Otherworld TRPG Game Master - Chapter 338



338 – S6. 『Phantasmal Realm』 -1

JaeWolGyeong (Reaching the Moon’s Realm) – GongSangJuBak (Empty Sky Pillar Binding).

Centered around me, a part of the world flips over, and the ground I stepped on erupts into a lake of water. There’s no falling in. This serene surface cradles my feet like jelly.

Below the clear lake, the sky is reflected.

In the night sky reflected in the lake-mirror, a giant pillar floats in the air, like a Ruyi Jingu Bang (Monkey King’s staff).

The full moon twinkled. To me, its light sounded like a small chuckle. On the other hand, the mirror-Yuna frowned at the sight.

“Yuna knows that spell is useless. Have you forgotten?”

“I know it all too well.”

This magic, it feels like it’s from so, so long ago…

I made it for kicks, you know, since those boy knights and nobles are coming to decide on the magic tower’s funding.

It’s a showy spell, made to tease Yuna, so it doesn’t really do anything. Just, like, looks cool, feels imposing, a magic purely of *illusion*.

That’s why I pulled it out.

“Be buried and rot, *Tidal Wave of Skyscraper Forest*.”

Kugugugugugu──!

Mirror Yuna, pointing her finger at me, starts her incantation, and from beyond the horizon, the ground rises like a wave. And each skyscraper that sprouts from the ground becomes a sharp tooth, surging forward.

Just like the incantation, a tidal wave. Instead of dodging or countering, I tightened my own imaginary shackles. A little more flamboyant, a little more useless.

The fact that it doesn’t work is what matters.

The *Tower of Illusion* turns illusions into reality. So I’ve decided to turn reality back into illusion. An *illusion* purely for enjoyment.

Kwaaa──!

Srrrk, srrrk──

When the skyscraper tidal wave hits my area, each concrete particle turns into a butterfly and scatters. They fly through the sky in visually pleasing arcs, then disappear like small fireworks.

“…You made my magic fake?”

“It’s a little different. I made your magic a non-lethal illusion spell with no added effects.”

Illusions aren’t fake, you know.

It’s an invincible shield, only possible in the specific situation of the *Tower of Illusion.* If my opponent was just a normal illusion mage, the fight would’ve ended here. But—

“If you turn the *illusion realm’s* solidifying effect to zero, that means your *Subtraction* is soft.”

“…Our Yuna is too smart; it’s annoying.”

“*Subtraction*.”

“Could you at least be, like, three beats slower on the uptake…?!”

I had all the follow-ups ready.

I flattened myself against the surface of the water. A red beam streaked over my head, blasting away my entire Dream Shackles. Still, it’s fine. The situation favors me.

I usually block illusory magic with Dream Shackles, and 『Subtraction』 with the Great Beast form tanking.

Even 『Deletion Zone』 is occupied by the crow right now. If it’s erased, I just need to call it back. I sent a signal through the magic communication network.

“Crow, bring out what just went in!”

-Caw caw, sorry, host. There’s no information that has entered this zone right now. Are you perhaps referring to a piece of the Great Beast’s body that was swallowed previously?

“…Dream Shackles didn’t go in?!”

“Idiot. There’s no way Yuna wouldn’t think of a countermeasure. She created a new processing zone.”

That means she made another trash folder. It means my cards for countering 『Subtraction』 have been halved. I hurriedly cancelled my transformation.

“『Dreaming Mirror』, transformation release!”

Gwooo──

I shift to the 150-meter Armored Great Beast Form. And then I swung my foreleg like a whip. It’s an advantage of my body made of slime. Leveraging that elasticity, my swinging foreleg breaks the sound barrier.

Zzzzzzzzhh──!

Thud.

Mirror Yuna is sent flying by my foreleg. Even if she can use space manipulation, that doesn’t mean it’s an invincible dodge. If you hit her fast enough before she moves, she’ll get hit.

Her body ploughed through about three buildings before crashing into the ground.

Keep up the offense. I lashed out with my tail and arms, grinding everything around me as I advanced. The sound of air layers exploding echoed continuously.

The point is to control the range so I can hit her no matter where she tries to escape.

Immediately after.

“How can the past ever be forgotten, ‘Obelisk of Sedimented History’?”

*Thwack-*!

A gigantic, sharp-tipped obelisk of a structure instantly erupted from the ground and stabbed into my side. It was a mess of a thing, like modern art—a haphazard blend of buildings, dirt, and cars, all seemingly thrown together by recklessly amassed resources.

“Kreeeeeeeak!”

It hurts.

I read the signs, but my monstrous, hulking form was too slow to evade it. Worse, the obelisk was injecting some kind of malignant data into my body.

Still, it wasn’t a major setback. I can filter it out easily enough.

*Crack.*

I snapped the obelisk in half, breaking it off where it was embedded. Even if it meant a larger wound, I couldn’t ditch the kaiju form. I needed the size to handle ‘Subtraction’ with less pain.

*Kwaaah!*

I reached out towards the source of the magic, bursting through an apartment building and grabbing the Mirror Yuna beyond it. I repurposed a bit of the broken concept-binding from earlier, using it to disable her spatial teleportation.

Damage accumulation was the name of the game. I’d start with the strongest technique my kaiju form could muster. No matter what Mirror Yuna threw at me, I would endure it and then hit back—that was the mindset…

“『Meteor Strike』—READY!”

“I thought I wouldn’t fall, but… 『Sky Fall』.”

And then, the sky fell.

“Keeeeeeak!”

*Kuuung-*!

The entire sky collapsed, pressing down on my back. Unlike Atlas holding up the heavens, I was about to become a pancake. The pressure was so intense, I felt like I was going to vomit up all my guts.

*Thud! Thud! Thud!*

I slammed the Mirror Yuna I was holding into the ground repeatedly, but it was clear I’d be crossing the River Styx before she would give up. This was my limit.

『Dreaming Mirror』!

*Pop.*

I shift back into human form and keep fighting. The world’s been crushed by the collapsed sky, flattened into a place where the y-axis height is about the size of a grown man.

Yeah, if the whole sky fell, then even Mirror Yuna herself would’ve been flattened.

“Huuuh…”

I take a moment to catch my breath.

Mirror Yuna’s fighting style, her way of manipulating ‘the world,’ is more sophisticated than I imagined. If the Succubus Queen had been even half this good, things would’ve been terrifying.

A red light flickers in the distance. It’s not just one. It’s a barrage of 『Subtraction』 attacks.

*BEEEEEEEEEP──!*

The beams of light flying from over there start tearing holes into the surroundings. Cover is meaningless. I dodge and weave, rolling away from the 『Subtraction』, but with the y-axis limited, I’m going to hit my limit soon.

I have to come up with something.

An idea sparks. I’ll use those 『Subtraction』 beams as highways. If I shift into a data form and ride the surface of the beams, I can approach Mirror Yuna in an instant.

It’s likely I’ll die, but it’s theoretically possible.

Focus, focus. I can do this. I can. I just have to be perfect.

I carefully touch the tip of my finger to a 『Subtraction』 beam that passes next to me… now!

*Spot.*

Like an electric current flowing through a wire, like a surfer riding a wave, I change my body into data form and ride against the『Subtraction』. Then I revert back.

“…How?”

Mirror Yuna is right in front of me.

“By the power of love! 『Heart-Shattering Mystic Arrow』!”

“⋯⋯⋯⋯!!”

I launched a pitch-black arrow toward Mirror Yuna’s head. She frantically pulled countless hands from under her hat to guard, but…

It was a fake. Just a Heartpiercer Temple-shaped hologram. No casting, after all.

A brief opening. But even if I started casting Heartpiercer Temple now, it’d be too late, and switching class to a fire mage to unleash flames would also be too late. But I had a weapon for instant firepower.

The pistol Abraham gave me.

Bang──!

Crack.

Mirror Yuna’s chest shattered radially. Even if it didn’t end the battle, that one hit was significant.

I’ll inject information through that shattered part and take control. I reached out to Mirror Yuna, frozen by the gunshot. Dozens of magic threads surged.

“⋯⋯Hehehe.”

Laughing?

A chill ran down my spine. What did I miss? Does she have another trump card? Is it just bluffing?

“What Yuna hacked with 『Obelisk』 wasn’t you, but… 『Dreaming Mirror』. Executing forced transformation protocol.”

“Damn it── Meeeeooow!”

*Poof*. I turned into a black cat.

It took one second to adapt to the cat’s body structure, customize and optimize how to circulate magic in a cat’s body, and recover my combat power.

But Mirror Yuna’s attack was faster than one second.

“『Subtract』.”

*Snick*.

My right arm flew off.

“May there be no one by my side, neither in death nor in life, 『Repulsion Boom』.”

A hammer, wielding a world compressed in layers, flies toward me. A spring-loaded thing, holding down wastelands, cities, UFOs, inns, everything in pixel-sized portions.

And that spring, it was about to burst right in front of me.

Thunk.

The very repulsive force created by the expansion of compressed information resources swept over me. I flew impossibly far, then, at some point, my consciousness snapped.

Darkness came.

–

I still remember it. The moment of our first meeting.

“Um, well, the Violet Magic Tower doesn’t really have much, so, if you’re interested in, uh, illusion magic…”

A small girl with pigtails, shrinking back, cautiously speaking to me…that adorable cuteness of hers.

I was drawn by some irresistible, strange impulse, and became a mage of the Violet Magic Tower.

And what followed was a dreary, gray life.

Yeah, tower life wasn’t exactly enjoyable. It wasn’t that Yuna back then was any less cute. The problem was with me.

I suspect that back then, I’d invested all my processing power into binding it all down. Even the emotional components that make up joy and sorrow.

I was experiencing a spiritual void.

Apathy.

Unable to laugh, unable to cry, even looking at the smiles of others tasted like chewing cardboard. Apathy where nothing could be felt.

That slowly. Very slowly, got better.

The traces were easy to find when I chewed over the past.

“U-um, th-the support funding this time, if you approve it, y-you’ll really make something useful, right?”

“Yeah.”

Whether the magic tower crumbled or not, whether Yuna got hurt or not, that part where I did what I wanted to.

“I’m going to lock myself in my room for about three years to develop magic, so please feed me three meals a day with meat, and don’t look for me unless it’s a big deal.”

“Y-you’re saying more and more trashy things… B-but three years?”

That part where I treated Yuna like an NPC who just spat out money, as if I had almost no empathy. Looking back, my chest still aches.

“…. Sometimes, just sometimes… you don’t seem alive. It’s like your mind is somewhere else.”

“……..”

For me, who was empty, the only dopamine I had was my previous life. Maybe that’s why I worked so hard on creating magic. To pick up even the lingering emotions of the past.

So. Because of that.

“….. What kind of story do you think that is?”

“First, there needs to be romance. Adding love to a session makes it fun.”

You, who was interested in my world, listened to my story.

“And?”

“Adversity and hardship are always necessary. The protagonist has to overcome hardship and grow.”

You, who let me dream.

“And?”

“There needs to be humor. Humor can catch two birds with one stone. It’s fun on its own, and when tragedy is right next to it, it enhances the flavor.”

You, who looked at me. I…

“Okay, I’ll help. I… happen to be looking for a story, too. You’ll make a world for me later, right? You hogged that much support money, so if you have any conscience…”

I couldn’t help but be charmed.

–

My vision cleared. One side was a little red, but still…

From noble mtl dot com

“………..”

My fingers wriggle. My left hand moves fine, but my right has no feeling. Come to think of it, my arm flew off a while ago…

I stagger as I stand. It’s a little hard to balance, but I manage to stay upright. While I was in some kind of dream, the world changed into this blank white space.

There, in front of me, is Mirror Yuna.

Sssshhh──

She’s making a huge bubble and aiming it at me. I know that spell. 『Violet Iris’s Concentrated Memory Mana Crystal Explosion』.

Inside the bubble, images flashed of friends dying, of modern cities collapsing, of the world folding in half, of demons swarming.

It’s all the resources of the layer, absorbed and compressed into one, I guess.

Back then, I broke it by licking Yuna’s ear. But that method doesn’t seem like it’ll work now…

It’s okay.

Even if the whole world is a blank, white emptiness, at least that beautiful moon is still casting a soft glow from the sky.

Yuna Yurensto Violet Iris.

You were the one who allowed me to dream in this utter numbness.

And after laughing and talking with you, I’d come to and realize. I had come to love so many people. My session’s players, my acquaintances…

The moment I linked pinkies with you that day, everything changed.

So this, it’s all because of you.

“Look at me now.”

Don’t look at the past I left behind, look at the me I’ll become.

Chest puffed out, proud. I raise my hunched shoulders, spread my one and only arm wide. Can’t be showing a sorry sight in front of the one I love.

I turn the magic. All the resources I’d hoarded climbing 『The Tower of Illusion』, I call them all forth. A crack, like a cross, appears in the space behind me. That’s enough to get ready.

And then, I smiled.

As if I could win against the entire world, should it come at me.

And I shout. So loud it reaches that moon!

“I, whom you saved, I who wouldn’t exist without you──”

Crack, crackle.

“Just what can I achieve, how far can I go!”

KA-THOOM──!

Academic Forged-Succession-Ascension(偽造承繼昇華)──

『Illusionary Realm : Gate Open』.