Chapter 14 — You Really Can Do Anything, Can’t You?!
“There’s a book called More Than Human by a guy named Theodore Sturgeon.”
Long ago, back when Yogiri was still living in the underground mansion, Asaka Takatou had brought up the subject as part of a wandering, meaningless conversation.
“I’ve never heard of the book, but that’s the guy who came up with Sturgeon’s Law, right?”
“Exactly. He’s the one who said that ninety percent of science fiction is garbage. He was talking about classic sci-fi, I guess. Hey, you were just thinking I don’t look like someone who would be into sci-fi, weren’t you?”
“I don’t know. I’m not really sure what people would or wouldn’t read.”
“Well, as the title says, the book talks about a being who transcends humanity, and the word ‘ethos’ comes up. I guess you’d translate it as something like ‘character’? He said that a transcendent being doesn’t need ethics or morals, but ethos.”
“Character? I don’t get it.”
“Maybe an example would be better. I don’t remember the details that well, but in short, someone who was ‘beyond’ human wouldn’t feel obligated to follow human morals or ethics, and would need to create their own rules. Something like that.”
“So, you want me to make my own rules?”
“Exactly. You don’t have to overthink it. Just consider it a promise to yourself. In the same way, just because you can do anything you want doesn’t mean you should live your life with no goals. So, I thought you should think about it and come up with a ‘character’ that you think you should live up to.”
Since Yogiri had lived his life until then completely divorced from society, he had no sense of ethics to speak of. Any rules he was going to follow had to be decided on by him and no one else. The memory had just surfaced because, according to those rules, the situation he was currently in was a bit irregular.
Yogiri was falling in darkness. He remembered that the distance between the levels of the Underworld was about a kilometer. Calculating roughly, if the acceleration due to gravity in this world was about 10m/s2, ignoring the factor of air resistance, he’d have about fourteen seconds before he hit the ground. A few seconds had already passed, so he probably had less than ten left.
If what had happened was a natural accident then it was only natural he should die. But Yogiri had promised to get Tomochika home safely. He couldn’t die here and leave her alone. Besides, it was hard to chalk this up to a natural event. It seemed likely that someone had set the whole thing up.
But while stuck in what Yogiri called “Phase One,” he couldn’t deal with the situation properly. He would need to unlock his powers. If Tomochika were around, she would probably have snarked about it, but Yogiri still considered himself human. He felt that his abilities to sense danger and inflict death were merely powers he had gained by chance. Just by wishing it, his opponents died. He could see any potential for his own death and therefore avoid it. These abilities seemed entirely unrelated from the outside, and while saying he had received them purely by chance was a bit of a stretch, it was technically possible. However, the power needed to fix the current situation was not a human one.
Well, this world has magic, right? he considered. There were humans out there who could do things of a similar nature. Yogiri wanted to stay as human as possible, so once that thought crossed his mind, he felt more comfortable about unlocking Phase Two.
Within his mind were numerous doors, and by imagining them opening, he could release more of his powers one by one. From the second gate onwards, those doors would automatically close after a certain period of time. This irritating process was set up to prevent him from accidentally ending the world. Using anything from the second gate up required careful consideration.
So, making up his mind, Yogiri opened the second gate. He only wanted to stop falling, but if he wasn’t careful, he could erase gravity from the entire world as well. When erasing a particular phenomenon or concept, limiting the area of effect was incredibly difficult. That was why he had hesitated to try killing the “space” back in the Garula Canyon tower.
Furthermore, he wasn’t sure if he could really call the force that brought objects down to the ground “gravity” in this world. And even back home, people weren’t yet sure if gravity operated based on some physical particle like a graviton. Would killing something so vague be safe? And besides all of that, even if he killed “gravity,” he would simply continue to fall at a uniform speed instead of accelerating.
After a brief hesitation, he gave up. It was something he had done unconsciously before, so thinking about it too much was a waste of time.
“Man, this is annoying. I’ll just kill my momentum.”
It was practically playing with words at that point, but for Yogiri, once he had reached Phase Two, such a thing was possible. In an instant, he eliminated the energy causing him to fall. It didn’t matter what precise force was at work...what “died,” and the resulting phenomenon, was all dependent on his own perception.
As soon as he unleashed his power, he began to decelerate. By the time he had reached the ground, still gripping David in his arms, his speed had almost dropped to zero. As he landed, the gate automatically closed, and Yogiri returned to Phase One.
He felt a bit relieved. He didn’t like having the gate open for too long.
“All right, now. David doesn’t seem to be in good shape, does he?” Yogiri laid his friend down on the ground. The vice-captain had been in a trance before, but after the collapse of the cliff, he had completely lost consciousness.
Yogiri looked around. It had been night only moments before, but at some point it had turned to day. The seventh level of the Underworld must have been another distinct environment. It seemed like some sort of forest flower garden, but everything was unnaturally bright and vibrant. From the grass to the trees, the river to the sky, it looked like it had been smeared heavily with paint. The trees twisted in unnatural ways, the mushrooms that grew from them were absurdly large, and the flowers around them were blooming in unbelievable numbers.
Finishing his inspection of the area and realizing that he had no straightforward way of making it back up to the sixth level, he pulled out his phone.
Where on earth are you?! Something terrible has happened!
As he thought idly about trying to call someone, his phone automatically connected with Mokomoko, and they updated each other on their respective situations. The ancestral spirit explained that Sion had appeared, demanding that the Sage candidates kill each other.
“I’ll look for a way back up, but do you think you can manage until then?”
We have some time before the killing begins. But once it does, things could get difficult.
Against everyone else and their Gifts, Tomochika’s physical combat abilities probably wouldn’t be enough.
“If things get dangerous, give me a call. I’ll do what I can.”
Is there anything you could do from there?
“I’d rather not, but there is something.”
Very well. But I beg you, return with all haste!
After hanging up, Yogiri decided to take a look around and suddenly heard a loud noise approaching him, like someone was plowing their way through the forest.
“Waaaaaaah! Why are they attacking me?! I thought they were going to let me goooo!!”
It was a familiar voice, and before long, its owner frantically emerged from the trees. The moment the plump young man laid eyes on Yogiri, he dropped to his hands and knees, sliding forward through the dirt. Seeing him bow down that way, Yogiri finally remembered who he was.
“Oh, Hanakawa, right? What are you doing here?”
“I believe that is my line!” his classmate, Daimon Hanakawa, wailed.
“Oh, yeah, I guess I said I’d kill you if I ever saw you again, didn’t I?” Yogiri barely recalled their last meeting. He must not have cared much at the time.
“No, you didn’t! All you said was to wait in the forest!”
“Really? Then what are you doing here?”
Yogiri remembered the general circumstances. Hanakawa had come back to the bus to look for Tomochika. After Yogiri had killed the two who were accompanying him, Hanakawa had put a slave collar on himself, claiming he would serve them. Since Yogiri had no desire to take him along, he ordered him to go wait in the forest nearby. After that, they had somehow run into each other at the tower in the Garula Canyon, where he had once again ordered Hanakawa to go to the forest.
“Well...umm...”
Without standing up, Hanakawa scurried behind Yogiri. Impressed by how well he was able to move while still bowing down so low, Yogiri noticed something else coming from the forest.
It was some sort of translucent mass. Big enough that Yogiri had to look up, it was a formless, soft, and flabby-looking thing. All sorts of garbage seemed to be floating around inside it. Glancing at the forest beyond, he thought it looked like everything behind the creature had been melted down, all that it came into contact with being absorbed into its body. Though it was mostly formless, it had numerous leg-like appendages that supported it and propelled it forward. Several of these blob-like creatures started appearing from what was left of the forest.
“Die.”
Feeling a clear killing intent from them, Yogiri used his power. Losing all strength, the blobs collapsed in on themselves. All that remained was a collection of sodden debris.
“You’re as unbelievable as ever!” Hanakawa shouted from behind.
“So, what’s the story?” Yogiri pressed.
“Well...that is...about that...” Hanakawa hesitated, unsure of how to proceed.
“Come on. Isn’t it a lot of work trying to think of how you’re going to trick me next? Coming up with a lie with no inconsistencies won’t be easy.”
Finally accepting that he couldn’t pull one over on Yogiri, Hanakawa reluctantly began to explain. “Well, it is a long story, with many things happening since then...”
“Whatever. I don’t have the time to talk to you right now.”
“Doing things at your own pace as usual, I see!”
“This is the seventh level, right? I want to go up to the sixth. Do you know the way?”
“That’s an odd question. Why don’t you go back the way you came?”
“I fell. I can’t go back up.”
“How are you still alive?!”
“I just killed my falling momentum.”
“You really can do anything, can’t you?!”
“And how did you get here?”
“It’s a long story, but if you want to go up, then that is no problem. There are shortcuts all around, so if we use one of those, we should be able to go wherever we want.”
“Okay, then take me there.”
“O-Of course, I don’t mind at all, but something terrible is happening here. Those blobby things from before are everywhere. If you would be so kind as to protect me along the way, I would be most grateful...”
“If you die then I won’t know the way back, so of course I’m going to keep you safe.”
“Are you sure? Wait, I shouldn’t have said that! Never mind!” Standing up, Hanakawa tried to rush off, but Yogiri stopped him.
“Wait a second. We’re bringing this guy too.” Yogiri pointed to where David was lying on the ground.
“Oh, I didn’t even see him! But what do you mean? If you want to bring him along, go ahead.”
“Carry him for me.”
“Why do I have to do it?!”
“You’re level ninety-nine or whatever, right? Something like that should be easy for you. Actually, you can use healing magic, can’t you?”
“Why do I have to use it on a guy...” Grumbling the whole time, Hanakawa used his healing magic. Though the process healed his injuries, David didn’t wake up, so Hanakawa reluctantly lifted him up. “Well, it shouldn’t be far. Even while fleeing for my life, I managed to run in the correct direction.”
Yogiri followed close behind his classmate. After walking through the forest for a while, they came upon a stone wall, signifying the edge of the seventh level. If they climbed it, they would be able to make it to the sixth level, but that didn’t seem like a realistic plan.
“Strange. I wonder why those blobby things have disappeared?”
“Oh, I killed all of them.”
The creatures had been showing up all around them as they went, but Yogiri had simply eliminated them whenever he noticed more approaching. Since they were coming in from all directions, Hanakawa would have had no way of dealing with them himself.
“What a sense of security! I feel like it would be better to be a bit more nervous, though!”
“Speaking of being nervous, why do you talk all old-fashioned like that? It’s kind of exhausting.”
“Is now really the time for such questions?! Umm, well, I believe it suits me for a number of reasons...”
“Never mind, I don’t actually care.”
“Then don’t ask!”
As they quipped back and forth, they arrived at what seemed to be their destination: a metal door set into the stone wall. It had an enormous handle and seemed to be shut tight.
“Heheh! I now have full authority over the Underworld, after all!” As Hanakawa approached, the door opened on its own. Inside was a small, square room. It seemed to be some sort of elevator. “Now then, you wished to visit the sixth level, did you not? I intend to leave this place behind entirely, so after letting you off there, I will proceed to the first —”
“We can’t use this without you, can we? So you’ll have to come with me.”
“Of course you would say that!” Hanakawa wailed.
If the students who had transportation powers died in the coming fight on the sixth level, they’d have no other way of easily making it back to the surface. Since there was a good chance that would happen, Yogiri had no intention of letting Hanakawa escape.
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