Chapter 14: “The God’s Bedding‚ or the Coffin of Light”
It was the happiest beginning of the end in this world.
God: “—Fulfill the contract.”
The great God’s voice made everything in the world tremble.
Yet to Erina’s ears‚ it did not arrive as a cold command.
Like a lullaby a mother quietly sings to a sleepless child in the depths of night.
Or like someone’s gentle humming heard on a distant day when nothing had yet been lost.
It resonated‚ soft beyond measure‚ like a loving mother’s hum.
Erina: “…Yes.”
Erina smiled.
She could no longer even clearly tell that the voice had come from her own lips.
At the bottom of the darkness into which she should have thrown herself‚ an invisible alabaster gate slowly opened.
The abyss that had yawned at her feet had vanished before she knew it.
Beyond it stretched an overwhelming torrent of light.
Gold‚ rose‚ pale blue‚ soft purple.
Particles of light‚ as if every flower in the world had been crushed into multicolored powdered snow‚ rose in countless numbers and filled the world.
Beyond the light‚ the spirits were singing.
—Congratulations.
You have been chosen.
You will save the world.
Their song could no longer be heard as clear words.
Yet it was exquisitely beautiful‚ and that alone was enough.
Erina took a step forward.
There stretched an endless path of light.
An eternal wedding road gleaming in gold and rose.
The hem of her white dress swayed in the soft wind of light.
At her breast‚ a bouquet too large to hold.
The phantom of those flowers that should have scattered on the real hill was cherished only by her soul.
Yellow‚ white‚ pale purple—she did not know their names‚ but they were very beautiful.
Erina: “…Pretty.”
She should have murmured it‚ yet her own voice did not vibrate her eardrums.
Sound was gradually receding.
The first thing to disappear was—“gravity.”
Softly.
Her body floated up just a little.
But she was not afraid.
She was not falling—she was being lifted by something large and warm.
A sensation as if a great divine hand gently wrapped her body and guided her straight to the heavens.
Erina: “…God.”
When she placed that name upon her lips‚ her chest oddly grew calm.
Next‚ Erina’s “thoughts” dissolved away like melting into water.
Words lost their meaning.
Flowers.
Sky.
Wind.
Happiness.
World.
Linking them together as concepts grew harder with every second.
Still‚ she was not afraid.
She no longer needed to think about anything.
She no longer needed to decide anything.
She no longer needed to worry about anything.
She only needed to walk this path of light to God.
That alone was enough.
A sweet fragrance rose from the bouquet at her breast.
Only that scent and the soft wind of light remained vivid.
And then—.
Someone’s voice.
Erina suddenly stopped walking.
Who was it?
She felt she had heard a very important voice.
A voice she seemed to have known for a long time‚ one that violently shook the empty depths of her chest.
It sounded sad‚ angry—desperately shouting something while covered in mud.
Erina: “…Who?”
The name would not come.
She could not recall the face.
Where they had met‚ what they had talked about—nothing at all.
And yet.
Why was it?
Something warm trailed down her cheek.
One drop.
Another drop.
Wetting her white cheek‚ spilling from the tip of her chin into the multicolored light.
Erina: “…Huh?”
Erina: Am I… crying?
She thought that.
Yet she was not sad.
There was no reason to be sad.
She was now the happiest person in the world.
She would go to God and save the world.
She would finish every role.
Nothing could be more wonderful.
So why was her body crying?
Erina did not understand.
There was no fear.
No sadness.
No loneliness.
The pain of losing someone‚ the pain of being left behind—everything had been cleanly pared away.
Only the tears remained.
Someone’s voice that should have been erased from her memory.
That boy’s anguished cry‚ whose name she could not even recall.
Only her body remembered it as a definite heat.
A faint tremor engraved in the deepest place of her soul—beyond even God’s scrutiny.
That alone became reasonless tears that continued to wet her white cheeks.
Erina: “…How strange.”
Erina smiled.
Not even sorrow lingered in that expression any longer.
There was only an infinitely gentle emptiness.
She walked.
Another step.
Yet another step.
The path of light stretched endlessly.
Far ahead‚ a gigantic magic circle pulsed.
So beautiful it existed nowhere else in the world‚ shining coldly in the silence.
She only needed to go there.
If she reached there‚ she could finish everything.
Before long‚ even the “sensation” of her skin peeled away from the world.
The feel of the dress’s lace against her skin‚ her fingertips‚ her lips‚ her hair.
She felt nothing.
The world itself was being reduced to mere waves of light.
The spirits’ song could no longer be heard.
Nor the sound of the wind.
Nor the birds’ voices.
Nor the murmur of the river.
Nothing at all remained.
A perfect silence of light.
In that absolute stillness‚ Erina smiled one last time.
Erina: “…Ah.”
It was not that she had remembered something.
Nor that she had regained someone’s name.
Simply‚ deep in her chest‚ a tiny warmth remained.
What it was‚ her intellect could no longer comprehend.
Yet as long as she held it‚ she felt—surely‚ it would be all right.
Erina: “Ah… God.”
Those became the last words the human named Erina left in this world.
Every sensation vanished from her body.
Thoughts dispersed‚ memories flaked away.
Even the name as a mere symbol completely melted into the multicolored light.
And yet.
There was one thing that did not disappear until the very end.
The reasonless tears.
Only the warmth of that single drop quietly proved that she had remained “human” until the last.
Before long‚ even the warmth of those tears melted into the light.
Erina’s consciousness slowly sank into a bottomless‚ eternal sleep.
I was happy—thinking that.
The girl who had been human.
Without anyone watching over her.
Without anyone embracing her.
Alone‚ she vanished into the coffin of light.
The human named Erina.
Here‚ beautifully.
Quietly.
Came to an end.
—Don’t be ridiculous.
It did not become a voice.
Only the seething rage boiling thickly at the bottom of my chest oozed out from the back of my throat as scorched breath.
I glared at the absolute darkness spreading before my eyes.
At the moment the fifth bell rang‚ Erina’s figure completely vanished from before me.
That multicolored flower field‚ the blue sky‚ the eerie song of the spirits—all of it had ceased as if it had been a lie.
What remained was—endless‚ pitch-black darkness.
It was uncertain whether even the ground existed beneath my feet.
Up and down‚ front and back‚ even the concept of distance were ambiguous—a phase of void completely severed from the physical laws of reality.
To my eyes‚ from which the visual bug had peeled away‚ this cold underside of the world appeared as nothing more than that.
Loui: “…Erina.”
I swallowed blood-tinged saliva and called out‚ but there was no reply.
Even when I strained my ears‚ all I could hear was my own ragged breathing.
Still‚ I tried to advance my mud-caked shoes forward.
One step.
Another step.
But—the surrounding scenery did not change in the slightest.
It was as if the world itself was deliberately concealing her coordinates of existence from me‚ the foreign element.
Loui: “Where are you…!”
I clenched my fists.
Deep in my chest‚ the worst premonition rapidly swelled.
She had not disappeared.
I had become unable to
Loui: “see”
the place where she was.
God’s settlement had entered its final stage‚ and access by a lower existence like me was being rejected.
The moment I intuited that—.
The thing I held tightly in my hand pulsed faintly like a heart.
Loui: “…This‚ is it.”
The feather of the Seraph entrusted to me by Sera.
From every strand of the silver-white plumage‚ fine particles of light spilled‚ seeping into the void as thin strings of light-text.
It was clearly on a different level from any magic formula I had ever analyzed in the Library Tower.
It was not old sorcery.
Something far deeper‚ far more fundamental—the massive “system description” that moved and maintained this world itself.
I held my breath and opened my Fourth-Order Analytical Eyes to their absolute limit.
Loui: “…I can see it.”
In the world of truth inverted into complete monochrome‚ light-letters rose for the first time upon the darkness itself.
One‚ two.
Before long countless points of light connected into geometric lines and expanded into a gigantic information structure.
It was neither the pillars of a temple nor a visible magic circle.
Something far larger‚ utterly cold—the “God’s Settlement Ledger” that managed every causality of this world through numbers and symbols.
I sharpened every nerve as a hacker and deciphered the strings of text racing through the void.
【CONTRACT TARGET】【Oracle Maiden — ERINA】
【CONTRACT STATUS】【FINAL SETTLEMENT — PENDING】
Loui: “…Settlement‚ pending?”
My throat clicked.
Below it‚ an even vaster column of data unfolded.
【ACCUMULATED CONSIDERATION】
【Sensation】【Memory】【Fear】【Happiness】【Personality Data】【Others — Contract-Specified Consideration】
My pupils dilated to their limit.
Loui: “…No.”
A trembling voice slipped out unbidden.
Loui: “So that’s what it was…!”
Everything that had been taken from Erina.
All the humanity she had lost at the bottom of the Baptistry.
They had not simply been cruelly erased.
They had not been discarded as garbage‚ nor pared away meaninglessly.
Everything had been—stocked in a temporary holding area for this final settlement.
The metaphor of “remittance” that Sera had spoken of that time pierced deep into my chest like a cold blade.
And further below.
I found one decisive numerical value.
【ESTIMATED VALUE】
【1‚000‚000 HUMAN SOULS】
Loui: “…………!”
My breathing completely stopped.
One million people.
Human souls equivalent to one million—.
Such immense value was collateralized upon the life of a single girl named Erina.
No—more precisely‚ that was not it.
Erina herself did not bear the sins of a million people.
The purity of her as an “innocent vessel” offered to God‚ when converted into the scale of human sin‚ was equivalent to the souls of one million people.
I glared at that cruel number floating in the void.
Loui: “…So this is the true form of what God sought.”
At last I completely understood the outline of this unreasonable world.
God did not hate Erina.
Nor did He wish to punish humans.
Still less was He maliciously devouring a sacrifice.
The system called God—was simply coldly fulfilling the initially set contract.
It was merely recovering the consideration stipulated by the contract in the most efficient and valuable form‚ accurately.
Loui: “…Haha.”
A dry self-mockery slipped out.
Far worse in quality than any tragedy I had deciphered in the Library Tower.
The sensations‚ memories‚ fears‚ happiness that had been continuously taken from Erina.
All of them would ultimately be concentrated into the enormous settlement asset called “soul.”
And now.
That final settlement was about to be executed.
【FINAL SETTLEMENT】
【SOUL — FULL RECOVERY】
【EXECUTION — IMMINENT】
Loui: “…!”
I clenched my molars hard enough to crack them.
I would not make it in time.
At this rate‚ in a few minutes—no‚ a few seconds—Erina’s soul would be completely recovered.
That meant the human named Erina herself would be completely erased from this world.
Loui: “…Then.”
I slowly raised my face.
It was still far too early to sink into despair.
Loui: “I’ll just forcibly rewrite that settlement process myself.”
As if responding to that arrogant will.
The Seraph’s feather in my hand flickered violently like a star’s twinkle.
At the same time‚ entirely new information intruded into my vision.
【AUDITOR AUTHORIZATION】
【VALID】
【ACCESS — GRANTED】
Loui: “…………”
I gasped.
Access had been granted.
Sera—that single feather she left me.
It was not merely a passport to the spirit realm.
It was the very “auditor’s master key” for invading God’s deepest domain and directly touching the settlement ledger.
Loui: “Sera-sensei…”
I murmured the name with piercing gratitude.
Caught between God and humans‚ she had entrusted me with the trump card to overturn this world.
Having obtained the master key‚ descriptions of even deeper layers opened.
In that abyss‚ information concerning my own “appraised value” floated up—only one piece.
【MAGIC VALUE】
【WORLD-SCALE】
I could not help but doubt my eyes.
Loui: “…World… scale?”
And further below.
【SPECIAL PROPERTY】
【LAW REWRITE】
【World Law — Authority to Alter and Overwrite】
Loui: “…………!”
My breathing stopped again.
At that moment.
The “secret pact” that Sera‚ with her six wings spread‚ had whispered into my ear in the dark rear corridor of the temple‚ revived vividly.
Loui: “—Your magical value is not one million people.”
Loui: “—It is one world.”
Loui: “…So that’s how it is.”
Deep in my chest—all the scattered foreshadowing quietly‚ and perfectly‚ assembled into a castle of logic.
Erina’s soul‚ equivalent to one million people.
Certainly an enormous value.
Far too vast and tragic a mass for a single human to bear.
Yet.
My value was fundamentally different in dimension.
My magic was not the sort of thing that could be quantified like gold coins.
One million‚ one hundred million.
It could not be measured by such simple scales of “number.”
What I held in my palm.
It was the “authority” to rewrite the very laws of this world.
In other words‚ in this gigantic marketplace called the world‚ I was not merely one customer.
I was—a bug-like singularity on the side that could alter the very rules of that marketplace.
Loui: “…Kuh‚ haha…!”
Unbidden‚ laughter welled up from the pit of my stomach in the darkness.
Was there such a ridiculous answer?
If God was an absolute system.
Then in that system there existed only one exception.
And that was—myself.
No‚ that was wrong.
Not myself.
Sera—the Seraph Sera.
Had appraised my existence as such.
Loui: “…You calculated everything from the very beginning‚ didn’t you.”
I tossed a dry yet somehow joyful voice toward the void.
There was no reply.
Only the Seraph’s feather shone faintly with pride.
Sera had not gambled.
She had accurately measured my value‚ the essence of the magic I possessed‚ with God’s scale.
And—she had formally approved it with auditor’s authority as an immense consideration that could be slammed onto the final transaction with God.
To save Erina’s soul‚ I would throw my own power to rewrite the world itself onto the scale.
Loui: “…I see.
A supreme legal hack.”
I laughed quietly‚ ferociously.
Though only minutes ago I should have been at the bottom of despair—that distorted smile no longer mixed even a speck of the color of defeat.
What floated there instead was the conviction of an invader far too insolent‚ who intended to outwit even God head-on.
Loui: “Then.”
I shot my gaze into the even deeper depths of the darkness.
Still‚ Erina’s figure was nowhere to be seen.
Nor could I visually confirm that abominable path of light she should be walking.
Yet.
Only the coordinates of her soul I had already captured vividly.
That soul was heading beyond this darkness—toward the core domain where God’s final settlement would be executed.
Loui: “Wait for me‚ Erina.”
I gripped the Seraph’s feather in my hand tightly‚ as if it were my very life.
Loui: “From now on—I will personally negotiate with God.”
With God’s system‚ with the great God Himself.
Staking the life of a single girl named Erina.
And—no matter what I myself might lose from this world.
I stepped forward without hesitation.
Toward the far side of the darkness.
Toward the coldest underside of the same world that to Erina appeared as a path of blessing light.
I advanced while exposing God’s ledger.
Whether what waited ahead was God or the end of the world—I no longer cared.
I had only one absolute “correct answer” I would never yield.
—Give Erina back to me.
Loui: “—Me‚ or Erina.”
Those words alone fell quietly into the endless darkness.
I raised my right hand high.
In my palm‚ the Seraph’s feather entrusted by Sera.
The plumage that should have been pure white was now stained with my blood and ink-mud‚ yet still continued to emit a faint light that would never vanish.
Loui: “Come—choose.”
There was no one.
No reply.
Yet I clearly understood.
In this place—it was here.
God.
Or rather‚ the gigantic system that governed this world‚ conveniently called by the symbol of God.
My insolent words of power.
My existence as a bug.
And—Erina’s soul awaiting settlement.
All of it was being coldly monitored.
I gripped the Seraph’s feather tightly.
At that moment‚ the world completely inverted.
The multicolored hues vanished.
Physical light vanished.
Sound ceased to exist.
From my vision‚ every color and ornament that a human brain could recognize was stripped away in an instant.
White and black.
Light and dark.
Existence’s “1” and non-existence’s “0.”
The world revealed its true form as a gigantic‚ inorganic monochrome information structure‚ different from any old magic formula I had ever deciphered.
Loui: “…This is.”
I gasped.
Loui: “The underside of the world…”
Before my eyes‚ countless threads of light flowed like a raging torrent.
One strand‚ another strand.
Then thousands‚ tens of thousands.
Each composed of complex and bizarre symbols and numbers‚ intertwining with one another‚ flowing as a great river of information into the far reaches of the darkness.
Not magic formulas.
Something far more fundamental.
The absolute description groups that determined every phenomenon existing in this world as
Loui: “being so.”
The reason fire burns.
The reason people live.
The reason a soul exists there.
The reason a thousand-year contract is fulfilled.
All of it flowed while burning my eyeballs as countless descriptions.
My Analytical Eyes heated beyond their limits and deciphered them at a furious speed.
Loui: “…Found it.”
Among the countless descriptions—only one.
A mass of text-strings radiating a cold brilliance clearly different from the others.
『SOUL_PAYMENT ＝ ERINA』
The final settlement execution command to hand Erina’s soul over to God.
The moment I saw that bloodless‚ tearless string of text‚ the depths of my chest burned as if scorched.
Loui: “…Here.”
I stretched out a fingertip.
Touched it.
At that moment—.
—GAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAT!!
The world itself emitted a hideous error noise that threatened to rupture eardrums.
Loui: “Guh… aah!”
A massive high-voltage current slammed directly from my fingertip into my brain marrow.
My vision was violently dyed warning red.
【ACCESS DENIED】
【AUTHORITY ERROR】
【INSUFFICIENT PERMISSION】
Loui: “…I know.”
I clenched my blood-seeping teeth.
Loui: “I knew that from the very beginning.”
If a human arbitrarily reaches into God’s domain‚ the system will reject them.
Of course.
That was precisely the absolute security specification of this world.
Then—.
I opened the right hand I had been gripping.
The Seraph’s feather in that palm began to radiate a dazzling silver-white light that seemed to slash through the world’s darkness.
【AUDITOR AUTHORITY】
【SERA (SERAPHIM)】
【VALID】
【ACCESS — GRANTED】
Loui: “—Thank you‚ Sera-sensei.”
At that moment‚ a decisive crack ran through the world of the system.
BAKIIIIIN—!!
The invisible barrier that had been rejecting me shattered with a sound.
The scarlet warning text-strings indicating rejection were overwritten one after another.
【ACCESS DENIED】—red.
Became.
【ACCESS GRANTED】—green.
Loui: “…I’m through.”
My ink-stained fingertip sank deep into the core of God’s system.
It felt exactly like thrusting a hand into freezing water.
But—I had decided from the start.
I would not
Loui: “erase”
the existing description.
I would not delete the command itself that recovered Erina’s soul.
The contract with God was absolute.
As I had learned at that altar‚ if I destroyed it from the foundation‚ the contract itself would become unfulfilled and the entire system would self-destruct.
If the contract collapsed—the consideration that should have been paid to God would reverse into unpaid status‚ and the interest on humanity’s original sin accumulated over thousands of years would reverse-flow into this world as a supreme calamity.
That would be meaningless.
To save Erina alone‚ to massacre the world.
That choice alone I would absolutely never make.
Loui: “I won’t erase it.”
I quietly murmured.
Loui: “I’ll use the rules you established exactly as they are.”
From my fingertip‚ pitch-black magic that could be called my very life flowed in.
A new description‚ one line.
Then another line beneath it.
And yet another line.
I forcibly added my ego to God’s perfect description.
Loui: “I won’t say erase Erina’s soul.”
Text-strings floated up.
『ERINA_SOUL』
Loui: “Nor will I say take my life.”
『LOUI_MAGIC_VALUE』
I stared straight at those two variables floating in the void and interposed a new conditional expression between them.
Loui: 『 IF 』
The world violently trembled.
『ERINA_SOUL』
Loui: 『 OR 』
『LOUI_MAGIC_VALUE』
Loui: “—Choose.”
I declared toward the invisible existence beyond the darkness.
Loui: “One of the two.”
My fingertips trembled finely.
It was not fear.
At this moment‚ my flesh‚ my survival instinct‚ correctly understood the desperately heavy mass of what I myself was about to place upon the scale.
My entire magic.
Value equivalent to one world.
To me it was not mere energy for sorcery.
What I had never released‚ even while nearly dying many times in the lonely tower.
Even while nearly breaking my mind many times.
Reading the principles of the world.
Doubting the principles of the world.
Rewriting the principles of the world.
That abnormal power itself was—the sole proof that I was myself.
That.
I was now about to offer entirely.
I laughed in self-mockery.
Loui: “And—”
I carved the final line with my entire existence at stake.
Loui: 『SELECT_HIGHER_VALUE』
Select the higher value—it was only that simple conditional expression.
Yet that single line would become a fatal “logical trap” for the God of this world.
Loui: “You obey the absolute contract.”
I declared toward the darkness.
Loui: “Then—obey this optimization condition as well‚ in order to completely fulfill the contract.”
The pitch-black text-strings I had added began to faintly shine as they assimilated into the system.
Loui: “If you calculate that Erina’s soul is more valuable to you‚”
I floated a distorted smile.
Loui: “Then take that.”
A beat of cruel silence.
Loui: “But.”
The smile completely vanished from my face.
Loui: “If you appraise my value as higher—”
I clenched my right hand so tightly that my nails dug into the flesh.
Loui: “Then take me.”
The moment I spoke those words‚ my fingertips trembled greatly.
Of course I was afraid.
If I lost all my magic‚ I might never again be able to decipher the principles of the world.
Even spinning magic‚ even the sole and final weapon I had gripped to remain myself.
Everything would vanish.
Even so—.
Loui: “…Fine.”
I laughed as if a possession had fallen away.
Loui: “I’ll give you all of it.”
I arrogantly stepped forward into the darkness.
Loui: “Whether it’s one world or whatever‚”
Another step.
Loui: “Something like that—”
I clearly declared to the world.
Loui: “I’ll shove it all down your throat.”
And.
I wrote the final execution command as if branding it onto my retinas.
『EXECUTE』
—Don.
From the abyss of the world‚ a gigantic low bass that seemed to snap space itself resounded.
Something completely meshed.
The gigantic gears of settlement that had never once gone awry for thousands of years.
For the first time.
Began to rotate on an entirely different orbit because of the single line of bug I had added.
【NEW CONDITION】
【ACCEPTED】
Loui: “…!”
I gasped.
It went through.
God—the system seeking more efficient recovery—had completely accepted the logical trap I had set.
Immediately after‚ the countless text-strings that had filled the world began to flow violently as a torrent of furious recalculation.
【RECALCULATING】
【VALUATION】
【ERINA_SOUL — 1‚000‚000 HUMAN SOULS】
【LOUI_MAGIC_VALUE — WORLD-SCALE】
A gigantic scale of light.
Revealed its divine outline within the absolute darkness.
On one pan—the mass of Erina’s soul.
On the other pan—the mass of my entire magic.
Gigigigigigi…!!
The scale began to tilt slowly with a heavy metallic sound.
I simply silently watched that decisive spectacle.
There was no longer any going back.
At this moment‚ I had placed my entire existence upon God’s settlement table.
To save just one person—her.
My power.
My future.
The very meaning of my existence—everything.
Loui: “Now—”
I quietly lifted the corners of my mouth and murmured.
Loui: “God.”
And—for the first time in this world‚ I thrust an insolent question straight at the great God.
Loui: “—Which do you want?”
At that moment.
The world itself began to reboot at furious speed in order to produce a single true answer.
—It was quiet.
Far too quiet.
The countless magic codes that until moments ago had violently filled my vision had abruptly ceased their flickering.
Thousands‚ tens of thousands.
The absolute description groups that constituted the world’s foundation should have been flowing as a great river of light into the far darkness—yet now everything was placed in complete stasis.
Space itself seemed frozen at absolute zero.
No wind.
No sound.
Not even time.
God was—calculating.
That was the only way to think of it.
I waited quietly‚ still gripping the blood-stained Seraph’s feather.
I had no intention of fleeing.
No intention of canceling.
I had already thrown my entire existence onto the scale.
Then all that remained was—to wait for God to deliver the appraisal.
Before long.
From the deepest bottom of the darkness‚ a heavy voice resounded.
God: “—Conditional branch‚ confirmed.”
Low‚ quiet‚ containing none of the emotions a human possesses—an absolute synthetic sound.
Not anger.
Not bewilderment.
Still less hatred toward me for attempting to rewrite the principles.
Simply coldly confirming the inputted facts—that was all.
I held my breath and listened to that judgment.
Loui: 『Contract conditions — verification』『Existing contract — valid』『New condition — valid (pass)』
My pupils faintly contracted.
Loui: “…It went through.”
The hoarse murmur did not vibrate anyone’s eardrums.
God had not rejected the abnormal description I had rewritten.
Or more precisely—He was correctly scrutinizing the optimization condition of “choose one of the two” that I had forced in‚ in accordance with God’s legal principles.
I tightly re-gripped my fist‚ from which blood oozed.
The voice resounded once more.
God: “—Target A.”
Text-strings floated up in the void of darkness.
【TARGET A】【Oracle Maiden — ERINA】
My heart pulsed painfully hard.
God: “—Target B.”
Then another.
【TARGET B】【Law-Alteration Authority Holder — LOUI】
I never averted my eyes.
And—.
Loui: 『Auditor authority — confirmed』
The Seraph’s feather in my hand radiated a dazzling white light that seemed to purify the world’s darkness.
【AUTHORITY — VALID】【AUDITOR — SERA】【VALUATION — VALID】
Sera—that absolute auditor authority the Seraph had left for me until the very end.
It was now formally approved before the great God.
I closed my eyelids just a little.
—Thank you‚ Sensei.
Without voicing it‚ I offered only a prayer in my heart.
Now I simply waited.
God’s ultimate appraisal of the scale was about to begin.
Somewhere in the world—or on the underside of this space itself.
Something imaginably gigantic activated.
—Goon.
A low sound that shook the pit of my stomach.
Then.
—Goon.
Once more.
It was as if the world itself was being remade into a gigantic “Scale of Light.”
In the center of my vision‚ two immense lights floated up.
One was Erina.
The five senses she had been robbed of at the bottom of the Baptistry.
Memories.
Fear.
Happiness.
And finally the remaining “soul.”
All of it had become one gigantic mass of light.
In the depths of that light‚ the prayers and despair of successive generations of maidens accumulated over hundreds and thousands of years overlapped with a hideous mass.
【ERINA_SOUL】【VALUE — 1‚000‚000 HUMAN SOULS】
The other opposing it was—myself.
【LOUI_MAGIC_VALUE】【VALUE — WORLD-SCALE】【SPECIAL PROPERTY — LAW REWRITE】
The authority to rewrite the very laws of the world.
A bug-like heterogeneous value that could interfere with the absolute principles of this world.
I quietly gazed at those two masses placed upon the scale.
It was strange.
There was no longer even a speck of fear.
Rather‚ I felt terribly calm and clear.
Having come this far‚ all that remained was to entrust everything to God’s system.
I quietly exhaled the hot breath remaining in my lungs.
At that moment‚ the gigantic scale of light moved.
Gigi… just a little.
And—stopped.
It was a long‚ endlessly long silence.
To me it felt like an hour‚ a day‚ an eternal respite.
Before long.
God’s absolute declaration shook the space.
God: “—Appraisal complete.”
I opened my Analytical Eyes wide.
Loui: 『Comparison targets — confirmed』『Target A — Oracle Maiden Erina』『Target B — Law-Alteration Authority Holder Loui』
For just an instant‚ all noise vanished from the world.
God: “—Target B‚ selected.”
Loui: “…!”
My voice would not come out.
Immediately after‚ my body was struck by an invisible great mass and spun high into the air.
Loui: “—Gu‚ aaaaaaaaaaaah!!”
Agonizing pain as if every cell in my body was being torn out one by one from the inside.
I thought my heart had ruptured.
Air vanished from my lungs.
Blood‚ bone marrow‚ nerve networks—everything deep in my body was simultaneously forced into hollow voids.
Loui: “—A‚ ga…!”
My knees collapsed ungracefully.
Before my eyes‚ I saw “something” being physically extracted from within me.
It was light.
Deep within my body—the gigantic source of magic that had existed since I first gained awareness and had become one with me.
It became a violent multicolored torrent that pierced through my chest and was sucked up into the dark heavens.
Loui: “…This is.”
While vomiting blood‚ my voice trembled.
Loui: “My… magic…”
One world.
Even that expression was now too light.
What had been inside me was not mere quantity of magic.
The power to read the principles of the world.
The power to convert phenomena into mathematical formulas.
The ability to reach out to the existing laws themselves and rewrite them at will.
The proof that I had lived as an Eternal Copyist until now.
The sole proof of existence I had gripped in order to keep advancing even while despairing and being wounded many times.
All of it.
Was being forcibly stripped from my body with a sound.
It hurt.
It was frightening.
I would no longer be myself.
I didn’t want to lose it—.
That thought lasted only an instant.
Yet.
I smiled with a blood-smeared face.
Loui: “…Fine.”
I twisted my convulsing lips and murmured.
Loui: “Take it all.”
I looked up at the multicolored-dyed darkness.
Loui: “I promised‚ didn’t I.”
And.
I released the name of the one I loved from my lips.
Loui: “If you’ll give her back—I’ll give you everything!!”
It was that moment.
A multicolored explosion mixing every color of this world covered my vision with a brightness like broad daylight.
Immediately after.
The final light completely drained from my flesh.
—It vanished.
From within me‚ the ability to rewrite the world.
Completely.
Leaving nothing behind.
And together with that multicolored flash‚ the very concept of “color” peeled away from my retinas with a ripping sound.
My body‚ having lost magic and light‚ had been reduced to a mere powerless human.
Loui: “…………”
While gasping in agony‚ I lay on the cold floor.
And yet.
Strangely‚ there was not a speck of regret.
Rather‚ a deep stillness I had never felt before filled the depths of my chest.
I had returned to being just one human.
I could no longer read the principles of the world.
I could not see God’s descriptions.
Nor the structure of magic.
Nor the future.
Nor the outlines of light.
I understood nothing at all.
Even so.
In my palm‚ only one resolve still remained.
Give Erina back to me.
That was all.
At that time.
God’s synthetic voice resounded once more inside my brain.
It was ever so slightly different from the inorganic tone until now.
God: “—Well done.”
Loui: “…Eh?”
I raised my face.
There was clear “will” in it.
Not anger.
Not ridicule.
Still less pity.
Simply a faint—respect from the absolute one toward a tiny human who had resisted to the end.
Something like that was certainly contained in God’s voice.
Loui: 『Without destroying the contract』『Without denying the contract』『Following the rules established by the contract』『Presented himself as a higher consideration』
A matter-of-fact system feedback.
Yet I understood that this was the highest evaluation from God.
God: “—Correct.”
That single word alone fell quietly into the darkness.
I said nothing.
I had not deceived God.
Nor had I overthrown God by force.
I had simply‚ within the rules God had decided.
Placed my own ego upon the scale God had presented.
And—God had selected my value.
Before long‚ the final text-string was engraved into my consciousness that should have been invisible.
【FINAL SETTLEMENT COMPLETE】
【TARGET — LOUI】
【PAYMENT — MAGIC VALUE (Full Recovery of Magic)】
Directly beneath it‚ a new processing command unfolded.
【ERINA — SOUL】
【STATUS — RETURN】
Loui: “…………!”
My eyes widened greatly in the darkness.
Loui: “Return…?”
At that moment.
The world—inverted.
At the bottom of the darkness‚ the countless lights of souls that had been sucked toward God’s abyss stopped dead.
And the next instant.
They began to reverse-flow with explosive force.
Loui: “—Wha…!”
A torrent of light.
Rushed upward toward me at furious speed.
It was the afterglow of everything that had been taken from Erina.
The memories pared away at that Baptistry.
Sensations.
Fear.
Happiness.
And—her own “soul.”
All the humanity that had been stored in the temporary holding area for God’s settlement until now.
Was being released one by one as countless grains of light from the bottom of the darkness.
As if spring‚ long buried in the winter soil‚ had finally found the place to which it should return.
Loui: “…Erina.”
I called the name in a trembling voice.
There was no reply.
She had not yet returned.
Yet—she would absolutely never be taken to God again.
The settlement target had been changed to me.
Erina’s soul had been returned to the present world.
From beyond the darkness‚ countless grains of light passed by my side and rose upward.
Thinking that each one was a form Erina had lost‚ I could do nothing but silently continue following that beautiful spectacle with my gaze‚ forgetting even my aching body.
Before long.
Beyond that torrent of light—far away‚ a single small white light blurred.
It had the shape of a person.
White.
Ephemeral.
A weak light that seemed ready to be blown out at any moment.
Even to my vision that had lost color‚ I understood painfully clearly who it was.
Loui: “…Erina.”
As if dragging my body that had become leaden from the complete loss of magic.
I took one step toward that single light.
This time for sure.
This time for sure—.
To reclaim her with these hands‚ having staked everything.
The end of everything was far too quiet.
For a moment I did not even know whether I was still tethered to the world of the living.
God’s cold declaration from moments ago‚ the error sounds of countless magic codes flowing madly‚ even the hideous residual echo of the fifth bell that had shaken the entire temple.
All of it had vanished as if it had been a lie.
Only‚ somewhere far away in the half-ruined temple that had returned to reality.
Potari.
The sound of a groundwater droplet boring into the cold stone floor echoed.
That was all.
I vaguely stared at my own right hand stained with mud.
I felt nothing.
That immense magic that had circulated through my whole body like blood had vanished without leaving a single drop.
Neither the Fourth Order‚ nor the ability to rewrite the world’s descriptions‚ nor the Seraph’s authority I had used to invade God’s system.
Nothing remained.
Inside me had become a mere hollow.
Yet—.
In both my arms there was a definite “weight.”
Terribly weak‚ only a slight warmth.
Even so‚ to the current me it felt like a truth more certain than any absolute law of this world.
Loui: “…Erina.”
I called the name in a hoarse voice.
There was no reply.
Timidly‚ I dropped my gaze into my arms.
White hair from which the pigment had drained.
Closed eyelids.
A slender naked body lying limply.
The girl who should have been taken into God’s domain and sunk into darkness just moments ago was now certainly in my arms.
Yet that naked body was far too quiet.
Loui: “…Erina.”
I called once more.
This time my voice trembled beyond concealment.
I gently touched a fingertip to her cheek.
Cold.
Yet—not a complete freeze like death.
Deep within‚ a faint heat of life remained.
As if confirming it‚ I slid my trembling fingertip from her cheek to her porcelain-like neck.
And a faint vibration was transmitted to the pad of my finger.
—Thump.
My breathing completely stopped.
Once more.
—Thump.
Faint‚ yet definite‚ the beating of a heart.
She was alive.
Loui: “…She’s alive.”
My voice grew hoarse.
Loui: “She’s alive…!”
I repeated the same words over and over.
Apart from that‚ I could find not a single word that could be spun from this world.
I pulled Erina’s body strongly to my chest as if embracing fragile glass.
Erina’s hair touched my cheek.
It was white as snow.
The previous beautiful color that had seemed to filter spring sunlight had not yet returned.
Yet now even that did not matter at all.
She was here.
That alone was enough.
I gently closed my eyes.
Deep in my chest‚ something collapsed with a sound.
What had been taut all this time.
What had continued glaring at the world with hatred.
What had continued resisting God’s principles—all of it quietly unraveled like ice melting.
In its place‚ a faint breathing sound reached my ears.
Suu.
Haa.
Erina’s quiet exhalation.
And my own ragged breath.
Suu.
Haa.
The two breaths deeply overlapped within the silence of the dark temple.
That was all.
We had not saved the world.
Nor overthrown God.
Simply‚ the two of us were alive.
Only that naked fact quietly existed there.
Loui: “…Ah.”
I exhaled deeply.
Loui: “This is… enough.”
I no longer needed anything else.
It was the moment I thought that.
In the corner of my vision‚ the remnant of the Analytical Eyes that had remained until the end faintly wavered.
【MAGIC ； 0】
I stared at that merciless declaration for a while.
Then smiled small as if a possession had fallen away.
Loui: “…I really became completely empty‚ huh.”
Strangely‚ no sorrow welled up.
I had thought I would sink deeper into despair.
I had thought I would tremble with unknown fear.
Yet lingering attachment to the loss of magic was nowhere to be found no matter where I searched.
The temperature breathing in my arms.
The breathing repeating by my ear.
My own heartbeat racing deep in my chest.
That alone was everything of the current me.
I braced my hand against the collapsed stone wall of the temple and tried to slowly stand.
—No‚ I could not stand‚ and ungracefully staggered with a thud.
My body had absolutely no strength.
With magic completely gone‚ the flesh I had forced to drive until now seemed to have finally recalled the limits of a human.
Loui: “…!”
Still desperately trailing along the wall‚ I looked up at the outside world through a gap in the collapsed stone wall.
Loui: “…”
Words would not come out.
There was the sky.
My retinas that had long been sunk in a monochrome abyss by the curse of the Fourth Order.
To those bare eyeballs from which the filter had completely peeled away‚ the real world rushed in for the first time.
An endlessly high‚ endlessly deep “blue” firmament.
Thin “white” clouds slowly drifted.
The vivid “green” of grass swaying in the wind.
And a small flower blooming as if nestled in a gap of the collapsed stone wall.
I gazed at that flower.
It was yellow.
Not the cold luminescence of a magic formula.
Nor a multicolored phantom overwritten by God’s blessing.
Simply bathed equally in the sunlight‚ growing there as a matter of course—genuine “yellow.”
Loui: “…Yellow.”
The word naturally spilled from my lips.
Until now I would have reflexively analyzed that color.
Reading the wavelength of light‚ scanning for magic reactions‚ searching for the world’s description that constituted the flower.
Yet now I saw nothing.
Nothing was displayed.
Simply‚ the yellow flower filled my vision far too vividly as merely a yellow flower.
Loui: “…It was this beautiful‚ huh.”
For a while I could not take my eyes from that flower.
Deep in my chest‚ something faintly ached.
It was not sadness.
Simply‚ I felt I had long overlooked something very important in the depths of the arrogant logic called magic.
Quietly‚ I gazed at my own two hands.
There was no magic.
I could rewrite nothing any longer‚ nor read God’s ledger.
I had returned to being a mere powerless human.
And yet—the sky was blue.
The grass was green.
The flower was yellow.
The world had not changed at all.
What had changed was me‚ who had cast off the arrogant shell called magic.
I quietly smiled.
Loui: “…I see.”
I had been mistaken all along.
Understanding the world was not rewriting the world.
Nor dominating the world.
Simply seeing the genuine colors that were there.
Feeling the temperature that was there.
Hearing someone’s breathing.
Admiring a flower and simply thinking it was pretty—.
It was that kind of ordinary thing.
Loui: “…Erina.”
I turned and called to her dozing in my arms.
Then her white eyelashes trembled just a little.
Erina: “…Nn…”
A small‚ unreliable exhalation.
And—slowly‚ those eyelids opened.
At first they somehow lacked focus.
Yet before long‚ those abyss-like eyes captured my face straight on.
Erina: “…Loui…?”
The moment I heard that name.
My throat clogged painfully‚ and I lost the next words.
Loui: “…Yeah.”
With all my effort‚ I returned only that.
Loui: “It’s me.”
Erina stared at my face for a while with a puzzled look.
Then she gently touched her own cheek with a fingertip.
Erina: “…Huh?”
Loui: “What’s wrong?”
Erina: “Am I… crying?”
She gazed puzzled at the transparent drop on her fingertip.
I could not answer anything.
It was the tears she had unconsciously continued shedding until the end even while everything was taken from her at the bottom of the Baptistry.
Even after losing the reason.
Even after having her memories pared away.
Still stubbornly remaining somewhere in her soul—an emotion without a name.
The afterglow of those tears still wet her porcelain-like cheeks.
Loui: “…Yeah.”
I quietly returned the words.
Loui: “You’re crying.”
Erina: “Why…?”
Loui: “I don’t know.”
Erina smiled softly with a slightly troubled look.
Erina: “Even though I’m not sad.”
Loui: “Yeah.”
Erina: “Why do tears come out‚ I wonder.”
Loui: “…I don’t know.”
I knelt on the floor and gently took Erina’s slender hand.
Warm.
I tightly intertwined those fingers with my own‚ stained with ink and mud.
Loui: “But.”
I showed an awkward smile.
Loui: “Isn’t it fine not to know?”
Erina: “…Is it okay?”
Loui: “Yeah.”
There was no longer any need to access the system and analyze.
Neither the composition of the tears‚ nor the logical cause of the emotion‚ nor even the reason for the racing heartbeat.
There was nowhere any need to reduce this naked miracle of her being alive into cold numbers.
At that time.
Erina’s gaze fell to a corner of the collapsed stone floor.
There‚ a single small flower quietly peeked out from a gap in the rubble.
Erina slowly raised her upper body‚ letting her white hair slide from her slender shoulders‚ and peered into that flower as if gently cupping it with both hands.
Erina: “Hey‚ Loui.”
Loui: “What?”
Erina murmured affectionately while gazing at the flower.
Erina: “This flower… was such a pretty ‘yellow‚’ wasn’t it.”
I looked at that flower.
To my eyes as well‚ it appeared as a dazzlingly vivid yellow.
Loui: “Yeah.”
I quietly nodded.
Loui: “…It’s really pretty.”
It was that moment.
In the corner of my vision‚ the final text-string that had remained faintly flickered.
【ERINA】【LIFE ； ACTIVE】【SOUL ； STABLE】【MEMORY ； RESTORED】
I gazed at that string.
Thought for just a little—then slowly closed my eyes.
Loui: “…That’s enough.”
I completely closed the Analytical Eyes of my own will.
The letters vanished.
The numbers‚ the symbols‚ even the omnipotent window for peering into the underside of the world.
Everything completely disappeared.
What remained was—.
The blue sky.
White clouds.
Green grass.
Yellow flowers.
And only Erina smiling beside me.
I looked up at the firmament once more.
There was no magic.
No ability to rewrite God’s principles.
Not even the power to weave miracles remained with me any longer.
Yet—the world was so filled with color and so beautiful.
Loui: “…Hey‚ Erina.”
To no one in particular‚ I muttered quietly.
Erina peered into my profile with a puzzled look.
Loui: “In that darkness‚ there was a scenery I saw.
There… besides you‚ there were countless girls.”
Hundreds of years‚ thousands of years.
The successive generations of Oracle Maidens who had unreasonably scattered their lives for the deception of this country’s peace.
Their voiceless prayers might have slightly shaken God’s system at the very end and pushed my back.
That fact remained in the depths of my chest as a heavy yet warm mass.
Loui: “In this country‚ the traces of their lives must be sleeping somewhere.”
I gripped Erina’s hand that I held even more tightly in return.
Loui: “Let’s go see them.
With those eyes of yours that are living.
…An endless journey to visit the proof that they lived.”
Erina’s deep eyes opened just a little‚ then narrowed softly like spring sunlight.
Erina: “Yeah… let’s go‚ Loui.
As far as we can.”
The two fingers intertwined tightly once more.
The boy who had lost the power to rewrite the world.
And the girl reclaimed from God’s hand.
The two of them were no longer special gears of the story.
Simply living.
Simply being beside each other.
That alone—powerless humans.
Yet that was fine.
Simply seeing the beautiful colors before their eyes‚ touching them‚ sensing them‚ holding the hand of someone precious.
That alone was enough.
A gentle wind blew in through a gap in the temple.
Riding that wind‚ a single yellow petal slowly rose and danced between the two of them.
And—.
Without being recorded in anyone’s ledger.
Without being analyzed by anyone’s eyes.
It quietly melted and vanished into the beautiful world overflowing with genuine color.
Chapter 14: “The God’s Bedding‚ or the Coffin of Light” — End
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