The Old Dagger (6)
The thick cloud of dust that had billowed up finally settled. Through it, Kenis slowly came into view.
"P-Paladin...?"
"Ke...nis?"
Demonic's sword gave a single, violent shudder. The holy power wreathed around the blade surged like a wave, laying bare the storm inside him.
Kenis, emerging from the dust, wore a look of pure confusion. Clarity gradually returned to her hazy golden eyes.
"Ah... ugh... This is... right now...? What in the world..."
Clutching her head, Kenis staggered. Her golden pupils began to tremble violently.
"Inside my head... what... are you saying? Ah, ah...? Augh?! Aaaaah!!"
—KWAANG! —CRACK-CRACK-CRACK!
Kneeling on the ground, her body convulsing, Kenis became the center of a mad eruption of shadow and ice. Countless ice pillars shot skyward while shadows writhed and smashed into the earth.
"W-What the hell is that?"
"Most likely... Kenis, who was trapped inside Umbra, has woken up. How she managed it, I don't know."
"Huh? Kenis?"
Demonic answered Friga's startled question shortly. His gaze shifted to Ruel behind them, who was swinging her staff with desperate focus, sweat pouring down her face; she had no room to look their way.
Was it the power dwelling in that child's staff that woke Kenis?
The return of Kenis's consciousness—swallowed by Umbra—was cause for joy, and yet...
—THUD-KWAANG! —CRACK-SHATTER!
Ice and shadow ran wild, destroying everything around them. Even from a distance the shockwaves and tremors reached them. Demonic watched the scene with sunken eyes.
"Young lady over there. Prepare for the worst."
"Young lady? Call me Friga. And prepare for what, exactly?"
"You were the princess coming from the North, were you not?"
Demonic looked at Friga as she hefted her massive axe.
"I don't know how it appears to Your Highness... but right now Kenis is most likely fighting Umbra within her own mind."
"Within her mind?"
"They're fighting for control of the body."
"Then we can't just stand here watching!"
Enraged, Friga started to charge forward with her axe, only for Demonic to seize her.
"Stop! If you interfere rashly now, Kenis could be in even greater danger."
"What?"
"Two souls are battling over a single body. No one can guarantee how an outside stimulus will affect that struggle."
"Damn it—so we just stand here and watch?"
"...We have no choice but to trust Kenis."
In the heart of that destructive blaze of shadow and ice, Kenis clutched her head and screamed without cease. The cries sounded like agony, like the howls of a madwoman—and at times like the bestial shrieks of a demon. Everyone held their breath and watched her.
Kenis... please, please hold on.
Without realizing it, Demonic clenched the locket brooch at his chest. The cold metal fit perfectly into his grip. He prayed the moment of choice would never come. The small dagger tucked inside his clothes pressed against him with vivid weight, but he forced himself to ignore it.
—KWAANG!
The ice and shadows that had been rampaging and tearing the surroundings apart suddenly fell still. Demonic stared at the ruined ground with taut eyes.
—Scuff. Scuff.
Light footsteps broke the silence. Friga tightened her grip on the axe.
"Ah... uuugh... Prin...cess..."
The Kenis who appeared was half human, half demon. Her body was split left and right: the left side still human, the right side crowned by a demonic helm. Human Kenis's golden pupils shone; from the demon's helm poured an eerie black light.
"Ghhhaaagh!"
A rough demonic voice burst from Kenis's mouth. The bizarre sight of two souls coexisting in one body. Slowly, relentlessly, the demonic helm began to cover Kenis's face.
—KWAANG!
A massive ice pillar erupted along Umbra's right arm. Kenis fought desperately to control her body with her left hand.
"Ghh... hnnngh...! Everyone, hurry..."
Kenis strained with all her might to stop the right arm that kept reaching toward Demonic. Her slender left hand scraped against the armor encasing the right, growing bloodier by the second.
"Pa...ladin!! Everyone, run—please, run now!"
"Hurry! Please, go...!"
The ice helm continued its slow advance over Kenis's face. Time was running out.
If they left now, Kenis would lose her body completely to the demon. Demonic bit down hard on his lip.
What was he supposed to do?
Must I... choose?
The sword in his hand had never felt heavier. The brooch around his neck seemed to tighten like a noose. The dagger hidden in his clothes asserted its presence with crushing weight.
Inside Demonic's mind, something whispered. Perhaps it was called attachment—or regret.
—Can you, with your own hands, stab your family once more?
"..."
Demonic clenched his sword until his knuckles turned white, blood cut off from his fingers. Everything in sight drifted away, unreal. Friga's shouts beside him sounded muffled, as if underwater.
What was she saying? Retreat? Or attack Umbra?
Friga kept shouting, but he could not hear her.
Slowly, he raised his sword.
—CHAAANG
A clear ring sang from the blade. Far ahead, Umbra's right arm began to move, turning toward him.
Centered on Kenis, the world began to drain into monochrome.
—THUD-KWAAAAANG!
An ice spike hurtled toward him, moving with dreamlike slowness. Friga, still yelling beside him, had not yet noticed the attack.
Choose. What will you choose?
Countless crossroads seemed to fan out before his eyes. He could flee this place and plan for another day.
But I will not.
He could drive his holy-wreathed sword through Umbra's heart.
But I will not.
...Or he could stake everything on a single miracle with the dagger in his clothes—offering his own flesh to pierce Umbra.
...I will follow the will of God.
Demonic felt it. From the very moment God had bestowed the dagger upon him, everything had been the will of the divine.
Slowly, he let the sword fall.
—CLANG
The blade struck the ground with a pure, ringing note. The monochrome world that had been spreading now closed in to his very feet. Demonic knew the time granted him would not last long.
"It shall be as God wills."
He drew the small silver dagger from his clothes. The ornate little blade, brimming with sacred power, filled Demonic's body with its presence. The ice spike that had been drifting toward him was suddenly right before his eyes.
—SHAAK
He tilted his head just enough to let it pass. It grazed his cheek; a thin line of blood welled and trickled down.
I must keep going.
In the slowed world, only Demonic shot forward like the wind. Had he grown faster—or had everything else slowed?
—THUD-KWAANG! —KWAANG! —KUU-KWAANG!
Umbra's cry stretched and broke into fragments. As the demon flailed its arms in frenzy, sharp ice pillars erupted between Demonic and Umbra.
Left.
He leapt and dodged.
Left again.
No room to leap. He rolled across the ground to avoid it.
Right.
Space was too tight. He sacrificed one leg. A fist-sized hole punched through his thigh.
Left once more...
Nowhere left to dodge. Ice speared through his right shoulder.
At some point the world had regained its color.
...Forward.
Five steps ahead. Five steps remained between him and Umbra.
Umbra went berserk. Five steps remaining.
Four steps.
Ice spikes filled the air in a dense wall, packing every scrap of space. He moved the dagger only to protect his left hand.
He felt holes open all over his body; hot blood poured down.
Three steps...
Shadows surged up from the ground, trying to seize his ankles. He swung the dagger once more and severed them. The ankle that had brushed the shadow blackened and began to rot.
Two... steps...
Ice and shadow erupted from the earth and pierced his entire body. Moving his sluggish limbs, he protected only his left hand—only that.
...One step...
Umbra's face was right before him. Even through the blood blurring his vision, that face alone remained sharp and clear.
What expression did a demon wear in a moment like this? Despair? Rage? Or would it simply weep?
Demonic lifted the dagger that felt as heavy as a mountain. Had raising so small a blade always required this much strength?
"...Everything... shall be... as God wills..."
Perhaps Kenis was still pouring every last ounce of her strength into restraining Umbra. The demon could only stand rooted in place, forced to watch the silver dagger approach.
A blood-flecked laugh burst from Demonic. The demon understood nothing—not God, not faith, not the heart that prayed for miracles.
"My daughter... will not die. Demon."
Demonic's dagger slowly drove toward Umbra's heart—
The sharp little dagger pierced straight through the rotting, corrupted heart.