56. Calamity Star
56. Calamity Star
"Kihihihihihihik. What a lovely scent."
She stared at the hideous shape of that 'something.'
Four arms. In those arms, it held the corpse of something. A corpse torn into four pieces. A curved blade rolled across the floor. What that being held in its hands was surely the corpse of a Demonized Human.
A large hole gaped in its lower abdomen.
A hole oozed slick mucus. From within it, the face of a human fetus poked its head out. Every time its mouth gaped open, a tentacle-like tongue writhed.
Lifting her gaze, she saw horns jutting from both sides of its head. But one horn was broken. From the broken stump, slick mucus dripped down, soaking two of its four eyeballs.
The remaining two eyes were bizarre. Bright yellow irises on black sclera. The pupils were vertically slit like a reptile's, and a tongue flicked across their surface.
"Heu, heuhik, hik, kik! I was going to hand you over to that one if possible, but you look even tastier than the Imperial Princess, don't you?"
A spine-chilling voice like nails scraping sheet metal rattled the minds of Eurasia and Silina.
A woman's voice, as if her vocal cords had been chewed, torn apart, and then forcibly stitched back together, stirred primal terror.
"And a virgin at that... kihik... hihihikihihihihihik! Four hundred years... it's been four hundred years. Four hundred years... finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, I can go back."
The maw spewing those vile sounds split open. Two ways, four ways, eight ways. There were no teeth. Instead, countless tongues writhed. Unknown scraps of flesh were stuck to the tongues.
And on the tongue at the very center.
A dragon devouring its own tail.
The Symbol of Sloth.
The emblem of the Legion Commander, Labyrinth, was carved there.
The moment she saw it, she knew, even though she didn't want to.
"...A Demon."
Not a Demonized Human. A Demon.
At the same moment she realized it.
Crack.
The Demon's head snapped at a right angle.
"O Labyrinth. After I ravage these two bitches, suck their virgin blood, tear their flesh, and chew and swallow their wombs—"
"Your Highness!"
Eurasia's urgent cry.
At the same time.
"—I shall return to your embrace!!!"
Death came crashing down.
There was no time to grasp what it was. Direction, speed—nothing could be discerned. Even so, Eurasia raised her sword.
Fainter than before but still sharp, blue Sword Energy erupted in all directions. BOOM—! A thunderous roar that shook the body from within filled the Labyrinth. As if that weren't enough, a storm of Demonic Energy, lethal poison to humans, raged through the air.
It was not mere mist. It was not wind.
Each invisible particle of Demonic Energy was a blade, an awl. It was a Calamity that could snatch away human lives as if they were nothing.
With that storm bearing down on her, Eurasia desperately threw herself over Silina to shield her.
Even as she did, she swung her sword with her other hand, scattering Sword Energy. In a world spreading with black ink, the blue Sword Energy scattered faintly.
Even so, Eurasia's sword did not stop. Though there was no way out, she kept swinging.
'If it doesn't work, I just have to grit my teeth and keep going until it does. That's how I've always managed something.'
Eurasia believed in Eliarnes.
Even in a life-or-death situation like this, she believed in her. She had absolute faith in her master.
Then, in a place where she couldn't see an inch ahead, a thread-thin gap appeared. But it was too narrow for two people to escape through. She widened her field of view and surveyed the storm of Demonic Energy.
Silina could not endure that storm.
But what about herself? The odds were slim, but not zero. Then the answer was clear.
Gritting her teeth, she was about to throw Silina.
"...Together. Let's do it."
Silina, in Eurasia's arms, moved her lips. She carefully loosened the arm holding her and drew up her Mana. Mana shining as bright as the sun rising in the middle of the night enveloped Silina's body.
"Hup."
With a short exhale, Silina grabbed the axe in her right hand and hurled it.
—Fwoosh! The axe flew straight toward the gap Eurasia had opened and widened the breach in the storm. Then, blue Sword Energy tore through that gap, carving out a broad space.
The two kicked off at the same time.
They threw themselves through the crevice of death. Microscopic blades and awls tore and pierced their skin. Blood sprayed from all over, forming a mist of crimson.
But.
"Keu, heuu..."
They were still alive.
Somehow, they survived.
But there was no time to rest.
They had only avoided the brink of death.
Steadying her breathing, Eurasia whipped her staggering body into motion and gripped her sword.
"Kihihihihihi!"
Seeing that, the nameless Demon burst into spine-chilling laughter and began to approach slowly.
The corpse it had held in its four arms was long discarded.
In its hands now were savage saws, like the fangs of a Monster.
GRRIND, CLACK, GRRIND.
Two saws gnawed at each other. One saw shaved down the broken horn on the left. The remaining saw slowly rose upward.
Countless thoughts raced through Eurasia's mind as she rapidly scanned the Demon and the surrounding terrain.
The ceiling there was low and the space was narrow.
There was little room to dodge. If another storm of Demonic Energy like before hit, there would be no next time.
They had to get past that Demon and out into a wider area.
But if they just passed by without doing anything, everyone behind them would surely die.
She would fend off the Demon's attacks while slowly advancing. If they could reach the place where the Labyrinth Core was, they could survive.
Her thoughts settled. She looked into Silina's eyes. Resolve had settled in those platinum-colored eyes.
"I'll... follow your plan."
"Please follow me."
"...Okay."
It was a short exchange, but the intent was conveyed.
Two were better than one. Someone who would fight alongside her was far better than someone she had to protect.
Trembling hands gripped the sword. Powerless hands gripped the axe. They felt fear, but they did not despair.
Blue eyes stared straight ahead. The bizarre inverted eyes curved slightly. A chilling smile hung at the corners of its mouth.
At a glance, it looked like play.
In truth, from the Demon's perspective, this battle must have felt like play.
But for Eurasia and Silina, every moment felt like crossing the line between life and death.
GRRIND— CLACK—
At last, the saw rose perpendicular to the ground.
The power felt from that saw raised toward the ceiling carried the certainty that no matter what they did, they could not block it.
They had to dodge. No matter what.
Silina felt it too. So, without a word, the two split left and right and kicked off.
"Kihihiaaaaak!!"
Watching that, the Demon swung its saw at Eurasia.
A tidal wave of Demonic Energy followed behind it. From the ground, dozens of tentacles shot up to block Silina's path, and from the ceiling, dark-green liquid dripped down.
She judged that whatever it was, she could not let it touch her.
With Mana scraped together from her Dantian, Eurasia scattered Sword Energy—not only in front of herself, but to open a path for Silina as well.
Sword Energy erupted within the tidal wave of Demonic Energy. Dozens of tentacles were severed, and the remnants of the Sword Energy evaporated the dark-green liquid.
Silina's path opened. She immediately turned her head. She saw Eurasia vomiting dark-red blood while swinging her sword.
At a speed transcending her own Tier, she was spreading a curtain of sword strikes to hold back the tidal wave of Demonic Energy.
She had to pull her out of there.
The distance: five steps.
She whipped her fear-soaked legs. She tightened her ragged breathing, changed direction, and charged.
One step.
Liquid falling from the ceiling touched her shoulder. —Tssss! Spewing black smoke, the liquid burrowed into her shoulder, eating away skin and melting bone.
Two steps.
In the terrible agony wracking her whole body, she didn't see the tentacle rising from below. The tentacle pierced her ankle, tore the skin of her calf, and climbed up her thigh.
Three steps.
The tentacle, now past her thigh and reaching her waist, tried to burrow into her navel. She gritted her teeth and grabbed the tentacle with her remaining hand. Thorns sprouting from it pierced her pale palm, turning it to rags.
Four steps.
A dizzying wave of vertigo hit her. Even so, Silina's grip did not loosen. She went further and tore off the tentacle that had opened its maw—snap—right in front of her navel.
The last, fifth step.
Silina's arm wrapped around Eurasia's waist. Feeling that, Eurasia stopped swinging her sword and likewise grabbed Silina's shoulder.
And so, the two girls holding onto each other threw themselves forward as one, as if on cue, and slipped past the Demon.
At the same time.
KRAKOOOM—! With an explosive roar like a lightning strike, the ground they had been standing on just moments ago evaporated.
"Kihihihak! Hak! Kihik! You're quick!"
The Demon's voice, still brimming with composure.
Listening to that voice grating on her eardrums, Eurasia pulled herself up. Silina, however, could not rise from where she lay.
"Ah, heuut... keup, heuk, haak..."
She writhed, tormented by indescribable agony. The cause was the fluid that had burrowed into her shoulder.
Not only acidic, but saturated with Demonic Energy, the fluid was ravaging Silina's body from within.
She could not leave Silina behind like this.
But carrying her on her back would get them caught immediately, and she didn't even have the strength left to carry her.
"Eu, euk..."
Letting out a groan twisted by pain, Eurasia stepped in front of the fallen Silina to shield her.
"Kihihihik... hik, hik!"
And before Eurasia, there was the Demon, walking—splat—through a pool of blood.
Death approached.
Death that could not be avoided or fled was coming.
She gripped her sword with hands now numb. The tip of the sword trembled. Her breathing would not steady. Clack, clack—her jaw trembled and her teeth chattered.
What can I do right now?
'Even when an enemy you can never defeat is right in front of you, as long as your limbs are intact, it's fine.'
She held her sword with both hands. She stood on the ground with both feet. She stared at the Demon with both eyes, and though painful and faint, her breathing continued.
Therefore, she could swing her sword.
If so.
'Whatever it is, I can cut it.'
She could cut it.
She tightened her breathing. She forced her blurred eyes wide. She scraped together the Mana in her body. She wrung out her entire body, gathering every last drop.
Then one foot forward. One foot back. She relaxed her shoulders, kept her arms light, and her hands heavy.
The tip of the sword pointed to the edge of her vision. It pointed at what had to be cut.
"Kihihihik, hik... Beautiful. Beautiful. Beautiful. Beautiful. Beautiful. Beautiful. Beautiful. Beautiful. Beautiful. Beautiful. Beautiful. Beautiful. So beautiful. What will your womb taste like? Will it let me regain my power? What will your screams be like? Your moans? The scent of your blood? Your inner flesh? Will I be able to laugh with joy?"
Then the Demon raised its saw.
A single saw, raised lightly. The Demonic Energy gathering there was like a vast sky.
A sky one dared not even look up at.
There was no end in sight. It stood at a Realm so high it was dizzying.
It felt as though not just her hand, but even her gaze could never reach it.
At last, that thing like a sky.
The wall blocking Eurasia's path.
The Demon's saw drew a line through the empty air.
'Well, Eurasia is so talented that it'll be hard for her to meet an opponent who makes her feel a wall. But if she ever does face such a wall...'
And then, the trembling of her body stopped.
'Well. What can you do.'
Her wide-open eyes stared directly at what had to be cut. Her body, no longer trembling, moved according to her will. From a body that seemed about to collapse at any moment, an intense light burst forth.
She raised her arm.
In that process, her Sword Energy hardened. It was sharpened to a keen edge. It carried a sharpness on an entirely different level from before.
A sword wreathed in Sword Energy.
'Break it, or cut it, and go beyond. Beyond that.'
No. Now, a sword wreathed in Aura.
She swung it.
SLICE—
"Kihik?"
A sharp sound, once.
Then, thud— clatter.
The sound of something falling, twice.
She stared ahead with bleary eyes.
She saw an arm rolling across the floor.
From the severed cross-section, liquid of a sickening color streamed down.
And the sword she swung.
Eurasia's sword broke.
"...My arm, kik... kihik? It's cut off?"
She had aimed for the neck, but couldn't cut it.
In that split second, the Demon, moving on pure instinct, twisted Eurasia's Sword Path. And so the sword broke, and the neck was not cut.
"Hiik... hik, kkik. Kkeueuk, eugeugeut... geuk. Keuk."
SCRRITCH, SCRRITCH—the Demon, which had been scratching its own scalp with clawed fingers, withdrew its laughter. It stopped moving.
"Cheeky bitch."
A chilling single phrase.
The remaining three saws swung all at once.
"Heu, eup!"
She gritted her teeth and swung her broken sword.
CLAAANG—!
The broken sword, the Sword Aura bursting from it, tore through the blades of Demonic Energy. In the process, her skin burst. Muscles tore. Bones twisted.
Every finger snapped. Her forearm shattered.
At the same time, the second saw arrived.
And then.
Flash.
A brilliant light burst from the necklace around her neck.
The shield that suddenly appeared—CRRRACK—twisted the saw's trajectory. She didn't know what happened, but she could not miss this chance.
With a wet heave, she spat out a gush of blood and swung the half-broken sword once more with her broken arm.
CLAAANG—! She deflected the second saw. Her vision stained red. Blood burst from her eyes, nose, ears, and mouth. Her vision swirled chaotically. Her consciousness dimmed. Dizzying vertigo crashed over her.
And then, the third saw surged in.
'But if there's an opponent you still can't beat... then at that time.'
She could no longer move. She could not swing her sword. She could not dodge that attack.
She could not win.
She would die.
'Tell me. I'll help you.'
Until the very last moment, recalling that playful smile, those teasing words, that sharp voice, that beautiful color, Eurasia murmured softly.
"...Please... help me..."
At the same time.
Sapak.
Spring arrived in the desolate Labyrinth.
An unforgettable pink light filled her vision.
Within it, pitiful flower petals fluttered.
And then.
"Yeah."
BOOOOM———!
A single cherry blossom tore through the storm of Demonic Energy.