Chapter 11

With a raspy, blood-scented breath, a skeletal figure stared intently at Juichi, who stood before it.

Then, abruptly—

It moved.

A massive arm swung down, leaving a trail of afterimages as it struck the spot where Juichi had been standing.

However, Juichi was no longer there. The blow, capable of shattering a human with ease, sliced through empty air, demolishing half of the stone steps.

The confused monster stumbled, momentarily losing its balance.

Somehow—

Juichi was now behind it.

Blood dripped from his sword, and a backslash had carved deep into the monster’s right leg, tearing through most of it.

“!?”

Jens, who had been at the entrance of the cathedral, stood there, stunned, unable to comprehend what had just happened.

With one leg incapacitated, the creature’s bipedal mobility was nearly stripped away.

Based on what he’d heard, the primary ability of this monster was its speed. Juichi had successfully neutralized that mobility right from the start.

Thus, it was no longer a threat to him.

With a piercing scream, the monster retaliated.

Its flailing arms missed their target as Juichi swiftly leapt backward.

They faced each other.

“Apologies, but I won’t hold back to avoid desecrating your remains. Bear with it.”

Juichi swung his sword, even though there was no way it could reach from that distance.

Like magic, the arc of the sword extended outward, slashing into the creature.

Blood spurted from the skeleton’s neck, abdomen, and arms, causing it to stagger.

This was an attack that used the “Inventory.”

Juichi opened the Inventory window, thrust the sword’s tip into it, then projected the blade from a secondary or tertiary window he had opened near the monster to strike it.

Just as he had used the window to scout by inserting his eye, the Inventory allowed him to project only the tip of whatever he held to a distant location.

This enabled him to “launch” slashes far beyond the sword’s reach.

Moreover, the Inventory windows were invisible to anyone but Juichi, making it impossible for the enemy to detect the origin of the strikes.

It was a trick Juichi had devised to exploit his lack of offensive abilities.

The monster bled profusely, making a grotesque gurgling sound.

Every blow had landed deeply.

Its flesh was vulnerable, without any magical coating, leaving it susceptible to Juichi’s blade.

With both arms nearly unusable, the creature’s close-combat abilities had significantly diminished, and the blood gushing from its neck and abdomen was putting a limit on its ability to stay active. Juichi, a skilled hunter, had attacked with purpose.

With a blood-choked snarl, the creature lunged on its one remaining leg with surprising speed.

Juichi’s figure vanished.

The creature lost sight of him and stumbled.

Then, as it fell, Juichi’s blade pierced its skull — before it knew it, Juichi was right in front of it.

It wasn’t that Juichi had vanished.

The creature had “leaped through an invisible Inventory window placed before it” and “rolled out disoriented in front of Juichi through another window.”

The windows were unseen, soundless, and intangible. Only those with exceptional magical senses might have detected them.

While Inventory couldn’t hold or trap living, sentient beings, it could allow them to pass through from one window to another.

Juichi had left the remaining leg intentionally, luring the monster into leaping right into his trap.

He withdrew his sword, shattering the skull with a crunch.

“Here it is. Crafting a skull from human remains, going so far as to build a face… The core must be here.”

Indeed, where the brain should have been, encased in flesh, lay a small fragment of white stone. Juichi quickly reached in and tore it out.

It was a small, marble-like stone that fit in his palm.

“This is its power source.”

Opening his Inventory, Juichi took out another white stone.

This one was about twice the size of the extracted fragment — another “Shard of the Goddess.”

He touched the small stone with the larger one in his palm.

The smaller stone’s borders blurred as though liquefied, merging into the larger stone and becoming part of it.

A faint spark of lightning flickered, followed by a soft snapping sound.

── OOOHHHH ──

With a final roar, the creature scattered in fragments, its body disintegrating into liquid and crumbling to pieces.

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The blood-stained, pitiful remains piled into a small mound.

The Shards of the Goddess possessed a unique trait: when brought close together, they fused into one.

When used as a conduit for magic, this merging severed the magical flow powering the effect, halting any ongoing enchantments.

In other words—

The magic that had turned these children into monsters was now extinguished.

Thus, the creature fell apart, leaving behind the bodies that had been its original components, scattered before Juichi.

“…”

It had posed less of a threat than expected. For an apparition created with a shard of a god, a piece of white stone, it had been surprisingly weak.

Perhaps such failed ancient magic was merely of that caliber.

Jens, who had been watching the battle from the doorway, rushed out with a jubilant expression.

“We did it! The monster’s been defeated!”

Juichi said nothing.

He only stared at the pitiful remains.

Juichi couldn’t save them. After all these years, his humanity had dried up and withered, leaving him unbothered by such painful thoughts.

Or so it should have been.

By now—

By now, he should feel nothing. Those children had already died.

And yet…

In his vision was Jens, leaping in joy at his survival.

A surge of emotion rose within him at that sight. Whether it was a sense of duty or personal anger, or a blend of both—

He realized his feelings had not withered as he thought.

Toward this man, at least.

Regardless—

“Well now. Jens Amieu.”

“Haha! You’ve done it! I’m alive! Hahaha…”

“It’s time for judgment.”

────────────────

“W-What? Judgment, you say?”

In front of the church amidst a scene of devastation, one man holding a sword silently faced another, aged man.

“Judgment for your sins, Jens.”

“W-What nonsense is this? Amber!”

“Your attire is strange… It looks like it was just pulled from the back of a storage room — there are still dust marks, no signs of regular wear.”

He advanced slowly.

Step by step.

With his blood-stained sword in hand.

Jens stepped back.

“M-My attire, what does that have to do with anything? You’re acting—”

“I know the surname ‘Amieu.’ Around 200 years ago, there was an ancient kingdom called the Matryx Magocracy here. The Amieu family was the name of that fallen royal house.”

At Juichi’s words, Jens’s eyes widened in shock.

“In my knowledge of history… All direct royal descendants were supposed to have been slain. Even if a branch family managed to escape, or someone assumed the title on their own, I can tell that you’re connected to Mataryx.

And you’re certainly not just a mere traveler. You’re the ‘village chief himself’ and the one who caused the supernatural disturbances here.”

Jens turned on his heel and ran.

However, before him, the church’s stone steps suddenly appeared, and he tripped, collapsing to the ground.

“?!”

It’s useless.

You won’t escape—this is Juichi’s ability.

“There must be a grave sin for you to atone for.”

The deaths of the children. The death of the escape helper.

And there are likely many more sins—torture and murder performed underground, all to summon the ‘demon’ you intended to possess.

These atrocities cannot be erased. Not even your life would be enough to atone for them.

“Hii… Hiii!”

Jens, now cornered, crawled up the stone steps.

But as his hands touched the steps, they suddenly lost their grip, as if the ground beneath them had vanished. His hand slipped, and he slammed his jaw against the stone.

“Gah?!”

Teeth flew, and blood poured as he groaned in agony.

This was also an application of Juichi’s inventory ability.

By opening it as a ‘trap’ to trip his opponent, he ensured Jens would fall.

Only Juichi can see the inventory, so Jens had no idea what had caused him to stumble.

“Give up. There’s no escaping this. There’s no way you’ll get away with concealing everything that happened here and escaping alone.”

Jens looked back and screamed at Juichi’s cold, emotionless words.

“What on earth are you talking about?! You’re attacking me out of nowhere, throwing baseless accusations! I know nothing of what you say!”

“Then why did you run?”

“Because you’ve lost your mind! What proof do you have?!”

“This is the proof.”

Juichi touched the ground.

A blue illusion rose from the earth.

Juichi’s ‘Past Replay’ ability activated.

—Many villagers surrounded about ten children.

The terrified children trembled, while the people around them were hysterical with joy. They chanted eerie prayers, burned strange herbs, drank, and even engaged shamelessly with each other.

The frenzied crowd shouted in delight, each person visibly deranged.

It was…the image of the ‘wedding ceremony’ that took place here that day.

What Juichi had witnessed before investigating the church.

“Ugh…!”

“I can see the past. I know what you did, what you were part of. There’s no hiding it.”

The church doors opened. Jens, crouched down, looked at them.

An apparition in distinct clerical robes—an elderly man.

It was unmistakably Jens-Amieu himself from that day.

‘Everyone, the day has finally come. We will offer the blood of these children as sacrifices, and our kingdom will be revived! Our long-awaited day of celebration has arrived.’

‘Oh, chief!’ ‘Hail Mataryx!’ the villagers cheered in madness.

Nearby was the escape helper, his legs broken in an ambush, dragged before the crowd.

Pinned down, he cried out, pleading to be spared.

Desperately.

With a sadistic grin, Jens, flanked by attendants, descended the stone steps past his current self to stand before the terrified children. Taking the hand of the smallest girl, he drew a knife from his belt, grinning wickedly.

‘Now, let us begin the final rite—’

He gripped the blade, lifting the ‘wedding dress’ of the children, who were bound in place.

A scream filled the air.

Desperate cries for help, piercing in agony…

‘Such beautiful skin. I enjoyed it thoroughly down below. Surely, my forefathers will relish this flesh as well.’

Jens raised the knife with a terrifying flourish—and with that, the pale illusion dissipated.

All that remained in the ruined village was Juichi, looking down, and the trembling Jens.

Juichi ascended the stone steps.

Standing right next to the man, he looked down, his blade pointed toward him.

“Jens-Amieu. It’s you.”

A voice of death.

Cold, machine-like eyes pierced through the evil sinner, casting all his crimes into the light of day, allowing no room for excuses, and passing judgment.

“The victims’ terror cannot be fully comprehended. No life could ever repay the suffering of those children. But even so, as with the other wretched villagers who died, someone must see you brought to justice.”

“No… No… That can’t be…”

“You’ll never escape. When I asked you who you were, had you at least told me the truth, I might have killed you right then and there. But you lied. Your stories never cease to amaze me in their fabrication, how you could just keep spinning tales. You dared to call those children monsters? You’re the true monster here…!”

Juichi felt that, if he were to act on his personal feelings, he’d even let this wretch think he’d escaped, only to pull him back down into hell.

Juichi looked behind him.

The children lay in pools of blood.

“In front of these pitiful souls, you should die. You should witness your sins and reflect on your actions as you draw your final breath. Do you have any last words of repentance?”

“Help! Please! Spare me! No, I beg you!”

“Filth.”

He spat out the words. Stepping on the pitiful man, he raised his sword without mercy.

────────────────

—He dug.

In the cemetery behind the church, among the simple graves.

Under a large oak tree, he dug eleven graves. The last one, he dug a little larger.

Wiping his sweat, Juichi carefully picked up each of the bodies laid beside him, gently lowering them into the graves.

When he finished with the children, he laid to rest the round-nosed man—the escape helper—beside them in the same way.

He covered each grave with soil, finishing the burials.

“You were the only adult who remained on their side until the end… I couldn’t save them, but he tried to help. You, too, deserve to rest here. Though I’m not a priest, I can only pray for your peace.”

He offered a small prayer.

He had no intention of digging graves for the other villagers. Left abandoned, they would soon disappear, consumed by birds and beasts. It was fitting for them, given their actions.

The sun was setting. The task had taken a long time.

When he finished, Juichi knelt, speaking to the rounded mound of earth.

“…There isn’t even a gravestone. I don’t know your names. I’m sorry.”

He refrained from using Past Replay to uncover them. His quiet words drifted away with the wind.

With soil-stained hands, he gazed up at the twilight sky.

—Somewhere along the way, Juichi had stopped smiling much. He knew it was because he had witnessed so much sadness, tragedy, and ruin.

He had seen so many wretched things, ever since arriving in this world.

Things beyond redemption, throughout time.

Three hundred years.

In the distant reaches of memory, that abandoned castle.

So much time had passed since that day of regret.

An endless, endless stretch of time…

“Uni. Pairy. Dean. Orto. Amy. Kroon. Tintro. Latis. Sarka. Aston…”

The ancient names he could never forget.

His mind, eternally young, was incapable of forgetting.

Looking back, he wondered if he might have been better off never knowing their names.

Perhaps, for humans, to grow old and die was a kind of salvation.

That eternal life granted by the Will-o’-the-wisp Angel on that day was indeed a ‘curse.’

Juichi stood, drawing out a container of water from his inventory to clean his hands before turning his back to the graveyard.