When the Seal Breaks (4)
The innocence drained from Isaac's eyes in an instant, leaving something bone-chilling behind. At that very moment, the magic core inside him roared to life.
The corners of Isaac's mouth curled up as he wrenched his mana loose. He had already been swallowed deep into the dark—there was no longer any reason to mind who was watching.
No, more accurately—there was no reason to bother holding his power back.
A violent surge of magic erupted outward.
BOOM!
The next instant, the power of the Awakening God of Darkness—the very power that had been trying to devour Isaac—was hurled back.
— Ghhk!
With his power rendered useless, the god was visibly rattled.
What is this? Why did it bounce off? Only darkness itself should be able to repel my darkness.
But that was precisely why a venomous fury began to seethe within him.
— So this little sprout has been scheming to subdue me from the very start, has he?
At this point, it couldn't be mere meddling with darkness. The boy had to have made a contract with the demonkin.
— Despicable. Utterly despicable! I expect shameless faith that stops at nothing, but this? A contract with the demonkin?
"!"
— Hmph. You've clearly got a decent head on your shoulders, but did you really think that would be enough to bring me to heel?
As if to show the boy exactly what he was made of, the Awakening God of Darkness let his power run wild.
— This strength was meant for the gods alone, but so be it.
And with that, the god plunged directly into Isaac's body. His intent was to corrupt the boy's soul from the inside out.
CRASH!
The purer a thing was, the more easily it could be defiled—or so the saying went, and in truth, the Awakening God of Darkness had found it far easier to corrupt gods than mortals.
Why?
Because the power of "awakening" worked by slipping into a being's very essence and upgrading the strength that lay dormant there.
Which meant he was, by nature, a god better equipped than any other to crawl inside someone's soul. And thanks to that, there was nothing quite so deliciously thrilling as dragging down gods who strutted about claiming they would be different.
— Now, scream for me! Weep and beg for your life!
The god poured his darkness directly onto Isaac's soul, then began savoring the delightful things to come.
Ordinarily, a soul exposed to the power of its natural opposite would convulse violently.
Yes, at first there would be the convulsions—
"?"
—?
Far from convulsing, Isaac was picking at his ear. The god tilted his head.
Was that too weak?
— Again!
The Awakening God of Darkness doused Isaac's soul in darkness once more.
That time, he poured it on with real force.
Yes, at this level, the mind should shatter and—
"?"
—……??
Not so much as a twitch. This time Isaac was lazily scratching his belly, tilting his head right back at him.
"What are you doing?"
—???
Flustered, the god dumped his entire strength into a single blow.
— I was going to play with you slowly, but fine! I'll just kill you outright!
A searing darkness spread across Isaac's soul. As if flung into the abyssal deep, the soul was crushed first, then the heart and brain froze over, and the body began to die.
Perhaps it was the sheer violence of that impact—Isaac toppled over backward and lay still. For all the world, it looked as though his breath had stopped.
The god sneered, as if to say, see for yourself.
— Had you not made a contract with the demonkin, I might have spared you! Well, for a human, it was a commendable attempt—
But in that very moment.
"What have you been babbling about this whole time? What contract?"
—?!
As Isaac pushed himself up off the ground, the god went rigid.
He's— he's alive?
But the astonishment didn't end there.
"Still, for a god, that was about massage-grade."
…What did he just say?!
— Y-you, a mere human—why isn't the darkness taking hold of you?!
At that, Isaac burst out laughing like a madman.
"Darkness? You call that darkness?"
He patted his own chest as if pitying the god who had crawled inside his body. And when that hand came to a stop, it was the exact moment Isaac's eyes turned truly terrifying.
"You dare speak of darkness with this much?"
— This much? What the hell are you—hrgk?!
In an instant, the god inside Isaac's body felt the air leave his lungs. Then the god—who had been trying to claim dominion over Isaac's soul—let out a scream.
An endless, boundless darkness spread out before him. It was the feeling of believing you stood atop some colossal island, only to realize the ground beneath your feet was an eye. A vast, fathomless sea of it stretched to the horizon—nothing like the pitiful darkness he commanded.
The darkness that every living creature carried?
No. This was nothing so tame.
Darkness itself.
No human could possibly possess a darkness like this. No—in all his existence, he had laid eyes on darkness of this magnitude exactly once.
Among the countless Demon Kings, the one deeper than the abyss, the sovereign of all death. The ruler of darkness whose very existence was annihilation.
THUD!
…It couldn't be!
The instant a certain face flashed through his mind, the god frantically examined Isaac's soul. And when he finally grasped its quality, he froze solid.
— Aaagh!
Realizing the truth, the god fled from Isaac's body as if running for his life.
Certain. It's certain!
As a god who drew out and corrupted the abyss sleeping within others, he recognized it faster than anyone could have. This darkness belonged to the worst existence the gods themselves had never dared touch—
the being outside every rule. The gods' very existence.
— Y-you… you're—!
Watching the shadow-blob tremble violently, Isaac's lips curled upward.
"I told you already, didn't I? All you are is something that prods at and draws out the darkness living creatures carry."
Isaac unleashed his magic on the spot.
Isaac's murmur fell like a whisper from below—
⟨ Black Rope Hell ⟩
⟨ Binding ⟩
Black chains erupted from the ground beneath the god's feet.
KRRRSH!
With crushing force, the chains seized the Awakening God of Darkness without mercy.
CRACK!
— Aaagh!
The god tried to flee, but there was no chance at all. Isaac smirked and called out again.
⟨ Black Rope Hell ⟩
⟨ Gatekeeper ⟩
Behind Isaac, the hand of a monstrous creature materialized—a sinister hand of the dead, as if woven from black mist. Without a shred of mercy, it dragged the god out of the writhing darkness.
What came clutched in its grip was a nameless god—long of head and gaunt of frame.
The god shrieked in a panic.
— All right! I was wrong! I'll withdraw! I swear I'll never touch House Eshua again!
"What a load of crap."
— What?
Isaac seized the god by the hair, smiling wickedly.
"And where exactly do you think you're going? You've still got to awaken me!"
What is he saying?
"You've spent all this time lazing around instead of doing the one job a lower god is supposed to do for humans—so now it's time to work, isn't it?!"
Isaac drew the Golden Rod from his belt, wound his whole body's mana into it, and brought it smashing down on the god's head.
CRACK!
— Ghaak!! W-wait, hold on—!
CRACK!!!
— AAAAGH!!
"So! Are you going to awaken me, or what?!"
— Are you insane?! Who awakens the Skeleton Demon King?! Have you lost your mind?!
"Oh? Then go ahead and die. Amen."
Isaac's eyes gleamed, and the hand of the dead he'd summoned slammed down on the god.
BAM!!
The god screamed.
— AAAAAGH! Fine! Fine, I'll do it!
Isaac's face brightened at once.
"Yeah? You will? You'll get to work?"
— Yes! I'll awaken all the people of Eshua—ghak!!
"Goddammit! Is failing to understand a single damn word a genetic trait of you god bastards?! Not them—awaken ME, you idiot! ME!!!"
…Damn it all…!
Meanwhile, the uncles were in a state of utter disarray.
They had attacked the barrier the Awakening God had thrown up to swallow Isaac, but not a single blow so much as scratched it. Rillai and Benyamin ground their teeth.
"Damn it—if this were a Saintess awakening, someone would already have been eaten as the living sacrifice…!"
"…So that's why Isaac asked us to hear him out!"
None of them had imagined the boy would offer himself to face the Awakening God of Darkness.
"What happens if someone is taken as the living sacrifice?"
"Kaya would awaken, most likely."
"And Kaya herself?"
"They say Leah is holding her down. If she awakens as a god of darkness, she'll slaughter everyone around her without discrimination."
Only the Saintesses could hold her back.
"Stay on your guard. Anything could happen now. The odds are that Isaac has already been eaten—but there's a chance he could go berserk as a corpse!"
At Benyamin's warning, Rillai ground his teeth and advanced toward the barrier of darkness. Shuri stared at him in alarm.
"Uncle?"
"I'll pull Isaac out of there myself. Even now, there may still be time to save him."
But at that very moment, something emerged from within the barrier of darkness that had cocooned Isaac like a chrysalis.
BOOM!
It was a skeleton. At the sight of what was unmistakably the full skeletal frame of a man, the people of Eshua turned ghost-white.
"Isaac!"
"Has he already been devoured?!"
The uncles and knights despaired.
And in the same breath, someone tore their way out through the barrier of darkness.
A man drenched in shadow.
At that ominous aura, the knights drew their swords through their tears.
"The Awakening God of Darkness!!"
"That bastard!!"
"To think he would devour young master Isaac in the end!"
But just as the knights were about to charge, something strange happened.
SHUUU.
The being they had taken for the Awakening God of Darkness gave a wave of his hand—and the thick, clinging darkness wrapped around him simply peeled away.
And the familiar face beneath it left everyone stunned.
"I-Isaac??"
Flustered, they turned to look at the skeletal bones instead.
"W-wait, then what on earth is that skeleton…? Gah!"
Shuri shrieked as the skeleton suddenly began to squirm. It was trembling violently, struggling to push itself upright.
— You vicious little bastard…….
Isaac punted the skeleton squarely in the head.
"Hey, hurry up and change back into your real form, will you? After sucking down a power that puny, seriously?"
"……?!"
Apparently, Isaac had been draining the Awakening God of Darkness dry this whole time.
In other words, he had absorbed the power of darkness—the very power the ancestors of House Eshua had spent generations trying to swallow.
Proof of it rippled ominously across Isaac's body. Of course, seen only up to that point, it might have looked like a wicked, malevolent force—
FLASH!
But the instant Isaac took the darkness into himself, a brilliant light erupted upward.
"……!"
Like a sun radiating light of its own, a radiance beyond all comparison with anything before blazed forth.
The people of Eshua had no choice but to gape. Then they hurriedly rushed to Isaac's side.
"Isaac…! What in the world happened here!"
Isaac looked up at his uncles with a soft ah.
"Oh, that—sorry about that. It was supposed to be a Saintess awakening, but I ended up awakening in Kaya's place."
"What?!"
"Our dear God of Awakening was kind enough to awaken me before eating the living sacrifice."
…I beg your pardon?
What on earth was going on?
But at the sight of Isaac standing there perfectly whole, Rillai let out a deep, shuddering breath of relief.
"I don't follow a word of it, but thank goodness regardless. As long as nothing's wrong—"
"Oh, something is wrong."
…Huh?
"I did tell you, didn't I? The god awakened me on a deferred payment plan."
…Wha-huh?
"Which means, as the price for awakening me, he now has to be fed a living sacrifice—starting right now."
At the words living sacrifice, the uncles' faces froze solid. There was no mistaking what their nephew was implying.
"…Don't tell me you mean to offer Kaya?"
"No, no. Nothing like that."
Isaac turned his gaze toward the Awakening God, who was swaying on his feet.
"God of Awakening. You did say the blood of a blood relative counts too, didn't you?"
— Yes…….
But at those words, the people of Eshua only grew more bewildered.
"Blood of a blood relative…? Setting Isaac aside, that would only be my brother and his wife."
"And those two are gone, aren't they."
Isaac let out a soft, honey-sweet laugh. Pfff.
"Now, now. Why so glum? There is someone."
"?"
"Noel. The devoted father who loves his darling daughter more than anything in this world."
…What did he just say?