Volume 3
Chapter 14
Part 4.2
Tears of
Slumber Reaching the Heavens 4.2
Translator : PolterGlast
"Ha, ha, hahaha.
I did it. I've finally managed an audience.
—Takamikura!!"
Compared to the
previous spiritual paths, the other side of the Musubi was reached immediately.
After the consecutive
battles and the history of defeat she had directly received, Ravana, who had
barely managed to slip through, took a rough breath as she looked at the other
side of the spiritual path she had reached.
A brightly lit sacred
rock, which was probably the vast sanctuary of Takamikura.
In the back of the
simple structure, a golden girl smiled as she faced the fiery Ravana.
—There was no response.
But without time to
worry, Ravana took a step forward.
The end of the
spiritual path was just around the corner.
She had six uses left
of the Nine Dharma Treasures's divine attribute. She would show the curse of
defeat, which still remained sufficiently.
"I have one last
question to ask you."
She had carefully
devised a plan and set a trap to ensure her victory.
She had even waited
for the time when a Kanna-no-Mikura of the fire element would be born, relying
on the vast time possessed by a divine pillar.
Although the plan was
only slightly hastened, it was repeatedly threatened to fail.
Even though she had
anticipated that, at the very end, the very last moment...
The Celestial Throne.
An element she had never even imagined had overturned the entire board.
"—Since
when?"
What was questionable
was that the development was too convenient.
The numerous
coincidences and miracles that would not be possible if one did not fully grasp
what was about to happen.
"Since when have
you seen through my plans!?"
Even after receiving
Ravana's rage, a smile of satisfaction still graced Takamikura's lips.
Her clear mutterings
remained simple even in the face of defeat.
"—From the
beginning."
With only a very
simple tone, it echoed to the sanctuary's sacred rock.
—Takamikura is the representation of the earth element,
the foundation of all things. Among the myriad of things, it is one.
"I see. Well,
that's fine. I have slipped through that and my plan has been accomplished.
If I can touch you
even once, Takamagahara will be mine."
"It is better not
to have a wish that will never come true.
—Now then, for the time being. Have you brought me my
souvenirs?"
The golden eyes, which
saw everything, shot a look of certainty and careless glance towards Ravana,
who had her hand on the edge of the spiritual path.
"Yes."
A reply that was never
supposed to come. Behind Ravana, whose spine shivered in terror, Akira and Saki
reached out their hands together.
A small piece of
crystal that looked unreliable.
Seeing the golden
divine energy that only glimmered dully, Ravana cried out involuntarily.
—It was a pass to go through the spiritual path of
Musubi. The spell it contained was the essence of Musubi itself.
"You
bastard!!"
"Destroy it...
Since I have forced my
daughters to endure so much pain, I must feel pain too."
The pilgrimage ritual
cannot be stopped.
—But it was possible to shatter the spiritual path
itself in exchange for exposing the divine realm completely.
It was the destruction
of divinity, permitted to those who acted as stakes named Akira.
In Akira's palm,
countless cracks appeared in the crystal, and it shattered, turning into
glittering sand.
The change was
immediate.
As if being thrown out
of the place where they were, Akira and the others were thrown into a deep
grove of trees.
"Ugh!"
"Kyaa!?"
Saki and Akira
collapsed on top of each other.
Akira endured his
gagging throat, feeling a continuous sense of intoxication, perhaps due to the
forced removal from the spiritual path.
He turned his shaky
vision toward the sky.
Seeing the crimson sky
that spread out, Akira felt a sense of peace.
"Where is
this?"
She looked around for
an answer, but Saki also shook her head, unable to find any clues in the
spreading grove.
The only thing she
could vaguely imagine was that they were not so far from the Central Capital.
Another groan was
heard.
A little further away,
Ravana got up.
"You've done it
now, Takamikura.
—A thousand years. I've been planning this and waiting
for the right time. All of that was in vain."
The angry gaze of the
divine pillar pierced through Akira and Saki.
Now that all her plans
had been foiled, Ravana had no divinity left.
All she has is the use
of the few remaining divine attributes. Refusing to accept such a fading
defeat, the deformed divine pillar breathed out a fiery flame.
She turned to face
Akira, wielding the iron whip and vajra that she had stolen from Bharatush.
"Now that it's
come to this, how can I be forgiven for simply perishing?
—Kanna-no-Mikura. You must accompany me on my journey
to the afterlife, no matter what."
"Right."
Akira felt the same
way.
Nevertheless, there
was one thing he wanted to say to Ravana.
"—Thank you,
Ravana. Thanks to you, I was able to meet someone I thought I would never meet
again."
---
There was an option to
meet.
But it's also true
that I was scared.
I thought I was hated.
I thought I was despised.
The truth is, there
was always a lingering regret in the depths of my heart.
On the day I was
banished. Why didn't I boldly go and meet Shizumi and Genrei?
If I had, if I had
done that.
—An unfulfilled assumption, brought on by my own
cowardice.
I want to talk.
About everything that
has happened. About the past three years and what I should do from now on.
I guess the time when
a child is lost is over.
Akira reached out his
hand to the deepening crimson sky.
Perhaps due to the
influence of passing through the spiritual path, Genrei's presence had
disappeared from within Akira.
But he didn't care.
As long as this blue
sky was connected, the mortal world couldn't be an obstacle for Genrei.
—The guardian of countless stars, a nine-layered canopy
that separates the mortal world.
A divine artifact that
had always been within Akira, and he could look up and see it spread out at any
time.
—A shield that protects the slumber of the black
obsidian.
The divine artifact,
shifting in color, is pulled down from the heavens.
"Pierce
the heavens, —Kugai Bakufu."
At that moment,
—Night fell on the world.
♢
Brushing off the frost
that stuck to her cheeks, Shuka pursed her lips.
"Hmph, Kuro-me...
You've finally woken up., huh?"
"Are you alright,
Aka-sama?"
"I'm fine. It
should be about time for Akira to settle things, so let's watch from the main
shrine."
While Tsuguho wiped
her cheek, Shuka made a cutely sulky face.
Stepping out of the
half-ruined main shrine, she turned her gaze towards the visible distance.
"It seems the
battlefield has shifted.
The outskirts of Kimon
(northeastern direction). If the guest god is going to escape, it would be a
reasonable direction."
"If that's the
case, then it's also outside Kuro-sama's divine realm."
Akira's limit had
already been made clear.
Blessings can only
reach as far as one's divine realm. That was a principle that was the same for
any divine pillar.
But shaking her head,
Shuka denied Tsuguho's fear.
"Although there
are compatibilities among them, you know that there is no such thing as strong
or weak divine artifacts.
However, if we assume
that it is in the mortal world, the strongest divine artifact has been
determined."
"The
strongest?"
Tsuguho was surprised
to hear such an impossible word.
It was a well-known
fact that there were no ranks among divine pillars. Only compatibility among
the representation they govern.
"Correct. Look,
it's starting.
—This will be the first time for humans in the mortal
world to see it."
Slowly but swiftly,
black descended into the world.
Witnessing the full
extent of it, Tsuguho was speechless.
♢
The crimson sky
reverted its color to shades of daybreak, and it returned to a blue sky as if
time had been rewound.
Eventually, the blue
glow was framed with a nine-layered perfect circle, shifting into translucence.
A night sky glittering
with black obsidian glimpsed through the gap in the circle.
It is said that each
of the stars is a drop woven from the divine power of a divine pillar.
The sea of chaotic
black obsidian. The slumbering spirit turtle that continuously protects the
mortal world from the shining stars that fall like rain.
Looking up, the sky
reflected in one's vision is the world's greatest divine artifact, all forged
from a tortoise shell.
With a blank
expression, Ravana looked up at the sky colored by night and day.
"—You called this
mortal world your playground."
Hearing that voice,
Ravana turned her gaze back.
Before she knew it, a
young girl was standing beside Akira.
"If you can still
shout that line after seeing me, that would be quite something."
Ravana knew that they
had gone outside the divine realm. That was why she could expect at least a
mutual destruction against Kanna-no-Mikura.
"The mortal world
exists within me.
No matter where you
run or hide. If you disturb my garden, I won't give you a way to escape."
"......I see.
So, from the very
beginning, I have been dancing in the palm of Genrei-hime's, huh?"
One of Kugai Bakufu's
powers is the ability to turn the domain centered on the user into a divine
realm.
Realizing that she had
been tricked all along, Ravana swung her iron whip.
It was instantly
sucked into the tortoiseshell shield that was created and repelled to the side
without any resistance.
"—Do you think the
divine artifact you usurped can reach the heavens?
This distance, which
reaches even the stars, is my tortoise shell. Unless you have the power to cut
through spaces itself, your attacks cannot reach me."
Powerlessly, Ravana
threw away the divine artifact that had returned to nothing.
But she didn't intend
to give up the victory as well.
He shaped the divine
attribute of the Nine Dharma Treasures in his hand into the shape of a sword.
A phantom of a sword
he had once wielded in the past.
She took a stance and
cut through the void.
"That's good to
hear. Since the distance itself is a shield, it didn't get caught in the divine
attribute.
Conversely, if I aim
for the distance itself, it means it will be caught by the divine attribute of
the Nine Dharma Treasures."
"No. This is
checkmate, Ravana."
—Divine domain, release.
In Akira's palm, a
black radiance traced a trajectory.
"The sky
overflows with splendor, casting a shadow."
A shadow of a sword
sharpened in the palm of his hand.
"As it
is, the moon and the sun cast a shadow."
What condensed was a
perfect imitation of a black obsidian sword.
It looked like a
divine artifact, but it wasn't.
It was the essence of
the shadow cast by the Kugai Bakufu. The radiance of the stars filled the
blade.
Coincidentally, it
resembled Jakuen Gayou.
Assuming a relaxed
stance, a grand overhead stance.
Akira's most familiar,
fundamental basis of the Kihoin-school.
Realizing that all her
moves had been foiled, Ravana weakly sneered at herself.
Nevertheless,
believing in the slightest chance of victory, her toes kicked the ground
powerfully.
A dancing gait, as if
pecking at the ground.
A unique gait that had
confused Akira countless times before.
The speed with which
she sneaked into the gap remained intact, but
Akira's slash to knock her down still caught up with her.
Even her swordsmanship
was somewhat easy to follow.
The alternation
between reality and illusion was intense, but the speed of the attack did not
change that much.
Ravana's slash and
Akira's sword clashed, scattering sparks.
The two blows were in
a momentary back-and-forth battle, with their feet, stepping forward, competing
for the victor.
However, the end came
eventually.
Exhaling, Ravana took
a big step forward.
A clear, too obvious,
single stroke that was nothing more than a gamble.
The black obsidian
sword repelled the slash as if scooping it upward,
—And a return blow from Akira's upper stance, slashing
through Ravana's shoulder.
The divine pillar that
had toyed with Akira and the others left no final words.
With a smile on her
strangely beautiful face, she disappeared, swallowed up by the radiance of the
stars released from the black obsidian sword.
-----
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