37. Black Coffin
"Unlike ordinary incantations composed of geometric shapes, there exists something called Divine Words."
Western magic draws the pentagram, while Eastern shamanism traces the forms of Taoism and Buddhism. Yet there are spells that transcend such forms, wielding power through words alone.
"It's a very special shamanic art that ordinary shamans wouldn't even dream of attempting. A spell usable only by the chosen few. Even Shiki couldn't learn this one."
As Sawamura Cento revealed genuine interest, Shihei Rin smiled and continued.
"I'll teach you how to summon hell itself."
Cento now manifested the spell she had learned back then.
Hell consisted of ten varieties in total, but her skills were still too meager to summon more than one. Even that required piling on restriction after restriction.
Still, she pulled it off.
─Shadow, the spell of Hell.
Black Darkness Hell.
⟨ Domain of the Fivefold Wheel-Turning Great King ⟩
A realm presided over by the Fivefold Wheel-Turning Great King of Hell, where shadow and night sky blurred into one—an endless world of pure darkness.
─Grrrrowl.
The Oni, bereft of sight, snarled viciously. It would charge and tear apart anything it sensed.
Anticipating as much, she had erased all scents, sounds, and traces of mana upon manifesting hell. To be precise, the erasure of mana stemmed from the authority of Black Darkness Hell itself, while scents and sounds were nullified using stealth spells like Eris Betelgeuse's Silent.
"Ah, can you hear me?"
As fellow users of spells—albeit different kinds—Eris had detected the hellish aura and cast a binding spell to link them.
The wolf Oni couldn't sense a thing about them, but they could communicate among themselves.
Cento felt a fresh wave of gratitude toward her. In her haste, she hadn't explained properly, and it could have spelled disaster.
"I hear you."
Replying thus, Cento spoke to Kenichi via mana, sensing his body tense like a coiled spring.
"Kenichi, be careful not to slash anything by mistake."
"......Got it."
From their previous spar, she knew he possessed the talent to sever spells with his blade. Though Black Darkness Hell operated on a different principle, fewer variables were always better.
Letting out a series of sighs, Cento fought to regain her composure and addressed Eris again.
"Prepare your magic."
"......Hmm, I can't see the enemy—or even us—for that matter?"
Cento gave a wry smile at that. Not only the Oni; they were equally blind in Black Darkness Hell. Even she, the caster, saw only pitch black before her eyes.
Had a true master of Divine Words invoked it, they could have dominated the domain itself. But for her, activating the spell required layers of restrictions. Maintaining Black Darkness Hell already strained her limits, leaving no room for intercepting spells.
Everyone was equally sightless, but as the summoner and sustainer of Black Darkness Hell, she could detect all mana flows within the domain.
Thus, there was only one way.
"Eris, from your position: 136 meters ahead, 13 meters to your left."
"......What?"
"I'll give you the coordinates. Attack that monster with your magic. Also, there's a way to briefly disrupt it."
"......You guys really are from crazy bastard heaven."
A voice muttering in disbelief echoed in their linked minds.
"But not bad."
The mage's giggle followed soon after.
"───Deploy."
Eris Betelgeuse chanted her spell.
Mana coalesced in the air, forming scorching heat that hurtled toward the wolf's upper body.
BOOOOM!!!
It grazed slightly, obliterating the Oni's left shoulder. Stunned by the sudden assault, the Oni hesitated, then took a few steps, whipping its head around as if searching for them.
"Ahead 150 meters, left 27 meters."
The shaman intoned the coordinates, and the mage fired another spell.
BOOM!
This one struck true in the abdomen, blasting a massive hole through one side. Yet the Oni ignored it, pawing at its jaw in contemplation.
─Hmm?
Then, as if catching a heartbeat, it charged fiercely in one direction.
Of course, it was a decoy. At Eris's request, they'd set a trap on the opposite side mimicking a human presence—a faint heartbeat with a massive bomb attached.
Fire-element magic. Explosion.
The wolf's claws pierced the dummy's heart, triggering the hidden spell.
BOOOOOOMMMMMMB!!!
A grand explosion rumbled from afar.
Sawamura Cento felt a surge of relief and overlaid more coordinates.
"Ahead 340 meters, left 103 meters."
"Laser."
Eris snickered as she unleashed her magic. This time, it was infused with stellar energy—a starburst bomb.
Transcendent magic. Falling Star.
A star plummeted.
─────────────!!!!!
Cento grimaced at the deafening roar. Unable to plug her ears—her hands bound to the ground—she endured. The heat and noise faded briefly, mana turbulence subsiding.
'...Did we get it?'
As that thought crossed her mind, a semicircular slash erupted from the blast's epicenter, thick with lingering mana.
"......Barrier!"
Cento cried out urgently, and the skilled mage obliged.
SKREEEEECH!
The distant aura blade raked across the barrier with a grating screech. At the foul noise, Kenichi—gripping his demon sword, standing stock-still—tensed further.
─Where are you!! Damn you bastards!!
─Yeah!! Everything's hidden, so no way you'd hear a heartbeat!! That's how you wanna play, huh!
The enraged yokai's roar echoed. Snarling as if ready to pounce on anyone, it soon stomped the ground.
BOOM!
Moments later, an explosion sounded somewhere.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOOOMMM!!!
At the relentless blasts, Cento swallowed dryly. Eris muttered uneasily.
"......No way, that guy."
The impatient wolf Oni had gone berserk, sprinting at supersonic speeds and slamming every spirit vein node once.
Realizing this, Eris urged hastily.
"We need to move to a spot it hasn't hit yet—"
"We'll face it here."
"......What?"
Sawamura Cento tracked the rampaging yokai bounding energetically along the spirit vein and replied.
"We're all blind either way."
They had barely coordinated their initial movements as a trio. Constantly shifting while preparing spells was inefficient; better to hold position and go all-in.
"Eris, bind it just once."
The blind wolf would eventually charge here.
"I'll finish it."
"......Just once, right?"
Eris paused, then grinned fiercely.
"I'll bind it properly."
A trustworthy declaration.
BOOM! BOOOOM! BOOOOOOMMM!
Having circled once, the Oni now barreled toward them. Its mana, felt through Black Darkness Hell's authority, seethed with fury.
The enraged wolf charged blindly.
"Dead ahead—straight at us."
No time for precise coordinates against its supersonic rush.
"Eris."
She simply called her name at the perfect moment.
"───O stars."
The star mage invoked her soul's stars. They answered, granting the spell.
"Deploy."
Transcendent Magic. Constellation Chain
Golden chains erupted from earth and sky, ensnaring the charging wolf. The blind beast blundered straight into the multilayered net of dozens of links.
Clank!
Its limbs were bound.
"What?! You bastards! Release me now!!"
The Oni thrashed in belated panic, but the groaning chains held firm against its fury.
Left alone, they might not last long—but this would suffice.
Sawamura Cento channeled mana into the hellish incantation array she'd pre-scattered on the ground. She began chanting another Divine Word.
"───The price is the soul of the vanquished."
"Hell's emissary shall inscribe the name in the ledger of the underworld, and permit punishment."
⟨ Another overreach, but no choice ⟩
"───O cruel Fivefold Wheel-Turning Great King, graciously fold away the world's darkness."
Fundamentally, domains like Black Darkness Hell were wielded in two ways: overlaying them to reshape the world, or using the domain itself as incantation material.
What she chanted now was the latter—a Divine Word.
"───Material: Black Darkness Hell. Form of punishment: pitch-black coffin."
In that instant, the world inverted.
The enveloping darkness vanished from the spirit vein; ground shadows and celestial night sky returned to their places. Light reemerged across the world.
"───Punish the sinner! O coffin forged of darkness, crush the great sin!!"
All the darkness comprising hell converged to a point, a hammer materializing in her grasp to seal the coffin.
The wolf writhed desperately against the surging obsidian pillars, but the chains held its limbs fast.
Blood trickled from Sawamura Cento's lips, yet she smiled.
"Shadow, the spell of punishment."
She swung the hammer down.
"───Black Darkness Hell, Black Coffin."