That way of speaking was, without a doubt, Azrael. He sauntered over, then frowned upon seeing the roots wrapped around me.
"Hmph, tsk. She's modified them completely. This is going to be difficult."
[Are you able to do such things to all elves?]
Could it be that every elf was, in fact, Azrael, and he had simply divided his consciousness? I wrote the question on my back with the currents. Azrael hummed, offering a partial agreement.
"If that were the case, do you think they would have tried to burn me? If you plant an egg in their brain, you can borrow their body like this. That's all."
"Still... I suppose I have planted them in most."
[You've truly lost your mind.]
"The one who's truly lost her mind is the one who just left. A Liquefied world, you say? No, of course I heard she was doing well in the human world, but... that's practically stepping into the realm of the gods. Ugh...!"
He pulled at the roots with all his might. The elf he was possessing or had seized seemed quite muscular, but he couldn't tear them away.
"Phew, this is tough."
[... How about trying something more befitting a shaman?]
"Don't mistake shamanism for magic. Without any ingredients or preparation, I can't even lift a single leaf."
I swallowed the word 'useless'. Honestly, just witnessing this scene, the versatility of this thing called shamanism was absurd. To think you could seize a body from a distance just by planting an egg.
And even if you could, actually doing it was another matter entirely. Did this shaman feel no guilt?
"Why are you looking at me like that? Didn't you see them trying to burn me? They're utter fools. I can't just leave them without any safety measures."
[No, it's just pure admiration. You'll do anything for the preservation of your species. If there really is a World Tree, it would probably be you.]
"My, my, you can even be sarcastic."
After trying for a while, Azrael eventually sighed and shook his head.
"This won't work with my strength. I'll switch."
"...?"
As I was wondering what that meant, Azrael's presence suddenly changed completely. The elf blinked, then his eyes widened as if in shock when he saw me.
"Jern?"
[Are you not Azrael?]
"It is Ciel. So this is what it feels like. I was told about it, but..."
No way.
He can let other people possess them too? These shamans are truly chilling individuals. As I stood there in silent horror, Ciel, who had been touching the roots with a serious gaze, suddenly began to stretch.
"The situation is urgent. Sir Brimdal is employing various means to rescue you, but our Master is serious, so the outcome is difficult to predict."
"It would be best to escape quickly and devise our next move."
[Yes. I spoke with my Master, and she seemed a bit unhinged.]
"No. That is not it."
Ciel shook her head, a worried expression on her face.
"I was mistaken. Please forget what I told you before I came."
[What do you mean by that?]
"Sia. Our Master is sane. Perfectly lucid."
[?]
What was that supposed to mean? Dersia was definitely not her usual self. She was a little bit crazy.
No, a lot. As I stood there dumbfounded, Ciel clenched her fist.
"It shouldn't be like this. She needs to be a little less... off from normal... Hup!" -Crash!
Ciel's fist struck the root squarely. It sounded less like a punch and more like a bomb exploding. Indeed, a faint smoke rose from the point of impact.
"Tsk."
Ciel glanced at the undamaged root with annoyance, then threw a second and a third strike. -Crash!
Boom!
Fists and feet, every blow lightly broke the sound barrier. That elf's body was surely far from that of a martial artist—no, it would be worlds different from Ciel's own body... The destructive power was enough to give me chills.
I'd better not mess with her. As I swallowed dryly, recalling her usual smiling face, she stood with blood dripping from her fist and sighed.
"... I apologize. In this body, I cannot rescue you."
[It's alright. More importantly, you're incredibly strong.]
"Ahem, I did a bit of physical work in my youth."
After a slightly embarrassed cough, Ciel's expression turned serious as she offered advice.
"In any case, our Master normally acts in a state where her own thinking ability and condition are extremely degraded."
[What do you mean by that?]
"Her eyes are always dark underneath, her tone is always unpleasantly sharp, and isn't she just gloomy and unpleasant?"
Ciel began to bad-mouth her as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
[Well, I suppose so.]
"That's all because she's slightly departed from her right mind, that is, because she isn't sane. She deliberately remains that way."
[... Why would she do that.]
"Because she knows that her sane self is more dangerous than her insane self."
Ciel narrowed her eyes, glaring past the roots.
"I was mistaken. I thought that during this escape, her condition had worsened to the point of becoming severely insane... Haat!"
Crash!
With a great roar, she struck the root this time with the side of her hand. It left a scratch, but that was all. She sighed and shook her head.
"It was the opposite. For some reason, our Master chose to come to her senses. This has never happened before."
[No, why is coming to her senses dangerous?]
"Being here means you two talked. What method did our Master suggest?"
[A crazy method that made no sense.]
Of that, I could be certain. When I said so, Ciel calmly asked again.
"Did that crazy method seem like it would succeed?"
[...]
I started to write something, then stopped.
Ethics, humanity.
If you set all of that aside, Dersia's method followed a similar path to the Red Lotus. She had created a world. Having performed such a miracle, falling would be even easier.
Separate from my personal likes or dislikes.
[... It is already close to success.]
I see.
I understood Ciel's words. Dersia was aware that the things her sane self did were things that should not be done. So she chose to live in that manner.
But this time, hearing those words from me, she realized something and chose to return to her right mind. That was it. Those Red Lotus bastards are no help at all.
As I gritted my teeth, Ciel suddenly lifted her head.
"Oh dear."
[What is it.]
"Our Master has begun her rampage. This place will soon become dangerous as well. I believe I need to draw her attention."
I tried to ignore her choice of words and asked what I was curious about.
[Wait, is Linmel safe?]
"She is safe, aside from harboring an extreme murderous intent towards our Master. She is fighting well, too. But it seems she will need me soon."
[... What do you mean, fighting what?]
"Do not worry too much. No matter how sane she is, she does not intend to kill us."
"In the worst-case scenario, we will be fine, and you, Jern, will get better in some way. Because that is what our Master wishes. What are your thoughts on this."
[I do not wish to live such a life.]
"Understood. Fortunately, it seems Azrael has a way. Let us struggle with all our might to give up on a happy future together."
After leaving those words, Ciel paused for a moment, then added something.
"-Ahem, honestly, I can predict your answer... but do you despise our Master for doing such a thing?"
[No. How could I? If it weren't for my Master, I might have really been abducted by the Red Lotus.]
I owed Dersia a great deal. Far from being able to repay her, I could not choose her as a target of my hatred.
[Separately, it does seem I'll have to make her understand that if I don't like something, I don't like it.]
At those words, Ciel's eyes widened in surprise. After a moment of silence, she replied in a much softer tone.
"... Sia having met you, Jern, might have been a better thing for her than for you."
[Huh?]
"Please take good care of our Master."
With a faint smile, she closed her eyes. When she opened them again, hmm. Despite being the same face, I could feel a certain eccentricity.
Slightly peeved, I wrote my words.
[It makes me feel that one's upbringing is really important.]
"... What are you on about all of a sudden?"
[My Master is sane, you said.]
"So?"
[This method, doesn't it seem a bit familiar?]
The way the sane Dersia was handling me— It was a mirror image of the way Azrael handled the elves. From the principles of her actions to her way of thinking, everything. But Azrael frowned and denied it.
"What... You think I'm her parent or something? I just thought she looked bright, so I tried educating her as a shaman."
[You made a mistake.]
"Indeed. As soon as that girl learned about magic, she thought the shamanism she had learned her whole life was old-fashioned and threw it all away. Then she went mad."
[What do you mean by that?]
"I don't know either. I don't know if she lost her mind while learning magic, or if she gained some sort of enlightenment, but she became a fanatic who worships truth."
"She came to think that all truth must be recorded, and that elves were born with long lifespans for just such a destiny. A pity."
He smacked his lips, expressing his regret. In any case, Dersia's way of thinking must have been instilled in her while learning shamanism under Azrael. He would be my spiritual forefather, but I had no desire to serve such a psychopath as my forefather.
[So, how do I get out?]
Separate from that, I did need his help. I had to get out first before I could ask for help, so I didn't know what method this shaman who couldn't even use shamanism had brought, but he glanced distastefully at his blood-soaked fist and shrugged.
"As I said, the means I can use are extremely limited. If I choose a physical method, I can't lift a single leaf."
[Please bring Linmel here. She might be more helpful.]
"But behold. See how great shamanism is."
Azrael smeared the blood on his finger and began to draw on my forehead.
"In this situation, you can no longer refuse."
Seeing that unpleasant smirk, I let out a sigh. ... It seemed this shaman desperately wanted to make that small inner world of mine grow, one way or another. I thought about it for a moment, but there was no other way.
[I must have an absolute guarantee of my safety.]
"Listen well. Don't you know how furious that girl Dersia will be if you die here? She'll kill me and drive the elves to extinction."
"I absolutely do not want that. I can't let you be damaged in the slightest."
[You're being overly dramatic. My Master wouldn't annihilate her own race just because I died.]
"You take her pride too lightly."
Azrael wore a look of pity. Still, the initial contract felt something like he wanted to see my final struggles, but would help me with all his might until then.
Now, it seemed to have been slightly altered to a form of saving me no matter what, because she wasn't sane—no, because she 'was' sane, and she would return to her original state if she just got a little less sleep. Still, it wasn't wrong that if I died here, Azrael wouldn't be able to live either.
[And, if I do this world expansion thing, I can definitely escape, right?]
"You'll know when you try. In the first place, this isn't the time to be picky about your means."
That was also true. It was hard to imagine that Dersia, having established such a serious position, would be defeated by Brimdal. I knew Brimdal's strength.
But Dersia's transcendent ability was far beyond what could be described as merely 'strong'. Ciel, Linmel, or Azrael might not be useless, but they would only be buying time. To change the situation, I had to move. -Using any means necessary.
[... Alright. Let's do it.]
After glaring at him, I closed my eyes. Azrael, having drawn a strange picture on my face with blood, nodded in satisfaction.
"Mm, good. Now, try dying."
[What do you mean, die?]
"I mean, accept it."
Azrael's fingers bent at a grotesque angle.
"Stop running, and embody your enlightenment. Break out of your shell as a human mage, not a heart-realm being."
[...]
He's really not trustworthy. I quietly composed my mind.
"All enlightenment begins with a question to oneself. Hurry up."
[Please be quiet.]
I once again bring to mind the truth, the question, that I had deliberately ignored. ... Why does the flame go out? Why does the water pressure crush only my skin, even when I wear a diving suit?
Why, even when I enter a separate space, why— Why? Why can I not escape from the world?
"... Ooh."
Fwoosh.
A flame ignited before my eyes. I watched it intently, reminding myself of the reason it did not go out. It is an impossible thing.
If the place I am in is the Deep Sea, how can a fire burn? Fire can never burn underwater. ... I had been thinking about it wrong.
I am not in the sea, but in the Deep Sea. I am inside the fact of the Deep Sea.
"Huh, ugh-!"
Suddenly, the elf Azrael was possessing began to shrivel grotesquely. Is this a way of sharing the burden? As I tried to stop my thoughts, Azrael shook his head in that state.
"I'm fine, so just do what you have to do."
I can tell by watching the actions of the Red Lotus as they try to obtain fallen ones like myself. They put a person in seawater and drown them. What would a drowning person know?
The pain of suffocation, the cold seawater, the powerlessness of sinking no matter how much you swim, and the resistance of the water that makes movement difficult. Usually, people know that the sea is a somewhat more beautiful place. Colorful coral reefs and fish, and emerald-colored resorts where a little sunlight shines through are also part of the sea.
But even if you are in such a sea, you see nothing in the process of drowning. It is a landscape that does not exist in the world of a fallen one. An inverted hell, created by a dying world accepting all the surrounding pain, hatred, and fear in order to survive. -That becomes all he knows of the sea.
"I didn't know it would be this bad..."
Watching the gradually shrinking Azrael, I quickened my thoughts. My Deep Sea is the same. As for the things that constitute the fact of the Deep Sea, well, yes.
There might be something a little beautiful. Somewhere, there must be people who like deep sea fish. But that exists solely for the purpose of inflicting pain on me.
Perhaps it could really be used to extinguish fire, like water. Just as I couldn't use fire at first, and extinguished Lumia's flame. But that is merely a secondary element, unless I am conscious of it.
The place I am in is not the real Deep Sea. Therefore, I cannot escape the burden of water pressure, currents, deep sea creatures, in any way. I cannot run away.
It's not that I am receiving a burden because I am in the world of the Deep Sea. -It is a world where only the pressure of the Deep Sea exists.
"... Ah."
I reached the end. It felt like scratching an itch I had endured for a long time. My mind cleared as if a cool breeze had passed through, and my body grew hot with exhilaration.
"...!"
It wasn't all good. Suddenly, my eyes felt a burning sensation, as if boiling water had been poured into them. In contrast, my body turned cold, as if freezing.
Just as the thought 'the burden is worsening' crossed my mind, the pain subsided and my body became as light as a feather. I was still bound by the roots, but I felt an omnipotence that made me feel like I could easily tear through them if I wanted to.
Soon, my body grew warm, and my vision became clear and wide. I stood there dumbfounded, accepting the situation. It was the first time.
The first time I felt the burden actually decrease.
"Gack, my goodness, just where have you been living... No, to think I nearly got crushed to death experiencing just one-hundredth of it, I never knew."
Azrael, his entire body flushed red, grumbled and then met my gaze. And his lips curled upwards.
"Hmm. It seems to have gone well."
[... Is it noticeable?]
I wasn't sure. Realizing what I hadn't known felt good, and the burden had lessened, but I didn't feel like my appearance had changed.
"See for yourself."
Azrael brought over the vessel containing the world and placed it beneath my face. What was I supposed to see? As I stared at my face reflected in the mirror, I...
"... Ah."
I saw the second star, swimming in my eye.