A Grotesque Salvation
O chosen ones, plunge into the depths...
Your pain shall fade, and the world shall be saved...
Prove it with your death...
Gloomy lyrics set to a cheerful melody.
The verses of this horrific harmony faded one by one.
The Ash River.
Everyone gathered there was singing this song as they threw themselves into the water.
Behind them, a figure could be seen with hands pressed together in prayer.
Beneath his tattered robes gleamed the terrifying, bloodshot eyes of a fanatic.
He was the mastermind who had turned this slum into an altar of manifestation.
"You are too late... Expedition Party that seeks to stop the destruction," he said, as if he had long anticipated the arrival of Roan and his companions.
Splash, splash.
Bubbles rose to the surface as bodies submerged into the viscous, toxic river.
The moment the ripples finally settled to absolute zero—
The sticky river violently churned, and from its depths, a catastrophe was born.
It happened on a day when they were busily moving to prevent the apocalypses that had already devastated his past life.
I thought we still had time.
He had assumed the flow of events would remain identical.
But he was wrong.
An interloper had appeared in a timeline that should have played out exactly the same way. It was entirely possible for the future to become tangled.
It's fine. It's not like I knew everything anyway.
He didn't know exactly who was gathering power where, or when and where they were preparing. Even at this very moment, a seed of destruction that the past life's Expedition Party had failed to resolve might be growing in strength.
All Del Roan could do was utilize the information he possessed.
Having any information at all was a blessing.
A changing future... was something I would have to face eventually. It's actually for the best.
He had already done enough regretting.
If he kept wallowing in regret when there was nothing left to regret, he would never be able to move forward.
Roan raised his head.
He saw an old man smiling even as he died, and a priestess who remained untouched by that eerie, harmonious laughter.
"Whew... At least we saved a life..."
"Erian Belgard."
"Ah, my savior. Thank you so much. I never expected you to throw yourself into that river."
As she spoke, Belgard wiped Roan's body down. She didn't seem to care that her own hands and cloth were getting filthy.
"But please, don't treat your own body so recklessly. Your life is precious, too."
"Right. A precious life. You always were like that."
"...Pardon? Oh? Come to think of it, did I ever tell you my name...?"
Belgard belatedly looked slightly puzzled. A complete stranger knew both her first and last name.
But Roan's next words puzzled her even more.
"Erian Belgard. To save the precious lives you hold so dear, will you lend me your strength?"
His words carried a weight that suggested a grander purpose—a vow to protect the world.
"...What? Lend you my strength? What do you mean by that?"
"Something is about to happen. Now that one person has fallen in, the others will soon throw themselves into the river as well."
Belgard looked at the other residents. They were laughing and chatting brightly, looking like people who would never even dream of throwing themselves into a toxic river.
"Isn't that... a bit of an exaggeration?"
"There's no time for a long explanation. It's urgent."
Roan looked at Jane.
Even without words, they understood each other perfectly.
"So, we just need to tie them all up, right?"
"Exactly."
Smart Jane.
"W-Wait a minute. What are you planning to do...?"
"Tie them up. So they can't jump into the river."
Tying up these innocent, smiling people?
"W-Wait... Are you serious? You're going to restrain people who look so happy?"
Flustered, Belgard tried to stop them.
But Roan did not waver. He firmly gripped Belgard's shoulder.
The weight of it.
It was a heavy hand, carrying the burden of long years she knew nothing about.
"Belgard. I already know what a good person you are."
But.
"Sometimes, we must tolerate a little discomfort to prevent a massive tragedy."
Those words, too, carried a weight no less heavy than his hand.
Belgard was left speechless. She could only watch as Jane bound the smiling children with chains of mana.
And then, during the restraint, a change occurred.
Clink, clank!
The children bound by the magic chains began to scream and crawl frantically along the ground.
"Why?! Why are you tying us up?!"
"Don't get in our way! This is the path to happiness!"
They slammed their heads into the polluted soil, trying to crawl forward even if they had to drag themselves with their teeth.
Cold sweat dripped down Jane's forehead as she grit her teeth.
"Damn it... They're struggling too much! You're Belgard, right?! Help me out here!"
"N-No... How can children who haven't even had a proper meal possess such strength...?"
"Never mind that! Just help! Del Roan might be weird, but he's never wrong!"
After a moment of hesitation, Belgard's hands finally moved.
A soft glow of light overlapped the binding mana chains, suppressing the frantic struggles of the people.
It was then.
"Who do you think you are...!"
A voice dripping with rage echoed from the darkness.
It was a man dressed as a tattered monk. His eyes gleamed with fanaticism, and his lips, which he had bitten raw, were split and bleeding.
"Why did you suddenly appear?! Why are you trying to disrupt this sacred ritual?!"
Ah, it's him.
The cultist from his memories.
Though his expression was different, his attire and the look in his eyes were identical to back then.
"Jane! Cover me!"
"You really treat me like some kind of magic turret...! Oh, for crying out loud!!"
Roan lunged forward, with Jane close behind him.
Belgard could only watch blankly from her spot as the two of them subdued the cultist.
They're strong...
No.
It wasn't just that the two of them were strong; the cultist was also weaker than expected.
The cultist rolled across the ground the moment Roan clashed with him. Yet, the fanatic light in his eyes refused to fade.
"You foolish fools... By what authority do you dare block the salvation of the continent?!"
What shameless words.
Especially from someone trying to summon a god of his own desires by sacrificing human lives.
Because Roan knew this... No, even someone who didn't know would never agree with those words.
"Shut your mouth. I don't care for any salvation bought with human sacrifices."
Jane clicked her tongue and gathered mana at her fingertips.
With the incantation omitted, the magic activated in an instant.
A blazing fireball was thrust right before the cultist's face.
Yet, the fanaticism in his eyes did not waver.
"Ha, hahaha! Yes! Go ahead and kill me! Do it if you can!"
He began to thrash, screaming as if singing a song.
"Destruction will come eventually! For that day, I shall offer my very soul to Lord Serenar!!"
Creak.
Crack.
Snap.
A bizarre grinding sound.
The sound of bones snapping.
Dislocating and tearing his own limbs, the cultist forced his body to move and threw himself forward.
"If the sacrifices are not enough!"
His madness-soaked voice echoed one last time.
"Take me—!!"
Splash.
Silence fell.
"How could he... take his own life..."
"Get back."
Roan immediately raised his hand and pushed her behind him.
And then.
The stagnant, rotting water churned violently, giving birth to a grotesque monstrosity.
The corpses of those who had drowned in the river.
The debris swept along by the current.
All of it fused together into a hideous, misshapen form.
The Created God, Serenar.
—ROOOOOAAAR!!!
A massive roar shook the earth.
Tiny, maggot-like arms rained down, scorching the ground black where they fell.
"...That's not a god. It's a catastrophe."
"How are we supposed to..."
"Actually," a calm voice cut through their fading resolve, "this is better. It's smaller than before."
His solitary relief amidst everyone else's hesitation was so surreal that—
"Jane! Prepare your magic!"
"R-Right!"
"Belgard! Sorry to ask this since we just met, but I need your help!"
"Ah, y-yes...!"
They had no choice but to follow.
Three people.
Two of whom were currently lacking in raw strength.
Before them stood a seed of destruction, summoned prematurely due to a twisted future.
We can do this.
...It was entirely winnable!
"Alright! Prepare for battle!"
Whoosh!
As if responding to Roan's shout, the sticky river water surged upward.
Through the gaps, polluted soil and gravel erupted like a storm.
But a mere storm of stone could not overcome Roan.
With his feet planted firmly and his shield thrust forward, his defense perfectly embodied his absolute conviction: I will not let anyone get hurt.
"Jane!"
"I know!"
Boom! Boom! Boom!
She had prepared her magic even before her name was called.
Rapid-fire fireballs, cast without incantations, began to detonate against the monster's torso.
Black oil and soot exploded in all directions, yet the creature's body remained intact.
Viscous mucus immediately began to fill the ruptured cavities.
It was a regenerative ability reminiscent of the Amalgam they had faced on the ninth basement floor.
But this was far faster, and far filthier.
*Bang! Crash!*
Despite taking multiple hits from powerful magic, the creature stood completely unfazed.
"Its regeneration is too fast! Holding it back is the best we can do!"
"That's more than enough."
Roan glanced at Belgard through a gap in his defense.
In that split second, their eyes met.
"...Yes. I'll try."
Roan's intention clicked in Belgard's mind.
"Good! Jane! Just keep it up a little longer!"
"Ugh...! If you're going to do something, do it fast!"
Jane panted, pouring every ounce of her mana into the attack.
Yet, the intensity of her firestorm did not wane.
As the monster was pushed back by the magic, Roan reached back with his sword hand.
Belgard wrapped her light around his outstretched hand.
The manifestation of holy power.
A technique that reinforced a specific area.
Seeing his arm and sword glowing with a faint, coated light, Roan immediately lunged forward.
Screeech!
He closed the distance instantly and brought his sword down.
It was a single strike meant to sever dozens of arms at once.
However—
"Kh...!?"
No matter how weakened it was, the opponent was still a seed of destruction.
Naturally, it would not be silenced so easily.
Squelch, squelch...
Tiny, hand-shaped maggots began to crawl up his arm.
Despite their small size, the power they contained was intense.
They shattered the shroud of holy light and began to gnaw at his flesh.
And finally—
Sssssss...
With a sickening, boiling sound, they began to dissolve Roan's arm.
Smoke billowed from his flesh.
His forearm melted away, exposing the white bone beneath.
"R-Roan!!"
And then, a song echoed...
For this, too, shall be the salvation of the continent...