ch01-ch20 · 005-ch04

Chapter 4

Sometimes, in the middle of a dream, you realize, "This is a dream."

When you're aware of it and can even control your actions to some extent within the dream, that's called a lucid dream — but right now, Hayasaka Toru couldn't control his actions at all.

He simply realized, this is a dream.

A place like being thrown into the middle of outer space. No sense of ground, front and back and left and right were unclear. Countless lights twinkled in the far distance, but there was nothing nearby.

Even with the light, it was pitch black.

As he drifted through that void, a sphere of light suddenly appeared.

It didn't have a solid feel like a ball — more like a clump of light, was the impression.

Its size was about as big as a human head, maybe a little smaller.

Ah — this is "me," Toru thought.

Not through any particular reasoning. If you look at the back of your hand, you know it's your own hand. If a familiar alarm rings by your pillow, you know it's your own phone. No — rather than understanding or judgment, maybe it should be called "knowing."

At any rate, he couldn't doubt that the clump of light in front of him was himself.

A feeling of knowing.

The light shimmered, emitting a color somewhere between white and orange, flickering as it glowed. It seemed more gaseous than solid — even if he stuck his hand into it, he probably couldn't grab it.

Then, suddenly, half of it was gone.

"...Huh?"

Like slicing a watermelon in half with a giant knife, the left half of the light vanished.

The crescent-moon-shaped light... now it regained its light, like an eclipse ending... but what had been orange turned into a pale blue light.

A sphere of light split into two colors, right down the middle.

Half of me got eaten and turned into something else.

Without any logic or reason, that's just how he felt.

"...No, wait. Hey, hey hey hey...!"

Just when he thought it was over, the original orange side began to stain red from the edges. Not the red of a sunset — a scarlet that evoked blood.

And then — half pale blue, half deep crimson, the sphere of light became.

"...No, but... this is... 'me,' isn't it."

He thought so.

Again, it wasn't understanding or judgment — it was closer to a feeling of familiarity.

He knew this was himself.

Even though the original color was already gone.

Even so — this is "Hayasaka Toru."

◇◇◇

He felt like he'd had that kind of dream, but the first thing Toru checked when he woke up was whether he was alive or dead.

His limbs were intact, his heart was beating. For now, no physical abnormalities.

The place was still the room beyond that "illusion wall."

Thinking the black ogre might not have been able to get through the "illusion wall," he looked toward the room's entrance — and someone was there.

A woman with near-white blonde hair.

She wore Western-style attire, with pale blue light armor attached to her chest, shoulders, shins, and legs. She was on her knees, looking toward the entrance of the room.

She didn't seem very tall — about a head shorter than Toru, who was 174 centimeters. Even with the armor on, he could tell she had a slender build. Her platinum-blonde hair was tied simply at the back of her neck.

And — she was holding the Western sword Toru had pulled out, as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

"Ah, you're awake. How are you feeling?"

Turning to glance at Toru, she showed a friendly, warm smile.

A smile that seemed to radiate the kind of personality where helping others was second nature.

"...Feeling... well... who are you...?"

Unable to judge whether he should be on guard or not, still in the same position from when he'd woken up and checked his body, Toru answered the question with a question.

"I'm Tia. I'm like a spirit that was clinging to the holy sword 'Lightbringer' that you pulled out. Right now I'm manifested like this, though."

She said it with a slightly embarrassed look.

Her expression and manner were cuter than any idol out there — but more than that, her words were far more important.

"Holy Sword Lightbringer? And you're a spirit clinging to it...?"

"Lightbringer is this thing here."

You're the one who pulled it out, aren't you? — the woman in light armor, Tia, said, holding up the Western sword in her hand. Despite the blade being a full meter long, she handled it like it was a wooden stick.

"...What do you mean, 'like a spirit'?"

"Yeah. This is a little embarrassing, but... it seems my memories, thoughts, and soul were stuck to Lightbringer. I think it's probably because this sword connects with its owner's soul... I'm surprised too."

She let out an embarrassed "ehehe" laugh, but that part was still hard to let slide.

Toru stood up, shook his head a few times, and pressed further.

"No, no, no — wait a minute. Your memories or thoughts or soul were stuck to it? A weapon that connects with souls? That's mythic-class stuff, isn't it."

Legendary items that had been discovered a few times since the World Fusion.

For example, a ring that let you fly freely just by wearing it.

A magic staff that devoured the magical power of its owner and surroundings to fire a blast that could pierce mountains.

A sword that heightened the user's magical power and wrapped the blade in lightning.

A device that enabled teleportation between designated spaces at no cost.

Supposedly, only two items surpassing those — mythic-class items — had been confirmed. If the textbook Toru used in middle school hadn't been updated, then no new ones should have been found even now.

One was the core of a barrier-generating device owned by the elves of Atlantis, the continent that appeared during the World Fusion.

One was the "Divine Spear" held by the S-rank explorer who supposedly killed every monster from the chain of "Dungeon Rampages" in the early 2000s.

Magic, magic tools, or cursed items that interfered with a living being's soul had never been discovered. If what Tia said was true, then Lightbringer was a sword with mythic-class effects.

Direct interference with the soul was impossible.

He'd learned that in middle school, and that conventional wisdom hadn't been overturned.

"Yeah, maybe. The spirits gathered stardust, an ancient dragon swallowed it, and it was forged inside the ancient dragon's body before being born as a holy sword. It connects with its owner's soul and refuses use by anyone else. Well, that is beyond human understanding."

Tia smiled with a hint of pride.

But a pretty woman's smile was the last thing on Toru's mind right now.

He let out a breath, covered his face with his right hand, and thought.

Anyway — what the holy sword Lightbringer was, set that aside for now. The matter of what Tia actually was, also set aside for now.

"...First, we need to escape, right..."

Completely ignoring the blonde female swordsman, Toru pulled out his mobile device from his pocket to check the stream, but he couldn't connect to the network at all.

Labyrinths were too vast for radio waves to reach, and even on the surface, various magical tools seemed to interfere with radio waves, so magical communication had become the norm in modern times.

In the modern era, batteries weren't storage cells — they were magical power charging devices, made from the "magic cores" Toru worked so hard to collect.

At any rate, if the magical communication wasn't working... it meant either the device was broken, or he was too far from the relay station installed in Sugai Dungeon.

Just in case, Toru checked the body camera, but it was malfunctioning. It probably wasn't broken from the black ogre's attack — if he'd taken a direct hit, Toru would've died before the camera did.

"Hey, what are you doing?"

Tia tilted her head innocently. Toru's eyes fell on the blade of the holy sword she held — a dull iron color that, somehow... didn't look like it could cut very well.

"Trying to figure out the situation. Can I ask you some stuff?"

"Of course. As long as it's something I can answer."

She nodded as if it were the most natural thing in the world, friendly from the very start. She didn't force Toru to talk while he was in the middle of his confusion, and quietly waited.

A good person, probably.

If she was actually hiding a nasty personality underneath, Toru would have to crank up his misanthropy another notch. He really didn't want to live his life with that dial turned up any more, so he could only hope Tia's kindness was genuine — but anyway.

"That sword, Lightbringer. It looks like it has no edge."

The blade — or should he say the blade, since it was a Western sword — was a dull iron color, looking at first glance like lead. Even from a distance, it was clear it hadn't been sharpened.

Of course, whacking something with a meter-long piece of iron would pack a punch. Just like the bundled rebar bludgeon Toru favored.

But he couldn't believe a mythic-class weapon — one that Tia said was forged from stardust inside an ancient dragon's body — was just a simple blunt instrument.

"Ah, this? Of course it generates a magical blade when cutting, but Lightbringer isn't a slashing-focused weapon to begin with. Its true specialty is its effectiveness against undead, spirits, evil entities, demons, magical creatures — that kind of evil."

She held up the sword proudly with a "hmmph."

The truth of it was unclear, but she didn't seem like she was lying.

"Ah... well, let's leave it at that for now. Next question. You said you were a spirit clinging to the sword, but you look like you have a physical form. And you're holding the sword too."

"That's because I'm manifested. It's easier to show you, so let me demonstrate. Watch closely."

Saying that, Tia held the sword up for Toru to see — and disappeared.

Literally — vanished.

The sword hit the floor with a heavy-sounding clang.

"...She disappeared."

"Yeah. And I can re-manifest like this too."

A voice came from diagonally behind him. Toru couldn't help but spin around, jumping back a step.

Tia's face, wearing an apologetic wry smile, looked like it had proper blood flowing through it. Unlike the "evil spirits" he'd seen in explorer streams — she had none of that, well, incompatible-with-the-world atmosphere.

She was a young woman who looked kind, with a slightly boyish quality.

Leaving Toru frozen a step back, Tia walked without making her armor clink, picked up the holy sword she'd dropped, and looked at it with a slightly complicated expression.

"Lightbringer connects with its owner's soul. The property of driving away demons and evil spirits comes from the holy attribute inherent in the sword itself, but also because it has the power to interfere with the material world's exterior — with the mental world. Rather than striking a manifested demon's physical body, it hits the demon's essence, its astral body. That kind of holy sword. This characteristic comes precisely from its connection with the owner's soul."

"...No, that's a bit hard to follow. Astral body?"

"Well, I can teach you the details if needed later. Anyway, Lightbringer seems to have set you as its owner."

"Didn't you say it refuses use by anyone other than its owner?"

"I'm probably part of the holy sword too, then. I said I was a spirit clinging to the sword, but probably, part of my soul remained in Lightbringer."

Again, that apologetic wry smile.

Then Tia, with practiced ease, spun the holy sword around and hooked the metal fitting on the guard to the back of her armor, slinging the sword over her shoulder.

The movement was so light it made you forget how heavy it must have been.

"Hey, you. Can you tell me your name?"

There was something in Tia's voice as she spoke with a smile — a tone that almost sounded like a prayer.

Maybe it was just his imagination.

But he was sure he'd felt it.

"Hayasaka Toru. Hayasaka's the family name, Toru's the given name. When I enter the labyrinth, I go by Toru."

"Then I'll call you Toru."

"Whatever you like."

"Let me properly introduce myself again — I'm Tia. I was the previous owner of the holy sword Lightbringer. Right now, I'm using your soul to manifest in the world — I guess you could call me a ghost clinging to the holy sword."

"..."

He wasn't surprised — he knew.

Yes, it was that feeling of knowing.

What had split his half and glowed pale blue — that was Tia.

A pure radiance befitting the bearer of a holy sword.

"...Wait, hold on. Where's the other one?"

If Tia was using half his soul.

Then the one that had dyed the original half crimson must be the other blade.

"Hmm... that thing, it's not really a sword — it's a cursed artifact. A cursed item in the shape of a blade. It should be buried in your soul just like this one, so I think you can pull it out."

Tia said it with a slightly disgusted look.

Toru didn't ask what she meant.

Because — yes, he had that feeling of knowing.