Fruit of Myth (3)
Immediately after sparks flared in the air.
Lightning struck the empty ground.
Bzzzzzt—! Rumble!
Beyond the sparks that leapt up noisily amid the sound of high-voltage current.
As though he had been there all along, a figure kneeling on one knee with one hand planted on the ground let out a valiant cry.
“I have arrived! The lightning that burns away evil—Lightning Surfer!”
A man in a combat suit that blended metal armor and spandex fiber in perfect harmony, giving off a distinctive charm as though he had leapt out of a game rather than reality, struck a stylish pose and delivered his line.
His practiced, disciplined movements, and the dazzling flashes of lightning that supported them, were so spectacular that no one could help but have their gaze stolen by them.
“To dare threaten the peace of the sacred Pantheon! So long as I, the guardian of California—Lightning Surfer, am here, you shall never—”
“Ah, another one came.”
“Mister, the situation’s already over.”
But, rendering all that carefully prepared theatrics meaningless, the people around him merely glanced his way once and shook their heads.
Their reaction was as if there was nothing particularly special about it anymore.
After all, the same thing had already happened several times.
“……”
Amid that subtle atmosphere, the hero who had been holding his pose alone, Lightning Surfer, cautiously looked around.
There were quite a few people present here as well, but all of them seemed too busy moving about and cleaning up the chaotic scene to pay him any mind.
“Ahem, hm! It is fortunate that there does not seem to have been any major damage. I came as soon as I received the request for support, but as there was some distance involved…”
“Ah! Are you a hero who came to help us? Thank you for coming all this way.”
Just as he awkwardly straightened himself and kept clearing his throat, muttering excuses to himself that no one was listening to.
A priestess who had been passing by with hurried steps approached him and spoke with a gentle smile.
“Though the incident was resolved more quickly than expected, we will be sure not to forget that you came in response to our request and will compensate you accordingly. On that note, may I ask your name?”
“Ah! I’m called Lightning Surfer…”
“Sir Lightning Surfer! Yes, I’ll make sure to pass it along to the administrative department. Thank you once again for coming such a long way.”
After quickly writing down his name, she smiled brightly again.
This, too, was an important part of her work.
Although things had unexpectedly been resolved smoothly this time, there was no guarantee the next time would be the same.
Only by doing this would it be easier to borrow their hands when something truly required help, would it not?
Heinrich, who had been watching that scene through the window from his lodgings, let out a short sigh.
‘Not only the Association’s Guardians, but even the Awakened and heroes affiliated with the state of California came running right away like this. It seems the Pantheon has built up quite a lot of goodwill in the meantime. Well, there’s nothing bad about maintaining good relations with priests.’
Right after everything ended, the committee seemed to want to speak with him, but he was not in the mood for that now, so he had put it off until later and was spending time alone.
He still needed some more room to organize his thoughts.
‘For now, I suppose it’s safe to say matters here are more or less wrapped up. In truth, the reason things escalated was entirely because of Joker and the shadow of the god he summoned, so it’s only natural.’
This incident left many scars on the Pantheon.
Fortunately, among those who had been swept up in the blackish-purple smoke at the beginning, there were not many who had suffered damage beyond recovery.
Most of them showed severe symptoms of mental contamination, but in the Pantheon, overflowing with priests who could administer emergency treatment quickly, it was not to the point that nothing could be done.
The problem was the very cause of this situation.
The existence of traitors lurking inside the Pantheon, and Pandemonium’s terror attack that occurred in the process of discovering and arresting them.
That was a variable more than sufficient to create ripples in the solidarity of the Pantheon, which had been formed within the single fence of a religious alliance.
‘Since the shadow of an evil god appeared from within the Pantheon, it can’t be helped. Of course, that doesn’t mean the alliance will fall apart immediately, but for a while, the denominations will inevitably reduce their external activities, tighten control within their own houses, and move passively.’
Somehow or another, things had been resolved well, but this incident was by no means something that could be glossed over lightly.
And amid that swirling chaos, there was one person who had drawn the attention of everyone belonging to the Pantheon.
“…Well, I suppose it might not be such a bad result for me?”
The angel of another world who had single-handedly repelled the shadow of the evil god that attacked the Pantheon and brought this situation to an end.
Saint Heinrich Saint Landguard.
‘Unintentionally, this has become an opportunity to impress upon them once again how dangerous those bastards are. And thanks to this incident, my voice has grown stronger as well, so if I guide the Pantheon to keep the Buncheon Society in check…’
Heinrich, who had been following that train of thought, flinched.
The moment he thought of the Buncheon Society, his mind suddenly grew complicated once more.
It could not be helped.
After all, it had not been long since he had seen that incomprehensible vision of the future.
‘Just dealing with those bastards is already enough to make my head split… They called it the Fruit of Myth, didn’t they? Just what is it that it showed me something like that?’
What was even more frustrating was that, though he had clearly seen an enormous amount, very little actually remained in his mind.
As though his memories had been locked away with a padlock because he was not yet qualified.
Heinrich, who had been silently looking down at his hand, clenched his fist tightly.
After becoming an angel, even the muscle mass in his arms had been sharply reduced, but the strength dwelling within them had, if anything, grown even greater than before.
He gathered holy power into his tightly clenched fist and focused his mind on whatever lay beyond it.
A long while passed like that.
“…As expected, it doesn’t work.”
He opened his eyes with a short breath, rubbed his neck, and twisted his head from side to side.
Immediately after the light that burst out when the “Fruit of Myth” shattered had washed over his entire body.
He had realized that something of unknown identity had mixed into the seed of divinity within him.
Even the individual information window merely displayed it as 「???」, so he could not learn any detailed information.
He had just tried to bring it out again, but no matter how hard he tried, that unknown energy remained lodged deep within the seed of divinity and showed no intention of budging.
‘The vision I saw back then was definitely caused by this energy. Did I perhaps awaken some kind of future sight ability?’
Whatever it was, he had thought that if he used that power, he might be able to reproduce what he had seen before one more time.
In the end, Heinrich gave up on that attempt and began analyzing the situation more realistically.
Setting everything else aside, he decided to first clearly go over the things that came to mind.
‘Was what I saw then truly Earth’s future?’
That was the first thing he had to examine.
The future within the vision he had seen.
Unlike the flourishing present, it had been the sight of Earth after everything had collapsed and perished.
‘The possibility that it was simply a world resembling Earth is… No, no. That was definitely Earth.’
The language written on signboards and the surrounding environment were secondary issues.
The moment he faced the scenery of that world, he had simply known instinctively.
That it was undoubtedly Earth.
‘Why? Why did Earth end up like that?’
He could not remember at all what had caused its destruction.
All that remained clear was that, like the Devor dimension that had been completely occupied by demons… no, like the Kosiyas dimension where he had picked up Lamu, everything had been devastated and become a dead world.
But even with that alone, what he had to do was as good as already decided.
‘…It seems I have more work to do. I don’t know about anything else, but I absolutely can’t leave Earth to end up like that.’
Earth was the land where he had to live, and it was no different from his base where all infrastructure was concentrated.
Had he not been able to move as he pleased until now precisely because his main body was holed up in a safe place on Earth?
“I’ll need to move more actively. Yes, shall I start with the Pantheon first?”
As he still did not know exactly when that time of destruction would come.
If he wanted to prepare for the worst, he needed to move immediately, even if it meant pushing himself a little.
‘The Pantheon, being an alliance, can’t be completely controlled like other organizations…’
Still, it was also true that it was too valuable to simply leave alone like this.
Just as the forces he had gathered under him until now had been of great help in resolving this incident, there was no telling when the Pantheon might provide some decisive assistance.
‘And since there happened to be a suitable opportunity this time, I could call this perfect timing.’
Heinrich, who had been quietly lost in thought, rose from his seat.
Once he had made a decision, there was no time to hesitate.
He strode forward, opened the door, and went outside.
Wriggle—
As he left the room, a strange change occurred in the halo hanging behind his head.
A subtle yet violent movement, as if something were trying to break out of an egg.
That small tremor in the gentle radiance disappeared completely before Heinrich could even notice it.
As if waiting for the time that would soon come.
***
A space of nothingness, so white that it went beyond white, where even the concept of color did not exist.
At its center, the Buncheon Society Leader, who had been floating silently, slowly opened his eyes.
As many things had happened in this cycle as well, he had thought he could brush off most surprises as nothing remarkable.
However, even for someone like him, this matter was something he could never simply let pass.
“The Fruit of Myth…”
One of the arrangements he had poured considerable effort into among the plans he had established for his grand design, something he had prepared for over twenty years, had just collapsed.
There had been many failures until now, but this one was especially painful.
“…This is troublesome.”
He had prepared it because, in its own way, it was the best method, but now that things had turned out like this, he had no choice but to move on to the second-best plan.
And if that happened, humanity’s survival rate would inevitably drop by about ten percent from his initial estimate.
‘First, I need to identify the cause.’
The Fruit of Myth was one of the important fertilizers that would be used to sprout mystery on Earth.
Naturally, he had paid special attention to its security, and he had also established a separate safety net apart from Joker, who had been entrusted with overall responsibility for the Pantheon side.
‘And yet…’
And yet.
The results he confirmed after connecting to the outside made even him frown.
—“I have no excuse, Leader.”
He had already expected that Oracle would not have foreseen it in advance.
Now that an adversary who had escaped the world’s causality had begun acting in earnest, there were limits to what she, who was diametrically opposed to him, could do.
Even so, her prophetic ability, which had played a decisive role in growing the organization to its current size, and her insight, which had practically led the organization in place of the Leader, who was busy roaming various dimensions, and Doctor, who paid no attention to anything outside his own interests, had not gone anywhere.
He knew well that no one was always perfect.
Even he himself was not.
Was that not why an organization was necessary—to compensate for one another’s shortcomings?
—“Since a little while ago, I have been unable to connect with Doctor. It seems…”
The real problem began after that.
They had lost contact with Doctor, who oversaw all emergency communication networks, including the secret network.
If it had merely been a loss of contact, it would not have mattered.
Hadn’t the automated system of the 「Deus Ex Machina」 that he had separately built handled everything when Doctor had been absent for a long time due to the aftereffects of his resurrection not long ago?
But this time, the situation was different from back then.
—“It seems he was hit rather viciously. According to our urgent investigation, the entire system itself was wiped out…”
The person who investigated it was someone who prided himself on being counted among the best in this field, but even he ultimately failed to discover what had happened to Doctor.
He could only speculate that Doctor had been caught off guard and attacked by a special virus unlike anything they had ever seen before.
‘What a coincidence.’
First Oracle, and now Doctor as well.
Joker, who had infiltrated the Pantheon, had concealed his identity even from fellow members of the Buncheon Society, so whenever something had to be carried out, the secret communication network prepared by Doctor was essential.
But if, while all contact had been severed at once, he had been exposed to such an extreme situation as having his identity suddenly revealed…
‘A mere coincidence? Or else… the world’s counterforce?’
His expression twisted at the feeling that every current in the world was turning against him.
This was exactly why he had been so excessively cautious until now.
‘I’d better assume the worst.’
After hearing the additional information from Oracle, his transcendent insight reached a single conclusion.
His intuition, which had already stepped into the realm of the divine, added certainty to it.
‘The flow of the world has gone awry. Another adversary has been born on Earth.’
An adversary.
They were beings who had always blocked the path of the Leader, who had traveled back through time, whenever he tried to change the fate of the world.
At times, it was with prophetic power that seemed to see through everything in the world.
At times, it was with overwhelming technology that no one could have anticipated.
If not that, then it was with dreadful violence capable of stopping even time itself.
Each and every encounter with them had been a succession of pain and hardship.
But the Leader had never given up to the end, no matter the situation.
Making the most of his abilities, he had somehow found a way through, used it to surpass the adversaries, and moved forward.
In that process, the stronger the Leader became, the more sharply the adversaries’ level rose as well, but thanks to the “subordinates” he had obtained along the way, he had somehow managed to advance toward his goal.
‘After stepping into the realm of divinity, I thought it was all over now…’
It seemed things had no intention of ending that easily.
The Buncheon Society Leader exhaled softly and closed his eyes.
He simply had not found it yet; this time, too, there would surely be a way out somewhere.
The scenery of a ruined Earth flashed through his mind.
No matter what obstruction blocked his path, he had no intention of ever giving up.
Just as he always had.