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"It's ridiculous that we still don't know the name of the guardian spirit. The deadline is... Half a year will be enough."

"...Ah... ."

"Of course, getting the answer directly from the guardian spirit is invalid. The hint is... I'll allow up to one. Since you've been together, you won't need a lot of hints"

Raven glanced up.

[Guardian spirit ??? is glaring at Death.]

"..."

"It seems like my guardian spirit really hates it." 

Seeing that he is sending a message like this even though he is barely able to lend his eyes, weighed down by the energy of Death.

From the first time we met, he didn't want to tell us his name. He just claimed he was my ancestor and asked me to call him his older brother. Whenever he was asked his name, he would avoid it, saying that calling him by his title would suffice.

So this bet may not be very pleasant right now...

"If I've already accepted it, it won't matter."

"That's right..."

Because he's already 'accepted' the bet. At this point, he had no choice but to win. Raven looked down at the cool hand that flicked his index and middle fingers tapped his chest, and then let out a laugh.

The green eyes, which did not show any life even though they were brightly shining, were filled with mockery towards themselves.

"It's been a long time since I forgot my own name, but now I find out someone else's name."

"If you are a stranger, the guardian spirit will be upset. And it won't be a losing bet. Honestly, aren't you curious? Even though you have been together for such a long time, the reason why the guardian spirit hasn't even told you his name."

"..."

"I'm sure you've wondered at least once why he taking such care of you, what his identity is, and what his purpose is... ."

"That's enough."

It's definitely something he's had doubts about at least once, and he still has them, but it's not to the point where he openly shows himself being swayed by the words of Death. Death is something he needs to be more wary of than the guardian spirit that has helped him so far.

Above all, that's not what he needs to worry about now. I slowly closed my eyes and roughly spit out an affirmation."Half a year from now. Okay."He has to prepare to go out into the world again.

Raven lifted his hand and pressed it to his throbbing eye. The vibrations of his slightly trembling hands can be felt on the sensitive skin around his eyes.

"What else do I have to do?"

"Hm?"

"Is this the end?"

... He's been at the gate for too long.

He feels like my eyes are burning. No, he feels like my whole body is burning. He unwittingly sweeps down his arms to see if his body is fine due to the fever that covers his entire body.

An incident from one day in the past, now likely to be forgotten, slowly eroded his memory."Why is there no answer?""...Well."

As he gently clenched his fists due to the phantom pain that was growing in his presence, Death, who seemed to have noticed the situation, smiled and took a relaxed stance.

"Maybe there was more, maybe not. I think I need to think about it for a while."

"......."

...He's getting back the prank he just played.

For a moment, the stress that had been quietly building up all the time suddenly surged up in the form of irritation, and Raven slowly opened his closed eyes while suppressing his emotions. At least he shouldn't get carried away here.

"Really? But I can't even spend any meaningless time here. Should we talk about something else in the meantime?"

Even if that wasn't the case, there was a topic I wanted to address at least once before we parted ways.

"I've been thinking about it ever since you mentioned the bet, but whatever. Isn't it too much to attach 'eternal life' to me?"

How ridiculous it was when I heard that.

"You were afraid that I would crave life so you put all the conditions on it."

Suddenly, I remember a dream I had today. Although the dream was short-lived, Raven was well aware of how things had gone since then.

Contrary to the expectation that a mere human would lightly brush aside and pass over the common wind, death showed a positive response. Apart from that, his contract itself did not go smoothly.

"You want to extend your life 'until you complete your revenge'? What are the criteria for completing revenge?"

"Oh, I see. Even if you find a revenge target, if you don't kill him, that means you want to extend your life indefinitely. And the price is the soul after death... Then I can't do anything about this until you choose death, right? There's nothing like a fox that's clever and brazen."

"I'll give you a condition. I'll give you a condition that you want to finish and die as soon as possible. I'll give you a condition that you can't be greedy in life at all."

"Afterwards, you will be begging from your side to let you die first."

After saying that.

"You got a lot of nonsense to say."

They say it's a family, but it's the same as putting the fact that they're wasting their time in a family. Raven, once again shedding tears of absurdity, flicked his dagger.

"Should I make it clear right now? "Let's do this so we won't be bothered by the same topic for a while."

"Shall I be clear at this time? I'll have to let this go so I won't bother you with the same subject for a while."

"......."

"You know, I—."

Kwajik. The words stopped.

Death looked down at the headless body with dry eyes and then raised his gaze to see the monster that had bitten off his head.

Crumble.

A monster that didn't know when it had approached was excitedly chewing on Raven's head. There was silence for a while.

"—I hate monsters."

Phew.

Raven's body moved and drove the dagger deep into the guy's eye.

The head that the monster had swallowed passed through the animal's body in the form of powder before it found its place and clumped up. He became fine again as if he had never died, climbed on top of the monster writhing in pain, took out another dagger, and stabbed the handle of the dagger until it reached the brain.

"Kaaaa!!"

Terrible screams and a struggle that bordered on struggling followed. In the process, his sharp nails barely grazed Raven's body, but he didn't care.

A dry voice continued.

"I hate the gate even more."

He hate the gate that released them on the ground, even in a limited way, more than the monster that bit his head off right now. If you add in the fact that it took away part of his eyes and soul and almost killed him, he would hate that ship even more.

With one hand hanging narrowly from the handle of the dagger, he groped his waist with the other hand and took out a new dagger again.

"But what I hate most of all is... ."

Kwak, Kwasik! Sigh!

"It's me."

So disillusioned with me for opening the gate.

In the end, the destination of all resentment will be him. Life can only be desired by those who love themselves. Raven has long since lost that qualification. It was Death, not anyone else, that drove the wedge there.

"So—."

After several stabbings, the monster's corpse was rearranged in front of him and he pointed his dagger at Death. Whether it was from pain or emotion, the vibrations traveling through his hand slightly shook the tip of the dagger.

"I will never crave life, so don't worry about it. Because it makes me feel really dirty."

"... ... Well, okay."

Death nodded. He was a little skeptical because humans are easily swayed.

"I'm glad you didn't change your mind."

The world, which has already been greatly disrupted once and has barely regained stability after a thousand years, does not welcome any more changes.

So Raven needs to keep that mindset. The moment he truly longs for life, the world will change once again.

As the person who extended his lifespan, Death had a duty to watch over him.

'Looking at it, it looks like we won't have to worry about it for the time being.'

A seemingly invisible smile appeared on the face of Death.

It was a smile that could not be taken very well, so Raven frowned as if he had no luck, stroking his torn neck and tilting his head to the left and right. The pain from when his head was torn off was still vivid.

He was glad that he was free from the burning pain and memories of the past, but he shook his hand with a sigh.

"I almost died because of you, so why don't you leave now?"

The energy of Death was so strong that he did not notice the monster approaching. If he had missed it, it would have been natural for the guardian spirit to protect him, but he too was weighed down by the energy of Death and could not react properly.

In a world full of living beings who fear Death because they are alive, Death is an absolutely powerful being.

'The gate needs to be closed too.'

He thought there must be a reason why Death chose to talk here, so he waited without destroying the core, but that was also his limit now.

The situation is such that he can't leave the gate open forever, and he wants to get out of there even one second faster, so he urges to close the gate and get out of there. Raven lowered his tired, heavy gaze.

He said, nodding his head, fortunately, Death also seemed to have no intention of holding on any longer.

"Then let me tell you this."

"What else... ."

"That thing on your neck."

Knock knock. He tapped his neck a couple of times and then pointed to Raven's neck.

"It's not a 'dog leash,' but a classy name called 'choker.' I said it was essential to keep your soul tied to your body."

Death's finger pointed precisely at the small jewel hanging in the center of the necklace.

Without saying a word, Raven raised his hand and touched the red gem.

... Actually, he knows that. In order to tie the soul to the brain and heart, which are the most important body parts for humans, both symbolically and in reality, this should be attached to the neck, which is the bridge and intermediate point between the two. As he searched for an appropriate form to prevent an unintentional peeling disaster, it naturally ended up looking like this. The dog leash remarks and sarcasm were just meanness.

"After all."

Raven clicked his tongue low and grabbed the core of the gate.

Just as he was about to apply force to break it, the voice of Death followed him from behind again.

"Oh yeah."

An extremely light attitude, as if he had just remembered it.

"It looks like you've started working properly again, so I'm thinking about asking you to run errands."

"... "

"I will tell you the location of the soul you need to collect."

... Raven, who heard everything he said, destroyed the core of the gate without answering.

It wasn't until he came back to the surface that he realized why Death had chosen to follow him to the abyss and talk to him.

"... ... Ha, what is that?"

He would have had to wait a long time to have a conversation after leaving the gate. Or, even if he did, it would have been cut off midway.

"Why are there people here...?"

As soon as I came out, what caught my eye was a young man being chased by a monster... No, it was 'child'.

****

"Altaïr, I'm just asking this out of curiosity."

"... ... ?"

"Why do you want to kill Master?"

Ah. The hand that was sweeping the diary on her lap stopped. For a moment, Raven's first disciple raised the corners of his mouth as he gently swept the surface of the diary again.

"Because he started the era of Gate."

"... ... !"

The worst traitor in human history who caused the Gate incident and ushered in the Gate era.

That was Master.

"The past me is also me. How big of a brat would you have to be to follow someone like that as your teacher?"

I lost everything because of the Gate.

Nevertheless, the contents of this diary were full of affection for his teacher, so Altair suppressed his growing curiosity about his Master and coolly lowered his eyes. The phrase written at the back of the diary came to mind.

[A warning to my future self who has lost his memory.]

A familiar handwriting that clearly belongs to him. However, it is unfamiliar content that he does not remember writing.

[Don't tease the teacher]

Why on earth.

[I'm sure you'll regret it]

Why did I forgive my enemies in the past?

I don't understand. The eyes with irritation and anger glistened to live.

****

──In this world that humanity lives in, there is a side called 'the abyss' where the sun does not exist and three moons rise.

The number of passages is extremely small and they exist only in certain places, making it difficult to travel freely, but it is a fortunate place. There were all kinds of dangerous monsters there, and humanity had to struggle just to block and deal with the monsters that came through the passage.

The only positive thing that can be seen is that the 'magic stone' found from monsters has a wider range of use.

As a magic offering, as an expensive decoration, as a beautiful accessory, and as a 'portal' for easy movement using the energy itself.

The problem arose from this 'portal'.

Some crazy person used the portal to connect the ground and the abyss.

The monster jumped out onto the ground as if it had been waiting, filling the defenseless human world with chaos. The ground was painted red with blood, and innocent homes were left behind with no survivors and only remnants.

Even as the material originally came from the abyss, as if it matched the energy of the abyss, the energy from the portal gathered on the ground and repeatedly created another portal connected to the abyss. Humanity distinguished it from a 'normal portal' and called it 'an abyss'. It was called 'Gate'. And, the 'mad man' who opened the first gate was.

'You must survive.'

Because of that incident, I put a shackle on myself.