The Final Trial (9)
The Sacrifice Ritual.
Long years of waiting and endurance had forged a desperate prayer.
Prayer became a searing longing. A burning thirst. A blazing madness.
And madness led to a horrific sacrifice.
A dark memory buried in the shadowed pages of the Pantheon's history. The moments when, under the leadership of the priest Rofinus, the entire Pantheon had gone mad. Antonio slowly retraced those memories as he gazed up at the moon.
Over a decade ago, beneath the ritual Rofinus had orchestrated, an unspeakable human sacrifice had been carried out — all for the arrogant goal of daring to create a god.
The result—
Ria's death. Rofinus's corruption. The slaughter of countless civilians offered as offerings. And a massive demonic invasion.
Countless holy knights had fallen, and far more ordinary people had died.
"..."
Truly bitter. Shameful. Sinful...
No adjective in existence was enough for this history.
What did it mean that God had shown Kenis that particular moment, of all moments?
Did He already... know everything...
The cloudless night sky was utterly still. No matter how desperately humans tried to hide and cover things up, nothing could ever be concealed from the heavens.
After the Sacrifice Ritual, the Pantheon had decided to bury Rofinus's atrocities — the Pantheon's own atrocities. There had been any number of reasons.
They had feared the demonic invasions would only grow fiercer. They had fretted over chaos among the faithful. They had worried that the Pantheon's authority and the dignity of the gods would crumble...
In the end, every last one of them... was nothing but an excuse.
All of it had been excuses. They had simply been frantic to cover it up. Hiding their own shame, inventing plausible justifications, and convincing themselves — that was all it had ever been.
And even that, God had known all along.
Antonio looked up at the sky with trembling eyes.
Those who had taken part in the Sacrifice Ritual had either been purged or taken their own lives. The dead had been reduced to a handful of ashes and scattered into the river. Those who needed to atone and face judgment were all dead, or their whereabouts unknown.
And yet someone still needed to bear the sin.
He rose abruptly.
Having resolved something deep within himself, Antonio stood and began walking somewhere.
In the end, what suited an old man was looking after the young — was it not?
A soft slithering sound whispered across the floor.
A snake crawled over the ground, moving as though it had been there from the very beginning. In moments it was weaving through the warehouse, devouring something in a frantic, ravenous rush.
It swept the floor with startling speed, jaws gaping wide, licking every surface clean. Dark and slick, leaving a sticky trail wherever it went, the creature fed with the single-minded greed of one gorging on a feast of rare delicacies.
Crunch. Crunch.
It was Starlight.
Darkened, reddened Starlight — like drops of blood — vanishing down its throat.
Compared to true Starlight it was infinitesimal, a residue so faint it barely deserved to be called a fragment. Dust would have been a fairer name. And still the snake ate with tireless hunger.
"A g-god must be made! Krrrrrk!! Th-this world, kyahaah!! Must be saaaaved!!"
"What? What kind of insane—!"
Steel rang. An explosion of force shook the air.
Behind the snake, Kenis — wreathed in burning wings — and Rofinus were locked in a screaming, murderous clash. So saturated with killing intent were they that neither seemed to notice the serpent at all. The snake wasted not a second of the opportunity.
Delicious, so delicious! How utterly delicious!
As though something might come chasing after it at any moment, the snake worked its jaws in a frantic blur, devouring every speck of Starlight dust. And with every lick, its body seemed to swell larger still — or was that only imagination?
Having scoured the warehouse for every last trace of the stars, the snake smacked its lips with open disappointment.
A fine meal... and yet far short of what I expected.
The plan it had prepared from the start had gone awry.
That foolish human was supposed to gather the Starlight neatly into a vessel and lay out a banquet for it — a feast the snake had intended to swallow in a single gulp...
Had the man managed to complete the ritual, he might well have collected a far greater quantity of Starlight. If only that human with the wings of fire had not interfered, it would have been so.
The Starlight running wild had been the first failure. The meddler who barged in midway had been the second.
Sparks erupted around Kenis in a continuous cascade of brilliant light. Those once-beautiful honey-colored eyes had drowned in a deep, furious crimson, and pure Starlight poured from her body in streaming rivulets.
The cascading Starlight fell, flowed, collided with itself — and burst into flame.
Flame that answered Kenis's rage. Flame that answered her will.
A fire of purification and incineration.
Kh... what a pity. Such a short banquet.
The snake watched Kenis locked in fierce combat with Rofinus for a long moment, then turned its gaze upon the unconscious Ria and the vessel.
A superb mother vessel, and a vessel more excellent still.
The vessel was not yet ripe — but when the time came, it would prove most useful.
Its hideous jaws yawned wide and drew near, ready to swallow Ria's body whole. If it could not have the full feast, it would at least devour the mother and put a proper end to the meal.
Jaws lined with dense, needle-sharp fangs — a maw that could have passed for a fragment of hell itself.
"Get that filthy mouth away from her!"
A thunderous impact.
Roaring flames erupted between Ria and the snake, barring its path. A greatsword had come screaming down like a falling star and driven itself into the floor. In the brief space the serpent recoiled, Kenis planted herself between Ria and her younger self, catching her breath.
"Hah—"
"Kyahaarrrk!! M-move! A god! Must—be made!!"
What unholy, blasphemous madness was this? The monster that had once been Rofinus convulsed, repeating the same frenzied demand over and over — that a god must be created.
Kenis's eyes darted swiftly across the interior of the warehouse. Blasphemous, nightmarish sigils covered every surface. Veins and runes forcibly siphoning Starlight from her mother's body. Her younger self, positioned at the very center of those patterns.
And Rofinus's cry that he would make a god...
What kind of... insanity is this...
The outline slowly took shape. The truth that had been veiled in fog began to reveal itself — and it was far uglier, far more blasphemous, far more horrific than anything Kenis had imagined.
She began to understand what her impossibly young self had been dragged into.
Starlight. Herself. And her mother.
A god.
They were going to make a god. Out of Starlight.
Kenis stared at Rofinus with trembling eyes. She remembered the way he had looked at the Starlight — the way he had looked at her mother.
Those eyes, seething with greed and madness and something even more viscous beneath.
"You— you... what in the world have you done?!"
"Kyahaugh... I will make a g-god! And th-then the world shall be saaaaved!! Kyahaah!!"
Heh heh. Humans truly are entertaining. Twist their direction just a little, and the change is this immediate.
The snake flicked its tail back and forth in open amusement. Kenis felt something familiar in the creature — a sense that she had seen it somewhere before...
But Rofinus gave her no time to chase the memory.
A whipcrack tore through the air.
A thick, heavy tail came crashing down upon her. Flame-wreathed greatsword met tail with a ringing clash. The glossy gray of that tail was dense and tough, proof that it had drunk deep of the corrupted Starlight.
"Why?! Why would you do something like this?!"
"Kyahaah!!"
Steel screamed. Impacts detonated in rapid succession.
Rofinus was losing what little reason remained, sliding closer and closer to a pure beast. His tail and elongated fingers lashed out in a storm. There was no technique, no craft — only raw instinct and mood driving a wild flurry of attacks. Even those were clumsy, the tail still unfamiliar in his hands, but the power behind them could not be dismissed.
Sparks flew as tail, claws, and greatsword collided in a furious melee. Kenis's surging flames roared as though they meant to devour Rofinus whole, slowly eating into his flesh — bit by bit, burning and melting him away.
"Kyahaah!!"
Rofinus shrieked, thrashing to shake off the fire clinging to his body. But the flames held fast, feeding on his corrupted flesh and burning all the hotter for it.
A great whoosh of ignition.
He burned. He was consumed. In moments Rofinus was ablaze like a towering torch, a vast and pure fire roaring so fiercely it seemed determined to permit not a single shadow.
"Kyahaah!! Khiik, kyahaah!!"
Ugh... things have gone sideways. What even are you, human... no. Are you human at all? What are you?
As the burning Rofinus thrashed and rolled across the floor in a frenzy, the snake shook its head and fixed its gaze on Kenis.
A rumble of approaching footsteps.
"Over there! I heard something from that direction!"
"Ria! Riaaa!!"
A desperate voice cried out from beyond the warehouse. Demonic. Kenis turned instinctively — and by the time she spun back toward the snake, not a single trace of it remained.
Whether it had sunk into the earth or vanished into the sky, the serpent was simply gone. She had lost it in the span of a heartbeat. Only Rofinus remained, writhing and burning in agony.
"Damn it...!"
Kenis kicked the unoffending ground in raw frustration.
"Ah... ah... ngh..."
"...! M-Mom! Mom!!"
Ria's frail moan. Kenis rushed to her and seized her hand. Ria's condition was horrific. Hideous veins had burrowed into her flesh and bulged grotesquely across her body, and the backlash of having her Starlight forcibly drained had left her deathly pale.
Violet lips. Unfocused pupils. Ice-cold hands.
Ria's glassy eyes swept the empty air as her lips stirred faintly. Sensing she was trying to speak, Kenis hastily leaned close.
A thin, breathless sound reached her ear. The sound of a life slipping away.
"The ch-child... my... child..."
"Ah—!"
Kenis checked on her younger self in a panic. The Starlight had been potent enough to warp Rofinus beyond recognition — there was no guarantee the child had survived.
"Th-this can't be..."
The little girl was still. Unnaturally quiet for a child, eyes closed, silent as if merely asleep.
Yes.
Not even the sound of breathing.
Kenis's hands began to shake. More than the shock of her younger self's death, the knowledge that she would have to tell Ria was what tore at her.
"Th-the baby... is s-sleeping..."
"A l-lie... isn't it."
The shallow falsehood was seen through at once. A mother's instinct, perhaps. Ria spoke in a voice on the verge of breaking.
"The b-baby... put the baby... in my arms..."
With trembling hands, Kenis gathered her younger self and placed her in Ria's embrace. The silent child was terribly cold — cold as a sheet of ice.
But Ria's hands were colder still.
A violent crash.
"Ria! Ria!!"
Demonic burst through the warehouse door as though he meant to tear it from its hinges. His eyes swept the interior in frantic haste — then found Ria, and went impossibly wide.
The worst possibility he had imagined. The nightmare he had never wanted to see even in his dreams.
"Ria, Ria! I-it's me. Ria, hey? Open your eyes! Ria! Can you hear my voice?"
"Nic...? Are you... th-there?"
He rushed to her and dropped to his knees hard enough to shatter them, seizing her hand. Colder than ice. He could feel death drawing near.
"Ri-a... Ria! Just a little — hold on just a little longer... the p-priests are coming, so—"
"Nic... my... love..."
Ria wore a faint smile. A smile so fragile it seemed ready to vanish at any moment.
The instant Demonic saw that smile, an indescribable dread seized him. He knew what she was about to do. She had said nothing, and still he knew.
A soft, luminous rush.
From Ria's cold body, Starlight began to flow — gradually, steadily. This was no ordinary Starlight. This was Starlight drawn up from the very bottom of her life, from everything she was.
"Ngh...! Hhk...!"
The final flame she had hidden with every ounce of her strength, shielding it from the greedy veins that had scraped her Starlight down to the dregs.
Demonic knew by instinct that this was Ria's last breath. Starlight more dazzling and pure white than any he had ever seen — shining like snowflakes.
This was Ria's final will.
"N-no! Ria, don't— stop!! D-don't do this... please... Ria!!"
Demonic broke into a cry that was almost a scream. Could it even be called a scream? It was a death-rattle, as though his very entrails were being torn apart.
Ria did not stop. The snow-bright Starlight drifted slowly toward her daughter. White Starlight, gleaming like falling snow.
Breathing life back into a small, still life.
"Mmh... wah?"
The little life stirred, rubbing her eyes. The child whose breath had been restored by her mother's final breath smiled brightly, knowing nothing at all — simply happy to see her father's face.
"Ri-Ria...! Don't do this... please, please... Ria. Don't leave me — don't leave me behind!"
Demonic clung to Ria's growing-cold hand. Don't leave me, he begged. Don't do this.
He pleaded as he never had in his entire life, and never would again.
Ria smiled faintly. Perhaps it was a deeply apologetic expression.
"I... 'm sor...ry. I... love... you."
Ria closed her eyes in silence. Quietly, as though simply falling asleep.
And she did not rise again.
She sank into a deep sleep. Leaving white snowflakes in her daughter's arms — and, for Demonic, a winter that would not fade for a very long time.
And so Ria, like a snowflake,
fell into a fleeting sleep.
A man's scream — sorrowful, desperate — lingered in the warehouse for a long, long time.