Chapter 10

The illusion of Replaying the Past had already vanished.

Though Kiichi felt a dark, heavy mood within, his mind remained cool and composed.

He began to understand what had occurred—or was happening—here.

There was no longer anything worth saying.

Kiichi stood up and headed toward the church nearby, the largest and most significant building in the village.

He opened the grand doors, an unusual luxury for a poor village, and stepped inside slowly.

It was a sanctuary.

At the front, there stood a gilded statue of a bull on the altar, adorned with offerings—food, wine, bouquets—all in celebration.

A rare object of worship in this region, it was commonly regarded as—

—a cult idol.

A god of old, overseeing human sacrifice.

“…”

Inside the sanctuary, on the walls and floors—

—were grotesque traces of blood spread everywhere.

And, piled up in a heap, were the bodies of villagers who had been “half-devoured,” left to rot, swarming with insects and filling the air with a stench. Each face was twisted in fear.

All the bodies belonged to adults or the elderly; there were no children.

The statue of the bull remained intact, shamelessly reflecting the radiant golden light cast from the stained glass onto the stone floor.

The sight, so merciless it seemed to drain life itself, appeared differently to Kiichi.

He no longer felt sympathy for the victims. He had his reasons.

Kiichi moved further in, inspecting each room within the church. Unsurprisingly, there were no survivors.

At the very back, he found two staircases: one leading up and one down.

He decided to descend first.

At the bottom of the stairs was a door. Opening it, he was met with a musty, metallic smell—not at all fitting for the church basement, but rather an eerie room.

Numerous instruments of torture.

Small cages and racks filled the room, too cramped for an adult to fit comfortably.

Blood-stained whips and knives were propped up against the wall, and human bones lay scattered about.

The earthen walls bore scratch marks, especially clustered near the floor.

It was likely the room that the escapees had mentioned. With no signs of movement, and nothing else worth examining, Kiichi returned to the stairs.

Ascending to the second floor, he found a long corridor with another door at the end.

He pushed it open slowly and entered.

It was a tidy space, like an office, with a religious pedestal at the front, and a desk and chair to the side.

Several bookshelves, unusual for a secluded village, lined the carpeted area.

A glance showed they held religious texts and historical books.

Kiichi picked up a few volumes and skimmed through them. Among them were ancient texts, and he quickly understood their content.

He recognized them.

The books recounted the history of Matarlix Magic Kingdom, a small ancient kingdom that had existed in this area around 200 years ago.

It was a nation fervent in the study of magic, especially black magic, and it had been destroyed by the surrounding nations. Those neighboring nations, in turn, also perished within fifty years.

After returning the books, Kiichi turned around and looked over the room again.

“…”

On the wooden floor was a black magic circle drawn in blood—

Surrounding the magic circle were discarded, pure white wedding dresses. There were multiple dresses, all too small for an adult.

It seemed that the “wedding ceremony” had, in some sense, been real.

There were two types of dresses: some with bodices and some without, indicating that “brides” of either gender had been used.

Kiichi took out a piece of paper and touched it to the magic circle. The paper immediately turned pitch black.

“This is the source of the magic power. The magic circle itself has already ceased, but the core ‘power source’ of the magic is missing.”

Kiichi analyzed the magic circle but found no indication of the energy source required to activate the magic.

In this world, magic operates on a specific principle.

It requires power, a mechanism, and an output of magical effects.

Without fulfilling these three components, no magic can activate.

A human or some other source of magic had to be externally connected.

“They must have bought the white stone for this purpose. Ordinary magic stones would be insufficient as a power source; only a fragment of a goddess with immense magic could suffice.

It was a necessary expense, no matter the cost—an ancient, cursed summoning black magic…”

The basement room had likely been used as a preparatory site for the ritual. Kiichi knew of this magic from old records.

“Shed the blood of kin and taint it with curses.”

The human suffering piled up over years would draw great evil to this land.

The more prolonged and cruel the sacrifice, the more intense the emotions—the more effective… That was its nature.

He felt sick.

It was an ancient black magic, a relic of the fallen magic kingdom, likely recreated entirely.

Its nature resembled possession.

The magic summoned evil into the real world, offered up the victims, and used them as vessels for a monstrous form.

At that point, those within the magic circle would “fuse” into one, forming a host for possession.

—But this black magic was a complete failure.

In rare ancient books on the magic kingdom, its outcome was detailed.

The kingdom that devised it was deeply superstitious and religious, holding its own unique beliefs.

They were convinced that “only kin could heed the cries of kin; only the ancestral spirits would listen.”

In their grim ritual, they believed that they were summoning their ancestors’ spirits, not evil beings responding to cries of their kin’s suffering.

Yet, the incantation had a fatal flaw in its control mechanism.

The control spell designated the souls of the caster’s bloodline. It could not command passing evil drawn only by the scent of death.

This flaw led to their downfall in the end war.

“So, the same result awaits this magic circle.”

The pile of corpses below—that was the answer.

Even the motives behind this foolish act could be almost entirely deduced. This village lay within the old magic kingdom’s former territory.

It wasn’t hard to imagine who their ancestors were.

For 200 years, they had waited to restore the kingdom.

The village likely followed a distorted faith, possibly due to past influences. A deity of human sacrifice. A “bride” costume.

The gruesome ritualistic acts have nothing to do with magic itself. Perhaps, as a result of committing taboos, they required a new faith.

Juuichi stepped away from the magic circle.

It could be said that he now understood the entirety of the incident.

The ultimate goal is the retrieval of the “fragment.” He has some prospects for that…

He decided to leave the room and head down the stairs.

He emerged into the hall below, a scene of unchanged tragedy.

Juuichi stopped.

He heard footsteps outside the church, approaching from a distance.

Soon, a man burst in…

It was an elderly man.

“Haah, haah, ugh…!!”

Gasping for breath, his face pale with fear, he was dressed as a traveler. At the very least, he didn’t look like a survivor from the village that lived here.

A traveler who happened to get lost? Juuichi thought, how unfortunate to be here at such a time.

But the moment he saw the old man’s face…

—Juuichi’s eyes turned eerily cold.

They resembled the eyes of a machine.

In the next instant, he closed his heart, and his expression returned to normal.

The elderly man who had rushed into the sanctuary hurriedly used the bodies rolling around him as barricades in front of the door.

“Hey.”

The old man jumped at the voice. He finally noticed Juuichi’s presence and turned around.

“Who… who are you?!”

“I’m a mercenary who has come to search for someone on request. And you?”

When asked, the old man, his throat choked from heavy breathing, replied.

“I… I am just a traveler.”

“A traveler? You came all the way to this remote village?”

“Yeah, I happened to stop by. I heard there was a wedding and thought it would be a good opportunity to sightsee. Maybe I could get a meal or something. I didn’t have any money.”

“I see…”

“A monster appeared! A giant man-eating beast that slaughtered the villagers! I managed to escape by hiding in the forest, but when I tried to leave here, I was spotted. While I was running away, I ended up back here!”

Juuichi glanced back at the hall behind him.

He surveyed the scattered bodies and spoke.

“Is this also the work of that monster?”

“What a disaster. It suddenly appeared during the wedding and killed everyone… I shouldn’t have come here.”

“Hmmm.”

Juuichi took out a leather pouch filled with water that was hanging from his waist.

“That was unfortunate. You’re soaked in sweat; would you like some water? Though the surroundings are like this, it would be necessary to calm down.”

The old man hesitated slightly, but when pressed, he took the drinking spout and downed it all in one go.

He returned the pouch hesitantly.

“I’m sorry. I drank it all.”

“It’s fine. I’m Amber, a mercenary as I mentioned earlier. And you are?”

“I am… Jens Amieu. I came from the central continent. I was hired by treasure hunters traveling to ancient ruins.

Because I have knowledge of ancient magic, I was called to decipher the magic of the ruins. Well, I ended up playing around a bit too much in the roadside town on my way back and ended up returning home with no money.”

“Gambling, I take it?”

“Dice, yes. Oh dear, the profits from the expedition went to waste! I know it’s a bad hobby, but I couldn’t help it. I’ve been completely cleaned out of travel funds.”

“So you’re struggling to eat and came here for the wedding?”

“Exactly. How embarrassing, ha ha.”

After listening to the story, the man named Jens seemed a little relieved and smiled.

Juuichi returned the smile with his lips only. His eyes were completely expressionless, but Jens didn’t notice.

It was a gruesome scene, but after a slight easing of the tension, Juuichi spoke.

“Well then… What kind of monster is it that made such a mess here? What is its physique or form? Does it have claws or fangs? Is it fast?”

“Huh?”

“I can’t just leave it alone. It’s a man-eater, right?”

The old man’s eyes widened in disbelief as he looked at Juuichi.

“Are you serious about confronting that monster? It’s impossible. A mere human cannot defeat it.”

“I’ve heard that if that monster heads out from here to the main road and attacks a caravan, it would be a serious problem. Even if I cannot defeat it alone, we must share information after leaving here, right?

Or do you have a reason you don’t want to tell me…?”

“N-no, that’s not it.”

Jens fell silent for a moment, thinking, then looked up and said.

“…It’s a humanoid monster. It was over 2 medat (about 2.5m; 1 medat = 1.27m). It had a grotesque appearance, as if made by connecting humans together.

It killed the villagers one after another with terrifying speed… No one but me escaped.”

“Does it not walk on all fours? You said it was humanoid, but how is its intelligence? Did it use any weapons like an ogre or a cyclops?”

“It killed people with its bare hands. It looked almost beast-like.”

“Does it use projectile weapons?”

“Projectile… weapons? No, I don’t think it has anything like that.”

“I see. Well, depending on the movements of the actual being.”

With no long-range attack means and a speed manageable even for the old man to follow, if it walks on two legs, there would be less vigilance about irregular movements.

From what he heard, it didn’t seem to be much of a problem.

…For Juuichi, the ‘materials’ that formed its body were a much bigger concern.

And if it was chasing this old man, then the trouble of searching the surrounding woods would be eliminated.

“…”

“You said your name was Amber. What’s wrong?”

“Clear away the bodies you piled up in front of the door. It’s coming right next to us.”

“I-is it here?!”

Following Juuichi’s gaze towards the door, Jens turned around as if rebounding.

There was a thick presence.

Juuichi drew his sword from his waist.

“It seems it’s been following you. We have no other escape route. If we break the window, we’ll be noticed immediately.”

“Are you seriously going to fight? We’ll both be killed!”

“We have no choice but to face it. Do you think a 2 medat monster would stop for a mere barricade of bodies? Or do you think it’s fine for me to leave my sword behind while I work, leaving us defenseless?”

Jens gasped, hurriedly clearing away the piled-up bodies.

Juuichi readied his sword in front, but the monster, the anomaly, did not come bursting in.

Then, he pushed open the door of the sanctuary.

It was there.

It stood facing him.

A dark red abomination, twisted and fused together from multiple human bodies.

Its head was a distorted skull formed by combining the heads of two people, with flesh peeling away. From its hollow four eye sockets, a purple liquid constantly dripped.

The arms and legs were each crafted from a single person, and the “original form” retained almost its original shape.

One of them.

The white, clouded eyes, which reflected nothing anymore, met Juichi’s gaze…

“……”

Juichi felt an urge to look away.

It wasn’t due to ugliness. It was an impulse driven by pain.

They were different from the corpses that had rolled in the chapel.

The “them” before him were innocent victims, sacrificed without any means of resistance.

“They’re all already dead. They’re just being used as parts of the aberration’s body.”

In the hollow gaze of the skeleton before him, Juichi slowly descended the short stone steps of the chapel.

Click, click. The hard soles of his boots made a hollow sound.

──No one could be saved. No one.

Death cannot be overturned. There is no magic of resurrection in this world.

There are means to avoid death just before it strikes and to extend life, but once the soul departs and fades away, it can never return.

None of the adults around, nor the gods, nor fortune.

No one helped these children.

No one.

Juichi was also too late. It is rare for him to be on time. He almost always appears only after everything has ended.

The one who comes after the end──

“……no.”

No. Just one person.

Was there someone who desperately tried to reach out?

He saw a corpse lying a short distance away.

The man known as the “Escape Artist,” whom Juichi knew, was undeniably scum of humanity.

However, at the last moment, he tried to do something human. His right hand, stretched out in an attempt to grasp hope, lay on the ground.

Even so, he sought salvation. Not for his own life, but for the children’s salvation.

Someone, he hoped.

“Very well. At least,”

It would be possible to end it──