The Saintess Awakens (4)
"Joseph! Joseph! Snap out of it!"
Joseph opened his eyes at the familiar voice of his younger sister.
Leah was right in front of him when he came to. He clutched his head and pulled himself up.
"Goddammit… where the hell are we?"
"We're in the Holy See's summoning chamber! Why are YOU in the Saintess's Awakening Hall?!"
"Why, well……."
Joseph muttered curses as he pieced his memory back together.
"Hirei Berit came to the estate… the Gold Cardinal, and then——"
"They say your sister qualifies as a Saintess. What the Saintess's awakening requires is your life, or your father's. So tell me — what will you do?"
Yes, that was exactly what the man had hissed at him.
Joseph had already known the conditions for a Saintess's awakening.
How?
Because he and Leah had overheard it together.
They'd come home from sword training as children and walked in on their mother and father mid-conversation.
"You're telling me the Saintess's awakening requires a living sacrifice?"
"It's all right, Silvia. Don't make that face. Even a powerless man like me has this one path open to him as an Eschua. I am truly proud that I can do even this much — for my daughter, my son, and our House."
That was the day he learned everything.
That his father would become a living sacrifice for Leah's awakening.
Leah, who had once sworn she'd become a Saintess just to see the Skeleton Demon King with her own eyes, lost her drive after that. She never so much as mentioned the Demon King again — the man she'd claimed she was desperate to see.
Joseph's affection for House Eschua withered the same day. Not that he ever let on that he knew the secret of the Saintess's awakening, but he'd resented his father ever since.
"Why do you bow so deeply to House Eschua, Father? What has that House ever done for you?"
"Joseph. Isaac's father — the eldest son of Eschua — has disappeared. With my brother gone, I, as the second son, must take up the mantle of the firstborn."
"What does Uncle vanishing have to do with YOU? In the end, Eschua is the House that's going to kill you."
These were the people who would feed their own kin to a god for a Saintess's awakening — and dress it up as some noble sacrifice.
Manufacturing a Saintess was madness enough already. And a living sacrifice? On top of that?
House Eschua is insane.
So when the Gold Cardinal came, Joseph had offered himself up as the sacrifice in his father's place.
And then——
"Useless like your father, and yet it turns out even you had your uses."
!
Joseph had learned the Cardinal's true intentions only as he left the estate behind him, a final letter tucked away for his family.
"Fucking hell. So the bastard knocks me out cold and locks me up in here… this is a ritual chamber in the Holy See?"
"That's right. I got dragged here for the Saintess's awakening, felt your energy, and slipped out. There's no way a man who's soured on Eschua would set foot anywhere tied to the clergy — so what are YOU doing here?"
What was he doing here.
"I came to see what the face of a god that eats living sacrifices looks like."
"!"
Joseph ground his lips together.
His original plan had been to bolt from House Eschua the moment his father died. But well — after meeting Isaac, he'd changed his mind.
"That little runt… no, wait. He's not so little anymore. Anyway, the brat barrels headfirst into everything, no matter what it is."
And that had given him the courage to try it himself, just once.
"I was going to land a hit on a god."
"What?! Are you insane?! How do you even fight a god?!"
"Gods hate magic more than anything. And of all magic, they fear the Skeleton Demon King's above all else."
"!"
"So I snuck into one of the Holy See's forbidden vaults, stole something of the Demon King's, and smuggled it out. If you and I both tuck it in our shirts, the god's stomach will get an upset."
Joseph patted his chest, and Leah nearly retched in horror.
"How could you do something so — so ISAAC-like!"
…So it really was that much of a scumbag move, huh?
Hey, comparing him to Isaac is going too far!
"Weren't you the one obsessed with Isaac?!"
"That's a completely different thing from this!"
"Tch. But wait — this isn't the Awakening Hall. It looks more like a storeroom……."
Joseph scanned their surroundings, and then his eyes went wide as something clicked.
"Leah. Where's Father?"
"What? Father should be at the estate?"
"……Shit."
He could see exactly how the situation had played out.
Leah, dressed in the ceremonial vestments for the awakening.
And himself, locked in a storeroom.
"The Gold Cardinal never intended to use me as the sacrifice. He used my letter to bait Father into coming."
"That can't——!"
And at that very moment——
"You have it exactly right. Benjamin Eschua is already in the ritual chamber."
"!!"
At the all-too-familiar voice, they went white as sheets. The one who pushed open the storeroom door was none other than the Gold Cardinal himself.
"Couldn't even last this long without bolting, could you, Leah Eschua?"
"Hirei Berit!"
As Joseph moved to step forward, Leah cracked him over the head and snatched up whatever was nearest at hand.
She was a Saintess — anything she gripped became a weapon.
Wooden staff in hand, she planted herself in front of Joseph like a shield. If it came to it, she looked fully prepared to kill the Gold Cardinal right there and make a run for it.
Faced with that murderous intent, the Cardinal let out an awkward chuckle.
"Calling the head of your faith by his bare name now, are we? You would raise your hand against a god? A messenger of the gods, sworn to bring down the Skeleton Demon King, drowning in petty personal feelings?"
"Ghk……!"
At the wild, feral gleam in Leah's eyes, the Cardinal smiled the way one smiles at a cornered cub baring its claws.
"Do not mistake us for villains."
"!"
"The Five Faiths each serve somewhat different gods, but in the end we are merely factions under one roof. We share the same great purpose — dealing with the Skeleton Demon King — which makes us family. Allies. Yes, Blue and Gold are bitter rivals, but we are still on the same side. Would you truly betray the divine camp?"
"……!"
"The Demon King must be dealt with. Even now, as you stand here, countless souls are dying at his hands."
The Gold Cardinal extended his hand with a show of magnanimity.
"You have exceptional talent, and the god looks upon you favorably. So I shall grant you, specially, a choice. Which shall it be — your father, or your brother? Which of them shall we feed to the god?"
"Ghk……!"
"And for this occasion, we'll let the Saintess have it her way."
Leah, who had been listening, could evidently bear it no longer — she poured a torrent of raw holy power into the wooden staff.
KWAAANG!
Murder filled Leah's blue eyes.
She was another one whose thinking had changed after meeting Isaac. No longer resigned to the fate she'd been handed — resolved to defy it.
If this time I become the sacrifice in place of my own flesh and blood, then maybe — just maybe — this insane awakening rite will change a little too.
"If you can't even protect the person standing right in front of you, what makes you think you can protect anyone else?"
The Gold Cardinal heaved a weary, profound sigh.
"And that is precisely why you think the way you do."
With those words — thooom — the ground seemed to buckle beneath them. Leah wobbled for an instant, then collapsed like a marionette with its strings cut.
"Leah!"
"Fear not, the rite will proceed. I have merely stolen the will from her body."
"What did you say?"
"We deliberately offered you the choice, to prepare your heart, lest you awaken incorrectly. A wasted effort, it seems. Truly, one must never give a weapon room to think."
The Gold Cardinal glanced down at Leah.
"Humans are weak creatures. Give them a moment to think, and their minds begin to wander. Take, for instance — 'I don't want to kill the Skeleton Demon King.'"
"……!"
Sharp as he was, Joseph grasped the meaning of those words at once.
"Wait. Is THAT why you feed them living sacrifices? To keep them from thinking other thoughts?!"
"Precisely. Feed a Saintess her own kin, and she carries an indelible karmic debt for the rest of her life. She gained her power by devouring her own family — how could she possibly fail to kill the Skeleton Demon King?"
A sneer curled across the Gold Cardinal's face.
"Out of sheer shame before the family who were sacrificed for her sake, and the family she has left, she will be incapable of any stray thoughts. She will devote herself wholly to the Demon King's destruction."
"!!"
And if the sacrifices had given themselves up of their own free will, for the Saintess's holy mission, there would be no escaping it at all.
It would be even better if a farewell letter accompanied them — one begging her to deal with the Skeleton Demon King in their stead. Fail to kill him, and the letter curdles into pure guilt, strangling every stray thought even tighter.
And should she be told that the Gold Faith comforts the souls of the very sacrifices she devoured? Why, she'd be as obedient as a lamb.
"So count it an honor. Because of one little Saintess's defect, our great god has graciously deigned to partake directly of humble morsels such as yourselves."
"You raving lunatic——!!"
"And did you not, in fact, start thinking stray thoughts the moment I left you be for even a moment? Hiding that you'd reached the 9th Tier, for instance. Control and discipline are the only answer."
Why, you——!
The instant Joseph opened his mouth to retort, a great BOOM split the air as light crashed down from the heavens. It was the descent of a god.
The Gold Cardinal summoned his subordinates.
"It is time. As planned — Benjamin Eschua shall be the living sacrifice, the Saintess shall awaken, and she shall be sent to the Skeleton Demon King."
He plucked the Demon King's relic straight out of Joseph's shirt.
"Scheming with cheap tricks like this."
The Cardinal stared at the relic, and for a moment he seemed almost lost for words.
"Using your enemy's possession to strike at your own allies. House Eschua overflows with nothing but rebels, every time I look."
Even so, this is going too far…….
"Ah, right — it's all because of that Isaac Eschua, isn't it."
As the man looked down at Joseph with an expression of utter disgust, Joseph ground his teeth.
Yes, he knew perfectly well how absurd it was. Cursed by the Skeleton Demon King, they hadn't even the strength to protect their own father or sister.
And yet using that very power was a contradiction. He knew that.
But still——!
Please… somebody, save us!
At the sight of him, the Gold Cardinal sneered.
"Rebels, the lot of you, with no sense of your own place——"
And then——
FLASH!
"!!"
Light burst from the Demon King's relic in the Cardinal's grasp.
The Cardinal stared at it, dumbfounded.
Huh? Why is it——
And in that very moment——
CRASH!
"!"
The doors of the Awakening Hall blew open.
And the one who came striding through them was——
"Grandfather!"
At Joseph's shout, Eli gave a curt nod.
"Good, you're both safe— GACK!"
Isaac stomped clean over Eli's head and bolted out past him.
"Grandpa, quit blocking the hallway and MOVE! My food just showed up right over there!"
You little—! Seriously!!