Heretic (4)
Inside the annex of the quiet shrine. After sending Niyu away, I laid out a cushion along the corridor that opened onto the courtyard and resumed the meditation I had briefly set aside. Meditation had originally begun as a way to empty and purify a cluttered mind and spirit, and even now its purpose and method remained largely unchanged. Yet ever since I had realized my true identity as the child of the Divine Beast and the gatekeeper who guarded the boundary between worlds, and after the Fox Deity and the shaman awakened me to the art of sensing and wielding divine power, I used it as a tool to gather and refine the divine energy that had scattered and been consumed.
Even so, meditation brought peace to my heart. It helped me release needless anxiety, worry, and the countless concerns that weighed on me, allowing my mind to focus on what truly demanded my attention. That was why, after sending Niyu off to run errands and while periodically checking the state of the sacred treasure, I sat in meditation gathering and refining my divine power. It was also how I prepared to greet the uninvited guests who would soon arrive.
“Your disguise was exposed long ago. Reveal yourselves.”
I called out to them as they began stepping over the roof into the courtyard, slowly opening my eyes. The figures who had been concealing themselves within the surrounding scenery shed their transparent veil and gradually showed their faces. Six intruders wearing black apostolic robes that resembled priestly vestments soon addressed me where I sat in meditation.
“As expected of the Divine Dragon. That keen perception of yours cannot be evaded.”
Knowing that, I grew curious about their purpose in deliberately approaching me. I had already realized they were the same presences that had been secretly watching us all along. Without hesitation I demanded,
“What is your aim in seeking me out at this precise moment when my trusted subordinate is absent?”
I spoke to the apostles, who made no effort to conceal their impure intentions.
“The reason is not particularly complicated… but we have a request to make of you.”
Among the six, the one standing at the very center and front slowly drew closer.
“My name is Dawon. I am a cardinal of the Abyss Cult and… an apostle of the Abyss.”
Lately I had grown weary of how these self-proclaimed followers and hunters of the Abyss kept sprouting up like mushrooms after rain. It had not even been a few months since we succeeded in resealing the Abyss; why were so many obsessively drawn to it? Were there truly that many deficiencies in this world? All sorts of thoughts rose in my mind.
Yet the cardinal who had named himself before me suddenly removed the black gloves he wore and dropped them to the floor.
“Then I shall speak plainly, Divine Dragon. Won’t you die for us?”
He spoke with open arrogance, and displeasure flared inside me.
“How offensive.”
I lifted my tail sharply and glared at him. But I could not remain locked in a standoff for long.
“····.”
From the sleeve of the arm now bare of its glove, a sticky darkness of the Abyss began to seep out. As I watched, I recalled the memories of patrolling the forests and cities since the resealing, of clearly confirming that every last remnant of the Abyss had been suppressed and eradicated. I had never imagined it could still run rampant beyond those bounds. Yet what this man carried was different. Though it looked identical to the Abyss at first glance, he retained a clear ego and consciousness. The darkness flowing from his arm to attack me was… not the Abyss at all.
“What an impure power, human…!”
It was far closer to the personal malice of a single individual.
“If you would, please address me by name. Otherwise my introduction loses all meaning, does it not, Divine Dragon?”
Yet for some reason I could not resist his power. It was unmistakably the Abyss, but in the end it was nothing more than one human’s malice—something I should have been able to crush with ease even in an imperfect state.
“····.”
At some point, far more apostles had infiltrated the annex with disguises so elaborate I had failed to notice them. The instant I rose, my reverse scale was seized, and I found myself bound by another unknown personal Abyss distinct from the one belonging to Dawon.
“You resort to clever little tricks, you bastard…”
In the end I was forced back to my knees by the restraint. I glared with murderous eyes at the apostle gripping my reverse scale. Dawon approached his companion and looked down at me, then slowly crouched until his pitch-black eyes filled my vision.
“Release the seal of the Abyss.”
He spoke at last.
“Do so, and I am willing to spare the lives of you and your subordinate…”
Faced with the arrogant demand, I could only grit my teeth and stare at him. He began to suppress my resisting consciousness.
“If you will not speak, I shall have to find it myself.”
He rifled through my mind.
“Do not resist, O Divine Dragon.”
With those words he… finally realized it.
“The Abyss is the inevitability of all life.”
All the things I had wished to keep hidden.
The girl in the black nun’s habit led me to what appeared to be an ordinary cathedral once I began following her. What could she possibly intend to do in a place that showed no signs of suspicion? Still doubting her unknown identity to the very end, I cautiously stepped inside the church. I quickly realized the entire building was enclosed by a barrier. Yet the power forming that barrier was an alien force I had never encountered before. Sensing this unfamiliar sensation born from a strength that was neither spiritual power, divine power, nor the Abyss, I looked at the girl guiding me toward the new-member room.
Somehow the unpleasant energy resembled the darkness of the Abyss yet felt slightly different. I entertained the faint, rare possibility that perhaps… but the Abyss was not yet a familiar presence spread widely across the world, so such a thing was unlikely. I shook my head and decided, for now, to let the situation flow exactly as they desired.
“Welcome, Niyu…”
Following the girl into the new-member room, I noticed a chair placed directly opposite the one she took. As I slowly sat down across from her, she gazed at me, smiled gently, and asked,
“You know quite a bit about the Abyss, don’t you, Niyu?”
The question brought back the earlier suspicion and I frowned in distaste. Perhaps mistaking my expression for disapproval, the girl straightened her clothes and posture once more.
“Ah, I’m sorry… I haven’t introduced myself yet…”
She extended one hand as though requesting a handshake and at last revealed her identity.
“My name is Yu Ara. I am a priestess of the Abyss Cult.”
I took the hand of the girl who called herself Yu Ara with wary fingers and returned the handshake. She smiled brightly.
“———What the hell are you doing?”
Because through our joined hands she had begun pouring an unknown power into my body. I instantly released her and struck her hand away; the moment that force touched me I was able to wrench myself free from her grasp. But what she had used was a mental-manipulation ability. A dangerous power capable of freely dominating the opponent’s mind and perception with mere contact.
“….Ah, so you noticed after all.”
When I glared at Yu Ara with burning fury and hurriedly withdrew my hand, clenching it into a tight fist, she slowly pulled her own hand back, showing her clean palm as if to promise she would do nothing more. Yet in those hollow, dark-purple eyes I instinctively understood that I could trust none of her words any longer.
The moment I heard anything concerning Shinryong-nim, I had intended to either destroy this place or flee. But Yu Ara began to spout nonsense.
“It seems you hold a rather negative view of the Abyss, Niyu…”
“Do you believe that present-day humans and all the life in this world are already perfect?”
I listened in silence, staring at her. Seeing that I offered no reaction, Yu Ara began to reveal her own thoughts.
“I do not… Instead I live burdened by countless deficiencies…”
I continued to stare at her intently. Meeting my gaze, Yu Ara’s face bloomed with ecstatic delight. She stroked her own cheeks with both hands and continued,
“The Abyss will bind us lonely souls together… It will make us, who can never become a true whole because of our deficiencies, perfect.”
Though I could not fully comprehend her words, the endless craving in her purple eyes began to seethe with raw desire.
“That is why the Pope told us.”
Apparently she no longer felt the need to hide anything; she confessed outright.
“That you are the most suitable vessel for the Abyss.”
From that instant I could no longer tell how much they knew or what parts still eluded them. When Yu Ara had spoken of her feelings toward the Abyss I had simply assumed they harbored a distorted faith. But the moment she whispered about a vessel for the Abyss, confusion overtook me.
Just how much did they truly understand about the Abyss? How much did they know about me? Who in the world was orchestrating all of this from the shadows? Why had none of it been caught by Shinryong-nim’s eyes? When it came to matters of the Abyss, Shinryong-nim could not possibly have made a mistake.
“So we need you, Niyu… ❤”
Her eyes turned frightening. I rose from my seat to escape her gaze. Yu Ara stood as well, once more scattering that strange darkness across the floor. I backed away slowly to avoid touching it, retreating toward the door of the new-member room.
“We have been searching for a vessel capable of containing the Abyss all this time. Yet humans and dolls alike proved utterly insufficient…”
Since when—?
“What…!?”
When I opened the door and looked beyond, the scene outside was identical to the new-member room. As though reflected in a mirror, another Yu Ara had risen from her chair and was walking toward me. Shock froze me in place.
“But the moment our eyes first met, I realized…!”
I finally understood.
“That you are the greatest possible vessel for the Abyss———❤”
That from the instant I had taken her hand, I had already been under her control.
“Ugh…”
Yu Ara approached, closed the door, and reached out with a sickeningly sticky grip to seize my shoulder.
“Do not resist. Everything is necessary for the sake of this world… ❤”
Claiming it was for the world’s sake, she pushed me down into the floor that had begun transforming into darkness, submerging me up to my neck. Yu Ara descended into the darkness alongside me, then cupped both my cheeks and pulled me close.
“Quietly accept the Abyss ❤”
She pressed her lips—brimming with that strange darkness—tightly against mine.
“Ugh, mmmph———”
“Shinryong… nim…”
When I opened my eyes, I found myself in what seemed to be a truly dark and damp prison, or a space much like one.