Inazuma swordsmith named Senko Muramasa

The castle towered into the clouds, cherry blossoms bloomed brilliantly on both sides of the street, the familiar hawking sounds, the children's laughter, the sound of shamisen playing, everything was exactly the same as the most beautiful fragments in her memory.

She saw the little fox accompanying..., lying on a chair at the fried tofu stall, winking at her;

I saw Changzheng, his sweat glistening on the martial arts training ground not far away;

She saw Sasaryuri, carrying a longbow on her back, walking towards her in a heroic manner, with her usual stern look on her face.

There's even that... gentle God of Thunder.

Everyone is there.

The only one missing was the lord for whom she had shed her blood and against whom she had finally drawn her sword - General Lei Dian, Ying.

She doesn't exist in this world.

There was no barrier that made her pain insurmountable.

"Chiyo, what are you daydreaming about?"

Sasayuri walked up and patted her shoulder.

At this moment, she understood.

As long as she becomes the only winner in the festival, she can return to her pain-free hometown at night.

So, when several other strangers appeared on this familiar street, Chiyo didn't hesitate at all.

In order to protect this "dream", she must become the only "dream builder".

After the battle, Inazuma City is still warm.

She lingered in this "world" until the day came and dragged her back to the Heguan shrouded in thick fog.

"You came here eight days ago~"

"You came here twelve days ago~"

"You came here forty days ago?"

"You came here one hundred and twenty days ago..."

"You came here... four hundred and eighty-eight days ago... right?"

"...I can't remember exactly, but the festival is about to start!"

She gradually became addicted to this false happiness and began to lose the ability to distinguish between reality and illusion.

During the day, she was just enduring the "return home" at night.

As for the other outsiders, their conditions became worse and worse after repeated death and resurrection.

Their bodies are getting weaker and weaker, and each resurrection comes at the cost of a portion of their lives.

Desperation drives them to make different choices.

During a daytime festival, the ronin tried to attack Chiyo from behind, but she reflexively cut his throat with a knife.

This time, he did not survive until nightfall, and never saw his resurrection again.

The disfigured woman went completely mad after being resurrected, screaming and rushing into the depths of the fog, never to return.

The sickly scholar was found dead in his sleep one morning and never woke up again.

In the end, Gochiyo was the only outsider left during the day.

She thought this was the end, that from now on Inazuma Castle at night would belong to her alone.

However, when she once again returned to her long-cherished homeland at night.

Without outsiders as "enemies", the world has prepared new opponents for her.

As she was walking on Hanamizaka with Sasayuri and another friend, Raiden Shin, the cold voice sounded in her mind again.

"Kill them, or be killed by them."

She froze, and the hand holding the knife began to tremble.

But what responded to her was Sasayuri's suddenly cold eyes and the arrow already on the bowstring.

In this world, they also received "rules".

That night, she was defeated.

When she saw Sasaryuri's cold face, which was both familiar and unfamiliar, she hesitated for a moment.

At this moment, an arrow containing the power of thunder pierced her heart.

The moment her consciousness faded, she seemed to have forgotten something important.

When she woke up in Heguan during the day, she felt that part of her memory was missing, as if someone had forcibly dug out a piece of it.

But what shocked her even more was that she saw a familiar figure among the crowd at the festival.

It's Yuri Sasa.

Sasayuri, who had killed her in "Inazuma Castle", was now standing blankly among the islanders, her eyes full of confusion.

Could it be that... if one is killed in that world, one will appear in the Crane View of this festival as a "foreigner"?

And the one who killed the other...

On the next night of reincarnation, in the unchanged Inazuma Castle, she killed Sasahiri without hesitation.

After the battle, she looked at Raiden Shin who was walking towards her with a sad and confused look on his face.

When the opponent raised his naginata, she gave up resistance and took the initiative to meet the fatal blow.

She wanted to verify her guess.

She wants her friends to be by her side.

As a result, she succeeded.

Since then, the thick fog in Heguan seems to have become a revolving door, constantly attracting new desperate people.

Samurai, shrine maidens, scholars, pirates... each carrying their own unhealed wounds and inescapable nightmares, they set foot on this island, becoming new participants in the festival and new "enemies" in Michiyo's "that world".

Her "Rice Wife City" is no longer safe.

Sometimes, among the new outsiders, there will be unexpectedly strong people.

An old soldier who lost both legs and could only crawl on his hands, turned into a centipede with a hundred legs in a night illusion. His fearless fighting style once put Chiyo in a difficult battle.

She lost a few times.

Every time she was defeated in a night fight, her consciousness was torn apart, and her world was taken away by the victor.

The next night, she no longer descended upon the Inazuma Castle with its gorgeous cherry blossoms, but perhaps the hometown in the old soldier's memory, or the field where the warm breeze always blew in the heart of another outsider.

These dreams that were not hers were more unbearable than her own.

The pain of losing a "rice wife" is far greater than the death of the body.

So, she must not lose again.

In the next reincarnation, she will kill all the "enemies" in her sight in the first place and in the most efficient way.

Whether they are new or "friends" she brought with her.

She must win, win it back at all costs, just so that she can set foot on that familiar but missing homeland again the next night.

Kill, lose, recapture.

This process is repeated over and over again.

The millstone of reincarnation ruthlessly crushed her soul, wearing away her emotions and shattering her memories.

At first, she would sit with Sasayuri and Raiden Shin during the day, reminiscing about the past.

But gradually, as she looked at their weak and confused faces, her heart no longer stirred.

Who are they? Friends.

Why are you here? I don't remember.

Why let them here?

…It seemed to be for some important reason, but I couldn’t remember what it was.

The meaning of killing is fading.

Returning to Inazuma City at night is no longer for the false warmth and comfort of reunion.

It became an instinct.

As natural as breathing, entering that world and killing everything that moves is the task she must complete.

She no longer thought about why she wanted to kill, but just swung the knife mechanically.

During the day, she became more cheerful.

Because I have forgotten many things, I have forgotten why I lost my arm, I have forgotten the terrifying starry sky, and I have forgotten the unforgettable betrayal.

She even... forgot that she once had a monarch and a friend.

Her memory was emptied, leaving only two obsessions:

Survive during the day and win at night.

Everything else has been submerged in the thick fog that never dissipates in Heguan.

until that day.

until……

……

"Until that blow of yours..."

Mikochiyo stood at the festival again, in front of Aru and Muramasa, her face almost covered with exhaustion.

During these few days and nights, her heart was once again occupied by that torment:

"…It reminds me."

The Swordsmith from Another World: Chapter 122, Next Chapter, The Death of Miyu Chiyo

"So, what are you going to do?"

Looking at Michiyo who appeared after the two of them talked, Muramasa did not say much to comfort her, but was indifferent and cold.

He looked at Miyu Chiyo, and his eyes, which had seen through the patterns of countless swords, also saw through her.

How to do it?

This question was like a needle, piercing the balance that Miyuchiyo had barely maintained with fatigue and numbness.

Her lips moved, but they were so dry that she couldn't make a single sound.

The five hundred years of reincarnation were like an endless nightmare, and the memory that had just been restored had re-imprinted all the details of this nightmare in her mind.

All the actions, the boundless starry sky, the cycle of death and life, and... the shadow.

She wanted to end it all.

I don't want to fight anymore, I don't want to kill anymore, I don't want to live again and again.

"please……"

Just as a word squeezed out of his lips, the will to die had not yet burst out, but was cut off by the cold words of the knife maker opposite.

"You haven't decided yet, have you?"

Muramasa folded his arms across his chest, his posture unchanged. He saw through her lack of will to live, and no awareness of death:

"If it's about ending your life, I don't mind helping you." His voice was calm, as if he was talking about an ordinary commission.

"But," Muramasa changed the subject, "if you just want to end the pain, there's no need to be so anxious."

After saying that, he raised his hand and tapped his temple with his knuckles, neither lightly nor heavily, making two dull sounds.

"There's a guy in here who wants to talk to you."

"Yae Shenzi, is this a name familiar to you?"

"...Son of God?"