Chapter 116. Black Wedding (2)
Chapter 116. Black Wedding (2)
4
Shadows spread across the earth.
Each of the shadows was a person, black robes fluttering. Even facing the ghost army that had halted at a distance, they showed not the slightest surprise. They had lived in a world overrun by jiangshi.
They had died in it.
Ghosts could not be their terror.
"You're looking especially fine today, Young Cult Leader."
Ghost-Soul Flame Demon spoke in a leisurely tone. One of the Demonic Cult's Four Demon Lords (四魔君). A cultist who had fought the Shaolin abbot one-on-one in the final Orthodox-Demonic War.
"You've even powdered your face. You look for all the world like you're off to get married."
I nodded.
"I am getting married."
"...Pardon?"
A thousand cultists turned their heads in unison. They were martial artists who had recovered the strength of their prime. They must all have been enhancing their hearing with internal energy to listen to my words.
I spoke for them to hear.
"I'm getting married today."
Silence descended.
The cultists looked at one another. Then they looked back at me. A probing offensive unfolded to determine whether I was sincere or joking. I answered their probing with a single nod.
"Th-the Young Cult Leader is......"
Ghost-Soul Flame Demon spoke.
"The Young Cult Leader is getting married---!"
The cultists exploded.
"Our Young Cult Leader is getting married!"
"The sovereign of the Demonic Cult's world is getting married!"
"It's not even an engagement! It's an actual wedding!"
The cultists rampaged, forgetting even the ghost legion before their eyes. They howled and howled again. The very fact of my marriage seemed to them a state of affairs that must urgently be announced to the world.
"Who is the bride?!"
"Over there."
I pointed politely with both hands.
"The silver-haired person over there is the one who will become my wife."
Raviel was there, soothing the imperials who had fallen into confusion.
As always, a cold and dignified profile.
The cultists who turned their heads to follow my gesture dropped their jaws.
"She's lovely......"
"Yes, she's pretty."
"Our Young Cult Leader has high standards."
"Young Cult Leader! How many gapja of internal energy does the lady possess?!"
As expected of martial artists, they asked about martial prowess first.
"Hmm. My wife does not know how to use martial arts."
The cultists' eyes went wide. Before long, dissatisfied muttering spread through the hall. Rebellion gleamed in the cultists' eyes—they could not accept this marriage.
"No, but still, she is to be the companion of the Demonic Dominion......"
"Isn't it a bit much that she can't use martial arts at all?"
"Hmm, authority ought to come from force......"
"The Blood Ghost Unit cannot approve of this marriage!"
I added a word.
"I forgot to mention. My spouse is a feudal lord second only to the emperor in this country."
At that, the cultists murmured.
"Well, that changes things......"
"It's not as if a person must necessarily learn martial arts upon being born. Right?"
"Indeed, authority ought to come from power......"
"Congratulations on your marriage, Young Cult Leader!"
Truly innocent people in many ways.
But among them was one who was not a cultist. Agwi. The child once called the Demon King of Fall Rain, feared by the world, had been opening and closing her mouth ever since she heard I was getting married.
"M-my lord, marriage?"
"Yeah. That's how it turned out."
"It's absurd. A lunatic like my lord... oh, no, forgive me. Did a person truly exist in this world who would marry someone as uniquely peculiar as my lord?"
Agwi, you......
Outwardly you followed me so faithfully, calling me lord, but inside you thought of me as a lunatic......
Adding another stroke of hurt to my heart, I sighed.
"One truly existed, yes. I'll tell the full story at the reception. More importantly, focus on the battle for now."
"Ah, ah. Yes. Understood, my lord. What kind of enemy is it......?"
"Apostles from another world who invaded to conquer this world."
And I said:
"They're also the bastards trying to ruin my wedding."
The moment the words left my mouth, the cultists' mood shifted.
"Oh-ho."
Blood Demon, the leader of the Blood Ghost Unit, stroked his sword hilt.
"Hmm......"
Ghost-Soul Flame Demon, leader of the Spirit-Consoling Unit, raised the corner of his mouth.
"Interfering with the Young Cult Leader of the Demonic Cult as he performs his marriage rites."
Moonshadow Demon Lord, leader of the Shadow Phantom Unit, swept back his side hair.
"Heh. Lunatics, aren't they."
Sword Demon, leader of the Execution Unit, cracked his neck once in each direction.
"......"
Finally, Agwi drew her sword without a word. The very sword that had forced hundreds of deaths upon me. A demonic sword that spewed dark-red light.
"I see. I understand now. I had guessed that my lord had undergone another awakening and that we had recovered the strength of our lives... but it was not that—it was the blessing of a Constellation. Those ones must be the Constellation's underlings."
"Correct."
"If I may dare ask, which constellation have these children latched onto?"
"Mahos. I know it as Warhorse of the Eternal Plains."
Agwi twisted the corner of her mouth.
"Fools who know nothing but fighting."
In that sneer lurked the arrogance of the days before her fall from heaven because of me.
The enemy numbered ten thousand. We numbered only a thousand. Yet the cultists chatted idly as they gripped their sword hilts, and Agwi slowly raised her blade. Our side held the advantage. No one considered this side disadvantaged.
Not a single one of us.
"My lord, command me. What do you wish me to do?"
I gave the order.
"Sweep them away."
Agwi raised the demonic sword high.
"It shall be done as you wish."
A single flash.
A ray redder than blood split the blood-red sunset.
-Grooooooar!
It was a red ray. Power and majesty that permitted no other description resided in Agwi's strike. The ghosts caught in the red ray screamed as they were annihilated.
Even the general leading the ghost legion was nearly struck down.
-What, this is... no, it's impossible. A Constellation......? Not even a Constellation, yet commanding a Constellation as a subordinate......
At that moment, when the general stared at me in shock—
"Fuck them up!"
The cultists erupted in savage roars.
"They're small fry! No need to even recite the doctrine!"
"Whose fucking mongrels dare interfere with the marriage rites of the Demonic Dominion?!"
"The heads we take today are wedding gifts for the Young Cult Leader! You hear me?! Any brat who brings back fewer than five heads dies by my hand today!"
"Kahaha! Execution Unit members, bring back at least ten heads each!"
"This is why the uneducated are......"
Some raged, some roared, and some clicked their tongues as they leaped. The ghost legion was still far away, but the distance was meaningless. A full thousand shadows unfurled their lightness arts in unison.
-Hmm?! Block them!
The general shouted in alarm.
The ghost legion was elite as well. They raised their shields and formed ranks without gaps. Spears packed densely, they became a hedgehog-like formation.
But.
"How dull."
Agwi, the wraith of autumn rain, let out a sneer.
"The fodder are kindly making themselves targets."
The red ray tore the sky apart again. BOOOOM! The ghost legion that had taken a dense formation was swept away with ease. A hole had been blown empty in the phalanx. The ghost soldiers scrambled to fill the gap.
"Kahaha!"
But the cultists, battle-hardened veterans, never missed an opening.
"Tear them apart!"
The cultists charged like beasts. The shadow host and the ghost legion collided. Slash! Slash! The cultists scattered internal energy as they butchered the ghosts.
Unlike the Orthodox-Demonic War, the cultists did not bother to shout the name of Baraya. No one mentioned the reason, but I could guess. This was not a duel. It was not a great war.
It was simply a hunt.
The cultists scorned the ghost legion as mere beasts and slaughtered them.
-Kigiiik!
The ghost legion lacked the strength to overcome that arrogance. The legion's ranks collapsed under the cultists' swinging swords. Shields shattered and spears snapped. Through the gaps in broken shields, the cultists thrust their swords, and they seized broken spear shafts in reverse grip and brought them down.
It was a massacre.
-Regroup by unit!
The general raised his banner and shouted desperately.
-Do not panic, warriors! There is no need for haste! Follow your squad leaders......
"Hey."
Thud.
Someone landed lightly atop the banner the general held.
"Howdy."
Sword Demon. One of the Four Demon Lords, and the man with the coarsest tongue among them. Backlit by the evening sunset, Sword Demon's face was veiled in shadow.
"I hear you're interfering with our Cult Leader's wedding, pal?"
-You wretch.
"Fucking bastard. Just die."
A sword gleam flashed. One strike. Two strikes. Three strikes. Three trails of sword path tangled like a spider's web. The first strike severed the general's right arm, the second cut his chest, and the third tore the banner.
-Keuk, huk......
The apostle of the War God spat blood. Even that lasted only a moment. Toward the very throat from which the general spat blood, Sword Demon loosed his final sword strike. The scream was cut off and the head soared upward.
"Oh. Heave-ho."
Sword Demon kicked off the banner pole and leaped into the air. He snatched the general's head as it soared skyward.
"Oh dear, can't drop something this precious. Kahaha. You see that, you brats?! I'm Sword Demon, head of the Execution Unit! The Execution Unit takes first place for wedding gifts to the Young Cult Leader!"
"Damn it."
"Of all people, that blockhead had to......"
Quiet curses flowed from here and there. Even among the Four Demon Lords, there seemed to be a peculiar rivalry. The other cultists wore sour faces at having a good scene stolen by Sword Demon.
[The apostle of 'Warhorse of the Eternal Plains' is annihilated.]
Slowly—
The general's head that Sword Demon had snatched turned to light and vanished. Nor was that all. The headless body of the general, and the ghosts who followed him, crumbled like dust in an instant. The legion was annihilated.
"Huh? Huh?"
Sword Demon panicked. He raised his right hand, suddenly empty. A moment later, he turned to look at me blankly.
"Uh... uh... would you accept a gift of the heart too, Young Cult Leader?"
I chuckled.
"It's fine. I'll give you a discount."
That was when it happened.
-Lu. La.
The remaining [Evangelist of Everlasting Happiness] began to sing. Lu. La. Children joined hands and drew circles in the air. With every step that trod upon the sunset, a melody was added to the sky.
"Hmm."
"Ugh."
The cultists furrowed their brows. Some of them hurriedly tried to raise their internal energy to resist the singing, but it came to nothing. With the death of the apostle of [Warhorse of the Eternal Plains], the wide-area effect had ended as well.
"Ah......"
Agwi let out a deflated groan too. The black filth that had covered her entire body streamed off at a rapid pace. Agwi clicked her tongue and glared at Sword Demon.
"That idiot... an ally and yet no help at all. Forgive me, my lord. Unless I am at my prime, against this kind of mental attack... I am frail, hmm... battle... I......"
The reason Agwi's voice slowed toward the end was that she was sinking into sleep. Agwi's body staggered.
Agwi was not the only one. The cultists who had been racing madly across the battlefield moments ago collapsed one by one—thud, thud. The guests following Raviel's command were the same. Against the lullaby sung by the apostle of dreams, humans were helpless.
"Please wait, Death King."
Heretic Questioner formed a hand seal.
"I will generate an immunity barrier now!"
"No."
I caught Heretic Questioner's hand and stopped him. Heretic Questioner tilted his head.
"Death King? If we leave it like this, even we will fall to the apostle's song."
"That may be. But if my thinking is right, Raviel, I, and you—at least the three of us—will be fine."
"Hm."
Heretic Questioner smiled brightly and released the hand seal.
"Understood. There must surely be a reason Death King said so."
Before we knew it, the sunset had reached its peak.
-Lu. La, la.
-La, lulu. Lu.
The setting sun blazed red as it shone upon the children. The children's shadows stretched long to the horizon. The shadows cast on the ground repeated the cycle—growing distant, then near; shrinking, then growing again.
『It is a type of mental attack.』
『Exposure to that song forcibly buries you in your happiest memory.』
The wedding hall fell silent.
The cultists slumped to the ground, dozing with their shoulders leaning against one another. Some guests lay flat on their faces, asleep. Was everyone submerged in their own happiness?
"Oh-ho."
Yet three people still remained vocal.
"Is that truly so?"
Heretic Questioner stroked his chin as if intrigued. He looked back and forth between Raviel and me.
"As Death King said, the three of us are perfectly fine. I do feel a slight drowsiness, but my body is maintaining normal condition. Ah-ha. What magic have you worked this time, Death King?"
There were others besides Heretic Questioner who found the current situation curious. The apostles of dreams gradually stopped their circle dance. The children tilted their heads as they looked down at me.
-A strange human.
-He doesn't fall asleep. Doesn't he dream?
-Does he have no happy memories?
I shook my head.
"No."
I slowly looked around the wedding hall.
"It's not that."
There was Agwi, asleep with soft breaths. There were the cultists, dozing with their shoulders leaning against one another. There were the lives I had gathered. There were the lives that bore witness to my master.
There were many reasons I should be unhappy.
Countless.
I had burned to death, taken my own life thousands of times, witnessed my comrades seized by suspicion and slaughtering one another. There were even times when I had to throw away dozens of lives to take a single step. My throat had been bitten by a corpse already dead, and I had to send away the person who told me I was beautiful.
Even if I called my life unhappy, perhaps no one would blame me.
"I am happiest right now."
But the person I love is here.
More precious to me than the hundreds of reasons to be unhappy was the single reason for happiness.
"I don't know if you know this, but today is my wedding. I don't know about other days, but today, it would be hard to find anyone happier than me. You picked a truly terrible date to invade this world."
I shrugged.
"As for Heretic Questioner... well, he's either never happy at all, or simply happy every single day."
"Ah. Indeed! That's right. I am certainly always happy at all times! Death King's insight is truly unbeatable."
Laughing ah-ha-ha, Heretic Questioner whispered.
"Divine Art. Sending the God."
The next moment, we had been teleported behind the apostle.
Unlike the other apostles, [Evangelist of Everlasting Happiness] had no combat power. The apostle in the form of a child did not resist even upon seeing us. It simply stared up at my face.
-A strange human.
I steadied my heart and swung my sword.
[The apostle of 'Evangelist of Everlasting Happiness' is annihilated.]
And we returned to the ground via Divine Art.
We had subjugated all the otherworldly beings that had invaded this world.
"......"
No—had we not yet subjugated all of them?
I adjusted my grip on the holy sword and turned around. An apostle holding a massive hammer stood far away. When our eyes met, the apostle flinched and shrank back.
-Hik, euk... ah......
I slowly began to speak.
"This is your last chance to fight me. Your last chance to defy me, and your last chance to resist me. I will kill you and take you in."
-T-take in......?
"You don't need to understand right now. You'll find out anyway."
I aimed my sword at the hammer apostle.
Calling her by her true name.
"Come at me, Sylvia Evanail."
Golden Thread Plum's shoulders trembled.