Crossroads (7)
Crossroads (7)
From beyond the barrier that had been breached, armed humans poured out. Dimona's expression hardened.
The number of troops inside the barrier was far greater than expected. Just what was visible to the eye already exceeded several thousand.
This slippery bastard... where the hell had he been hiding a force like this?!
Believers packed so densely there was no room to step surged forward like a tide. Even stepping over corpses and pushing ahead only brought twice as many humans swarming in.
An unsettling green flame. Sacred Power of Ra that seemed corrupted rippled from every direction.
But that did not mean the morale of the Sun God Church's paladins had died.
The First Divine Judge spat out curses. He carved the fanatics apart with his sword, grinding his teeth furiously.
"To insult the will of great Ra! Archbishop Dwayne has gone utterly, completely mad!"
The archbishop who had stepped forward unfurled protective Holy Arts as if disgusted. He pressed down the fanatics clinging to him, crushing them into the floor until they burst.
"Such acts can never be forgiven for any reason! A priest who serves the gods daring to do this!"
The numerical difference was overwhelming. Yet even so, the priests were furious.
Even if fear had eaten into them and their hands and feet trembled somewhat, at their core they were still priests who served the sacred 'god.'
Being cornered did not change their foundation. If anything, it only drove them back to their origin.
An act that openly violated the divinity of 'Ra,' whom they had followed and revered their entire lives.
The sight of the fanatics, seemingly brainwashed by force, was enough to stir anger even in Dimona. The priests wrung out their Sacred Power to resist, and the paladins' swords tore through the enemy.
"Filthy heretics!"
"I'll split you apart!"
"Daring to defile my god!"
The gathered fury suppressed fear and became the driving force to push forward. At times they clung to the enemy even more viciously than the fanatics did, smashing bodies apart.
A brutal battlefield of tearing, trampling, and cutting into one another's bodies.
But morale alone could not solve everything in war. The pressure of the enormous numbers surging in was not the whole problem.
Dimona gripped flame in her hand. Even though she needed to conserve her strength, situations kept arising that forced her to keep using it. The enemies' skill was considerable.
As befitted a force prepared over a long time, the paladins were stronger than ordinary paladins, and the fanatics' tenacity was enough to make one's tongue click.
Ashval Haltz raised his sword. After sending a charging fanatic's head flying, he shouted urgently.
"Judge! This can't be the end of the plan, right?!"
"Of course not!"
She swung her hand. The tip of Dimona's sword cleanly sent a paladin's arm flying. She turned, crushed his armor underfoot, and drove her sword into his neck to finish him.
Ignoring the blood that sprayed up, Dimona glared at the Holy See Headquarters.
"They're coming now!"
The crystal in her hand shattered.
The signal had been sent, so it would begin.
A pincer operation pressing the enemy from front and rear.
"The nightmare of Paramer!"
Grooooooooooooooooooooo...
A bizarre sound, as if scraping at vocal cords.
The noisy battlefield fell silent for an instant. The paladins of Ra who had been resisting stopped in their tracks.
An eeriness that instinct warned of. Even the fanatics stopped swinging their crude swords and stared at the Holy See Headquarters.
A massive building. In the red light dyed by the setting sun, something squirmed.
The movement that rose beneath the silence was very quiet, yet faintly writhing.
Then the change began abruptly.
Grooooooooooooooooooooo...
Once again, a strange sound from an unknown source wrapped around the Holy See Headquarters. A groan that seemed to rise from the very bottom of hell was beginning in the place that should have been most sacred.
Darkness began to expand. Shadows bursting from the massive building like rough waves devoured every bright place.
The sunset was dyed black. Within the darkness that encroached upon the Holy See Headquarters, enormous eyes began to open one by one.
Gazes that moved independently, as if surveying the troops. At the sudden appearance of a writhing eyeball beneath his feet, one inquisitor of the First Inquisition Office recoiled in horror.
"Wh-what the fuck?! What is this!"
"Don't stab it! It's on our side!"
The ground was being dyed. Every place to set foot was covered in black.
Corpses began to vanish into the darkness. A small voice, as if singing, pierced through the shadows.
Calm and small, yet clear enough for everyone on the battlefield to hear.
"A request from the boss."
Crunch.
The grotesque writhing of flesh began to swallow the battlefield. Rotten One - Ratten rose up throughout the Holy See Headquarters.
Their number, even at a glance, was in the tens of thousands.
It could not compare to the numbers at Paramer, but no one could deny that it already approached a 'legion.'
The numerical advantage had been overturned.
Along with the voice of the Lord of the Rotten, the Plague Witch Maya.
"Maya. Will try hard."
. . .
Apfina trembled violently. She had stopped vomiting and was at a loss for words.
What on earth was before her eyes? A small girl. Her name was Maya. But what was inside her had broken out of the mold of an 'ordinary' girl.
"Wh-what kind of... person is she...?"
When they had said she was escort personnel, she had simply laughed it off. When Divine Judge Dimona had told her to be careful, she had merely snorted.
She had lost her power, but she could still roughly gauge a priest's capability. She could clearly distinguish who was strong and who was weak.
So she had once casually tested Maya. But there had been nothing inside her. Or rather, she was completely empty.
She had known that a faint thread of bonds was connected, but that was all. Unless the other end of that connection was a monster from another world, it was clearly nothing more than a simple familiar, so she had not looked deeply into it.
But what was this... h-how had she not noticed...
Could that hideous shadow down below be her true body...?!
"Wh-what did you attach to me?! Dimona?!"
"Maya. Doesn't like noisy."
Maya stepped forward leisurely and flicked her staff.
The darkness encroaching on the floor heaved and vomited out flesh in massive quantities.
"First, clean up the situation."
CRUNCH!!!!
A wave of rotten flesh that did not distinguish friend from foe swallowed everyone. Not only the flesh soldiers, but the fanatics and paladins were also swept away.
"Swish. Swish."
At the sound like a hummed tune, priests were reduced to chunks of meat in an instant. The paladins resisted with all their might, but the Rotten Ones that maintained their forms even within the wave of flesh thrust spears through the gaps in their armor.
Mass slaughter. A merciless attack.
Blood that had drained from the corpses soaked the surroundings.
The color drained from Dwayne's face as well.
"Aaaagh!!"
"O-oh god!!!"
"Your Eminenceee! Your Eminenceee!!!"
Dwayne let out a silent scream. What was this? This power specialized for wide-area warfare?!
At this rate, everyone...!
Everyone will die!
"You crazy...!"
Dwayne raised his hand. Holy Arts flashed, but shattered in an instant.
The wave of rotten flesh devoured the fanatics and pushed outward. The bursting rotten flesh rippled before Dwayne.
Strong! She's no mere priest!
Power comparable to an apostle...!
"Your Eminence!"
The six paladins he had personally selected immediately blocked his path. These pseudo-apostles, who were practically Dwayne's own limbs, drew their swords.
They pushed back the rotten flesh in Dwayne's place. But even they could not fully hold it off, and their sword hands trembled violently.
The protective Holy Arts shattered in an instant. The light faded from the paladins' eyes, and the groans of life grew faint.
Dwayne urgently reached out again. He forcibly drew up his Sacred Power and fought against the wave of rotten flesh.
"O Ra!"
He cried out the name of a god he had already effectively abandoned. Green flames burst forth instead, and the corrupted fire filled his vision for a moment.
An explosion burst out. The building split apart with a thunderous roar.
BOOM!!!!
Amid the scattering flames, Dwayne saw it. Two of the six limbs who had blocked his path had been swept away.
No. These were not ones he had raised to lose in a place like this!
Dwayne urgently reached out, but a massive fist of flesh flew in first. As if confirming the kill, a rotten giant that had risen from the flesh shredded the collapsed paladin's body to pieces.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
A continuous assault that did not stop at once. The pounding did not cease even after flesh and bone had become one.
"Th-this... this..."
Dwayne's eyes rolled back.
"You goddamn fucking bitch!"
The surroundings filled with Holy Arts in an instant. The talent that had raised him to archbishop early was by no means small.
A case of someone not born as an apostle, but who had made up for insufficient Sacred Power with skill.
"I'll tear you to pieces!!!!"
A spear of fire shot up and pierced the giant's body. The explosion filled the room.
BOOM!!!!!
Rising flames. A shaking building.
One was not enough. Dwayne drew his Sacred Power up to its limit. He drove it in with all his might so that the massive body would become a thorn bush from the spear of fire.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The giant whose head had been pierced yawned briefly. It lumbered over and stood beside Maya. The blazing flames were pulled by its enormous hand and plucked from its body with a pop.
Scratch scratch.
The rotten giant that had pulled out the irritating thorn scratched its rear.
Dwayne lowered his hand.
"This... insane..."
It can't be killed even by the flames of Ra? Does that mean it has virtually no regeneration limit?
Dwayne's misfortune did not end there. Corpse giants kept rising from the rotten flesh. The monsters that had brought down his elite paladins filled the room.
"...Y-Your Eminence!"
"F-for now, flee!"
The elite paladins blocked his path. Dwayne stared blankly at the hole in the ceiling. The setting sun beat down, and red light covered the whole world.
"...Zahard... you filthy bastard..."
From the moment their eyes first met, he had sensed the man was no ordinary fellow. When he had directly defied him, he had realized this was someone who had to be put down.
But who could have known it would grow this large? Who could have known he would draw in such absurd people and push him into a corner at the very moment he thought he had won?
How on earth had he recruited a black wizard like this? A powerhouse this absurd... would be fit to lead an entire faction.
That damn bastard... daring to...!
Dwayne, who had been seething, suddenly covered his face with his hands. He wiped at it several times, as if washing away his rage.
"Heh... heh heh..."
Dwayne laughed. His shoulders shook as he burst into laughter.
Maya spoke flatly.
"...Are you crazy?"
"I can't afford to go crazy after coming this far."
Dwayne pressed his face. He calmed his boiling rage.
Everything had gone to ruin in an instant, but the order had merely been briefly scrambled.
It is coming. The promised time. No matter how many variables there are, that one fact does not change.
It is not something an individual can ever block. It will happen regardless.
He only needed to buy time until then.
"Witch... yes... Plague Witch... that would be the better name. Queen of the Rotten."
"You are small fry."
"......"
"Wh-who taught her that?! Maya?!"
"Trash. The boss taught me."
"Z-Zahard did?! Why on earth...?!"
"......"
Dwayne forcibly suppressed his rising fury again. Composure was crucial. He could not afford to lose any more.
Soon. The tide would turn in an instant.
He had to buy time. The elite paladins who had noticed his intent raised their swords.
They had been watching the front, then flinched in surprise and turned to look behind them.
Countless presences were surging in from the rear. Dwayne gritted his teeth.
A blood-soaked group that had rushed over urgently. Standing at the very front was Divine Judge Dimona.
"Dwayne! There's nowhere left to run! Release the brainwashing right now and surrender!"
"...You broke that barrier? Did Tiela break her oath?"
"I broke it myself! So shut your trap, and if you don't want to die, lie down quietly!"
What a foul mouth. Divine Judge Dimona. Had even she exceeded his measure?
Ah. Everything is a mess. It's all jumbled.
But even within the chaos, there was something that still shone brightly.
Even if the world was overrun by dog-like bitches and dog-like bastards, his plan was something built over years.
It was not so weak as to crumble in a single moment.
"Divine Judge Dimona. I will ask you."
Dwayne walked. As Holy Arts and rotten flesh collided, he stopped beneath the hole in the space.
Light came down. He could hear the sound of the sun setting. A sound only he could hear.
A sound that dull, planless fools could never hear.
"The church is a setting sun, and the era when we shone brightest has passed. We are now nothing but the Empire's dogs. We now watch the moods of those who once watched ours."
"...So what's your point?"
"Ra's teachings are sacred. You also know that they deserve to stand above all things."
"I know that standing above someone isn't more important than killing countless people."
"It is a necessary sacrifice. If we do not rise now, even more believers may be sacrificed in the future. You also know how the Empire treats us. I lost a dear friend to an order given by the Empire. It was no different from a sacrifice for the church."
Varkan. That was his name. He still remembered.
A peer who had entered the church with him. While he had seized the position of archbishop, the man had only ever risen as far as bishop.
But lack of skill did not mean there was no affection. The influence Varkan had on Dwayne's rise to archbishop had been immense.
And that man had died. Going out alone to complete an Imperial mission no one else would take.
"I called that a necessary sacrifice as well. And only after enduring that sacrifice did I realize what I had to do."
"And that thing you had to do is just revenge?"
"Revenge? It is nothing so petty. This is responsibility. Dimona. Only when I rise to the position of cardinal will everything properly fall into place. Ra's name will spread far and wide once more, and the Sun God Church will bloom as the greatest religion in human history!"
Ah.
He could feel it.
It is coming. The sound of the end's song. Fragments of wretched pain could be felt through the gaps in the ceiling.
Dwayne raised his head. Far away in the sky, he saw a massive portal glittering.
"It was his request! He entrusted the Sun God Church to me, so I am merely fulfilling the demand of the dying man! Divine Judge Dimona! Did you not feel something strange on your way here? A clever bitch like you should know what it is that cannot be seen! The reason you do not immediately swing your sword is because you still have questions for me, is it not!"
"......"
Dimona drew her sword. She growled with a pale face.
"...Where are the other archbishops? The priests who sided with you? Where are the paladins who followed them?! Why can't I see a single face I know?!"
"Exactly as you say! Yes! They have all been stationed deep beneath the Holy See for the grand plan, for this very moment!"
The sky flashed. In an instant, a massive storm surged in from far away.
Rumble rumble rumble rumble rumble...
The wind moved. What followed was a certain omen. A true divine revelation telling him to doubt no longer.
The end.
The true end.
Dwayne clenched his fist. His body trembled.
Yes.
This was only a promise. The promise he had made to him, and the promise he had made in return.
"Divine Judge Dimona."
Dwayne's laughter stopped abruptly. Between the fingers covering his face, green eyes grinned.
"You also were not chosen by an apostle. Your Sacred Power has limits, and no matter how hard you try, you cannot escape human limits. And this Empire is overflowing with Heaven Beyond Heaven, those beyond the heavens who have escaped human limits. Do you know that there are as many as twelve of them?"
"...What did you say?"
"I am saying thank you for listening. Judge. Thanks to you, I bought time. Plague Witch. Your power seemed endless. A power close to infinity. Unless your true body is brought down, that flesh will keep reviving."
Dwayne reached his hand toward the sky. Dimona, noticing something was wrong, immediately kicked off the ground. Maya swung her staff at once.
The rotten giant's fist surged toward Dwayne. Dimona's sword blazed with flame.
A moment of life or death.
Dwayne smiled.
"But now, none of it matters."
Beneath the Holy See Headquarters.
From its deepest place, a sacred hymn resounded. It pierced through the building hundreds of meters above and connected space to space.
The First Punishment Office and the Holy See Headquarters. Two spaces separated by an unfathomably vast distance were linked into one in an instant.
Dwayne raised his hand. He waved it lightly, as if conducting a song.
A pillar of dark-red light slammed down. A mass of pure power devoured Dwayne's entire body.
CRUNCH!!!
Flesh peeled away and new flesh sprouted.
Skin peeled away and harder skin sprouted.
Bone peeled away, and an exoskeleton beyond all description revealed its form.
"...Asc... aldon... the cardinal's... seat... all of it... mere... decoration..."
The power of the Demon of Love Amar, beginning to run wild.
And Dwayne, directly linked to her, shed his human mask.
Decades of accumulated human malice. The black power that bloomed within a mass of hideous emotion devoured the Sacred Mark. Ra's flame was completely extinguished, and the fiercely burning green was dyed dark red.
Dwayne's skin fell away. Flesh peeled off, and a 'something' covered in bone raised its head.
The rotten giants all burst in an instant. Maya's shoulder was pierced. Dimona was slammed into the wall.
"I... only I... can do this... for the church..."
Sulfur smoke spread from Dwayne's mouth.
"...I am Dwayne."
The cracked voice returned.
The demon spoke.
"The one who will stand above the heavens."