The chief god could give ordinances to priestesses and anyone who had the Oracle Divine Blessing. These ordinances were considered “advice,” so it didn’t count as direct interference. For this ordinance, the chief god had chosen Sylph, the being closest to god as well as the one with the highest level of Oracle.
Through Oracle, she’d told Sylph to either kill Inori Takafuji or bring him under her control. Spirits may have been beings that originated from magic, but he had eight world factors. Killing him wouldn’t have been an easy task.
Humans did not have a strong connection to the spirit world, which meant that within this space, spirits had the upper hand. That’s why Sylph had brought Inori into her own spirit world. She’d planned to take control over his mind there and carry out her ordinance.
She’d possessed Furuth, an elf with a strong connection to spirits, and gotten close to Inori. From the way he looked at her body, she could immediately tell that he had a sexual appetite. The only thing she needed to do then was trap him with her charm. Everything on that front had gone well, and as a result, she’d managed to take Inori into her spirit world.
She’d been surprised to find that he’d had the same idea as her, though. She hadn’t expected that he’d try to use his magic eyes to dominate her psyche. If Inori had anything else up his sleeve, or if he’d tried to fight her, she would’ve most likely lost. She had to hide her surprise and pretend like she wasn’t shaken at all.
She began touching Inori, a leisurely smile on her face. In the spirit world, direct contact meant she had direct access to his feelings and thoughts. As much as she was enjoying going through them one by one, there was something that caught her eye.
“Hm? You hate sex?”
Inori jumped a little.
Sylph couldn’t believe it. Inori didn’t even try to hide his lust...but he hated sex? “Why can’t you be as faithful to your instincts up here as you are down here?”
“You’re barking up the wrong tree.”
“Are you scared of something? Of pleasure? Of being connected? Of pregnancy? Of becoming tainted?” Sylph asked, ignoring his words. “Don’t worry; sex is just a ritual to create offspring. Gods and religions all accept it. Plus, it feels good,” she said gently into his ear. “Let’s feel good together.”
Before she could begin, however, Inori said something in an unemotional voice. “Conqueror.”
“Huh?” Sylph’s body froze. Her arousal disappeared, and her eyes widened.
She saw Inori’s body—or, more accurately, the shape of his body. His real body wasn’t in this world. This was all a dream. Sylph was a spiritual being—the highest-ranked spirit—but she couldn’t tell what exactly was happening before her.
He slowly stood up, unbound. His body shook. It was like it wasn’t a solid shape anymore, like he’d turned into black liquid merely in the form of a person. His entire body was black from toe to head, as if he was absorbing all the light around him.
“What...are you?” Sylph fell to her knees, trembling in the face of this unknown being and the pressure he exerted.
The strangeness didn’t end there, though. The air around his feet started to change, the once beautiful grass turned black, then bloodred roses began to bloom. The previously clear air felt heavy, and a black mist began to envelop the area. The light from above disappeared, and black clouds began rolling in.
“This is my world... Why? What’s going on? Why is my world being devoured?” Sylph could do nothing more than stare in terror as her world changed, consumed by the mysterious darkness. Shadows spread over everything. No longer was it a beautiful, fantastical space, but a shadow world of death, bereft of light.
Sylph heard the sound of footsteps from the source of despair that’d appeared before her. Each step he took killed the grass he stepped on and spread the black mist further.
“No... Stay away...” Sylph practically cried, but her pleas fell on deaf ears.
“You tried to control me...so you must’ve been prepared for the opposite to happen, right?” Inori’s voice rang in her head.
“You... How? You took control of my world? Wait—did you take control of yourself?! Being able to take command of your own soul is something only gods can do—”
“Shut up!” The black shadow devoured Sylph.
There was a soft knock on the door. “Inori, I wanted to ask you about the gun you bought today... Huh?”
Ariya stared at the scene in front of her—an almost naked woman was with Inori in bed, sharing a passionate kiss. “I-Inori?!”
Her words disappeared into the darkness of night.