Chapter 59

“It’s looking for food...”

Captain Kancher clenched his jaw as he stared up at the blackening sky above Molin City.

“It’s hunting...”

Majia Oloror was bent double, vomiting onto the ground. When he finally looked up and met Kancher’s eyes, his whole body trembled.

“Call the contractor.”

“Wh-What...?”

“I said call the contractor! You’re AT-type, aren’t you? That means you’re with Sanctuary!”

Panicking, Majia fumbled with his signum and tried to open a channel.

Nothing happened.

Even outside the warehouse, the signum remained sealed.

“Hurry the hell up! What, seriously? Ha... You’ve got to be kidding me.”

Kancher jerked him closer, seized him by the collar, and growled.

“If they don’t answer right now, I’ll open a portal right next to Hell itself. Original matter is overflowing out there. If I open one now, it’ll pour straight through. You think you can keep sitting back like this has nothing to do with you?”

[...Are you threatening us?]

Majia nearly passed out.

The signum, sealed only moments before, suddenly opened amid a storm of interference. By the time Majia regained his senses, the figure standing before him looked as though he had stepped straight out of a Sanctuary textbook.

W-What... is that...?

A priest.

Rarer than royalty.

In the past, merely witnessing one during a national holiday had been considered a blessing. Recently, even those appearances had ceased. The Empire’s prestige had been declining that badly.

Kancher, however, looked thoroughly unimpressed.

“What else does it look like? You think I contacted you to exchange pleasantries?”

He was practically sneering.

[There is no justification for your hostility toward Sanctuary. The actions of the Thirteenth Prince are not our responsibility...]

Kancher gave a dry laugh.

“Yeah, and every time you open your mouth, more bullshit comes out.”

[Kallitus, your conduct is not conducive to dialogue.]

“Good thing I’m not here to talk. The longer I listen to you, the more nauseated I get.”

[Please watch your words.]

The priest softened his tone.

[We have already attempted several times to reclaim the divinity bestowed upon the prince. He refused every attempt...]

“Damn it. If it were that easy, I’d have handled it myself already.”

Kancher spat onto the ground.

“Forget that. You see what’s happening above us? That unauthorized planet being devoured? You had hundreds of attackers stationed there. Him included.”

[...]

“So tell us what you saw. You’ve been watching everything, haven’t you? Using your contractors like network relays.”

“Rubbernecking while someone else’s house burns down,” he muttered under his breath.

“Something is happening.”

A change had begun.

Hell had never exposed its true body like this before.

Not even on the brink of extinction.

That creature never revealed its core form.

Kancher needed to understand what kind of despair could have forced it to manifest completely.

“Something beyond human understanding is happening down there. Something made it reveal its full form. You saw it. I know you did. So tell me.”

His expression hardened.

“This is a formal request. Pantheon Level 1.”

He had repeated this world countless times.

Seen countless endings.

Lived through more apocalypses than he cared to remember.

And yet this—

this had never happened before.

[Request denied.]

Kancher’s face twisted.

“Denied...?”

[We ask for your understanding. You know we are bound by mutual non-aggression. We are nearing the threshold. We cannot risk unnecessary escalation.]

“Priest. We can’t solve this without knowing what’s happening. At this rate, we’ll all be dead before we ever reach the threshold.”

[If a few must be sacrificed, that cannot be helped.]

“And if it’s more than a few?”

[If the spread becomes excessive, we will intervene. You need not concern yourself with that.]

“You won’t be able to stop it.”

Kancher’s voice dropped.

“You’ve never managed to stop the Dogs. Not once.”

[We understand your frustration.]

“No. You people don’t understand a damn thing.”

His lip curled.

“You have no idea what you created. You never did. Not {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} once. Sanctuary has never helped anyone.”

[Kallitus, please calm yourself.]

“Screw calm. Just tell me what’s going on. You can do at least that.”

He jabbed a finger toward Majia.

“Or take him and open a portal. We’re already screwed. Might as well all die together.”

Majia went pale, trembling violently at the suggestion.

Kancher did not even look at him.

[Request denied.]

Kancher exhaled as though he had expected nothing else.

“Fine. Then I’ll go up there myse—”

[We’re sorry, but that will not be permitted either.]

Kallitus felt restraints coil around his body.

He had lived for a very long time.

Far longer than he ever should have.

He had survived the Dogs.

He had survived the Monster.

There was no chance some young thing from Sanctuary could truly hold him.

But that did nothing to make the situation any less revolting.

“You bastards are always like this...!”

Kallitus’s expression suddenly sharpened.

Not because of the restraints.

A shadow had fallen across the priest.

A shadow lined with rows of jagged teeth.

By the time the priest realized something was wrong, it was already too late.

Jet-black tendrils wrapped around him.

Kallitus caught a glimpse of the priest’s terrified eyes—

and then those vanished too beneath the writhing mass.

“...You.”

Kallitus glared at Virgo Hag, who had just devoured the priest.

Virgo stood in silence, tendrils swaying from his neck.

Majia Oloror immediately started screaming again.

The grotesque sight overwhelmed him completely.

Now he was alternating between retching and screaming.

Virgo finally regenerated his severed head.

“It really is Erabelle who’s the strange one.”

“Anyone would look normal next to someone who grilled snacks beside you.”

“You ate them too.”

“I didn’t, you mutt. What the hell happened to you? Where were you hiding all this time?”

Virgo shifted awkwardly, almost as if embarrassed by the attention.

Kallitus was still furious, but in the end, this worked in their favor.

With that damn mutt around, they no longer needed the priest.

Still, a mutt was a mutt.

“I don’t know.”

“What?”

“I said I don’t know, babe. Keep barking and it won’t end with just the temple, got it?”

“You son of a—”

Kallitus’s rage flared again, but there was no time for this.

“Why the hell did you eat the priest?”

“I didn’t. He was a delivery. Needed a high-calorie meal.”

“For what?”

“My master’s body is still technically human. The more active it gets, the more energy it burns. Turns out creating a Life Vessel takes a ridiculous amount of calories.”

Kallitus stared at him.

“...What?”

His brow furrowed.

“A Life Vessel?”

“Erabelle’s dead.”

Kallitus’s eyes widened.

“She probably won’t be able to die anymore.”

“So your master is making a vessel?”

His expression twisted in disbelief.

“For her?”

It was absurd.

“You mean he was actually serious about her? Why?”

“How the hell should I know?”

Virgo shrugged.

“It’s a mystery to me too. But hey, it’s not like things can get any worse.”

“...I guess.”

Even so, Kallitus could not make sense of it.

“And maybe keep him from getting used as another delivery,” Virgo added, nodding toward Majia, who was still clinging to Kallitus’s legs and dry-heaving. “Before it happens.”

“P-Please... Please spare me...”

“......”

“T-That monster... Commander, th-that thing...!”

Between sobbing and vomiting, Majia somehow still found the strength to point accusingly at Virgo.

Virgo frowned.

“Don’t just stand there staring, you mutt. He’s low-calorie.”

Kallitus lifted his weary gaze toward the ominous sky.

What the hell is happening...

...Shit.

But just as Virgo had said, things could hardly get any worse.

Molin City was already buried beneath primordial blackness.

Kallitus’s hand trembled as he pulled out a cigarette and put it between his lips.

“If you’ve got any sense, you’d better run. This could spread. What if some damaged goods like her ends up in my master’s stomach?”

“Shit... All this for one Life Vessel...”

“It’s not just any vessel.”

“What the hell is that supposed to mean, you—”

Kallitus turned his head.

Virgo was already gone.

The damn mutt had vanished in the middle of the conversation.

“Goddamn bastard.”

Kallitus spat to the side.

There was blood mixed with his saliva.

He had been staring at the primordial mass for too long.

***

“We’ve captured another.”

As Aries Cider stepped aboard the ship, Ori gave a slight nod.

“That makes six.”

“Seven, actually. Virgo brought one more.”

Aries glanced toward Virgo, who stood off to one side of the ship, with undisguised displeasure.