C101
Shirone felt as if he had been hit in the head with a hammer. It was plausible to believe that this place could be the afterlife, but meeting a god was a completely different matter.
"You're a god?"
"Can't you believe it?"
"Well, I didn't even know there was a god, and if there was, I didn't think they would be so human-like."
The woman smiled.
“Every creature has no choice but to resemble its creator. It is like any object made by humans inevitably contains human thoughts and forms. Plants, animals, mountains and seas all resemble God. But the degree is different. The standard is creativity. For example, a squirrel is more creative than a rock. In that sense, humans are quite similar to gods. And Shirone, among them, you are one of the most god-like people."
The woman reached out and stroked Shirone's face.
“Shirone. Would you like to create a world with me?"
Shirone was confused. Everything was too sudden and unfamiliar. Above all, the woman's words that this place was not the afterlife lingered in his mind. It might have given him a small hope.
"Is there no way to go back?"
The woman looked at Shirone in surprise and shook his head.
"Unfortunately, Shirone, there is no way to go back. Wasn't it your choice to finish your life? Do you want to go back now?"
"No, it's not that. It was definitely something I was prepared for, and if it wasn't for you, I wouldn't have come back to my senses like this. Oh, this... Can I call you like this?”
"Of course. God is just a concept. I don't have a name."
“Then may I ask you one more question?”
"Hehe, anything."
“Why are you lying?”
The woman's eyebrows narrowed. It felt as if the temple was trembling.
"God does not lie. No, God is a being that cannot lie."
If God is omnipotent, lying is impossible. It is because any statement can be changed to a fact. But Shirone read it in the woman's eyes. She was hiding something.
"When I asked if there was a way to go back, you said there wasn't. But that's not true."
"Whether there is a way to go back or not, since I said there isn't, there is no way to go back. That's the reason."
"That's a lie."
"You don't understand, Shirone. I said there is no way to go back. So you can't go back, never!"
"Then let me ask you again. Regardless of your will, what I want to hear is whether there is a way to return to the original world."
"There is no such way!"
“Another lie!”
The woman's shoulders twitched. Shirone didn't miss her reaction. As she panicked, the temple's landscape wavered as if submerged in water.
"Are you really a god?"
It was suspicious from the beginning. Of course, there is no reason why the form of God imagined by humans should be the real God, but even so, the woman's reactions were too human-like.
The woman nodded as if she knew something.
"Shirone. We have different concepts of God. That's why there was a misunderstanding. God is not as sublime as you think. It's just the designer of the world."
When the woman extended her hand, a glass ball floated above her palm. Inside the glass ball, there was a small village landscape with people standing sparsely.
"As you can see, I created this village. It's just a model, of course. But I can move people like this too."
The woman stuck her finger into the glass globe and moved a farmer who was feeding his horse to a nearby field.
"See, the farmer has moved. The change in space means I've given it time. Can you find any difference between this world and the one you lived in, Shirone? There is none. This is what being a god is like. I am now the god of this village."
The woman held out the glass ball in front of Shirone's eyes.
"In the end, a god is nothing more than a designer who can create a dimension one step lower than the one they inhabit. So why does a god feel like an absolute being? That's the fun part. This farmer will never be able to sense the force that moved him to the nearby field."
The woman pulled the glass globe back and supported it with both palms. As she spread her arms wide, the village expanded rapidly, covering the temple.
Shirone looked around. They had suddenly entered the village. The two stood facing each other at opposite ends of a narrow path. The other people remained motionless.
The woman approached the farmer who was tiling the field.
"This farmer doesn't know how incomplete my world is because he was born here. There's only one way to find out."
"The Immortal Function."
"That's right. The Immortal Function expands your senses to the whole. This village is contained within the glass globe. So it's not an exaggeration to say there's no world beyond the glass globe."
The woman put her hand on the farmer's shoulder. The farmer turned into light and enveloped the entire sky. In this state, the woman held out her fist, and the scenery shrank, enclosing the entire village back into the glass globe.
Shirone stared at the glass globe quietly, which was filled with light emanating from the farmer.
"This farmer expanded to the whole through the Immortal Function. But even so, he cannot perceive my existence. Shirone, this applies to you too."
Shirone felt a connection to the farmer's state. If the woman hadn't attempted the hijacking him, he too would have dispersed into meaningless light.
"What do you want from me? Knowing such a fact, what can I do?"
“This is it, Shirone.”
The woman placed the glass globe between her palms and pressed down. The globe shrank and condensed into a black dot.
"Spot….”
"Yes. This is the nature of the world we live in. The world you inhabit is also nothing more than a point. But when you enter it, there's a vast world inside. It's a spacetime matrix."
The woman showed it to Shirone directly. As the glass globe's scenery disappeared into a point, a new world was born. A world within a world, and another world within that…. Then, pressing her palms together, the glass globe vanished. Billions of worlds were extinguished in an instant.
"Please enter the spacetime I created. Create your own spacetime there. Then a perfect universe will be born."
For some reason, she seemed to desire innovation in her world. It wasn't an unwelcome suggestion. Becoming a god in another world in exchange for facing death seemed like an acceptable outcome. (Imagine being Isekai’d but became a god instead a hero.)
"I can't do that."
The woman asked as if she couldn't understand.
"Why? You have no reason or grounds to refuse."
"Because if I enter your space-time, I have to sacrifice someone like me again."
A fleeting sadness passed through the woman's eyes. However, the emotional change was brief, and she returned to a cold expression and spoke to Shirone.
"What does it matter? It's the world you created anyway."
“But you are not God.”
For the first time, hostility flashed in the woman's eyes.
"You are a human being living in the same world as me. The fact that you brought me here before I was completely dismantled is proof. Shouldn't you be outside the world if you are really God?"
The woman did not deny it. However, the outcome was not different.
“Shirone, you must follow my words. There is a purpose in calling you. If you want to refuse, you can go through the process of dismantling even now."
His mind was reconstructed with the woman's ability. So, it might be possible to reverse it freely. However, since there was even a little possibility of returning to the original world, Shirone had no intention of complying.
"I won't be disintregated."
The woman reached out to Shirone and cast the omnipotence of disintregated. However, Shirone was not disintregated. It was because he had already entered the Spirit Zone.
"You've solved another problem. An excellent choice."
The woman's arm came down slowly.
"Now I understand. The Spirit Zone was also a spot.
Spots could delve infinitely according to the principle of space-time matrix. It was the reason why Shirone, a spiritual body, could enter the Spirit Zone again.
"And this place is... your Spirit Zone."
Shirone concentrated the energy of light. The woman frowned in displeasure. The red glow emanating from Shirone's body was pressing her with a sinister energy.
Vajrapani (1)
The fifth day of Shirone's death.
All the students regained their memories. Especially, the children were confused. H However, they were also gifted individuals with outstanding mental strength, so the aftereffects were not as severe as expected.
But the real trouble began now.
The incident in which the school was taken over by monsters exposed the vulnerability of the security facility. Especially since the school operated a dormitory system, safety had to be considered a top priority.
The biggest problem was that there was a death among the students. Moreover, it was Arian Shirone, who was expected to be a promising student at the school.
At the request of Iruki and Nade, Shirone was in the infirmary rather than the mourning room. Common sense dictate that a funeral should be held, but the teachers were also in a delicate situation.
The student council had not yet made any moves to determine responsibility for Shirone's death.
In the end, they were planning a strategy to evade responsibility by turning Shirone into a wandering spirit.
Of course, there were quite a few teachers who felt a sense of guilt about this approach. They were currently gathered in the teacher's conference room, emphasizing the urgency of the situation.
"I insist that we hold Shirone's funeral immediately. We have to inform the undergraduate students as well. If we don't deal with this now, the school's policies will be criticized in the future."
"It's not an easy decision to make. If the news of a student's death spreads, the consequences will be enormous. We could lose the reputation we've built up in an instant."
"So, do we lie and say the dead student is alive? Eventually, the truth will come out! What the school needs to do now is to make a conscience statement. The issue isn't the reputation, but the fact that the school might have to close down."
"Don't you think I know that? Can't we just take a little more time to think about it?"
"Why don't you understand that delaying will only make things worse? Right now, the whereabouts of Arcane's disciples are also mysterious. Letting the criminals escape is also a fatal mistake. We need to take action now."
At present, the teachers who were postponing Shirone's funeral were divided into two groups. Those making political calculations wanted to buy as much time as possible to gain the students' sympathy.
On the other hand, there were teachers who really couldn't accept Shirone's death. Representatively, Ethella, Thad, and Sienna, who were directly involved in the scene at the time, were also in a position to doubt Shirone's death.
"Principal, please tell us! I heard that the student council will be convened today. Teachers need to take action as well."
The influence of the student council also contributed to the teachers' anxiety. If the students, who carried numerous families on their backs, started to accuse the school, it would be too late to act.
"I stand by my position to observe."
The majority of the teachers stood up.
"Principal!"
Alpheas understood their feelings. The more time they took, the more disadvantaged the school would be. However, he had something more important than the survival of the school. It was the exact state of Shirone.
Is Shirone dead?
It was too trivial an issue to bring up in a magic school, a symbol of intellect.
That's why he was more cautious. If the dead person wasn't Shirone, would they even have these doubts?
'I should think rationally. But I can't.'
Perhaps only Shirone was receiving special treatment. But even knowing that fact, Alpheas couldn't shake off the subtle feeling that lingered in the back of his mind.
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Tags:
Infinite Mage (Novel)
