Chapter 200: The Mercy of God (5)

Shirone clenched his teeth. There was nothing more he could do.

It seemed that he could still cast magic, but if he tried to use teleportation in his current state, his body would be torn to pieces.

‘Damn it! I have to move somehow.’

If time kept passing like this, Kanya’s mother would die.

No, everyone would die. In the end, the only thing that would remain would be a grotesque giant whose name no one would know.

“Resign yourselves, foolish humans. No one can interfere with the law of Ra.”

Igirin contemplated with satisfaction the scene of all the humans kneeling.

This was authority. Obedience is not imposed; it arises voluntarily.

“Damn it, why is it so heavy?”

Upon hearing the voice coming from behind the statue, Igirin’s face hardened.

Then footsteps were heard, tac, tac. As if a ghost had appeared, everyone turned their heads toward that place.

Tess shouted with her face lit up.

“Rian!”

Rian advanced with his face twisted in a grimace.

He felt as if his body weighed a ton.

Even so, he was not crushed because the load was distributed throughout his body.

“What the hell did you do to me? My body weighs a lot.”

“How can he move…?”

It was not a magic that could be resisted with brute force alone.

Since the load was applied in proportion to muscle mass, the stronger someone was, the heavier his own body became.

If someone could move, there was only one possibility.

He had to produce a force greater than the one his own body could generate.

Of course, that could not be considered something proper of a normal human either.

‘Generating a force beyond the body? No that cannot be. It is one of the highest-level abilities among the arts of the giants.’

While Igirin sank into thought, a dull sound was heard from where Shirone’s group was.

“Hehehe. What an entertaining magic. That is why battles are interesting.”

Harvest suddenly emerged from Kanis’s shadow.

Shirone understood it when he saw Rian and Harvest.

The applied load was not absolute, but relative.

If the principle of activation was different, the way to counter it would also be different.

It was crucial information.

“Let’s see if you can catch me.”

Harvest lunged at Igirin.

But the flying ability of the chief of the fairies was not something to take lightly either.

While Shirone watched the aerial pursuit for an instant as if it were a dance of combat, he shouted toward Rian.

“Rian! There is no time! You have to destroy the statue!”

When Rian raised his great sword in front of the statue, Igirin’s face filled with shock.

The shadow pursuing her might not be human, but the swordsman certainly was a human of flesh and blood.

To wield a great sword while trapped by an exceptional regulation, the mastery of the body had to approach one hundred percent.

Rian shouted with all his strength and struck the statue.

Bang!

The believers were startled, but not even a crack appeared on the statue.

Rian clenched his teeth.

He wanted to destroy everything without thinking, but in the current situation the only thing he could do was strike again.

“Damn it! If it were not for this damn magic!”

The liquid inside the spheres had already reached halfway.

The subjects had closed their eyes, as if they had already resigned themselves.

From their point of view, they probably hated Rian more.

If no one had interfered, by then everything would have already ended in peace.

Arin spoke through the mental channel.

— We have to find a method. It makes no sense that only with a verbal decree she can restrict the movements of hundreds of people. It does not comply with equivalent exchange. There must be a condition we do not know.

Shirone thought the same.

No matter how extraordinary an exceptional regulation was, everything occurred within the zero-sum balance of equivalent exchange.

Given the intensity of the ability, there had to be a way to break free even while under restriction.

Shirone remembered Marsha’s advice.

Exceptional regulations are deeply linked to the nature of the caster.

Igirin was the fairy of authority. Therefore, her ability was probably related in some way to the concept of authority.

“Hyaaa!”

Rian did not give up and kept striking the statue.

Each time the thunderous sound echoed, the faces of the believers turned paler one after another.

At that moment, Amy’s red eyes began to burn.

The memory of her self-image had immediately detected a change in her body.

— Shirone, the restraining force is not fixed. A moment ago the weight decreased by five kilograms. Now seven… nine… Every time Rian strikes with the sword, the weight decreases.

Shirone’s eyes shone.

Thanks to Amy’s words, he understood the mechanism of Igirin’s exceptional regulation.

“Rian! Keep striking! The Liquor of Anecdotes is not a regeneration technique! It is simply murder!”

— Shirone! It just decreased sixty kilograms! Do not tell me that this…!

— Exactly! I am not completely sure, but it seems that Igirin converts authority into a numerical value to generate physical force. The more people doubt, the weaker the load will be.

As if confirming Shirone’s thought, Igirin’s expression twisted.

Upon hearing them shout that the Liquor of Anecdotes was murder, the counter of doubt suddenly skyrocketed.

It was not a simple desperate cry.

It meant that the heretics had discovered the activation condition of the magic.

Exceptional regulation Ruler.

Igirin could place a scale that measured faith and doubt over the targets within her domain.

At the moment she pronounced the decree, all nearby living beings were divided between those who believed and those who doubted.

Currently, in the central plaza there were 318 people.

The proportion was 293 believers against 25 doubters.

If everyone believed in Igirin, the load applied per unit area equaled one hundred percent of physical strength, so theoretically it would be impossible to move.

On the contrary, if the proportion of believers fell below half, the price of usurpation would be activated.

Igirin would have to endure for twenty-four hours a load equivalent to one hundred percent of her own strength.

Shirone understood why Rian’s actions influenced the magic.

The fear that the symbol of heaven might be destroyed was planting doubts in the hearts of the believers.

In fact, every time Rian struck the statue of the giant, the load weakened slightly.

“Wake up! The Liquor of Anecdotes is a lie! It is a technique to kill you!”

He continued pressing the believers, but the load no longer decreased.

Trials strengthen faith.

Although some were terrified, others surely reinforced their conviction even more.

“Shut up! The ones deceiving us are you!”

“Kill them! Kill the heretics!”

The fury of the most fanatical believers reached its peak when they saw that the statue was being damaged.

As more people became fanatics, even those who doubted gradually began to change their minds.

Shirone knew it, but he did not give up.

It was the only form of resistance possible in a situation where he could not even move.

“You say the Liquor of Anecdotes is a regeneration technique? Next time it will be your turn! Why can you not understand it?!”

“We will follow the law! We will exhaust the life Ra granted us and return to our original body!”

Shirone clenched his teeth.

Beyond exceptional regulations or anything else, the stubbornness of the believers drove him to despair.

“You can live longer! Those who are chosen for the Liquor of Anecdotes do not have to die today!”

As if it were a lie, the clamor of the believers faded.

Everyone looked at Shirone with expressions of shock.

Taking advantage of the sudden silence, Harvest abandoned the pursuit of Igirin.

In any case, the battle would not be decided that way.

It concluded that it would be better to shake the believers’ minds with psychological warfare instead of continuing to move aimlessly.

Igirin frowned.

The proportion already showed how effective that comment had been.

267 against 51.

Seventeen percent of those present had begun to doubt.

The load had weakened enough to be clearly felt on the skin.

That sudden change in sensation also harmed the stability of her authority.

“Can we live…? Can we… live longer?”

“That is right. If those chosen truly died now because their life had run out, at least it could be called a funeral. But they are not dying! The Liquor of Anecdotes cannot be your grave!”

— Shirone, what are you saying?

Amy could not believe it.

Were the believers not following the life record precisely because it was absolute?

If this was only an improvisation to get out of the situation, the consequences would be serious.

Even Shirone was not completely sure.

But after thinking all night, he reached the conclusion that at least there was a possibility.

“I met heretics in purgatory. Among them there were people who were not born in heaven. Because of that, they do not know their own remaining life. But they are also not subject to the control of their life by someone else.”

“That is natural, because they are heretics…”

“Wake up! Do you still not understand? They cannot do it because they do not know their names! It is not that they do not do it, it is that they cannot do it! If God were omnipotent, why would he need names!”

Igirin’s face became serious.

229 against 89.

If the proportion of doubters surpassed half, authority would disappear.

Only 70 were missing to reach that point.

The executor shouted.

“Shut up! That is also only a principle of the law! It does not change the fact that we will obtain eternal life or regeneration by following Ra’s will! Do not mock the believers with the logic of heretics!”

“It is not a law! It is magic! Whatever Ra’s ability may be, if it is related to magic, then they can live longer!”

The word magic had an effect.

If that sacred phenomenon attributed to law was nothing more than magic, then the divinity of God could also fall to the human level.

“How could they live longer? Do you have any proof?”

Someone shouted among the believers.

Igirin looked at him sternly.

The counter of doubters had just increased by one.

“I have studied the attribute of time. And to say it clearly, time is relative. It applies differently to each person here.”

Among the believers there were also those who studied time.

The magicians of Nor and the optics of Meca.

There were probably about six.

222 against 96.

Those who understood Shirone’s words began to doubt.

“Even so, so what?”

“If the ability that grants life is related to time, then the remaining life of those chosen for the Liquor of Anecdotes is not exact. Even if it is established that someone has forty years of life, he cannot die exactly at that moment. Because the time each person perceives is variable.”

“But that is only a hypothesis. If it is not magic but a law, then we will not even have the chance to regenerate.”

“It is not a hypothesis. I can prove it. Even if two people lose ten years of life, the moment when they were born is different. Then why does the Liquor of Anecdotes not adjust that?”

206 against 112.

47 were missing.

Igirin observed the glass spheres.

The black liquid was already full.

Since the bodies began to decompose from the moment of death, if someone drowned, the ritual would practically be a success.

“If they can live a few hours more, or even a single second more, then the Liquor of Anecdotes is murder! They are only drowning the victims and profaning their corpses!”

The executor opened his eyes in fury.

“Shut up! Even if what you say were true, what would change! The value of life is not measured by time! Do you want to deny Ra just to live one more second?!”

“That second is the difference between putting the final period to your life yourself or not! Why can you not understand it?!”

Igirin thought she could still recover the situation.

243 against 75.

Just as she expected, more people returned to believing.

Shirone had made an error in judgment.

For humans, having control over their own life was not something so important.

All they wanted was benefit.

Living a little longer gave them nothing.

The believers would accept the Liquor of Anecdotes gladly, trusting in the future.

As if confirming the numbers on the scale, the believers began to insult Shirone.

“Damn it! We almost fell for your lie! In the end the life was already decided! Nothing was going to change!”

“You who go around deceiving people saying you are a Nephilim, now you come with more nonsense! One second? What can be done with a single second? What could you do?!”