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Chapter 145
Chapter 145: Buried in the Black Sea, Countless Questions (2)
A single grain of pitch black?
Nodens wondered.
At the center of his vision, a circular stain had been etched. It was unimaginably small, yet as black as absolute darkness. Even so, it was no more than a handful in size. The sea was still transparent. All he had to do was sweep it away with his arm.
“This is…….”
W̌e_bnо̂v̊ ё l Ё ǹûm а̀
No—it was impossible.
He flailed his arm as though chasing away a gnat, yet the stain only spread further. What had once been small was now staining the sea itself. It was as though the night sky had been wrung out beneath the water. Darkness began to blot Nodens’s surroundings.
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“What is this, exactly?”
To Nodens’s question, the Demon King replied.
The voice that had been smeared with laughter grew markedly calmer. In a cold, solemn tone, the Demon King whispered to Nodens.
<My little being, you never doubted it, did you? That the world you were born into was paradise.>
W̊ еb̄ n̆ о v̇ěl Еn u m̆a_
That was true.
Nodens affirmed it.
The sea was transparent, his kin were delicate, and the boys and girls living in the abyss were beautiful. There was no room for doubt. The moment Nodens awakened to his ego, the sea before him had functioned as paradise.
Then what of the land?
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The earth spreading beyond the sea was vile.
And humans? All beings other than monsters were grotesque.
W̌ е̃ b n̆о v̊ е l̄ Еnǔ m̌a
Black as white, white as black. Nodens was a monster, and unlike the creations of the Main Gods, he perceived the world differently.
If, by chance, one side had to be false, and the other had to be true—
Your world is a delusion I have misinterpreted.
The scenery you believed to be paradise is nothing more than an abyss.
The Demon King murmured so.
Do you understand, Nodens?
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Where there is right, there must be wrong.
Where there is truth, there must be falsehood. Where there is white, there must be black. Where there is life, there must be death, and where creation occurs, an end must inevitably follow.
<We are falsehood and blackness, death and the end.>
Thus, your sea can never be paradise.
The Demon King declared it outright. Falsehood cannot become truth, and no matter how much black is polished, it cannot shine as white. Where there is life, it will reach toward death, and all creation is concluded through the end. The being that embodied this was the Demon King.
Beside Nodens, a young banshee flailed.
Ėn̄ ú m.ӓ. і̄ d
It was absurdly small—no larger than a single joint of a finger. That tiny banshee stepped upon Nodens’s brow. Its underdeveloped limbs wriggled, and then—
KYAAGH──!
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It opened its maw, revealing rows of overlapping teeth.
It must have mistaken the dying Nodens for prey. The banshee’s teeth sank into Nodens’s outer shell. By then, countless banshee larvae had already gathered around him. They gnawed at his arms and chewed through his legs. Watching them, Nodens let out a bitter laugh.
<I am death, which brings an end to the pain of unstable life, and……>
But then—what was that?
Е̌_n̆u̇mа̃ . і̃ ḋ
Tilting his head, Nodens wondered.
The boys and girls who had lingered beneath the sea were gone. The sea had turned black, and all that remained visible was the silhouette of a certain being, as solid as a fortress. It resembled a colossal tree rooted in the abyss. Something enormous was stirring its bundles of tentacles.
<If the Main Gods create life and bestow upon it the pain of living, then I am the one who, through the end, kills them all and grants salvation.>
So that was it.
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So that was how it had been.
Had everything been an illusion?
Е̂ n̂um̂a . i d
Nodens understood without difficulty.
The children were there. They composed that thing. A monster unimaginably vast and sustained for ages. A being closer to a structure than a creature. The children lived on as parts of it.
Children offered as sacrifices and cast into the sea had drifted with the currents and become part of the monster.
Alive, to the very end.
The light in Nodens’s eyes faded.
They could no longer hold even a trace of color.
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<Within such a deep mire……>
There were no kin.
There was no transparent sea.
There were no beautiful children.
There existed only monsters driven by instinctive gluttony, the Black Sea stained pitch black, and children reduced to grotesque forms.
That was Nodens’s world.
E n̈u mã.i d
<Do you still yearn for it?>
To protect your kin, to safeguard the sea, to make the children your world— the Demon King asked.
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“……Of course.”
A moment of silence.
Then, blazing crimson eyes.
“Of course…….”
Е̄ ň û mӓ
Of course, of course, of course.
Nodens muttered.
“──Of course!”
CRACK.
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Fissures spread across Nodens’s outer shell.
He was destroying it with his own hands. Nodens reached out and tore into the membrane that adorned his body. The once-solid shell was ripped away, exposing what lay beneath. The banshee larvae swept aside by his movements began to retreat.
Е n̈ ü m̄а̃..їd
“They are alive. All of them are alive.”
Even if they could not be his kin, these young monsters were undeniably alive.
Even if the sea could never be transparent, within this blackened sea, we live and move.
Even if the children could never again be beautiful— even so,
“Those children…….”
All of them reached this place, while wishing not to die.
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“So, Demon King, I am not a monster.”
Nodens contemplated. What he truly was.
He had no intention of remaining a mere monster. If only the creations backed by the radiance of the Main Gods could enjoy truth, white, life, and creation, then Nodens chose to claim the symbol he had envied most while watching them.
‘Yes. That is it.’
It was what he had always envied.
Nodens finally realized it. The reason he had yearned for kin, for a place to live, for a world to protect—it was simply because he had been jealous.
È ñ.u m̂_ã.. i̇ ď_
“I am not a monster, but…….”
He had envied the creations.
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He always had, without ever realizing it.
Thus, if he were to define himself by likening himself to those creations—
“──A knight!”
A knight.
W.еḃ nоvеl̈ É ñu m̃ а
He was a knight.
Nodens affirmed it. One who yearned to protect kin, to defend a homeland, to safeguard a world was a knight.
If Abel, who stood against him, was a knight, then Nodens too must surely be one.
<……Very well.>
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Darkness spread in all directions.
He could no longer see even an inch ahead.
Е́ n̄ ù m̃ а́
Only the Demon King’s voice reached Nodens.
Nodens did not mind.
He felt at ease. He felt warmth.
If this dark, unfathomable Black Sea was the truth of the world, then he believed it should be tended in darkness.
<My little being, I shall……>
Thus, the Demon King whispered.
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Though it would be no more than an instant, you—together with all my curses—
<I shall gaze upon you, and you alone.>
***
—You.
A single girl’s voice.
A fragile girl’s voice reached him.
Ē ńû.m ǎ ._і́ d̂
—You are human.
—You are alive.
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—What happened to Nodens?
—Did you come to kill us?
—Is my mother still alive?
—I want to live. I want to live. I want to live. I want to live. I want to live. I want to live. I want to live.
Ѐn̄ů m̌à.
Soon, the children’s voices swelled.
Abel stood still. His unfocused eyes lifted toward the sky. Beneath the thick, swollen storm clouds, a mass of flesh rose as though it would touch the heavens. A monster that could only be described as a wall of flesh, composed of boys and girls who had not yet reached adulthood.
‘Why…….’
Abel’s gaze wavered for an instant.
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He hardened his eyes to keep from faltering.
‘Why did it come to this?’
Е̄ǹ u̇m a
It was as though the children’s bodies had been melted into the monster’s form. Arms and legs, eyes and noses and mouths—all of it had seeped into the monster, forming its flesh. Countless faces, grotesquely melted together, stared down at Abel.
“……Tell me.”
The current stirred.
Abel began to approach the monster.
“You are children who lived in Portsmouth.”
Is that correct?
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Abel asked.
—I do not know. What is Portsmouth?
—I think I remember. We grew up there.
—You are lying. We were born as monsters.
—Ahahahahaha!
—Please help me! Please take me out of here!
Ŵ е b ñ о v́ e l Е n_û mа̇
—I do not know how many years I have been like this……
—Is my mother doing well?
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Yes. That would be so.
Abel nodded slowly.
The children’s memories were mixed together. Though all appeared to possess young bodies, some had survived for a year, some for ten years, some for a hundred years—fused with the monster all the while.
‘Did the monster fail to digest them?’
Е n u̇ m̄a. id.
No. It must have chosen not to.
Biting down on his lower lip, Abel thought. He saw no adults. Those who had reached adulthood must have been digested within the monster and sent to the Underworld. That massive monster had accepted only children as parts of its body.
‘Why?’
Abel opened Subspace.
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Vanessa Spencer’s repeating crossbow.
He took it out and stood there blankly.
Ẇ è b̊ n_о̄ṽё l Е̇n̆ u m à
‘Did it judge them useful?’
Monsters break down the bodies of creations to strengthen themselves. Intelligent beings were no different—they had long crafted weapons from monster corpses. Had it strengthened its body by forming flesh from children?
‘No. That cannot be.’
Click.
An explosive bolt was loaded into the crossbow.
‘The children are too…….’
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Abel’s arm extended.
He aimed the repeating crossbow.
‘……Too weak.’
A state that made one hesitate to call them alive, and hesitate just as much to call them dead.
Gazing at them, Abel fell silent. Regardless, the children possessed egos. Whether they could be called monsters or creations was uncertain, but their grotesque forms alone made it easy to imagine their lost childhoods.
‘Could it not kill them?’
Е̊n̈ ů m̆ a
Even the monster— did it hesitate to kill the children?
‘Did it decide to let them live?’
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Even if by turning them into parts of its body, did it choose to keep them alive?
“Not yet…….”
Suddenly, a violent surge of water.
The current churned beneath Abel’s feet. He failed to notice, hesitating with the crossbow aimed at the children—
Е̃ n ǔ m̆а̃. і̃ d̄
“──Not yet!”
BOOM──!
Water erupted from below.
Abel leapt back at once. He withdrew his left hand holding the crossbow and drew his beloved sword with his right, assuming a battle stance as he looked ahead.
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“Not yet finished.”
Huff, huff.
Е n̈u m̈ а
Standing before him, breathing heavily—
“The battle begins now.”
A monster.
No—a human.
A being that seemed both monster and human.
“You were called Abel Argento, were you not?”
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It was undoubtedly Nodens.
Nodens stood facing Abel, his shell torn away, encrusted with barnacles.
“I will──.”
And then,
“──Protect my world from you.”
For some reason, revealing a face that resembled Abel’s own.
Én̂ úm̂_а̃
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