Mist, God, Tooyama

……

…

“Whoa, wait, ah?! Door, door, door?! I’m going to crash!! Aaah, damn it, open!”

Tooyama, his body captured by the mist, was carried along like a doughnut on a conveyor belt.

A door approached before his eyes, and he shouted at it with his eyes wide.

Clatter. The luxurious wooden door, like a great double gate, opened by the command of the Archives’ master, and he was sent straight outside—

“Whoooa?! Ouch.”

Smack. Carried by force, he was finally thrown out of the Archives. He tucked his chin and skillfully broke his fall, then sat down on the spot.

“Ow… Relic Blade, damn you, that was really rough.”

This was the first time. Relic Blade had left Tooyama’s control, manipulated the thick mist, and carried him.

Even when he stared at the chipped blade, no answer came back.

“Hm? Haven’t you gotten a little longer?”

Suddenly, he felt that sense of wrongness from earlier and once again looked over the blade of Relic Blade. Still sitting, he lightly swung it, lifted it up, and peered at it from below. It seemed as though the blade had grown longer than usual.

—My hero, well done escaping the Archives. Forward. To the lake.

“Ugh, that voice again… The lake…? Ah…”

Frowning at the echoing voice, Tooyama looked ahead. As he returned Relic Blade to his own neck, his mouth hung open.

And he lost his words.

He finally noticed the tranquil air.

The sun was showing its face slightly, and the distant sky had begun to whiten.

In the dim darkness, the light of dawn was faintly mixed in, the boundary between dark and bright.

“Amazing…”

A thin mist lay all around. The mist, drifting through the air like silk, did not cover his vision, but simply floated around the area.

The air was cold and pleasant. Each time he breathed in, the coldness woke his heated body from the inside.

Tooyama was in a cold morning, in the dawn. Spread before him was a large lake that held mist like silk.

“A lake… This is bad, I feel like my head’s going to go crazy.”

He walked unconsciously. Step by step, he trod across grass wet with morning dew.

Surrounded by mountains gradually whitening with the dawn, thin purple-dyed clouds trailed lazily in the distance.

Dawn, early morning. The wind blowing through was simply pleasant.

Each time the wind blew with a rustle, the lake’s surface stirred. As if some unseen, large thing were dancing upon the lake, the mist floating on the surface danced every time the wind blew.

“…Phew.”

Before he knew it, Tooyama had sat down at the lakeside. Even the morning dew wetting his body felt pleasant.

In the pure air, he gazed absentmindedly at the lake. That space was simply, simply beautiful and pleasant.

“If there were a sauna here, it’d be perfect.”

Tooyama muttered vaguely. It was the ideal location for the scene he imagined he ought to reach.

“A beautiful sight. So much so that it is hard to believe this is inside the heart of a child of man.”

“Well, that’s because my heart is beautiful… You’ve got to be kidding me.”

He instinctively covered his face.

Without letting him sense any presence, it had appeared beside Tooyama Naruhito as if it were only natural.

“Hmm, be a little quiet. Is the device poor? Hmph, things do not go as well as they did for Taigong Wang.”

“U-Uh…”

It was fishing.

With a fishing rod like a clothes-drying pole swung by its thick, bulging arm, that thing was fishing.

A scar-covered body, a massive frame he had to look up at. Yes, it was huge. Its body was about the size of three Tooyamas.

Its lifeless skin color was dusky like that of a dead man, and the body visible from the short-sleeved priest-like clothing was marked with gouged-out scars.

And more than anything, the face in the position he had to look up to was—

“Mm, it’s here!! My hero! Hold that landing net there! Do not fail!”

“Ah, yes.”

An absurdly huge landing net had appeared beside Tooyama at some point. Of course, nothing like this had existed until just now.

“Ho, hohohoho! This is a fine pull!! It is big, big indeed!”

“Uh…”

The big man wielded his rippling muscles and lifted the fishing rod. The rod bent in a curve, the water surface rippled, and it was completely fishing.

Swept up by the flow, Tooyama did as he was told and lifted the landing net with both hands. The landing net, large enough to scoop up one person, was naturally heavy.

“Take thiiiiiiis!!”

“Um, this landing net is way too big.”

He grumbled at the big man struggling with the fish.

“Spirit! You are a man of the land of Yamato, are you not?! Hold it with spirit!”

“Aaah, whatever already. Heave… ho!”

Since asking seemed useless, he swung the landing net with the momentum of lifting it with his whole body through sheer spirit.

He inserted the landing net into the water just like that.

“Hmph! Good, well done! Bring it here!”

“Hrngh, g-g-g-g-g, oraah!!”

The splashes were close. That noise broke the tranquility, and the deep shouts of the two men echoed across the lake.

Weight suddenly pressed down on the landing net Tooyama was lifting. The instant he thought he might be dragged in, a large palm grabbed the landing net and lifted it all at once.

Spray, water.

A huge, glossy black fish body that looked like it could swallow a human whole.

Whiskers moving softly, and a large mouth.

A catfish. A catfish had been caught.

“All right, all right, not bad at all. Oh, this is a splendid catfish. My hero, you worked hard.”

“Hea…vy. Also, it’s huge. I feel like it could swallow me whole.”

The huge catfish flopped inside the landing net. Tooyama sighed at the magnificent fish body, so impressive that it could be mistaken for a monster species.

Men were always drawn to big fish.

“However, this one was caught by us. It cannot devour you. We are the ones who will devour it. There.”

The big man touched the catfish’s body.

In the next instant, without any connection of events, a large bonfire blazed behind Tooyama, and there the big man was roasting the catfish he had somehow already dressed.

“Seriously? Anything goes now.”

At the uniquely dreamlike speed of development and lack of meaning, Tooyama relaxed his strength. After the Bread Archives, now it was a dream of roasting catfish. There was no doubt he was tired.

“Hmm, for a child of man’s size, would it be about this much? Here, it is plain-grilled catfish. Eat it with salt and Japanese pepper, and you can claim victory.”

What was smoothly offered to him was a splendid opened and plain-grilled catfish.

It was beautifully skewered and served on an elegant lacquered plate, giving off the refinement of something served at a high-class restaurant.

“What does claiming victory even mean… Thanks for the food.”

Beautiful browning, fluffy rising steam, and the good smell of fish. As a Japanese person, he could not resist this.

Sitting on a log chair that had been prepared at some point, Tooyama began eating as recommended.

“Hohoho, that fixation on food and your nerve are truly fine. Eat your fill.”

The big man laughed in high spirits.

Thick mist clung to his face, making everything above the neck invisible.

“Whoa, when did you skewer it? Ah, it’s crazy good…”

Softly.

The moment he carried it to his mouth, the white flesh loosened on his tongue. There was no fishy smell at all, and it was fluffy and warm.

He pinched the salt and Japanese pepper served on a leaf with his fingers, sprinkled a little more on, and then took another bite.

Delicious. The fish oil and saltiness, and then the sharp kick of the Japanese pepper, with its rich fragrance passing through his nose.

“This is seriously delicious…”

Since coming to this world, Tooyama had not been satisfied with meals except for Lazaar’s bread and Drako’s house’s steak, so this dish hit him hard.

Before he knew it, he was absorbed in it, repeatedly changing the flavor with salt and Japanese pepper like a kung-fu generation, and achieved victory.

“Hohoho, as expected, humans from the land of Yamato need fish. If possible, I would also like rice and millet, but unfortunately, we have not cultivated that far yet. Such things fall under Nini’s domain.”

“Stop doing survival-island development inside someone’s dream. …That was good. You don’t need to eat?”

“Ah, I already ate, my hero. You have carried many offerings to me, after all…”

At Tooyama’s question, the big man sat down on the spot and gave a dubious reply.

“Offerings…?”

At that dangerous word, Tooyama felt a bad premonition.

“Hoho, do not be so wary. My hero. I will not threaten you.”

“…I’ll thank you for the good food. But you will answer me. What are you?”

Tooyama looked up at it again.

It was huge, a muscular giant. It was smaller than the Cyclops he had met back then, but still seemed to be about four meters tall.

The clothing like that of a shrine priest could not contain its far too massive body.

A massive priest. That alone was impactful, but what left an even stronger impression was—

“Hohoho, do not be so wary. As for me, yes, at the very least, I am not a suspicious being.”

“Shut up! No matter how I look at you, you’re definitely dangerous! There’s no way someone with such a huge talisman stuck to his face isn’t suspicious!”

The mist cleared. Yes, that face.

The face in the position he had to look up to. He could not see its expression. Why?

A talisman. A huge talisman was stuck over that thing’s face, hiding it like a jiangshi or something.

A huge talisman, with something like Sanskrit characters drawn on it, covered that thing’s face.

An eboshi hat on its head, and a talisman-faced macho giant priest.

There was no word for it except suspicious.

“Hohoho, the shrine maiden of Yamato, what was her name? Himiko, was it? That little girl slapped it on, and it would not come off. Afterward, some brat named Abe no Haruakira stuck it back on too, and on top of that, my arms and legs were once cut off by a troublesome oni… They no longer move as they did in the old days, so I cannot peel it off.”

That figure, muttering haltingly, made a biological disgust shake Tooyama’s body.

He was speaking with something that must not be spoken to. His body issued a warning close to certainty.

“Ugh… Scary…”

“Hohoho, one who can put fear into words will not be led astray by fear. You, in particular, are fearless, are you not? For you are an explorer steeped in intoxication.”

“…No, seriously, what are you?”

At its manner of speaking as if it knew him, Tooyama quietly stood. He grasped the surrounding terrain so he could respond no matter what happened.

“Hohoho, my hero, I have watched you all along. The moment you first took a human life, the moment you first crossed beyond human restraints and killed a monster, I watched that moment of self-mastery. …It was quite something.”

“I’m telling you to name yourself. What are you?”

At that roundabout way of speaking, Tooyama did not hide his irritation and asked the other party bluntly.

“…Hmm, as it happens, I have many names and inscriptions. One who does not submit, one who divides realms, the mist spreading in the sky above, or the mist that pools over the plains. But yes, it would be best to introduce myself to you like this.”

While stroking its chin, the big man was carefree. Sitting cross-legged on the spot and twisting his neck, he answered.

“My name is Mist. Relic Blade. To name myself to you, this name would be suitable.”

“Huh?”

That name was the same as the name of Tooyama Naruhito’s strongest weapon.

Ping. Even in dreams, the notification of fate came.

“Ugh…”

Looking sideways at the message that made him want to retort that this was not something one could just call a warning, Tooyama groaned and stuck out his tongue.

He could at least understand that the existence before him was something ominous.

“Oh, so you can indeed see something, can you? Fate, or heavenly fortune? At the very least, you have been tampered with so that you can see it.”

“…I’ve got a connection with suspicious bastards like you. In terms of fishiness, you and this angel or whatever are about the same.”

“Hohoho, do not spout nonsense, brat. Well, rest assured. I do not intend to take and eat you right now.”

“Like I could trust someone with a talisman stuck to them.”

People were ninety percent appearance, and appearance was probably important even for non-humans. At the very least, a harmless person would probably not have a talisman stuck to them.

“How harsh. I have always been the type to be misunderstood. I am an unfortunate sort of existence that was sealed by that little girl Himiko just for trying to cover the village of Yamato in mist and preserve it in my realm. When I did the same thing to the capital, the people of the onmyo temple bullied me again.”

“From what I heard, you’re the villain. You’re like the enemy in a movie.”

As the big man talked while pretending to cry dramatically about his utterly evil criminal record, Tooyama pursed his lips.

“Boohoohoo, children of man are harsh on old bones. Well, I am a power suited to you.”

“Himiko and Abe no Haruakira… This is bad. If I think about it, there’s no end.”

“Because I am mist?”

“Shut up, talisman macho. Don’t casually joke around with a body like that. It makes it hard to know what mood I should be in.”

The big man suddenly joked in a frivolous tone, but even when an incomprehensible existence joked, he could not relax at all.

“Hoho, you are good after all. In this situation, you are not frightened. Even while exchanging jokes, you are calmly trying to judge the existence called me. As expected.”

“I’ve met a lot of weirdos like you. Though I never thought I’d dream even while sleeping.”

While returning light remarks, Tooyama observed that thing. It sat there absentmindedly cross-legged, seemingly full of openings, but he could not readily imagine killing it.

He understood from experience. The existence before him did not seem like one he could easily dispose of.

“Hoho, those who challenge trials have visions within dreams. Humans prepare for them within dreams. This is not something that applies only to you. Everyone merely forgets when they wake.”

“Are there a lot of things like you? And things like that bat-mental weakling four-eyes?”

“There are. It is only a difference of whether they are ancestral spirits or existences like me. Well, enough about the others. I wanted to speak with you like this once. To my hero, who often offers offerings to me.”

“Offerings…? You said something like that earlier too. Unfortunately, I don’t have anything to give you.”

“No, you are diligent. You have offered many offerings to me. Thus, my belly has been filled to bursting.”

“Huh?”

It was a voice that oozed evil. A voice unique to something arrogant that understood itself as a predator, as a strong being.

“Even just today, look. A foolish small fry, a filthy human who forgot his responsibility and exploited the weak, a fool who gave up standing his ground and chose to live by cunningly stealing from others, and a strong natural work of art. You offered them to me.”

“…Don’t tell me.”

That figure, counting on its thick fingers in amusement, was evil. At those words, Tooyama remembered the people he had disposed of today.

“Exactly. The souls of those you killed using my power, Relic Blade, are my offerings. My hero, that devotion is worthy of praise. Be proud.”

Mist leaked from the talisman macho’s large palm. Tooyama clearly saw it. Within the mist, there were countless writhing things. Human faces, faces of people screaming with expressions of agony, were in the mist—

It gobbled them up.

The talisman macho inserted its hand through a gap in the talisman and chewed all of it together with the mist.

The voices of resentment and the voices of suffering from those Relic Blade had disposed of were all devoured by the big man.

Tooyama was facing some horrifying thing that used souls as food.

“Mm, delicious. The soul of a human worse than a beast who knows not human pain has an irresistible frivolous taste.”

With a burp behind the talisman, the talisman macho belched. Tooyama raised his wariness of the existence before him even further.

“…Your fishiness just doubled. It’s been decided since six thousand years ago that anyone who devours the souls of living things is never a decent person.”

“Hohoho, hmm, I gained awareness on this star roughly 2,628 years ago. That is quite an ancient rule.”

As if it were nothing, the something that called itself Relic Blade looked down at Tooyama with endless composure.

“………What the hell are you, seriously?”

Something was strange. When he looked at that thing, something stirred in his heart.

It was a distant memory. The bustle of a festival held at a shrine he had escaped the facility to see, festival music, the sound of drums, the sound of flutes—all of it rushed into Tooyama at once along with dizziness.

A strange impulse made him want to bend his knees and kneel before that thing, to offer prayers—

“Relic Blade. Your power, and the existence watching over you. Hoho, Yamato, no, Nihon, is it? It is natural for you, a Japanese person, to feel awe toward me. Well, it is not a bad feeling to be feared by a man like you.”

“…Proof that you are Relic Blade.”

Awe. The word the big man used was exactly on the mark. It was that strange feeling toward something transcendent that every Japanese person had.

The feeling of inexplicably avoiding torii gates, guardian statues, and things along the roadside, or at least feeling that one should not commit impropriety there, struck Tooyama in a much stronger form.

“Hoho, you already understand, do you not? Every time you lived, every time you killed, I was with you. You showed me good things.”

The thing calling itself Relic Blade laughed. There was no frivolity in its words praising Tooyama’s life so far.

“…Why have you appeared now of all times? Or is this a dream I am seeing? Am I dreaming up a convenient existence called Relic Blade…?”

“You already know that it is not so. Meaningless escapism has no point. If you ask why, then yes. I too have settled my resolve.”

“Resolve…?”

“My hero, you have shown sufficient worth as a wielder of this power of mine. Though you are of human flesh, you have continued to make me marvel. Therefore, I wished to speak with you like this.”

“What are you trying to say?”

He had nothing but a bad feeling, but the situation already allowed him only to move forward. Tooyama asked.

“Well, it is a common story. I intended to eventually kill you and take over your corpse.”

“………I see.”

At the very least, it did not seem like an existence he should trust. At those dangerous words, Tooyama quietly let his heart sink coldly.

“Well, wait, wait. Do not become so murderous so quickly. Here, I shall hold onto my sword for a while.”

“Huh? Gh, ah…?!”

Heat. Tooyama instinctively sank to one knee. His neck was hot. No matter how much he pressed it, heat and mist continued leaking from there.

Ignoring Tooyama’s will, Relic Blade was pulled out with a slither. It slipped free with a pop and settled into the big man’s palm.

“Hmm, splendid. You have killed quite a lot. Little by little, its length is returning.”

The big man looked over Relic Blade’s blade and raised a voice of admiration.

“You… bastard…”

There was no pain, only a strange sense of weakness. Tooyama clenched his teeth and refused to kneel.

“Do you believe now that I am Relic Blade? Hoho, rest assured. Once you wake from the dream, it will properly listen to what you say. Well, even if I resist, that thing is obedient to you.”

“That thing…?”

“Oops, my tongue slipped. Hoho, well, pay it no mind, pay it no mind.”

The big man glanced toward the lake. Its tone was light, but compared to its way of speaking until now, it was clearly speaking faster.

Tooyama Naruhito did not miss that. He noticed the anxiety floating at the edge of its words.

“Wait. You looked toward the lake just now, didn’t you? Don’t think you can brush that off with vibes. What is this ‘thing’ obedient to me? Something’s in the lake, isn’t it?”

There was no immediate answer to Tooyama’s words.

At the mountainside where the dawn was finally rising, the high cries of birds flying in flocks across the distant sky echoed.

The wind blew with a rustle.

The mist filling the lake’s surface was carried away for an instant, but then it spread across the water again like a heavy layer of makeup.

“………Ah, truly, you are a terrifying man. My thoughts were not mistaken. I feel I understand why that thing has become attached to you.”

After taking his time, the big man finally opened its mouth.

Still sitting cross-legged, it crossed one knee over the other and tilted its face.

“You are a threat. I know at least that you are dangerous. But you’re afraid of whatever is in the lake, aren’t you?”

“Hohoho, you strike at a painful point. Ah, exactly. I fear it. I fear that thing sunk deep, deep in the depths of that wide water surface.”

The big man turned its face toward the scars carved into its thick arm, from shoulder to wrist, and muttered.

“…You’re hard to deal with. I can’t see your bottom.”

“I do not want to hear that from you. Not from you, who are carrying that thing, bearing that thing, and making that thing attached to you. Which one of us is truly bottomless?”

The big man muttered with a sigh. Its words were heavy, and yet they contained a definite awe toward Tooyama.

“I don’t really understand what you’re saying… But if you’re really Relic Blade, then you know whether I’m the kind of person who would obediently let myself be killed, right?”

Being killed, being taken over.

The risk was too high to dismiss it as a mere dream.

Tooyama stared at the unknown existence before him. With these things, flinching meant losing.

“Hoho, ah, I understand all too well, my hero. I understand to an unpleasant degree how troublesome you are. How many times have I counted on my fingers? In truth, you should have died long ago.”

While stroking its wounds, the giant calling itself Relic Blade muttered.

“On that day, at that time, you did not die. Even after losing your friend, causing my power to run rampant, and being swallowed by the mist, only you did not die.”

The ominous talisman covered in Sanskrit-like characters swayed. He could not even tell where it was looking, but that expression looked down intently at Tooyama Naruhito.

“On that day too, you did not die. You, who charged with only handmade weapons into the gathering place of those you disliked. Even when you charged into the den of those who made violence their trade, for no more than the debt of a meal and a night’s lodging, you did not die.”

It had been watching all along.

Relic Blade spoke of the half-life of the human called Tooyama Naruhito that it had seen.

“Then too, you did not die. When you became one who searched and sought, and faced a monster like an earth spider beyond your own limits, you still did not die. And finally, even when you exhausted your strength during exploration, even after dying, you did not die.”

The words continued with a sound of vexation and the faintest hint of admiration.

In the early morning, the cries of insects continued ringing clearly from the grass.

“Your steps do not stop. At last, even after death, you still walk through what comes after. Ah, in the end, not even death could stop you.”

What kind of expression was the face hidden behind those sealing shackles showing?

The giant simply looked at the wielder of himself and spoke.

“That is why I fear you. I do not feel I can kill you. I feel only that I will be killed. I fear from the bottom of my heart that you, while still within the category of a child of man, can accomplish that.”

“…………Don’t tell me you really…”

Tooyama muttered. Those abstract words, however, were completely understandable to Tooyama. He remembered.

When he was a kid, the time he had survived at that riverbed after losing Tarou, even with his whole body badly injured.

In high school, the time he had, for a certain purpose, staged a crash against a van driven by a delinquent group, then used that as a reason to half-kill all of them with a nail bat, and the time he got into trouble with the yakuza backing them.

And as an explorer. The one-on-one fight with the Grassland Great Ground Spider, and the final wild battle while covering the rear.

The giant had spoken of every event where he had almost died, and where he had died. A past that only Tooyama should have known.

Tooyama did not interrupt. He remained standing there, keeping his eyes on the big man’s movements.

The big man opened its palm and took a pose as if offering it toward him, then muttered.

“My purpose is only one thing. Revival.”

It had once perished, and then had been sealed. However, there was a continuation.

That thing, whose circumstances were somehow similar to Tooyama Naruhito’s, and which had obtained an impossible opportunity, spoke its unfeigned true feelings to the small thing it feared most.

“Once again, in the present world, I wish to exist as myself. To be worshiped, feared, hated, thanked, despised, and praised. Ah, I simply wish to exist as myself.”

That wish greatly resembled the small one’s.

“You are a stroke of fortune to me, my vessel, my future, my body. Normally, hmm, I should have cursed you to death from within immediately and taken everything.”

“You’re evil as hell.”

It was even more dangerous than he had thought. But Tooyama wondered. The words “should have” meant—

“Hoho, we are that sort of existence to begin with. A conscious celestial phenomenon. If good and evil are also human concepts, they cannot bind us.”

“I see. So at last you’ve revealed yourself to kill me. Not bad, for a tool. I thought relics were incomprehensible things, but you were some kind of cursed equipment.”

“Hoho, yes, exactly… is what I would like to say. But I told you, my hero. I fear you.”

“What are you trying to say?”

“I thought about many things. Truly cursing you to death, pretending to be your ally and deceiving you, and such. But yes, none of them felt likely to succeed. Even if I pretended to be an ally, you would likely see through me eventually. And if I tried to deceive you, you are sharp, and you would surely reach my intentions. You, no, you are that sort of man.”

“………”

Tooyama did not reply. He waited for the words.

“And so I thought. Thinking about it any further is useless. But I do not want to give up on my dream. Hoho, it is laughable for me to speak of dreams, but still. Watching you made that thought grow even stronger. No matter what, I wish to kill you and take you.”

“You’re nasty.”

“Therefore, I decided to overcome you fair and square, head-on. Fair and square, by the royal road, I decided to challenge you.”

“Oops, a one-on-one? I’d like to avoid doing it without Relic Blade.”

Tooyama took a stance at those words. Now, what would happen? He had not yet completely organized how to kill it.

“No. I decided to wait.”

“Hm?”

However, despite the big man’s ominous words, no murderous intent or hostility could be felt no matter how long he waited.

“You are strong. You are terrifying. You will certainly destroy your enemies. You will certainly arrive. Even if no one else believes that, I believe it. Even after throwing away fate, that unchanging toughness does not exist even among earthly gods, let alone in the heavenly plain. Therefore, I will wait.”

Those words held only calmness and strength.

What was told as if in offering was the greatest praise that a high thing could heap upon a small thing.

“Wait?”

“The greatest difference between you and me is whether we are mortal or not. My time is eternal, but your time is finite. Therefore, I will wait. I decided to wait for the time you die, the time you give up. Until that time comes, I decided I will not oppose you.”

“…Uh, a new pattern. Also, aren’t you way too serious?”

In other words, it would wait until the end of his lifespan? Tooyama was somewhat confused by words that deviated from the conventions of his otaku knowledge.

Were there things that possessed people that tried to take bodies in such a genuinely committed way? Tooyama began to panic in a different direction.

“Against you, I need no play and no carelessness. Watching your way of life made me think strongly. I too wish to live as you do. To do that, I must kill you, but I do not feel that I can kill you.”

Its words were sincere to the end. That existence, which had touched Tooyama Naruhito’s expanding ego closer than anyone else, understood Tooyama Naruhito’s essence better than anyone else.

“Therefore, I will wait. Tooyama Naruhito. You have continued to make me marvel. You surpassed me without fighting. Therefore, while you are alive, I shall lend you my power. In exchange, after you die, I will receive that body.”

Without knowing it, Tooyama Naruhito had subdued that thing. The existence fascinated by his expanding ego was aiming for his body, watching for an opportunity, but even its will to fight had been stolen by Tooyama.

“Mm, hmm? Wait, in other words, you… You’re saying you’ll take over my body after I die?”

“Exactly.”

“…So it’s not like you’re going to kill me while I’m alive and take over? Or like demanding I hand over my body?”

“I gave up. Scary, no feel like winning, and this is not my home ground.”

“Uh…”

Tooyama was confused by this thing that was undoubtedly evil, but whose threat level was oddly difficult to understand.

“Tooyama Naruhito, you are the trial I must overcome. Though you are human, you are an existence akin to admiration, one who continued to astonish and move me. Be proud, my hero. While you live, my power is yours.”

With a deep movement, the giant lowered itself, took one knee, bowed its head, and extended its large arm toward Tooyama.

“Huh?”

“My hero, the order of rank has been decided here. I am below, and you are above. While you live, I will simply exist with you as a faithful power.”

That thing clearly lowered its head to Tooyama Naruhito.

A mighty power itself. An existence that should have acted only according to its own pleasure and displeasure had been fascinated by the way that small thing lived, and feared it.

“…You think I’m going to rely on a shady power like you from now on?”

“You will rely on it, and use it. Humans cannot let go of power once they have learned it. You are no exception. For you to live as yourself, power is absolutely necessary. You have many enemies, do you not?”

It declared so.

And those words hit the mark. Tooyama Naruhito would never let go of power.

“What an unpleasant bastard. True, I don’t want to do a challenge run without Relic Blade. Hey, if you’re really Relic Blade and you want to kill me, honestly, you should be able to do it anytime, right?”

“Ah, exactly, exactly. But I will not choose that method. I told you, did I not? I cannot imagine it. I cannot imagine you dying, nor myself victorious over you. Even if I took Relic Blade, you would surely come to take it back. Even if I pretended to be your ally and betrayed you, I would be unable to finish you off, and you would certainly kill me. I cannot help but feel that way.”

It was likely the greatest compliment.

The greatest evaluation.

That existence, which had touched the greedy ego closer than anyone else, was beginning to have even its very nature invaded by that expanding ego.

“I… I do not want to be killed by you. I do not feel I can defeat a monster who loves and is loved by such a terrifying beast.”

“You’re trembling…”

“Therefore, this is both a declaration of war and a plea for my life. Do not kill me, and in exchange, I will give you power. Do not kill me, for I will not hinder you.”

In other words, that was what this meant.

Whether he would accept this power within him, this thing calling itself Relic Blade, or not.

“…If I said I would dispose of you here to eliminate future worries?”

“Heh. I would resist. I would challenge you with every bit of my performance. I do not want to die. I refuse. I do not want to return to that darkness ever again. I want to be here. I want to live. I—”

The big man, the mist spreading over the highlands, the mist pooling over the plains, the high thing that divided realms, was already—

“I want to continue existing according to my desires. That is all.”

It had already been fascinated and invaded by Tooyama Naruhito.

At those words, Tooyama stopped moving.

Judgment. Whether to accept the existence before him or not.

What was before him was poison. That was certain. Poison with a will, poison that would surely erode him someday.

He should sever it. He should dispose of it here. Reason came to that conclusion.

However—

“…………After I die, what will you do first?”

He had become interested. He had become curious about the poison before him.

“…I want to travel. I want to see the world with these eyes, go there, experience it, and live as I want.”

“I see. That’s… not bad.”

Tooyama Naruhito’s ego was incomplete, and therefore deeply influenced others.

Therefore, he was also strongly influenced by others.

Tooyama Naruhito was weak to things like this. He placed the suspiciousness and bottomlessness of the existence before him on a scale against its tiny wish.

And interest became heavier.

“…After I die, what I’m worried about is whether you’ll do anything unnecessary to the people around me. That’s what bothers me.”

“That worry is needless. You will survive until the end. When you die, it will be after you have seen off all the existences important to you.”

“I want a reason to allow your existence.”

He asked briefly. Tooyama wished it would answer that question well.

“Power. While you live, power to grant your desires. For I am power itself.”

“I want a reason to trust your words.”

He asked briefly. Even a pretext to trust would do. Tooyama wished for it.

“………The way to kill me is simple. Break my relic, the blade that is my wedge. If you do, I will probably die. The balance of the scales will collapse, and I will be dragged into the lake and vanish.”

“What?”

“You. This current situation is precisely the reason I fear you most. If I were the only thing inside you, I should have been able to kill you immediately. If that thing were the only thing inside you, you would no longer be human.”

“What are… you saying?”

“Human and beast, me and that thing. You accepted both, and swallowed both. How terrifying is the existence called human, how horrifying its greed. If something is power, it accepts all of it—how strong, how sturdy, how tenacious that nature is.”

The giant whispered in a trembling voice.

Continuing to show its trembling before Tooyama Naruhito.

“Throw away Relic Blade if you wish. If you cannot trust me, break the blade. Then that thing will change you as it pleases.

To make you continue an eternal adventure. According to its innocent essence.”

The voice that muttered quietly was heavy.

The mist grew thicker.

“Wait. What’s in that lake?”

“Who knows. You should confirm that for yourself. This is all I wished to say. If you were the sort of human who would throw away Relic Blade here, I would not have struggled this much. …Farewell, my hero. Ah, that’s right. I shall lend you a portion of my power at once. You may make use of the ‘preservation’ power possessed by the mist.”

“Preservation?”

“Kill many. Gather many. All of it will become your mist.”

“No, you have zero intention of explaining?”

While muttering, Tooyama thought. He probably would not throw away Relic Blade.

It only meant that when he died, end-of-life planning would become a little more troublesome. That was the conclusion he reached.

“You do not need it. Humans become strong alongside danger, do they not? When a crisis approaches, you should naturally understand how to use it. That is how you were made, is it not?”

Blurp.

The moment the big man, the thing calling itself Relic Blade, finished speaking, the lake shook.

Ripples sprang up all over the lake’s surface.

Gurgle, bubble. As if something at the bottom of the lake had begun breathing—

“What is it? The lake is…”

“…We have stayed here too long. That thing is about to wake from its doze. It is excited by your nostalgic scent.”

“The lake is shaking…”

“Go quickly. That thing bears no malice toward you, but its existence is too strong. It will kill you while playing with you.”

“Wouldn’t it be more convenient for you if I got killed?”

“Hmph, that thing is an exception. Farewell, then. Until the next dream. Walk in the direction opposite the lake. Aim for the far side beyond that bloodsucking parasite’s Archives.”

The direction the big man pointed was clearly filled with light. Tooyama understood instinctively: that was the exit, the end of the dream and the entrance to awakening.

“…For a dream, I enjoyed it. See you, talisman macho.”

“I told you I am Relic Blade. Until next time, my hero, my archenemy, my body.”

Tooyama began walking toward the light as he had been told. He looked back toward the lake several times, but gradually, the shaking of the lake seemed to be settling.

A strange nostalgia. But somehow, he felt that his current self should not approach the lake.

The light grew even stronger. When he closed his eyes against the glare, Tooyama Naruhito’s consciousness soon vanished—

“Now, now, what will happen? Tooyama Naruhito. Greedy human who lives according to your desires. You have built yourself up through those desires and overcome trials.”

The thing muttered as it watched its master, swallowed by light and vanished from the dream.

It had not told a single lie. There was no mistake in its attitude of feeling awe toward the human called Tooyama Naruhito and choosing coexistence rather than domination.

“But have you noticed? The distortion of that way of being. You are dangerous. If that desire changes into ‘anger,’ will you truly be able to remain human?”

However, it had not given up either. That nature influenced by its master—greed.

If Tooyama Naruhito continued to remain Tooyama Naruhito, it would continue to be his power.

But if, along the way, Tooyama Naruhito ceased to be so, then at that time—

Everything was enveloped in mist.

The shaking water surface and the rising morning sun were also covered by thick mist.

The unearthly existence watching Tooyama Naruhito’s path, the very concept of mist that separated realms, did not take its eyes away from the swaying lake either.

“Well, either way is fine. You will advance regardless. That much, I know.”

Before long, it quietly began lowering its fishing line again.

The dream continued.

………

…

“Wake up, Naruhito. It is morning.”

“Bro! It’s morning!”

“…Morning, Brother.”

“Here, Brother-san, water!”

“Snff, shpii.”

“Pshoo, pshoo.”

Everyone was there.

Tooyama Naruhito woke up.

“…Oh, morning.”

Voices surrounded the straw bed, and he dragged his drowsy body upright.

Sunlight pouring in through the open window sank into his brain through his eyelids. Tooyama was in a pleasant, bright morning air he could breathe in as much as he wanted.

“You seemed unusually tormented. Did you have a bad dream?”

Lazaar muttered while pouring water from a pitcher into a cup.

“…Oh, Lazaar. The Archives turned into a Bread Archives, Four-Eyes was a vampire, and at the lake, talisman macho treated me to plain-grilled catfish. Is this a dream?”

“A nightmare one has during a high fever, perhaps?”

Lazaar’s merciless line.

The dream remained clear. His meeting with the familiar of knowledge, and his encounter with something calling itself Relic Blade.

It had been a strange experience, one he could not judge as reality or a dream. Thinking back, even the taste of that plain-grilled catfish seemed to still linger at the root of his tongue.

However, Tooyama remembered all of that dream. And he had certainly brought back results.

Ping.

“…Seriously?”

Tooyama Naruhito’s new day began again.