What is Zeno's Paradox?
It refers to a situation where one can get closer and closer, yet never truly reach the destination.
Actually, there was a more complex explanation involving Achil... Achilles' heel and a rabbit, or maybe it was Achilles and a tortoise. I don't really remember.
Essentially, it's best to think of it as something similar to Satoru Gojo's 'Limitless' technique.
Why do I remember Gojo's technique but forget the difficult philosophical explanation?
Well... paradoxes are hard and boring, but manga is fun. Remembering it is only natural.
'But seriously, how long does this bastard plan on chasing me?'
The blue pillar of light, which had been drawing closer ever since I started running, was now near enough that I could see a human silhouette at its center whenever I glanced back.
Someone was definitely in there, but I couldn't make out their face due to the blinding backlighting.
If I could just see their face, I might be able to act like I knew them, but they just kept getting closer without revealing their identity. It left me with no options.
No, seriously, why the hell are they chasing me?
"Stop already, god dammit!!"
Thinking I was finally within earshot, I screamed out. But they didn't seem to have any intention of stopping—almost as if they were dead set on killing me—
"...."
They stopped.
They stopped so easily it made all my previous efforts to escape feel utterly futile.
Since the other party had stopped, I supposed I should too.
I planted my feet to kill my momentum.
However, unlike the owner of the pillar of light, who came to a dead halt in mid-air like a paused video, I was just a regular person subject to the laws of physics.
The moment I jammed one foot into the ground as a brake, the law of inertia took over. Instead of stopping, my body lurched forward. I face-planted directly into the dirt and proceeded to roll across the ground in a pathetically undignified display.
"Ugh, f-fuck... my nose..."
I felt like my nose had definitely burst...
Prodding my stinging nose with my hand, I felt a strange moisture on the back of my palm.
I flinched as I checked my hand, but fortunately, it wasn't a nosebleed.
...I wiped the moisture off on my clothes and pulled myself up from the ground.
Since I had just performed several dozen forward somersaults per second, my vision was spinning, but I managed to stand. Honestly, my stomach was churning so badly I wanted to drop to the floor and throw up, but I gritted my teeth and stood tall.
"Ugh, I can't..."
The dizziness was too much. I sat back down and clutched my throbbing forehead.
I mean, there's such a thing as 'reasonably' dizzy, but this...
As I sat there massaging the bridge of my nose, I heard the sound of footsteps. *Thud. Thud.* The sound of someone treading on damp soil.
When the dizziness finally subsided enough for me to open my eyes, I found myself locked in a stare with a man possessing bizarre eyes.
It was strange.
The surroundings were pitch black, yet the man's appearance was unnervingly clear.
His pupils were split into four, looking as though a cross had been etched into each eye.
For a moment, I could only blink, wondering what kind of freak he was.
Then, my brow furrowed as I looked at a face that seemed incredibly familiar.
I'm not exaggerating—I had definitely seen this face somewhere before.
It wasn't that I'd seen it so often that it was familiar, but rather that it was so unique I could never forget it.
'...Ah.'
I remembered.
"The Soul King."
Yes. I remembered now.
It's the Soul King.
The man standing before me was none other than that Soul King.
The guy who left a massive mess for everyone else to clean up, got himself sealed, had his limbs hacked off, and then spent the rest of eternity using his special ability, 'Standing Perfectly Still,' until he finally died a hollow death.
So, this is what the Soul King felt like when he was alive.
I continued to blink at his appearance; aside from his eyes, which were strange enough to warrant the word 'grotesque,' he looked surprisingly refined. The Soul King, who had been standing silently, finally spoke.
"What are you looking at?"
"Huh?"
"I am asking 'what' you are seeing in me."
Perhaps he caught me daydreaming; he repeated the question with a stoic expression.
How was I supposed to answer that? I couldn't exactly be honest and say, 'I was thinking about the future where you do nothing and then die.'
Who would just sit there and take it after being told they were going to die?
Some people might just shrug it off and think I'm crazy, but others would be furious and ask what kind of bullshit I was spewing.
In this situation, where I didn't know how the man in front of me would react...
'Better to keep it vague than to be honest.'
After a moment's thought, I spoke.
"I am looking at you."
"You look at 'Me,' yet you do not see 'Me.'"
With those words, the Soul King slowly closed and opened his eyes.
After staring at me for an uncomfortably long time—honestly, it was bordering on burdensome—the Soul King made a sudden declaration.
"I see nothing."
"See what...?"
"You are the first one in whom my eyes see absolutely nothing."
I scratched my head at his remark.
"Well, it's so dark out here, it's only natural you can't see anything."
I knew that wasn't what he meant, but the words slipped out anyway.
The Soul King looked down at me silently for a moment, then slowly looked up at the sky, his eyes blinking rhythmically.
"Is that so?"
Responding in a calm voice, the Soul King raised his left hand.
Then, the world flipped on its head, and it was suddenly morning.
"Whoa, what the fuck? Seriously?"
A hollow laugh escaped me. Even though the source of that power was right in front of my face, I couldn't help but swear.
I glanced at the Soul King, startled by my own outburst, but fortunately, he didn't seem to care.
Or maybe he just didn't know those were curse words.
The Soul King, who had been looking up at the sky in silence, turned his head back toward me.
"I still see nothing."
Is his eyesight defective?
'Well, those eyes do look like they're just for show.'
I swallowed the words that nearly escaped my mouth.