Fragment of God

Fragment of God

‘Were 3rd Circle and below mages the direct casualties?’

While 4th Circle and above mages looked pale, they weren’t collapsing.

But the condition of Evan and Monggu, who had no magical power at all, was critical.

“Hey! Hey! Divine Mage! Coin! Evan says he needs the coin!”

It was Beatrice who came running, her face drained of color. She pointed at Evan who was convulsing on the floor, her eyes welling with tears.

A soft sensation touched my fingertips. Oh, I had unconsciously patted Beatrice’s head…

We aren’t even close… I thought briefly, but seeing Beatrice sniffling, that hardly seemed to matter.

“It’s alright.”

Thud!

[Muuul-!]

Instead of giving him the coin, I stamped my foot hard and moved my Circle.

With a splashing sound, the liquid that had been floating around the banquet hall came pouring down.

“Gasp! Huurgh!”

Monggu and Evan, who had been rolling their eyes back, took deep breaths and regained consciousness. The lower-ranked 3rd Circle mages who had collapsed were also gathering themselves up. Beatrice exclaimed in delight and rushed to Evan, while Pan-Dalus grabbed my sleeve firmly.

“Divine Mage! Is this…!”

“Yes. It’s the real great cataclysm. I’ve temporarily fixed the mana here, but… the whole world is probably in chaos. And even the measure I’ve taken is only temporary.”

“Could it be! Was that prediction really true?”

The Wizard of Extraction, Ak-hu, let out a groan from beside us.

Right. Even if they had joined us because they saw potential, they still couldn’t quite believe our persistent warnings about the great cataclysm. If even the Wizard of Illusion Hedric, who had lived with us for months, was rolling his eyes like that, how would newcomers feel?

“And we haven’t prepared countermeasures yet…”

Pan-Dalus looked devastated. Since discovering the water anomalies, he had been continuously searching for ways to control them, but progress had been minimal. Just as we were getting established and planning to focus on research, this disaster struck.

His eyes fixed on Monggu and Evan, who were still gasping for breath.

“At this rate… all of humanity except mages will be wiped out…”

That snapped me to attention.

Right. If Monggu and Evan were in this state, what about ordinary people?

Water makes up over 60 percent of the human body. And now that water had been transformed…

It really would be extinction.

-Administrators have measures for people living in their facilities.

Right. There is that solution, isn’t there? Thank you, cube.

“2038th Creation Factory! Manipulate the barriers of all connected facilities! Revert the mana of water within the barriers to its pre-transformation state!”

The main ego of the Waiting Stairs, officially named the Main Ego of the 2038th Creation Factory, responded promptly.

-Yes, Administrator. Implementing measures for all facilities within signal range immediately. …Measures complete. All facilities except thirty-seven have been successfully treated. Remote control of those thirty-seven facilities was impossible due to unknown causes.

Thirty-seven… Just as Refinement had his unique method of interfering with the system, other mage organizations must have similar talents.

Well… they’ll manage on their own. I can’t spare the energy to worry about them too.

“I’ve manipulated the barriers of each city and staircase to prevent damage.”

“Oh…! That’s fortunate! However…”

Pan-Dalus’s expression brightened momentarily before darkening again. I felt the same. We both couldn’t continue our words.

We had protected the staircases and cities. But…

What about the wilderness?

What about the 99 percent of the population living in the wilderness?

Would they all die?

I felt sick to my stomach.

Suddenly, the scent of prairie wind came to mind.

The voices of the adults from Sena School Nomad chatting around the campfire echoed vividly in my ears.

My hands trembled slightly.

Don’t get nervous. There’s nothing to gain from being anxious.

The thing we’ve been warning about has finally arrived, that’s all.

There must be some solution.

I desperately wished.

No way.

An ending where all those people die miserable deaths in a single cataclysm… that can’t possibly be right.

If only mages survive, magic itself will eventually regress. Resources will become scarce, and the number of mages will dwindle too. Even if we survive, our civilization would have to restart from a primitive age. Just like it’s happened so many times before!

Please…

Let me think.

[Simulation]

The whole world turned black.

I didn’t input any conditions.

In the pitch-black darkness where time had stopped, I contemplated alone.

How could I solve this problem?

Only a sense of defeat washed over me.

The outside world seemed so distant that I couldn’t even grasp what the problem was, let alone solve it.

No, think about it. How could an ant floating on the sea understand and stop a tsunami that would cover the entire world…

But immediately, indignation welled up.

Then what should I do? Watch everyone die? Stand by as humanity collapses again, only to restart in an even more wretched environment? Is this where we lose? Does my determination to climb to the top of the Tower and fix everything… break here already?

Still, there was no solution. Time passed relentlessly, yet I couldn’t bring myself to end the [Simulation]. If I stopped, the world would soon perish. Perhaps I would continue this torment alone until my magical power was completely depleted.

The situation was so bleak,

I wanted to pray to those bastards called gods.

Please help. This is something only you can do, isn’t it? Aren’t you supposed to be administrators?

Yes.

And that’s when the thought occurred to me.

It was a completely insane idea, but I had nowhere else to turn.

‘Yes. Gods!’

No matter how I looked at it, what we needed was a god. This was beyond human capability.

I know. The gods are all dead. But don’t we possess traces they left behind?

Traces more fundamental than magical power.

‘Gift.’

That power which is the most primitive magic one learns, yet more powerful than any spell. The very power that allowed a mere creation like me to access the ‘Akashic Record.’ The beginning of all miracles that led me to be recognized as the administrator of Arsenal #7 and even earn the favor of the Shadow Library.

The most vivid trace of gods engraved in our souls.

‘And if I were to name the person with the strongest Gift in the world… that is, the person who holds the largest fragment of a god, who else could it be but me?’

This is neither arrogance nor conceit. It’s me. No one else could do this.

I needed to find the fragment of a god sleeping in my soul. And explore ways to use its power… at least the possibility of expanding [Simulation] to a global scale.

To prevent extinction, what I needed to face wasn’t the overwhelmingly vast outside world, but rather the innermost point deep within myself.

[Simulation]

I activate Simulation again while already in a Simulation state. Nothing changes. Everything remains pitch-black, and I’m still alone.

[Simulation]

I keep adding simulation within simulation. I observe again and again the process of my Gift’s manifestation, which I had thought familiar.

What shape does the source of Gift hidden in my soul have?

What is it made of that enables [Simulation] and allows me to be recognized as an administrator?

What is the secret of this miracle, and how can I strengthen it?

Show me.

Your true form.

[Simulation]

Somehow, the darkness surrounding me seems to have deepened slightly. My body feels heavier, as if submerged in water.

[Simulation]

Huh? What is this faint light? Is it flowing from my chest? But… is it really light? It’s too dim…

[Simulation]

Drip.

Surprisingly, my nose starts bleeding. Ah, so repeatedly using [Simulation] within [Simulation] causes nosebleeds? I never knew that.

It means the burden on my body increases proportionally when [Simulation] is used consecutively… perhaps there’s a stacking effect?

[Simulation]

[Simulation]

[Simulation]

[…..]

Blurry swirls.

The blood flowing from my eyes and nose no longer falls to the ground but floats around me. Like diving to the bottom of an oceanic trench, the darkness grows darker, and despite the pain, my concentration intensifies.

The faint light emanating from my chest has now taken a distinct form.

The hidden structure of magical power generating mana from my soul is revealed.

Like ink applied to a seal, as the gray mana passes through the pure white magical power structure, it creates the pattern characteristic of [Simulation].

Ah… so this is the source of Gift. The trace of god left within me.

[Remarkable.]

Yes. It truly is remarkable. Now, let’s focus. I’ve found the source of Gift, so now I need to uncover its secrets!

[I never imagined you could peek into the dimensional fault where my consciousness is buried.]

“W-w-what!”

I jumped up in place.

Ouch. That hurts… Under the pressure bearing down from all directions, my body moves in slow motion, and blood gushes from some unseen wound, forming globules that float like weightless water.

Damn! Who is it? This is my Simulation space—I should be alone here!

[Kukuk. Humans are always amazed at things they already know. That’s your charm.]

The voice seemed to be coming from my chest area. The source of Gift. The intricately structured pure white magical power that was humming.

Wait, if that’s the case, then this is?

“You… are you a god?”

That question, which I barely managed to voice while swallowing nervously, was answered simply.

[You could say I’m a very tiny fragment.]

Ha! A god? Really a god? No, wait. He said he was a small fragment, so in the end, is he just a special type of magical power? How strange. Magical powers usually just mutter to themselves; they don’t have conversations.

[I’m different from those corpses. I am will, or rather, I’ll call myself a soul. Though scattered into countless tiny pieces, I am still the soul of who I once was. Of course I retain enough discernment to converse with humans.]

The sky-piercing pride evident in his voice seemed to prove his words true.

“So my hypotheses were correct…”

[Your conjecture that magical power is our corpse was quite accurate. I was impressed. Although you didn’t realize that fragments of soul exist too.]

“How could I have known gods have souls too? I thought you were complete, undivided beings.”

[At the root of all things lies the purest will. Something both strongest yet surprisingly vulnerable. Ironically, we immortal beings died because of a curse that destroyed the will itself. Well… that might be difficult for a human like you to understand. Still, you’ve done remarkably well for a human. That was possible because you carried me, after all.]

What? This guy… his manner of speaking is irritating.

“Someone who created the world like this has no right to act so proud…”

[Kuk. Kukuk. I apologize for that. I have no excuse.]

Hmm…

I need to ask for help, but I can’t control what comes out of my mouth.

Perhaps because I’m in a state of extreme immersion, my true thoughts bypass my brain and shoot straight out.

Fortunately, he took it in stride.

[It’s been so long since I’ve conversed; this is enjoyable. But since human consciousness cannot remain at the dimensional fault for long, I should get to the point.]

The source of Gift hums and emits pure white light in all directions. Finally coming to my senses, I realize that what’s bubbling all around me is my own red blood. My skin is cracking like a dried rice paddy, and large clots of blood are dropping from my nose and mouth.

When did I get into this state?

[Let me ask you.]

The tiny fragment of an ancient god lowers his voice solemnly.

[My name is Cheonmun (Sky Script). It was a revered name among us. If you help me, I can provide barriers across the entire world for the next year, at least ensuring no one dies from the water transformation.]

One year. It seems short, but it’s enough time to prepare some countermeasures.

“Really? Then of course…!”

[However.]

His voice drops even lower.

[If I do that, all fragments that barely survived the curse will be completely annihilated. An annihilation as if they never existed… You wouldn’t even remember the name Cheonmun.]

“Ah… so even god fragments don’t want to die?”

[It’s not about fearing annihilation. If we disappear, the true extinction of the world will be accelerated. I’m asking you: can you truly save the world? Is it more beneficial for this world to give you a chance now, even at the cost of sacrificing thousands of years of future? I want your answer.]

Ah, so that’s it.

Will the world face a slow but certain extinction over thousands of years? Or will we take a gamble on a slim possibility right now? Do I have confidence? That’s what he’s asking. If I don’t, he’s saying we should just accept extinction and fade from history.

The god whose face I’ve wanted so badly to see.

One of his tiny fragments dares to ask me such a question.

“Whatever I do, it’ll be better than what you all did.”

Oops. My true feelings slipped out again.