Elqueeness [EN]: Chapter 404

My heart ached at those words. The king and high priest of his tribe, with the unique ability to harbor a god within his body. If things were as they should be, Rusef should have been the closest being to Ciel. Yet, he felt more distant than a demon god or a god of punishment. He must have never imagined such a day would come.

His inability to awaken the power of the runes was due to his subconscious sealing it away, but he had only learned of this relatively recently. Once, he must have repeatedly attempted to channel the divine, only to be frustrated by his unknown failures. Eventually, he would have resigned himself to it. Perhaps Ciel had believed all along that Rusef disliked him. The fact that he felt more bewildered and doubtful than joyful or moved by his encounter with the Creator God only reinforced this. I hesitated to even speak, feeling that no words could comfort him. But then As suddenly stared at him and blurted out,

“Ciel, your face is red.”

“…Don’t lie.”

“It’s true. You look like a Red Elf, not a Blue Elf. I’d believe it if you told me a new race of elves was born.”

“What? There’s no way… You’re lying, aren’t you, you damn brat!”

Ciel quickly pulled out a mirror to check his face, and upon confirming it wasn’t true, he glared at As and burst into anger. However, As simply shrugged, unfazed by the fierce gaze.

“I’m as big as Ciel now. I’ll probably grow taller from here on out. I’m not a brat, okay?”

“What does size have to do with it? Anyone under ten is just a brat!”

“Then Ciel must be an old man.”

“Do you want to die?”

“Getting angry at times like this is an admission. Ciel is so foolish. That’s why you get easily fooled by such trivial lies.”

“Are you two trying to drive me crazy, master and servant, taking turns?”

As the bickering continued, I watched them alternately with a strange feeling. They still bickered at every glance, but the atmosphere was slightly different from before. Most notably, As was calling Ciel by his proper name. Before, he always referred to him indirectly as ‘that blue elf’ or ‘blood demon’—more precisely, in ways that Ciel would dislike—but now he was clearly and consistently calling him ‘Ciel.’

And if I wasn’t mistaken, As was deliberately instigating the argument. It seemed he was trying to distract Ciel from his troubled feelings. I felt this because As was carefully observing Ciel’s changing expressions as they argued. I could also see his eyes deepen as his mood completely returned to normal. The look on his face was definitely satisfaction.

Come to think of it, Ciel had stepped forward to stop As when he was about to harm the demons earlier. It was obvious to anyone that the ‘guys I can’t ignore’ he mentioned then referred to As and Deron. This is… well, no matter how I look at it…….

“You two have gotten quite close, haven’t you?”

“What? No, El. We’re not close at all!”

“Yeah, we’re not close.”

As soon as I spoke, Ciel denied it with a straight face, and As echoed his response. Immediately after, As smiled and added in a light tone,

“I’m just being generous, godfather. He’s my contractor, after all, even if he looks like that.”

“Ah, I see…….”

“Hey, don’t get cocky! I’m the one being generous!”

“How childish, Ciel. Do you want to win against a child so badly?”

“Don’t pretend to be a child only at times like this!”

…No, I mean, these are exactly the moments that show you’ve gotten closer.

Since it was obvious they would deny it again even if I pointed it out, I chose to remain silent. In any case, it was a good thing that they had become closer. Actually, I had thought their relationship would continue to be parallel. Apart from their personalities or race, it seemed that neither of them felt the need to get closer to each other.

More precisely, As was the problem rather than Ciel. Ciel was surprisingly soft-hearted and had a sense of loyalty. He had been watching the child since the day he was born, and if the other party followed him, he certainly couldn’t ignore them, even if they were a demon. In comparison, As seemed to have no interest in him at all. He just recognized him as part of the group because he was the godfather’s friend, nothing more, nothing less. So, the change in attitude I was seeing now was quite amazing. The contract he was forced to make with Kanos seemed to have brought about an unexpected effect.

Just then, I felt Trowel take a step forward. As I unconsciously tried to follow his back, the surroundings suddenly vibrated and a loud noise echoed. Crash, boom! A powerful energy poured in like a gust of wind. But there was no actual impact. It was thanks to Trowel, who immediately created a barrier to block it.

“Ah… Thank you, Trowel.”

Trowel turned around lightly and smiled. After a moment, the barrier he created was lifted, and the situation beyond it began to become visible. Eluien was standing in the midst of a thick dust storm, holding a bow. A golden ray of light, which he had clearly shot, was flying powerfully towards a black mass. The wave of wind from earlier seemed to have been caused when the arrow was fired.

The ray of light completely pierced the black mass and stuck firmly into the ground. Then, the black mass, which had been silent until then, began to twitch slightly. Eluien then reached out his hand, and Rusef handed him the next arrow. It didn’t take long for the second arrow to become the third, and the fourth. All the arrows that flew pierced the black mass and were deeply embedded in the ground. It seemed to be fixing the body in place, as if driving stakes into it. I carefully examined the arrows. It seemed like Rusef was simply creating and handing them over, but when I looked closely, I could feel a flow connected to another place. The feeling was so clear that it wasn’t difficult to guess its identity.

“What are they doing? It doesn’t seem like a simple binding. Those spells on the arrows, they’re connected to the Divine Realm, right?”

“Yeah, that’s right. It seems like they have a base in the Divine Realm, like a purification circle. I think they’re trying to seal it. They’re probably trying to fix it in place so it’s easier to cover it with an annihilation circle. I wondered why only Rusef came down, but the other gods were making this.”

Trowel nodded in response.

“It was quite close. I’m glad we solved it by undoing the spell. An evil god swallows even lies. Since the seal was already broken, if we had killed the demons then, it would have been absorbed by the evil god.”

Huh, then we almost had a really big problem?

It was fortunate that Ciel and As appeared at the right time. I watched the sealing site with a horrified feeling and turned to Ciel. They were all watching the situation unfold with grim faces.

“But how did you undo the spell?”

“Ah, to be exact, I undid the hypnosis, not the spell.”

“Hypnosis?”

Ciel explained in detail to me, who was clueless.

“The most important element in the Fallen Angel’s spell is the feeling of despair and hatred towards God. The closer you are to God, the greater the backlash, so they mainly target priests or clerics. But they are beings who were close to God, right? They never easily abandon God. So, when performing this spell, they usually use hypnosis. They make you mistakenly believe that you already hate God.”

“……!”

“But this method has a big loophole because its effect is fast. Since it’s a fake emotion, it’s not perfect. So, when the hypnosis is broken, the spell is also broken immediately.”

“I, I see. But that hypnosis wouldn’t be easy to break……?”

“That’s right, maybe it wouldn’t have worked out so well if it were an ordinary human. It was lucky that it was Mors.”

“Mors?”

Come to think of it, Rusef had also said Mors. I thought it was just a name for the demon army, but maybe there was another meaning. As helped explain as I was wondering.

“A special force for the Demon King is called Mors.”

“Ah, like a royal guard?”

“Yeah, similar. But it’s closer to a suppression force that executes the king’s power instead of protecting him. Anyway, Mors is always aware of one thing, no matter what the situation.”

“What is it?”

“The summoning horn of the king. It’s engraved in the soul of Mors, so no one can stop it.”

Ah, so that’s why you had to become king to use that horn. I thought I didn’t hear any sound, but it must have been a horn with a slightly special structure. It was clear that it touched the soul rather than reaching the ears.

No matter how strong the hypnosis is, it is broken when you recognize reality. In that sense, there was no more certain and clean solution than the summoning horn. It was amazing that a being who could blow that horn appeared at the right time. The only unfortunate thing was that the Demon King could only summon Mors once during his term. In other words, As had used the only opportunity given to him here. Right after his inauguration. As soon as I sighed at that, As smiled and said.

“It’s okay, godfather. It just means I can’t do a full summons. There’s not much need to summon the entire force unless you’re going to war with another dimension anyway.”

“Hmm, but you’ve lost the biggest force you can use in an emergency.”

“It doesn’t matter. There’s probably no emergency anyway.”

“Oh? Really?”

“I’m stronger than all of them combined.”

I looked at As with a slightly strange feeling. He was pretty as a boy, but As now had a look that was more suited to the expression beautiful. Since his eyes were sharp, he originally had an unapproachable atmosphere, but overall, a strange force was added, making that feeling several times stronger. Perhaps that’s why every word he said felt completely different. If he had said these words in his previous form, I would have thought he was brave and admirable, but now he showed the composure and dignity of a king, so I was more impressed. I realized once again how much of a person’s appearance accounts for in their impression.

“There’s just a bit of a side effect.”

“Side effect?”

“Mors originally… when summoned from another dimension, they move with the destruction of that dimension as their top priority.”

“……Uh?”

“Well, but it’ll be okay. I can issue a cancellation order right away. But I have to see them in person to cancel it, so I think I’ll have to wait a bit.”

Is that really okay?

I glanced around cautiously. The demons, who had been roughly gathered after being taken, were still unconscious. Even if they woke up right away, their physical condition was not good, so they didn’t seem to have the energy to do anything.

Crash!

Even then, Eluien continued to draw his bow. The black mass looked like a hedgehog because of the densely packed rays of light. The mass continued to twitch, but it seemed unable to move because it was firmly fixed to the ground. It was after the arrow shot by Eluien drew its final trajectory. Lines quickly connected each place where the arrows were stuck, and a splendid pattern was completed. Then, a stream like a net began to gush out from within. The stream completely enveloped the body of the mass and even soared into the sky. It was the moment when even the faint resistance of the black mass was completely swallowed.

“It’s done! I connected it properly!”

Rusef shouted with a happy face. Then, the surroundings suddenly began to brighten. Surprised, I looked up and saw that the dark clouds were splitting to the sides. The hidden sun was being revealed. White clouds filled the sky instead of the quickly receding dark clouds. The cloud masses, full of sunlight, were even majestic. But among them, I could see many shadows moving busily.

“……!”

At first, I thought I was seeing things. But no matter how much I looked and looked again, it was definitely a shadow. It was also a clear human form. It was as if a crowd was standing in the clouds and looking down at us.

Buzz buzz buzz

At the same time, I heard a whispering sound in my ear. It sounded like meaningless noise, or like the sound of many people talking in a square. The unidentified things filled my sight and hearing, and the sense of oppression alone was considerable. As I stood still and watched, I even felt an unpleasant feeling as if someone had arbitrarily invaded my home.

“Is that showing the Divine Realm?”

“……Yeah, I think so.”

Trowel, who had looked up at the sky, replied in a slightly slow tone. Rusef and Eluien were also staring at the sky. I approached them slightly.

“Is the evil god sealed?”

“Yes, we succeeded. We’ve bought time, so now we just need to execute the annihilation circle.”

Rusef’s face was much lighter. He showed relief and joy that it was all over, but conversely, I became anxious.

“Um, I have a question.”

“Yeah, what is it?”

“I heard that to annihilate the evil god, a high-ranking god… has to sacrifice themselves.”

Then Rusef’s face hardened quickly. I could feel Eluien staring at me, but I couldn’t bring myself to meet his gaze. I consciously stared straight at Rusef, as if enduring a test. Rusef hesitated for a moment, then slowly nodded.

“Um, that’s right. It’s already been decided.”

“……! Decided? W, who is it?”

Rusef glanced at us and sighed. It was obvious that he was conscious of it, and the inside of my chest stirred. The unpleasant and uncomfortable sensation after sweating, a very unpleasant feeling, crept up. I took a deep breath at the words that followed.

“You probably know the god.”

“……!”

It felt like there was a brief blackout. I didn’t close my eyes, but I had the illusion that my vision was closed.

“Looks like they’re coming over there.”

I hurriedly came to my senses after hearing the words that followed. I reflexively raised my head. A beam of light poured out from between the clouds, and someone was descending. Unexpectedly, it was a woman with long black hair. She looked as if she had scattered gold dust all over her body. It was clear that the gold dust was connected to the sealing formation.

Ah.

My face contorted. A miserable and sorrowful feeling welled up, to the point where I wanted to curse the feeling I had felt so briefly before. The aura, the air, even the scent were completely different from what I knew. But there was no way I couldn’t recognize who he was.

“Perdes, the God of Death and the Dead. A high-ranking god belonging to the Underworld.”

The lilac-colored eyes, the jet-black hair, remember the colors they once held. It had the color of a transparent wind that was elusive. It gave off a chilling yet clear and warm scent. It was like the end of winter, or the beginning of spring when new buds sprout. It was the first wind I had ever met.

The vanished Minerva was there.