Leaving Home Is a World of Pain, Like I Said
"Getting nervous?"
"...A little."
Where the pillar of light rose skyward, in this place where countless offerings had been laid down, two beings stood side by side — one of them the caster of the ritual, High Priest Blen.
"I'm worried about Miho."
The other was the raccoon beastman sitting willingly at the very center of the ritual, offering no resistance. At those words, Blen let out a hollow laugh.
Worrying about someone else when he might cease to exist at any moment. If Miho hadn't formed a bond with this creature first, the sacrifice demanded might have been even worse than this.
The pillar of light had already begun sipping away at the souls of the offerings, little by little. It wasn't the complete set of sacrifices, but it had reached the threshold where the ritual could be performed, so there was no problem. Time had long since been bought.
The only ones exempt from being drawn in were the former priestess, Miho, and the current priest, Blen. Every other living thing here would become material for sealing the beastman who carried that monster inside him forever.
'The beastmen will be born again.'
The seeds of the beastman race had already been secured. Once Blue-Ring was fully purified, they could simply flourish anew. Naturally, the priests — the ones who would have to lead those foolish children — could not become offerings themselves.
'Blue-Ring is closer to a "Source" than a living being.'
Countless beastmen believed Blue-Ring possessed a self, that it was a god watching over them all, but in truth it was nothing more than a crystallization of power. An unimaginably vast strength, gathered together and coalesced into a single will. That was what Blue-Ring was.
And that was precisely why, even after learning the true culprit, Blue-Ring had not stopped this with its own power. The Source trusted its priests far more than anyone would expect — they were, after all, beings one could actually talk to.
Of course, Blen had always been ready to repay that trust in full.
'I will heal you.'
"Miho will be back before you know it."
"If I disappear, will everyone truly be happy?"
"They will. The thing inside your body is harming every beastman family, Blue-Ring included. You could never hope to contain it on your own."
Blen had made ready to unleash offensive rituals and magic at a moment's notice in case anything went wrong, but the raccoon beastman simply sat there, smiling brightly.
"That's a relief, then! If only I'm gone, everyone will be happy!"
"......Indeed."
It wasn't as though they hadn't tried. They had studied countless ritual formulas, searched desperately for some way to seal it that stayed within the bounds of sanity.
Killing it was impossible. He had no idea how a body that small contained such a horrific power, but if they destroyed it, that power would erupt out into the world. If it did, Blue-Ring aside, everything here would be swept away and annihilated. For two priests devoted to survival and glory, it was a future that must never come to pass.
Blue-Ring's power and that black aura were fundamentally incompatible, so borrowing Blue-Ring's authority was out of the question as well. In the end, sacrifice was unavoidable.
'...It has to be done. The generations can be made to flourish again. As they always have been.'
"She's a terrifying woman."
He had merely explained the plan, and she had accepted her situation so easily, so coldly. It had been almost funny, watching her act so conscientious after that. But then, that was exactly why she had accomplished so much and lived out her days as a recluse.
"A terrifying woman?"
"...Something like that. More importantly — you know what you have to do?"
"Yes. I'll hold it back as best I can."
Once the sealing began in earnest, the black aura inside him might sense the anomaly and try to break loose. When that happened, the boy would have to keep as much of that power from escaping outward as he could.
"Remember this. If you fail to hold it back, not only Blue-Ring and the beastmen — Miho will not come out of this unscathed either."
"Miho..."
"Then — begin."
Tik-tak. Tik-tak. Tik-tak.
Starting from the raccoon beastman's taut expression, the sealing that Miho had laid down began to unravel. A black something exhaled its distant, unfathomable aura, as if the very notion of being suppressed were laughable.
But the pillar of light barred his way again before the black aura could spill free. The darkness that had sought to break out into the world was swallowed back into the light.
'It's working!'
A smile crept across Blen's lips. Once the sacrifices scattered throughout the forest were absorbed, everything would be over. Things had gone badly off course, but at long last, the plan they had set in motion so long ago would succeed—
"Hm?"
Huuuush~
The wind rose. Far too violent to be any natural wind. And riding that wind, something came flying in.
Blen's eyes went wide.
"Blue-Ring...?"
Blue-Ring's power, felt all the way here. Impossible. Blue-Ring had never once intervened, even in the moment its own body came under attack. It could not possibly be wielding its strength now. And besides, that was a long, slender—
"...No. That isn't Blue-Ring."
'The Second!'
KWAJIJIK!!!
The spear came hurtling like a bolt of lightning and buried itself in the pillar of light.
Cracks spiderwebbed across the light pillar in the middle of its sealing and absorption. The ritual formula — the sealing it had so painstakingly stacked for ages — fell out of alignment. The pillar of light began to collapse.
"...!"
"Impossible — this can't be—!"
Gritting his teeth, Blen slammed his staff down into the earth. Hands wrought from Blue-Ring's own flesh burst up around him and wrapped themselves around the pillar of light, shoring it up as best they could.
But no matter how he strained to hold it, a seal that had once collapsed could never be stitched back together.
"Kghhhh—!"
"B-Blen, my body's — something's wrong—"
"You mad human!!"
The monster was coming loose. The deranged human had ruined their plans and slain the First, and now that wasn't enough — she was setting out to destroy the sealing itself. Blen poured out everything he had and screamed into the empty air.
"Do you have ANY idea how important this is?!"
"Blen, please—"
"It can never be done again! This seal is a necessary evil, I'm telling you!!!"
"A necessary evil?"
The Second was standing before the light pillar, already half-shattered. With a pristine white hand, she caressed the crumbling light, then turned to look back at Blen.
He snatched in a breath.
"Yes... this is a necessary evil... something that must be done by someone, no matter what... and it was we who shouldered that great work..."
He didn't have enough strength left. This sealing had failed. Because of that human.
"You... you know nothing of great works... the only sacrifice that matters isn't the one you can see before your eyes..."
"......"
"A few hundred now... but tens of thousands yet unborn will live because of it... That is what is right. Kgh — so even now, if you would only let the sealing—"
"And why should that be your responsibility?"
"...What?"
The Second's hand slipped inside the pillar of light. The spear came free, inch by inch — and from it seeped an aura that raised the hair on his skin.
"Keeping even Blue-Ring in the dark about the truth... no, I suppose 'keeping in the dark' isn't quite right. The Source trusts you the way a child trusts its caretakers."
"Watch your tongue! A wretch like you could never hope to understand the grandeur of—"
"That's enough. I've already heard every last detail of your plan."
The spear slid out. The light pillar, barely clinging to life, shattered completely — and beyond it, behind the raccoon beastman, the true boss of this place revealed itself.
The child looked up at me with eyes full of confusion.
"Who are y—"
Squish.
A spear so pale it had passed beyond azure into pure white pierced the child's heart without a shred of mercy or hesitation.
The child coughed up black blood. The priest screamed, then kept screaming until his voice curdled into something inhuman.
He had been so certain the fool would make the stupid choice — save the boy and the sacrifices, both — but reality had unfolded in precisely the opposite direction. The worst possible future, the one he had prayed would never draw near, had arrived right in front of his eyes.
The black aura went berserk. Swept up in the tide of darkness, I allowed myself a small smile.
'It's been a while.'
My body was sinking. Every sense I had sank, and sank, and sank again. If I just closed my eyes now, I would sleep... forever... just like... th...
Ripple.
Ripple..
Ripple…
Rip─
"How long do you intend to sleep?"
My eyes snapped open.
I shot upright. The balance of the golden, gently rippling water shattered, and there before me stood a golden statue wearing an extraordinarily foul mood. Utterly, comically tiny compared to its true body.
"...I was starting to wonder if everything had vanished. Quite a few of our residents ran away from home, after all."
"Lily Elbrit. You are as insolent now as ever. But first, let me correct something you just said. This place is not a home, and we are not friends."
"Prisoners, then?"
"......"
"Just kidding."
Seeing it again after so long, and it still couldn't hold its composure.
I snickered and rose to my feet, taking in my surroundings. Aside from the golden ripples and the dark crimson sky, it was a void in which nothing else existed.
"So it's just the two of us?"
"It is. Everyone else vanished long ago."
"How much time has passed since then?"
This was the space where all the ancient beasts and dangers I had sealed away lived on. Each of the sealed weapons had met its end differently, but this place had become a kind of meeting ground where the lingering wills of the fallen gathered together.
I had assumed every last one of them was gone.
'Until I met Karabus.'
"I couldn't say. But thousands of years, at the very least."
"......"
"You have grown weak to an almost alarming degree. Were the children of Heaven not meant to grow stronger as time went on?"
"It doesn't always work that way."
I gave a bitter smile. The statue gazed up at the sky.
It had been red, originally. But the moment I entered, that red had darkened into a deep, bloodstained crimson.
"What did you drag in this time."
"A demon — or a Shadow Spirit. Though it hasn't technically been caught yet. For now I've just tied it up; the education comes later."
"Then it is no demon."
"Right. If it were a demon, tying it up in its current state would be impossible to begin with."
Hm... what else was there to say...
"Oh, right — I caught Karabus too. I imagine he'll be joining us here before long."
"That crab bastard? The first to run off, and the first to be dragged back in?"
"Like I said, leave home and you're in for a world of pain."
"This 'home' of yours. Home, home, home..."
Leaving the sighing statue behind me, I turned to make my exit. As things stood, the only way in was to seal something of sufficient caliber, and if I didn't get back outside soon, the misunderstanding would only keep growing.
"Wait."
"Yes?"
"From the looks of it, you have no divinity. No spear like that monster's. Nothing at all."
"That's right."
...Was it?
KUGUGUGUNG…!
The statue began to swell. Still minuscule next to its true form, but more than enough of a burden for the me of right now.
"In your current state... it would seem suppressing your subconscious and escaping this place is well within my power!"
"......"