Vacation (1)
The Great Monster Ascelon.
A beast that crossed over from the Otherworld.
A colossus whose every step made heaven and earth tremble.
Long ago, Corachia was hailed as the apex of all monsters, until it fell before the Guardian and was cast down to the earth — and from its broken body, three fragments were sundered: flesh, mind, and mana.
Ascelon embodied the flesh of that mighty beast once called the King of the Otherworld.
A calamity that groaned under an insatiable hunger and devoured everything in its path. Wherever it passed, nothing remained but scorched wasteland — not a single blade of grass survived.
Since the day of its birth, it had never once stopped advancing.
"Kuuuuuugh!"
And yet now it sat slumped on the ground, letting out a mournful wail. Its dislocated leg buckled under its own tremendous weight, and the creature swayed, unable to hold its balance.
"Uwooooooh!"
Heaven and earth shook at the monster's voice, keening like a child throwing a tantrum. Sound took on mass, swept across the ground, and blasted the area flat as if a bomb had gone off. The monsters nearby were hurled through the air by the shockwave, and the land around it was gouged out like the pupil of an eye.
"My head hurts."
A man with short, unruly russet hair, who had been watching the whole spectacle from nearby, scratched the top of his head like he was scrubbing a pot.
"In this state, I doubt he can even move anymore. Are we supposed to feed him ourselves now?"
He stroked Ascelon's wounds with the tender care of someone nursing an injured pet — though his face was crumpled into the sour expression of an errand boy sick to death of chores.
"What is it, Delus?"
A man with long silver hair, shimmering with a faint light like moonlight, approached where he stood. Delus gave him a casual wave in greeting.
"Yo, Hecate. Welcome back. How'd the job go?"
"It failed. I could not retrieve the Shadow Veil."
"And yet you've got the nerve to show your face here."
"This is a city built for the Celestial Clan. As a mere fellow citizen, I was under the impression you had no grounds to complain about my return."
"Just kidding, kidding. Don't take everything so seriously — you're making my joke look bad, man."
At Hecate's icy expression and reply, Delus pulled up one corner of his mouth, his voice taking on that whiny, mocking drawl. The look on his face was unmistakably meant to needle — and Hecate did not hold back.
Crack!
From the ground beneath Hecate's heel, a chill spread outward — a cold so bitter that even the air itself froze. A wind blew as if a blizzard had whipped up out of nowhere, and frost crystallized on Delus's eyebrows and hair.
"Kuooooh!"
"Our Lord of the Moon seems to be in quite a temper — I wouldn't know how to placate him. Right here, on top of Ascelon."
"And what would you have me do?"
"Something bad happens if you don't stop. Rein it in, unless you want to be a burden to Proto."
Proto. At that name, Hecate withdrew the mana he had been spewing out along with his murderous killing intent. The cold melted away as if nothing had ever happened, vanishing without a trace.
Delus chuckled at the sight.
"You won't listen to a damn word I say, but the second Proto's name comes up, your tail goes right between your legs."
"He is the leader who guides our Celestial Clan. It is only right to refrain from provoking his nerves."
"So it's fear, then?"
"Think whatever you like. ...Why is the monster's leg in that state?"
Hecate's gaze slid from Delus down to Ascelon's leg. It was bad at a glance — a limb that should have held straight was crooked and angular, dislocated at an ugly angle.
Delus lightly patted the monster's leg with his palm as he spoke.
"The Star paid us a visit. Even though she claims to follow us, she's still a monster at heart — she came at us with her eyes blazing."
"The Star's Fragment... so she is still active?"
"One of the only beings alive who could reduce a Great Monster to this sorry state. She's less a member of the Celestial Clan than a weapon, pure and simple — should I call her one of a kind?"
Delus spread his palm against Ascelon's leg. Crimson mana spread evenly outward, wrapping around the monster's limb before hardening into a shell of dense earth. Like a cast setting a broken bone, it braced the leg so the monster could put it to use again.
"Phew, exhausting. That should hold for now, right?"
"Where is Vital? Isn't this his area of expertise?"
"Vital's dead."
"...What?"
"Just got here, I said, didn't I? A lot's happened while you were gone."
Hecate's bewilderment was plain on his face. Leaving him behind, Delus pointed at the city rising atop Ascelon's back.
"As it happens, I was just heading that way myself. Come along — let's hear it from him."
At those words, Hecate turned his head. Delus, too, was already moving toward the city when—
"There is no need to come all this way."
A voice echoed inside their heads. Before either of them could react, they had already been moved to another space.
"If you're standing on Ascelon, you're within my domain. Something as simple as shifting your position is trivial."
"Oh my, looks like our leader's been counting the days until Hecate got back. Who knew he'd extend such hospitality?"
"I have returned."
Hecate bowed his head in formal courtesy. The man seated before them, legs crossed, rested his chin on his laced fingers without a word.
The master of the city. The one who led the Celestial Clan. The man once said to stand near Godhood itself.
Proto Void.
He closed his eyes slowly and leaned back into his chair.
"I trust Delus has briefed you?"
"That claim — that Vital is dead. Is it truly the truth?"
"I'm afraid so. By all appearances, the Divine Artifact has fallen into their hands as well."
"Palad... that graceless traitor of a woman!"
Hecate ground his teeth, veins bulging on his forehead. Then he remembered himself — he stood before the head of the clan he served — and smoothed his expression before continuing.
"The mission you entrusted to me has ended in failure. I succeeded in pinpointing the location, but even with every means at my disposal, I could not set foot in that place."
"No doubt Kairos had a hand in it. The Shadow Veil — the Divine Artifact of Night — belonged to his dearest friend. He would never let it be stolen from him."
"This is a mess. Our side has lost Vital and one artifact along with him, while theirs holds five or more by even the most conservative count."
"By sheer numbers, we're at a disadvantage, yes."
Only by gathering all the Divine Artifacts could they perform the ritual — only then could they ascend to the throne of the God King they so coveted. That was why they had used Vital, the only one among them who could move without restriction, to target the easiest prey: Eva, the Archmage's daughter. And it had all come to nothing. Worse, they had even lost artifacts that originally belonged to the clan. It was, by any measure, the worst possible situation.
"But do not be afraid. The artifacts mean nothing unless they are gathered in one place. All that matters is that we are the ones standing victorious at the end."
"Quite confident of yourself."
"Confidence with grounds to back it. We may have fewer artifacts than they do — but unlike those greenhorns, we are veterans."
In a duel between artifact bearers, victory hinged on the wielder's mastery. Since the age of creation, they had received their weapons directly from the God King's own hand, carried them as tenderly as parts of their own bodies, and learned to wield them with intimate familiarity. For those capable of drawing their abilities to the very limit, no true rivals existed.
"And should the worst come to pass, we have a Great Monster tamed and ready — something that can stand against the artifacts. The original plan failed, so let's sit back and watch how things unfold."
"And how long do you intend to hide?"
"Until the day the sky runs red."
"Ah."
Those listening to Proto understood at once. The day the blood-red moon rose — the season when the boundary between the Otherworld and the present world grew thin. He had already announced to his comrades that the invasion would begin on that day.
After the anti-terror incident in the Max Republic, time had flown by like an arrow.
The day Eva locked herself away at home was the last time anything remotely earth-shaking happened. The final battle with Vital that closed out freshman year had come and gone, and the Celestial Clan showed no reaction worth mentioning — peace had settled in.
I attended classes through video lectures as always, and my skill assessments had reached the point where anything less than a perfect score would have been strange. Even the finals were held quietly on Dilmun, thanks to the incident back in the Max Republic. And so the first semester ended — vacation was just around the corner.
"So, what's everyone doing over the break?"
Having finished our finals, the group was gathered at the café again today. I took a sip of my drink and asked them about their plans.
"Going home to see my family, obviously."
"I-I'm going to head back home too."
Eva and Chloe, it seemed, were both returning to their hometowns, just like in the original story.
Arlan, I had no idea about. She'd left without telling anyone where she was going, and at this point in the novel she hadn't even appeared on-screen yet, so her whereabouts were a complete mystery.
Terja was still busy as ever, networking with the other nobles to torment Yupi. And Yupi, unlike the students, had no days off for the break — she was run ragged dashing all over for her instructor duties.
"What about you, Solis?"
"Me? I've got nowhere to go back to, so I'll probably just hole up here the whole time."
"Then I'll stay here too."
Marin had zero intention of leaving my side. Watching her lean against my shoulder, depending on me like that, was making me hard.
Well, no helping it.
Decision made: pure, nonstop sex throughout the entire break. Yupi and Marin — I'd take turns railing them like always.
I was just filling my head with those thoughts when—
Ring-a-ding!
"Oh — sorry, one moment!"
A message had arrived out of nowhere. Eva fiddled with her phone, then answered it in an extremely deferential posture. Just as I was wondering why anyone would take a text message with that kind of attitude, her gaze snapped straight to me. And then came the question.
"Um — Mister? Would you, by any chance, have some free time over the break?"
"Free time is about the only thing I've got. Why?"
"Th-then... would you perhaps like to come visit our house?"
"Huh?"
"Whaaat?!"
Chloe and I both went wide-eyed at her words. Before either of us could fire back — what on earth are you talking about? — she hurried to explain.
"Um, well... my mother said she absolutely had to see you."
Petra Amethyst. The current head of House Amethyst had, through her own daughter, extended an invitation to me.