Samurai Spirit
"The Museum of Origins is my life," Fossil said, seated comfortably in his office chair while his fingers idly traced the fossil of an ancient tadpole. "It's the culmination of a dream I've cherished since I was twenty-three."
"This is the very first fossil I ever discovered. You see, fossils only form when there are solid bones and shells. Tadpoles are mostly soft tissue, so they shouldn't leave any fossils at all."
Fossil wore the pure, childlike smile of a boy who had plucked some worthless trinket from the roadside and now cradled it like the greatest treasure in the world. Even past eighty, that innocent wonder had never left him.
"This little one was buried alive in the earth, then hardened into a fossil. An incredibly rare prize. After I found it, I threw myself into excavating fossils like a man possessed."
"I didn't come here to listen to your life story," the government agent growled, lighting a cigarette and shooting Fossil a disgusted look. Yet the old man's nostalgic, childlike monologue continued without pause.
"This museum is the product of nearly sixty years of my life. That's why..."
"Director Fossil, that's enough." The agent thrust a document toward him. The attached photograph showed a politician buried alive in soil, his body already undergoing fossilization.
"You're the one who killed this politician."
"..."
"Come quietly. There are students in the museum right now."
The agent gestured toward the surveillance feed. On screen, Class 1 students wandered the exhibits with bright, happy faces.
"That politician, you see..."
"So this is a confession?"
"He was my friend. He'd mocked my dream ever since we were children. I simply wanted to show him how far I'd come."
"..."
"But even then, he laughed and told me it wasn't impressive at all. Said I should just close the place down."
Fossil smiled brightly, the same way a child might smile while pulling the wings and head off a captured insect.
It was a smile completely free of malice—so pure and transparent that it resembled clear water, its depths visible at a glance.
"So I killed him."
"You..."
"I was going to turn him into a beautiful fossil as a kindness."
"You're insane..."
"He should be grateful. Who knows? Future generations might display him as the perfect specimen of modern humanity."
Fossil summoned his creature. A colossal femur burst upward through the floor.
"Are you really planning to fight a government agent?"
At that exact moment, sirens began to wail. Someone was attempting to steal museum artifacts.
"Haha... what impeccable timing. Well then, the thieves can serve as food as well."
"I don't know what you're planning, but I'll stop—"
The floor beneath the agent suddenly split open. He began to plummet.
"Did you think it was ordinary concrete? My entire office is constructed from fossils."
The agent fell slowly through the gaping hole.
"Governments and politicians change constantly, yet their sloppy work never does. Sending a single agent to apprehend a criminal..."
Fossil stared at his femur and cackled madly.
"And with this many civilians inside? They didn't even issue an evacuation order. No wonder disasters keep breaking out whenever they get bored."
Fossil approached his summoned femur—Galosa. He pressed his lips to the deep groove carved into its center and shouted.
"Attack everything in sight!"
At his signal, the entire museum sealed itself behind walls of solid steel.
"Haha, this should be fun."
Fossil watched the surveillance feeds with the same delight as someone enjoying a hilarious variety show, savoring the unfolding pandemonium.
"Haha, did that person just explode?"
"Ugaaaaaaga!"
The revived primitive skeleton swung its club at Typhon, who activated a spell and phased straight through the attack.
"Uga...?"
While the primitive was still confused, Typhon snapped its wrist bones, snatched the fallen club, and smashed the creature's skull to pieces. He dispatched the others charging behind it just as efficiently.
"What the hell is going on?! Damn it, this can't be because I stole that hexagram drawing, right?!"
"I-I don't know either...!"
The sudden swarm of living primitives had been dealt with in moments, but one figure continued to nag at Typhon's senses—the samurai skeleton standing there with a drawn blade.
"Umm! What a splendid blade indeed! Where has this one's armor gone?"
The samurai glanced at the glass display beside him and sliced through it with his sword. The glass didn't shatter; it simply slid downward in one smooth sheet, maintaining its shape as it settled on the floor. Even a layman could tell it was masterful swordsmanship of the highest caliber.
"It reminds me of the old days. How well it has been preserved."
The samurai donned the battle armor from the exhibit—a helmet adorned with a crescent moon ornament and layered plates resembling a crustacean's shell.
"Unlike the primitives, it seems he has no intention of fighting us."
"Y-yes, it appears so. We should leave immediately."
"A fine idea."
Typhon and his companion tried to flee, but a man in a suit suddenly began descending slowly from above. From his appearance, he was clearly a government agent.
"Damn it, why is a government agent here?!"
"C-Captain... it looks like he was secretly waiting to capture our Abyss Cult!"
The government agent who had fallen from the sky smoothed his hair, trying to regain his composure. The descent had been at an absurdly unrealistic speed.
"Abyss Cult...? What are cultists doing here? Did Director Fossil hire you people to dispose of me?!"
"What nonsense are you spouting?! You're the one who came here to catch me!"
As their mutual misunderstandings piled up, a sharp tearing sound suddenly echoed from behind them.
"So this was the source of the command that has been ringing out!"
The samurai suddenly carved a small groove into his own skull with his blade, inserted a finger, and pulled out a tiny clump of bone.
"I see! I see! Everyone was following this order to attack! The one who revived me is a summoner who commands creatures! This is a medium linked to that summon's ability!"
While the samurai muttered these strange words to himself, the other three broke into a cold sweat and stared at him. An overwhelming bloodlust was pouring from the skeleton.
"I do not know who you are, but since you have saved this one's life, it is only proper for a samurai to repay that debt!"
The samurai drew his sword from its sheath. The trio stopped arguing and immediately went on guard.
"My name is Genshin! It is only natural to exchange names before a duel!"
"I'm... Typhon."
"Captain, you really didn't have to tell him..."
Genshin raised his blade.
"That name—I shall not forget it even after I have slain you!"
The instant Genshin swung his sword, Typhon activated his magic and triggered his 'phase through' ability. He had no choice—his companion standing right beside him had just been sliced clean in two by the incoming blade energy.
His brain had screamed, If you don't activate it right now, you'll die too, you idiot! Only then had the ability finally engaged.
The sword energy passed through his companion, continued through Typhon's body, and slammed into the government agent behind him, sending the man flying.
"Hoooooh! You use mysterious magic! 'Phase through,' is it? Most unfortunate—it does not pair well with my style..."
Before Typhon stood an invincible relic from the past, completely at ease.
"Hiiiiieeeeek...!"
Typhon's legs gave out and he collapsed to the floor. Genshin stroked his nonexistent beard (essentially just pawing at empty air) and approached. He sliced off one of his companion's ears from the corpse.
"I shall take this as a souvenir. You do not mind, yes?"
"..."
"Your silence means yes!"
With that, Genshin left the now solitary Typhon behind and moved on.
—Slice!
A skeletal horse that had been galloping nearby was suddenly cut in half. Only then did Typhon realize the truth.
In the brief time it had taken to exchange names, watch his companion get bisected, barely dodge with his ability, see the agent get blasted away by the slash, and witness Genshin take the ear as a trophy—the second hand on the clock had only ticked forward once.
The skeletal horse finally registered its own death and stopped moving.
"Ha... haha... hahahaha...!"
Typhon couldn't help but laugh.
The government agent kept flying after being struck by the slash. Though the blade energy had already dissipated, the force remained. He eventually slammed into the barrier surrounding the museum.
—BOOOOOOM!
After taking the explosive damage, the impact sent him ricocheting like a boomerang until he crashed into another wall.
"Guhhhhaaaaack...!"
As a government agent, he wasn't someone who took fatal wounds from ordinary attacks. The explosion from hitting the barrier hadn't bothered him at all. But the sword energy was a different matter entirely.
The more terrifying truth was...
That samurai bastard... he wasn't even serious with that slash...
If Genshin had attacked with full intent, the agent would already be dead.
Still, this is already a fatal wound... It's over.
Just then, a werewolf approached.
Ah. This is the end.
The agent closed his eyes, resigned to death, but—
"Mister, are you okay?"
"...?"
The werewolf was actually worried about his well-being.
"This guy looks like he's about to die."
"I can stop the bleeding with my Monster Plant."
"You can do that too, Adam?"
Behind the werewolf stood Adam and Lifter.