Chapter 25
“Captain, is it okay to let them roam around like that?”
Hins, glaring at Wendy and her group, who had just finished their speech, directed his question at Carl.
“My constellation isn’t pleased about it either.”
Carl, arms crossed, stared coldly at the Spirits gathered in a circle.
“How should we handle this?”
To Derek’s question, Carl tilted his head to the side.
“Not sure.”
No matter how strong the awakened one and the monster-like man in their ranks were, in the end, everyone’s roles boiled down to prey and predators.
The “Spirits,” who had to be mercilessly hunted, and the “Rulers,” who needed to hunt them.
But since when did these weak and worthless prey dare to stand confidently before the predators meant to end their lives?
‘It’s all because of them.’
Carl felt a deep sense of injustice.
‘We should have killed them back then.’
This position was something they had fought hard to earn.
‘I’m sorry, kids, but you’ll be taking the Spirits. In return, we’ll protect you.’
He had deceived the younger members, knowing it was a petty move.
‘We’ll spare you four if you kill that kid.’
He even tried to use a seemingly weak woman to eliminate their team members.
Anyone who saw their crimes might call them villains.
But in this hellish place, where survival was a daily battle…
‘If we help the useless and the pitiful, we’ll just suffer more!’
The young ones, who had more heart than usefulness, were just burdens.
So, for the first time, he abandoned his team members.
‘Captain, should we kill those Spirits too?’
Next, he abandoned his morality.
‘Looks like those kids showed up on the map.’
‘…It’s not just one?’
At the very least…
‘Good, kill them all.’
He abandoned even the bare minimum of his humanity.
It felt like the right thing to do.
At least, in this place.
‘Survival.’
Yes, to live in this wretched place, they had to fulfill the conditions set by those so-called gods.
By doing that, they at least wouldn’t die.
Life.
‘Please, spare me!’
‘…Dad.’
He kept his wretched life by sacrificing the blood of innocents, even killing his own monstrous daughter.
To Carl, it was a perfectly natural act.
‘The weak die.’
Until a few days ago, they breathed the same air in the same place.
Perhaps they were people who once chatted idly in his bakery about the trivialities of life.
Yes, they might have been ordinary people like that.
But to him now…
With the title of “Ruler” attached to his name…
They were just easy, fragile prey.
“After all, they’re all the same, killing others to survive here.”
Forgetting the true culprits that drove them to this madness.
“Such hypocrites.”
Carl’s heart burned black with bitterness.
[Constellation, Hell’s Orator, makes a proposal to his avatar, Carl.]
His constellation reached out to him.
***
“What’s wrong with him?”
Carl was acting strangely.
It wasn’t just the bizarre expression on his face.
Even from the outside, something was off about him.
A dark, ominous smoke was rising around him.
And a proposal from a constellation?
‘Direct intervention from constellations should still be impossible.’
In the original story, the constellations were only allowed to intervene directly in the latter part of the second stage.
Yet here they were, still in the very early stages.
And a mid-level constellation, no less—how could it influence the world?
[I’ll put up a barrier.]
Sensing the abnormality, Yeriel extended his branches, forming a protective barrier around us.
“Thank you, Yeriel.”
I quickly expressed my gratitude and began to think.
Hell’s Orator had been one of the constellations showing hostility toward us from the start.
It was unlikely that such a constellation had made a reasonable proposal to its avatar…
“The rulers seem to be feeling threatened. For now… we need to get out of here.”
With that, Xenon lightly tapped Yeriel’s smooth trunk.
It was a signal to leave.
[Ah, just a moment!]
Yeriel quickly moved his branches that had shielded us.
Wriggle, wriggle.
And soon, the scene that had been hidden behind the branches came into view.
“Kill the Spirits!”
“Leave no one alive!”
Unlike before, the situation had completely flipped.
The rulers, shrouded in dark smoke, were each wielding their weapons, chasing after the Spirits.
“Run!”
“Escape!”
The Spirits, having endured up until now, were not easy prey.
In a way, this was a completely natural scenario.
A ruler hunting Spirits was as natural as a cat catching a mouse.
As natural as humans breathing.
‘But why now, after remaining quiet for so long?’
And the biggest problem…
“They’re… eliminating the Spirits.”
The rulers, like they were possessed, kept repeating the same words over and over.
“Sister, there’s something wrong with them.”
If even Lyria noticed the strangeness of the situation, then…
Surely, this wasn’t some random occurrence.
That’s when it happened.
An indirect message arrived.
[Constellation, The Hearth of the Cosmos, protests that a certain constellation has violated the rules for personal enjoyment!]
“That strict and solemn Hestia is actually getting angry like this.”
It was clear that one of the constellations in question was likely Hell’s Orator.
“What exactly is the rule violation?”
[Constellation, The Abandoned Child, says that the power used exceeded the limits and required a pledge on the avatar’s life as collateral.]
[Constellation, The Abandoned Child, says that as a result, the lifespan of the avatar, Carl, has been shortened by 10 years.]
Oh, I see.
Whether Carl’s life was shortened by 10 years or 100 years, that wasn’t my concern.
‘I have a rough idea of what kind of power he used.’
The rulers who had been trembling under the murderous aura of Xenon and the awakening of Yeriel had suddenly turned violent.
It was obvious.
‘It must be a skill that amplifies hostility.’
Goebbels, after all, was known for manipulating people with his words, compelling them to do the impossible.
His deceitful nature must have influenced this ability.
…However, something still felt off.
We were near a cliff after ascending the steps.
That meant we could escape this chaos by descending the steps again.
“Why aren’t they leaving this place?”
It couldn’t be because they were too distracted; there were plenty of people gathered near the steps, trying to escape.
The problem was…
“Argh! Why do I keep getting bounced back!”
A transparent barrier around the steps kept pushing back those attempting to leave.
[Constellation, The Hearth of the Cosmos, says that the passage is temporarily sealed due to your ally’s awakening.]
Then, as soon as I saw the indirect message, I clapped my hands in realization.
Right! How did I forget about this?
During an awakening, to minimize the damage…
The area around the awakened individual becomes sealed until the awakening is complete.
‘So that’s why neither the rulers nor the Spirits could enter or leave.’
“…We have to save them.”
The Spirits had trusted us and decided to cooperate with us.
I couldn’t stand by and watch them be slaughtered indiscriminately.
“Yeriel, can you heal the wounded?”
The important thing was that I, too, was a Wraith.
That meant I couldn’t attack the rulers directly.
“Xenon, protect as many people as you can!”
So, I needed to rely on the only one among us who could act freely.
With an expressionless nod, Xenon shot forward like a ray of light.
Moving like a streak of black lightning, he swiftly neutralized the rulers one by one, making him someone I could certainly rely on.
“At least the immediate crisis is under control.”
For the moment, the urgent situation was handled.
But it didn’t change the fact that the Spirits were still at a severe disadvantage against the rulers.
“There must be a way….”
Think.
How can we put an end to this madness among the rulers?
As I pondered deeply, I caught sight of Carl amidst the rulers, dark energy pouring from him as he muttered incessantly.
“…First, I need to stop that.”
Of course, stopping him wouldn’t necessarily defeat the rulers.
But it could at least confuse them temporarily.
“Celestine!”
Upon hearing my call, Celestine, who was dodging and weaving through the rulers, turned her head with a serene smile.
“Is it my turn?”
Even in this situation, she remained so composed.
‘Now I see why Anubis favored her.’
She was a child with a strangely mature side, despite her age.
Calm, graceful, and gentle.
Her deep purple eyes often had a calming effect on those who looked into them.
“I have a favor to ask.”
Now was the time to rely on that composure.
“We need to shut up that guy who used to be in your team.”
Celestine gave a soft smile and nodded at my words.
“Just what I wanted. I’ll go give that loudmouth a taste of his own medicine.”
Celestine began examining Carl’s body, searching for something she could use as a medium.
Her gaze soon settled on a pink bracelet around Carl’s wrist.
“That looks perfect.”
Muttering softly, Celestine focused on her target.
Shhhh—.
Her body dissolved into a pale mist.
She had become incorporeal.
The mist-like form of her body leaped into the air.
Her ethereal body shot upward, pushing off the ground and aiming for the bracelet in the air.
‘Old Stuffed Doll’
A skill that allows her to possess objects with history or strong emotions for a limited time.
With that stigma, she should be able to control Carl’s movements.
“Lyria, can you make the flames of the hearth burn brighter? Eden, you….”
I turned away from Celestine, entrusting her with Carl, and looked around to check on the others when—
“Ah!”
A sharp scream pierced the air.
I whipped my head around, and there I saw Celestine, her incorporeal form dissipated, tumbling to the ground.
“Damn brat!”
Clutching the bracelet and brandishing a dagger as if ready to strike her down, Carl shouted.
“How dare you touch my daughter’s keepsake?”
The activation condition of the Old Stuffed Doll is that the object must have a history or emotional significance.
But what if that object turned out to be a keepsake from a deceased daughter?
“No!”
Realizing the horrifying implications, I acted on instinct, sprinting forward without time to think.
—
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