The Nightmare Demon (1)
"Patients—the patients...!!"
The soldier's words tore out like a scream. Inside the small tent, silence fell heavy and absolute.
They had known time was short. They had known they needed to move as fast as humanly possible. But everything had outrun even their worst expectations.
Caesar's hand clenched hard around the scepter.
"The patients whose bodies have changed are gathering in packs and heading for the Imperial Palace!! We formed a defensive line, but they're breaking through it over and over!"
"..."
Caesar said nothing. He only gripped the scepter tighter. Every eye in the tent turned to him.
"Your Majesty."
Demonic approached carefully. Regret could wait. Right now—right now—they had to do everything still within their power.
"...Yes. I—We cannot afford to be like this."
"Are you all right?"
"I am fine. I am fine. There has to be a way. There must be a way. It is not... too late yet."
Caesar staggered out of the tent. In that single moment he looked as though ten years had crashed down on him at once—haggard, drained. His escort knights supported him on either side as they made for the palace.
The tent went quiet again. Demonic clapped his hands once, sharp and decisive.
"What was coming has finally arrived. Priority one is now the patients—or rather, the demons. The nest raid is postponed indefinitely."
"...Understood."
"Yes."
"Uh—"
No. 5 and Kenis answered calmly. Iscal still wore a blank, bewildered look, struggling to catch up.
Demonic ignored him and issued orders at speed.
"No. 5, how is your body? Can you fight?"
No. 5 flexed his hands once, then gave a small nod.
"Good. Then come with me, No. 5. Time is critical—finish your preparations as fast as you can and join us at the palace. The rest of you, follow me."
With that, Demonic took Kenis and Iscal and set off at a brisk pace.
Patients whose curse seeds had germinated, massing and marching on the Imperial Palace...
An ominous sign. Anyone could see something far from ordinary was unfolding.
"Um—excuse me—the palace? We're going to the palace right now?"
"Yes, that is correct."
Iscal's face was pure panic. The situation was changing too fast for him to keep his footing.
Kenis looked faintly apologetic. She felt sorry for the man who had ridden so far, but there simply was no time.
"I am sorry. Every second counts right now. Let us talk as we ride to the palace."
Kenis and Demonic swung into their saddles with practiced ease. Iscal hovered awkwardly for a moment, then scrambled up after them.
"Hyah!"
Hooves thundered. The horses tore down the ruined main road. Buildings along the streets lay half-collapsed as if war had swept through; weeping and screams rose from every side.
"Waaah! Mama! Mama!"
"H-honey... honey. Open your eyes... honey...?"
People who had lost their families in an instant, whose happy ordinary lives had been smashed to pieces. Kenis bit her lip hard as she took in the wretched scene.
Demonic glanced at her.
"...This road runs straight from the prison where the patients were held to the Imperial Palace. A large force of demons almost certainly came this way."
He was right. The corpses littering the street were covered in bite marks, stab wounds, and ragged tears.
"I do not know why they are heading for the palace, but if we leave them alone, an enormous number of demons will fuse their bodies together. If that happens... the disaster will be truly catastrophic."
Kenis remembered the rats she had seen in the Holy City—those horrific masses that had stuck themselves together like clay into single writhing lumps.
"Ah! Ruel! Ruel is at the palace!"
Kenis's cry was almost a scream. Ruel had stayed behind in the palace with the physicians to treat the Demon Plague.
Demonic looked toward the distant silhouette of the Imperial Palace.
"We can only hope the child got out safely. Priestess Ruel has the Morning Star Staff—she should be all right."
"But she will not be able to hold out for long!"
"Exactly. Which is why we must reach the palace as fast as possible and help them."
Demonic spurred his horse harder.
After a long hard ride they finally saw the defensive line the soldiers and knights had formed.
...No. It was not a defensive line.
It was the aftermath of a disaster that had already torn through.
Demonic's brow furrowed deeply.
"They have already broken through... Hurry. We must reach the palace."
He urged the horses on again.
Having received a hurried summary of the situation from Kenis, Iscal's jaw hung open.
Demons? Curses? The Emperor and the Crown Prince too?
The scale was ballooning at terrifying speed. Iscal felt a little dizzy.
He had wanted to form close ties with the people of the Holy City... but not like this.
Get a grip, Iscal! This is an opportunity. Everything depends on how you handle yourself from here! If you play it right, you might even become the Paladin's disciple!
If he just stayed sharp and stuck close to the Paladin, he probably would not die.
...I won't die, right?
The front of the Imperial Palace was pandemonium. People who had fled the palace in haste packed the grounds; the wounded moaned where they lay.
Caesar, who had arrived first, was already directing them, establishing a defensive position before the palace gates.
Kenis and Demonic picked their way carefully around the patients lying on the ground, searching for Ruel. Fortunately, among the crowd they spotted that distinctive pink hair.
"Ah, Ruel! Ruel!!"
"Kenis?"
"Ruel, thank goodness! You're safe!"
"Waaah! Keniiis—!"
The moment Ruel saw her, she came toddling over at full speed and threw herself into Kenis's arms. Dirt and dust covered her from head to toe; tears welled in her eyes.
"Ke-Kenis! I was so, so worried— hic!"
"There, there. You did well, Ruel. I'm so glad you're all right."
While Kenis was comforting her, Friga suddenly popped out of nowhere.
"Oh. What, you're here?"
"My lady?"
"Yeah. I was sleeping when everything outside got crazy all of a sudden. Figured something was off, so I grabbed the kid and got out."
Apparently Friga had been napping in an empty room and had pulled Ruel out with her. Kenis offered her sincere thanks.
"Thank you so much, my lady. We owe it all to you."
"Ah—no, I mean... it's not really something to thank me for."
Friga scratched her cheek, looking awkward.
In the distance, Demonic finished speaking with Caesar and called the group over.
"Kenis—! Friga! Everyone, over here!"
They hurried across. Demonic's expression was grim. Beside him, Caesar looked ready to collapse at any moment, his face ashen.
"Listen carefully. A large force of dem—... of mutated patients has already entered the palace. They will almost certainly fuse and mutate further, then come pouring out. Prepare for battle at once."
Only then did the dense ranks of soldiers and knights ringing the palace gates come into focus. Tension hung thick in the air, as if a demon might burst through the sealed doors at any second.
Thoom...
A low vibration rolled out from inside the palace.
Thoom... Thoom...
The tremors drew steadily closer. Something enormous was coming out. The ground shuddered lightly under its weight.
"Do not falter!! Trust the comrade beside you and raise your shields!!"
Knight-commanders moved among the ranks, steadying the restless soldiers.
Then the vibrations accelerated.
Thoom— Thud—! Thud—!
The massive thing closed the distance at speed—
—and CRASHED straight through the palace gates, revealing itself.
"Ah... aah..."
"Merciful gods, how... how is this possible."
Its colossal body blotted out the sun and cast a vast shadow. A gigantic violet mass. Across that hideous bulk, the faces of people in agony were pressed in like grotesque brands.
— Kieeeeeek!!!
From what might have been its head, the demon loosed a hideous, wailing shriek. Bubbles swelled and burst again and again across its lumpy surface; thick arms and legs jutted out at random angles and flailed wildly.
Squelch—
With a wet, sticky sound, the topmost part of the demon's head split open.
And from within, something slowly began to emerge.
"Ah...?"
Caesar's voice was hollow with horror.
A human shape gradually took form on the demon's brow. Like a snake hatching from an egg—slow, viscous, deliberate.
A boy's upper body slid free.
It was Julius, the Emperor's only son. His eyes were closed as if in peaceful sleep.
Then those closed eyes slid open.
His gaze wandered left and right until it found Caesar.
"No... no..."
Caesar wished the moment would simply stop.
Even if his heart were torn apart, it could not hurt more than this.
He would rather have died himself.
"Fa...ther... hun...ting... pla...y..."
Julius's head fumbled the words out one by one. Caesar understood perfectly.
The last promise he had made to his son.
A hunting game.
"No....!! No!!! Aaaaah!!"
Caesar clutched his head and screamed. It was as if he had stepped straight into a nightmare. No—a nightmare would have been kinder.
— Kihihihihihek!! Kihihihihihi!!
The demon flailed its arms and legs as if mocking Caesar, savoring his agony.
It was a moment straight out of a nightmare.
Once again the red-haired woman appeared in my dream, hounding me to run a raid. Have I really been living this obsessed with the game?
Am I a gaming addict?
"No, look—"
I started to speak, then actually looked at her. Blood was smeared thick around her mouth as if she had been coughing it up, and deep wounds covered her entire body.
Anyone could see she was not all right. I recoiled.
"W-wait! Are you okay? There's blood—blood everywhere!"
At my words the woman casually wiped her mouth. She smeared the blood away as if it were nothing and looked at me.
"I was quietly listening to what you were saying earlier and got so worked up that I spoke without thinking... Please do not concern yourself."
"What? You cough up blood just from talking?"
"...I consider this a light consequence. I dared to speak out of turn, after all..."
She wiped her mouth again. When I stared at the wounds scattered across her fair skin, she gave a bitter smile.
"This is penance for my irreverence. Though it was necessary, I still dared to harm ■'s sacred body... so I performed a rite of atonement."
Only then did I notice the whip lying at her feet. A full-body shiver crawled up my spine.
I had heard that fanatics in the old days used to flagellate themselves as penance. Now religious zealots were showing up even in my dreams?
"Uh... well..."
"O ■, there truly is no time. The ■ of the Spiri■ does not permit many words... even this is being blocked."
Static seemed to swallow parts of her speech. No—I had definitely heard them... and yet I had not.
She urged me on with desperate haste.
"O ■, there truly is no time left. You must run the raid at once. That is the only hope."
The red-haired woman kept pressing me to run a raid.
Her voice calling for another raid grew fainter and fainter as I felt myself slowly waking from the dream.
"...Nngh—"
I rubbed my heavy eyes and sat up. With a foggy head I slowly retraced the dream.
A dream where someone kept telling me to run a raid.
...
Maybe I should cut back on gaming?
I seriously wondered whether I had a gaming addiction.
"...Well, maybe I'll just run a raid first."