“Koko.”
I called out to Koko.
First, I sat her down again and inspected her body.
“Kotone…”
There was no strength in Koko’s voice. There was still a hole in her chest and belly. My hand felt rough and unfinished, like a 3D printer’s half-finished result, and Koko’s body was barely held together.
I felt her heartbeat slowing down.
No, it couldn’t be.
“Kotone!?”
As I reached my hand into the empty space in Koko, she jolted in surprise. She tried to push me away with her arm, but unfortunately, she lacked the strength.
I slowly sacrificed my recovering hand.
Not just a hand. To properly fill her empty body, a lot of flesh was needed.
Maybe I could use Koko’s arms to fill her legs. But… for some reason, I didn’t want to do that.
By the time Koko was recovering enough to move, almost my left arm was gone.
“Woo… Kotone…”
Tears welled up in Koko’s eyes.
I looked down at my stub of a left arm and grabbed it with my right hand.
Flesh from my left arm moved to become a “proper” right hand. My left arm was now just cleanly empty. Still, this felt better. Having both sides incomplete wouldn’t help anyway.
“……”
Yuka, who had been staring blankly at the scene with her mouth agape, finally came to her senses.
“What do we do now?”
Screams were still echoing.
I had barely plugged the ‘biggest hole,’ but it seemed Nirlas’s power was almost entirely absorbed by Kosuzu. Souls continued to scream in the tentacles.
Yuka swung her knife as if to shake off her clothes, bursting the souls that were slowly rising from the ground. It looked so natural that it was almost creepy.
Seriously, what do we do?
That’s the situation. We had caught the phase one boss, but there seemed to be many phases left.
Moreover, trying again was impossible.
Honestly, if I were a god, I would wish I had more decent powers.
It seemed my “Nyalathotep power” and “Koko power” were entirely separate. I could fly or levitate objects with my authority, but transforming and utilizing my body was in a completely different realm.
“……”
Wait.
Watching Koko get up to fend off the souls, I suddenly looked at my missing left arm.
If we were fighting by ‘consuming’ our bodies—of course, having ‘more’ body would be better.
There were still a few refrigerators left in the apartment.
And each of those refrigerators was filled with unshapely flesh.
…Why didn’t I think to bring them?
Well, if I wanted to say the answer, I already knew it. I just… wanted to maintain my appearance. I knew my body had changed, and although I recognized it was originally unshaped.
I lowered my gaze.
There, I could see what I had completely lost—myself. Slowly, hands had risen from below and were dragging the remnants back into the tentacles.
“……Alright.”
“Kotone?”
Yuka turned to me.
I couldn’t let these kids die. I wanted to show them my form, but still—doing so at the expense of my friends’ lives was out of the question.
That would truly be a reversal of the subject and object.
Initially, how I wanted to maintain my appearance was so I could remain like this in front of my friends.
I wasn’t just talking about looks.
From the moment I began to take Koko’s body, I felt that the connection between us was not simply ‘Koko’ alone.
Deep inside, there were things that seemed to be off-limits to touch.
Right, didn’t they say that one could split into many?
If so, among those ‘many,’ there could be things that aren’t ‘Koko.’ Kagami speculated but I knew better.
So, if I were to merge them all together, perhaps I wouldn’t be able to remain as myself.
That primal fear.
Plus, I continued to wonder.
Why was Koko in that state, and why was I like this? After all, we were supposed to be the same ‘failed product.’
Why could Koko absorb her flesh entirely and even devour other nearby humans when she was born, while I wasn’t absorbed at all when I was crushed by her?
Why was Koko, just because I helped her a little, so devoted to me?
“……”
If ‘many’ is to become one, it means that keeping the many together is the only way to achieve ‘completion.’
The reason we looked like failures might be because we’re so split apart.
In that case.
“Yuka, Koko. Protect me for a moment.”
“Okay!”
“Got it.”
At what I said, the faces of both lit up for a bit.
I felt confident I had found some way. They believed in me that much.
So, I should be able to repay that faith.
I just hoped the nameless, foolish god had given me powers that would actually work.
*
Splash.
The sound of droplets echoed.
Yuuki stepped forward, slowly ringing the bell.
He couldn’t ring it too fast. Otherwise, monsters would swarm too much, making it impossible to ‘block.’
But if he rang it too slowly, the monsters would end up devouring everyone.
The vicinity of the apartment was in chaos, filled with unknown yōkai.
Not long after Koko, Yuuki, and Kotone left, the lights in the surrounding area began to extinguish.
From far away, in that endless row of buildings, the lights began to flicker out one by one, and in an instant, everything was covered in darkness.
Then the screams from afar could be heard.
Yuuki rang the bell after deciding to talk with the kids.
The three had left to protect the people. Then, it was concluded that the remaining people also needed to help in their way.
‘How could we help in “protecting”?’
After the monsters started pouring in, Yuuki remembered that the bell he was holding attracted the monsters.
Thus, it eventually became this.
With talismans left by Kagami all around the apartment, he periodically rang the bell as if holding a sit-in protest inside the barrier.
Monsters sniffing the scent of humans in the vicinity turned their heads toward Yuuki in unison whenever he rang the bell.
The sight of the monsters filling the area, turning their heads toward him, was a chilling sight.
From afar, something towering high enough to be visible from here, the sight of monsters following the sound of the bell filling the streets reminded him of an old painting.
Where did it all come from? As he thought about it, a strange image floated into Yuuki’s mind.
A horrific-open, somewhat humanoid hole.
And cracks spread across the ground.
These cracks seemed less like they were cut or torn and more like something dripped out and poured forth.
…He had seen something like this. Monsters arising from Kotone’s blood.
“……”
Standing awkwardly on the roof of the apartment, Yuuki slowly began to ring the bell.
He focused his mind. To draw the essence of the monsters connected to him toward this place.
Whoosh.
Monsters that were too close came crashing into the talismans and burst into flames.
Sota, spilling his blood, swung a stick covered in his blood. Next to him, Nanami and Shii also acted the same.
The monsters that had entered the barrier after being burned up seemed to crumble under the sticks they wielded.
Yohei was also among them, and naturally, Hagiwara was running around vigorously too. The sword of hers was stained red with blood.
No one knew when it would end.
They were just processing the endlessly pouring monsters with bodies on the verge of collapse.
Meanwhile—
Thud.
Yuuki’s focus on ringing the bell was slightly disrupted.
Something was ringing. A while ago, the ground had trembled a bit, but it hadn’t affected this much that he felt unsafe.
“……Ah.”
Yuuki recalled one possibility.
If it were Kotone, wouldn’t she have spilled blood inside the building?
He thought it wouldn’t be a problem since they set up a barrier, but maybe that wasn’t the case.
Yuuki hurriedly ran toward the stairs leading down from the roof and shouted.
“Everyone—”
Before he could finish with “Be careful!”
Bang!
A sound echoed from inside the apartment, and sizzle, sizzle—
It sounded like something was tearing.
And then.
A scream deafeningly broke through.
BANG, BANG, BANG.
Kotone’s room, and the room where the resurrection ceremony took place, along with the other room that someone lived in.
All the doors of the remaining rooms except for these three burst open.
“AH!?”
“Shii!”
Sota, who happened to be near that door, quickly grabbed his older sister Shii. Thankfully, she didn’t slam into the large wooden door…
“Shii, are you okay!?”
“Ah, I-I’m—”
“You’re hurt.”
Quickly, Nanami ran over and grabbed Shii’s arm.
There was a long wound, with a stream of blood flowing.
However, it was a bit different from the wound from hitting the door.
It looked like a long, slim scratch as if something had clawed at her.
“Sota, you too.”
And a similar wound was on Sota as well.
Blood from both flowed in the opposite direction from the apartment building. That ‘brushing past’ it headed toward the cursed room.
“What’s that…?” Yohei muttered.
Toward the empty air, a massive mass was flying in. It seemed painted in blue flames, screaming horribly.
It looked even more hideous than the monsters swarming the streets that seemed like a bunch of people mixed up together.
Crash!
That thing slammed its body down on the ground.
As if wanting to turn off the water, it overturned cars and light poles on the street while thrashing about.
Then, it crushed the monsters underneath and set their bodies ablaze.
“———!”
The thing that screamed, no longer of this world, soared into the air—and just disappeared.
“……”
For a few seconds, the group stood with their mouths agape, watching that sight before finally regaining their senses.
Yuuki started ringing the bell again.
There was no time to figure out what that was.
—To be precise, everyone who could figure out what that was had long since escaped.
*
“……What is that again.”
Fukuda mumbled in a daze.
Something flew up, leaving behind a blue trail. It was far too fast to identify exactly what it was; the moment he turned his head, it was already slamming into the tentacle.
The enormous thing that crawled toward Kagami, shaking the ground, spewed blood. It seemed that blue flames were also licking at it little by little.
Screams echoed again.
“……”
As Kagami watched that sight, she stuffed the mirror into her arms and started running toward it with all her might.
“Hey, Kagami—!”
“Go!”
Kagami’s scream echoed.
“……”
Fukuda, who was blankly watching Kagami’s back, let out a big sigh.
Then he turned the handle of the motorcycle he was riding.
“Kagami.”
Fukuda ran up beside Kagami.
“Get on.”
“……”
Kagami met his gaze, and Fukuda sighed heavily.
“If you’re not here, then surely the world would collapse or something, right?”
“……”
“Anyway, I’d like my daughter to live.”
Maybe it was because of the word “daughter.”
Kagami eventually got on the back of the motorcycle.
Though her expression didn’t change, somehow he felt like he understood her heart.
“I’ll take you as far as I can. What happens after that, I don’t know.”
Fukuda shouted that as the motorcycle moved forward.
*
“Yuka.”
“……”
“Yuka.”
I knew the situation was urgent, but there were things I needed to convey.
I felt my strength continuously seeping away. It didn’t seem to be solely because I lost an arm.
I had overworked my body to the point where it felt I could only paint the image, and most importantly, it didn’t seem like this ability came without a price.
Truly, if I were a god, I wish I had some ridiculously powerful abilities.
“Kotone?”
When Yuka saw me staggering back to my seat, she was taken aback.
I swung my arm to shake off whatever was trying to grab me.
And in a nearly prostrate state, I spoke with a cracked voice.
“From now on, something is going to happen.”
Perhaps from that moment on, I wouldn’t be myself anymore.
In a world where the names of gods from the Cthulhu Mythos were tied together by the author’s whims, I had no idea what name it would turn out to be.
But there was one thing I was sure about.
I would probably become truly ‘chaos.’
I would become a messenger of the gods.
Even at this moment, something was wrapping around my head as if water was seeping through the wall that had been damaged.
Yes, this ability definitely came with a cost.
While I kept as much of my reason intact, I said.
“Please, protect Koko.”
“Kotone!?”
Yuka shouted urgently.
“And if…”
I gasped for breath, trying to finish what I needed to say.
“If… listen carefully, Yuka. This time, it has to be certain.”
I forced my head up.
What was my body like now?
Was it responding to… that nameless thing Kagami had ‘sealed’?
“This time, it’s my will.”
I felt my body slowly unable to maintain its form.
Lying down was my form of rebellion. Honestly, just like I floated earlier, I felt like I would lift off again.
Ha, pulling at my ankles was great help, but I had no intention of being dragged into the tentacles.
“So.”
Yuka’s expression was filled with doubt.
It seemed she didn’t quite understand what I was saying.
“What I’m saying is.”
That was the end of my words—
“———!”
A sound echoed.
Yuka and I looked up at the sky.
A blue flame was bursting forth.
And a massive tentacle was piercing through another tentacle, being sliced apart. The burning blood flew toward us.
I shook off the wrist that was grabbing my ankle.
The blood seeping into my sock was disgusting.
Slowly, my body began to rise into the sky.
“Wait, wait, Kotone! What do you mean by ‘please’!?”
“Kotone!?”
Koko exclaimed as she looked up at me.
As if she had a premonition that something bad was about to happen, she reached out to me, but unfortunately, she lacked the strength to catch me as I ascended rapidly.
“……”
That’s right.
It was that way.
This wasn’t giving up. I would fight to the end to stay alive.
Just like Yuka said.
But still.
I didn’t want to let my friends die.
I hoped these kids would have plenty of time left.
Until the very last, I just wanted them to be happy.
Overcoming adversity, shaking off fear, becoming a proper protagonist.
Blue rain poured down from the sky.
I began to break apart.
My arms and legs became all wobbly. Spread out wide, as if I were crushed under my own weight just like when I first saw Koko.
That body served like an umbrella, shielding the rain.
Flames transferred from the rain burned my body.
There was no pain.
It was as if this was how it was supposed to be, and I even felt it was somewhat warm.
My body ignited in blue.
Just like that ‘other body’ above.
“Kotone!”
Who was calling my name? With a voice that was almost exhausted, it was—
I didn’t have to think about it; it was both of them.
I couldn’t see; I had no eyes.
Slowly, I felt the sound fade away.
After that, what I felt was only touch.
Even without ears, whispers could be heard.
It was like prayer.
Climbing against eons of time, the wisdom of countless beings that existed on this Earth layer upon layer over my own, covering both the colossal secrets and my insignificant secrets like a mountain.
My senses were expanding.
From being a small human, slowly, becoming something big.
Not just a mass of flesh, but as if it were something like nature itself—
No, transcending nature, becoming a singular ‘nature.’
*
How could a formless flesh appear sacred?
The sight of arms and legs sprouting out haphazardly was hardly a form that could be called a divine being.
That body stretched and transformed, becoming one sword, piercing without end into the heavens.
“———!”
The screams that were no longer of this world echoed.
Something shattered.
Time that had frozen began to shatter. Something beyond the space—
“Kotone! Kotone—!”
On the brink of fainting, Koko frantically called out Kotone’s name.
Yuuka rushed in and managed to grab the slowly rising form before it lifted away. She held on tight from behind so it wouldn’t escape.
“Let go! Kotone, Kotone’s—!”
“Koko, please…!”
Even Yuuka still didn’t understand the situation.
What was happening right now?
What happened to Kotone?
What was that blue mass above?
None of it made sense.
Yet, she still bit down.
And she protected Koko. Making sure that Koko wouldn’t join that thing—
…At least, she needed to keep her promise to Kotone.
The souls wailed.
Those with hands were all covering their ears.
They covered their eyes and mouths.
As if the mere presence of that thing here frightened them, they desperately tried to hide their bodies.
They were the ones trying to intrude from the other side, writhing back toward the tentacles.
“……”
Yuka was crying.
She didn’t know why she was crying. She just let it all out.
As if that was the only thing she could do.
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