Carpe Diem (1)
The Carnival King's star was beautiful.
Unlike her horrific deeds, her star was strikingly beautiful. Dyed in every color, it shone like fireworks bursting across the night sky, so dazzling that it was hard to believe it belonged to a demon.
But the mont he lifted the curtain, Najin realized the truth.
It was a lie.
What he saw when he looked up was not a beautiful star. A bizarre, grotesque, skin-crawling constellation hung there instead.
That star did not shine in beautiful colors. It was the exact opposite. Its color was closer to filth, like every paint in a bucket had been dumped together without care.
Its shape was not fixed either.
Like sticky mud flowing downward, like iron in a furnace lting into sludge, it kept dripping lower and swallowing the stars gathered beneath it. Every star that had submitted to the Carnival King was coated in that sa filth.
-......
Even rlin, who had faced every kind of hideous star, was left speechless. Najin glared at the Carnival King's star and reached a hand toward the sky.
'That...'
A star with no color of its own.
A star with no shape of its own.
'So that is your true form, Carnival King.'
A star that could beco anything, and precisely because of that, could possess no self. Najin looked at the Carnival King's star, the one that stood opposite him, and curled his lips.
Because that hideous constellation was exactly the kind of star that suited the Carnival King.
Najin had witnessed the ugly face hidden behind a beautiful mask. The mont her true form was exposed, the Carnival King's star flashed wildly. It was both a burst of light and a burst of madness. At a glance, it even looked like it was screaming.
A thicker curtain wrapped around the Carnival King's star and hid it.
By the ti the rippling curtain settled, the Carnival King's star was shining in its usual colors again, as if nothing had happened. But that did not change the fact that what lay beyond had been exposed, even if only briefly. It lasted only a few seconds, but Najin saw it clearly.
What the Carnival King had tried to hide.
Drip.
As the price for peeking past the curtain, blood ran from Najin's eyes and nose. It was the cost of trying to see what should not be seen.
-H-hey, you...!
'I'm fine.'
Najin let the blood pooled in his eyes spill out and took a long breath. It had pushed him too far, but it was worth it. He had gained valuable information. And in Najin's judgnt, this was sothing that had to be shared imdiately.
The Carnival King's star he saw beyond the curtain.
Among the countless stars beneath it, Najin saw four constellations shining brightest. Two were already known: the Star of Scorn and the Demon King of Lantation...
'The remaining two...'
One he did not know. He only morized its shape. But the other was a star Najin knew. More than that, it was a star no citizen of the Empire could fail to know.
The Third Pillar of the Empire.
Praise Horn, Akut.
The Transcendent currently taking part in the subjugation of the Demon King of Lantation was the Carnival King's third jester.
2.
Hidden thods, daggers, and traps have value only while they stay hidden. The mont they are exposed, they lose that value in an instant. And now Najin had seen what the Carnival King had kept concealed.
Then what would she do?
Before their value dropped any further, she would try to dispose of all of them now, while they were still at their peak value.
Tap.
Knowing that, Najin broke out of the Starfield and started running. He had to deliver this information as fast as possible.
'The subjugation of the Demon King of Lantation is still in progress.'
The Demon King of Lantation and the constellations participating in the subjugation were still shining. That ant the operation was not over yet. Which ant the information Najin held still mattered.
To think she had planted a jester at the very center of the Empire.
Najin's face twisted. There was a traitor. He realized the Carnival King had not hidden her two jesters rely to protect the Forbidden Zone guarding her domain.
'She was waiting to stab them in the back at the decisive mont.'
He had to tell them there was a traitor in the subjugation force. But the Carnival King had also noticed that he had seen her, and she would have realized her hidden traitor had been exposed.
From here on, it was a race against ti.
But unlike the Carnival King, Najin had no way to send information regardless of distance. He was not a Transcendent. He was bound to lose in speed.
'If I run, I'll be too late.'
Najin looked up at the sky. He was not a Transcendent, but he was soone who drew the gaze of Transcendents.
And Najin knew it.
Ever since the day the Carnival King had appeared before him, one constellation had been watching him the whole ti. A constellation that had taken interest in him.
The gaze that constellation sent was favorable.
It could only be favorable.
Because she considered anyone who opposed demons her friend.
"Thorned Martyr."
The patron star of the Starblood Sect. Even after losing her body and ascending, she had never given up on killing demons, a star that existed for that purpose alone.
Najin looked at her.
She looked back at Najin.
Unlike before, Najin's star was no longer small. The light made by his six stars clearly reached hers.
"I need your help."
Najin did not speak at length. She did not answer at length either. She simply made her star flash once.
* * *
"Ah."
"What is it now, Inquisitor General?"
"My patron has sent a signal."
"A signal?"
"Yes. It seems we need to change destinations, Star Incarnation."
"What are you talking about? I've done my duty. Now I'm going back to my cozy estate for a sweet rest..."
"'The Starbody must fulfill its duty,' she says."
"Who says that?"
"My patron."
"..."
Damn it. The Star Incarnation muttered and wiped her face.
"What is it this ti?"
"Simple."
Yuel Razian flung open the carriage door. Carriages were for saving strength and traveling in comfort, not for speed. What carriage could be faster than a Transcendent? And what they needed now was speed.
"Execute humanity's traitor."
Yuel and the Star Incarnation jumped from the carriage at the sa ti.
* * *
"...Are you serious?"
"Yes, I am."
"You're really going to do this? Are you insane? Do you know what waits at the end? Ruin. Do I need to explain what ruin ans too?"
"I know."
"You know and you'll still do it? Unbelievable. Judging by this, you didn't decide in a day or two. You've been planning this for a long ti, haven't you? Am I right?"
"Yes."
"Right. So that is how it is."
"So..."
"If that's the case."
Flash.
"Then give one reason, just one, why I should not kill all of you right now."
"That would put us in a difficult position."
"Difficult? You said difficult? Right now?"
A dry laugh echoed.
"I stayed out of your business, and now you think I'm a complete joke. Wake up. I have both the power to turn this place into rubble and the will to do it. Do you think I can't?"
"That would violate the oath..."
"Shut your mouth."
Bang. One head burst. Blood sprayed across the white marble. As if disgusted by the stain, he flicked his hand and burned every trace away before speaking again.
"From this mont."
A creaking noise twisted through space.
"From this mont, choose your words carefully. My great patience is right at its limit."
3.
The Carnival King's jester.
The Demon King of Lantation, Carpe Diem.
Originally, the operation to subjugate the Demon King of Lantation had been carried out in secret. It was an operation filled with words like classified, swift, and guerrilla. The number of people joining the subjugation force was small. The number of people who even knew about it was also extrely small.
In a fight between Transcendents, numbers ant nothing anyway. To superhumans who could slaughter dozens or hundreds with a single sword swing or a flick of a finger, headcount was aningless.
So there were only four.
The First Horn of the Empire, Gerd.
The Second Horn of the Empire, Annihilation Horn Entikles.
The Third Horn of the Empire, Praise Horn Akut.
The master of the Order of the Sword, Sword Saint Karan.
The subjugation force was made up of four. They were carefully chosen, trustworthy people, and their strength was enough to kill the Demon King of Lantation. The heart of the plan was to hide their starlight and launch a surprise assault on the demon king's domain. There were no gaps in the plan.
So they expected it to go smoothly.
No, it had to go smoothly.
It did not go smoothly. It ca close to failure. What waited for them in the Demon King of Lantation's territory was a crowd of jesters, and the Demon King of Lantation himself was nowhere to be seen. As if they had known this raid was coming.
Cackle, cackle-cackle-cackle!
On a stage filled with nothing but laughter of rrint, they had to fight the jesters.
Information had leaked from sowhere.
They had walked into a trap.
They realized that, but up to that point it was not a huge problem. They were Transcendents. A few jesters could never stop their advance.
Every ti the Sword Saint and the First Horn of the Empire swung their swords, piles of jesters were swept away.
They tore through the territory searching for the Demon King of Lantation, who had to be hiding sowhere nearby. The operation had gained a variable, but they had enough skill to ignore that kind of variable. Who could possibly prepare for four powerful Transcendents?
And above all, they could not retreat.
Inside the domain spread by the Demon King of Lantation, escaping without killing him was difficult. In the end, they had to kill the Demon King of Lantation.
Ti passed like that.
Then one day, as ti went on.
The Carnival King's star in the night sky suddenly shook violently. The star, shining fiercely out of nowhere, looked like it was sending so signal, and also like it was screaming.
"......"
The subjugation force was distracted by that change, even if only for a mont. The sight of all ten stars trembling was enough to seize their attention.
To the Sword Saint, to the First Horn of the Empire, and to Annihilation Horn as well, it looked like nothing but a scream. They thought the Carnival King's star was twisting and screaming.
But one person alone.
To the hidden traitor among them, it was not a scream. It was a signal ant for him.
Praise Horn, Akut, was overjoyed.
At last, the ti had co to prove his value to her. The mont he had waited and waited for had finally arrived, and he rejoiced. Akut moved his hand.
In the original plan, he would drain a little more of their stamina first.
Wear them down a little more.
Then work with the Demon King of Lantation hiding sowhere in this place and bury them all.
But the plan changed. His lovely princess desired it. She wanted them buried imdiately. Akut never questioned what his princess wanted.
The apostle of rrint revealed his true colors.
Flash.
The ambush ca in silence and at high speed. No matter how excellent a Transcendent's reflexes were, no matter how close their prediction was to foresight, it was still hard to respond to an ambush from another Transcendent, especially one they had believed was an ally.
Thrust.
Akut's spear pierced Annihilation Horn's back. It stabbed in from behind and pierced his heart. Annihilation Horn, Entikles, was a mage. Compared with Transcendents trained in arms and close combat, his reaction speed could only be slower. Entikles's eyes widened, but by then it was already too late.
Aura exploded from Akut's spearhead.
He ant to wound Karan and Gerd as well, beyond Entikles.
A mont no longer than a split second.
But from the instant Akut thrust his spear, Karan had already moved. He could not stop Entikles from being pierced, but he answered the attack that followed.
Kaaang!
"This..."
Karan's sword blocked Akut's spear.
"What are you doing, Praise Horn?"
Instead of answering, Akut leaped far backward. Gerd's sword was already cutting through the space where Akut had stood. Akut retreated and covered his face with his palm. When his hand dropped away, a jester's mask covered his face.
That was answer enough.
Right after that, the stage tore apart.
The Demon King of Lantation, who had been hiding in the stage, did not miss this mont. The instant the balance tilted, the demon king intervened.
User Comments
0 comments from readers