TRPM 273

chapter 273

I had gotten on the bus intending to rest for a bit, but when I came to my senses, I found myself in a strange space.

No, I had a rough idea of what kind of space this was.

But it was hard to believe.

“A photo? I’m inside a photo?”

The world is vast and there are many people with abilities, so I can’t say it’s impossible for someone to trap another person inside a photograph. Still, this kind of ability completely defies the known ability systems.

And it’s dangerous.

I didn’t even sense anything before being kidnapped.

“….”

The only relief was that, unlike other people, I felt certain I could return whenever I wanted.

Observing my body through meditation, I realized that it wasn’t my body that had been taken—only my soul. And my soul was still connected to my body.

I hadn’t expected to perceive my soul in this way.

“I probably can’t use Harmony Martial Arts with just my soul… but being able to observe myself through meditation means I can use Meditative Evolution.”

It wasn’t absolute reassurance, but it meant this wasn’t the worst-case scenario.

Thinking that far, I felt a gaze on me from outside the photo.

“…You guys…”

Oracle and the Grand Sorcerer were there.

…Ah, so that’s it.

This must be a phenomenon caused by a spell the Grand Sorcerer cast.

“(Heh… looks like they’re really angry.)”
“(Still, they can’t escape, right?)”
“(Hmm? If it were anyone else, maybe. But if it’s the artist I saw last time, with those flames, they could probably return on their own.)”
“(Huh? After investing all this effort and materials into the spell, you’re saying you can’t hold them completely?)”

The two were talking like that.

It seemed the Grand Sorcerer had seen through the fact that I could return.

“(Sigh… can’t be helped, artist.)”

Oracle sighed and sat in front of me.

“(I don’t intend to harm you.)”
“(How can I trust that?)”
“(You said you could return whenever you wanted, right? So, let’s just delay that for a moment and talk, shall we? After all…)”

The very reason we called you here like this is that we want to talk to you.

“(Talk?)”
“(Yes. So will you talk with us for a moment?)”

Hearing that, I hesitated.

Should I continue the conversation, or just return?

“…Indirectly, but it’s a rare chance to meet Oracle. It would be wiser to get information through conversation than to leave immediately.”

With the Grand Sorcerer next to Oracle, I couldn’t be completely at ease, but returning to my body was still possible.

And…

“If push comes to shove, I could kill Oracle and the Grand Sorcerer with a Heart Strike.”

Though, killing someone of the Grand Sorcerer’s caliber with Heart Strike would likely be difficult.

“(Alright, conversation it is. But what will we talk about? You and I are enemies, after all.)”
“(Right. Enemies. And we’ve never really met before either.)”

We’ve never had a sincere discussion about each other’s goals.

“(Goals…)”

I had heard about Oracle’s goal, or more accurately, the goal of the organization she had recently belonged to.

“(Your goal is the salvation of humanity, correct?)”

Though I didn’t understand why someone aiming to save humanity would want to wipe out all humans on Earth.

“(You know well. After all, the spy who infiltrated our organization is right next to you, artist.)”
“(I don’t know how your actions lead to humanity’s salvation.)”
“(Only the organization’s executives knew. Even that spy wouldn’t.)”

Oracle nodded and then asked me a question.

“(Artist, how much do you know about the Black Mist?)”

Asking this here implied that information about the Black Mist is closely tied to humanity’s salvation.

“(I know what’s publicly known.)”

And that the Black Mist consists of an ether not publicly known.

“(Do you know the purpose of the Black Mist?)”
“(Purpose?)”

…I hadn’t thought about it. I knew it had some intelligence, but in the end, it was a phenomenon.

I had considered its causes, but never its purpose.

But…

“(It’s probably to wipe out humanity.)”

If it has a purpose, that’s the only conclusion I could reach. Otherwise, why would dungeons keep spawning monsters hostile to humans, and why destroy human infrastructure?

“(Yes. The Black Mist will continue creating dungeons until all humans on Earth are dead.)”

Increasingly cunning in its methods, too.

“(Attempts like stuffing multiple types of monsters into one dungeon a few years ago, or the erosion-type dungeons this year, are examples.)”

The Black Mist is growing—not necessarily stronger, but smarter.

Higher intelligence is harder to deal with than raw strength.

“(Eventually, the Black Mist will attack in ways humanity can never counter. Its growth isn’t extremely fast, so this will happen decades from now…)”

Decades may feel far, but for those who can reverse aging or slow it dramatically, like me or Chairman Shin Han-ji, this future will surely come.

“(Before humanity is truly consumed by the Black Mist, it must be erased, right?)”
“(…Yes.)”

I agreed with her that the Black Mist must be erased.

But why would that lead to wiping out all humans…

“(…No way.)”
“(Seems you’ve noticed.)”

I had thought of a possibility: if no humans were left on Earth, what would the Black Mist do?

Considering what Oracle had said so far, the answer was easy to predict.

“(If no humans remain… what happens to the Black Mist, which has lost its purpose?)”
“(Exactly.)”

Oracle nodded.

“(If no humans remain, the Black Mist begins to vanish. In the future I saw, the Black Mist spread worldwide, but within a year of disappearing, it was completely gone.)”

Then the surviving members of the organization I had formed return to Earth and begin rebuilding civilization.

“(A small number of chosen survivors return and rebuild civilization. That was the organization’s goal.)”

No matter how mysterious or unscientific the Black Mist seems, it was still fog—it couldn’t spread beyond a certain height.

Even if humans survived on the Moon or Mars, the Black Mist could not perceive them. That’s why Oracle saw a future in which the Black Mist judged all humans on Earth dead and vanished.

“(…Even I, as a human, wouldn’t feel at ease watching all survivors vanish. But this is the only surefire way to erase the Black Mist and rebuild human civilization.)”

… I don’t know exactly how Oracle sees the future.

It could be a fixed future that will definitely happen, or just one possibility among many. I personally think it’s the latter.

“The important thing is that Oracle has seen a future where humanity is destroyed.”

She has seen both the future where humanity is rebuilt as mentioned, and one where it’s annihilated.

Thus, Oracle is obsessed.

By any means, she seeks to prevent humanity’s destruction and save humanity, regardless of how many people must be sacrificed.

“(Isn’t there another way? Aside from letting the Black Mist vanish naturally, there must be some way to erase it.)”
“(…Right. Since it’s just fog, there are physical ways to remove it.)”

Fog can be turned into gas or solid…

“(Or, theoretically, a large-scale ritual could erase the Black Mist’s components from this world.)”

However…

“(The first method can’t guarantee complete eradication. Fog spread across the oceans can’t be fully removed unless every sea is evaporated or frozen.)”

And if the second method is used…

“(…Not only the Black Mist but the Awakener system would disappear as well.)”
“(……)”
“(Did you think I was unaware? That the materials forming the Black Mist and the Awakener system are the same?)”

It seems Oracle knew about the existence of ether.

“(If the Awakener system disappears, human civilization would collapse. Even in the early days, sure, but now the Awakener’s abilities are integrated into everything.)”

…That’s true.

Even though safe lands shrank due to the Black Mist, humanity could survive and develop because the abilities of Awakeners were useful in many ways beyond combat.

Buildings often had magical enchantments, crops were accelerated by growth magic, feeding everyone was possible.

It’s easy to imagine what would happen if all of that vanished.

“(The only way to erase the Black Mist completely without destroying human civilization and without losing the Awakener system… as far as I could see, this was it.)”

Oracle claimed she had no choice.

“(……)”
“(Heh… why are you looking at me?)”

I looked at the Grand Sorcerer, who just smiled.

“(Do you think Oracle had no other choice, Grand Sorcerer?)”
“(Well… leaving humanity to perish was an option, but… heh… she wouldn’t choose that.)”

I see.

“(Oracle.)”
“(Yes.)”
“(Your choice isn’t the right one.)”
“(I know. But… then what would the right choice be? Are you saying letting humanity perish would have been the right choice?)”

Oracle asked me sharply.

Naturally. That’s probably all she saw as an option.

But…

“(Why do you think if the Awakener system disappears, the abilities of Awakeners will disappear too?)”

What if the premise of the choice was different?