Arcane Secrets? What's So Hard About That? (4)
A bloodcurdling scream tore through the air. The God of Light knew at once exactly who had just spoken to her.
Isaac raised an eyebrow, plugging one ear against the shriek that threatened to burst his eardrums.
“Seriously… what's her deal, screaming the second she sees a skeleton—I mean, a person?”
But the God of Light was in full meltdown.
“My oracle! What happened to my oracle—why are you the one answering!”
Isaac's lips curled up mischievously.
“Your oracle's asleep right now. So I came to keep you company in his place. How've you been the last hundred and fifty years?”
The sacred flame began to slink away, dimming at the edges.
“…The person you are trying to reach is not available. Please try your call again later…”
Isaac smiled sweetly and leaned down to whisper into the unconscious Shuri's ear.
“Shuri, my boy. Shall we walk the path of the dark priest together? If you can contract with the God of Light, the Skeleton Demon King should be well within reach.”
“AAAAH! NOOO!”
With that scream, the God of Light scrambled back into the sacred flame in a panic.
She swallowed her tears in silence. Even she couldn't say where exactly it had all gone wrong.
It was a hundred and fifty years ago, was it? Even back when rumors spread that the Skeleton Demon King had been sealed, she'd only half believed it.
“The Skeleton Demon King, sealed? As if anyone in this world could seal that skeleton menace.”
But if it were somehow true—well, wake him up after fifty, a hundred years or so, and maybe that rotten temper of his would have mellowed a little. That was what she'd thought.
And then came the shock.
“What do you mean, they're using the Primordial Arts?!”
The moment she realized the seal was built on a fraudulent contract—an ancient spell that trapped its victim inside a maggot—she'd known this was wrong and rushed to stop it.
But on the way there, her consciousness had been severed. When she opened her eyes, there was only darkness.
She couldn't move. She couldn't use her power. She sent revelation after revelation to the Blue Faith, and not even her voice got through.
Groaning in a darkness like being buried alive in a coffin, she'd finally recovered a sliver of her strength—barely enough to peek in on House Eshua.
That had been roughly ten years ago. Finally, she'd thought, she could check on her oracles. And then—
“Hey, Snookums Shuri. You wanna get wrecked?”
“AAAAAAAH!”
What the hell!
Why is the Skeleton Demon King in my family's house?!
She'd recognized the soul at a glance, and the God of Light had come completely unglued.
Why was the Skeleton Demon King wearing the form of a human suckling babe—no, wait, that wasn't the point!
House Eshua is doomed!
The Demon King, of all creatures, born into a family of priests!
So she'd desperately sent thoughts to every single Eshua—starting with the Matriarch, then Rillai, all of them—That one is no good…!Sense the danger quickly…!There's a wicked Satan hiding inside your own walls…!
“Oh, our precious Isaac! Surely you're the one fated to save House Eshua!”
“Yes! Young Master Isaac is the very light of Eshua!”
No! You're doomed, I tell you—no, wait, that's not it either!
That brat came to destroy House Eshua!
But those damned oracles had apparently tossed their faith straight out the window, because not a single one of them heard her!
Even Melissa! Even the Matriarch!
“Why doesn't the God of Blue send us revelation?”
“Has he truly abandoned us?”
You damn brats! I'm screaming my throat raw right now! You're the ones who can't hear me!
And so the God of Light had been forced to watch the Skeleton Demon King and her oracles through eyes brimming with tears.
As if that were all. When Isaac declared he'd wring the Pope's neck, she'd nearly lost her mind entirely.
That boy… left to his own devices, he'll bring down the whole empire.
No, before that, House Eshua would fall right into his clutches! And it was at that moment she'd met a child who could actually hear her voice.
“My oracle…! Can you hear me…!”
“Gah—who's there?!”
It was Shuri.
“An oracle who can finally hear my voice…! O gods, I thank you!”
She had been so overjoyed she was praying to gods as a god herself, and she'd rushed into a contract with Shuri, pouring revelation after revelation into him.
That place is dangerous…. Stay away from the Skeleton King…. Stay away… that place is dangerous…. More or less along those lines.
But her freshly-contracted oracle was so hopelessly naive that he couldn't parse the meaning!
“Try going back. I'll corrupt your oracle on the spot. Corrupt him into a dark priest serving the Skeleton Demon King.”
“AAAAH! NO!”
The God of Light wailed.
How did I manage to pick a contractor like this…!
“I'm begging you… leave House Eshua alone, at least…. You skeleton.”
“Let's see you try.”
Isaac cut straight to the point.
“So where are you, anyway? Really still in that maggot?”
“I don't know… it's terribly dark in here.”
Yeah, figures. It's a maggot, after all.
Isaac nodded and moved on to his next question—something that had been nagging at him ever since he'd heard the God of Blue was trapped in the maggot.
“The gods thought I was the one in there, and they tortured the maggot for it. Don't tell me you got tortured too?”
But the God of Light just blinked, as if he'd said something incomprehensible.
“What? Tortured? No? Nothing of the sort has ever happened to me.”
Isaac tilted his head.
No torture?
What the hell? Was the maggot's hide really that thick…?
It was the gods' fault, of course, but a friend of his was technically locked up in that thing in his stead. He'd been feeling slightly guilty about it, honestly.
Well, at least she didn't suffer, so that's something?
[Not really? Between you and me, Master, I'd say her psychological suffering is beyond all comparison??]
Hmm, well, with a trustworthy, diligent friend like me looking after the family, I'm sure she's resting easy.
[You are the biggest problem here, Master??]
“I don't know why, but something is wrapped around me on all sides… it feels like mana….”
Isaac's expression grew even stranger.
Mana?? In the God Realm?
What on earth were the gods up to in there?
Not that it mattered much. That wasn't the important part.
“Can you get out of there?”
Now was the critical question. The God of Blue had to be freed first—only then could the Blue Faith wield its power, whether for the arcane secrets or anything else.
But the God of Light was sorrowful.
“My will cannot move so much as an inch right now.”
Isaac nodded.
Yeah. Expected. The God of the Penal Code had already briefed him on Calamity Annihilation—in other words, the 'Maggot Seal'—through The Wrecked Genesis. The divine beast had delivered the ancient tome along with the elixir, and he'd thoroughly absorbed every principle of the spell.
Any other god would have scoffed at the notion of principles—they'd simply memorize the incantation like a schoolboy cramming and fire it off. But Isaac was different.
Archmages, and even the God of Magic himself, had swallowed their pride and come crawling to the being known as the Skeleton Demon King.
I've got the principles down, and the decryption's finished. At this level, I could adapt it and build a spell to break the seal outright.
Except there was one small complication.
Yep. Still beyond what I can manage on my own.
It was no accident that the ancients had needed this spell to seal the Skeleton Demon King.
[It's the highest-difficulty spell in existence, isn't it?]
Right. Honestly, even as the Demon King, it would have been beyond him.
Casting the seal, sure, that would've been doable. But unmaking it was a whole order of magnitude harder. It was a sealing spell designed from the ground up never to be broken, after all.
Well—in this Saint's body, he was probably strong enough now, but…
It would take time.
He'd need to be at least 9th Tier in magic, minimum.
[Master, you're currently stalled at around 6th Tier, aren't you?]
As a Demon King he could wring out higher power by pushing the body past its limits, but there was a ceiling.
He could theoretically cover the gap by borrowing dragon power—except, of course, the dragons had a standing bounty on his head. Ugh.
In short: freeing the God of Blue was going to take a good long while.
But if the God of Blue stayed sealed, he couldn't use the arcane secrets, and…
…and then I can't become Matriarch.
Hmmm.
Just as Isaac's face was twisting into a complicated scowl—
“Still—I think I can send power now!”
“What was that? You can send power?”
“Yes! The connection's open! I have a workaround!”
Ohhh!
Before the words had even finished leaving her, the blue sacred flame surged high into the air.
Isaac flinched back a step from the firestorm with a strangled khek—but then the flame's sparks changed shape and came drifting down like snow.
They were feathers made of light.
[Oh! Aren't those the feathers of the God of Light!]
The God of Light's voice brightened with joy.
“With the power I have now, that's all I can send—but with that, you'll be able to draw strength directly from my body!”
“!”
What the God of Blue had sent was a conduit.
Normally it was the god who poured power into the oracle—but in these circumstances, she'd provided a medium so that her oracles could draw the power out themselves.
To put it in terms even I understand: she handed over a ladle and told us to scoop from the well ourselves.
With this, the arcane secrets were absolutely within reach. He'd be able to wield a god's power—which meant he could upgrade every other Eshua's strength too.
The God of Light spoke to him with an air of gratitude—and, at the same time, of expectation.
“Give that to my contractor, Shuri. If that boy grows with it and becomes Matriarch, the Blue Faith will grow strong as well.”
“Oh? You want me to make Shuri the Matriarch?”
“Yes. It won't be the whole of my power, but the Blue Faith will be able to draw on it. With your skill, you could surely raise Shuri to the seat, couldn't you? Help him get me out of here.”
“And what do I get if I spring you?”
“What do you get?! I'll pull you right out of that body and educate—ah, no. I mean, we'll have a nice, friendly little chat.”
At that, Isaac—feathers already raised to his lips—broke into a wide, slow grin.
“I can spring you. Just not right now. It's not like Shuri gets strong overnight, right?”
“Yes, I understand that much. I'll help however I can in the meantime….”
“Actually, forget it—I'll rescue you. I'm already building a sealing spell to crack you loose.”
“Really?!”
“So I'll be taking these feathers, thanks.”
“…What?”
The God of Light froze—and realized something had gone very, very wrong.
But Isaac just snickered.
“Relax. I'll come save you soon enough. Right around the time I take the Matriarch's seat, give or take?”
“WHAT?! Matriarch?!”
“What's the problem? A hundred years is, what, a few years' wait for gods? Leave House Eshua to me and sleep tight. I'll help myself to your power as needed.”
“Wh—wait a moment?!”
“Oh, and one more thing. If you blab about me to Snookums Shuri, I'll never dig you out. Ever.”
“W-wait…! You skeleton?! No! Wait! Listen to me! Hear me out!”
Isaac's lips curved into a plump, satisfied smile.
“House Eshua? I'm raising it nice and plump so I can feast on it myself.”
The Goddess of Blue screamed.