Episode 83
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“Lady Aurelia has been accused of being a witch for impersonating a ‘virgin’… … .”
Dale said.
“Here in the permafrost of Saxony, the result of the burning was a handful of ashes.”
The official ending for ‘Virgin Aurelia’.
“I am a dead man.”
“It’s a fitting ending for someone who calls himself a puppet of heaven.”
Aurelia smiled bitterly. But she was no longer a puppet of the heavens. Aurelia knelt and thrust her sword vertically.
“In the shadows, tell me where my sword should be swung.”
It is not the sword of a noble and proud knight. She no longer denies her dark desires and shadows.
An assassin’s sword, hidden in the darkness, wielded at the will of the ‘Black Prince’ for his own revenge and the pleasure of killing.
Black Virgin.
In the shadows of Saxony, a nameless assassin smiled coldly.
* * *
It was not easy to explain what had happened on the island of Britannia, and even more so the existence of the virgin Aurelia, especially in front of the Duke of Saxony.
That’s why Dale decided to be honest and tell the whole truth.
After the victory of the Black and White Rotation, he obtained the Book of the Black Goat in the Sistine Chapel. Furthermore, he defeated Cardinal Nikolai in the Library of Hell and carved the Geass of Absolute Obedience into his heart.
The Duke of Saxony was no longer someone to be fooled.
Beyond the relationship between father and son, as partners who share a common goal. Just as the Black Ball spoke of the ‘world of truth’, Dale also needed to tell his own truth.
“… … The Book of the Black Goat?”
Hearing those words, Father Black’s expression froze.
“I never intended to deceive my father.”
Dale answered cautiously.
“I was just worried about the weight of the name of this book of magic, and that my father would be worried──.”
Paradoxically, by hiding himself behind the shield of a twelve-year-old child.
“I was afraid to be honest.”
Like a child confessing his mistakes to his father.
In the face of such cunning, the Black Lord remained silent. The pitch-black tentacles that were clutching Dale’s heart. Because they knew the meaning of the legacy of Frederick, the Immortal Prince, the founder of Saxony.
“Is ‘it’ still with you now?”
“Yes.”
“… … Okay, now I understand.”
After hearing Dale’s explanation, the black ball smiled as if his curiosity had been satisfied.
“Now your activities are explained.”
As someone of Saxon blood, and considering Dale’s outrageous talents, it is not surprising that he signed a contract with the Book of the Black Goat.
It was later that Dale’s recklessness was rebuked. No, wasn’t that recklessness itself the unquestionable ‘proof of Saxony’?
A dark clan willing to jump into the abyss to obtain the truth.
‘I guess blood can’t be thicker than water.’
──So, when Dale reached the story of the virgin Aurelia on the island of Britannia.
“Even if the power she possesses is truly a ‘revelation from the goddess’, that’s second to none.”
Dale said.
“As a knight who has reached the realm of Avatar, the value of her power is indescribable.”
“What a risky gamble that was.”
The Duke of Saxony smiled bitterly. But he couldn’t even bring himself to reprimand Dale for his absurd boldness.
No, rather, what the Duke of Saxony felt was wonder.
On the island of Britannia, the ability to control the battlefield in the palm of one’s hand. The activities of the ‘Black Prince’ that resonated throughout the empire were no longer limited to those of the House of Saxony.
War hero of the empire.
“Let’s test her abilities with the Duke’s Grave Guard and slowly decide what to do with her.”
“Please.”
“Do you sympathize with her situation?”
“… … .”
After a moment of silence, Dale nodded.
“She was just a puppet in the sky.”
A puppet who doesn’t even know what he’s doing.
“Therefore, I simply showed you the way forward according to Aurelia’s will.”
“… …Are you saying that you are borrowing the power of ‘it’?”
“What I showed you was her shadow.”
Dale answered.
“It was Lady Aurelia who encountered her own shadow and dark desires and made a decision.”
“I guess so.”
The black ball nodded indifferently.
“You saw ‘it’, so the story will be fast.”
He nodded and continued speaking. He thought back to the promise between Dale and the Black Gong.
When the Empire is about to shed blood to reach the World of Truth again. To prevent such evil deeds from happening again, the Black Lord promises to teach them the power he has obtained in the ‘World of Truth’.
It was just then.
The world I was standing on had changed.
Before he knew it, it was no longer a room in the Saxon Duke’s castle, but a ‘world of ideas’ where the continent’s greatest black magician was unfolding.
Foodie!
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Behind the black ball, several crows flew up, flapping their wings.
It was on the ground where dusk was pouring down.
──The ‘world of ideas’ possessed by high-ranking magicians does not necessarily have a single form. It is possible to freely change its form and purpose as needed.
“Take out the grimoire.”
In the midst of that evening glow, the black ball opened its mouth.
“All right.”
Dale nodded, aware of the tentacle clutching at his heart.
“Shoove.”
─ Yeah.
A girl with black goat horns suddenly appeared next to Dale.
Beneath the hem of her pitch-black dress, countless tentacles wriggled.
──However, to the Black Ball, it was nothing more than a disgusting otherworldly monster. A monster made up of a colony of tentacles, like thousands of writhing earthworms.
But even that appearance is only a very small fragment projected into this world.
“I am Shub-Niggurath (I am Shub-Niggurath).”
The black ball bowed its head indifferently.
“Our ancient dark mother.”
As if he knew her, so nonchalantly.
─ Ah, the little child of Saxony has come.
And then Shuv answered. It wasn’t like her usual innocent, smiling little girl.
“… … !”
A mature and graceful woman of beauty was there. Black goat horns rose from her black hair. The hem of her jet-black dress swayed, and she smiled like a graceful lady.
“Oh, Death.”
At the same time, the black ball opened its mouth.
“… … !”
The darkness of the whole place had fallen. It was not the darkness of night. It was an indescribably deep, ominous, and unidentifiable darkness.
In the pitch-black darkness, the Black Ball’s grimoire──『The Scales of the Heart』──revealed itself.
He was a man in a suit.
A man who looks like a British gentleman from the Victorian era. An old gentleman wearing a bowler hat and a black suit.
In his hand he holds a staff decorated with a skull shape.
But the face was so blurry that I couldn’t remember what it looked like. No matter how much I looked at it, I couldn’t remember it.
Foodie!
Again, several crows flew up behind him, flapping their wings.
‘death.’
─ You called me too early, my dear.
The old gentleman in the black suit opened his mouth indifferently.
“Please forgive my rudeness.”
The black ball bowed its head.
“The great intruder whom no one desires, but from whom no one can escape.”
After bowing, he turned his head towards Dale. Towards Dale and the otherworldly monster behind him.
“What do you think the Grimoire is?”
The black ball asked back.
“Isn’t this a vessel that projects the wizard’s thoughts?”
“Then what do you think an idea is?”
“A systematic collection of consciousness that we have accumulated through experience.”
Dale answered.
“Then what about these beings behind us?”
The black ball asked back.
“Is it just a product of the consciousness we have accumulated through experience?”
“… … .”
Dale looked at the old gentleman in a suit who was called ‘Death’ for a moment.
death.
It finally feels like the secret of the black hole has been revealed, even if only a little.
And then he looked at the being behind him. Before he knew it, there was Shub, smiling brightly, having become the innocent and young girl she always was.
Dale shook his head. He knew it intuitively. These beings were not ones that could be created by the thoughts of a single wizard.
A final destination of thought that cannot even be imitated by a ‘mere magic book’ like the ‘Book of Massacre’.
“At the end of thought, human consciousness reaches a single origin.”
The end of thought, or in other words, the final destination that consciousness can reach.
Collective unconsciousness.
A common image shared by all of humanity, deep within the unconscious.
Even between countries or continents that have no common ground, and even between worlds, there are ‘similarly created stories’ that transcend time and borders in the form of myths and legends.
For example, god, devil, mother goddess, hero, monster, savior, death… … .
An archetype that has been around since ancient times before history began.
“Furthermore, there were those who pursued the extreme of magic and succeeded in drawing out that very ancient image.”
And now, that very ‘ancient image’ was behind the two of them.
This was once the case with the Immortal Frederick, and it is the final destination of thought that the Black Duke has acquired.
Death, and the old dark mother.
“So where do you think the image shared by all of humanity came from?”
The black ball asked back, and only then did Dale take a breath.
“The world of truth… … .”
The world of truth was not outside. I could finally understand why this world had religions and ideologies similar to those of Earth, and why it had a history similar to that of Earth.
The collective unconsciousness that humans share across the world and beyond, and the world of truth that lies beyond that.
What the wizards were drawing out was the power of that world, and what was guarding the two people’s backs were the beings of that world.
“Are you prepared to handle these ancient beings?”
The black ball opened its mouth. Again, over and over again, his father gave Dale the same warning. And each time he heard it, Dale’s answer did not change.
“In my heart, a fragment of the 4th circle has formed.”
“… … !”
“I think this would be a good opportunity.”
For Dale now, the most certain thing is the practice of being a wizard.
“To bring out the power of Shuve even more than now.”
Dale nodded.
“Can I ask you to educate my son?”
The black ball spoke to the man in a suit guarding him.
─ How rude and presumptuous of you, my dear.
A man in a suit who looks like a British gentleman from the Victorian era.
He laughed as if he found ‘death’ enjoyable.
─ But this child’s appearance isn’t so bad.
As if satisfied.
─ I also happen to have an ‘old friend’ with me.
Foodie!
At the same time, several crows flew up from behind Death’s back.
─ But you must be prepared, my child.
‘Death’ said.
─ Because no one can stop death.
