Sweet Revenge -3-: The Illusion Shatters
KA-BOOM!! As we burst through the path into a clearing devoid of trees, the spot we'd just left was devoured root and stem by a tidal wave of crashing timber.
KRA-KABOOM!!! The trees' momentum was so ferocious they smashed into each other, splintering and shattering in a tangled heap.
"…"
"Phew… we barely made it."
"Are you alright, Saint?"
Matthias gazed wordlessly at the temple knights buried under the trees, his eyes filled with sorrow, while Seigen and Natsuji let out sighs of relief.
And at that very moment—
VRRRMMM!!
"Ngh!? What is this!?"
A translucent barrier enveloping the swamp, centered on the temple knights and Matthias's group, began to fade.
"No way!? An illusion spell!?"
As Matthias said, it was an illusionary barrier that hid the interior, distorting it to show a false vista. And now it was unraveling.
The world they saw flipped upside down.
The swamp, already gloomy and eerie, twisted into something even more grotesque.
GRRRK Apart from the swamp's inherent atmosphere, the lush trees that had blanketed it withered into rotten deadwood, drained of all life.
SPLURSH The water—not pure, but still teeming with aquatic plants and underwater creatures as a cradle of life—turned black and murky, bubbling with filth and the stench of rot creeping forth.
RUMBLE!! The sky blackened with storm clouds, plunging the world into rapid darkness.
And above all—
"Death aura!?"
A deathly energy permeated the swamp, repelling all living things and driving them toward demise. Even with the illusion warping the landscape, its density was so overwhelming it begged the question: how had they missed it?
"Goddess!!"
VRMMM!!
Matthias swiftly erected a barrier of holy power around himself.
KEEEK!!
KIKIKI
HEEHEEHI!!
DRIPDRIP…
The deranged cackles of maddened wraiths echoed, and the light barrier of holy power began to flicker perilously.
Seigen and Natsuji stared gravely. Unfamiliar with death aura, their bodies and instincts still shuddered at the chilling, ominous dread—it was something profoundly wrong.
"Ngh… I don't think I can hold it long… This level of death aura… Even if I'm fine, you all are in danger if we stay…"
"We need to hurry."
"But…"
Yet there was a problem.
CRACKLE…
With the illusion dispelled, tree roots—somehow crept close without notice—tangled and wove into walls, enclosing them in a labyrinthine maze with multiple paths like a twisted puzzle.
"Don't worry."
Kotono stepped forward.
"With my ninja class's tracking and pathfinding skills, we can break through this."
"Can you manage, Kotono?"
"More than enough, President."
"We're counting on you, Hero Kotono."
"Phew… Thank goodness. You're a lifesaver, Kotono."
And so Matthias, Seigen, and Natsuji followed Kotono without a shred of doubt.
She smirked, her eyes flickering an unnatural crimson, a sinister grin she hid from them.
◆◆◆
Matthias and his group navigated the tree-formed maze.
Identical scenery on all sides eroded their sense of direction; thick storm clouds blotted the sun, warping their perception of time.
But
"This way."
"Avoid that. Looks like a trap."
"The wind's blowing this direction… So, that way…"
Under Kotono's lead, they pressed on unhindered.
She guided them 'just as usual'—polite yet stiff, like the perfect secretary.
"We're truly lucky to have Hero Kotono."
"Haha, we always owe her one."
Seigen smiled in satisfaction at the praise for his subordinate's competence. She hadn't disappointed him since the pit in the Forest of Beginnings.
As they exchanged compliments and walked—
"We're here. This is the maze's 'end'."
It was fast. No telling the maze's scale, but considering the swamp's vastness and getting lost, reaching the exit in about an hour was remarkably swift.
The moment they stepped toward the exit Kotono indicated, Matthias, Seigen, and Natsuji felt it.
WHOOOOSH!
SHIVER!!
"This presence!?"
A chill like shoving your head into a massive predator's maw gripped them, an unprecedented surge of death aura roiling.
Even shielded by holy power, merely breathing felt like it would rot their lungs.
This wasn't an exit.
Quite the opposite.
CLANG!!
The holy barrier shattered instantly, exceeding its limit.
"Ngh!? Everyone, evacuate now…!?"
But before he could finish—
BOOM!!
"Gahk!!"
"Ngh!!"
"Gaaahk!!"
Matthias, Seigen, and Natsuji felt their bodies crushed by overwhelming pressure.
THUD!!
The colossal force forced them to their knees.
The explosive aura blasting from ahead made them forget to breathe.
Instinct screamed run, but their overwhelmed flesh merely trembled.
"Urgh…!!"
"Ngh!!"
"Uwaaah!!"
Finally lifting their heads to face it, they beheld the source.
'It' was there.
Its form glitched with noise, unrecognizable, yet its sheer presence hammered their minds.
"You lot."
Each syllable vibrated the air, rotting the world.
Blasphemously overwhelming death aura—like death incarnate with will and life?
The three were utterly dominated.
"In such a hurry to where?"
"Gaaaaah!!"
"Grraaah…!!!"
"Gaaahk!!"
Just hearing it twisted something fundamental inside them, blood streaming from noses in agony.
"Oh? Have I been too harsh on you? My apologies."
Snap A finger flick, and the crushing pressure vanished like a lie. The death aura slowly devouring their bodies receded too.
As if the aura obeyed it.
This was blatant anomaly.
'Manipulating external energies like they're part of its body!?'
Only Goddess Luminus or enlightened minor gods from eastern lore could do that, right?
And 'this place… the cathedral sealing the disaster beast…!!'
Shockingly, it was Matthias's destination.
VRMMM!
The goddess's temple was desecrated, now a lair for some unfathomable entity.
The aura pouring from it matched the entity's horrific emanations—and the swamp's.
Matthias knew it then.
That's the one. The culprit behind the severed communications.
"Ngh!! What have you done here…!! What did you do to the people and Saintess's remains here!! You fiend!!"
VRMMM!!
Unlike the terror-frozen Seigen and Natsuji, Matthias channeled furious holy power, steadying his quaking body, and glared venomously.
"Regrettable. Saint sir. I didn't do a thing? No, more like I helped with what you should've done. So thank me."
"How dare you call that help!! Don't spew lies, foul being!!"
"Believe or not, your call. Anyway, surprising. Those fools behind you…"
Suddenly, the fiend's aura sharpened, icy.
A gaze brimming with cold fury and malice—not at Matthias, but his body twitched anyway.
"Gahk…"
"Ngh…"
Seigen and Natsuji writhed under the redirected pressure.
"Were supposed to come alone. Guess the Saint title's earned."
Matthias realized: a trap from the start.
Shouldn't have come. Severed comms, drawing the Saint and Heroes here—all calculated.
They'd been played.
"Grraah!! Foul being!! I won't yield!!"
Yet Matthias rose into combat stance.
'Heroes!!'
'Matthias!?'
'Saint!?'
'I'll buy time!! Retreat!!'
Sacrificing himself for their escape.
VRMMM!!
Burning his final holy power, he charged the fiend.
But
"Sia. Handle it."
The fiend called, and
RUMBLE!!
Amid ominous black lightning and thunder, a figure appeared, blocking Matthias.
"!?!?"
Matthias froze in shock.
Because
"Saintess!?"
"Hau♥"
CRACKLE!!
ZZZAP!!
Before him stood the one who sealed the disaster beast, dying as the cornerstone—her remains in prayerful pose, guarding the cathedral's silence.
But now she smirked wickedly, facing him.
And the thick death aura from her—
"Undead!! You monster!!"
"Monster? Recycling's eco-friendly, no?"
"For disturbing the dead's rest!! Unforgivable!!"
"Hau!!"
RUMBLE!!
Matthias charged the wicked undead.
Black lightning lunged too.
Meanwhile
"Saint, hurry and evac…!!"
'I haven't even spent a night with Yuki yet—I can't die like this!!'
"Let's go!!"
Seigen and Natsuji moved to retreat as ordered.
But
"Gahk!?"
"Ngh!? What the—!?"
Suddenly, translucent hands from behind seized their napes, binding them.
A chilling, gooseflesh sensation crawled their necks.
"Aah~ Too bad, you idiots."
From where the pale, ghostly hands extended came a familiar voice—but laced with impossible thuggish slang.
The culprit: Kotono, who amid the overwhelming fiend showed no reaction, unlike the trembling others.
She smiled in ecstasy, unnoticed in the chaos.
She smirked—a vile, sinister grin Seigen and Natsuji had never seen.
"Ko, Kotono!?"
"Kotono? Who's that? Nighty-night~?"
The translucent pale hands drained their life force; limpness spread as Seigen and Natsuji faded.
"Hau♥"
RUMBLE!!
"Gaaahk!!"
Last sight: the pink-haired beauty punching Matthias amid thunder, his scream—then blackness.
◆◆◆
"Well done, everyone."
"Au!!"
"Uue!!"
"Fua!!"
"Dau!!"
"Nyaa~"
"Hau~"
"Mari, wipe every memory from Matthias and that bunch—about a thousand souls' worth."
"Fua~"
"The rest, lead the undead and dump the mind-wiped ones outside the swamp."
And finally
"Now, the real fun begins."
Today's Necro Meme
