Chapter 202: Together Under Heaven — Part Eight
This feeling… it's a little different from omnipotence. My senses are sharpened… no, that's not it either. My thoughts are incredibly smooth. Yes, right now, my mind is as clear as some deus ex machina detective character in a mystery novel. Whatever riddle stands in my way, it's no match for me.
Sunraku: "Alright, let's destroy it."
Akitsu Akane: "Can we think about this a little more?!"
The throne room. Our Team Fugutaiten had finally discovered the object called the "Cornerstone" mentioned in the diary of the former king—or perhaps queen—said to be located at the throne. I'd been absolutely certain it would be something like a lump of flesh with human faces and arms growing out of it, stretching toward us with pleading eyes, whispering "Kill me… kill me…" But that expectation (?) was betrayed. Seated upon the throne set at the highest tier of this space… it existed.
Sunraku: "A human-shaped… crystal?"
Akitsu Akane: "It looks like it would sell for a lot!"
Rust: "…Akitsu Akane, read the room."
Akitsu Akane: "Yes, sorry, Rust-san!"
Sunraku: "No, but seriously, if we actually sold this, how much would it—ow!?"
Kicking someone in the ankle with your toe—what are you, a demon, Rust?! Damn it… Well, whatever. More importantly, this must be the so-called "Cornerstone." But what bothers me is that it's taken a humanoid form. Since the word "monument" appeared in the diary, it wouldn't be strange for there to be a stone tablet with inscriptions carved somewhere…
Akitsu Akane: "Sunraku-san! There are letters on the back of the chair! But I can't read them!!"
Sunraku: "Alright, that pretty much solves it. Let's break it!"
Emul: "Sunraku-san, your thought process has gotten way too linear, wa!?"
No, actually, destruction really is the quickest solution—that's not exactly wrong, you know? Searching for a key to a locked wooden door? It's faster to just destroy the door. Hell, you could even smash through the wall. There was even a game that touted its freedom of choice, but was so free that you could just punch through the walls of the final dungeon, ignore all the gimmicks, and go straight to the boss.
Rust: "…I don't really get it, but Sunraku's turned into a wreck, so we'll think for ourselves."
Psyger-0: "A-ahaha… But, this is an incredibly intricately crafted crystal statue, isn't it…"
Sunraku: "…………"
This is a fact that only I… no, only Emul and I know. This human figure made of crystal… I've seen it before. Strictly speaking, I don't know exactly "who" this crystal humanoid is, but even rendered in crystal, the design of its clothing is familiar.
(If I remember right, "Setsuna of Bygone Days" wore similar clothes…)
Who is this? At this point, it doesn't really matter who. But what kind of person was the woman who served as the model for this? Damn, there's too little information—even with a clear thought process, I can't seem to derive an answer. I guess breaking it really is the only…
Sunraku: "Still, that's a pretty damn gorgeous crystal statue."
Rust: "………Well, yeah. The eyes look like rubies."
Sunraku: "So this isn't a necklace—it's gems embedded in the shape of a necklace. And that's a diamond with a really distinctive cut… Hm?"
Rust: "…………"
Sunraku: "…………"
For a moment, Rust and I exchange glances. And then, confirming through that crossed gaze that we're both thinking the exact same thing, we nod to each other and begin to act without a moment's hesitation.
Rust: "………Hup."
Sunraku: "Hah!"
Rust's two fingers thrust into the eyes of the crystal woman, carved with a serene expression. My hand seizes the gem—emitting a transparent radiance distinct from the crystal, what appears to be a cross-shaped diamond—embedded right around the center of the crystal woman's collarbone. As everyone freezes at this sudden act of violence, Rust, who had been gouging her fingers in, pops out the ruby eyes of the crystal woman. I tear off every last gem embedded in the shape of the necklace.
Mold: "Wha—wha, wha—Rust?!"
Psyger-0: "Uh, um… Sunraku…san?"
Sunraku: "The transfer of royal authority—in a symbolic rather than political sense—what would you say is the thing that makes a king a king?"
Rust: "…And, as a bonus, placing the key to opening the real door in a different location is a fundamental rule of gaming."
When you think of the "King" job, what's the first thing that comes to mind? Obtain the information in the castle's office, and acquire the key needed to unlock the Cornerstone in the throne room on the top floor. Isn't that a truly game-like arrangement of elements? And these gems—neither too large nor too small—seem perfectly suited to fill in what's missing.
Sunraku: "According to the diary, the transfer of royal authority was conducted between the former king and the 'Cornerstone,' which was created based on the throne. If the correct answer is to reverse that…"
Psyger-0: "Ah… the restoration of the lost royal authority…!"
Exactly, Rei-shi. That shabby crown, with its sockets so obviously screaming "Please set gems into me." The brilliance of royal authority was transferred along with the gems, and now we return them to their rightful place.
Sunraku: "…Huh? It won't fit."
Rust: "…Sunraku, that one's upside down. Honestly…… mm, …mmph, …mmph!"
Akitsu Akane: "Rust, if you force it in like that, it's gonna break! Actually, isn't that gem supposed to go in a different spot?"
Huh? Then this one here? No, it won't fit either… Wait, what? Huhhh?
Rust: "…………Maybe destroying it really was the better option after all."
Sunraku: "Right? See, it was a good plan all along."
Akitsu Akane: "No, no, no, no………"
Akitsu Akane: "I'm good at puzzles!"
At Akitsu Akane's declaration, Rust and I—half-doubting—hand over the crown and gems. Can she really do it? This ultra-difficult puzzle that Rust and I combined our wits and still couldn't solve… and, well, it feels a bit mean to say, but the rather… you know… Akitsu Akane… Yep, she flipped the gem over and… ah, it fit.
Akitsu Akane: "I knew it—the front and back were reversed from the start! I wonder if Ctarnidd deliberately flipped them upside down?"
Sunraku: "Laugh it up, Akitsu Akane. It seems I was, in fact, a trash-tier moron."
Rust: "………Shame is a poison that kills the self…!"
Mold: "Ehh!? What's wrong with you two!?"
How did we miss such a simple trick… what the hell were we even doing? …Let's pull ourselves together. If we break here, we're liable to shatter in the fight against Ctarnidd. Anyway, with this, the crown should have regained its original form—but is there any change…? When I look, the sight is—to put it bluntly—like mold spreading, a golden hue crawling across the rusted surface of the crown. And a few seconds later, in Rust's hands rests a crown that has regained its form as a golden crown set with gems of every color, truly a symbol befitting royal authority.
Sunraku: "…………So nothing in particular happens at this exact moment."
Psyger-0: "Which means, we still have to go… to where Ctarnidd is?"
Sunraku: "No, let's explore just a little more."
I want to enter combat within Revol Blantan's effective duration, but I also want to gather as much information as possible. I move behind the throne and examine the so-called inscriptions.
Sunraku: "Hmm………? This is…"
It's written in a highly stylized script—is this cursive…?
In that instant, all of Ruluiath shakes. Naturally, we at the center of Ruluiath are also thrown off balance by the tremor.
Sunraku: "This kind of delayed event trigger is a real pain in the ass—getting blindsided like this!"
Akitsu Akane: "Are we heading straight into the Ctarnidd fight?!"
Psyger-0: "…That possibility… is high…!"
Hands on our weapons, we drop to one knee in the throne room—now shaking so violently we can no longer stand—and scan our surroundings warily. But what bares its fangs at us is not Ctarnidd, but this space itself. When I first perceived it, I thought it was a bug or something. After all, every object except the players and NPCs is running with visual noise. But before I can put it into words to the others…
Sunraku: "Huh?"
Rust: "Eh?"
Mold: "Huh?"
Akitsu Akane: "Wah—"
Emul: "Wha—"
With a lurch, heaven and earth flipped upside down. The floor that should have been beneath our feet just moments ago is now far above us. In its place, the ceiling is now startlingly close beneath our feet. But the most critical thing is that our bodies, obeying correct gravity, are falling upward… no, that's wrong. We're falling downward.
Sunraku: "Wait, wait, wait, wait! A first-timer-killing death-by-falling trap is way too fucking vicious!!"
Emul: "Actually, at this rate, I'm going to get crushed, wa—!?"
No, wait—believe! In a trash game, we'd definitely keep falling like this. But in a masterpiece, a masterpiece would take that into account and…! I mean—
Sunraku: "If we die by falling here, I'll bad-mouth this game for generations to come!!!!!"
Fugutaiten. Its meaning is absolute enmity—a hatred so profound that even existing under the same sky cannot be tolerated. Just as oil and water never mix, it refers to how each repels the other. But heaven and earth—the very laws of nature—when the Cornerstone relinquished the royal authority of Ruluiath, everything inverted. And precisely for that reason, the being who reigned as sovereign at the bottom of the deep sea resolves to face them. To measure whether the successors of the great god-man—who fought against the "World" in order to grasp the future left behind by those who came before, in order to greet an ordinary tomorrow—can move forward on their own feet.
Unique Monster "Ctarnidd of the Abyss" encountered.
The abyss, here and now, once again dons the heavens that shall be shared.
• Kthanid