The Final Trial (8)
He had never seen it with his own eyes, but at the edge of the world, they said, there existed a place called the sea.
The sea was like a vast and boundless pond, only the water was terribly salty — like brine. How immense must it have been for people to say the sea had neither beginning nor end?
A person shipwrecked while traveling that sea would drift across the endless expanse, tormented by thirst and hunger. A merciless sun would bake the moisture from their body, and dwindling rations would give way to starvation.
They would die very, very slowly.
And so they would begin to drink the seawater. They would gulp down that bitter brine, trying to soothe their thirst and hunger.
For a moment, drinking seawater might bring a little relief. But soon a greater, more terrible thirst would crash over them — for the salt leeches the body's water dry. Seafarers knew this from hard experience.
The Pantheon of today was exactly like a man drinking seawater.
They knew the cup was poisoned. They knew they must not drink. And still they could not refuse. The long waiting, the endless thirst, had worn them down.
How did it come to this…
Drink the seawater, and at the end of it waits only death. Antonio swept the room with trembling eyes. Those bright, shining pupils all around him.
They had drunk the seawater.
Perhaps poisoned seawater.
A twitch.
A finger of the unconscious Demonic stirred. Slowly, his eyes opened.
"Ugh…"
"Demo—"
"Shh… Great Priest. How many are guarding this room right now? Look carefully. Slowly."
The moment he came to, Demonic spoke in a whisper. Rage burned in his eyes. Antonio did as he was told, turning his head with deliberate care.
"Looks like roughly ten."
"I see… Then we do this—"
"Understood."
After a brief moment of thought, Demonic whispered something to Antonio. The Great Priest nodded, his expression set and resolute.
A short while later—
"Ghhhk—!! Hhhk! Ghhk! Khhrrk!!"
"Wh-what?! What's happening!"
"What the hell—someone's collapsed!"
Antonio suddenly convulsed, foam bubbling at his lips as he crumpled to the floor. His limbs shook violently; his eyes rolled back — unmistakable signs of a seizure. The startled paladins rushed toward him.
The moment one of them bent over the thrashing Great Priest, Demonic — who had been lying as if dead — surged upright.
Crack—!
"Gyaaah!"
The paladin's arm twisted into a grotesque angle. Demonic tore the sword free from the man's belt.
"It's a trap — fall back! He's alone! Subdue him!"
"Hah!"
Clang! Shiiing! Screee—!
Paladins swarmed toward Demonic. Countless blades flashed, hemming him in on every side. His eyes grew heavy and cold.
Even if it killed him, he would get there.
Wait for me, Ria…!
Clang!
Demonic's sword howled as it turned on the paladins.
Rofinus and his followers strode quickly down an empty corridor. The hallway was unnervingly silent — and to him, it felt like a blessing.
Soon… a god who will save this world will be born!
The world would be redeemed. Demons and heretics would all be cast into the flames, and the righteous and the faithful would dwell forever in a land of blessing.
Rofinus's steps never faltered.
And so they arrived at Ria's chamber.
Boom—!
At a glance from Rofinus, one of the paladins wrenched the door open. Ria, resting with her child, startled with a cry.
"Kyaa! Wh-what are you doing! What is the meaning of this!"
"Hush, Ria. Don't raise your voice so. You'll wake the child."
"P-Priest Rofinus?! What on earth is going on!"
"What else? I've come because I need your power. And… your child as well."
Rofinus's gaze darkened as it settled on Ria and the sleeping infant. Something was terribly wrong. Ria snatched the dagger she kept hidden by her pillow.
Shing!
Her hands shook violently. She was a woman who had spent her life far more familiar with scripture than steel.
Thwack!
"Kh—!"
A casual flick of a paladin's hand sent the dagger clattering uselessly to the floor. Rofinus seized Ria's forearm and dragged her out.
"L-let go of me!! Kyaaaaah! Nick, Nick!! Help me!!"
"Don't struggle needlessly."
"Nick! N-no!! My baby! Don't you dare touch my ba— mmph! Mmmph!"
"Waaah, waaah! Waaaaah!"
A paladin's rough hands held Ria fast while another carefully gathered the infant into his arms. The two of them fell in behind Rofinus and set off.
"The rest of you stay here and guard this place. Only the two of them and I will proceed with the ritual. Secrecy is paramount — I trust you understand."
"Yes, sir!"
Rofinus left with the paladin who had Ria slung over his shoulder and the one cradling the baby, heading out of the Pantheon. The chill night air touched his face.
Was it too much to take even that as a favorable omen?
"Follow me. I have a place prepared in secret."
Rofinus led them to a dilapidated house in a corner of the Holy City. From the outside it was bleak and shabby — little more than a warehouse — but the interior was surprisingly well-appointed. The most striking feature was the dense web of symbols covering every wall and the ceiling.
"This is…"
"A warehouse I purchased some time ago. I've been renovating it bit by bit into a proper laboratory. Ah — lay Ria over there."
"Yes, sir!"
The paladin carefully set Ria on the floor; she had gone limp after thrashing herself to exhaustion. The baby, cried out, was laid beside her.
An unreadable fire now glittered in Rofinus's eyes. It was right in front of him. One stretch of the hand, and his ideal would be complete.
"Hah— stand watch outside, if you would. I can handle the ritual alone."
"Alone… sir?"
"…Yes."
To conduct an unprecedented ritual for creating a god entirely alone. The paladins felt a flicker of unease, but they obeyed and left the room.
Creak— click.
The door shut behind them, and Rofinus trembled with rapture. Star-light and vessel! Everything was perfect. If he simply gathered the Star-light into the vessel as his research prescribed — if he could only do that—
I can create a god!
Still shaking, Rofinus bustled about preparing the ritual. He swept aside the mats covering the floor, revealing the dense array of symbols that filled the warehouse, and dragged over a cot fitted with restraints for the limbs.
Clack! Clatter!
He set the vessel at the center of the pattern. The mother who would supply the Star-light would lie at the bottom; he, who would direct it all, would stand at the top.
Everything was ready.
Begin.
Whoooom—!
The symbols filling the vast warehouse flared to life in an ominous blood-red glow. Rofinus wanted to scream with joy.
It's working, it's working! It's activating!
The blood-red pattern shuddered and rose, taking a shape like veins. Veins hungry for a host's blood. The writhing vessels groped across the floor, then plunged into Ria's body.
Thrust!
"Kyaaaahh—!! Gyaaaaaah!!"
A scream of agony. As if in answer, Star-light rose faintly from Ria's body. The veins drank it greedily — gulping it down the way a parched man falls upon an oasis.
Gulp, gulp!
"Aaagh!! Ghhk, aaaaagh!!"
The Star-light the veins swallowed traveled along them. It split and scattered and gathered again along the pattern, flowing toward the vessel at the center.
Repeat this, and a god would be born!
"Haha! Ahaha! Hahahaha!!"
Rofinus burst into laughter thick with rapture. He had not been wrong! Look at this! The Star-light gathering into the vessel… gathering…
Thoom!
"…What?"
The streams of Star-light moving along the pattern heaved and collided with one another. They would not stop at Rofinus's will; they kept flowing among themselves, straining to break free of the pattern's veins.
"Wh-what is this! What's wrong with it!!"
Rofinus cried out in panic, scanning every inch of the pattern. There should have been nothing wrong with it. So why—!
Gulp! Thoom! Boom!
The pattern's veins swelled monstrously, bloating like tumors. Clear signs of a runaway cascade. Rofinus clenched his teeth and tried to force the Star-light under control.
"Ghhhk!! St-stop! Stop and go into the vessel, damn you!!"
Crrrack!
He poured so much force into the pattern that his teeth ground together — but the Star-light would not stop. The swollen veins of the pattern grew larger and larger, until—
They burst with a deafening bang!
Fssssss—
Star-light flooded the warehouse. But it was nothing like the Star-light he had once seen in Ria.
It was not radiant with color. It was not pure or clear.
It was black, and ominous, and slimy, and sticky as blood.
"Wh-why…"
Thud.
Rofinus dropped to his knees, staring at the Star-light with shaking hands.
Why…? Why?
The Star-light that touched his hands melted soundlessly into his body. Black-and-crimson droplets, like beads of blood, gathered into him.
And the more of them that gathered, the more a thick, foul mass of feeling swelled inside Rofinus's heart.
A line from an old tome flickered through his mind unbidden.
To be nothing, and to be capable of becoming anything… is this what that meant…
Regret, rage, envy, greed, denial, obsession, pain…
All of it had soaked into the Star-light.
Crrrack!
He heard someone's bones twist and flesh tear. Where was that coming from? Ah — his own body?
Rofinus understood.
The Star-light… the Star-light was the problem.
Daring to try to control it — that had been the mistake.
Crrrack!
His field of vision climbed higher. He felt elongated arms dragging along the floor. Had his arms always been like this? A rough, guttural breathing grated in his ears.
It didn't matter.
Only one thought filled Rofinus's mind.
One more time… if I try again, I can succeed…!
Grrrk—
His raised vision brushed the warehouse ceiling. He moved his long arms and began redrawing the pattern. Now he was certain! One more time! This time would be different!
BOOM—!
"Priest Rofinus! Are you alr—! A m-monster!"
Hearing the explosion, the paladins burst in with swords drawn. Rofinus swept a long, whip-like tail and sheared through their torsos.
Thud-thud!
Blood spattered the floor. Even that would make fine material. He dabbed a finger in it and began to draw.
Again, again…! I can create a god!
Grrrrk!
His rough breathing filled the warehouse. Drool dripped onto the floor. Whose spit was that? It was fouling the pattern!
Khaaaaah!
Irritation surged through him and Rofinus howled. With long, twig-like fingers he scrawled and stirred the pattern this way and that.
He stopped.
Not enough material. Not enough to draw the pattern. The blood from the paladins' bodies was nowhere near sufficient.
Grrrrk…
Rofinus's head turned toward the vessel and the Star-light, then shook slowly. Those must not be touched. Annoying as it was, he would have to go out and gather material himself.
He dragged reverse-jointed legs across the warehouse. Outside there would be plenty of material. With that material he would repair the pattern, gather the Star-light again… yes, yes!
He would succeed!
Kyarrk!
A howl thick with rapture. Rofinus's mind held only a single word.
Create a god.
As Rofinus crossed the pattern toward the exit—
BOOM!!
One wall of the warehouse collapsed with a thunderous crash. At the sudden intrusion, Rofinus reacted with a snarl.
Kihyaaaaah!
"You filthy monster spawn…"
Fwoosh!
The intruder unfurled crimson wings and leveled a greatsword brimming with sacred power. A flame that would tolerate not a single grain of evil blazed along the blade.
Rofinus lunged. A whip-like arm scythed through the air and met the flame-wreathed greatsword head-on.
KRA-KOOM!!
With the roar of the impact, a chill night wind swept over the warehouse.
Whoooosh—
The cold wind carried the reek of blood far and wide — laden with sweet, sticky star-dust and gore, carrying it into the distance.
And that wind was nothing less than an invitation to a banquet, sent out to every demon.
The first guest to arrive wore a shape very much like a serpent.