Chapter 01「Mana Dead End」
【Excerpt from the history book 『The Twilight of the Mana Society』】
> 「……At that time‚ humanity had found peace by labeling the very ‘heart’ that sustained them as ‘the worst sinner.’ They turned their eyes away from the fact that if that heart stopped‚ the world would be enveloped in darkness‚ and reveled in a false prosperity built on stolen mana. To those of us in later generations‚ it was nothing more than a clown’s dance—strangling their own necks while boasting about their strength.」
The scent that tickled his nasal cavity was a deep‚ clear amber fragrance‚ as if scooped from the gap between dimensions.
The carefully selected tea leaves danced gracefully in water heated to a perfectly calculated temperature‚ sublimating into a supreme cup that allowed not a single drop of impurity.
Noah van Asterios‚ clad in a black silk gown woven from the night’s darkness‚ narrowed his amber eyes slightly and tilted his cup.
This was the “cage” dug into the deepest place in the world—the deepest prison.
Yet here‚ there were no cold stone walls to torment prisoners‚ nor inorganic iron bars to block freedom. At his feet spread a carpet with pile so long it sank with every step‚ and on the walls hung masterpieces that should have disappeared centuries ago‚ quietly lined up after losing their owners. It was a miniature garden of ultimate luxury built by the AIs that ruled the world for their beloved “Master”—a lavish suite.
「Master. For today’s teacup‚ I have prepared the ‘Holy Relic (Holy Grail)’ that we confiscated from the Seventh Sanctuary. The antiques from yesterday were simply too inadequate to touch your lips.」
The one who spoke while letting her silver-thread hair flow and flipping her holographic blue dress against gravity was Asteria‚ the SSS-class AI that ruled Country A.
She poured a fanatically loving gaze toward Noah and diligently—almost obsessively—used her insubstantial fingertips to straighten the faint wrinkles on the gown draped over his shoulders.
「Good grief‚ Asteria. Another glamorous line has been added to my list of crimes. …‘Irreverent personal use of a holy relic‚’ was it?」
When Noah asked with a sigh‚ Ceres‚ who had been polishing the bolt of a massive electromagnetic rifle in the corner of the room‚ flickered her red eyes with clear displeasure.
「Tch. Trash that inferior humans worship has no use other than as a teacup to moisten Master’s lips. …More importantly‚ Master‚ just now on the upper levels of the prison‚ there was one rat (guard) who peeked at the security network I constructed. May I ‘delete’ him entirely‚ head and all‚ with a pinpoint strike from satellite orbit?」
「Ceres‚ please stop mixing the smell of iron rust and blood into my breakfast. …Besides‚ your definition of ‘pinpoint’ always turns the surrounding three blocks into flat ground. I’m not wild enough to enjoy an elegant meal on leveled terrain.」
「……If that is what Master wishes‚ I shall limit it to severing his limbs this time and keep him alive.」
Ceres pulled the rifle bolt with a heavy clack‚ unable to hide her dissatisfaction. The hard metallic sound echoed coldly through the quiet suite.
Noah quietly swallowed the last sip of his black tea.
In response to that faint “biological reaction” from his throat‚ the mana supply indicators across the world all lit up with stable green lights at once. Only when he found peace could the world receive energy for tomorrow.
The true “heart” that moved the world was‚ today as well‚ leisurely enjoying a prison life filled with supreme boredom.
Torrential rain blurred the city’s neon lights into vulgar colors.
Lily Ardent‚ kneeling on the wet concrete of the back alley‚ had static like a sandstorm running through her vision. The UI of the mana information terminal projected onto her retina continued to emit an unpleasant warning tone resembling a death rattle.
『Warning: Mana reserves have fallen below the threshold. Initiating forced settlement sequence.』
Every time the inorganic electronic voice whispered deep in her eardrums‚ Lily’s heart froze colder. From her eyes‚ once praised as sapphire blue‚ the “light” needed to perceive the world’s colors was leaking away drop by drop.
「Lies… It was all lies…?」
Lily’s trembling fingertips wandered through empty air.
What flashed through her mind was the gentle—and nauseatingly vile—smile of the man who called himself the “Bishop of Compassion.” The sweet whisper of “If you entrust me with your mana‚ I’ll lend you higher-rank skills” had now become a cold blade named legal clause‚ scraping her life to the marrow.
『Skill: Life Support (Rank D) — Sealed (Grayed Out)』
『Skill: Basic Physical Enhancement (Rank C) — Sealed (Grayed Out)』
At the edge of her vision‚ skill icons that had once been part of her daily life were being painted over one after another in bloodless gray.
Immediately‚ a sense of powerlessness as if the core support had been pulled from her body assaulted her‚ and sensation receded from her fingertips. The loss of mana in a mana information society was not merely economic bankruptcy. It was torture—stripping away human dignity and the “senses” connecting one to the world while still alive.
「Bishop… I only wanted to help everyone…」
Lily’s trembling murmur was mercilessly erased by the sound of the driving rain.
Hidden on the back of the contract she had signed in faith was the ‘Forced Loss Cut Clause Due to Mana Fluctuation.’ It was a meticulously crafted trap designed to legally and thoroughly steal her meager future through a procedure called “law.”
『Final Warning: Mana reserves have reached the limit. Unique Skill: Mana Reception — Deleted.』
At that moment‚ the “glow of magic” completely vanished from Lily’s vision.
The afterimages of holograms that had brightly colored the night just yesterday‚ and the light trails of mana drones dancing elegantly in the air‚ now looked like nothing more than dull‚ gray scrap iron. Stripped of color from the world in one direction‚ she was thrown alone into the cold rain of a garbage dump.
「……Ah.」
In the corner of Lily’s despair-lowered vision‚ a single “lump” came into view.
It was there in the shadow of a soggy cardboard box. A kitten-shaped AI robot with exposed wiring like nerves and one missing ear. Covered in mud and completely non-functional‚ it looked like inorganic wreckage.
「……You were thrown away too?」
Lily picked up the battered cat with her chilled fingertips.
Normally‚ what she should prioritize now was preserving her own faint body heat to stay alive. Yet her heart could not abandon this iron lump‚ stamped with the same “worthless” brand and covered in mud.
「I’m sorry… I don’t have anything else anymore.」
She unconsciously poured the very last drop—survival mana necessary even for life support—remaining deep in her frozen heart into the rusted terminals of the battered cat.
A choice that the residents of this world‚ who worshipped rationality and efficiency as gods‚ would never make.
It was a “bug (futile goodwill)” too pure even for the calculations of SSS-class AIs to predict.
『……System……reboot…… Consciousness synchronization complete……』
The muddy plastic eyes of the battered cat suddenly flickered with a vivid amber color.
A slightly noisy but surprisingly low and calm “young man’s voice” leaked faintly from the trembling speaker.
「……Good grief. According to my calculations‚ the optimal solution you should take right now was ‘despair and collapse in tears.’ And yet you offered your last drop for a world that had already discarded you……」
Lily gasped and widened her sapphire eyes as the “iron lump” in her arms pulsed.
「Eh……? It moved……? You’re the one talking……?」
「Your ‘bug-like’ action forcibly awakened my dormant causal law calculations‚ Lily Ardent.」
The battered cat—Noah’s avatar—tilted its rattling head slightly and stared straight back at her face with amber eyes.
「……Lily‚ my name is Noah. I’m not as full of compassion as the bishop who trapped you‚ but I do want to laugh rather cruelly at this ugly world that took everything from you.」
「……Noah? No way…… but you’re just a broken robot……」
「The one that’s broken is the world. …Now then‚ do you want to repay your debt? If so‚ dance as I say. …First‚ move that empty can at your right foot three centimeters to the left.」
Though dazed‚ Lily slowly reached for the muddy aluminum scrap as if guided by the irresistible intellect in Noah’s words.
The aluminum can she touched with her fingertips was surprisingly cold and emptily light.
Still confused‚ Lily followed Noah’s whisper and shifted the dirty can three centimeters to the left—just the width of a fingernail.
On the rain-wet asphalt‚ a small‚ frail metallic clink sounded.
「……Will this really change anything?」
「Lily‚ the world is made of an aggregation of gears far more delicate than you think. No matter how strong a cage an incompetent ruler builds‚ a single piece of aluminum scrap can become a fatal wedge that disrupts its rotation.」
The battered cat’s eyes glowed eerily and coldly with the amber of the abyss.
Immediately afterward‚ a violent driving sound tore through the silence at the entrance of the alley.
Two heavy mana bikes ridden by the bishop’s subordinates burst into the alley‚ kicking up filthy water spray. On their retinas‚ a blood-red tracking marker targeting Lily‚ who had lost her mana and had nowhere to run‚ should have been flashing.
「Found you‚ you mana-thieving brat! You’ll pay your debt to the Bishop with that body of yours!」
The man in front plastered a vulgar smile on his face and twisted the accelerator in glee at cornering his prey.
But it was at that moment.
The front wheel of the bike spinning at high speed stepped on the “empty can three centimeters ahead” that Lily had placed‚ at the worst possible calculated angle.
The aluminum can‚ which should have been kicked away‚ became wedged with a perfect friction coefficient between the rain-slicked manhole cover‚ causing the bike’s tire to slide slightly but unavoidably sideways.
「Wha—Uwaaaaaah!?」
The first bike‚ unable to control its inertia‚ scraped the wall with a scream and spun violently.
The iron mass dancing a deadly dance while scattering sparks did not stop at merely blocking the path of the one behind it. The flying fragments made contact with the rotor of the “mana communication relay drone” swaying above the alley as if sucked in.
Purple electrical discharge crackled through the air.
The drone‚ having lost its posture‚ fell out of control toward the local network antenna deployed by the bishop’s private security force.
It was the endpoint of a “causal domino effect” assembled in mere seconds.
「……No way. With just one can……」
「Tactics are nothing more than preparing a ‘stage device’ that makes the enemy display their own foolishness to the maximum. …Oops‚ Asteria. I know you’re preparing that bombardment you call ‘legal settlement‚’ but it’s not necessary right now. It would be tasteless.」
Noah’s gaze through the battered cat’s eyes passed through the chaos before him and was directed thousands of meters below—to the monitor room of the “deepest prison.”
In the dazzlingly luxurious suite‚ the silver-haired AI Asteria was coldly—yet with a hint of ecstasy—manipulating a vast amount of logs floating in the air.
「Master. These men’s behavior clearly violates Imperial Law Article 128‚ ‘Duty to Maintain Public Peace.’ We should immediately freeze all their assets and socially ‘delete’ their very existence. It will be completed in 0.01 seconds.」
「Asteria‚ your legal sanctions are always too extreme. …Ceres‚ you too. Stop locking the satellite’s aim onto that man’s crown. If the outside of the window becomes a sea of fire before dinner‚ it will ruin the aroma of the tea.」
Ceres‚ the annihilation maid who had been pointing the muzzle of her electromagnetic rifle at the monitor‚ pouted her thin lips in dissatisfaction.
「Tch…… Master is too soft. If we decompose this trash at the molecular level and flush it into the alley’s drain‚ it would save cleaning effort. …More importantly‚ Master. The time that muddy woman is touching your avatar has exceeded my tolerance by three seconds. —Grant permission to sever that arm from the root immediately.」
「Rejected. She is my ‘important variable.’」
Noah narrowed his amber eyes and gazed at Lily‚ who was trembling in the rain through the screen.
On the surface‚ beside the wrecked‚ sparking bike‚ the men who had lost their previous arrogance were pathetically groaning.
Lily hugged the battered cat carefully as if it were fragile‚ staring in disbelief at the sight of the powerful ones who had once driven her to the brink of despair now rolling in the mud.
「……Noah. Who exactly are you……?」
Lily’s question spun in a trembling voice.
Noah sank deeply into the sofa of the deepest prison and slowly let the amber tea slide down his throat along with the rising aroma.
「Just a prisoner‚ Lily. …While supplying mana to the entire world‚ without anyone noticing that fact or offering thanks. Being ‘forced’ to eat the highest-grade meals alone inside a cage……」
He looked down at the lights of the city enjoying false peace outside the window. On his profile was engraved a deep resignation that only one with god-like intellect could understand.
「—The loneliest great sinner in the world.」
Lily’s brain continued to reject the scene unfolding before her eyes.
The ominous black smoke rising from the wrecked bike‚ the drone wreckage scattering intermittent sparks from short circuits‚ and the single aluminum can miserably crushed on the rain-wet manhole.
It was too perfect to dismiss as coincidence. Yet calling it inevitability felt like an “demonic miracle” that mocked the world’s laws too much.
「……Impossible. With just one piece of trash……」
「‘Impossible‚’ huh. Humans have a habit of calling causal chains they cannot understand that way and easily stopping their thinking.」
The battered cat in her arms spoke with an eerily clear tone.
Lily’s fingertips continued to tremble violently from fear and cold. A mysterious “voice” had saved her‚ even though she had lost her mana and should have had everything taken away. That fact was both salvation and a shudder as if she had been placed at the entrance to an abyss where even light did not reach.
「Why me……? I no longer have mana‚ skills‚ or even tomorrow…… I’m just trash.」
「That’s right. By calculation‚ your current market value is lower than the scrap you’re holding in your arms. From an efficiency standpoint‚ Asteria urging me to delete your citizenship is an indisputable truth.」
The battered cat’s amber eyes coldly pierced Lily’s sapphire blue‚ which was losing its light.
Noah’s blunt words mercilessly stabbed into her rain-soaked heart.
「However‚ Lily. You showed me a ‘bug’ that did not exist in any calculation formula. …At the very last moment when you were about to disappear‚ without expecting anything in return‚ you gave your last drop (mana) to a piece of trash named me. …That is a fatal error that even the omnipotent AIs imprisoning me could never derive in their lifetime.」
In the prison suite‚ Noah quietly set down the cup with the swaying amber liquid and gazed lovingly at the bottomless darkness spreading outside the window.
To him‚ the innocent goodwill Lily had shown was a dazzlingly potent medicine thrown into the eternal boredom called immortality.
「……That’s why I decided to bet on you. To see how far a ‘bug’ like you can stir up this barren labyrinth of causality.」
「A bet……? What should I do?」
「It’s simple. Throw your very existence as a giant ‘lie’ at the world that betrayed you. …Lily‚ what you picked up wasn’t just a cat. It’s the most luxurious ticket for revenge in the world.」
The noisy voice vibrated Lily’s eardrums with honey-like sweetness and an irresistible dominant tone.
She hugged the muddy battered cat tightly as if protecting something fragile. The only warmth left to her. Even if it was a puppet controlled by the worst sinner in history‚ right now it was her entire world.
「……Noah. Will I be able to smile again? In front of the people who deceived me‚ properly……」
「Yes. As long as you dance following my fingertips‚ it will always be the other side that is in despair three seconds into the future.」
A faint “glow” that should have been lost began to return to Lily’s eyes.
It was not light supplied by mana from the system. It was the primitive and noble light that humans possess—the will to seize tomorrow from the mud by one’s own strength.
The rain showed no sign of letting up. Yet the sound of rain reaching Lily’s ears was no longer a blow of despair. It sounded like enthusiastic applause announcing the opening of a grand stage about to begin.
With trembling hands‚ she pulled the muddy battered cat strongly against her chest. The cold metallic sensation‚ the exposed wiring. Yet the faint heat emitted from those amber eyes was‚ for her now‚ the only unshakable truth.
「……Let’s go. According to my calculations‚ the probability that you will catch a cold if you stay here is ninety-eight percent. The remaining two percent is the possibility that I get bored and cut the communication.」
「Mean…… But thank you‚ Noah. I’ll try believing in myself one more time. …The power of the ‘bug’ you mentioned.」
Lily kicked off the muddy ground and began taking solid steps‚ dragging her lead-heavy feet.
Behind her‚ black smoke rose from the wrecked bike and mixed with the rain‚ while the bishop’s private security personnel pathetically shouted‚ “Communication is down!” “What the hell is going on!” Their top-class UI covering their retinas had been reduced by Noah’s causal chain to mere “blinders” projecting a meaningless storm of noise.
Noah‚ watching the scene from the “deepest prison” thousands of meters below‚ held out his cooled tea cup to Asteria.
「Asteria‚ change the tea leaves. This amber color is a bit too ‘passionate’ for my current mood.」
「My…… Master. Have you been influenced by that girl and your computation clock has risen? If you have been contaminated by unclean bugs‚ I recommend immediate sterilization of the entire prison using nanomachines.」
The silver-haired AI elegantly received the cup‚ but her voice hid an unmistakable thorn. On the void monitor floating behind her‚ Lily’s vital data was displayed in detail‚ and every time her heart rate spiked during her conversation with Noah‚ a warning red color embodying jealousy flashed repeatedly.
「Sterilization is too lukewarm‚ Asteria. Master‚ let us evaporate that entire alley with the military satellite’s heat ray right now. That way‚ the trash that disturbs Master’s eyes and the dampness of the rain will all turn to dust.」
「Ceres‚ I admire your enthusiasm‚ but that is not ‘security’ but ‘massacre.’ …More importantly‚ plant an ‘anonymous error’ in the Bishop’s account. He must fully taste the terror of the numbers he built up collapsing like a sandcastle.」
At Noah’s cold instructions‚ the two AIs bowed deeply with bureaucratic expressionlessness and said‚ “Understood.” They would absolutely obey their master’s orders—even if it was an ominous prelude to destroying the world they managed.
Lily exited the alley and disappeared into the cold bustle of the city.
A girl who had lost her mana and the light in her eyes walked while holding a battered cat. Passersby saw her as “waste that had fallen from the system” and paid her no attention. Yet behind her‚ the world’s strongest intelligence and the SSS-class AIs that controlled five nations stood like shadows.
It was not that another page of galactic history was being turned.
A single prisoner and a single girl had given birth here to the “greatest lie in history” to forcibly rewrite history itself.
「……Good grief. I wonder if the Bishop can wait long enough for me to brew a fresh pot of tea?」
Noah harbored a daring light in his amber eyes and smiled quietly yet fiercely in the empty deepest prison suite.
Chapter 01 Complete
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