The Boy in the City of the Dead

by Kanata Yanagino

  “So you have gained the protection of Gracefeel.”

  The god of undeath’s expression was contorted.

  “A shame... Truly a shame... I would dearly have liked for you to join my forces. But if she has taken you in, then there is no more use trying.”

  Suddenly, I could sense murder in the air. Up until now, he’d been trying to convince me to join him. But from now on, he would be trying to kill me. Both of us were deadly serious. We had, to my regret, reached the stage I’d been trying to avoid: a straightforward fight to the death.

  But now... Now, I did not see myself losing!

  “God of undeath, Stagnate! I will defeat you, and honor my vow!”

  “Young warrior, perish unfulfilled!”

  With the clashing of our cries, the final battle began.

  ◆

  “Kill him!”

  The god of undeath was first to act. At his command, the undead heroes thrust out their blades. Enclosing on me from all directions, it was a literal wall of steel. There were no ways to escape it, no openings to strike with a blade.

  So as power erupted from the depths of my body, I struck out with it in all directions, letting it erupt as it desired. Space bent slightly around me, and an invisible and sacred pulse surged from within me, sending voiceless screams echoing around the graveyard.

  They were not screams of pain. They were cries of repose, which expressed the joy of release. The skeletons turned to dust, and the wall of steel crumbled like sand. Rusty old weapons and armor fell one after another, creating a cacophony of clattering metal. I wasn’t going to risk looking up, but I could sense that a flame had flared into existence at one point in the sky overhead, and had floated into the sky and disappeared.

  I’d definitely heard it, a long time ago: Gracefeel’s benediction granted repose and guidance to the souls of the dead. The blessing’s name was Divine Torch.

  It was rarely focused upon, because there wasn’t much advantage to having a user of benediction, who was a valuable healer, fighting on the front lines directly against undead. But in this situation, it was incredibly powerful.

  The god of undeath gathered together wandering souls once more, and started awakening the corpses sleeping in the graveyard. In response, I prayed again to the god of the flame. Another invisible pulse, and all the lost souls in the area were peacefully guided back to the gods.

  “Unbelievable... you only just became a priest!”

  Either the speed or the range of my blessing must have taken him by surprise. He was right. I had only just become a priest. But I knew how to pray. I’d been praying all along, watching Mary, learning from her. There was no way it could cause me any hesitation now.

  “Acceleratio!” I turned my brain off and charged straight at him. I wasn’t going to use any convoluted plans.

  “Khhh...”

  I knew from our exchange so far that the god of undeath wasn’t particularly skilled at swordsmanship, or hand-to-hand fighting in general. If he were, I would never have been able to connect twice with my blade, even if I had taken him by surprise. So I didn’t play around with gimmicks. I just closed the distance relentlessly. I just needed to get up in his face. Then, I could strike and strike again with my demonblade, and this time, scatter him to the winds before he even had time for a counterattack!

  “Vas...”

  The hairs stood on the back of my neck as I heard him speak. Still accelerating sharply, I kicked hard against the ground and felt the strain on my legs as I leaped directly to the side.

  “...tare!”

  The Word of Destruction, cast with even greater power than Gus could muster. The ground split and exploded. I’d avoided taking a direct hit, but I was disoriented by the cloud of earth and sand that was kicked up, and the lingering effects of that ravaging blast. I stumbled to the ground. The god of undeath had unleashed that magic of destruction at the earth, so close that even he was caught in the blast.

  Of course. How had I forgotten? Echoes of the gods could only be harmed by extremely powerful magic or by demonblades. In other words, he had no need to fear the effects of his own magic. The fundamental principle that guided an ordinary person’s use of magic didn’t apply to him. He couldn’t have cared less whether he caught himself in the blast.

  I now understood the reason he hadn’t developed great skills in swordsmanship or physical combat. If he could use magic this wicked within a swordsman’s range, he had no need for sword or fist. If someone got too close, he could just blow them both up with magic. There was only one reason he hadn’t done that before now. He’d been trying to convince me to join him.

  A secret boss, I’d called him, and he was definitely living up to it. An Echo of the gods. He wasn’t the kind of opponent I could easily snatch victory from just by awakening to a bit of new power. But I still had no intention of losing.

  Using magic a little unconventionally was nothing major. Now that I knew about it, I could deal with it. With renewed resolve to crush him here at all costs, I jumped to my feet, while healing all my cuts and minor injuries with the blessing Close Wounds.

  The cloud of particulate dust and sand that had been kicked up was still hanging about the area. Silence fell. Where was he going to attack from? In this low visibility, careless movements could leave you open.

  As if extending my sense of touch beyond my skin, I searched for mana in operation. If there were any large movements—forewarnings of an attack that could clear out a large area—I would have to jump clear of this place immediately. And if my opponent showed any careless movements to me, I’d jump in close to him and deliver the finishing blow.

  As the seconds dragged on, a worrying premonition flashed through my mind. It was a revelation from Gracefeel, warning against my current actions.

  I paused in confusion for a moment. The god of undeath was fighting me. Fervently, with clear intent to kill me. The situation looked evenly matched, so if he kept on fighting... No... wait. Wait.

  What if... What if he wasn’t fervently fighting?

  “Oh, shoot!” The temple! The temple, hurry! “Acceleratio!”

  I ran.

  I ran and ran and ran.

  I dashed up the hill at full tilt.

  Everything the god of undeath had said and done had been a bluff! His surprise, his fervor, his irritation, they were all a show to make me think he was fully engrossed in our battle! And then he kicked up dirt and sand to stall for time...

  “Damn it!”

  His goal had been to remove the troublesome piece I’d become from the board of battle, and leave me aside while he went after Blood and Mary!

  ◆

  I sprinted and sprinted. I incanted the Word of Acceleration over and over. I pounded up the withered grass of the hill, running at full speed through the cold air.

  I thought I understood, but I really didn’t. He was a god who had lived for an unimaginably long time. A being not of this world, beyond human measure.

  I thought I had the picture of that being, but it had not been a complete one. If I was to believe his words, perhaps he did view me as someone worthy of a little caution and attention. But that said nothing about how important it was to him now.

  He could appear much later to eliminate me or try to change my mind. In ten or twenty years, when I was facing a crisis; thirty or forty, once I developed doubts about whether my choices had led me to the right place; fifty or sixty, once I started to experience the discomforts of old age. Even if I managed to kill the Echo, a human couldn’t do anything about the god himself at the end of dimensions. The god of undeath surpassed human reckoning, and had several chances.

  The bigger issues for him were Blood, Mary, and Gus. Now that I had obtained the blessing of the god of the flame, I could return them to samsara. The heroes he had marked and halfway drawn in would be stolen from him. But he wasn’t absolutely sure he could kill me with his current splinter now that his other half had been destroyed by Gus.

  He likel
y coldly calculated the risk and return, and chose to play the fool. He deliberately hammed it up, like some story’s cheesy antagonist, showing me surprise and anger, and making me temporarily forget the risk of being circumvented. It’s exactly what I was trying to do at the beginning! I tried to get him to focus on me and forget about them, and instead he was the one who made me forget. If I hadn’t had that moment’s warning from the god of the flame, everything would have been over for sure. What a horrifyingly cunning opponent.

  I continued to run. Only one thought filled my mind.

  Don’t be too late. Please, don’t be too late!

  When I made it all the way to the top and the temple came into view, I saw that the main doors had been flung wide open.

  “Mary! Blood!”

  At the back of the temple... was the god of undeath. He was stretching out his hand toward Mary and Blood, who were covered in wounds. They had probably tried to resist. Gus was sewn to the wall by the black mist, and Blood, standing to protect Mary, was already beginning to crumble.

  As soon as I witnessed that scene, I knew. The conclusion was forced upon me. With this much distance... and this little time... I was never going to make it. None of the three were in any condition to deal with him.

  The blood drained from my head. Was this really happening? After coming all this way, after even borrowing the power of a god, after finally evening the odds... was it all really going to end with me being careless enough to fall for a conman’s trick?

  “Hah hah hah!”

  The god of undeath extended his hand triumphantly, and it seemed to move toward Blood’s skull in slow motion—

  But the next instant, that hand was knocked away.

  “Huh...?” It wasn’t me. Nor was it Gus, Blood, or Mary.

  The one who had knocked aside the god of undeath’s hand was a woman clothed in soft raiment. She was blocking the way to Mary and Blood, shielding them.

  I didn’t recognize her. And yet, I definitely felt like I knew her.

  Mary’s empty eyes opened wide, and her voice trembled with a wordless sound of amazement and disbelief. Impossible tears fell from the corners of her eyes.

  The woman turned toward Mary and smiled. A loving smile, a caressing smile. And then the woman’s form melted gently into the night air, as though it had been no more than an illusion.

  Nothing more was needed. The message couldn’t have been clearer.

  Mary had always had her forgiveness. She never hated Mary in the first place.

  But Mary wasn’t looking for forgiveness. Lenient treatment wasn’t what Mary wanted. So she watched over Mary, and continued to scold her as she desired. And this continued, and continued, without her ever removing her protection, for two whole centuries, until the time came when Mary could forgive herself.

  What mother wouldn’t come to the aid of the daughter who loves her in her time of crisis? The god that Mary worshipped with such devotion, Mater, was indeed a great goddess.

  Knowing the truth of everything, Mary broke into tears.

  The god of undeath froze at the sight of his assured victory slipping from his grasp.

  And with deep gratitude to Mater for this unexpected opportunity, Blood and I sprang into action.

  ◆

  “Gracefeel, god of the flame! Repose and guidance!” I immediately made the decision to use benediction. And I was aiming for Mary and Blood.

  “Wh—?!”

  The god of undeath stared, wide-eyed in a clear state of shock. He surely hadn’t anticipated that I would blast one of my moves at the people I was trying to protect. The blessing I was using was Divine Torch: the invisible, sacred pulse that returned souls to the cycle of reincarnation.

  “Tch! Stagnate, samsara! Go astray, guidance!”

  He knew what I was intending and unleashed an unholy pulse of countervailing nature, nullifying it. He was standing in front of Mary and Blood, guarding them.

  It was a strange sight to see, but because I was targeting Mary and Blood, he had no choice but to protect them. If I launched attacks at him instead, he would probably attempt to take their two souls in the meantime, trusting that as a splinter of a god, he could survive just long enough to complete the task before getting annihilated.

  As far as the gods were concerned, their Echoes were disposable. They required time and effort to bring into the world, but could certainly be replaced. He would gladly trade annihilation for Mary and Blood.

  But if I managed to hit them with Divine Torch, that would be an entirely different story. I was certain they wouldn’t resist it. They would slip out of his clutches, and return to the eternal wheel.

  If that happened, the entire reason he went to the trouble of sending a splinter down to this dimension in the first place would evaporate. It would turn out to have been a complete waste of effort. In order to prevent that from happening, the god of undeath was forced into this strange situation where he had to protect Mary and Blood from me for as long as the focus of my benediction remained on them.

  Ironically, his situation was exactly the same as that of a superhero, standing in front of the citizens who need to be protected, in the face of attacks from the villain. His only choice was to put his body in front of them, and protect them from being so much as grazed by my benediction. His attention was divided, distracted with the task of completely negating my moves.

  With a breathy grunt, Blood transferred all the strength left in his wounded body into a single downward swing of his favorite two-handed sword. Even if it wasn’t as impressive as Overeater, Blood’s favorite weapon was itself a demonblade, and one worthy of his skills with a sword. It couldn’t be ignored.

  The less than a second that the god of undeath spent on a reactionary dodge...

  “Acceleratio!”

  ...would be more than enough for me to fly down the length of the temple!

  “V-Vas—”

  He attempted to incant the Word of Destruction.

  “Tacere, os!”

  An instant’s silence was forced upon his mouth. It was Gus. He was still sewn to the wall by the black mist, and he was wearing the world’s smuggest grin. The power that Gus could wield right now was obviously extremely limited, and yet he had interfered in the best possible way at the best possible moment.

  — Just learn to use small amounts of magic, sensibly and precisely.

  I remembered the words he’d taught me all that time ago. This Word of Silence, this glorious and dastardly attack, epitomized Gus far better than the grand magic that was the Word of Entity Obliteration.

  My right foot met the ground. I kicked forward again, closing the distance like a bullet. Left foot. Right foot. The walls on either side of me raced backward like arrows in flight.

  I was already upon him—

  I screamed a war cry, and then—

  Impact. Resistance.

  Overeater was buried in his chest.

  “Gahk—!”

  I pulled it out, and slashed again. Then another slash, and another. The god of undeath tried to evade and defend, but at this range, I was in complete control.

  “Why, you... Damn you!”

  Slash. Slash. Slash. The crimson thorns shooting from the demonblade tormented his body.

  “Will... Will, son of Mary and Blood... Will, disciple of Gracefeel!”

  He glared at me, his murky eyes full of hate. It wasn’t the fake hatred and bloodlust from before. This was true hatred, true bloodlust.

  “I will not forget your name! If you will not surrender to me, I will make sure you never sleep easy again!”

  He had marked me out now for sure.

  “You sound like a two-bit villain,” I said bluntly, and blasted the god of undeath, covered in crimson thorns, with every last bit of purifying power I could draw from the god of the flame.

  At last, the formidable Echo of the god of undeath started crumbling away.

  If I was afraid to make an enemy of a god, I wouldn’t have defied one in the
first place.

  “I swear on the flame of Gracefeel...” I pointed the tip of my demonblade at the god of undeath as he gradually vanished. “You will not own me. I will live and die as it should be.”

  That was my personal declaration of hostility, and my final farewell to the disappearing splinter of the god of undeath. The Echo replied to my words with a hate-filled stare, his eyes locked on mine as he turned to dust. I didn’t break his gaze until he was gone.

  ◆

  After the god of undeath’s Echo was annihilated, I spent a while on alert, half-expecting a third splinter, or further enemies. Once I was finally sure that we’d won, it wasn’t joy that filled me, but a sense of relief so overwhelming I slumped down to the temple’s floor.

  I sat there, the temple around me in terrible shape from the earlier battle, and breathed out a long sigh. He had been a strong opponent, without exaggeration.

  Strangely, any awesome feeling of personal accomplishment was entirely missing. Maybe it was because many of the reasons we won were the work of other people.

  I wielded the high-level demonblade I’d received from Blood, Overeater. Gus destroyed his Echo’s other splinter early on, which was supposed to be his ace in the hole. The god of the flame protected me as my guardian. And Mary’s guardian deity, Mater the Earth-Mother, bought us time just when it was most needed.

  That wasn’t all. There were all the things that Blood, Mary, and Gus had generously shared with me, which gave me my familiarity with swords, magic, and prayer. Those gifts included something even more important than battle skill, something human, deep at my core.

  It took all these things, piled one on top of another, to achieve this narrowest of narrow victories. I could easily have died, and if any one of those elements had been missing, I wouldn’t have stood a chance. It was thanks to the protection of my god, and most of all, thanks to those three. I was blessed to have such people around me.

  As I thought about how lucky I was, a pair of arms wrapped around me tightly. “Will... Will... I’m so glad you’re okay...” The friendly smell of fragrant wood burning enveloped me.