The Divine Sword.
It is a sword wielded by gods.
It is said that those who are not worthy are not even allowed to grasp it, let alone wield it.
Originally, as the name “Divine Sword” suggests, its form should resemble a sword or other weapon, but its floating presence in the air is undeniably human.
Why did the Undead King declare with certainty that this being was a Divine Sword, despite its human form?
“Oh my? Why do you think so?”
The Undead King’s words held conviction.
While being able to see souls was part of the reason, there were others.
“It’s simple. I’ve ‘seen’ it before. That’s all there is to it.”
He had seen a Divine Sword before.
That was why the Undead King referred to it as “this generation.”
“Heh.”
Perhaps surprised by this fact, the Divine Sword nodded with an impressed air, but soon a chuckle began to escape its lips.
It was as if to say, “So what?” or “That’s all the information worth having.”
“You thought I was a Divine Sword just from seeing that piece of scrap metal? That’s quite a sloppy deduction.”
Then, as if knowing what happened to the previous Divine Sword, it spoke, betraying its dissatisfaction at being compared, and showing not even a fragment of respect for its predecessor.
“Well, it would be no fun to be wrong here. I won’t tell you my name because it’s not worth mentioning, but I’ll just say you’re correct. Ah, yes, I am the current Divine Sword.”
As evident from its arrogant demeanor, the Divine Sword felt no sense of crisis from the Undead King.
It viewed this disaster as a mere playful act after the Undead King had accomplished his goals.
“And you thought you could win after finding out I was a Divine Sword, you poor old man. What are you going to do now?”
It failed to grasp the meaning of the Undead King’s words.
Because it believed them to be worthless.
It had seen a Divine Sword before.
This gave it a confidence that seemed to say, “So what?”
One might say it was intoxicated by its own capabilities, which underpinned such an attitude.
Indeed, it was created by a god.
Its performance would undoubtedly be unfathomable.
However, to the Undead King, its form appeared as nothing more than a clown.
“Pathetic, pathetic, truly pathetic. My Master. No, considering it’s a Divine Sword forged by that Sun God, such an attitude is to be expected.”
He almost felt pity, but for the Undead King, his subsequent actions remained unchanged.
As he had vowed before, he was determined to shatter its body.
“Let us be grateful that I can break such pride.”
The Undead King, aware of the Divine Sword’s true terrifying nature, chuckled, his jaw clicking.
Despite not landing a single effective blow, its attitude was as if it were saying it had no chance of losing to the Divine Sword in its current state, bursting into loud laughter.
Normally, one would suspect something was amiss with such an attitude from the Undead King, but…
“Ugh, you still have the composure to say that. Well, that’s also…”
To the Divine Sword, which had not learned the concept of vigilance, it appeared as mere bluster.
This was because its opponents had only ever been those beneath it.
It had never encountered an opponent capable of blocking its power and engaging in a fierce battle.
It was unclear how long it had existed since its birth.
This encounter could be called a strange fate.
On one side, a Divine Sword that had only ever achieved success.
On the other, an undead being who met his end in ruin.
What kind of battle would unfold from this combination?
Would talent overwhelm experience, or vice versa?
Such a confrontation awaited.
“You won’t be able to say that after seeing this.”
The change in that confrontation began when the Divine Sword assumed an offensive posture for the first time in this battle.
With a confident swing of its arm, the Sun God’s flame manifested.
With a mere sweep of its sword across the ground, the earth melted into a glassy state, and with another swing, the ground began to melt like magma.
“I shall grant you the honor of being cut by my blade, which contains my Master’s flame that melts all things.”
Was it its sharpness, perhaps?
It didn’t cut with the edge of a blade like a sword, nor did it crush like an axe.
It incinerated everything with overwhelming heat.
It burned everything away, ignoring all means of defense, both physical and conceptual.
“Kekekeke, I’ll pass on such a crude honor.”
Even witnessing the phenomenon of its life burning away upon impact, the Undead King’s composure did not waver in the slightest.
Rather, he dismissively laughed, as if to say, “Is that all?”
“But, if you’re offering honor, I shall return the favor.”
And for the Undead King, this was where the real fight began.
He declared it a repayment and struck the ground with his staff, producing a dry thud.
“Prepare to be swallowed by darkness. My Chaos shall manifest here.”
With just a single word.
A small magic circle, about one meter in diameter, materialized.
“?”
Initially, it tilted its head in doubt at the appearance of the unadorned magic circle, so contrasting with its own flamboyant display, and then scoffed.
The Divine Sword presumed it was nothing much.
Unaware that the Undead King was inwardly scoffing at its reaction.
The Undead King, Nōraifu, a master of magic in all attributes, from the elemental (earth, water, fire, wind) to the special (darkness, gravity, light), exceeding the expert level in each.
Then, would one discover the question of whether such a being had a most proficient genre?
One might think that if he could handle all genres, they would all be his specialty, thus resolving the question. However…
If, hypothetically, two people, the Demon Lord and the Oni King, who had experienced a full-power “battle to the death” with the Undead King and survived, were asked this question, they would likely answer thus:
“The sludge of Chaos. Don’t worry, it’s a relatively tame and cute fellow unless provoked.”
The magic that absolutely must not be used on the Undead King is Chaos Magic.
After a few popping bubbles, the ground liquefied, and then transformed into a ground with a strong viscosity, like tar.
Standing on this ground, the Undead King gently stroked a slime-like object that had sprouted, describing it as docile unless provoked.
“You… is that…?!”
“Kekekeke, you recognize it too?”
It was then that the Divine Sword, for the first time, expressed its surprise.
“Are you an idiot?! Releasing that into the outside world so casually?! You’ll disrupt the world’s balance!!”
No, it would be more accurate to say that anger preceded shock.
This scene was so unacceptable to the Divine Sword that it could not be denied.
“Why are you so surprised? This is merely mud. Ordinary, everyday mud. The root of all things. The primordial. The mud of creation. That’s all there is to it.”
Genuinely, it was Chaos born in a world divided into light and darkness at the time of its creation.
The concept of Chaos materialized.
And it was now wriggling at the Undead King’s feet.
He describes it as common, but that is far from the truth.
In other words, this being is one and zero.
A phenomenon that exists without form while possessing both nothingness and finitude.
A paradoxical phenomenon.
A being that cannot be described, encompassing everything and yet nothing.
“However, it’s a bit of a glutton. Since something that looks quite filling has appeared, let’s see if it can be consumed.”
A thing that can exist, and a thing that should not exist.
What would happen if such Chaos sludge were to become aggressive?
The movement was slow, but not so slow as to be negligible, extending like a spear. The tip was sharp and had the force to pierce armor of iron, but it was a speed the Divine Sword could easily dodge.
“Ha! You summon such a thing with magic, and that’s all you can do with it?!”
The Divine Sword dodged with effortless ease and, with a returning stroke, attempted to slice through the very space itself with a hand chop. However…
“Kekekeke, do you truly think you can dodge an attack at this range?”
The Undead King’s words, warning that the suffering was about to begin and not to end so soon, made the Divine Sword realize.
This sludge disregarded the very concept of distance.
“What a shame. If you had realized a moment later, I would have pierced a hole in that beautiful body of yours.”
No, it wasn’t just distance.
Chaos, by encompassing everything, also meant that everything was mixed together, thus boundaries ceased to exist.
Once swallowed, one would become that thing.
In other words, even the phenomenon of extending straight, appearing to have directionality, also meant that it was extending *bent*.
Moreover, perhaps it was shrinking while appearing to extend.
Where the Divine Sword dodged, Chaos sludge grew.
It was something that had absolutely not been there moments before, it could be asserted with certainty.
Yet, it was there.
This contradiction.
And what was most terrifying was the Undead King’s presence, standing unaffected despite touching the sludge.
Chaos, which normally dissolves and mixes everything it touches.
It could be resisted.
It could be countered with magic.
It could be defended against with tools.
But without any of that, how could he remain as he was?
“Kekekekekeke, where did all that composure from before disappear to?”
The fact that this question could not be resolved with the knowledge within the Divine Sword’s grasp caused it to become irritated, but the Undead King had no intention of indulging such personal matters.
“Well, *you* were the one who started this quarrel. I simply bought it at a high price.”
It had picked the wrong opponent to quarrel with.
That was all there was to it.
“It might be childish to unleash such a thing for a mere weapon with good performance, but, oh well.”
The Undead King chuckled, as if to say, “Don’t break after this,” but his eyes, devoid of the kindness he showed his recently trained disciples, held a flicker of anger despite his laughter.
“Arise, comrade, and let us indulge in revelry.”
At the Undead King’s words, the spring of Chaos changed once more.
Something rose, as if floating, one by one, taking on human form.
“…Grrr.”
Faced with this phenomenon, it was beyond words. Grinding its teeth, it swung its hand, intending to incinerate it with its flames, but before it could reach the Undead King, it was blocked by the mud that had emerged, and its attack failed.
While it was launching a single attack, one by one, another, and another, the chaotic army formed by the mud took shape.
And slowly began to cover the ground.
“Well, what happened, Divine Sword? Weren’t you going to treat me to the sharpness of your boasted blade?”
The movements were sluggish, inconsistent.
The shadows of Chaos appeared as a mere swarm.
Within the writhing spring of sludge, the Undead King stood calmly.
Only the sound of grinding teeth could be heard, but the Undead King could clearly sense that the force of that clenching was leading to something other than irritation.
The spell the Undead King was using was beyond the Divine Sword’s understanding.
A part of this fact gave rise to irritation within the Divine Sword, and the desire to deny it became the seed of its tantrum.
“If you won’t come, I shall come to you.”
This became the opening the Undead King exploited.
“Kekekekeke.”
Joyfully, mercilessly, without compassion, the Undead King, whose sole purpose was destruction, slowly raised his right hand.
With that simple gesture, the army of Chaos, which had only been writhing until moments before, stopped moving as if paying attention to the conductor’s baton before the main performance.
The calm before the storm.
No.
If Jiro had been able to witness the Undead King’s current state, he would have said this:
The precursor to a volcanic eruption.
“Let the games begin.”
To an outsider, the Undead King might appear as the villain, and the Divine Sword as the hero of justice.
The Undead King, standing with a swaying posture like a monstrous apparition, manipulating dark, writhing entities, attacks the mystical, androgynous figure.
However, there is no justice in this battle.
There is only the relationship between one who has stepped on the tiger’s tail and the one who has stepped on it saying, “Don’t worry about it,” as they walk towards their conclusion.
“Dance, dance, dance until you die, dance even after you die.”
There is no way of knowing which way it will turn.
All that is known is that this army of Chaos was unleashed upon the Divine Sword without mercy.
The die is cast.
As if embodying those words, the Undead King lowered the hand he had raised and unleashed the army of Chaos.
Whether there were eyes or not, the gaze of the army of Chaos converged on the Divine Sword at the tip of the lowered hand, and after a brief pause, like insects drawn to a lightbulb.
“AAAAAAAARRRRRRGH.”
As if cheering, they produced strange sounds and, in unison, Chaos soared into the sky.
“Hmph! This much?!”
Normally, if one has achieved their objective, they should consider escaping. However, perhaps viewing turning their back on the enemy as shameful, or perhaps believing they would never lose.
In either case, they undoubtedly chose the most difficult option: to confront it.
Should this action be called courageous, or reckless?
Though the divine flame ignited in the Divine Sword’s hand incinerates the army of Chaos, the same scene unfolds a few moments later.
The stretching hands of Chaos sludge.
To fend them all off, it wields that flame.
And the Divine Sword does not notice.
Perhaps because its gaze is fixed on the ground, the clouds are gradually gathering in the full moonlit sky.
Today’s Word:
Whether it’s a failure or a success, the difference in experience is significant.
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*The first volume of the book is published by Hayakawa Bunko JA.
It was released on October 18, 2018.
An e-book version was also released on October 31 of the same year.
The second volume was released on December 19th.
The third volume was released on February 20, 2019.
The content has been revised and expanded from the version posted on Shōsetsuka ni Narō, with the addition of unpublished interlude chapters.
Please consider purchasing the new releases as well!!
Thank you for your continued support of this work.
