The Demon Descends (2)
Beneath the dark-red membrane, not even starlight filtered in, let alone moonlight.
There was nothing in that lightless void but the glow of the campfire they had lit — and against it, only Yona's face stood out, drained deathly white.
— Decide. What will you do. If you intend to test my patience, you would do well to reconsider.
Flicking its forked tongue, Berbaria looked Yona over.
Her dull white hair hung in a complete, untamed mess, and her golden eyes wavered, lost in confusion.
She had holy power, yes — but only the kind that today's Berbaria wouldn't even bother to consider a threat.
Without a doubt, just an ordinary human. And a half-baked clergywoman of a healer, at that.
"Yona…!"
The voice was shredded raw.
At that voice, Yona looked up at the sky.
Kayak, apparently unconscious, hung limp where he was bound around Berbaria's neck, coil after coil.
On the other side, Alec was tied up just the same — and he was in a truly sorry state.
He could barely breathe; his face had gone a deep bruised blue, and blood trickled in a thin line from his ear.
Looking up at him, Yona's hand clenched into a fist and unclenched, again and again.
Alec was hanging there like that, and she was supposed to be healing him.
But with Berbaria thrusting its face right in front of her, Yona couldn't move a muscle — a mouse caught before a serpent.
"Don't… do it…! You're a priest…! Don't you dare… kneel to some damn demon… I'm— we'll be fine… Kagh!"
Alec vomited up a mouthful of blood.
Another of Berbaria's faces drew close beside his and looked him over.
— Priest, priest. What pathetic prattle, little wretch.
"Alec! Alec—!"
Yona screamed his name until her throat tore.
She had bitten down on her lip so hard that blood welled up and ran down her chin.
"Why? Why are you doing this to me…?! Why? Tell me why!"
Yona snarled at Berbaria.
Why go to all this trouble? If it had simply attacked and killed her, she at least would have died without knowing anything — an unlucky traveler butchered by a demon she'd had the misfortune to meet. A clean end.
But instead it carried on with this nonsense — accept me, serve me — and for the life of her, she couldn't fathom why.
— You are useful, human. There is a reason you must be kept alive.
Berbaria's face circled round and round her.
"U-useful? A reason to keep me alive…? What— what is that supposed to mean?"
— It matters not. You have no need to know, and I have no reason to tell. You need only accept me, as you did that thing upon your right arm.
My right arm…?
So there had been something to the tattoo on her right arm after all.
Though to be fair, it had never once caused her trouble, and somewhere along the way she'd simply stopped thinking about it.
"Yonaaa! Don't do it…! Don't…! Kgh…!"
Alec coughed up blood again before he could finish.
Yona couldn't take her eyes off it as it splattered onto the ground.
Kayak had already lost consciousness.
For all she knew, he might already be dead.
Alec wasn't far behind.
"…If I accept you… what happens to me?"
— More script shall be inscribed upon you. It will do you no harm, at the least. Seizing your corpse outright would serve as well, but consider this my final mercy.
A demon talking about mercy. Unbelievable. It just says insane things like it's nothing.
"Yonaaa!"
Alec's roar tore through the air like a scream.
"Uwaaaaaaaaah!"
It wasn't a scream.
At that bellow, Yona's eyes turned to Alec despite herself.
— Wh-what is this creature…?!
Berbaria's voice cracked with alarm. And at the end of it, from the coils binding Alec to its neck, came a low, grinding creak — slowly at first, then building.
Alec's muscles swelled as though they would burst.
Already tall and powerfully built, Alec grew larger still, hard muscle bulging, his face flushing a deep dark red.
"Yona — Yona — Yonaaaaa!!!"
Alec howled her name like a war cry and poured every ounce of strength into his body — and the grinding from Berbaria's coils grew fiercer.
In proportion, Berbaria too tore its gaze from Yona and whipped toward Alec.
— You struggle well enough, wretch—!
"You scheming piece of filth — how dare you run your mouth!"
At Alec's bellow, Berbaria flew into a rage and finally lashed its tail at him.
The tail came screaming toward Alec with a ferocious shockwave, and Yona screamed at the sight.
"Aleeec!"
BOOOM!
A sound like the earth itself being torn asunder.
A blinding flash erupted with it.
When the light that seemed to swallow the whole world finally faded and Yona managed to open her eyes—
There stood Alec before her, hammer in hand, shield raised.
"…I'll explain later, Yona."
Holy power billowed from his hammer.
Made manifest, it rippled like a rolling wave, and holy light bloomed from the shield in his other hand as well.
"Here I come, demon. Are you prepared to die?"
— Insolent wretch!
The tail lashed out again.
It slammed against his shield — and braced behind it, Alec kicked off the ground and threw himself at Berbaria.
"The Heavenly God hath declared: ye are worthless in this world."
The hammer soared, splitting the air.
Its heavy head traced shimmering golden arcs at Alec's command as it smashed down again and again, and each time Berbaria rolled desperately in every direction to evade.
"Be thou the shield of this world, that bars the wicked from its midst."
The square shield, wrapped tight in holy light, slammed into one of Berbaria's heads.
The head snapped back — and the hammer came crashing down upon it. Each blow shattered another.
"A-… Alec…?"
What in the world was happening?
Yona could only stare, dumbstruck.
It was undeniably the Alec she knew — and yet this was utterly alien to her.
Years she'd known him, and she had never once seen him like this.
Wasn't that… what a paladin looked like?
"In the sight of the Heavenly God, ye are most wicked. Begone, and vanish from this world."
Alec's shield cleaved through the head at Berbaria's center.
And the instant the body beneath swayed into view, the hammer came down on it without fail.
With a resounding clang, Berbaria's whole frame shuddered.
— Enough. I grow weary of toying with thee!
The moment the words left it, Berbaria's form began to change.
Its battered, half-shattered heads seemed to restore themselves — and in the same breath, they became the heads of serpents.
In the blink of an eye, Berbaria stood revealed as a serpent crowned with nine heads, flicking its tongue as it glared down at Alec.
— Well fought, for a human, paladin. But thy fatal flaw is this: thou art but one.
Venom dripped from the serpent mouths.
Alec tightened his grip on his shield.
Nine heads spewing poison like that — he might survive it, but—
Behind him, Yona was shaking.
And the geas was already coiling around his whole body, tightening.
The vicious restriction gnawed at his flesh with every passing heartbeat.
— Now die, paladin. Death would serve thee best.
Venom frothed and bubbled at Berbaria's mouths — and the moment it swept out as a poisonous breath, Alec drove his shield into the ground and pulled Yona into his arms.
At the same instant, the holy light on his shield and hammer quietly faded away.
The aftermath of the poison breath was a horror.
The shield had all but melted, its shape barely discernible. Alec, still clutching Yona, was in ruins — his armor dissolved away.
Only Yona — Yona alone, cradled against his chest — was untouched.
"Alec! Alec!"
Yona shook him, shouting his name.
But there was no answer — and as she shook him, Alec, who had been holding her, slid limply onto his side.
— Thou enduredst well enough, but mortal flesh hath its limits. Now I must stamp out this sprout ere it takes root.
Berbaria's serpent heads drew near, tongues flickering.
At the sight of them — coiled to lunge at Alec at any moment — Yona threw her arms wide and planted herself in front of him.
"D-don't make me laugh."
— Stand aside, Vessel.
"Vessel, my ass! Quit it with the jokes, you damn snake!"
— Hoh.
The serpent heads shifted back into a human face.
With Alec down, Yona alone could never stand against it.
Perhaps that was precisely why it saw no need to keep its true form.
"Lay one finger on Alec and I swear you won't get away with it!"
— Amusing, Vessel. Dost thou imagine I should tremble at thy threats?
"I never said I wouldn't let you get away with it, you fucking snake."
Yona's eyes flashed, vicious and sharp.
She yanked up the hem of her habit and drew the hunting knife strapped to her left thigh.
The one Alec had given her.
The one she'd bought back when she'd been toying with the idea of learning to fight.
Blade drawn, Yona pressed it to her own throat.
"What I said was that I wouldn't let myself get away with it. Try listening to the whole sentence for once."
— Hoh…?
Calling her a Vessel. Demanding she accept it.
Putting it all together, Yona had concluded that this serpent could not actually harm her.
Even that poison breath earlier — it had only worked because Alec was certain to shield her. And now that Alec was down, the way it circled and watched her instead of striking was surely part of the same pattern.
And so Yona had gambled.
"…If I tell you to go, you won't listen, will you?"
— Of course not. With no one left to bar the way, I could take thy body by force regardless.
"…Fine. I'll give it to you. My body — I'll give it to you. So save Alec. Save Kayak too. All you need is me. Just my body. That's the deal, right?"
— And wherefore should I bargain? As I said, no one remains to stop me. By force—
"Listen, you goddamn snake-headed bastard! I told you already, didn't I? I told you!"
Yona snarled at it.
She was spelling it out this plainly, so why couldn't it understand? It made her furious.
"I can stop you! You think I won't cut my own throat with this knife?! You think you can take me by force?! If it comes to that, I'll slit my throat first, you fucking piece of shit! I'd rather hand myself over willingly — so what's so hard to understand about saving the others in exchange?! If you don't like it, I'll just kill myself right here!"
…Hmph.
Human, through and through, in the end.
However strong that human called Alec might be, he had only been a genuine problem because Berbaria had been careless. He was not so mighty otherwise.
— Very well. So be it.
Yona stared down at her left hand.
Black shapes filled it completely, from shoulder to wrist.
Densely inscribed, yes — but where her right arm bore script, this one was covered in coiling serpents. It honestly looked like nothing more than a tattoo.
Along with the serpent's well decided, human, a searing, burning pain had surged up her left arm — and Yona had blacked out on the spot, unable to manage even a scream.
When she came to, the campfire had burned through its last logs and was slowly dying.
She pushed more wood onto the embers and looked around — Kayak and Alec were there.
Kayak was breathing. So was Alec.
Even after Yona healed them both, they didn't wake.
That happened sometimes.
Even after healing, people sometimes stayed under for a long while before consciousness returned.
She finished mending every one of Kayak's wounds, saw to all of Alec's as well, and then crouched down beside him.
And as she sat there staring at her left hand, some strange, nameless feeling welled up inside her.
It said something had possessed her — but nothing had actually changed.
Some ink drawn on her skin wasn't going to be some catastrophic problem.
Her habit covered her left arm completely anyway; wear a glove over the hand and no one would ever notice.
Right. That would be fine.
And yet somehow, everything in front of Yona's eyes was going blurry.
It's just the campfire smoke stinging too much, she told herself.
And still, she just sat there in silence.
Beside Alec. Quietly.
The first thing Alec saw when he opened his eyes was Yona.
The moment he saw her peering down at him with her face a tear-streaked mess, what he felt was guilt, then relief, then suspicion, then worry.
Alec shot upright and grabbed her by the shoulders.
"Yona, you—!"
"I'm fine. It's nothing."
The answer came almost before he'd finished, as if she'd been waiting for it.
But Alec already knew.
He could tell something had happened to Yona.
Because she was avoiding his eyes.
Yona, shoulders gripped in his hands, gaze turned away from him.
He'd never seen her like that before — and even so, he knew.
"…Don't hide it from me, Yona. Tell me what happened."
"You're one to talk about hiding— no, look, nothing happened. If anything I think I got cooler."
Yona tried to smile.
Then she fumbled open the side buttons of her habit and thrust her left arm out through the gap.
"Hey, baldy. Look at this. I got cooler, right? Right?"
Looking at the arm she thrust out, Alec couldn't find a single word.
Serpentine tattoos packed densely from her shoulder to her wrist.
Not just her right arm anymore — her left arm too.
Not script at all, but a design of serpents winding around the whole length of her arm, coiled coil upon coil.
"You— you… this is…"
"It's cool, right? Right? It's cool…"
Yona's voice was trembling.
"Baldy… tell me it's cool…"
Alec said nothing.
Instead, he quietly opened his arms.
"Tell me… it's cool…!"
Yona threw herself at him.
Warm, and clinging to him, she buried her face in his chest and wept — raw, animal sobs, tears flowing without end.
Shoulders shaking, wailing in silence, and Alec held her without a word.
With her gathered into his arms, he simply patted her back and said nothing at all.
And so Yona cried for a long, long time.
"Done crying?"
"Sniff. Yeah."
Alec wiped her nose with the edge of his sleeve.
Having wept in his arms all that while, Yona's expression had finally eased into something close to relief.
"…Well, then. I'd say it's time we discussed what comes next."
Kayak had woken at some point as well.
Morning had already broken. Time to move out.
But should they go on to their destination, the Wizard Community — or return to the Church Territory to report on this demon?
That matter needed to be settled.
"I'm against going back to the Church Territory, Yona."
Yona and Alec both nodded quietly at Kayak's words.
Nothing good would come of returning to Church lands.
If anything, it was far more likely someone would seize on the demon now dwelling inside her and declare it the perfect opportunity to lop off Yona's head.
"So we head for the Community, then?"
"That would be the better option, aye. The Community means we can reach out to the Lord Regent ourselves — better in every way. And besides, Yona — if you truly were a man, like you say, and the Community manages to somehow turn you back into one, then perhaps this tattoo and the demon along with it might be resolved as well."
On the face of it, Kayak's reasoning sounded sound enough.
But things were never going to work out that neatly.
Not that they had any other options to choose from.
"Your body — it's really all right? A demon taking up residence in you is no small matter, by any reckoning."
At Alec's worried voice, Yona nodded with a forced smile.
In truth, her body felt perfectly fine.
Nothing had changed. The demon's presence didn't come with a voice whispering in her head, either.
"…Let's go to the Community. It's the road we already set out on. If we go back to Church Territory they'll probably hang me as a heretic, so we'll just go to the Community and contact the Lord Regent from there."
Yona decided, and Alec and Kayak agreed.
All that remained was to tidy up.
They had to pack the camp clean and take to the road.
Yona rose to help with the packing — then felt a hand catch hers and turned around.
Alec was looking up at her, still seated.
"Yona."
"Yeah?"
"…I'm on your side. No matter what happens. Even if you stop being human — I, for one, will always be on your side."
Yona's lips parted, as if to answer.
A trust that felt heavier than anything in the world.
Alec's boundless, unconditional trust in her.
Could any amount of words carry even half the gratitude she owed for that?
In the end, Yona gave no answer at all.
She simply smiled at Alec.
"…We're talking about this later, baldy. Got it? We're on each other's side — so no more secrets. Not from either of us."
Only then did it hit Alec: this is bad.