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| ← Ch.39 | Ch.41 → |
And... Inside the floating city of Avant Heim's main office. Amidst the unchanging silence, only the sound of Jibril detachedly turning pages could be heard.
'I see, by losing my dice my memories were lost too'
That is because magical living beings like the Flugel have no clear boundary between the "Body" and the "Soul". Even her masters must have overlooked that loophole while creating the rules... no. That information is something that her masters... something that 'living things' don't know. More than anyone else, Jibril herself should have noticed the problem with those rules.
In any case, Jibril continued to turn pages. If that was the case, 'What would happen if I lost all my dice?' The other partic. i. p. ants would become their 'soul', their spiritual bodies.
Then, Jibril... ?
On the page she just turned to, a likely hypothesis is written:
──『Only the "Core Spell" will remain, then it will restart』
Yes. That's all. Just like the other partic. i. p. ants, she wouldn't die. Only the most fundamental component of a magical living being, the "Spell", would remain, since it has no ma. s. s. But if that happens, all her memories would just be reset.
If that was all, there would be no problem if she just recorded everything in her diary. Even if the spell is rebooted. Even if she is reborn. That's because that would still be herself, after all.
No, rather, this is closer to asking oneself: "If I lost all my memories, would I still be the same person?" If she wrote down all of her thoughts, all of her memories in this diary then...
Even if she lost all her dice there would be no problem, she would still adore her masters.
That's what she believed...
Believed, however,
"Indeed... until Master nonchalantly handed me those dice at that bath..."
The second move. When she rolled her dice once again, the moment when they decreased by one...
Everything she had written in her diary, it's meaning, her thoughts, even its value... She no longer understood any of it.
'Someone like me lovingly calling an inferior Immanity my Master... It must be some kind of mistake. Most likely, that person screwed me in a game, and then planted convenient memories in me. Let's go take a look at that conceited monkey. And if there's an opportunity, let's kill him. '
While thinking that...
She went to meet them. Her masters.
And that day. In the bath, when he handed over the dice, all her memories returned. Then, she asked her masters what they thought about reincarnation. If someone had exactly the same soul as you, would that still be you?
The soul. The core spell. If all the components are the same, would that still be you? Thus, her masters answered, and this time Jibril finally... understood.
She finally understood what she felt at that time. It was her past self who had been writing in her diary. She opened those pages and unintentionally gave a bitter smile.
"No no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no"
She repeated the same word as many times as she read the tear-stained pages.
'The "Me" who lost her memories is not "Me" at all' She thought.
She recorded all her memories in this diary in order to study the theory of the soul. When she lost her memories and read it, she could only think of it as someone else's diary. If that was the case, then that was someone else, after all. If you read someone else's diary, could you become that person? There is no way.
It is the same as reading books, no matter how many you read, you cannot obtain anything more than "knowledge". No matter how much emotion you write it with, that emotion definitely cannot be transmitted. Having reached that conclusion, Jibril did not return the dice that Sora gave her.
If she was going to forget everything again, then she refused to even roll her dice. She even thought about dying right there and then, if she was allowed to. However, if she died, then the 10 dice she was carrying would have been lost as well. Her master's victory... and maybe even her own life, she was unable to take those away from her masters. That's why she asked her masters once again: 'Is it fine if I win?'.
"... I really am the worst..."
When she turned the page and saw the part where she borrowed the dice without returning them, Jibril made an expression of self-disgust without realizing. In there, the procedure to start the "Great War" game was written in detail.
The Old Deus' "Sugoroku". If it was fine for anyone to reach the top, then Jibril would be the one to do it. However, if she just climbed just as she was, she would surely be lacking something. Jibril was well aware of that.
'If anyone climbs to the top, then everyone wins' None other than her masters, Sora and s. h. i. +ro, said so, therefore, she wasn't choosing "Defeat". That's why she made them bet "The real way to beat the Old Deus" too.
On top of that, she devised a game where they'd have no choice but to renounce their rights. She wrote all that in detail in her diary so that it would still be carried out even if she lost her memories.
"But... Please, Master...."
Jibril covered her face and muttered that. They will surely look at her with disdain. No matter, she will gladly take any punishment. If, with a single word, she was ordered to die... No, if she was allowed to die, then she wants to die right now... but!
"... Please, please! Just one time... Please Master... Will you let me win?... Just this time... Please!"
She admits it. She is completely terrified.
"... Not me, but someone else, with my face, with my voice!"
Everything in her diary... Everything she has seen and heard, everything she has learned, everything she has felt in those 6407 years. Even the fact that right now she is using dirty tactics to s. n. a. t. c. h a victory. That although she had no right to do that, she is crying and begging pathetically. All of that, and especially its meaning, if she forgets that...
"My Masters calling someone who is not me "Jibril"..."
Her most important persons, her most important memories, calling that person by that name,
"She would see them as worthless... she wouldn't recognize them no matter what..."
She imagines that person would be that kind of stranger. Besides, she has never conquered fear even once...
────............
For how long had she been doing this?
A few movements started to appear on the "Map" display. Jibril raised her tear-stained face, and made a small, bitter smile.
"... That's... right... my masters, Blank.... would never accept... defeat..."
Surely, they don't have any intention to renounce their rights. But that means that they one-sidedly "Accepted the challenge". And, at the same time, "It is fine if Jibril wins".
Anyways, she received a lot of "Letters" from Sora and the others, and they were full of complaints. If they had just written "Renounce your rights" or "Die", since she is their possession, she would have had no right to refuse.
"Thank you very much, Master. I respectfully accept your challenge."
And so, Jibril took her pen once again and started to write "Commands".
'No matter what, I will win. If I corner them completely, even my Masters will have no choice but to renounce their rights. But... '
She glanced at her diary one last time.
"But even so, my Masters will most certainly win"
She thinks about the page where that was written.
'Then, at least I want to lose to die after losing to my Masters... This will be the last game of my life. '
The day the Great War ended. The moment when everything ended, how did the world change then?
That answer, Immanity's power, and the moment when the world changes once more... Jibril will not be able to see how this game with the Old Deus ends. But at the very least, since she will record it with conviction...
■■■
At the edge of square number 308.
"Let me f. u. c. king pa. s. s, desu!!"
Unable to break through the s. p. a. ce at the edge of the square, a red beast was rampaging and roaring. Clad in boiling blood, Izuna swings her fists down, each blow causing the sound of an explosion. Going beyond the limits of physics, "Blood Destruction". Using that enhanced perception, she sees a battlefield far away. From the edge of the square she looks down at a s. p. a. ce that was compressed to the limit.
The game imitating the Great War. It was the Old Deus' power that created such a thing. There is no way that she will be able to break the wall of such a s. p. a. ce just by punching it, but even so, Izuna, with her blood boiling and her body burning, impatiently strikes at the empty s. p. a. ce with her fists, her claws, and her fangs.
She must go back, go back and stop them.
That is a game, just an illusion. Izuna understands that. But, it was a scene where life was treated like nothing, and heaven and earth were torn up like toys.
Izuna knew.
It is different from the story that Tet told her, but if they follow the same path, then the conclusion will also be...
"That, is, no, good, desu!!"
Izuna knew.
Jibril doesn't know, the answer that she wants to know is:
How did the Great War end in the past? How will that game end?
It will just end with someone's death.
【Why dost thou hesitate? State one name. 】
She was coldly told that. Izuna swung her fist as her tears evaporated, then she turned towards that robotic voice.
【If thou doth that and become the "Winner", everything will be finished at once】
The one seated on an ink line floating through s. p. a. ce, as if she had done that eternally. The one asking questions that she doesn't want to answer right now like, "What does it mean to believe?". The Old Deus, looking down on everything, announces Izuna's 【Task】.
【Amongst the seven souls that the Old Deus holds, choose one to be released and killed[1], then, be transferred to the final square】
In other words, it is asking her who to sacrifice in order to settle this match.
"───────"
Confusion. No, not that. With something like a gasp, Izuna just averts her gaze and trembles. If she just sacrificed this Old Deus that is looking at everything as if it didn't concern her, and one more.
It is saying that with that, everything will end.
Jibril, and Sora and the others, are also killing each other in their game. Outside, Ino and Plum, and Kurami and Feel, are also killing each other in their game. If anyone reached the goal, then this Old Deus will die. This is a game of killing each other, like all the others.
In that case... 'Just one more'.
If, for example, Izuna herself said: Let me be the sacrifice?
Would she be able to stop any further sacrifices... ?
"Don't screw with me, desu... Am I not an idiot, desu!?"
Izuna bares her fangs and howls. As if such a stupid thing could be true. She howls at the Old Deus... No, she howls at herself for being too stupid. In the beginning, Izuna thought that it wasn't necessary to think too complicatedly about this game.
It is only because everyone betrayed each other that someone will be able to reach the goal. Going by the results, they were cooperating with each other. She was able to discover that because of her youth and sharp sensibilities.
'I will win', she thought after.
And...
"Save everyone, including Miko" She was supposed to demand that. But why didn't she notice? Izuna screams at herself with irritation
"In that case, I don't understand s. h. i. +t, desu!?"
If she reaches the goal will everyone be saved? In that case should she reach the goal? If it's just to save everyone... Then they should have never played this game!? Not to mention, even if they reach the goal, the Old Deus will become a sacrifice?
She will not even come out even. If she wins, she will lose something, right? Besides, in order to reach the goal, she needs to get past this task, in that case, one more sacrifice?
"I don't get it, desu!!"
Shaking her head like a spoiled child, Izuna thinks: 'That's impossible'.
That's impossible. That can't be. There's no way she would have agreed to that! If she can't save everyone, then, even if she reaches the goal, what demand would she make!?
A game where someone has to be sacrificed wouldn't have even started in the first place! In that case... Glaring sternly at the Old Deus, Izuna howls:
"It's not about the number desu! I really hate stinking liars like you, desu!!"
One, or two, or all, it's the same thing. She determined that every word the Old Deus is barking is a "Lie".
Of course they are lies.
Izuna uses her head, and focuses on the many "mysteries".
In the first place, what's up with these 【Tasks】? They have continued on since square 301. Why are they together like that!? No, if we are asking about what happened in the first place, then who wrote this 【Task】!?
Wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong. Izuna shakes her head and thinks. In the first place, in the first place... The seven souls that the Old Deus holds... ? Who on earth does that refer to? Sora, s. h. i. +ro, Steph, Jibril, Izuna, Ino, Plum. They are certainly seven. However, including the soul of this Old Deus... Aren't they eight? Furthermore, including Miko-sama then, aren't they nine!?
Wrong. That's not it. Absolutely, that it not it!
"Izuna for sure will not say anyone's name, desu!"
She still doesn't understand what's wrong. However, she still announces her instinct. That 'It is absolutely wrong, that can't be!' She believes only that. Izuna is shedding tears and screaming, but
【Understood. In any case, thy defeat hath already been determined】
The response, as expected, is in the completely emotionless voice of the Old Deus. Yes, in any case, even if she doesn't complete the Task if 72 hours pa. s. s... Izuna will lose one dice, and have one remaining. Then, she won't be able to continue.
However,
"It is fine even if I lost desu. I really hate you desu! But!!"
Izuna glares at the Old Deus with teary eyes, and thinks.
"Even so, I will never accept your death!!"
... After all, there have to be no sacrifices.
She cannot change anything, she cannot stop anything. Why,
"Why did Tet tell Izuna that story, desu!"
In that case, in this world...
Nothing is changing at all...
| ← Ch. 39 | Ch. 41 → |