Book and Dagger (3)
This voice... Cain's Fang?
The moment I thought I needed a blade to draw blood, his voice rang out.
It seemed not just Gra'hthul, but Cain's Fang itself had regressed alongside me.
My chest tingled around my heart—as if I could summon that black dagger for real just by willing it while picturing it.
But...
Not now.
Too risky.
Gra'hthul might not be trustworthy, but their relationship clearly sucked. From his perspective, he'd want to disrupt Cain, so even assuming some exaggeration, the part about it trying to steal my body rang true.
And beyond that, I couldn't imagine a mysterious magic tool like Cain's Fang letting me use it for free.
First things first—let's dig into the Equinox Book.
"Jia, you got a cutter knife or something?"
"Cutter knife? Here."
Kang Jia handed me a cutter knife from who-knows-where.
I'd half-suspected, but damn, she actually had one.
"Alright, here goes."
Nod, nod.
Su-hee gripped her hands tightly over her chest, nodding tensely—probably nervous.
Shlick.
I extended the blade and pricked my fingertip with the blunt end.
I picked up the book from the shelf's edge, opened it, and placed my bleeding finger atop a page.
Drip. Drip-drop.
Blood soaked in, and the Equinox Book began pulsing again.
Veins bulging grotesquely.
A faint, body-warmth-like sensation from the gripped cover.
This thing is disgusting.
Soon, the Equinox Book fully regained its beat.
"Tell me about the black dagger, Cain's Fang."
Flutterflutterflutter!
No wind, yet the pages flipped on their own until stopping at a certain point.
There was an illustration—a black dagger matching exactly the one in my memory. The only difference: the leather-wrapped hilt looked a bit cleaner.
Even in the medieval-style ink drawing, it looked vividly real, right before my eyes. As I took it in, that inorganic voice echoed.
Cain's Fang. The tool used by humanity's first murderer, Cain, to kill Abel. The owner of this magic tool gains the authority of slaughter. It can impose absolute death on any being to which the concept of 'death' applies. However, the price for using this mighty power will never be small...
"What price?"
You will have your soul and flesh seized by Cain, the apostle of death, doomed to wander eternally until all life is eradicated...
Just as I thought.
No matter how powerful the authority of death, what's the point if using it means losing my soul and body to that damn blade fragment?
Gra'hthul hadn't lied a bit.
If I'd chosen to offer my soul and flesh back in that dark space, I'd be rampaging mad by now. Since the thing followed me like a parasite even after regressing from death, it could've easily happened.
This might be even more annoying than Jia clinging to me...
Suddenly, the book's pulsing weakened sharply.
I pressed my clotting fingertip back onto it, squeezing out more blood.
Drip. Drop.
Blood drops soaked the page again, about the same amount as before.
But the vigorous throbbing didn't return.
Need more, huh?
This time, I sliced my thumb with the cutter and dripped extra.
Thump-thump! Thump-thump! Thump-thump!
The Equinox Book pulsed wildly, as if drunk on ecstasy.
Come to think of it, I should ask about the book's true nature too.
"Tell me about yourself—the Equinox Book, what are you?"
Forbidden Grimoire: Equinox. Penned by Aleister Crowley. A transcribed copy of forbidden knowledge contained in an ancient Egyptian artifact. It holds knowledge on nearly all magical entities in existence...
That much I half-expected.
The key part is this.
"What's the relationship between the Equinox Book and Gra'hthul?"
The forbidden knowledge in the ancient Egyptian artifact is the essence of ancient occultism established by the great Demon Sultan Gra'hthul. Gra'hthul embedded a connection to himself within his own knowledge. Thus, anyone possessing the Equinox Book can link their consciousness to Gra'hthul's through the book as a medium...
Zzzt—zzzt-zzzt.
The dry voice, mid-explanation, glitched into static and faded.
How much blood does this thing guzzle?
Worst fuel efficiency ever for a magic tool.
But... still more to ask.
In this insane world, if I can safely acquire knowledge like this, blood's a small price.
As I raised the cutter again, Jia and Su-hee looked worried, trying to stop me.
"Oppa...? You okay for real?"
"Yuhan! Stop it. Please? Just stop."
"I'm fine, Mom. Jia, Oppa's still good."
I ignored them and sliced my middle finger this time, dripping even more blood.
Splat!
Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!
Now it truly throbbed like a heart shaped like a book.
Hardly a few ml lost, but my head spun oddly.
Where was I...?
Right—the knowledge in the Equinox Book originated from Gra'hthul, and dripping blood on it connects my mind to his via the book.
That covers what I'm facing right now, more or less.
One last thing.
The most important, most secretive question.
Crawling Chaos...
Just thinking the words blurred my vision and shook my fingers.
"Tell me about the Crawling Chaos."
Crawling Chaos. The worst chaos born from deep space. The herald of the universe's end. Harbinger of ruin beneath the Blind Father's throne. Nyarlathotep. One of the true gods of this universe, bearing countless names. The day this entity visits Earth marks humanity's end... All concepts and matter in the spacetime it influences will lose their original form, twisting infinitely...
Nyarlathotep.
A true god?
So this Altered Common Sense world is a distortion born from one of those cosmic gods?
But if it's such a mighty cosmic being, Earth should be nothing to it. Humanity lives and dies on this blue speck, but on a universal scale, Earth is smaller than an atom.
A pathetic rock planet not even worth calling dust.
So if these universe-spanning gods really exist, why can't they handle one insignificant planet?
Ah...!
Suddenly, Gra'hthul's final words resurfaced.
Tsk tsk tsk, you fucking idiot. Still clueless, huh? How the hell did a moron like you survive between the Crawling Chaos and the Black Goat of the Dark Forest?
He'd said I survived between the Crawling Chaos and the Black Goat of the Dark Forest.
That implies the "Black Goat of the Dark Forest" is on par with this Nyarlathotep—an Outer God.
Better ask about that too.
"Tell me about the Black Goat of the Dark Forest."
Azazel-Tenebrum-Poetus. The god of formless foam. Black Goat of the forest with a thousand young. Goat of birth and death's duality. Hermaphroditic Mother. Shub-Niggurath dwelling in the black woods of intergalactic space... Her overflowing vitality is pure poison to humanity. Should she draw near, all life on Earth will be absorbed into her...
This god's keywords: young, birth and death, hermaphrodite.
A deity symbolizing the cycle of life, birth, and death—natural enemies with chaos-and-ruin incarnate Nyarlathotep. Classic mythic opposition.
"Goddamn it..."
My head spun.
Not from blood loss.
The scale exploded beyond control in an instant.
Gods. Not the beautiful heroic ones from Greek or Roman myths, but incomprehensible deep-space monstrosities.
And from what Gra'hthul hinted, the Yahweh humanity worshipped as "God" had long been devoured by the Black Goat.
Even as a god of life and creation, this Shub-Niggurath isn't purely "good." Beings beyond human notions of good and evil.
How the hell do I deal with this...?
"Oppa, you okay? W-what can Jia do? Huh?"
She's offering to use her Suggestion Voice if I'm hurting.
Her pitiful trembling eyes burdened me, so I stroked her head.
Pet, pet.
"I'm good. Thanks for worrying."
"Huh? Th-thanks...? First time Oppa's ever said that to me..."
"Don't like it?"
"No! I love it!! It's awesome! Feels so good!!"
She snorted, nostrils flaring, thrilled at my thanks.
"Wh-whoa!"
Anyway, finally figured it out.
Why this world drowned in Altered Common Sense, twisted so thoroughly.
Only after dying horribly five times did I grasp the "why."
No answers in sight.
Knowing the cause doesn't tell me what to do.
Hell, if even the God of a religion worshipped by billions got eaten, what chance does a mere human like me have against Outer Gods?
As despair and helplessness gripped me, a giggling voice cut in.
"Oppa, Oppa! I'll protect you for sure! So keep saying thanks from now on. Ahem!"
Kang Jia, smug and grinning.
"Yuhan, your face looks grave—are you really okay?"
Kim Su-hee calmly checked my color.
...If I do nothing, these two will loop through death forever.
I steeled myself. Start with what I can do.
I posed my final question to the fading Equinox Book.
"Tell me about the Satyr Skull Mask."
The Satyr Skull Mask is...
"Hng... So there's still a place holding the human world's shape...?"
Gleaming long straight black hair.
A hime-cut: straight-across bangs and sidelocks, archaic style.
But only the hair exuded elegance—the rest screamed whore.
Deep, seductively glowing green eyes. Heavy makeup. Taut brown skin begging to be touched.
"Haa... What, you want me to hunt something down and kill it? Fucking annoying... Damn octopus bastards."
Her charismatic low voice dripped boredom.
A woman blending queenly nobility and harlot's lewdness.
Clink, clink.
Above all, her jewelry made her look utterly wanton.
Stark naked on her voluptuous body, no cloth or fabric—just dazzling ornaments.
Golden queen's crown atop her head, pendants below, massive Egyptian-style necklace covering her upper chest.
Gold tassels barely hiding her nipples.
Naval piercing, golden Karnak chain belt around her wide hips.
Below that, only a translucent veil embroidered with jewels and gold threads veiled her privates.
"This is all that shitty old man's fault... Throws his one disciple to the octopus fucks as bait?" Crunch! "Haa... Screw nameless foes or whatever—gotta kill that bastard Gra'hthul first..."
Brimming with deep grudge, she stepped toward the world's last bastion of Altered Common Sense.