I kept my eyes open even as I sank without end.
Whether I closed them or opened them, all I could see was darkness.
And yet I struggled, eyes wide open.
Darkness was familiar.
It was the only thing I had seen for eighty years in that damned pit.
I kept sinking.
And watched the things dragging me down.
At first, I did not know exactly what they were.
But now I could see.
They were all me.
Not a metaphor. Me, in the literal sense.
The versions of me screaming blood and tears were all crying out for freedom.
The me who had raved madly for freedom in the depths underground.
The me who had longed to see the sky.
The me who had smashed his head against stone again and again, missing the world I had once known.
The me who had repeated everything I knew about martial arts and Teyvat over and over so I would not go insane.
All of them. Me.
To keep from going mad.
To keep from being swallowed by the heart-demon.
The other versions of me I had cut down.
I looked at the me who had seized my arms and legs, and said quietly, "I... have to get out."
Out there.
There were people waiting for me.
Ganyu.
My disciples.
...And.
Giyeon.
I began to struggle.
Even while sinking. Relentlessly.
I poured internal energy into my arms and swung them.
I lashed out with my legs, driven by telekinetic force.
"I can't let go of this!!!"
I screamed and thrashed.
"Aaaaaaaah!!!"
At last, I broke free from the grip of the me's.
But I had sunk too far.
When I looked up, I saw the light leaking through the hole bored by the thousandth heart-demon.
It was so far above.
Just like in that underground tomb.
There was no wall.
No wall to push off and leap from. I had to tread the void.
"Hup...!"
Before the me's could cling to me again, I moved and sprang upward.
And stepped on empty air.
One step.
Two steps.
Three steps.
Four steps.
Five... steps.
Six...!
"No!"
The incomplete [Void Treading], not yet reaching the level of [Void Treading], could not last long.
I fell again.
And then.
"Kyaaaaaaaa!!!"
Countless me's seized me again.
How was I supposed to climb?
I had to get out.
Before the thousandth me did something...!
I thrashed free once more from their grasp.
And then.
I faced them.
They were beings left with only thought after I had already cut them down, and yet.
They clearly existed.
I quietly looked at the me's surging toward me like a wave.
And reached out into the air.
I needed a sword.
I longed for a sword.
Because the sword was me.
Because I was the sword.
I looked at the countless me's rushing at me.
And grasped at empty air.
If this place was my mind, my inner landscape, then the sword had to exist here.
I was the sword.
And the sword was me.
Filled with certainty, I closed my eyes.
Then.
As it always had in the underground, where not a single ray of light ever reached.
A faint blue glow, dim and distant.
The starlight that had guided me.
Light was in my hand.
It was.
A sword.
"Ha... ha ha."
I laughed and raised the sword.
The sword was with me.
What was there to fear?
Strike!
And.
Cut!
One sword.
With a single strike, dozens of me's were shredded apart.
Then I swung the sword and unleashed a sword gale.
The corpses of the me's, torn apart by a wind that seemed to draw them in, gathered in one place.
A small mountain of bodies was formed.
I piled up a mountain of corpses made of me's and turned my head.
There were still countless me's left.
The me's who trembled when I looked at them reached out into the air just as I had.
Then.
As if made of the color of ink, swords appeared in their hands.
Now. There were eighty me's left.
What would a spar with myself be like?
Filled with anticipation, I raised my sword.
Because we knew each other too well.
We would speak with swords.
We charged.
At each other.
Me. At me.
Ten years passed.
I had cut down ten me's.
As expected, once they held swords, they became as troublesome as I was.
But I kept swinging my sword.
Fun. So fun!
This was nothing like being underground!
There were so many me's!
Me's with swords!
How could this duel not be enjoyable!
Cut! Swing! Thrust! Deflect!
Feeling the me's recoil in shock, I burst into a mad laugh and charged forward.
Twenty years passed.
I had cut down ten grown me's.
After all, those me's were still me.
They kept growing without end.
One me bloomed plum blossoms.
Another formed taiji.
Another wielded the sword form of an emperor.
They mimicked countless sword styles and came at me.
But I.
Clung only to my own martial way.
Though it had not begun as mine.
My martial way, forged by melting together my experiences and my fate.
The [Three Talent Sword Art].
Second Form.
[Push the Mountain, Evil, Black Severing Righteousness].
Evil cannot violate righteousness!
Another me was cut down by my martial way.
Thirty years passed.
Now sixty me's remained.
They were still swinging swords.
But the will had vanished from most of their blades.
Only I.
Looking up at the sky.
Pouring my will into each swing.
Fifty years passed.
Forty me's remained.
And those among the remaining me's were stubborn bastards, still burning with fighting spirit as they glared at me.
Those were the me's who, like me, clung to the [Three Talent Sword Art].
I smiled and raised my sword.
"Come."
"Gyaaaaaaaaaa!!!"
Eighty years passed.
"Ha ha..."
I looked up at the towering mountain of corpses.
Seeing a mountain built from my flesh and blood was not pleasant.
"Isn't that right? You other me's."
I turned my head and looked at the me's who were now few in number.
Only two.
With three of us left, including me, we faced one another with swords drawn before the mountain of corpses.
"Now then. Let us see the end of this mountain."
I raised my sword and charged.
Ninety years passed.
"Huff... huff..."
I stood atop the mountain of corpses, sword in hand, facing the last remaining me.
Even as the other me raised his sword and rushed at me, I sighed and closed my eyes.
I had not gained enlightenment.
That was the only reason I had nearly gone insane here.
No matter how many times I swung my sword.
No matter what new things I saw from the countless me's.
Enlightenment never came down.
So in this inner landscape... was it impossible to gain a truly new realization?
The me rushed in.
The [Three Talent Sword Art], seen countless hundreds of millions of times, unfolded before my eyes.
One hundred years had passed.
I was still locked in combat with another me.
But.
"Die..."
I had succeeded in cutting off both of the other me's arms.
I looked up at the sky.
Now. If I piled up this me.
I could reach it.
I could get out of here.
"...I'm sorry."
"Heh. No need to apologize. Are we not me?"
The other me smirked and closed his eyes.
And I thrust my sword in.
........
Quietly, I lifted the last me's foot and climbed the mountain of corpses.
Splorch. Splorch.
My flesh and blood were crushed beneath my feet.
And yet I climbed.
On top of the mountain built from my sacrifice.
On top of the mountain of despair built from hundreds of thousands of deaths.
I piled up the last me.
And then.
Thud.
I sat down cross-legged atop the [Hundred Thousand Great Mountain].
And looked up.
Light had begun to show.
Now, if I only stretched out my arm, I could reach it.
I slowly stood, raised my hand, and.
Riiip.
I widened the hole.
Now... I could see.
I could see the me fighting the Jiaolong.
So... not much time had passed after all.
I watched that scene in silence.
And finally understood.
"You... insane bastard!"
That me was trying to sacrifice my disciples, Ganyu, and Giyeon!
How dare he...!
I immediately got up and was about to rush out, but.
The thoughts of the me on the other side of the hole reached me.
"What does it matter? Enlightenment is right before my eyes! Did they not say, 'To hear the Way in the morning and die in the evening would be enough'? If I can attain enlightenment, what are a few lives worth?"
...Huh?
I sat back down.
One hundred years... it had been one hundred years.
For one hundred years, I had not gained a single realization.
I missed it.
The sight of enlightenment blooming.
I wanted to witness that scene... one more time!
Wouldn't it be fine?
My disciples and Ganyu would be hurt a little, but they would not die.
What if I interfered?
Wouldn't that enlightenment fly away?
...Should I... watch?
I looked at the me's fist, condensed with black energy.
Beautiful.
Enlightenment... was it?
I smiled.
And lowered my head.
There.
Was the face of the dead me.
...!
I stared in shock and snapped my head up.
Beyond the hole.
Giyeon's face came into view.
And.
Giyeon's lips moved.
"...Mister?"
...Ha.
Ha ha... ha ha ha.
Hahahahahahahahahahaha!!!
I burst out laughing.
How foolish. Have you gone brain-dead from nothing but brawling for a hundred years, Gumu!
When I first emerged into the world! Who was it that gave me enlightenment?
Who was it that gave me my goal?
Giyeon. It was Giyeon!
That was how my martial way began!
Enlightenment must be obtained entirely by oneself!
After all, it is called self-sacrifice for righteousness.
How could something built from another's blood and flesh be called my enlightenment?
How could it be my martial way?
I looked down at the ground.
The mountain of corpses built from 999 versions of me.
Yes.
I had... attained enlightenment atop countless me's.
My martial way was this: to sacrifice only myself, to build without relying on anyone else's sacrifice, and to reach beyond that.
That was my martial way!
So I would not deny it.
These were all me.
I stepped on myself and climbed.
And stood as my martial way, whole and complete!
I looked into the hole.
One thousand, the thousandth.
Demon, the demon.
Another me who used those two characters to call himself the Thousand Demon.
...The Thousand Demon, huh.
I stood up and planted myself atop the mountain of corpses.
Then I am
Step, to trample.
Demon, the demon.
I will trample my own demon and rise.
And reach the summit.
I looked at the hole.
The blue sky was spread out beyond it.
That sky I had wanted so desperately.
Heaven, the sky.
Demon, the demon.
This is the Thousand Demon I imagine.
I am the one who tramples the demon and rises.
And because I have stood atop this mountain and reached the sky I had longed for so desperately.
I alone.
Am the Thousand Demon.
I raised my sword.
And cut.
I swung the sword!
The blade tore the hole apart.
And I reached out and pulled the me toward me.
"Got you."
The Thousand Demon stared at me in confusion.
"What...!"
"Long time no see. Has it been a hundred years?"
"You madman...! You really cut down every last one of the me's...!"
"Yes. And..."
I said, my eyes gleaming.
"You're the last one."
But.
I would not kill him.
I swung my sword and cut off every limb on his body.
"Gah...!"
"Stay there and watch carefully."
I grinned and stepped forward.
"This is my martial way."
The sky was visible.
The sky I had wanted so badly.
And then a violet spear flew into my field of vision.
My disciples.
Ganyu.
And... Giyeon.
All of them.
Were here.
I smiled and grasped at the air.
Sword force burst out in streams and became a single blade.
And I stepped forward in silence.
Past Ganyu.
Past my disciples.
Past Giyeon.
And stood before them.
Then I raised my sword.
The sword crackled with lightning.
Ah... so that was it.
Enlightenment.
It comes from my fate.
I smiled and lifted my sword high.
O vile serpent that has harmed so many people.
I swear upon my sword.
Today.
I will kill you.
Over the sword force formed of pure white telekinetic power.
A pitch-black energy settled.
I do not deny it.
This energy is also me.
Built as me.
My martial way!
The ink-black sword force rested in my hand.
And I swung my sword.
Second Form of the [Three Talent Sword Art].
Applied Form.
Three Feet of Blade, Swearing to Heaven, Mountains and Rivers Change Color
Swearing by a three-foot blade, the mountains and rivers tremble in fear.
One Sweep to Raze All, Blood Dyeing Mountains and Rivers
One sweep to wipe everything away. Blood-red stains the mountains and rivers.
O vile serpent.
With this sword.
I will sever you!
Vile Serpent Severing Kill!
The ink-black sword came crashing down.
"Gyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!"
The serpent's body.
Was split in two.
Comments (0)
Please log in to leave a comment. Login or Register