It is easy to knock over a single small block and set it upright again. But a tower built from thousands, hundreds of blocks is difficult to topple or rebuild. The conflict between vampires and the Holy See has persisted through human history, a lofty fortress erected across billions of people and dozens of nations.
This flow, begun in ancient times and unbroken to the present, is so vast and natural that it is regarded as truth. Vampires hate the Holy See, the Holy See despises vampires, and each seeks to exclude the other. In this struggle taken for granted, powerless humans either conform and follow, or perish if they cannot.
But is that inevitable?
Even without a demon god, humans change the world.
And humans, too, are the world.
Thus, humans can change humans. It is nothing remarkable. Vampires, though human, are changing humans, are they not? From whole-bodied humans into sustenance for their single meal's hunger.
If vampires can, then other humans can as well. The boundary between possible and impossible is determined solely by ability. Regrettably, the Thunder Lord and the Thunder Guardians lacked the strength to overcome the calamity that was Elder. It would be too harsh to dismiss that as incompetence. Were power so common, Elder would not have drawn such attention in history's harsh curve. The blood of the dying was merely a drop of ink to paint Elder's cruelty.
However, for one with sufficient power, who knows.
“Yaaaaaa! Annoying, annoying, so annoying!”
Amid the slaughter, Kabila felt extreme fury.
Her specialty was dark magic that used blood and bone as sacrifices. To exert physical force with it, the easiest and most efficient method was to infuse power and create thralls. Kabila, who had received darkness from the progenitor Tirkanjaka, stitched that darkness into her dolls to create thralls that would not break. Demons as if crawled from hell raised their blades.
But even if the darkness does not rust, the vessel that holds it can break. The power of Jannok persistently wrecked her toys. The swung blade lost its teeth, and bone joints snapped. Upon completion, immediately meeting collapse, the thrall vanished leaving only debris.
It was like someone viciously breaking a carefully crafted doll the moment it was displayed. For a dollmaker, nothing could be more humiliating.
“The first command I've received in three hundred years! You're interfering with a task given by my sister personally?! I’ll kill you for sure! I’ll make you into a doll!”
Having been humiliated before the revered progenitor, Kabila drew a bone saw and shouted. But she could not immediately act on her words, more because Tir had stopped her than because she was a boaster.
Tir, who had stopped Kabila with a mere glance without a word, spoke softly to Peru.
“Out of regard for our past bond, I do not wish to lay a hand on you as well. When my indifference casts a deep shadow, hide within it. The darkness is gracious enough to conceal a person.”
Though one could kill you with a mere reach, I will not bother to kill you. Feeling both the progenitor’s arrogance and goodwill, Peru spoke.
“...Then, take him and go. Don’t ruin Claudia any further.”
Tir answered without taking her eyes off me.
“Those are the ones who first ruined everything precious to me. If they ruined it, then ruination in kind is only fair, is it not?”
“...You intend to kill every human in Claudia? Simply because the Thunder Lord believed in that?”
“I am not so ruthless. However.”
Tir added one word and declared, her red eyes shining coldly.
“I will turn this land entirely upside down and root out every trace. Weeds that spread recklessly must be exterminated to the root.”
That process will be stained with blood. Many tremble in fear or show hatred at the mere name of vampire. Moreover, vampires require human blood. Whenever vampires pass, the scent of blood will waft, in corpses or as provisions.
Claudia is Peru’s village. Peru could not allow a city of the nations to fall under someone’s subjugation.
“...We have no interest. What vampires are. Who the Holy See is. What transpired between them. So please, go. I beg you.”
“Now you must know. What becomes of those who call upon the name of God beneath the vampire’s jaw. I will write it upon the world, upon history, with your blood, that it may never be forgotten.”
As vampires have done until now. And as they will do forever as long as the Holy See exists.
The only remaining option for Peru was to watch while barely clinging to life. Like all other humans.
“....”
In the midst of deep helplessness, as Peru gritted his teeth.
Thump.
My heart pounded strongly. Feeling my body flinch, Tir looked at me.
“Hugh?”
Under Tir’s expectant gaze, I sprang up.
I hadn't awakened from witnessing human death, nor had I returned defying death. I had simply finally figured out the use of the demon god dwelling within me.
The power to call lightning? Not that grandiose. In the first place, what Fran had wanted to conceal wasn’t the power of overwhelming and noisy lightning. I was only allowed a tiny amount, just enough to wield the mysteries of lightning contained in this frail body.
Ironically, that was the secret the lightning thief most wanted to hide.
The tingling sensation flowing along my spine was clearer today. I clenched my fist. The lightning extending throughout my body moved me, curling my fingers. Clenching a fist is something I always do, but grasping and twisting that principle to control it with my will was new. Will dominates consciousness.
The lightning demon god, Fran. Having glimpsed the meaning he hid, I can now control the small lightning flowing within my body as I please. Realizing this, I inwardly sighed.
Wow, it's really useless.
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Where in the world am I supposed to use this kind of power? The strength to forcibly hold together and move a broken body? That’s just overwork. There’s a reason for passing out. Have some respect for the body’s strike. What’s the point of gathering demon gods like this?
But I have something to do now.
“Hugh?”
I set aside the voice calling me for a moment and approached Peru. Standing before Peru, after complex and meticulous calculation, I moved my lungs to produce a voice. Only I would know how difficult speaking was.
“Are you still worried about ruining it?”
“...?”
“You’re afraid your own power will ruin this country, so you hesitate to use it even on the verge of death?”
You have power in hand yet hesitate. The only power you’ve ever used is Jannok’s. Even now, with the power of the Golden Realm entrusting your will, and the lightning thief watching, Peru can’t even consider wielding power. Though lacking experience is a secondary issue, Peru was worrying whether using that power was allowed.
“Humans worry endlessly about useless things. The great principles of nature, the lofty will of the heavens. They make a fuss as if something terrible will happen if they touch them wrong. If you think about it, it’s truly meaningless.”
The only beasts that assign meaning to each and every action from birth are humans. That’s why nonexistent reasons for life arise, and they start debating values and such. Thus, they made it seem as if a correct answer to life exists and one must live accordingly.
Some beasts.
“If humans are part of nature, then everything humans do is natural as well. If heaven’s will is clear, then human will is also dissolved within it. Defining something as forbidden is seeing humans as too great an existence. Are there things we can and cannot do? Where is that? It works, so we do it; we try, and it works.”
I glanced at Tir remaining behind and said.
“There’s that living witness over there. If you stick to one mind for a thousand years, it becomes common sense, becomes truth. Even though nothing was determined from the beginning, it can become an immutable truth.”
Beasts have no truth. Sheep do not regard wolves as racial enemies and try to kill them. If they did, the word ‘sheepdog’ would not exist.
There is no predetermined fact from the start. Choosing and deciding is what beasts do. Unexpectedly, that is neither noble nor special. Because it’s ordinary.
“...You’re telling me to fight?”
“How can you advance without clashing? Well, if you’re scared even with that power, running away is also a fine option.”
“...Can I do it?”
“As long as you don’t abandon it.”
I just give a push so you can make that ordinary choice confidently.
Peru, having resolved himself, picked up the bell. From his pitifully shaking arm, the trembling bell emitted only a faint sound like a dying insect. Peru shook the bell with difficulty.
“...From now on.”
However, everyone sensitive to power stopped there. A shiver ran down their spines, and they shut their mouths, turning their heads toward it.
Toward the sight of a power being wielded that was too mighty to belong to a single human.
“...No one here will die.”
A small vow sublimates into power.
Tring. The small bell sound spread through the fog. The restoration power of the Golden Realm, without discriminating friend or foe, set everything back.
Severed wounds are forcibly sutured. Broken limbs reconnect. It is not recovery or regeneration, but the body is remade through the concept of restoration and reconstruction. The Thunder Guardians, born as byproducts of alchemy, those among them not yet dead were granted a brief reprieve.
In addition, a slumbering entity heard the bell and awoke. From the remains of the thunder god, a flash of light erupted, and a massive hulk of metal took shape and rose.
Clouds swirled and were drawn in. Clouds charged with lightning seeped between the bones to form the body. Lightning flashed in its eyes, and storms raged from its mouth.
Perfected by the power of alchemy, the thunder god stood behind Peru and roared.
[----!!!!]
Having resolved to use even undeserved power, there was nothing to hold back. The removal of the thunder god, the wish of Claudia. Peru, having nullified that, said with the descended thunder god at his back.
“...Beyond this, I will not allow.”