Babel (5)
“Let’s see. So this is what a body mutated by mana and darkness looks like.”
“Grrraaah…”
I laid the man pinned to the ground flat again and secured him, then used a blade conjured from mana to carefully dissect his body bit by bit.
Skin. Tough. It had such elasticity that most blades would just bounce right off, and each individual hair strand possessed considerable strength… It felt like he was wearing armor made of scales woven from fur.
The muscles beneath were just as formidable—chewy enough that they wouldn’t split easily unless cut along the grain.
Hmm. The basic muscle structure is similar to a human’s, just scaled up in size, but thanks to the mutation from mana and darkness, the strength and power are ridiculously enhanced.
Being able to absorb fragments of darkness must be thanks to the mana, so at least it’s some consolation that those who can’t handle mana won’t mutate this easily.
His blood was a dark, almost black crimson, much darker than normal red.
Hmm. Is this… the fragments of darkness dissolving into the blood and circulating through the whole body? How bizarre.
I’ll check this when I examine the heart later.
The overall internal organs… Hmm. The organ structures aren’t that different from a human’s? Though the sizes have changed. Their arrangement was largely the same as a human’s.
“Grraaah…”
“You’re still alive even after I sliced open your gut without anesthesia. What tenacious life force.”
A normal human would’ve died from the pain alone.
“Ugh…”
“Hm? Why the horrified look? It’s not like this is the first time you’ve seen a creature get cut open. You’ve slain plenty with your own hands.”
“True, but… even knowing he’s mutated, thinking of him as still human makes my stomach churn a bit…”
“Hmm… human. Human, you say.”
I gazed at the man with blood the color of dark crimson—the one who’d become a demon—and spoke in a cold voice.
“Do you still think this is human?”
“But…”
“He’s already abandoned his humanity. A fool who couldn’t overcome his curiosity and greed, meddling with what he shouldn’t have. If you call this brute, stripped of intellect and driven only by power, ‘human,’ then beastkin, dwarves, elves, and lizardmen would have to be called human too.”
Having changed like this, he’s drifted even further from humanity than those other races. It wouldn’t be wrong to say he’s become an entirely separate species.
“Not sure if more of these will show up, but if you encounter any… sever their heads swiftly. That’s the merciful choice for those who’ve become like this.”
“Yes…”
The Hero nodded faintly, his face saying he couldn’t quite accept it. But what could be done? Harsh reality is what it is.
“So, how long do you plan to keep poking around in him?”
“Hmm. Just need to check the heart area, then I’m done.”
I sliced open his chest, lifted out the ribs, and examined the heart hiding behind the lungs. Thanks to the darkened blood, the heart itself was stained a dark crimson—a sight that screamed alien intruder.
But the heart wasn’t the point. I removed the surrounding organs one by one, and finally found what I was after.
A pitch-black mana stone attached to the back of the heart. Something you could call a demon’s mana stone. It contained a substantial amount of darkness fragments.
Looks like it stuck to the heart’s rear, dissolving darkness fragments into the blood and pumping them through the body to mutate the flesh.
Hmm. Not pleasant at all.
I used mana to block the darkness fragments leaking from the demon’s mana stone, then filtered them out of the returning blood and forced them back into the stone.
After a little time passed… his blood started reverting to red, bit by bit.
“The blood…”
“It’s turning red again.”
But the mutated body didn’t revert. Even after extracting the darkness fragments from the blood, once the body changes, it can’t go back, huh. A bit regrettable.
“Here.”
I pried off the mana stone from behind the heart and handed it to the Hero.
“Absorb it into your sword.”
“Ah, yes.”
The Hero held the demon’s mana stone to his blade, and the darkness inside slowly seeped into it.
Hmm. Absorbing a fragment this size without issue. Not bad.
Putting that aside for now, I looked down at the man now missing his mana stone.
Without the darkness fragments his mutated body craved—now that the stone was gone—the extremities of his limbs started crumbling into ash, scattering away.
Does tainted flesh keep demanding darkness fragments? Without more supply, it turns to ash like that. Poor creature.
“Gaaah! No! I don’t want to die!!! I don’t want to die!!!”
With all the darkness fragments extracted and even the mana stone removed, his reason seemed to be returning bit by bit. From growling like a beast, he was recovering enough to speak.
Too late, though.
“No! Hate it!!! I don’t wanna die!!! I wanna live!!! Me!!!”
Hm? Suddenly, mana gathered in his mouth. This is… a Breath? No, too weak to call it that. Just a desperate flail.
Simply blasting a shockwave of mana. Sure, Breath is mana gathered and exhaled through the mouth, but this was barely a puff of breath by comparison.
“Tch.”
I casually swatted away the mana shockwave with the back of my hand.
“Kuhk…”
“Pathetic last struggle. Weak as a dragon’s mere exhalation.”
Wait, dragon? Breath. Leathery wing membranes on the back. Tail… even horns on the head.
Hmm… Was he trying to turn into a dragon? Without scales, even?
Hmm… Maybe. Perhaps the memories of Erebos within the darkness fragments yearned to become that way. Despite screwing everything up and ruining it all.
Nostalgic for those days? What a foolish guy.
“I don’t want to die…”
His arms and legs crumbling away, I looked down at him and said to the Hero,
“Now, end his breath.”
“Yes…”
He wasn’t human anymore, a demon now. But he’d once been human. For the Hero, this would be his first kill.
The Hero squeezed his eyes shut and brought his sword down on the man’s neck.
And the demon’s corpse turned to ash and vanished.
Alright, body check done. Now for the soul.
I gazed at the soul emerging from the ashes. It bore the form from before he became a demon. But most of that soul was stained black by darkness.
So the fragments of darkness taint even the soul.
Erebos. How far will you sink into ugliness… What were you hoping for, why do something like this?
I couldn’t comprehend it at all.
Demons. Intelligent beings corrupted by darkness. Those who lusted after forbidden power, losing everything—body and soul alike.
The tale of the first Hero without a name tells of the first to appear in this world.
Long ago. Babel, built by persecuted mages. The one who seized that city piled up a massive tower, seeking a god’s power—but his true nature as a demon was revealed by the Hero’s party.
Yet the demon’s strength was incomparable to humans, and as his wicked hand reached for the Hero’s companion, the Dragon Priestess…
The gods could no longer stand idly by.
A pillar of immense light crushed the demon, toppling the tower he’d built to become a god.
Thus, the first demon crumbled beneath the great power of the gods.
……
Afterward, the mages of Babel, bereft of tower and ruler, faced choices.
Those who stayed to atone for their sins, building a plaza at the site where the gods showed their might, vowing never to repeat the mistake.
Those who chose to leave, atoning for foolishly electing a fool as ruler—though it wasn’t their sin.
Those who denied all fault, claiming innocence, betraying Babel and seeking refuge in human nations.
……
Demons continued appearing frequently after that. Many were former mages, especially those researching mana stones—and curiously, often descendants of Babel’s betrayers.
Mages debated: punishment for ignoring Babel’s sins? Or using mana stones unblessed by the Life Church?
Recent studies claim the root cause lies elsewhere: certain components in mana stones corrupt mages.
A far-fetched theory, needing long proof… but if true, it could uncover the cause of demons throughout human history.
Lift one sin from humanity’s shoulders.
The lab researching mana stone components was suddenly destroyed by a demon outbreak and rampage, leaving the claim unresolved.