novelraw Chapter 71 : Eden, the Garden (10)
Chapter 71 : Eden, the Garden (10)
Chapter 71: Eden, the Garden (10)
Elena squeezed her eyes shut.
Even when you synthesized a chimera, the raw materials had to come from somewhere. The girls spread out before her eyes were the materials.
Kidnapped girls.
The entrails and bones of every kind of beast and monster.
They were gathered and melded as one.
The result was the most horrific, unholy life-form in the world.
Chimera synthesis was the vilest among the grotesque acts witches committed.
"Dammit."
If she hadn’t seen it, she might not have cared. The witch’s atrocious experiments and the suffering test subjects kept flashing before her eyes.
In her heart, she wanted to turn away and go save Nike.
My man.
My property.
My fate.
Mine.
Elena was shaken hard.
If she delayed here any longer, she didn’t know what might happen to Nike. At this very moment, he might already have been killed by the witch.
‘This annoying sympathy of mine…’
Her nerves felt skinned raw.
It was strange for someone in the position of an Archbishop to call compassion for the weak annoying. That was how far from normal Elena’s mind had strayed.
From the moment she saw Nike, her head had filled with the ash-gray boy.
Her faith and the Sword of Destiny were just excuses.
In this place, saturated with mana on all sides, only lust and wicked thoughts expanded their territory in her heart.
‘Even if I rescue them now, it’s too late anyway.’
The girls were starved to skin and bone, and they had bled too much. Their bodies were so ruined that even breathing was painful, and their spirits were ravaged.
Granting them a merciful end here and now felt closer to true kindness.
"…"
The only reason she couldn’t leave at once was the bare minimum of conscience.
Elena moved her feet. With her war hammer, she broke the shackles binding the girls one by one.
Kang! Kang!
Charr-rr-rr…
"Those of you still alive, listen. One hour from now, get out of here. If I defeat the witch, something will change somehow, and that will be the signal. After that I’ll send people, so do what you must to survive."
Elena turned away, cold. Helping the Sword of Destiny would be more beneficial than rescuing weak girls.
That was how the prophecy would be fulfilled. The girls who died here would pay a holy and noble price and head to heaven.
The girls said nothing. They touched the broken shackles and stared weakly, dead-eyed, at Elena, their savior.
"Thank you…"
From within the dying ranks, a frail voice rose. It was gratitude for Elena.
Hurrying her steps, Elena flinched at the thanks.
"Give thanks for the Sun God’s grace. Not to me…"
Showing even a hint of displeasure, she smashed through the laboratory wall and left.
* * *
—!
Nike’s body sprang up. He channeled mana into his fist, vaulted straight over the table, and drove it into the Witch of Motherhood’s face.
Crunch!
The skull crumpled pathetically. His fist shattered the Witch of Motherhood’s lovely face.
"Nike!"
Hestia cried out. Nike ignored her and growled. The witch’s lips, now only a mouth, curled faintly.
Whip, whip.
Red tendrils rose from the broken face. They writhed fast and reformed the features. The flesh swelled and swallowed Nike’s fist.
"Ugh! Let go!"
He flexed, and managed to yank his arm free from the mass of meat. But the chair he sat on also swelled with flesh and gripped him.
"Son. Did your mother teach you table manners like that?"
The Witch of Motherhood smiled murderously. Restored, her face looked even more vivid. Seeing the Vessel’s power for herself, she could barely contain her joy.
"Ugh! Aagh!"
The more he thrashed, the more elastic the flesh became as it restrained him.
Soon Nike was pinned to the chair, his arms shackled to the tabletop. The squirming meat was revolting.
"Tia! What are you doing! Save me!"
He shouted at Hestia. She shook her head.
"What are you talking about, Nike. Are you in danger now? Home is the safest place in the world. Feel Mother’s soft, warm flesh."
Looking closer, Hestia was half-sunken into the chair’s flesh too. She truly acted as if that disgusting meat were cotton candy.
"Tia, you idiot! Moron!"
"Imagine living long enough to hear that from you. Unbelievable…"
Grinding his teeth, Nike looked between the witch and the maddened Hestia. He couldn’t reason with his former comrade, and he couldn’t read the witch’s true intent.
‘Should I smash everything?’
He was about to let his eyes go red when it happened.
"Son. Listen to your mother."
The Witch of Motherhood spoke in a gentle voice.
"Hah?"
"Son. You’re weak and young. You don’t know the true dangers and darkness of this world."
"If you baby me, I’ll kill you!"
"The people around you stopped up your ears and covered your eyes, son. They numbed your sense of smell with the scent of a sweet poisoned apple."
She crossed her legs. Muscle lines parted sensually.
"Shut up!"
"Don’t you want to know the truth?"
She stood. Folding her arms, she emphasized her figure, flaunting it on purpose.
She came close and stroked Nike’s head softly.
"Your birth and your reason for existing. Why the witches want you so badly. And about your friend, and about me."
"Oh?"
Nike looked up, interested at once. The rough struggling vanished in a blink. He became a meek lamb waiting to be fed.
"Spit it then!"
He drummed his palm on the table and shouted. The witch perched on the table’s edge and leaned back. Hestia also grinned and listened to Mother, unfazed by being sunk halfway into the meat.
"Hmm~ Where should I start?"
The witch touched a fingertip to her lips and pondered.
"Hurry!"
"I suppose that story would be best."
The flesh writhed. Hestia had been swallowed past the halfway point, with only her face barely protruding.
"That dear girl you favor, she’s bait I sent. From the beginning, she was a placement to lure you here."
A chilling voice drifted out, and shock swept Nike’s face. Right then, the flesh swallowed Hestia completely.
Nike couldn’t see what expression she made.
"Tia! Give Tia back!"
"Son. Hear me out. That child wasn’t human in the first place."
"What!?"
His face turned grim. He wanted to twist the Witch of Motherhood’s neck right then.
But he couldn’t move. The strength the witch held surpassed imagination.
Even when he reddened his eyes and reinforced his body with mana, the flesh didn’t budge. Instead, the clotted meat began to drink his mana.
"Kgh…!"
"The more you struggle, the more strongly it feeds. So for now, be good and listen to your mother."
"Aaaargh!"
Ignoring her warning, he tightened with force again, but the flesh only drank deeper of his mana and swelled larger.
"Ggh."
His head drooped with fatigue. He had no strength left. He had to restrain himself, or his mana would truly be drained dry.
"Now you’re ready to listen. Son."
"I don’t. Have a mom!"
"Ohoho. That can’t be. Every being has a mother. Of course you do as well. I bore you with my breast, but the one who created your existence is someone else."
Nike’s brow twitched.
What she said just now mattered.
Seeking the root of his existence was the reason he remained with the Order of the Silver Blades and hunted witches.
It was the purpose of his life, the one thing he truly desired.
The Witch of Motherhood held that clue.
‘My mother.’
…Nike closed his eyes for a moment and opened them. He was ready to accept a great truth.
He asked slowly.
"Who is it."
"One of the Three Sages, Kyseraelin. Your hunters call her the Witch of Sin. Long ago, they pursued all the world’s wisdom and became the first to behold the stars of the dark night sky."
"Hah…?"
Nike wasn’t interested.
Even so, the Witch of Motherhood rattled on as if it were a fascinating tale at any time.
"They heard an ancient prophecy that truth lay across the sea, and they set out on a long journey. The continent they finally reached is the ground where you and I stand, and there the Three Sages beheld the starlight that shone upon the continent of Bedlea."
She gazed up at the ceiling and murmured low.
"‘Golden Sphere,’ ‘Red Three-Legged Crow,’ ‘Pale Moon.’ Each of the Three Sages offered their most precious treasure to the star they found, and in return they received the truth."
She unfolded her arms and finished. Then she blinked in surprise.
"…Son?"
"Snooore…"
"Are you sleeping?"
"Snrk!"
Nike jolted awake from a doze. He had even drooled. Falling asleep in so short a time was quite a feat.
The Witch of Motherhood trembled in shock.
"H-How could you…? Your mother was speaking…?"
"Hah? Finally you’re done. It was boring."
He stretched long and yawned. A vein stood out on the witch’s temple.
"It was important. It was about your roots! A-And yet…!"
"Boring."
At first he was interested, but once it veered into a dull history lecture, he went right to sleep. He had been scolded daily for this at the training center.
"Boring…? Are you telling me you judge a story like this by how entertaining it is, son?"
Nike furrowed his brow hard.
"I’m not your son. How many times do I have to say it. Are you stupid! Are you mute!"
"…You little!"
The Witch of Motherhood bit her lip and stamped her foot. The heavy masses of flesh jiggled and heaved.
"So what. What does any of that matter!"
He spoke in an annoyed tone. He had zero interest in some ancient tale.
"I only care about my mother!"
"Haa… fine, I’ll tell you. The mother who bore you. It was the Sage who made a contract with the ‘Pale Moon.’ Kyseraelin. That witch gave birth to you."
Nike listened without a word. She continued.
"…To be precise, when that woman ascended, a piece fell from her body. A fragment. Son, your true nature is Kyseraelin’s heart."
He still looked indifferent.
"The ascended Sage promised she would someday descend again and found an eternal empire, Eden."
"If a demigod Sage is to descend to this land, she needs a fleshly body. The original body that tore free when she ascended. The most important piece is, of course, the heart."
"That’s your true nature. Do you understand? Son. When the Sage descends, you’re fated to die. This mother pities you and wants to block that death."
She puffed herself up and watched for his reaction, sure that after hearing such a grand tale he wouldn’t want to die and would cling to her.
"Is that all?"
Once again, her expectations missed by a mile.
"Mmm…? Haha, then what do you want? Isn’t it astonishing? A dark truth no human in the world knows?"
Nike yawned wide enough to split his jaw, wiped the tears that leaked from his eyes, and spoke.
"I already heard it before."
He had heard it from the Witch of the Sword. So it wasn’t surprising. It hadn’t moved him the first time either. Why would it the second time?
"What…?"
Her face froze. Words failed her. As her brain stalled, the flesh that had swallowed and writhed through the dining room stopped for an instant.
That was when she sensed something off about Nike.
"Wait."
She reached for him. Her fingers parted his forehead like clay, boring a hole with ease, too fast for him to react.
"Kgh…?"
She pinched the skin of his brow and pulled it open.
Slice!
In that instant, her head fell off. A long blade had thrust out from the hole she made.
"You—"
Before she could finish, someone sprang from Nike’s forehead.
It was a back he had seen once before. The Witch of Motherhood rolled her bloodshot eyes toward the being that appeared from Nike’s brow.
"…Bougainvillea. You wretch…"
"Dionea. It’s been a while. I see you still wallow in filthy greed."