"Presumptuous mortal."
The Sustainer of Heavenly Principles spoke calmly. Her eyes still showed no extra emotion. She didn't even spare Seino Raimei another glance, as if he were insignificant dust.
She had the right to disregard all this. Standing atop the sky island, the life or death of an individual, a city, or even a nation was inconsequential to her.
The Sustainer of Heavenly Principles stood in a higher dimension. In her eyes, the only important thing was maintaining the entire world.
The Sustainer of Heavenly Principles was undoubtedly the most correct.
So she couldn't understand Seino Raimei, couldn't understand this mortal's emotions—clearly, that mortal wanted to kill her.
Although she didn't care.
Mortals were too weak.
Their small and brief lives were just a drop in the ocean compared to the eternal Heavenly Principles.
This mortal called Seino Raimei was no different.
The Sustainer of Principles saw it at a glance.
He was about to die of old age, his body already like a lamp out of oil, incomparably weak.
Yet he said he wanted to challenge her.
So the Sustainer of Principles could never understand mortals. They were so dull, so frail. Without guidance, they would only bring about their own destruction.
"Why?" Out of curiosity, the Sustainer of Principles rarely asked another question: "You know you cannot succeed."
Why help Orobashi.
"Huff..."
Seino Raimei felt suffocated.
That majesty was too overwhelming.
Being able to lift his head and look directly at that being in the sky had already exhausted all his energy. Mortals had no right to gaze at the sky.
His lungs spasmed, his heart tore, all the muscles in his body trembled.
"Do you remember Makoto?"
Seino Raimei said through gritted teeth.
Makoto.
That girl.
Always smiling, liked to hold a paper umbrella, wearing a white kimono to her ankles, with a hydrangea at her waist.
She was dead.
"..." The Sustainer showed a thoughtful expression. Finally, she realized: "Baal?"
"Makoto is dead," Seino said,
"Dead under your orders. You knew she wasn't good at martial arts. Her sword had never been unsheathed. She was a gentle god. She always said Inazuma didn't need war, but she died on the battlefield. Doesn't that seem strange?"
"All living beings die. Gods are just slightly stronger mortals."
The Sustainer spoke indifferently. She was already tired of this conversation.
"That's not a reason for you to disregard her! You a b***h!"
"She's dead, and you can't even remember her name was 'Makoto'!"
Seino unsheathed his sword. God Cutter trembled fiercely, blood-colored patterns rolling, thunder shaking, making a hissing sound like a snake. Seino held the long sword horizontally, dragging it on the boat, sparking small flashes of fire.
'I've given my heart to Inazuma,'
The god's blood flowed up along the blood grooves of the blade, towards Seino Raimei's palm, then climbed up his right arm, over his shoulder, and finally to his heart.
Seino Raimei's appearance changed. Blood-colored patterns crawled up his cheeks, his hair tie loosened, long hair dancing wildly in the wind. At this moment, his blood energy was overwhelming. He didn't look like a samurai, but more like a demon.
"Khaenri'ah was slaughtered, the whole world was polluted, Watatsumi Island was destroyed in an instant, Inazuma was entangled with eternal filth. You're great, but that's not a reason for you to disregard them."
"You sit high on the sky island, controlling the chess pieces of the world, so you don't hear the cries of mortals, but that's not a reason for you to disregard them."
"I want to make you hear the voice of mortals."
"I want to make you hear real crying. I want to make you hear Ei's loneliness. I want to make you hear the sorrowful cry when the great serpent's nation was destroyed. I also want to make you hear the souls of every soldier on Yashiori Island, the roars of those good men charging towards death."
"I want to make you hear the thunder of mortals."
"I can't kill you, but I want to make you bleed a little! Sustainer of Heavenly Principles!"
[Compression begins]
[Remaining lifespan: 30 minutes]
Seino got off the boat, stepping between the waves. God Cutter dragged behind him, blood staining the seawater he walked on. His eyes were wide with anger, his hair standing on end.
[Remaining lifespan: 15 minutes]
[Remaining lifespan: 5 minutes]
Suppressing everything to the extreme, compressing Seino Raimei's entire life into that moment, all the past 500 years, all the memories of 500 years, all the moments of 500 years, would converge at this moment.
All moments of 500 years, the river of Seino Raimei's life converged here, all in that 0.3 seconds.
Converging at the same moment.
Bursting into light.
[30 seconds]
Seino slowly started running. At first, his speed was slow, but it got faster and faster. The waves were left behind him, the wind pressure was left behind his head, his life was also left behind him.
The further forward he went,
The wrinkles at the corners of his eyes slowly disappeared. His silver long hair danced in the air, but ink color invaded it. That old man disappeared. His lungs no longer spasmed, he no longer felt cold, no longer coughed. That old man disappeared, and he became that young man again.
Riding a horse and singing, as a young man. And he would die as a young man, just as he was when he came.
People can't decide their birth, but they can decide their state when they leave. This is the nobility of humans. Whether to die like a blooming cherry blossom branch or like fallen autumn leaves, it's all for them to decide...
Seino Raimei believed that it was the shape of death that defined the shape of his life.
In what state you die, in that state you will be eternal.
This is the reserve and pride unique to mortals, a spirit that the Sustainer of Heavenly Principles could never understand.
This is the shape of the human soul.
The god's heart was beating in his chest. This was not a power that mortals could bear.
But it didn't matter. He only wanted that moment.
[Level: 89]
...
[Level: 90]
Seino Raimei finally crossed that level, that realm that mortals could never reach in their lifetime.
Although it was only 0.3 seconds—he was honored to be able to touch his dream before death.
This was a strike of an Archon level, exhausting a lifetime.
"Transgression!"
The Sustainer of Principles shouted. She raised her right hand, and half the sky changed. Light scattered, space distorted, formless cubes opened up, filling the entire sky.
"I am the Sustainer of Heavenly Principles."
She said this, and those cubes pressed down. The sea was destroyed, the sunset overlapped, the entire sky pressed down.
"Huff..."
Fudo,
Seino Raimei lowered his posture, his hands overlapping on God Cutter. White mist gushed out from between his teeth. Those cubes disappeared in his eyes. This world became clear and transparent. Only that moment in front of him remained.
Isshin.
[Remaining lifespan: ten seconds]
He closed his eyes and heard the roar in his heart.
Boom.
Boom.
BOOM!!
—"I am the Sustainer of Human Principles."
[0.3 seconds]
He finally reached that moment.
He drew his sword. He became the lightning of 0.3 seconds at the edge of the sky. The lightning passed through the shoulder of the Sustainer of Heavenly Principles. Drops of golden blood scattered.
The Sustainer of Heavenly Principles finally felt pain. It was a sensation she had never experienced in thousands of years, unfamiliar yet long-lost.
The lightning dissipated in the air. After dissipating, rolling thunder spread throughout the world. The heavens and earth were emptied.
Seino Raimei's life ended here.
The shape of his death was lightning. He would also be eternal as lightning.
"We'll meet again next time," he said in the ear of the Sustainer of Heavenly Principles before he died.