Chapter 71

 

Chapter 71. Reunion (1)

'It started with that violet sword.'

The World Tree remembered everything.

Every last playthrough, without exception.

The Demon God of Enchantment, Bellatrice.

That was how it was known to the world, but the World Tree knew its origin was a sword.

The first sword to appear in the Abyss one day.

The sword that bewitched all things and plunged the world into ruin.

It began with a voice.

——If you desire me, prove yourself.

An alluring woman's timbre that blanketed the world.

That single, brief utterance turned the world into a hellscape.

Kill and take!!!

Humans slaughtered one another to possess the sword.

Only the strongest could claim it.

And whoever came to possess the sword was devoured by it.

The sword proliferated endlessly.

SWOOOOOSH———.

The Abyss engulfed the world.

Even the thing called Gates on Earth coveted the sword.

The Abyss consumed the world ever faster, and the monsters spawned from it devoured one another in their greed for the sword.

And beyond that—.

The sword is mine.

The high beings called Dark Gods and Demon Gods shattered the walls of the world and appeared.

Even those horrific demons fought viciously—exterminating humans, sometimes killing each other—all to obtain the sword.

'Humans and demons alike. The world has gone mad.'

So the World Tree judged.

She led the Elves and fled to the farthest edge of the continent.

She'd thought she'd built a paradise for the World Tree and the Elves at the world's end, but.......

——Haha, you have all fallen to enchantment. What a dull world.

One day, the world collapsed.

A single colossal violet sword swallowed the entire world.

A horrific demon sword that cast all of creation into enchantment—the sword that later generations would come to know as the Demon God of Enchantment.

That sword returned the world to nothing.

<The world is rebuilt.>

Nature grew upon the barren earth.

The world was rebuilt once more.

Within it, the Earth Mother—the World Tree—enriched the land and spread the vigor of life with resounding strength.

Had it been a dream?

Humanity flourished, sometimes fighting among themselves as they grew.

Once again, the Abyss appeared and monsters ran rampant, threatening humanity's survival.

Then, from the Abyss, a girl carrying a crimson greatsword appeared.

"We despise this world."

A girl who commanded crimson demons.

An existence no different from a catastrophe, yet the World Tree took note of the fact that she carried a "sword."

And so the World Tree mobilized nature itself and manipulated the Elves to kill her.

No—she did kill her.

"World Tree, you wicked tree that dares obstruct Us. Hurry and become Our nourishment!"

Every time she was killed, the world repeated.

And each time, the madwoman who called herself "We" returned wielding even greater power, threatening the World Tree.

In the end, the World Tree met her death.

And so.......

"Ho, so the World Tree is a type of iron."

The world repeated.

In a world where the crimson woman had vanished, a fearsome dwarf wielding a blunt greatsword set his sights on her.

The World Tree fought alongside the Elves.

She fled to survive, and sometimes accepted death in resignation.

The result?

"A decent wooden sword. Still nothing compared to my hammer, though."

She died as a wooden sword.

And the next playthrough?

—STAB!

With no warning and no miracle, the World Tree was killed by an assassin.

She was the first to be erased from the continent.

After thousands of deaths, the World Tree gained an epiphany.

This couldn't continue.

Whenever the world ended, a new sword would appear and butcher her. That much was certain.

Take my hand.

The World Tree embraced evil and demonic power to ensure her survival.

But the fifth sword to appear was one imbued with pure divine power.

Even a corrupted World Tree was utterly powerless before a sacred holy sword.

She won the first few playthroughs, but.......

As the world repeated, the holy sword's sanctity grew sharper, and eventually the World Tree met death once more.

Eternity.

Yes.

The World Tree had been hunted by the swords across an endless stretch of ages.

Mercilessly slaughtered, stripped of every power she possessed, and even her kin, the Elves, all perished wretchedly.

And yet.......

Death.

The sixth and final sword to appear.

The sword cloaked in azure blue light killed the World Tree in a single playthrough, without the world repeating even once.

And so, she'd believed this endless suffering had come to an end, but.......

The Void.

One day, the World Tree opened her eyes in a strange dimension.

Herself, existing in the form of a seed.

Demons defiling her.

She was planted somewhere, then purified, and.......

Just when she thought she'd finally escaped—.

'The swords again!!!'

The swords that had killed her across an eternity.

Those horrific swords were all gathered in one place, staring right at her.

And so, they were reunited.

_____________________

Ep. 24 Reunion.

A sprout the size of a fingernail was screaming.

Its voice was so familiar that my brow furrowed reflexively.

—Th-th-these horrible swords. The monsters that killed me hundreds of millions of times have come again!!!

It was the World Tree's voice.

The tree that had served as a landmark in the world of Raise a Sword.

And the tree that had given my swords the most grief and hardship.

At that voice, my swords reacted.

[The abominable tree that the Sword Master always, always warned us about—.]

The dependable 1st Sword, Reinhardt, spoke.

[—It remembers every world.]

This was a warning.

A warning that the sprout should be annihilated immediately.

It had only just sprouted, yet it was already spouting ominous words.

"The World Tree...... It is a terrible thing."

A being with whom proper dialogue had never once been possible.

It had controlled the Elves—an entire continental race—to obstruct my swords' path.

Its antics had been even more troublesome than the Dark Gods or Demon Gods.

'Without fail, it exhibited bizarre patterns in every single playthrough......'

In Raise a Sword, when a sword broke, the world repeated.

World affairs stayed identical and even the Dark Gods' patterns remained the same, yet the World Tree alone acted differently every time.

Sometimes it would deploy Elves in advance to the locations where swords would appear, shutting down entire strategic flows. Other times it would ally with demons to accelerate the world's collapse.

'An unpredictable catastrophe.'

That was the World Tree as I knew it.

[This maiden would be happy to devour the unfinished sprout!]

The swords were unanimous.

As long as that incredibly dangerous tree retained its memories, the right course was to destroy it at once!

But I thought differently.

"The World Tree is necessary."

Setting aside how abominable the World Tree was.

It was, after all, the landmark of the Raise a Sword world.

It was undeniably the best means of cultivating a similar environment.

"That's the only way you'll be able to appear in the world with physical bodies."

My swords could exist in the flesh?

They could wield their blades alongside me?

Ever since that possibility had surfaced, a single absolute goal had taken root in my mind.

No—it was fair to call it the singular goal of my entire life.

<Make the swords Manifest on Earth, complete with their souls.>

The swords I'd forged, and the beings who'd wielded them, given physical form.

How could I possibly contain my excitement?

This wasn't merely driven by desire.

If it became possible for the swords to take physical form, Earth's safety would be all but guaranteed.

[That the Sword Master would go so far for this maiden......]

[We shall uphold the Sword Master's most exalted will!!!]

My swords were moved.

Starting with Iris and Reinhardt.

[Sword Master, I have no particular desire to see your face. However, I am curious how hard the iron on Earth might be.]

[Sword Master...... i-in your world, can even a Holy Empress pursue romance?]

Even Muratan and Yuria offered fervent responses.

Muratan's grumbling was par for the course.

'Still thinking about romance?'

Yuria's notion made my head tilt on its own.

Having comprehended everything and witnessed the end of the world, Yuria still apparently harbored interest in something like romance.

[Halt!!! For a seeker of the sword, something like romance holds no meaning—.]

Reinhardt admonished in my stead.

I very much agreed, but.......

'Interest alone isn't a bad thing.'

Yuria was already a complete sword.

I wanted to give her a sliver of hope.

So I told her about Earth's reality.

"On Earth, by the will of the one true god Jesus Christ, even popes date, marry, and do everything."

For the record, every religion on Earth was open to all regardless of age, sex, or race.

Because that was Jesus's will.

The romance between a thirty-four-year-old South American woman serving as Pope and a twenty-six-year-old East Asian pastor had once been the talk of the entire world.

I recalled hearing rumors of their marriage before my Awakening.

Something about the true reconciliation of Christianity and Catholicism?

When I shared this, Yuria was utterly shocked.

[I-isn't the papacy a position that only the most noble and chaste can hold?]

"Earth is different. Once you take physical form, the restrictions from your world will probably all disappear."

Jesus supported LGBTQ rights and held an open-minded view on sexuality.

He endorsed romance between all genders.

Naturally, there was no discrimination based on age, sex, or race, and since he himself was Black, there was a notably high proportion of Black clergy among Western pastors.

Was there any religion on Earth as free as Christianity and Catholicism?

[Gasp!!!]

Yuria let out a breathless cry.

Then Reinhardt questioned me, bewildered.

[What meaning could a pointless act like romance possibly hold?]

As a seeker of the sword, it was indeed meaningless.

Reinhardt would feel that way more than anyone.

'I've got a bad feeling about this.'

I felt I needed to choose my words carefully here.

I was a bit guilty, after all.

"I'm going to let you all do whatever you want once you're on Earth."

I meant it.

I'd imposed so many restrictions on my swords in order to make them conquer the world.

After they Manifested on Earth, I intended to let them do whatever their hearts desired.

[I shall consider what it is I wish to do.]

With Reinhardt's earnest reply as the closing word, the matter of the World Tree's treatment was decided.

The World Tree: for now, put it to use.

***

I positioned the Ferocious Demons in a forward perimeter, then addressed the World Tree.

"Purify this entire surrounding territory and bulk up fast."

The World Tree scattered a venomous green scent and flicked its leaves away with a snide turn, like a brat throwing a tantrum.

What was it going to do if it defied me?

I stared at the sprout impassively and spoke.

"There are no Elves here to serve as your hands and feet. No nature to bend to your whims, either."

A demon approached and extended its tongue, giving the sprout a lick.

The little plant glanced left and right, then shuddered violently.

"This is my territory. It was only by my will that your corrupted self was restored to its true form."

Had the World Tree grasped its situation?

The earth trembled, and the surrounding contamination began to be sucked into the World Tree.

[A tree that grows by devouring all things—the World Tree.]

Fitting for the being that had served as the model for Iris's Million Demons.

An Authority that consumed even contamination and converted it into life force.

POP!

The sprout grew a little taller.

FLASH!

[A World Tree has sprouted in Shin Si-woo's territory—Pyongyang.]

A single tree planted in my land.

That was the World Tree.

The system confirmed it.

'The World Tree is never an easy creature to deal with.'

Of course, I had no intention of letting my guard down.

It might feign obedience while it was a sprout, only to turn on me once it grew powerful. The probability was very high.

I must never let it get comfortable.

[Sword Master! This maiden can now command the demons outside!]

Separate from concerns about the World Tree, planting it on this land appeared to have been the right call.

Just from planting one World Tree, changes had begun to occur in the World of Swords.

FLASH!

[The World of Swords grows more vivid.]

The domain where the swords resided had become slightly more defined.

And it seemed my swords could now use certain abilities without an Ego Sword summon.

'Iris can control the demons on Earth?'

This was an enormous breakthrough.

Didn't it mean the swords could intervene in places beyond the reach of my consciousness?

The evidence was clear.

FLASH!

[The swords grow a little closer to the world.]

The system served to notify us of our changes in real time.

It seemed that altering Earth's environment was indeed the right answer.

'Cultivating the environment.'

I could now articulate my objective more concretely.

1. Raise the swords' Manifestation values to 100/100.

2. Recreate the environment the swords lived in on Earth.

3. Raise the Baby Sword and achieve Transcendence over time and space.

The more of these conditions I fulfilled, the higher the probability that my swords could take physical form.

'Even fulfilling just one should make conditional Manifestation possible.'

This was something I could know because it was my ability and I was the Sword Master.

The reason the swords' souls mattered was simple.

'The souls that wield my swords are far stronger than the swords themselves.'

The swords I'd raised referred, precisely speaking, to both the sword and its wielder.

Right now, using only the Transcendent swords in their Ego Sword form, I was utilizing less than half their true power.

'Bellatrice, Iris, Jun, Muratan, Yuria, Reinhardt.'

Yes.

The real deal was the souls who'd grown strong alongside my swords.

For reference, each sword originally had its own unique name.

I'd simply renamed them after the users who'd cleared Raise a Sword.

'First, I'll get the swords' values to a hundred, then......'

While I was drafting concrete plans for the future.

A bizarre phenomenon occurred before my eyes.

TREMBLE———!!!

The slightly-grown World Tree sprout shook its leaves with ominous intensity.

The green fragrance of nature—phytoncide—brushed past the tip of my nose.

'The scent of a forest in a barren North Korea that was crawling with Polluted Beasts—what fresh abomination is this?'

That thing was obviously up to something again.

——Grrr, lick!

A hundred demons took turns threatening the World Tree.

The sprout went quiet once more.

'Of all things, the exact same World Tree had to grow.'

Just recalling the ordeals from Raise a Sword made my blood boil.

Even my swords were recoiling in disgust, advocating for the World Tree's annihilation.

But now, the World Tree and I had become bound by fate.

'There's no going back.'

FLASH!

[Reshape your territory to cultivate the proper environment for the swords.]

Condition 1. Growth of the World Tree.

Condition 2. The Imperial Citadel of the Ruzbella Empire.

[Reward: Lost memories, Tower entry quest, Mystery 5,000 kg]

The system that served humanity desired it.

And it also seemed to want me to look like a Great-Korean-Empire supremacist.