“Uzunami—”
Then, all that’s left is to apply the sealing magic at point-blank range, and the match will be over.
This is the Grand Hall on the second floor of Viaisia Castle.
Though slightly off-center from the magic circle, my current condition is sufficient to seal Shiso Uzunami.
If I can grab Shiso Uzunami’s arm using “Ryūtaijutsu,” it’ll be over.
Once I grab it, it’s a win.
A win.
Just a little more.
I just need to grab it.
I just have to—
“—!”
It took ten seconds after gaining the advantage before I noticed something was wrong.
All my techniques were parried and deflected—and soon, it became difficult even to make contact.
In other words, I was only in the advantageous position for ten seconds.
—Wh-What is this? What’s happening?
According to my plan, I should have been able to grab the ancestor’s arm at least once with this “Ryūtaijutsu.”
However, reality is too cruel. I couldn’t even get a single grab.
Worse still, I was becoming more disadvantaged with each passing second.
I was being pushed back little by little by the clash of fists.
Frozen in my spine by that terrifying reality, I focused on the enemy’s face instead of my own technique.
Shiso Uzunami was expressionless, staring intently at my body.
The unfathomable emptiness of eyes peculiar to a Dimensional Mage.
Seeing those pitch-black eyes sent a chill down my spine—and I was convinced.
Shiso Uzunami was currently trying to mimic my “Ryūtaijutsu” Skill.
Sensing the disadvantage in the first second, he used the subsequent ten seconds to observe and learn—attempting to catch up with my Skill value on the spot.
And now, the fact that my techniques are no longer effective at all means… exactly what I feared.
It means the Skill I spent more than a decade honing has been stolen in just a little over ten seconds…
“I-Impossible…! This is a joke…!”
While muttering curses, I repeat the techniques that have become completely useless.
Shiso Uzunami calmly deflects them.
No, more than that, he elevates the “Ryūtaijutsu” I perfected to new heights through a few seconds of practice, unleashing them as new techniques.
Those techniques forced me to retreat, and my face contorted.
—This is a joke.
Are you saying a common person’s year is equivalent to a prodigy’s second?
Are the techniques I’ve honed merely stepping stones for you?
“I’LL KILL YOUUUUU—!! Uzunami!!”
Enraged, I lunged to grab him.
However, he matched my movement and instead seized my arm.
In the end, it was Shiso Uzunami who achieved his aim first. Following that, a fluid and perfected “Taijutsu” that I couldn’t even visually track was unleashed, sending intense pain coursing through my entire body.
“Gah, ugh—”
The enemy’s movements were too fast; I don’t know what kind of technique I was hit with.
However, thanks to the pain piercing my brain, I know my own condition.
My right arm is broken.
But I can’t stop. Immediately, I grow the trees rooted within my body, using them as splints for the broken bone, and attempt a counterattack.
However, Shiso Uzunami’s blow pushes me back on my first step.
I barely understood that I was punched from directly below. I also recognized it was the same fist I used initially.
I cannot defend against that attack.
If it were my own fist, I could have defended, but naturally, it’s faster than my fist.
There’s no way I could defend.
Unbeknownst to me, the advantage in our fisticuffs had completely reversed.
My arms were repeatedly grabbed and broken.
My consciousness wavered from the pain of the blows and the broken bones.
Damage accumulated, and my body became numb and unresponsive.
I instantly healed them with plants and magic.
My bones were already shattered—I managed to insert wood in place of my bones to move my body. The ruptured blood vessels were reconnected with wood fibers. My collapsing body was barely held upright by roots growing from the soles of my feet into the ground.
Hit, after hit, after hit—after being relentlessly beaten, Shiso Uzunami’s right fist struck the center of my face.
The tie holding my long white hair snapped, spreading like a lion’s mane.
Even so, as I still didn’t fall, Shiso Uzunami’s expression shifted.
Through my shattered glasses, I could see the enemy’s surprise.
Shiso Uzunami’s fist was slick with blood, and the enemy lost his balance.
If I’m going to counter, it has to be now.
This is the chance I’ve endured and held out for—
“Still!”
Despite being hit, my right fist violently struck the enemy’s profile.
“Guh!”
Shiso Uzunami must have believed there would be no counterattack in this state.
He must have been overconfident after stealing all my “Ryūtaijutsu” techniques.
It seemed to land precisely because it wasn’t a skilled attack with no technique.
“Aaaah, still! Not yet, Uzunami!!”
Shouting, I abandoned defense and charged forward with the trees within my body.
Shiso Uzunami responded in kind.
Dodging my haymaker, he tackled me as if embracing my waist. Then, with a yell like uprooting a great tree, he shouted back.
“Aid—!!”
It seemed he didn’t like me being rooted to the ground.
As if telling me to fight on my own feet, he pulled me from the ground, lifted me, and slammed me into the castle wall of the Grand Hall.
My head struck the back of my head, my vision turning white, and I felt the wall break behind me.
I entered a guest room beyond the Grand Hall, broke through another wall, and entered a further guest room—he dragged me all the way in.
When it’s a battle between “Thieves of Principles,” man-made walls are like nothing.
Feeling that I, too, had become strong and durable, I unconsciously clasped my hands together and raised them.
“Uzunami! Take thiiisss—”
Then, I brought my clasped fists down on the enemy’s back with all my strength, stopping his movement.
Shiso Uzunami, struck by the impact, cracked the floor of the guest room.
Of course, Shiso Uzunami immediately got up and initiated close combat again.
Not yet.
My “Ryūtaijutsu” is not over yet.
If it’s a fistfight while recovering, I still have the advantage.
My recovery magic far surpasses Shiso Uzunami’s. More importantly, being able to use recovery without leaking magic power externally is a significant advantage. Only Shiso Uzunami will be targeted by the “Magic-absorbing, ”
Let’s trade blows.
Don’t fear the enemy’s fists; take them and give them back.
If I take a hundred punches, I’ll land one counter.
If I recover a hundred times for the enemy’s one recovery, I win.
“Stilllllllllllllllllll—”
I could no longer keep up with the enemy’s Taijutsu. I couldn’t see anything.
My body screamed in pain. I was beyond my limit.
Magic Power was being consumed at a terrifying rate for recovery and repair. I was close to running out.
But it’s just a little longer.
Please, just a little more.
I beg you—
My heart.
It’s okay to stop.
But please, just for a little while, pretend to beat.
Fighting on, I prayed to the gods.
I continued to fight back desperately even while being beaten.
Believing that as long as my spirit didn’t break, there was a chance to win, I endured the enemy’s attacks over and over again.
In the end, the one who retreated first was Shiso Uzunami.
I couldn’t chase after a retreating enemy, and stood there breathless.
“Gah, hah…! Hah hah hah!!”
On the other hand, Shiso Uzunami contorted his face and complained about my style.
“Fighting like a zombie… Aid…”
I… won.
I won by a narrow margin through an exchange of damage and recovery.
Frankly, the visible difference in our appearances was severe. Shiso Uzunami’s face was still pristine, while I was covered in broken bones, bruises, and blood.
However, Shiso Uzunami’s pristine face was pale. The poison I had administered beforehand was working. The seeds planted earlier were growing and pressing on his lungs. The damage was greater than what was visible.
If this continues—surely, I will have a chance to win—
“It’s too soon to declare victory, Aid…”
Just as I was rejoicing at the turn of events, Shiso Uzunami interrupted me. Then, he cast a magic I hadn’t used in a long time.
“—Magic, Distance Mute!!”
He clad his right arm in high-density magic power and smiled at me.
“What are you doing…? That magic won’t work, as I proved earlier…”
“Ah, I know. That’s why I’m changing my approach. If it doesn’t work on you—it will work on me.”
Shiso Uzunami plunged his faintly glowing right arm into his chest and began to rummage through his body with unprecedented concentration.
It didn’t seem like he was simply interfering with my body across dimensions. It looked like he was performing a treatment that absolutely couldn’t fail—and I realized the enemy’s objective.
“—No way!?”
Indeed, Shiso Uzunami was performing treatment right now. But not ordinary treatment. Not healing by magic, but by another means—
“Is that what this is! If I thought you wouldn’t use magic, you’ve been deploying Dimension inside my body the whole time! Are you planning to perform surgery right here!?”
I could tell from the unwavering movement of his hands that he had already figured out the procedure and the target. Throughout our battle so far, Shiso Uzunami hadn’t been fighting me alone. First and foremost, he had been continuously using magic on himself, considering the removal of what was corroding his body.
“Alright!”
Shiso Uzunami uttered a word that hinted at his success, and extracted two magic stones from his body. The color of those magic stones was green.
Because I am a Thief of the Laws of Wood, I could vaguely understand. Those were the magic stones of poison and seeds.
A Thief of the Principles of Dimensions can materialize anything they dislike into a magic stone, with no regard for consent. It didn’t seem like all my status ailments were cured, but with that outrageous trump card, he had reproduced the same effect as my status ailment recovery magic.
“However, that magic is full of openings! Magic power is also leaking! Everyone from the Magic-absorbing, here!”
While cursing him in my mind, I calmly summoned plants from my surroundings. I had to interfere before all the poison and seeds were extracted. Doubtless, Distance Mute was a top-tier Dimensional Magic. To use it, there had to be openings.
“—I’m sorry, but there are no openings. I thought I was safe now, so I’m using magic. On my end.”
In response, Shiso Uzunami did not deactivate Distance Mute. Moreover, he plunged his right arm back into his body and began to dodge the approaching trees from the surrounding floor and walls. Naturally, I also called to the plants and approached to strike with my Martial Arts-style technique, “Pseudo-Might Technique.”
Still, Shiso Uzunami’s attacks—none of them hit.
“—Huh? They don’t hit?”
The multitude of plants and my own fists—none of them landed. What had been effective just minutes before was now useless. I was stunned by that unreasonable learning ability, and Shiso Uzunami himself provided the reason.
“From our battle so far, I’ve figured out how to fight you. And countermeasures for these plants.”
“Impossible! I can understand, but countermeasures for the plants inhabiting this place are impossible! I prepared them like this, and have spent years making them—”
*Slice*—The plants surrounding Shiso Uzunami were instantly cut down.
“—Eh?”
Shiso Uzunami’s left arm—while his right arm was still embedded in his body—was now holding a treasure sword. Furthermore, a blade that appeared to be the skill “Magic Power Solidification” extended from it.
Its transparent blade also came at me. While deflecting it with my gauntlet, I hastily retreated.
“Impossible! Why is Shiso Uzunami’s magic passing through wood!? It should have Nosfy-sama’s spell program written into it!!”
Shiso Uzunami didn’t respond. The exchanges of lighthearted banter were over, and his expression indicated he was now serious.
I had no choice but to find the cause myself. Then, I noticed that the color of Shiso Uzunami’s extending blade was not a pale purple, but colorless.
“The magic attribute has changed…? No, has not only the attribute but also the quality and color of the magic changed!? Could it be that you’ve tampered with your own soul to change the attribute of the magic you generate!? Wh—what a terrifying thing to do!”
From his arm stuck in Shiso Uzunami’s body and the altered magic, I arrived at the answer to this situation. However, it was too unbelievable. As someone who had become a “Thief of Principles” and deepened my understanding of souls and magic power, I could only grasp it. Tampering with one’s own soul—that was an act that even bordered on blasphemy against the gods. One wrong move could lead to a destruction more terrifying than death.
“My one arm will be unusable… but with this, I can fight with a sword. Now I’ll be fine even if the Magic-absorbing and the Stone-eater Vine come at me simultaneously.”
“You’re… insane!!”
“It’s all… to defeat you! Aid!!”
And then, Shiso Uzunami swung his sword at me. Towards me—without any carelessness, with all his might, utilizing his full talent, he intended to fight me head-on.
I felt a mixture of joy and sadness, anger and exasperation welling up in my chest.
But I quickly suppressed it and assessed the current situation. Unbeknownst to me, the movements of the Magic-absorbing had become sluggish. By some means, Shiso Uzunami seemed to be imitating my countermeasures and preemptively providing it with magic power. Now, the plant attacks were meaningless. The advantage brought by Nosfy-sama had also crumbled. The poison was forcefully neutralized, and both swords and magic were unsealed.
I had no choice but to create distance.
Don’t lose heart. The possibility that my “Pseudo-Might Technique” wouldn’t work should have been predictable. I just needed to move on to the next operation as originally planned.
“—Wood Spears!”
My trump card, prepared in front of the central grand staircase of Viaisia Castle—I shattered the magic stone “Woodfall” and unleashed a Great Magic of the Wood attribute.
The wooden stairs changed shape, a magic that stabbed enemies with countless long, sharp thorns.
But Shiso Uzunami weaved through the thorns with ease.
The trump card, which consumed the country’s highest-grade magic stone, gave him only a moment’s time, less than a second.
Shiso Uzunami’s sword, without any disturbance, continued to attack him from a distance.
He managed to defend with his bracers and other armor, but he could see it was being chipped away little by little. At this rate, even the weapons and armor made from the divine tree wouldn’t last.
The sword’s range is no good.
He couldn’t run away or get closer without being torn to shreds.
He immediately dashed up the stairs. Along the way, he crushed several expensive magic stones he had prepared to slow him down and put maximum distance between them.
However, this was tantamount to telling Shiso Uzunami that his strategies were running out.
Sensing no significant traps left, Shiso Uzunami began swinging his sword with vigor.
The great wood-attribute magic spells were brushed aside like pieces of paper.
The thick trunk that tried to swallow him, the countless root tentacles, the storm of leaves that shredded flesh, the sap that melted everything—all were brushed aside, brushed aside, and severed.
That wasn’t all.
Even the stage of Viaisia Castle he had prepared was within this absurd swordsman’s reach.
The pillars in the castle’s Grand Hall, the spiral grand staircase, the thick walls, the ceiling and floor separating the third and fourth floors—nothing was ignored in terms of distance or size; everything was cut by Shiso Uzunami.
With his two bottomless, void-like pitch-black eyes rippling, Shiso Uzunami pursued him.
As his proud castle was lightly cut and cut and cut, he could only flee with a bitter expression.
He continued to flee upwards, using everything he had, fleeing and fleeing and fleeing.
In the end, he reached the Throne Room of Viaisia Castle.
The wind blowing through the window made the national flag decorating the wall flutter. This castle, his last fortress.
This was the final location of the duel he had planned.
In that sense, it was going according to plan.
However… his expression contorted increasingly.
To the back of the Throne Room—all the way to the front of the throne, he was finally cornered.
There, Shiso Uzunami stopped swinging his sword. He seemed to have some attachment to this place, retracting the extended blade and looking around.
Perhaps Shiso Uzunami had also planned this Throne Room as the final location for their duel.
Shiso Uzunami calmed his fighting spirit and looked at him, so quietly that one might think so.
Frustrated by his composure, he involuntarily lashed out with what was in his heart.
Now, he unleashed the resentment from the very beginning.
“—Sh, Shiso Uzunami!! Why! Why do you fight me to such an extent!? Even manipulating my soul! Do you want to defeat me that badly!? You have no relation to Viais, yet you… You’re not even a human from this world! Why do you get involved with us!?”
Upon hearing his words, Shiso Uzunami answered without missing a beat, as if he had been waiting.
“Why…? That’s obvious! Because I can’t stand to see you siblings! Everything about you… it doesn’t feel like someone else’s business! That’s why I can’t leave you alone! I can’t leave you alone!!”
“With… that…!?”
At his immediate answer, he stumbled back a step.
If he was going to throw words, Shiso Uzunami had decided to answer with words alone.
He stopped walking, lowered the tip of his sword, and assumed a posture of waiting for his next words.
From his demeanor, he keenly felt that, unlike himself, Shiso Uzunami still had plenty of composure.
He had done everything he could.
It was the most advantageous field in the world for him.
He had used poison and traps.
He had received tremendous support from Apostle-sama and Nosfy-sama.
This was a castle that sealed the techniques he had heard of, Past Sight and Future Sight.
And yet, this overwhelming strength—!!
He knew he grew stronger the more he fought.
But this is… too unfair….
Now, he felt as if his every inner thought was being seen through by his enemy.
In fact, in combat, there were many times when he was moved before he could even start moving.
To defeat this man, he had to bet everything on a single moment.
He had to take his life in an instant—yet, he apparently prevented it with Perception magic and Future Sight magic. Moreover, with invisibility and Dimension Shift magic available, he couldn’t easily enter the fatal range.
On top of that, his Swordsmanship has reached the same level as Rowen-sama, absorbing enemy abilities as he fights, and if that right arm touches him, it’s instant death…?
How is he supposed to kill him…
How is he supposed to fight him…
Ah, this is ridiculous. This is ridiculous. This is ridiculous.
This is… ridiculous…—
This is “strength.”
Gradually, his anger turned to despair, filling his heart.
His spirit was about to be broken…—
“Aid! Remember what Titty said earlier! This time, with your own eyes, you saw your sister’s true form, didn’t you!? Did that look like someone being manipulated by another!?”
And the words released by the strong man, whether he willed it or not, struck the weak man’s heart and trampled it.
Just like the “Ruling King” who once captivated all the people of the North—including this Aid.
“Titty doesn’t need a country like Viais! She didn’t want to become the ‘Ruling King’! All she ever needed was you, her younger brother!!”
Th-that’s…—
—No!
Don’t be overwhelmed! Don’t accept it!
Shiso Uzunami’s words are like knives that will kill him.
If he admits it…— “I” will die this time!
He will die! If he doesn’t want to die, he must retort!!
“…Th-that can’t be! The ‘Ruling King’ chose! She swore to save the country and the people of the North! She declared in front of everyone that she would save them all! I witnessed the beginning of it! From the beginning to the end, I saw it through!!”
“No! Titty didn’t choose the country! Not something grand like Viais! What she chose was a nameless boy of a ‘Demon’—Aid! It was your expectation! That’s all it was!!”
“Don’t speak as if you understand when you know nothing! The ‘Ruling King’ with her noble will, with her strong and wise demeanor, swore to accomplish it no matter what! I continued to watch her back!!”
“Because you were watching from behind like that, she just pretended to be strong! Because you expected her to, she just kept responding! Why don’t you realize that!? If you don’t realize that it’s an illusion born of her pride as a sister, no one else will notice!!”
“It isn’t… The ‘Ruling King’ isn’t such a small vessel…! She is a legend! We have revived that Northern legend! For that invincible ‘Ruling King’ to have merely been showing off out of pride, such a thing—is impossible!!”
“It’s possible! She’s weak! Her vessel is small, and she’s cowardly—! That’s why she ran away a thousand years ago, didn’t she!? Abandoning everything, she ran away to a place your expectations couldn’t reach!? Don’t conveniently forget that fact!!”
Ah, that’s right.
A thousand years ago, the “Ruling King” fled with Shiso Uzunami.
It’s something I tried not to think about.
Something I tried not to acknowledge.
All the facts I turned away from are now thrust before me again, my heart wavering.
“Th-that’s because you were there, isn’t it!? If only you, if only you, if only you, if only you weren’t here!! It shouldn’t have ended like that! As the “Chancellor,” I would have supported the “Ruling King” and surely brought peace to the world in that battle a thousand years ago! We were just one step away from realizing our dream!!”
“You’ve already realized that it would have ended the same way even without me, haven’t you!? You already know that dream crushed your own sister, don’t you!? Aid!!”
“Ah, shut up!! So what if I knew!!”
I know! I know all of that!
I know it all too well, that’s why it’s come to this!!
“Yes, my sister became the “Ruling King”! She was doing something great, so there must have been a mistake or two! What’s wrong with that!? Because the “Ruling King” loved this country more than anyone! The “Ruling King” tried to protect this country more than anyone else! The “Ruling King” strove to turn this country into a “paradise” more than anyone else!”
What’s wrong with choosing what to see because it’s painful!
What’s wrong with only seeing what I want to see!
What’s wrong with me being the “Chancellor”!
What’s wrong with my sister being the “Ruling King”!
“My sister absolutely wanted to be the “Ruling King”! If not, she couldn’t have fought so hard! She couldn’t have gone to such a domain, one no one could follow, all by herself!!”
“That’s why! It was your role to pull her back! As her younger brother, Aid!!”
Don’t tell me now…!
Why are you saying this now, and not back then!?
It’s all too late! A thousand years have passed!!
A hundred years, a thousand years, and we’ve come here!!
And yet! To come here and say everything was a mistake, something like that…!!
“N-no!! My role was to serve as the “Chancellor,” and as a fellow “Thief of Principles,” to follow behind her!!”
At this point, the “Ruling King”—
She had been suffering continuously.
She had been pushing herself continuously.
She had been asking for help continuously.
And yet, I was continuously overwhelmed by my own affairs and couldn’t notice it…
Don’t… don’t say that…!
Please…!!
“I am “Chancellor Aid”!! A “Thief of the Laws of Wood”!! I won’t let anyone say that was wrong!! I refuse to admit anything of the sort!!”
I cry out that I am the “Chancellor”.
Clutching the “heroic tale of the Ruling King” in my pocket, I desperately cry back.
The five characters shining in the text of that heroic tale are – “Chancellor Aid”.
That’s all I’ve been proud of, all the way here.
But, my limit is near. Even more than the fierce battle of attrition we just had – these verbal exchanges are far too painful.
“Aid… even now, your sister is searching for her younger brother. She’s been searching and wandering for a long time… She doesn’t want a “Chancellor Aid.” She’s been searching for her younger brother Aid continuously…”
“Then, does that mean the efforts of “Chancellor Aid” were all in vain…? That they weren’t for anyone…? You want me to admit that…? That all my efforts for the “Ruling King” were worthless…? That those hundred years were meaningless…? You want me to admit that…!?”
“Yes. Even if it means discarding those hundred years, you have something you must do. That’s what I think.”
“—!”
Shiso Uzunami answered immediately to my question, which encompassed not just life and death, but the very meaning of my soul and life.
Then, as I stood speechless, he continued to speak.
“It’s only been a hundred years. Your sister has suffered for a thousand years… Even if you lose a hundred years, you won’t lose everything. Only what is important will remain…”
“Are you saying that being the younger brother of Rowen Titty remains…?”
“Yes.”
“It’s impossible. I can’t go back to being a younger brother now… The younger brother of Sister Titty was too powerless. Too worthless. Unable to help anyone, a fragile existence that made no difference whether it existed or not… It was pathetic, so pathetic… just remembering it makes me furious!!”
As I try to recall the slight remnants of the past, my voice rises in anger.
All I can remember is the detestable “myself”.
Ah, that’s right.
Brother Aid was a foolish child, too ashamed to even remember.
I was spoiled by my position as a younger brother and couldn’t help her in any way.
…That’s still acceptable.
At the end of the North, I did nothing but tremble and left everything to my sister.
…That can still be forgiven.
Even after that, I only dragged her down from behind her, continuing to be a nuisance.
…That’s still fine.
Rather, what I detest the most is—
—that on that day, I could do nothing in front of my sister, who had died and was spat upon.
…Ah, that’s it!
Even though my sister was dead, there was still a pathetic child who depended on her!
Just remembering that memory!
It makes me want to kill that brat called Idol, the younger brother—!!
“Shiso Uzunami… that younger brother killed my sister…? The pathetic, weak, and utterly foolish younger brother killed her… That younger brother had no reason to live… No, his very existence was a harm… that was “Sister’s Brother Aid”!!”
I don’t want to acknowledge that.
I want to pretend it never happened.
That wasn’t me.
It wasn’t “me”…
“However, when I was working as the “Chancellor” for the “Ruling King,” it was different… The only “myself” I could acknowledge. The only time I felt that I had value and meaning was as the “Chancellor”.”
“That’s… why you’re so insistent on being the “Chancellor,” isn’t it…”
“Because I could help! “I” had value! Had meaning! …That made me happy! I didn’t know how to live, but if I worked myself to the bone for the “Ruling King,” that alone made me feel alive!”
“Then, are you saying Titty should forever be the “Ruling King”!? You intend to do so until you die!? Even after you die!? Are you going to make her carry everything alone any longer!?”
“Sh-shut up! Shut up, Uzunami!! If Rowen is no longer Rowen! Then what will become of me!?”
Continuously denied by Shiso Uzunami, I finally cursed at him.
It’s been a while since I’ve been this distraught…
A memory from the distant past—a world of constant denial, of suffering and wandering—surfaced in my mind, leaving my heart in ruins.
“Don’t use your sister for your self-satisfaction! What you’ve done isn’t for Titty! It’s not devotion at all!”
“Then what else can I do!? I’m scared! If I’m no longer Chancellor Aid, I’ll cease to be myself! I won’t know what to do! I’ll lose my value! I’ll lose my name! I’ll return to those days of being less than a slave! The days of endlessly repeating ‘Who am I?’ will return! The time to question why I live will assail me! I refuse! I absolutely refuse to let that happen, which is why I must make my sister the ‘Ruling King’!!”
“Is that your true feeling deep down!!”
—My… true feeling?
What did I just say?
Was my true intention to use my sister and escape my fear?
I want to believe it’s not… but I can’t deny that such a dark feeling lurked somewhere in my heart.
Ah, how foolish I am.
How ugly, how weak.
I can clearly feel the end of the last and weakest Guardian approaching.
Therefore, this was a defensive instinct, akin to a survival instinct.
To live, I shout.
“Aikawa! Uzunami! You’re being loud! Stop saying such arrogant things, you bastard! AAAAAAAAH—!”
As my spirit shattered, I felt my body, held together by willpower, begin to disintegrate.
My body, which I had held together by my own will using the trees, was now being invaded by them.
My white bones dissolved, replaced by the core of the wood passing through me. The wood, beyond my control, tore through my flesh and skin, protruding from various parts of my body.
Human nerves—sensitive as they were—were replaced by the dull nerves of plants, and my muscles began to vegetableize. My sensory organs even changed, the color of my eyes turning white.
Finally, the divine tree weapons and armor I wore became one with my body. Branches grew from the armor, spreading out and bearing vibrant green leaves.
This was the Guardian’s peculiar “half-corpse transformation.”
In other words, I had been half-killed by mere words.
And in the Throne room of Viaisia Castle, not as the ‘Chancellor,’ not as Aid—but as that weak ‘tree-person Demon’ who had no name, I returned.
“Yes, that’s right! I am weak, I am a coward, I am a pathetic wretch! That’s why I was terrified of losing sight of the ‘Ruling King’!” Back before I became a ‘Thief of Principles,’ everyone in the castle laughed at me! They pointed fingers, calling me a coward favored only because I was the ‘Ruling King’s’ younger brother! And it was true! I’m incompetent and useless as both a soldier and a civil official! I had absolutely no talent to brush off those malicious whispers! What do you know about me! You, who are talented! You, who everyone likes! You could never understand the feelings of the weak! I wouldn’t want you to understand!!!”
The ‘Demon’ child cursed the injustices of the world and shouted.
“I had no talent! I possessed no charm! I had no strong heart! Therefore, I was alone; the darkness was my daily life! Life itself was terrifying, an endless cycle of fear! For those without talent to walk the world is like walking off a dark cliff without a light! That’s why I desperately tried not to lose sight of the ‘Ruling King’!”
“Is that truly so!? What you perceived as light, was it truly the ‘Ruling King’!? The reason you felt you had to be the ‘Chancellor’—wasn’t it because you wanted to be of use to your sister, not for some fairytale ‘Ruling King’!? Aid, as long as your sister is here, you are still you! You’ve simply lost all memory of your days as her younger brother as a ‘Price’ for becoming a ‘Thief of Principles’! You have a sister! Your one and only sister in the world, who needs you, her younger brother!!”
“Enough, shut up, shut up, shut up! Shut up, Uzunami! Don’t try to confuse us any further—!!!”
I already know!
I know that the happy memories of my siblings have been completely erased as a ‘Price’ for becoming a ‘Thief of Principles’!
But still, something remains!
For some reason, the memory remains!
Only that pathetic image of my younger brother!
It’s seared into my mind, never to leave!!
I can clearly remember my pathetic self, only hesitating in front of my sister who spat at me!
Every single day for a hundred years! Every day, when I fall asleep, when I close my eyes—I’m reminded of it!!
At every turn, my desire to die, my fundamental nature, has clung to me my entire life!!
Then, I have no choice but to erase that entire life, haven’t I!?
I have no choice but to kill the ‘self’ that is ‘younger brother,’ haven’t I!?
Now, the only thing I can believe in is the ‘Chancellor’! The only way for ‘myself’ to have value and meaning and live in this dark world is as the ‘Chancellor’ to the ‘Ruling King’!
That is the only ‘strong’ me!!
“I won’t shut up, you idiot! I can’t stand to watch! You and Titty are the only siblings in this world! You have no other family! If you lose them, they’ll never return! So don’t leave Titty and yourself alone any longer!! It’s too pitiful for both of you—!!”
That was the end of the argument—
—As we shouted at each other, we moved simultaneously.
I’m not thinking of anything anymore.
I don’t consider the distance of the enemy’s sword, I just think about defeating the enemy before me as I charge. Besides, even if I tried hard to think, it wouldn’t help at all. So, all that’s left is to charge straight ahead and fight beyond my limits.
As I ran, I finished preparing to unleash all my magic.
And Shiso Uzunami responded with his sword.
With his sword, he swept my arm at a distance that should have been out of reach, slashing my abdomen in my ‘half-corpse’ state, piercing my lungs, and impaling both my legs.
Even so, I pressed on without hesitation.
A sane person would have stopped with such wounds, but I never faltered.
“I w-win—! I will win against you and become the true ‘Chancellor’ this time! I have to! No matter what method it takes!!”
That is my life!
I will perform an ‘Incantation,’ staking my entire life!
“—’I am the soul of a solitary, nameless child’—!”
Focus all my magic into these hands.
Stamp my feet firmly and transfer the magic into the ground.
And then, run! Run through—!
“—’The lost child was guided by the world’ ‘Ran to the end of the backlight’—!!”
Watch me, Uzunami.
I will burn, drop, crush, and destroy, just like my homeland.
“—Magic (King Falls to Earth) AAAAAA—!!”
With this magic that will end everything—!
