Chapter 84
Chapter 84
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 84
Chapter Title: The Name of the End: Johan (5)
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The leader of the Eight Sword Society, Raparia, had personally confronted countless mysteries over her long life.
The world was vast, but knowledge was shallow.
Thus, there were things that defied understanding no matter what.
To a long-lived being like her, the anomaly before her eyes clearly belonged in that category.
A sky shrouded in darkness.
The universe revealed beyond the fractured heavens.
In a world where an endless black sky stretched out, Sword Ghost Raparia gazed at the "something" before her.
- …….
Thud-!
A grotesque lifeform writhing and pulsating.
If one gathered living flesh to weave a coffin for the dead, would it look like that?
The flesh coffin before Raparia throbbed violently, expelling its pulse outward.
Thud, thud-!
The human shape contained within the coffin of life radiated a dangerous aura detectable even from outside.
A chilling energy rippling so intensely it made her skin crawl.
Raparia's lips parted, her sharp voice booming forth.
“Black mages of the Magic Research Society! What madness are you attempting……!”
Her eyes, fixed on her demon sword, glared at the researcher standing before the altar.
The doctor's face twisted into a sinister smile that turned the stomach.
Around him, thick darkness undulated.
Crackle, crackle-.
Darkness poured down from beyond the split sky.
As the viscous shadows slowly spread toward the altar.
The doctor, facing Raparia, spoke in a leisurely tone.
“Honestly, don't you think it's far too late to quibble over that now?”
“What are you——.”
“But the world needs compassionate souls like me to stay warm. So, I'll kindly explain it right here.”
Heh heh heh-.
The doctor spread his arms wide, letting out a chilling laugh.
The scene around him already seemed far removed from anything normal.
A collapsing, corrupted world.
His gleaming eyes shifted as he opened his mouth wide toward Raparia and declared.
“From this moment, I will summon a god to this place.”
“A god… you say you'll summon……?”
“Yes, indeed—! The great law transcending human cognition—the incarnation of magic that guides the foolish with wisdom— I shall bring it here!”
The doctor's arms rose as if to support the heavens.
His madness-filled eyes darted about.
Thud, thud-!
From the altar behind him, an even clearer pulse erupted outward.
“You of all people must already know! It's far too late to stop the ritual now!”
“No way, that thing……!”
“Exactly. You can vaguely sense it too.”
“…….”
“Still, do as you please. Even if you force the ritual to stop here, all that happens is you and everything around you get obliterated.”
Feeling a prickling sensation, Raparia's gaze turned to the altar behind the doctor.
The deranged black mage's ritual had already reached its final stage.
Far too late to interrupt by force.
Even Raparia, with her limited knowledge of magic, could tell that much.
Halting it now would only summon something even more twisted in his place.
‘What monster is he trying to call forth……?’
Grit-.
Clenching her teeth, Raparia raised her demon sword into position.
Her tension-filled eyes quickly scanned the surroundings.
'Fine. I'll deal with it somehow right after the ritual ends—.'
Shing-.
A chilling sword cry rang out from the sharpened demon blade.
Yet the doctor, seeing this, didn't so much as blink before opening his mouth.
“Stand in awe! Marvel! Simply give thanks that you can witness this moment with your own eyes!”
“Shut that filthy mouth……!”
Raparia's fury erupted in a shout.
Mocking her, the doctor's words continued.
“King of those who seek miracles! Guardian of knowledge! Your servant beseeches your descent to this place—!”
A simplified descent ritual recreating the black mages' sacrificial rites.
Words serving as the invocation spilled from the doctor's lips.
A prayer to a transcendent being.
The resounding incantation declared the ritual's completion.
Boom! Rumble rumble boom—!
Soon, a beam of light tore through space, slamming into the flesh coffin.
- …….
Crackle, crackle-!
Black lightning spread in all directions.
Magic remnants refracted in the warped atmosphere.
Amid the intense heat, the flesh coffin burned away.
Sizzle-.
Beyond the pitch-black coffin wreathed in black smoke, Raparia's eyes soon made out a human form.
“Ah…….”
A sigh escaped her lips.
Something cloaked in jet-black magic filled her vision.
Magic waves so dense they made her skin prickle.
The target of the long descent ritual revealed itself from beyond the thick smoke.
Step, step-.
A young man with cracked skin emerged outward.
A black-haired youth with sharp eyes.
Around the human-shaped youth, sticky black darkness continued to spread.
“Great One, we celebrate your return to the earthly plane.”
Seeing the youth step out, the doctor knelt on one knee, a deep smile on his face.
Like greeting a master returned after ages, the mad researcher showed utmost deference.
No trace remained of the frenzy that had gripped him moments before.
Hoo-.
Gazing at his necrotizing skin, the youth exhaled bloody breath from the corner of his mouth.
- “Doctor. This vessel seems extremely unstable.”
Something wearing human skin.
Its voice rippled outward as clear waves.
The moment Raparia heard it, she felt a will burrowing into her mind.
It wasn't any human language she knew.
It was 'magic.'
Magic to implant one's will into another.
The doctor, facing the monster's will, bowed his head and replied.
“My humble servant's abilities fell short, preparing an inadequate vessel for the Great One.”
- “I see. Even this vessel isn't enough.”
Crackle, crackle-.
As he spoke, the youth's skin continued cracking and crumbling.
A transcendent being conveying will, not words.
Raparia had never encountered such a thing in her life.
Everything defied human norms.
The collapsing body, leaking magic, even the enveloping aura—all were utterly alien.
'I can't… breathe……!'
It was a calamity in itself.
An unprecedented disaster humans could never face.
A ridiculous monster that dominated the entire space just by existing.
Hoo-.
Raparia's breathing faltered against the monster.
“Hah…….”
Her mind, beginning to cloud with confusion, frantically assessed the situation.
It was a monster.
To bind something like that to the earth, something on the level of the World Tree's fruit would indeed be needed.
But had something gone wrong during the ritual?
The monster that had descended to the earth didn't seem complete.
Its visible form made that clear.
Its youthful body was still cracking and crumbling bit by bit.
'Right now——.'
Sword Ghost Raparia's eyes gleamed.
It might be possible now.
If that monster was still incomplete—.
She might be able to slay it and sever the mad researcher's neck.
'Right now, I might be able to kill it.'
Hah, ha-.
Raparia's gaze fell to her demon sword.
She still had stamina left.
She could swing her blade at full power once more.
So, wielding her demon sword to cleave the enemy before her should be possible.
“———.”
Raparia's consciousness accelerated to its limit.
In the slowing world, her hand tilted the sword.
Slash. Shatter.
Such resolve filled her chest.
Boom-!
The moment Raparia's legs pushed off the ground to charge.
- “How rude.”
“Ah……?”
Will flowed from the youth's mouth.
Immediately after, Raparia's vision shook.
Thud—!
Everything in her sight vibrated once.
Tilting vision.
Demon sword slipping from her fingertips.
With tremendous pressure crushing her body, Raparia's form was already on its knees.
“……!”
Clatter, roll-.
The demon sword tumbling across the floor entered her sight.
She had been about to leap straight ahead just moments ago.
But the immense pressure bearing down made it impossible.
Grip-.
Her hands, infused with all her strength, couldn't break free from the pressure pinning her body.
“Aaahhh—!”
Crack-!
Under the immense pressure, Raparia's right arm snapped.
Groan-.
Tears welled in Raparia's eyes.
Feeling her joints creak, her terror-filled eyes looked to the monster before her.
- “Once.”
“…….”
- “Mercy is granted only once.”
The youth's emotionless eyes looked down at Raparia.
Meeting that gaze, she understood.
She lived only because the monster had whimsically spared her.
Swipe-.
Arrogant eyes pierced through her.
- “There will be no next time.”
What spilled from the youth's mouth was a warning.
A warning to Raparia.
A threat that any further movement here would leave not even a corpse.
Ah, ah-.
Her hand trembled faintly amid pained groans.
The swordswoman's hand, which had swung blades her entire life, couldn't even grip her sword under the crushing pressure.
'Swinging… my sword… is impossible……?'
The gap between her and the monster was vast.
Like an adult watching an infant's antics.
———.
Countless emotions spread through her chest.
Fear. Regret. Despair-.
As the chain of negative emotions continued.
The footsteps of the monster in human guise moved on, leaving Raparia behind.
- “Doctor.”
Step, step-.
The youth's eyes, descending from the altar, now turned to the doctor.
The monocled doctor raised his head, beaming as he met the youth's face.
“Yes, Great One.”
- “How long can it hold?”
What flowed from the youth's mouth was a question.
How much longer his imperfect body could endure.
The doctor's hand adjusted his monocle.
Click-.
Looking up, the doctor replied.
“The body is disintegrating. At most, another two minutes.”
- “I see. That's enough time to drag it down to earth.”
Hearing the remaining time, the youth spoke indifferently.
A question bloomed in Raparia's mind, still kneeling.
Drag it down to earth—.
What exactly did he mean to drag down?
Before she could find an answer, the doctor's hand grasped the shoulder of the fallen Raintas.
“Great One, if it pleases you, may I request translocation with the research equipment to another location?”
- “Granted.”
With the curt reply.
The doctor rose to his feet.
Vrrr-!
Space twisted for a brief moment.
Soon, as the spatial rift fully vanished, the doctor was no longer there.
“……!”
Raparia's trembling eyes stared at where the doctor had stood moments ago.
Nothing remained there now.
Not the altar, nor the doctor, nor Raintas, not even the chimera—.
All had vanished cleanly.
In a mere instant.
And the monster that wrought this scene still stood before Raparia's eyes.
- “Then, watch from there from now on.”
The great incarnation of magic—.
The doctor's words about the being before her echoed in Raparia's ears.
The youth's indifferent eyes looked up to the sky.
Crackle, crackle-.
Black magic spread around him.
Sharp wounds branched out like tree limbs from where the magic extended.
At last, the youth gazing at the sky quietly declared.
- “From now, I will drop the mobile fortress.”
An arrogant declaration brimming with hubris.
Raparia's face hardened upon hearing it.