Chapter 225 : Kai's Growth (3)
The world dissolved. Kai’s Mindscape washed over the battlefield, drowning it in an eternal, starless night.
A single, crimson star watched from the heavens.
“What… what is this?” the paladin whispered, her gaze fixed on the unnatural sky.
The sky was the veil between gods and mortals, and she knew only one power capable of tearing it open to serve as a conduit.
Red Moon: the Aspect of Myu, the Countess of Slaughter. It was the ultimate power of a high priest, a technique that ripped the sky open to let the Demon God’s eye gaze upon the world.
But this darkness… it had not opened a conduit.
It had severed one.
The faint touch of the Demon God’s power, the very presence of her god, had vanished completely. Nothing remained.
Only the red star, filling the void.
“Impossible! This is impossible!” the paladin shrieked, charging at Kai.
A sudden chill seized her, a blade of ice tracing its way down her spine.
“…!”
She froze, whipping her head around.
There was nothing there. Only the red star, watching.
“What did you do!” she roared. The chill returned, colder this time, and again she scanned her surroundings.
Still nothing. Only the silent, crimson gaze from above.
“Damn you! What is this sorcery!”
A moment later, a horrifying thought took root. She looked up, her eyes drawn irresistibly to the red star.
The gaze she felt every time she turned her back… that primal sense of unease.
Could it be…
The paladin held her breath, staring directly into the crimson light. And in that instant, she understood.
She understood what was staring back.
“Ah…! Ah…!”
The words died in her throat. Her eyes bulged, feeling as if they would burst from their sockets. Her lips were cracked and dry, her voice a useless rasp. She had gazed upon the forbidden.
She tried to look away, but her head would not turn. Something ancient and utterly malevolent had seized her, its will an iron grip around her throat, forcing her to keep staring.
“Whoareyou. Whoareyou. Whoareyouwhoareyouwhoareyouwhoareyou…”
The words tumbled from her lips, nonsensical and broken. Her consciousness began to fray.
“Ah… Aaaaaaaaaah!”
Her eyeballs ruptured. Blood poured from her eyes, her ears, her nose. Her teeth blackened and rotted in their gums. As she writhed, a voice like honeyed poison whispered in her mind.
Look upon me, my child.
I am the mother of the god you so revered.
Death is a gentle, fleeting thing.
Embrace it, and you shall live for eternity.
Come, child. Dwell forever in my embrace.
The sweet promise flowed into the paladin’s shattered mind.
“Hah… Haaaaaah…”
A radiant, ecstatic smile spread across her blood-streaked face. She reached a trembling hand toward the empty air.
My solace. My cradle.
Devotion to this being was an escape from the shackles of her wretched flesh.
She would give herself up gladly.
The paladin raised a serpentine, ceremonial dagger and plunged it into her own throat.
Shk! Shk! Shk! Shk!
Again and again she drove the blade home, the twisting metal churning flesh and spilling life with every thrust.
Finally, with a soft, contented sigh, she collapsed.
“…Heh.”
Thud.
An eerie, feminine laugh echoed through the ghastly silence.
Ahahahahaha!
The remaining knights, who had witnessed it all, could only slump to the ground, paralyzed by a terror beyond comprehension.
An Outer God. This, they realized, was what the myths called a god from beyond.
They didn’t dare breathe.
* * *
Kai steadied himself, allowing the Mindscape to dissipate. He had only let it manifest, following the instinct of his blood, but the result had been… monstrous.
What was that?
Lancelot and the others seemed to have been spared the sight, but Kai had seen her clearly.
A woman.
A black-haired woman in eastern robes, her smile a mask of pure killing intent as she cackled.
She wore red.
The red star and the woman in red. Was there a connection? He closed his eyes, contemplating the nature of his bloodline and the power it held.
But that wasn’t what mattered now. What mattered was that he could finally command his Mindscape, and that it had saved Lancelot’s life.
…Will he be afraid of me?
He had to be. The power he’d just unleashed was utterly alien.
Kai’s gaze flickered toward Lancelot. As he’d feared, his friend was staring blankly into space, muttering to himself like the other traumatized knights.
He’s probably calling me a monster, Kai thought grimly. Will he demand I leave the task force?
He walked over to Lancelot, his expression somber. As he drew closer, he could finally make out the words.
“…Weaker than Kai? But how? I know I’ve gotten stronger. I never imagined the gap was this… no. Hold on. Can people just do that? Manifest a Mindscape on a whim? What is he, the captain? Hell, maybe I should just be a farmer.”
Kai stared, dumbfounded. He had braced himself for fear, for revulsion. Instead, Lancelot was just… spiraling, a ridiculous expression on his face.
“…What are you doing?” Kai asked.
“Contemplating whether I should bet my life on being a knight when I clearly have no talent for it.”
“…Says the Grand Master?”
“Feels like any dog off the street can become a Grand Master these days.”
“Careful. Talk like that will get you killed. The knights over there would probably stone you.”
“…They’re not as talented as you, either.”
“That’s because I’m exceptional.”
A small laugh escaped Kai’s lips. He shook his head. This foolish fellow never failed to surprise him. If the young master was their savior, Lancelot was the flawed, human elder brother he’d never had.
“Get up. The battle here is over.”
“…Right.” Lancelot sighed, pushing himself to his feet.
Kai watched him with a faint smile, then turned his gaze toward the distant mountains.
Soon, he thought. Soon he would see his siblings, the ones the young master himself was protecting.
* * *
“Well, that’s one loose end tied up,” I murmured, observing the distant battlefield. It was too far for the naked eye, but with Clairvoyance, I watched as if I were standing right beside them.
Kai awakening his Mindscape was a complete, if welcome, surprise.
But what was that thing?
The woman who had appeared within his power. The others seemed oblivious, but I had seen her clearly. A grotesque and unsettling figure in eastern robes.
I’d have to speak with Kai about it later. Not that he likely knew anything… but a captain looked after his subordinates.
With Kai and Lancelot’s fight concluded and Roxen victorious, only one enemy remained.
“That just leaves you,” I said, facing the ogre before me.
The chieftain of the ogres. He had the brutish build of an orc, but his skin was the color of obsidian, a tough hide that looked as if it would turn aside swords and arrows.
“Could an arrow even pierce that hide?” I mused aloud.
“Hmph! As if your flimsy toys could,” the chieftain grunted, his voice a low rumble.
The racial disparity was enormous. His physical stats were monstrous, and he was a monster who could wield Aura, possessed keen intelligence, and was now saturated with demonic energy.
To top it all off, he wielded an Aspect, the power of one of the Twelve Nobles.
How am I supposed to win this?
Worse, the light of my Mindscape was fading. I could reactivate it, of course, but my uses were limited.
Three more times? No, maybe two. And that was without factoring in Mindscape Regression. If I used Regression, I would have one use of Heaven left. At most.
This was going to be difficult.
I let out a long breath and gripped my bow. Firing at this range would be suicide for a normal archer, but for a Grand Master, distance was not the deciding factor.
“How about it?” I offered. “Your troops stand down. You and I settle this, leader to leader.”
I didn’t expect to lose a duel, but his army was a dangerous variable. Removing it would raise my odds considerably.
The Ogre Chieftain, however, was no fool.
“Kheh… Why would I grant you such an advantage? Enough with your petty tricks, human. Come.”
“…So much for demi-human intelligence.”
I sighed and drew upon my Aura. A torrent of power erupted from me, flooding the air with the scent of camellias.
In an instant, three techniques bloomed into existence: Divine Beast Invocation, Halo, and Full Bloom.
My preparations were complete.
“…Come,” I said, my eyes tracking the arrows already arcing through the sky.
The Ogre Chieftain’s face twisted into a hideous grin.
“Good, human. Let us have war!”
A guttural roar echoed from the ogre lines.
“My tribesmen! The war of slaughter begins! A war for our survival! For the dawn of our great nation!”
“Hraaaagh!”
“The dead will rise to fight again, and the living will fight with all their strength! My warriors! Slaughter the humans!”
As the chieftain bellowed his command, the ogres surged forward, a tidal wave of black hide and gleaming iron.
“Uwoooooooooooooooh!”
A hollow laugh escaped me.
“This is completely insane…”
The final battle had begun.