The sea is home to predators.
From the most iconic sharks to crocodiles, whales, anglerfish, and more. There were more creatures that sustained their lives by devouring those weaker than themselves than one might think. The Outer Sea was no different.
Predators.
Sea monsters that might not have been at the apex of the food chain, but certainly ranked just below it. The Outer Sea held far more such creatures than the seas of Earth, and their numbers teemed beyond comparison. The Watchers and, of course, the Producers were also broadly categorized as predators of the Outer Sea.
But creatures stronger than them did exist.
“Harvester, Destroyer, Walker.”
Ian called their names.
“Watcher, and Producer.”
The magic circle vibrated. Using a method he had never tried before—the simultaneous activation of incantations—he summoned beings that numbered among the greatest even in the Outer Sea to Earth.
He invited those things, which swam the black sea wracked by eternal hunger to the extent that one could hardly guess how much prey they required, to a banquet.
“As that one’s proxy, I command you—come here.”
He omitted all the incantations normally required to summon a single entity.
An incantation was akin to a passage connecting the Outer Sea and Earth. But now that five such passages had been created, there was no need to focus intently on opening one. If even one of them opened, it was enough for them to crawl out.
“Thus, gnaw and devour my enemies.”
*Thud.*
At the same moment the incantation concluded, Ian closed the grimoire. In that instant, the magic circles engraved on the table began to churn and surge. Ian instinctively realized something was coming here.
Perhaps the Moon had sensed something similar, for it caused all nearby electronic devices to emit a twinkling little star and a siren sound.
[*Twinkle, twinkle, wee-ee-ee-eeng*, little star—how *we-ee-ee-ee-ee-eeng!!* brightly you shine—]
An unbearable sound battered his ears. TVs and radios in the living room, speakers, headsets, earphones—every device capable of producing sound was corrupted and fell under the Moon’s dominion.
He ignored it. Mental attacks didn’t faze him in the slightest anyway.
“They’re coming.”
Ian squeezed his eyes shut, sensing the approach of something drawing nearer, and sat in his chair.
In that moment, a black head stretched down from above the roof.
[Daddy?]
He couldn’t be sure if calling it a head was correct, but since there were no other words to describe it, it was a head.
It had no facial features. The sharp black spines protruding around its head covered the head and neck area like a mantle or a crown. Where a torso should have been, only stiff tentacles extended like legs. And upon each and every one of those jointed segments hung a head.
Namely, the Harvester.
[It’s Daddy.]
It seemed to beam a wide smile upon seeing Ian’s face.
That was how it felt. Ian stared at the creature’s black flesh, then smiled softly and pointed with his hand at the Moon’s residents drawing nearer.
“Eat up.”
[Yes! I love Daddy!]
The Harvester extended its face and rubbed its cheek against Ian’s shoulder, then immediately leaped and plummeted down upon the swarming residents. At the same time, spines the size of skyscrapers sprouted from the Harvester’s entire body.
*Fwoooosh!*
With a tremendous roar, everything in the vicinity was shattered.
Like skewers. Corpses of all sorts—humans, beasts, and the mysterious alike—dangled in droves from the spines.
That was only the beginning. The Harvester chewed and swallowed the corpses with teeth that sprouted from its spines, moving its legs as if savoring the taste. Buildings collapsed in its wake, and a mist of blood spread outward.
[It is an individual of young mental age.]
As Ian watched the scene quietly, a familiar voice spoke from beside him. Ian turned only his eyes to look at the voice’s owner.
An enormous, round body.
The Producer, with red pupils studded all over it, gazed at him and closed several of its eyes.
[We meet again, my Proxy. This is our second meeting since the cruise.]
“……The same individual?”
[Indeed. Perhaps because we have met once before, it seems only I will continue to be summoned as long as I do not perish. If it displeases you, I shall take my own life. You have the right to demand that, my Proxy.]
“No, there’s no need for that.”
Ian smiled bitterly and looked back at the Harvester.
“As you can see, this is hardly the time for conversation. Go and kill them all.”
[As you wish.]
The Producer slightly bowed its waist, then slowly descended to the road and chewed up the humans and mysteries rushing at it alive. The seawater flowing from its entire body melted all organic and inorganic matter around it.
“……”
In the sky floated the Watcher. Resembling a gigantic jellyfish, it waved its tentacles toward Ian as if greeting him, then immediately began assaulting the earth. A barrage of tentacles shot forth with a *thud-thud-thud* and caused the ground to collapse.
That alone was enough to erase every intact building and patch of land from Ian’s sight. And this was the result of a mere three of them.
[Thank you for calling us, Father.]
Beneath the Watcher stood something bizarrely shaped.
It wore crimson petals on its back, and its body was covered in black scales. And right in its center hung a gaping maw studded with sharp teeth. It had no eyes, and its nose was grotesquely pushed to the side, flapping like gills.
[This humble one is the Walker. From now on, I shall walk for Father.]
Its soft voice bored into Ian’s head. The Walker bowed its head deeply toward Ian and began walking slowly down the road.
Crimson flowers bloomed in his wake. The Moon’s residents, who had rushed at the Walker without fear, suddenly dashed toward the flowers instead and devoured them.
*Crunch!*
And then their heads burst with a *pop*, and crimson petals bloomed where they stood. The headless humans hesitated for a moment, then followed right behind the Walker and walked alongside him.
*A mind-controlling creature, huh……*
Ian gazed at the pageant of red flowers stretching out behind the Walker and exhaled. The stench of blood was no joke.
*The Destroyer…… is over there.*
A being composed solely of a red head and black spines.
Roughly the same size as the Harvester, it seemed driven by instinct rather than reason as it chewed up humans and mysteries whole, emitting gleeful laughter. It offered no greeting or telepathic message to Ian.
A simple lump of violence. That was the entirety of what made up the Destroyer. Truly, a characteristic befitting its name.
“……Hoo.”
Ian leaned back against the chair and habitually fumbled inside his coat. But all he caught was an empty cigarette pack. A white, empty pack with someone’s surgery photo printed on it came out with his fingers.
“Tch.”
He casually tossed the pack aside and looked up at the sky.
The vivid Moon. An existence ranked even higher than a simple monster was staring straight at him.
He couldn’t read the will contained in that gaze, but Ian decided to think whatever he pleased. Whatever the case, if the Moon found it utterly foul, that was satisfying enough in its own way.
“……Shall we get going?”
A funeral held beneath not the sun, but the Moon. The final requiem directed at mankind.
Ian briefly went inside the house and fetched the speaker that had been playing *Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star*. He placed it on the table and struck it several times with the grimoire.
*Bam! Bam!*
The Outer God’s grimoire appeared soft, but its hardness was no different from an iron plate. Thanks to that, the speaker returned to normal. Perhaps it had returned to normal precisely because he had hit it with the grimoire.
Whatever the case. Good is good, is it not?
A crackling static noise did interrupt from the speaker, but it was still more than enough to play a different song.
“……Hmm.”
Ian fiddled with the Bluetooth music device connected to the speaker, found a suitable song, and played it.
*Fly Me to the Moon.*
It wasn’t the original, but a version remade by Frank Sinatra.
Perhaps because the original was already a masterpiece, the remake was also exceptionally superb. Ian turned the speaker’s volume to maximum, gazed at the sky, and smiled broadly.
He knew perfectly well that he was putting on a ridiculous show. He knew it was an unnecessary process, a pointless act, and that he was throwing a senseless fit.
But did any of that matter? A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to choose his own funeral had come; pursuing romance as a man was only natural.
Thinking thus, Ian took out the grimoire and opened it. The gentle hand of Recreation, having softly settled in, slowly turned the pages.
Of course, Ian hadn’t even considered calling the Lord of the Outer Sea. It was an Outer God that had tried to capture and imprison him in the Outer Sea—what was there to trust?
It might help the current situation, but the aftermath would hardly be pleasant.
So he chose the Recomposition of All Things. The fact that it could interfere with the timeline had also helped his decision.
“My God.”
Ian began chanting the incantation written in the grimoire.
*Rumble.*
The earth trembled. White paint spreading from the grimoire dyed the world pure white, making a canvas of it.
“I beseech thee. I shall offer my everything, so please grant me salvation.”
The world bleached white, centered on where Ian stood.
From somewhere, a sweet hyacinth scent wafted forth.
“Thus I shall live as thine eternal servant, husband, and proxy.”
Something soft touched his shoulder. Rolling his eyes slightly, he saw a white hand gradually enveloping his body.
“Doubt not my faith toward thee.”
A hand reached out. In the world dyed pure white, an equally white hand broke through to obscure Ian’s sight. Yet the world remained pure white.
Ian gazed at the Moon left alone in the white world and twisted the corner of his lips.
The scent of hyacinth grew thicker.
“Moreover, my eternal love for thee.”
Leaving the final incantation aside, Ian caught his breath for a moment.
And.
“Swear it to be so.”
*Fwoooar!!*
Color returned to the world. But nothing moved.
Neither the rampaging creatures of the Outer Sea nor the being shredded residents of the Moon.
They stood frozen as if time had stopped. Only Ian remained unharmed. He hadn’t died, nor did he feel any pain equivalent to death.
“……Did I fail?”
He muttered anxiously and looked up at the sky.
“……*Kuhlukh.*”
At the same time, blood surged up and poured from his mouth. Strength drained from his whole body, and his staggering frame toppled toward the terrace floor.
But he did not collide with the floor.
Someone had caught his body.
“Stay still.”
“……”
Ian rolled his eyes to check the face of the being embracing him. But his blurred vision couldn’t make out the other’s face well. He could only confirm a white dress, eyes, and hair.
“Rest for a moment.”
She spoke.
She placed Ian’s head on her thigh and slowly sat down. Then she stroked his hair.
“When you wake up, everything will be alright.”
Gradually.
His vision grew hazy. What he saw was the gigantic Moon and, standing behind it, four massive pairs of arms.
“You mustn’t look.”
As Ian’s gaze naturally drifted toward the arms, the woman who had laid him down covered his eyes.
“Her true form is not very beautiful by human aesthetic standards.”
*Crack.* *Crunch!*
The sound of something breaking and being crushed came from the sky. Between those sounds, a thin yet comfortable voice burrowed through.
“It’s alright. It’s alright.”
Hyacinth.
The scent of hyacinth filled his nasal cavity.
“Sleep deeply. When you wake up, everything will be fine.”
“……You are.”
Ian barely opened his mouth. But he couldn’t continue speaking.
The woman caressed Ian lovingly and kissed his forehead.
“I won’t do anything you hate.”
“……”
“See you at home.”
Those were her last words. Ian’s eyes slowly closed, and soon his heart stopped.
*
“Hah!”
Ian’s eyes snapped open again. He jerked upright and felt over his body.
Missing parts? None.
Internal injuries? None either.
Consciousness? Intact. His mind was the same. He saw no external wounds, and pain did not exist at all.
*Damage to my memories?*
Ian quickly traced through his memories, examining whether there was anything strange or any sense of discomfort.
That was when.
“You’re awake.”
A voice came from beside him. Ian’s thoughts cut off abruptly, and his head slowly turned.
“Hello.”
The owner of the voice.
An unidentified woman wearing a white dress lay on the bed, waving at Ian as she gazed at him. Only then did Ian realize he had been lying beside her.
“This is the first time we’ve seen each other’s faces.”
While still lying down, she moved only her eyes to look at Ian.
“You.”
As she spoke, her cheeks and ears flushed crimson in an instant.
+
Below are images of the Outer Sea creatures.
Harvester.
Walker.
Destroyer.