Chapter 93
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The Defeater VII
Shin Noah
11
――How should I write the diary of the battle that unfolded that day.
I think I've been doing quite well with this episode so far.
But while revisiting the moment when I subdued my first ostracized god-class anomaly, I suddenly feel the difficulty of description anew.
I always wish only to be as truthful as possible to you. If I stutter out a poem, it is not to show off some talent before you, but because there exists a night of heaven that can only be expressed through poetic words.
Starlight poured down.
Those stars were not light but possessed the viscosity of water. Swoooosh―the red starlight cascaded, voicing the sound of a waterfall.
Like a tsunami suddenly rushing upon the seashore, light made of water surged toward us with the force to drown us.
Cheon Yohwa urgently looked back at me. We were still holding hands.
"Mister! Please give me an order!"
"Never let yourself dissolve into the surroundings. That anomaly will likely test and experiment on you, doing everything to eventually turn you into a fixed object, a lab mouse. All kinds of illusions and phantoms will swallow your life like a tsunami. Don't be tainted by them―fix yourself in place."
"Yes!"
Swoooosh. The red water-light rose to our waists in an instant. I calmly and steadily glared at 'Mugan.'
The distance between us and Mugan was merely 10m, yet also 100m. There was no law saying it couldn't be 4,444m.
It was the distance between this shore and the far shore. It was Mugan (Infinite Hell) and also Muhan (Infinity). From that extreme horizon, the anomaly's innocent laughter echoed.
Kyahahahahaha haha ha ha-
If one were to call 13km a yojana as in ancient India, that distance was one yojana and also twenty thousand yojana.
In Buddhism, it is said that the hell of sentient beings spreads 20,000 yojana beneath the earth. In other words, hell was 260,000km underground.
Earth's diameter was 12,700km. The distance from Earth to the Moon was 385,000km.
Since ancient times, the moon has been the closest otherworld to the earth.
Hell was positioned precisely at a distance that was more than enough to traverse this world, but terribly insufficient to reach another.
Kka ha ha ha ha kka kka kka kka-
The midpoint between this shore and the far shore. The domain of sentient beings who could no longer stay in this world nor had the strength to go to another.
Therefore, in the territory of samsara where the wheel merely spins in vain, only the laughter mocking humans endlessly tore apart and creaked.
It was the anomaly's jeer that alienated humans from the world.
"Yohwa. Within that anomaly's domain, both time and space can deceive you endlessly. But 'the very fact that it is deceiving you' does not change."
"...."
Squeeze. I gripped Cheon Yohwa's hand a bit more strongly. The distance between the two of us was the smallest unit of distance humans possessed.
"...Yes."
"The ringleader, the person, the existence that takes the lead in mocking you. That's the great nail holding the illusion in place. Do you understand? There will probably be something that seems exclusively abnormal while everything else appears normal. If you pull out that nail and destroy it, the phantoms will disappear too."
"Aah! Ah, I completely understand! It's a scene I often see in comics. Okay. Mister, just leave it to m――."
Flicker.
The light rose to my chin and my whole body was submerged in water. The moment I thought even the sensation of our interlocked fingers had been swallowed by the water's undulating queasiness and faded.
Rumble, a sound echoed. It was like the noise of an elevator falling, or perhaps like a completely worn-out wheel rolling.
Perhaps it was the sound of time.
The world before my eyes changed completely.
12
Flicker.
"――Undertaker. Undertaker, what's wrong?"
The smell of summer wafted. Having absorbed the sudden downpour, the leaves' body scent steeped deeply like green tea fragrance.
It was a cedar forest. Cedars spread their roots in all directions, and atop their stiff legs, bright blue hydrangea petals settled their bottoms and stretched out again.
Between the blue mature trees and the blue young petals' stretches, playfully, an old railroad track crawled like a snake.
"Really. Sigh. Be careful. The path is already bumpy, and if you space out like that you'll bite your tongue."
On the railroad track sat a miniature train like a toy. It was a three-car mini steam locomtractor one might see at an amusement park.
Dang Seorin, wearing a witch's hat pulled low, sat aboard that very train, grumbling.
"...."
"Ah- ah- the track is broken again. Even if the world has gone to ruin, aren't the Korail employees doing their jobs too half-heartedly?"
Heave-ho, Dang Seorin leapt down from the locomotive.
Dang Seorin stretched out fully along the surrounding cedars and hydrangeas, going "Heuuuuaaattt-".
Well, we had already been riding the train for four hours. I could stay still for 40 hours without issue, but a frail magician like Dang Seorin must have been stiff all over.
"...You should understand. The Korail employees have all probably become unemployed too. The world is too harsh to demand passion-for-pay."
"Kids these days have no grit, no grit. Sigh. I'll be connecting the tracks, so you check the wheels. The train's been rattling for a while and it feels strangely unstable."
"Alright. Leave it to me."
"Yeah."
I took tools from the freight car and examined the wheels of our steam locomotive... the 'Hogwarts Express.'
I ask you not to point out the train's name. On this journey, or rather, this insane plan to tour the entire world on a miniature mini locomotive, the share of my authority was quite shabby.
The planner of this trip, who loved Harry Potter too much as a child and wore a witch's hat year-round, swished her wand.
"Separate-Restore."
A two-measure song flowed simply from Dang Seorin's lips.
Clank- clatter-clank, clank-
The railroad track we had just passed separated and floated in the air. Then it moved on its own to the position of the broken track ahead.
Click!
The severed track was restored in an instant. Of course, the track behind was broken as the price, but well. What problem could there be.
It would be hard to believe there were other lunatics in the world besides us who would undertake such a crazy journey.
"It's done- How are the wheels? Broken?"
"No, just some screws had come a bit loose. I tightened them with all my might, so there shouldn't be any problems for a while."
"Good. Then let's depart again!"
Rumble-clatter.
The express train moved. From the locomotive, a whistle went Pwooooooo- along with steam spewing out intensely.
For reference, that wasn't actually steam from burning coal. It was just an 'illusion magic' Dang Seorin had cast.
Why stop at steam? Throughout the express train we rode, the 'steam locomotive-exclusive illusion magic' that Dang Seorin had devoted a full 30 days to designing lived and breathed in details everywhere.
It was excellent proof that in the mad world, we were slightly madder than others, and among us, Dang Seorin was uniquely mad.
"We're gradually entering North Korean territory."
Dang Seorin unfolded a map.
A map thoroughly stained with hand oils. Colored here and there with red and yellow markers. The map trembled like a maple leaf at the train's rattling.
"We'll go to Tumen River Station in North Korea, cross over to Hasan Station, and then it's Russia. From there, we just keep taking the Trans-Siberian Railway north."
"...."
"Ah, riding the Trans-Siberian Railway has been on my bucket list since forever!"
Rumble, rumble-clatter.
"To think I'd finally travel only after the world ended. Life is really mysterious, you know. Well, anyway, after reaching Moscow, we head toward Belarus, Poland, Germany..."
"Yeah."
"Hm?"
I murmured softly.
"Yeah, this is my dream."
"...."
"Someday traveling the whole world with you, Dang Seorin. And on this, this bizarre train modified to your tastes."
"...? What are you saying suddenly?"
Dang Seorin tilted her head, still holding the map.
"We're doing that right now."
The cedar forest swayed in the wind. I looked up at the sky. Hazy steam rose along the sky's hidden path.
"One car of the train is yours, Dang Seorin. Common sense dictates you wouldn't yield the first car to anyone else. That car is also your room. You'll probably decorate it exactly as you please, like a caravan camper. Skulls, crystal balls, wands, broomsticks... You might even raise an owl."
"...."
"The second car is my room. At first it'll be neatly organized, but as the travel days pass, somehow your daily items will gradually invade and encroach on my territory. You collect and store so many miscellaneous things that one car won't be enough space."
Rumble-clatter. Rumble.
"The third car is the dining car and lounge. The fourth is storage. I have a magic trunk bag anyway, so space is surprisingly sufficient. When the track breaks, you connect it with magic and song. When anomalies attack, I subdue them. Like that. We could go anywhere, as far as anywhere. We could travel forever."
"...."
"But not yet."
Rumble.
"Dang Seorin. The night we subdued the Ten Clans, when I first revealed I was a regressor, and you died. I swore. That I would definitely return this world to how it was, and then travel with you."
"...When do you think we'll be able to leave?"
"Sorry. Honestly, it's still far off."
I let out a small laugh.
"But... I always remember. Dang Seorin. And you need to get stronger too."
"Me? Why?"
"Because we'll cross the Atlantic and Pacific by train too. You'll use magic to freeze the seawater in real-time and create ice-railways. Even if we reach the beach and a lonely utility pole stands on the sand, our journey won't end."
"Heavens. Are you crazy? How much magical power do you think it would take to continuously freeze the ocean in real-time?"
"Listen. And that too... not simply crossing the sea, but following the sea route the Titanic sailed!"
"Heavens. Are you crazy? That's a really great idea."
We let out small laughs.
"...I see. Undertaker, you have [Complete Memory Ability]. Then even in an illusion, you won't lose your coordinates."
"Right."
Dang Seorin looked up at the sky.
"Ah- ah- So the travel promise from hundreds of years ago is postponed again?"
She draped her legs outside the train and sighed from her mouth just like the locomotive releasing steam.
"Not hundreds of years. It's already been nearly a thousand. Really, what kind of friend makes a travel promise for a thousand years later and then postpones it again?"
"Sorry. It's mostly the old man Sho's fault."
"Pfft. No- ahahaha! That's right. It is that old man's fault. You're a supporter, so it's the dealer's fault for escaping alone, yes."
Dang Seorin laughed for a long while.
Then she looked at me.
"I'm probably just the anomaly's illusion. An AI-like existence created by copying your memories to most closely approximate the object called 'Dang Seorin.' Even so, why do you still treat me as a friend?"
"Don't say foolish things. Life is nothing but a dream. Why should we dismiss it as delusion just because we dreamed again within a dream? Rather, I'm only grateful that you came chasing after me in whatever dream."
"...."
My companion fell silent for a long while.
Then she smiled at me.
"...The trip, I'm looking forward to it. My heart races."
"Me too."
"I'll be waiting. Even after a thousand years."
Rumble-
The wheels moved.
13
What is imprinted in childhood leaves footprints throughout a lifetime. Just as magic and the existence of magicians were for Dang Seorin.
If so, the first shape a person witnesses after being born is a circle, the circle (圓).
A person's pupils.
The eyes of mother and father. Someone's eyes. Black islands floating in a boundless white sea.
Those islands were not solitary islands but twin islands formed in pairs.
For humans, the most perfect shape was the circle, and the circular shape (圓形) was always the original form (原形).
The original form of a human looked at me.
"――Hah! Ah, Mister?"
"Yes. I'm listening."
"Just now...... Whoa, really. It's exactly as you said...... Unbelievable. I, I just spent over 5 years entering elementary school! Wow, really...... Waaaah."
"Took quite a while."
My- my, it gives me chills. Really, such an anomaly can exist. How......"
I smiled.
"Who was the nail of the illusion?"
"Ah- um, my mother. She passed away when I was in 5th grade. Our family is, well, full of cult members. Only my mother was normal."
"I see."
Squeeze.
Looking around, it was still a galaxy where thousands, tens of thousands of colors jumbled together. Schools and hospitals, prisons, movie theaters, screens, cityscapes ceaselessly intersected.
Kka ha ha ha kka kka kka-
The anomaly jeered.
But the universe was definitely, a bit smaller than before.
The size where matter was absent was the capacity that mind could hold.
"You swam out well. But it's not over yet. Until we reach that anomaly's main body, illusions will dig in with every step we take."
"...."
"Should I call it an illusion. It could well be called another life. You could use the expression 'route.'"
"Route......"
"It inserts an 'existence that substitutes' for your time, your life, your existence. By doing so, the anomaly steals your place in return. Just as it plundered Baekhwa (White Flower) and turned it into Baekhwa (Hundred Tales)."
"...If we can't swim out of a route."
"In this reality, you will disappear, and something that has replaced you will wander around under the name 'Cheon Yohwa.'"
"...."
Cheon Yohwa nodded.
"...That's, unpleasant. Yes. I hate it."
"What a coincidence. I feel the same."
"But still...... that anomaly, looks so far away. I don't know why, but I definitely feel we've gotten closer than before."
Cheon Yohwa glared at Mugan.
"How much more...... I mean, how many more routes do we have to swim through? Honestly, I just came to my senses after attending elementary school for 3 years, so I'm still dazed."
"In this void, distance has no meaning. There is only the anomaly's self-rule, the law of existence. And in this case......"
Step.
I took a step, holding Cheon Yohwa's hand. Then two footprints, pitch-black twin islands, were imprinted on the world.
"Three more steps ahead."
A spell to return the anomaly that had mimicked Death (死) back to the reality of four steps (四). A strategy.
Since it was a ritual for death, I named this a funeral.
I was an undertaker.
"Let's go, Yohwa. It's okay. Humans are beings who can do anything as long as two people don't let go of each other's hands."
"...Yes! Ugh, the National Sports Festival finals were way, way harder! Tell it to bring it on!"
Flicker. Rumble.
The human's original form blinked, and the universe's original form turned its wheel.
The wheel of time moved.
From the far shore to this shore.
Three steps ahead.