I Was a Sword When I Reincarnated (LN) - Volume 13 - Chapter 3.5

True Prologue

HOW LONG was I lying there for?

I lay groaning, intense pain rushing through my body as my clouded eyes looked around for help. The tears pooling in my eyes only worsened my vision. The world was turning hazy. Is this what blood loss does to your vision?

I feebly reached for the sky. All I accomplished was dripping my own blood onto my body.

“Help…me…”

Every breath was agony.

“Hurg… Aagh…”

How did this happen to me…?! It hurts…it hurts…! Please, just…let it end…

“Ah…”

Huh. Doesn’t hurt as bad anymore.

The bone-searing pain suddenly disappeared. Rather than agonizingly hot, the world now felt cold…not that cold was a good thing in this sort of situation, based on what I’d heard.

I guess it’s time for me to go. I sighed, feeling the strength leave my body.

The car that ran me over, the child I pushed out of the way, the company I was working for, the VR game I’d been waiting for that was finally going to go on sale tomorrow… None of it mattered now. They all disappeared from my mind. 

The only thing left was peace.

“Uhh…” My mouth could no longer move. But at least the pain was gone.

I really am dying.

Whiteness filled my field of vision. I felt a sense of release, as if I was floating in space. The pain was completely gone. I felt I could just stand up and walk away like normal.

Which wasn’t an option. I knew that my life was over.

“That’s it, huh? I’m gonna die.”

Indeed. You will die if nothing is done about you.

“Huh?”

Let us suppose there was a way to save you. What would you say?

Was I hallucinating?

And yet, the woman’s voice was so clear. It was like she was speaking into my ears.

And the voice itself…she sounded ancient.

No, you are not hallucinating. I am here to save you.

A hallucination that said it wasn’t a hallucination, eh? Heh…I really didn’t want to die. And here I’d been, thinking I was oh-so-ready to go.

Must I keep telling you that I am no hallucination? Aah, but it is to be expected. Allow me to make things easier for you.

Snap.

There was the sound of snapping fingers—and then everything around me changed.

“What?”

“I bid thee welcome to my realm.”

The asphalt I was lying on was replaced with a grass carpet.

I looked around. The white void remained, but the world which seemed so large and endless had a small expanse of land in the middle of it. The field was about the size of a schoolyard. A majestic stone structure lay at the center. It looked like some kind of temple. It reminded me of the pictures I’d seen of the Greek Parthenon.

The ground and the temple weren’t the only thing that filled the white void.

“Well? Do you insist upon calling me a hallucination?”

A woman stood at the temple entrance. She wore a strange outfit and hairstyle, but it was her looks that were truly remarkable. 

To put it simply, she was beauty itself.

She had an almost Japanese look to her. She was elegant beyond belief, glowing with an unsurpassable divinity. Hers was no natural beauty, but a supernatural one; it was as if an angel had incarnated herself within a perfectly carved statue. Inhumanly beautiful.

My breathing stopped short the moment I looked at her face, and it took a few moments before I regained enough composure to look at the rest of her. Like her face, the rest of her body was Japanese. Again, there was an ancient touch to her attire, but something wasn’t quite right about it.

Instead of the long sleeves of a junihitoe, she wore a miniskirt reminiscent of the kunoichi in comic books. Frankly, she looked like she was cosplaying. Her clothes were thin and tight-fitting, and long slits ran down the hem. The otherwise cheap design was made divine by the mere fact that she was wearing it. It was strange.

Her clothes were as black as her long hair and eyes, but her collar and belt were scarlet. The color palette made it look even more like cosplay.

“Come.”

“Pardon?”

The woman approached me and pulled me up to my feet. The warmth and softness of her skin was definitely no hallucination.

“I’m not dreaming…?”

“Indeed you are not. Finally, you understand. Granted, this is not my real form. This form is composed of aspects of my real form, combined with figments of your imagination.”

“M-meaning?”

“It is a form based upon your vision of gods. ’Tis easier for us to speak in this manner.”

Was this what I thought gods looked like in my head? A beautiful girl with thin and tight-fitting clothes? I needed to have a word with my libido.

“So…you’re a god?”

“I am she who governs the underworld and reincarnation. As you understand it, I would be the god of the nether.”

“G-God of the Nether…? Y-you’re Hades? Wait, this is Japan so…Lord Enma? Izanami-no-Mikoto?”

“All correct, yet all mistaken. Let us set aside the issue of my divinity at the moment. Your current state is of far greater importance.”

That’s right. What happened to me? I should be dead now since I was talking to the god of the nether. But then she said there was a way I could be saved…

“That I did.”

Wow! So I can come back to life? That’s awesome! But hang on. I’m no saint or anyone important. Could a miracle even apply to me? Is this what I get for being killed by a god? Wait, no, I actually got hit by a car, so…wait, crap, I’ve been so impolite with her so far! I mean, I don’t even know what’s going on here! But she hasn’t been provoked to wrath or anything, so maybe she’s okay with it. I guess being a god means being big enough to not mind formalities. B-but I’ll gladly embrace formalities! Y’know! If she wants me to?

“Your thoughts buzz like a beehive.”

“Y-you think so?”

She seemed annoyed, but not angry. Good. At least I haven’t been rude enough to get my salvation revoked. This is great! Proceed then, great goddess! Tell me what I must do to save my life!

“A very busy mind…but also frightfully optimistic.”

“I get that a lot. People say I’m strangely optimistic. Maybe I’m just dense.”

“Then I am unsure if they were complimenting you. As for your salvation, it will depend on your response. You see, we have a favor to ask of you.”

“A favor…? From me?”

“Indeed. Will you lend an ear?”

“O-of course.”

“Very good. Come hither, then.”

“W-wait…!”

The god of the nether turned around to enter the temple. I wasn’t sure if I had any right to enter. It was holy ground, after all…

“Come along then. Why do you tarry?’

“R-right away!” Whelp, guess that’s an invite. But I was in for an even bigger surprise inside.

“Welcome. I am the God of the Silver Moon.”

“And I, the God of Chaos.”

Two more beautiful women awaited me inside the temple, their beauty rivaling that of the God of the Nether.

The woman called the God of the Silver Moon had shining, silver hair like her namesake. Her skin was white and soft, and she had golden eyes. The goddess’ hair shimmered in the light as she moved. Her hair color was very close to something I’d use on a character in a video game, making her feel somewhat familiar to me. Her expression was motherly and merciful. She really looked the part of a goddess.

Meanwhile, the Goddess of Chaos had a mischievous look on her face. Hers was a different kind of beauty from the Goddess of the Silver Moon. Her crimson eyes looked as if they pierced through everything. Her skin was alluring, dark and supple. She wore her silver hair loose, almost disheveled behind her back. But it was a different kind of silver from the Goddess of the Silver Moon’s hair, almost gray, which better suited her dark skin.

Beautiful goddesses wearing tight-fitting clothes. Did my imagination come up with these too? Scratch having a word with my libido, I needed to give my imagination a raise!

“Uhh…”

Seeing that I was tongue-tied, the God of the Nether motioned to the other goddesses.

“These two are my associates. They are also the ones who have asked for you. You can say that they are the leaders of this initiative. I am merely helping.”

“We have a favor to ask of you.”

“Will you hear us out?”

“S-sure.”

The three goddesses told me that they weren’t goddesses from Earth but another world…a world different from Earth. These were the gods who created and governed that world.

But that wasn’t even the most surprising revelation I received—not that I wasn’t shocked to hear about the existence of gods and other worlds or anything. But the next thing they said was more shocking.

If I died here, I would be put back into Earth’s wheel of reincarnation. But the goddesses wanted me to reincarnate in the world that they were in charge of.

“It would be a simple thing for me to transport your soul into our world,” said the God of the Nether. The goddesses were formerly those of our own Earth, and therefore had some power left in our realm. For instance, the God of the Nether could still call upon the dead of our world.

“So you used to be gods of Earth? Wait, and you want me to go to a new world…? An actual reincarnation to another world?”

This was a lot to take in. I didn’t think that something like this could happen to me. Something so…so fictional!

“But…why?”

“Now, now. Calm down and we’ll explain everything.”

I wasn’t going to get to be reborn for free, of course. I’d have a mission to accomplish once I reincarnated in their world.

The goddesses showed me images of their world. Told me all about the war between the gods and all that happened afterwards. I would reincarnate into a sword in order to save Fenrir and the God of Evil, both of whom were sealed away. All I had to do, they said, was fight some monsters in order to accomplish it…but I knew that it wasn’t going to be that easy.

But they also told me that an Earthling was able to repel the Evil One’s influence…

“Please. We want you to save them.”

“Hmm…a reincarnation into a sword…? And I’ll lose all my memories?”

“Not exactly. Your memories will be sealed away for a time. The full mind of a man would be unhinged by a transformation into a sword.”

“Most of your memories of your friends and family shall be sealed away, as shall the cause of your death.”

“Memories of intense emotions, happy or sad, will also be sealed away because of their effects on the makeup of your personality.”

“Some of your memories of passion will be sealed away—specifically, your first sexual encounter and your past relationships with the opposite sex.”

So…all of the memories that were deeply meaningful to me, as well as the ones that deeply impacted my personality.

“You will regain your memories once we have determined that you have grown accustomed to life as a sword and will be able to retain your sanity. We know not what might happen to you if you were to enter the cycle without these precautions,” said the God of the Nether.

“And I suppose your personality might change while your memories are sealed away,” the God of Chaos added.

“It might what?” That was a scary thought. Would I stop being me?

“Your personality comes from the memories of your life, after all,” said the God of Chaos.

“The seal upon your memories will certainly affect your personality,” said the God of the Silver Moon.

“I see. When you put it that way, I guess there’s nothing to be done.”

“But your personality shouldn’t change much. You will not become a stranger to yourself.”

“Indeed. If an acquaintance were to meet you, they would ask you if you were having a bad day, at worst.”

“And your personality will return once the seal upon your memories is lifted.”

I was still doubtful, but I figured it would be fine as long as I could still get my memories back. Besides, these were gods talking. If they said it was going to be okay, it was going to be okay.

“So uh, what happens if I di—I mean, get destroyed in the other world? What happens then?”

“You will return to the wheel of reincarnation on Earth…but that will not be all. You were tasked with a mission, after all.”

I would reincarnate back on Earth instead of the other world. The God of the Nether also hinted that I would be given preferential treatment, although I wouldn’t remember any of this.

“And if I refuse to become a sword?” I asked cautiously.

“Save your trembling mortal fears. We will not sentence you with a punishment for refusing. You will simply return to the wheel of reincarnation, and we shall move on to the next candidate.”

I wasn’t the first interviewee, it seemed. There were others before me…others who refused. I was nervous and scared, but I had made up my mind.

“All right. I’ll reincarnate into a sword.”

“And you are certain?” asked the God of the Nether.

“No going back,” added the God of the Silver Moon.

“Yep. If I’m going to die, might as well go see what other worlds are like. I’ll be free to live my life once I finish the mission, right?”

“That you will.”

“Just one thing, though. Can you wipe my hard drive? I know it sounds like a trifling thing, but…”

“Yes, of course,” the God of the Nether said. “Consider it done.”

I didn’t think I’d ask the gods to clean up after me. Still, their reincarnation candidate care was top-notch. They would erase the gruesome details of my death from the mind of the girl I saved, delete the data from my PC, and hide my adult literature where no one could find it.

But look. Those weren’t the reasons why I agreed to becoming a sword. I’d always dreamed of reincarnating with cheat skills, and this way, there was a good chance this next life would be a happy one too. Besides, based on what the gods showed me about this other world and the original form of the Evil One—

“There are two more people we would like you to meet.”

As I was making excuses to no one in particular, two new figures (?) appeared in front of me. I couldn’t quite make out what one of them looked like.

“I am the God of Knowledge. Pleased to make your acquaintance.”

“And I am Futsunushi, God of Swords.”

“H-hello. The pleasure is all mine.”

The God of Knowledge was androgynously attractive, with both male and female beauty traits. They had silky blonde hair, with round, thin-framed glasses and a kariginu which concealed the defining features of their slender body. This god was probably also fashioned from my imagination. As for the glasses? C’mon. God of Knowledge here. Can’t have that without glasses.

But the last god looked the strangest of all.

“L-Lord Futsunushi? You have a name?”

Unlike the other gods, Futsunushi had announced his name. In fact, Futsunushi was quite famous in Japan for being the god of swords.

“And your form…” I could only describe him as being a black shadow. A humanoid wrapped in flickering darkness.

I wasn’t sure if this was how I imagined the god of swords would be. If it was up to me, the god of swords would be a pretty lady in samurai armor.

“He is the only god among us who has a name. He summoned part of his Earthly divinity in the war against the Evil One, and is now bound by the name he had once abandoned.”

Then I remembered—back when they were showing me images of the war between the gods, there’d been a god who wielded a giant sword to fight the God of Evil.

When the gods crossed over to a new world, they abandoned their old names and were reborn anew. These new gods might even be composed of multiple divinities who’d taken an interest in the new world. But to defeat the Evil One, the God of Swords had invoked his name as Futsunushi in order to unleash his true power…also causing him to be bound to his old name and office, unlike the new gods, who were free to be what they wished.

“I cannot change form, for I have been bound to my name. But man may not see the true face of a god and live. For that reason, I ask that you pardon my current form.”

The nameless gods were free to change their shape, while Futsunushi wasn’t.

“The Godsword you will become shall be a vassal of the God of Swords and the God of Wisdom. That is the reason they are here.”

The goddesses then proceeded to show me the memories of mine which would be sealed away. It was…a very embarrassing experience, though it didn’t start out too bad. First were the memories of the physical and emotional suffering I endured when I died. Then it was the memories of my favorite movies and the VR game I was currently hooked on. There were a lot of touching and emotional memories in here, too.

And then it got much more personal…

“Memories of a popular movie. A movie you saw on your first date. It left a deep impression upon you,” the God of the Silver Moon said.

Seeing it again brought back some bittersweet emotions.

“Your first photography collection of an idol. Her mammaries are prodigious,” said the God of the Nether.

Stop! You don’t have to show my favorite page!

“The love letter you wrote for your crush,” the God of Chaos said. “Not that you ever gave it to her.”

Nooo! My cringiest stories! You don’t have to read it out loud!

“The memories of your beloved dog.”

We used to own a mongrel named Fran, a cute little thing that looked like a white mop. My mother called me one day to tell me that it had died, and I flew home immediately. She said it was its time, but I still wondered if there was anything I could do to save it. For a while, I cried every time I saw a dog that looked like Fran.

The sealing process kept going through some emotional memories until something piqued my curiosity. I also wanted to distract myself.

“I know that the memories of video games and my death are important enough to be erased, but are you sure I can keep my general knowledge?”

Knowledge was the greatest of all cheat skills in reincarnation fiction. New knowledge could bring about social revolution and cultural advancement. In some cases, it might cause great chaos. Gigabytes of this plotline graced the internet.

But the Goddess of Chaos answered simply, “Your knowledge couldn’t hurt a fly.”

Nope! Guess my knowledge wasn’t enough to be a cheat skill. Of course not!

“Besides, you studied the humanities in school, didn’t you? You possess no knowledge of the sciences to give you an advantage. As for the rest of your knowledge bases, well…that knowledge already exists in this new world.”

Examples of the kind of knowledge that might constitute an advantage were soap, well pumps, liquor distillation, movable type, and gunpowder. Soap and liquor distillation were simple and useful enough to quickly spread through the world. Pumps and movable type were already reproduced by magic and manatech. There are also magical components which mimicked the effects of gunpowder. This world might seem like it was still in the Middle Ages, but its technology was closer to Earth’s.

Anyway, it’s not like I was a scientist. The knowhow of an average Joe like me probably wouldn’t come in handy, regardless.

“Also, your knowledge of Terran physics and science won’t help you much there.”

“Really?”

“Ours is a world like Earth, but not quite the same. Even the animals that look similar to Terran fauna are different creatures. The same goes for matter. The atmospheric makeup is different enough that mana exists.”

This world had not just laws of physics, but laws of mana.

“Ours is a world where water may be compressed, ice burned, gravity and air manipulated by way of magical manipulation. The laws of nature exist side by side with the laws of magic. Do you really think your half-baked knowledge of Earthly science will help you?”

“No…” There goes whatever worry I had about me spreading forbidden knowledge.

The civilization of the world I was headed for was quite different from Earth. Speech, writing, money, weights and measures…the gods had provided all of these from the moment of creation, and they were all still in use thousands of years later. Dialects had developed in that period of time, but that was about it. These things were given to the people by the gods, after all. No one would go out of their way to change them.

So it was with knowledge. There was a good chance that the people of this world would refuse novel ideas, even if they were offered to them.

“They’re pretty much using the same tools they used thousands of years ago.”

“Pardon my saying this, but it sounds like civilization has gone stagnant.”

“To an Earthling like you, perhaps. We prefer to think of it not as stagnation, but as maintenance. Meanwhile, the Terran race of humanity keeps on advancing civilization to sate its insatiable appetite. You call yourselves rulers of the planet while destroying the realm you claim to rule. The funniest part is that you don’t even seem to have noticed. Even we gods couldn’t devise such a perfect cosmic joke.”

She had me there. Other worlds like this might seem like realms where civilization had ground to a halt, but from the gods’ perspective, they were places in which man and nature could live together in a balance.

“Besides, it isn’t as though nothing has changed over the past few millennia. Magical researchers develop new ways of using mana, along with manatech and medicine. I think they’ve made quite a bit of progress in the past hundred thousand years.”

So while Earth focused on science, this world focused on magic.

“Anyway, we should go back to sealing your memories.”

“Oh, of course.”

“First up.”

“The first time you lay in bed with a woman. A bitter experience. An escapade that ended in failure.”

Stop! Don’t look at that!

And now the process turned from embarrassing to downright torturous. Just kill me now! Or, uh, kill me again?!

My first time at a cabaret club? Look, my senior dragged me there, I was forced to go! Yes, I know I bought some racy DVDs, you don’t have to show me each one!

The beautiful goddesses kept running their color commentary, which only made things worse. By the end of it all, I’d crumpled to the floor in exhaustion. They said some stuff about giving me powers, but I couldn’t remember what they were. I was at their mercy at this point.

With my preparations settled, the goddesses dragged me to the center of the temple.

“Now, touch the sword.”

“Oh, is this going to be my new body?”

“Yes. The Godsword Cherubim. Touch its hilt.”

“A-all right.”

I obeyed the Goddess of the Nether and the Goddess of the Silver Moon and reached for the sword.

“Wha—?!”

“Be still. There is nothing to fear.”

“Indeed. Calm yourself.”

What is this?! It’s like my body’s melting into the sword! I can feel it! I’m gonna be sick!

As fear of this unknown sensation seized me, the Goddess of Chaos spoke. 

“The next time we meet, you will have finished your mission. Aside from any anomalies, at least.”

“Anomalies…?”

“I’m sure you’ve gathered by now that we are neither omniscient nor omnipotent. The unforeseen may yet happen.”

Do I just nod and say ‘I see’ here?

“But even if we were to meet again, we would act as if it were our first meeting.”

“Huh? Why’s that?”

“How much would your memories be affected if you found out you were sent on a mission by the gods? Your seal might break, don’t you think?”

“I-I see.” Given that these gods weren’t exactly almighty, I guess there really was a chance that the memory seal might break.

“One more thing.”

“Y-yes?”

“Take care of her for us, won’t you?”

“Her…you don’t mean Fenrir, do you?”

“No. Fenrir is a vassal of the Goddess of the Silver Moon. Not unimportant, but she simply outweighs him.”

“The Evil One…? No. The Goddess of Battle.”

“Indeed. Our poor, foolish, brave, beloved, precious little sister.”

“I’ll try, but I can’t make any promises.”

“We know that. You wouldn’t remember any promises you made here, in any case. Your memories of this place will be sealed away.”

“R-right.”

“You don’t sound confident. The system your powers are running on is my own creation. You can do anything with this system if you apply a bit of hard work. Granted, I may have had a little too much fun making it. It was such excellent play.”

“Play?”

This reincarnation business is pretty important. You can’t just play with it like that…!

“But play, too, is important. Sure, the mission is vital, but it is also important that you enjoy the world when you get there. So get out there and play, understand?”

“S-sure.”

Okay, I get that play is important, but just don’t play with me!

“In closing, best of luck.”

“Huh? What?”

“And may you have a blessed chaos.”

Waaaaaait!