CH 9

Being of the Same Origin

The maggots aren’t stopping.

–I’m being eaten.

Bite, chew, slurp. My body continued to disappear as if it was melting away.

–I’m being eaten.

They aren’t stopping. I can’t stop them. The screeching sounds that were echoing in this cave were surely the maggots’ shouts of joy.

–I’m being eaten.

My body was eroding. My body’s senses were disappearing like a finished puzzle that was being taken apart one piece after another.

–I’m going to die.

I’m going to die at this rate. No, I was already a dead man long ago. Nothing can save me now.

――Giving up?

I have been giving up. I’m sure that I had given up since a long time ago. Sora Mitsurugi will never become anything.

――Truly…an idiot.

Yeahh, I am an idiot. But what can I do other than to give up in a situation like this?

――Eat.

What?

――Eat.

Eat? Eat what? These maggots?

――That’s Right.

What good would it do to go so far to try to survive? I can’t be saved anyway. In the first place, even if I can eat the dozen maggots that have gone inside my mouth, there’s no way I can stop the hundreds of maggots that are all over my body. And even if I somehow manage to get rid of the hundreds on me, there’s probably still a few thousand left in this cave. It won’t do anything in the end.

――Like I said…just be quiet… and eat.

I don’t want to be eaten. I don’t want to die. But there’s nothing I can do about it. The weak is unneeded. That’s the way it is. The island didn’t need me, the city didn’t need me. I’m just someone who’s unneeded. I’m not needed as a swordsman, I’m not needed as an adventurer, nobody needs Sora Mitsurugi! My father’s words were right!

――That’s…infuriating.

…Infuriating?

――If thou perished just like that, won’t thy father laugh at you?

No, he won’t. I bet his expression wouldn’t change at all even if he saw me in these last moments. I was already dead to him when he banished me from the island. But…yeah, I’m sure Raguna would though. Ayaka, Gozu, Cecil, and all the other pupils will probably mock me too, like “I knew Sora Mitsurugi was someone who was only going to get so far”. Everyone in 『Falcon Sword』, the guild’s receptionist, the inn owner and his daughter would surely do that as well.

――That’s…annoying.

…Yeah, that’s right, it’s annoying. Even if I can’t be saved anymore, I can’t stand going down the way those guys think I would. Whether it’s ten or twenty, I will take some of the king of flies’ children with me. Luckily, I could still move my mouth. My teeth were still there as well. I can still easily crush them with it.

――Start eating, then.

Yeahh, I’ll eat. Since I’m going to die anyway, I’ll just eat them until I’m gone– Yes, if I was going to struggle regardless, I’ll eat them all. If I do that, maybe I could even survive. A couple dozen, a couple hundred, or even a couple thousand of them, it won’t really change what I have to do.

――Eat. Eat them all.

It’s to be eaten and die or eat to survive, right? Then I have no other choice. Ahh, why didn’t I realize something so simple before?

――Eat… everything… in this world.

Not just the maggots. The ones who looked down on me, the ones who made fun of me, and the ones who betrayed me as well…

――Thou and I.

If only I could just swallow them all in one bite. Ah yeah, that would really hit the spot after these eighteen years.

――We…

Sora Mitsurugi was a person who couldn’t do anything. He couldn’t fight, he couldn’t protect

―― We have the same origin… and we are so alike.

I can become anything I like? What can a guy who can’t even keep the oath he made to his mother do? The only thing that I can do is-

――Thus, the attunement…has been completed.

…I will devour everything, that’s all.

――From now on… I will be…your soul equipment.

After the conversation with I have no idea who, I emerged into a new realm of consciousness.

…I saw a strange vision in the end.

I was in a desolate land filled with rocks and mud.

There, a gigantic tree stood tall in the middle of that place. It was an oak tree.

And next to the oak tree, there was a huge figure about the size of a small mountain sitting there like it was guarding it.

That giant creature with scales that were as black as the night sky was a dragon no matter how I looked at it.

…The strongest race within all the mythical races of this world.

It raised its long neck and looked at me, probably because it had noticed me looking.

I did not understand a dragon’s expressions, nor did I speak the dragon’s language.

And yet, for some reason, I felt like the dragon was smiling.

And yet, I felt like I could understand its words somehow.

The dragon gave me its name.

Its name was――