Chapter 288 : Treatment (7)
Alon stared at the presence before him.
Its form wasn't clearly visible.
Whether it was a man or a woman.
Even whether it was an elder or a child—he couldn't tell.
To Alon's eyes, it appeared only as noise.
'Even when I first saw Yongrin, it wasn't this bad.'
The moment he thought that—
[Hmm—?]
A suspicious voice flowed from the being in front of him.
When Alon raised the gaze he had lowered—
[Interesting.]
The noisy figure looked at Alon and made that observation.
"...What do you mean by that?"
Alon asked back, but the noise didn't answer.
[You truly know nothing.]
"...What?"
[You know nothing, and yet you've become one who devours stars by awakening resistance where there should be none.]
It uttered incomprehensible words.
"What are you talking about?"
[Even if I explained, it would be useless. Besides, explaining would require a great deal of time—your body wouldn't be able to endure it.]
"What in the world—"
Just as Alon's expression began to contort at the awkward conversation—
"...Huh?"
He felt a moist sensation and instinctively raised his hand.
"!"
He realized that blood was dripping from his nose.
It had happened so suddenly.
As he confirmed the dripping blood, he quickly tried to look up again.
[Don't meet its gaze—that is the only way you and I can remain in contact for as long as possible.]
At the creature's advice, he quickly lowered his eyes.
And then Alon realized the strange sense of incongruity he'd felt the moment he saw the noise.
'This is definitely what I felt when I looked into the mirror at the observatory.'
His heartbeat accelerated.
As he tried to steady his rapidly pounding chest, the noise continued speaking.
[How unfortunate. Had you arrived with a bit more awareness, I could've told you so much. But because someone is twisting fate and closing your ears, it is impossible.]
"Huff, huff~!"
Alon couldn't respond.
His heart was pounding so wildly that it made his throat tremble.
And then, just as blood began to pool in his eyes—
Tap.
Something that appeared to be the noise's hand touched Alon's shoulder.
And then—
"...Huh?"
His heart, which had been racing moments ago, gradually began to calm down.
He looked surprised by the change occurring within his own body.
[Don't lift your head. Doing so would only shorten our time to talk. Just listen like that.]
Alon silently nodded.
[When I disappear, take the magatama and seek the Eastern Observer. She will teach you how to communicate.]
"The Eastern Observer—"
[Let us continue the conversation there.]
"Would it be possible to ask just one question right now?"
[......Perhaps a short one. But keep in mind—even with my help, your body can only endure another three minutes.]
Alon immediately asked his question.
"Do you know about Sin?"
[Are you referring to the black beings?]
Alon was about to start explaining from the beginning but held his tongue.
There wasn't enough time for that.
He had no choice but to ask—
"Even without the Apostles of Sin, do the Sins still appear?"
When he posed the question in its most condensed form, the noise responded with a question of its own.
[Do you know the word 'inevitability'?]
"Yes, I do."
[That's what the black things are. Whether there are apostles or not is irrelevant. Their appearance in this world is inevitable. Something that cannot be changed by anything—]
The noise paused briefly.
[It is the inevitability we created.]
"!"
Alon widened his eyes and looked at the presence before him.
But he still couldn't see it clearly.
It remained filled with noise.
[There isn't much time left. Do you have one final question?]
Even as it acknowledged the end approaching, the noise's voice remained calm.
But Alon's mind was in complete turmoil.
In that brief instant—
His thoughts became tangled by a single word spoken by the creature.
What should he ask?
Should he confirm if it was the one who created the black beings?
Or should he ask what its true identity was?
Or maybe, why it did such things?
Countless other questions also swirled in his mind.
But amid the chaos, Alon made a decision.
"Why is it that only I can use the incantations?"
He decided to stop questioning the black beings.
Once he heard the certainty that the Sins would appear regardless, there was no longer any need to hear more.
In any case, Alon was now in a position where he had to stop the black beings.
So instead of pursuing the mystery of the Sins, he asked another question.
One that might increase his power to fight them.
[You—]
The noise paused for a moment at Alon's question.
[You don't even realize the constraints you yourself placed under that 'eye.']
And with that—
[Oh child of the black eye, ■■.]
It left its final words behind.
After the conversation with the noise—
"Sir!?"
"Are you all right, Marquis?!"
As soon as he stepped outside, Radan and Evan rushed over with worried expressions.
Alon waved his hand as if to say he was fine.
"I'm all right."
"...What happened in there?"
Penia followed up with a question.
Alon exhaled and then spoke.
"Let's talk about it on the way back. I need to organize my thoughts first."
Though his companions were very curious about his answer, they had no choice but to hold back.
And so, on the way back—
Unlike the tense atmosphere they'd had while coming here, the mood had grown quieter.
Alon calmly organized the words he'd just heard.
'I got what I wanted.'
In the end, Alon received the answer he was looking for.
The reason he'd come east in the first place was to confirm whether the Sins would appear even after the death of the Apostles.
And he'd heard an answer to that.
Yet Alon remained troubled because of a new question that had formed.
'The one who created the Sins… huh.'
The noise had clearly said so.
That they were the ones who created the Sins.
And yet that being had clearly shown kindness to Alon, who was filled with determination to stop the Sins.
It was clearly strange.
The creator of the world-ending Sins—
Was showing kindness to someone trying to stop them?
At least from Alon's perspective, that made no sense.
That wasn't the only strange thing.
For instance, the 'resistance' the noise mentioned was unclear, and the phrase "Star Eater" didn't make sense either.
Among all the confusion, the most puzzling part—
Was the noise's final words.
'The constraint I placed on myself.'
As Alon pondered what that could mean, he happened to glance at the ring on his finger.
The ring that had made him form his first pact long ago.
As he fiddled with the ring, Alon shook his head slightly.
No matter how much he thought about it, the two constraints he had placed in the past weren't what the noise was referring to.
Back then, the only restrictions he'd placed were on the use of incantations and hand signs.
Still deep in thought—
"Wh-what is that~"
Suddenly, a horrified voice rang out, and Alon looked ahead.
Then, without even realizing it, he clenched both fists tightly.
The scene that unfolded before Alon was the very same landscape he had seen just the day before.
The view of the capital beneath the sunset hanging on the mountainside was nothing short of beautiful.
However, there was one key difference—
The capital—
"Holy… shit…!"
Was burning.
And at the center of that fire was the palace, situated in the heart of the capital.
"An attack!?"
The fox beastkin, who had been nervously guiding them until now, cried out in despair.
"Brother, are we going?"
At Radan's urgent question, Alon turned around quickly.
"Let's go."
Before long, they reached the city gate.
"Ugh—"
The fox beastkin recoiled in terror.
What filled her view was the sight of countless soldiers' corpses.
All of them were brutally mutilated.
And that wasn't all.
Corpses littered the road to the palace, the devastation indescribable.
It looked more like the work of monsters than humans, making such a theory far more convincing.
Alon and his group immediately sprinted toward the palace.
And at the very heart of it, they saw—
"Huh?"
Monsters devouring corpses that had been slaughtered in horrific ways.
And a number of soldiers so great they filled the massive palace courtyard.
"Oh, uninvited guests."
Standing at the center of it all, dressed in extravagant garb and glaring smugly—was the First Prince of the Eastern Nation, Birang.
Kneeling before him in a wretched state, face twisted in anguish—
"Grrk—"
Was Urang.
"I didn't anticipate this sort of situation."
As Alon and his party stood stunned, a calm voice rang out.
Birang, gripping a blood-soaked sword with a lazy hand, said—
"Hey, are you guys stupid or something?"
He smirked as he tilted his chin up.
"What?"
"I asked if you're stupid. You should've easily guessed something like this would happen before even entering the capital. So I just can't figure out why you bothered to show up here."
Tapping his own head with a finger, Birang chuckled mockingly.
"To rebel against Cheonga—!"
Urang, pressed to the ground in humiliation, roared with fury.
"Oh please, father, you're hurting my ears."
Birang clicked his tongue as if Urang's words held no weight.
"If you had just handed me the throne, none of this would've happened, right? You're the one who complicated things—so why blame me?"
With a sarcastic smile, he went on—
"Oh, and just in case you were hoping for help from that so-called 'great race,' give it up. She probably died in the trap by now."
His words struck like a bolt from the blue.
"S-she's dead? That can't be—"
"If she weren't, she'd already be here. She fell into the trap yesterday, after all."
Urang was frozen in shock.
Birang didn't even look at his father as he turned his gaze elsewhere.
"Well then, farewell to you too."
With a mocking flick of his sword—
Clink!
It was the signal.
The waiting soldiers all raised their weapons toward Alon at once.
And that wasn't all.
The monsters, who had been ravenously gnawing on the corpses moments ago, now turned toward Alon's group as if on cue.
"Eek—!"
The fox beastkin let out a terrified scream and trembled uncontrollably.
But Alon calmly assessed the situation.
'There are a lot of enemies. More soldiers than monsters, and most of them are enhanced by abyssal energy. Same goes for the monsters. They all look pretty powerful.'
He now understood why Birang seemed so confident.
The soldiers empowered by the abyss clearly had superior magical and physical abilities.
However, naturally—
They were not a threat strong enough to pose a danger to Alon.
The problem, however, was in dealing with them efficiently.
Specifically—the civilians scattered among the soldiers, and Urang.
If everyone here had been an enemy, he could've acted more freely.
But in a situation where enemies and allies were mixed, it was trickier.
He was still weighing his options when the enemy soldiers charged in.
Sst—!
Suddenly, the soldiers rushing toward Alon froze in place.
Not only the soldiers.
Even the rampaging monsters let out shrieks and then abruptly halted, as if time itself had stopped.
And in the next instant—
Slice—
The soldiers' bodies split in half.
Shhhk—
It was an utterly surreal sight.
But the sharp metallic scent of blood that stung the nose—
Reminded everyone that this scene was unmistakably real.
"Wh-what the—"
Birang, overwhelmed by the speed of the situation, stammered in disbelief.
And then, what entered Alon's vision—
Was a girl.
"...What happened here?"
The first thing he saw was her silver hair, dyed in the glow of sunset.
Then, the five severed heads held in her hand.
And finally—
As she descended amidst a sea of bodies, their torsos and legs split cleanly apart and the ground dyed red—
What stood out most clearly—
"I'll ask again."
Was a chillingly expressionless—
"What exactly—"
Pair of white—
"Is going on?"
Eyes.