Ch.117Twelve Heavens (12)
by fnovelpia
# Twelve Heavens (12)
“What did you see?”
“Even if you ask what I saw… I just saw two people get hit by a spark and then collapse with a groan. That’s all.”
Lug simply threw a small fireball, and when it hit them, they convulsed and fell to the ground.
That was it.
That was all Esmeralda could see.
She couldn’t understand the source of power contained in that blue flame or what effect it had.
“Well, it’s natural that it would look that way to you. The power we use operates on a completely different level of perception.”
Shiva knows.
As one who stands at the door and knocks, he understands.
Because they stand one level above.
Unless you can see the world through their eyes, you can only suffer without understanding.
But does that mean you should give up? Must you crawl on the ground until you reach the same position?
No, even if you can’t perceive it, that power clearly exists there.
So all you can do is knock.
“What you need to learn is an ability that will work against those beings.”
KWAAAANG!
Shiva clenched his fist and struck the empty air.
A refreshing sound of splitting air followed, and a gentle breeze cooled the sweat on Esmeralda’s body as she lay there.
“Did you see that?”
“…Yes.”
They exist in fundamentally different places.
That’s why Shiva found a method that might reach them.
It’s just a thin wall.
If they divide themselves by class, claiming they can never cross over despite being separated by just one wall.
“This is the power you should aim for.”
Shiva decided to knock on that wall to transmit noise and vibration to the other side. To announce his presence.
That’s why Shiva can at least buy time against the First.
A complaint directed at those beyond, taken to the extreme.
“I’ve shown you the way. Now, live up to your name as a hero.”
“……”
A small crack cutting through empty space. The wall between worlds that Shiva had broken.
Even after Shiva had said his piece and left, Esmeralda couldn’t take her eyes off that tiny crack.
***
La•Pa.
Mara-papiyas remembers.
The moment she recognized the fragile man who one day brought about a change in the world.
At first, she found it amusing. It seemed pathetic that he couldn’t understand his place yet tried to follow one born as a god.
So she paid him no attention.
He was so incompetent and powerless that he took a month to complete what his brother finished in just 30 minutes.
Seeing this, what could La•Pa have thought?
-Just as a sparrow’s legs will split if it tries to follow a heron, this fool who doesn’t know his place will either give up soon or die on the road.
So she looked away.
It was too boring and uninteresting to keep watching.
She forgot about him. Why would she waste time watching a powerless idiot when the world was full of all kinds of human spectacles she could enjoy?
La•Pa worked in the shadows. She instigated fights and led monks into the seven emotions and six desires, harvesting their sins.
Vice was her nourishment, and lies were sweet melodies to her.
In this way, she had led countless famous people into evil.
And as part of such a plan,
When she was trying to cause war between two friendly countries through discord.
-Please stop the war!
Someone appeared to prevent it.
The second prince of Capilla, whom La•Pa had long forgotten, was shouting until his throat nearly burst, pleading for the war to stop.
He had no logic or persuasiveness.
All he could do was appeal to emotions and shout in front of people. How could such a simple act untangle the complex web of war?
It was practically useless.
His brother might have been able to do it, but he lacked the ability.
And so the war broke out.
-What meaning does this war have! What treasure could be more valuable than the people!
Yet he continued to shout.
Moving through battlefields where spears and swords clashed.
As he persisted, people began to gather around him one by one.
People more capable than him.
People who hated war and knew how to make logical and persuasive appeals gathered in small groups.
And finally, they found common ground between the two countries and ended the war.
-Huh?
There were others who did the persuading and others who logically found the compromise.
But if asked to choose who ended the war, she would point to him.
Yes, he ended the war.
Just like his brother had done.
Although the process was much more drawn out, more blood was spilled, and it took many times longer.
He had done it.
He walked the same path as his brother.
Though each step was slower, he was steadily following behind.
-What is this?
It was chilling.
That someone so weak she could kill him with the press of a finger was trying to rise to her level.
It was irritating.
That proud demeanor, as if a mere human could walk the same path as him.
-Hmph, in the end, he’s just a human.
La•Pa decided to interfere with his journey.
Just as she had orchestrated the war between the two countries, she began to actively hinder what he was trying to do.
-Ah…! I knew it.
And he began to fall into the seven emotions and six desires without even realizing La•Pa had planned it.
She captured him with sweet wine and bound his feet with comfort.
-How simple this is.
In the end, he was human.
He couldn’t become a transcendent being detached from everything.
After pushing Lug out of her sight again, La•Pa resumed her work in the shadows of the world.
Until his existence gradually faded from a corner of her mind.
She encouraged the world’s development and also destroyed it.
The dragon clan were her faithful servants, and they played the role of breaking things to maintain balance whenever one side developed or grew too strong.
Through this process, the dragon clan came to be seen as guardians of the world’s balance, and La•Pa even sneered at this ridiculous situation.
Yes, every day was enjoyable.
Although those born with destiny who occasionally emerged were annoying, they would leave the world on their own as long as she didn’t interfere, so there was no need to worry about them.
But then one day.
-What?!
The man she thought she had disposed of returned to the stage.
And once again, he clung to and ruined the plan she had worked so hard on.
By this point, it was more bewildering than chilling.
-No, this guy… he was clearly enjoying himself there, but somehow…?
He had abandoned all the pleasures La•Pa had prepared and set out on his journey again.
But he didn’t immediately set out; rather, he enjoyed himself to the fullest and then returned to the world with a refreshed mind.
So La•Pa thought:
-F-fine… If I’m going to get rid of you anyway, I’ll let you enjoy more pleasures than you could experience in a human lifetime.
If he had grown bored with what he was used to, she would continue to provide new stimulation so he wouldn’t get tired of it.
So La•Pa disposed of Lug again. And just as his existence was beginning to fade from memory.
-No! You again?!
He appeared again.
Abandoning pleasures that even a human couldn’t fully enjoy in a lifetime.
-…Is it because he has no family?
Seeing him refuse to settle down and die peacefully of old age, La•Pa took drastic measures.
-Tanha, Arati, Raga.
-Yes, Mother. You called?
-Isn’t it time for you to awaken to pleasure? I’ll give you your first mission, so prepare yourselves.
La•Pa called her daughters.
It must have been her intuition that half-measures wouldn’t work.
So La•Pa ordered her three daughters, beautiful enough to arouse lust even in monks who had maintained their chastity for a long time, to seduce him and make him settle in one place.
-How about it? Won’t you stay at our house tonight?
This time, La•Pa wanted to watch the outcome for certain.
By this point, she felt it would be better to tie things up definitively.
The ascetic of Capilla who always fell into the pleasures La•Pa prepared and then escaped when he came to his senses.
This time, she wanted to observe the process clearly and respond accordingly.
But…
-No, it’s an attractive offer, but not yet.
He shook off the strongest temptation she had shown him so far.
La•Pa was shocked.
She felt that chill again at the sight of Lug continuing on his path.
Just as she was considering whether she should step in directly.
-Mother, please trust us. Even though he said that, he didn’t completely push us away. Doesn’t that mean he has feelings for us?
Her daughters, perhaps not wanting to record their first mission as a failure, wished to continue.
And even to La•Pa, it didn’t seem like a completely impossible story.
Clearly, the ascetic of Capilla had rejected their offer, but he had only refused to stop; he was still maintaining emotional exchanges with them.
Perhaps he just wanted to act cool like a man?
La•Pa thought so and decided to trust her three daughters with the mission.
As a result, they ended up formally marrying Lug.
Although he hadn’t stopped his journey yet, it would be soon.
La•Pa looked away again, proud of her daughters.
And then one day.
-We broke up.
-He was too great a person for us to hold onto. Shouldn’t we let him go?
-How could we hold him back? So we decided to bless his new journey.
-…
Her three daughters returned, seemingly driven mad.
La•Pa felt fear.
She had sent them to interfere, but they had genuinely fallen in love and even encouraged him to continue his journey.
This was something even his brother couldn’t do.
It seemed his charm with women far exceeded what La•Pa had anticipated.
So La•Pa decided to interfere with him more directly. If pleasure didn’t work, she would use physical force.
But by the time she made that decision…
-Fine, you win.
He had already accumulated more merit than La•Pa could handle.
***
After resolving the issue with Tina’s body, La•Pa gently stroked her hair and said:
“My beautiful daughter. Isn’t it time to stop sleeping and wake up?”
The weight of karma that had been constricting her should be bearable now.
It was time for her to open her eyes.
“Mmm…”
Tina frowned as if La•Pa’s touch tickled her, then slowly opened her eyes.
La•Pa smiled at her daughter who looked up at her with a drowsy face.
“Wake up.”
What appeared in those bright yellow eyes were vertical pupils unlike those of humans.
The symbol of the dragon clan gazes at the world unfolding before her.
“Tanha.”
Tina, looking up at La•Pa’s face with a drowsy expression, said.
“…Yes, Mother.”
It was the moment when an ancient dragon once again burrowed into the present world across time.
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