Around that time, Mutsuko was walking around inside the sacred territory with two others.
Yuichi had been right that there were other ways to enter it.
The entrance they had used was available only to one who had collected all the Divine Vessels, and it took less effort to enter than jumping down from the roof.
The entrance was located among the trees in a park close to Seishin High. It would be hard to notice just at a glance.
The three were walking down a wooden hallway that seemed to go on forever. To the right were classrooms; to the left, windows. There seemed to be countless numbers of them.
It looked like Seishin High’s old school building, but there was something odd about the layout.
The hallway kept turning right. It felt like they were walking in circles. It seemed hard to believe that such a structure could exist in reality, which suggested that they were definitely in some sort of alternate dimension.
“Hey! Hey! What are you gonna wish for? I wonder if he can really grant anything! The usual wish is to wish for more wishes, of course!” Mutsuko walked out in front of Hiromichi and peered into his face.
Four drones hovered around her. They were on autopilot, programmed to maintain a certain distance around her at all times.
“My wish... is to... become a god... and destroy all of humanity,” Hiromichi said as he continued moving, stiffly.
It must have been hard for him to walk. His form had been warped, the result of his taking in all of the Divine Vessels.
The instant all the vessels had been collected, they had been absorbed into him, likely to signify that the war had ended and things were moving on to the next stage. He now had four eyes and six arms; he had grown wings and horns and even sensory organs that humans normally didn’t have; his skin was black and scaled.
“What the heck? That’s boring,” Mutsuko said coldly.
It was impressive bravado before the monstrous Hiromichi, whose entire body seemed to writhe.
“I mean, what’s the deal? I know he hates his classmates and all, but it’s a little twisted to try to destroy all of humanity just to get rid of them. Am I right?” Mutsuko added to Ende, the third member of their group.
“The more Divine Vessels he takes on, the more the Evil God encroaches upon his body and mind,” Ende explained. “When you’re in that position, your wish ends up turning into ‘become the Evil God and destroy the world’... which means the pitch isn’t a lie, see?”
“What?! That’s total fraud! It’s a con game!”
They said you could get whatever you wished for, but then they changed your wish. They’d make you want to destroy the world, so that would be all you could wish for. Which meant there was basically no point at all. Monika’s wish to save her friend and Yuichi’s wish to return Soul Reader never would have been granted from the start.
“The Evil God has revived many times before, but the world hasn’t changed that much,” Ende said. “You could have predicted that, don’t you think?”
“Well, fine! Let’s just revive him and see what happens! Come on, chop-chop! If you take too long, you’ll get beaten before you transform!”
“Would you shut up?!” Hiromichi finally exploded.
“Well, look at that!” Mutsuko said triumphantly. “Up ’til now, you’ve been all looming and impressive and talking in a halting tone of voice, but the minute you have a complaint, you suddenly talk normally! So, what about the ritual? Shouldn’t we be doing something special?”
“No. This path is laid out in a spiral, so we’ll just keep walking until we reach the center,” Ende explained. “That’s all it takes. This school building is steeped in long-seated grudges, so we’ll bathe in those as we walk.”
“That’s boring, too! Couldn’t you carve out someone’s heart like the Aztecs did, or light a big bonfire on an altar or something?”
“If that was what it took, it would be your heart that got dug out.”
“By the way, what’s with this school building?” Mutsuko said. “It doesn’t seem like a part of Seishin High...”
“It was a while before your time, but quite a lot of people died here,” Ende answered. “The incident wasn’t made public, but if you’re interested, you can try to read up on it. Knowing you, you could probably uncover it.”
“Assuming you survive,” she added in a whisper.
The three of them continued walking, but the scenery was so monotonous that Mutsuko eventually began to complain again. “I’ve gotta say, I’m getting pretty sick of this. I’m gonna feel like a big idiot if Yu doesn’t come.”
“Yuichi is heading this way right now. Though it may take him quite a while to get here.” Ende had a paperback in her hand that she was reading from. This was Ende’s ability: she could read about all kinds of events, summarized for her in book form.
Obviously the books couldn’t write down literally everything, so some things did get omitted. But it was a useful ability to watch large transitions taking place.
“But another event is about to begin, so I don’t think you’ll be bored for long,” Ende continued. With that, she pointed ahead of her.
A dead end could be seen at the end of the curving hallway. There was a sliding door there which looked just like one of the classroom doors.
“Finally!” Mutsuko was about to run eagerly out, but Ende grabbed her hand and stopped her.
“There are enemies waiting for us inside. I’ll be fine, but they can easily kill you.”
“Enemies?! What kind? Allies of justice who’ve assembled to stop the Evil God’s resurrection?! Ura-koya? The Burial Agency? Vatican Section XIII? The Gamboze? The Taimanin? I love it! Okay, Rokuhara! Run in there and give ’em hell!”
Mutsuko wasn’t sure if he had heard her, but Rokuhara, whose body was still changing, proceeded forward, nearly dragging himself.
With trembling hands, he opened the door.
The moment he did, gunshots rang out.