Chapter 80
Chapter 80
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 80
Chapter Title: S2. Resentment Offered to the Stars -3
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"You have to come back... Don't get hurt. Got it?"
"Yeah, I'll do my best."
"You have to."
"If we don't make it back somehow, just wait until time's up. No need to throw your life away needlessly."
"...Don't say ominous stuff like that!"
Tara gazed at him with eyes full of worry, straightening the disheveled collar of Bennett's clothes. Niore's eyes took in even more.
Flushed cheeks, trembling eyelids, hesitant hand movements, legs drawn passively together as if minding her exposure, an unconscious posture thrusting her chest forward for emphasis, lingerie slipped slightly askew from the motion but left unfixed on purpose, a pink flush blooming in her pupils.
And conversely...
Cheeks rigid with tension for the future despite seeming calm, a subtle burden from Tara's unusually close distance, a gaze drifting to certain points as if beginning to perceive the woman before him rationally, yet still an emotion closer to family than pure reason, a star twinkling in his pupils.
Once all that information settled in Niore's eyes...
"Hey, Bennett. When you get back, I have something to..."
Niore slipped her hand between Bennett's side and arm, linking them tightly. She pulled with force. His upper arm pressed lightly against the side of her breast. She caught the complex chemical reaction sparking in Tara's pupils.
A benevolent gaze toward her comrade, quietly laced with a hint of suspicion and jealousy.
Go, Bennett.
Niore mouthed the words.
"...Yeah."
A stinging prick in her chest. Niore had interfered with Tara, yet she couldn't fathom why she'd done it. Driven by an anxious impulse, she'd half-instinctively blocked the way.
The path to set everything right lay ahead. Amid this unfamiliar turmoil, Niore wrestled with her thoughts, gripping Bennett's arm even tighter.
The road to the meteor crater—where countless people had walked to offer themselves as sacrifices—was filled with silence and stillness. The reason was simple: there was no one left to scream.
Human legs protruded upside down from the ground. Others had merged with trees and debris, dying as one twisted mass. The path was adorned with deaths in every grotesque manner imaginable.
She had seen plenty of corpses before.
In a world where monsters roamed the earth, wars raged, and individuals could challenge nations. Blood and violence were hardly strangers.
She'd witnessed even more gruesome ends. A solid hit from an ogre's club turned a human body into pulp. But those deaths, horrific as they were, weren't grotesque.
Tok. Tok. Tok.
A faint echo rose from underground. The subtle vibration traveled through her shoe soles, up her toes, and into her brain. An echo she wouldn't normally notice felt overwhelmingly loud today.
Perhaps because...
Someone randomly teleported might be buried alive down there, pounding the dirt and screaming for help. The fact that countless others could be mixed into the concrete below.
It stirred a queasy sensation that blurred the line between reality and illusion.
Bennett seemed to turn his eyes from the grim truth as he spoke.
"...Can we prepare the magic circle?"
[Yes. We'll use Isaac's magic circle as is. Planning to use the Goddess's crystal as the power source.]
"It'll be partially damaged. We wrecked the sub-circles while moving around."
[That included, it'll need some reinforcement.]
Step. Step.
The two walked the empty street, discussing their plan. Bennett would block any zealot interference. If output fell short, they'd use the corpses in the pit.
Blasphemous to the dead, but it was to save the world—hopefully they'd understand.
They didn't voice what might happen if the ritual failed.
Meanwhile, Niore still grappled with her unresolved worries in a corner of her mind. Bennett and Tara were both good people. She harbored clear affection for them both.
Yet something felt slightly off.
When Bennett and Tara drew close, each trying to bridge the gap further, a nagging itch and discomfort stirred somewhere deep inside. That's why she'd unwittingly gotten in the way.
Once the job was done safely, she'd apologize to Tara. That was Niore's plan.
She'd long since noticed Tara's budding feelings, but Niore had been blind to her own heart—crushed by guilt, unable to face herself.
With just a bit of leisure or time, even a glance in the mirror, her keen observation would have let her confront her feelings head-on.
But the situation was dire. She was anxious, facing a fight for her life.
That was when the star spoke to her, ever so casually.
Thud.
Niore smacked her forehead with the magic tome.
From some point on, whenever a small emotional scratch formed in her heart, starlight would seep in without fail. It twisted her mind with every word.
Niore pictured a bonsai tree. Snip away with garden shears, and the obstructive branches scream as they're severed. After that long, agonizing process, a beautiful bonsai emerges.
It felt much the same for her.
Trimming away bit by bit for a purpose. Values once deemed essential, cut in sequence. The starlight's voice urged her on, but the choices were her own.
To aid her companions. To avoid repeating failure. That's why she'd pruned them.
But what if...
She discarded so much and still failed? Left hollow with useless stubs pruned away, just a worthless bonsai abandoned. Swallowed whole by that voice. What would become of her then?
Terror gripped her.
Niore seized the hand of Bennett, who walked a half-step ahead. He glanced back once, then entrusted his hand without a word.
Niore inscribed her heart onto his palm.
[I'm scared.]
"Of what?"
[Of failing. That my tiny mistake might ultimately doom the world.]
"It's not your fault."
Niore's steps halted. Bennett stopped as well.
[Can I really believe that?]
"......"
[Listen, Bennett. I'm being whittled away. The magic tome's fault... or maybe I always harbored rotten thoughts, I don't know. I used to want to save everyone, but not anymore. One person's enough.]
As Bennett opened his mouth to speak, Niore extended her index finger, pressing it to his lips. She mouthed: Listen a bit more.
[Now, I might even kill the innocent. For someone more precious and worthy. But sometimes, that version of me feels so foreign. Is it the same for you? Have I changed a lot?]
"...You're..."
[I know. And I know I'll change even more. But to what extent... I have no idea. Bennett. I might end up as some monstrous villain.]
Niore gazed into Bennett's eyes, blinking her lids slowly. Against reality's unyielding wall, her ideals had shattered, leaving only affection laced with guilt and a friendship born of gratitude.
From the moment he'd taken a bullet covering her mistake, it had built gradually. Her affection swelling each time she witnessed his brilliance.
And the bonds forged on their journey. Backs entrusted, battles fought side by side, grief shared, laughter around the same table—with Tara. Friendship.
Into those tiny gaps between them, the starlight wormed its way. Claiming that to claim Bennett, she'd have to sever even the friendships she held dear. And so...
Before her fragile self succumbed to the temptation and turned a blade on her friends...
[So... before I tumble into the darkness. Will you grab my hand before it's too late?]
"...I will."
[Pinky promise. Here.]
Niore smiled faintly, like moonlight, extending her pinky. Bennett hooked his finger around it, sealing the vow.
Niore resolved to make this promise her beacon. The wicked whispers of the outer god still echoed in her ears. Tempting her to discard her heart, promising no more pain that way.
But when she couldn't hold on and crumbled—like how he'd saved Tara—she believed he'd save her too.
After the promise, Niore strode ahead with a lighter heart. The weights pressing on her shoulders felt eased. Everything seemed destined to go smoothly.
They reached the meteor crater.
Activate the ritual, expel the outer god, save the world.
"I've been waiting."
Blocking the path of Bennett and Niore, who had arrived for that singular mission, stood the leader of the Silver Twilight Cult.
The leader rose from a corpse serving as his chair—some family's remains—brushing the dust from his rear.
"How..."
"If you're wondering how I knew, the god told me. That heretics would come here to sabotage the descent. Truly, He is omniscient. It came to pass exactly as He foretold."
"......"
Bennett drew his longsword. A scan of the surroundings revealed no other zealots. Not even surviving civilians. No live sacrifices.
The leader's barrier drew power from the lives of nearby sacrifices.
Which meant the leader now was... defenseless. He should be.
Yet his primal instincts screamed in warning. Flee now. No human can face this. You can't win.
The leader eyed Bennett's sweat-beaded face and gave a light clap of praise.
"You realized? Sharp instincts."
"...What have you done?"
"The god has descended into my body. Truly... blessed. I am one with Him."
Pop. Drip.
Veins snaking across the leader's neck swelled to bursting. And burst they did, unable to withstand the pressure. Yet no blood sprayed.
Creak. Creak.
The wound rewound like time itself, reverting to pristine condition.
His body erupted and mended in cycles across every inch. It resembled the throb of a star. With each heartbeat, flesh crushed and reformed, the shape distorting gradually.
"2%... He says. Are you watching? Can they! Block it! He asks—!!"
Grrrrrind.
The grotesquely swollen form resembled a blood giant with four tentacles. The Goddess's crystal flashed urgently, as if sounding the alarm.
"...We have to beat him! Without the barrier, our attacks will land!"
[......!!]
"...Niore—!!"
Spurred by the chill crawling up his spine, Bennett whirled to see Niore's abdomen impaled by a spear of bone and muscle.
It was a spell she often used. If it borrowed power from the cosmic evil god...
Then naturally, the lender Himself—the monster before them—
Would be immune.
Niore, aiming to support Bennett with her bone spear, had been pierced by her own incantation.