Prologue (1/2)

Prologue

Kaminagi Nagare was an expert at Aiki-Jujutsu.

When he was just a babe, barely able to think for himself, he had already defeated his great-grandfather who was the founder[1] of the G.o.d-Slaying Aiki-Jujutsu School[2] by throwing him with a single finger. By the time he was in elementary school he had already fought against every genius martial artist throughout the entire world and obtained victory against them all.

He was born for the very purpose of practicing Aikido[3]. Even though his body was now approaching the old age of 85, it showed no signs of frailty or physical decline.

The only things that were affected by the pa.s.sage of time were the white hairs on his head and the faint wrinkles that sometimes showed on his face.

Of course, his mind remained clear. Just like his body which still kept it’s physical strength, his mind was still br.i.m.m.i.n.g with vitality even in his advanced age.

However―― Nagare had progressed this far by using the art of Aiki which takes in everything, molds it, and then releases it to defeat one’s foes. And yet, there was one thing in the back of his mind that still troubled him.

「Empty――」

He was not thinking about it during his daily routine of practicing k.u.mite[4] by sparing with 10,000 people, but once he had settled down he muttered that word.

Right now he was in the middle of repeating 10 million different Kata[5], but somewhere deep in his heart he could feel a small hole growing wider.

It has been over 80 years since he started practicing Aiki-Jujutsu. From his own point of view, he had yet to reach the pinnacle of strength, but he had begun to have thoughts that his current path might not be able to reach that peak.

Once you decide on your own limits, that is the moment when your path can no longer proceed onward.

However, despite saying that―― Nagare had already become too strong.

He had already fought against endless numbers of martial art masters. Not being satisfied with humans, he even fought against bears and abominable snowmen (Of course, the existence of snowmen is being kept as a national secret though).

He has also saved the Earth from disaster a countless number of times. One time, when he single-handedly invaded a terrorist headquarters to save a very important person, he faced up against tanks and combat helicopters and destroyed him by using his Aikido.

Amongst the times he had saved the Earth from peril, he had once used his Aikido to change the trajectory of an incoming meteorite, had once stopped Mt. Fuji from erupting, and had once sent a mistakenly fired nuclear missile soaring into s.p.a.ce by throwing it.

For that reason―― Yes, for that reason, for that very reason, he felt Empty.

He never once did he think that his path was set in stone.

But at this point, even if the current Nagare decided to s.h.i.+ft his path, the World was now too small for him.