“Kouki!” Shizuku yelled. Shea and Tio narrowed their eyes dangerously. Meanwhile, Kaori watched the whole scene play out with a worried look. But Kouki didn’t notice any of their reactions. Even if he had, he was like a spoiled child who didn’t know when enough was enough.
“Maybe I should have been the one to fall off that bridge inst—”
Kouki had gone too far. Kaori, the girl who’d been most hurt by Hajime’s presumed death, slapped Kouki to shut him up.
Bringing a hand up to his cheek, Kouki looked blankly at Kaori. Her hand still raised, she said in a sobbing voice, “Kouki-kun, you’re one of my precious friends... So please... don’t make me hate you.”
“Kaori...”
Kouki was at a loss for words. That slap had knocked them all out of him. Kaori’s expression burned itself into his retina. Still, determined to say something, Kouki opened his mouth. But before he could speak, a blast of wind tore through the room. It was followed by a wave of mana so dense and thick it looked like a wall. Though no one had fired a mana shockwave, it felt just like one to everyone.
“This feels like... Hajime-san! Yue-san!”
Indeed, the wall of mana was a mixture of crimson and gold. Shea dashed out of the room. Nothing like this had ever happened before when Hajime had made an artifact. More pulses of mana intermittently emanated from the room Hajime and Yue were in. Whatever was going on in there, it wasn’t normal. Kaori and the others came to their senses a split-second later and ran after Shea.
The closer the group got to the room with the magic circle, the more powerful the waves of mana became. It was like they were trying to fight their way to the center of a typhoon. If they weren’t careful, the torrent of mana would knock them unconscious.
Still, the group eventually managed to make it to the room. The door was open, and Shea stepped in first.
Covering their faces, Kaori and the others followed suit. Inside, they found a spiral of golden and crimson mana rising to the ceiling. Hajime and Yue knelt at the center of the spiral, facing each other. Their eyes were closed and their hands clasped together. Neither of them moved an inch. A bluish-white light emanated from their palms... and there was a glowing crystal in their hands. It was made of Divinity Stone combined with various other ores.
“Sh-Shea! What on earth is...”
“I don’t know. But it looks like the two of them are fine, at least.”
Shea’s bunny ears twitched. She smiled in relief as she picked up the regular sound of their heartbeats. Despite the storm of mana swirling around them, the two were perfectly calm.
Kaori and the others stared at Hajime and Yue as well. The two were quiet, making no noise. They were completely focused on the task at hand. Neither of them had even noticed Shea and the others had come in, and sweat beaded on their foreheads. They were clearly pouring everything they had into casting concept magic.
“If they’re fine, we should leave,” Shizuku said quietly. Tio nodded in agreement.
“Indeed. It would be a shame if they failed due to our interruption... Master would likely punish us all.”
“Please don’t look so happy about that, Tio-san.”
Quietly, the group backed out of the room. As they left, Kouki stared intently at Hajime. There was no emotion in his eyes. But that was because he was doing his best not to let his rage and frustration show.
“Kouki.”
Shizuku called out to him. But Kouki said nothing. In fact, he made to take a step forward.
“Kouki!”
“Ah!”
Shizuku grabbed his arm and glared at him. Her grip was like iron. Terrified by the look in her eyes, he retracted his outstretched foot and slowly took a few steps back. But a second later—
“What’s going on!?”
“I-Is that a movie?”
“It’s showing a... dark cavern?”
A projection of an unfamiliar location appeared in front of Shea and the others. The projection was reflected on a thin film of dense mist, and the projection itself was made out of mana. Shea and the others gazed at the strange scene, forgetting that they were supposed to be leaving.
Suzu muttered, “It looks kind of like the Orcus labyrinth...”
“Certainly, the only caverns I know of that are illuminated by green glowstone are the ones in the Great Orcus Labyrinth.”
Tio nodded in agreement. It was true that only the Great Orcus Labyrinth had that much green glowstone.
However, the reason Suzu seemed uncertain was that the cavern seemed far more natural than the man-made tunnels that made up the upper floors of the Great Orcus Labyrinth. These looked as though they hadn’t been shaped by human hands at all. Furthermore, the cavern was much wider and more spacious than any of the floors Suzu and the others knew of. But as the video played out, everyone quickly realized what was going on.
Deep within the dark cavern was a four-way intersection. Within that intersection stood a rabbit with white fur. Its legs were oddly enlarged, bulging dark veins running down their length. Another pulse of mana blew through the party, this one carrying emotions with it.
“Is this... unease? Or impatience?”
“I sense fear as well... I think this video’s a memory.”
“I suspect it is Master’s memory. A memory of his time in the place he describes as the abyss.”
The girls’ deductions proved correct. As the video continued to play, more emotions poured into the mana pulsing out of Hajime. He watched the unknown monster with fear and unease. No one had any idea how or why videos of Hajime’s past were playing, but everyone was certain this was indeed Hajime’s past, and the feelings being transmitted through his mana were his feelings. He had said almost nothing about the time he’d spent in the abyss before meeting Yue. Those events were behind him now, and Hajime wasn’t the kind of guy to brag about how much suffering he’d been through or how hard his life was or anything.
Shea and the other girls all glanced at each other. This was an opportunity to learn more about Hajime’s past, and they didn’t want to miss out. Their feelings united, they nodded to each other and decided to remain. They turned back to the projection, watching with rapt attention. None of them were about to miss what might be their only chance to learn what had turned Hajime into the person he was now. Ryutarou, Suzu, and Kouki watched as well. They, too, were curious about Hajime’s transformation.
As the strange rabbit leaped toward Hajime, someone let out a gasp.
“Hajime-san!”
“Hajime-kun!”
Shea and Kaori reflexively shouted out warnings. The projection blurred slightly, and the fear in Hajime’s mana grew tremendously. Everyone watched as the rabbit toyed with him. It crushed his left arm, and anguish started mingling with the fear in his emotions. Shea and Tio grit their teeth in sympathy, and Kaori’s face twisted in pain.
“Oh no... Hajime-san, how could you be beaten so easily by...”
“This is the Nagumo-kun we knew. He was so weak he could barely fight.”
For a moment, the video cut out. Hajime was so afraid of the rabbit that he’d closed his eyes. As everyone was drowned in his fear, he opened his eyes again. In front of him, the rabbit that had been torturing him earlier was cowering in fear. Following the rabbit’s gaze, Hajime found a white-furred bear staring down at him.
Even at a glance, he knew it was on a completely different level than the rabbit. The bear cut the rabbit in half with a single swipe and ate it. Through the video, Shea and the others caught a glimpse of its eyes.
At their current skill level, a mere Claw Bear was hardly a threat. But the way it looked at Hajime, as if he was just food, went a long way to explaining why Hajime was so terrified of the creature. The girls watched in horror as the bear cornered Hajime, cut off his left arm, and ate it right in front of him. Their love for him made the scene that much more painful.
From the emotions coming off of Hajime’s mana, they could tell he wanted to escape from reality, but the
pain of losing his arm and the blood spurting from the stump forced him to accept what was happening. Though they couldn’t hear Hajime’s screams, since the projection was visual-only, the rich emotions coming from his mana helped those watching recreate them in their mind.
Being treated as nothing more than food, Hajime’s fear reached a tipping point. No longer caring about how pathetic he looked, he fled as fast as he could, fear driving him forward. Unable to run, he transmuted a passage in the wall and scrambled deeper and deeper into the darkness. There were so many emotions running through his mind that they were hard to identify.
The video continued, showing Hajime sobbing as he kept crawling. Before long, those sobs died away, the embers of his life slowly fading away.
“Hajime-san...”
Tears spilled from Shea’s eyes and she bit her lip. Kaori, Shizuku, and Suzu covered their mouths with their hands, trembling. They looked as though they could feel Hajime’s pain. On the other hand, Tio had closed her eyes and was doing her best to keep her emotions under control.
The video went dark as Hajime blacked out, then returned a few seconds later. Confused that he was still alive, Hajime started to transmute himself further down the path he was creating.
Finally, he came face to face with the wondrous crystal whose liquid had saved his life. The Divinity Stone, which back then had been so full of mana it was leaking Ambrosia. Hajime licked up the healing liquid and squatted in a corner, his heart shattered.
For days he waited for salvation that never came. His memories of that time were clearly hazy, as the video cut out relatively often. However, the emotions he was feeling were still transmitted clearly through his mana. Shea and the others felt firsthand just how lonely he’d felt, waiting futilely for help.
The darkness he lived in was so absolute that at times he nearly forgot who and what he was. Starvation had gnawed at him every waking moment of his life. And to top it off, the phantom pain of his lost arm left him in agony. Day after day, Hajime lived through agonizing torture.
Eventually, he lay down and wished for death, but the miracle liquid keeping him alive prevented even that.
From there, he went from intermittently wishing for death, and desperately wanting to live. Like a broken radio, he kept swapping between those two modes. Over and over, he questioned himself wondering how things had come to this. With no outlet for his emotions, he eventually turned to hating his classmates and cursing the unfairness of the world.
Finally, his heart broke. But it didn’t end there. By discarding unnecessary emotions and retaining only the drive to survive, Hajime recreated himself into the kind of person who could kill anyone that got in his way without hesitation. The extreme pressure he’d been placed under had reforged his will into an unbreakable blade.
Once he’d decided he was getting out of here alive, Hajime began to act. He glanced down at the small depression filled with Ambrosia. He crawled over to it and lapped it up like a dog. As always, it only healed his physical injuries, doing nothing for his hunger or pain. The face reflected in that small glowing puddle was the face of a different person. He wasn’t the same Hajime he’d been before falling down here. Eyes glimmering with hatred, Hajime left the small shelter he’d made for himself. The only weapon at his disposal was his transmutation ability, an ability so weak it could hardly be called a weapon. Even so, he armed himself with it and set out to hunt monsters.
From there, he killed his first monster, and—
“Ngh, that looks so...”
“He mentioned he’d had to eat monsters but... this is horrible...”
Kouki and Ryutarou watched on, aghast, as Hajime ate monster meat for the first time. His hands and clothes and face were stained with blood. He truly looked like nothing more than a feral monster. After a few seconds though, he dropped his food and screamed.
The pain he was in boggled belief. Hajime banged his head against the ground over and over, and the video cut out multiple times as the meat destroyed his body while the Ambrosia put it back together. It was a horrific sight.
As the scene played out, Hajime’s mana transmitted just how painful that first transformation had been. If hell existed, that was the kind of suffering that awaited people in it. Had Tio not used spirit magic to stabilize Ryutarou, Suzu, Shizuku, and Kouki’s mental states, they would have fainted just from the feelings transmitted through Hajime’s mana. As it was, everyone was still pale-faced. Unable to bear watching any longer, Ryutarou averted his gaze... while Suzu did her best not to throw up.
Finally, the transformation ended, and Hajime’s figure was reflected in the pools of blood and spilled Ambrosia around him. He looked the same as he did now. His obsession with survival and his hatred for the world had been strengthened along with his body. It was at this point that he truly became the monster of the abyss.
Using the abilities granted to his commonplace Synergist job, which was perhaps the most generic job in Tortus, he crafted weapons he’d learned about in a different world. It took him weeks of constant practice and thousands upon thousands of attempts, but finally, he succeeded in creating a gun. He then challenged the Claw Bear, which was the same monster that had once crushed his spirit, to prove to himself that he could fight his way through anything that stood against him.
After a fierce battle, he conquered the Claw Bear. It was then that he realized what his true desire was. Namely, to return home. As if responding to that desire, the mana in the room pulsed. It then contracted, surrounding only Hajime and Yue.
I want to return home... It was a pure, simple wish. Shea and the others were so touched by the depth of that desire that they could feel their chests constricting.
Hajime’s crimson mana glowed with a dazzling light, while Yue’s golden mana supported it from the side. The dazzling pillar of mana slowly dimmed, then started swirling around Hajime and Yue. It looked to Shea and the others as if a galaxy was revolving around the two of them.
I want to return home to Japan... Hajime’s wish was a quiet, subdued one. But at the same time, it was a wish that would never waver, and the depth of his attachment to it was overwhelming. The Hajime in the video looked up at the dark ceiling and quietly closed his eyes, reaffirming his resolve. When he opened them again, an unbelievably powerful will was reflected within them.
Hajime strode forward, heading toward the bottom of the abyss. He no longer balked at the idea of advancing into the endless darkness. From there, the video faded away and the mana creating it was sucked into the whirlpool swirling around Hajime and Yue.
Shea, Kaori, Tio, and Shizuku were all sobbing. They had no words for the emotions they were currently feeling. But they were all smiling as they cried. They were proud of the man who’d managed to overcome despair and crawl his way out of hell through sheer willpower.
Even Ryutarou and Suzu were overwhelmed. At the same time, they realized this was why they’d always felt like they couldn’t match up to him. While being in Kouki’s party meant they’d had their fair share of rough battles, they’d always had Meld and his experienced knights backing them up. Furthermore, they’d always had reassuring comrades by their side, each of them overpowered in their own right. If you asked Suzu or Ryutarou whether or not they’d be able to overcome that harsh abyss, they would both confidently have said no. Especially since they knew what little they’d seen was only the beginning. There was no way they could have withstood what lay ahead.
Kouki, on the other hand, limply looked around, his eyes empty. He thought back to how he’d said it would have been better if he’d been the one to fall into the abyss instead.
Until moments ago, he’d truly believed that it was unfair that Hajime was so strong despite seemingly not trying at all. Even though Shizuku had told Kouki when Hajime had first returned that Hajime had likely gone through his fair share of hardship, Kouki hadn’t really believed it. He’d thought that Hajime had gained strength just by being dropped into the abyss, and was now doing whatever he pl
eased. But now that Kouuki had seen it all through Hajime’s eyes, he realized he’d been mistaken.
You wanna go home, huh? Kouki thought to himself. He asked himself if he’d ever truly wanted to return that badly. And at the same time, he realized how flimsy his own conviction had been. He’d claimed he’d be a true hero and save everyone who needed saving, but he’d never truly been resolved to do that.
N-No, that’s not right. I’m not the one who’s wrong here. Sure, I get where Nagumo’s coming from now... but still... he took everything from me... Kouki desperately tried to convince himself that he wasn’t in the wrong. But as he was going through his mental dilemma, Hajime and Yue’s spell progressed.
Their hands opened up like a budding flower and crimson mana started pouring into the Divinity Stone and other ore that they were holding. The metals began fusing together and started molding into something new. All of the surrounding mana started getting sucked into those tiny ores. They were being transmuted. Wiping her tears with the hem of her sleeve, Kaori watched on curiously.
“Is that... a key?”
As she’d said, the ores were forming the shape of a key. A translucent, dodecahedron-shaped crimson crystal formed at the base of the key, where it’d be held from. Motes of golden mana glimmered within the crystal like tiny stars. The key itself looked like some kind of old antique key with all sorts of artistic flairs added on.
Hajime and Yue, who’d had their eyes closed this whole time, finally opened them. It looked as though they were staring at nothing, but at the same time also staring at each other. As the mystical scene played out, someone gulped.
The two of them opened their mouths simultaneously and said, “Open the door to our desired land!”
Their voices echoed through the room like the tolling of a bell. The two of them lit up, glowing brighter than the sun. The swirling galaxy of mana around them erupted like a supernova and the room was inundated in red and golden light, blotting out everything. The mana carried with it an unshakable, indestructible will. The force of the mana knocked Shea and the others out for a second, but they regained consciousness before falling to the floor.
Arifureta: From Commonplace to World's Strongest Vol. 10 Page 20