By Zephyria 
The cats chewed on the goat meat with a rhythmic squelch, glaring at Isaac with narrowed, triangular eyes, and Isaac glared back at them with his eyes narrowed into the same shape.
“Today is the Dark Moon, isn’t it?”
「So what.」
“I still have three wishes left. I wouldn’t mind using one of them to lock three cats in a pepper shaker—”
Isaac stopped mid-sentence. A thought he had forgotten until now suddenly struck him. …The flint stone. …Good god, the flint stone.
Before Isaac, who was blinking blankly, could regain his senses, the cats let out a sharp kyaa and unsheathed their claws, scratching Isaac’s forearm.
「To think you’d try to bully such small and lovely cats!」
「Vile! We denounce the wicked witch!」
Isaac let out a hollow laugh as he set the yowling, claw-swinging creatures back down on the ground.
Why had he forgotten?
Today was the Dark Moon. He could use the flint stone.
“Right… I could make a wish.”
Isaac muttered to himself. The cats rolled their wide eyes suspiciously, watching him closely.
“Can you take me to Alikisa?”
「No.」
The answer came instantly the moment Isaac spoke to the cats. Isaac’s expression went flat.
“Why? I just have to make a wish.”
「You don’t have a flint jar. This isn’t a perfect Firesteel yet. With just a flint stone, we cannot grant a wish involving a target whose Mana is stronger than the user’s.」
If that had worked, he would have just asked to have Alikisa brought to him; is he an idiot? Typical Manbang, the cats whispered to one another, huddling their heads together to gossip. Come to think of it, that was true… Isaac stared blankly at the cats before crossing his arms.
“Then take me to the Grand Coven of Witches.”
「…….」
“Why? It’s essentially the same thing, but I didn’t say it about Alikisa. You can’t even do that?”
Just as Isaac was about to glare and snap that there was no point in granting wishes if they couldn’t even do that, the cats—who had been rolling their eyes with a displeased look and wrinkling their noses—spoke up. 「We can, but…」
「There is a barrier around the Grand Coven to keep humans out. If it were just you, maybe, but if you intend to go with Su-bun, the scent of humans will be so strong that you won’t be able to enter.」
“……. How do you break that barrier?”
「You can’t break it from the outside. It’s difficult to break from the inside, too.」
Isaac thought for a moment and then spoke.
“Then I’ll make my second wish to erase the scent of humans.”
The cats said nothing. They rolled their eyes with an even more displeased look. Their noses were so wrinkled that he wondered if they were simply a wrinkled breed.
「We’ll grant it if you absolutely insist.」
「We suppose we must grant it if you absolutely insist.」
After a long pause, the cats spoke in a reluctant, mumble-like tone.
「Witches are cruel and merciless.」
「If you’re caught, they’ll tear you to shreds.」
「If they get excited, even half of you might be in danger.」
The three of them added their warnings one by one.
「Why not wish for something else?」
Isaac looked down at the three of them.
He didn’t know exactly what the Grand Coven of Witches was like, but it clearly wasn’t a peaceful or gentle place. It could be extremely dangerous.
But.
“No, that’s the one.”
Isaac shook his head and spoke firmly.
He had to catch Alikisa. If he missed her now, that cunning witch might hide away forever, or she might reclaim her body and commit some other uncontrollable atrocity. This might be his last chance.
The cats purred with great dissatisfaction, but in the end, they had no choice but to follow Isaac’s will. Because Isaac held the flint stone.
The Great Dark Moon, which returns once every seven years. The Grand Coven of Witches is held on the Dark Moon immediately preceding that Great Dark Moon.
Isaac had imagined that the Grand Coven, where all the witches of the human world gather, would be held in some special place. Perhaps the moon, which cannot be reached by human feet, or the entrance to hell, located deep underground.
Thus, when Isaac, who had been carried on the back of a tiger, stepped down as the tiger stopped and said, 「We’re here,」 he couldn’t help but mutter, “What is this?”
It was the foothills of a mountain near Hailen. A vast grassland on the mountainside overlooking Hailen. It was a familiar, unremarkable place that he felt he might have passed on the way to Kuslo.
“I feel like I’ve been here before. If you go straight this way, isn’t it Kuslo? I think so. I remember seeing those trees standing side-by-side over there.”
Furthermore, despite being told that all the witches of the human world gather here, not a single shadow was in sight. Just as he was about to grab the tiger by the scruff of its neck to ask if they had been brought to the right place,
「It is the same place, but a different place.」
「Because a barrier is cast over this entire area.」
「Right behind where you’re standing, witches are drinking alcohol.」
The cats climbed down from the tiger’s back. One of them suddenly swelled in size and transformed into a pitch-black tiger.
「Then, I shall grant your second wish.」
A heavy voice resonated, humming in his ears. The tiger sat down in front of the Prince, who was glancing around indifferently, and seemed to let out a silent roar toward him. A faint, greenish powder seemed to emanate from the tiger. It enveloped the Prince and then vanished without a trace.
「Oh my, the human scent is completely gone.」
「Fragrant, so fragrant.」
「Just be careful not to bleed.」
The tiger and cats chattered together.
Isaac looked at the Prince, who appeared to have changed in no way. Despite having the Grand Coven of Witches, which he had longed for for so long, right before his eyes, he showed no particular emotion. No tension, no excitement. With his usual languid air, he simply checked his sword once.
The sky, having lost the moon, was exceptionally black, and the stars twinkled brilliantly in that black sky. The constellations, shifting their positions, had tilted significantly further than when he had seen them in the early evening; it must have been past midnight.
Once they stepped inside the barrier, all the witches residing in the human world would be there, and Isaac had no idea how many that would be. Whether there would be countless numbers or barely a few dozen. Isaac had to find Alikisa among those who were said to be wicked and cruel.
「It won’t be easy to tell them apart.」
「Since they all live in hiding in the human world, they’ll be concealing their appearances.」
「Moreover, Alikisa is someone always pursued by curses. She has many enemies, and since her current situation is poor, she’ll be hiding so as not to catch anyone’s eye.」
“……Right, and I don’t even know what she looks like right now.”
Since the mage who had inhabited her body had died, he didn’t know if she had found another body or was using some other method.
The Grand Coven of Witches lasts until dawn. He had to find her before the first light of morning. Isaac looked up at the dark sky and then turned to the Prince.
“Shall we go?”
The Prince nodded. The tigers, who had been watching them, began to move. Following behind them as they walked for quite a while toward the mountain slope, Isaac asked,
“You said we were here. How much further are we going?”
「We can’t just break through the barrier. We have to go to the entrance, the entrance.」
They had been acting displeased for a while, and now they were even getting irritable. Isaac considered grabbing the whiskers of the tiger, which was snapping its large jaws and exposing its uvula, but he simply followed behind the creature.
“What do we have to do to break the barrier?”
The Prince, who was following beside him, asked. His gaze was directed toward the crows that were flying in unusually large numbers in the night sky. Countless birds, known as the messengers of witches, were flying about.
「The witch who cast the barrier must receive a shock great enough that she cannot maintain it.」
“The witch who cast the barrier.”
「The witch who decides where the Grand Coven will be held. In this case, it’s Alikisa.」
“If it’s a shock great enough to make her unable to maintain the barrier, does that mean we just have to kill that witch?”
「You don’t even have to kill her; a blow that momentarily shakes her mentally or physically will suffice.」
「But it won’t be easy.」
「It’ll be hard.」
Listening to the cats chime in one by one, Isaac also guessed it would not be easy. To find her, who was hidden in an unknown location and whose appearance he didn’t even know, and deliver a great shock before dawn.
“……Still…… I have to do it.”
He had to catch Alikisa somehow. Isaac muttered this to himself and took a deep breath.
The tigers stopped walking just as they nearly reached the mountain slope, in front of two standing trees. Two massive trees, their grown branches intertwined and joined as one, stood side by side as if they were the entrance to the mountain slope.
「Now, like this.」
The tigers went behind the trees and emerged between them to stand before Isaac. Then they blinked at him. Three pairs of eyes—some the size of teacups, some the size of windmill wheels, some the size of towers—stared at him from right in front of his face, which was a bit frightening.
“Like this, what?”
「We’ve entered the barrier.」
The tigers looked around the vast field they had just walked across as if they could see something. They’re already drunk, drunk; that ill-tempered one is throwing a fit again; a white heron shouldn’t go where the crows play, they bickered.
Isaac stared at them for a moment and then went behind the trees as they had done. He stepped beneath the joined branches.
In an instant, he felt something brush through his body. At the same time as the sensation of passing through a transparent membrane,
“――.”
Isaac fell silent as he beheld the sight unfolding before him.
In the field where there had been absolutely nothing just a moment ago, there were now numerous human figures. In the center of the field under the pitch-black night sky, a bonfire larger than a house was blazing, and around that bonfire, the figures were gathered in small groups, enjoying the feast.
On ornate tables placed here and there, alcohol, meat, and food overflowed, and the figures, seemingly already heavily intoxicated, were laughing loudly and entwined with one another. Their number appeared to be well over several hundred.
He had heard that all the witches in the human world would gather, but he hadn’t expected so many to remain. He thought that after the long Witch hunts, witches could no longer be found and that almost none would be left.
Just then, something suddenly thrust itself in front of Isaac’s face.
It was a mass of smoke that stopped right before Isaac’s nose, just as he reflexively gripped his sword. The bluish mass of smoke, the size of a human head, paused for a moment as if peering into Isaac, then slid upward and passed by.
――Not him……. Not that one…….
――Where are you……, where are you hiding…….
A humming, sobbing sound trailed off.
「Even at this assembly, the witches’ curses are searching for Alikisa without fail.」
「What’s the point? It’s useless if the body is hidden.」
The tigers strolled along, looking into the air.
Countless whitish masses of smoke were floating in the void. Wandering the air like will-o’-the-wisps, they would suddenly thrust themselves in front of the faces of those passing by as if searching for something, then glide away. Occasionally, the smoke seemed to shatter and scatter upon colliding with a crow wandering the sky, but it would soon cluster back together and regain its form.
“How long have those curses been searching for Alikisa?”
「Since the witches Alikisa betrayed began to die, so it’s been over several decades.」
Decades. Isaac looked at the smoke occupying the air, mingled with the crows. For so long, those things had existed wanting only one thing. As masses of resentment, devoid of reason or intellect. Much like the mage, for whom only hatred remained in the end.
That mage’s curse also remained eternally, just like those. Even if all the witches of this land vanished and the witch’s curse on the royalty was lifted, the Prince alone would have to taste the agony of the Dark Moon forever.
“…….”
Isaac quietly caught his breath. Turning his gaze to the Prince, he saw the Prince looking up at the distant sky. Following that gaze, a single snow-white hawk was floating in the high night sky. The white hawk glided in a great arc over the field.
“Does the barrier only apply to humans? Can animals enter and leave freely?”
「For the most part. Because among living creatures, humans are the furthest removed from witches.」
「Animals, being closer to nature, are free from the barrier unless a special boundary is deployed.」
「However, whether an animal enters the barrier or not depends on the animal. When there is this much magical energy swarming, animals are divided into two: those who love it and come seeking it, and those who loathe it and avoid it.」
For example, things like crows love it, as the cat said, the cawing of the crows gathered in the air covered the night sky. Rats and snakes had also been seen occasionally, and goats could be seen running among those human figures.
“Right, and things like black cats, for instance.”
「Cats?」
「Where are there cats?」
As Isaac muttered mischievously, two tigers and the one cat sitting on their scruffs widened their eyes and looked around. At that moment, a figure walking leisurely from the direction of the forest saw them and turned toward them.
「My, look who it is. Aren’t you the three brothers of the Gregorovius Family? How have you been? You’ve grown even blacker and larger since I last saw you.」
「Aha, the second of the Delana Family! You haven’t crossed over to the land of the new moon yet. Long time no see, long time no see.」
The figure, wearing a pitch-black hood from head to toe, was uncannily tall, looking as if their head would touch the ceiling in most houses. Yet, since the hem of the hood fluttered with excess fabric, Isaac guessed they must be quite gaunt; however, what poked out from the sleeves of the hood were stark white bones. The bones took the cats’ paws and shook hands.
…I must never be curious about what is inside that hood. I must not even ask to see, Isaac thought to himself.
That long figure, the second of the Delana Family, shook hands with the cats in turn and then looked at Isaac and the Prince. Having noticed the two wearing grey hoods, as the cats had tipped them off before leaving the palace, he asked:
「Who are these? I don’t think I’ve seen them before. I think this is the first time I’ve smelled this scent, too. ……Hmm, it really is an unfamiliar scent. It seems similar to a human scent, but……?」
The long figure suddenly grew even longer. A neck, stretched to the length of a human’s height, thrust its face right in front of Isaac. Only glinting eyes were visible inside the black hood. They were eyes like pitch-black beads, without a single trace of white.
「He’s a kid who came to visit recently and stayed behind because he missed his boat. He’s the mother’s friend’s son of the fourth cousin of the butler who helps with our family affairs.」
「He’s lowly and clumsy, but since he serves us with all his heart in his own way, we’re specially letting him tag along.」
「He loves human meat so much that he practically lives with it in his mouth, so he smells quite a bit like a human. His taste is terrible, but please understand.」
The cats told the figure, clicking their tongues. After sniffing around Isaac’s crown, nape, and back with its long neck for a while, the figure muttered suspiciously, 「Is that so?」
「Why are you coming from that direction? Was there something good in the forest?」
「Ah, a small human child seemed to be lost and wandering in the forest, so I ate him as an appetizer. Even humans, the young ones are soft and delicious. Some humans, like parents, were wandering around looking for the child; I only ate the woman’s internal organs, and the man looked tasteless, so I just killed him and left him.」
The crows will probably pick at them later, the figure chuckled. A jawbone and teeth were revealed beneath the hood. Flesh and blood were smeared on those white bones. And tiny, dainty fingernails, too.
The moment he saw that, Isaac’s expression hardened. He reflexively reached for his sword. But right then, the cat sitting on the tiger lunged at Isaac. Because the cat suddenly flopped down onto his face, Isaac ended up stepping back a couple of paces.
「Didn’t you say you were looking for a friend? Then don’t loiter around here and hurry up and find your friend, Manbang-a……?」
「We’ve met an old friend, so we’re going to chat and reminisce; you go play on your own.」
「But you mustn’t cause a scene by acting out unnecessarily……?」
The tigers followed suit, nudging their heads against Isaac. His vision blocked by their massive heads, Isaac froze for a moment before letting the sword slip from his hand.
His heart pounded. He had almost reflexively slashed at the slender figure peering from a distance. He wanted to cut them down even now.
But not yet. There was something he had to do first.
The tigers gave Isaac a few more nudges with their heads and then grabbed the hem of the slender figure’s clothes, dragging them away. Isaac stood there blankly, watching them recede toward the bonfire.
Is this what a witch is?
Beings for whom eating and harming humans is nothing more than a natural, trivial matter.
The witches he had seen as a child were not like this. Even then, because witches lived in hiding, he had only seen a few of his mother’s friends, and they never returned with human blood and flesh staining their mouths. They never told blood-curdling stories. But perhaps that was only because they were visiting his mother.
“――.”
Isaac slumped his shoulders. A hand lightly patted his back. When he turned, the Prince was gesturing with a blank expression, as if nothing had happened. Following the Prince as he began to walk, as if suggesting they head that way, Isaac took another deep breath.
Yes, right now, he must think only of finding Alikisa. Only finding Alikisa.
As they drew closer to the bonfire, the number of figures moving about increased. Only then did the festival, being held in the dimness around a giant bonfire lit in the middle of a pitch-black field, begin to come into Isaac’s view.
Most of the figures wore long hoods. Some appeared only as shadow-like forms, perhaps hidden by magic. While most maintained a human-like shape, there were those with the heads of beasts, or bizarre forms that weren’t human at all.
They gathered in groups of ten, twenty, or more or less. In each group, there were those drinking, chatting, eating, fighting, or entangled in orgies—all sorts of types mixed together. It was far noisier, more explicit, and more unrestrained than any human banquet. Between them, Curses floated in the air like clumps of smoke, and beasts said to be beloved by demons or witches were often mixed in.
It felt like dreaming a strange and repulsive dream. Sights that could not exist in reality felt utterly grotesque.
Isaac looked around, trying to find Alikisa among the countless figures, but it was impossible. The areas far from the bonfire were cast in deep shadow, making it hard to recognize anyone without looking closely, and those wearing pitch-black hoods were impossible to identify.
What should I do? I have to find Alikisa.
Even as he circled the area and looked around, no clues appeared, and time continued to slip away. The stars gradually lost their light and began to sink.
He couldn’t possibly stop and inspect every single one of these people, and even if he did, he doubted he would recognize her. He began to grow anxious.
“……Hmm.”
Isaac stopped walking. The Prince, who had been walking beside him, also stopped and turned.
“I should cool my head and wet my throat for a moment. ……Would you like some?”
Isaac sat on a rock for a moment, took out a canteen, and held it out to the Prince. It was the one containing wine from the two he had brought. He felt that walking through this hallucinatory, dizzying place while staying sane was too difficult, so he figured he might as well borrow the strength of alcohol.
The Prince silently took it, drank a few gulps, and returned it to Isaac. Isaac also wetted his throat. As the wine went down his throat, the dizziness caused by anxiety seemed to clear slightly.
“She probably isn’t mixed into a small group of just a few people.”
Sitting with his back to the quiet forest, Isaac muttered while observing the scene surrounding the bonfire.
Alikisa would be hiding somewhere inconspicuous. If so, she wouldn’t be in a small group where everyone is easily visible. She would likely be blending into a large crowd where it’s easy to be buried, waiting for time to pass. Or perhaps she was curled up somewhere where there was no one at all.
Somewhere among these hundreds of people.
“……. Would you like to look around in a clockwise direction?”
Isaac said, looking at the Prince. The Prince would go clockwise, and he would go counter-clockwise. It would be more efficient to split up and search.
The Prince seemed to have had a similar thought and cast a glance at Isaac. However, he didn’t answer, as if he wasn’t particularly keen on the idea. Isaac wasn’t entirely keen on it either.
“It is a bit worrying. We don’t know what might happen. ……I’m already anxious because you left your demon-repelling talisman behind.”
Isaac scratched the back of his neck. Even though he knew splitting up was better, he didn’t want to do it. He felt uneasy leaving the Prince alone among so many witches. It would have been better if he at least had a talisman to repel witches, but one couldn’t possibly bring such a thing to the Grand Coven of Witches. The only thing to protect him was his own sword, and…….
As he thought this, Isaac suddenly noticed the Prince staring intently at him. He could feel that the blank gaze held a clear light of pity and absurdity. Indeed, as he spoke, he realized who he was worrying about.
“Still……, I may be half-witch, but you are human, Kaieon-nim, only hiding your scent. If you’re discovered by them, there will be a huge commotion…….”
Moreover, in case of emergency, Isaac had a flint stone. In the worst-case scenario, he could simply use his one remaining wish to escape the area.
As expected, he was reluctant to separate from the Prince because it felt unstable. But time was passing, and there was still no sign of Alikisa. ……It couldn’t be helped. He couldn’t let this time waste away.
After a moment of thought, Isaac looked at the Prince, and the Prince, meeting his eyes, seemed to have the same thought; he frowned slightly but gave a faint nod.
Isaac stood up from the rock with a small grunt. From now until dawn, they would have to search this wide field in opposite directions to find Alikisa.
“Then Kaieon-nim, you go that way, and I’ll go this way…….”
「Mmm――there’s a lovely scent, what is it……? What is it……? What delicious thing are you hiding――?」
It was just as Isaac reached out his hand to point the direction. Suddenly, a voice spoke right beside him. Isaac flinched and turned around, startled by the voice that had approached right behind his back without him even sensing a presence.
There, five or six figures were swaying. Four were wearing hoods of various sizes, one had a goat’s head on a human body, and one looked like a wild boar but was a beast of unknown identity.
They seemed to have split off from a group several dozen paces away, strolling over while holding wine bottles and food in their hands. Their swaying movements suggested they were heavily intoxicated. The Dark Moon is the time that makes witches drunk. The assembly held on that day is a place where they become more excited and elated than at any other time.
「Why are there two of you? Come play. Where did you come from? I think this is our first time meeting, right?」
「Hmm, hmm. I smell it. A lovely scent. A fragrant and delicious smell.」
「What is it? What could it be? Delicious smell, delicious smell.」
They giggled and chatted, tilting their wine glasses or biting into chunks of meat in their hands. High on something like a drug, they were all different; some didn’t pay any attention to Isaac at all, while others pressed right up against him, sniffing. It was the same for the Prince.
For someone who hates witches……, Isaac looked anxiously toward the Prince, who was being sniffed by a short shadow, but the Prince just stood there expressionlessly, looking only at Isaac.
The goat-headed witch pressed its nose against Isaac and sniffed. Starting from the top of his head and sniffing slowly downward, the goat-head stopped at the canteen Isaac was holding.
「It’s wine!」
「It’s wine, it’s wine!」
「You’re hiding some fine wine.」
The witches cheered. Even inside the dark hoods, their eyes began to glint. A bluish light seeped through the edges of the hoods.
“……Want some?”
Isaac held out the canteen. No sooner had he done so than a plump hooded figure snatched it away. He caught a glimpse of the hand snatching the canteen; it was shaped like a beast’s hoof.
The witches all lunged for the canteen at once. There was no order or concession in the hands scrambling to steal the canteen. There was only greed, faithful to instinct.
「Give it here.」
「I’ll eat it, I’ll drink it all.」
The voices of their rough struggle gradually turned into the growling sounds of beasts. Along with that, the hooded shadows began to swell larger and larger. The flames flashing inside the hoods grew more violent.
Just as Isaac stepped back with a horrified face, something suddenly seemed to whip past his nose. Only after a drop of blood formed on his lightly grazed cheek did he realize that something sharp, like a sickle, had narrowly missed him.
At the same time, the head of one of the witches fighting over the canteen was sliced clean off. It was the goat-headed witch. The head fell and rolled away, but none of them cared. Instead, a witch with long, sharp claws—likely the one who had just grazed Isaac and sliced the goat-head—seized the canteen, only for another witch to slice off that witch’s arm with her own claws and snatch the canteen away.
Over a trivial canteen, heads and arms were flying in an instant. Black blood splattered, and tearing screams, shrieks, and cackling laughter mixed together.
Despite this, none of the other groups looked back. No one cared, as if something mundane and routine were happening.
It was a mad scene. Isaac stared at them, stunned.
This was the banquet of witches, where only instinct was revealed.
“――.”
A short, hooded witch approached Isaac, who was grimacing. Swaying as if drunk, the witch came close to Isaac and tore her lips wide in a smile.
「Since you gave me something good, I should reward you. Here, I’ll give you this.」
As she spoke, she held out something that looked like a chunk of meat. Isaac flinched as he reflexively took the piece of meat she practically shoved at him. The chunk of meat in his hand was twitching.
He resisted the urge to throw it away and looked closer. The shadows of the witches blocking the bonfire made it hard to see.
「It’s still fresh, so it’s delicious. I just brought it out from the forest.」
The witch spoke and staggered a step to the side. In that movement, the light illuminated his hand. Isaac froze as he confirmed what he was holding.
In his hand lay a throbbing heart. He didn’t know whose heart it was, but it was about the size of a human heart, and it was still twitching and beating, as if proving it had been alive until just a moment ago.
Isaac turned his head and looked around. Only now did the wine glasses and food the witches held catch his eye. The glasses contained an unidentified dark red liquid—occasionally mixed with bits of flesh—and what they held were raw meat or the legs of humans or beasts. 「Tasteless forearm meat should be given to the crows,」 a witch said, tossing away a long piece of meat that had something like a fingernail attached to the end.
「Why aren’t you eating? I told you it’s quite delicious. Hmm? More importantly, is there no more of that wine? That fragrant wine, huh?」
The witch poked the meat in Isaac’s hand with a long claw, then leaned in and began to sniff. After sniffing, the witch’s gaze suddenly shifted to the Prince standing beside him.
「And you――? You don’t have any……?」
The witch approached the Prince. Pressing her nose right against the Prince’s chest and sniffing, the witch suddenly tilted her head.
「Strange……, there’s a strange smell……. What is this smell……?」
As the witch muttered, another witch approached. A hooked nose protruding from a hood sniffed the Prince.
「The smell of blood……, it smells like human blood…….」
The hooked-nose witch, muttering suspiciously, pressed her nose even closer to the Prince. Isaac, watching them with a precarious heart, quickly chimed in, just as the cats had done earlier.
“It’s because he just ate a human. The scent of a human has clung to him.”
「Hmm? Really? Strangely, the scent seems faint and strong at the same time…….」
It was then that the hooked-nose witch tilted her head.
The Prince, who had been looking down expressionlessly at the hooked-nose witch pressing close to him, suddenly raised his hand. In his hand was a sword he had drawn unnoticed, and with a sharp, chilling sound, the sword sliced through the air, and the witch’s bridge of the nose was cut off. Gaaaaak――, the witch clutched her face, screaming like an old crow. Seeing this, the other witches burst into mad, cackling laughter.
It was insane. This was true frenzy.
In this blood-soaked place where they harmed their own kind without hesitation and cackled, Isaac began to feel nauseous.
“……No……, I guess it’s a relief they didn’t all swarm Kaieon-nim at once…….”
In this state, even if the Prince’s mood soured and he cut down several witches, no one would attack him in rage over losing their kin. No, it seemed no one would even care.
Isaac looked around again, seeing sights of things stuffing blood-clumps into their mouths or beast-like creatures grinding their lower bodies together.
This must be what hell looks like.
「Oh――this one’s face is pale. He looks just like a human, and since his face is bluish, he looks even more human――.」
「He’s holding something delicious――why isn’t he eating it?」
A giant shadow approached. A shadow as massive as two people combined, with a bull’s head growing above its neck. Its legs had protruding hooves like a mountain beast.
「Why isn’t he eating it?」
「I know, I’m the one who gave it to him. Why isn’t he eating it? Why?」
The short, hooded witch intervened. She, who had been laughing like a madwoman until a moment ago, suddenly contorted her face terrifyingly. As the witch’s body swelled threateningly, Isaac was inwardly clicking his tongue, wondering what to do with the heart in his hand.
“Don’t eat it.”
The Prince spoke.
The moment those cold words fell, the witch who had been venting her anger toward Isaac turned her head toward the Prince.
「What, why?! You’re telling him not to eat what I gave?! Do you think you can make a fool of me now?!」
“He is my servant. He must eat nothing but what I give him.”
As the Prince spoke, the witch glared at Isaac. The bull-head and the other witches nearby also tilted their heads and looked at Isaac. And Isaac――receiving all those red and blue gazes at once, ended up replying, “Uh, well……, I guess so…….”
Demons and witches typically kept beasts as servants, but they didn’t only keep beasts. There were frequent cases where they kept demons or witches of a lower rank or weaker power.
「Servant? Ah, I see. Well, if that’s the case.」
「I see. I’ve been wanting a useful witch as a servant myself. What was your contract? The life force of a hundred humans? Five hundred liang of gold?」
The bull-head asked, tilting its head with curiosity. With sparks flying from its nostrils every time it breathed, the bull looked as if it had jumped straight out of hell.
“……. Just eating my life force for the rest of his life.”
The Prince replied, glancing at Isaac. In an instant, Isaac’s face flushed for no reason, and he quickly looked away. It was just something made up on the spot; there was no need to be shaken. Don’t be shaken.
Beside Isaac, who was wiping his face with the back of his hand, the bull-head tilted its head in confusion.
「Only your life force? ……Is your life force that delicious?」
“This one eats very well.”
「Is that so? May I have a taste too?」
The bull-headed creature tilted its head and approached the Prince, but the Prince shook his head.
“No. I have a contract to give to only this one.”
「Hmm? Why is that? What kind of contract is it?」
The bull-head looked back and forth between the Prince and Isaac with suspicion. Other witches watching them rolled their eyes strangely. And at the end of those gazes, which seemed to be seeking an answer, Isaac froze for a brief moment. ……Uh.
They were witches who were drunk and excited, lacking proper reason anyway. He just had to make up something on the spot. Anything. Just anything.
“……Because I want to be the only one to eat.”
「Hmm? Is it that delicious? So much so that you wouldn’t mind not eating anything else for the rest of your life?」
“……Yeah.”
「You’ll eat only this one’s life force until you die? Nothing else?」
“……Yeah.”
The bull-head asked as if it couldn’t believe it. The other witch’s eyes widened as if seeing something truly rare. For witches, whose instinct was to enjoy a diverse array of pleasures—whether taste, greed, or sensation—it was a difficult concept to comprehend.
Isaac’s face sank further as he gave a vague nod. The Prince, who had been the one to throw out the random excuse in the first place, had been watching indifferently, but at some point, he began to gaze intently at Isaac. Even though it was just a lie told in this place, it was a gaze that felt incredibly distracting.
「You’re saying you’ll give your life force only to him too?」
The short witch asked the Prince again in a tone of disbelief. The Prince, who had been watching them with his arms crossed, nodded while staring expressionlessly at Isaac. ……It’s fine to make up random excuses, but I wish he wouldn’t stare so intensely while doing it. Isaac glared into the void with the most brazen, nonchalant face he could muster. However,
「Then do you only mate with him too?」
When the witch asked that bizarre question, Isaac nearly gasped and choked. 「No, you can give life force without mating, right?」, 「But if you mate, you give life force too, so shouldn’t you avoid mating with other partners?」 The two witches began to argue amongst themselves.
Isaac continued to glare into the void, but even then, he could clearly feel the Prince’s gaze touching his cheek. He wished the Prince wouldn’t look at him like that in a situation like this; he didn’t know why he was watching. No, maybe it was just him being strange for getting flustered over nothing. Isaac struggled to maintain his composure once more.
「There are so many delicious things in the world, and you’d live on only that—? Did you really make a contract like that? On the River of the Moon?」
The short witch looked at Isaac as if she couldn’t believe it. Right, I just need to nod nonchalantly, Isaac thought, but he hesitated for a moment.
No matter how random the lie, the weight of the ‘River of the Moon’ was entirely different. It felt as if she were asking if he could swear on his mother’s life.
“……Uh……, well…….”
Isaac, who had been answering with a nonchalant face and as vaguely as possible—in a nuance that suggested ‘just assume that’s the case’—unconsciously flicked his eyes toward the Prince. The moment their eyes met, he quickly dropped his gaze as if he had done something wrong. He felt his face growing hot. Fortunately, it was dark enough that his complexion couldn’t be discerned.
“The River of the Moon…… I see.”
The Prince seemed to mutter suddenly. The voice was so low it was almost inaudible, like a monologue, but Isaac felt a pang of guilt, as if he had lied to ‘their mother.’
This won’t do. He had to get out of here quickly. He didn’t have time to mingle with witches in a place like this anyway. He didn’t want to be further entangled with them, and he had to find Alikisa soon.
Isaac looked up at the sky where the stars had shifted and then looked at the Prince, who nodded.
However, just as Isaac was about to follow the Prince, who stepped forward readily, the bull-head glared and blocked their path.
「But I’m curious about life force that tastes that good. I want a taste too.」
A rattling sound came from the throat of the bull-head, which bared its teeth. Saliva dripped from its mouth, a mixture of greed and excitement.
“It is a contract to give only to this one. Move.”
The Prince spoke coldly, looking up at the bull-head. However, the bull-head’s surging greed would not subside, and it puffed up the fur across its entire body. Its size grew larger and larger.
「In that case—I can just suck the life force that this one received from you out of him—.」
The bull-head’s eyes flashed a deep blue. As it turned toward Isaac, its mouth was torn open to the edges of its ears. It looked less like a bull and more like a magical beast leaped from hell.
The bull-head approached Isaac. Its heavy footsteps made the ground thud. Isaac swallowed hard as he looked up at the creature.
Witches can easily suck life force from a target. He had heard that once they become accustomed to it, they can obtain life force through breath alone. Seeing it approach like this, it seemed the bull intended to grab him and suck the life force directly. If it were just a small taste, he might have been able to give a little, but would that be okay? Would it cause a problem—such as his mixed-blood nature being discovered, or the creature realizing the Prince was human while eating his life force? Just as Isaac was overwhelmed with worry while staring at the furry hand suddenly thrust before his face,
Squelch.
The giant furry hand that was about to seize Isaac’s head was severed. Black, foul-smelling blood erupted.
“He is mine. Do not touch him.”
The Prince spoke coldly, shaking off the sticky monster blood from his sword. Before him, the bull-head gripped its severed hand and let out a horrific scream, 「Gwaaaaah!」
「My hand! My hand!」
The bull-head stomped its feet in rage. Its eyes, sparking with blue flames, glared at the Prince. The bull-head let out a thunderous roar and swung its other arm at the Prince, but that arm too was sliced clean off. A deafening scream followed.
The Prince looked down expressionlessly at the bull-head, which was hunched over and wailing, then turned away. Just as he gestured for Isaac to follow and began to walk,
「I want a taste too, that delicious life force—to think he’d never eat anything else for the rest of his life, just how delicious could it be—?」
The short witch, who had been watching the situation from the side, suddenly leaped and clung to the Prince’s back. Just as sharp claws sprouted from the witch’s hands to firmly embrace the Prince, the Prince looked down at the hands as if they were a nuisance and slashed his sword behind his head.
The witch, whose head was nearly taken off by the sword, screamed 「Kyaaaak!」 and was thrown back. In the process, the witch’s long claws scratched the Prince’s shoulder. Skin was sliced, and droplets of blood splattered.
The witch, who had been crouching and glaring at the Prince with fierce eyes, suddenly widened them. Then, her nose twitched, and her face distorted grotesquely.
「Human……, it’s the smell of human blood……!」
Simultaneously with the witch’s mutter, the bull-head also whipped its head around. The monster, sniffing the air, raised its hunched body. The bull-head’s flashing eyes scanned and landed on the Prince’s shoulder.
「The smell of human blood……! It’s definitely the scent of a human……!」
The bull-head stepped toward the Prince one step at a time, nostrils twitching. Along with it, the nearby witches, who until then had ignored the events beside them and focused on their own affairs, began to tilt their heads and sniff the air.
「Human scent…….」
「It’s the smell of human blood…….」
「There’s a human……, a human has entered……!」
One by one, the witches nearby stood up and looked around. The eyes of the drunk and excited witches flashed red and blue. With their hair standing on end and lips torn to their ears, they searched the surroundings for a stimulus to fuel their excitement.
「Kill it……! Tear it to shreds!」
「Pluck out the eyes and pull out the tongue and throw them in the cauldron!」
「Boil it in bubbling water to make a stew! Skewer it and roast it over the fire to make a sauce!」
The witches chattered in excitement. The noise from a few nearby witches gradually spread to the surroundings.
A human entered? There’s a human? Let’s kill it, let’s eat it. The witches, having found a fun diversion, clapped their hands and stomped their feet in delight.
Amidst those excited shouts, the Prince—who had first cut down the short witch who rushed him and then severed the bull-head’s neck—unwound the cloth wrapped around his scabbard and soaked it in their blood. Then, he tied the cloth around his shoulder to mask the scent. Having temporarily hidden the smell, the Prince looked back at Isaac.
“You go counter-clockwise, I’ll go clockwise.”
“――.”
After speaking briefly, the Prince walked down the left path facing the bonfire, and Isaac, after looking at the Prince with conflicted eyes for a moment, shut his mouth tight and stepped in the opposite direction. Leaving behind the sounds of witches shouting Where is it, where is the human, find it, find them, he began to walk steadily.
He didn’t want to be separated from the Prince. Especially now, when the witches had begun shouting to find the human, and when blood seeped from the wound, causing the scent of a human to emanate from him. He didn’t want to leave him alone in a situation where witches could pounce at any moment.
However.
He probably would have done the same if he were in the Prince’s position.
There was no time. Moreover, in a situation where they were being hunted, it was right to split up. At least one person had to find Alikisa.
As for the Prince, there was nothing to worry about. There was likely no one in this world who could harm him. So for now, he had to focus on the task at hand. Isaac walked without looking back.
Perhaps the scent of blood hadn’t spread very far, for after walking a while, he was able to escape the excited witches who claimed to smell a human. Once again, the witches’ assembly unfolded before his eyes.
Groups of witches were scattered across the field, sitting or lingering around a massive central bonfire. Isaac wove through them, observing as meticulously as possible. In the process, his expression gradually hardened.
A large pot hanging over a small campfire was boiling with soup. Inside, skulls and eyeballs that were clearly human bubbled. The food laid out on the table next to the pot was no different, lined with intestines and marrow of unknown origin. At the grotesque and horrific sight, Isaac forced down the nausea rising in his throat and looked away.
Walking further, he saw witches who were drunk and excited, fighting amongst themselves. Having puffed up their bodies to fully reveal their monster forms, they nonchalantly sliced and crushed the torsos of their opponents with their claws. Beside severed torsos crawling on the ground, other witches were laughing as they caught wild animals and burned them alive or pierced them with skewers. Beyond that, naked witches and half-human, half-beast monsters were entangled in hedonistic pleasure. Here and there along the road, the corpses of witches who had died in the midst of it lay scattered, yet no one cared.
It was truly a hellscape.
Only pleasure, slaughter, desire, and instinct remained in everything; nowhere could order, morality, or propriety be found.
It was like a nightmare. Isaac rubbed his nauseous stomach. He felt as if he were becoming dizzy.
He had thought of witches vaguely. A few he had seen as a child, things he had read in books or documents, and a certain amount of instinct flowing in his own blood.
It wasn’t that he didn’t understand at all. Isaac himself often felt desires for only himself surging more strongly than usual during the Dark Moon, resonating from deep within his body. Until a few years ago, he had often engaged in childish fights or done things he would regret the next day because of it.
Once every seven years. It is a day when everything else is cast aside and only the demonic nature is fully manifested. Just as a human completely intoxicated by alcohol or drugs casts off their human nature and turns into a monster, today was the day the witches turned into monsters.
……But it was still overwhelming. Even considering that he was a half-witch facing the Dark Moon, these sights were too much. It seemed the memories of living among humans his whole life were stronger than the instincts of his half-blood.
Isaac tried his best not to look at the witches’ behavior, the things they possessed, or what they ate, focusing only on them. However, it became difficult. He couldn’t tell. Who under those dark hoods was Alikisa? Which of those pitch-black shadows was that witch?
Where could she be hiding?
She was likely waiting for dawn in some inconspicuous place.
“――.”
Isaac pressed his temples. After wandering through the nightmare-like scenery for a while, a headache seemed to be forming. His stomach felt sick too.
Just for a moment, just for a few minutes, he needed to rest. Otherwise, it wouldn’t be strange if he vomited and collapsed in the middle of those witches.
Isaac walked away from the bonfire toward a place where the trees formed a dense forest. Whether the forest was also part of the barrier’s domain, witches occasionally walked out from within, but it was far more desolate than the concentrated nightmare near the bonfire. It was unsettling that most of the witches coming out of the forest had blood or flesh on their hands and were staggering and laughing as if heavily drunk, but it was better than the bonfire area where similar things were gathered in heaps.
The forest grew upward along a slope. As he climbed into the forest where the trees were sparse, the field below came into full view.
With the giant bonfire at the center, countless witches were holding a festival of madness.
Isaac sat perched between the thick, exposed roots of a large tree and touched his forehead. A long sigh escaped him.
Will Lord Kaieon be alright? I hope nothing happens to him.
Isaac looked at the sky. The stars revealed between the branches had shifted further than before, and the pitch-black sky had grown faintly bright. Dawn was approaching. His heart beat loudly.
If he failed to find Alikisa.
Then many more people would be sacrificed in the future. He didn’t know how many sacrifices would follow. And he might not be able to catch even a trace of that cunning witch until the next grand assembly.
“…….”
Seven years. It was not a short time. Especially when he thought of the people who would die in the meantime.
Isaac, clutching his forehead, let out a low groan. However, that groan was suddenly drowned out by a longer, more painful groan coming from behind.
Isaac paused and looked back. A groan was echoing from within the forest. The reason the sound pierced his ears so clearly was that it was a human voice. A voice appealing with pain and despair, gradually fading away.
Reflexively standing up, Isaac walked toward the sound. Through the trees, he caught a glimpse of a small clearing inside.
In the dark clearing surrounded by trees, something like a small mound was bulging upward. Beside that small hill, which rose roundly to the size of a small shack, several dim shadows were moving. They were witches. Witches with hoods pulled over their heads were hunched over, rummaging through the small hill like scrawny stray dogs searching through a garbage dump. Above them, whitish things like vengeful spirits or ghosts were circling.
Isaac approached while listening intently, but the groan he had heard moments ago did not return. Did I hear it wrong? Just as he thought so and approached the hill, the groan was heard again from the other side of the mound. Looking up to investigate, he saw a witch moving where the groan originated. She was poking and rummaging through the hill with something like an iron skewer, and every time she did, a dying groan was heard.
Just as Isaac was about to walk toward her, he nearly tripped over something. Steadying his swaying body, he dropped his gaze. His foot had caught on something squishy…… something squishy and long, like a tree root…….
“――.”
After confirming what was stretched out beneath his feet, Isaac stopped moving. What protruded from the hill was a withered arm. Following the arm upward, his gaze eventually landed on the hill.
What was piled up like that small hill was a mass of human corpses.
Corpses, fragments of corpses, were piled up like mountains. They were in horrific shapes, so badly mutilated that no intact body could be found.
These were the remains of humans that the witches, holding their banquet in that field, were tearing apart and eating, or boiling.
Isaac instinctively stepped backward. The intermittent groans drifting from beyond, which had suggested someone was still clinging to life, had suddenly ceased. A witch, who had been crouching there, rummaged through the corpses and put something in her mouth.
A surge of nausea rose within him.
As he covered his mouth and took another step back, he bumped into something behind him. Startled, he turned around to find a shadow that had been hunched over and rummaging through the pile of corpses; it flinched and scurried away. It returned to a spot further along the pile, crouched for a moment, and then began rummaging through the corpses again.
Looking closer, he saw about a dozen such shadows clinging to the piles of corpses.
They were witches so wretched and powerless that they couldn’t even fit in among the other witches. Unable to hunt humans properly and despised and mistreated by their own kind, they were burrowing through the rotting piles of corpses like maggots, searching for something to fill their bellies.
“…―.”
Isaac eventually ended up retching under a nearby tree. He vomited everything he had eaten for dinner and closed his eyes, breathing heavily. He wished this were a dream. It was horrific. He wanted to escape this chilling hell as quickly as possible.
Deciding it would be better to go down to the field and find Alikisa, Isaac wiped his mouth and had just lifted his head when—
――Kill him…!
――It’s a human, kill him…!
――Catch him alive, drink his blood and tear his flesh!
Faint shouts seemed to drift from afar. Cries and screams were mixed in, sounding dimly.
Turning his gaze toward the source of the sound, he saw a spot in the vast field where an unusually large number of black shadows were gathered. Other shadows were swarming toward that spot like a colony of ants. In the center of it all was a small, open space. A single person stood there.
Despite the distance making it difficult to identify who it was, Isaac soon realized. It was the Prince.
The Prince was relentlessly cutting down the witches. Around him, the resentful spirits and monsters summoned by the witches swarmed in a pitch-black mass. Soon, he was surrounded by chaotic shadows, obscured from view as if enveloped in a black mist. Only the sounds surrounding him reached Isaac’s ears. Kill him. Tear him apart. I will rip him to shreds…!
Isaac felt his heart sink.
The black mist enveloping the Prince was growing, and the monsters and magic lunging at him were increasing. Monsters and witches that rushed him were sliced in half and scattered by his sword. The screams of the witches and the sound of them pouring out Curses rose higher and higher.
He had to help.
No matter how the Prince’s sword cut through them like straw with unstoppable momentum, the monsters summoned by the witches and surrounding him like black clouds were steadily increasing. He wouldn’t be able to cut down every single one of those swarming black things.
Isaac hurriedly stood up and ran forward.
But at that moment, as Isaac leaped over a small mound of corpses, he collided with a small shadow crouching right behind it. He tripped on something and tumbled right on top of the shadow that had been huddled as if hiding behind the mound.
“――.”
The moment he fell onto the short figure whose hood was pulled all the way up, a pungent stench of rot hit his nose. The smell was so foul it was difficult to even open his mouth. It was enough to make his stomach churn once more.
The hand he had instinctively used to brace himself as he fell sank deep, as if plunging into a mass of slimy mud. When he lifted his hand, rotting flesh was stuck to it, accompanied by a horrific stench.
A witch, whose body was rotting away as if afflicted with leprosy, recoiled in shock. Rotting pieces of flesh fell off with a thud.
She was likely cast out and isolated even among the witches because of this. Her appearance and smell were so hideous and horrific that no one would speak to her or even go near her. Even the other wretched witches lingering nearby did not approach her.
“…Sorry,”
Isaac murmured unconsciously, looking at the witch. Beneath the hood, he caught a glimpse of a face rotting away in a manner so gruesome that anyone—be it a witch or a beast that eats rotten meat—would avoid it. Bones were exposed here and there beneath the blackened, rotting flesh. In the places where eyes should have been, only deep, black holes remained. From deep within those holes, a faint, glimmering light flickered.
The moment Isaac’s gaze inadvertently met that light, the witch suddenly pulled her hood tight. The long, wide hood covered her rotting body once more. The witch scurried away as if struck by lightning, quickly leaping over the pile of corpses. And then,
“…―.”
Isaac remained frozen there for a brief moment. He looked down at his soiled hand. Rotting flesh clung to it like black mud, emitting a terrible smell.
He had smelled this scent before—a smell that seemed to have been decaying for a very long time. The face where everything had rotted away. Even the faint scent of magic lingering over it.
“……Husfelt.”
The name he murmured unconsciously was one that had been forgotten in his memory for a long time. The man who had reached the highest position among human mages. The Guild Master who had been Alikisa’s shell. He had become a corpse—a corpse with a look that seemed to have rotted away so long ago.
Isaac snapped his head up and watched the witch burrowing between the corpses. Something clicked. Something in his instinct was gnawing and scratching at the back of his mind. Something. Something was…
What had looked at Isaac from within the rotting eye sockets was a flickering light. It was a light that seemed to leak faintly, as if trapped inside, a bluish light like a reflection on ice. Where had he seen that faint yet distinct color?
A pond. A mossy pond. The bluish light that had flowed from within it. That was――.
In the next instant, Isaac bolted from his spot. At that moment, the witch, who was trying to hide by burrowing into the pile of corpses, saw Isaac, and her rotting face seemed to distort fiercely. The blue light leaking from her eye sockets intensified.
――You saw.
A harsh, shrill voice, sounding as if it came from hell. The sharp sound, like metal scraping, was unmistakable.
Alikisa!
The chilling sound tore through his eardrums. His head rang as if his eardrums had burst. Simultaneously, an explosive heat and wind erupted around the witch. The witch was chanting an incantation with terrifying momentum. Even as rotting flesh fell away and exposed bones crumbled, the witch recited the scream-like incantation in a tone filled with resentment and hatred. Within that incantation, the wind carrying sweltering heat transformed into the shapes of dozens, hundreds of beasts and lunged at Isaac.
Isaac drew his sword and cut through the beasts. Those creatures, resembling wild dogs, clung to him and attacked relentlessly, no matter how many times he sliced them. Every time the beasts’ claws or teeth grazed him, sharp scratches appeared on his skin.
An endless tide of beasts surged between the witch and Isaac, and Isaac could not close the distance by even a single step. Even as he continued to swing his sword until the muscles in his entire body screamed in pain, the tireless beasts appeared endlessly, closing in again and again.
Above the heads of the endlessly surging beasts, the sky was slowly brightening. How much time was left until dawn? A few minutes, tens of minutes? He couldn’t tell. A reddish light began to glow on the far side of the horizon.
The witch turned her back and fled. Even as she did, the curse-laden incantations did not cease. Isaac, who could not slow his sword for a single moment and was preoccupied with slaying the beasts, grit his teeth as he watched her figure recede rapidly.
He couldn’t let her get away like this.
From far off, he could hear the witches shouting for others to catch and kill the humans, to tear them apart. Was that person alright? They must be. A desperation bordering on panic surged over him. What should he do? How?
The Dark Moon was ending. The Dark Moon. The time of magic.
“――.”
It was then. A thought suddenly flashed through his mind.
The Dark Moon――the only time Isaac could use magic. The only night he could borrow magic. And he still had one wish remaining.
There was no time to think or deliberate. Isaac stopped the hand holding his sword. In an instant, the beasts lunged at Isaac’s arms, shoulders, and waist, biting and tearing, but he had no time to shake them off. Pulling the flint stone from his bosom, Isaac barely managed to strike the stones together with the arm the beasts were biting.
In that moment.
A whirlwind suddenly surged in front of Isaac. A violent wind blew as if to blow Isaac away entirely, and the trees shook violently with a crashing sound. When the wind and the loud noises—strong enough to fling away the beasts clinging to Isaac—stopped, a massive, pitch-black tiger was sitting before him. The beasts that had surrounded Isaac lowered their bodies and growled. The tiger calmly looked around at the beasts, who were crouched as if ready to pounce at any second. The beasts backed away, still crouching and growling.
「I shall grant your wish. What do you desire?」
The tiger asked, peering at Isaac with eyes that shone pitch-black. Isaac cast his gaze beyond the tiger. The witch was fleeing. The fluttering hood was getting further and further away.
“Aliki,”
Isaac started to speak but stopped midway. He had been told that a wish involving someone with stronger Mana than himself could not be granted. In that case,
“――Move me onto that trapezoidal rock over there. Right now.”
Isaac spoke, pointing to the rock visible at the edge of his vision. No sooner had he finished speaking than the tiger’s answer returned.
「That wish shall be granted.」
A voice that seemed to echo, filling his ears, was heard. Simultaneously, a violent wind surged again. The moment Isaac instinctively covered his face as he was swept up in the wind, he found himself floating high in the air, held in the tiger’s mouth. He could see the beasts that had surrounded him howling sharply from far below.
Tall birch trees were beneath his feet. The stars, which had begun to lose their light, were right before his eyes, and the sky, beginning to turn reddish in the far distance, entered his field of vision――.
Suddenly, with the feeling of dropping abruptly, Isaac landed on the large rock that had been dozens of steps away. And about a dozen steps ahead of him was the witch, who had been running frantically in this direction.
Isaac jumped down from the rock. He seemed to sprain his ankle as he leaped boldly from the rock, which was higher than a person’s height, but he didn’t care. The witch was running toward him, just a few steps away.
Seeing Isaac suddenly appear before her, the witch stopped. Distorting her face hideously, the witch hurriedly chanted an incantation. At the same time, that pack of fierce wild dogs appeared between the witch and Isaac, but―― it was a step too late. Giving his forearm to a wild dog that lunged with its jaws open, Isaac approached the witch and grabbed the fluttering hood, pulling it back with all his might.
The body hidden beneath was revealed.
A decayed corpse.
A hideous corpse was revealed, with rotting flesh hanging loosely over yellowed, decayed bones, like a body that had died long ago, and a terrible smell spread in all directions. What was now unrecognizable in its original form was the corpse of a mage. A mage who had given his soul to a witch and died, whose body could not even rest beneath the earth, was rotting and scattering hideously.
「You bastard――――――!!」
A blue light erupted from inside the skull, where only eye sockets remained without eyeballs. The witch was screaming loudly with rage and fear. Staring straight into that blue light—the light that shone dimly yet brightly, as if reflecting on ice—Isaac thrust his hand into the witch’s chest.
His hand sank deep into the rotting, mushy flesh.
And――within, there was a smooth sensation touching his hand.
“……Found you.”
Isaac whispered.
The witch had been staying within the mage’s corpse.
A witch can only dwell in something that has life while simultaneously being able to use Mana. The reason such a witch could still remain in a corpse was…
“――!”
Isaac gripped the bone in his hand and tore it away. The decayed bone snapped and came away weakly. Black, sticky, decayed flesh splattered. The smell of rot wafted strongly. And within that,
A smooth body with a faint, transparent glow was visible.
The rotting flesh that had covered it slid off, revealing a body that had become soft and slippery from being submerged in water for a long time.
It was Alikisa’s body.
It was Alikisa’s body, hidden and covered by the corpse.
The witch had been hiding here. In the forest, far from the bright and noisy bonfire, in a wretched and insignificant appearance that no one would seek out or even speak to. Covering her own body with a rotting corpse.
The moment that body was exposed to the air,
――It’s Alikisa.
――It’s Alikisa’s presence!
――Alikisaaaaa――
White masses of smoke swarmed thick across the sky.
From near and far, those masses of smoke, rushing in like a wildfire, took on the distorted shapes of witches who had died and swarmed toward the body. Curses, rushing in as if insects swarming a rotten corpse, surrounded the body with a momentum that threatened to fill the entire area in an instant.
And then,
Kiyaaaaa――――.
A terrifying scream that tore through the eardrums rang out loudly in the forest.
At that moment, a sound like something splitting apart echoed. Perhaps that is how it would sound if a terrifying bolt of lightning struck. A massive crack, crack sound, as if the sky were splitting, occurred several times in succession, and then—shatter――… a sound inaudible to the ear echoed throughout the area as a distinct sensation.
Above the forest, above the field, above this vast space where the witches were holding their festival, there was a sensation of something massive breaking and crumbling.
It seemed as if tiny fragments were sparkling and scattering from the sky. Though they vanished without a trace as if it were an optical illusion, the sensation of something breaking was conveyed to everyone. To Isaac, to the witches in the forest and the field, and to the vengeful spirits drifting in the sky.
The barrier was broken.
As if the obstructing air were melting away, a wind suddenly blew. It was air rushing in from outside the barrier.
Along with that air, loud and powerful shouts poured in from afar. The sound of weapons clashing and the roars of rough men mixed together, pushing in as if they had been surrounding the field and waiting. In the sky, a giant hawk soared among the thick gathering of crows, driving them away.
Isaac looked toward where the distant sounds were coming from. He saw soldiers pouring into the field spread below the slope, as if they had suddenly sprung up from nowhere. In the space that had become one as the barrier broke, soldiers and witches became mixed together.
“Kill them!”
“Kill them all!”
Rough and hardy frontier soldiers, wielding weapons used to slay monsters, relentlessly cut down the witches. The witches screamed and scattered in all directions. The soldiers who had surrounded the field narrowed their perimeter, driving the witches into the center. Their swords and spears slaughtered the witches without hesitation.
Isaac, who had been watching the scene as if entranced, suddenly flinched and turned his head at the sensation of something fluttering right beside him.
Alikisa’s body was fluttering, enveloped by Curses.
――I will curse you, I resent you, I hate you, I will curse you.
Vengeful spirits, resentful spirits, and Curses tore into Alikisa’s body in an instant. Every time a Curse, revealing sharp teeth and relentlessly ripping the body to shreds, scattered, Alikisa’s body scattered by that much as well.
――Just a little, just a little more, if I can just gather a little more life force―.
The sound of the witch’s desperate screaming rang out. Meanwhile, the Curses lunged like hungry ghosts and tore into the witch’s body, and by the time the numerous Curses had scattered one by one and all disappeared, only a few fragments of Alikisa’s body remained.
The rotting corpse of a mage from long ago and the translucent, slimy fragments of a witch’s body lay strewn across the forest, tangled together.
Isaac stood frozen in place, looking down at the slushy, sticky debris. A witch, whose body had been eaten away until only half a head remained, was staring with wide, frantic eyes. Her face, twisted in the terror of death, trembled violently.
“…….”
Isaac stood blankly for a long time, looking down at the witch facing her end. The witch, who had committed countless cruelties for so long, was finally meeting her finish. Just like that, in a single moment, as if a great castle had collapsed.
The wicked witch, who had lived a long life by switching bodies time and again, was finally dying. Consumed by a terror of death more agonizing than the pain of her shredded flesh.
The sky was gradually brightening. The nightmare of a night was coming to an end. ——Please, let it end quickly. Please.
The witch he had struggled so desperately to find was now dying before Isaac’s eyes. The witch who had devoured so many people was soon to be gone, and there would no longer be anyone who suffered or died because of her. Yet, he felt no joy. Simply exhausted, as if he had just woken from a long nightmare, Isaac let his shoulders slump.
——Isaac!
It was then. Someone called Isaac from afar.
Though he had never heard that voice shouting so loudly before, Isaac immediately recognized who it belonged to. It was the Prince. The Prince was calling him, urgently, perhaps even anxiously.
Isaac turned his head toward the sound. It was over now. This nightmarish night. Now the Prince had achieved what he had long desired, and he would be able to put an end to his long suffering. And I——.
「……Let us make a contract.」
It was just as Isaac was about to move.
A voice, faint and thin as if scattering in the wind, caught Isaac’s heels. Startled, Isaac looked back. The witch was staring at him with her one remaining eye. That eye glistened, a mixture of a desperate desire for life and the terror of death.
“I do not make contracts with witches.”
Isaac spoke quietly and tried to turn away again. Then,
「I am willing to return the soul of that young mage.」
Isaac’s steps halted at the witch’s urgent words.
The soul of the young mage. The soul that the mage had handed over to the witch in exchange for ensuring the Prince’s Curse would never be lifted. If the witch returned it and broke the contract…
The Curse of the Dark Moon placed upon the Prince could be lifted.
“——.”
Isaac stared intently down at the witch.
No, that was impossible. A contract cannot be broken unilaterally. The mage was already dead, and the contract could not be legally terminated. If the witch broke it unilaterally, she would lose all the Mana she had accumulated throughout her life. There was no way she would endure such a fatal loss——unless she were in this situation, facing imminent death.
「I will return the mage’s soul. I will break the contract. Then the human you serve may be freed from the Curse of the Dark Moon. Like the other royals. Provided you drive all witches out of the human world.」
“……Then you will lose all the Mana you have built up until now.”
The half-remaining face of the witch distorted with rage and pain. If so, far from being the strongest witch in the human world, she would become a witch more frail than those wretched creatures that scavenge corpses. It would be an unbearable humiliation and disgrace. However,
「I can just collect it again. I can collect it again over a long period of time. As long as I am alive. ——So, give me your body. No, just let me stay inside your body for a while. Even just until I find a new body to enter. You are half-human, so I should be able to enter.」
The witch’s body was dying irreversibly. Her form, torn apart by curses and left in fragments, would perish in a matter of minutes. And without another body to move into, her soul would have no choice but to die along with the body.
She had to move to a new body. Before this one died. And the only person around her right now was Isaac. She had no other choice to avoid death.
Isaac looked down at the witch without moving a muscle. The witch pleaded with an anxious and urgent air, 「Please…… hurry…….」
If he made a contract with Alikisa. If he lent his body to Alikisa, the Prince could be freed from the mage’s curse. Then, in the future, he could also be freed from the Curse of the Dark Moon.
「I won’t steal your body. Since this isn’t a contract that stakes your soul as payment, your consciousness will remain dominant. Just lend me your body for a while until I find a new one. No harm will come to you.」
The witch gasped and pleaded. Her voice trembled with increasing instability, feeling the approach of death along with the brightening sky.
And Isaac.
As he stared down at the witch, consumed by a certain thought, his face suddenly looked as if he were about to cry. Closing his mouth tight, Isaac turned his head and looked out over the field. In the field, soldiers carrying demon-repelling talismans were ruthlessly slaughtering the witches wherever they found them. Even amidst the chaotic swarm of people, Isaac quickly found the Prince.
The Prince was looking around as if searching for someone. In between, he cut down witches without hesitation, and each time, he looked around again. Even though everything was happening exactly as the Prince had wanted, his face remained stiff, looking almost anxious as he searched for someone.
After watching him blankly for a while, Isaac slowly dropped his shoulders. With a face that looked like it would burst into tears, Isaac turned back to the witch and clamped his mouth shut to stifle a low sigh.
He wanted to lift the curse on the Prince. He wanted him to obtain what he had long desired. And now that the moment was at hand, to make it happen, Isaac had to discard one greed. The greed of wanting to be with the Prince forever.
It was a greed he had clung to dearly, even though it seemed impossible. But now, he had to let it go. It was time to release the thing he did not want to lose.
“——Fine, let’s do that.”
Isaac whispered to the witch. The witch’s eyes, which had been clinging to Isaac in anxiety and instability, flashed with joy.
「Yes, yes, let us make a contract. Quickly. I will break the contract I made with the young mage. In exchange, you lend me your body.」
The witch spoke urgently. Before dawn broke, before death completely enveloped her, she had to hurry and change the vessel for her soul.
Isaac did as she said, cutting his fingertip to draw blood and reciting the incantation she whispered, blocking out the sound of the Prince calling his name from afar. As he did, he whispered inside his mind. I’m sorry, Alikisa.
Isaac realized anew the witch’s blood flowing inside him. It was blood possessed of a selfish and wicked instinct to calmly deceive and corner others to achieve one’s own desires. And now, Isaac was intending to do exactly that.
Alikisa would break the contract with the mage after losing all the Mana she had accumulated. As Isaac desired, the curse the mage had placed on the Prince would vanish. And——in the end, Alikisa would fail to achieve what she desired. And Isaac, as well.
「With this, the contract is complete.」
The witch’s voice flowed out from the fragments of the corpse and floated in the air. And that voice, which seemed to turn transparent as it mixed into the air, suddenly rushed toward Isaac.
It felt as if a mass of air had plunged deep into his body all at once.
The mass of air that penetrated deep inside soon spread to every corner of his body, and thus, Alikisa settled within Isaac’s body. The wicked witch, who had broken the contract with the mage and now had no power left, curled up inside Isaac.
And at that very moment, a sliver of sunlight finally shone over the mountain ridge, which had been growing redder. Dawn began to break, signaling the end of the Dark Moon night.
The desperate screams of witches covered the field. The cheers and shouts of soldiers drowned out those screams. The giant bonfire that had burned so fiercely in the middle of the field died down with the dawn light, and around it, the corpses of witches piled up like mountains.
“…….”
Isaac looked down at the remaining fragments of the corpse at his feet. The body, rotted like black mud, and the darkened, lightless body of the witch were scattered and mixed together. No soul remained in the completely dead body.
The screams and shouts heard from afar felt distant. The area around him was only silent. As if nothing had happened.
Then,
“Isaac!”
He heard his name being called. The sound of shouting from not far away approached at a terrifying speed.
It was a familiar and longed-for voice. Isaac turned toward the voice.
He saw a horse climbing the slope toward the forest, leaving the field where the witches’ corpses were piled. The person riding it, galloping straight toward him, was the Prince.
The Prince’s gaze was fixed on Isaac. He looked nowhere else, not even glancing back as he brushed past the fleeing witches, coming straight toward Isaac in a direct line. Isaac stood there blankly and waited.
Eventually, when the Prince reached Isaac,
“……I am glad you are not badly hurt.”
That was all Isaac managed to mutter.
The tension that had soared to its limit vanished all at once, and the fatigue that rushed in like a tide seized even his tongue. He felt there were many things he wanted to say, things he had to say, but nothing came to mind. So, he barely managed to let out the first thought that occurred to him.
The Prince sat atop the horse and looked down at Isaac in silence for a moment. His expression was stiff, as if he had been nervous. What could a man who had cut down witches with an indifferent face while surrounded by them, as if they were demons, have been nervous about?
After observing Isaac for a while, the Prince looked down to Isaac’s toes before shifting his gaze to the side. The blackened, decaying corpse of the mage and the bluish body torn into pieces beside it.
The Prince stared at those fragments for a moment, and though he must have realized they belonged to the one he had pursued for so long, he soon turned his gaze away indifferently. As if he no longer had any interest in it, he looked back at Isaac, leaned down from the horse, wrapped one arm around Isaac’s waist, and lifted him up. He pulled him up in front of him and turned the horse’s head back.
As they descended the slope together on the horse, Isaac said nothing, leaning his back against the Prince’s chest. For a brief moment, he wondered if it was too impudent to lean like this, but he ignored the thought. He was too exhausted to even sit up straight.
The Prince said nothing. He only slowed the pace of the horse descending the slope. Clop, clop, clop, the horse’s steps slowed so that his exhausted body would not be shaken.
In the eastern sky, the sun had already risen fully. The dawn light shone over the piles of witches’ corpses and the soldiers gathering the bodies scattered here and there. No more piercing screams or thunderous shouts were heard. Only the occasional sound of soldiers calling to one another or the clanking of weaponry broke the silent dawn air.
The nightmare of a night had ended.
The memories of that horrific scene scattered into the dawn air.
It was over. Everything was over. The nightmare of a single night. The long days the royal family had suffered under the curse. There might be a few surviving witches, but with the witches of this land slaughtered so ruthlessly, they would not remain in the human realm for long.
The Prince had achieved what he had long desired, and now there was nothing more to suffer or strive for. Now, he only had to live through peaceful and tranquil days.
All that remained was one small task that had passed to Isaac.
A soldier came running from the other side. It was Rihan.
He glanced at Isaac, who was sitting in front of the Prince on the horse, as if it were strange, but soon turned his gaze to the Prince as if it were nothing.
“The witches in the field have all been dealt with. The soldiers are now entering the forest to search. They will likely finish the cleanup before morning and have everything organized by noon.”
Rihan’s voice as he began the report seemed to grow more distant. Isaac closed his eyes, letting the fading sound drift past him. He was deathly exhausted. To the point where he thought that this time, he might not wake up for more than a week.
A familiar warmth was transmitted from the chest pressed against his back. Suddenly, an incomparable sense of relief washed over him. A perfect peace, knowing that as long as he was in this place, nothing could harm him.
It was a very unfamiliar sensation.
A feeling he had never tasted once while living alone all his life.
Suddenly, his heart grew hot with emotion.
With the tension gone, Isaac’s shoulders slumped. His whole body went limp. He felt the Prince quietly looking down at him as he slumped in the Prince’s arms.
The moment Isaac closed his eyes, he lost consciousness, and the last memory remaining in his mind was the arm that firmly held his tilting body and pulled him into a close embrace.