It Became a Time-Stop Slit-Eye

58. A long dream.

I see the horror right in front of my eyes.

If you take one more step, you will end up stepping into the abyss.

At that moment, I got out of the audience seats watching the play and stepped onto the stage.

Suddenly!

I swung my sword.

Breaking all resistance in the middle with brute force, he slashed his head.

The half-opened turquoise eyes and the golden pupils floating in the air met their gaze.

“…… Whoa.”

The devil smiled.

There was no despair, anger, or aloofness on his face.

An expression full of interest and pleasure, invisible as if facing death right away.

‘I’ held the sword firmly.

I drew a trajectory toward the monster in front of me.

Wood deuk-!

Soon, his torso, which had lost its head, moved on its own.

She reaches out into the air and grabs his grip as if grabbing something.

I moved my body as if I was about to swing an intangible sword, but it was faster this way.

───The world turned gray.

A sea of gray.

Even the golden eyes and blood became achromatic.

While time stopped, I drew a trajectory on top of a trajectory on a body that had stopped moving.

Cut the decapitated torso.

The upper and lower parts of the body split in half were cut once more, and then cut again.

As time passed again, golden blood began to connect between the pieces of the severed body, but at this point there was no need to stop time.

Cut the blood in the air.

I swung my sword until the flesh turned to powder.

Suddenly, in the emotions boiling inside him, he killed countless demons whose original form was unrecognizable.

Thousands, tens of thousands.

The moment I tried to burn the space itself so that not even a speck of dust would remain.

“…… Ah.”

Soon, the allotted time was over.

The intruding shadow suddenly disappeared like a mirage along with the demon’s corpse.

A boy named Ichimaru Shiki stopped blankly in the air with his hand outstretched.

The time of omnipotence is over.

The miracle that seemed to reverse the hopeless situation, moving alone in a world that stood still and mercilessly slashing an irresistible enemy, had reached its end.

It vanished like a fleeting dream.

“Amazing, amazing.”

In front of the boy’s eyes, the golden-eyed demon, which had returned to its original state, stood smiling.

Golden eyes sparkled beautifully.

Deus Machina looked down at the boy in front of him with an interest he had never shown before.

“What was that?”

I asked with a distinctly kinder tone than before.

“Did you even summon your future self?”

The precocious child only stared at the demon in a state of disdain.

…… Even if you cut the shape so much that you can’t see it, you won’t die?

I don’t know why the miracle just happened, but there was nothing I could do about it.

“…… hehehe, hehehehe.”

I just let out a laugh that leaked out of my mouth and sat down on my seat.

Kenichi and Hotaru are in a state of unconsciousness as if they were overwhelmed by the life before.

The rest of them all became dying or corpses, and they were cooling off with white snow accumulating on their bodies.

My bare feet, which were bruised here and there, and my forearms not wearing outerwear felt cold again.

“… ….”

The boy suddenly raised his head and looked up at the black sky with no moon or stars.

The night sky is wide open enough to make you wonder if it has already collapsed and disappeared.

I closed my eyes while staring at the dark void with empty pupils.

The whole world seemed to curse him.

I thought about death.

“Yes, I was wrong.”

That was until the demon in front of me suddenly spat out strange words.

The boy, who had no strength to move anymore, looked at the brightly shining demon with empty eyes.

The devil laughed.

“Teacher. It seems like I put the years I have lived up to now without even realizing it.”

Deus Machina faced the boy with a benevolent smile and golden eyes shining.

“We are the only partners in this false world. They are equal beings with no one standing above them. Surely I was too arrogant. So let’s do business from now on. If you follow me quietly now, I promise not to kill anyone anymore.”

The boy thought blankly.

…… Now, what is this demon talking about?

However, the demon with golden eyes only spit out his words with a happy face.

“We are each other’s only understanding. The day will surely come when we understand each other. Right now, friendship with a mere insignificant thing is more precious, but…… “

A devil talking excitedly shimmered in front of his eyes, but what the devil is pouring out now is sophistry that is not worth listening to.

The boy turned his attention elsewhere.

He saw a dead person and a non-dead person in each far and near place.

…… Kenichi or Hotaru, who fainted, William and Jane, who introduced themselves as sorcerers, whose vitality gradually waned, and an old man who died from a hole in her chest.

As if dreaming, the parents with calm faces, Ichimaru Mahito and Fusato, were engraved in their eyes one after another.

‘Shiki.’

‘I will always love you.’

I remembered their last appearance as they cooled down.

Then he turned his gaze to me.

Is it because he intervened in the situation once and lost his energy?

Perhaps it was difficult to see, the boy vaguely looked at the spot where I was standing.

The guy who had been looking this way for a while suddenly raised the corner of his mouth.

Obviously, it was an expression that did not match the situation.

“Hmm, are you listening to me?”

At the sudden voice of the demon, Shiki Ichimaru raised his head.

Deus Machina was still looking at him with an unknown goodwill.

The boy thought as he looked at the beautiful face in front of him.

…… You still have work to do.

Even if it burns the soul.

There was a guy who had to be killed.

Ichimarushiki, who was staring at her demonic face, smiled similarly to her.

“Okay, let’s make a deal.”

A long time has passed since then.

***

The details of the transaction were simple.

Revival of those who did not die on the spot.

Could it be that this omnipotent devil could even bring the dead back to life?

I had high hopes for a while, but since the soul had left the body, they said it was impossible.

…… The boy took hold of his heart again.

I asked for only those who could be resuscitated.

Perhaps because the transaction was accepted more easily than expected, Makina generously fulfilled the contents of the transaction.

As well as prolonging the lives of those who hadn’t died yet, in the case of Kenichi and Hotaru, they even returned them to their homes.

With memories being manipulated.

No matter how brave they are, if they go back with the memories of that day, they will be traumatized.

I was worried about that, but somehow the devil was kind and changed their memories himself.

However, like a twisted existence, the direction was a little wrong.

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She completely erased all memories of the existence of ‘Ichimaru Shiki’ throughout Tokyo.

“Because you belong to me.”

For that reason, at least from a person’s ‘memory’, all his past activities have been erased.

To his surprise, the devil did it.

Ichimaru Shiki was devastated at the fact that part of his existence had been erased, but he calmly accepted it.

I thought it was just a rehearsal.

With Shiki’s request fulfilled, all that was left was the devil’s condition.

That was also simple.

The devil spoke with a smile.

“For the rest of your life, until you die, you will live in the castle with me.”

Ichimaru Shiki accepted him.

I wasn’t afraid of retaliation.

I didn’t feel the need to rebel in the first place.

It’s just that you can’t get out of the castle itself, and you’re not bound beyond that.

Occasionally, we ate with her and exchanged swords with her, but we usually stayed in our own space.

The time spent in Deus Machina’s castle was more free than I thought.

Rather, it was an affluent condition that could be done without restrictions on individual training and research.

The boy thought about what to do at first, and finally picked up the sword.

─I swung my sword countless times.

The Devil’s Castle was a world where there was no need to go to school or play with friends.

There was not enough time to train the sword, so it was plentiful.

So the boy drew a sword in the air every day.

I drew the trajectory of the slash countless times while remembering the blow I had slashed the demon with.

I repeated that for five years.

The boy has become a young man, and he has become as accustomed to wielding a sword as handling his limbs.

He was able to infuse the sword with strong energy and the energy of the stars without much effort.

“…… At las.”

As expected, it was something that could be called genius, but Shiki wasn’t satisfied.

I couldn’t defeat the devil with just this.

In order to one day kill the devil, I had to become much stronger than this, many times stronger.

…… It will take a very long time.

Maybe it’s something I can’t do all in my lifetime.

So Ichimaru Shiki went beyond simply stopping time, and researched a way to go back.

It was said that Deus Machina could not bring the dead back to life, but it was a different story for him.

…… If only I could go to the past.

‘I can save everything.’

After cultivating the ability to kill demons, go back to the past.

It may be more difficult than raising a dead person.

But Shiki remembered the memory of saving his friends from Makina one day.

‘The one I saw then was definitely the future me.’

It disappeared like a mirage right after, but it was clear.

My future self, strong enough to cut down demons, helped me.

If your future self can intervene in the past, it will be possible to travel through time.

I believed that, and added sword strikes to sword strikes.

I trained with the goal of achieving the level I had seen at that time.

“Oh, they are dead.”

Sad news came suddenly.

During the meal with the devil, I doubted my ears the moment Ichimaru was told by what I heard.

“…… What?”

Even as she asked, she quickly realized who she was referring to with her still clever hair.

Seeing his stern expression, the devil smiled slyly and conveyed the details.

“The girl died from being bitten by a wolf in the process of awakening her supernatural power, and the boy lasted a little longer, but she died fighting a monster.”

Makina twisted her radiant hair and said to the man in front of her.

“Even though I saved him like that, he died in the end. Oh, by the way, I didn’t touch you?”

The devil laughed.

“A crab that was destined to die in the first place.”

…… The whole day was spent trying to get his mind right.

There was no mind left to wield the sword due to the endless agony that seeped into his head.

In the end, the conclusion was the same.

‘…… I just need to go back to the past.’

If only time could be reversed, everything would be resolved.

A day after that, Shiki devoted himself more to training in managing time than before.

If you get used to the sense of stopping time, other things will surely become possible.

He believed that and trained.

I wonder if it was a completely wrong idea, the original limit was 1 minute, 2 minutes, 5 minutes, 10 minutes…… As the years passed, the amount of time he could stop increased.

The man did not give up and trained steadily.

Twenty years have passed like that.

“Oh, long time no see. Companion. I think I’ve gotten pretty strong over the years.”

The blonde woman waved her hand in welcome.

She thinks she will soon catch on to something, so it is because she devoted herself to training for a year.

The devil welcomed my companion to become stronger, and he was also willing to allow me to close.

As time passed, perhaps thanks to Ichimaru Shiki becoming stronger, his tone became more toxic than before.

“So you must have attained enlightenment?”

Deus Machina smiled at the man who was as white as a sheet of paper.

It was the first time in 20 years.

Ichimaru Shiki, who was staring blankly at the plate in front of him, suddenly raised his head.

I saw a demon with a sinister smile.

“…… You, please-“

Shiki suddenly shut his mouth.

He closed his eyes and held his heart. It was something he had done countless times throughout his life.

The man who opened his eyes again cut off her meat and put it in her mouth without a word.

***

A 12-year-old boy lost his parents, and a 17-year-old boy lost a close friend.

I don’t remember them, but Shiki Ichimaru always considered them friends.

The thirty-seven-year-old man attained enlightenment. It was a great guideline that would determine the direction of her life.

After years of training, she was able to stop the world for an hour.

I also realized how to reverse time.

A long time ago, when Deus Machina tried to wipe out all of Tokyo, it was a method conceived from the way she used her powers to formulate.

Although she had been with them for decades, they did not openly talk about each other’s secrets, so she did not fully understand the concept of ‘space’ she was dealing with.

But if Makina made her own space with magic, she said she could do it herself too.

…… If you spend a lot of time

In addition to training swords and powers, Ichimaru Shiki also dabbled in the study of sorcery and magic.

It’ll be a superficial knowledge, but it’s still better than not knowing at all.

Surprisingly, he was quite gifted in sorcery, so he quickly learned the basics.

In one week, he mastered what an ordinary shaman would learn in a year.

On the other hand, I felt that magic was not suitable for my aptitude, but it seemed that my talent was biased, so my occult studies went smoothly.

[…] … Witchcraft is the science of the mind and soul. ]

Recalling the first phrase of the basic book that started like that, it might have been obvious.

Because he was as confident as his mental strength.

Ichi Marushiki studied his sorcery while feeling happy for the first time in a while.

He learned what the shamanistic meaning of time and space was, and gradually realized what the laws of the world were.

Also about the ‘restrictions’ of the soul.

[…] … The laws of the world do not change. ]

There was such a major premise.

I took it for granted because I learned it when I first learned witchcraft.

It must be the right thing to say because it must have been decided by the law.

…… It was a stupid idea in a situation where the law had to be reversed.

I never thought it would be easy to turn the world upside down, but I never thought it would be absolutely impossible.

I didn’t even know that it was completely against the premise of both magic and witchcraft…….

Even after reading thousands of books of spells in the castle, the results were always the same.

─Absolutely impossible.

It’s impossible to make all the books go backwards in the time of the world itself.

He said that while it is possible to stop the flow for a moment, it is impossible to reverse it.

Well, the scale itself was larger than any other spell, including the space of Machina.

If the scope is all over the world and the time to go back is decades…….

Forbidden arts and black magic were prevalent in order to escape the restrictions of such a world, but the authority of time and space was more strict in some parts as it exceeded quite a few laws in itself.

It means that the cost of performing the spell is greater than expected.

In order to stop time, an enormous amount of magical power and mental strength were required that normal humans could not even dare to do.

In order to go against the world’s time, they demanded at least a few hundred times the price.

There was a significant difference.

It was not possible to prepare a price that met the standard in a normal way.

No matter how talented you are or how long you live, it was meaningless.

…… The man admitted it only after thirty-three years had passed since her first realization.

Yeah, that’s impossible.

With the passing of time, the boy reached the age of seventy.

The old man, who had been confined to solitary confinement in a castle for a long time and had no time to meet anyone, still maintained a vivid youthfulness in his body.

Kwaang—!

Again, the realm began to reach the sky.

Now, he could handle dozens of swords made with the energy of the stars with only hand gestures.

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Even so, she still couldn’t defeat Makina, but she began to grasp the reality of the demon to some extent.

[…] … The soul of the caster himself is the supreme master of the ceremony and is the sacrifice. ]

Just like I have been doing all my life, I made up my mind this time around.

“…… hehehe, hehehe, ha ha ha ha!”

On the contrary, I felt at ease.

From that day on, Ichimaru Shiki devoted himself to studying magic rather than basic physical training.

It is said that mind-body is one. When the body reaches its peak, the soul is forged, and when the soul surpasses the level, the body also breaks away from the existing level.

In that sense, it is important to train both mind and body.

But from that day on, priorities changed.

For the successful implementation of the succession ritual, the ability to use witchcraft had to increase, but ‘memory’ and communication became more important than the ranks of the body and soul.

“Are you watching?”

Ichimaru Shiki started talking while looking somewhere in the room with a smile on his face.

“I have no one to talk to other than the devilish b*tch, so please excuse my awkward tone.”

He opened his magic book while hesitating as if it was awkward muttering to himself in his cell.

“Today’s lesson is ‘Honjerye’.”

In a shamanistic sense, it was all about a ritual dedicated to the soul of a shaman.

“Everything in my life will remain as a remnant of the soul and be transmitted, but only a part of it. My martial arts will be imperfect, and there may be gaps in my general knowledge of witchcraft. I tend to learn quickly from the beginning, so you, who will occupy my body, will learn quickly, but it’s better if the starting point is earlier. I will continue to raise the level of the soul.”

From that day on, Ichimaru Shiki’s self-talk increased.

He seemed to be repeating what he was studying to himself, but when he was talking about the body and soul, he clearly seemed to be talking to someone.

“I will fight here before I give myself to you, but with just a fraction of my realization, I will never be able to defeat b*tch demon.”

That girl has a dirty personality, but her skills are good.

The muttered man smirked and tapped the desk with his fingers.

“No matter how much I raise the level of the soul, that alone is not enough, so watch carefully.”

If the fragmented power alone isn’t enough, isn’t it enough to grow it in a short time?

“If you saw the past me, wouldn’t you be able to see the present me too? Well, sorry if you can’t see it. I can’t even feel where you are anymore, because I’ve been together for too long.”

Ichimaru Shiki laughed and talked nonstop in the presence of an uncertain person.

The main content of study was the detoxification of ‘witchcraft’, which can only be passed on as knowledge, and in the middle, he talked about the difficulties he felt while living in a castle for decades.

“This castle is good for training, but God, there is no air conditioner or bidet. Does this make sense?”

At first, he seemed to be preoccupied with passing on knowledge, but later he basically became talkative.

“Honestly, I’m going to eat everything I’ve worked hard for, but please take good care of me even if it’s difficult. If you’re a person with a bad personality, you’re just going to go bankrupt, but I’ve lived a little bit harder, so wouldn’t it be good to get lucky even in a place like this?”

I even slandered future generations who would steal away my decades of hard work on some days.

“Wow, I didn’t know that the world would end in ten years even if this devilish b*tch didn’t intervene. What kind of heart did you bring to this world?”

Several years have passed, and there are more small talk than content being handed down.

“hehehe, I don’t even know if you exist, can’t I just talk to myself comfortably?”

Maybe it was simply crazy.

“Today I am going to swing my sword. I only read books under the pretext of imparting knowledge to you, and I realized Kenichi’s dislike of studying. Do you feel a little sore all over your body? Tens of thousands of books is too much for me.”

Still, like a person who transcends humanity, he taught properly when maintaining his spirit.

“I think you will be able to handle the sword better than you did at that time, but from the next stage onwards, you will not simply put the energy of the stars into your sword, but a large universe in your soul…… “

Ichimaru Shiki’s personality has gotten weirder than before, but he’s been busy moving around without any time to sit still.

He sometimes wielded a sword, devoured spellbooks, and occasionally looked at spellbooks.

There are almost no restrictions on stopping time, making it possible to stop more than half of the day.

Have you come up with a trick?

One day, he even talked about how to stop only a local area instead of the entire world.

Unfortunately, that was a way to know if it was delivered to my soul long ago.

I also complained as much as Ichimaru Shiki, who had a lot of small talk, but since communication was one-way, I kept my mouth shut and listened to his nonsense.

“Whoops, there are many other very good ideas to play tricks on the devil b*tch-“

A hundred years passed just like that.

***

“Mum-hu-huh.”

You seemed to be in a good mood that day.

“Hey, are you listening to me?”

Ichimaru Shiki swung his sword in the air, then suddenly looked into the air and spoke.

“You seem to have improved your skills just now, I can feel your presence.”

The half-opened eyes looked directly at where I was.

He nodded his head satisfactorily and spoke with a smile.

“Again, it seems that the time has come. Apart from offering sacrifices, there is a limit to how much you can go back in time.”

The narrow-eyed man stepped out of the room for the first time in decades and walked down the hallway.

The sight of him walking around with his sword on his shoulder seemed somewhat exhilarating.

“Hmm, I’ve been running for two hundred years looking at only one thing. Wouldn’t it be exciting? It’s finally over! I mean, would you scream too?”

Ichimarushiki opened the door and scratched his head as he added.

“Ah, of course I don’t mean to cut corners. If you lose at the last minute, you feel bad.”

With a muttering mutter, he stretched out his sword at his adversary.

“Are you finally here?”

Deus Machina, a woman or demon emitting golden light from her whole body, faced him with a bright smile.

“You’re tired of waiting, Shiki.”

He took out an intangible sword and raised it in the air with a welcome look, as if he were talking to an old friend.

“hahahaha.”

Ichimaru Shiki laughed briefly.

He has grown dexterous over the years and has faced the demon in front of him countless times.

At least two hundred years is a long time, perhaps enough for the anger and stubbornness of the heart to disappear.

“It can’t be.”

The man smiled and gripped his sword.

I honed my memories, emotions, and martial arts for a very long time, enough to change tens of thousands of swords.

He burned his soul.

The fear of the soul, which had been burning for a long time, had grown so large that it could burn down the entire altar.

“Let’s go.”

It’s time to burn everything.

“To end my war.”

The helpless child took a step after a long wait.

***

In a world dyed with blue flames, Seiichiro Kenju smiled cheerfully.

“…… hehehe.”

I laughed when I saw the man standing in front of me even though death was getting closer every moment.

That White Yacha who drove himself like this.

I was worried that he seemed to be proficient in witchcraft, but he was completely stunned by the spell.

“…… Ha ha! Whoa, ha ha ha!”

You may not be caught in the first place.

However, since he was caught in the Overlooking World, he had no choice but to swim in the nightmare until he died.

To think I was caught in my own trap while taking my time and suffered until I died.

“…… How stupid, hehehehe…… ?”

Seichiro Kenju, who sincerely laughed at the White Yacha, suddenly realized something strange.

The head of the White Yacha, who had been standing there blankly, somehow seemed to be looking down at him.

His expressionless face was different from his sloppy face before, but he felt something easy.

“…… No way.”

Seichiro’s head flew straight into the sky with his eyes wide open.

It just floated in the air without a cutting sound. Clouds were cut along the trail that drifted in his firmament.

Ichimaru Shiki suddenly stretched out his hand and raised his head in a daze.

Perhaps thanks to the roaring fireworks, the sky is so damn bright.

Looking at the blue world, the narrow-eyed man muttered.

“You are back at last.”

I had a long dream.