abcnovels
Book 11
Book 11: Chapter 12: Round One
“By the way, suicide won’t be included in the death count.”
“Is that so?”
So suicide is not allowed, apparently.
Does that mean I had to wait to be killed by somebody else, or maybe succumbed to illness, or wait for my lifespan to end?
If I asked somebody else to kill me, would that count as suicide?
This might be more difficult than I thought.
“Oh, and even if you entered the cycle of rebirth, it doesn’t mean you’ll be able to go through the Six Realms in order. Whatever you’ll become will be random after you die.”
R-Random?
Then, does that mean I’m going to be reincarnated into something other than human!?
“Er…Soryuu-sama. I’m so sorry. I don’t really understand this cycle of transmigration and Six Realms.”
“The concept of the endless cycle of reincarnation was brought into this world by folks from your — Saijou Haruto’s — world.”
So you mean to say this rebirth cycle and six realms are originally from the world I came from?
Ah, come to think of it, I do remember seeing the trailer of a movie about a protagonist trying to break free from ‘samsara’ by endlessly getting reincarnated.
“This world didn’t have the Six Realms, but the Evil God found it interesting, so he created something similar, and that’s the [Cycle of Transmigration Curse].”
The Six Realms, or Paths (not to be confused with the Human, Divine and Demon Realm) that one undergoes are Hell, Preta, Beast, Asura, Human, Deva, and they apparently made up what was known as [World of the Lost].
In true Samsara, or the endless cycle of rebirth and existence, one needed to undergo all the Six Paths with the goal of breaking free from the cycle. By the way, the only time they could break free would be during their time in the Human Path.
“As for your curse, as long as you die six times without committing suicide, you’ll be able to return back to your original time period and your own body. Do you follow?”
“Yes, I understand! By the way, if I request somebody else to kill me…”
“I don’t think that will be a problem, probably. The only death that won’t be counted would be when you die by your own hand.”
“I see. Oh, how do I check how many more times I had to die?”
I had to check whether I successfully died every single time.
It’ll be a headache if I just pointlessly die several times.
“You can just check the remaining count on your status board.”
It’s there!?josei
“S-Status Open!”
I looked at my status board.
Status: Cursed (Circle of Transmigration: 6 Rounds Remaining)
“....Seriously?”
It’s really written there.
By the way, I couldn’t read anything else other than [Status]. Everything else had become garbled text.
“The dragon body you are currently in had been forcefully born into this world because of the curse.”
It was an individual who shouldn’t have existed originally.
That’s the reason why most of the information on the status board had become unintelligible, apparently.
“I thought a new colored dragon is finally born after several thousand years, so I was elated, but…”
Apparently, the number of dragons during this period of time — ten thousand years in the past — had been extremely few.
I felt a bit apologetic for what happened.
“Ahh. It’s not like I’m blaming you for this. Everything is the Evil God’s fault.”
“Thank you so much for being so understanding.”
“Don’t mention it, you’re also the victim here. Going through death several times must be a horrendous experience for humans, I warrant.”
Yeah, that’s right, I guess.
Just once is already traumatic as it is.
Having to die six times…
Maybe I can punch Evil God seven times with all I’ve got once I’m back inside my body?
Alright, let’s do that!
I was determined.
“Thank you very much for teaching me a lot of things, Soryuu-sama.”
“Don’t mention it, this much isn’t a big deal at all. Besides, in the future, you and my posterity — oops, it’ll be terrible if I tell you this.”
Eh, what will happen with your posterity?
It really piqued my curiosity, but…
“Well, let’s just say I’m in the mood to help you. It’ll do you good if you don’t hold back, and just rely on me.”
I was curious why he wanted to help me, but it’s also comforting that the omniscient Soryuu-sama is my ally.
“There will definitely come a time when you will need my help during those several transmigrations. If you came into my realm, just put your hand on the ground and call my name.”
If I did, Soryuu-sama will teleport me into the Demon Realm.
By the way, the power that I would borrow when the time comes would become the same power taken from me when I met Soryuu-sama last time.
“I understand. I am in your care when the time comes.”
“Hmmm.”
“Oh, there’s another favor I would like to ask, and I feel very embarrassed asking this from you —”
I didn’t want to rely on him for this thing, though.
“Yeah, I got it.”
Even if this body had been forcefully conjured into being because of the curse, I was still a colored dragon, one of the world’s strongest monsters.
Poisons wouldn’t work on me, and I wouldn’t fall sick.
Lifespan would be over 1000 years.
In order for someone like that to die, I would have no choice but to ask Soryuu-sama for help.
“Then, I’ll do it instantly, alright?”
“...Yes.”
Soryuu-sama raised a huge claw above my head.
I’m scared…
I never received any sort of damage ever since my status had been frozen.
It’s been a while since I experienced this fear of death.
“Good luck, Haruto.”
Soryuu-sama’s claw swung down.