Chapter 43

I put the dagger I had been fumbling with behind my waist back into the Void Space.

A bit of a disappointing result.

It was a chance to see how impressive the self-repair abilities of a humanoid divine lifeform could be.

I clicked my tongue and looked at the glittering thing with its head buried.

—

“Mind your manners, Freya.”

Miho muttered with a cold glare.

Her words were filled with anger.

But within that, I could sense a faint, yet clear, relief.

—

Hmm…

So she thought I might kill her.

She must think of me as someone overly aggressive.

Through long training, I’ve been reborn as a human overflowing with patience and mercy.

I don’t kill people so easily.

Besides, if they have divinity, they won’t die easily anyway.

—

Anyway, I took in the sight of Miho, who had grown in many ways.

Her height had grown so much that it felt like she could reach my nose now.

I casually approached and placed my hand on her head.

—

“……”

Miho closed her eyes without a word.

From her shaky breaths, I could feel a mix of complicated emotions.

—

“Miho.”

I called her name softly.

Miho’s shoulders were trembling.

She turned her head, quietly covering her face with her long sleeve, but her head didn’t leave my hand.

—

“I’m sorry.”

Then, as if losing consciousness and collapsing, Miho weakly hugged me.

The weight, heavier than before, hinted at the passage of time.

—

“Really…”

“But where did you get all that stuff? The energy I feel from it is quite strong.”

While holding Miho, I assessed the performance of her outfit and equipment.

Surprisingly, it seemed far more expensive than what I was wearing.

Each piece held an unusual power.

I don’t usually rely on equipment much, but I couldn’t help but wonder how she managed to get her hands on such items.

—

“……”

Miho stepped back slightly and muttered, as if finding it absurd.

“Is that really what you’re curious about…?”

—

Of course. It’s important.

Equipment can be a decisive factor in battle, more than one might think.

While relying on it can be toxic, it’s necessary to have the best firepower when needed.

—

At that moment, Freya, who had fallen, dusted herself off and stood up.

It was more like Belva had helped her up.

Freya, now awake, looked at me with a dazed expression, different from before.

It seemed she now remembered who I was.

—

“You are…!”

A pretty predictable first line.

However, the dust particles clinging to Freya’s body turned into sparkling gem dust and fell off, which wasn’t so predictable.

…Her Divine Power had developed strangely.

Being a goddess of beauty from myth, it seemed her divinity had evolved to create such effects.

I could understand where Miho had gathered such wealth.

—

Let’s set aside the small talk and focus on what’s important.

—

“You’ve gotten a lot stronger.”

From Miho, I could feel indescribable energies.

Two types.

One was Magic Power, and the other was Dimension Power, forming an energy structure I didn’t recognize.

It piqued my interest.

Miho, seeing my smile, paused for a moment, then released her wrist.

—

“I worked hard.”

“Alright. Let’s see.”

“…Ha!”

—

With a flick, Miho pulled out a pure white fan from her wide sleeve and swung it from below to above.

The Dimension Power, like a gust of wind, pushed me far away.

As if alive, it didn’t affect the buildings at all, only sending me flying to the distant peak.

A fascinating technique.

—

Even after arriving at the peak, the wind remained, pressing down on me strongly.

At the same time, nine blue flames lit up the sky.

A mysterious light, as if containing spirits.

The intense flames were strong enough to reach me from quite a distance.

I could feel the workings of Dimension Power again.

I decided to stand still and take the oncoming attack.

—

“…Oh.”

The fire clinging to my body didn’t go out easily.

Both the wind and the fire.

Miho’s abilities moved as if they had a life of their own.

As if they had their own will.

Was she imbuing Dimension Power with intent, giving it specific properties?

—

It’s similar to Divine Power but slightly different.

Divine Power is Dimension Power altered by the will of a being.

This seems more like drawing out the inherent power of Dimension Power through specific methods.

—

The power of Dimension Power.

If it’s the power that forms the world, then it must be about controlling nature.

An interesting development.

Miho, who had approached unnoticed, looked at me and smiled faintly.

—

“I made it while recalling the stories you told me before. About yokai and immortals. The tales of martial artists. Their magic techniques and martial arts. How is it? Doesn’t it seem like I recreated them well?”

—

I brushed off the flames clinging to my body and took a stance.

Miho, who had landed like a feather on the wide, flat rock at the peak, blurred for a moment and then appeared beside me.

—

Indeed, I had told Miho many stories.

About the culture of a land I could never return to. About another Miho from my childhood memories.

And I had shared all sorts of martial arts, magic techniques, and immortal arts, as if commemorating them, even though they existed only in fiction and imagination.

—

Miho really loved my stories.

And she asked if she could one day use them.

Could she, using Magic Power and Dimension Power, recreate the stories from memory?

Without any detailed structure, just recalling vague outcomes, could she create the exact process?

I couldn’t answer hastily.

And now, Miho was showing me the answer to that silence.

—

In a different form.

—

Miho’s figure, which had appeared out of nowhere, swung the fan again.

And my fist, piercing through the swirling wind like paper, drove Miho down to the ground below.

—

─Crash.

“Ahh…!”

“Oops… messed up the strength control.”

Moving to where she fell, Miho was lying limp, staring at the sky, possibly with broken bones.

I felt a bit guilty.

Scratching my head, I let out a fake cough.

“That was too much, wasn’t it?”

“Yeah…”

I had no words.

Excited by the new technique, I went overboard in the heat of the moment.

“Belva will be here soon. Just hang on until then.”

The talismans on Miho’s body glowed brightly, showing healing power, but it wasn’t enough.

The injury was too deep.

I felt ashamed realizing how hard I had swung.

Miho, looking at the Sealing Orb around my neck and wrist, exhaled and laughed.

“You still haven’t taken that off…?”

Touching my neck at her words, the hard gem-like Sealing Orb was still firmly in place.

I calmly replied, “If I had taken it off, I’d be dead.”

I can’t just take it off recklessly now.

There’s no telling how my inflated ego might flare up.

Based on when I last removed the Sealing Orb, I estimated a 10% chance of winning against the Milky Way.

The aftermath of my power alone could have caused irreversible results.

“Let’s rest now.”

Sitting by Miho’s head, I quietly looked ahead.

The open view was refreshing.

A cool breeze blew on the mountainside.

The clouds seemed close enough to touch.

I felt the ground was hard and said to Miho, “Tell me if you’re uncomfortable.”

“…Ah.”

Gently lifting Miho’s head onto my lap, a comfortable smile appeared like a rainbow.

Though it looked a bit sly.

*

“No. Why is it like this?”

Belva, who had arrived, sighed as she looked at the groaning Miho.

“How is she?”

“Surprisingly, there’s not a single spot that’s fine.”

Hmm…

Her condition seemed really bad.

After a moment of thought, Belva quietly placed her hand on Miho’s head.

Whoosh-

Unlike before, a divine power with a black hue spread throughout her body, regenerating her crushed form.

“Ugh…”

In return, black tears fell from Belva’s eyes.

It seemed to be quite painful.

Today has been full of apologies.

After sincerely apologizing, I helped Miho up again.

There’s still much to learn from Miho.

Martial Arts and Magic Techniques, was it?

I needed an explanation.

I wanted to know how she recreated them.

Sitting the tired Belva beside me, I asked Miho, who was examining her creaky body, to explain.

“Martial Arts are basically techniques that are usually hard to use, fixed into forms and then executed.”

“So you can’t change them freely at any time?”

At my words, Miho gently extended her fist towards me.

I tilted my head slightly to dodge.

Her fist flew again.

Lower left.

This time, I deflected it with my palm and prepared to counter by dragging my left foot counterclockwise.

“See. You can always fight with optimal movements, but most people in the world can’t do that. Even if they can to some extent, high-level techniques need to be fixed into forms and memorized beforehand.”

Indeed.

Listening to Miho, I understood.

It’s not easy to thinly coat the body with magic power, grant it endurance, then shed it like a skin to create mirage-like illusions.

Some practice would be needed to use it in real combat.

I extended one hand forward and said to Miho.

There was something I wanted to test.

“Want to try grabbing this?”

“Yes.”

Whoosh-

The moment Miho grabbed my wrist, I smoothly drew a circle clockwise and hooked her wrist.

Pulling the caught arm diagonally, I prepared to shift the weight of the stepping foot forward to push her away.

When people unexpectedly get close to someone, they instinctively try to push them away.

By using that repelling force, I could disrupt their balance.

“…?”

But, I felt no reaction from Miho.

She just got pulled into my embrace.

Huh?

What’s this?

Miho also seemed surprised by her own reaction, her eyes wide and blinking.

“…Shall we try again?”

It was the same no matter how many times we tried.

Unless she anticipated and reacted, Miho would just flop along without any resistance when I pulled.

However, she reacted normally when Belva did it.

Could it be…?

‘······.’

Just in case, I spread my arms, and Miho clung to me like a magnet.

“Uh, what’s this…?”

This too was an instinctive movement, not rational.

It seems that during the 10 years I was gone, a new condition had developed.