[Gintama] Immortal

Another battlefield.

On the desolate plain, the sky I looked up was pitch black.The samurai who was pierced by a long arrow at the throat chakra, the hooded monk soldier, the ashigaru whose internal organs were leaking from the belly roll, corpses from different eras were stacked together, and the blood-stained broken knife was inserted on the battlefield, as if born from the earth. of sharp bone spurs.

Without the concept of time, Yae only felt that he had traveled a long way.

The youth who had been chopped up and burned countless times by human beings disappeared without a trace. The more he walked to the edge of this deep consciousness, the more the logic and structure of this world collapsed.

The colors fade first, and then the sun, moon and stars.

The sky is always dark, and the only thing left in the black and white world is this battlefield full of corpses from different eras.

There was no wind on the empty plain, Yae turned his head and looked, the barren scenery stretched to the four poles of the earth, no matter which direction he went, it was the same.

...Where did you go?

Yae took a step forward, and suddenly stepped into the dark water.

The surrounding corpses were immersed in the pitch black color, and the desolate battlefield suddenly turned into a black and boundless sea. When she stepped on the water, the direction she came from had become the distant shore.

The world of intangible memories comes to an abrupt end here.Like the ink melted in the water, large swaths of black spread away, Yae stood alone in the vast and lonely darkness, a ray of wind so light as to seem hallucinatory brushed his cheeks, just blinked, and the tactile sensation disappeared.

...forward.

In a world without sound and color, only this voice from the bottom of my heart is getting stronger.

Yae stepped into the water.

As if he couldn't wait to pull her down, the dark sea immediately rose up and soon reached her waist.

The front is empty, there is nothing but darkness, Yae walks against the water, the dark water rises higher and higher, and the other shore where I don't know when to turn back is gone.

She waded through the dark and boundless sea alone, and at the moment when the icy water was about to overflow her throat, she suddenly stepped on a slightly upward slope.

Along that slope, Yae stepped on the flat ground again.

The dark water overflowed from behind, and she reached out her hand and touched the cold rock wall.

It was pitch black in front of her, and the surroundings were still so dark that she couldn't see her fingers. She touched the rock wall and walked forward. She didn't know how long it had passed. Come another voice of existence.

It's not exactly the sound.

The rustling of the chains dragging across the ground was more like the soft noise of a beast imprisoned in the dark depths.

While running, she accidentally knocked over something in the dark, and the shelf-like object shattered on the cave floor, and she stepped on it—extremely brittle, burnt wood that had been decayed by time.

campfire stand.

Here—maybe not here—but there had been people here.

He was tripped, and when he fell out, Yae subconsciously stretched out his hand to support something like a prison door.

— There used to be a caretaker here.

Speaking of the prison door, the grid-shaped barrier was already quite old, and when she squeezed it tightly, dust fragments fell down.

Yae groped around in the dark and found the padlock on the low cell door.

After a few tugs, the padlock, which should have been rotting long ago, remained motionless.

The sound of turbulent and high tide came from behind, Yae squatted down and touched the surrounding ground.

bumped into.

I don't know if it's a torture tool or an iron tongs holding charcoal. It's too dark around, I can't see anything, people are like blind.

Standing up, Yae took a step back—there was a clang, metal shards flew, his arm was numb from the reverse force, and the old lock on the cell door was still hanging there.

The cold water was up to her ankles, and gradually flooded towards the depths of the cave.

"……Hey!!"

Yae grabbed the cell door, and the metal padlock rattled as she shook it.

no respond.

The young man who will be called Xu in the future nests in the deep darkness, like a beast whose breath has died, just stays there motionless.

Dark water poured in one after another, making the long and narrow cave narrower and narrower.

Pressed by the turbulent water, Yae was almost stuck to the prison door. She stretched out her arms and passed through the gaps in the wooden lattice, as if to catch the young man hiding in the darkness, desperately reaching forward with her fingertips.

...give me your hand.

The sound seemed to be swallowed up as well.

give me your hand.

……

Hey.

hello, can you hear me?

virtual?

...No, not right.Not the name.

That was before the birth of the name Xu, and even farther before.

At that time, he was not called Xu Xu.

Slightly startled, Yae suddenly said:

"..."

--little monster?

There was an extremely small sound in the darkness.

Like the turning of a key, or the sound of a prison door being unlocked.

There was a sudden void in front of him, and the prison door disappeared.

Yae thought he would fall into the water, but he didn't.

The dark water suddenly pushed her forward, and she was pushed staggeringly, subconsciously trying to find support——

Nothing can be seen in the pitch-black world, but the heartbeat of a living thing can be heard close to the palm.

Yae raised her face.

The breath belonging to another person became clear in the darkness, and the other person was like a silent beast, only heartbeat and breathing could be heard.

She raised her hand, the soft hair fell on the back of her hand, and her fingertips touched the warm skin. In the dark environment, she touched the other's face tentatively, as if she had sensed her intention , or just an unconscious move, the other party turned his head slightly, and just put his face into her palm.

"little monster?"

She felt that the other party lowered his eyes and closed his eyes lightly as if falling asleep.

The dark water rose higher and higher, and the small cave was almost completely submerged.

This time we can come across it.

Yae stretched out her hand——

The pitch black water covered everything.

……

It's not painful.

No breathlessness, no feeling of suffocation.

The time seems to be the moment when the water is submerged, and it seems that a long time has passed, so long that the world is long enough to rebuild from the foundation. Yae opened his eyes and found himself sitting in a white space.

The sky and the earth are integrated, the vast space has no boundaries, and everything is blank, except for the empty white, which is still white.

She let go, and the long-haired young man, or Xu Xu from before, closed his eyes slightly, as if he was frozen in place, sitting motionless with his head down.

Yae stood up, and at that moment, a consciousness flashed in her mind——

Knife.

She needs a knife.

The moment consciousness was formed, the handle of the knife was suddenly grasped in his hand.

The cold killing intent suddenly exploded, and with a clang, the knife in his hand collided with the other, and countless fine metal sparks burst out in an instant.

"...The response is fast enough."

The man in black kimono showed a warm smile, and the blade turned lightly, like a flexible poisonous snake, slashing against her blade sharply.

Turning her head to one side, Yae avoided the point of the knife brushing past her ear.

Behind.

Holding the knife handle tightly, she suddenly turned around and raised the knife, Xu's attack was as fast as flashing out of thin air, and fell down in an instant.

The tooth-piercing metallic sound scatter in the air, being blocked three times, he leisurely put away the blade, and took a step back.

"Yes, after all, it's been 500 years."

He looked at the knife in his hand, his blood-red pupils reflected on the smooth and cold blade, his voice was light and ethereal, like a cold mist that could not be dispelled.

Touching the blade with his fingertips, he admired this sharp weapon purely for killing, and a chilling smile appeared on the corner of his lips.

"My knife, you have seen it many times."

From simply reproducing human atrocities, to the later killing of the knife technique has reached perfection.

The imperial court gave Amaterasu-in Naraku the right to die. In the past 500 years, no one has implemented this creed more thoroughly than Xu.

"You really ran far enough." As if admiring enough, Xu put down the knife slightly, the tip of the knife hanging by his side, "You even found this place."

With a look of ease, he walked towards Yae with a knife in his hand without haste.

"Thanks to you, I remembered. I still have one thing to do."

Before the words fell, at that moment, the familiar pressure was pressed down again.

With the clear howl of splitting the air, the two knives collided again in the air.

Seeing her break free from the restraints, Xu Xu seemed to have an expression of "it really is so".With a slight pressure on the right hand holding the knife, he forced Yae to take a step back with absolute strength.

"What are you doing? Giving up offense and defending—"

Leaning over the stalemate blade, Xu Xu leaned closer, almost sticking to her ear and said coolly:

"But it will die."

"...What are you doing again?"

Yae raised her eyelids, she smiled, and replied with the same mocking voice:

"Is this hairstyle that lifts up the broken hair completely abandoned?"

The weight on the blade suddenly lightened, and Yae stepped back again, slashing at him with a wave of his hand.

"Look," Xu Wei lowered his eyes, his voice was deep and cold, "so naive as to point the back of a knife at the enemy, this kind of thing will happen."

A knife has two sides.

The blade is used to slash the enemy, and the back is used to protect oneself.

Holding the knife in the backhand all the time, under the force exerted by Xu, Yae's blade was almost attached to his neck.

Going forward, bright red blood beads will overflow.

At that moment, Xu suddenly withdrew his knife.

Before he had time to catch his breath, he understood Xu's intentions in the blink of an eye, Yae threw the knife and ran back.

Sen Han's saber light suddenly appeared, and a scalp-numbing killing intent came overwhelmingly.

The moment before it was about to touch the young man's neck, the tip of the knife stopped.

As her chest rose and fell with her rapid breathing, Yae raised her eyelids, and the point of Xu's knife barely stopped in front of her eyes. An inch further down could split her head open, and another horizontal slash would smash the head of the long-haired youth behind her. Also cut it off.

"...What the hell are you doing?"

The look of ease and smile disappeared, Xu held the knife condescendingly, and his indifferent red eyes were so deep that it was chilling.

"It's not even a complete personality, it's just a fragment of "I" past. "

There is no consciousness and no emotion.

It's just a fragment left over from the process of erasing myself in the depths of that dark time.

"...Are you that annoying?"

Yae looked at him.

"This past 'you'. "

The weak self who was once slaughtered by human beings.

Tortured by repeated abuse, in the endless pain, even the heart was wiped out, the past self.

"More than 500 years ago, when I met you again, I already said it."

Yae's voice lightened slightly.

——"That child, where did you hide him?"

Denounced by humans as evil spirits, they have nowhere to go and nowhere to rely on.

No real name and no love, where is that child?

Xu looked at her expressionlessly, and there was nothingness in the depths of his scarlet pupils.

After a while, he said two words:

"It's in the way."

The tip of the knife that stopped in front of her moved down and touched her throat.

"You seem to have forgotten the fact that you exist in a real posture now." Xu said indifferently, "If you die here, you will really die."

After a moment of silence, Yae smiled sincerely:

"Then kill me."

She raised her hand and tightly grasped Xu's knife, the blade was sharp, and the bright red blood soon seeped out, trickling out from between her fingers, sliding along the blade to the tip of the knife, turning into Beads of blood fell down.

"You can even kill yourself, can't you?Then kill me first. "

Papapapa, the bright red blood kept falling on the white ground, like red plums blooming in the cold winter.

"Otherwise, I won't let you kill it."

As if he didn't see the blood oozing from the palm of his hand, Yae's expression remained unchanged.

"I won't let you kill 'yourself'. "

"I don't know what you want to do after killing all the "you", but an uncontrollable factor like me may cause a little trouble to your plan. "

She looked up at Xu, clutched his knife, and pressed the tip of the knife against her own throat.

"It's a pity to miss the chance to kill me completely."

Just a little further forward and you can poke in.

Yae's hand holding the knife trembled slightly—forcefully.

In any case, the tip of the knife did not move forward at all, as if it was frozen there.

He lowered his eyes.

The palm of the hand holding the knife was full of blood, because it was too tightly gripped, the blade was deeply embedded in the flesh, vaguely touching the hard bones of the hand.

"Oh?" After a while, he said in a low voice, "What about Songyang's disciples?"

Xu said slowly: "At this time, do you want to abandon them?"

this time.

"...What happened to Songyang?"

The hand holding the knife tightened unconsciously, and more blood gushed out.

"It seems that you don't know anything about what's going on outside."

A cold smile appeared on Xu Xu's lips.

"Yoshida Matsuyo will not appear again."

In the future, before she had time to think deeply about the meaning of the other party's words, the point of the knife on her throat suddenly disappeared.

Xu Xu withdrew his hand, without a knife or sheath, as the master of this conscious world, he just stood there, standing in the white world.

"Everything has its time, but now is not the time to end everything."

"I don't deny your previous point of view, your existence is indeed a bit tricky."

His cold red pupils narrowed slightly, and he regained his calm look.

"Then, let's make a deal—bet on the lives of those disciples in Songyang."

……

When returning to the real world, the first thing Yae noticed was the burning night sky.

Billows of black smoke rose into the sky, and the piles of wood that had been set up were burning blazingly. The crimson flames were reflected on Zhong Naluo's Zen sticks, as hot as if they could melt metal.

Under the horrified gaze of the people around, the man who had been resurrected from the dead walked down from the sea of ​​flames.

The scorched and blackened skin instantly recovered, like a god who couldn't get close to the flames—no, this man was a demon.The same voice emerged from the bottom of everyone's heart.

Except for one person.

"how?"

The man resurrected from the sea of ​​fire had scarlet eyes, and the smile on his lips was colder than ice.

He looked at Naluo who was pale and silent.

"It's not your teacher who came back, are you disappointed?"

The familiar figure stood motionless.

The blazing flames were intertwined, and Santo Kakashi cast a shadow on the opponent's face. Yae had never seen a look deeper than that despair.

Act Three