693 – 8. Last Words (67)
When the image reflected in the mirror resembles me.
However, when something is clearly different from us, humans feel uncomfortable. Until now, I had not understood the harsh attitude of ‘me’ from the future, but now I felt like I understood.
It takes determination to face the past.
That was something I just realized. Leaving another stab wound on the body of the rushing man.
There wasn’t even a sound of flesh being cut. In the world of lightning speed, the process is not important. Only the results remain and are implemented visually.
Blood bursting out.
Of course it wasn’t my blood. Despite bleeding for an unknown number of times and having sword marks not only on his torso but also on his extremities, the golden-eyed man never stopped standing up.
I thought that it was indeed me at that time. He glared at me until the end, then tried to ignore my swordplay.
They are probably aiming for ‘diffraction’.
Of course, there was no way I would fall for it. A prosecutor with as much practical experience as me could detect even the slightest hint.
Then a thought occurred to me.
Why are you so nervous?
“Stop it soon.”
I said that while taking a deep breath.
The man who fell down couldn’t even breathe properly due to my kick. If you think about it, it was a natural result.
At that time, I was a child who couldn’t even handle Aurors properly.
There was no way he could beat me, who had mastered all kinds of visions and was at the top level in combat power among high experts.
Win?
It wasn’t such a simple story. There is no such thing as a possibility. There is only one future where I lose.
When I wanted to defeat myself.
It was nonsense. Having fought dozens of battles and suffered dozens of defeats, the man must have known that fact better than anyone else.
There’s no way I wouldn’t know that even ‘diffraction’, which is a blow for conversion, doesn’t work on me.
Nevertheless.
The body of the man who had fallen down began to tremble. It was a sign that he was trying to get up again.
Even so, there was no way my body could have listened to me properly.
The man was desperate.
He somehow gritted his teeth and raised his head, golden eyes shining clearly through his blood-soaked bangs. An unrealistic scene in which someone tries to mend a broken bone with muscle stiffness.
An unpleasant feeling for no reason suddenly strikes my mind.
It was immediately after that that my tone became more harsh.
“You can’t win. Never.”
Huh, huh.
I tried to get up, but fell down.
The arm that touches the ground is shaking. I didn’t know how many times I would fail like that.
At least the body is already saying it is at its limit.
I’m annoyed.
“But you still want to try it?”
I felt bad.
“Even though it’s impossible?”
I was nervous and angry.
Why on earth?
There is no answer to the question. I couldn’t control my anger and kicked the man who was struggling to get up.
Quick!
There were no more moans or screams. The weakened body just rolled helplessly on the ground.
I had no intention of ending like this. I took a shaky step, and my hand grabbed the man’s hair.
When she bends her knees and pulls them up, the man’s distorted face is visible. The sight of her with one eye closed because of her blood was truly unsightly.
“Why do you do this?”
I had no choice but to ask that.
The man who looked like me still had no answer. As she gasps for breath, her eyes quietly stare at me.
It was like a star embracing fire. Even if you don’t like it.
“I told you, you can’t beat me…” “Why do you do something meaningless?”
The voice that came out of his vocal cords was filled with subtle anger.
Even I couldn’t understand my own mind. Why am I so angry, displeased and anxious?
I felt like I was looking in the wrong mirror.
The man held in my hands still said nothing.
I stammered, making a blood boiling sound.
“Hey, promise.”
“What?”
It was a word I didn’t remember.
What do you mean by ‘promise’? Have I ever made a promise with someone at that point?
Whether my questions continue or not, the past keeps coming back to me.
“Medicine, inside… Because I did it… ….”
“Promise? What nonsense? “What promise did I make?”
“Have you forgotten?”
On the contrary, I had nothing to say when asked again.
Forgot?
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Ha, I laughed out loud. If it’s a promise, I’ve made it countless times.
There were so many things, so many things I was carrying on my back that I fell down while trying hard. Like a man collapsed in front of me.
The end was who I am now.
A person who runs away, escapes, and locks himself into a corner of unconsciousness.
So I couldn’t help but find it funny. How can you speak so arbitrarily without even knowing the weight of the burden you will be carrying in the future?
Perhaps this is the cause of my discomfort.
I decided to make it my own way.
“You forgot? What? Do you even understand what I am carrying?”
“No matter how much you bear… ….”
“Leto died because of me!”
Shouting in a fit of rage, I moved the hand that was holding my hair to my collar. I feel like my sincerity will be conveyed more that way.
The man who stuttered lost her words. What I revealed may have been just as shocking.
“Can you understand even a part of my heart? Huh? Because I was ridiculously stubborn like you…… !”
“No matter how much you lose… ….”
And I was speechless.
A man who was grabbed by the collar and couldn’t even breathe properly. The human, who had been moaning as his uvula was suppressed, was groaning while holding onto my wrist.
As if he was trying to escape my grasp somehow.
Huh, hahahaha.
An empty laugh flows from between my lips.
“I, I…” ….”
“I, what?”
Bang!
There was no need for even the slightest gap until I raised the hand holding my collar and threw it to the ground. The only thing I could hear was the terminal screaming, “Wow!”
This will be the end.
No matter how strong your mental power was, there was a limit. Considering how hard it was to even focus his eyes, it was only right for the man to meet his end like this.
Looking back, it was funny.
Why didn’t I finish it sooner?
If he had wanted to, that man would have been cut into thousands of pieces and rolling around a long time ago.
And then I shook my hands off.
“There is nothing you can do with will alone, baby… Choices always come with a price. “Remember that.”
A sound I’ve heard somewhere before.
I felt a strange sense of discomfort at that fact, but I quickly shook my head and shook it off.
This is the end. There is no need to worry any more.
The moment I turned around while thinking that.
“I, am…” ….”
I flinched.
I sense a presence behind my back that should not be felt. This can’t be happening.
Isn’t it a time when even life activities are at risk? There are twelve sword marks on the torso, which is full of internal organs, and two stab wounds each on the arms and legs.
But it still happens?
It was beyond emergency and unrealistic. My wide-open eyes looked backwards.
The shining light green liquid was spreading underneath the collapsed man’s body.
“…… Healing potion?”
A faint exclamation flowed from my mouth as I rummaged through my blurred memories.
Yes, it was like that.
I was like that back in the day. I collapsed, fell over, got hurt, and rolled over in a pool of blood.
Nevertheless, it survived.
There was a potion that senior Delphine gave me, and there was a potion that Emma gave me in advance. Didn’t she hold those two things in her arms and eventually save her life?
One of those miracles was being repeated in front of me.
“I don’t give up.”
“…… What?”
“Because I promised.”
Middle jaw, lower jaw.
It was a provocation made by a human who was too busy controlling his body, let alone hiding.
Laughter bursts out of my mouth and then stops.
“Unlike a coward like you.”
“Coward?”
“…… “Please come.”
Heh, heh.
I stopped laughing and strengthened the hand holding the sword. A coward, a coward?
Will you really be able to say things like that in the future?
All kinds of rebuttals swirled in my solar plexus, but none of them became language. She just glared at her man with fierce eyes.
There was no need to wait any longer. Anyway, the opponent doesn’t even have enough energy left to deal a proper blow to me.
You recovered your health with a healing potion?
So what? The difference in power between me and the guy was clear.
Hence the leap.
That was the sense of an unmanned person entering a world where time had stopped and, although unintentional, at the speed of seconds. I felt like I was a fish forced to go backwards through frozen time.
At that time, ‘I’ had not yet entered a state.
I extend my sword. It was a clean angle aimed at the uvula, and a plain trajectory without any hint of herbalism.
That’s why it’s murderous.
The sword with all the scraps removed was a piece of exquisite art in itself. It is difficult to block even with similar skills, and if the opponent is one level below you, it is impossible to defend against it.
The fastest sword along the optimal path draws death.
Just before the tip of the knife touches the uvula.
Suddenly, my consciousness was immersed in memories, as if buried in a fog.
“You hesitated at the end. Then you can see it. “If your opponent is clumsy, you may not know, but if your opponent is an experienced expert, you can immediately choose the next best option.”
When did I hear this from someone?
One of my teachers.
The old man used to say that no matter how much practical experience he had, he could be deceived as long as he mastered this vision.
“…… Is this the end?”
I had a hallucination.
The outstretched arm becomes longer. The blade turned into a claw, and before I knew it, I had become a primate taller than several feet tall.
“…… It’s late. “You hesitated again at the end.”
Stretching out his arms.
Now that I think about it, what did I say at this time?
Oh, yes. Was it so?
Just before the long claw touches the man’s uvula.
Time stopped. The only thing swimming in it is the body of a man.
The other person’s body spun around like a fish swimming in water.
It was close. If I had turned even a little bit, I would have been counterattacked, and if I had turned a little later, I would have been stabbed.
It was as if I had touched a frictionless sphere. There was no feeling of resistance in my arms.
I realized this instinctively. What will be the next linked action?
The man’s sword cuts horizontally across parallax.
It finally occurred to me. What did I say back then?
“…… “Please come.”
Okay… ….
Did you just talk like that guy?
And blackout.
*
When I gasped and opened my eyes, my past self had already disappeared.
As I was stammering my neck, the old man’s voice rang in my ears.
“I think you have lost some memories.”
Looking around, this is still an empty space.
Gilford was sitting on a rock, sipping his drink. I was lying next to him and seemed to be unconscious.
“How was this place? It’s a restless world… The sun is warm and the children are happy. You can stay here longer if you want…… ?”
Tap.
My hand snatched the glass that was aimed at Gilford’s mouth. And before Gilford could say anything, strong liquor poured into his mouth.
It was like cheap alcohol. With a loud sound, I wiped my mouth with my sleeve.
“I will leave.”
Gilford showed no signs of being embarrassed by my sudden declaration. He just looked at me without saying anything and asked with a kind smile.
“Are you okay? It’s dizzy, cold, and difficult outside, isn’t it? On the other hand, this place is warm, peaceful…….”
“If that were really the case, you wouldn’t have called me.”
The old man closed his mouth. I deliberately didn’t look at him.
“You made a request, right? Ask me to catch the demon beast… “If you wanted to maintain a peaceful daily life, you wouldn’t have needed to do that.”
“That’s… ….”
“Are you regretting it?”
Silence again.
While Gilford didn’t respond, I continued my reasoning. Because it was in my subconscious anyway.
“Didn’t you realize? I said there was nothing I could do, and I lived my life compromising one by one… Have you ever felt that you have become an uncontrollable monster?”
“Master… ….”
“Mr. Gilford.”
With a thud, I put down my drink on the rock and got up.
And bow down. Deep, deep. With all my heart.
“Thank you. As a teacher, thank you for looking at my sword one last time… “Now I can finally see the path I want to take.”
The old man said nothing for a while.
He just poured some alcohol into an empty glass and poured it all in one go.
He filled the empty glass again and handed it to me.
“Did I ever tell you? ‘Diffraction’ is completely a technique for the weak… The only beings who can satisfy the conditions of sacrificing one’s life in the first place are the weak. That’s why I, a low-level mercenary, was able to learn that vision.”
One drink.
I drank alcohol without hesitation. Gilford immediately filled the empty glass.
“Can you finally see the way to go now?”
“I don’t know. But, I know the direction.”
And then I take another drink.
A disgusting scent hits the pituitary gland like steam. I loved the feeling of flames traveling down my esophagus.
“I couldn’t see it. Probably because I wasn’t strong…….”
‘Strong.’
Gilford attached the past ‘me’ to me and said that although I was different than before, I was not stronger.
There was no need to ask why.
“The courage of the powerful is a right. Anyone can do that… But what about those who have no power?”
“Is that ‘strength’? “The struggles of a powerless person?”
“That is ‘diffraction.'”
Then, Gilford pointed behind me with a wink. When he turned around, he saw a crowd of children who had gathered there for some time and were looking at me with scared expressions.
With a face that I don’t know if you can really trust me.
“It must be a difficult road. I’ve never walked before, and in fact, I don’t even know what kind of pain you’ve been through. However, on behalf of the children…….”
Gilford’s head tilts. The sound of murmuring spread among the children in the city behind me, and I was unable to say anything.
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“Thank you.”
I didn’t know how to react. As I rolled my eyes here and there, I realized that the glass in front of me was filled with alcohol.
So, another drink.
“For saving the children, for not giving up on them… “Thank you from the bottom of my heart.”
I heard it once.
Three glasses of alcohol and nine bows are said to be a ritual shared between a teacher and a disciple.
So I quickly lowered my head. Gilford didn’t say anything for a long time.
“I’m sure you think it’s an illusion in your subconscious, so can I just say one thing?”
“Isn’t it a fact, not a thought? What is this…….”
“That day, I learned something from the master. “Just as I was a teacher, you were also my teacher.”
I wanted to refute it, but I couldn’t.
Before that, the air split apart and a new crack opened.
Beyond that, all kinds of scenes were swirling around. From the scenery in my memory, to the memories of ‘me’ from the future, to the sight of the academy in a snowstorm.
My body was raised as if possessed.
“Let’s go.”
“Where?”
“You know… “Maybe there’s a little more left.”
Just before I left, my teacher asked me.
“Let me ask you the question I asked the first time again… “Do you remember what I taught you?”
The first question I heard after standing in the vacant lot today.
At the time, I didn’t know what he was talking about, but now I think I understand.
I said with a smile.
“Now, I will never forget.”
And I ran out.
Leaving the comfortable orphanage and heading towards a future where the cold north wind blows.
The dream is not far away.