༺ S2. Resentment Wished Upon The Stars – 8 ༻
The fanatics, clad in white cowls, circled the mansion and emitted indiscernible shrieks… All while embodying an innocent sparkle, akin to moths drawn to the dim light of a faded lamp.
Intoxicated with religious ecstasy, they drooled and laughed madly. The white flames consuming Abraham’s mansion heightened their faith and belief. The stars sang, blessing this sacred place.
In the midst of this revelry, Saintess Tara felt…
“……Uwegh.”
A revulsion so intense that she had to vomit.
From the shadows of those in white cowls, Tara saw the Priests of the Goddess Church. They followed blindly, willing to sacrifice everything to fulfill the will of the one they worshiped. Tara could not comprehend it, no matter how hard she tried.
How can you laugh like that? The flames are moving, clinging to you, burning you from the limbs up. Your ankles are twisted and swollen because you keep dancing carelessly, not caring for your own body. How can you continue to be in such ecstasy?
The flames seemed eager to erase everything one human had left behind. Memories ingrained in the house, his tender paternal love, and brief moments of happiness were all consumed by that snow-white faith, turning into mere entertainment for the fanatics.
The world around her began to blur, tears clouding her vision.If being an accessory to a god and throwing all other values into the trash was truly such a joyful existence. If one could abandon both family and friends for such mere things.
Then, what really needed to be abandoned was──.
“TARA-!!”
Someone grabbed Tara’s shoulder, calling out her name loudly. Tara, as if awakening from a dream, shuddered, her mind clearing from the numbing thoughts.
When she looked ahead with regained focus, she saw a man that had half his face covered by ash-gray hair. It somewhat seemed like the colors cast by the surrounding flames made his face appear pale and ghostly at a glance.
A person she had argued with so much over such a short span of time.
“……Bennett.”
“Snap out of it! Now is not the time! Niolle went into the mansion first. I’ll hold off these madmen, so go in and save Abraham!”
Bennett said this and then, drawing his longsword, charged forward. The fanatics, as if refusing to allow anyone to disrupt their festival, screamed and chanted spells, burning their own limbs with flames.
Crashhh-!
The sound of breaking, slashing, the ground being kicked, and space shaking. Despite the noise of battle clearly emanating from nearby, it felt as if it was coming from a distant place. Her head felt foggy. In a daze.
That’s right. Abraham.
Saintess Tara stumbled into the mansion. The only image in her mind at this moment was…
The house where her mom and dad lived. Her triumphantly returning home. While choosing in her mind what words to say for their reunion, she placed her fingers on the doorknob, turning her wrist to open the door… And stepped forward to express the worries and love she hadn’t been able to for a month.
Her calling out cautiously.
The door slowly opening, revealing the interior of the house from the right side. The shelf she had decorated with her family, her dad’s favorite round chair, the pillar that was marked every time she grew taller, the round table where they gathered for meals. And…
Pale fingers.
Haggard wrists, forearms, shoulders. Two bodies lying dead. Flies buzzing around. The stench of rot, an unidentified liquid spread on the floor, swollen feet, and…
On the left wall, looking down on all this, a wooden statue of the benevolent Goddess.
Having already lost loved ones once, she thought she couldn’t bear to lose such people again.
So, this time. Please.
“…….Abraham!”
There was only one thought she had while agonizing over this repeating regret. That she was not too late this time.
===============================================================
The pale flames seemed to burn through time and space. If the flames grazed her while wandering inside the mansion, instead of blistering burns, wrinkles appeared and age spots formed.
Saintess Tara wrapped herself in mana. With this coating around her, she could resist the snow-white flames. Entering the mansion, she looked around. There was no sign of Abraham at the dining table where they used to eat, nor at the comfortable chair by the fireplace.
Then, on the wall leading to the 2nd floor… She noticed an arrow drawn with a pen. It seemed Niolle had left directions. Saintess Tara followed the arrow, running upstairs.
The arrow led to a trapdoor; the entrance to the rooftop that could so clearly see the stars. Saintess Tara climbed the ladder that had already been pulled down from the trapdoor. Gripping the last rung, she pulled herself up.
The night sky could be seen.
Even as the mansion blazed, casting a snow-white light, the stars in the night sky shone ever so brightly and clearly. Saintess Tara felt a gaze. As if each star was someone’s eye. It felt like some grand, holy being was observing her.
When she looked back down to the surface, she saw Niolle standing still. She was in front of the table where Abraham kept his observational data.
“Niolle, where is Abraham?!”
“⋯⋯⋯⋯.”
No answer came back. Perhaps the silence itself was the answer. Tara shook her head. She refused to accept the silence. No. It can’t be. And then, she carefully walked forward. She intended to grab Niolle and ask.
Niolle, with her keen eyesight, should have found some trace of Abraham if he hadn’t been found. So, if she said…… It seems Abraham has escaped. He is definitely still alive. If she just said that. If only she said that.
But before Tara’s outstretched hand could reach Niolle, she collapsed. As if a heavy burden was placed on her shoulders.
Then, what was covered by her silhouette was revealed.
“⋯⋯⋯⋯.”
On the table was Abraham’s decapitated head, offered up as a burnt sacrifice.
===============================================================
The fanatics appeared frail and they did not seem to have any particular defensive measures. Their reaction speed and movements were at the level of an ordinary person who could not use mana, thus making it easy enough to kill them with a bit of physical force.
However, their lethality was chillingly high.
“KKEUAAAAAAAH!”
Crackkkk. Snap.
A fanatic finished chanting and twisted like a wrung-out towel, dying in the shape of a spiral. At the cost of their lives, the power of a grand being that roamed the universe was unleashed. A bullet that warped space itself.
Their magic seemed to be a mixture of two distinctive characteristics, Black Magic and Divine Power. One that had to sacrifice something to cast it and borrowed power from the beyond.
“『Instant Glaciation』.”
Shaaaah-!
Bennett created ice under his shoes, sliding away to dodge the magic. Simply dodging was enough to reduce the number of fanatics. It was sufficient to adopt a defensive stance without overexerting.
As a Magic Knight using both magic and swordsmanship, he was able to display his excellence in this defensive battle, dealing with a variety of variables with magic and covering for his lethality with swordsmanship.
“『Rock Generation』.”
Thus, Bennett had broadly learned a variety of magics rather than focusing on a single school. Magic was, after all, meant to compensate for the lacking parts in utility.
Whoosh-!
Thwack!
A pointed rock thrown by Bennett crushed a fanatic’s skull. After delivering the blow, Bennett broke through a wall and hid in a room of the mansion. A cascade of magic poured on top of the vanished Bennett’s afterimage.
Rooooooooar-!
Along with the sound of space trembling, the mansion’s outer wall twisted and disappeared. Bennett, who had been hiding, emerged and threw two rocks beyond the breached wall.
Th-Thwack.
With nearly simultaneous sounds of impact, two more bodies were added. The bodies, tumbling and falling, were consumed by the snow-white flames, decaying without even leaving a burnt smell.
This could go on for at least an hour, but…….
The mansion creaked as it burned, broke, and crumbled. Relying on it for cover might lead to it collapsing before Abraham could be rescued.
Fighting in an open field without cover was too dangerous. While the spells of the Saintess could block them and Bennett could also defend with Sword Membrane… The expenditure of mana was significant. With no knowing how many more enemies might appear, it was best to conserve as much as he could.
Bennett had a solution to all these problems.
Black Magic.
It was another reason why he didn’t focus on a single school of magic. After all, magic that used souls as materials could be amplified enormously in power, even if only haphazardly learned.
Should he use it? But…
If Saintess Tara noticed the remnants of Black Magic, it would be troublesome. After all, she would never be able to tolerate a Black Magician, meaning Bennett would have to kill both Tara and Niolle.
As he mulled this over, the fanatics began to retreat, looking up at the night sky as if waiting for something. Now of all times? Bennett felt an intense unease.
He looked up at the sky. The night sky was… bulging.
What seemed like a flat night sky now appeared to have curves. Like a swelling balloon about to burst, ready to pour something onto the earth.
Bennett ran out of the mansion. Regardless of whatever was about to happen, they needed to escape this place quickly. He, too, followed the arrows Niolle had left towards the rooftop.
And there, he encountered Abraham’s severed head.
===============================================================
Tara, seemingly in severe shock, laid slumped, vomiting tears and bile. Niolle stood still with a vacant gaze, staggering as if caught in a nightmare. And Abraham had been decapitated.
The mansion was still burning and every time the flames flickered in the wind, dozens of shadows emerged, swaying before vanishing. It was like a scene straight from hell.
“……What…in the world…is this…”
Bennett collected himself and surveyed the surroundings.
Abraham’s head was butchered like that of a pig or cow. His tongue was cut out, his eye sockets hollow and dark, and his lips sewn into a grotesque smile. A brand of a living sacrifice was scarred on his forehead.
A burnt offering.
Someone had offered up even Abraham’s soul. Bennett understood what it meant to offer a soul, as well as the agony of having it torn away. Abraham must have died in horrific pain. It was possible that, even now, he was still screaming in anguish.
There was also writing in blood found there.
‘As we have been given a flawed female goat, we are naturally grateful, thus offering this to you.’
It was nonsensical ramblings, the ravings of a madman.
A surging flame ignited within Bennett. However, he was not overwhelmed by rage. There was still work to be done. They needed to escape the danger and leave this place.
“Tara, Niolle! Snap out of it!”
“……This time as well…I was…once again…too la…….”
“⋯⋯⋯⋯!!”
Slap-!
Bennett slapped Tara across the face. Her head jerked to the side, and for a moment, her vacant eyes regained focus.
“We need to get out of here. The night sky is strange. Something is coming. If we stay here, we will die a dog’s death! Hurry and get moving!”
As Niolle was showing no reaction, Bennett slung her over his shoulder and grabbed Tara by the wrist, leading her away. Had there been time, he would have liked to give Abraham’s severed head a proper send-off, but protecting the other two people was his priority.
As such, Bennett ran frantically. The ominous presence felt above the mansion grew stronger over time. He ran like someone fleeing the radius of a ticking time bomb until…
He reached the place where he first met Abraham.
A waste collection site. The boundary between the slums and the outside. The clothing bin flaunted its green color, as if to welcome their reunion, and a broken streetlamp flickered weakly.
After setting Niolle down and letting go of Tara’s wrist, Bennett sat down. And then, he looked back at Abraham’s mansion.
Some… thing…
Some thing formed from the night sky and stars, an indescribable entity whose form was so irregular, so indeterminate, that it was impossible to predict whether it could even be cut. After blinking its eyes formed from constellations and flicking its tongue that was as dark as the universe itself…
It opened its mouth wide and swallowed the mansion whole. And then, as if in reward, it spat out something dark and formless onto the earth. From a distance, it was hard to see clearly.
But there was no mistaking from their silhouettes that they were monsters.
Monsters had been unleashed upon the city.
Niolle, standing in a daze, bit the tip of her index finger until it bled. Then, scraping her finger against the rough asphalt, she wrote.
[If I hadn’t tried to save that person, would Abraham have lived?]
“…….No, he would have died. Stop having pointless thoughts. The bastards from the Order of the Silver Twilight would have attacked whether we were there or not. And I…would have abandoned Abraham. Whether you two opposed it or not, I would have abandoned him.”
[Thank you for saying that. Bennett.]
“…….Stop…it. Don’t write anymore. After all, it’s a waste to even cast a healing spell on your finger. We need to conserve our mana. We have to head to a safe place…….”
The temporary base mentioned in the report. 201 Carter Street, East Shopping Mall, 2nd Floor.
Given that it stored items collected during reconnaissance, it was the best alternative now that they had lost their home. They had to move. Bennett was about to urge Tara and Niolle to hurry when──.
“We will depart to the secret safe house mentioned by the investigator……. In 10 minutes.”
Bennett gave them a reprieve. After all, it seemed they needed time to mend their broken hearts, mourn, and gather the strength to stand again.
As the stars and moon held hands, looking down upon the earth with a sneer, the only solace was the flickering light of a streetlamp.
***
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