Chapter 87 - A Reader's Heart (3)

Light streamed from my sword and enveloped the black dragon.

[The Sword of Compassion resists absorption!]

But the energy resisting me was formidable as well. It surged! Black, venomous energy overflowed like sewage during the summer monsoons. It was like a black panther startled awake after someone suddenly disturbed its peaceful sleep.

[The Sword of Compassion is bewildered.]

[She rebukes her sister, asking whether she has betrayed Lefanta Aegim.]

[The Goddess of Protection soothes her sister.]

The light of my holy sword mingled chaotically with the black dragon's shadows.

[The Sword of Compassion demands proof of her new master's worthiness.]

White and black.

Neither side would readily yield.

[A constellation's power is immense. It must never be given to someone unworthy. The Sword of Compassion does not yet acknowledge you as her new master.]

"All right."

I quietly regarded the sword embedded in the black dragon's chest.

"That's reasonable. But how am I supposed to prove myself worthy?"

Turbid energy seeped from the black dragon's corpse. It churned and roiled... Venomous energy far thicker than anything before it took shape.

A dark angel.

An angel made of murky water from head to toe.

[She is a fragment formed from the goddess's compassion, broken away from her.]

[If you have proven that you can become someone's idol...]

[Now you must prove that you can feel compassion for someone.]

The expressionless angel spread her wings.

Even those wings were murky.

Dark saliva dripped from the two outstretched wings, drop by slow drop.

[She demands that you briefly entrust your body and mind to her.]

"Why should I?"

[To look into your memories.]

The light pouring from my holy sword grew a little stronger.

[The Goddess of Protection cannot agree. Traveling together will naturally show that the Hero is worthy of being our new master. There is no reason to take an unnecessary risk.]

"No, it's fine."

I lowered my sword.

"I can't carry a sword at my waist that doesn't even trust me. Even if it were the finest blade in the world, the unease would drive me mad. Come! Look into my memories, or whatever else you want, until you're satisfied."

The moment I spread my arms—

[The Sword of Compassion tests your compassion.]

The angel's wings covered my vision. Like a mother bird sheltering her chick, enormous black wings wrapped around my body.

Everything went dark.

Then dreamlike scenes flowed before my eyes.

「Kind mister.」

A garden engulfed in flames.

「Hold on just a little longer...」

「You poor things.」

A paradise shrouded in smoke.

「All under heaven has become emptiness.」

A snowfield where a peony bloomed red.

「My disciple.」

The garden, the paradise, and the snowfield swept past in rapid succession.

Suddenly, my darkened vision grew bright.

The angel's wings had vanished from before my eyes.

[...]

The black angel hurriedly folded her wings and looked at me. The constellation's fragment remained expressionless. But beneath her black brows, her black eyes held unmistakable bewilderment.

[You...]

"I'm not perfect," I said before she could continue.

"I'm weak when it comes to people's kindness. I want to earn it. Sometimes I push myself a little too hard for it. I love being praised, and I struggle to make other people see me as a 'good person.' Maybe that's my weakness."

The constellation's fragment closed her lips.

"And your former master wasn't perfect either."

[...]

"I don't yet know what grand purpose drives Lefanta Aegim to go around killing constellations. Perhaps it might even be something noble. But even if it is, I'll still hold Lefanta Aegim accountable for what he's done wrong."

I raised my sword and pointed it at the black angel.

"If you think your former master was perfect and never did anything wrong, don't follow me. I don't need a sword like that either."

The black angel slowly began to speak.

[Do you intend to kill Lefanta Aegim?]

"If he's a man who deserves to die."

[Can you promise that personal feelings will not influence that judgment?]

"I don't know."

I spoke honestly.

"Master died. The martial world was ruined. Too many people were hurt and killed, so I don't know. But I can promise I'll do my best."

[...]

"So if you think I'm going astray, do your best to set me straight, too. I'll do my best, and you do yours. That's what it means to be together."

The black angel's wings crumbled.

[My power is pain.]

[Those I cut feel pain, yet no wound ever remains on their bodies, nor do they die.]

[Pain without wounds is my power.]

The angel's form collapsed.

It collapsed into black water.

[My new master.]

[I swear to serve you to the best of my ability.]

WHOOSH!

The black saliva swirled and poured into the holy sword in my hand. It was like a raging flood. Like a thirsty fox in the desert, the holy sword drank in every drop.

[The Goddess of Protection's presence grows more distinct.]

The changes did not end there.

"Oh, oh..."

The divine beast that had once been this martial world's constellation—the black dragon—groaned as even the blade embedded in its chest melted away and was absorbed into my sword.

"Ooh..."

The black dragon had been slain long ago. No will remained in it to express anything in words. It merely babbled like an old woman weary of life.

"Oooh, oh..."

At last, the black dragon's corpse dissolved into thick fluid and flowed away.

Its horns crumbled with a dry crackle. Its scales melted like candle wax. A beast that had reigned as a myth over an entire world had met its end.

And winter collapsed.

The mountain's perpetual snow came crashing down. An avalanche.

Standing on the summit, I could look down at the snow breaking apart beneath my feet and pouring into the world.

"Winter is the season of death."

Beside me, the Librarian gazed down at the land.

"You have finally brought that lonely season to an end."

The white avalanche swept over the white world. Yet the places it passed were no longer white.

The brown of the earth showed through.

Brown was this world's skin color. At last, the long winter was over, and the land had begun to bare its skin.

"..."

Why did the spring breeze smell so different from the winter wind?

Did Master know where the scent of spring came from?

"... Librarian."

"Please, speak."

"I have a clearing perk that lets me see people's traits. The plots and characters they prefer."

"I know."

The Librarian exhaled.

Our breaths no longer froze white in the air.

"I oversee the twenty-first through thirtieth floors. I also prepared the perk you received. Well, since I gave it to you, naturally I know about it."

"[Heaven-Slaying Star] is among your preferred characters."

"Indeed."

"Why do you like the Heaven-Slaying Star? Lefanta Aegim goes around killing constellations. I'd understand if you hated him, but I don't know why you'd like him."

"Hmm."

The Librarian closed their right eye.

"Since you asked, I shall make an exception and answer. I have a very long-held dream."

"A dream?"

"Yes. To appear in a novel I love!"

The constellation's eyes shone with pure innocence.

I was puzzled.

"If you mean appearing in one yourself... isn't that something you could do right now? You can travel freely through apocalypses."

"Hehe. You don't understand a reader's heart. [Intervening] in a novel and [appearing] in one are somewhat different. No, they are utterly different."

The Librarian laughed, covering their mouth with both sleeves.

"From an apocalypse's perspective, I am nothing more than a foreign substance. A foreign substance, an invasive species... a being that should never have existed in that world. Whether it is the Heaven-Slaying Star who killed the martial world's dragon or myself, we are alike in that respect."

"..."

"I do not wish to intervene in a novel as such a foreign substance! No, that would never do. I want to appear as a proper character in my own right, equal to the other characters, as though I had belonged to that world from the beginning! That is my dream as a reader of myriad worlds!"

I still did not understand.

The Librarian studied my expression and smiled.

"Then let me ask you something this time. Gongja, why did you not kill the Heavenly Demon?"

"..."

"In her final moments, the Heavenly Demon attained the realm of 'the heart itself is the killing.' Though she could not retain the power she had in life, she would retain her memories. Had you taken her in as one of your hundred ghosts, she would surely have been worth an entire army. Her devotion to you was admirable, so she would have remained a steadfast ally and an excellent master. Why did you not kill her?"

"... That's—"

"Shh."

The Librarian raised an index finger to stop my lips.

"It's all right. You need not say it. I already understand."

The finger pressed gently against my lips.

"You did not wish to interfere with the final end your master had reached. It is the same for me. I do not wish to intervene directly in the endings worlds have met. Your heart and mine are not so different..."

Before I knew it, the world had thawed all the way to the horizon.

The sun shone over a lake whose ice had broken apart to reveal the water.

"I refuse to intervene. That leaves only one way to become a character in a story."

"... What is it?"

"It is simple if you think of it in reverse. Rather than my seeking out a character in a novel, the character comes to seek me out."

The Librarian whispered.

"Lefanta Aegim. The Heaven-Slaying Star endlessly travels between worlds, killing constellations. Someday, he will visit my world, the Great Library of Myriad Thoughts, as well."

The Librarian smiled.

"To kill me."

The constellation drew something from inside their robes. A book. It looked different from the other apocalypses. Above all, it was old. Had it been taken out and read dozens, hundreds of times? Like an old author's notebook, its leather cover was worn and frayed.

[The Epic of Lefanta Aegim]

That title was embroidered on the leather in gold thread.

"..."

"I am waiting for the day the Heaven-Slaying Star visits the Great Library. I look forward to him someday standing before me, following his own story, of his own will. On that day, I shall finally appear in Lefanta Aegim's story."

"Even if that story ends with your death?"

"Of course."

The Librarian smiled brightly.

The constellation gazed down at the land where the snow had melted.

Their sleeves fluttered like a dancing crane.

"To be killed by the protagonist—would that not be the finest epilogue?"

4

There is something to tell as an afterword.

"Ah, Young Cult Leader."

Before returning to the library, I visited the Cult members. I wanted to make certain Master's funeral was being properly arranged.

"Welcome!"

"Welcome, Young Cult Leader."

The Cult members greeted me with fist-and-palm salutes as soon as they saw me. For some reason, though, they seemed flustered. It wasn't just one or two of them; every last one was scrambling about.

I tilted my head.

"Is the funeral already over?"

"N-no, Young Cult Leader. Um, the funeral has yet to..."

"Has something happened?"

The Cult members exchanged uneasy glances.

"Well..."

"The Heavenly Demon's body has disappeared."

It was Blood Demon, one of the Four Demon Lords, who spoke. Master had often called this Cult member the Commander of the Blood Demons.

"What?"

"You will understand more readily if you see for yourself, Young Cult Leader."

I hurried after Blood Demon.

Before long, we arrived where I had laid Master's body.

And I was struck speechless.

"Suddenly, the snow throughout the world began to melt. The Heavenly Demon's body disappeared as well... We beg your forgiveness. It all happened in the blink of an eye, leaving us no time to respond."

Where the snow had melted, Master's body was nowhere to be seen.

I could not find it no matter where I looked.

"We believe that the Heavenly Demon's internal energy was so exceedingly pure that, as time passed, her body naturally dissolved into energy and vanished..."

But red flowers were blooming there.

"..."

Where Master's body had last lain. Where her arms had rested. Where her feet had reached. Where her hair had spilled. In those places, vivid red peonies bloomed in lush profusion.

"Incredible."

The attendant spirit, silent until now, murmured.

"This world's constellation left nothing but a curse when it died, but your master left flowers. Your master is better than that dim-witted constellation."

I approached the flower garden and bent down. I stroked a peony's petals with my fingertips. The petals trembled faintly, rubbing red cheeks against my index finger.

It was the first spring to bloom in this world.

"Of course, we are continuing the preparations for the funeral," Blood Demon said behind me.

"We ask that you attend as well, Young Cult Leader..."

"No."

I shook my head.

"It's all right. Don't hold a funeral."

"Pardon?"

"This is enough."

I stood and turned to face the Cult members.

"Though I have inherited the lineage and become Young Cult Leader, some of you may still not truly accept me. The strong survive. It is our Cult's custom for the strongest martial artist to hold the highest position, after all."

"..."

"Let us replace the petty funeral rites with sparring. Offering what we treasure most must be the proper way to honor the dead. And aren't our swords what we treasure most? So let us offer our swords to Master."

I smiled.

"Come at me."

Spring was coming.

Like everyone who goes on living, my next story would begin on a stage a little higher than any before.