When the Seal Breaks (1)
The head of House Eshua could only stare, flustered by the words that had come out of nowhere.
Sylvester? Of all names?
It was hardly surprising that he balked. Sylvester had been a Pope from several centuries ago, one of the most revered sage kings ever to sit on the papal throne.
Of course, to the Blue Faith, he had been a figure of pure infamy.
Why? Because Sylvester was the man who had executed an Eshua Saintess, erased her name from history, and tried to wipe the Blue Faith from existence entirely. Using her supposed "corruption" as a pretext, he had dragged the entire House of Eshua into a heresy inquest with the intent of annihilating them.
Mind you, the moment the Skeleton Demon King razed Delos and rose above the surface, the whole affair had somehow been smoothed over and quietly buried. In a sense, you could say it was the Skeleton King who saved House Eshua from destruction.
But why dredge up a man dead for hundreds of years? Puzzled by the grave look in Eli's eyes, Sapien furrowed her brow.
"That's what I've been trying to tell you. Something smells."
"!"
"We Holy Dragons know the aura of every Pope who ever made a covenant with a god. And I'm telling you, I can sense the scent of a man who should already be dead—here, inside the Empire. Coming off the current Pope himself."
Eli couldn't believe his own ears.
What? Who? The current Pope? That fraud?
"You don't mean Brutio?"
"I do."
So that was why Sapien had brought this up out of the blue—!
At the same instant, her eyes gleamed.
"The current false Pope has no legitimate claim to the papacy, which is why he's been wielding Sylvester's Stigma. Do you really think that's a coincidence?"
"...!"
Once she'd laid it out that far, there was no way Eli could fail to catch on.
And he didn't.
"Yes. It's entirely possible that it was the ghost of Sylvester who ordered his younger brother to kill the true Pope—Yulio, your friend."
"......!!"
Eli's face went rigid.
Come to think of it, the theory held water. No one knew exactly what had happened on the day Yulio died. But twin or not, was it plausible—by any stretch of common sense—for a younger brother to murder his elder and take his place, without a single soul ever finding out?
In other words, it would have been impossible without someone's help.
"Of course, where he's hiding, I can't say. But this much is certain: a ghost who should have returned to the dirt may still walk, meddling in the affairs of the Holy Empire—by putting hirelings to work in his stead."
That was the exact moment it happened.
BANG!
A killing intent so suffocating it threatened to crush the air from their lungs. It was intense enough to send a stab of terror through the leader of the Blue Faith—and even the leader of the dragons.
Startled, both of them whipped their heads toward the same spot. The door.
When it swung open and the figure beyond came into view, Eli couldn't hide his shock.
"...Isaac."
Glowering at them with a thunderous expression was the youngest of House Eshua. A mere human had opened a door and walked in—yet they both suffered the hallucination of being swallowed whole by some nameless monster.
With a look none of them had ever seen on his face before, Isaac spoke.
"What? Who?"
Crushing, suffocating malice, pressing down on the two leaders like a mountain. A prickling charge in the air made it hard to breathe.
Under that pressure, both Eli and Sapien momentarily forgot to breathe.
Terrifying. How can that possibly be the killing intent and fury of a sixteen-year-old?
And all of it over the name Sylvester? The heads of the Five Faiths who steered the continent, one of the Four Great Dragons—overwhelmed by sheer presence alone? Eli was startled in that instant, and found himself wondering who this child actually was.
Isaac, meanwhile, was feeling something vile and exultant churning in his chest.
Sylvester.
How could I ever forget that bastard?
He's the one who stole my friend. My brother.
Sensing the black rage rolling off Isaac, Eli called out to him.
"...Isaac?"
At that call, Isaac's face cleared as if nothing had ever been wrong. Arms crossed, he flashed a grin.
"Sapieeen. Whatcha doing heeere??"
Sapien stuck out her lower lip in a pout.
"Grandfather-in-law and I were discussing our wedding."
Eli turned to stare at her, dumbfounded.
"He is not your grandfather-in-law."
"Grandfather-in-law says he'll set a date for us."
"I never said that."
"Grandfather-in-law says he'll name our children for us."
"How many steps are you skipping, exactly?"
At that, Sapien bowed her head with impeccable courtesy.
"If you will simply grant us your blessing, I shall take full responsibility for producing the grandchildren myself."
Isaac could only gape at the spectacle.
Unbelievable.
The moment word reached him that Sapien had gone to see Eli, he'd sprinted over in a cold panic. With the rat-hole—the Gate—he'd installed in the Crown Prince's garden, reaching the Eshua estate took exactly one step.
Anticipating that he'd refuse the marriage and coming to sweet-talk the family elders first: excellent strategy, truly. But well.
Doesn't matter what you say—our grandfather hates dragons.
Thanks to the whole Melissa affair, Eli couldn't even stomach sharing a table with that side of the family.
Leah knew that too, which is why she'd told Isaac, who dreaded the marriage, not to worry. The old man was going to shoot it down regardless.
So Isaac let out a long, crescent-moon snicker. Sure, he'd come haring over just in case, but still.
As expected of the head of House Eshua.
Look at him—he opposed the marriage so devotedly it was almost touching.
Yes, yes. At the end of the day, Grandfather is the only one I can count on...
"Give me only your grandson, and on the name of the Holy Dragon Clan's leader, I swear I will mold him into a model heir who honors Grandfather-in-law in all things."
Pfft. Useless, kid. Our grandfather's not the type to fall for honeyed words like th—
"...Really?"
"?!!"
The moment Eli wavered, a desperate scream tore from Isaac's throat.
"Grandpaaaa! Don't fall for that kind of crap!!!"
"Name your terms."
GRAAAANDPAAA!!!
Perhaps it was the phrase "reforming Isaac's character" that proved so irresistibly tempting. The instant Eli's eyes changed, Isaac grabbed Sapien by the arm and hauled her away in desperation.
"You. No funny business. We're going to my room. Now."
For once, Sapien let herself be dragged along, flushing red.
"Your... room? Oh! Is it that kind of invitation? It's a bit sudden but... f-fine. I'll prepare my heart..."
Oh, for—!
"Or... would you rather I take the lead?"
"NOOOOO!"
AAAAAH! I'm losing my mind! I swear I'm losing my mind!
Once outside, Isaac found Shuri waiting in the corridor beyond the parlor, his face a mixture of relief and exhaustion. After all, the moment Isaac had arrived at the estate, he'd grabbed Shuri by the collar and demanded, out of nowhere, 'WHERE IS SAPIEN?!' The boy had every right to be exasperated.
"Never mind that, Shurikins. Keep her out of the estate from now on."
"...How exactly am I supposed to bar a dragon? More importantly—is it safe to get close to you now?"
"Huh?"
Shuri studied Isaac's face carefully.
It had been fine, guiding Isaac back to the estate and to wherever Sapien was—except that, of all things, the conversation inside the parlor had turned to the Pope.
And then: Sylvester.
The moment that name left their lips, Isaac's entire face had transformed.
A side of Isaac he had never once seen... no, honestly, that presence, that killing intent, was the most terrifying thing he had ever felt in his life.
Those True Demons he'd glimpsed back in Delos?
No. They didn't even bear comparison.
Shuri had genuinely believed some formless monster was standing before him. Even the continent's foremost swordsman, had he been there, would have shrunk to a kitten before Isaac in that instant.
Frankly, Shuri had thought he might die just from standing nearby. Small wonder he'd been so nervous.
"...It's safe to come near you now, right?"
"Quit talking nonsense."
Just then, Whisper raised a question.
[Is the ghost story that dragon told actually true?]
'A Holy Dragon said it, so it can't be a lie.'
Isaac gave a scornful little laugh.
That dog of a Sylvester. The mastermind behind everything, still alive.
'If it's true, then he's been surviving by some means or other, quietly steering the Gold Faith from the shadows. Propping up a puppet Pope so he could meddle in the Empire's affairs.'
And banishing the Holy Dragons from the capital, no doubt—terrified that his presence hidden within the Holy Empire might be sniffed out.
'That's why the Gold Faith was so obsessively fixated on erasing the Blue Faith. Now it all makes sense.'
[Pardon?]
Sylvester had been a Pope who wanted the Blue Faith exterminated from the very beginning.
'And besides, a human from several hundred years ago still walking around today—that's not natural by any sane measure...'
Isaac's lips curled upward.
'He may well have laid hands on the forbidden.'
Possibly, by becoming an undead.
If that were true, it would be a delicious irony.
The ragged skeleton who had once been among the dead had become human—and the man who had once basked in glory had become a shambling undead in rags.
'And undead crumble like poisoned rats in the face of the Blue Faith's power.'
[Then...!]
The Blue Faith wasn't called the faith of exorcism for nothing, after all.
Hunting demons—undead above all—was the Blue Faith's signature specialty.
Maybe that was exactly why Sylvester had schemed to drive the Blue Faith into a corner: if he really had become an undead, the Blue Faith would pose the greatest threat to him personally. Well, whether the bastard actually existed was something he'd have to investigate.
Either way, if there was one thing that creature had overlooked, it was this: of all the places in the world, Isaac had been born into that very Blue Faith.
'Puh-huh. Couldn't have worked out better for me.'
Isaac's eyes glittered dangerously.
True, he held a grudge—but the man was already dead, and hassling his descendants would have weighed on what remained of his conscience.
'As the Lord of the Undead, I'm going to show him a very personal vision of Hell.'
At any rate, he now had one more reason to see his awakening through.
Isaac turned to Shuri.
"Shurikins. It's not urgent, but have the Papal Court searched. Look for anyone who smells of dirt."
"Dirt?"
Then Isaac looked at Sapien.
All because of the Awakened God of Darkness, of all things.
'Even a lesser god is still a god. I need contingencies.'
So Isaac addressed her.
"There's a lot I need to teach you. Shuri will bring the tools, so let's start right away."
Sapien averted her eyes, bashful.
"...Tools? So that's how it is...? Is the young head of the Blue Faith into that sort of thing? Understood. I'll make a careful note of it."
"......."
AAAAARGH!! I'm going to lose my mind!
Around that time, Noel was making his way into the underground chambers connected to the Eshua estate.
This was the place where House Eshua had locked away its most jealously sealed arcana. Darkness gathered here that even the Eshua family—who had fought demons on the front lines and learned their nature firsthand—could not withstand.
Why do you suppose the Eshua are called the faith of endurance?
To resist the temptations of demons, to discipline oneself with brutal severity—that was the very essence of the Blue Faith.
Yet even those who tempered themselves into vessels of the highest devotion had been seduced in a heartbeat, and destroyed, before this darkness. It was no accident that House Eshua had given up on this place.
Because of that, entry to any member of House Eshua had been strictly forbidden, and access was difficult even now.
No—more than difficult, no one had ever bothered to approach it. Even Isaac had found the place troublesome to deal with.
For Noel, however, things were different.
"Isaac. How dare you humiliate me?"
Noel had come seeking the Awakened God of Darkness, looking utterly delighted with himself.
"Let's see you die as a living sacrifice, shall we?"
The next instant.
Noel unsealed the Awakened God of Darkness.