Ch.233The Gospel by the Cursed (4)

“It’s simple. We gather all the evil spirits in the wasteland and eliminate them at once. If that’s too difficult, we at least neutralize them.”

It was exactly what Laios had told him before going to bed. But Kain hadn’t realized that “all evil spirits” included Laios himself and his army.

It was beyond common sense. It completely deviated from the obvious principle of protecting allies while destroying enemies.

But here, in this place where common sense was turned upside down, it was different.

‘How to annihilate a small force along with a larger one. What must be done to kill even one more, to safely send Kain and Ismene out of the wasteland.’

That was Laios’s only goal. For this purpose, he wielded the demon sword Hope.

“What you desire lies over there. Follow my command and you can obtain it.”

Those with hope move with clear purpose and direction. But those without even that much are only desperate to tear apart whatever lies before them.

This side had entrusted everything to Laios, but the other side was literally every man fighting against every other man. It was a battle between those united by hope and those without even that.

William’s vanguard had shown that it was truly possible. As the mating dragons descended to the ground, evil spirits gathered from the edges of the wasteland.

No matter how massive and terrible they were, they were merely a handful of sand compared to this vast wave of hands, yet the spirits hungry for desire eagerly flocked together, rubbing against each other and clinging together.

Having gathered them, it was time to attack. Laios raised his scabbard high into the sky.

In that moment, Kain realized what kind of revenge Laios was exacting.

Just as Laios himself had been deceived by false hope, he too was deceiving these vengeful spirits. He was willing to deceive the entire world to save the one thing he wanted.

In his back view, Kain saw Günther. He recalled Arius, who willingly threw himself away for what he believed in. He saw a blind man throwing himself away for his convictions.

The same vortex. The same fate. The path Laios chose to walk was ultimately the same cycle.

If so, there was only one conclusion to be drawn.

‘Nothing will change.’

Even if they rescued Ismene and escaped, nothing would change. The history of countless Ismenes and Laioses, Günthers, and the Seven Heroes would simply repeat itself.

‘No. There must be a way. We can’t let all this be rendered meaningless. We can’t allow the same flow to repeat itself. But how? What?’

Suddenly, Kain saw a flash of light in the distance. He thought it might be sunlight, but the heavily clouded sky was dim.

Before he could examine it closely, the ship carrying Kain and Laios accelerated. It cut through the clouds and took the lead.

Behind it, twenty-three vessels lined up in a row. They circled around the top of the thorny mountain.

“Those who hold charity and kindness as virtues, show your sincerity!”

Laios commanded.

Commotion broke out on the ships behind them. Hideous sailors, not much different from what they had seen before, pulled heads from the ship’s walls and threw them down.

Wailing, lamentation, pleading, anger, hatred, and curses filled the sky.

But the kind sailors paid no heed. The heads, shot like catapult projectiles, mercilessly crashed into the mountain, the sea, and the hands.

The sea of hands covered in secretions was extremely sluggish. The flying heads hit them, crushing, breaking, and smashing them.

Broken bones jutted out, piercing adjacent ones. Severed fingers crawled like maggots on top, poking at the flying heads.

But no matter how many pebbles one throws, they can create ripples in the sea but cannot subdue it. The kind sailors eventually began pushing each other overboard.

Kain watched as Roberta of Kindness and Leonardo of Charity, along with four sailors, grappled with each other.

All six tried to throw the others while remaining aboard themselves.

The strength to remain was that of a single beast, while the strength to pull others down was that of five beasts, so none could resist.

The struggle ended pathetically. As the fleet accelerated and began spinning, the ship tilted slightly sideways. All six fell overboard in a single mass.

They say kind people and charitable people always attract others. The sailors who had fallen earlier welcomed the newcomers with all their heart.

They detached parts of their bodies one by one and distributed them to the hands on the ground. They kindly whispered, ‘Go over there, and you can get more.’

The broken hands wanted to recover themselves. So they grabbed the fallen beasts’ bodies and tore them apart to attach to themselves.

This didn’t reattach broken fingers, but they gained something plausible instead.

Some hands rejoiced with newly attached feet, hopping around. A hand holding a beating heart raised itself proudly.

One with eyes attached to fingertips, perhaps unable to bear the sight of the world, plunged back beneath the sea of hands.

Eventually, the commotion subsided.

But the sea had changed. Each hand now possessed an additional piece of human or beast. Thanks to the kind neighbors who had generously bestowed charity.

When accustomed to kindness, one misunderstands it as a right. The hands, awkwardly sharing parts, desired what they lacked.

Those with eyes wanted hearts, those with feet wanted legs.

Eventually, they began clawing and tearing at each other to find what they lacked.

Cunning ones waiting to take advantage of the fighting grew in number. Some played dead, then grabbed scraps and fled.

Those clutching many parts were busy fleeing, but looking closely, they were throwing pieces one by one.

They knew that when they did this, others would scramble to grab them, dropping what they already had.

The surging sea visibly diminished. What had been widely spread now clumped together like small grains.

It was like a childhood fairy tale in reverse. Breaking a boulder into stones, stones into pebbles, pebbles into gravel, and gravel into sand.

The sand clumped by lust became gravel. The gravel consumed by envy gnawed at each other. Kain saw black stains appearing above the clumped hands. One. Two.

Those rushing toward the pointed mountain seeped inside. The mountain still showed no signs of change.

There is no gratitude or appreciation for goodwill. In the heat of greed, kindness evaporated without a trace. Even those who bestowed charity became reluctant to share anything.

But four more still remained.

* * * * *

Twenty-four vessels circled the pointed mountain faster. It felt like being caught in a whirlpool.

The beasts on the ground now seemed fully aware of the sky. Perhaps expecting something else to fall, they followed the ships.

Of course, some simply followed because others were moving.

A strange storm with no center, only top and bottom. But anyone drawn by curiosity would flee in terror.

For the whirlpool in the sky was descending to the ground.

“Diligent ones, show how industrious you are!”

Laios commanded. The ships accelerated further. Their altitude dropped lower and lower. It looked as if they intended to completely plow the ground.

Finally, a scraping sound was heard as the ship’s sides grazed the ground.

Due to the weight of the ship itself and the clinging mass of humans and beasts, the ground-dwelling creatures were helplessly ground away, torn apart, and thrown off. They burst like rotten beans caught between millstones.

But the ground creatures were far too numerous. As the ships drew closer to the ground, they met with greater resistance, causing them to slow down.

Chastity, not particularly valuing itself, turned to lust out of defiance.

Charity, which had expected returns, had only given without receiving and became miserly.

What was kindness when only oneself received special treatment turned to jealousy when others were treated specially too.

The starving, hungry souls tried to tear off and eat more. No matter how much they ate, they remained hungry; no matter how much they enjoyed, they felt lacking.

Because they had never once been satisfied. Because they had never learned, felt, or experienced what it meant to have enough, they rushed in recklessly. They jumped in to grab even the fragments being ground off the ship’s bottom.

Because of this, they failed to notice that the ships’ whirlpool was gradually narrowing, slowly tightening around the mountain.

The beasts below gathered closer following the ships, circling the mountain with them.

And finally, the lower creatures leaped up toward the upper ones.

The humans and beasts clinging to the ship’s outer walls knew all too well what fate awaited if they were pulled down. They would be forcibly torn apart and disappear without a trace.

So the upper ones desperately pushed away the lower ones. They bit with their mouths, waved their hands, and trampled with their feet. But for each one they dropped, two climbed up; for every two they threw off, three crawled up.

The rearmost ship was caught. It had slowed down to maintain proper spacing and was captured. It looked like a swarm of ants biting an elephant they had mounted.

The fleet turned sharply to avoid collision, but when Laios signaled with his sword, they instead plunged into the center of the whirlwind.

Kain shouted that they would collide at this rate. But amid the roar of ships crashing into each other, Laios couldn’t hear him.

Their ship continued forward endlessly, even in the chaos of entanglement and collision. It raised its bow against the wave of ships and leaped into the air.

Laios lowered his scabbard in the air.

The damaged ships writhed. Thick bones protruded from the sides of the ships. Tendons and blood vessels wrapped around the bones like vines. Rotting flesh bloomed like water rising in a sewer.

Eventually, the ships became like spiders with legs. They crunched and chewed on the plump lower creatures. Those crushed on the ground raised their weapons against their oppressors.

A lion leaped onto the ship’s deck. It was a lion with three human heads.

“Kill! God recognizes His children! Kill! Kill! Kill and be saved! For each infidel’s neck you cut, one sin is forgiven; for each infidel priest’s neck you cut, one great sin is forgiven! Cut the neck of one officer, and your household will be saved…!”

“Heretics! Infidels! Forces of evil!”

The ships with legs declared. The lowly ones who rose against their oppressors gathered.

Everyone considered everyone else evil, infidel, deserving of death. They rejected each other according to their own order. Each considered only themselves righteous.

Then the mountain collapsed. Not carved from outside. It flowed down from within. Like a sand dune dispersing in the wind. There was no vibration or noise.

It was merely obscured by black, hazy dust.

The lion rose into the air.

The lion didn’t realize what had happened to it. The cone that shot up from the ground had pierced its body too quickly.

Like a unicorn’s horn, it was white, sharp, with beautiful and elegant spirals etched on it.

The horn from the ground shot higher and higher. The lion struggled and howled, but since a cone is narrow at the top and wider toward the bottom, its body became stuck in the middle of the horn.

For whatever reason, the horn shook up and down. The already lifeless body of the lion swayed helplessly in the air.

Behold. Here is a hunter. See the newly caught prey. This shall be your fate.

As if that were a signal, cones simultaneously shot up from the ground. They mercilessly pierced the feet of those killing each other on the ground. Those impaled on the sharp horns flailed in the air.

It was exactly like the Third Crusade when the Empire fought against the Stone-Fire Faith. Except then, Imperial soldiers and knights skewered dismembered bodies of infidels on spearheads and waved them in the air. As if the blood dripping below were some kind of blessing. The infidels were no different.

The dust gradually settled. There was a stone cross. Not an ordinary cross, but one closer to a T-shape.

Something was hanging there. Both arms were firmly bound by iron chains. The head was bowed, with hair so long it reached the waist.

It was white, not snow-white but the color of completely burned ash. It flinched whenever there was noise.

It was eerie. For some inexplicable reason, Kain couldn’t look at it properly due to an ominous feeling. It felt like an insect crawling on the back of his neck.

When their ship moved closer to the cross, Kain understood why.

“It” was laughing. It was shaking its shoulders, consumed by laughter.

It raised its head and looked this way. A white, clean face. The eye sockets were empty. It laughed while shedding tears of blood.

“Laios…?”

“Ismene!”

Kain pushed Laios aside. From where he had just been standing, a cone as large as a temple pillar shot up. The ship’s bow shattered into pieces.

“Where are you…?”

Laughing, “it” looked around. Wherever she looked, stone pillars and cones shot up.

Kain saw her wiggling her fingers. The cones moved up and down in sync with her hand movements.

Each time, the impaled creatures hanging limply swayed.

“Patient ones!”

Laios howled, pointing to the sky.

“Rewards shall descend!”

A black cross descended from the sky. Günther’s corpse, torn and barely maintaining its form, hung from it. His wings were reduced to bones, and only about half of his face still had flesh attached.

Beside him, countless beast-angels descended, flapping their wings. They descended to earth wielding spears and swords, scattering flesh and rotten blood.

“Destroy! Destroy! Burn the impure! Kill sin to save goodness!”

Laios, holding the scabbard, rushed forward. But he soon stopped. A thin stone stake piercing his chest gleamed.