They were laughing. No sound came from those cold, exquisitely sculpted faces, yet when 042 met their hollow gazes, he could feel it.
These ominous guests, these beings that resembled angels—they were laughing at him, laughing at every person who dared to resist them here.
"It's always like this. These bastards are always looking down on us, as if we were nothing more than livestock they've raised in captivity."
The old man gazed up at the angels, the burning radiance illuminating his face.
"But things are different now, aren't they? You're surprised too, aren't you? You were the hunters once, but now you're being hunted by us—the weak."
Shrill cries rang out without end. The demon hunters of Shandaphon had already seen the angels appear. Before those beings could even fully construct their bodies, the hunters were upon them, slaughtering them.
Blood-soaked corpses rained from above. Their spilled blood spread into a torrential crimson curtain, cascading downward and washing over everyone.
042 stared at the scene in horror. Then, with great difficulty, he shifted his gaze toward the old man. The old man seemed to sense his eyes upon him and gave 042 an ugly smile.
"They're the ones, aren't they?" the boy asked.
Before that terrifying corruption, he was even less capable of resisting than the carefree old man before him. His body trembled violently, every nerve screaming in agony.
"Yes. They're beings whose true nature remains unknown to us. But one thing is certain: they are connected to the origin of the demons. For most of the time, they exist in a form resembling wraiths, watching everything in this world from the shadows. That is why we never discovered them before. They simply weren't visible."
The old man patiently explained, gently swirling the wineglass in his hand. As the angels died, their bodies disintegrated into dust, while the blood in his glass rapidly evaporated.
It was as though some unknown force had been imposed upon their remains, relentlessly erasing their very existence.
"But a will born of nothingness cannot interfere with our decisions. They need a physical vessel in order to act. Yet once they possess one, they can also be discovered… and captured."
There was a strange meaning in his words. Beneath his slightly deranged expression lay a pair of extraordinarily lucid eyes. The old man had never seemed so clear-minded before. His reason was absolute.
And the more rational he appeared, the more uncontrollable 042's fear became.
Not because of these strange beings that had suddenly appeared, but because of the old man who was still smiling before him.
042 had failed to obtain a Power, but secret blood flowed through his veins, and his will had endured the hammering of the [Divine Favor Baptism]. He should have been more than capable of resisting corruption. Yet even so, he still felt like a dead leaf caught in a storm, torn apart by countless currents of air, barely holding together.
And yet, beneath an apocalypse like this, the old man—a mere mortal—remained perfectly lucid.
He could even smile at 042.
"They possess the appearance of angels, but they are false gods born of hatred. I usually call them the Silent Ones."
The old man raised his index finger to his lips and whispered,
"Shh. Keep quiet. Anyone who tries to awaken that hidden thing will be killed by them."
Screams of agony mingled with the sounds of swords cutting through flesh. And besides the corpses of the fallen angels, there were the bodies of demon hunters as well. The initial ambush had indeed suppressed the angels, but as time passed, the weakness of mortals began to reveal itself.
It was like Hell itself.
Severed limbs and entrails were tangled together with shattered bones, all falling into the lowest depths. Only then did 042 realize that the underground structure resembled a bottomless well. All the flesh and corpses were accumulating at its base.
Blood had already risen above his ankles, slowly swallowing him.
"You planned all of this long ago, didn't you? This is a hunt—a hunt for the Silent Ones."
042 stared at the horror surrounding him. Black arcs of light continued to flash as newly born angels emerged one after another.
The old man had deliberately told him about those secrets that had been hidden from the world, using them to lure the Silent Ones here.
Normally, they would have secretly killed everyone who knew of their existence.
But this time, those terrifying nightmares had encountered Lloyd Medici.
He had calculated everything long ago and stationed the demon hunters of Shandaphon here.
The hunters had gathered inside this enormous well, burning with the power they possessed, waiting until they saw the Silent Ones arrive in the future before launching their ambush.
"Yes. How ironic, isn't it? The hunters have become the prey."
As he spoke, the old man kicked aside an exquisite severed head and continued strolling through the sea of blood.
"No… That isn't all you intended, is it? The demon hunters may be able to hold them back for a while, but they can't truly kill them."
042 shook his head. The old man before him had never seemed so strange, so terrifying.
"Yes. I suspect they are some form of spiritual entity. We have only destroyed their vessels. If they wish, they can simply create new bodies and continue fighting."
Black arcs of light continued to flicker. Corpses rained down around the old man, piling higher and higher until, for a moment, it seemed as though the two of them stood atop a mountain of corpses, surrounded by a sea of dead.
"Then what exactly are you trying to accomplish?" 042 asked in confusion.
Everything had happened too quickly. There had been no time for him to think.
It seemed that, apart from Archbishop Lawrence, nearly every demon hunter of Shandaphon had gathered here to resist the Silent Ones. But as the battle dragged on, the hunters would no longer be able to sustain it. They would die one after another until none remained, until both 042 and the old man were killed as well.
042 could not understand what the old man was trying to accomplish.
Was he seeking death?
Was he planning to take all these demon hunters with him?
But hadn't he wanted to usher in the Golden Age?
If this wasn't a suicide mission, then what was he trying to accomplish?
If things continued like this, everyone would simply die here.
"That happened a very long time ago. I encountered the Silent Ones, but, interestingly enough, I didn't die. I survived instead—and learned of their existence."
The old man was like some utterly unreliable old fool. Holding his wineglass, he leaned against a corpse and continued talking to himself.
"Lloyd Medici!"
Unable to bear it any longer, 042 shouted his name, clenching his fists. Under the extreme corruption, he was struggling to control the fluctuations of his emotions.
"Don't be impatient, child. 011 is very strong. We still have plenty of time to talk about those stories that were buried in the past."
The old man laughed instead of becoming angry.
"To put it simply, after numerous experiments, I captured one of the Silent Ones. I sealed it inside a coffin forged from holy silver. Holy silver seemed remarkably effective at preventing that spiritual entity from invading. Then I showed it to the others. I thought they would continue exploring the [Boundaries] of this world with me. Unfortunately, they refused again—and this time, their rejection was even stronger than before.
"Everyone began to turn against me. As I grew older, everything became just as I told you before. I became what you see now."
The old man spoke with a trace of bitterness.
"They called it the [Holy Grail]. They regarded it as the origin of the demons and spread the story far and wide. On the Day of Revelry, they celebrated it all, believing that humanity had finally defeated the demons.
"I thought they had gone mad.
"But later, I realized they hadn't gone mad. They were simply too greedy.
"As the ages passed and human technology advanced, the demons became less and less of a threat to humanity. In fact, for some unknown reason, the demons themselves began to diminish, as though somewhere in the shadows, there were other beings we knew nothing about that were hunting them as well."
He raised his head and looked toward the demon hunters fighting desperately around them, his expression complicated.
"Yes. There was one thing none of us ever considered. What happens after the demons are eradicated?
"The demons will still exist, in a sense. Only this time, they will become greedy human beings.
"Those people don't want to give up the power of the demons, nor do they want to devote all their strength to fighting them. Their primary enemies now are other humans—the nations that continue to grow stronger."
"I was such a fool, 042. I should never have trusted those people. I should never have held such ridiculous hope for them. They're nothing more than pitiful creatures clinging desperately to life."
The old man laughed bitterly at himself.
"So all of this was nothing but a lie?"
042 vaguely knew about the events of the Day of Revelry. The Demon Hunting Order had supposedly captured the source of the demons and brought humanity's long struggle against them to an end.
But was all of it merely a lie?
"More or less. In truth, as humanity developed, the threat posed by demons gradually diminished. A weapon as powerful as the demon hunters should have been used elsewhere. For example… in war."
The old man paused.
"Yet we really did have a chance to end all of this. We could have studied the [Holy Grail]. We could have studied the [Silent Ones], found out what kind of existence they truly were, and what they wanted.
"But they refused."
He let out a weary sigh.
"They didn't care about the Golden Age. They cared only about their own power and authority. And they didn't want to live under my control, either.
"I once believed I would become the savior of this world.
"But then I realized that, in the eyes of the very people I wanted to protect, I was nothing more than a tyrant consumed by a hunger for power."
042 fell silent.
There was a trace of sorrow in his eyes, as though he could finally understand the old man before him.
The old man seemed to notice it as well, and smiled at him again.
"After growing old, again and again, I eventually became this ridiculous thing…"
He sighed.
"In the end, I made a deal with the Church. I gave up all my power and withdrew from the world, coming to live here. But before that, I had a precious period of time in which I could study these things.
"I found a Power in the [Book of Revelation] that bore some similarities to the Silent Ones. A Power that had been sealed away at some unknown point in history.
"According to the annotations in the Book of Revelation, the one who sealed that Power away was called Edren Livien.
"Throughout the entire history of the Church, only a handful of people have ever been capable of reading the Book of Revelation and leaving annotations within it. At the very least, they would have to be someone on the level of a Pope.
"But I searched through the records, and I couldn't find any trace of this person.
"Interesting, isn't it, 042?
"But what's even more interesting is the Power that Edren Livien concealed."
At some point, the blood beneath them had risen past their knees.
The demon hunters were still fighting desperately, but it was obvious they had fallen into a losing battle. The corpses of the Silent Ones continued to decay into ash, yet beneath the vast accumulation of blood, the pool beneath their feet was evaporating far more slowly.
The old man walked toward 042, speaking slowly as he came.
"He called that Power Gabriel."
"Gabriel?"
"Yes. A very interesting Power. Interesting enough that its nature resembles the Silent Ones in certain ways, yet differs from them in others.
"But the most important thing is that it allows a person's will to travel between different bodies."
"Travel between bodies?"
"Yes. According to my research, alchemical texts describe every human being as possessing a strange spiritual space known as the [Interstice]. Our consciousness, soul, spiritual body… all of them are hidden there.
"Though what we call it doesn't really matter.
"That Power allows one to travel through that space… and alter it."
042 slowly began to realize something.
He stepped backward.
But at that very moment, the blood pool beneath their feet began to boil.
Radiant light flooded the walls of the well. Countless inscriptions lit up, surrounding them from every direction.
"We don't have much time left. To recreate the Ascension Well, and to gather this much Holy Grail blood…"
The old man slowly released the wineglass from his hand.
"All of this is the last thing I can accomplish."
The blood flowed together.
The old man's aged gaze grew profound.
Then he took up a short dagger and removed his shirt.
Across his withered body were the same alchemical matrices that covered 042's body.
And just like 042's, the matrices upon the old man were incomplete.
There was also no secret blood within him.
"I reflected upon my failures and eventually blamed them on the aging of humanity.
"Humans are simply too fragile.
"I have already become this powerful, yet even I cannot withstand the erosion of time.
"A Golden Age like this cannot last forever.
"When I die, it will end with me.
"So…"
The old man reached out and seized 042 by the wrist.
"I need immortality, child.
"I need to make this magnificent Golden Age eternal."
He looked directly at 042, his voice devoid of emotion.
"You understand, don't you? You and I are alike. You long for that Golden Age as well, don't you?"
042 could say nothing.
All he felt was a profound terror.
Lloyd Medici was human.
Purely human.
And possessed of a purely human will.
He was truly terrifying.
Everything that had happened here, every single detail, had been part of his design.
Just as he had said, he wanted desperately to see the Golden Age with his own eyes.
And for that purpose, he would stop at nothing.
Even if it meant creating the hell that now surrounded them.
Lloyd Medici was not a demon.
But he was far more terrifying than any demon.
"To kill a monster, you must become a monster more terrible than the one you seek to destroy."
Lloyd Medici said this as he raised the dagger.
Then he drove it hard into his own neck.
Blood spilled forth, splashing across his chest.
He slowly dragged the blade across his flesh, carving a wound that connected the intricate alchemical matrices.
Only then was the matrix truly complete.
An unnatural radiance shimmered across the pitch-black patterns.
"You… intend to become a demon hunter."
By now, 042's mind had gone completely blank.
There was no fear left.
No panic.
Nothing.
"Yes. Unfortunately, I never underwent the [Divine Favor Baptism]. The ritual is controlled by those people. Otherwise, I would have loved to see what kind of vision awaited me."
Lloyd Medici gazed toward the void and spoke in a low, distant voice.
Then he gave a hoarse laugh.
"But I suppose missing that one ritual won't matter, will it?
"I am Lloyd Medici.
"I don't need any [Divine Favor Baptism]."
042 stiffly nodded.
Of course this old man didn't need it.
He was purely human, possessed of a pure will, and willing to abandon everything for the future he desired.
Lloyd Medici was too old.
So old that his fragile body could no longer endure the implantation of ordinary secret blood.
That was why he had planned everything.
Now, the only prerequisite for becoming a demon hunter that remained was secret blood.
And surely the blood boiling beneath their feet was far more powerful than ordinary secret blood?
"As long as I drink these ascended 'keys,' I will become a demon hunter," he said.
042 stared at the blood-soaked old man.
The sight made him feel as though he might vomit up his own organs.
His voice trembled.
"So… after that, you'll take my body, won't you?"
042 already understood what Lloyd Medici intended to do.
His aged body and mortal will could not endure for much longer.
His only hope was here.
At the instant he became a demon hunter, he would use that Power to escape his deteriorating, mutated body.
And then Lloyd Medici would obtain immortality.
This terrifying man would continue pursuing the Golden Age.
"Yes."
"Will I die?"
"More precisely, your will shall be annihilated by mine. But according to the annotations, fragments of your consciousness will remain to some degree, and they will subtly influence me.
"That is why the more bodies one occupies, the more this Power causes its wielder to lose himself."
After answering, Lloyd Medici immediately asked,
"Are you afraid?"
"Of course I am. I'm going to die, after all…"
042 gave a bitter laugh.
"It feels strange. When I think about it, for these past two years, was I nothing more than livestock you kept in captivity?"
"More or less.
"So, are you going to resist me, 042?"
Their gazes met.
Lloyd Medici's expression was utterly indifferent.
From this moment onward, there was not a trace of emotion left upon his face.
And within his eyes, the trembling child gathered his courage and forced himself to remain calm.
Silence stretched between them.
Only for a brief moment.
Yet it seemed impossibly long.
"The Golden Age…"
042 finally broke the silence.
"Is it really that beautiful?"
"Perhaps. I've never seen it myself, after all.
"But…"
Lloyd Medici looked at him.
"There is no place for demons in that age."
"Is that so?"
042 lowered his gaze.
"Then what about my friends?
"Come to think of it, I don't really have anything left to care about in this life.
"After thinking it over and over again, all I have left are them."
"047 and 016?"
"Ah… you still remember them."
"Of course I do.
"But… if we truly can usher in the Golden Age, perhaps everyone's wishes will finally come true.
"After all, the demons will be gone. The Church will no longer need you.
"You'll be free to do whatever you want.
"Chase whatever it is you truly desire."
"Really?"
"I don't know.
"But I do know this: if the demons are not eradicated, the Golden Age can never come.
"There will only be more and more tragedies.
"Just like that fool.
"If there were no demons, you should be running along the banks of the Tiber with 047 and 016 right now.
"If there were no demons, that fool wouldn't have died.
"Perhaps I really could have become his friend.
"If there were no demons, so many tragedies would never have happened.
"If there were no demons…"
"Then killing all the demons would prevent these tragedies from happening?"
"I don't know…"
Lloyd Medici fell silent for a moment.
"But we have to try, don't we?
"If we don't even try, then how are we any different from those defeated swine who have already given up?"
Silence descended once more.
The boy lowered his head.
His reflection shimmered in the boiling pool of blood.
Sorrow.
Fear.
Joy.
He no longer knew what he was feeling.
Then, slowly, he raised his head again.
Beneath his eyes, his will had hardened like iron.
"If the Golden Age really is as beautiful as you say…"
"If…"
The boy suddenly roared, as though his shout alone could drive the fear from his heart.
"Then take everything you want!"
"Lloyd Medici!"