Chapter 1313: The Me Beyond This World
Atop the sword peak, countless icicles stood inverted in all directions.
The howling gales threatened to blow away any ordinary person, sending them tumbling into the bottomless abyss.
Standing at this mountain summit, Eiji felt no chill from the wind despite wearing only thin clothing.
In his hand, he held a blade.
An exceptionally beautiful blade—his Bling Blade.
Though, strictly speaking, this blade had never truly possessed a name. It earned the title "Bling Blade" from Nangou Torajirou solely because of the "bling" sound effect it produced during swings.
But then again,
this blade hadn't produced that bling sound in a very long time. Roughly around the time he awakened his dimension-hopping ability, the sound effects had ceased entirely.
Eiji had come here today because he sensed an inexplicable summoning—one without origin or warning,
yet persistent enough to linger for an extended period.
"Is this blade about to act up again?"
Eiji remained calm.
After all, this object was born from his very soul—it couldn't possibly harm him. Moreover, it had exhibited peculiarities before: the first time granted him dimension-hopping, the second time unlocked his replication ability.
This would be the third occurrence. He wondered what new trick it might unveil.
"Bling~!"
Suddenly, light flashed across the blade.
Eiji started in surprise.
It was the long-lost sound effect!
But he hadn't even swung the blade—where did the sound come from?
"Bling-bling~!"
The blade's glow intensified abruptly, flashing violently as if heralding something.
Gazing at the Bling Blade, Eiji suddenly understood its meaning with transcendent clarity.
"It wants me to surpass light speed? To reach new realms by exceeding light's velocity?"
What could this mean?
Eiji fell into deep contemplation.
Truth be told, surpassing light speed was now effortless for him.
With infinite magical energy and various survival abilities like materialized soul, even plasmaization couldn't prevent his instantaneous revival.
"Since there's no real danger, I might as well try it!"
Eiji solidified his resolve.
Frankly, he'd always been curious about the world beyond light speed.
Would he directly enter a dark universe? Would time stand still? Would mass become infinite?
"Setting surpassing target: light!"
Eiji configured Absolute GodSpeed in his mind.
Then he leaped upward.
With a soft "whoosh," his figure vanished from the spot.
It appeared like mere spatial teleportation—without even the slightest disturbance.
But from another perspective,
in Eiji's vision,
the Earth disappeared beneath his feet the instant he jumped.
Startled, he feared he'd shattered the planet. But in his accelerated perception, glancing backward revealed Earth perfectly intact—he had simply left it behind.
Among the cosmic stars, countless celestial bodies rushed toward him only to be left far behind.
Red giants, meteor clusters, white dwarfs... various cosmic wonders flashed past his vision, yet he paid them no mind.
"Let's see what lies beyond light speed!"
With the support of infinite magical power, Eiji used the Holy Annihilation to transform his body into an imaginary number, surpassing the speed of light!
In an instant, it was as if he had escaped some kind of gravitational pull and entered a completely new world.
"Is this... a new realm?"
At some point, his light-speed travel came to a halt.
Eiji stood in a vast, pitch-black void.
Behind him was an unimaginably massive celestial body. From an ordinary person's perspective, it would likely appear as nothing but darkness, with only its outer halo faintly visible.
"Isn't this a black hole?"
Eiji hissed in surprise.
What did this mean?
Had he just leaped out of this black hole?
Was the world of A Chivalry of the Failed Knight inside this black hole?
"Could those black holes be other worlds?"
Eiji surveyed his surroundings.
Above, below, ahead, behind, to his left and right—he saw countless black holes of varying sizes.
Among them, black holes larger than the one for A Chivalry of the Failed Knight were everywhere!
"Is the essence of the world a black hole?"
Eiji fell into a whirlwind of thoughts.
He seemed to recall hearing such a theory.
Was the entire universe essentially an ever-expanding supermassive black hole, with each black hole containing a different universe?
"Of course not. Black holes are merely their appearance."
A very familiar voice abruptly echoed in the space.
Someone like him had also transcended into this realm.
"Ah, the final fragment has finally arrived!"
Under such circumstances, Eiji should have remained vigilant.
But when he saw that person, he was left speechless.
"You are... me?"
"Isn't it obvious?"
The young man spread his hands, his demeanor exactly like Eiji's own.
He wore a uniform-like outfit in black, white, and red, with a plastic gun and several USB drives attached to his waist.
The attire looked somewhat familiar?
"Let's shake hands first. Once we do, you'll understand everything!"
A friendly smile spread across his face as he extended his hand to Eiji.
After a moment's hesitation, and with his instincts not raising any alarms, Eiji chose to trust this version of himself.
Their hands clasped together.
A flood of memories surged directly into Eiji's mind.
In those memories...
The other Eiji cracked open the plastic gun, inserted a USB drive, and raised it high.
"Ultraman Trigger!"
A giant of light, bearing a striking resemblance to Ultraman Tiga, stood towering over the land.
Then he charged forward, pinning a monster that looked somewhat like Golza and somewhat like Melba to the ground, pummeling it violently.
"Smile! Smile for me now! If you don't smile, I'll tear you apart and use you to pave the roads!"
What a terrifying giant of light!
Nearby, an ancient female warrior in leather clothing shouted excitedly, as if urging him on, "As expected of my Trigger!" or something similar.
The memories weren't limited to the Ultraman world. They also interspersed with scenes from Kamen Rider, Super Sentai, Magical Girls, Pretty Cure... Huh? Some strange things seemed to have slipped in?
After witnessing these memories, Eiji understood.
This Eiji originated from the Ultraman world, obsessed with making people smile—as evident from his words and actions. What a rare, kind-hearted soul through the ages!
"Failed Knight? I see, so there are many causality and conceptual abilities. Though not large in scale, they're quite extraordinary in another sense!"
Ultraman Eiji seemed to have also obtained Failed Knight Eiji's memories and was full of praise for his track record.
Especially the fact that he had built a huge harem, which made him quite envious.
He couldn't do the same.
Having crossed over for over a decade, as soon as he could get out of bed, he was pestered by the Ancient Garish Candy, who kept chasing him around, leaving him no time to build a harem.
Just thinking about it brought tears to his eyes!
"It seems only the two of us are the original clones?"
Failed Knight Eiji pondered thoughtfully.
Only the original clones would end up with the disastrous starting point of having a constitution of 1.
"Not just two."
Ultraman Eiji shrugged.
"Including you, there are actually four original clones in total. I've already notified the other two."