Tomoe Enjō leaned against the cold wall of the enclosed, claustrophobic elevator and slowly moved up. He stared blankly into space, though his breathing grew rougher by the moment. Ever since he had cauterized his arm to stop the bleeding, the nerves in his arm had been sending out pain signals. Knowing that his body and mind were in the worst state, he could not think directly, and his mind was blurry and at a loss. He needed to concentrate to keep his breathing under control.
He had only taken the elevator once, but even now, Tomoe could feel the elevator slowly moving and climbing up, making him impatient. Tomoe accidentally dropped his sword. The banging on the floor roused his attention. It was heavier than he had imagined, and hanging it on his shoulder for only an hour or so had already numbed his arm. Due to the lack of a second arm, he could not even pull it out of the sheath, let alone effectively swing it. So he took out the knife in his pocket and gripped it tightly, thinking it would be a better weapon for his situation.
Finally, the elevator stopped. On the tenth floor. When the door slid open, Tomoe walked out into the central hall. Right in front of him was the corridor leading to the east building. On the other side of the elevator was the corridor leading to the west building, which could not be seen from here. Tomoe began to walk toward the west building, where the lights went out and the real body was left at their place. He walked back and forth in the elevator, saw and crossed the corridor, and then walked into the corridor that described the surroundings of the Okawa apartment. In a few minutes, Tomoe knew that it would soon be 11 pm.
In the corridor, the outside world was quiet and lonely. All the apartments around the house looked the same. Below, the scattered garden greenery was mixed with dark gray asphalt. It made the whole scene look less like a collection of tall buildings and more like a cemetery, with large tombstones.
Although his attention was focused on the night view outside, he was sure that he felt that there was someone nearby. So he took a deep breath, focused, and slowly turned toward the oval corridor with the knife in his hand. There was no light except for the faint blue moonlight. A man in a black coat stood there, two rooms away from him. Although the light made it difficult to recognize him, there was almost no room for doubt about his height and outline. The pain of a lifetime gradually disappeared from his face. The one standing here was the mage Soren Alaya.
When Tomoe touched Alaya, he froze. In an instant, his breathing returned to normal, his pain disappeared, his consciousness calmed down, and everything became silent. He stood there, unable to do anything. But he was happy because it was a moment of respite and he could redouble his efforts.
"Aleya!" Although he couldn't do anything, and his freedom of movement was also deprived and restricted, Tomoe said confidently, using his opponent's name as proof of equality. This time, fear was no longer his quality. Araya's face seemed to have lost its color due to this shameless move.
"Why did you come back?" The mage asked in a heavy voice. Tomoe rejected his answer and just looked straight at him. There seemed to be no light in his eyes. All he could do was not look away. "You have no place here. Your replacement is ready. You don't have to come back.”
Why did I come back? Tomoe thought. The first time was when Reggie took me for a ride. But now it was-
"To save Xiang Qingxia, right?" Araya asked mockingly. "Silly girl. Don't think that your heart belongs to you. If you haven't realized it yet, you're just a puppet. Have you found yourself unable to live, detached from this spiral?”
“Wh——”
"Indeed, you escaped from this spiral of survival. Tomoe died because of his family's actions. But this is not for you. You think you've escaped. You're in despair. You even thought of committing suicide. You would do it, even if you were alone. But you also played a role in this stage. You're a character made for…Tell me, do you know?”
Tomoe wanted to scream and get rid of Alaya's lies, but he couldn't seem to muster the courage to do so. On the contrary, he stood there without moving. The mage's face did not change, his eyes still mocking and mocking his inaction.
"This is the last coin toss for me. I succeeded because you played your part better than my wildest expectations. Without knowing me, you brought Shiki Ryōgi to her final scene. Although I had the lowest expectations of you, you disobeyed me. Though I have rewarded you by releasing your restraints, you still seem to have to return. Don't be afraid." You don't have an institution that I can't shape in the end. You do not desire Shiki Ryōgi out of your own will. After your first escape, I simply added one more thing to your life: Attract Shiki Ryōgi and secretly bring her in.”
Unable to form a coherent argument against Araya's words, Tomoe found it difficult to maintain his position. After all, he knew in his heart that it was true. How could someone like Tomoe, who had never truly loved a stranger, suddenly find himself in love with Ryōgi? Since the first time he had seen her, he had felt some inexplicable impulse driving him, telling him to observe her and be interested in her.
"You understand now, don't you?" Araya said. "You gave Shiki Ryoki a reason to come here, but these decisions were never yours. You are just a collection of memories from a certain day in this pocket-sized reality. Not before, not after; your so-called will is an illusion sustained by illusion. Your simple life has no other place. Because you are powerless, and therefore, contrary to your deepest fantasies, you cannot hope to stop me.”Now, as before, the mage's words were full of magic stains.
The fact that someone else was the origin of his life, living hundreds of days a day, the past he relied on and the future he hoped for suddenly broke into Tomoe's mind. His feelings for Xiang Qingxia, his feelings for his deceased family, and his humanity: It was all a trick. Only the exits and entrances of the drama he had experienced repeatedly for the day were still faintly emanating. Even so, Tomoe doubted that it was credible.
" In the end, you're not even worthy of my attention because I watched you die tragically. Disappear and never see you again,"Araya said in a deep, commanding voice. He seemed to have lost interest in Tomoe, for he had said what he thought he had to say, and looked away from the boy. But in the face of the revelation that Alaya attacked him, Tomoe only provided an unprecedented smile.
"What the f * ck are you talking about? This shit isn't as important to me as you think,"Tomoe said, but if it had any effect on the mage's behavior, he wouldn't let it be visible. "Now that I'm standing in front of you, I understand. I don't want to admit that I'm as weak as you, but now I know I have to face it. Whether it was true or false, it did not matter in the end. What was important was what would happen next. At least I know I'm Tomoe Enjō. Even if I don't have a past, the important thing is that I think I do. For me, it gave me all I needed. He chewed with an empty mouth, but found that it helped him concentrate. "I really like Reggie. To hell with the reason. Although I couldn't give her anything, this journey was very interesting. If you say you're the cause of the whole thing, then I'll have to be a gentleman and thank you, won't I?”
Tomoe clicked his tongue, remembering everything he could do to Shiki Ryōgi. Life seemed different now. At least every time he thought of her, the clattering of gears seemed to disappear. The clattering of gears and gears had him caught in a dilemma of life. Tomoe believed that Mikiya was right. Sometimes, thinking about oneself was more important. He needed to come here. Xiang Qingxia was only one of the reasons. He had to know everything that had been revealed to him tonight. Admit the price. Perhaps he would find his own redemption in the few things he could do. But I still have to do it.
I'm sorry, Reggie. Looks like I didn't die for you. I put my life on my own line. In his eyes, an apology was just a whisper. At this moment, Xiang Qingxia's thoughts disappeared from his mind.
"You can call me whatever you want, Araya," said Tommy. Araya's expression finally changed. Although it was very subtle, his brows were slightly trembling.
"Will you go against your nature? That would be foolishness and arrogance. It will never change your reality,"he replied contemptuously.
"Perhaps. But at least my soul is real,"Tomoe said, whispering softly, drifting with the wind and echoing in the night.
"The time for the conversation has long passed."
Tomoe nodded slowly and firmly, secretly agreeing. The mage raised his hand in a familiar gesture, like a signal that the enemy was about to die. When Tomoe saw this, he held back his trembling teeth. He knew he would be killed. But at the very least, he could repay him for some of the trouble. This was not suicide for him. This was for his parents, for the people who died in the spiral of this false world, and for himself. Tomoe didn't want to die. But some things were worth sacrificing for. It was time to run. To face the truth. Running with the same joy in my memory. Run like the hands on a clock, or run like the seasons change. Running, so I won't be in the same place every time. Whether it was a dream that didn't exist, it drove me to make up my mind. I knew it was true.
"Araya, I will kill you." Tommy Njie gripped his knife tightly and charged forward.
TomoeeEnjō only had one goal: Seren Araya's heart. He had once seen Xiang Qingxia hit the same spot with a firm blow, and he thought that repeating this might lead to the death of the mage. Therefore, Tomoe aimed at this and ran, trying to get close to the six-meter distance that Xiang Qingxia had once closed in just two to three seconds. He kicked the floor with explosive force, recalling the sprint he had repeated over and over on the school track. He would make this his best moment.
In the space around Alaya, a circular perimeter looked very much like the perimeter he deployed during his battle with Xiang Qingxia. However, unlike the triple round ward that he and Xiang Qingxia used together, he only used one, perhaps to imitate Tomo. This special spell was only activated one meter away from the mage. Tomoe knew there was no way to avoid it, so he walked straight in. Following the arrest of a bastard, his body stopped. The force that had just flowed through Tomoe's legs lost its sense of direction in an instant. He didn't move and couldn't do anything.
Araya frowned and slowly took a step forward, giving Tommy the impression that the situation was serious. He reached out and slowly grabbed Tomoe's head. " That's not good," Tomoe thought as he closed his eyes. But he refused to give in.
" My family shouldn't have died like them," Tomoe struggled to say. "They're not that bad, they deserved to be killed!”he shouted. He tried his best to fight against the invisible chains that bound him. He did not care if his leg would break in half, as long as it did not end like this. I'm not worthless.
"I once existed! I used to live there!" Tomoe cried as he tried his best to escape. He heard a crack, then a sharp tearing sound, then the pain of a leg splitting open. He began to lean forward, but turned this momentum into a final attack. Passing by Alaya's arm, he let the hand holding the knife fly to the mage's defenseless chest. The steel glistened, as if leaving a cold silver trail in the air. It hit its target. But this was the only thing that happened.
" You fool," Araya said with a hint of regret in his voice. He pulled back his hand and grabbed Tomoe's head again, not frightened by the impact of his chest. This time, his control was firm and almost shattered.
"You're not Shiki Ryogi, and you don't have her eyes. You don't realize that just knowing death is not enough, because seeing death is also valuable. You can't hope to realize my entropies without seeing it.”Now the mage's muscular arms began to squeeze the head it was holding. Tomoe's hand, which was wielding the knife, was now forced out of the Mage's chest. It slipped out easily and fell to the floor with a thud. The hand that had gripped the knife a few seconds ago had now lost its strength.
" You never know why you were chosen," Alaya whispered sternly. Tomoe did not thank him. This hand seemed to have deprived him of his last will to live. "In your final moments, you have acquired this knowledge, so listen carefully. Everything had a force that pushed and shaped their existence. A primal impulse is contained in the Akashic records, and we mages call it 'Origin'. I knew you would kill your mother and fall into despair, because I knew where you came from.”
Once again, Tomoe did not answer. Alea raised Tomoe's body high above her head and spoke in a very harsh voice.
"You have to know that you have never done anything. Because your background is worthless.”
In an instant, some mysterious power passed through Alaya's hand like an order. The power entered Tomoe Enjō's body and he began to disappear from existence, splitting into nothingness in the air.
After destroying Tomi Njie, Mage Soren Alaya stood quietly in the corridor on the tenth floor. He knew that the time was almost up. He had already prepared the body he was going to use, and his soul was ready to be relocated. He would finally leave this inferior body. Unlike the Puppet Master he knew, his soul would not move to a place similar to his previous form. He didn't need it because he had never experienced death. He knew decay, but his soul forced him to move forward towards a certain grand goal, so he survived. In the end, he was alone. This body was either a medium for his advancement or a medium for his death. Because there was nothing else. His extreme concern for prudence was perhaps forgivable.
Until he left this false material world, his soul sublimated into the girl's container connected to the Spiral of Origin, where he could control reality itself. As mentioned above, it is shown below. This process had already begun. But before that, there was still one more thing to settle.
" So you fell, Alba," Alaya muttered in a lifeless voice. He closed his eyes. At first, he was in the unlit corridor, but the thought of it made him feel as if he had fallen off the floor, as if he were diving in the deep sea, and as if he had fallen asleep.
When Araya's body stopped on the tenth floor, his consciousness moved down. In the hall of the east wing on the first floor, he observed the development of the situation without any shape or form. There was Mage Aizaki Toko and a boy named Miya Miya. Toko was tending to the fallen boy's wounds, but he did not seem to be able to find Cornelius Alba. Just as he had expected. He was about to return his consciousness to his body, but something stopped him.
"Where are you going, Araya? Bad taste in divination,"said Turk softly with his tongue. Although he had no form, Turk looked back and seemed to see Alaya. She was at the foot of the stairs while he observed from upstairs. Just like before, they found themselves facing each other.
Yes. So you do have a second puppet, just as I thought. Through it, you dealt with Alba. The heart I took from you is real, I know it's real. Does that mean you're just a liar?
Araya's voice echoed in the hall. But there was no sound. This was a resounding voice that only Toke could hear. Hearing Alaya's question, Turk sighed.
"First A Erba, then you. You both like to make a fuss over small details. Always asking 'what's the difference between then and now' was never fruitful. I want to know how long you plan to answer these questions this time.”
At the very least, the tendency of your mouth to produce stimulation doesn't seem to have changed. Then will you still duel with me?
"No, thank you. I have no chance of winning in this apartment," Tōko said frankly, shifting her attention away from the appearance of the Mage, thinking that it was more important to nurse the unconscious boy than to maintain the conversation with Alaya. She took out a bandage from under her brown windbreaker and began to bandage the wound on the boy's knee.
Is your decision true? The familiar thing you put in the box can defeat me.
"I humbly refuse. If I cut this familiar thing down, it might devour the whole building. Dr. Otto would have noticed, and they wouldn't let it slip away. After all the trouble I've been through here, I don't want all of this to go to waste.”Tōko did not look back when she answered him. "I lost when I died. I accept that. I don't care if you get Xiang Qingxia's corpse and your own plaster. If anyone can stop you, it won't be me.”
Are you still hopelessly reliant on deterrence in the final stages of the game? I told you before, it doesn't work.
Toke shook his head, expressing sympathy, not denial. "Maybe so. Maybe you really won this time. I don't know what you'll do when you reach the Spiral of Origin. They tell us that the mages who reached the Upper Kingdoms stayed, never to return to the material world below, their memories of it falling off like dry skin. But you think you're different, don't you? You will reconstruct the real world." Throw your shadow here, Ty. Just like above and below. You think you hate humans so much that you want to save them. If this is true, you will be freed from existence after your ascension. But you don't really hate humans, Araya. You only love the platonic humans whom you think your heart protects. This is why you cannot forgive the world of pain you see. The way you think you want to save them is ridiculous. But you just want to save your delusional self.”
Araya did not respond immediately. At this point, whatever common cause they thought they shared, and what Araya thought he could turn to for help, was now thoroughly broken. He spoke in a sad tone.
Then there was nothing else to talk about. Because I only see a path of salvation. Goodbye, Aosaki. I cannot leave any evidence that I have reached the spiral of origin. You will only be satisfied when you know that you are the one who is trying to stop me and find meaning in it.
The mage's consciousness began to disappear from the hall and Aosaki's senses. She turned around and suddenly thought of something. "Wait, Araya. I have one last thing to ask. You made this replica of Taiji Fist to accommodate Taiji Fist, right?”
Of course, I made this bag into reality mainly to prevent Xiang Qingxia from escaping. Everything else was a supplement to this goal.
Although Alea answered calmly, Turk began to snicker, which she tried to hold back at first. Unable to calm herself down, the female mage began to laugh loudly, with mockery and humor, unrestrained, and even a little uneasy.
"Yes, this building is just a bunch of witchcraft, isn't it? A sealed domain can hide Xiang Qingxia and your experiment from Ao Duo, me, and the fishing boat. A prison! A prison to stop the operation of deterrence. Until then, your theory is impeccable, Araya. But what a pity! You've made your worst mistake."
Alea could not understand what Turk meant. I didn't make a mistake. His voice did not hesitate at all. It was a form of self-affirmation. Tōko tried to answer, but she stifled a burst of laughter.
"Yes, I am. That's right. For any mage's spell, weaving was perfect. But thinking back, Araya. What if your assumption is wrong? You didn't isolate Xiang Qingxia in a room in this building, but inside this building, didn't you? It was a spell that was close to witchcraft. It cut off her connection with the regular space and trapped her in a lemon-shaped space, making it impossible for anyone to do it.”Jailbreak. No matter what kind of weapon you use, you won't be able to escape. For someone like you who is proficient in the mysteries of the ward, this is a carefully woven model. You think you've got her trapped, your guards are relaxed. But you see, Araya, this is not her evidence. We mages might be the ones who hate reality and are the world's anomalies, but Xiang Qingxia is the reaper of unusual creatures like us. Even now, she's against you!”
Her words made the observing mage feel uneasy. He felt as if his thoughts had stopped. Of course, Xiang Qingxia's talent was not only in killing matter. Mankind had created many weapons that could achieve this goal. It was her ability to bring the concept of entropies to the things we know, even the concept of life, formless concepts and thoughts, bringing about the ultimate emptiness.
The one that could bring about the entropies of everything. This was her ability. She was imprisoned in the infinite void. Without a body, Araya believed that this space could protect her from anything that would squeeze her out of her body. However, Shiki Ryōgi's Arcane Eye had also given her the power of formlessness. Therefore, it was too late for Araya to realize.
"Araya, is your mistake very obvious? Actually, you should lock Xiang Qingxia in a concrete cell. When she weaved entropies, the matter of form had a greater impact on her, which was why she used weapons. Though I doubt even a physical prison would hold her for a long time. But your fragile cage is not that strong. You treated her as an ordinary person. You were originally a mage, but now your negligence has made you pay the price, because she is now slowly tearing her teeth and nails, but it is easy to tear her flesh. Very soon, you will become the witness of her escape!”After finishing his last sentence, Turk finally turned around and looked at Alaya. Before he could understand what her eyes were telling him, his consciousness vanished and was pulled back into the body that contained it.
When Araya was pulled back into his body, he felt an irregular rumble. There was a coldness that he had never felt before, and his fingertips became numb. The sweat on his forehead taunted the chill all over his body, even though his internal organs seemed to have stopped moving completely, shouting at him about the impending danger.
In his protest, he believed that it had been cut off, and did not believe it. But now, he was facing the truth. Because he felt that somewhere in this building, something had just broken free. This was the sealed space he had built, and now it had been destroyed in an unwavering blow.
Although Araya's will controlled his body, it also resonated with the building, which was almost a living property. The frame was his flesh, the wires of his nerves; These tubes carried his veins and arteries. The pain of being cut reflected its owner and found its home. The pain was so great that even Araya could not ignore it. The evidence of this was that he could not concentrate, forcing him to turn off the reconnaissance spell in the first-floor hall and return to his body, as if forced by some powerful arm.
"What happened?" he said in a low voice as he wiped the sweat off his forehead with his arm. The chill ran down his spine, and the little spiders crawled around on their calves. This was the precursor of a disgusting feeling that he had never felt for many years. " Don't move, Silen Araya," he blamed himself for his momentary weakness.
However, the phenomenon he felt did not stop. Not too long ago, the mysterious power that he was transmitting through every structure of his body seemed to have dimmed, and he could not change the clues woven by reality with his fingertips like a mage.
He felt that death was getting closer and closer to us.
Unexpectedly, a low rumbling sound was heard. It came from the other side of the aisle, where Araya stood now, echoing in the hall. It was the clear and familiar sound of the elevator as it moved, bringing something up to the tenth floor. Soon, the rumbling noise stopped and silence returned, but the sound of the elevator door opening broke the silence again. Now, a soft, dry voice repeated. The sound of shoes echoed on the marble floor, and the click of the rhythmome grew louder and closer.
Araya immediately returned to the hall. Then, as hard as it was to believe, he saw who it was. She appeared in front of him. The lights in the hall behind her turned her figure into a silhouette, but it was easy to see the white kimono and the leather jacket that obviously did not match it. It was easy to see the crow's hair. It looked wet and unkempt, as if its owner had just woken up from a long sleep in the lake. And the eyes that were usually black in the void were now burning with a mysterious blue. She slowly pulled out the hilt of her sword with one hand and lovingly pulled it out of its sheath with the other. Even in the depressing night, the blade was still shining. She drew her sword, swung it lazily, rested beside her, and walked forward, gliding as lightly as a soldier on a bloody battlefield.
Shiki Ryogi returned with a serenity that foretold death.
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