Satan's Proposal (2)
Jincheon Empire sector.
Struck by the Mun Kingdom's lethal curse, Jingang sat cross-legged and battled the ghost's mind.
His body had already been ruined beyond repair, but the emperor's stubborn will held fast.
'Unryong.'
Jingang's brow knotted.
'Dare to kill me?' The courtiers who had been prostrate before him lifted their heads at the chill that filled the room.
"Oh—ohhh!"
Anchal's eyes flashed.
'The Azure Dragon's qi.'
A bluish energy shimmered from Jingang's body, and a woman's scream rang out.
"Your Majesty! The ghost is terrified! Please hold on a little longer!"
Within the blue light the ghost's apparition flickered, and finally Jingang snapped his eyes open.
Kyaaaaa!
At the ghost-illusion that shot like an arrow, several ministers fell backward.
"Ugh!"
The ghost, eyes rolling with indignation, ignored them and burst outward.
"Cough!"
When Jingang coughed up blood, Anchal supported him.
"Your Majesty, are you all right?"
"…Yes."
Succeeding in the reverse-curse didn't mean his already shattered body would heal.
"Your Majesty."
"Do not worry. I'm not going to die just yet. I'm not about to miss the pleasure of watching a petty thing like the Mun Kingdom get its due."
Strength returned to Jingang's eyes.
"My daughter's enemy. He will watch with his own eyes as his kingdom is razed to the ground."
Mun Kingdom sector.
"Ugh!"
Unryong's scream was a high, thin sound that hardly befitted a king as he went limp.
"Your Majesty!"
His limbs convulsed; his face went a sickly blue and dark veins stood out.
"Th-this is—?"
"Reverse-curse!"
"That can't be! His residence is protected by an impenetrable occult defense zone! How in the world—ugh!"
The diviner vomited blood and collapsed.
'Damn it!'
The head of Cheonganmun understood.
'This was a curse we could never have stopped from the start. That's why we allied with Kashan. If a reverse-curse triggered, of course it would be beyond our control.'
But a contradiction nagged at him.
'An unstoppable curse, amplified by borrowing Satan's power to the extreme. So how did a reverse-curse activate? Is there a grudge even stronger than that?'
The leader of Cheonganmun's expression grew strangely calm.
"Jingang."
Was it really that strong?
Cheonganmun's diviners shouted.
"We must prepare! If the curse spreads, we'll all die!"
'How foolish. After studying the ways of the world so thoroughly, to lose your reason at the sight of death—'
But it was already too late.
"Your Majesty."
The Cheonganmun leader bowed his head to Unryong.
"Rest in peace."
The moment he finished and slowly closed his eyes, blood surged back up from his stomach.
"Guh—!"
The curse amplified further.
The head of Cheonganmun fell, and the curse poured into everyone remaining in the room.
'How tragic.'
Even facing death, the Cheonganmun leader tried to make sense of it.
'How did this happen?'
A woman's loathsome face sprang to mind.
'Woorin.'
Everything had gone according to her plan.
'I shouldn't have trusted Teraje.' Suddenly, everyone died.
Like a crime scene with no trace, only corpses remained in Unryong's chambers.
Kashan sector.
As Havitz left the room, Woorin stayed up through the night with Kido.
Kido asked, "Shouldn't we set a household spirit? Havitz might still be lingering."
Woorin, swirling the ice in a glass of strong liquor, smiled.
"It's fine. He won't come for a while. He's found something far more entertaining than me."
A pang of bitterness flickered through her.
'For a while, huh?'
She worried that whatever new amusement Havitz had found might betray their plan.
"Sigh. Only a few hours until morning now."
Woorin raised her glass as if toasting, staring at her reflection in the window.
"By now it should be over."
The Mun Kingdom sector would be reduced to ashes.
"You planned to pin it on the Mun Kingdom from the start, didn't you?"
Feeling Kido's bleary-eyed gaze, Woorin grinned and turned her head.
"Pin it on them? They're the culprits. This is righteous punishment."
At the Code One summit, Unryong had been given ten minutes to design the operation.
"In truth, there wasn't much to decide. The culprit would be the Mun Kingdom anyway. They actually did it, so there's no room for fabrication. What simpler way is there?"
Kido twisted her lips.
"To trigger a reverse-curse we had to have Jingang, and Paras wanted to see the reaction. It'll be revealed by morning. The rest—I included because I needed them."
"Shirone will hate this."
Tormia's king Pony had also been struck by the curse.
"It's fine."
Woorin said.
"When life is on the line, creatures feel tremendous sexual drive—the instinct to propagate. When death stands at the threshold, even energy you never had can arise."
"So you're going to push Shirone to the brink of death? You really think that's love?"
"If you don't define it, you'll get what you want," Havitz told her. "It's true. Every failure in this world starts with not defining things."
Kido thought for a moment. If Woorin refused to define things, could she end up loving even a goblin?
Woorin looked out the window.
"That won't happen."
"Tch! Who said otherwise?"
"You know what goblins are like. Honestly, I'm closer to detesting you. A goblin with glasses reading books—just the thought makes me sick."
"You're cruel."
"Heh. Still, do your best. From tomorrow my life will be in danger too. Who knows? If death comes to the doorstep, I might gain energy I never had."
All the kings of the Crusade would be clutching their throats.
"Why speak in riddles? Just ask for help. I'm the captain of the guard, you know."
"No."
Kido never took offense at Woorin's words, but at times like this her chest ached.
'She asks for nothing.'
As if to say she wouldn't mind if someone like Kido left her side at any time.
Woorin coldly watched Kido's sullen reflection in the window.
Not a face anyone would call beautiful by ordinary standards, but—
'Intellect.'
Feeding on human memories, Kido possessed an intellect superior to many scholars.
That translucent silhouette overlapping Woorin's face was no illusion.
'Why disgust?' Perhaps Kido's appearance reminded Woorin of the savage age she had lived through.
'An age of savagery where feeding and breeding were everything.'
True.
'What's different now?'
The next morning.
Before dawn, morning papers spread through the capital of the Jaive Kingdom.
"What filthy beasts!"
According to a tip from Rangi, Arakne's representative, there had been a secret entertainment event.
The problem was that one of the entertainers had died at a horrific sadomasochistic party.
Rangi said, "Most high-ranking officials of the Crusade probably worship Satan. But if you saw what they do, even Satan would shake his head at the cruelty."
Her testimony was detailed, and her authority as a former world beauty-pageant winner could not be dismissed.
And she added—
"My partner that night was Giss, the king of Jaive, the Crusade's host nation."
That landed a decisive blow.
Jaive sector.
"What the hell is this! Why hasn't Arakne dealt with this woman?"
Giss flung the newspaper and it slapped Myron in the face; Myron hurried to reply.
"They've made a play. Shirone of the Ivory Tower—this is unexpected."
The article said Shirone, one of the Ivory Tower's Five Great Stars, was taking the matter up directly.
It was a silent pressure placed on the kings of every nation.
"Sigh! My blood pressure's up already this morning!" Giss, not a fool, admitted he couldn't help it.
Myron matched his tone.
"We apologize. But this will be the last incident. We'll take care of it before sundown."
"Too late. The press conference is at three. Finish it by then."
"Yes, understood."
"Make sure. I have a lunch appointment—I'll come straight from that."
"Is it Ms. Plu, by any chance?"
"What about her?"
"Is that wise? With today's article and everything, you need to move carefully—"
"Stop babbling. How many lunch appointments do you think I have? Are they all part of that affair? If I start hiding now, it'll only make me look more suspicious."
"But—"
"Rangi and people like her are on another level. She's the Secretary-General of the Tormia Magic Association. If she's implicated, I'm the one who'll be ruined. Tormia's our trump card. Nothing will happen. Don't worry."
Tormia sector.
Plu, who had slept only a couple of hours, splashed hot water on her face to banish the puffiness and sat at her dressing table.
The Jaive morning paper lay open.
'So this is what Shirone wanted. Giss is cornered. I need to pull myself together.'
She smoothed on skin cream and stared at her reflection in the mirror.
Born a woman and trained for over a decade.
'First and foremost, a professional.'
She was the Secretary-General of Tormia's Magic Association, willing to lay down her life for her country and its people.
'Don't overthink this. I'm the only one who can carry out this mission.'
She would draw Giss out.
Just as she finished her makeup, an agent from Dante's division slipped her a ciphered note.
Giss — press conference. 3 PM.
She crumpled the note, tucked it into her mouth, and looked into the mirror with a cold smile.
'And yet he still plans to meet me?'
Giss must have thought it safe to meet the Secretary-General of the Tormia Magic Association.
'A political calculation. But Giss, you're mistaken. Of course you fought tooth and nail to get here—killing your pride like vermin, even abandoning family.'
Great men fall only when vanity takes root in their minds.
'Sorry, but what we're about to start is war.'
Plu tied her hair up tight.
'An unending war.'
Delta headquarters.
Seriel, busy with paperwork since morning, spotted Fermi walking down the corridor.
"Hey! Hey! Fermi!"
Fermi seemed to pause for a beat, then kept walking as if she hadn't heard.
"You bastard!"
Seriel scowled and hurried over.
"You promised to send the angel formula and the chemical compositions! Why haven't I gotten so much as a note?"
"Sorry. Next time."
Fermi answered tersely and continued thinking.
'There were assassination attempts in six countries overnight. Each nation hid them with the highest security they could muster. But once field operatives start moving, information will leak. Maybe around two hours ago.'
In other words, by the time the Crusade opened, every country would know what had happened.
'According to the mined intelligence, the Mun Kingdom will be struck by a reverse-curse. Annoying. I should be the one doing the killing.'
Seriel grabbed Fermi by the shoulder and spun her around.
"Hey! Are you ignoring me? I keep asking! How many patients are there right now—?!"
For a moment Seriel was shaken.
"What's wrong with you?" Fermi wasn't making an angry face or shooting hostile looks.
'It was like that back then too.'
Even without any clear difference, there was a strange, fragile look as if she might burst into tears at any moment.
That expression—
'That's why I…'
It was also Seriel's only weakness when dealing with Fermi.