Infinite Dendrogram_Volume 2

by Sakon Kaidou

“The possibility is always there — with your will. No matter how small, no matter behind how many zeros beyond the radix point it lies — it always exists. The only time the possibility isn’t there is when you’ve given up on grabbing hold of the future you desire. As long as you don’t give up and keep making choices towards the future you want to see, the possibility won’t disappear, even if it’s far beyond the radix point.”

  These words of his were still etched onto my very core.

  “That’s why your choice to save the girl back there wasn’t a mistake,” he added.

  “Shu...” the young me said.

  He gave the young me an intrepid smile and stood up. “Today’s the perfect chance, so I’ll show you the ropes. You’ll soon see what it means to give your all to grab hold of the possibility.”

  With those words as his last, Shu left the waiting room and used his crutches to make his way to where the match would take place.

  ◇

  That was when the dream portraying my memories reached its end. The venue we were in vanished, leaving only an empty dreamscape vaguely reminiscent of a pale haze.

  The young me and my brother were nowhere in sight, meaning that the only ones here now were me, as Ray, and the silhouette.

  “Is it o v er?” asked the entity.

  “Well, the match was supposed to happen right after this,” I replied.

  Though, if the dream’s objective was to display my roots, it makes sense for it to end with the exchange between me and Shu, I thought.

  “Can I ask a n o ther thi n g?”

  “Sure.” I knew exactly what it was gonna ask.

  “Di d h e win?”

  “He did.”

  Indeed — Shu had gone into the final match against Gregory and actually emerged victorious.

  “H o w?” the silhouette asked.

  Man, I really don’t wanna say it, I thought. Though I don’t want to keep the silhouette in suspense, either, so I guess I will.

  The news about my brother’s right leg being rendered useless had already spread among the people in the venue. Even the spectators around my seat had been talking about it. Also, the way Shu had gone towards the ring — crutches and all — had made him look extremely pitiful. While he was climbing into the ring, he hadn’t let his right leg touch the floor beneath him. Having to use his left one alone had given him a really hard time and gotten people to understand just how bad of an injury it was.

  For some reason, the people already knew that it was caused by an accident he’d gotten into while saving children, making him get lots of sympathetic glances. Some martial artists were praising him for not withdrawing from the match after getting such a grave wound, calling him “a true fighter.”

  His opponent, Gregory, shared the sentiment. “It’s a shame I don’t get to fight you at your best,” he said. “Though I’m sure that one day we’ll get to go all-out on each other.”

  Though he looked menacing, Gregory was actually quite a gentle person.

  “I’m sure we will,” replied my brother in a rather cheerful manner.

  There was a difference in height. In weight class. And a critical problem with the state of one contestant. The outcome was clear. What was about to happen was nothing but a ritual-like event meant only to preserve my brother’s pride and honor as a martial artist.

  That was what everyone present thought.

  Thus, the gong sounded... and Shu launched from his right leg, performed Kodachi, smacked Gregory across the jaw, and knocked him unconscious.

  The match had ended there.

  The fifth Unlimited Pankration U-17 had ended with my brother’s victory.

  “That was nuts,” I said.

  “...It w a s broken, righ t?” asked the silhouette.

  “Yes, he actually used his broken right leg to launch a jaw-cracking kick that gave his enemy a cerebral concussion and won by one-hit KO,” I said.

  Naturally, no one had expected Shu to do something that intense with his injured leg. Gregory certainly hadn’t seen it coming and hadn’t been ready to guard against it, letting my brother land a clean hit.

  “...Unfai r.”

  “You can say that again,” I said. He’d made all the sympathy he’d gotten from the audience go to waste.

  Now that I think about it, it was kinda suspicious how the very reason for that sympathy — the news of him getting into that accident — spread throughout the whole venue, I thought. It had allowed him to perform the perfect surprise attack. That was enough reason to believe that Shu had actually done something to make it happen.

  And with that in mind, it was possible to assume that even his cheerfulness before the match had actually been a strategic move in preparation for the kick.

  Whatever the case, that reckless attack had naturally made the injury worse, extending the recovery period from one month to three months.

  Once I’d met my brother after the event, he had put up the most obnoxiously proud face and said something along the lines of “This is what it means to give your all to grab hold of the possibility!”

  To which I had replied with, “Bro, you idiot! What are you doing?!” while throwing a towel at his face.

  Oh yeah, I thought. That was actually the point when I started calling him “bro.”

  “What an inte n s e brother,” commented the silhouette.

  “Indeed he is,” I nodded.

  Even though he’d seriously ruined the words he’d said back in the waiting room, they were still etched deep into my heart. That was the reason why I was always ready to reach for the possibility leading me to a future without regret or bad aftertastes.

  “That was probably why the replay ended after the talk in the waiting room,” I said. The match itself wouldn’t have added anything of value.

  Though it was probably a good show of his “grab hold of the possibility no matter what it takes” stance, I wasn’t the type to take the mentality that far. I’d also never thought I’d get into a situation where I’d have to, but...

  “Despe r a te times, desperate m e a sures,” said the silhouette.

  “Yeah,” I said.

  With the memory replay being over, I was about to wake up. Once that happened, I would have to face Gouz-Maise in an even worse situation than before. Thus, if I was going to seize the possibility, I’d have to get some new methods.

  “Well, I’ll have a go at it, anyway,” I said.

  “I s ee,” nodded the silhouette. “The n, wake up.”

  It seemed to me as though the entity smiled.

  “Ray, hav e a question?”

  Well, there’s one thing I want to know, I thought.

  “All right, I’ll ask directly... What are you?” My own conjecture wasn’t enough to figure out its identity.

  “...Eheh e h.” I couldn’t see any eyes on the dark red silhouette, but I could easily tell that it looked into mine and laughed. “You wo n ’t mas ter me if you on l y use the flames, Ray.”

  Those words were enough for me to understand what the entity was. “Y-You’re Gardran...?”

  Before I could finish that sentence, the world of dreams began to fade.

  “I am a fragment. A power left unused because of you defeating us while we were incomplete. I am the life and mind that the demon failed to birth. The life that was reborn as your item. I am the ‘me’ that wants to know the man who slaughtered my mother.”

  The silhouette — Gardranda — spoke while its appearance gradually became less vague. Its form wasn’t that of the great demon, but that of a small girl with horns.

  “I understand you now,” she said. “So please, understand me, too.”

  And so, our world of memories and dreams began fade.

  “Wake up, use all you have, including me and Nemesis, and grab hold of the possibility, okay?” She spoke those words, and reality came flooding back.

  ◇◇◇

  Maiden of Vengeance, Nemesis

  As I had evaded its attacks and used feints
, I’d bought about five minutes of time. My body was covered in many light wounds. Though I was able to dodge its legs and fists, I was getting damaged by the pieces of the ground and trees that it shattered.

  Though it hurt to admit it — my non-weapon form was weak. Since I had no means of healing myself, I wouldn’t last long.

  Gouz-Maise, on the other hand, was completely unharmed. Since my blade couldn’t even give it as much as a scratch, it didn’t even need to use Automatic Restoration.

  “ＢｏＵｓｙｕＳｓＡｄａＳＡＡ ａａＡ!” Even though it wasn’t hurt, Gouz-Maise was irritated that it couldn’t kill me and expressed it by letting out enraged roars and secreting some indescribable bile from the faces all over its body.

  The sight was downright vile.

  The creature was the very embodiment of the vileness involved in any gathering of corpses. Both its appearance and way of existing were revolting enough to turn the very sight of it into something that made my mind creak. That was how I felt about undead in general.

  Back when Ray and I had visited the Tomb Labyrinth, I’d been scared beyond words. I didn’t know why, but undead were extremely dreadful to me. When looking through Ray’s memories for an answer, I’d thought that I was simply weak to horror.

  However, that wasn’t it. I had come to understand it after facing the undead in the dungeon and the abomination before me. I wasn’t afraid of their appearances. What I found dreadful was their very existence.

  They were dead, yet they didn’t go to any afterlife, nor were they reborn.

  They were dead, yet they continued to walk among us.

  That nightmarish state was so frightening it made my heart tighten.

  I didn’t know the reason why.

  However, my heart was telling me that I simply couldn’t let it continue on like this.

  “My heart, eh?” I murmured.

  How peculiar, I thought. According to Ray’s knowledge, I am nothing but an AI inside a game. Do I really have a heart? Wait.

  “At the very least, I have enough of it to feel one thing,” I said.

  It was certainly there. I had a heart that felt something for Ray.

  “Heh heh.” I couldn’t help but laugh. There was no denying that it was quite comical. After all — he was the very cause of my existence. Yet, the way my heart felt about him was no falsehood.

  I...

  “Ｄ Ａ ｓ ｄ ａ Ｓ Ａ Ａ ａ Ａ ａ ａ ａ Ａ!”

  “You just had to ruin the moment, didn’t you, you uncouth lout?” I snapped.

  Lengthy protrusions squirmed out of several mouths all over Gouz-Maise’s body.

  They were tongues. The rot dripping down from them wasn’t the only thing suggesting that they were quite unlike those of humans — their very shape was reminiscent of the tongues used by chameleons or frogs from Ray’s memory.

  It was obvious what it was planning to use them for.

  Clearly, it had grown sick and tired of my constant evasion. Much like snakes raising their heads, the tongues were readied to strike at me.

  “I won’t be able to dodge this,” I said. Not only was I injured — I simply didn’t have the skill and ability to evade such an attack. There was no way for me to stall it any longer.

  “...Heh heh.”

  Look at me, Ray, I thought. This is how strong I am by my lonesome. This is the extent of what I can do when I’m just by myself. While alone, I can’t go any farther than this. So...

  “So just come here already.”

  The moment Gouz-Maise was about to pierce me with its tongues...

  “Sure.”

  ...I heard that single word, which was followed by a stream of dark red fire that burned the fleshy extensions.

  The fire on its tongues made Gouz-Maise wail in anguish. At this point, the blazing, dark red flames were familiar to me. After all, the one commanding them was my Master.

  “You sure took your time, Ray,” I said.

  “Sorry, a little dream made me oversleep,” he replied.

  “You shouldn’t keep a lady waiting too long,” I scolded. “But, well... you made it in time, so I don’t mind.”

  “Thanks, Nemesis.”

  Hearing that made my expression turn softer, but I made a conscious effort not to show it.

  “So, shall we continue?” I asked. “We’re out of Absorption uses and have wounds all over us. The situation is worse than before. Do you think we can do it?”

  “Yeah,” Ray nodded. “I remembered something... no, two things. We’ll use them to defeat this thing.”

  “Remembered two things? Care to share?”

  Before answering my question, Ray wore an intrepid grin. “Something I neglected to use... and my brother’s words.”

  The moment he said that, I instantly understood what he was thinking and came to know his plan.

  Oh my, I thought, both impressed and slightly shocked.

  “Heh heh! Are you insane?” I asked.

  “Nope,” he answered.

  “This will be an act of pure madness with a low probability of success. It will be as dangerous as a walk on a tightrope, won’t it?!” I was thoroughly puzzled by his thought process.

  “If the possibility is there, I’ll just give my all to seize it,” he said.

  I see, I thought. Then I shall accompany you.

  “Though, the chance of this plan leading us to victory is about... 30%, and that’s being generous,” he added.

  About a third, eh?

  “Seems enough to me,” I said.

  “More than enough,” Ray agreed. After that exchange, I took my sword form and became Ray’s weapon.

  “Let’s win, shall we?” I said.

  “Yeah, let’s win.”

  And so, turning to face the abomination that was Gouz-Maise, Ray and I became one.

  ◆◆◆

  Revenant Ox-Horse, Gouz-Maise

  The creature the world proclaimed to be “Revenant Ox-Horse, Gouz-Maise” was enraged.

  Since the moment it’d been born, Gouz-Maise had felt only indescribable amounts of hatred. That was because the creature was an actual amalgam of the rage and resentment left behind by the deceased. It was the result of those who had left nothing else behind but regret.

  “ＧＵｄｓＦＤｇａａｄＡＳａａＡＡａＡｄＳｄＡＡａ!”

  That was all that Gouz-Maise was.

  The dead that were its base were those who had lived by avarice and vice — people who had failed to leave behind anything but their grudge. If at least one of those inside had died with love in their heart, this amalgam of death probably wouldn’t have grown this powerful and might not have become a UBM. But alas, that hadn’t happened, and Gouz-Maise — as it was now — would never reflect upon itself. The grudge boiling within the creature was enraging it, compelling it to use its might against the living and forcing them to join the grudgeful chaos within it.

  However, at this point in time, Gouz-Maise was even more enraged than usual. That was because the puny, mouse-like living creature below it couldn’t die.

  It was a Master.

  Masters were immortal.

  Killing them just made them momentarily disappear. However — that was the extent of it. These living creatures would simply brush off that transient death as if it was nothing and then just continue existing.

  This one, in particular, had faced Gouz-Maise and tried to prevent it from drowning other living creatures into its grudge.

  Even if hurt, left alone, or shattered with a punch, the Master would continue getting in its way.

  Gouz-Maise couldn’t stomach that. It didn’t have a mind to understand why, but it just couldn’t tolerate that Master.

  However, it was about to be over. Gouz-Maise had a means of ending it. It was a powerful spell used by one of those who’d become the creature. The undead intended to finally kill the Master by casting it once again.

  Once that was done, it intended to go to town. A significant part of it
s grudge wished to kill the people inhabiting the places within its memory and make them join the grudge within it. It believed that — in doing so — it could become more powerful and thus become able to sink even more living creatures into its grudge. And it would continue until the whole world was sunk.

  Yes... yeah, I... we are all dead here. So, a world where people still live is a mistake. It’s... wrong, it’s so wrong! All of it, all of it, all of it, all of it, all of it must sink into the abyss. Kill and consume everything there is in this world.

  Gouz-Maise’s consciousness was like a colored marble that mixed objectivity and subjectivity. Chaotic as its mind was, however, it could still become puzzled. Not by its own thoughts, obviously, but by the actions of the puny one below.

  The puny one used his left hand to push a cloth against his mouth... while the bracer on his right was directed at Gouz-Maise.

  Those bracers released fire. Gouz-Maise already knew that much. However, so far, only the left bracer had released the flames, and it had no recollection of the right one ever doing the same.

  As Gouz-Maise’s chaotic mind tried to figure out what the right bracer released...

  “Hellish Miasma... full power!”

  ...the blond man declared something, making a dark purple smoke gush out of his right bracer with great intensity.

  Gouz-Maise wasn’t familiar with this attack. It didn’t know what it was, its effects, or what the enemy was planning. Using its limited reasoning power, Gouz-Maise tried to understand what it was, and it didn’t take long for it to come to a conclusion.

  The smoke was harmless to it — beneficial, even.

  It was miasma. A poisonous mist that afflicted, weakened, and led the living through a slow death.

  To Gouz-Maise — an undead — it wasn’t much of a problem.

  Because it had living cells, it couldn’t avoid the debuffs, but their impact on its body was insignificant. In the first place, slight amounts of Weakness and Intoxication were meaningless against an amalgam of corpses. Even if Gouz-Maise received the debuffs, their effect was negligible. Though Poison damaged its cells, it wasn’t anything that couldn’t be taken care of by its Automatic Restoration.

  Thus, because it only pushed living people closer to death, the miasma was a net positive for Gouz-Maise. Trying to figure out why the man had done something so foolish, it finally became aware of a certain fact.