[V11C21] Enemy of Humanity
Translated by Jodas 11: Envoy of the AbyssThe King of Monsters took the form of a relatively young human. It had an androgynous face that looked both masculine and feminine, with pale white skin and hair and not a hint of color. Beneath the black robes it wore lay an endless, indescribable darkness.
The moment Gerald laid eyes on the form of that pale Monster, a sensation coursed through his body as if all his blood had frozen solid.
It felt as if he was standing on a battlefield with enemy swords prodding him from all sides, or as if his brother was holding a sword to his neck — Whatever the worst situation he could imagine himself in was, he felt the fear of facing it head on. With fear coursing from the top of his head to the tips of his toes, his whole body began to shake involuntarily.
“Did I interrupt something?”
Fiene’s slender eyebrows drooped as she addressed the Primordial Beast.
The giant silver wolf snorted, not bothering to stand up.
“This is the King’s battle, so I won’t turn my fangs on you just because you rained on my parade. Still, I will operate according to my own logic.”
Essentially, what the Primordial Beast was saying was:
The attack on the Wedge Tower was the King of Monsters’ plan, and he was here as part of that plan.
Thus, the Primordial Beast would not blame the King of Monsters and the Daughter of God for having used the crystals to support him. However, he didn’t feel any obligation to go along with them any further.
He was incredibly powerful, but he could be compared to a sort of mercenary who was in if for the pursuit of his own interests.
“Good day to you, everyone.”
Standing beside the King of Monsters, Fiene began to speak.
Her gently swaying black hair and white dress painted the very image of a pure and adorable young girl. Nonetheless, she also carried some intangible holiness about her.
It resembled the sensation of ‘She’s beautiful but her aura just overpowers it’ that he felt when looking at Sevil. ‘She’s adorable, but her holiness just overpowers it.’ That was how he’d describe this girl.
She clearly looked younger than Gerald no matter how he looked at her, but she didn’t feel younger. There was something to her that transcended beyond her years.
(So this girl is Mr. Otto’s daughter… The one contracted to ‘Chariclea, the Wedge Tower.’)
Gerald immediately turned his attention to the area around Sophie.
Those crystals that attacked Sophie just now were controlled by this girl right here.
That made it abundantly clear that this girl wanted to take Sophie out of the picture.
(But how come I can’t feel any hostility at all coming from her…?)
If he sensed any hostility, perhaps this girl might have felt more human.
Yet this girl turned her crystal blades on Sophie simply to eliminate the barrier she posed, with all the feeling one would have when kicking away a pebble in your path. There was no hostility. Just getting that pebble out of the way.
(…I don’t get the feeling we can convince her just by talking it out.)
The others probably had similar reactions to Gerald. Nevertheless, Ella spoke up on behalf of the Apprentices.
“You must be Fiene. My friends have already removed the crystal rivets that were in the Cradle. Before long, the mana density here is going to drop down, and I believe the Monsters will no longer be able to stay. We are prepared to take you into our care if you would like.”
She was a good negotiator. Gerald was honestly impressed.
On top of clearly communicating the situation to everyone present, she expressed their desire to protect Fiene.
Crucially, Ella left out the detail that the Wedge Tower’s mages were divided on what to do with Fiene.
Fiene tilted her head slightly and eyed Ella. A passing gust of wind made her black hair billow in the breeze.
“Are you sure you guys aren’t divided on that? Abel wants to kill me and set up the next contractor.”
She addressed Ella with an adorable and divine smile, yet the words she spoke felt intensely chilling.
She fully understood that there were some who wanted to kill her. Regardless, she spoke with great mercy.
“Oh poor, unfortunate Abel. Her whole life was ripped away from her; her daughter was stolen from her; and yet she remains tied to this Tower… I must grant her salvation.”
“The Ancient Magical Artifact ‘Chariclea, the Wedge Tower’ is already almost completely inactive. Why don’t you… come… leave… this place… with…?”
Before she could finish her sentence, Ella doubled over in pain.
Roswitha was next to her, and caught Ella before she could fall.
“Ella! You guys, don’t look! The King of Monsters is… Ah– ack– argh–”
Roswitha grasped at her own throat, unable to make anything but shallow, wheezing breaths.
It wasn’t just them who were acting off. Julius, Sophie, and the soldiers around them — and even, somehow, the nearby Monsters — all curled up on the ground in pain. Even the plant-type Monsters that he doubted were even capable of such things as fear, froze and drooped to the ground.
Gerald instantly focused his strength around his navel and averted his gaze from the King of Monsters.
There was a trick to averting one’s gaze. If you put the object completely out of sight, you risk leaving yourself open to an ambush, so you had to make it so just the enemy’s hands and feet lingered at the very edge of your vision.
(What’s going on… What is this power? It’s a lot like mental interference magecraft.)
Out of all humans and Monsters present, the only ones who could still move seemed to be his brother Henrik and the Primordial Beast. In contrast to Gerald who was barely able to stay on his feet, these true powerhouses seemed like they could still use their full range of movement.
Nonetheless, were they to get any closer… would they truly be able to strike at the King of Monsters?
The fear the King of Monsters unleashed was that sort of thing. Just its presence was enough for a weaker creature to be swallowed by fear, lose control of their body, and die after forgetting how to breathe. Alternatively, unable to withstand the fear, they may very well choose to take their own life instead.
(So how in the world is that kid okay…!?)
The girl standing closest to the King of Monsters, Fiene, smiled like nothing was wrong with a face that has never known fear nor pain.
He’d learned in class that this sort of mental interference magic was extraordinarily effective against children whose minds had yet to fully develop. That was why Sophie, the youngest one here, was suffering the most. Sophie was a total wreck, sobbing, scratching her throat, and convulsing all at once.
How, in spite of that, could this girl not much different in age from Sophie act as if nothing was wrong?
“Thanks to this battle, we’ve collected plenty of negative emotions. Mana too. Do you know what you get when you combine negative emotions and mana?”
Fiene’s question was directed at everyone there.
His brother, sword at the ready and not giving in to the fear, made an expression that said ‘I’ve got no clue. A better question is, who do I need to kill first?’
That figured, there was no way his brother knew the answer to Fiene’s question. Gerald, however, did know. Sophie had told him.
“…A font of the Abyss. The birthplace of Monsters.”
Fiene smiled, confirming Gerald’s whispered answer. Then, she held out both arms.
At once, the ground shook. For a moment he thought it was some sort of attack, but it probably wasn’t. The center of this shaking was somewhere North of here. Looking off in that direction, Fiene spoke softly.
“It doesn’t matter that the crystal contamination is gone. After all, a great Abyss is about to be born on this land.”
Only now did Gerald understand how wrong his assumptions were.
Everyone at the Wedge Tower thought of Fiene as a poor little girl who was sacrificed to an Ancient Magical Artifact. It was true, her upbringing was rather appalling.
From the moment of her brith, she was trapped in the basement and forced to support the Ancient Magical Artifact ‘Chariclea, the Wedge Tower’ in maintaining the Wall. In exchange for her life expectancy.
So, although they assumed she would bear a grudge against the people of the Wedge Tower, they thought they simply had to try and save her.
(No. That’s not who she is.)
He finally understood the cause of that intensely uneasy feeling he got when looking at Fiene.
She truly did not resent the Wedge Tower’s leaders who sacrificed her. Not one bit.
She did not show any signs of the kind of obvious anger or hatred he expected — Nothing like ‘If peace involves sacrificing me, to hell with that peace!’ nor ‘I wanna kill those bastards who locked me in there!’
(This is not some pitiful little girl who got captured by Monsters…)
The crystal contamination had ceased, and Rose’s vines were depleting the mana rapidly, but now yet another change came to the campus. A thick, suffocating mana began pouring out from the North.
While the mana created through crystal contamination had been significant, the mana he felt now was on a whole different level. His chest felt like it was burning. He felt sick. Were it not for Wren’s candy, he may very well have keeled over right then and there.
“This Abyss is where Monsters are born, and it is where they will return. The salvation begins here.”
Amidst the suffocating mana, Fiene appeared as pure as ever.
Ah, just what kind of creature did the adults raise?
“You don’t need to feel sad. Every one of you will melt into this Abyss, and be reborn anew.”
This girl was truly, purely trying to bring salvation as the Daughter of God. That simplicity must have made her seem like a holy being to the Monsters.
But since Gerald was a human, his honest feeling was:
— She is truly, purely broken. An enemy of humanity.