The Ashes of Castle Combe
Crackling flames. Roaring fire. Footsteps.
Buildings burned, and the stench of corpses and blood filled the English village of Castle Combe.
"Do-ha, doesn't look like there are any survivors."
"Yeah."
Do-ha and Canteas scanned their surroundings. This had originally been where Henry lived — a rural village too small to even call a town. The population had been sparse to begin with, and now the streets were littered with corpses.
"Looks like people came in from other regions too."
"Seems that way."
Canteas nodded at Do-ha's words. Even a casual glance revealed a considerable number of bodies. As already noted, this was a tiny rural village. Aside from a handful of shops, there were barely any houses at all. Yet relative to that, there were far too many corpses — unless ten people had been living in each home.
Do-ha pulled a necklace free from one of the bodies. Canteas stepped closer.
"Is that an Artifact?"
"It is."
"But they didn't collect these?"
Someone had supposedly scattered Artifacts, yet most of the corpses were still wearing their accessories exactly as they had been.
"These are single-use."
"Single-use… and they've got Berserk on them?"
"Yeah."
Do-ha nodded. The power dwelling within them had completely faded, but that was not enough to escape his eyes. Drawing out the last dust-like remnant of energy, he confirmed it — Berserk had been placed on them.
"So that's why everyone overused the power in the Artifacts."
Push the power an Artifact holds too far, and the body twists and transforms. Ordinarily, people transformed from abusing an Artifact's power — but the dead citizens lying around here had simply burned through energy endlessly under the influence of Berserk.
"Canteas, gather the corpses around here into one place."
"Got it."
Canteas swept his staff, and purple smoke seeped into hundreds of bodies. The corpses rose and began walking with slow, shuffling steps.
"Do-ha, I've gathered them all."
Without a word, Do-ha cast his magic. A massive magic circle formed around the piled corpses.
"This is all I can do for them."
Fire Field
Flames surged around the corpse pile, and black smoke began to fill the sky. Ordinarily he would have left the bodies so their families could reclaim them. But corpses that had used Artifacts were prone to becoming undead — not through magic, but naturally. Without burning them, another catastrophe could easily follow.
Then —
"Please… save me…!"
"Do-ha, a survivor!"
A child's voice. Canteas turned toward the sound coming from behind a building.
Do-ha raised an arm and blocked him.
"Why?"
"When we arrived earlier, I already spread my senses and checked. There were no survivors. All that remained was corpses and the smell of blood — building rubble and flames."
"I have a rough idea what this is…"
Do-ha shook his head and headed behind the building.
Sniffling.
"S-save me…"
When Do-ha and Canteas rounded the building, a child was indeed crouching under a streetlamp, sniffling. But Do-ha's eyes turned ice-cold at the sight.
"This should work."
Scanning the area, he grabbed a wildlife warning sign planted in the ground and wrenched it free. Heavy iron — solid weight, just right.
"You know, I've always hated monsters. But among them, there's one type I truly despise."
He walked toward the crouching child.
"S-save me!"
The moment he drew close, the crouching child transformed in an instant into a monstrous form, a massive maw yawning open.
"Monstrous Birds. Those bastards."
The monster lunged with its jaws wide. Do-ha swung the sign. The triangular face of it had a broad surface — satisfying to hit with.
"Kieeek!"
The Monstrous Bird screamed as the sign connected. Do-ha clicked his tongue lightly.
Monstrous Bird. A mutant created by modifying monsters, capable of mimicking the appearance and voice of any human it had eaten. Which meant this one had devoured a child.
"Not content with eating them, a mere monster dares to imitate humans…"
Back in Belhart, countless people had died to Monstrous Birds. Possessing a measure of intelligence, they would eat a human and then head straight for that person's family. Many had fallen victim that way.
"I wiped their entire bloodline out. And now they've reappeared."
Killing intent flowed from Do-ha's eyes. Looking at a Monstrous Bird, the dominant feeling was not fear or revulsion in the ordinary sense — it was pure, visceral disgust.
With a scowl, he brought the edge of the sign down and severed the Monstrous Bird's neck. The severed head thrashed and screeched.
"Stop thrashing."
He stomped down and crushed the head flat.
Truly, Monstrous Birds were disgusting from start to finish. Even now — look. Head cut off, and still alive, still moving. And thrashing not in its monster form, but as a human head.
"These things really make you feel filthy right up until the moment they die."
The reason Monstrous Birds transformed into human form right before death was simple. Just to plant an unpleasant feeling in whoever killed them. Oh? You killed me? I won't just die quietly. You'll feel like you cut off a human's head. With that intent, they shifted into human form as they died.
If you killed a Monstrous Bird and it transformed into a family member — especially a child — and twitched on the ground, most parents suffered severe trauma. In fact, a considerable number of parents had taken their own lives after the trauma of Monstrous Birds.
"They've got everything I hate, all in one package."
Which was why, back in Belhart, he had killed every last Monstrous Bird he saw and wiped them out completely.
Canteas swept his staff and burned the Monstrous Bird's corpse. Ordinarily Canteas would have collected a monster's remains — but not Monstrous Birds. Do-ha despised them too extremely for that.
"I should have figured it out sooner…"
"It's fine."
Canteas scratched his head. Do-ha gave a short laugh. When Monstrous Birds transformed into humans, their energy vanished. More precisely, they still had energy — but it became nearly identical to the ambient mana floating in the air. Mages accustomed to sensing mana found them extremely difficult to detect.
"Anyway. Artifacts reappearing, Monstrous Birds… I have a rough idea who the culprit is."
"Blood Cult."
At Canteas's words, Do-ha spoke the name aloud. From Monstrous Birds to Artifacts that transformed people — all methods used by the Blood Cult. Especially the Monstrous Birds. As already mentioned, the ones who modified monsters to create them were the Blood Cult. Long ago, they had manufactured Monstrous Birds and released them into the wild to breed.
"These things made it all the way to Earth? Looking to die."
Come to think of it, the Blood Cult and the Demon Cult had supposedly joined hands with the Demon God Cult as well…
All the better. This time, he would kill every last one of them.
A low rumble. The clank of chains.
"Kh…"
"Keh heh heh. How does it feel, Number One Ranked?"
Someone approached Henry, bound in iron chains. His energy had been sealed early on, so he could not move freely.
"You are…"
"Who am I, you ask?"
The figure standing before Henry threw off the cloak covering his body, revealing red robes embossed with a golden character for Blood.
"Blood Cult."
"No — the Great Blood Cult."
The being who named it the Great Blood Cult — Heo Wonsa — looked at Henry with a sinister gaze. The original Blood Cult had fallen, a new one had risen in its place, and they called themselves the Great Blood Cult. Moreover, the Blood Demon's power was like the heavens themselves.
"Incidentally… you know of the Blood Cult. Could you be from Belhart?"
"I have nothing to say to the likes of you."
"Well… I expected as much."
Heo Wonsa smirked and gestured. From the darkness, people began approaching one by one.
"Well? Recognize them?"
"…"
Seeing the approaching figures, Henry bit his lip. They were the neighbors he had fought alongside. And among them were his friends as well.
"Do you know what this is?"
Heo Wonsa toyed with the necklaces hanging from the controlled people's necks.
"I don't."
"Keh keh. Artifacts. I made them. Use these, and even ordinary people become as strong as masters."
"…"
He knew. Before being captured, he had watched them tear through H-beams as easily as paper.
"But keep using them, and you end up transforming into something like a monster."
"Are you bragging? Want praise for making them so well?"
"Impatient little thing. But do you know the special property of these Artifacts? Once a human transforms, they can never return."
"?!!"
At Heo Wonsa's words, Henry's pupils shook violently. Before being captured, many of his neighbors had already transformed into monstrous forms. Did that mean they could never return to being human?
"These ones have changed a little too… but fortunately, I stopped them before they fully transformed."
"…"
"So how about cooperating with me? Then those you tried to protect will live on as humans."
In truth, the Blood Cult had ordered Henry killed — but strong beings like this one were hard to find. Better to put shackles on him and put him to use, no?
I saw this one refuse to harm the villagers.
No matter how strong a being was, that became their weakness in the end.
Heo Wonsa roughly grabbed a controlled citizen's cheek and shook it.
"Serve me. Then I'll spare these ones. If I forcibly rip off this necklace, this one goes berserk. Already linked to the Artifact, you see."
"…"
"Hmm. Seems the deliberation is taking rather long."
Henry hung his head in silence. Heo Wonsa sighed and lowered the hand holding the cheek.
"If the choice is difficult, I'll help you."
His expression turned cold as he reached for the necklace.
"No!"
"Shut up."
Heo Wonsa struck Henry's mute pressure point with swift precision. He would have liked to press the paralysis points and freeze the body entirely — but shouldn't he get to watch the struggling?
"Heh heh. Watch carefully."
Unable to speak, Henry thrashed wildly. The chains rattled and heaved.
At that moment —
A sharp crack.
"Too late."
A whoosh of air.
"?"
Heo Wonsa's hand swept empty space. He turned his head, frowning. What? Where had the person standing right in front of him gone?
"You…"
Looking around, Heo Wonsa stared at Henry. Had this one done something?
Then something flew from the darkness and dropped at Heo Wonsa's feet.
"This is… an Artifact??"
Looking at the necklace at his feet, his face crumpled further. This was the very necklace he had been about to rip off moments ago.
"…Who the hell are you."
Sensing something wrong, Heo Wonsa looked up into the darkness. Henry still could not move — yet if the human before him had vanished, someone had infiltrated this place.
"Great Blood Cult… spouting such fucking nonsense. You vermin bastards."
Footsteps. From the darkness, Do-ha walked out, glaring at Heo Wonsa.