The Truth of Heaven (Part 5)

Canis: "It's a double-lock mechanism!"

Harvest: "Exactly. He's indeed meticulous. I'll show you Arcane's memories now, so check them yourself."

Harvest's memories flowed in. It seemed Arcane had come to heaven with his comrades.

At some point, he ended up entering Igris alone.

Naturally, Eureka offered him a contract.

Arcane accepted the offer, wagering Igris's free access rights. Even back then, she was insane, so the moment the contract was sealed, she attacked Arcane.

Canis (internally): 'Master…'

Unlike Canis, who couldn't even lift a hand in battle, Arcane fought Eureka without faltering.

Canis (internally): 'How is he casting magic while having his words edited?'

Canis dug deeper into the memory.

The answer was as ingenious as Arcane himself. He used abyss magic to erase all his memories.

If thoughts disappeared, there were no concepts to sell.

But that wasn't all. Arcane began restoring morphemes, the smallest units of language, one by one.

He compared every possible combination of morphemes to the editor's reactions, trying to deduce the Mara's name.

At some point, as an almost infinite number of words were being assembled and disassembled, Eureka suddenly screamed.

Pale-faced, she flew away without looking back, fleeing to a place where Arcane wasn't.

The position where Arcane's linguistic roulette stopped was "Eureka."

Canis: "…Is this even possible? He combined tens of thousands of words in that short moment."

Harvest: "There are no limits to what can happen in the mind. Well, even so, you can't write a novel with it. It's mathematical. He laid down morphemes, created an algorithm, and spun the roulette. I guess his brain was still sharp when he was young. Anyway, just look at how he created me. He's a genius. If he hadn't been so obsessed with dark magic, he wouldn't have stayed a mere third-class mage."

Canis felt proud to be Arcane's disciple.

Moreover, the fact that he could defeat Eureka was thanks to the memo his master had left.

Eureka had probably hidden until Arcane left. During that time, Arcane must have gathered information about Eureka and recorded the serial number.

Arcane's final memory entered Canis's mind. A shiver ran down his spine as he realized the true reason for the double-lock mechanism.

Arcane was transmitting the location to his disciple through memory, not records.

Canis walked to the spot where Arcane had last stood. He mimicked his master's movements and reached out toward the panel.

Canis (internally): 'Thank you, Master.'

Of course, Arcane probably hadn't expected Canis to become his disciple. But the message he left for the junior who would arrive here was clear.

"Magician, become an eternal boy."

Canis pulled out the panel Arcane had designated and converted the language. He checked the sentence that appeared on the glass panel.

Canis: "The Book of Light and Darkness."

Canis flipped through the pages, scanning them quickly. One phrase caught his attention, and he stared at it intently.

Harvest placed a hand on his shoulder.

Harvest: "You've achieved your goal in heaven."

Canis: "No. I can't say that until we return safely. We still need to save Arin."

Harvest: "Right. What about the others? It's been quite a while."

Canis handed the panel to Harvest and headed to the central control device.

Canis: "It's about time for Rian to arrive. Copy the records for me. I'll try to disable the Mechan's System."

Harvest placed his palm on the glass panel and copied the text in its entirety. He memorized the vibration patterns as he flipped through the pages.

When Canis arrived at the central control device, he couldn't touch anything. Cold sweat dripped from his forehead.

Although he had figured out the principle by watching Eureka touch the screen, it was impossible to operate equipment he had never seen before like an expert.

Canis: "Damn it, why is this so complicated?"

Canis pressed random buttons. At worst, the device would just break, right?

At some point, a map of Zebul appeared.

When he touched the Great World Hall, the screen zoomed in, and numerous items lined up.

Entering the security system, he found the setting to disable the Mechan's System.

Canis didn't hesitate to select "Disable."

Several areas that had been shown as dotted lines on the map now appeared as solid lines.

Harvest: "Canis, I've saved all the records. Since I memorized them as patterns, I'll need to convert them into language when I have time."

Canis: "Good. I found something too. Looking at the map, there are portals to Igris in every area of Zebul. In other words, this place is the heart of Zebul. So if we take the portal in reverse, we can exit through the portal closest to the Great World Hall."

Canis and Harvest ran to the end of Igris.

It was fortunate that things had turned out well, but that didn't mean the situation had improved.

Arin was still there.

All they could do was hope Rian wouldn't be late.

Ikael's memories flooded into Shirone's subconscious in chunks. The timeline was jumbled, but it was too fast for him to feel any contradictions.

Shirone was shocked by the form of Ra that Ikael showed him. It was the pinnacle of grotesqueness. But the level of intellect it contained surpassed that of humans in the present world.

Ikael: "Even if parts change, the whole remains perfect."

Ra was the first intelligence to realize the existence of the universe.

RA: "The universe is something God discarded. No one even knows it exists! But I gave it meaning. Therefore, this universe is mine."

The first beings RA gave meaning to were the angels.

The first entity of causality branched into the second, and from there, they further divided into giants and fairies. They acted according to the laws, spreading Ra's will.

Ikael took Shirone to a world filled with countless creatures, but none of them could assign meaning.

A giant, two kilometers tall, arrived through a dimensional gate. When the giant stood, its face pierced the clouds, and mountain ranges lay below its waist.

Ikael also told Shirone about the giants.

The Elixir of Tales consisted of ten stages, and only giants who surpassed the sixth stage could depart to a new world.

The giant roared. Its body began to collapse, and blood and flesh rained down.

After a long time passed… humans began to appear one by one where the giant had fallen.

As humans built societies and developed civilizations, an angel visited and placed a child in a young girl's womb. One day, the child would become a Nephilim and lead people to heaven.

Over time, changes began to occur in human society.

Humans with the ability to assign meaning grew rapidly and eventually became intoxicated with their own power, distancing themselves from God.

Heaven's army descended and punished them.

The battle was one-sided. Heaven's power was overwhelming, and the angels and Maras destroyed countless civilizations.

Yet, humans stubbornly thrived and repeated the same mistakes.

Then one day, a group denying God appeared on an island called Galliant in the south.

The archangel Ikael personally intervened. With the power to activate the energy of all things, she amplified Galliant's volcanic activity over 20,000 times, causing an eruption.

Time flew by, and a world similar to the era Shirone lived in unfolded.

Humans were still thriving.

Deciding that blasphemy had reached its peak, Anke Ra finally resolved to annihilate humanity.

The final war. The end of the world.

Shirone watched the situation in heaven at that time.

A portal dozens of meters high opened, and before it, heaven's army, consisting of giants, fairies, and divine subjects, prepared to march.

In the sky, the vibrations of angels echoed, and on the ground, the roars of armored Maras resounded.

Shirone (internally): 'No! Absolutely not!'

Shirone screamed, forgetting that the scene before him was from the past. There was no way to win. If heaven's army entered, the world would end.

When the order to march was given, the massive army, led by angels, surged through the portal.

Shirone's consciousness followed them into the portal. Passing through a dazzling tunnel, he saw the exit.

His stomach churned with tension. This was a memory of the past.

But if that's the case, how did humans manage to stop heaven's army?

'There's no record of such a war in history.'

As the destination came into view, the Maras roared with fighting spirit. Shirone flew ahead of them. But the moment he reached the end of the portal, he froze.

What lay before him wasn't the original world.

It was a pale, empty space. And there, a woman stood.

It was Adrias Miro.

Miro: "Gephin, I will never forgive you."

Miro was crying. She clenched her fist and cast a spell as she glared at the army.

Then something astonishing happened. As if blocked by an invisible barrier, the leading Maras began to stop.

The angels looked at Miro in bewilderment. Meanwhile, the Maras pounded on the barrier, howling.

Maras: "You blasphemous creature! You'll pay for betraying Ra!"

Maras: "Remember this well, Miro! The apocalypse has only been postponed! When the time comes, we'll kill you first!"

Shirone realized the whole truth.

Miro had created another space-time between the hole connecting heaven and the human world, severing the connection.

That was… Miro's space-time.

From the group of angels, a burly man flew to the end of the portal.

It was the archangel Uriel.

Uriel: "How long do you think you can hold out like this? There's no way to avoid the final war. We will return. Use the little time you have left wisely."

Miro bit her lip until it bled. As the new space-time filled, the distance between them grew.

Uriel glared sharply at Miro before turning away. The angels began to return to heaven one by one.

But the Maras remained until the end, hurling curses. They screamed in despair until Miro's figure disappeared from view.

Shirone also drifted away with heaven's army. But he couldn't take his eyes off Miro.

He understood why the great mage Arcane had tried to keep the truth from the world, even at the cost of erasing his memories.

There had been a moment when humanity was on the brink of destruction.

And Miro, even now, remained in her own space, postponing the end of the world.