Chapter 592 - The Acrobat's Explanation: Part 4
◇ You have a new message ◇
"Oops."
Just as I was deflecting the chorus of exasperated reactions with a thoroughly noncommittal laugh, a small system notification icon started blinking at the edge of my vision.
The sender's name was a familiar one.
Guessing the general gist of it, I opened the letter… and sure enough, the message was exactly what I’d pictured, drawing a faint, amused smile from me.
"Huh? What's up?"
The message window I'd opened via thought command was in its default state—invisible to other players. Thus, to Mi-na, who was still perched on my head, it must have looked like I’d started laughing for no reason. She let out an annoyed groan, as if complaining that the table is malfunctioning.
I should just fall backward and crush this Chibisu.
"Ah, it's nothing… well, not exactly nothing. Something's just come up—a little errand. So, sorry, but I'm gonna have to speed up this explanation."
"What?! You're gonna rush through the most confusing part?!"
"Yeah, yeah, quiet down. Stop making a racket on top of my head. I'll tell you what I was doing, and if you watch it in slow motion, you'll probably get the gist of how I lost, anyway."
Perhaps she sensed my unusually good mood and decided to take advantage of my leniency, or perhaps she was just oblivious. Ignoring the threat of punishment, the red-clad girl kept complaining. I deliberately sent another earthquake her way and resumed playing the screen I’d paused for my explanation.
A few moments later, the scene replayed: me taking a direct hit from Irori's [Shiguruma], and then, finally, being trapped by the instant freeze of a successful [Hyouka]… and then a little while after that.
It was the moment I unleashed my Four Winds One-Sword for the first time in public—the Second Strike, [Shizuku]—and shredded the ice prison to bits.
"This is the first one… no, wait, the second Art recognized by the system. Like I said before, it's the culmination of the technique for storing power in a detached 'Outer Force.'"
"'This one,' you say, but…"
"We can't see what's inside, so we have no idea what you're doing."
"Fair enough. So, I'll show you now."
Tetra and Mi-na had a point, and I had no intention of explaining it that deeply anyway. So, I paused the video again and used the borrowed power of [Anhelmia]… this time, also making full use of my 'memory' gift to manifest a slightly more complex illusion.
It was none other than an illusion of myself.
…………………………………………An illusion… of… me…………?
"…Do I really look like this?"
""Hmm…""
I’ve seen myself in videos within Arcadia like this a few times before, so the gift’s benefits should have been working. And yet, there was an indescribable sense of wrongness to the 'me' I'd drawn forth from my perfect memory…
"Creating a phantom is a little different from drawing a picture. It's not just pulled from memory and skill, but also strongly influenced by emotion. So it's difficult to accurately depict yourself."
As I tilted my head along with Tetra and Mi-na, Ri-na-sensei offered a footnote while gently stroking her knees. Oh, I see…
I'm very grateful for the lesson, but could you stop? That's super ticklish.
"Well, I guess a fake me will do… Alright, let's have this guy show you what I was doing inside."
When I made the phantom hand conjure a [Samidorizuki], its appearance was of a quality completely identical to the original. The [El-Gran Stasia] my doppelganger was wearing was also perfectly replicated, so as Ri-na said, it must be something unique to depicting 'oneself.'
In any case, there was no problem making it move.
"First, the premise. Lately, I've been splitting my 'Outer Force' into two—one for 'regular use' and one for 'technique use.' And—I'm telling you, this is a stone-cold fact—this is definitely less difficult than the Sword Saint's [Shukuchi]. So don't you dare look at me like that."
I brushed off the questioning stares from the black, red, and blue pairs of eyes. I left about ninety percent of the 'Outer Force' aura enveloping the phantom on its body and made the remaining ten percent float beside it as a 'sphere.'
"The part I left behind is the resource for basic combat movements and 'Matoi.' The little one on the side is the detached 'Outer Force' used for techniques."
"It's so small."
"That's all?"
I nodded in response to Mi-na and Ri-na's questions and started to spin the detached 'sphere.'
To make it easier to see, I had it orbit the body… and to make it even clearer, I gradually increased its size. The 'sphere,' which steadily grew in speed and size, eventually swelled until it was far larger than the resources left on the body.
"I'm storing power, so it's fine to start small. Also, this size is about the limit of my control, but honestly, there's probably no upper limit to how much I can store."
Well, the size is just a visual representation, of course. And while I'm at it—
"Also, I'm showing it outside the body to make it easy to understand, but in practice, it's like this."
With that, I compressed the massive, high-speed sphere orbiting the body and shoved it into its stomach.
Instantly, confused voices crying "Huh?" "Wha?" and "Eh?" reached me, which was only natural. It was a completely nonsensical state of affairs—inviting a detached 'Outer Force' back inside… but well, this was the image that worked best for me, so it couldn't be helped.
"Uh, is that okay? I mean, it's not okay, right? The 'Outer Force' is fundamentally the power that moves your body, so if you shove it inside and spin it around…"
An Arcadia avatar probably doesn't have internal organs, but it is equipped with realistic sensations.
Perhaps that's why Tetra, grimacing, had conjured some gruesome image in his head. But I just shook my head at him.
"The 'Outer Force' is, more accurately, 'something that can become the power to move the body.' It's not just a simple mass of energy in itself. How should I put it… it's like a principle from another dimension that can be mutually converted between image and energy?"
"""…???"""
"Okay, just go with the general idea. The general idea is fine."
In any case… the point is that even if you layer them, it won't cause some unwatchable splatter scene where your organs get blended or your body explodes.
Well, it can happen, but with proper control, it's no problem.
Putting that aside, I said I 'detach' it, but I can't maintain the roundabout thought process of having it spin around endlessly outside my body during combat.
Therefore, I take a small 'fragment,' independent from the main 'Outer Force,' and deep within my gut, like a spinning top—I keep it rotating. Quietly, fiercely, converging its power to the absolute limit.
And the technique that returns that 'power' to the body and unleashes it is the Four Winds One-Sword.
"[Shizuku]… is like this."
The stance for the Second Strike, [Striking Iron]: right hand in a standard grip, left hand in a reverse grip, holding the pommel and the hilt end respectively to firmly lock the blade. It could be called a particularly unusual stance even within Kesshiki Ittoryu. A slightly modified version of this two-handed grip is the basic form for all my Arts.
A super-high-speed movement that surpasses the speed of sound, making it impossible to even swing the sword.
If that's the case, then I don't have to swing it with my body alone. I just have to swing it with my entire being—every movement, including my steps.
The phantom's poised figure blurred, and sword flashes, drawn with light rays to be visible, burst forth in a spiral. I slowed the movement down considerably, so the three of them were probably just barely able to see it.
"The Second Strike, as you can see, is a 'rotation.' To put it simply, it's an area-of-effect attack that indiscriminately minces everything in a full circle with what are basically blades of sword pressure, or maybe wind pressure, generated by a spin speed that's broken past its limits."
"…Could you say that again, but simpler?"
"It's an area-of-effect attack that indiscriminately minces everything in a full circle with what are basically blades of sword pressure, or maybe wind pressure, generated by a spin speed that's broken past its limits—"
"Okay, that's enough, you can stop talking now, buddy. …Ugh, I think this is the most I've ever felt like 'this is a game' since I started Arcadia. My head hurts…"
How rude.
It might sound like I'm doing something reckless, but I even learned the Kesshiki Ittoryu's `Juko` to achieve extended range without a [Water Enchant]. I established this technique step by step, you know.
The Kesshiki Ittoryu's sixth form, `Juko`, is the sword technique that served as the basis for Irori's skill, [Ekou]. It’s a fantasy sword art where the Sword Saint herself achieved a long-range attack with a single blade, based on the nonsensical principle of scooping up the wind and placing it on the sword's tip.
In other words, I desperately pursued the absurd in order to achieve the absurd. …Oh, I guess I don't really have a right to complain if they look at me with exasperation, huh?
Oh well, let's keep it moving.
Last up is the main event. The single moment that brought the desperate struggle to a close.
The result of trying to wrap things up is a five-part explanation series. I've even cut things out, believe me. This is what happens when a story heavy with lore starts explaining its lore. Tremble in fear.