My Instant Death Ability is So Overpowered, No One in This Other World Stands a Chance Against Me! - Volume 12 - Chapter 7

Chapter 7 — Why Should I Have to Give Them to Some Guy I Don’t Even Know?

Returning home, Sion immediately headed to the room she used for meetings. The Sages didn’t meet in person, but rather sent projections of themselves to each other, creating a fake meeting of sorts. That way, no one could tell where they actually were. Normally, the Sages did not know where the others were.

After Sion used the spell to project herself, the other Sages appeared in the room with her. Aoi, Alice, Yoshifumi, and Van. The other Sages avoided contact with them at all costs, so it was just the usual group. Raiza never showed up at the meetings, but he wouldn’t have been able to even if he’d wanted to. His arms, legs, and other vital organs had been killed by Yogiri, so he had no way of communicating with them.

“What’s goin’ on here?” Yoshifumi asked Van, though he was much calmer than expected. Normally he would have been more aggressive.

“I ended my game up in the sky, and the Seyla ended up falling off the islands. I was a bit careless.”

“A bit careless?” Yoshifumi sighed. Yoshifumi was the type to go to absurd lengths, but he did have some sense of restraint. He never did anything that would impact the entire world.

“Can you not trap the Seyla in another game?” Sion asked. That would be the fastest solution. He had kept it sealed away up until now, so he just needed to do the same thing again.

“I can only bring people into my game if they agree to it. Back when I trapped Seyla in Four Kingdoms, she hadn’t spread nearly as much, so she still had a faint consciousness left. She didn’t want to cause problems for others, so she agreed to join the game. But now she has no sense of self at all. And with how much it’s spread, getting consent from each person would take forever.”

“You sound like this is all someone else’s problem,” Yoshifumi grumbled.

“I do feel responsible, though. That’s why I let anyone who wants to join my new game. Normally, I’m much more strict about who gets to participate.”

“Will grandfather not do anything about this?”

“The world isn’t totally doomed yet, right? It might be, but he probably finds that possibility exciting.”

“And the stuff has no weaknesses?” Yoshifumi asked.

“Well, I don’t think it’s strong enough to cause problems for you guys. The only thing it has going for it is that it can’t die, so if you lock it away somewhere, you’ll be fine. It’ll stop falling from the sky soon, so after that you just need to find somewhere safe.”

“That’s not the issue, is it?” Alice interjected. “You’re causing huge problems for us. How do you plan to apologize for this?” She was the type to lock herself away in her own world, so she wasn’t directly affected by the Seyla, but even someone like her would feel the need to complain if someone brought a disaster on their world.

“Then why don’t you guys join the game too? It’s safe in there.”

“Like hell we’d join your shitty game!” Yoshifumi shouted.

Even if they were Sages, once they joined his game, they’d be bound by his rules. They couldn’t trust him just because he was a Sage, and they couldn’t entrust the entire world to him, especially after his carelessness had just thrown that world into peril.

“You can’t call it a bad game when you haven’t even played it. I realize Four Kingdoms had a lot of problems, I do, but this time is different. I’ve made Cavern Quest a lot simpler and more straightforward. And I left all the details to Shirou. He’s pretty good at that kind of stuff.”

“I haven’t heard a word from Shirou in so long. So, he was in your Cavern Quest game this whole time?” Sion asked.

The Sage Shirou was in charge of the land of Zabora and styled himself as a researcher. Sion had a general idea of what the other Sages were up to, but at some point Shirou had completely vanished.

“Yeah, he’s working as my Submaster. I’m sure gramps will find it entertaining this time. So, was this whole meeting just to complain to me? In that case, I screwed up. I’m sorry.” Van gave a reluctant apology. Apparently, having his game insulted had upset him a little.

“Did Shirou agree to join your game?”

“No, he didn’t join it. He’s the Submaster, not a player. He’s dealing with managing the resources for the game. He does stuff like resource allocation and object placement.” In other words, Van didn’t have absolute control over Shirou’s life and death.

“Anyway, Aoi called this meeting, right?” Alice asked. “There’s no way you just wanted to mouth off to Van, did you?”

“Right. It’s about Yogiri Takatou. I want to talk about him.”

Yoshifumi clicked his tongue with displeasure. “That dude?”

“Ah...him...” murmured Alice.

“Last time we met, the topic was quite unsettling for you,” Sion said. “Are you okay to discuss it now?”

“I haven’t encountered him personally this time,” Aoi explained. It was said that trauma could physically change the brain. As this Aoi hadn’t met Yogiri yet, her brain was still in its original state. Even if she had memories of the trauma, it probably didn’t feel quite as real.

“You all know my powers as a Sage are my Hero Killer Eyes, right?”

“Yeah, I remember that. The kind of thing that kills anyone just by lookin’ at ’em, right?”

“Not at all. It lets me see the flow of fate.”

Aoi had two main powers, Hero Killer Eyes and Just World. The eyes let her see fate itself. Just World dragged others into a reality where everything was reshaped to conform to Aoi’s expectations. She had used those two powers to kill those who had come close to the abilities of the Sages without joining them, effectively acting as an assassin.

“We agreed to kill him last time, right? But I ended up meeting him, so I guess you failed?” Alice said.

There was a chance that Yogiri Takatou was linked to the death of Santarou and the disappearance of Lain. Though he was no more than a Sage candidate, they had decided that the possibility of a connection was enough to kill him, so Aoi had been dispatched to assassinate him.

“That’s right, I failed. I saw him with my own eyes. That thing is the end of this world, the ultimate end of fate itself. No one can beat it. We can’t afford to mess with him anymore!”

“Yeah...I get it. We should probably ignore him,” Yoshifumi said listlessly, a stark contrast to his usual self.

“So, I have a suggestion. I heard from Sion that Yogiri is collecting the Philosopher’s Stones in order to use their power to get back to his home world. We should give him the Philosopher’s Stones and get him out of here. We can’t afford to let a being like that stay in this world!”

Sion had met Aoi immediately after part two had begun. She had thought it was strange how easily Aoi had handed over her Philosopher’s Stone, but it seemed she had thought things through herself.

“I don’t mind handin’ over mine either. I’m in my palace, so you can come and get it whenever.” Yoshifumi had taken a much more far-sighted view of things. It seemed he wanted to avoid dealing with Yogiri as well.

“I shall head there to retrieve it, then,” Sion said. “I am our best point of contact with Takatou at the moment. What about you, Alice?”

“What? I’m not strong like you guys! I can’t do anything without my Philosopher’s Stone!”

The Philosopher’s Stones held a tremendous amount of energy, which the Sages could tap into. But after reaching a certain level of strength, Sages didn’t have much need for something that was just raw energy.

“I will inform Takatou of your decision, then. It pains me to betray family, but if he is to threaten me, I have no means of resisting, so I may have to give up your location to him...” Sion replied.

The Sages were forbidden from fighting each other, but that didn’t stop them from using proxies to fight for them. However, Sion didn’t actually know where Alice was, so it was really no more than a bluff.

“What?! Hmm...I guess I have no choice...” Alice reluctantly agreed to hand over her Philosopher’s Stone as well. During part one, one of Yogiri’s companions had stolen her stone from her. Maybe she wanted to avoid meeting the same fate again.

“We would like your Philosopher’s Stones too, Van. I imagine someone like you doesn’t have much use for them anyway, do you?” Aoi asked.

“Hmmm. You’re right, I don’t really need them, and I was told to take charge of the leftovers, so I’m allowed to hand them over if I really want to. But why should I have to give them to some guy I don’t even know?”

“Because if you don’t, you’ll die. You are underestimating Yogiri Takatou. If the thought occurs to him, he can sentence you to an eternity of nothingness, and you will have no way to prevent it.”

“From the information we have so far, he has the ability to inflict instant death at will, regardless of the difference between him and his target,” Sion added. “In addition, he can detect killing intent, so killing him preemptively is not an option.”

It was hard to get across just how terrifying Yogiri was. Anyone with real power would think of any number of ways to resist instant death, bring themselves back to life, or prevent the attack in the first place. His ability to detect killing intent could be dealt with by using an attack that was fast enough that he couldn’t react in time, or with such range that there was no way to avoid it.

Even explaining all of that didn’t help much if someone hadn’t experienced his power themselves. Anyone would think they could find a way to manage. Sion had been exactly like that. She had never imagined she herself might lose to Yogiri.

“Honestly, it’s hard to believe there’s a guy that strong out there. If you and Aoi say so, I’m sure he’s pretty tough, but it’s hard to accept it...so how about this? Make Takatou join my game. Then I can see his power for myself.”

“This isn’t the time for games, Van! Yogiri Takatou is a walking disaster! Even the Great Sage’s power can’t undo what he has done! We need to get him out of this world while we have the chance to do it peacefully!” Aoi shouted angrily at him.

“I just want to see for myself a little. Is he really that unreasonable a person?”

“When I met him earlier, it did not seem he had much interest in your game,” Sion said.

“Ah! Then how about I add the Philosopher’s Stones to the clear reward for Cavern Quest?” Van suggested. “That’s good enough for you too, right, Aoi? If he beats the game and gets the stones, he can leave this world. If he can’t, then he can’t have been all that strong, so he isn’t really that much of a threat. And he’ll have to join if that’s the reward, right?”

“Very well. I will give him your answer.” Though it was annoying, in a way, Sion couldn’t help but think it was a decent solution. It was a far better result than Van running away and hiding. With this, there was at least a concrete way of getting to Van and the Philosopher’s Stones. He was a pretty irresponsible person, but he was very strict when it came to the application of his own rules.

“Fine. But please at least guarantee you’ll give him all of the stones if he beats your game. I can’t trust a verbal promise.” Aoi reluctantly accepted Van’s proposal.

“Huh? Am I really that untrustworthy?”

“’Course you are,” Yoshifumi interjected. “Do you not remember what is literally happening right now?”

“Fine. Come find me after the meeting, Aoi. I’ll take you to the stones so you can see me set up the rule.”

“I’ll head there right now. This is you we’re talking about. If I wait another minute, you’ll probably forget.”

“I won’t...or at least, I’d like to say so, and it kind of hurts that I can’t. Oh well.” Van didn’t generally lie, but he regularly forgot his promises or changed his mind if they ended up becoming a nuisance for him.

Van and Aoi vanished, having pulled out of the meeting. Aoi would likely contact them once Van had added the Philosopher’s Stone to the rewards.

“I suppose we are done here, then?”

“Yes. Ah, actually! Do any of you happen to know the whereabouts of Akemi and Gorouzaburou?” Sion couldn’t just go back empty-handed. She decided to collect the other Philosopher’s Stones right away.