Resolving the India Lostbelt
Higashino Makoto stood on the renovated grass, grinding the newly grown grass at his feet with his toes.
The distant sky was bathed in a uniform pale gold hue, the sun's position perfectly aligned with the first day, and even the shapes of the clouds were identical.
He turned his head and looked at Yukino Fuyumi.
Her long, pale blue hair swayed gently in the breeze, and her skin glowed with a unique, cool white luster in the morning light, like porcelain just taken out of an ice cellar.
"You should go back."
Yukino Fuyumi did not answer immediately.
She actually wanted to help, but she knew she couldn't help him at all.
Staying here would only be a burden.
She looked at him, and after a few seconds she spoke.
"Yes, sir."
She simply nodded, straightened her collar, and walked over to stand beside him.
Higashino Makoto raised his hand and made a light slash in the air. A spatial rift silently opened in front of the two of them, and the soft light from the corridor could be faintly seen shining through the rift.
"Remember to contact me when you're done. I've actually learned massage techniques, so I can help you relax."
After she finished speaking, she lifted her skirt and stepped into the crevice.
After the crack closed, he turned around and walked eastward.
He walked for about an hour, crossing an open plain, passing a dry riverbed, and arriving at the foot of a low hill.
On the hill stood a building made of white rock, simple like a cut cube, with no decoration on its surface, not even windows. There was only one door, open.
Inside the door was a spacious hall, where light filtered through gaps in the dome, casting dappled shadows on the stone floor.
A figure stood at the far end of the hall.
Arjuna.
His skin was a deep black, like a frozen night sky.
Her long hair was tied back, with the ends reaching her waist.
He was looking at Higashino Makoto, his pupils devoid of any emotion, as if he were looking at a stone or a tree.
Higashino Makoto stood at the doorway, watching him.
"I've come to—"
"Imperfect beings, disappear."
Arjuna didn't wait for him to finish speaking.
He slightly raised his finger, and a fine ripple appeared in the air, spreading outwards from him at an extremely fast speed, almost too fast to react to.
As the ripples swept across Higashino Makoto's body, he felt a slight pulling sensation, as if something was trying to detach him from this world.
The Law Demon King awakened within him, and the power of the Eternal Miasma Prison seeped from his skin, forming a distorted domain around him.
The pulling sensation was neutralized the moment it made contact with the area.
Tiny ripples spread through the air, like two pebbles falling into the water at the same time.
Arjuna's brow twitched.
"The same power as mine?"
"Akin."
Higashino Makoto stood still, neither retreating nor taking a step forward.
"But they're not quite the same."
Arjuna did not reply.
He raised his other hand and moved both hands simultaneously, causing the ripples in the air to become denser, pressing towards Higashino Makoto from all directions.
That's at the level of laws.
He attempted to erase Higashino Makoto's existence on this world level, including him in that ten-day cycle for judgment and then eliminating him.
The realm of Eternal Miasma Prison trembled violently around him.
The ripples did not dissipate when they hit the edge of the area; instead, like water hitting a reef, they bypassed him and continued flowing backward.
Higashino Makoto could feel the pressure increasing, as if he were being attacked from both sides by two rivers.
He did not retaliate.
This is a great opportunity to experience and experiment with the power of reincarnation up close.
He was merely on the defensive, while simultaneously sensing the details of Arjuna's every maneuver of the laws of reincarnation.
Those subtle vibrations, the direction of flow, the origins and convergence points of force gradually became clear in his perception.
He was like someone reading a book, understanding the meaning of one word with each attack he endured.
Arjuna's attack continued for some time. The frequency of the ripples increased, changing from the initial slow tides to almost continuous impacts.
Cracks began to appear on the floor of the hall, spreading outwards from Arjuna's feet and extending along the gaps in the stone slabs to the corners of the walls.
Higashino Makoto felt his magic power being depleted, but it was also being replenished simultaneously.
Each time he figured out a detail in the opponent's attack, his understanding of the power of reincarnation deepened, and his control over the Eternal Miasma Prison became more refined.
The field is being fine-tuned, transforming from an initial "distortion" into a more targeted counteraction, like a lock being turned with a more precise key.
Arjuna's attack frequency gradually slowed down.
It wasn't because he was tired, but because he realized that this level of attack couldn't break through the opponent's territory.
His fingers paused in mid-air for a moment, then closed up and clenched into a fist.
The ripples stopped.
Silence returned to the hall. Only the sound of gravel hitting the ground echoed in the empty space.
You're observing me.
Arjuna's voice remained calm, but with a subtle, almost imperceptible fluctuation.
"Are you using me as a whetstone? You imperfect fellow."
"I am indeed learning, but calling it a whetstone is a really bad way to put it."
Higashino Makoto admitted that there was no need to hide it.
"Your cycle of reincarnation and my power have many things in common."
"So how much have you learned?"
"That's enough, isn't it? Thank you so much, I've learned a lot."
Arjuna asked no more questions.
He raised his clenched fist, spread his fingers, and placed his palm down.
A dark golden light surged from his palm, spreading outwards along the ground like ink being poured into water, quickly covering every stone slab in the hall.
Where the light touched, the cracked stone slabs began to heal, the tiny cracks closing up like scars.
The world began to tremble.
It's like something is awakening deep within the earth's crust.
Higashino Makoto could feel the laws of the entire Lostbelt converging towards Arjuna, and the power of reincarnation gathering into his body from all directions, like a river flowing into the sea.
Having achieved his goal, he held nothing more to himself.
The Pride Demon awakens within him.
Black wings unfurled from his back, each feather gleaming with a deep, dark purple sheen, like solidified flames.
The Degradation Aura spread silently and swiftly from beneath his feet, sweeping across the healing stone slabs, the floating rubble, and the receding dark golden light.
The moment Arjuna's body came into contact with the Degradation Aura, fine cracks began to appear on its surface, like porcelain under high temperature. His dark golden pupils contracted slightly.
"This power is..."
His body began to disintegrate.
The Degradation Aura is eroding all the laws within him, starting from the very bottom, like ants gnawing at a wooden stake.
He tried to use the power of reincarnation to repair himself, but each time the repair could not keep up with the rate of deterioration.
The cracks multiplied and deepened, spreading from the skin's surface to the muscle fibers, to the bones, and to the core of the soul.
He stood there, looking down at his hands.
The skin on my fingers has begun to peel away, revealing the dark golden bones underneath.
His lips twitched slightly, as if something had shattered.
Am I also an imperfect being?
His body completely collapsed.
Like a piece of pottery that has been dried by the wind, it shattered into countless tiny fragments at the last moment, scattering on the stone floor.
The fragments turned into specks of light and dissipated into the air before they hit the ground.
Higashino Makoto stood there, watching the points of light disappear into the gaps in the dome.
Silence returned to the hall. He retracted his Pride Demon form, and scales and wings receded from his body like the receding tide.
He raised his hand, and a small world surged within him, covering the entire Lostbelt.
The sky, the earth, the distant mountains, the nearby fields—everything in his field of vision slowly came together, like a painting being rolled up.