Chapter 10 Arc 1 — “Who are you?”

—Behold, the unattainable future.

The two firmly held their blades, facing off amidst the glacial terrain, like two swordsmen settling their disputes in a form of a duel.

“Behold, the unattainable future.”

The ashen figure swiftly lunged forward, swiping his blade in an attempt to finish the fight with a single blow, clashing blades with him.

Their swords swiftly clashed against one another, parry after parry, not a single one of them wounded or bruised.

The two were like identical warriors, with the same speed, power, and style of fighting. It was like they had been doing this to one another for centuries.

Though after a while of clashing, he had finally struck on the offensive, stomping on the ashen creature’s knee before he was about to land a clean hit on the skeleton’s rib.

—Behold, the unattainable future.

The two firmly held their blades, like two swordsmen settling their disputes…

Though something felt wrong. He had sworn this had happened earlier. Was everything just a mere delusion? He had remembered landing a clean blow on the creature’s rib cage.

—What the hell, didn’t I land-

“What’s wrong? Why won't you attack? ”

The ashen pile of bones changed its stance defensively, as if knowing what he was planning against it.

He shrugged it off his mind, assuming it may be just some kind of analysis he had made earlier, though he does that a lot, this one felt different from the others.

It felt real.

He blitzed over to the ashen creature, swinging his blade in an attempt to finish it all in a single blow; however, their blades clashed as the creature attempted to step on his knee, though luckily he moved it away on time, kicking the skeleton on its chest, knocking it away as its hard bones scraped against the ice.

“Hey, I just got deja vu, man…”

The skeleton paid no care whatsoever, walking towards him, making slight cracks on the ice with every small step. He readily positioned his blade offensively.

—Behold, the unattainable future…

Suddenly, the ashen figure was in front of him, and the two seemed to have been clashing blades for a while. He felt like time had skipped or maybe even reversed, because earlier, he didn’t remember his opponent having superhuman speed.

The ashen figure prepared a front kick, imitating his actions earlier. Noticing this, he stepped out of the way, dodging the incoming attack from the creature.

“Seriously… what the hell is happening? Weren’t you losing a couple of minutes ago? Why are you suddenly—”

In the blink of an eye, the two had retreated to the same position they were in earlier. Although it was different. He had not noticed that he was now the one on the offensive, leading the skeleton to pry over his feeble attack.

“You will never defeat me.”

He was about to meet his end, though in a desperate attempt, he caught the sharp blade with his hand, chopping off one of his fingers in the process.

He grits his teeth, exasperated by the phrase he muttered earlier, as he readily swung his blade to slice off his spinal cord, just for him to swing at nothing.

He turned in front of him, seeing the skeleton in the same place he was before the trail even began.

“Seriously? ‘You‘ll never defeat me.’ Aren’t you the one running away every time I’m about to land the final blow? ”

He told the ashen creature neutrally standing in front of him. Annoyed by the repetitive use of whatever he is using.

“Don’t you do the same too? ”

He paused for a moment, feeling the weight of the creature’s words.

“That’s why you ran away; that’s why you chose to forget. Don’t you get it? I am the reflection of your soul; the one you’ve been fighting is yourself. And unlike me, you’re just an upsetting version that doesn’t even know who he is.”

“Shut up! ”

He lunged over the ashen creature in a fit of rage, swinging his blade repetitively in a frenzy, as the creature parried every attack with elegance in a mocking manner.

“What do you know about me?! If you knew everything, you’d know why I chose to forget everything! If you were me, you’d choose abandoning yourself, too! ”

Suddenly, the two had swapped places, and he was on the defensive, as the ashen skeleton flashily pressured him repetitively with each continuous attack.

“I know everything, even the things you hide in the dark. For example, what truly happened to your sis—”

Sasaki snapped, as the mark on his body had already covered half of him. He swung his blade in full strength, slicing off his pelvis.

“Nothing happened! Nothing happened! Nothing happened! NOTHING HAPPENED! ”

He swung his blade in a fury, with each strike slicing the floor as he diced up the ashen figure into multiple pieces.

In an instant, he returned once again to his starting position with the ashen figure.

—You’ve got to be kidding me…

“As I said, you’ll never defeat me. Because, unlike you… I know myself. And I refuse to be defeated by a nameless person such as yourself.”

—This is impossible… What should I do… I can’t run away because I’m going to die anyway. I can’t do anything. That thing, he’s better…

Giving up, he sat down, piercing his blade on the block of ice.

“Huh? You’re giving up? ”

“I can’t defeat someone with that kind of unfair ability. I’ve diced you into multiple parts, and you still lived. That’s unfair! ”

He stared at the sky, hoping that there would at least be a sun shining down on his face or a moon serenely brightening up the night with a pack of glimmering stars. But no, all there was was a gray sky, covering whatever hid behind it.

“This is such a shitty place to die in.”

“Tell me about it; I’ve lived here far longer than you.”

“And you call me pathetic.”

The two sat down, facing each other in a tranquil state as they both stared at the empty gray sky.

“What’s it like out there? The human world.”

“I don’t know. It’s probably like this, too.”

“Don’t you live there? ”

“I do, but I’ve never actually lived my life. I was just a dog following orders from anyone just for small cash.”

“Huh… you aren’t living up to your name at all. You can’t even decide for yourself.”

His mind felt a jolt as he felt something familiar from what he’d just heard earlier.

“My name…”

The ashen figure looked at him curiously as he realized that something had struck the young man.

“Yes, your name.”

—While I’m kicking the bucket…

“That shitty name… that shitty name with a stupid double meaning. How could I forget the other meaning? ”

“Very well,”

The ashen figure stood up, pulling his blade out of a rift.

“What’s your name? ”

“I’m Jiketsu, Sasaki. I’ll be taking my soul back.”

“Come and get it then… Sasaki.”

Sasaki picked up his blade, lunging at the ashen figure as he pierced his blade into the creature’s chest. He was puzzled; it didn’t dodge, nor did it use that annoying ability.

“What?”

The skeleton took his soul out of the rift, giving the blue crystal to Sasaki. Its figure changed into his reflection; it smiled at him.

“You finally lived up to your name...”

“Why didn’t you dodge? ”

“It’s because I didn’t have to fight you anymore; you’ve succeeded, Sasaki. Now go kill that old bastard for me.

Sasaki was puzzled as his mark slowly faded away, along with the reflection of his soul. He gently laid the man on the ice as his figure slowly disintegrated with the light. Sasaki smiled at the man.

“I will.”

Seeing the reflection of his soul, finally resting in peace. He walked over the middle, placing the blue crystal on a stone structure.

After doing this, the skies cleared up, the sun brightly shining down on the icy terrain, revealing the snow-white valley filled with lavender flowers scattered around the terrain. The ice was finally melting as his reflection sank below the shallow waters.

A portal opened behind him, revealing The Uncle, talking to the blood-red anomaly, still standing by at the same warehouse, though it didn’t seem as if they’d noticed a portal forming next to them.

Beside the portal were two orbs; one was dark, emitting a blue aura, and one was bright, emitting a purple aura.

Engraved on the columns where the orbs were placed were the words ‘To Return’ and ‘To Pass On.’ he assumed the dark one was the one able to make him return, as the word ‘return was engraved on the column.

He walked over, picking up the orb as he read another text placed under the column, which had words engraved in russian text, though it seemed that he understood what it meant.

He swallowed the orb, feeling an irritating burn on his chest; small cracks had formed on his chest, with slight blue lights shining beneath them, as a blue gem shaped like an eye placed vertically had been engraved in his lake.

The columns descended, and the portal still stayed open, as it was waiting for him to pass through. Sasaki took a deep breath, looking more furious than ever. He gritted his teeth, forcing himself to smile as he took a step out of the portal.