Ch.168Act 2: Ch.10 – Long Live the King (20)

A desperate cry rang out. People with weapons and equipment rushed to the back.

“The monsters are coming!”

The side where the ship was approaching had been blocked, but the opposite side where the Deep Ones were swarming was the problem. Both equipment and manpower were lacking. We needed to run and defend it.

But what about Avashina? As I looked around with helpless eyes, black figures appeared on the gabled roof of the adjacent building.

It was Father Michael and the nuns from the Southern Cathedral. The priest gestured to me. Though it was difficult to fully understand his meaning, one thing was clear.

‘Don’t worry about Avashina.’

I nodded and turned to run back.

The one rising from the abyss remained persistent. The fingers and arms digging through the ground had now broken through to the road in front of the theater. Each time the crimson flesh emerged, we shot it with guns, slashed it with knives, and beat it with blunt weapons. Each time, vibrations of pain resonated, but we couldn’t keep this up forever.

“Uncivilized creatures, foolish things!”

The mockingbirds continued to overturn the sky. Unpleasant performance content crackled through the speakers. Even the noblest monsters could do nothing for those who had closed the doors to their own hearts.

Even light couldn’t reach them. Not because someone had given up, but because they themselves had closed their hearts. Being their own jailer and prison, those trapped within themselves refused liberation.

Like the Deep Ones charging through that sea of fog. People were somehow holding them back, but there were far too many of these sinister monsters.

The fog had now risen to chest height. Perfect for concealing the bodies of the Deep Ones. There were too many of them, too fast, and too persistent.

They seemed still one moment, then moved quickly the next, zigzagging in different directions. By the time they got close, three Deep Ones would be clinging to each person.

“We need more ammunition!”

Scully shouted. Security Bureau agents unloaded ammunition from the truck. Aurora, who had been reinforcing the barricade, split the head of a Deep One that had approached.

“Silence! Silence!”

Annette Cole continued to shout. Hands emerging from the ground gripped the theater stage as if it were an egg. Nothing could penetrate those hands.

The stage area was wide open, but the Senator standing there allowed no attacks.

“Did I not call for silence! Great citizens of Pollard, maintain theater etiquette!”

Both the human face and the machine face shouted simultaneously. Unable to resist the provocation, one police officer grabbed an axe and charged. But a steel arm protruding from Cole’s back pierced his abdomen.

“Aaaagh!”

The mechanical arm snapped off. It seemed intentional. The mechanical arm began to eat its way into the officer’s body.

Blood splattered from the person who had been coughing up blood from his mouth. Metal fragments, nails, and screws burst out from inside his body.

“Save me… save me!”

But his body wouldn’t listen. His head refused, but his body, consumed by the machine, no longer obeyed. His hesitant colleagues only fired their guns when a knife was at their throats.

“You goddamn bastard!”

Unable to dare charge forward, people could only hurl insults.

“Silence, silence!”

The Senator shouted again.

“What for! Why are you doing this?”

Protests erupted as stones were thrown. Annette Cole caught a stone in her hand with ridiculous ease.

“What are you doing! Is this how you think you should behave, rather than showing gratitude to those who fed Pollard? They fed and raised you. They kept you alive. Is it so unreasonable to ask you to repay them just that much?”

“We didn’t owe them anything!”

When people protested, Annette Cole pointed at them with satisfaction.

“Right. You didn’t owe them anything. That’s why you’re stupid. You should have driven out the outsiders. Foreigners, illegal residents, parasites who crawled in trying to get a piece of the pie!

If the island had consisted only of pure Pollardians, none of this would have happened! What would outsiders know about that great order and inevitable sacrifice!”

Cole beat her chest.

“Look at me. Look at my sacrifice! This island! This country! This homeland! I gave my body. I offered my child and took that body. All to feed all of you!

Black, Chase! Cole! Instead of being grateful for the grace of these noble families, how are you any different from those vagrant bastards who rolled in!

You haven’t paid the price. There was only one price you needed to pay, and with just one life, this disaster could have been prevented!”

Cole stretched out her hand. She pointed at Aurora Savio.

“That woman! With just that one woman, it can be quelled. It’s not too late! There’s still a chance. There’s still a way to appease the one sleeping in the abyss! Offer her, offer her with your own hands!”

People’s eyes turned strangely. White Hand members gathered around Aurora. Those whose eyes met hers lowered their gaze.

“Cowards! Like mosquitoes! Like rats!”

The mockingbirds chirped. The heat of the performance intensified.

“What are you doing? Form ranks! We’re falling apart!”

Aurora shouted, climbing onto a wrecked car. But this time, even the organization members didn’t listen to her. People retreated hesitantly from the front line. Their thoughts seemed audible.

‘Just offering that one woman would be enough.’ ‘I don’t agree, but if the guy next to me is backing away, why should I take the fall alone?’ ‘What’s going on? Is everyone retreating? I can’t hold this alone!’

The speakers continued to crackle.

[Cthulhu nafl-fhtagn! Ai Ai! Hastur-Hastur cf’ayak’vulgtmm, vugtlagln vulgtmm!]

Click.

<Awakening 9/12 / Destruction 10/12>

The ground shook. A vibration incomparable to anything before. It wasn’t just about pillar-sized fingers emerging anymore.

The entire ground was noticeably tilting, enough for anyone to feel.

Stone pillars began to rise one after another. They were the pillars with Deep One carvings that we had seen in the underground of Innsmouth. The lucky ones were merely brushed aside, but the unlucky ones were carried endlessly upward on the pillars.

“Hold on or fall?”

The birds sang.

“My, you’ve risen so high, really so high. You’re going to be rich. Living in such a high house, hold on. Hold on! Just hold on a little longer!”

Houses were breaking apart. People were suffering. The birds laughed at the suffering people.

“Sad? Struggling? In pain? So what, it’s not me who’s hurting! It’s not me who’s sad! It’s not me who’s struggling! You shouldn’t have stood in such a place, it’s your fault for being there!”

“What did I do wrong!”

“Being weak! Becoming prey! Becoming our mockery! You’re weak. You’re feeble. You should be eliminated. How pathetic must you be to be looked down upon even by us?”

They even toyed with bullets. A person looking down at the increasingly distant ground, unable to withstand the pressure, fell.

“Hold on! Hold on a bit longer! The person on the pillar next to you is higher than you! Want to bet who’ll climb the highest? Want to guess who’ll fall faster?”

Birds with split mouths tore at those who fell. They sank their teeth into arms and legs, flaying the skin. They ripped open backs and stretched out wing membranes.

And thus, one more new bird was born.

“It’s because of you!”

The newly born bird cried.

“It’s not my fault, you made me like this. It’s unfair. Unfair! I can’t be the only one like this, I can’t be the only one so miserable, why? Why does it have to be just me?”

A mockingbird flew to someone with a familiar face. It was the banker who had said that a moderate investment could bring big returns. The mockingbird tore out his eyeballs.

“Liar, liar! You ruined my life. You kept me trapped in that tiny room! Give me back my money, give me back my money!”

Another, another bird rises.

Everyone was deceived and everyone deceived. No one intended to harm anyone. Yet people fall and birds rise.

Hope. Hope. Hope. Pollard full of hope! Birds that rise by devouring those who fall!

“Aaaaaaah!”

Those who fell to the ground screamed.

[Go to the King! Go to the King! He will grant what you desire!]

The speakers wailed.

“Offer the sacrifice! Offer the sacrifice! We’ll take away your pain!”

The mockingbirds wailed.

One, two, three, four, five, six people lost their minds. They clutched their heads and ran away. The teeth of Deep Ones tore at their faces.

“Give me your face, give me your face! That pretty face, that soft and squishy skin, give it to me!”

Those who were skinned alive returned like naked mole rats.

“Everyone is equal!”

They returned with crimson muscles, yellowish fat, white tendons, and transparent tears. The fog gave them the strength to continue living.

“Equal! Skin color is just a facade, wealth is just a facade. Look. Aren’t we all the same when you peel off just one layer! See. I’m right. I’m right, I’m riiiiiight!”

People tore at other people. They sank teeth into faces, clawed with fingernails, and slashed with knives. The fog of madness covered those who had been skinned.

“Yes… that’s right… we’re all the same. Nothing to be bad about, nothing to be sad about. We’re the same. We’re all the same.”

Those who had been torn apart glared at those still intact.

“But why do you still have it? Why aren’t you like me? That can’t be. You must become the same.”

Those who had been shooting guns beside them just moments ago now rushed to peel off skin. They fell but rose again. The fog lifted them up.

‘Stand up. This is no time to be down. You can do it. You can soar. Just go to the King! The King will look down upon you!’

‘No, no. Pull down the King. Pull down the King and become the King yourself. You can be that. You can rule over everyone!’

“Yes…”

Those who had gained enlightenment looked up at the King.

Treason! Treason!

Those who had gained enlightenment climbed onto outstretched arms.

Treason! Treason!

“Everyone is equal! Everyone is the same! Everyone can become one, it’s a new world! A new world has arrived, there is no hatred from the past!”

People captured by the fog rushed at each other. They tore off each other’s skin with bare hands. See, you’re the same too! You’re the same too! You’re the same too! You’re the same too! You’re the same too! We’re all the same when you peel off one layer of skin!

The baptized ones rose. Just as the Son of God baptized all with water, the Silver-Masked King removes everyone’s masks. Truth! Truth! The truth hidden beneath the skin, the truth beyond skin color, no hatred. No resentment.

Rise up

Or else

You will fall!

Those who shed their skins with a woo-hoo gathered. Towers of people rose here and there. Crimson maggots? Those crazed with greed? Do not mock the efforts made for success! How can ordinary people mock those who strive?

Offer your skin. Cast off your defeatism. You can rise. Look! There, at the top of the highest human tower stands the one who has risen highest. Be the one who stands at the center first, be the one who moves most nimbly, and followers will support you!

No. That’s not it. They try to pull each other down. The effort to climb upward turns into a struggle to trample those above. Now they flail about trying not to drown. Skinned naked mole rats!

“Hurrah! Hurrah!”

People laugh. They swell with dreams. There is no Great Depression. No Great Depression in Pollard!

“Hurrah! Hurrah!”

You can stand at the peak. *You* can become that. Don’t worry about being trampled. Bet on luck. Show effort. Display the ferocity to crush everyone!

Don’t fear those with only jaws left, they are vile creatures who can do nothing but bite, forever content only when they tear others down to their level!

The actors sing, the actors smile, the speakers crackle, tentacles giggle and dance, and actors with flesh dripping perform!

“Offer her. That woman. Just one is enough. Burn the witch. She’s a criminal anyway. An outsider. Offspring of an evil one! The one sleeping below will be satisfied with just that one woman! Then, all of you will be reborn, completed, perfected!”

Annette Cole’s whisper, yet a whisper everyone could hear, spread among the people.

People gathered again. Those who wanted to protect and those who wanted to pull down.

“Just offer her first! If it doesn’t work, we can fight again! It’s just one person. Just one!”

Aurora fired her gun into the air. People fell silent. Even the Deep Ones laughed sinisterly in the fog, enjoying the spectacle.

“If that’s your will. Fine. I understand.”