The Crucible of Souls (1)
The most perfectly born 001. In other words, the Casacos-type homunculus super-unit being a pure human was a matter of the body, not the soul. As such, the super-unit was no different from a perfect human in itself. The only difference from other humans was the absence of a soul. A body without an owner was, so to speak, like unclaimed land belonging to no one. It was a forge of personalities where any personality or soul could enter through any path and coexist. 'No, since only one can seize dominance and survive, it would be more accurate to call it a vast, unexplored frontier.'
If the land was vast and unexplored, anyone could cultivate the visible plots. Some would farm only as much as their abilities allowed, while others would compete based on the talents they were given. But if the most willful and ferocious soul appeared and declared, "This is my land, so everyone else get lost and become tenant farmers," then only that one soul would hold dominance, and the rest would live quietly in submission. That was the simple analogy.
Perhaps that was why I could devour the Steel Knights through Burga and use them in the mental world inside my head. '...Now that I think about it, it makes sense, doesn't it?' The Steel Knights were steel spirits and souls imbued with the power of weapons. In other words, they were beings that could be confined within my body, that vast unclaimed land. So if I devoured their existence and locked them inside me, I could whip them into working and exploit the crops grown in the fields. 'Was that it?'
[“─You're asking me that nowww.... If you already knew, you should have told me in advance─!!”]
'...Right. You don't know either.' Even asking Burga, it seemed she didn't understand this structure well. That was understandable. She wasn't a divine being. According to 001's setting, Burga could also be guessed to be some kind of soul that entered around the same time as me. I had thought it was a skill until now. But it wasn't. So it would actually be stranger if she knew the detailed mechanisms of my body. It would be easier to understand if I could see her information through the status window.... My status window was entirely commentary written by Burga herself. If she wrote her own settings, it would just be a diary. 'Anyway. I survived among these guys.'
In other words, I, who currently held dominance over my body, seemed to be the soul with the strongest will here. The reason was probably my desire to live. I suddenly looked at the lady who was eating her meal deliciously. 'How beautiful....' The sight of her chewing with her mouth moving subtly was beautiful. My longing to help her must have been greater than the will to exist of the other souls. Greater than Yagnus's stubbornness, which had endured being forged from the goddess's body and living through the long era when the Demon King existed.
[“...Hearing the story, it seems correct, my lord. May this Drakaris speak in your stead?”]
'Go ahead.' Then Drakaris, who had been quietly listening, appeared and explained everything that had happened after I devoured Yagnus in Karlandel. [“When Yagnus was sucked into my lord's hand and entered this mental world, the originally pitch-black mental world was engulfed in that guy's unique steel storm and fell into chaos.”]
[“Yeah. The master of steel. The goddess was screaming so much beside me that we almost died trying to block the steel storm in here.”] Then Rorschach suddenly appeared as usual and added an explanation. [“W-well, it couldn't be helped.... At that time, we were engulfed in that powerful sword's aura and thought we would completely disappear.”][“I agree with that.”]
Paying no heed, Drakaris continued his explanation. Though his form wasn't visible, he was probably stroking his chin with his single hand as usual. [“...Perhaps that was Yagnus's attempt to invade my lord's body.”] That was certainly true. After devouring Yagnus's arm, the strangely pleasant feeling and overflowing power must have been the process of my body becoming the new host for the 6th Sword. That must have affected even the mental world inside this body, causing chaos for them as well.
[“Anyway, when this world was completely dyed in the world of iron and it seemed there was no hope left.... My lord looked at the lady's face, just like now.”] '...That's right.' [“And at that moment, all the souls in my lord's head resonated.”] Drakaris cleared his throat and said, [“The powerful emotions my lord felt swept through all the Steel Knights inside your body.”] Emotions. What emotions? [“Anger, pity, regret, guilt, desperation, loyalty, sadness, longing, longing, longing, resistance, resistance, resistance─.”]
...Well, of course. What I thought of that situation was obvious. From the moment she offered to act as bait, I already knew she would face something sad, yet there was nothing I could do. And at the very end, when everything seemed resolved, that strange incident happened and made me furious. So I didn't want to hear any more of his explanation. Remembering those emotions only made my heart twist further. As if sensing my feelings, Drakaris spoke in a bitter voice. [“...Anyway, after that it was all resistance, so there's no need to say more. In any case, after my lord felt that way, the iron curtain that had suddenly spread withdrew, and darkness came. Then we heard someone's scream filled with rage.”]
'...Yagnus's, I suppose. He must have been extremely agitated that things weren't going his way.' [“Yes. But what could that guy do? In the end, this place regained stability. Now Yagnus is right beside us.”] The next voice was Azero's. She explained Yagnus's current state to me. [“This guy is now inside a coffin, like a neatly wrapped gift. But no matter what method we try, it won't open, Master....”] 'Don't bother opening it. It's fine even if it doesn't open.' And... I'm sorry about last time. I spoke harshly. [“...It's okay, Master! Thank you for saying that. At first I was confused, but that was because of the chaos during the fight with Yagnus's personality. It wasn't your fault.”]
In the end, the situation that occurred in my body wasn't much different from my speculation. To summarize.... My soul had gone through a power struggle with Yagnus, whom I had devoured, and now I had won that fight and was alive. There was no need to feel proud or anything about that fact. It was only natural. I had simply tried to live according to my own existence, as I always had. If I could be usurped by the will of some bastard who was only at the level of the 6th Sword.... I shouldn't have the right to stand by the lady's side in the first place. 'If it had come to that, it would have been better not to start anything from the beginning.' I, for one, had no intention of staying by her side with such a weak will. Anyway, even after waking up, there were many things even I, the person involved, didn't know, so I had been confused about what had happened. Even though Casacos's shocking confession revealed the secret of my birth, it became an opportunity to learn facts I hadn't known until now, so rather, my mind felt at ease.
Ah. How did I know all this about this body so well? 'This body.... In the original work, the Demon King stole it directly from Casacos's laboratory.' Just as the trap macguffin had said, in the latter half of Eternal Eclipse's story, this body was openly used as an important object. Simply put, 001 was the vessel the Demon King intended to transfer his soul into. Because he had a longing to live forever, when Eclipse used a loophole to avoid the immortality of the 6th Sword and killed that body, he transferred his soul into 001. But Eclipse, who couldn't let this happen, deliberately died as well and entered this body to fight for dominance. That was the highlight of the climax. I could still recite Eclipse's lines from that time word for word. So of course I remembered this setting. However, because of my existence, the Demon King would no longer be able to do that in the future. When that guy entered my body, there was no way I wouldn't be able to endure it, right? At least I had that confidence. No, I wouldn't even go near the Demon King in the first place, so I wouldn't give him any chance to take my body. I hated that kind of thing. 'So Eclipse's task of saving the world will become a little easier.'
But even if learning this fact was a gain.... Casacos demanding that I call her "Mother" so openly while pointing at me was something I couldn't easily accept. How could I call someone I had only met for a few months in my life "Mother"? Especially when she was such a young and beautiful woman? So for the time being, I would have to keep my distance. In the first place, what I considered important after learning this fact was something else.
"...By the way, how do you feel, my lady?" "Huh? About what?" "About the fact that I was someone's homunculus. Since it's a homunculus that's no different from perfect, there's no difference from a person. But if you think about it being an artificial human, you might feel repulsed...."
Hohoho─. At those words, Lady Karalin smiled particularly brightly. "Yohan. Are you worried that I might dislike you?" "To be honest, yes. That's right." Casacos seemed to be seeing our relationship with the lady for the first time up close and looked at us with wide eyes as if wondering what this was. But because of what the lady did next, that became an emotion I felt as well. The lady reached out her straight hand and willingly wiped the food residue around my mouth as she spoke. "Why worry about that? When I'm right here like this...."
Swish─. "Ah, my lady...?!" "If I can feel your existence beside me, what does it matter what you are? I thought you would understand that too...." The answer and action she gave me in return was enough to daze my mind. Ah. How embarrassing, why did I get something on my face─! "I-I'm not a child. I can wipe it myself. This is because my hands aren't fully healed yet, so I ended up getting it on me...." Then Casacos quickly cut in. "I-I'll do it too! Lady Grand Duchess. Sorry, but could you move aside?! This is what a mother does!" "Well. It's hard-earned time." "It's the same for me─!! Ugh, to have my time with my child taken away like this!" "...Ladies. That's enough now."
I was so embarrassed and flustered that I could only dash straight to the bathroom to escape this place. I wasn't someone who needed others to wipe my face. I could wipe it myself. *** When I woke up from my long, long recovery sleep, the other injured guys who had participated in the field training also began waking up one by one. And that included the guy who had played the biggest role in this incident. "I should go visit him. If I have a conscience." The guy had rampaged more than I expected and had done more for me than I had done for him.... There was no way I wouldn't express my gratitude. "But Yohan, is bread really a good get-well gift?" "He'll definitely like it, my lady." "Why...?" "I don't know either, but I have that feeling." "If you say it like that, I can't help it...."
So, carrying an armful of conch bread that looked like something the guy would like, along with several people who had been with us during the training, I headed toward that hospital room. Creak─. "Cryan, I'm here." But what I saw was truly an unbelievable scene. "Now then, former Crown Prince Cryan. If you don't tell us in detail what happened, we won't stay still either." "...What are you doing?" "Hey, I'm busy right now, so get out." Several burly men were threatening Cryan. So, reflexively crushing the conch bread in my hand, I said, "I asked what you're doing." Do you want to die?