By Zephyria 
The Ninth God’s face contorted into a frown, then a smile, then a grimace.
Each change brought a strange, unsettling feeling. I couldn’t fathom why he was holding me here, continuing this absurd sparring match for so long. Didn’t he wield magic? Yet, he had only used his sword so far…
I tried to exploit his momentary lapse in concentration and strike a powerful blow, but he vanished to my left and reappeared behind me. He had a habit of disappearing after aiming for a weak point and thrusting, yet he only seemed to want to parry my sword. It felt like fighting a phantom.
“Well. Why would someone with no talent for swordsmanship train so desperately with a sword? There are only a few honorable ways to die in the Sierran Empire, you know. The Yuil Mountains, or the research lab. Apparently, he didn’t want to leave a corpse behind. If that’s the case, he should have given it to me.”
“So. Did he give it to you?”
“He refused.”
He let out a loud laugh. With a wild swing of his sword, he split a building in half. If I hadn’t been careful, my shoulder could have been severed. Intoxicated by the thrill of the near-miss, I licked my lower lip once.
“I just took it.”
“But you said he wanted to die honorably.”
“What do I care? If he wanted that, he shouldn’t have died.”
I was thirsty.
“The First Prince, how did that happen?”
“Apparently, we already knew each other. He clung to me, saying I was the only one who could protect him, so I just went along with it… If I had known the Second Prince would resemble the baby so much, I wouldn’t have. Even now, I regret it…”
“….”
The baby.
The baby the Ninth God spoke of was not Rubel. It was a tale of the first human who had frolicked with the Ninth God in ages past. Though I knew this well, a lump formed in my throat.
Our swords met, our faces drawing close. The Ninth God’s expression was impassive.
With the clang of metal, our swords fell apart.
“If I had supported the Second Prince from the start, you might have been the suspect Michael by now.”
“….”
“Don’t you think so? After all, you were born later. You might have been lucky enough to receive Ruben’s affection for a while, but…”
“….”
“Haha! It still infuriates me to think about it. Why you?”
“….”
“If a soul is born into this world, then at least, since my hand touched it, it’s natural to fall in love, an unavoidable consequence, right? You could have at least told yourself that for psychological victory… Why, of all people, you!”
When I didn’t reply, he began swinging his sword wildly. Swordsmanship, by its very nature, was like a dance blending strength and weakness. Wesley’s relentless, unthinking onslaught was more akin to a novice carpenter’s hammering.
My arms felt numb, as if they were broken. If it hadn’t been for the Qi Force imbued in his sword, they would have snapped a hundred times over. Was he truly directing his resentment at me?
He rambled on like a madman.
“There are many people in this land who want to live, but there are also many who want to die. My child lived a life of nothing but happiness… I must take responsibility for the unhappiness I’ve created in this world. I must restore it to its most beautiful state.”
“….”
“My sister. My brothers. Everyone…”
Sister, brothers.
Spiritus’s sorrowful expression flashed in my mind. Did the Ninth God still revere the other gods? Perhaps this was the answer. If he could be brought back to his senses through affection for the other gods, instead of his obsession with the first human.
So, after a long silence, I opened my mouth.
“Is that why you killed two gods?”
“Did I kill them? They simply took responsibility. They had to. They had to…”
“Do you regret it?”
“No, never.”
Once again, the entire world seemed to sink heavily.
I could see with my own eyes how such immense Mana erupted from his human form. From his forearms, his waist, his thighs. Blood seeped through the clothes he wore.
Edwin… he said he had seen that body tear apart and reassemble.
I, too, was now watching his body split open. He looked like a pheasant that had buried its head in the bushes and believed itself completely hidden. It was pathetic that he tried to maintain his human guise until the very end. It wasn’t even funny. It was simply astonishing.
Endless envy,
Unending resentment,
And a battle without end continued for a long time.
We leaped, fighting on rooftops, and at other times, I pursued him behind statues, slicing them to pieces. If he ran, I chased; if he chased, I fled.
Local shields activated several times. Even a light collision caused the shield to wrap around my chest in a perfect circle. It didn’t offer much practical help, but it was a comfort. The comfort of knowing there was someone waiting for me, someone who wished for my safety, beyond this.
Later, even the brooch cracked and broke. I didn’t have time to remove it, so I just wore it as I ran.
He had stopped chattering long ago.
At some point, my sword began to move without me consciously deciding to swing it. My sword followed my will, and my will followed my sword. The lightning I had vaguely shaped now resided on my sword without pause. Lightning flashed from my gaze, and thunder rumbled from my fingertips.
When I had reached a state of selfless absorption before, I had wielded multiple swords as if they were alive, pressuring my enemies. This time, I faced a single opponent with only the sword in my hand. Just as it had been when I first learned to wield a sword.
Back to the beginning,
To the start.
The first step in returning to the beginning was always the Three Elements. My feet were planted firmly on the ground, and the line drawn horizontally from one point on the left to one point on the right was a clear, straight line.
The moment a streak of blue light traced that line.
The air was sliced silently.
He dropped his sword.
I was surprised, but he was more so. As I looked into his wide, startled eyes, I realized. This was my chance. The moment I had strived for, day after day, had arrived.
In an instant, I raised my sword high and slashed down from above. My intention was to cleave him in two, but he stepped back, presenting one shoulder, and I severed only his forearm.
He then leaped back a couple of paces and, with his remaining hand, drew in the air.
Soon, meteorites, like scattered stars caught from afar, began to fall towards the ground.
Now, I knew what Meteor magic was.
It was a good opportunity. I held my breath, waiting for the moment.
I whipped out Sword energy, striking down the meteorites pouring towards me at the right time. The Ninth God looked surprised by the twisted meteorites falling from above, but he couldn’t move immediately. It was just as Spiritus had said. Two minutes. That was enough time to deal with him.
Each time I caught and struck away a heavy meteorite, my arms tingled with pain, but seeing his bewildered face made it bearable.
It was incredibly difficult to regain the advantage after being hit once. It was even more so in a fight where every second counted, like ours.
Splat.
His arm fell and rolled on the ground. He now had no arms. I was highly wary, wondering if he could use Restoration Magic without a staff or fingers, but he gritted his teeth and tried to snatch the sword with his mouth.
Thank goodness. But without showing relief, I hardened my expression.
I struck him down with Sword energy and aimed my sword at his Adam’s apple.
“Even if you kill me now, it’s the same. I’ll just come back to life, and you…”
“Hmm.”
Wesley Kiadris had said he died long ago.
I recalled the request of my kind teacher, Maelo Sanson. Though I thought of him… there was nothing I could do but mourn the dead.
Without prolonging the fight, I severed his neck in one swift motion. Then, I plunged my sword into his chest. A dark energy, creeping upwards, tickled my fingertips from his Middle Dantian.
Is this the end?
It was the moment I curved my lips upwards.
Wesley Kiadris’s shell began to crack. The very flesh that had barely held him in human form.
Instantly, everything turned pitch black. The boundary between sky and earth blurred, and indoors and outdoors became one. It was no longer meaningful to have my sword lodged in his body, so I stepped back, but there was no difference between front and back.
I raised my head.
And I realized. I was finally, only now, truly facing the Ninth God.
❖ ❖ ❖
This was not the first time I had fought a wizard.
However, doubting everything I stood on was an experience I would never repeat. It felt less like magic and more like being trapped in a bizarre ghost story.
The sky and earth flipping upside down were no longer strange or unfamiliar, but standing in a black space where the concepts of up, down, left, and right were meaningless was a terrible predicament.
Far away, I saw a light.
Should I run? I was uncharacteristically terrified, but I had a child to protect. I forced my feet forward, moving towards the light. From a distance, it looked like a mere round orb, but as I approached, I saw it was a massive gate, slightly ajar.
I stood before the open gate. I had expected to face the Ninth God’s true form by now, but that was not the case. A colossal chessboard, placed at an unfathomably low level, filled my vision. Figures in white and black robes moved about on it.
Then, I felt a colossal gaze.
I took two steps back. Still, my vision was filled only with black darkness. The only bright thing was the open gate, but the thought of falling into it would be a grave mistake filled my mind.
I retreated, and retreated again. I moved back more than fifty paces. Yet, what I saw remained the same.
Where had the Ninth God gone, after dropping me here? He was still watching me, I was sure. Was he planning to trap me here and return to the continent alone? No. That couldn’t happen.
I gripped my sword in one hand and gathered my energy. If I split this world in half, its owner would surely appear.
I gritted my teeth and leaped backward dozens of yards. Only then did I see it.
The white light was not an open gate. It was an eye.
A giant eyeball, with a black iris and white pupil, stared intently at me.