Vol 4 Prologue (1/2)
Overture: 700
He had been betrayed
He was nailed to a great tree with countless stakes like a pitiable insect that had been pierced through The pain had long gone, and he had nothe coldness of the chains wrapped around his entire body
This place, where cause and effect had been corroded, had forever ceased to change The sun no longer gave it warots and flies bypassed this land without noticing it The air was stale as ever Only tiless time, crawled ever onward
The poison na him from within After one hundred days of imprisonment, he swore to fulfill any wish of the person who freed him After a hundred months, he swore to fulfill any three wishes of his liberator After a hundred years, he swore to fulfill any number of wishes, whatever they may be
“In conclusion, your idea is very inefficient, Kirigirisu”
“Kudan, you seem to lack the talent to enjoy life”
“So it’s best to call little shi+nzō Ukako as Kako”
“It’s uriko as Guriko Don’t you think that’s excellent?”
“Right Is Guriko still following us?” “Looks like it” “How troublesome” “Very troublesome”
After a hundred days, he almost succumbed to madness After a hundred months, he became tired of madness After a hundred years, his heart had already become as still as that of a plant
Two mysterious travelers appeared when he had already fallen into despair, having even given up on thinking Have been imprisoned here, i and he tottered on the edge of death
“… Did you hear someone?” “Oh? We’re the only ones here apart from insects and birds – God is the only other person here”
They were two very odd travelers and did not seem to be normal humans They efficiently laid out wooden branches and lit their campfire in the deepest bowels of the verdant forest that refused human entry, and sat around the fire and chatted casually
One of thereen from head to toe
The other was a bold Buddhist nun with a giant eyeball on her forehead
The irisu and Kudan did not notice his presence, just like every other organism
The duo, whose figures were painted cri
“Say, Kirigirisu, have you heard of so like this?”
“What? Kudan, you always sound so boring Please get on with it”
Theto ruin the moment, the nun closed her two human eyes and only kept the eye on her forehead open: “… This so-called world – ”
“Woah It’s this kind of grandiose and boring topic again!”
“This so-called world – is me”
The nun ignored the man and muttered The Buddhist frock she as stained with so that could be either mud or blood and was rather dirty Such an odd traveler One couldn’t help but wonder if she was even human Was she a God, a Buddha, an oni, a yōkai? Or was she an illusion that his mind, tired of this endless solitude, had conjured up?
The nun called Kudan slurred her words as if she were licking so tis We have e and have met many people, and irisu – what is the World?”
“Oh? Aaa – it’s rather bothersos The world – isn’t it just this?”
Kirigirisu casually grabbed a handful of dirt fro it at the nun
Whoosh – incredibly, the dirt passed right through the nun’s body Did she dodge it? Or were they really just illusions?
“… hey, don’t dodge”
“Of course I’ll dodge It’d dirty my clothes otherwise… So the world that you speak of is only a part of the world Is the world the ground? The sky? Nature? Or cities? If everything within this planet is the world, that is still only a part of the world The World – is only e can feel and manipulate For example…”
In the blink of an eye, Kudan suddenly turned her head and stared at one location
”For him, as sealed there, the so-called world - is only the narrow space around him”
”The world that you can recognize, the world that is centered on yourself - that seems to be e consider as the world” He looked up, startled Kudan continued nonchalantly and he couldn't tell if she had noticed this ”The world is indestructible, an iuarded by God It is perfect and invincible - that's an illusion we often have However, Kirigirisu, it's simple for me to just erase your world” Kudan slowly stretched out her hand and covered up Kirigirisu's eyes ” I can't see anything anymore” ”See The world disappeared” Kudan took back her hand, sinal pose ”At the beginning, God said 'Let there be light' Then there was light, and Heaven and Earth were created Do you understand what thatincredible It's not so it all the time”
The giant eyeball on her forehead suddenly blinked forcibly
”If you close your eyes, then the world will end Although there is still sound and scent, those will also disappear when you fall asleep Then, if you did this - if you open your eyes and say 'let there be light', then light would come into your world”
Kudan stretched out her ar
“Then ere able to understand the existence of heaven and earth We could then feel the ocean, wind, animals, plants, learn to differentiate the people around us as parents, lovers… God said ‘let there be light’ at the beginning, then He created heaven and earth, and finally made humans”
Kudan smiled silently and said this softly She see to solesslyto herself
“Do you understand? What God is doing is the sa Every day that ake up, we are creating heaven and earth, experiencing endless annihilations and rebirths Then night falls, and we are enveloped by darkness – the world would then disappear God is the same as me The World is also the same as me”
Then – Kudan once again pointed at him “Then, exactly which part of our body created the world? It’s simple – it’s the brain The brain is our core, just like the core of God is the core of the world If the brain cannot comprehend the world, then the world would not be born even if there is light –”
As she threwfire, she looked at him with pity in her eyes
”The brain of God - the World will disappear if you disappeared Therefore, please bear with it a little longer, just a little longer You are the organ hich God created everything You are His brain”
He wanted very h of thinking He didn't want to stay in this world for even one second longer However -
”Seven hundred more years”
The bizarre nun gently spoke to him of the existence of hope: ”Seven hundred h we are travelers who are torn from the world and are not within the loop of cause and effect - but we also obtained the power to stand separate fros and look down upon this world as a whole Anyways, seven hundred years is only the blink of an eye Pass that ti, if you wish”