Chapter 509

The magi rising from the Tower of Fetuses forms a pillar, surging toward the heavens. Like pouring black ink onto a blue canvas, the once-clear sky is dyed a deep, ominous black.

Unlike the shimmering purple night sky, a thick and sinister black curtain descends. The sun’s brilliance is obscured by the magi, and the entire city sinks into darkness as if plunging into the depths of the ocean.

…This is seriously messed up.

I looked up at the black sky, feeling as lost as a captain who had lost his ship in the middle of the vast ocean.

Even if a meteor had suddenly fallen and wiped out the imperial capital, it wouldn’t have been as bewildering as this.

The descent of an evil god? Belcus, who at most stole all of Damien’s comrades, was actually planning something like this?

No, more than that. Was something like this even possible?

There’s a limit to how absurd things can get, but this is on a whole different level from summoning monsters!

A bitter taste lingered in my mouth. My lower abdomen tightened painfully, and my eyelids trembled slightly.

Maybe Belcus was just bluffing.

Maybe I misunderstood.

But such hopes had long been erased, covered by the black sky.

The entire city had turned black—what kind of bluff is that? Even a child would realize something was wrong just by looking at that sky.

Something terrifying and beyond their comprehension had begun.

– Uuuuung!

Durandal, gripped tightly in my hand, vibrated intensely. The tremors felt like a desperate warning.

A warning to get out of here immediately.

[‘Descent’… That word definitely means something coming down from the sky. So, this is what it looks like… A black sky. How bizarre. It wouldn’t be strange if demons from the underworld came crawling out.]

Though her tone tried to sound calm, Hersela’s voice lowered slightly, unable to hide her tension.

Demons from the underworld? If Belcus’s boasts were true, something even worse might come out. What exactly… I don’t know either.

Anyway, I couldn’t just stand here and watch.

I gritted my teeth, gripped Durandal with both hands, lowered my stance, and took a deep breath. The silver-blue blade glowed, imbued with my feats.

[What are you planning to do?]

‘What I was about to do earlier.’

The Tower of Fetuses, now transformed into a black pillar engulfed in magi. They said it was made from the remains of a thousand fetuses.

Yeah, now I understand why they built the pleasure district and set up camp there. There’s no better place to naturally gather the materials—fetuses—than a brothel.

They must have swept up all the children born to the prostitutes and dumped them here. Just thinking about it made me sick.

No, now’s not the time to think about the tower’s materials.

What’s important isn’t what the tower is made of, but what role it serves. It’s obvious.

Seeing how Belcus freaked out when I tried to touch the bell tower, this tower of bones must be the core of the descent ritual.

I thought they had hidden something inside the bell tower, like the Womb of the Lustful Demon, but it turns out the bell tower itself was just a decoy to hide this pile of bones.

So, I have to destroy this mass of magi somehow.

I can’t be sure, but if I destroy the tower, the ritual might be canceled.

“Kyaaaaah!”

I took a step forward, twisted my waist, and swung Durandal toward the pillar of magi. Like a lumberjack swinging an axe to split a tree.

A blue arc mixed with gold pierced through the black torrent.

– Kwaaaaaaang!

A thunderous explosion echoed in my ears. A black spray erupted like a volcano. It felt like smashing a block of iron with my old body. The recoil made my hands go numb.

I slid back from the force, then looked up to check the state of the bone tower.

[It won’t be easy to destroy this.]

Hersela was right.

Durandal’s blade had definitely pierced the magi and reached the bone tower. The severed surface spewed black smoke like spurting blood, and fragments of shattered bones flowed out.

The problem was… the number of shattered bones was ridiculously small.

Even though I poured enough force to shatter black iron in one strike, the only damage Durandal left was a small dent in the corner.

The sturdiness was unbelievable for a tower made of human bones. It wasn’t just magi. Some other, intangible force of unknown origin was protecting the tower of fetal bones!

“Sir Median!”

Lacey, who had smashed Belcus’s head, ran toward me with a pale face.

Had she also concluded that this was the summoning of an evil god, or was she just shocked by the blackened sky and the pillar of magi? Her trembling hands were filled with anxiety and confusion.

“The sky… Elpinel’s sky has turned black! What on earth was Belcus trying to do!? Descent… surely not…!”

“…I’m afraid that ‘surely not’ might be exactly what’s happening.”

I gritted my teeth and adjusted my grip on Durandal.

If I had known this would happen, I should have executed him immediately after capturing him instead of torturing him.

I thought he was hiding a trump card, but at most, it would be on the level of Diraid. I never imagined something this absurd would happen.

“Good heavens. How… how is something like this possible!?”

Lacey clutched her holy symbol, twisting it in her hands. Yeah, it’s a huge shock. Even more so for her than for me.

For me, who wasn’t born in this world, gods and evil gods aren’t objects of faith but rather transcendent beings with immense power. It’s like watching an alien snap their fingers and destroy a star.

So, I saw the descent of an evil god as the emergence of a formidable enemy I might not be able to defeat, one that could cause catastrophic damage.

Hersela, having grown up in Ka`har, where magic and faith are taboo, seemed to feel similarly.

Ka`har has something akin to a tribal god called the Heavenly Wolf, but they don’t worship it—they just acknowledge its existence.

I don’t want to feel any kinship with them, but in this regard, we’re quite similar.

But for Lacey, born and raised as a devout follower of Elpinel, this situation must feel like the end of the world.

—

“Lacey, can you destroy that pillar of magi with your powers?”

I grabbed her trembling shoulder and pulled her close as I asked.

Judging from my earlier strike, it would clearly take me over an hour to destroy the bone tower. In fact, I’d likely run out of energy long before that.

If that happened, it would be the worst outcome. Facing a descended evil god while completely drained of strength.

Honestly, I didn’t think the evil god Belcus summoned would descend in its full, original form. If that were possible with just this level of sacrifice, the world would have already been destroyed.

Belcus himself said it: he needed more time but forced the ritual to activate.

So, even if Invidius descends, it won’t be in its full form. It’ll probably appear in a weakened state.

…Still, it’ll likely be much stronger than me.

At my question, Lacey seemed to regain some composure. Her gaze turned toward the pillar of magi.

For a moment, her expression faltered, but she quickly steadied herself, clenched her jaw, and stared at the surging magi… then tightly gripped the holy symbol around her neck and answered.

“…If I offer my entire life to Her, then perhaps….”

No, don’t offer your life.

Lacey was ready to sacrifice herself to stop this, but I couldn’t agree to that. Not logically, not emotionally.

I couldn’t lose Lacey in a place like this, and there was no guarantee it would even work. I didn’t want her to sacrifice herself.

“That’s not going to happen. I have no intention of watching you die.”

“But…!”

“No buts. If it’s something that requires sacrificing your life, then it’s just not possible.”

Lacey looked at me with trembling eyes.

In her sky-blue eyes, complex emotions clashed and swirled.

Fear of what was to come. Conflict between survival instinct and faith. Self-loathing for not being willing to martyr herself, and a faint hope of finding salvation in me.

I held her shoulder and spoke in a calm, reassuring voice.

“Besides, you’re not even sure, are you? Whether sacrificing your life would even stop the descent. Don’t throw your life away for something you’re not certain of.”

I gave up on the idea of destroying the bone tower to cancel the descent.

Just as Astraea’s divine light judges evil, Elpinel’s divine light is meant to annihilate magi. If even Lacey’s power can’t destroy it without sacrificing her life, then there’s effectively no way to destroy the bone tower.

So, I had to choose the next best option.

“Rather than losing your life like that, it’s better to fight. Wouldn’t that be less unfair? Who knows? Maybe Invidius will come out half-crippled. If the Elpinel you believe in truly protects this world, She wouldn’t just stand by and let an evil god descend to destroy it. So… whatever comes out, let’s fight it.”

Durandal’s vibrations stopped. Was it encouragement that my choice was right, or resignation that further warnings were pointless?

For some reason, a laugh escaped me, and I patted Lacey’s shoulder, chuckling softly.

[…I chose a good War Chief.]

Hersela muttered quietly, so softly that even I could barely hear it.