Author: Sasaki Ichiro	Original Source: Syosetu
Translator: Tanaka	English Source: Re:Library

Project GB is an official initiative by Re:Library.

As I drifted through the darkness, a glowing outline appeared ahead, an entrance that felt unmistakably like the exit.

Driven by instinct, I sprinted toward the light. As I crossed the threshold, a force struck me; not pain, not pleasure, but something so profound it reverberated through my very soul. It felt as if the fundamental makeup of my being had been torn apart. In a daze, I floated above myself, watching my body reassemble piece by piece. Once the process finished, I slipped back into my newly restored vessel.

Call it resurrection. Or perhaps an awakening.

My senses clearly grasped the concept of rebirth, what some might call spiritual initiation. I opened my eyes the moment the process ended. No one explained anything, yet I knew exactly what needed to be done. I immediately scanned my surroundings.

The space resembled an altar, much like the one at the summit of the Blue Divine Tower’s spiral staircase.

It had vaulted ceilings, rows of solemn pillars, and a polished stone floor that reflected everything around it. Yet it was more compact than the tower’s sanctuary. Tall windows lined all four walls, revealing what appeared to be a night sky, a boundless stretch of pitch-black void beyond the glass.

The chamber was bare. No ornate decorations, no banners, only the quiet presence of Life Jewels encircling the room. They rested in even intervals around the perimeter, watching in eerie silence.

Yet most of them were damaged—shattered, cracked, or faded into a lifeless cloudy white.

At the far end, a massive desk sat atop the altar. Its seamless surface suggested it had been carved from a single enormous tree. Behind it, seated in a chair, was the half-human, half-dragon master of this space, Devta.

He opened his reptilian eyes as I approached, exhaling a sigh laced with both quiet relief and deep resignation.

“So… you chose that path, then.”
“…What?”

I blinked, confused. The Azure God returned my gaze with a look that mixed disappointment and scorn.

“Look at yourself,” he said.

Still not grasping his point, I looked down at the polished floor that reflected like a mirror. Long black hair. Crimson eyes. A small, delicate face. My figure was wrapped in a black minidress trimmed with red roses. Even the ribbon on my underwear was the same color as before.

“Looks the same as always,” I muttered.

Thinking he was bluffing, I drew my sword and took a defensive stance.

But the Azure God didn’t move. He simply raised one finger and pointed. “That’s exactly it. The fact that you think nothing’s changed… proves that it has.”

“I didn’t come here for a philosophy lecture.”

He sighed. “Whatever. The result’s already set, so amuse me until it arrives. Maybe once you hear how everything fits together, you’ll let go of your ignorance… or not. No point beating a dead horse. I’m just bored. Take it as me killing time. But if you’d rather skip the talk, we can jump straight into a fight.”

Resting his chin on his hand, the Azure God asked with the same tone someone might use to decide between tea or coffee.

Interpreting my silence as permission to go on, or perhaps he truly was that bored, the Azure God continued speaking, his tone lazy and unhurried.

“This space we’re in now is a semi-spiritual realm, cut off from the material world. Everyone who’s reached here believed it to be the top of the Blue Divine Tower. But they were wrong. This place exists above that, in a hidden dimension that floats beyond even the highest floor.”

He paused and motioned to the window. “Take a look.”

I stepped forward and peered out. What I’d assumed was a night sky wasn’t sky at all. An abyss stretched endlessly in every direction. It was so dark, I imagined even light itself would vanish inside it. This place was just suspended in that void, floating in pure nothingness.

“Normally, I swap this space with the tower’s real top floor to hide its existence. Once it’s in this state, no matter how long someone climbs, they’ll never reach it. And even if they do, their senses will fail to grasp it. In the end, they’ll lose their sense of self and disappear entirely.”

“None of this makes any damn sense…”

“Alright, let’s start simple. You’ve heard of ‘Schrödinger’s Cat,’ haven’t you?”

“Uh, I think it’s that thing where they talk about sticking a half-dead cat in a box, and then you guess whether it’s alive or dead when you open it again, right?”

“…Let’s just move on.”

The Azure God dismissed my take and opted for a different example instead.

“Picture this. You have a regular computer. You download a heavy game from the internet, run it, and the whole system slows to a crawl or outright freezes. Clearly, the hardware can’t handle it. So you tweak the graphics settings, lower the resolution, and hope it runs smoother. That limit—that downgrade—is equivalent to the processing power of people living in the world below us. In contrast, we’re the exceptions. We have top-tier specs and can run everything on max settings. I call this Soul Variation or Karma’s Limit.”

“Soul, huh…”

Of course. Now we’re diving into occult nonsense. This was starting to smell like premium-grade b̲u̲l̲l̲s̲h̲i̲t̲.

“Believe it or not, that’s your choice. But the fact that you’re here proves you have the capacity to handle this realm. More than that, you’ve already rewritten your own ‘self.’ You’ve customized your character and become a full-fledged player of this game.”

“Mm… sure.”

I had no clue what he was trying to say. This was all going way over my head.

“Here, your ‘self’ is defined entirely by how you perceive it. In other words, you’ve already accepted that you’re no longer Kanade Ayase the boy, but Hiyuki the girl.”

All I could say was, “Huh?”

“Look, I’m way past caring about whether I’m male or female, human or vampire. I’m Hiyuki. That’s all there is to it. Trying to wrap that up in a neat little label and acting like that explains me? That’s what I call irritating.”

The Azure God looked like he’d swallowed a stick. But a second later, his shoulders trembled, and he broke into laughter.

His reaction annoyed me, but something about the way he laughed, so full of life, caught my attention. A strange nostalgia stirred inside me. For a moment, it felt like I was standing before the Devta I had first met.

To be honest, every time I had run into him before, whether in person or indirectly, he always felt off. His words, his actions, they were a pale imitation of the lively person I remembered. It was like watching someone wear a human mask and fake emotions. His joy, his anger, even his sorrow all felt hollow, like a bad actor playing a part. It left a bad taste in my mouth.

But this moment was different. I caught a glimpse of something real, something human that still lingered inside him. Sure, his personality was twisted, but maybe not everything about him was rotten.

“I had already dismissed you the moment you showed up looking like that… and yet, you always manage to surprise me.”

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