“Don’t be in such a rush and listen to me—what? You’re coming at me with your bare hands? You’ve got to be kidding.”
“Die, die, die!!!”
I went at her with my bare knuckles, but she kicked me and put some distance between us. I was blown away and stopped as I grabbed Masamune Kuki from where it was stuck in a plank.
“Hey, come on, relax. We’re meeting for the first time, huh? Don’t you have any common sense?”
“Shut up! You don’t think you’re going to get out of here alive after all you’ve done, do you?! Huh, you nobody?!”
Screaming, I took position.
“Do you want me to tell you how many times I’ve saved and loaded my game and killed you?! I’ve been killing you and Hiiro Sanjo for a long, long time, and your deaths are the best tranquilizer for me! Die! Hiiro can die, too! Die as many times as you want! I’m going to kill you now! Yes, I will! I’ll plant yuri—lilies—for you on your grave!!!”
“What the—?”
“Shut up and die!!!”
The gazes of a human and a demon intersected—and Alsuhariya rose, dodged my kick, and got farther away from me.
“Geez. Haven’t you ever had a decent chat with anyone?”
“You aren’t anyone. You’re a demon.”
Breathing heavily, I took a good look at the evil spirit in front of me.
An evil spirit.
Her body was shaped by magical power.
An evil being that called itself a demonic god imitated the myth of the creation of humankind from mud, fabricated demons, and created six humanoids.
An evil spirit was a mass of magicells that didn’t have a body.
Humans were a collection of cells.
A cell is a collection of molecules; molecules are a collection of atoms, and atoms are a gathering of elementary particles.
From a reductionist view, we could say that humans were also a mass of elementary particles.
But the humans in this world weren’t shaped by magicells. While they had a mechanism for storing magicells in their bodies, they only kept them within their bodies, and it wasn’t as if the magic calculators created them as beings.
A large number of magicells floated around in this world.
That meant evil spirits that were made solely of magicells could regenerate their damaged bodies with them or change their bodies as easily as if they were snacking on food on a table.
The bottom line was that an evil spirit was basically invincible.
In the original game, they healed what was damaged at every turn.
Players who continued to play without any information on strategies generally ended up losing for the first time when they fought an evil spirit.
I had feared being killed when I confronted one for the first time… One wrong step, and it was a battle that I would lose no matter what I did.
This world wasn’t a game. Once I died, that was it.
I had been reincarnated as Hiiro, but I hadn’t committed suicide, and I remained alive… And that was probably to tell Tsukiori how to defeat this no-good-piece-of-trash being before me.
Once again, I glared at Alsuhariya.
“What’s with those eyes? You shouldn’t look at a person like that. It’s full of the determination to ground me to dust, put it in a blender, and pour it down the sewer.”
Solemnly, I generated my invisible arrow.
Water flowed over my arms.
The arrow fitted between my outstretched index and middle finger, then it flowed backward and sent up a bluish spray of water.
“Humans lean toward day, and demons lean toward night. It’s a miracle that clan members of the day, those of the night, and us humans exist here now as equal beings.”
Bearing the moonlit night on her back, Alsuhariya stood at the bow of the ship and received the twinkling of the stars in the sky.
“Let’s be grateful for that one-night miracle. It’s the perfect time for us to talk.”
“I don’t understand a word of what a piece of trash like you says. Die! Explode into pieces in the middle of the night sky!!! I’ll cry out in joy for you! Explode with great force and become a firework that lights up the night! In short, die!!!”
“All you’ve been saying for a while is die.”
“Shut up and die!!!”
I tried to close the distance between us, but Alsuhariya fled at a tremendous speed.
“Don’t run from me! Don’t run from your responsibility as a demon with a form that has to perish!”
“Of course I’m going to run. Please listen to me. What are you, a product of the intent to kill? You’re scary with those bloodshot eyes. You’re standing there holding a sword and smirking. You can’t complain if someone uses you in educational materials as a model case of a serial killer.”
“I’ll listen to you, so die! Please!”
“Okay, okay. I’ll give you a decent fight if you listen to me. I was going to have you die here anyway.”
I sheathed Masamune Kuki—a feint—and with a thud, an invisible arrow pierced Alsuhariya’s forehead.
“I can’t believe this. Aren’t you ashamed to be more sly and willing to do anything than an evil spirit? Pretending to put away your weapon, then going ahead and trying to kill someone? What is wrong with the ethics education they provide in this world? Don’t shoot while I’m talking.”
A mountain of arrows stabbed at Alsuhariya’s body, and she raised her hands, looking like a hedgehog.
“You want me to die, but I want to kill you more.”
“Have you cultivated a will to kill from an early age?”
Sighing, Alsuhariya pulled the arrows out of her body.
“Hiiro Sanjo. Do you remember what you said to me when we passed each other when I was still A?”
“Please kill me.”
“I didn’t tell you to put your desires into words. You said, ‘It’s a shame.’”
Behind the backdrop of smoldering purple smoke, the evil spirit with a handsome face whispered, “I like people. It’s no exaggeration to say I love them. I especially like people who are small and miserable but can change the course of the world. Wouldn’t you be interested in an ant if it could impact the world, even if it’s just an ant?”
She chuckled.
“I wanted a human friend for a long time… The human world is beautiful… You compared love to lilies, which was very strange but poetic… However, a difference of opinion existed between us…”
She exhaled white smoke.
“Love isn’t something to save. It’s something you harm.”
“Oh, I see.”
Trembling all over, I scoffed.
“We couldn’t possibly be friends. We can only see each other as sworn enemies…and kill each other.”
“That’s the answer. I agree. That’s why I decided to kill you. It’s really a shame…after going through the trouble of awakening and coming all the way here.”
The Temple of Death sneered.
“Here I come—human.”
“Come to me—evil spirit.”
Both of us prepared to fight—one taking a higher position, the other low—and as we crossed blades, blood sprayed from my cheek.
She was fast.
Enveloped in a swirl of smoke, Alsuhariya swept away every bit of that smoke and wielded her sword, soaked wet in my blood.
I saw the blow.
It came on my right side—trigger, synchronize technique, initiate magic wave interference, operation complete.
Not even conscious of the sword that pierced my side, my eyes opened wide as I smashed the light I generated into her brain.
Generation: Sword of Light.
The particles of light gathered together turned into a spark and split Alsuhariya in two. Then she was restored, laughing as her eyes glowed a bluish white.
The devil’s eyes—they’re coming—!
I let go of Masamune Kuki and reached out with my fingertips at close range.
My index and middle fingers pierced the chasm between the eyes that shone brilliantly.
Alsuhariya’s eyes widened in astonishment, and—
“Blow up to smithereens.”
Boom!!!
Her head blew off. The headless demon clapped her hands in applause.
“Nice,” a voice said from the dim cavity of her torso.
I shivered and jumped back as I stared at the evil spirit regenerate. Blood leaked down my side, and I pressed the wound.
“But really—”
Careful. Take things slowly, a step at a time.
Having rebuilt herself from her capillaries, Alsuhariya reattached her skin, making a flip-flop sound, and smiled after regaining her beautiful appearance.
“The performers are a little boring… It’s in bad taste not to make the most of the night with the hazy moon, to waste my beauty, and simply slaughter the fool who thinks he’s a hero in this state.”
Her long black hair flowed in the wind.
Alsuhariya narrowed her eyes, held her hair down, and snapped her fingers.
“We will paint this night with some makeup.”
A crack appeared—in the sea.
The ship tilted to the right, my view rotated sideways, and a jet of seawater drenched me.
A woman’s face emerged from the water.
A figurehead of a goddess breathed through the water. Next, the port and starboard sides of a ship rose on high waves, and the stern surfaced at once and was bathed in the moonlight.
It was a galleon.
A sailing ship appeared from the sea. Enveloped in a slowly thickening white fog, it showed itself, caked with starfish and barnacles.
The two-story bow and stern towers had large holes in them, the four masts were tilted and eroded, and dried human heads surrounded the goddess adorning the bow. It was a ghost ship.
The ghost ship’s helm was spinning on its own. The torn sails fluttered in the wind, and white thunder rumbled against the hazy moon in the background.
Alsuhariya gently stepped on the goddess’s face and landed on one foot, holding up a cigarette.
“Nuestra Señora de Atocha.”