Chapter 209: Light

Chapter Two Hundred Nine
Light

“Wah!”

The baby inside Megose’s belly cried. It squirmed, wanting to be born, wanting to help its mother escape her predicament.

The black, cold, slippery threads seemed frightened, or perhaps seized by some invisible force. They retreated one after another.

“Wah!”

Dunn and Klein both grew visibly dizzy. Their throats constricted on their own, their windpipes compressing again and again, making breathing instantly difficult.

From their noses, the corners of their eyes, beside their ears, bright red liquid dripped down. It was as though every capillary in their bodies had ruptured.

If Klein had not endured the test of ravings and roars every time he entered the gray fog, if Dunn had not been holding Saint Selena’s ashes, they would certainly have fainted already—just like Leonard Mitchell.

Megose’s headless body turned toward Klein. The charred flesh and skin falling away in pieces, and the white bone blade that was both sacred and demonic, were clearly reflected in his eyes.

Klein had only just relied on abundant experience to break free from the influence when his scalp suddenly tingled. He forgot the agony in his right chest and seemed to see Megose pouncing toward him in a flashing frenzy, giving him no chance to recite the incantation, pour in spirituality, and throw the Sunflame Charm.

Just as he was about to roll aside, Klein saw Megose suddenly freeze. He saw Dunn Smith’s black windbreaker fly backward. He saw the Captain, diagonally ahead, lower his head. Beneath the back of that windbreaker, thick, writhing shapes protruded one after another, as though venomous snakes, tentacles, or monsters were hidden there.

Dunn was using his Nightmare ability to forcibly interfere with Megose.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

With only a single struggle from Megose, the thick shapes bulging beneath Dunn’s back burst open all at once.

A large amount of bright-red blood splashed outward, pouring like a rainstorm into every nearby corner.

Yet Dunn, face pale, did not despair at that result.

Because the blood had been absorbed by the black threads created from Saint Selena’s ashes.

Absorbed!

The countless cold, slippery, tentacle-like black threads instantly turned violent. They stopped retreating and surged forward instead, binding Megose tightly, binding her high, writhing belly.

An opportunity!

Klein felt both tense and delighted. In his throat, the ancient Hermes word corresponding to “light” was already forming.

“Wah! Wah! Wah!”

The infant cries rang out once again—more continuous than before, more urgent than before.

The black, countless, nearly invisible threads suddenly stopped. As though struck by lightning, they trembled violently, shivering as they withdrew.

Dunn watched this scene. Seeing that Megose was about to break free, his expression changed once. Then, without the slightest hesitation, he withdrew his right hand, opened his five fingers, and with a pfft, inserted them into his own chest—into the left side of his chest.

His right hand quickly pulled free, covered in blood. Clenched in his five fingers was a heart that carried the tranquility of night and the shifting nature of dreams—a heart still contracting and expanding.

Captain…

Klein watched helplessly as Dunn Smith placed the heart in his right hand into Saint Selena’s casket. His vision swiftly blurred.

Woo! Woo! Woo!

A cry sounded, like the voice of a Nightmare in the depths of night. The countless black threads tightened again with an abnormally cold and silent feeling, binding Megose firmly, desperately, in place.

Even when another infant cry came from Megose’s belly, they did not loosen in the slightest. They even locked that terrifying sound inside the thing they had wrapped.

Klein’s tears mixed with blood and slid drop by drop down his face. From his mouth, he uttered one ancient Hermes word in a low voice:

“Light!”

Light that illuminates the darkness!

Light that brings warmth!

Almost all his remaining spirituality poured into the thin gold sheet carved with mysterious patterns. His head instantly turned hollow and dizzy.

Summoning his last strength, Klein threw the Sunflame Charm at Megose, who was imprisoned by countless black threads.

This time, those black threads did not shrink back in advance. They no longer followed instinct, as though commanded by a certain will.

Thump. Thump.

Inside Saint Selena’s casket, Dunn’s bright-red heart continued to beat.

Once more, sunlight pierced through the great hole in the ceiling. It pierced through the entire third floor and shone into Blackthorn Security Company, almost condensing into a tangible pillar.

Drawn by the Sunflame Charm, it reflected toward Megose.

The two merged above the headless monster and erupted like a sun.

Boom!

Amid the blazing white radiance, Klein shut his eyes. The final image engraved itself into his mind:

Megose’s charred body, missing her left arm, her head, and much of her flesh, disintegrated in an instant. Within her, some terrifying thing, half illusory and half real, lost its support in the material world. Unable to complete the final step of transformation, it turned unwillingly, angrily, into black vapor and dissolved within light and flame.

Rumble!

The entire building shook violently, but this was merely the small portion of the Sunflame Charm’s power that had scattered outward.

Unlike a normal bomb, its power was concentrated and restrained.

Klein barely steadied himself. Several seconds later, he opened his eyes and looked ahead.

He saw walls collapsing one after another. He saw that where Megose had stood, the floor had been charred black in a circle and had only half melted.

He saw a bloodstained, curled, fire-burned length of umbilical cord lying there. He saw Dunn Smith, still wearing his thin black windbreaker, standing where he had been. He saw the heart inside Saint Selena’s casket still beating slowly. He saw Leonard Mitchell lying opposite, his life or death unknown.

The highly exhausted Klein felt a burst of joy.

He felt there might still be a way to save the Captain using ritual magic. He felt that Megose and the baby in her belly had truly been dealt with. No, the latter was closer to being interrupted, driven away.

Just then, Dunn Smith turned his head and looked at Klein. On his pale face was a gentle, relaxed smile. His voice was mellow, as it had always been.

“We saved Tingen.”

After saying that, as if he had returned to the year he was twenty, no longer so steady, no longer so proper, he winked his left eye at Klein.

Klein’s expression froze on his face.

He saw the heart inside Saint Selena’s casket stop beating, transform into brilliant points of light, and scatter in every direction. He saw the Captain’s body fall backward. He saw his hands loosen.

Everything seemed like frames of a painting, yet he could stop none of it.

Thud!

Saint Selena’s casket fell onto the floor, like Klein’s heart itself.

Gurgle. Gurgle. Although the casket was uncovered, the deep darkness inside sealed the opening. Not a single grain of those shining, sand-like ashes spilled out. The box rolled over and over, rolling toward Klein.

Dunn Smith fell onto the broken floor. His deep gray eyes had lost all their light, staring directly at the hole where sunlight spilled in.

Captain!

Klein’s vision blurred again. He wanted to shout aloud, but that word, and all the words that should have followed it, were stuck in his throat:

We cannot bear to part with you either…

At that moment, Saint Selena’s casket rolled to his feet.

Suddenly, Klein’s chest hurt. His pupils shrank, and his entire body froze in place.

He lowered his head blankly and saw a slightly pale hand pierce out from the left side of his chest. It was covered in blood.

Megose is not dead… No. A new enemy… the mastermind behind the scenes… Am I going to die…

Klein’s thoughts scattered rapidly. His gaze almost lost focus, while his body collapsed sideways.

His breathing gradually stopped. The last thing he felt was that hand abruptly pulling backward. The last thing he saw was a pair of polished leather boots and a hand reaching down—a slightly pale hand.

It grasped Saint Selena’s casket.

Darkness filled his vision. Klein lost all awareness.

…

Inside Blackthorn Security Company, now turned into ruins, scorch marks and broken objects lay everywhere. Yet there was not the slightest sound, as though the place had become a tomb.

Several minutes passed. Leonard Mitchell’s body moved once, and his eyes slowly opened.

He struggled upright and looked around. He saw Dunn Smith lying on the floor. He saw Klein, eyes wide open, with shock frozen upon his face. Both had obvious wounds on the left side of the chest.

“No…”

One word squeezed from Leonard’s throat. He staggered, half crawling, half walking, toward Dunn’s side, toward Klein’s corpse.

Again and again, he checked them. Again and again, he moved between them. But in the end, he could only accept the result that could no longer be changed.

Leonard’s legs gave out, and he knelt where he was. His green eyes were filled with pain. Tear after tear slid down his face, washing away bloodstains and dust.

He turned an ear aside and listened for two seconds. Then he abruptly bent forward, roared, clenched his fist, and slammed it heavily against the floor.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

Leonard kept weeping. He kept pounding the floor. Within that grief, clear hatred emerged, and equally clear self-loathing.

Tak, tak, tak.

The sound of rapid footsteps came from the stairs. Leonard lifted his head. Through blurred vision, he saw the arriving members of the Mandated Punishers and the Machinery Hivemind.