kscans

Chapter 93 - The Beginning of the End, Eight

"Whoa, what is that?"

"This is quite..."

Arriving at the western forest, the Little One and her party were captivated by the sight of a black ribbon tearing through the earth. No matter how far they looked left or right, they couldn't see its end. It could only be thought of as something beyond human comprehension.

"How were you so calm with something like this rushing toward you, Augfel-kun?"

It was perhaps ten meters wide.

The fissure gaped open, and a wind unique to canyons blew up from it. Peering inside, they could not see the bottom.

It’s like the abyss of the underworld.

Remembering the cliff she had fallen from in her past life, a shiver ran down the Little One’s spine. Back then, she had been certain of Joker’s net, so she had felt no fear in falling, but she couldn’t possibly jump into this chasm now. Just as Joker had reported, the eerie fissure exuded an indescribable presence.

As if sensing the Little One’s fear, Pochiko-san, with Mugi-ta on her back, hovered inside the fissure. Pochiko-san carefully descended, little by little. Chihiro watched intently, not understanding what she was trying to do, when suddenly Pochiko-san’s movements became erratic. The direction of the wind inside the fissure changed, and the outside air began to flow inward. Pochiko-san, desperately trying to fly out, was gradually being pulled deeper into the canyon.

"Pochiko-san?!"

The startled Chihiro instinctively reached out a hand, but countless splatters of blood suddenly erupted from it.

"Hero?!"

Chihaya hurriedly pulled the Little One’s entire body away from the canyon.

"Let go, Pochiko-san is!!"

With a desperate expression, Chihiro leaned over the cliff and peered inside. Within her vision, Pochiko-san was flapping her wings frantically. But terrified by the sight of the two being slowly sucked inward, the Little One screamed. At that moment, countless threads shot out at Pochiko-san, entangled the two, and then dragged them out from inside the fissure. Pochiko-san came flying out like a bonito being pole-fished from the sea.

"That was reckless of you."

Turning at the familiar voice, the Little One saw Joker with the trussed-up Pochiko-san on his head and collapsed to the ground.

"Jokerrrr."

"Hey there, long time no see."

Joker casually tossed Pochiko-san aside. Countless spiders were scurrying around him. They began to spit out threads, covering the top of the fissure. The pitch-black chasm was sealed up in the blink of an eye. As the Little One stared at it with admiration, Joker sighed.

"There seems to be something inside. So for now, I’m trapping it."

The strength of Joker’s threads was greater than iron. The silver bed in the abyss proved that. He said that while he and his kin couldn’t enter the fissure, the fissure was sucking other things in. After seeing monsters being sucked in one after another and gruesomely torn apart, Joker had determined that the fissure was dangerous and had been covering its surface to seal it off from the western forest.

"You were lucky we happened to run into you. Don’t you be so reckless, either."

Joker poked the head of the dejected Pochiko-san.

Sucked in? Torn apart?

Hearing that, the Little One suddenly looked at her own hand.

There were countless thin cuts running across it.

The bleeding had already stopped, but what would have happened if she had jumped in without knowing? It seemed Pochiko-san had been protected by Mugi-ta’s ward and had escaped unharmed.

"This is bad. What is this?"

"...I don’t know. But we are repelled. I can guess from that, but I’m not certain."

You can guess?

Joker gave a wry smile to the girl looking up at him and shook his head lightly.

"I’ll tell you when I’ve figured it out. It has nothing to do with Arcadia."

Chihaya, hearing this, gave a start. Unaware of Chihaya, Dorfen grabbed the Little One’s arm and cast a healing spell.

"...Huh?"

An involuntary question mark escaped Dorfen’s lips. As someone with a strong affinity for the water attribute, his specialty was healing magic. Yet, no matter how much magical power he poured into it, the wounds on the Little One’s hand would not close. While Dorfen panicked, Hyrulia brought some medicine and treated Chihiro’s hand.

"Magic doesn’t work? Why?"

Joker and Chihaya quietly watched the stunned and frozen Dorfen.

...It has begun.

The same scene floated in both their minds. One had experienced the same thing in the past. The other knew of it through knowledge.

This is where it begins. The banquet of the wildly rejoicing spirits.

So for now, let’s just put a lid on it.

Joker issued commands to his children, and they continued to seal the fissure. The sturdy threads weaving the frayed earth tightly together must have sent someone, somewhere, into a panic. The O-saki, who sit at the lowest seat of the gods, have the power to interfere with the world. Joker’s existence was unexpected for the Spirit King.

And so, with a lingering sense of unease, the Little One and her party had their carriage fly over the fissure and headed straight for Castrato.

"I wonder what that was."

Looking at her bandaged hand, Chihiro recalled Joker’s words.

‘We are repelled.’

He said it as if they were something entirely different.

The difference between the Little One’s group and Joker’s group...

"Is it where we were born?"

The Little One Squad watched anxiously as Chihiro muttered to herself. Whenever the girl sank into her sea of thoughts, something outrageous was bound to happen. What’s more, she acted on instinct, so she couldn't explain it herself, giving only vague answers like "Hmm? Just a feeling?" or "Because I thought so?" A silent Little One was a cause for caution. The veteran knights, Adonis, and the others who knew this watched Chihiro carefully.

Ignoring the worried looks around her, the Little One thought.

A fissure that suddenly split the earth. Something stirring within it. A canyon that sucked in and shredded monsters. Wounds that magic couldn’t heal. The spiders, who had determined that something evil was inside, repairing it as if it were the most natural thing to do. They said it had nothing to do with Arcadia, yet their caution was plain to see.

Joker knew something and was keeping quiet.

"What does he know?"

Chihaya flinched at the Little One’s muttering. It wasn’t like Adonis not to notice. Zack did too. They casually surrounded Chihaya and sat him in a corner of the room, then peered into his face with sharp eyes.

"What happened?"

Adonis wrapped an arm around the slightly flustered Chihaya’s shoulder and pulled the small boy into his chest.

"You think we don’t know? You’re acting suspiciously."

"Well, you’re calm for your age. But you can’t fool your brothers. The young miss has noticed too, you know?"

Chihaya looked up with a start.

The Little One knew that her now silent brother was worried about something. But she watched over him without asking. She believed he would consult her if he needed to. The two had noticed the Little One’s anxious glances at Chihaya and realized something was off with him. That was all.

"It’s nothing..."

Before Chihaya could try to play dumb, Adonis murmured.

"Cesare, are you there?"

Someone other than Chihaya.

When called, Chihaya’s expression changed.

‘What is it?’

"What did you say to Chihaya?"

Adonis’s tone was certain. Zack’s eyes also shone sharply, affirming Adonis’s words. Chihaya had become less talkative. They could think of no other reason for the recent transformation of their brooding younger brother figure.

‘Hmph, this is no concern of yours. If you wish to know, obtain a spirit and ask for yourself.’

A spirit?

A voice came from behind the two, who were tilting their heads in confusion.

"A spirit? Is it related to what’s happening now?"

The Little One had appeared at some point, climbing up Zack’s back and peeking over his shoulder.

‘Ah... well, umm.’

Pushing the flustered Cesare back, Chihaya glared at the Little One.

"This has nothing to do with you, Hero!"

"Big brother?"

Chihaya quickly stood up, opened the carriage window, called Tarō-kun, and flew outside.

"Hey, Haya!!"

Adonis called to Chihaya from the window, but Chihaya was soaring high in the sky with Tarō-kun.

What’s wrong? Big brother.

The Little One’s shoulders slumped dejectedly. Those around them looked at the newly strained pair with pity, feeling a different kind of anger toward Chihaya.

No one realized that this was the beginning of the end.

No one but the gods.