You're Too Late
"You're too late. My plan is already complete."
"A plan? You summoned something? I don't see anything."
"It simply hasn't descended yet. The ritual itself is finished."
Redion spoke with a thoroughly self-satisfied look.
"Then why aren't you dead?"
"Do I look like the sort to tell you? Heh heh..."
Yujun had been keeping his senses honed to a razor's edge, but he couldn't detect anything out of the ordinary.
"I don't feel a thing. You're bluffing, aren't you?"
"Hardly. The moment I die, a mythic being will be summoned."
"Sounds more like you just don't want to die."
"Try me."
Yujun studied Redion's eyes. The man didn't seem to be lying. If what he said was true, things could turn considerably troublesome, and if it was a lie, killing him on the spot was the better play. Neither was certain.
He ordered Paranet to bring Atradeon.
"What is the matter?"
"Atradeon, come take a look. He says that the moment he dies, it'll be summoned right away."
"You speak of the mythic being?"
"Yes. Does it sound like a lie to you?"
"It would seem he used his own body as a catalyst."
"So that moves things up even further?"
"It may hasten the summoning, or delay it. He has no cause to delay it, so the catalyst is surely meant to bring it forward."
"Is that actually possible?"
"Staking one's own life upon the choice may be difficult, yet serving as a catalyst in itself is not."
"So what he's saying is true?"
"The likelihood is high."
Yujun swallowed a groan.
"What should I do? This catalyst business is magic, isn't it? Isn't there a way to get rid of it?"
"If even you, who command Ancient Magic, cannot employ it, then it is plainly not magic."
"This is getting troublesome. Should I just kill him?"
"Little time remains on the ritual. The mythic being will be summoned at once. Can you withstand it?"
"I've already handled it once, so a second time shouldn't be beyond me. The problem is that once that thing is summoned, the Demon God's revival speeds up..."
"Even so, it would hasten matters by a few days at most."
"You know about this too, Atradeon? That there are Demon God Worshippers, and that the Demon God is going to revive?"
"We have clashed with those Demon God Worshippers without cease. How should I not know?"
"I see."
Hearing that Atradeon had fought the Demon God Worshippers made the old sage suddenly seem reliable.
"I've decided. I'll kill him."
Yujun had pulled his sword free and was an instant from driving it in again when Redion sucked in a ragged breath.
"W-wait! You're really going to kill me? Do you truly wish for that being to be summoned?"
"You want it. I want it. So does Atradeon. All of us want it. What reason do I have to spare you? What — planning to beg for your life now?"
"Hmph. For His sake, I can die as many times as it takes."
"Then die."
He drove the sword into the left side of Redion's chest.
"Guhk!"
"Why isn't this guy dying?"
His throat had been pierced. His heart had been pierced. Yujun was certain the man still had sensation, and just as certain this was no illusion — and yet Redion did not die. No matter how immense his vitality, no one walked away unharmed from a blade through the heart.
"You will regret this! In my place, He will mete out your punishment!"
Yujun poured Chaos into the sword.
"If you endure even this, I'll acknowledge you."
Thuk.
"..."
At last, Redion's breath broke.
Chaos was a master key for every lock.
"He was so confident I half thought he might actually be immortal."
There had been something uncanny in the way Redion faced death without flinching. He had taken a sword through his vitals twice and still clung to life, and though Yujun had no idea how that was possible, the answer, as ever, had lain in Chaos.
The moment Redion died, a tremendous vibration rose from the altar and traveled at once into the floor beneath their feet. Atradeon staggered.
"Are you prepared?"
"Please stay well back. Leaving this place entirely would also be a sound decision."
"You intend to face it alone?"
"If you stay, you'll get caught up in it, and that's dangerous."
"...Is the creature truly so strong?"
"I wouldn't know. I just have a bad feeling about this."
His instincts kept sending the same warning: get out of here. He almost never felt anything like it, which meant the thing about to be summoned was that strong. Atradeon could not remain at his side. He would only be in the way.
Atradeon nodded.
"Very well. I shall withdraw, for your sake."
"You almost seem happy about it."
"Ahem... It is not that I prize my life so highly. I merely fear I might prove a hindrance to you."
"Please go. Quickly."
He had already received Manuela's blessing beforehand, and he had sent her a message telling her to evacuate as far away as she could.
Yujun was, uncharacteristically, quite tense. Something on a level that could not even be compared to Balrog was about to appear, and so he summoned Balrog.
"Graaaaaah!"
"Ow, my ears. Why are you yelling like that?"
"Why did you call upon me only now! Do you have any idea how much I had to say to you!"
"I wasn't planning to call you at all. I just figured it was about time we said our farewells."
"Hmph. So your hour of death has come at last. May every day that follows it be nothing but agony."
"I'm not the one leaving."
"What?"
"You've been struck from my list of summon candidates."
"A summon? What nonsense is—"
"I was going to reform you and take you along with me, but it looks like a better candidate has turned up. So I'm throwing you away."
"Human. Do you scorn me too lightly? A summon candidate... If your aim was to wound my pride, consider it a success. I could kill you this very instant."
"Then why aren't you?"
"..."
"You know it too. You aren't my match."
Balrog was strong — strong enough that, Yujun aside, he had never once met an equal. And that was precisely why he understood it so well: he could not defeat this small human. It was also why the arrogant demon did not lunge at him on the spot. He had no wish to be sealed inside that orb again, either.
"Who knows. Prove your worth is exceptional, and I might not discard you after all."
"Ha. Hahaha."
Balrog laughed as if he could not believe his ears.
"You would have me fawn and curry favor, merely to look well in your eyes? I would sooner die. That will never come to pass."
Balrog would not bend his pride. It was exactly the reaction Yujun had expected — the demon had always been that sort — which was why he had meant to discard Balrog and claim a new summon here. Even if the mythic being called forth in this place refused to be docile, it was certainly stronger than Balrog. Unless it was a growth-type summon like Paranet, neither of them would obey, so if he had to choose, the stronger one was better.
"Want to die here, or fight alongside me?"
"Fight whom?"
"A mythic being."
"...!"
The demon's eyes went wide.
"You summoned another mythic being? You fool..."
"It wasn't me."
"Did you not just speak of making it your summon?"
"I only happened to find this place. You think I'm crazy enough to do the Demon God Worshippers a favor?"
In truth, he could have stopped the summoning ritual itself. He had simply killed Redion for the sake of what he stood to gain by capturing the mythic being.
"Well... it has been some time. I would not mind loosening these limbs of mine."
Balrog said it as though he had no other choice.
"Not very honest, are you."
A sneer touched the corner of Yujun's mouth, and Balrog was just about to bristle when the mythic being finished manifesting in full.
Grrrnnk. Grrnk.
The stone slab atop the altar ground around with a harsh, grating roar, and a figure of no great size revealed itself. It was a woman, skin white as snow, her body wrapped in a long black cloak. Her features were cut so sharply she might almost have been mistaken for a man, but her build left no doubt she was a woman.
"Hm. Small, and she looks weak. I could deal with her alone."
At Balrog's words, Yujun snorted.
"What are you laughing at?"
"From where I'm standing, she's far stronger than you."
"With that little body? Hmph. Don't make me laugh. Besides, most magic does not work on me."
"I'm smaller than you, and I'm stronger."
"Put it that way, and I have nothing to say. But if the enemy is a mage, she cannot be my match."
"We'll see."
For a while, the mythic being did not move. Yujun raised his sword, meaning to subdue her quickly — and that was when it happened.
"Hah. The Black Sorceress."
Atradeon's voice suddenly rang in Yujun's ear. He looked around, but the sage was nowhere beside him. Yujun grasped what had happened at once.
"You're using magic?"
"I am. Are you not using it yourself, even now? Remarkable, truly — to take a spell you have never once cast and apply it on the spot like this."
"It's already in my head, thanks to a skill."
"Even granting that, it is by no means an easy thing. Players ordinarily suffer at least a few trials and errors."
"..."
That was probably the Genius trait's doing as well, but it wasn't what mattered.
"What's a Black Sorceress? Is she a mage?"
"Similar, and yet somewhat different."
"Different how?"
"Sorcerer, or sorceress — those are titles borne by ancient mages, and only by those among them who were truly great."
"Ancient mages?"
A glint came into Yujun's eyes. Wasn't Ancient Magic his specialty, right after swordsmanship?
"Hold on. Was this woman, the Black Sorceress, summoned from the past?"
"That, I do not know. But to summon someone out of the past... it may well be possible."
"What?"
Had they gone and built some kind of time machine? How could that even be possible?
"I can state with certainty that summoning a being from the future is impossible. The past, however, may be another matter."
"Both look impossible to me."
"In theory, it is possible. And sorcerers and sorceresses are people who do not exist in the present age. They have not shown themselves for several hundred years at the least. Well? Do the pieces not fit together rather neatly?"
"I thought mythic beings were summoned from other worlds."
"One cannot say so for certain. They might be beings of another realm, or beings of the past."
"If someone from the past is summoned, wouldn't history change a great deal?"
"There is a historical record that the Black Sorceress vanished all at once, at a certain moment. In that age, only one person was called the Black Sorceress. So if the being summoned now is she, history will not be overturned. She was already set down as having disappeared."
"You're saying the records describe her as vanishing from history because a Demon God Worshipper summoned her?"
"That is my conjecture."
"It's a plausible one."
"A request, if I may. Could you subdue the sorceress without killing her? She would make a most excellent specimen..."
Another strange request. Yujun cut the link.
"This is an important moment. Could you keep quiet for a little while?"
"Tch."
The Black Sorceress, who had been staring blankly, came back to herself.
"A balrog and an undead... a curious combination. Oh? There's a race I've never seen before, too. What a peculiar shape."
She looked at Yujun as if he were something rare. A figure out of the past, perhaps, who had never known a human.
"What are you doing? You're not moving."
Yujun spoke to Balrog.
"Hm? What's this, all of a sudden?"
"Hurry up and hit her. You said you could win."
"I did, but..."
"You're not scared, are you?"
"Don't be ridiculous! Ha! This time, I shall show you plainly just how great my true power is."
The combat-power gauge — no. Balrog charged the Black Sorceress.
"There you go. Good boy."
Yujun smiled, thoroughly pleased.