two kilometers tall.
“Where in the world is this…?”
“Welcome, Shirone. I've been waiting for you.”
She was a woman with aquamarine hair that flowed down to her ankles. Shirone had never seen such a beautiful woman in his life. It wasn't a matter of appearance. It was her existential value. Just as a man in love sees his partner as the most beautiful person in the world, her value here was absolute.
“Ah!”
Shirone hurriedly covered himself. He had been standing there confidently, completely unaware that he was naked.
“Huhu. There's no need to be shy. This isn't your world. Your body is still in its original world.”
The woman waved her hand, and in an instant, clothes appeared on him. Shirone stared blankly at his new attire before finally giving up. Only one question came to mind.
“Is this the afterlife?”
“No. It's not the afterlife. It's just a different 'spot' from where you lived.”
Shirone tilted his head. A spot, or a point, is one-dimensional, with no space. A point moves to become a line, a line moves to become a plane, and a plane moves to finally become a three-dimensional space.
“Could it be…?”
Shirone recalled the white space he had just been in.
“That's right. That is a spot. It's not that there is no space, but that it is infinitely compressed.”
If what she said was true, it was natural that he couldn't perceive distance. However, even if he was trapped in one dimension, his body was three-dimensional. If he could measure the distance between his right and left arms, didn't that mean space existed?
“Aha. So a three-dimensional object exists within a one-dimensional space.”
“Your insight is truly remarkable. That's right. That is the essence of spacetime. No matter how vast a world is, from a distance, it's nothing more than a mere point. Conversely, no matter how small a point is, if you enter it, an infinite world unfolds.”
Shirone was finally able to calm down. If this was a world where logical conversation was possible, then even if it was the afterlife, there was no need to be afraid.
“Then who are you?”
The woman smiled vacantly. It was an eerie feeling, but to Shirone, even that was beautiful. Because she was the most valuable existence in this place.
“I am a god.”
* * *
The magic academy was in a state of chaos.
It took a full eight hours just to recover Arcane's body and return the students to their dormitories.
The students were still lying in their respective rooms, their memories blocked. The process would gain momentum once the faculty regained their memories, but the thought of the uproar that would occur when the entire student body came to their senses was a headache.
To make matters worse, the suspects of the incident, Canis and Arin, had also vanished, leaving only Nade, Iruki, and Amy to look after Shirone, who had been moved to the infirmary.
In truth, "looking after" was not the right term. Shirone wasn't breathing, and his heart had stopped. But no one dared to speak the word "death."