Chapter 69 - Gartea

“Kh heh heh...”

Laughter echoed inside the tent—a sound that seemed to scrape his vocal cords raw, a sound that ought to have been called an animal’s cry. Todd lay facedown on the sorcery array at the center of the tent, laughing.

CRACK.

His skin tore apart, and a fountain of blood erupted. The blood drifted through the air for a moment before falling back onto his body and running down it.

Burning pain flared wherever the blood flowed, but Todd found ecstasy in that pain. The vitality welling up as his body tore and regenerated, the sense of omnipotence that made him feel capable of anything, saw to that.

HUMMM.

An ominous hum. Todd raised his head slightly and saw the sorcery array glowing red all over.

“How much longer must we continue?”

“J-just a moment...”

The soldier examined the spellcraft array, his voice trembling. Todd waited for an answer, savoring the pain that ceaselessly tore his body apart.

“Th-the array is functioning smoothly, but it still lacks power. Your Majesty... p-perhaps you should return and complete your royal body more reliably...”

“No.”

Todd cut the soldier off and continued.

“That will not do. An apostle has come, has he not? How can we afford to take our time when we have no idea where that damned apostle might spirit the imperial scion away?”

That would not do.

The imperial scion had to die.

For the greatest unification of all, for the glory that would belong to him alone, Todd had no intention of leaving even the slightest risk untouched.

“Power, power...”

GURGLE.

Phlegm rattled in his throat, mixed with blood that had surged back up as his organs burst.

Todd felt a flicker of regret over this inefficient body, which remained incomplete.

“Even adding the general’s body was not enough...”

A spellcraft array that added others’ lives and strength to his flesh.

He had thought this array would allow him to achieve unification. He had thought unification was within his grasp. Yet his body was taking far too long to reach completion.

He had ground his own general Baretta’s body into this one—Baretta, whose physique was considered the most powerful among the generals of the five kingdoms—and still it remained incomplete.

“I am dissatisfied.”

“F-forgive...”

“We have no time to take things so leisurely.”

CRACK, CRACK.

Todd’s flesh tore once more. Every tiny blood vessel in his eyes burst, sending bloody tears streaming down his face. With that face, he looked at the soldier and spoke.

“Adjutant.”

“Y-yes, Your Majesty...”

“There is an apostle.”

“There is...”

“Do not simply agree with me. There is an apostle beyond that peak. Do you not understand what that means?”

It meant his lifelong ambition might fail. It meant all the toil of the subjects who had made these ‘sacrifices’ might come to nothing.

Todd did not voice those words. He merely looked at his adjutant.

The adjutant dropped to his knees with a thud and bowed his head.

“P-please, have mercy...”

The plea came out of nowhere. His entire body began to shake. The hands that had braced him against the floor were now held before him, palms rubbing together.

“Mercy... Mercy...”

Todd tilted his head as the adjutant repeated that one word.

“What are you talking about? I am not blaming you. Why, then, are you begging?”

“Have mercy... Please...”

The adjutant shook even harder. As though rubbing his palms together were not enough, he began pounding his forehead against the floor from that same position.

Watching him, Todd belatedly uttered an “Ah.”

“I see.”

He understood why the adjutant had suddenly begun behaving that way. Having reached that conclusion, Todd’s mouth curled upward.

Past his cheeks, beyond his cheekbones, all the way to the corners of his eyes. Not figuratively—the corners of his mouth actually began splitting open as far as the outer corners of his eyes.

Todd spoke.

“Yes, so that was what you meant.”

Todd rose.

“Mercy... So you needed mercy.”

He believed that his cool reason was asserting itself at this moment, allowing him to understand his adjutant’s wishes.

“You fear the apostle, do you not? You fear dying at his hands, and being unable to further our lifelong ambition, do you not?”

“Uuugh...”

The adjutant struck his head against the floor again. He slammed it down so hard that the thuds became bangs.

“Mercy, mercy...!”

“I understand. I understand my adjutant’s wishes, the wishes of my proud soldiers.”

Ah, what a blessed king he was. With so many soldiers beside him, so devoted to their country, could there be a more glorious life?

“I shall never forget your desire to devote yourself to your country.”

“A-aaargh!!!”

The adjutant sprang up and fled toward the tent’s exit.

Todd watched him go.

“Thank you. I shall remember you.”

Todd swung his arm.

CRUNCH.

The fleeing adjutant’s body split in two.

Todd ‘crawled’ over with heavy thuds, opened his mouth wide, and swallowed him.

Crushing flesh and grinding bone as he swallowed, he renewed his vow.

He would never forget this sacrifice.

He would never forget this noble cause.

Todd trembled faintly at the emotion resonating deep within his heart. Then a question occurred to him.

‘But...’

What had this adjutant’s name been?

Just as he tried to recall it...

GULP.

The adjutant slid down his throat.

CRACK, CRACK.

His flesh tore and regenerated. Before the spurting blood could form streams, the wounds closed.

As vitality surged through him, Todd wept and laughed at once.

“Kh heh...!”

His gaze turned toward the tent entrance.

“I... I shall forget nothing.”

The words slipped out in a mutter.

With heavy, pounding steps, Todd headed out of the tent.

He was thirsty.

* * *

At Dovan’s smithy, Bera drew the still-unfinished demonic sword.

“That is...”

Bera looked toward Dovan, whose expression could have been either surprise or hesitation.

“Please.”

Bera bowed his head.

Orgus had surely shown him that scene with some purpose in mind. Though much remained unknown, Bera suspected that purpose had to do with completing the demonic sword.

‘Dovan is not the one who completes the demonic sword.’

Aisha’s hatred completed it. In that case, surely there had to be another way to complete it.

‘If the Masterpiece is completed...’

He could improve his chances of victory.

Bera did not raise his head. He waited for an answer with his head bowed, as though he intended to remain that way until Dovan gave permission.

Dovan’s expression clouded as he watched him.

“Are you going to fight?”

Anyone who was not a fool could see it. Those words, spoken with such resolve, this sudden request to borrow a sword in the middle of the night—there could be no trivial reason behind them. The Bera he had come to know was not that sort of man.

At Dovan’s question, Bera finally raised his bowed head and chose his words.

‘Am I going to fight?’

That was wrong.

“I am going to protect.”

It was different from fighting. His reason for drawing this sword was not battle itself, but the duty he would fulfill at its end.

Had he come to understand the sword that protected? If asked, he would still shake his head.

Had he grasped the light? To that, too, he would still answer no.

But if asked why he held a sword here, at this moment...

“I know there is a duty I must uphold. I am going to uphold it.”

That would be his answer.

Dovan’s gaze pierced Bera. After studying him for a long time, trying to discern what lay within, he asked another question.

“... You are not telling the Saintess?”

“No. I will return before she rises, so I will not tell her.”

He would win without fail. There was no reason to worry her.

“... Very well.”

Dovan answered and looked at Bera.

Holding an ink-black sword with a robe drawn over him, he could easily have looked like a man harboring dubious intentions. Yet the resolve on his face erased that impression and replaced it with another.

Dovan thought it was the face of a knight.

Then Bera turned.

“Sleep well. I will return before sunrise.”

Leaving those words behind, he receded from Dovan’s sight.

* * *

After a long run, Bera reached the third kingdom’s army camp to find it in utter chaos.

The palisade had been knocked flat, and the soldiers’ densely packed tents lay collapsed.

Observing it from a distance, Bera saw the pools of blood in the tents and understood.

Todd had devoured his own soldiers.

Of course he recognized it. That was how Gartea had rampaged across the battlefield.

Devouring.

He must have employed that trick, swallowing everyone, friend and foe alike, to replenish his demonic energy.

Recalling it, Bera bit hard into his lip.

‘Is he complete?’

Had Gartea reached completion?

Bera let out a deep breath, dispelling the unease rising with that thought.

‘... No.’

It did not matter.

There was nothing to fear.

What meaning could there be in a duty to protect if he chose whom to face?

Steeling himself, Bera took a step forward.

At that instant...

BOOOM!

The central tent collapsed.

An enormous figure rose from within it.

Todd. No, a demonic being who ought to be called Gartea.

He looked nearly three times Bera’s size, his entire body bathed in blood and glistening red.

Three horns crowned his head. Where his face should have been was a vast hole. Presumably a mouth—there was no other conclusion to draw when that hole was chewing and spilling chunks of flesh.

THUD.

Gartea planted a foreleg forward. It had no toes; below the elbow, the limb formed a single mace.

Bera watched Gartea, who had yet to notice him and was merely gazing up at the sky while chewing flesh. His lips moved.

“I proclaim.”

WHOOSH!

Ash-gray divine energy swept over the space. A vast dome encompassing Bera and Gartea, the tents, and even the surrounding forest filled with divine energy.

Gartea turned his head toward Bera.

“Grrrgh...”

Even the rattle of phlegm in his throat was loud enough to reverberate throughout the space.

Bera drew the unfinished demonic sword and recited a law.

“From this moment on, no battle fought within this space shall cease until victory or defeat is decided.”

A golden law inscribed itself upon the space.

Gartea took another step forward with a crash.

“None shall retreat. None shall betray their convictions. None shall violate their duty.”

He recited three laws in succession.

What he inscribed upon Sanctuary was his own resolve.

“So long as they uphold these laws, none within Sanctuary shall ever fall.”

It was a human’s resolve to confront a beast that had forgotten its duty.