Before heading over to see Nanahoshi, I stopped to make a custom sheath for her new sword, which my brother Rudeus had dubbed Tempest.
I returned to the same place as before. That room where Nanahoshi had first taken me to reveal where she came from and what she intended to do. I still remembered it clearly. The idea of having a home in my previous world was an impossibility, but part of me had still hesitated back then. Maybe I hesitated because that place was as strange as it was vivid, and I had struggled to take it all in.
I have no reason to leave anymore. Dying is not an option, and stepping through a portal even less so. Now I have my brother, a father searching for our mother, and sisters who need to know I am still alive. I cannot just walk away and abandon them. It is not that I can't... it's that I don't want to leave.
I took one last look at Tempest. I had to snap its blade again so the effect would trigger and keep Nanahoshi safe. The sheath was purely cosmetic, hiding the fracture so nobody would ask questions. Her mask was bound to draw attention anyway, but that was hardly the strangest sight in this place.
I knocked on the door, hoping she was inside. After a few seconds, it swung open. Nanahoshi stood there without her mask, but her expression was completely different from before, as if she had been thinking entirely too much about her situation.
"Daiki... you came back. Look, I wanted to apologize for taking your sword and trying to keep it for myself. You can have it back. It's yours."
Nanahoshi spoke softly, her eyes staring past me. That same distant look I used to wear now rested on her face. Even so, I caught a spark of curiosity in her eyes.
"Is that why you look so down? Don't worry about it. I was going to let you keep it anyway."
"Why would you do that for me? I know ordinary swords don't last long in your hands, so you must feel awful without your self-repairing blade."
"It's not about that. I could spend the rest of my life using swords that break, but Tempestalis is more than just durable steel. It was the first real gift I ever received... and the only thing I have left of someone who is gone."
"I see why you don't want to leave this place..."
"Yeah. But I can take my sword back and give you another one with the exact same traits as Tempestalis. A smaller one, even."
"Huh? You can do that? Orsted told me it was impossible to replicate those properties..."
"Maybe nobody knew because it required conditions so specific they seemed impossible. Until I showed up, anyway."
I unhooked the sheath from my waist and handed it over.
"Oooh." She weighed the sheath in her hands. "The sensation is identical. That hollow emptiness that puts me so at ease."
Nanahoshi stood holding the miniature sword for a long moment.
"I can't believe you found a way to do this just for me..." A faint smile touched her lips. "I think you might honestly be the best person I've met here. I know you've hurt people, but it was in self-defense. And even if I can't quite shake the memory of that violence because it still feels unreal to me, I understand this world is different. Even so, my gratitude is so deep that I can look past all of it and say you're a truly good person, Daiki-san."
"Ah... Thanks."
"You're welcome, Daiki-san. Anyway, did you want to talk about anything else?"
Nanahoshi did not seem put off by my blunt response. I had worried that a simple "thanks" would sound cold after such high praise, but she actually seemed pleased. For once, I had nothing to worry about.
I sat down beside her, and we began to talk. Over the next hour, I told her about my journey across this world and what I had been searching for. I told her about Orsted. You could say I hold a grudge against gods, but toward Orsted, what I feel is deep respect... and the dread of ever running into him again. He is the only god that genuinely terrifies me. Hitogami, on the other hand, is a fraud who hides behind empty promises and deceit. Sure, my sword really was at the university just as he said, but that doesn't mean he didn't have an angle. The whole "benevolent god with good intentions" act just doesn't sit right with how he makes me feel.
"...I ended up in this world after saving a little girl and her father. It cost me my life, and I was reborn here as a baby, the son of Paul and Zenith Greyrat."
"Wow... That must have been tough, right? Everything you went through just to adjust to a new world and never look back."
"It wasn't an issue. I had no family to go back to anyway. I had a new one here, and my new duties were activated."
"You talk like a machine, you know that? What do you mean, 'duties activated'? It wasn't your job to protect anyone. You just wanted to because you cared about them. That's what I'd feel if I woke up as a baby in another world, too."
Nanahoshi sighed and took a sip of water.
"I guess you aren't the guy who pushed me out of the way of that truck, then. I wasn't with any little girl."
Come to think of it, my brother had mentioned saving three students from a truck. Could Rudeus have been the one who saved Nanahoshi?
"Maybe someone else saved you. It could just be a coincidence."
I kept quiet after that. That was my brother's secret to share, not mine.
"Mm, yeah, maybe."
With that settled, I took my sword and left.
---
As I turned down a hallway, something brought me to a dead halt.
"Hm? What happened here?"
Dozens of bodies lay sprawled across the floor. Beastfolk of various tribes, shapes, and sizes. Some wore the academy uniform, while others did not.
"Bwahahaha!"
A man stood tall in the middle of the carnage, hoisting the last opponent in the air with a single hand.
"I'll give you credit for stepping up, my young friends! A terrible decision, no doubt, but brave all the same! The students of this Magic University certainly have guts!"
"Huh?"
The man turned around to face me.
"Oho! Those kids told me I'd have to beat them if I didn't want to wait my turn, so I did! And now you've stepped out to face me right on time! Splendid, splendid! I like a man who keeps his word!"
He looked me up and down the moment he turned fully toward me.
"Aleksander?! Look how much you've changed!"
"I'm not Aleksander."
"Bwahahaha! My mistake, lad! For a second, I thought I saw an old acquaintance in your face! But no, you're clearly not him. Aleksander never wore such a grim expression... nor that stance. I like it! I am the Immortal Demon King, Badigadi!"
So this was the Demon King. I never would have imagined a king of his renown could act so childishly, let alone mistake me for someone I had never heard of.
"You never let your guard down, do you, boy!"
He strode toward me with heavy, ground-shaking steps.
"I challenge you to a duel! I'll let you strike me with your strongest attack!"
A duel? What did he want that for? I glanced down at the bodies on the floor.
"Are you really immortal?"
"Of course I am!"
"Fine. I accept."
---
Word of the duel tore through nearly the entire university within minutes. I wasn't entirely sure why, but accepting a challenge like this, being able to unleash my full power without worrying about retaliation or permanently injuring someone, stirred a fierce excitement in me. It wasn't that I enjoyed hurting people, but pushing myself to the limit was the only way to improve and keep from stagnating. And now that I had Tempestalis back, the anticipation ran even deeper.
Behind us, a large crowd of spectators had gathered. An even mix of men and women, along with a fair number of professors.
"STRIKE ME WITH EVERYTHING YOU'VE GOT! I WON'T DODGE AND I WON'T DIE, SO YOU HAVE NO EXCUSE TO HOLD BACK!"
"Are you sure?"
"Bwahahaha! What an absurd question! It's been over four thousand years since I found someone whose hit was worth taking! If you kill me, I regenerate! If you blow me to pieces, I return! There isn't an attack in this world that the Great Me cannot endure! So I command you: hold nothing back!"
"Fine..." A faint smile crossed my lips.
"Crack a smile, sullen boy! As my fiancée, Empress Kishirika Kishirisu always says: laugh first, think later! Come to think of it... she was laughing the last time she died, wasn't she? Bwahahaha!"
I closed my eyes and rested my hand on the hilt, flooding my legs with an absurd amount of Touki. I had to time the burst just right. The plan was to pack all that force below, then snap it into my arms the split second before impact, delivering an explosive strike sharpened to an impossible edge by Tempestalis's traits.
I drew the blade in a flash. The steel hummed its signature note, and the air around me instantly turned stifling.
"Boy? What an odd sound... How intriguing."
I didn't answer or even glance at him.
"No matter! I'll take your best shot with pleasure!"
I sank into my stance.
*Just focus... gather all your strength into a single point and drive it into the edge. At the same time, compress the mana around the blade for maximum impact.*
I repeated the thought until it stopped being words and turned into pure instinct.
"Bwahahaha! Are you really going to use all your—"
I shot forward so fast that even my own eyes couldn't track the ground. The blade arced in a single explosive cleave, biting dead-center through his waist.
My boots skidded against the stone floor, halting me just before I crashed into anything.
"What...? What did he do?"
"Was that it? Nothing happened... he barely moved and already sheathed his sword..."
"Yeah, what a letdown!"
To be honest, even I hadn't expected that level of speed, let alone that much concentrated force. In a real fight, I'd need my brother to pin an enemy down just to buy me enough time to focus like that. Still, even a rushed attempt would deal serious damage.
"Boy..." Badigadi started to speak, but his expression warped the second his upper torso sheared away, sent flying backward by the blast before crashing down with brutal force. "BWAHAHAHA! MAGNIFICENT!"
Badigadi's legs finally buckled, toppling down right beside his torso.
"Now that, I didn't see coming, that sword..." Badigadi said, his flesh and bone already knitting back together. "It's been ages since anyone cleaved me in two like that! Bwahahaha... What a wonderful sensation!"
"This sword?"
"I recognized it the instant you drew it. That sword used to belong to Laplace. I held it a couple of times myself, but it never responded to me. To him, it was little more than a side tool, practically a trinket. And yet, in your grip, it behaves like an entirely different beast. Fascinating, boy. Very fascinating."
"A side tool?" I glanced at the blade. "It certainly doesn't feel like one."
"Bwahahaha! Well, to Laplace, it was about as significant as a fingernail clipper."
"I see." I sat down on the ground beside him. "Then it was never really Laplace's to begin with..."
"It's yours! It always was. That clears up quite a bit, lad."
I studied him for a moment as he settled in beside me.
"One question, Badigadi."
"I appreciate that you skip the titles. Go on, ask whatever you want."
"All right. Someone told me I resemble a boy named Darian. Supposedly an empty miko whose body couldn't handle mana, dead by the time he was ten."
Badigadi fell quiet for a second, which, coming from him, was a miracle in itself.
"Darian, you say? Hmm... Yes, I believe I remember him. Peculiar boy. Quiet. I went to look at him once because word was he was entirely immune to all magic. Naturally, that caught the eye of the warmongers gearing up for conflict, and they turned him into a guinea pig. But his body couldn't endure the mana. In the end, that absolute immunity was what killed him."
"I see. But that doesn't answer my question."
"What question is that?"
"Why do I look like him? I can use mana just fine. Do you know why that is?"
"Can't say I do, truthfully."
"I see. Thanks anyway."
"Don't mention it! If anything else comes to mind, you'll be the first to know! Bwahahaha!"
"Right."
Badigadi looked at me with an expression somewhere between amusement and genuine curiosity.
"You're far too gloomy, boy! Laugh with me for once! Bwahahaha! You only cracked half a smile back there, and it was so small I nearly missed it."
I took one last look at my sword and got to my feet.
If there was one thing I knew for certain, it was that I needed to find my mother quickly and bring this whole ordeal to a close. Yet fate seemed to have other plans for me, whether I believed in that sort of thing or not.
Tempestalis might have been nothing more than a nail clipper to a terrifying demon like Laplace, but that couldn't be the whole story. A sword capable of mending itself couldn't just be some random anomaly, especially considering its weight spiked whenever someone other than Rudeus or me tried to hold it.
There had to be more to it. But for now, I would leave it at that.
Sheathing Tempestalis, I turned and walked away without another word.