[One of the Nine Keys has been forged.]
[The ninety-ninth floor has been cleared.]
[Entering the hundredth floor.]
The flower field split open, and something rose from deep within. It was a huge mirror, but it was too large to reflect just one person. It was gargantuan, enough to reflect an entire legion. Crystals sprouted out of the mirror’s frame, making the surface uneven.
The mirror was murky and eerily purple on both sides. Like a wall from the underworld, it stood between me and the Sword Emperor and had nine keyholes.
[Insert the first key.]
I walked up to the keyholes. Though mirrors were different from glass and couldn’t show what lay beyond, I somehow knew the Sword Emperor was doing the same on the other side.
I peered into the first keyhole.
[The first key was forged by those who breathe in the shadow you cast.]
[What kind of person are you? Are you strong? Are you lovable? Are you beautiful? Are you pitiful?]
I took out a key and inserted it into the first hole.
“I’m a person others can rely on,” I said.
“I’m a person you want to wait for,” the Sword Emperor’s voice came from the other side.
Clank.
The purple color of the mirror grew more vivid, shining brighter than before as it displayed the next question.
[The second key was forged by those who decided to follow you.]
[What are your apostles to you? Tools? Lovers? Family?]
I inserted the second key.
“My apostles are my friends and equals.”
“My apostles are like my younger brothers,” the Sword Emperor said.
The mirror flickered once more.
[The third key was forged by the gods you faced.]
[What are gods to you?]
“People who let their guard down and make mistakes. They’re people who can grow.”
“The guys I would have ended up like if I hadn’t met my teacher.”
We inserted the fourth and fifth keys one after the other.
“To be honest, I regretted it a little. Well, more than a little. If only I had been there. If only I hadn’t climbed the tower and stayed until the Gray Spider could find a closure of her own, maybe I could have done more.”
The Sword Emperor said, “I see it differently. Like you once talked about the First Wave, the Gray Spider lived as she wished. The one who gave me my key on the ninety-fourth floor was the same in that sense. Those who don’t blame others stand on their own feet and don’t lean on anyone else.”
“I was glad the story about me spread far, but I was also scared. People were giving meanings to parts of my life that I didn’t even know existed. I’m not talking about harmful lies or misunderstandings. I thought that I was in perfect control of myself, but it was actually far from true.”
“Becoming a myth goes far beyond simply becoming someone else’s conversation topic. People don’t debate whether the man next door has hemorrhoids or athlete’s foot, but if that man is bald and people who talk about him like bald people, the story becomes complicated. People fight to defend those they love and respect as much as they push out those they hate. And being the cause of war is really awful.”
Clank, clank.
As we inserted the keys, the Sword Emperor and I chatted away, with the mirror separating us in the middle.
“I felt that I wasn’t alone. The Tower master has probably been with me since I entered the Tower.”
“Yup, she’s probably still watching us. Hey~ Old lady~ Are you watching us~? We’re coming your way soon~”
“... Gosh. Hmmm, anyhow, when I first met her and heard about her beliefs, I thought she could have saved me if she had been watching me, but I thought about it again and the other timelines Mutia showed me. When someone gains a chance, someone else gets deprived of having the same chance.”
“Hmm.”
“The other person won’t know that they missed an important opportunity, but the one who rewound time will sense it faintly. Even if they don’t feel it, the person who rewound time can’t help but doubt if it was truly for the best. Is this truly the best path for everyone from the perspective of eternity?”
“Zombie, can you hear the screams of the countless victims each time you rewind time? Those who lost everything in the butterfly effect of what you changed vowed vengeance and are walking toward you for your destruction.”
“To do everything is the same as to do nothing at all. The Tower master chose to bear responsibility for everything by doing nothing. On the other hand, I chose to bear all the consequences of what I changed. If anyone blames me for that, then that is a burden I should bear.”
“I understand why you’re saying that, but that sounds far too arrogant…” the Sword Emperor mumbled.
“Speaking of which, what about you, Sword Emperor? If you could regress, would you?”
“It’s not like regressing means you’ll never have regrets.”
Clank.
I shrugged. “You’re right. Regressing usually brings bigger regrets. I can somehow resolve those, but then other greater regrets quickly come my way. It’s an endless cycle.”
“It’s the same the other way around. Even if you live without regressing, do you think that won’t happen?”
Clank.
“You’re right.”
“Yeah. Whether you regress or not, the result is the same,” the Sword Emperor replied.
Clank.
“Still, to say it’s the same is a bit…”
The Sword Emperor said, “To a person who can’t run, a professional runner may seem special. A regressor would seem like a monster to those who can’t upstream time, but we’re all human in the end.”
“That reminds me of what the Chemist said, but isn’t what you said more arrogant? Are you aware that the Chemist is second to none when it comes to arrogance?”
“Gaining the ability to do something also means you can die because of that. People who can do things that others can’t suffer in ways that normal people never do. In that sense, the world is fair.”
Clank.