Hmm….
Ugh….
How should I describe this?
An audience with the Soul King…? A meeting?
Yeah, a conversation. My conversation with the Soul King has dragged on for quite a while.
The reason the word "conversation" didn't come to mind at first wasn't because I'm senile, but because I simply couldn't conceive of whatever the hell we were doing as an actual dialogue.
"Why are you not seen?"
"I told you, I don't know. Now back off already. And why have you been talking down to me since a while ago? I appeared here before you did, you know? That makes me the senior. Respect your elders, kid. Ever heard of it?"
"Truly curious. There was nothing that could escape my sight until now."
"Don't you know there's a pecking order? Ah, wait, there's no flowing water here, so you wouldn't know that proverb. Goddammit."
If anyone could identify this as a "conversation," they deserve a medal.
B follows A. One plus one equals two. A conversation is about giving one to get one back.
But this guy? I say A, and he suddenly brings up Z. I ask about one plus one, and he starts proving a complex function out of nowhere. I try to give him something, and he just slaps my hand away. How the hell is this a conversation?
"*Sigh*..."
I looked at the Soul King, who kept muttering, "I can't see you, I can't see you," beside me. With a heavy sigh, I stood up from my spot.
It was about time to swing my branch again.
It's not that I'm obsessed with training; it's just that if I sit here doing nothing with a lunatic muttering in my ear, I feel like I'm going to lose my mind too. I have no choice.
Starting training just to keep from going insane... that actually matches my initial reason for starting. Is this what they call a thematic circularity or something?
No. This isn't the end, so it's probably not a circular conclusion.
Haha, listening to myself spout this nonsense... I think I'm already halfway to the madhouse.
'Get it together….'
Taking a deep breath, I gripped the tree branch firmly with both hands.
I closed my eyes and cleared my mind. This was the ritual I performed before every training session.
It wasn't about hardening my resolve, but rather visualizing the swing in my mind.
It's that thing they call tracing the "Sword-Path." Though, since I'm holding a branch, I guess I'm tracing a "Branch-Path." Wait, does that make me a Branch-Path master? Zoro?
...Saying it like that makes me feel like I should be holding one in each hand and another in my mouth while flailing around.
Anyway, after visualizing the path in my head, I took a deep breath in, exhaled, and swung the branch just like any other day.
"…."
For better or worse, the Soul King did nothing but watch me silently from the side.
But….
'This is incredibly distracting….'
I tried my best to ignore him, but some things just can't be willed away.
"Can you please stop staring?"
"I cannot see."
"…Whatever. Do what you want."
Talking to him was like preaching to a wall. Caring about it only stressed me out.
I decided to just stop paying attention. Of course, ignoring him didn't make me disappear, nor did it make the Soul King's oppressive gaze go away….
Let's pretend I'm not here.
There is no one here.
I don't exist, the Soul King doesn't exist. There's nothing but the void.
"…."
I swung the sword with my eyes closed.
One thousand times, two thousand, three thousand…. then five thousand…. and finally ten thousand.
I couldn't finish it.
Goddammit, if a state of 'No-Mind' was that easy to achieve, everyone and their mother would have attained enlightenment by now.
Ultimately, I was so distracted by the Soul King's gaze that I didn't even reach three thousand reps before I snapped the branch in frustration.
It's his fault. Seriously, everything is the Soul King's fault.
But really, it actually was his fault. I'd feel like choking if someone watched me just eating a meal, so imagine trying to train while some god-like entity just stands there staring at you?
It's more than just a little annoying.
For fuck's sake.
"Fine…. fine! I'll tell you. I just have to tell you what I saw, right?"
"…."
Only then did the Soul King finally shut his mouth.
It wasn't hard to realize that his silence was a prompt to continue.
"I saw a future where you die. Happy now?"
Having finally blurted out the words I never intended to say, I slightly shifted my stance, ready to bolt at any moment.
If things looked like they were going south, I was prepared to run and never look back.
But contrary to my fears, the Soul King showed no reaction.
Well, he did react, in a way.
"Is that so."
If nodding with a completely expressionless face counts as a reaction, then he reacted.
Stunned by a response far flatter than I expected, I relaxed my 'flight' posture and turned back to face him properly.
The Soul King stared at the ground with half-closed eyes, appearing deep in thought, before raising his head to look at me again.
"Are you present in that place?"
"No."
I shook my head immediately. What I had spoken of was the conclusion of a manga, not a story of this reality.
'There's no way I'd be there.'
As I answered with a shake of my head, the Soul King paused for a long time before finally nodding.
"Then the end you have witnessed, and the end I have beheld... they coincide."
"Ah, uh. Okay."
"If there is no friction in our respective paths, then that is sufficient."
'What is he even talking about?'
While I stared at him, wondering what kind of cryptic bullshit he was spouting, the Soul King looked up at the sky for a moment and then turned his back to me.
"I shall simply continue to do what I must, so you should continue to do what you must as well."
With those words, the Soul King turned and walked away with leisurely steps.
He chased me down like he was going to kill me, and all he had to say was, 'Oh, I guess we have different majors. You do your thing, I'll go do mine.'
"…."
What the hell is wrong with that guy?