Chapter 1: Decay

Chapter 1:
Decay

 

RHETORICAL QUESTIONS ran rampant through Jean’s mind:

Why do I, of all people, have to waste my time buying flowers for someone?

Why should someone as great as myself have to change into a new robe purely for someone else’s benefit?

Why does a genius like me have to get my hair done?

“Apprehension…heh. What a stupid emotion.” He calmly readied himself as he paced back and forth around his room.

He pulled a book on magic theory from the shelf and considered flipping through it, staring at the cover for a moment and then returned it to its proper place. He picked a pen up from his desk and stared at it for a long stretch before setting it down as well.

“Gah, this is stupid.”

It had no special meaning to him. As for what that “it” was, all he could really say was “everything.”

Jean tensed up when he heard a knock at the door. He swallowed hard and spoke up in a strained voice. “C-come in.”

His pitch raised slightly at the end. He coughed in an attempt to regain his composure and set his face in his usual scowl as he turned to greet his guest.

Jean was taken aback to see not Cyrill but Linus. “Ah, Linus. Listen, I have a busy schedule right now. Could you come back at another… gyauck!”

Linus’s fist connected before he was able to finish speaking. The full force of the blow rippled across Jean’s face. Spit flew from his mouth, his neck twisted, and his body tumbled into his desk before collapsing to the ground.

Jean glowered up at his attacker. “What the hell was that?!”

“Don’t play innocent!” Linus grabbed Jean by the collar and yanked him to his feet until they were face-to-face. Sheer hatred radiated from his eyes.

“What did you do to Flum, you slimy prick?!”

Jean snorted. “Oh, is that all this is about?”

“What did you say?!”

“What’s there to get so worked up over? All that worthless piece of trash managed to do was act friendly and ingratiate herself with Cyrill, the legendary hero. She should die a thousand times over for that alone! All I did was put her somewhere far more suitable for someone like her. You should be commending me.”

“Selling a teen into slavery is a crime, you know!”

“Heh, so be it. I care more for what’s right than what the law may say.”

It was clear from his expression that he felt no guilt whatsoever. Jean was absolutely convinced he’d done the right thing. At the end of the day, he would do whatever was right for him, without regard for how others might feel. Maybe that was part of his supposed genius.

“Shut your mouth! Do you have any idea how much of a struggle it would be for a weak girl like Flum to survive as a slave?!”

“Oh, but I do. She’d been living a charmed life under the protection of others until now.”

“That’s a lot coming from you! People have been cleaning up after your messes from day one!”

Jean’s eyebrows twitched at this. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

Linus had experienced firsthand the work involved in dealing with Jean’s shortcomings. Were it not for Linus’s constant effort to smooth things over ever since he joined the party on their great journey, Jean would have been pummeled many times over by the multitudes they’d encountered along the way.

“When? Where?? I’ve never once needed anyone’s help!”

“Everyone does! You just don’t realize just how much you hurt people along the way! Sure, maybe you’re good with magic, and maybe you’re smart, to boot, but you have weaknesses, too.” Linus pounded his fist against his chest for emphasis. “You have no respect for others!”

That was the source of all of Jean’s problems. He simply couldn’t understand people…nor did he even want to. If he could overcome his refusal to grasp the substance of other people’s experience, he truly would be the genius he fancied himself to be.

Anyone could see that Linus spoke nothing but the irrefutable truth. Anyone but Jean.

“Ha! Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!”

“What’s so funny?!”

“I’m a genius, you know. There’s no one smarter. Tens of thousands of men cower at my sheer intellect! So why should I expend this precious gift that only I possess to serve the pathetic weaklings of this world? It’s a waste, a tragedy! The only obligation I have is to the one person with the vision to apply this perfect rationality of mine to its maximal utility—myself! Don’t you get it??”

“Like hell I do! You’re the only person who could understand such an insane argument.”

It was clear they’d reached an impasse. Jean would never admit to any wrongdoing, and Linus’s anger would never let up until he did.

 

***

 

Cyrill looked at the note she found wedged in her door as she made her way to Jean’s room.

“Please come to my room today. I’ll be waiting.” She could feel her insides tense as she read it over again.

There was something about Jean that Cyrill really didn’t like. Of course, she’d come to him on multiple occasions for advice when the immense pressure of her role weighed heavily on her. As long as she followed what he said and didn’t think too hard, it helped alleviate that load.

But it led to her losing Flum. Ever since then, she couldn’t even stand the sight of him.

Yet she couldn’t help but feel that she was also responsible for what happened. She’d let someone else take the lead for her, and she paid for it immediately—even if she didn’t notice until it was too late to undo the damage. Flum had been an invaluable friend. Cyrill probably would have quit long ago without her companionship, and she’d repaid Flum with a dagger in the back.

“I’m so sorry, Flum…”

She’d said the words so often that they’d lost their meaning. She couldn’t stand the thought of how selfish she’d been.

Cyrill clenched her fist around Jean’s note as she felt the anger rising up within her. “Grr…”

She had no idea what Jean wanted to talk with her about, but she hoped to get it over with quickly so she could retire to her room and be alone again.

“And what’re you doing dressed up like that?!”

Cyrill paused for a moment as she heard shouting coming from the other side of the door.

“I’m meeting with Cyrill. It only fits for me to be properly dressed!”

“You know, I’ve been thinking about this for a while now. Are you really infatuated with Cyrill?”

“I can’t say if infatuated is the right word, but I certainly chose her!”

“You make me sick! How the hell can you say that after you ripped Flum away from her?! Are those flowers? Don’t tell me you plan on confessing your love for her!”

“A-as a matter of fact, I do. In fact, I even asked her to come see me!”

“There’s no way she’d go for that, you self-obsessed man-child!”

“Heh, it’s simply a matter that there’s no other woman out there suitable for me. Gahaha!”

Even Jean was surprised by the sound of his own voice at that. It was much rougher and higher-pitched than he’d expected.

“And like you’re one to talk? Just look at that festering freak Maria! I can’t believe you’d be interested in that.”

“What?!”

“You’ve got no eye for women. She’s a cunning creature, always devising new schemes while everyone’s disarmed by her ‘sweet nun’ act. The old badger even has the gall to look down on me, of all people!”

“You think I didn’t know all that?”

“Don’t tell me you knew and still fell for that thing??”

“What’s wrong with that? In fact, that only makes me love her more! Unlike you, I’m not going to just throw someone to the slavers just because they’re not perfect! Like you did with Flum!”

Cyrill’s mind went completely blank. She even forgot to breathe. It was all she could do to just stand there on her own two feet.

Jean’s crumpled-up note fell down to the carpet.

Everything she heard from the other side of the door was shocking enough, but one phrase stuck with her.

Flum’s… a slave?

This whole time she assumed it was all her fault that Flum decided to go home. That alone was enough to make Cyrill want to strangle herself. If she’d known that Flum hadn’t returned home and was sold off as a slave…

She felt the blood drain from her body, and she fell to her knees.

“It’s…it’s all my fault. Oh, Flum…” Her teeth ground audibly as she clenched her jaw, and her vision filled with tears. “Flum… Oh, God, Flum…”

If she couldn’t express her sadness in words somehow, she’d have no choice but to let her hands speak for her. She suspected that if that happened, she’d take her own life before anyone else’s. Perhaps she should.

“Gaaah…it’s all my fault!!”

So loud were her anguished cries that Linus and Jean heard them over their scuffle. The two men stopped instantly and looked toward the door.

“Hey, you called Cyrill here, didn’t you? You don’t think that’s…that’s her, do you?”

“I certainly did.”

Linus let go of Jean and peeked through the door he left ajar, spotting Cyrill sobbing on her knees.

“H-hey, Cyrill, what’s wrong? Talk to me.”

Cyrill looked up at Linus, terror in her eyes, and began to scramble backward.

“That conversation back there, it was all…well…”

“A…a lie?”

“No. But…”

“So I really did get Flum sold into slavery.”

“No, no. Don’t blame yourself. It’s all…”

“What…what right do I have to…”

“Please, Cyrill, just listen to me!” Linus tried to keep calm, but the desperation was clear in his voice. But no matter how he tried to frame it, there was no coming back from this for Cyrill as long as she put herself at the center of Flum’s cruel fate.

She let out another loud, agonizing cry and started to crawl away from him before finally forcing herself to her feet. She took off running, screaming all the while. There was no way that Linus could catch up to her with the lead she had. All he could do was hold his head in despair.

Jean took a place beside him, arms crossed and an arrogant look on his face. “What was she crying about?”

He was back to his usual self.

Linus clenched his hand into a fist and spun toward Jean as his anger flared again. “Just look at what you’ve done!!”

“Me? I don’t get it. Why would she be sad at the loss of someone as useless as Flum? She’s so powerful and talented; why should that little wretch affect her at all?”

Linus let out a heavy sigh. It was clear that his anger would mean nothing to Jean. He might be a genius, but in exchange for that gift, he’d lost all ability to empathize with other humans.

He turned his back to him and started to walk away. “Whatever. It’s a waste talking with you.”

Seeing how despondent Linus was, Jean was finally struck with a realization. “Wait, are you saying that I…I did something wrong? That can’t be right. I don’t make errors like that. If anyone is mistaken, it’s Cyrill.”

No one was around to hear him.

 

***

 

Left with nowhere else to go, Cyrill ran through the halls of the castle until she arrived at her room, where she slammed the door shut behind her, dove under the covers, and closed her eyes as tightly as she could. “I… It was all my fault. I…I did it… It was all me…!”

Despite her efforts to shut out the world, her guilt still managed to penetrate deep. She sobbed and howled until she heard a familiar voice call out to her.

“There’s a way to alleviate your pain, you know.”

Cyrill poked her head out from under her covers to find Maria standing there with a gentle smile on her face. Apparently, she’d forgotten to lock her door in her haste.

“Where is the core I gave you the other day?”

“Core? Ah…you mean that black crystal? It’s in the desk drawer.”

“What a waste. If you had its power, you wouldn’t have anything to worry about, Cyrill.” Maria opened the drawer and retrieved the core before inspecting the black spiral within. “You saw how Jean and I fought in that last battle, didn’t you? That was all thanks to the core.”

“I…I see.”

“If you were to just accept its power, your worries…would be nothing…but a distant…dream.” Maria approached Cyrill with the core held firmly in her hand. “It’s…a…an impressive power…you see. You…should…use it…too…and…”

“Maria?” Cyrill gave her companion a concerned look.

“H-huh? What’s going…on? This…should…shouldn’t be…happening…to…”

“Are you okay? Should I summon a healer?” Cyrill slid off her bed and stepped close to help steady her.

Ploosh.

She heard a wet sloshing noise she couldn’t place.

“N-no…why…why would…this happen…to me…”

“I’m going to call for help, just wait here!” She sat Maria on her bed and turned to leave.

Ploosh. Splosh.

She heard the strange, wet sound coming again, this time from behind her. When she turned to look back, she saw blood pooling on the floor. Following the trail with her eyes, it was clear that Maria vomited it up.

Cyrill’s face went pale. It was worse than she’d thought.

Ploosh. Splosh. Ploosh. Splosh.

No human should have been able to vomit up that much blood.

“Maria?” Slowly, hesitantly, Cyrill leaned in to get a closer look at Maria’s face. Much to her horror, she caught a glimpse of raw, slick flesh—in the colors of everything inside a human body that ought to stay inside—peeking out from between Maria’s fingers.

“…Maria?”

Blood poured out from between Maria’s fingers and down the collar of her robe. Behind Maria’s hands, Cyrill could see the fleshy mass twist and undulate.

“M-Maria…what…what kind of monster have you become?!”

Cyrill was already mentally drained. This new development only served to fill her with such dread that it nearly threw her into shock. She felt like a balloon filled far past the point of bursting.

“No…I can’t…no…nooooooooooooooo!!”

Cyrill’s screams filled the castle halls. A moment later, she dashed from her room in search of the castle’s exit. She didn’t dare look any direction but straight ahead.

Maria sat on the bed, motionless.

“My, my, my…what a pity.” The clack of a pair of high-heeled shoes was muffled slightly by the carpet as a female figure dressed in a doctor’s coat approached the room.

Echidna, leader of the Chimera research team, looked down at Maria and smirked. “How pitiful for a woman of the cloth to meet such an awful fate. Whatever shall we do?”

“Echid…na. What…did you…do to…me?!”

“Our Chimera cores are produced with the greatest of care and allow you to draw upon the limit of Origin’s powers. Side effects like this are certainly uncommon.” Echidna leaned in close to the pulsating spiral of flesh. “My best guess? Maybe we made a mistake and gave you a core that was meant for monsters. That would explain why your body couldn’t handle it.”

“Nng…you…planned this…all along!!”

Echidna let out a sinister cackle before spinning in place. Her doctor’s coat fluttered in the air as she walked away. “Chosen ones, heroes, Demon Lords, revenge…it’s all so passé. Simple concepts from a bygone era.”

“What…do you mean?”

“There’s a better, more ingenious way of reaching the same goal.”

“But that’s…not what Origin…wants…! This plan was…so long in the making…!”

Nearly fifty years ago, Origin had conveyed its will to those in power at the time. The current king and pope had spent their entire lives receiving these truths. It was only a matter of course that they would serve Origin to the best of their abilities.

“There’s no way some so-called god rotting in a basement knows more than we do,” Echidna said. “Tokyo awaits the coming of me and my Chimera, you see.”

“No way…you can’t be hoping to…!”

Echidna chuckled. “You’re only a passing annoyance to me now, Maria. All this time, you’ve acted in your own interest, but now your role has come to an end, both tactically and symbolically. I think it’s only right for the head of the guard to put you out of your misery, no?”

Unlike the king and even the pope himself, Maria’s sole reason for devoting herself to Origin was out of hatred. The church no longer had any use for someone with such base drives.

“So you’re just going…to get rid of me?! After all I did…to destroy the demons?!”

“And that’s why you need to just up and die. For the sake of the church and my beloved Chimera.”

With a snap of her fingers, a monster resembling a monkey appeared from behind Echidna. It had an ogre’s thick muscular legs, wings growing out of its back, and the face of a human.

“This is a prototype Chimera—one of our werewolf-class specimens. It’s a little weaker than usual since we used a man’s head, but improved cognition is worth the trade. Of course, it’s wicked powerful. And a real cutie, too.”

“Agooo!” The tiny Chimera clasped Maria’s hands in its own before tugging insistently toward the exit.

“Nnng… I…I’m still…!” The agony was clear in Maria’s voice as blood continued to spatter from her face. The core seemed like it couldn’t quite sync with her body, causing her to thrash about.

Echidna simply cackled in amusement as she watched the agonizing scene unfold before her.

 

***

 

From that day, Cyrill and Maria were both considered missing in action. Linus became a rare sight around the castle. Jean was still around, but he rarely left his room. It was clear that they were in no position to continue the great journey to topple the Demon Lord.

The party of heroes, so carefully chosen by Origin, the Divine Creator, was in ruins.