novelraw Chapter 54 : City of Fanatics (15)
Chapter 54 : City of Fanatics (15)
Chapter 54: City of Fanatics (15)
Nike blinked cautiously. The Witch of the Sword kept staring at him without saying a word.
‘Dangerous.’
Even that dangerous and sinister Morgana was nothing compared to this witch. He knew it instinctively.
Her face was invisible behind the blazing halo. Only an inhuman voice scraped along the nape of Nike’s neck.
“You are the sacrifice.”
“I am not a sacrifice!”
The Witch of the Sword, Limitless, sheathed her sword and spoke again. Still, her detailed form could not be seen. It felt like facing the sun, a sun that had grown angry.
“Do not shout.”
Sss.
Killing intent turned into a slash that came flying. In his mind, Nike was cut down dozens of times, with his head severed. Shocked, he snapped his eyes wide open.
“Ah…?”
“Know the difference in class.”
Nike’s expression twisted. He bared his teeth and pulled up his fighting spirit.
Limitless asked with curiosity.
“Even after feeling the difference in class so bitterly, you still bare your fangs.”
“I will kill you…”
“Even a mere beast tucks its tail before a lion.”
The sun-like gaze locked on Nike’s eyes. He felt searing pain, as if his eyes were burning. Still, he did not close his eyes or look away.
For Nike, it had already turned into a matter of pride. He felt no fear.
Rumble—
The spiritual pressure grew stronger.
“Urgh…”
Even though Limitless exerted this much spiritual pressure, Nike alone remained unaffected. Truly the sacrifice was extraordinary.
Kiing—
A sound rang.
Nike’s arm fell to the ground.
His head should have flown, but he had thrown his arm up to block it.
It happened in an instant.
“To think, a human who reacts to my sword. It is the first time in three hundred years.”
Limitless’s voice rose in tone, amused.
Nike licked his lips with a calm face.
“Disappointing.”
“…?”
Limitless realized belatedly. The arm with which she had swung her sword was twisted.
Not only had he evaded her instant strike, he had even managed to wound her.
“Oh?”
The Witch of the Sword was genuinely surprised. Rather than displeased, she looked intrigued.
“You can use magic.”
“Of course!”
“Even though you are a sacrifice.”
“I am not a sacrifice! Do you want to die!”
Nike shouted even louder than before, yet Limitless paid it no mind. She was only interested in the magic he had shown.
All witches reacted the same way.
The fact that a man could use magic was astonishing, even to a witch who had lived four hundred years.
It was rare, precious, and extraordinary.
While Nike panted angrily, Limitless fell into thought. The strange occurrence made her muse.
“A vessel that can use magic… surprising. This is not the arrangement of an Ascendant.”
It was like a person who had halted in their tracks, fascinated by stumbling upon an insect. Limitless spoke again.
“Sacrifice.”
“Argh! Die!”
Unable to bear being called a sacrifice again, Nike charged. At that moment, his legs below the knee were severed and he crashed to the ground. Limitless had not even moved. Blood poured from the stumps.
“Eck?!”
“Creatures like you are meant to be slain and erased, but since you have provided me with some amusement, I will mercifully let you live.”
“Hah! Shut up!”
“And I will also give you a prophecy of what lies ahead.”
“A prophecy~?”
Nike grimaced. He wanted to smash her head right then, but his mana was exhausted, and his severed legs would not heal.
Shing—
All of a sudden, the sound of a blade rang out softly.
Blood gushed from Magis’s corpse. In Limitless’s hand was a lump of flesh.
It was the severed arm of someone Magis had grafted to her chest.
“This arm is a shard of the Ascendant Kyseraelin.”
“Kyseraelin?”
Nike tilted his head. The name sounded familiar.
Limitless drew her sword and cut away her own broken arm that had been injured by Nike’s magic.
Then she pressed the shard of the Ascendant to the severed stump. From the mummified, shriveled arm burst black tendrils that pierced into her flesh.
Whip, whip!
The process seemed painful, and Limitless let out faint groans.
Soon the severed arm became part of her body.
At the joint, veins and streams of magic sprouted.
It resembled the side effects that had appeared in Magis.
“What are you doing!”
Nike scowled and asked. His instincts recoiled at the act.
“I implanted a shard of the Ascendant into my body. With this, I have gained a portion of the Ascendant’s power.”
—!
The Witch of the Sword drew her sword and swung at invisible speed. A long crack spread across the cavern wall.
Flames roared along the trajectory of the blade.
Rumble…
The entire city seemed to shift slightly downward. The power of a single strike had reshaped the terrain. Flames surged across the whole city.
“I too… have drawn closer to Ascension.”
Limitless turned away, deeply satisfied.
“Running away now!”
Provoked, Nike shouted. Limitless swung her sword.
“Gah!”
Nike’s entire body was carved with sword wounds. Flames flared along the slashes.
“I have placed a curse upon your body. From now on, every hundred days you will suffer a deathly pain, and your flesh and mind will be eaten away at every moment. If you wish to live, gather the shards. Gather them and fulfill the role of the vessel. If you do not, you will die. This is my prophecy.”
“A-Arghhh!”
Nike writhed in agony. Wounds opened on his limbs as if they had been torn off.
“As the sacrifice, you will be drawn to the shards, and the witches who hold the shards will in turn be drawn to the vessel.”
Limitless paused for a moment.
“All the evil of the world will revolve around you.”
Nike foamed at the mouth as he heard the prophecy. Words spoken by a witch of such stature were prophecy and foresight.
It was no nonsense.
It was the future that would certainly come.
And Nike, the subject himself, screamed in agony but still felt pleased.
“Ha ha ha! I am the center of the world!”
“I have engraved the locations of the shards in your mind. Go and gather them.”
“Hah? I refuse orders!”
“Choosing death is your decision.”
—!
Nike winced as if struck by a headache. In truth, landscapes of places he had never seen appeared in his mind.
The Witch of the Sword had engraved them into his head. Nike felt as though he had been given a revelation.
“On the day of descent, I will come for the shards.”
The shimmering of the sun dispersed.
Limitless left those final words and ascended back to the heavens.
“…She’s gone?”
The mysterious, powerful witch had vanished. She had appeared like an angel, left behind revelations, then disappeared like a mirage.
It felt like a dream.
Once the spiritual pressure vanished, Vigo and Rowen finally managed to rise.
Thud.
In contrast, Nike collapsed unconscious.
“Nike!”
“Urgh! My body!”
Vigo could not hold himself upright. Rowen dragged her body forward to reach Nike. She checked him.
“H-He’s breathing!”
“Thank goodness…”
“But…”
Rowen spoke in a choked voice.
“Nike’s body condition…”
Nike was dying under the witch’s powerful curse. His breathing was rough, and his shoulders and leg joints bore marks as though tied with threads and necrotized.
Vigo barely managed to lift his upper body. He took out a cigarette, put it in his mouth, and spoke.
“He will not die right away… if what that witch said was true.”
* * *
The three lay on the ground, unable to move. They had no strength left. Both body and spirit were worn to tatters.
They had been through too much.
Each of them had endured a nightmare that was hard to believe.
Ssshhh—
As Nike’s fever cooled and his breathing steadied, rain began to fall.
The flames that had consumed Banyaksenir died down.
Rain fell through the hole the Witch of the Sword had torn in the ceiling. Even as their faces became drenched, they had no thought of moving.
Right now they only wanted to lie there.
“Ahh.”
Vigo opened his mouth and drank the rainwater. Moistening his throat made him feel a little more alive. Rowen, watching, followed his example.
To survive in extreme conditions, one had to throw away civilized dignity. Vigo even stuck out his tongue.
“Rowen. Gather rainwater and give it to Nike too.”
“Yes.”
Rowen cupped her hands and let the rain trickle into Nike’s mouth. Unconscious, he still swallowed little by little.
He had the will to live, so he would not die.
“Heh…”
“Ugh…”
Of the three, she was the one in the best condition.
Quenching her thirst, Rowen was the first to start moving.
“Master, spread your arms a bit.”
“…How embarrassing, Rowen.”
She grunted and moved her battered master to a place the rain could not reach. Vigo wriggled, saying it tickled.
But it was not hard.
‘So light…’
Vigo had become lighter than before. His hair had grown whiter, and more wrinkles had appeared. He looked as though he had aged ten years in a moment.
It was impossible to guess how much of his life force he had spent in this battle.
‘Why am I so…’
Vigo and Nike had fought with their lives on the line.
And in contrast, what had she done?
Rowen scolded herself for having done nothing.
She had only been a burden.
She felt she lacked even the resolve to risk her life like Vigo.
‘I need strength too… stronger strength.’
Rowen’s lonely eyes shifted.
Nike was crawling on his own, dragging himself.
‘Like that boy…’
She desperately wanted strength like Nike’s. The strength to fight demons, the spirit to face witches without fear.
To die and still come back.
To be wounded and still heal.
Rowen gave a lonely smile and supported Nike. His eyes stayed shut as she dragged him.
“…Nike. You worked hard.”
Nike had fought Magis. He had faced the unidentified witch who had descended from the sky. Thanks to him, they were alive.
The more she came to know, the more Nike’s existence felt transcendent.
Even after experiencing things beyond belief, Nike’s heart had not wavered in the slightest. His presence was uncanny.
Once Rowen had laid Nike down, she finally caught her breath.
The city burned, black smoke rising. The underground magical workshop had been half destroyed.
It faded peace, after fanatics, magic, and a witch had swept through.
As they rested, Vigo spoke.
“Rowen, sit. Let us organize what has happened.”
Neither he nor Rowen had been able to withstand the spiritual pressure. They had been unable to move. But they had at least kept their minds and retained their memories.
Rowen blinked, recalling what had happened. The more she tried to sort it out, the more her head hurt.
“The arm grafted to Magis’s chest was a shard of the Ascendant…”
“And the witch who suddenly appeared cursed Nike, forcing him to seek the shards.”
The curse engraved into Nike’s limbs looked as if he had been torn apart and then patched together.
Vigo studied the curse carefully, then jerked his chin.
“A curse of the Ascendant… and shards.”
Vigo barely managed to lay his arm across his belly and muttered.
“…It is impossible to make sense of. And what is the Day of Descent?”
“What in the world is going on…”
If Vigo did not know, Rowen had no chance of knowing. She only scratched her cheek.
“We’ll have to ask Morgana in the end. That woman may know something.”
Vigo leaned his head back and closed his eyes, struggling. He asked Rowen to light his cigarette.
“And that last witch who appeared…”
Rowen, lighting it, spoke cautiously.
“Could it have been the Witch of the Sword?”
They had not even confirmed her features. All they had seen was blazing radiance like the sun.
Only Nike had managed to keep his eyes open to look at that dazzling being. And because of that, his vision now was very blurred.
Vigo puffed smoke and said.
“The Witch of the Sword… the right arm of Sin, the sword of Sin, and the true monster said to have become a witch four hundred years ago. A witch whose very existence has never been confirmed.”
“Yes. Indeed. But all the signs do seem…”
Vigo nodded.
“The blazing halo. The red hair. A sword twice as tall as her. They match the descriptions of Bougainvillea, the Witch of the Sword.”
“…”
Rowen swallowed hard.
Even Vigo laughed bitterly at the unreal conclusion.
“This is ridiculous… That even the legendary Witch of the Sword has revealed herself.”
“Snore— Snore—”
“It only grows worse. It almost feels like a dream.”
“…Indeed. I have lived too long.”
Vigo and Rowen stared silently at the sleeping Nike.
“The end is coming.”
Vigo put out his cigarette and murmured.