Chapter 44: Words Like Magic

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As if listening to a funeral dirge, Sugar’s eyes fluttered open.

The first thing she saw was the two apostles. Instead of their usual attire, they wore plain black robes.

Louveci held a staff adorned with a transparent gem, while Claude gripped his usual wand, both solemnly gazing down at her.

Around their necks hung pendants with multiple overlapping black stars, the hollow space within them striking.

Behind them was a large oil vessel. Rolling her eyes slightly, Sugar noticed the ceiling was low. If she stood up and jumped just a little, her head would likely touch it. It seemed they were atop the towering altar she had seen earlier.

Sugar sat there dressed in multiple layers of clothing, her hands and feet bound.

If she listened closely she could hear a melody that seemed to be coming from the congregation below.

As she tried to make sense of the situation, Louveci raised her staff.

Since Sugar had opened her eyes, the time had come.

The baptism.

She placed the crystal part of the staff above Sugar’s head and began chanting an incantation, though the words were hard to understand. The more she chanted, the more the sounds overlapped. It was just a vacuum-like sound, a trembling of the air, but it felt as if someone was singing.

In sync with Louveci’s incantation and the congregation’s song, the vacuum-like sound grew louder.

The ominous magical energy that had been swirling in the space began to swell and grow, enveloping Sugar, examining her, reveling in her. It sang with joy. As the apostle’s incantation progressed and the congregation’s song intensified, the phenomenon grew more severe.

Watching all this, Sugar closed her eyes. The moment had come. She steadied her breath and hardened her resolve.

The situation wasn’t as bad as she had feared.

Claude, standing at a distance with his face hidden behind a mask was hard to read, but Louveci seemed to be struggling. Her eyes were closed, and she was sweating profusely, pouring all her energy into the incantation.

This place was already saturated with the evil god’s magic. Even the apostles who were supposed to wield it were floundering under its weight.

Only Sugar could breathe freely here.

Hah. She let out a hollow laugh at the irony.

Immediately, she released the dark magical energy she had been gathering since regaining consciousness.

What had Louveci meant by “keep it hidden until the baptism”? Well, this was the baptism now.

Louveci flinched. She continued the incantation while glancing subtly at Claude. He stood behind her, ready to intervene if Sugar caused any trouble.

Claude, too, had sensed something unusual—something darker than the evil god’s magic permeating the space.

He aimed his wand at Sugar, considering how to neutralize her while keeping an eye on the situation.

Hum— Hum—

“…?”

Suddenly, a vibration shook the ground beneath them. It was entirely different from the song of the evil god resonating in the space.

It felt as if the ground itself was about to collapse.

“…!”

Claude immediately began chanting, but it was already too late.

Even if he neutralized Sugar now, the corrosion had already begun.

The altar where the three stood—that was Sugar’s target.

In an instant, the altar’s color faded to white, corroded, and crumbled. The contents of the oil vessel spilled out as it fell, and the three were naturally pulled down by gravity.

An act unimaginable for an 11-year-old girl. She had done it, even at the risk of her own safety.

How did she wield that power…?

As Claude shouted, “Louveci!”, Louveci shook her head vigorously, as if to say she truly hadn’t known.

Did she really not know? Or did the evil god respond to the girl?

While Claude pondered, Sugar surveyed her landing spot and headed for the ground.

The two apostles immediately cast flight spells and flew toward Sugar, but the bold girl, as if determined not to be caught kicked off the falling debris and dove downward.

In the process, she corroded the chains binding her wrists and shot them at one of the congregation members. Unfortunately for the church, it was a member holding a torch.

Sugar had done her best and aimed carefully.

The floor was already drenched in holy oil. What would happen when he lost his balance and fell was obvious.

Amid the fire and chaos, the girl descended like an angel and slowly rose to her feet.

Her heart pounded. Instead of the distant sounds of the congregation’s song and the incantation, every nerve in her body sharpened.

It felt as if she could do anything. As if her imagination would become reality. A strange sensation mixed with fear made her heart race.

This was it. This was where it truly began.

Gathering the remnants of the evil god’s magic, she broke the chains binding her ankles.

With her physical freedom regained she channeled magic into her lower body, from her thighs to her feet, and swiftly rolled forward. The ground cracked, and dust rose in her wake.

A trick akin to teleportation, which she had shown when saving Louveci from the explosion. Though the explosive magic consumption left her breathless, she had to escape this place.

She feinted to the right, then sharply curved to avoid a magic bullet. Immediately lowering her stance she slid under a rope and before her momentum faded, she used the acceleration to leap high over a magical net.

She had never been this focused before. Even as she gasped for breath, she could feel the flow of all the magic around her, as if she could grasp it. It was as if she was reading and dodging it.

Whenever she was surrounded she unleashed the evil god’s magic, devastating the area.

This is the power you all revere so much.

The congregation must be thrilled.

I can do this about two more times…

Checking her remaining energy, she ran. Her target was the exit above the stairs.

Boom!

Crash!

Explosions echoed from somewhere. Not here, but from outside. Amid all this chaos, her heart kept racing.

[Put out the fire! Seal the exits!]

She tore off a decorative piece from her clothes and shot it at a noisy crow. It fell limply, a very satisfying sight.

Immediately, a wall of crows blocked her path. Sugar hurled herself forward like a cannonball, releasing the evil god’s magic. The crows turned white and crumbled into dust, scattering into the wind.

Finally, she reached the stairs.

Of course, the congregation members blocked her path, but this was no time for her to retreat.

She leaped high, stepping on the heads of the congregation members. Before losing her balance, she quickly stepped on another member’s head, hopping forward.

She shed her layered clothing one by one, using them as shields to block the congregation’s vision. Infusing her feet with the evil god’s magic as she ran, with no one able to get close to catching her. Their hands corroded far before they could even grab her.

“Sugar.”

As she ran, a familiar voice called out. She had been waiting for it.

She turned slightly and saw Louveci, inexplicably smiling, uttering an incantation. What an annoying person.

“Sleep.”

Not this again!

But she wouldn’t fall for it three times in a row.

Sugar quickly positioned herself at a pre-planned angle. She had been calculating the distance to slip between the congregation members at any moment.

The sleep spell missed Sugar and hit an unfortunate congregation member instead.

The member immediately fell asleep and collapsed. In the chaos, Sugar snatched the dropped wand and aimed it.

She aimed at the sleeping, incapacitated member.

In an instant, she launched the human projectile toward the back of the stairs. Louveci jumped aside with an “Oh my!”, and the hollow-eyed congregation members behind her took the hit, collapsing in a heap.

Suddenly, the exit was right in front of her.

However all her efforts seemed in vain as the exit was blocked by what looked like earth. Had they sealed it in advance? Sugar didn’t know any magic to remove it. She had almost exhausted the evil god’s magic.

Boom—

Yet, the explosions from outside kept urging her to run.

It felt as if someone stubborn was relentlessly pushing her.

So she ran. No matter who was chasing her, no matter what was happening, she kept running without a second thought.

“Don’t let her escape!”

A sharp voice called from behind.

Louveci, now mixed among the congregation members ahead, aimed her staff at the stairs to cut them off and began chanting an explosion spell.

But just as she was about to utter the incantation, her voluptuous body swayed heavily.

As a result, the aim of her staff veered off, targeting not the stairs but the exit.

Boom—!

Light poured through the exit.

Coincidence? Fate?

It didn’t matter.

Without a second thought, Sugar squeezed through the gap.

After that, she just ran through the mountains. Her feet were cut by rocks, branches, and grass; her soles torn by the foliage and ground. Despite the dizziness from overusing her magic, she kept running.

Torches and magical light sources were scattered around, the church’s congregation chasing her from behind.

None of it mattered. To escape the dark future, she had to forget fear and dread and just run forward.

As she ran, she desperately wished for one thing.

That the future awaiting her would be a warm one where she could laugh and chat with her friends.

She shouted to herself, to the world, and to whatever god might exist as she ran.

Then, someone burst out of the bushes.

Unexpected, yet someone she had secretly hoped for.

Sugar’s magic teacher.

The know-it-all, prickly boy.

The brown-haired boy, gasping for breath, blocked Sugar’s path.

The emotions that had been pounding in her chest surged rapidly with joy and excitement.

There were so many things she wanted to say that she didn’t know where to start. But no matter what, she was just so happy to see him again.

However, as she stepped forward with those feelings in her heart, something caught her eye.

The book her friend was holding felt strangely familiar.

An ominous pattern. A wicked aura.

“…!”

The moment she recognized it, her heart sank.

All the joy, excitement, and the words she had prepared vanished from her mind, leaving only one question to spill out.

“Why… do you have that?”

A creeping sense of betrayal wrapped around her.

The unexpected object was utterly bewildering.

Why? Why do you, whom I trusted and cared for, have that? Why on earth are you holding it? Why you of all people?

Her face contorted in a way words couldn’t describe. She had already trusted a woman whose true intentions she couldn’t fathom and look where that had gotten her.

‘And now you too?’

She had always thought it was strange. The level of knowledge he had about magic was far beyond what an 11-year-old orphan should possess and then there was that day in the underground waterways.

The confrontation with the fusion monster. When she asked him how they had escaped, he said, “There was a small passage we hadn’t noticed before, so we slipped through there.”

He found that small passage and escaped while she was injured and disoriented?

It was suspicious, but she didn’t want to pry. Everyone has one or two things they want to keep hidden, so she had respected that boundary.

However, the truth was that he hadn’t escaped in an ordinary way. If he had that book, it wouldn’t have been difficult. He must have easily dealt with the monster and then lied about it.

“Why do you have that…?”

She asked again, not wanting to believe it, but her words faltered, unable to form a proper sentence.

Why did it have to be you?

Why are you, whom I cherished, the shadow behind this world’s darkness?

Her heart ached as if it were being torn apart. She wanted to think she was mistaken, but that distinctive pattern was unmistakably the same as that man’s grimoire.

The shock she felt when facing Louveci was nothing compared to this. Tears welled up in her eyes.

It wasn’t just the betrayal. The thought of having to fight this child terrified her.

She could only shake her head repeatedly, and then the boy spoke and the words that came out were like magic, cutting through all of her sorrow.

“…I came to save you, Sugar.”

His voice was uncharacteristically gentle.

She flinched and stepped back as he approached, but he didn’t hesitate. He grabbed her hand and placed a wand in it—the wand of her beloved friend that she had dropped earlier.

His hand was damp, covered with sweat.

She looked down at the wand in her hand, then turned her gaze back to the boy. Only then did she truly see him.

Her attention had been so focused on the grimoire that she hadn’t properly looked at him until now.

His face was drenched in sweat. Scars and magical burns marked his body. His face was filled with exhaustion as he gasped for breath.

He had wandered through the mountains, tearing himself apart just to find her, to save her. He had pushed himself to the limit to reach her.

The way he called her name was so warm.

What on earth was I thinking?

“Ah, ahh…”

‘I told you I trusted you the most. When you asked why I trusted you, I snapped back, “Then who else am I supposed to trust?”’

But when she looked into his eyes, all she saw was concern. He looked flustered, unsure of what to do as Sugar seemed on the verge of tears.

How could a child like this betray her?

He wasn’t some cold-hearted human who killed people and ruthlessly collected magic.

He was the kind of child who would scold her for doing dangerous things but still worry about her, who would overcome his embarrassment to give her gifts.

He was just a boy who knew a lot about magic, a bit prickly but kind—her precious childhood friend.

Sugar immediately threw herself into his arms.

“Hic… I’m sorry. I’m sorry…”

“W-why are you apologizing all of a sudden…?”

“I’m sorry for doubting you… I’m sorry…”

Gratitude for the friend who had come to save her. Guilt for doubting him. Relief that she wasn’t alone. All these emotions tangled together, and tears spilled out.

Riley flailed his arms awkwardly, unsure where to put them, but eventually he made up his mind and wrapped them tightly around Sugar.

Just as Sugar had always done for him. He held her firmly.

“…It’s okay.”

‘I’ve been hiding the book too, afraid you’d be scared of me. Even though I knew you wouldn’t be.’

With those thoughts in mind, Riley whispered softly, and Sugar buried herself deeper into his embrace.

His small, warm body. A sweet scent.

Even though nothing had been resolved yet, she felt completely at ease. She didn’t want to let go and held him tightly.

If only time could stop like this.

Amid the mournful song echoing through the mountains, they enjoyed their brief reunion.