The Red Devil Who Cradled a Star (4)

My daughter….

Her whole body burned.

It felt as though molten metal was coursing through her veins, and the pain of it tore her skin open and knit it back together, over and over again.

And yet… it didn't hurt half as much as her heart did.

Grrraaaaaaaaawr—

A roar no human throat should have been capable of producing. With every step she took toward her daughter, her vision bled crimson. A hunger for destruction, a thirst for slaughter, swelled unchecked in her chest and shredded her mind to pieces.

But no rage. No agony. Nothing could hurt as much as the ache in her heart.

My daughter. My precious little one.

The child she'd treasured so dearly she could have swallowed her whole without feeling a thing was sobbing right in front of her. Watching her daughter scream at her and thrash so violently—it was enough to tear her chest apart.

My baby. Mommy's coming. I won't leave you alone ever again.

"Hahaha!! Captain! Did you see that? How could I not admire you?"

"Ugh…."

Three swords were buried in the Captain's torso, and with every breath he vomited up blood.

"Everything you did was right on the mark, Captain. You truly flushed out the demon!"

"A… demon…?"

"Do you see it? That horrifying monster? My, it's the very image of a demon. Who would ever have guessed that they carried the bloodline of the 'demonkin' spoken of only in legend?"

"That's… impossible. They were… ordinary people."

Where Clay was looking, a massive crimson monster over five meters tall was whipping its tendrils about indiscriminately, laying waste to everything around it.

"Haha. Well, perhaps they would have remained so, if not for us—just as you said, Captain. Thanks to those test subjects you'd been hiding away, we were able to produce a guaranteed result."

"Ugh. What happened… to them?"

"A perfectly natural question. They were used as offerings for the experiment, of course. Though what a waste it was—that girl. If only we could have awakened her instead, the results would have been far superior… They say she inherited the densest blood of all. Tsk. The Mage Tower apparently handled her body so much already that she'd have shown no effect."

"Ugh…."

"The mother vessel required amplifying her emotions to their limit, which was tedious, but success is success. All those months of continuous drug injections were worth it."

While the monster rampaged, the mages of the Mage Tower and knights from the other orders began securing the perimeter and making preparations to capture it alive.

"Hmm… though she shouldn't be able to hold onto her sanity, should she…?"

Even as the monster indiscriminately attacked everything around it, it was steadily closing in on the execution platform.

"Anyway, it's less dramatic than I'd hoped. Their traits work better the more intense the emotions, no?"

A chill of dread ran down the Captain's spine at Clay's words.

"Stop… this."

"Haha. The condemned may excuse himself now."

Clay gave the order without hesitation: bombard the girl on that execution platform with magic.

"If she watches her own daughter blown to pieces before her eyes, she'll put on the finest performance imaginable, don't you think?"

"You… insane monster."

"Haha. That much should satisfy the higher-ups. And the Mage Tower will be thrilled to get their hands on a first-rate experimental subject."

Then he turned back to the Captain with a wide, gleaming smile.

"And I, for one, will be rising from Vice-Captain to Captain."

The moment the mages readied their spells, mana began to churn across the entire area. Despair sank into the Captain's eyes. Layer upon layer, the mages' mana gathered in the sky above and began weaving itself into a phenomenon.

Vhuuuuuum—

"…!"

A sphere of dark crimson light—merely looking at it filled the air with menace.

Yet Clay remained utterly composed.

"Do you see it? That ferocious mana, enough to make your skin crawl just from watching? That's the fruit of our research on them."

"…."

"The Empire has reached its limit after long years of war and division. A simple propaganda play will no longer suffice. We need a mighty enemy capable of binding the Empire together. Not some lesser race wearing a human face, but a true monster—a genuine Demon King. And one that moves exactly as we command, at that."

The Captain could see the cunning lurking beneath Clay's smile.

Once you had a controllable monster, purging the political opposition—those bothersome dissenters—became child's play.

Not for the unity of mankind, but a monster cobbled together from countless greed. That was the true nature of the project Clay was running.

Huuuung—

The mages' spells pierced through the monster's tendrils and struck the execution platform dead-on. A mana detonation bloomed around it.

KA-BOOOM—

"Hm?"

It was a blast violent enough to hurl every human nearby off their feet. A moment later, Clay's brow furrowed.

"What is this?"

As the smoke cleared, a blue barrier stood over the platform, shielding everything inside.

"Mother…."

"What's wrong, my darling? Why are you crying?"

"Mom…."

Clear tears streamed down the girl's twisted, monstrous face. Cradled in her arms, her mother—half returned to her human form—was gently stroking her head. Her lower body was still buried in that mountain of flesh, but the warm eyes looking up at her were unmistakably her mother's.

The girl wanted to cry out, her chest so tight ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠it ached. But she paused ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠when a message flickered across her vision. Then, with an awkward smile—the saddest smile anyone had ever worn—she took her mother's hand. Tears spilled from the corners of her eyes.

"…I missed you."

"I missed you too, my darling… Every night. Enough that you showed up in my dreams. My little girl, you've grown so much, haven't you?"

"Yeah… And you haven't changed at all, Mom."

The girl made into a monster and the woman half-turned into one gazed at each other, seeing the warm faces they had worn in those old days.

"My darling… it was hard, wasn't it?"

"Yeah… It was hard. I missed you so much."

Fighting to hide her trembling ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠hands, the girl put on a sullen, pouting face. Her mother stroked her as if she were the most precious thing in the world.

"I'm sorry. I should have come for you so much sooner…."

"No. Just being able to see you now… I'm so happy."

"My darling, though… I don't know what to do. I'm getting so sleepy."

The girl forced out a smile to see her mother off.

"Yeah… When you wake up, let's go eat something delicious and go out and have fun together."

"Then… can I sleep just a little while?"

"Don't worry. Sleep as long as you like."

"My darling…."

"…Mom."

Across the girl's retinas, through the haze of tears, streams of complex data and messages were scrolling past.

"Mom. I'm so thankful you're my mom."

"…And I'm so happy you're my daughter."

"Will you be my mom in the next life too?"

"Yes… I love you, my darling."

"Mom…."

With a smile still on her face, the woman slipped at last into an eternal sleep.

A star faded, faint and fragile, within the girl's chest. No—it became a brighter, more radiant star than ever, and it would float there in her heart for all eternity.

Beside the girl stood the clown doll, now revealed to the world. Though the clown was in rather poor shape—broken in places, sparks crackling from its joints.

A field of blue hexagons spread out around them, refusing entry to anyone and everyone.

Pszzzt— crack—

The clown dredged up every last scrap of its emergency power to keep vigil over the woman's final moments.

BOOM— CRASH—

"Break through it!"

"What is this?! Mages! Analyze it, now!"

"It's not shield magic! No shield spell in existence is this durable!"

"It's not magic."

"Then how can something like this even—!"

"Capture that girl! She holds immeasurable value for the Empire—!"

The Empire's mages and knights hurled every manner of attack at it, but the barrier did not so much as tremble.

The girl, who had stood watch over her mother's end until she was scattered to ash, rose to her feet.

"Thank you… for waiting. And for the last moments I shared with my mother… sniff."

Deep sorrow welled up in her eyes. But she raised a hand, wiped the tears away, and lifted her head.

"I will honor the contract."

She swallowed her grief whole. Now was not the time.

"What would you have me do?"

An impossible miracle had returned her mother—at last, at the very end—to human form, after she'd become something else entirely.

And then there was the incredible strength flowing through her from the thin suit that sheathed her body. This was nothing short of a miracle for a body whose tendons had been severed, a body that could barely crawl, let alone walk.

What kind of price would the being who had dropped such an artifact into the hands of a worthless nobody like her demand in return?

Her life? Her soul? Perhaps something beyond anything she could even imagine.

And to her came this:

"…Huh?"

For a moment, the girl couldn't answer.

Patdak? What was a Patdak? Wait—could it mean the assistant moderators that got mentioned now and then on the community boards?

"Um… what do I have to do to become a Patdak?"

"…."

She looked around. The Empire's knights and mages were raining down attacks, their faces twisted with greed.

Aura and sword-qi—the very essence of knighthood—rained down, and the mages' most powerful spells hammered against the barrier.

"…."

A shiver ran up from the soles of her feet.

Sweep them away? She was a broken-bodied, penniless, perfectly ordinary civilian—and he was telling ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠her to sweep away the Imperial knights and mages, those beings said to soar the skies? And yet why did it sound so utterly natural?

Was it because of this power flooding through her whole body right now?

She looked down at the dark crimson suit that encased her. Set above her sternum, a strange jewel glowed with the light of a star within.

"…What should I call you, going forward?"

The girl nodded.

"I will carry out your orders, Master."

Pszzzt— clack, clack—

The Red Devil descended upon the Imperial capital.