Chapter 191

CHAPTER 26 Out of Control We continue following Seiya’s fire salamander while remaining invisible with the exception of Rosalie and head toward the chapel where a dragonewt supposedly is. We follow the gravel road north, avoiding the rubble along the way until the fire salamander suddenly stops in its tracks. From far away, we can see that the chapel’s roof and walls are clearly destroyed, but even so, the statue of their god is still intact as the dragonewt kneels before it with his hands clasped together. Th-there really is a dragonewt here! While observing him from afar, Rosalie quietly whispers: “It must be praying to the Seraph.” “You’re talking about how they idolize Elulu as a deity, I assume?” “Yes. The teachings of the Seraph claim that only dragonewts are the supreme beings of the world and both mankind and demonkind must be eliminated. The followers wouldn’t even hesitate to throw their lives away for the Dragon Lord.” The dragonewt that Seiya defeated, Hydral, and the one that snuck into Iglu, Paradura, both kept chanting, “May the Seraph bless us all.” Looking back, I was probably more terrified by how they strongly believed a false doctrine than by how high their stats were. They had a dull look in their eyes as if they couldn’t fathom any other “truth.” “They somehow created followers that wouldn’t even hesitate to die for the Dragon Lord… It’s terrifying…” “Hmm. That is a good idea.” “Huh?! Wh-what part of that sounds good to you?!” “Don’t worry about it. I was just talking to myself.” While I may be concerned by what Seiya meant, Rosalie seems to have something else on her mind…as she unsheathes her sword and charges straight for the dragonewt! “R-Rosalie?!” “Allow me to capture it! We can torture it after!” “Rosalie, wait! There’s clearly something weird about that dragonewt!” I grab Rosalie by the shoulder and stop her. A tear rolls down the cheek of the dragonewt kneeling at the idol in the distance. “Goddess… I beg you… Please forgive Lord Mash… May true happiness return to both humankind and dragonkind alike.” His sincere prayer catches my ear. This dragonewt is distinctly different from all the others in Warped Gaeabrande. It was clear to me that his prayer was genuine…and I felt as if his voice was familiar as well. “Hey, Seiya. Have we met that dragonewt somewhere before?” “All dragonewts look the same to me, but…its voice does sound familiar now that you mention it. I’ll use Scan on it.” Using Scan would reveal his name almost instantaneously, so I decide to use Scan, too, until Seiya suddenly replies: “‘Lagos,’ huh? I believe that was the dragonewt who acted as our guide in their hidden Dragon Village.” “O-oh yeah! Now I remember! It’s him! It really is Lagos!” Lagos was the dragonewt who used the teleportation circle to send us to their secluded village in the original Gaeabrande. The dragonewts even then were devout followers of the Great Mother, but I remember Lagos being the only logical one. “I bet Lagos can help us! Let’s go talk to him!” But the instant I finish my sentence, Lagos violently coughs in the middle of his prayer before falling forward. A violet liquid then trickles out of his mouth, spilling onto the ground. “What the…? Do you think he’s sick?” “I used Appraise while checking his status, and he isn’t sick. He is physically decaying. Along with mental exhaustion, his life force is declining dramatically to the point that it’s a miracle he’s even still alive.” “O-oh… So can I go talk to him, then?” “…Go ahead.” Seiya turns off his Invisibility, so Cerceus and I reveal ourselves as well. He then tells us to wait so he can create a few more fire salamanders, but…come on! How cautious can you be?! I slowly approach Lagos. After wiping the blood off his mouth and somehow managing to stand, he notices me and begins to faintly tremble, so I make sure to sound as cheerful as I can. “I’m the Goddess Ristarte! Don’t worry! I won’t hurt you! I promise!” “G-Goddess…? Gwah?!” “Huh…?” All of a sudden, Seiya’s fire salamanders attack Lagos, pinning his arms and legs to the ground. “…?! What the hell, Seiya?! I just told him we weren’t going to hurt him!” “You can never be too careful.” “But he can barely move on his own! Plus, you made me look like a liar!” Lagos smiles while lying on the ground, his arms and legs spread out and held down. “It is fine. It only makes sense for you to be cautious, considering what the dragonewts have done to humankind so far…” He then turns his gaze at me. “That divine aura… It is evident you were being truthful. To meet the Goddess before drawing my last breath… Fate is not without a sense of irony.” Lagos coughs once more. It appears he knows he is not long for this world. Seiya skeptically asks: “What are you doing here alone?” “The Dragon Lord—no, Lord Mash—exiled me from Bahamutros…on suspicion of treason…” “‘Treason’? What’d you do?” “I told him we should strive for peace with humankind, not war against them. However, this angered the radicals.” “Th-that’s all?” “But it was Lord Mash’s kindness that kept me from being slaughtered on the spot. Yes… Lord Mash is truly a kind man.” Lagos gazes off into the sky over the chapel with a distant look as the fire salamanders still hold him down. “I wonder if the holy sword Igzasion was truly necessary to save the world. At the very least, Lord Mash should have never become its wielder…” He closes his eyes as if he is deeply pained. “But regrets will not change the past. I am powerless to change anything. All I can do now is simply pray for both humankind and dragonkind alike…” confesses Lagos while looking down at the green cloth wrapped around his arm. Seiya’s eyebrow twitches. “Wait. Is that Mash’s…?” “Oh, Seiya! That’s Mash’s bandanna! I remember because he was always wearing it when I was training him!” “Give it to me.” Seiya tears the bandanna off Lagos’s arm as he remains lying on the ground. “We don’t need to go to the village chief’s house, now that we have this… Rista, can you use this to see what happened when Mash destroyed Nakashi Village?” My ability doesn’t only allow me to read the memories of items when I touch them. It also gives me a vision of what happened as if I had a bird’s-eye view of the event. But to do that, I have to unseal every last bit of my demon god power. “I could do that, but I am going to need to concentrate extremely hard if you want to see a specific event.” “We can return to the underworld first if you can’t handle it.” “No, I can do it. Let me try…” I could have an emotional outburst if I turn into a demon god in the lower realm, but…I’m a high-ranking goddess now! I’ll be fine as long as I remain focused! Believe in yourself, Ristarte! I use Type: Opposite to transform into a demonic deity. My clothes shift into a black leather skirt and revealing top while giving me a more devilish appearance. I take in a deep breath. “Um… You sure you’re okay, Rista?” “I’m fine, Cerceus. I do feel pent-up emotions burning in the depths of my heart, but it’s essentially no different from turning invisible. I just need to remain calm and collected. That’s all.” “Huh! I’m impressed, Rista!” The time has come. I need to use psychometry on Mash’s bandanna and read its memories. Hee-hee! But wow, Seiya’s so handsome. Hmm? What’s going on? That’s weird. I need to look into Mash’s past, and yet I can’t help but… Ah, I want to make out with Seiya so bad! I toss the bandanna onto the ground as if it were garbage. After all, why would I waste my time doing something tedious like psychometry when there’s this sexy piece of man-meat standing right in front of me?! “Seiyaaaaaaaaa!” I throw my arms around Seiya, but Rosalie seems to be even more flustered than he is. “G-Goddess?! Wh-what are you doing?!” “Hmph! Listen up, Rosalie! Seiya’s mine! Got it?!” I tighten my arms around him and begin to squirm. “After all, Seiya and I did have a child together in a past life! Hee-hee!” “…Get off me.” Seiya shoves me off with a stern thrust, but that isn’t enough to make me quit. I grab my leather top and pull the lapels to the side, emphasizing my chest before running right back toward him. “Seiyaaa! Let’s fool arooound!” Cerceus points at me and screams: “Whatever happened to ‘self-control’?! Seiya, what are we gonna do?!” “Don’t worry. I had a feeling this might happen.” Seiya then raises his arm into the air, but I’m not fazed in the slightest. “Oh? Are you gonna bop me on the head? Hee-hee! Go ahead! It might even get me off! Or how about pressing down on my boobs with your sword’s sheath like you used to? Come on, Seiya! I’m here for it! Hee-hee!” “…Hellfire.” A crimson flame instantly emerges from Seiya’s hand like a rope and wraps around me! “Gweeehhhhhh?!” It’s so hot that I scream in agony while reverting back to my original form. I immediately stop, drop, and roll on the ground like a burning marshmallow until I somehow manage to put the fire out. “Pant… Pant… Cough…! Cough…!” Although I made it out alive, my dress is scorched, and my hair is fried as well. “How do you feel, Rista? Can you think clearly now?” “How do you think I feel?! You just flame-grilled my whole body!!” “That’s entirely on you.” “Did you seriously have to use Hellfire on a goddess, though?! Just look at me! My dress and hair are ruined!” “Heal your frizzy hair yourself. I do have another dress you can wear, though.” Seiya pulls a white dress out of his item pouch and passes it to me. “Y-you even keep a spare dress for me, too?” “Yes. I figured I’d be using Hellfire on you one of these days, so I prepared a spare.” “You’ve been planning on burning me alive?!” It was all my fault, though, so it’s not like I can argue with him. I decide to gratefully accept the spare dress. “Anyway, I can’t believe someone as pure and innocent as me would do such a thing…” “You reminded me of that pervy Goddess Mitis. You even showed off your boobs,” says Cerceus. “Ugh! I hate myself! Today was supposed to be my day!” “Meh. I respect the hustle.” “That wasn’t what I was trying to do!” During Cerceus’s and my exchange, Seiya picks up Mash’s bandanna and hands it to me. “Try again. And don’t worry about entering horndog mode. I’ll set you on fire as many times as it takes,” says Seiya while conjuring a ball of fire in his right hand. Too bad that only makes me even more worried! Nevertheless, Rosalie stares at me as if she couldn’t be more jealous. “I yearn to bathe in the Hero’s Hellfire as well…” “Don’t even think about it! It’s hot as hell! Literally!” “Enough. Hurry up and use your psychometry.” After taking in a deep breath, I transform back into a demon god. This time, however, I am able to clearly focus because of my ardent desire not to be set on fire ever again. Soon, I can no longer hear their voices or any sound around me as a deep silence swallows the ruined village. A vision appears before my eyes. Women and children are running around in terror. Buildings are burning to the ground. The agonizing cries of the villagers are followed by armed dragonewts…and towering above them all is… Mash…? His reddish-brown hair is spiky, just how I remember it. But he’s about as tall as Seiya now, and the crest of the dragon runs all the way down his arms and up his neck, revealing itself on the spots where he isn’t wearing armor. It almost looks like a tattoo. His eyes are sharp but clouded over, like those of a monster. It’s almost like he’s a completely different person. “D-don’t let them scare you! Stand your ground!” shouts a human with a spear. A group of villagers stands before the throng of dragonewts with every last ounce of courage they have. There appear to be people familiar with swordsmanship and magic in the village, but there’s a key difference separating the two species. It isn’t simply the fact that dragonewts are naturally stronger and better fighters than humans, though. A human soldier catches a dragonewt off guard and slashes its back. It’s a supposedly fatal blow, and blood is flying in all directions, yet the dragonewt casually bites off the soldier’s head as if it didn’t even feel a thing. Its eyes are vacant as if it didn’t even notice the soldier’s body collapse before it. “May the Seraph bless us all…” The cult tramples upon the humans until, eventually, not a single sound of war can be heard. Only the women, children, and elderly remain. Nevertheless, the dragonewts relentlessly slaughter every last one of them. “This village is a stain on my name. Kill them all. Burn everything in sight,” echo Mash’s chilling orders from the head of the pack. Perhaps he wanted to erase every last memory he had of when he lived with these humans. Out of nowhere, a young man, who was hiding behind a building, rushes out and kneels before Mash. He pleads: “Mash, it’s me! Glenn! We used to play together all the time when we were kids! Remember…?” “Can’t say I do.” “P-please don’t kill me, Mash. I don’t want to die!” “Hmm… Give me a second.” He places a hand on his chin while staring at the empty space to his side. “Oh… Yeah… Really? You’re right. Okay.” Huh…? Wh-what was that? Was he talking to himself? Mash then faces the young man once more with a smile. “Glenn, you want to live a little longer, right?” “Y-yes!” “Then I’ll grant that wish.” Mash extends his hand for a shake, and Glenn accepts it with a smile… But that smile soon contorts into a bloodcurdling scream. Blood is dripping from Glenn’s hand as his index finger rolls on the ground! “What?! I thought you said you’d let me live!” “I never said that. I said you could live a little longer.” Mash puts Glenn in a full nelson, then cuts off his middle finger. He ignores his old friend’s cries as he moves on to his ring finger and pinky… H-how horrible! Killing him outright would have been better than this! Glenn has already fallen unconscious by the time his last finger is cut off, but Mash kicks him in the stomach while telling the surrounding dragonewts: “Humans are poorly built creatures. It only takes a small amount of pain to make them pass out… Wake up. There’s no point in beating you to death if you’re unconscious.” “Gwah!” Mash stuffs the severed fingers into Glenn’s mouth the moment he regains consciousness. “Hyah-ha-ha-ha! Do your fingers taste good?” “Eeeeeeeeek! I can’t…! I can’t watch this anymore!” I scream before shutting off the vision of my own accord. My body is soaked in sweat. “R-Rista?! Are you okay? What in the world did you see?” “Something that went above and beyond anything I ever imagined!” “Oh? Was Mashed Potatoes really that bad?” “He was worse than that! He cut off a guy’s fingers, then stuffed them back in the guy’s—blehhh!” Just thinking about it makes me dry heave. Rosalie softly rubs my back. “Now do you understand just how terrifying the Dragon Lord is?” “Y-yeah…” “Rista, tell me exactly what you saw.” I relay what I saw to Seiya and the others. Seiya is especially curious about Mash’s appearance, gestures, and the like, and I find that the more I talk, the better I feel. “I still can’t believe that Mash would do something like that.” “The Mash in this warped world is not Mash. It’s a twisted illusion.” “But even then, that was originally Mash, right? Why would such a sweet, innocent boy do something like that?” “Goddess, you know of Lord Mash’s true self, yes?” Lagos turns his head in my direction as Seiya’s fire salamanders still pin him to the ground. His face is gaunt but placid. “Dragonewts originally cooperated with humans to defeat the Demon Lord. However, everything changed the moment Lady Elulu died. Ever since that day…” He has another violent coughing fit before he can finish his sentence. “L-Lagos…! Seiya, let him go!” “Do not worry about me…because either way, I am already…” He coughs once more, spewing blood out of his mouth. “Perhaps meeting you during my last moments was fate. Please, Goddess… Save the world… No… Save Lord Mash…” Lagos then closes his eyes, never to open them again.