My mouth was stifled; I couldn't breathe.
If the bloodlust of a Beast of Humanity is a persistent, blind hatred intended to drag one down, then the killing intent radiating from the crimson moon before me—Archetype: Earth—was more like the natural, overbearing pressure of one born to be the King of all.
It's a difficult comparison to make, but perhaps it's the difference between a crazed murderer in a back alley and a grand tyrant. The spirit she exuded pressed down on me as if to crush me into the very ground, despite my active Rinnegan. I strained every fiber of my being just to stand and face her.
Even among monsters like Beasts, Ultimate Ones, the Moon Cell, or Velber, she vied for the top in terms of raw power. Excluding the planet-invader ORT, who exists in a realm beyond common sense, she is called the strongest entity within the domain of Earth. This monster looked down at me—struggling just to maintain eye contact—with utter indifference, and finally spoke in a low voice.
"To stand so insolently before me... I find it somewhat... distasteful."
Thud!
Thud!
THUD!!!
A terrifying pressure began to crush me once more.
Is this how it feels when I use a modified Bansho Ten'in to forcibly suppress others? I attempted to circulate the prana rushing frantically into my body to push back against the crushing sensation, but the harder I pushed, the stronger the reaction became, pressing down on me with even greater force.
"Hmm, you endure well. However, it would be wise to answer My question soon. Deliberately controlling My strength to step on a mere insect without killing it... is a task that requires a considerable amount of My attention."
"You... asked a question, so I suppose... I must answer. My name is Karma Kirigaya... As I told the True Ancestor whose body you are currently occupying, I am a simple human... striving to save my home... and this 'World' at the same time."
Suddenly, she withdrew the bloodlust—no, to her, it was merely her natural presence—that had been pinning me down. A faint, almost friendly smile touched her lips as she questioned me again.
"To save the world, you say... Yes, there have been countless others who spoke of the same thing. Is involving this young Princess also merely a means to achieve your goal?"
"Young Princess... As I thought, you are Archetype: Earth."
Archetype: Earth.
She is the final piece set in motion by the Crimson Moon—who had already been slain by Zelretch—to ensure his own resurrection: Arcueid Brunestud. The Crimson Moon created the final True Ancestor, Princess Arcueid, as a vessel for after his death, and within Arcueid slept the deep-seated personality of the Crimson Moon. If Arcueid Brunestud were to be consumed by her bloodlust, that personality would awaken, devour Arcueid's consciousness, and manifest as the Crimson Moon. That is Archetype: Earth.
To put it simply, she is a kind of clone created by the Crimson Moon as a contingency plan... and she is the living proof that the Ritual of the Six that Trpfem is attempting is an utter exercise in futility.
Her abilities are, quite literally, omnipotent. She can perform Marble Phantasm on a planetary scale. If she so desired, she could stop the Earth's rotation or erase the planet's atmosphere—a bugged character of unprecedented proportions. While I'm uncertain about someone like Velber, whose combat power remains a mystery, within the category of 'Earth,' she possesses invincible martial prowess, second only to the Nasu-certified strongest: ORT.
"You seem to know quite a bit about this body. Gaia and Alaya have always coordinated when it comes to expelling those who have reached the Root... but you are quite the anomaly. Even though I went through the trouble of pulling out your soul and placing it into a new body I crafted at the heart of the Millennium Castle just to see who you were... it has been a very long time since I've encountered something I couldn't fully grasp."
In the world of TYPE-MOON, the story of the Counter Force expelling those who reach the Root is famous. It makes sense when you consider that most of the abilities gained by reaching the Root are things that accelerate the end of the world... but how does she know that?
Wait, more importantly, she pulled out my soul and put it in a different body?! That shouldn't be possible for anyone who isn't a user of the Third Magic...
'Don't be a fool. Archetype: Earth is the spokesperson for the Counter Force of Gaia—in a way, she *is the Counter Force of Gaia itself. If she used Marble Phantasm to create a perfect duplicate of me, of course she could do anything...'
"How did you awaken? Your personality isn't supposed to wake up unless Arcueid Brunestud is overwhelmed by bloodlust and loses 'herself'..."
"Do you truly think there is any place this Queen cannot go, regardless of what the young Princess says? Usually, I remained quiet because she provided an entertaining spectacle, but since you've suppressed her bloodlust and interfered with My awakening, I had to take matters into My own hands."
"...Are you kidding me?"
In other words, because I asked Godword Mayday to suppress her bloodlust, the scenario she envisioned went awry, causing her to manifest personally.
"Your deeds... yes, even from My perspective, they were quite amusing. Of course, it was nothing more than a puppet show orchestrated by the Counter Force, but still, you showed the image of a human who thinks and acts with some degree of competence..."
"..."
"But you have crossed the line, clown. Did you truly think you could lay hands on a King's arrangements... and remain unscathed?"
In that instant, the lunar surface, which had been nothing but a desolate grey, began to transform.
The dry grey changed into soil mixed with oranges and browns. On the craggy surface of the moon, she manifested the ordinary earth of the world. Giant World Trees, seemingly tall enough to touch the edge of the sky, erupted instantly as she spoke.
"A clown's only talent is to dance until the very end and die without ever knowing why. At the very least, try to scream in a way that pleases Me, clown."
Hundreds of trees began to charge toward me.
"BATTLECRUISER OPERATIONAL!!!"
I was running like a madman.
I once believed that gods were merely simple mechanical devices, but 'that' thing before my eyes was showing me a majesty truly befitting of myth.
Dozens of changes occurred across the uneven terrain, trapping me. The very spot I stepped on transformed into a volcanic crater. Alien-like flora and fauna, whose identities I couldn't even guess, lunged at me incessantly. Every time I tried to escape, the flat ground rose into mountain ranges with heights that seemed to defy gravity itself.
"Dammit, even Summoning Jutsu won't work!"
Whether it was because this wasn't Earth or because Archetype: Earth was suppressing it, I couldn't use Summoning. I had to use the Deva Path's Shinra Tensei just to blast away the overwhelming mass of obstacles charging at me.
[Watching you land a blow on the Marshal of Magic was quite entertaining. Then, how about this?]
In that moment, I felt the illusion that another moon had formed in the sky.
A moment later, I realized it wasn't an illusion. Quite literally, another 'Moon' was flying toward me.
"!!!!!"
"My... it seems you've luckily survived."
That moon was fast, powerful... and above all, far too large.
The only way to survive was to push that moon back before it fell. Deliberately ignoring the sticky sensation leaking from my eyes, I began to push the moon away with Shinra Tensei. As I supported the meteor-like moon with both hands, its size began to gradually decrease, and a certain 'method' suddenly came to mind.
"If this is an object created by your Marble Phantasm, then in the end, it must be composed of prana!"
Its mass was enormous, and both enduring it and absorbing it were taxing tasks... but what if I expended the energy as quickly as I absorbed it?
"I can't create an infinite Magic Circle Ether Cannon like the user of the Second Magic, but I'm someone who has touched the Root... Don't underestimate humanity, you FANTASY!!!"
Red blood welled up in my throat, and crimson lines flowed from my eyes, as if demonstrating the price of using the Mangekyo Sharingan. However, the meteor before my eyes had already begun to turn hazy. Forcing my Magic Circuits, which felt like they were about to burn and snap, to activate, I absorbed and discharged prana simultaneously. I pushed the meteor with Shinra Tensei while drawing in prana with the Preta Path's Seal Absorption.
Soon, the meteor—its prana absorbed to the point that the Marble Phantasm could no longer maintain it—turned ghostly and vanished with a 'pop.' I sprawled out on the ground and began to slowly calm my Magic Circuits, which were on the verge of... no, already in the midst of a rampage.
My vision wavered as if my optic nerves had been severed, my entire body was burning with fever, and there wasn't a single orifice—eyes, nose, mouth—that wasn't leaking blood.
As I struggled to pull myself together, she began to approach me once again.
"Not bad. Even compared to the Magicians of old, your skill isn't particularly lacking."
"Dammit, what kind of nonsense..."
For a moment, I wondered what kind of monster Old Man Zelretch must be to have killed a creature like this on his own. At that moment, the Crimson Moon's words completely shattered the remains of my sanity.
"However, how do you intend to handle the second one, clown?"
A new moon had risen in the black sky.
It looked far more solid than the previous 'Moon,' it was much faster... and it was significantly larger.
From my sprawled position, I reached out toward the meteor, but suddenly flipped my palm and aimed it toward the Crimson Moon herself.
"Chibaku Tensei!"
"...Hmm? The sealing art used to bind the mud. But it is crude. Do you intend to bind Me with a sealing art that can be undone simply by destroying its core?"
"Yeah, you'd think that. But the core of this seal is you!"
Debris generated by the aftermath of blocking the first meteor surrounded her, drawn by gravitational pull. It began to cover her entire body.
"Even you won't be unscathed by the impact of a meteor made by Marble Phantasm! If you don't want to die, undo that thing!"
"I see. Binding Me to this spot as a seal... it is a quite effective strategy."
And in that moment, the debris surrounding her body vanished as if it were melting snow. As I watched, dumbfounded, she spoke with a twisted smirk.
"How foolish. If it can be created, of course it can be erased, can it not? To show such an entertaining sight without even realizing your own limitations... you truly are a clown by nature."
"...Fuck."
Shinra Tensei, Seal Absorption, Chibaku Tensei.
Perhaps because I had overused techniques that caused an overload even with a single use, my entire body was screaming, and I felt as though I would collapse at any moment. No, I felt like I was actually going to die.
Sprawled on the ground, I stared blankly at the moon rushing toward me.
Even with eyes that had touched the Root, that mass, which didn't seem likely to let me survive, continued to fall toward me without change. Those inorganic red eyes looked down at me from above, having already lost interest.
Looking at the moon that had reached right before my nose, I simply spat out the thought remaining in a corner of my mind.
"That... is one killer moon."
And just like that, I died.
The meteor... no, the massive weight that was a condensed moon, slammed directly into me, and I died. Yes, I can state this for a fact.
I died.
Before me, a white space stretched out endlessly, and at its center, a small vortex had formed, like water draining from a sink.
No matter how much I walked or ran, the end was nowhere in sight, and even when I looked at it with the Rinnegan remaining in my eyes, I couldn't feel even a trace of prana.
"Is this... the afterlife?"
Aoko-nee was someone who argued that when a human dies, that's the end, and I was someone who agreed with that argument.
While the eye techniques I possessed were the Arts of the Six Paths of Reincarnation, which might make one think Buddhist reincarnation is real, how would one explain the Gedo: Rinne Rebirth Jutsu—the ultimate secret of the Rinnegan? Of course, the Counter Force directly regulates such things, though.
"Anyway, to be in a completely white space with nothing but a single vortex... I feel like I'm going to lose my mind."
There was truly nothing in this endless white space.
Staring vacantly at the small vortex, I suddenly recalled the long and magnificent plan I had established.
"Come to think of it... what happens to everything now?"
The Demon God King almost certainly knows what's going to happen and even knows about Ritsuka Fujimaru... that's why he would have targeted the home of the Fujimaru siblings. Now that I, the one standing against him, am dead, that damn Demon God King will undoubtedly run rampant. Of course, the people I told the 'truth' to in advance, like Aoko-nee or Alice-san, will respond somehow... but since I'm dead, the Einzbern cooperation will surely turn lukewarm, and there will definitely be bastards in the Clock Tower causing a scene.
...Come to think of it, I was certainly doing a lot of work on my own.
In the midst of that, I fought a Beast of Humanity, waged an all-out war with the Clock Tower, and now I've been killed by the Crimson Moon.
And all I have left is a ridiculously vast afterlife (presumed) and a single vortex.
"Wait a minute, how am I still thinking?"
If this were the afterlife, it makes no sense for me to have the Rinnegan.
While the Mystic Eyes of Death Perception are Pure Eyes directly connected to the brain and are thus bound to the soul—retaining their power even if the eyeballs are removed—the Rinnegan I possess belongs to the Mystery held by the eyeballs themselves. In the original Naruto*, didn't they swap Rinnegan out like accessories, with one eye being passed around between four or five people? Just like the Graiae sisters from Greek myth.
But to view this as a 'revolving lantern' memory... I couldn't even call it that.
The meteor has already fallen, I have died... and if I'm dead, oxygen supply to the brain is impossible, so I shouldn't be able to see a visual phenomenon like a 'revolving lantern' or any internal brain hallucination. Because the brain wouldn't be functioning!
[Yo.]
And as if to prove my thoughts, **something appeared before my eyes.
A silhouette with a short, blonde bob cut appeared in the endless white space and spoke to me in a cheerful tone.
And I could guess what that silhouette was.
"...Um, you seem to have the wrong address for this world?"
*[No way.]
"I'm not even an alchemist!"
[The reason I look like this is that your image of the 'ultimate form' is exactly this shape. In the extreme... if you thought of my form as God, I would become God, and if you thought of me as the Crimson Moon you fought, I would become the Crimson Moon.]*
The thing, which had been smiling brightly, then sat down directly across from me.
I sat down on the ground just the same, staring at 'Truth' taking the form of Manaka Sajyou, who was smiling with all her teeth showing.
*
"Don't tell me... you haven't come to take a part of my body, have you?"
[If you try to take something from this place, or if you wish to revive someone, I would naturally take an appropriate toll.]
"Then why..."
[Think for yourself where this place is. Or... do you wish for a trade?]*
This place.
A completely white space... yes, I certainly have the memories of Fullmetal Alchemist*.
The protagonist who was sucked into a white space like this in the original work opened the Gate of Truth and, as a price for human transmutation, lost an arm and a leg... but that's the Fullmetal Alchemist world, and this is the TYPE-MOON world.
Moreover, the being before my eyes isn't the actual 'Truth,' but merely the personification of omnipotence I've imagined. That's why it takes the form of 'Manaka Sajyou,' another personification of omnipotence I know.
"This space... isn't exactly the space of 'Truth' I'm thinking of. But you said you would take my body as a price if I tried to pursue the truth."
[Correct.]*
It was more receptive to questions than I thought, so I decided to keep asking while I could.
"You aren't the Truth I know. But because you are the most similar to omnipotence in my thoughts, you've taken this form. The reason you look like Manaka Sajyou is... because the other personification of 'omnipotence' I know is Manaka Sajyou. Right?"
*[Correct.]
In that case, this is a being very similar to the Truth in Fullmetal Alchemist, but something slightly different.
Similar to Truth, able to give desired knowledge in exchange for a body part, a personification of omnipotence... and a massive vortex in a white land.
"...The Root?"
[Exactly.]
"Ah... wait a second, so what you're saying is... I've reached the Root right now?!"
[Exactly.]*
...Wait, just a minute.
No matter how much my eyes are derived from the Root, and no matter how much I've been lying about being a user of the Third Magic, to actually touch the Root like this. Isn't this a bit forced?
*[It is only natural. Your eyes were derived from the Root, so it is only natural that they return to the Root. This place is the space of 'Nothing'—the cause of all things, and a single empty space that produces all results. Since it is the beginning and the end of all things, your final stop is right here.]
"...I didn't believe in an afterlife, but this is the afterlife. I can see why magi would lose their minds over this... It's quite literally a library where all information on the beginning and the end is stored."
At that exact moment, I felt something strange in its words.
"Wait, you're 'recovering' me?"
*[Correct.]
"I died."
[Exactly.]*
"...Then why am I still talking to you?"
If I'm dead, conversation is impossible.
In fact, thinking should be impossible; I shouldn't even be able to perceive anything. Then why?
*[Because you have not died yet.]
...What kind of nonsense is that?
I expressed that thought through my eyes as I looked at it, and it began to explain calmly, like a teacher.
[The Crimson Moon—the guardian of the Gaia Counter Force and the will of Earth—kidnapped your mind as soon as she woke within her terminal. She created the Millennium Castle on the moon where she could exert her power, created a body identical to yours, and placed you inside it. Your other body remains alive on Earth, but the body that served as your terminal is already dead; therefore, your soul has perceived that death and returned to your home, which is the world and the end of all things.]*
"Wait... even for the Gaia Counter Force, she can't just recreate my body with eyes derived from the Root! That doesn't make sense!"
*[The body follows the soul, and the soul follows the body. Even if someone you know who was 'brought back to life' had an original pair of eyes elsewhere... were they unable to use their own eyes?]
True, the resurrected Madara was able to use the Rinnegan he had awakened during his life with complete freedom, even while the original Rinnegan he had awakened had been passed to Nagato, who used it to form the Akatsuki.
And even after Nagato was resurrected, he operated with the Rinnegan he had possessed when he was alive...
[You met a first death as a soul at the hands of the Crimson Moon, and you met a second death—the death of the flesh—in the lunar Millennium Castle, which is her territory. However, your body remains perfectly alive on Earth, and your soul has not perceived death, so you are here because you died, yet you do not return to Nothingness because you have not yet died.]*
"Then can you send me back to how I was?!"
*[Of course.]
"Then quickly..."
In that moment, I understood why this thing had taken the form of 'Truth' and 'Manaka Sajyou.'
[All reachers arrive here through their own experiences. 'Void' had a body artificially created to connect to the Root, and even the original owner of the form I now take had that experience, even if it was as simple as 'being born.' The boy who is the host and lover of the Crimson Moon also experienced death once, and the speaker of the Unified Language also reached this place through the curse he received from the fae. But you... you have already completed one passage.]*
"...My memories of my previous life. You mean that was my passage to the Root."
*[You already recalled the 'previous life' memories that were blocked from you at the Root, peeked at the world's secrets known as future information, and even obtained the toll known as the eyes of reincarnation. That could be called the single toll that someone who reaches the Root for the first time takes with them. However, now, at this spot, you are in a state that has been completely finalized by 'death.']
"So... you're saying you can't send me back?"
[The incoming toll has been paid as a single experience called death. Even in the case of Shiki Tohno, he obtained the Mystic Eyes of Death Perception by experiencing death... But since you have already faced the death of both body and soul once, a different price will be required to return to your original body and reclaim your life.]*
"That toll... you want a part of my body or something?"
*[How could life have a price equal to a mere body part?]
"Damn it, then what is this 'toll' you want?!"
When I spat my thoughts out, the being that had taken Manaka Sajyou's form seemed to accept my feelings and gave that characteristic toothy, twisted smirk.
"Ah, you've got to be kidding me...!"
[I am the existence you call the World.***
Or perhaps the Universe.
Or perhaps God.
Or perhaps the Root.
Or perhaps Truth.
Or perhaps the World.
Or perhaps One.
Or perhaps All.
...And I am also you.]
To receive the Root as a price, one must offer a price equal to the Root.
*[I will not recover everything. However, there will not be a second chance. If I appeared to be something with a personality, then it is not mine, but yours... You know what I mean, don't you?]*
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