✦ ✦ ✦
The tear in space began to mend. Even the woman who had been sliced in two returned to normal. It was like time was rewinding just for everything the sword had touched.
“What the...hell... How did you do that?!”
“It’s pretty simple. This world is a dream that I’m seeing. You and your sword are nothing more than parts of my imagination. So even if it looks like you’re destroying the world on the surface, you can’t actually get to the core of it. It would be weird if you, no more than a character in my dream, could destroy the dream itself, right?”
“There’s no way that’s true. How many worlds do you think I’ve traveled through? Ten thousand doesn’t even come close. A hundred million might be getting there. Are you telling me those were all a dream?! There’s no way that’s possible!”
Though he had entirely forgotten most of them, he knew full well that he had experienced countless worlds. Even the ones he remembered defied counting. He couldn’t believe all of that had been part of the Great Sage’s dream.
“If you’ve experienced so many worlds, you must know about the five-minute world theory, right?” the Great Sage said.
“Ha ha ha... You can’t argue against a theory like that, I guess.” The theory that the world had suddenly popped into existence five minutes prior was one that was impossible to refute. Even if one appealed to memories prior to the point of the world’s origin, the theory could easily posit that those memories had come into existence at the same time.
“All of your memories and experiences are part of my dream.”
“Like hell they are! You expect me to believe you made me?!”
“Taken to the extreme you could say that, but I didn’t really have any direct influence on you. I let this whole world develop randomly. The only influence I had was setting up the initial options for the random number generator. Your life is still yours. You appearing before me here today is no more than a coincidence. I didn’t plan it out in the least.”
Kyuuzaburou wanted to believe it was all a lie, all nonsense. If he believed the Great Sage’s words, there was no chance of ever beating him. Everything would rest in the palm of his hand.
But the moment Kyuuzaburou’s sword had been stopped—that weapon he had so much faith in, whose power was so immense as to be like a curse—he couldn’t help but find the Great Sage’s words to be believable.
So did that mean he needed to accept he was just a fleeting, transient existence himself? There was no way he could do that. Once he accepted that fact, his whole sense of being would be shaken. His entire identity would collapse. No matter what he witnessed, he couldn’t accept that fact.
“Th-That’s right! You mentioned an exception earlier, didn’t you?! That means my power works in every world! An exception is something that operates the same, no matter how different the laws of the individual world are!”
“Yeah. But even if you’re right about that, it doesn’t give you any proof that you aren’t a part of my dream.”
No matter what excuses Kyuuzaburou tried to make, the fact was that his attack had failed. If he wanted to prove the Great Sage to be a liar, he needed to do so with actions.
Kyuuzaburou roared, rushing forward, grasping for the one small ray of hope he could still see. If the blade of his sword made physical contact, it might just work. His only option was to cling to that vague, uncertain notion. The woman beside him started to move, but the Great Sage stopped her. Kyuuzaburou brought his sword down on him with a downward slash aimed at his forehead. The Great Sage made no effort to dodge or to defend himself. The blade struck...and shattered. The top half of the sword snapped off and flew away, and at the same time, Kyuuzaburou’s heart broke.
“Sorry. I would have liked to get cut in two for you, but I just can’t imagine that happening. And anything I can’t imagine can’t exist in this world.”
Kyuuzaburou fell to his knees. He knew now that he had no chance at winning.
“Is that all? I won’t kill you or anything, so you’re free to do what you like.” Having lost all interest in Kyuuzaburou, the Great Sage turned his attention to Yogiri.