Shirone had spread out, becoming vast, and then faded away. He permeated everything, losing even the faintest attachment to the world. Suddenly, a powerful force drew him back, as if something beyond life itself had taken hold of his soul.
"OMG! OMG!"
As Shirone's mind began to piece itself together, his memories from before attempting the Immortal Function returned. Trembling in fear of his death, he let out a shaky breath and checked his body. He seemed fine, except for one thing—he wasn't wearing any clothes.
"Where am I?"
He was in a space filled with white. The monochromatic scenery stretched out infinitely, and he couldn't sense any distance. Trying to move, it felt as if he wasn't even moving.
'This is so strange. It's like all my senses are paralyzed.'
An idea suddenly crossed Shirone's mind. Testing it, he slowly bent his knees and pushed up, as if stepping onto invisible stairs. To his surprise, his body floated.
"What?"
Shirone continued to rise, climbing the invisible stairs. After a moment, he paused and looked around, speechless.
"… … ."
He felt no sense of upward movement. No matter where he moved, the scenery around him remained unchanged.
"There's no distance."
Space can't exist if it can't be measured. To confirm his hypothesis, Shirone descended again. His prediction was correct—no matter where he moved, it felt as if he hadn't moved at all.
When he realized there was no point in trying to move, he heard a woman's voice.
"Impressive. Do you understand the meaning of space now? You truly belong here."
Shirone didn't turn to look. After all, there was no concept of direction in this place.
"Who are you? Am I dead?"
A beautiful woman appeared from a gap in the white space. As soon as Shirone perceived the distance, the scenery shifted instantly. A massive temple, unlike anything he'd seen before, loomed over him, as if it were about to crush him.
"Wow…"
It was beyond imagination. Even ancient temples couldn't compare to its scale. Hundreds of pillars, each about two kilometers tall, supported the enormous ceiling.
"Where is this?"
"Nice to meet you, Shirone. I've been waiting for you."
The woman, with ankle-length light blue hair, was the most beautiful person Shirone had ever seen. It wasn't just her appearance—it was the absolute value of her presence here. To Shirone, she seemed as precious as the person someone would love most in the world.
"Oops!"
Shirone instinctively covered his face, suddenly aware of his nakedness, but the woman simply waved her hand.
"Don't worry. There's no need to be embarrassed. This isn't your world. Your body still resides in the original world."
In an instant, clothing appeared on Shirone. He stared at his now-clothed form, still in disbelief.
"There's only one question on my mind," Shirone said. "Is this the underworld?"
"No. This isn't the underworld. It's just a place different from where you came from."
Shirone tilted his head in confusion. A point, she explained, is a one-dimensional space without measurable distance. A point becomes a line, a line becomes a plane, and a plane becomes a three-dimensional space.
"No way…" Shirone recalled the endless white space.
"That's right. This is the point. It isn't that space doesn't exist, it's that it's compressed to infinity."
The woman's explanation made sense. He couldn't feel distance because everything was squeezed into one dimension, but his body still existed in three dimensions. If he could measure the space between his right and left arms, then wouldn't space exist?
"Aha, so it means there's a third dimension within the first dimension?"
"Exactly," she confirmed. "You're grasping it well. That's the essence of space-time. No matter how vast a world may seem, from a distant perspective, it's just a dot. Yet, if you dive in, even the smallest dot can unfold into an infinite world."
Shirone was beginning to calm down. In this place, where logical conversation was possible, he had no reason to fear, even if he were in the afterlife.
"Then who are you?" he asked.
The woman smiled, her laughter almost eerie, but still mesmerizing.
"I am a god."
Back at the Magic School
The magic school was in complete chaos. It took eight full hours just to collect Arcane's body and return the students to their dorms.
The students lay unconscious in their rooms, their memories blocked. If the faculty regained their memories, things could move forward, but the thought of the chaos that would unfold when all the students woke up made everyone anxious.
To make matters worse, Canis and Arin, the primary suspects, had vanished. So, Neid, Iruki, and Amy were the only ones left to look after Shirone, who had been moved to the infirmary.
In truth, "looking after" wasn't the right term. Shirone wasn't breathing, and his heart had stopped. But no one dared to speak the word "death."
"Amy…"
Amy clutched Shirone's hand, her eyes swollen from crying. The teachers were in a state of despair, and no one had come to check on them. Maybe they had already accepted that Shirone was dead.
But Amy shook her head, refusing to believe it. She couldn't accept that Shirone was gone—there were too many unclear aspects, too many reasons to hold on to hope.
Neid tried to comfort her.
"Don't worry, Senior. Shirone will come back."
"That's right," another voice chimed in. "This doesn't make sense. How could he die? If the Mass Teleport spell was going to kill him, it shouldn't have activated in the first place. Something strange must have happened to Shirone."
Iruki frowned, disapproving. He had been by her side all night, but he hadn't done anything as foolish as mistaking the dead for the living.
"If you're going to argue that way, then Arcane should have survived too. Just casting magic like that would have killed me."
"The situation's different with Arcane!" someone argued. "Shirone unlocked the immortal function—this isn't about brain function slowing down!"
"Anyway, it's the same as overloading one's capacity. Humans can die from any number of variables. Whether he's dead or alive is what really matters, and it's unreasonable to question why he died."
Neid frowned, but before he could respond, Amy turned her cold gaze to Iruki.
"You're as unlucky as ever," she said.
Iruki rested his chin on the table, looking at Amy. Her eyes were fiery red.
'It's the Karmis family. Those red eyes are immune to spirit-type magic,' Iruki thought. The red eyes were a well-known feature of their family—a defense against mind-invading magic. It made sense why they had managed to escape Abyss Nova. But Iruki quickly turned his gaze away, uninterested.
"It's a bad habit to blame others when you feel bad," Iruki remarked.
"No," Amy shot back. "You're really adding fuel to the fire. What's wrong with you? Are you really Shirone's friend? How could you say he's dead?"
"I didn't say I thought he was dead. They said he was."
"That's even worse! And you—how can you speak so casually about Class Five?"
"If you're upset, take it up with the student council. They'll punish me if they need to."
Amy couldn't stand it anymore. She grabbed Iruki by the collar and lifted him off the ground with her schema power, her anger flaring.
"Say it again. But this time, be honest."
"Oh, you're scared."
Iruki's eyes were cold and emotionless as he stared down at her. He was the kind of person who wouldn't hesitate to take action if Amy lost control.
"I'll say it again—Shirone is dead," he said calmly.
Amy's crimson eyes flashed with fury. She focused all her power into her punch, aiming for Iruki's teeth. But as her fist came close, Iruki's expression remained unchanged. Amy hesitated just before the punch landed.
As expected, she stopped in mid-air. Iruki's voice broke the tense silence.
"Ah, I'm glad."
"Don't be ridiculous!" Amy snapped, still holding her fist in the air. "Unlucky Servant. People like you don't even understand why I stopped."
Amy couldn't strike Iruki—no matter how much she hated him, he was still Shirone's friend.
"It means I stopped to avoid wasting my energy," she said, sparks of anger in her eyes. "So you're saying Shirone is dead too? People like you don't deserve to have friends."
"Maybe. But do you?"
"What do you mean by that? This is real—!"
Amy yanked him by the collar again and raised her fist, but Iruki finally reacted, shaking her hand off.
"Ah, sir!"
Amy stepped back, stunned by the sudden movement. Iruki walked over to Shirone's bed and pointed at his still form.
"You're the one who should feel pity. Does he look alive to you? He's not breathing, his heart has stopped! And yet you're all talking nonsense, acting like something strange is going on. What kind of friends are you?"
"Then what should I do? Shirone's in this condition—what do you want me to do?"
"So think about it!"
Iruki shouted with an excitement that wasn't typical for him.
"If you think you're alive, do you really believe the dead can come back to life? If you're going to talk nonsense like that, at least figure out how to bring the dead back to life!"
Amy bit her lip, struggling to find the right words, and then finally lowered her head, looking defeated. Iruki was right. Shirone was officially dead.
Neid, with a sad expression, spoke up.
"I understand what you mean. But, Iruki, how can we bring someone back to life? There's no way to do that."
"Hmph, that's your limit," Iruki replied, slamming the door shut behind him as he left. The infirmary fell into silence. Neid let out a sigh of relief while Amy sat in a chair, hiding her face in her hands.
"Seniors, please don't hate me too much. Iruki's just frustrated, that's all."
"It's fine. I don't want to deal with someone like him right now. To think about bringing the dead back to life? He should know that only causes more pain."
Neid couldn't argue with that. While Iruki's behavior was harsh, it was clear that even he must've felt sorry for his friend.
As Iruki left the infirmary, he frowned. The two people he most wanted to see were waiting for him in the hallway. Canis leaned against the wall, and Arin looked uncomfortable, unsure where to direct her gaze.
As the one responsible for this situation, Iruki needed to keep a close watch on them, but the current situation was too tense for him to focus on that.
Of course, Iruki didn't have the composure to deal with them either. If he'd truly decided to run, he would've done it by now. But escaping the watchful eyes of the Magic Association wasn't that simple.
"Did you come here to insult me, or are you planning to apologize?" Iruki said, his voice sharp.
Canis pushed off from the wall, standing up straight.
"It's both. I came to insult you and to apologize. It's fine to die in battle, but it's embarrassing that Shirone sacrificed himself for something pointless. But I think you got the timing wrong."
Iruki, annoyed, scratched his head. He knew Canis must've heard the fight outside with Amy.
"Good idea. If you go in now, you won't like what you find. The girl in the infirmary will probably break your leg first. Do your best, though. I'm leaving."
Canis followed Iruki's gaze as he walked past.
"It doesn't matter. If the timing's wrong, the opportunity is lost. How can I apologize to someone who's already dead?"
Iruki stopped walking, turning to stare at Canis in shock.
"What did you say?"
"I agree with you. Dead is dead. But seeing you fuss over a corpse like that made me want to apologize."
Iruki stood there for a moment, then burst out laughing.
"You've got a lot to say about life and death. Who came up with that idea? You, or your shadow?"
"… Do you want to fight right here?" Canis shot back.
"Shirone is, from my perspective, a pretty annoying friend."
Iruki's sudden comment made Canis frown.
"Honestly, I'm a strange and bad person. That's why I've decided to limit myself. In a way, Shirone was my lock."
"Ha. What a weak excuse."
"Is it? Well, without Shirone, I don't know if I would've thought this way. But now that Shirone is gone, I need you to be careful with your words."
Arin, sensing the tension, took a step back.