Chapter 3 — The World Sword Omega Blade Is Almost Omnipotent in This World
In a cave in the Elven Forest, Shigeto Mitadera held a sword in his hands. It was a simple weapon with no decoration at all, about a meter long, and could be comfortably used with one hand.
It was the World Sword Omega Blade. Normally, there would have been no way for him to obtain such a weapon on his own. But dominated by the swordswoman Kris, he had been tasked with watching over the blade until its reconstruction was complete.
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Shortly after arriving in this world, Shigeto had split off from his classmates. The powers he had obtained as a Master Oracle had led him away from the others. The route leading to the capital was incredibly difficult, and the class had ultimately been being wiped out. Having known that in advance thanks to his prophecies, he had split off from them, traveling only with Rei Kushima and Akinobu Marufuji.
By that point, he had likely already been under Rei’s control. He should have been capable of using his powers to keep the whole class alive, or if not, it would have been more efficient for him to travel on his own. There wasn’t any reason for him to travel with those two classmates in particular. But he had ended up including them in his plans to defeat the Sages. He now realized how reckless it had been, but he had thought it was the best plan at the time.
In order to defeat the Sages, he had sought out the World Sword Omega Blade. They had traveled across the world in search of the weapon and the tools needed to restore its power. But after arriving in the Empire of Ent where the weapon was located, the Sage Yoshifumi had crushed them. Akinobu had been killed, Rei had been kidnapped, and although he had thought it was all over, Yoshifumi had brought Shigeto to the Elven Forest.
As it turned out, the Sage had also had an interest in the Omega Blade. And in the underground ruins beneath the forest, he had finally found it. Shigeto had managed to grab the sword and escape from the Sage with Rei. They had met a strange boy on their way out but had otherwise managed to flee without issue and hide in a cave in the forest. They’d created the cocoon for the weapon’s reconstruction, but while they were waiting for the process to complete, Rei had been killed and Shigeto had been gravely wounded.
A swordswoman named Kris had appeared out of nowhere. She had the power to steal abilities from people, so she had taken Shigeto’s prophetic powers and Rei’s abilities as a Femme Fatale, which she had then used to control Shigeto. She had been obsessed with getting stronger herself and hadn’t been interested in the weapon at all, but she didn’t want to let someone else get their hands on it. Shigeto had been instructed to protect the weapon. When it was complete, he would bring it to her. She had assumed that, since he was under her control, he wouldn’t betray her even if he had such a powerful artifact.
But her control of him had suddenly disappeared. Shortly after, the World Sword had been completed, and just as he was wondering what to do, Navi had appeared at his side.
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“Now, let me explain about the sword!” Navi began, a victorious smile on her face. “The World Sword Omega Blade is almost omnipotent in this world.”
“Omnipotent. You mean it can do anything?”
“Yes, though there are many things it cannot do.”
“Even though it’s omnipotent?” Her statement immediately started sounding suspicious.
“I said almost omnipotent. True omnipotence is impossible. It doesn’t take much thought to realize the concept is self-contradictory.”
“I get that, but...”
“Practically speaking, it is essentially omnipotent. It can do more or less anything, so allow me to explain the things it cannot do. For starters, its power cannot be used if you aren’t touching it. Anyone who is touching it can make use of it, so do not allow it to be stolen.”
“Of course.”
“However, there is a simple solution to that problem. It is possible to merge the weapon with your body and store it within yourself.”
“I can do that?”
“Of course. That is nothing at all for the World Sword.”
“I guess I should start there, then. It would be pretty stupid to have it stolen after all this work. What do I do?”
“Just thinking that you want to merge with it is enough.”
“I only have to think it?”
“Absorb the sword into his body.” He couldn’t conjure up a concrete image of how that would look, but he tried his best to imagine the concept. As he did, the sword in his right hand slipped into his body.
“Whoa...that felt kind of gross.”
The weapon had disappeared. At least, that’s how it appeared from the outside. But Shigeto could still feel the weight of the weapon in his right arm.
“You should have no issues using the World Sword in that state. As such, there is no need to go through the trouble of materializing the sword in the future.”
“Will other people be able to use it if they touch my body?”
“Not unless you intentionally make it so. Allow me to continue explaining the limits of the World Sword. First of all, it can only exercise its power in this world.”
By “this world,” she meant within their current Celestial Foundation. Worlds were contained within borders known as Foundations, which all floated in a space known as “the sea.”
“Next, it can only directly influence something that you are consciously aware of. For example, you couldn’t use it to do something in a far-off country you’ve never heard of.”
“If you’re wording it so strangely, that must mean I can do something indirectly, right?”
“That is correct. For example, you could create something and send it flying to a far-off country and have it exert whatever power you invested in it there.”
“I guess there isn’t much point in me messing with a country I’ve never heard of before, though.”
“In addition, as long as it is within your conscious awareness, the sword will activate proactively to fulfill your wishes while you possess it. Earlier you wished for a scabbard, and so one was created, and you wanted an explanation, so I appeared. In short, though it will attempt to help you, at times it will have unexpected results. The safest way is to prevent it from activating except for when you are clearly wishing for something.”
“Yeah, I guess that could be a problem if it kept activating on its own. So how do I do that?”
“The easiest way is to set up a keyword. And you can do that just by thinking it.”
Do not activate on your own, Shigeto mentally commanded the weapon. However, activate automatically if I am in danger, he added as another condition came to mind.
“Continuing on then. The World Sword is capable of manifesting anything you can imagine. It cannot create any object or concept that you can’t think of.”
“Hmm...I guess I’ll figure that out as I use it.” There were probably some things he thought he understood but didn’t actually understand at all. He would only be able to work out those things by practicing.
“Furthermore, the limits of the World Sword: it functions using the energy present in this world. As such, it cannot create anything infinite. There is a limit to the things that can be created using the energy present in this world.”
“You mean the more I use it, the more energy will be consumed from the world?”
“Correct. However, normal usage should not pose any threat of depleting the world’s supply of energy. This ends the rough explanation. Do you have any questions?”
“So it can do almost anything. Does that include bringing dead people back to life?” Shigeto looked outside the cave, where the grave he had just made for Rei was.
“It is possible, but in Rei’s case, the revival would be limited. Reconstructing her damaged body is possible, but restoring her mind is not.”
“What do you mean? Can’t you just repair the brain?”
“It isn’t possible to restore the body to the point of returning the elementary particles that made it up to their original states. Or rather, it would be possible, if you knew what states they were in. Do you have such detailed information?”
“Of course not.”
“As such, you can reconstruct the body to the point where it functions how you remembered it. But restoring the brain to what it once was isn’t possible.”
“I see. But you said ‘in Rei’s case.’ Why is that?”
“It would be different if we were speaking of someone who was native to this world. They can be resurrected more or less perfectly.”
“What’s the difference?”
“Those native to this world are recorded by the world from the moment of their birth. So in their case, you can make a rough reconstruction of their body and then artificially supply the recorded experiences necessary to make them the same person they were before. But for those from other worlds, there are no such records.”
“So people from other worlds can’t come back to life. I guess that is kind of obvious.”
“Normal forms of resurrection should work perfectly fine, even on people from other worlds, as long as it occurs within a few minutes of their heart stopping.”
“So Rei can’t be brought back to life because it’s been hours since she died?”
“She could be returned to life as a doll that did exactly as you wished. In that case, she would act just like you expected the real Rei would.”
“That’s not quite the same, though, is it? I think I’ll give up on that idea.”
“Is that so? Then I recommend you make a backup of yourself. If you record your personal information in this world, then if the worst happens, you will be able to be fully resurrected.”
“But I’m basically omnipotent now, right? Can something like that even happen to me?”
“It can. Though the World Sword is nearly omnipotent, it only acts according to your will. In short, you are still vulnerable to attacks you are unaware of, such as surprise attacks or attacks while you are asleep.”
“I see. Then I’m going to make a backup of myself, so could you keep an eye out for me?”
“You want me to? I am nothing but a manifestation of the Book of Prophecy.” Surprised by the request, Navi seemed puzzled.
“I can just improve your detection and combat abilities, right?”
If the World Sword could do almost anything, it should be capable of something like that. Shigeto decided to make Navi as strong as possible. It was a pretty vague instruction, but he left the rest up to the sword. He figured that having too powerful a detection ability could be a hindrance for Navi, so he made it possible for her to modify the scope of it as well.
“It can do anything, right? Then make me something good to eat.”
Shigeto had realized he hadn’t eaten in a while. He issued the order to the World Sword, and a plate of curry and rice appeared on the floor of the cave.
“Wait, is that the best you can do? Shouldn’t it be able to make something more impressive?”
“I suppose that’s the limit of your imagination. It can’t create anything you haven’t tasted before.”
“It’s a lot harder to use this than I thought.”
“Is that so? I would think it would be fine to use your powers to go somewhere you can find the food you’re looking for.”
“For now I’ll just give this a try. Give me a spoon. And eating on the floor doesn’t sound very pleasant either.”
A table and two chairs. Two plates of curry and rice, two cups of water, and two spoons. Giving those orders to the sword made the items appear with no issue at all.
“Umm, there is no need to provide food for me,” Navi said.
“It’s fine, just eat. Eating by myself is lonely.”
“If you insist.”
Navi took a seat along with him. Shigeto tried a bite of the curry. It tasted just like the food he was used to at home.
After finishing the meal, they took a rest.
“So, what am I supposed to do now?”
“You can do whatever you like,” Navi replied.
“I guess so. Things have been pretty rough so far, but there aren’t many people who can hurt me now, are there? If I just want to live comfortably, I don’t even have to leave.”
“That is true. You can create anything you need right here. Though if you want something you don’t know about, you’ll have to go out and find information on it. Of course, you could always create subordinates and send them out to do the work for you.”
“I really can do anything, huh? What did I want to do all this time? If I go back to my world, I’ll lose this power, right?”
“Correct. You cannot use the sword outside of this world, and the Gift you possess will also cease to function.”
It wouldn’t be hard for him to go back to his own world and continue his ordinary high school life, but the idea seemed strangely surreal. Still, there wasn’t a whole lot he was interested in doing here either.
“Should I just stick to the original plan then?”
If he wanted to live an ordinary life, the World Sword could easily make that happen. The Sages sought out those with great power, but if the sword was really that powerful, he could use it to hide himself.
But he couldn’t help feeling like hiding was the wrong approach. All the suffering he had experienced could be traced back to the Sages. If he wanted to live an easy, relaxed life, he would need to teach them a lesson first.
“I was looking for the World Sword so I could defeat the Sages. Why don’t I just do that?”
Shigeto decided to throw a wrench in the plans of the people who claimed to rule this world.
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