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CHAPTER 290: THE DOOR TO THE ABYSS

—Zen’s POV—

It had already been more than a year since the Sphin Seven-Nation Council ended—since I parted ways with Aun.

Seeing what the demon race truly was, and watching Aun and the others repel them with my own eyes… it made me realize, from the bottom of my heart, just how lacking I was.

「Still… not enough. My martial arts still haven’t reached the ‘peak.’」

Aun’s strength was dazzling—straight as an arrow, without wavering… and impossibly far away.

Even the power I’d gained—【Four Spirit Beast Summoning】—still only allowed me to summon a single Byakko.

I was weak.

And I couldn’t end like this.

…So I set out on a journey.

What is ‘martial prowess’?

What is ‘righteousness’?

What is ‘the self’?

And what… is ‘Fluffiness’?

Certain that beyond those questions, a new world awaited.

This past year was anything but smooth.

First, I threw myself into training—relentlessly.

Mana control, breathing, martial technique.

I reexamined everything from the ground up: how I swung my sword, how I measured distance. Sometimes, I even stepped into dangerous zones.

Days spent staking my life in battle, honing myself through the grind.

And the only reason I endured such brutal training to the end… was without question because of Mii-chan.

We’d gone through all sorts of experiences together, and our bond had deepened more than ever.

We hunted together, wiped out monster nests, and sometimes even dealt with bandits.

Of course, I kept attempting to summon new Sacred Beasts as well.

…But the results were truly awful.

I couldn’t control the magic circle. It backfired, sometimes drawing in nearby monsters—followed by the daily routine of getting scolded by Mii-chan.

Even so, I didn’t give up. I kept at it, questioning myself again and again.

—Am I failing to truly understand Fluffiness?

—Maybe my love for Fluffiness isn’t enough.

—Or what I lack is my own ability… in other words, my level…?

—That said, being scolded by Mii-chan is a reward. …I want her to scold me more.

Thoughts that could be called distractions. Or desire.

But that’s fine. Fluffiness accepts everything.

I didn’t have Aun’s inborn talent.

I didn’t possess a mind that could be called genius.

I wasn’t even a weirdo.

So if I was ‘just an ordinary person,’ then all I could do was pile things up—bit by bit.

Even retreat. Even failure. Stack it all.

Reflect, improve, challenge, sharpen.

Even if I fail, even if I fall, I don’t break—I take the next step.

And then, one morning…

As I meditated, drawing in the cold air, something flickered deep within my spirit.

—Deeper.

—Deeper still.

—Deeper, until the very end.

A time where I did nothing but face myself.

How long had I been sinking…?

At the far end of concentration so complete I forgot even to breathe, I touched a door—one that led into the abyss, in the deepest depths of my mind.

I can do it now.

Certain of it, I activated 【Four Spirit Beast Summoning】.

The summoning circle began to pulse faintly.

As if resonating with my heartbeat, my mana became lines of light that raced along the ground, tracing a ring.

With my eyes, my ears, my skin—my heart—I felt my own mana, and I remembered:

Summoning wasn’t a violent, forceful act.

At its core, it was gentle.

A ‘calling.’

—Call, be answered, and connect.

When I first summoned Mee-chan, I learned the truth of the world.

That ‘Fluffiness is the truth.’

The instant I touched that ‘supreme texture,’ my heart was purified, and my values were reborn.

…But somewhere along the line, hadn’t the days with Mii-chan become… ‘normal’ to me?

The burning emotion I’d felt the first time we met came flooding back with vivid clarity.

The summoning circle began to take on a red glow, and as it rose into the air, I understood by instinct:

This summoning was going to blow past anything I’d imagined.

The air trembled. The grass around us quivered slightly, and reflected light dyed the world red-gold.

It felt as if the world itself was blessing me.

Centered on the magic circle, the air softly warped, the light wavering—then, from the center, a single red feather drifted down.

A ‘red’ so intense it looked like it was burning.

My gaze naturally followed it back to its owner, and what I saw was a mysterious bird—like the very embodiment of fire.

Suzaku.

Perhaps because I was its summoner, that knowledge simply descended into my mind.

But in that moment, I couldn’t have cared less about titles like that.

「So… Soft…」

Each feather swayed like flame, and yet it carried a gentle air—like slipping beneath a blanket.

The moment I imagined it, the words had already left my mouth.

「May I… touch you?」

Even I was startled by how serious my voice sounded.

In that instant, there was no doubt—I was the very image of a gentleman.

Suzaku tilted its head curiously, then answered with a low chirp.

「Pii.」

—It allows it.

My hand trembled slightly as I reached out, carefully.

The moment I touched it, warmth seeped into my fingertips.

Because it looked like a firebird, somewhere in my mind I’d assumed it would be ‘hot.’

But it wasn’t. Not painful, not scorching—if anything, it was soothing.

This was… gentle warmth, wrapping my skin.

A breath slipped out of me.

「…Isn’t this… cheating?」

Warm. Soft.

When I touched the down at its breast, a light, airy sensation puffed back against my fingers. Then—before I knew it—I felt like I’d been drawn into the depths of that Softness, like my fingers were melting and becoming one with the feathers.

If Mii-chan’s Fluffiness was ‘healing,’ then Suzaku’s Softness was ‘forgiveness.’

Healed… and forgiven—

If someone experienced both at once, what would happen to them?

Before I even understood the answer to that question, my head went pleasantly light.

—Ah. I see.

Have I… touched another truth of the world again?

Fluffiness wasn’t the only peak.

Softness… is the other law.

My brain melted.

Softness, Comfortableness, Warm…

My vocabulary—my thoughts—were washed away by waves of happiness.

This is dangerous.

This is truly dangerous.

A ‘second truth’ after Fluffiness is trying to make me its complete captive.

And yet I can’t stop touching it. I don’t want to stop.

…No. There’s no reason to stop anywhere!!

「The world is this gentle… and this warm.」

As Mii-chan watched calmly, the Suzaku wrapped me in its wings, almost like a mother.

Suzaku… no. From now on, I should call it by a fitting name.

「Your name is Pii-chan.」

—That’s it. Tonight, I’ll sleep out in the open.

Under a sky full of stars, I’ll have Mii-chan sleep beside me on the grass… and have Pii-chan drape over me as I sleep.

Inside Softness, with Fluffiness—

「Oof…」

This is bad.

Just imagining it nearly made me pass out.

…No, I have to pull my thoughts back.

The world is surely wider still.

And I must devote myself even more—so that I can summon the next Sacred Beast.

When I summon all of them, the existence known as ‘Suigetsu Zen’ will be complete.

「Please wait for me, Father. Your son will—smash down the door to the abyss!!」

Two months later, Zen returned home to the Bukyo Kingdom.

By strange coincidence, it was the very same day Aun and the others set out for Bukyo.