Chương 42: Chapter 41: A God in the Flesh

Ellun's body relaxed in Yuto's arms. She closed her eyes and went to sleep, as Yuto had told her to do. Soon her breathing quieted, and he began to walk down the corridor, taking care not to cause her any discomfort. An odd feeling came over him. The soft weight pressing down against his arms, the gentle breaths, the slightly cool body temperature. Yuto felt a warmth here beyond what was actually there. This girl had nothing in common with his own daughter. He could not explain why he saw her in Ellun.

It must be my unwillingness to let go of her memory. That, or the guilt I feel in having failed to protect her. A bitter smile broke on his lips. He moved his gaze away from her. He would never see his daughter again. Projecting her onto Ellun was wrong, both to his girl and to Ellun. He knew this, but still, the longing and the guilty regret made him do it. Sometimes knowing that something was wrong was not enough. Sometimes the emotions took over. He walked for quite a while.

Then he began to see people crouching on the floor of the corridor. These were the victims of the black mages, those who had been subjected to human experiments underground. Before such an unfortunate situation had befallen them, they had been poor robbers who had come here to search the ruins for anything they could find. Yuto watched them wryly. They looked terrible. Not only had they been unable to eat properly, but the cruel experiments had also involved using torture to pollute their ether.

They were rags that were stiff from dried blood, and their bodies were gaunt, the skin sticking to the bone. They did not even seem to have the energy to speak, and their sad eyes moved with difficulty to look at Yuto. He returned their gaze without a word. These were robbers and thieves, and he knew he could not forgive them. But he didn't want to punish them after they had only just gotten away with their lives. Besides, not all of them had come here with the express purpose of robbing the ruins.

Some of them were slaves that the black mages had gathered together, precisely for human experimentation.

"I understand this is difficult, but you must stand up," Yuto said, holding back a sigh. There were about twenty survivors. A glance at their condition suggested they wouldn't be able to walk for long.

"For now, we will head up to the surface," he said. Yuto's Charm stat applied more strongly with weak-minded targets. His tone was far from forceful, but there was a presence about Yuto that made it impossible for the survivors to disobey. They tottered to their feet. Yuto guided them to the end of the underground passageway. He pushed the heavy metal door with Void Hand and climbed the stairs to the surface level. Once he had moved aside the stone slab that hid the exit, a dust cloud poured in.

He smelled damp earth in the air.

"Yuto!" Rivian called. Rivian and Flokiro had already arrived at the public cemetery. Yuto came out with the survivors, and Rivian and Flokiro approached with surprised looks on their faces.

"E-earlier, the city... It was covered with darkness, though it was brief," Rivian stammered.

"We thought perhaps the black mages' magic was still around, b-but it didn't feel as evil. Was it...?"

"I gave relief to the dead," Yuto replied. Rivian's eyes went wide. Soon, she gave a quiet exclamation and nodded slowly.

"I knew it... So that was you?" she asked.

"Yes." She sighed.

"You... You still have so many secrets. When will I hear the rest of them, I wonder?" she asked.

"Someday, if I feel like sharing them," he said without emotion. Rivian blinked.

"Is this an attempt at humor?"

"I don't know."

"It was... It was a joke. Who'd have thought I'd hear you making a joke?" She snickered, then stared at his face.

"Have we grown closer on this trip?" she asked him.

"I feel as if we have. But perhaps you don't feel that way?" he asked.

"Of course I do. I... feel exactly the same," Rivian said with a smile. She glanced at Ellun, who lay in his arms.

"Is she sleeping?" she asked.

"No," Ellun said. Her eyes opened.

"I am merely resting, and briefly at that." Her tone was just as dry as ever. She moved slightly, and Yuto cautiously put her back down.

"It was convenient not having to walk on my own feet. It would not be so bad to do that again from time to time," she commented.

"You seem to have liked it," Yuto said.

"A little," Ellun said in a low voice. She looked around at the survivors.

"Do you intend to take all of these people with you?" she asked.

"Well, I can't very well leave them here," he replied.

"It is irrational to do so, especially as they cannot even walk. It will slow us down and be a hassle besides," she said.

"We will get carriages," Yuto said. Then he looked at Rivian.

"Could you help me with that?" Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.

"Hmm... I suppose we could borrow some carriages at a checkpoint. But it will take some time for us to bring them back here..." she said, hesitant.

"Flokiro?" Yuto said. Flokiro sighed, then nodded.

"I'll give her a ride," he said. His ether swelled, and his body was engulfed in orange-colored flame.

"Whoa..." Rivian said, gaping. Flokiro was evolving again. She had already been told that it was possible for him to evolve at will, but seeing it in person still stunned her.

"This... This is absurd! I never thought such an Evomon could exist..." she said.

"I told you. I'm not an ordinary Evomon," Flokiro, now Flokai, said with a huff of air through his nose. Then he approached Rivian and bent low.

"Special. That is a massive understatement. If I published my findings in an academic paper, I would probably sweep every award... W-w-would you mind if... I took a closer look at you one of these days?" Rivian asked.

"Are you suggesting you want to do weird experiments on me?" Flokai asked.

"N-no, not that. I just want to observe. I will bake you all the snacks you want. What do you say? Oh, and cakes. Cakes as well."

"Well... Hmm... I will have to think about it," Flokai replied. He gulped, apparently hungry. Rivian got onto his back. It would have taken a full day on the back of an Iron Horse to leave the gates of Velkyne, cross the Rashia Plains, and reach the nearest checkpoint. But Flokai could complete the trip in far less time if he moved at top speed.

"I will try to borrow the fastest horses and carriages. We should be back by... tomorrow morning, at the earliest," she said.

"I will wait near the castle gates," Yuto said. Flokai and Rivian vanished into the thick fog. Yuto watched the city, which was now steeped in silence. The barrier created with the Void was no longer visible to the naked eye, but there was a heaviness in the air. The horrible screams of the vindictive souls had died away, leaving a stark quiet. For now... rest here, my people. Yuto murmured inwardly. The peace that had come to this place was not true rest.

It was only the lull before the inevitable storm, a thin blanket that covered the marks of unforgivable crimes. The souls of his people, shackled by the Constellations, were still standing on the scales of Babylon. And the chains that bound them had not yet been cut. His gaze moved beyond the fallen walls to the ruins of the royal castle that had been so splendid in the past. At one point, laughter and joy had filled these halls, but now nothing but a nameless fog filled the buildings.

Even the power of the Void that had been granted to him, after he had cut down the ghost of his father and proven himself, could not give the dead here immediate salvation. The most he could do at the moment was to hide them temporarily from the cruel eyes of the Constellations and the black mages, who might return. That was the most he could currently do, the greatest form of consolation and mourning that the last king of Velkyne could provide. But someday...

Yuto clenched his fists until his knuckles turned white.

I will give you rest. Rest that is eternal, swore the last monarch who had killed his foolish predecessor with his own hands and shouldered the weight of his fallen kingdom. This oath would be an undying flame inside his heart until he toppled Babylon one day and cut open the throats of the Constellations, one by one.

"Yuto," Ellun said flatly, standing beside him.

"Don't let your emotions get out of hand. You are weak, at least for now."

"I know," Yuto said briefly. He closed his eyes. He thought he could hear the breathing of the spirits who now slept under the canopy of the Void, momentarily freed from their hellish pain. He hoped that they would find peace, at least in their dreams, and that the Velkyne they remembered would not be the one that fell after the night of the disaster, but the Velkyne of old, in all its glory. Yuto exhaled slowly and opened his eyes.

"Let's go to the gate," he said. The fog hadn't vanished, but he pushed through it without hesitation.

* Well out of reach of Velkyne, there stood a massive, gloomy tower on top of a steep precipice. It was the home of Dark Star, and always smelled dankly of polluted ether. On the top floor was an office adorned with fluttering black standards. A woman was sitting in it, glaring into a crystal ball. This woman was the Dark Mage, founder and leader of Dark Star. She and her black mages worked behind the scenes all over the continent, collecting evil magic and studying it.

It had been nearly fifty years since she had started this organization, but she did not look like an old woman, not in the least. To appearances, she was just a young girl. She—Calipha Ashworth—glowered, eyes narrowed. She clicked her tongue irritably and began to bite her nails.

"Why?" Her violet hair reacted to her bubbling, angry ether and swirled like a nest of snakes.

"Why can't I see anything?" she muttered. The crystal ball usually allowed her to check how much ether was being produced in Velkyne, but right now, it was coming up empty. She could see nothing at all, and that could only mean one thing: the "factory" had run into a complication—but why? Her teeth snapped against each other, and a piece of a fingernail clipped off.

"Betrayal?" Unthinkable. The black mages she had sent to the site feared her deeply.

"Is there a problem with the process?" she murmured. This could not be it, either. The crystals that had turned Velkyne into an ether plant were the best thing Calipha had ever created. She had put a great deal of thought into her system and made sure it was free of human error. But here the crystal ball was completely unreactive. There could be only one explanation for this.

"Someone has attacked my production facility," she decided. If there had been some kind of issue, one of the black mages would have alerted her immediately. She'd heard nothing of the sort.

"The mages must all be dead, then," she said. Her shoulders quivered, and it was not from sadness at their passing. No human death could make her feel bad, not even the deaths of loyal servants. Such things would never be a source of sadness for her. If they had died, unable to carry out their mission, it was a cause for rage, not mourning.

"The incompetent fools!" she hissed. A murderous rage darkened her eyes. Velkyne, the nation cursed by the Constellations, was an ether workshop she had gone to great lengths to create. The ether created there wasn't only used to make her more powerful, but also an offering that was meant for someone she respected and worshipped. Somebody had dared to tamper with it.

"Some rat was bold enough to nab my harvest!" she spat. She flung her hand out, and a black mage's robe flew off the wall and shrouded her body. She could seethe here all she wanted, but that wouldn't change a thing. If her factory had been destroyed, she had to go there immediately and find out who had done it. This tower was quite far away from Velkyne. She was not going to stand here wasting any more time. She would leave immediately, heading for that accursed land.

Calipha was briskly making for the door when she jerked to a stop.

"Ah... My goodness..." she suddenly said. She quivered from head to toe, then fell flat on her face.

"Your Highness...!" she exclaimed. The boy she loved and worshiped, splendid as the sun, and timelessly beautiful as pure gold, was leaning against the door.