Wizard of the Deep Sea

TL/ED – Miso

The Puppet put up quite a fight.

Her Threads tore and split apart, abandoning human form entirely over and over again. In the process, she occasionally managed to reach me through experienced techniques.

Not that it meant much.

“That’s impossible…”

Bubbles rose as the future trajectories of the Threads became visible to me.

I remained untouched by any attack. No, it was impossible for me to be hit in the first place. I was already half-Assimilated with the seawater.

But in reverse, the Puppet was being shredded apart in real time.

There was no way to block it. The very space she occupied was one enormous blade.

“You haven’t even abandoned your human body yet…!”

“I actually have some questions about that.”

Having seized complete advantage, I closed the distance.

Now that her body was visibly splitting into Threads, she had become something like a grotesque monster. She stumbled backward without resistance.

She knew. Her life was already in my hands.

“Ah.”

I tilted my head slightly, and the Threads supporting her neck scattered and fell away.

Seeing terror settle into the Puppet’s gaze as she watched, I became certain once more.

This World was somehow imitating humans and feared losing its human body.

I simply could not understand it.

“Why are you pretending to be human?”

“…What?”

“You’re not human. You’re just this, aren’t you?”

I swirled the seawater around. The seawater and the Puppet were fundamentally no different.

This was no different from a human suddenly donning cowhide, chewing grass, and trying to frolic among cattle. Already a completely different species. No, I wasn’t even sure they could be grouped into a species at all.

“I understand that person called Void somehow turned Worlds like you into something resembling humans, but did he implant some kind of purpose into you?”

“…”

“If you don’t want to answer, don’t.”

-Crrrk!

She glared at me venomously, so I lightly severed some of the Threads composing the Puppet.

No matter how many times I cut her, I couldn’t kill her. But I could strip away the humanity she craved.

Just as I had experienced moments ago, if she lost her human form, she would revert to her original state as a mass of Threads.

Only then did the Puppet hastily respond.

“…You should know, since your Assimilation has already begun.”

“Know what?”

“We don’t become the entirety of our World. We become a part of it.”

“I don’t see what the difference is…”

“If you dissolve into the seawater, you won’t become one with the sea. Your memories and will simply merge into the World.”

“I still don’t understand.”

“A Fallen who Assimilates with their World kills that World.”

“?”

The Puppet clutched her chest.

“You’re right. I’m the World called Puppet, with Dark Night’s memories remaining within me. The problem is, even after Assimilation, the Burden doesn’t disappear. It just changes targets.”

Now I understood the context.

A world kills the Fallen through Burden. They were made that way.

But what if, through some circumstance, a Fallen Assimilated into their World?

The Fallen’s World would still do what it was meant to do.

It would have to kill itself.

The Burden would begin to afflict the World.

“That’s the end for a World that has consumed its Fallen.”

The Puppet answered gloomily.

“I was supposed to await my end. For me, my creator, to kill myself. But Void traveled between Worlds and found me, gathered Dark Night’s scattered memories, and made me.”

“Well…I understand how you came to exist.”

I shrugged as I replied.

“Then I suppose that pathetic family play makes sense too.”

“It was to sever the part of me that is Dark Night. To escape, at least, from the cause of her Fall.”

“More precisely, to eliminate Dark Night and survive as the Puppet, right?”

To survive as a World, the Puppet had to erase Dark Night, who had dissolved within her.

And in the midst of that, Void came and somehow spurred her into action.

Of course, there was still something I didn’t understand.

“So what’s the reason you turned this country into this?”

Expanding the family, creating children, raising humans as Livestock.

There couldn’t be an answer that none of this carnage had any reason behind it. That would be too cruel to the victims.

But the answer that came back made me think it would have been better if there had been no reason at all.

“To erase Dark Night from the Puppet, I need to be satisfied.”

“Satisfied…?”

“Yes. Didn’t you fall into the Deep Sea because you felt some kind of despair, malice, or suffering during the process?”

No, I didn’t.

But I remembered Ren, who had searched for her parents until the very end.

It seemed the experience that led a Fallen into their fall was extremely important.

“By resolving the cause of that Fall, I can remain without disappearing.”

“Then what was the cause?”

“Dark Night wished for every living person to become a loving family.”

“…”

“Undercurrent. No, Deep Sea. I know you too. You’re…one of the good ones.”

Having apparently decided that combat was no longer the answer, the Puppet attempted persuasion.

“Do you really think this is such a bad thing? I have no limits. Under my rule, all people will prosper and multiply without any conflict. Since I need to satisfy Dark Night to survive, it will truly be forever.”

“…Since you referred to yourself as Dark Night, I assume you already know.”

“Hm?”

“How did you Fall, to have harbored such a wish?”

“…?”

The Puppet answered with a puzzled expression.

“I was born a princess of Manganji Kingdom. It was a long time ago, during an era of war. To avoid losing the succession struggle, I had to personally stamp my seal on documents ordering the deaths of countless people.”

Her expression as she recounted her past was utterly serene.

“As the war dragged on, I had to approve increasingly dangerous operations. Severing prisoners’ limbs one by one before sending them back, destroying dams near enemy cities to drown everyone. I personally issued those orders.”

“Did that torment you?”

“I remember it did. One day, I went to a city I had personally ordered massacred. I saw a well stained with blood and two children hiding inside it. In that moment, I felt like I, the princess revered by all, was nothing but a marionette approving documents that killed people.”

“…”

“I don’t remember much after that. It seems I Assimilated quickly. Until Void extracted me, I was slowly dying.”

A hollow laugh escaped me.

The Puppet was sincere. She had judged that for everyone to survive happily, this was the only way to utilize her abilities.

Our perspectives were simply on different levels.

Perhaps, in the realm of Worlds, this was the correct answer.

“Trust me. Everyone will be happy.”

What I had to do remained unchanged regardless.

The Puppet flinched as I rose and raised my hand.

“Th-this is meaningless.”

“It has meaning to me. And to those enslaved under you.”

“If you Assimilate like this, the only ones who’ll be pleased are Void and Decay! Get a hold of yourself!”

“Ah, don’t worry about that.”

I answered lightly.

“Even if that Void fellow reassembles me from within the Deep Sea, I won’t listen to him.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“Didn’t you see for yourself?”

“…”

Even when I had lost my memories, I had acted the same way.

It was irrefutable, perfect evidence. The Puppet opened her mouth to argue, but in the end closed it again with a bitter expression.

“I sup, pose.”

-Slice!

Those became her last words.

***

Dawn ended, and the sun was rising.

“…”

I stood dazed, bathed in morning light, then used my Current Sense, which had expanded beyond control, to check on the Livestock collapsed throughout the Capital.

Their hearts were beating.

Now that the tyrant was gone, it seemed they had returned to normal.

That was fortunate.

Except for the fact that I was not normal.

“Ugh…”

I had learned much. That the personification of Worlds was the identity of the Upper Tier, and about the man called Void.

And most importantly, since I had killed Dark Night, the Puppet, I too now qualified to join their ranks.

Had Decay known something like this would happen? As for who that qualification would go to…

That wasn’t important right now.

“F…uck…”

I scraped at the dirt while on my knees. I clenched my fist until blood flowed, trying to escape the dizzying sense of omnipotence, but I couldn’t stop the vertiginous ecstasy.

My body was dissolving. Becoming one…

I had survived the Deep Fusion state once before.

But I felt no optimism whatsoever that things would somehow work out this time.

As I struggled to hold onto the sensation of literally becoming part of the Deep Sea, something registered in my Current Sense.

「D-did she leave…?」

It was Damyu.

She had faithfully carried out my orders and had apparently survived Number 1 by stuffing all the Fallen into her swamp.

I hesitated briefly. She had followed orders, true, but…

Could I trust her?

“Tch.”

Now wasn’t the time to worry about that.

I held my dripping body together and made my way to where she was hiding. She had been trembling nearby and rushed over to me.

“U-Undercurrent-nim? Did you win?”

“What would you do if I said I lost?”

“…I’d have to run away, at least by myself?”

Hearing that answer did wonders to chip away at my trust, but—

This was also the one who had risked danger to find me while I had lost my memories.

Even if it wasn’t out of pure goodwill, if she had put her life on the line, it was worth entrusting mine to her.

I pulled a key from inside my clothes with trembling hands.

“Listen carefully. I won’t wake up for the next several hours. Use this key to open the sealed room and put me inside. There will be a flute inside. If you blow it, a crow will come. Don’t doubt a single word that crow says and do exactly as it tells you.”

“W-wait a moment. I’m not sure I understand what you’re saying…More importantly, why are you sweating so much?”

“I’ve said what I needed to. Please.”

“Huh?”

I had to endure.

After coming this far, to dissolve away at the very end was simply unacceptable.

But mocking that resolve, the moment I handed Damyu the key—

With the sound of splashing water, the world changed.

Everything around me was engulfed in dark blue water.

“…Ah.”

Damyu, who had been in front of me, vanished in an instant.

More precisely, I had begun perceiving something else entirely.

[…——-………………]

[…? ??!………..]

Deep Sea Creatures glided gently around me.

A vast pupil where all sound became muffled. That was where I now found myself.

I exhaled, and bubbles rose with a gurgle. Misfortune and fortune at once.

My inner world had become closer to the Deep Sea than to the Material Realm.

I gritted my teeth. Enduring here without losing my physical form was the only thing I had to do.

But strangely.

“…Huh?”

It wasn’t as difficult as I had expected.

Of course, if I let my mind slip for even a moment I would be devoured instantly, but at least it was bearable.

Before, it felt like I’d die on the spot if even a branch pierced my leg.

“Hmm…”

I remained on my knees without letting down my guard, but after several hours passed, stray thoughts began to surface.

Perhaps the reason this wasn’t so hard was because it was already too late?

Had I already become one with the Deep Sea from the moment I arrived here?

It might mean I could never return, that I would have to live in this hell forever.

I shook my head and dismissed the negative thoughts.

The very fact that I was thinking at all was proof that I hadn’t.

As I kept my thoughts active, pondering what exactly this state was—

Something extremely bizarre registered in my Current Sense.

Something I had never seen before.

“…?”

In my Deep Sea.

A corpse was floating.

“…Dark Night?”

And it was the one I had just killed.