Magic, sorcery, dark magic, miracles. Their methods differ, but ultimately, they all involve communicating with something to achieve a certain result.
Magic communicates with the rules that govern the world. Sorcery speaks to spirits and nature gods. Dark magic reaches out to beings dwelling outside or gods of other worlds. Miracles appeal to the gods of humanity.
Ultimately, you must communicate your intent for them to act. There are no entities that act without being addressed; if there were, they would have either already perished or vanished into a place farther away than “outside.” It’s one or the other.
If you could understand the language of everything and compel action by addressing everything, then perhaps—if you could interfere with all forms of communication—you might control them.
Prayers offered to gods, cries reaching out to the beyond, voices attempting to bend fate to their will, gratitude and wishes sent to the gods of nature—all of these…
Could they not all be overwritten in black? A brush is both an instrument and a tool of writing. While it can inscribe words, it can also blot them out with ink, rendering their meaning indecipherable.
…Then, if the incantations themselves were blacked out, wouldn’t they naturally lose their meaning?
obliterated language cannot retain any meaning. That was what the statue of the goddess meant: with your brush, you could interfere with language and erase its meaning.
At first, I thought this was madness. How could you interfere with something you couldn’t even see? And even if interference were possible, would anything respond?
-A reasonable question. Since you cannot see language, it is understandable that you would ask this. Then… yes. Sacrifice one of your eyes. In return, I shall grant you vision that can perceive language.
The demon’s condition was simple: give up one eye. I hesitated for a moment. After all, I wasn’t even sure if this claim about cutting or blotting out language was true.
I recalled Alterra’s image and envisioned myself standing beside her, severing the spells directed at her.
…If just one eye… If it didn’t make me completely blind… Still… Should I really do it? As I pondered, the goddess statue offered to lend me temporary vision. It shone brilliantly.
The light was blinding, forcing my eyes closed. When the statue’s glow subsided, and I opened my eyes again, the world before me was no longer the familiar void of darkness.
Characters and letters were rising beneath my feet. Whispers of love, curses, anger, resentment—various languages were ascending from below.
-Go on. Use this clumsy power of mine to blot out something. Anything will do. There’s no better way to start.
Among the countless colorful languages filling the void, I swiped my brush across one sentence. The blue text lost its color and turned black.
After cutting through that sentence, the languages that had filled the world vanished without a trace. Only my brush remained, reflecting the golden radiance of the goddess statue.
“…I offer my eye.”
This could actually work. Thinking so, I prepared to pluck out my left eye as the statue suggested, but it warned me that doing so would leave a scar on my face. Instead, I should cover the eye designated for the offering with a hand bearing a tattoo.
I covered my left eye with my right hand. Though I felt a brief hesitation, the prospect of gaining greater utility outweighed my doubts. The pattern on my palm grew warm for a moment. When the statue declared it was done, I uncovered my eye.
Just like before, various languages became visible. Words cursing someone, whispering love, and crying out began appearing. My vision seemed fine, but when I closed my right eye, my left eye couldn’t see the statue—it only perceived the languages.
…Ah, so this is how it works. When I reopened my right eye and closed my left, I saw nothing but the statue glowing ominously with benevolence.
Looking behind me with both eyes open, I noticed red sentences connected to my body like strings attached to a puppet. Would severing them bring me back to my senses?
“…Before I go, I have one last question. Whose words are these?”
The goddess statue gave no answer. Her unsettling smile merely deepened.
-You’ll find out eventually.
She clearly had no intention of enlightening me. With that, I cut away all the red sentences clinging to me and severed those still spreading. Simultaneously, my consciousness surged.
As soon as I opened my eyes, I blacked out another red sentence trying to pierce my back. Even while conversing with the statue earlier, I had noticed that each time I severed a sentence belonging to the Demon Tribe, a chunk of my mana drained away.
Then I’ll burn the witch’s soul to replenish it. As soon as I stood up, the small demon stared at me in shock, retreating while hurling red sentences toward me.
“…What is all this nonsense?! Elize! Smash everything and send the monsters toward the village immediately, then flee with the doll! Sorry, I know it’s crazy, but hold out until the Demon King arrives! I’ll buy some time here! Absolutely don’t fail!”
I swung my brush wide, cutting and blotting out more sentences. But I couldn’t get them all, and a few pierced my body.
I gripped my consciousness tightly as it threatened to fade, swinging my brush again despite the violent drain of mana I remembered from trying to write to Alterra. Clutching the witch’s soul to its limits, I endured.
The moment Elize, the demon, heard the girl’s shout, she let out a deafening scream and fled into the sky.
…She’s gathering all the monsters around the area toward the village, probably planning something. Given the mention of the doll… Is she still obsessed with Mari?
Then Alterra will be essential. Dodging or severing the sentences flying toward me, I headed toward Alterra and cut away all the red sentences embedded in her.
The witch’s soul… Half of it remains. I don’t know exactly what kind of entity it is, but I need to use it carefully. Blood seems to be trickling from my nose, but I ignored it, drawing mana from the soul and infusing it into my body.
Alterra snapped back to her senses as soon as the red sentences were severed, though her memory appeared incomplete. She looked around confusedly, then spotted me and asked what we were doing here.
“Words… later! Alterra, head to the village! The people are in danger! I’ll handle things here, just go quickly!!”
I cut away the red sentences flying toward Alterra while urging her to escape. Although I might manage alone, my skills aren’t yet sufficient to protect her from the sentences aimed at her too.
“…You’ll regret this later…”
Fortunately, Alterra kicked off the ground forcefully and rushed toward the village.
Now it’s just me and that thing. It seems to have redirected all its focus from Alterra to me, as overwhelming streams of red sentences came flying my way, far more than a single brushstroke could handle.
I swung my brush as wide as I could, cutting through the sentences, but a few managed to pierce me, showing me illusions.
Illusions of peace. Illusions of living happily with Alterra. Just like in the space with the goddess statue, once I severed and escaped those, the next set of sentences showed me horrifying illusions.
Knowing they were illusions, I kept cutting, but merely blocking them endlessly wouldn’t suffice. Judging from its behavior, it seems incapable of anything else besides firing these red sentences.
…Can I dodge them? It was worth a try. Using almost all my remaining mana—including the last remnants of the witch’s soul—I poured everything into my legs.
Almost everything, because I needed to reserve enough for the sword’s flames, in case I needed to break through a barrier.
And as the next batch of sentences shot out, I leaped with all my strength.
Something broke, but there wouldn’t be a second chance anyway.
Flying through the red sentences, I swung my sword toward the demon’s neck. Thankfully, there was no barrier to stop me mid-air.
“Damn─”
Before the demon could utter another word, its head was already rolling on the ground.
—
Returning from some strange world, the first thing I saw was Myungho furiously brushing in mid-air. Describing how I felt at that moment is impossible.
Also, there was a demon nearby, seemingly casting some sort of hypnotic spell on Myungho. Though I couldn’t see what was happening between them, I knew I was interfering with whatever Myungho was doing, so I quickly moved away.
I had to repel the incoming monsters anyway. Looking up, I saw a demon screaming its lungs out.
I could sense the vibrations—the monsters were responding to that voice. Whatever this was about, I knew I had to stop them immediately.
Bounding from tree to tree, I reached the village ahead of the demon and hurriedly found Yuna and Akashi. They were chatting idly near the well when they saw me and asked where I’d been and why I was in such a rush.
“I’ll explain later—get ready to fight now! Monsters are coming!”
“Huh? Suddenly? Why…?”
“It’s the demons! Everyone in this village has been manipulated by the demons! You, Myungho, the villagers, me—everyone! Grab your weapons quickly—they’re almost here…!”
Sensing the vibrations, I knew time was critical, so I skipped further explanation and immediately erected a double wall around the village. Scales erupted on my skin, but I didn’t care since we’d end up fighting anyway.
Yuna, though bewildered, climbed atop the wall with her bow ready, while I threw Akashi onto the fortress wall, keeping him tucked under my arm.
Not long after, trees began snapping in the distance, and monstrous creatures emerged.
