— — — — — —
The pitch-black Zanpakutō in Ryo's hand suddenly began to glow.
The light wasn't bright. It was deep and devouring, like a black hole swallowing everything around it. It drained the surrounding light to emphasize its own existence, as if announcing itself to the world.
Dong—!
A bell-like chime rang out.
The air around Ryo rippled with the sound. The ground split apart. Cracks shot through the first-floor walls of the nearby building.
And yet, standing right beside him, Natsuki and Yume weren't affected in the slightest.
"What… is this?"
Yume's eyes widened.
She felt it first in her body. Then her mind. Then her very consciousness. A crushing weight she had carried for years was lifting, piece by piece.
Growing lighter. Freer.
In a faint shimmer, a graceful female silhouette appeared overlapping her body. The face was blurred, indistinct, but the aura was seductive and mature.
Lilith.
The strongest succubus that had been lodged inside her all this time.
Yume understood instantly.
Lilith was being pulled away. Not forcibly ripped, but drawn. Strongly drawn.
Like a flickering candle flame facing a blazing sun, there was an overwhelming instinct to return. A desperate urge to rush toward Ryo and touch the blade in his hand.
The impulse surged through her.
But at the same time, she realized she couldn't move at all.
It was as if invisible nails had pinned her to the ground.
Before she could process it, the overlapping phantom of Lilith peeled completely away from her body and streamed into the black blade in Ryo's hand.
In moments, it was gone.
Hic~
An inelegant burp echoed in the air.
Yume froze. For a second she wondered if she had imagined it.
Ryo raised a brow, surprise flickering across his face. "You actually ate her?"
'Who is he talking to?' Yume stared at him blankly.
Then a lazy female voice drifted out from the Zanpakutō itself, "Such a small fry. Just a little slurp and she was down the hatch. What can I say? Not my fault."
The offhand, almost amused tone made Yume's skin crawl.
Lilith. The Lilith who had tormented her for years… eaten?
By a sword?
And just now she had almost thrown herself at that soul-devouring blade.
A chill ran down her spine. She instinctively shuffled backward, putting distance between herself and Ryo… and that weapon.
Ryo frowned slightly, puzzled.
"So this Succubus Lilith wasn't your counterpart?"
Algol within the blade carried a teasing lilt. "Broadly speaking? No."
"A counterpart means two beings of similar essence, same name, same origin. Different existences, but fundamentally aligned."
"That Lilith was just an average-looking Succubus. How could she possibly be my counterpart? I'm a star spirit."
Ryo's brows knit together.
"But that attraction you released just now didn't look random. That kind of pull… that's something only counterparts can exert, isn't it?"
"You're not entirely wrong," Algol replied, amused. "But you're missing something."
She chuckled softly. "Ryo Yagami, you're getting dull."
Ryo stiffened slightly.
"Do you think names can be chosen carelessly?"
His pupils contracted.
Algol continued, sounding like a senior lecturing a promising junior.
"Every name that corresponds to a three-digit existence can't be taken lightly. Let's say you acknowledge that your name is Zeus and have it recorded in your spirit rank. That creates a link between you and the real Zeus."
"To bear the name is to bear the karma, fate, characteristics."
"If you believe you are Zeus, and Zeus believes he is Zeus, and both of you exist as Zeus… then you've created a conflict of uniqueness."
"And when that happens, the strong devour the weak. It's not a fun little game."
Both Ryo and Natsuki felt a chill crawl up their backs.
The implication was painfully clear.
Sharing a name with a three-digit being meant entering a brutal competition where only one could remain. And in that struggle, the stronger party held absolute power over the weaker.
A terrifying law.
Ryo narrowed his eyes.
"So that's why you could swallow this Lilith so easily…"
"Not exactly."
Algol sounded mildly dissatisfied. "The struggle for uniqueness usually starts at the three-digit level and ends at the two-digit level."
"Before reaching two-digit and becoming an existence whose name cannot be used, what three-digit beings truly control is often the concept of their name."
"And that concept is why I could devour her so easily."
She paused, then added almost lazily. "When you return to Little Garden, I suggest you conceptualize your own name too. Otherwise, if certain gods pull some tricks, alter the name recorded in their spirit rank to yours, and elevate it into a concept… you'll have a very bad time."
"I see…" Ryo murmured, eyes half-lidded.
So conceptualizing one's name required it to be recorded in the spirit rank first.
And the spirit rank was granted by the Little Garden central system. Whatever name was originally recorded there might not be the first name one ever had, but once inscribed, it wasn't easily changed.
That prevented some obvious abuses of the name-concept system.
Prevented… but didn't eliminate.
Take Algol, for example. Her original name might have been Ishtar. But she also bore other names, like Medusa and Lilith.
Names like that had already formed powerful spiritual identities. Almost no one would dare compete with her over those names. The conceptual authority behind them was already hers. Anyone foolish enough to call themselves that would basically be offering themselves up as dessert.
Ryo's eyes suddenly widened.
'If that was the case…'
'Then who held the concept of Metis?'
Metis had originally been devoured by Zeus. Did that mean the concept rested with him? If so, what about his Athena, who was still in Arcadia?
Wouldn't she be in danger?
Or maybe not. Maybe it wasn't Zeus. Maybe Athena held it.
Guessing blindly was pointless.
Better to just ask.
Ryo cleared his throat slightly, his tone a bit stiff.
"Algol… do you know who currently holds the name of Metis?"
.
.
.