The Circulating World (2)
Deshtura let out a howl.
u | n
It was likely a vocal organ meant to intimidate living things, but it was useless in space.
'What are these things?'
Fused with Nane's thought, Deshtura looked from above like a person turned inside-out.
Its joints seemed twisted the wrong way across its body—a shape so uncanny that merely seeing it chilled the viewer.
'Surprisingly strong, too?'
But from Son Yujeong's view below, there was only a horrific, insect-like monster.
'Then…'
Heating her body to searing temperatures, Son Yujeong sprayed flame like a jet and streaked through space.
Nane's eyes glittered.
'A Somersault Cloud.'
Seeing the technique of the stone monkey that once disturbed the heavens in person stirred a strange nostalgia in Nane.
Each time she swung the Yeoui, Deshtura's flesh burst, but the sounds were erased, leaving no tangible sense of impact.
When Deshtura finally dissolved into thought-form, Son Yujeong let her two Yeoui hang loosely.
"Fuuuu!"
Smoke poured from her mouth like a burning log.
She pierced the cloud that blocked Nane's view and walked forward slowly.
When she broke through the sermon's barrier, her molten body cooled rapidly like poured iron.
Nane spoke.
"Thanks for dealing with that nuisance. But what business does a monkey who can't stand boredom have on the lonely moon?"
Son Yujeong leveled the Yeoui.
"You already know, don't you? I'm not like my grandfather. I'll live as I please."
Shura formed a seal.
"Son Yujeong, drop your hostility. No matter how immature you are, arrogance before the Buddha cannot be tolerated."
"Shura."
Son Yujeong frowned.
"You too. Mortasinger was captured. As members of the Ten-Path Assembly, are you just going to stand by?"
"The Ten-Path Assembly…"
For a moment longing passed over Shura's face.
"It's broken. Since Baron left, there's been no leader to guide us."
"The one who killed that Amitābha is the Buddha, they say. And yet you'll stand beside him?"
Shura fell silent.
'Baron…'
He had told her to seek out Shirone.
'I can't do that yet.'
She hadn't followed his dying wish because she still didn't know how to "live."
'In a world full of lies, trapped in emptiness, what does living even mean?'
Until she understood the secrets of this world, she had no intention of leaving the Buddha's side.
"Hah! What does a thunder-stripped fool know? You're just annoyed because a friend was taken!"
It was true.
"Right, it's none of my business. But the Buddha has business. So, Shura—"
Son Yujeong's eyes flashed gold.
"If you try to stop me, I'll beat you." Hwa-An Geumjeong.
If that gaze truly pierced the truth of all things, Shura's gestalt would be useless.
'Good for him to meet his great-grandfather well.'
After all, associating with Mortasinger was far from enlightenment.
Still, he had everything the world could offer, and Shura couldn't help but feel bitter.
Nane asked, "So—what do you want from me?"
"How to get to Hell—you must know. Send me. I'll get my friend back."
"Hell…"
Of course Nane knew, but teaching Parkji's enlightenment to a monkey would take time.
"Going isn't the problem. It depends on which Hell you intend to go to."
"What do you mean?"
Son Yujeong hated things she had to think too much about.
"When you carry karma in reality you can't handle, Hell will call you. Decide which one."
To Nane's left and right, a frost-breathing sword and a flame-consuming sword were born.
"Do you want the Eight Hells or the Eight Torment Hells? The Poisonous Four Hell, the Mountain-Sliding Hell—those would do. Or—" countless swords fanned out behind Nane like a folding screen, emitting prismatic light.
"You may name the place you desire." The moon trembled.
Its influence would reach a human world, but the avatar was so vast no one had space to consider that.
"Tathāgata."
The afterimage of the Buddha rising beyond the moon's horizon felt like the edge of the universe.
A mischievous light crossed Son Yujeong's face as she stared, lips pursed and vacant.
"Hahaha! So you're going to throw me into Hell, huh? Fine—challenge accepted!"
Shura's eyes narrowed.
'That mad monkey.'
To rush in after glimpsing an omniverse-level realm must be a congenital mental disorder.
'But Tathāgata—'
Son Yujeong's recklessness had drawn out Nane's true intent; she was not someone to be dismissed lightly.
"Kruuu!"
Lowering her stance and twisting at the waist, Son Yujeong heated her inorganic body until it glowed.
"Come."
As a smile lifted at the corner of Nane's mouth, sparks flew from the jet in her eyes—and the jet exploded.
"KIAAAAA!"
Her elongated Yeoui traced a fiery arc, and from the edge of the universe the sermon surged like a tide.
The Inner World.
Etella and Shagal, who had escaped the Valley of Wails, wandered Hell looking for a village.
'It's too vast.'
If they'd walked over seven hundred kilometers in reality, something should have appeared by now.
"Ugh!"
A branch brushed Etella's arm as she walked lost in thought.
Everything in the forest was made of iron; it felt like being cut by a blade.
"Annoying."
Feeling the same pain through the chain, Shagal strode up to Etella.
"Get your head straight. If you're going to die, die alone. Don't drag me down." His nerves were raw.
"I'm sorry. But we've been walking for days and there's no sign of a village. We need to think."
"Why should I? You're the only one trembling here. I'm just watching—watching you suffer because you can't get what you want."
"Enough! We've fought enough! How long are you going to keep at me?"
"Forever."
Shagal smiled sourly.
"Do you think I hate you? Not at all. Compared to reality, this is paradise. At least you're real. So keep crying. Entertain me."
"…You're trash."
Etella despaired.
"Trash not even worth pity. I should have ignored you from the start. There were plenty of others to deal with the garbage!"
Anger flaring, Shagal pulled Etella close and forced a kiss.
"Don't—!"
Losing her composure, Etella shoved him and struck him hard in the jaw.
The chains clanked; struck by the same impact, both of them fell.
"Aaaargh…"
Hit squarely by the Yin-Yang Wave Fist, Shagal heaved himself over and flexed his shoulder.
"Kikiki! Kikikikiki!"
He could only laugh.
"Hee-hee-huh! I'm losing it! Ah, I'm really going crazy!"
Etella trembled with misery but held back her tears.
'Why me…'
Karma.
Even knowing that, the reality of being with this man was intolerable.
'Endure it. Get through it.'
Thinking about the pain of true-tone sound gave her a small consolation.
Sitting up, Etella said, "We're both too wound up. Let's rest a bit. You wouldn't like being tormented by demons either."
She spoke with iron resolve, but Shagal was out of his mind.
"Kikikiki! Ah, I'll lose it! Hahaha!"
Angry, Etella lay down and turned her cold back to him.
'I should finish him.'
How long she slept she didn't know.
'Huh?'
Realizing she'd dozed off, Etella scrambled to her feet.
'What?'
The landscape where she woke was completely different. Soft earth underfoot, and about ten meters ahead a small spring bubbled.
'Water. Water!'
She wouldn't die instantly without drinking, but dehydration's pain was the same as in reality.
She crawled over. Shagal sat by the water, holding a handful of soil to his nose.
"…You brought me here?" He was silent a long while, and only after dusting the soil from his hand did he speak.
"I moved because I smelled water. I was so thirsty I might've gone mad."
Dehydration had blurred his memory.
'How could there be water in Hell?' The thought was brief; possessed, Etella pressed her lips to the surface.
Gulp, gulp.
The sound of water sliding down her throat was so relieving it felt like it would quench anyone who heard it.
"Hah! Hah!"
As her head cleared, she could finally think of the next problem.
"Where is this place?"
"I don't know either. You've been wandering the Iron Forest, right? There must be a field that scrambles your sense of direction; that's probably why."
"Why only now…?"
Realizing arguing was pointless, Etella swallowed and sighed.
"Keep talking."
Shagal stood.
"We might get information here. There's water and the smell of corpses. This could be an artificial place made from bodies. Hell wouldn't have such a cozy spot otherwise."
He had a point.
'But who would do that? If anything in Hell needs water, aside from living flesh…' The bushes rustled and Etella snapped her head toward the sound.
A voice.
"What's this, someone's here?"
Pushing aside vegetation that shouldn't exist in reality—bushes like animal remnants—a group emerged.
Each face was brutal, and fittingly for Hell, their prayers were strange.
The one-eyed man widened his remaining eye.
"A woman? It's a woman."
She had a pure aura that didn't fit the black Hell where corrupted souls gathered.
"What are you?"
Shagal asked from where he sat, but the seven thugs pretended not to hear.
"These ones have chains. Wrapped in karma. Let's see what kind of dog act they were up to…"
A man with a vertically split tongue lifted a chain and looked Shagal and Etella over.
"Oh, it's the Chain of Bonds, isn't it?"
Laughter broke out.
"This is interesting. Hey, what were you doing? An affair? Incest?"
Shagal rose.
"I don't know who you are, but get lost. I'm claiming this place."
"Oh ho? You say that? You crude perverts. Do you know who we are? We once ruled the world—serial killers, man. Real terrifying guys." A man who had crept up without a sound pressed a hand axe to Shagal's nape.
"Don't move. If your head comes off, the rest of your Hell-life will be brutal."
Two men closed in on Shagal while the others moved toward Etella.
"She's a beauty, huh? Must've charmed some men in life. Too pretty to eat."
Etella stepped back, but the chain linking her to Shagal prevented distance.
"Stop."
Shagal said.
"The moment you touch that woman, you die."
A chill went through him as he spoke, but Etella's pain was his own.
"Puhahaha! How touching! Falling to Hell and still protecting love?"
The man behind Shagal tapped his throat with knuckles to threaten.
"Don't get delusional, man. You're the worst. That's why you ended up here."
'Tap tap, tap tap.'
Remembering the rhythm with his body, Shagal brought a short blade into being in his right hand.
Soksa Blade.
He thrust it at the one-eyed man's neck with incredible speed; a wind-slicing sound followed as the man went down.
"…Huh?"
When blood spurted from the embedded blade, the killers finally grasped the situation.
"You bastard!"
Matching the axe's speed, Shagal bent his torso and twisted, extending his left hand.
"Guhk!"
As he grabbed the man's neck, the Soksa Blade in his right hand flickered back and forth.
Paf paf paf paf paf!
Like a vibrating storm, seventeen blades tore into the abdomen; blood and entrails poured out at once.
"Ughhhh…"
"Wha—serial killer?"
As the man rolled his eyes and fell, Shagal gripped a new short blade and turned.
"Next—who wants to die?" The forest fell silent.