[Gintama] Immortal

The snow outside the temple has long since stopped.

In the dimly lit room, a man with blood-stained hair sat motionless in the shadowy shelter, without speaking for a long time.

The left wrist with the bone visible from the incision was hanging by his side, and he held the woman trapped in the nightmare into his arms with one hand. Moist tears rolled down the cheeks covered with crystal slices, and dripped onto the man's black kimono. On the placket, there were water marks that were no different from blood stains.

He didn't seem to know how to stop the soft sobbing, and his posture was as stiff as a cold stone. For a moment, the old man almost saw the meaning of not knowing what to do from that figure.

At any moment, at any scene, the person who spied on this scene would have already been decapitated.

The other party's attention was obviously not on him, and the ancient and powerful existence lowered his head slightly, as if beasts were leaning on each other in search of tenderness, and instinctively pressed their cheeks against each other—choosing the most primitive way of comfort.

The tears of the person in his arms seemed to be very hot, and the moment the skin touched, the black figure froze slightly.

The frozen time was infinitely elongated. The figure hugged the person in its arms and waited for a long time in the darkness without moving. ring.

The man raised his head, and the atmosphere around him changed subtly.The soft gap leaking from the cold and hard shell closed again, he raised his eyelids, his dark red pupils stared at the old man who was still kneeling on the ground, and said succinctly:

"come here."

The old abbot didn't dare to hesitate, he kept his eyes downcast and walked forward cautiously.

The figure in the depths of the room stood up, holding the knife in one hand, the blood-stained tip hanging on the wooden floor beside him, and walked indifferently towards the door.

The old abbot closed his eyes, and there was the sound of wind in the air. The icy wind passed by his ears, making a soft sound like tearing cloth—a blunt object fell to the ground behind him, and the killer followed the blood. Xu's head was cut off with a knife, and the blood splattered on the snow outside the door was shockingly red.

Holding the knife in his right hand, Xu stood at the door expressionlessly.

Seeing that their companions were killed, the remaining killers no longer hesitated.

The sound of the blade cutting through the flesh and bones sounded briefly and then died away. The slight movement did not even disturb the birds on the branches, and there were a few sprigs of red plums in full bloom in the quiet snow.

The old abbot bowed his head and recited the Buddha's voice, not daring to look at the outdoor scenery.

With the sound of dripping water falling on the wooden floor, Xu Xu threw away the long knife that had been cut into curls, as if he just went out for a walk, and came back with a calm expression.

"What's up with her?"

The jagged crystalline stone covers a large part of the body, and the comatose woman has only half of the facial features left, and it can be seen that she is human.

"As far as the current state is concerned, maintaining the human form...is probably a very difficult task." The old abbot raised his head, "I know where the dragon's den in this mountain range is, and I can show you the way."

The heavy killing intent was suddenly suppressed, cold sweat broke out on his forehead, and the bones all over his body were creaking, but he still raised his head, stiffened his neck, and squeezed the remaining words out of his lips stiffly:

"Please, let her go back."

In the depths of winter, everything is quiet.

The bright red torii stands at the end of the bluestone steps, and the steps are covered with ice and snow, drowning all traces.

The ancient Shimenawa hangs on the torii gate, symbolizing the dividing line between the world of humans and the world of gods, and beyond that is the forbidden realm.

"It's here."

The slow-moving figure stopped in front of the torii gate and looked back, raised his eyelids, and looked at the cave with a deep gap behind the torii gate.

"The dragon's lair is at the end of the cave."

Standing in the snow.

During the long trek, his bloody left wrist stopped bleeding, but it did not heal immediately. The opened incision revealed thick bones, exposed to the cold air, dark blood condensed between his fingers, and filled the gaps between his nails. blood clot.

It seems that there is no pain, and even if the head falls, it will not blink.

The hand that was full of blood and flesh was holding Yae, and she leaned on his shoulder unconsciously, her long black hair hanging down smoothly, covering the scale-like clusters of crystal stones on her cheeks.

"...You..." The old man murmured, but the old figure who seemed to be standing in the snow a moment ago had already taken another step, and passed through the ancient torii gate without looking back.

The cold rock wall echoed with the sound of empty footsteps, Xu holding Yae through the deep darkness like death.

The dragon vein is the source of the planet, the beginning and end of all life.When the surging life energy occasionally flows to the surface, the radiant radiance is like a galaxy in the sky falling to the surface.

Today's dragon veins are polluted, and the brilliance emitted from the dragon's lair is no longer clear, and has become turbid and heavy, like the warm and cold currents in the ocean constantly conflicting and biting.

Holding Yae in Xu Xu's arms, he stopped at the edge of the dragon's lair.

He'd throw her down—if he was kind enough.

This human body is useless and has even become her burden at this moment.

It is ridiculous to be obsessed with the appearance of a human being who is not born as a human being.

Throwing down this shell-like body, it's over.

As for whether the dragon veins of the earth can be restored to their original state-wouldn't it be better if they couldn't.

After the life is overwhelmed, everything will return to nothingness.

Nothing will be left.

no matter what……

The side effects of excessive blood loss suddenly surged up, Xu paused slightly.

He seemed to briefly close his eyes.

When he opened his eyes again, he saw the familiar darkness.

The boundless darkness spread out like the surface of water, Xu stood in the darkness for a while, as if aware of where he was, he took his steps unhurriedly, and walked towards the faintly lit gap in the distance.

The ancient forest rises from the suddenly opened scenery, the misty white mist passes through the verdant and lush mountains, the overwhelming green is pressed down, and the sunlight as thin as a golden thread penetrates the lush greenery and falls on the group. In a clearing deep in the mountains.

The desolate ancient temple is overgrown with weeds, and the cherry blossoms with gnarled branches are independent of the real time, blooming brilliantly and beautifully, flourishing like clouds in the sky.

Xu saw Yae in the open space in front of the shrine.

She sat behind the thin and young figure, and raised her hand to put the braided flower crown on the child's hair.

"little monster."

The child who hadn't yet become Xu raised his face to look at her blankly, Yae smiled with eyebrows crooked, lowered his head and kissed his forehead.

This is the consciousness space she made up, so she can touch the phantom in her memory, hold the thin child in her arms, and softly hum to him a song that is so old that it has long been lost.

With dry hair clotted, Yae took the young child to the stream and patiently washed the dried blood and tangled stains from his hair.She changed him into warm clothes, found delicious wild fruits and wild vegetables grown in the mountains, and taught him how to survive in the mountains, how to stay away from evil humans, and never be treated like wild animals by villagers like before. Generally enslaved and imprisoned.

She will also dance for him, like a real shaman, wearing a former heavenly crown and a white gauze, dancing with a fan in front of the shrine to the falling cherry blossoms.

In this imaginary dream, the "little monster" is not separated from her, and the shrine is not surrounded by angry villagers and reduced to ashes in the raging fire that soars into the sky.

Time is an endless circle. As long as Yae, the master, is willing, the false happy life will continue. There is no exit from this dream—it just seems so.

"Are you stuck with such boring stuff?"

Xu walked up to that figure.

"Eight heavy."

As if he finally noticed his existence at this moment, Yae's face revealed a somewhat surprised expression.

There was no vigilance or rejection in that expression, and this perfectly constructed conscious world showed no malice towards him from the beginning to the end, and it naturally accepted him completely the moment he arrived.

"Who are you?" Yae's voice was full of doubts.

This is her sea of ​​consciousness, but her memory is so stuck in the ancient past that she doesn't recognize who he is.

She didn't even realize she was dreaming.Because of this, she has been unable to go out.

Xu's methods are never gentle, although his tone is very gentle, and when his eyes are slightly bent, he looks almost cruelly gentle.

"An extremely boring dream." He commented.

Then he chopped off the head of the thing that left her in the dream.

This dream is very realistic and can perfectly simulate everything in reality.

The thin child—the "he" in the past—maintained an ignorant and ignorant expression, his head rolled off his shoulders, and the woven corolla fell to the ground without making a cracking sound, and the petals stained with soil had already shattered and scattered.

Yae was stunned for a moment.

She suddenly rushed to the child's broken limbs, as if she wanted to pick up the quicksand, the crimson blood seeped into the ground, she tried in vain to put his body together, but the broken body continued to disintegrate and dissipate, and finally she picked up the , only the mud and sand with blood stains constantly fading.

"……little monster?"

It never occurred to him that she would cry.

But Yae was indeed crying.

She couldn't even keep the child's ashes, and cried very sadly at the place where he disappeared.

"Little monster." "Little monster."

This doesn't match what's happening in reality.

On the night when she and the "little monster" parted, the moonlight was mild, and the two of them didn't say much, and they just looked back and said goodbye.

Over 200 years after that, the reign name was changed from "Yanjiu" to "Zhenhe". The two met again on the battlefield where corpses were scattered all over the field.

An inexplicable emotion welled up somewhere in his chest, Xu Xu's eyes darkened.

"Eight heavy."

He stretched out his hand.

It seemed to want to grab something, but it seemed that it wanted to tear it apart.

The crumbling consciousness space suddenly collapsed at that moment, and the world returned to darkness.

Waiting impatiently for the world to be reconstructed, if the "evil ghost" who was arrested by the court appears this time, he will cut off the head of that "self"; Still will unscrew the replacement's head.

A sea current surged in the darkness, and the sound of the tide came layer upon layer from afar.Standing in front of the dilapidated fishing village, the wind that blows in carries the smell of sea salt, and the mottled wooden doors are covered with corroded rust.

Xu had peeked into Yae's memory, just like she had peeked into his, and he knew where this was, so he walked through the numb fishermen and walked towards the entrance guarded by guards.

"Who are you... um!"

The realistic dream came from the reality of the past. The guards screamed, fear fermented in the air, and the xenophobic villagers took up weapons in unison as if they had seen a ghost.

Xu cut off the heads of those people, stepped on the winding blood trails, and came to the inner courtyard of the shrine.

The priest in robes was about to perform the prayer ceremony before the sacrifice. When he saw the visitor, he stared with fish-like eyes, and when his throat was sliced ​​open by the cold blade, he seemed to be planning to let out a piercing cry for help.

There were no living people around, and the hideous-looking corpses were piled up together. Xu came to the altar and cut off the thick rope tied to the sacrifice.

The python-like thick rope fell in response, and the person lying on the altar opened his eyes.She was wearing a white and soft veil, her long black hair was bound by a brilliant golden crown, and her face that was not stained with blood looked as innocent as a newborn child.

This is Yae who has not yet become "Yae", she has no name yet, looking at the person who interrupted the sacrificial ceremony with curious eyes:

"who are you?"

This is the second time she asked him this sentence.

She sat up from the altar, and the vermilion long tassels hanging from the crown of the previous day made a soft sound with her movements.

"Are you here to end this world?"

The emotions in my heart suddenly calmed down.

Maybe it was because he had just killed someone, and the violent desire to destroy disappeared.

Xu Xu stretched out his hand, his fingers went through the vermilion long tassels and jet-black hair, he lifted her cheek and kissed her.

He whispered in her ear.

--"I am."

Yae's eyes slowly lit up, and she seemed to smile slightly.

"...you are really late."

She put her arms around Xu's neck, pulled him down again, bit the corner of his lips and kissed him.

"Since you found me, take me out of here."

Yae's voice was a little choked, but his eyes were smiling.

"Xu...no," she called him, "little monster."

The author has something to say:

is sugar

Fanwai exists for sugar

so i'm back