Chapter 284: To Die With Value, or Live Without It
Little did he know that the person he'd been thinking about was, at this very moment, somewhere in Inazuma.
Rain was still falling outside. The raindrops tapped against the wooden roof, producing a crisp pitter-patter, while the people inside… seemed rather serious.
Bai Luo held a black stone in his hand, brows tightly furrowed as he stared intently at the board before him.
Sitting opposite him, Gorou swallowed nervously, even his tail going stiff and taut.
He wondered:
How will Lord Battousai break the situation?
A few minutes later, under Gorou's slightly stunned gaze, Bai Luo placed his stone.
"Five in a row! I win!"
"..."
Gorou stared blankly at the triumphant Bai Luo for several seconds before realizing what he meant.
So… you were playing Gomoku with me this whole time?
No wonder something had felt off.
"Lord Battousai… weren't we playing Go?"
Clearing his throat, Gorou spoke up when he saw Bai Luo trying to reset the board.
Bai Luo's hand paused.
Indeed, he had originally intended to play Go with Gorou—but among the many games he had learned during nine years of compulsory education, Go was the one he absolutely sucked at.
To avoid losing too miserably, at a crucial moment… he simply changed the rules.
He switched to Gomoku instead.
"Gorou."
Looking at the puzzled Gorou, Bai Luo spoke with great seriousness.
Seeing Lord Battousai suddenly turn solemn, Gorou instantly straightened his posture. "Gorou is here!"
"Sometimes," Bai Luo said, "life is just like this board. You may think your opponent is playing Go… but perhaps those seemingly profound moves are nothing more than the simplest game of Gomoku."
He casually placed another stone, once again achieving five in a row.
His words made Gorou freeze for a moment.
So that's how it is—Lord Battousai meant to warn him.
Although the timing for such a lesson felt a bit strange… the more he savored the words, the more meaning he felt within them.
"Thank you for your guidance, Lord Battousai."
Gorou stood and bowed sincerely to Bai Luo.
He failed to notice, however, that Bai Luo's expression was growing increasingly awkward.
He didn't expect his hints to be so obvious, yet Gorou still didn't understand what he meant.
He was playing Go, while his opponent was playing Gomoku.
Wasn't that exactly what happened on Narukami Island?
On the board crafted jointly by Bai Luo and Yae Miko, Gorou and Itto were the players.
But Itto had been dropping stones using Gomoku logic the entire time. Unexpectedly, those unreasonable moves had completely stunned Gorou, who was treating the game as Go.
In the end, after learning some Gomoku-style moves from Itto, Gorou even considered them ingenious, believing he had gained some incredible insight.
Sigh… forget it, forget it.
Knock, knock, knock—
Amid the rain, someone knocked on the door of the room they were in.
Since this was the main camp of the Watatsumi Army, Gorou didn't feel the need to be wary and simply told the person to enter.
The door slid open, and the man who entered removed the straw hat from his head, revealing a bright smile.
"Lord Gorou, Lord Battousai—hope I'm not interrupting?"
This man, with long hair and the Hakuen Michimitsu Amenoma in hand, was Teppei, freshly returned from his mission.
And he was… the very person Bai Luo had come here for.
Compared to before, Teppei had changed greatly.
A new scar marked his face, and his body had grown far more robust.
Along with the long hair he intentionally kept, and the facial hair he deliberately shaved away—If he were to put on a red kimono and dye his hair red… He would look like a second Battousai.
During Bai Luo's absence, Teppei's growth had been extraordinary.
The Hakuen Michimitsu Amenoma in his hand might not have possessed the legendary ability to cut through Entangled Destinies, but as a blade with the properties of a true shinken, it was formidable in its own right.
It made him invincible on the battlefield, giving him the faint air of becoming another Battousai.
Gorou felt genuinely gratified—Teppei already showed the faint qualities of a future general.
Even if Gorou were no longer around someday, Teppei could manage the army with flawless discipline.
As for Bai Luo… He, too, felt satisfied.
But his satisfaction wasn't like that of a mentor seeing his student step onto the right path.
It was more like… a scientist watching his experiment take shape.
When a person confronts a world collapsing around them—a world where rules fall apart—how do they react?
Some choose to give up entirely, believing that when the sky falls, someone taller will hold it up.
And if even the tall ones can't hold it… why should they bother?
But others are different.
Faced with a ruined world, they are filled with helplessness—yet desperately want to change something.
No matter how hard they try, however, they cannot find any sense of value in themselves.
"If only the gods would cast their gaze upon me…"
And so, such a thought is born.
Teppei was precisely such a person.
He wanted to change the war, change the current situation, end the Vision Hunt Decree.
But he was merely an ordinary soldier from Watatsumi Island—one who, in the beginning, had not even dared to kill.
So when a Delusion capable of consuming his life was placed before him, he used it without hesitation.
Because it was one of the shortcuts that made him feel valuable.
Even though he knew… it would kill him.
To die with value was more meaningful than to live without it.
But in this timeline, because Bai Luo had seized Watatsumi Island, the Delusion distribution plan never occurred.
And Bai Luo gave Teppei another form of hope, a thing called belief.
He entrusted everything to Battousai.
If Battousai was a giant standing tall against the heavens, then Teppei swore to become the one standing on that giant's shoulder.
Not to achieve glory by borrowing the giant's height, but to help share the weight upon the giant's shoulders.
And indeed, he had done exactly that.
He imitated Battousai's actions, Battousai's attire; he even wished to transform himself into a second Battousai.
Because in his heart, Battousai was everything.
Battousai… was his god.
But if that god were to collapse… What then?
What would happen to Teppei, stripped of his faith and the pillar anchoring his spirit?
If Teppei had followed Bai Luo's original plan and recognized his own identity, then Bai Luo might have given him a gentler path, a way for him to truly receive a god's gaze.
But unfortunately, the Teppei who placed all his hopes and existence upon Battousai could no longer see himself, nor could he save himself.
And someone standing on Battousai's shoulders… How could such a person ever earn the attention of the gods?
If he wanted the gaze of a god, he must first climb down from Battousai's shoulders.
He must, before all else… learn to be a person.
. . . . .
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