Academy’s Weapon Replicator

Odyssea (28)

The moment I said those words, Quinier’s expression changed.

She suddenly vanished without a trace.

The vibration felt along with it. It was close to an earthquake.

Kugugugu─!

The library shook. The bookshelves stretched back, and the already high ceiling soared up to the sky.

Bookshelves expanded in all directions—length, width, and height—unraveling into a complex three-dimensional maze of corridors.

“Heh.”

I gazed at the scene with pure admiration.

This is Quinier’s dream, but can Lethe change the form of a dream to this extent?

‘Is it easier to change the form since Quinier is not here?’

As I thought that far, I soon realized I was completely mistaken.

I could never change the dream itself at any moment within Elodie’s dream. Whether Elodie saw me or not. If I could, it would have been much easier to resolve.

A dream cannot be touched by someone other than its owner.

“I see.”

I nodded in understanding.

“You’re possessing Quinier.”

Lethe had used her divine power on the past Quinier, and that influence still lingers. So, it must be easy to possess Quinier.

Quinier had never been subjected to divine power, so she had no resistance to it. She must have been possessed with almost no resistance.

While Quinier cannot regain her consciousness, the owner of this dream is Lethe.

“Ha! You guessed well, just as I heard!”

Quinier’s voice echoed within the library.

It was Quinier’s voice, but Lethe’s tone. Even while revealing her identity, she still used honorifics towards me.

I laughed at that strange imbalance.

‘Just as I heard.’

In other words, Lethe has no information about me other than what she has ‘heard.’

“Go back! There is no possibility for you to defeat me in this space!”

Lethe’s voice echoed throughout the library, making it impossible to pinpoint her location. In this space, it might not matter which direction she was in.

Right now, this place is an endlessly sprawling maze, no matter where I look. No matter where I go, I will never find an exit.

Conversely, it means that moving anywhere from here wouldn’t make much of a difference.

I asked.

“Do you want to chase me out of this dream? What’s the reason?”

“You don’t need to know!”

At that moment, a bookshelf that had been soaring in the air came crashing down on me.

The bookshelf, already impossible to gauge in height, collapsing on me was akin to a deluge, and a multitude of books surged out, overwhelming me like a tidal wave.

Whoosh!

I spread my wings and flew up, dodging the cascading bookshelf, racing through the maze.

‘Getting out of this dream is simple. I just need to ask Elodie for help. If I say Ariadne, Elodie will send me back to reality.’

I don’t know exactly how Elodie’s magic works, but before entering this dream, she had already set up her magic.

Even if Lethe is possessed, the fact that the dream’s owner is Quinie hasn’t changed, so the escape magic called Ariadne should still function properly.

However, Lethe’s words are troubling me.

‘Lethe is trying to chase me away. Does that mean she can’t kill me? What’s the reason?’

Thinking that I won’t die because this is a dream is too naive.

If that danger didn’t exist, Elodie wouldn’t have worried so much, and in the past, when I entered Elodie’s dream, Mei wouldn’t have worried about me either.

If the mind dies, the body dies in reality.

And in this situation, Lethe holds overwhelming power. She is currently in the position of the dream’s owner.

I may not want to admit it, but it’s true that I can’t think of a way to defeat Lethe right now.

The dream’s owner can’t defeat the subjects within the dream; such a thing exists in this world.

‘…It did exist, indeed.’

I remembered.

Elodie’s trauma.

Elodie could never overcome her trauma until I helped her in the dream.

It’s only natural. That’s what trauma is. Without personal mental growth, there’s no way to overcome it, no matter what one does.

‘…Then.’

I stopped flying and raised my voice.

“If you want to chase me away, why don’t you try to kill me?”

I provoked Lethe. She had no choice but to accept this provocation.

“Then I hope for that as much as you want!”

The cascade of books came to a halt, and this time, books fluttered between the shelves, filling the air. All those books were opened just enough for their insides to face me.

Chwa-rur-rur-ruk!

And then, all at once, the pages turned, stopping at a certain point.

[──Die.]

Kwa-aang!

“Ugh!”

I didn’t even realize what was coming at me, and I fell, struck by something.

‘I didn’t even sense it with my intuition. It’s not the kind of projectile that’s coming at me!’

There must have been words meaning ‘death’ in all the opened books. The mana gathered from each book must have created a kind of incantation effect.

The moment the incantation was uttered, it dealt damage to the target. In other words, after the book stopped, it would already be impossible to block or evade it.

‘……But.’

I thought as I fell.

‘I’m not dead.’

I had not died yet.

Even after being struck by the incantation that commanded me to die.

‘It’s not a miss. It targeted my soul precisely. If it hadn’t, it wouldn’t have hurt. But I’m not dead. It was an incantation to die.’

I am currently experiencing a long fall.

The reason I’m not moving is that I want to make myself believe I’m dead. I needed time to think.

‘Why am I taking damage when it’s a statement to die in the first place? Is it that I can’t just produce the result of death?’

If this were reality, it would be the height of irrationality to die just because someone said to. But this is a dream, and Lethe is the master of dreams.

To be precise, Quinny is the master, but Lethe now wields power that rivals that.

Why can’t they kill me?

‘Every time this happens, I realize how strange my mind is.’

It’s a peculiar sensation to be organizing my thoughts based on the fact that I’m not dead.

‘……As a test.’

I opened my eyes. I rolled my eyes to look around.

……There’s still no response from Lethe. Even when I moved my fingers slightly, nothing changed.

With that, I realized one fact and stopped my fall, straightening my body.

“You’re persistent! To think you’re still alive!”

Only then did I hear Lethe’s voice.

I was certain of it there.

“…Lethe.”

“What is it?”

“You’re nearby.”

I looked around.

A dream is, quite literally, the unbounded imagination of a human. To survive within it, one must understand the rules of that dream.

I had been suspicious since the moment Lethe launched a clear attack aimed at me. That she would be watching me from somewhere close.

If not, she wouldn’t be able to target and attack me.

In a dream, perhaps she could see me from some distant place. If such an ‘imagination’ is possible. For a human like me, such imagination is impossible, but for a god, it might be.

But it wasn’t so.

Even as I fell and opened my eyes, even as I moved my fingers, Lethe could not confirm that I was alive.

Lethe’s vision is no different from that of a human.

Just as all the gods I have seen until now.

Her imagination does not exceed the bounds of what a human can conceive.

‘No, rather it would be more precise and rigid. Gods want to be more rational than humans. It would be impossible for them to destroy the logic they have constructed themselves.’

“Where are you?”

“W-what nonsense!”

Immediately after Lethe’s words, books began to spill from the shelf again.

Of course, I had already seen what kind of technique it was.

Rustle—

I was no longer interested in that attack.

I cut through all the books with swords made of woven threads.

“How dare you think you can cut through all these infinite books…!”

Even as she spoke, I sliced through all the spilling books.

“I can cut them, Lethe.”

“…!”

“According to you, the books on the shelf are indeed close to infinite. They might truly be infinite. If these are things that exist in reality, then I could never cut them.”

If something truly ‘infinite’ were to appear in reality, it would be impossible for me to defeat such an entity. I lack the intelligence to comprehend the concept of infinity.

Could it be possible for Ospreet, who has reached the end? I would have to ask him if he understands infinity to know for sure.

“However, the books that spill out from this bookshelf, ironically, are not infinite.”

“That kind of sophistry…!”

“Because, it only comes out as much as you can imagine, right?”

No matter how many books try to spill out, there is a strange limit to it.

The books that should have already been completed and appeared from that distant place, invisible to my eyes, do not show themselves. In other words, even Lethe, beyond my line of sight, cannot pull books from the shelf.

What I mean is that Lethe is sharing a line of sight similar to mine.

Even if she is a god, her limits of imagination are similar to mine.

“Isn’t it interesting? Imagination seems limitless, but in this case, surprisingly, that limit becomes visible.”

And in this fight, I cannot lose.

Because I am not fighting with my imagination right now; I am pulling out weapons from the ‘forge.’

The variety of weapons in my forge has long surpassed the number of weapons I can imagine at once.

“And if I focus on pulling out books,”

Bang!

I blew away a bookshelf. The weapon I used was something I randomly grabbed that seemed appropriate, so I’m not quite sure.

There was nothing beyond the bookshelf. Unfortunately, it was a dud.

“This way, I can also break the bookshelf. Because it’s a place you’re not aware of.”

“……Ha! You think you can find me that way? Nonsense!”

Lethe seemed a bit flustered but quickly regained her composure and raised her voice.

Of course, it’s unreasonable to find Lethe this way.

‘After all, the bookshelf where Lethe is hiding won’t be destroyed. No matter how much consciousness shifts elsewhere, the moment her safety is threatened, she will return to her original state.’

But that doesn’t matter.

How strong I am ‘actually’ here is not an important issue.

This is a battle of bravado and bluffing.

How much the opponent believes in my strength and how much they can be misled.

And in this fight, Lethe and I have similar advantages.

Lethe only knows about me to the extent of having ‘heard’ something, while I only know Lethe through ‘records.’

But.

‘You haven’t forgotten, have you, Lethe?’

Before coming here, I had met Lethe.

I remember her trembling as she looked at me.

That appearance, if it were a complete lie, devoid of any sincerity, would mean I have found an actress surpassing Selena. If that were the case, I probably wouldn’t be able to win.

But what if it isn’t a complete lie?

The fear reflected in Lethe’s eyes, if what I saw contained even the slightest bit of sincerity.

“Look closely, Lethe.”

I raised one hand.

“I am the flame of deep darkness.”

“!”

“I am the light that knows no cooling.”

Lethe, even if you don’t know me, you must know this.

This is the incantation of hellfire. Each wizard expresses it slightly differently, but it never strays from the basic image of hellfire.

I want to know just how little Lethe knows me.

Just how far does divine insight extend?

Can she detect my act?

I poured enough mana into my right hand and spoke.

“Hellfire.”

Whirring─!

And, as if it were a lie, flames gathered in my right hand.

“You’ve been deceived, Lethe.”

I will become your trauma.