Chapter 19 — I Suppose Sir Takatou Did Not Use His Instant Death Power? Does That Mean There Is a Chance He Is Still Alive?
Shigeto went over the situation in Akemi’s room. In the corner of his vision, he could see Akemi continuously aging to death and then reviving, young again, but he had already lost interest in her, so she was no more than scenery to him at this point.
Finding out where Alice had gone was no challenge. He only had to ask the Omega Blade anything he wanted to know. It would give him any information he requested.
Alice was in the Empire of Ent. He stopped to think about why she might have gone there. The Omega Blade was capable of reading the thoughts of those who were born in this world, but since Alice had been brought here from another world, it couldn’t read hers. The best he could do was speculate about her motives, but in this case it wasn’t that hard to guess what she was up to.
She had scurried away from the fight, totally outmatched. There was no doubt she had gone looking for help. Yoshifumi was in the Empire of Ent. Shigeto didn’t know what the relationship between the Sages was like, but there was always a chance that Alice and Yoshifumi were on good terms.
“By the way, when I asked about the locations of the Sages, Yoshifumi’s name didn’t come up, did it?”
“His location was unable to be determined,” Navi confirmed.
“Why is that?”
“After he entered the Elven Forest, he never emerged. His whereabouts from that point on are unknown.”
“Is the Elven Forest a separate dimension too? There seem to be an awful lot of those.”
“I suppose so.”
The Omega Blade would only answer direct questions. It wouldn’t provide information related to a different question he’d asked. That was something Shigeto needed to be careful with.
“Okay, then let’s go to the capital of Ent.”
“Understood.”
After Navi’s countdown, they teleported again. Before them was a mountain of rubble. The once beautifully ordered city had been reduced to scattered ruins.
“What happened here?”
“A large creature seems to have attacked the city.”
“How did that happen?”
Shigeto had spent a short time living here, but now the area had been destroyed. He couldn’t help but be shocked. How could there be a monster large enough to do this, and why would it attack the capital? He had no idea.
“Here is what happened. The nature of the monster is unknown, meaning it likely originated from a different world.”
Images of the capital being destroyed appeared in front of Shigeto’s eyes. A multiheaded monster was trampling over the city. The adventurers and imperial army fought back, but they were helpless to stop it. Yoshifumi’s subordinate Luna had attempted to erase the creature but had been unable to stop it either. At one point, the monster began to writhe in pain, but in the end, it reached the castle and disappeared underground.
“What do you mean, it ‘likely’ came from another world? Shouldn’t there be records of something like that?”
“Unfortunately, the records of this world only stretch back about a hundred years.”
“Damn. The more I learn about this sword, the less it can do.”
“There are other restrictions as well, but in most cases, the Omega Blade is capable of doing anything that is needed, so I did not feel a need to inform you of its limitations in advance.”
“So, according to those records, Yoshifumi never left the Elven Forest, right?”
“That is the most likely possibility. There is a chance he moved to another dimension from within that one, though.”
“Okay. Can I just erase the Elven Forest, then?”
“Yes. That is possible, but how would you like to do it?”
“Just literally erase it. Make the whole area a barren wasteland. Anyone inside will die, right?”
“Correct. If you erase an area, anyone inside will be erased along with it. Since they will never appear again, it can be considered the same as dying.”
“Omega Blade, erase the Elven Forest.”
“Understood. It has been erased.”
“Already?” Shigeto was almost disappointed by how fast it had been done.
“Would you like to see?”
“Good idea. Take me up into the air. No need for a countdown anymore; I’m used to it.”
A moment later, he was floating in the sky. While he could have simply created an image showing him what he wanted to see, it felt more real to see things with his own eyes.
He looked to the west. The large forest dividing East and West Ent had vanished.
“There’s no sign of Yoshifumi escaping, right?”
“Correct. No one left the forest before it was erased. Everything within the forest is gone and thus can be considered dead.”
“I did this?”
“Yes.”
How many things had lived in the forest? Shigeto had erased them all with a single order. It had been disappointingly simple. It hadn’t even taken a moment. It had happened exactly as he’d ordered, merely because he had ordered it. He had power over all of creation. He could erase and create worlds at will. He could change anything to match his imagination. He was finally starting to realize just how much power he now had here. He was truly something close to a god.
After looking down for a while, it occurred to him he was still in the middle of killing the Sages. With this much power, he had no need to play at fighting with them. All he had to do was order them to die. But he had decided to kill them only after seeing them all face to face. If he didn’t do that, it would be little more than checking a box on a list. He wanted to feel like he had accomplished it himself.
“Is there anyone left in the capital?”
“Most of the people either escaped or died. Two of Yoshifumi’s subordinates remain.”
“Teleport me to them.”
Shigeto teleported from the sky into a room. It seemed to be part of a destroyed building. A short distance from him were two women, crouched low to the ground—two of Yoshifumi’s Four Heavenly Kings, Abby and Luna.
“Hey.”
“You...” Abby glared at him.
“What’s wrong? You look like you’re about to die.”
“You were supposed to be with Yoshifumi. What the hell are you doing here?! Where is he?!” Naturally, Abby was the one to bite. Luna just hung her head listlessly.
“Oh, Yoshifumi is dead. I killed him.”
Technically, it was possible that Yoshifumi had died before Shigeto had done anything, but that hardly mattered now.
“Like hell you did! How could someone like you kill Yoshifumi?!”
“That’s not important. For now, you’re going to be my subordinates.”
“Ha! I’d rather die, idiot!”
“Okay, then. Die.”
Luna’s head exploded, showering Abby with blood and brain matter. Shigeto had to show her their difference in power, and violence was the best way to do that. He decided to be a bit flashy about it.
“Wha...”
“Come back to life.”
As ordered, Luna’s head suddenly came back together like the scene was being rewound. The scattered chunks of flesh and drops of blood gathered back and reformed perfectly. The revived woman let out a bloodcurdling scream, the pain and fear from the moments before she had died still fresh in her mind.
“Wh-What the hell?! Who the hell are you?!”
“I’m the Omega Blade. You heard it could kill the Sages, right? But that’s only a small piece of its power. Everything in this world now conforms to my will. Even Yoshifumi would die in one hit to a power like this. He wouldn’t be able to fight back.”
“So what—”
“Die.” Abby’s entire body was shredded, becoming nothing more than a blood splatter. “Come back.” Her scattered remnants instantly reformed, and she screamed in agony. “Forcing you to obey me is easy enough, but that would be boring. I’m just going to torment you until you’re ready to lick my boots. When you’re ready to swear allegiance to me, let me know.”
Shigeto killed them in the flashiest ways he could before instantly reviving them, over and over and over. It didn’t take long at all before they surrendered.
◇ ◇ ◇
“Umm, the capital should be straight ahead this way, so I do not believe there is any need for me to accompany you further...”
At Alice’s request, Hanakawa was taking her to the capital. After leaving the forest, they came to an open plain where the capital could be seen in the distance.
“You’re a man, right? You can at least be a bodyguard for a frail young girl like myself, can’t you?” Alice was more or less powerless at this point. The little energy she had left had been spent on creating one last world.
“Umm, actually...Sir Yoshifumi is already dead! There is no point in heading to the capital now!”
Alice seemed to have high hopes for her fellow Sage, so it was difficult to tell her that Yoshifumi was dead, but Hanakawa managed to force it out anyway. After all, the longer he waited, the harder it would be to say.
“There’s no way Yoshifumi would die.”
“Actually, I happened to witness the event myself...”
“Okay, then how did it happen?”
“Uhh, he was stabbed with a knife, and then his Philosopher’s Stone was torn from his chest. He collapsed.”
“That wouldn’t kill him.” Alice brushed the idea off, wholly unconvinced.
“What?! No, no, no! He was most certainly dead!”
“Did you check?”
Hanakawa paused. “Er, no, there seemed to be no need...”
The Sage had dropped to the ground and stopped moving. But if asked if he was absolutely certain Yoshifumi was dead, Hanakawa couldn’t say that he was. He hadn’t checked Yoshifumi’s pulse or his eyes.
“But with Sir Takatou’s power, there is no chance he would still be alive,” he continued. “But wait, now that I think about it...”
Hanakawa recalled the events leading up to Yoshifumi’s death. Yoshifumi had thrown a knife at Yogiri, but it had vanished into thin air and then reappeared in his own chest. Then a woman with the ears of a fox, and dressed like a courtesan, had appeared and ripped the Philosopher’s Stone from the emperor’s chest. With his Philosopher’s Stone gone, Yoshifumi had fallen.
“Hmm...I suppose Sir Takatou did not use his instant death power after all? Does that mean there is a chance he is still alive?”
Normally, having a large hole in your chest was plenty fatal. But this was a mysterious world with things like magic and the Gift. It wouldn’t be that strange for a Sage to have survived such an encounter. Hanakawa figured even he could have pulled through with his Healing Magic.
“His power is really at the top, even among the Sages,” Alice said, “even though it’s kind of annoying to admit. That said, inside my own world, he couldn’t stop me!”
“However, were he to still be alive, I would very much be unable to meet him. The moment we met, I am sure he would kill me...”
Hanakawa had claimed neutrality, but he doubted Yoshifumi would let him off with that. Rather, he was absolutely certain that Yoshifumi would kill him immediately.
“Don’t worry, I’ll talk to him for you.”
“I find it hard to believe that will make a difference...” Hanakawa just wanted to go home, but at this point he didn’t really have a place that qualified. “A-Anyway, I can take you as far as the capital, but afterwards I will have to ask that you continue alone and keep my involvement a secret.”
“Really? You’ve got no ambition at all, huh?”
“My life is what is most important! I have no interest in gambling on Sir Yoshifumi’s mercy!”
“Well, never mind Yoshifumi, then. You can just come with me after. I’ll welcome you into my ranks.”
“Ah, ha ha ha...I will consider it—”
Hanakawa was interrupted by the sound of a lightning strike. Bewildered by the idea of lightning coming from a clear blue sky, he looked up only to find that the sky wasn’t blue at all. It had turned a dark red, like it had been drenched in blood.
“What is happening?!”
“How should I know?”
Every once in a while, black lightning arced overhead. It seemed to be striking far away for now, but that was hardly a relief.
“Anyway, let us proceed to the capital!” Hanakawa wasn’t sure if it was better to be inside during a lightning storm, but he wasn’t brave enough to stick around in an open field. Luckily, they were rather close to the city already.
As they hurriedly approached, he felt like something was wrong. The large, sturdy walls of the city were enough to give an absolute feeling of safety to those within. He had seen those walls smashed apart and trampled down by an enormous monster earlier, and yet, they now stood proudly before him nonetheless.
Still utterly confused, they passed through the gate and into the city. The cityscape looked perfectly normal. The streets were crammed with people, and the stores were bustling.
“This must be Miss Luna’s power!” Hanakawa recalled Luna’s ability. She was able to erase and rebuild parts of the city at will, so maybe restoring it to its current state was similarly easy for her.
“We just need to go to that castle, right?” asked Alice.
Even if Yoshifumi had survived the encounter in the Elven Forest, Hanakawa had no idea where to find him, but that seemed like the best place to start.
“That seems to be—” As Hanakawa started to agree, he froze. Everything around him had changed. “Huh?”
Everything now glittered with gold. The floor, the ceiling, all the walls, and even the support pillars were made of gold. In front of him was a golden throne upon which sat a man wearing golden clothes. At the foot of the throne, Luna and Abby were bowing low to the floor.
“Yo, Hanakawa. It’s been a while.”
“Gyaaaaaah!” Hanakawa gave a bizarre scream.
Lounging casually on the golden throne with sparkling golden clothes was none other than Yoshifumi.
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