Chương 79: Chapter 21 Akihabara Incident(Part 4)

『What just happened!? 』 『Fufu… wonderful. It is eating space itself. Interesting, isn't it? I wonder if it hurts. I wonder if it's painful. 』 The arm that had been eaten returned as if time had been rewound. I wrapped it in smoke. But the smoke was eaten as well. My leg disappeared. My abdomen was half consumed. The inside of my body was gone. There was little blood because I had no real substance left inside. I returned to normal almost instantly. Only to be bitten again. Water was swallowed.

Fire was extinguished. Lightning spread through the needles and vanished. No matter where I tried to escape— I was bitten. Ah… Even half of my head was eaten. It returned. It was eaten. It returned. It was eaten again. The pain remained. A terrible agony surged through me. Then stopped. Only to return again. Don't think about it. There was one phrase I must not think about. If I thought about those words… everything would collapse instantly. 『Ahahaha… Love what you're reading?

Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. Then I'll ask for you. Are you scared? I cannot become you. But you cannot become me either. Tell me. Are you afraid? Are you terrified? Is it impossible? Do you want to run away? 』 Scared? Impossible? Want to run away? Me? No. No! Of course I was scared. Of course it seemed impossible. If I could escape… I would want to. But this thing… It would hurt the people precious to me. It would harm my treasures. I will defeat it.

This incomprehensible thing… I will not let it roam free. I will kill it here! 『Hmm. I cannot become you either. And you cannot become me. So I'll give you one piece of advice. What does that thing look like to you? 』... Think. What is it? What did I feel when I first saw it? What image appeared in my mind? A dog. It is a dog. Nothing more. Nothing less. Just a dog. A simple dog. A huge amount of smoke poured from the kiseru I held between my lips, covering the monster. 『I see. Then make it into an enoko-nabe.

』 『The image has been formed. 』 Think. That thing is a dog. Define its existence. A simple animal covered in fur. An animal that bites with fangs and chews. That is only natural. Imagine. The creature before me is merely a disguise. Something that does not exist on Earth. It may exist beyond the Gate… but it does not exist here. Visualize. Imagine. It is only a false image standing there. Its true form is not what I see. Its form has already been determined. Control. Overwrite the image. This is not your world.

Your rules do not apply here. Those fangs cannot reach unless they bite. Materialize. You are a dog. A companion who walked alongside humanity. A pet. A partner. That is the only truth. Break the law. Through the above process… your form shall be fixed. You are a powerless dog. A partner who lived beside humans. A companion who shared history with them. 『Ahahaha… Wonderful. How interesting. You are turning that thing into a pet. 』 『So the hot pot is postponed? I wanted to taste it. 』 Something leaked from the dog.

Something entered through the smoke… and flowed inside through its mouth? I couldn't release the kiseru. But there was no pain. So I assumed it was safe. When whatever it was stopped entering… the smoke cleared. Only silence remained. And one black dog. A creature about the size of a large dog. The final monster… the result of my own image. It approached me. It rubbed against me. I cautiously reached out and patted its head. I was a cat person, so I wasn't completely sure…

but it was probably just an ordinary large dog. Its birth was anything but ordinary, though. So… Did I defeat the final one? Was that really it?

"Tsukasa!"

"Tsukasa!" I looked up. A helicopter was flying through the sky. Ever since I had seen helicopters shot down, I wasn't even sure whether any were still flying. But seeing one now… maybe it meant this was truly over. Someone was calling my name. But the sound of the helicopter made it difficult to tell who.

"Tsukasa!"

"Tsukasa!" Still petting the dog, I watched the helicopter land. The people who stepped out were my wife… and Mochida. Both of them were crying as they ran toward me. Ah… So it was over. Looking around, I saw countless buildings with holes in them. Perhaps the monster had eaten through them while eating me. Reconstruction would be difficult.

"Tsukasa! Are you alive? Are you okay? Does anything hurt?" My wife rushed over and hugged me.

"Tsukasa! Your clothes! Please put on some clothes! You're completely naked! The cameras are here!" Mochida covered me with a towel, her face bright red. After a battle like this, there was no way my clothes could have survived. But that was not what mattered. There was something much more important. Something I had to tell them first.

"I'm home."

"Welcome home, Tsukasa."

"Welcome home."