User blog:Seieireppa/God Eater: The Butterfly Effect, chapter 10: Summative Operation

∑.

In mathematics, it is a variable, an operative symbol denoting a sum. Numbers placed above and below the ∑ denote the boundaries of the sum itself.

In the case of the man known as Sigma, the name he took for himself after discarding the identity of Isaac Feldman symbolizes the sum of his own world experience, all the worlds and lifetimes he’s lived through. Everything that makes him who he is is represented in his name: the mathematical ∑.

And now, a second sum made itself known. The sum of everything experienced by Silas Smith and Willard Knox, both individually and together. Everything they had worked towards led up to this moment, the moment when they would meet the world’s first Oracle cells at their point of arrival on this planet.

As for what would come of this, well…

A loud crash shook the land as Will and Silas stood amidst a thick tree cover, trees that were subsequently torn up and apart by a rapidly spreading shockwave from the impact of a seemingly massive object against the ground nearby.

Both of the two men knew what had happened. Both of them would see for themselves the point where everything began…

…a point that quickly revealed itself, as Will and Silas gazed down into a massive crater, at the center of which lay an unexpectedly small black rock. No more than a meter across, it was comprised of pitch-black stone, a blackness altogether unnatural. It exuded a faint green glow, which could be seen to gradually fade as the two men approached it.

Silas scratched his head, regarding the meteorite. “You know,” he began, “I was expecting something more…”

“More imposing?” interjected Will, as he sized up the rock from various angles. “I kind of see what you mean. This little rock… this is it. Everything started here.”

“If we destroy this, here and now,” mused Silas, “then we can stop everything. All of the tragedy that would befall the human race, that would befall this planet… we can change it all. We can give a happy future to an infinite number of alternate timelines that have yet to be born.”

Will gripped his God Arc, the shimmering white blade reflecting the sun’s light and the darkness of the meteorite.

“I…”  He stared at the rock, his eyes cast forward in determination. “I don’t want any more of ‘me’ to have to suffer through this. If we can break the time loop here… we can save innumerable futures. Countless incarnations of me, of this planet, won’t have to suffer anymore.”

But as he raised his God Arc to strike the meteorite, he quickly found his endeavors impeded, as his blade was met with another, identical blade, the two razor-sharp white edges clashing as before his eyes the second blade’s owner made himself known.

The dark skin and silver hair were enough as it stood, but the red eyes that stared into Will’s very soul spoke more than any words ever could.

They were eyes Will knew all too well. A gaze, at times firm and at times gentle, that stood out sharply in Will’s memories.

“Father…”

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