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“Priest Yayoi,” the doctor greeted back, eyes narrowing. “I wasn’t expecting you.”
“I don’t know what you’re planning, Doctor, but the girl isn’t ready. The ritual requires ten days of isolation before Ascension, and she’s only had seven. It’s too soon.”
“It’s not too soon, priest. It’s too late,” another voice cut in—a voice both grating and laced with fury. “That wretch Adalhard sent his pet to destroy my weapon factory. He’s declared war… on me! The nerve! Somebody needs to put that fool in his place ASAP.”
The source of the voice stepped into view: a pig whose appearance was more hideous than the monster in the cell next door—oh wait, oddly enough, that’s a human.
“The Gods do not meddle in mortal affairs. The Gods themselves set this rule for the Advent, and you are tempting their patience—”
“This is my country, priest. I am the rule here. Your pissy gods are powerless before me.” The Emperor’s words were so blasphemous that the priest’s face flushed with anger. Yet, the Emperor, mistaking this fury for silence, smirked and continued with barely concealed arrogance. “Finally know your place? Then go and make that thing useful for me already.”
“…I pray I am there to witness the day your hubris becomes your undoing.” Though the priest’s words were spoken in a foreign language, the entity understood them clearly, feeling the weight of a silent curse.
“Place her on the table,” the doctor commanded flatly, undisturbed by the tension filling the room. The girl was set down on a cold medical table, surrounded by machines, their cables and tubes casting dark shadows. One by one, needles from multiple IV bags punctured her skin, and the entity could feel a chill spreading through her veins, sapping her strength.
Then, as always, the doctor addressed the black recording device.
“We are now commencing experiment Four-Eight-Zero dash C. Subject has been positioned on the table and prepared for the procedure. Due to the equipment’s sensitivity, all non-essential devices will be powered down for the duration. This includes the recording device and any magical items or tools on anyone present. Logging will resume post-operation.”
With that, the doctor set the device on the table. He glanced at the priest, who, after a resigned sigh, withdrew a set of prayer beads from his sleeve and placed them next to it. Together, they turned toward the Emperor, who lingered defiantly in the corner.
“I’m not taking it off,” he scoffed. But their steady gazes didn’t waver. “Fine! If this leaks, I know exactly whose heads will roll.”
Reluctantly, he removed his earrings. The moment they left his hands, the strangest transformation occurred—not a shift from pig to man, but a subtle, disconcerting change. Suddenly, he appeared… ordinary. As though a veil had been lifted, his presence seemed stripped of its imposing weight, and a kind of glamor dissolved, leaving him startlingly human, a mere man among men. It was as if some enchantment had been distorting the perception of all who looked upon him this whole time.
The priest looked momentarily taken aback, but the doctor seemed entirely unfazed. “Any other magical items, Your Majesty?” he asked.
“None whatsoever,” the Emperor replied flatly. The doctor nodded, preparing to begin.
“I’ll start the procedure, then.”
Having said that, a mask connected to a tank was put on the girl, and she drifted to sleep. The entity, however, remained alert as he watched the doctor casting some kind of spell on his rubber gloves.
“Exercise caution, doctor,” the priest warned. “We still don’t understand the entity possessing her. During her first Ascension, she obliterated six protective magic circles almost instantly. Only the highest-ranking Gods in our pantheon possess that kind of power… and they’re all accounted for.”
“Then it must be some other god,” the Emperor muttered dismissively.
“That’s simply impossible. Different faiths are governed by different Creation Myths. Deities from one faith cannot cross into the rites of another.” The Emperor scoffed at the priest, unimpressed. “Regardless, my priority is ensuring we haven’t unwittingly unleashed some ancient demon. I’ll expect you to explain each step of this procedure in detail.”
The doctor, clearly displeased, simply replied, “Sure.”
He began, “In this box is a Binder, made from the ash of a cinder wood barrel used for fermenting sake for three hundred years. Alcohol lowers the barrier between mortals and gods. So, once the Binder is transplanted into subject Four-Eight-Zero’s lower dantian, it should, theoretically, bind the deity directly to this plane, with her as the anchor. However, if that happens, the deity’s overwhelming divine mana would instantly bond with the carbon in her body, turning her into a massive carbon manonite crystal.
“Normally, we’d prevent this by exposing her to small amounts of divine mana through Ascension rituals, allowing her body to adapt over a ten-day rest cycle. But since time is constrained, we’ll be reversing that approach. We’ll charge her innate mana to a supercritical state, so that when the deity’s mana enters her body, by the second law of Manodynamics, it will assimilate with her mana first and foremost, minimizing the risk of carbon manonites forming.
“But charging her mana to this level will inevitably damage her internal organs, meaning the subject will almost certainly perish. Therefore, she’ll undergo a vampirization process first to enhance her regenerative abilities. If that fails, a continuous drip of potion will be administered to repair any injuries she might sustain. The vampirization will eventually dissipate on its own, driven off by the divinity of the deity possessing her. And if that doesn’t happen, the subject will simply expire.”
The priest looked utterly dumbfounded.
“…What lunacy are you spewing?”
“These steps are necessary to bypass the entire Advent. I’ve run the calculations; they’ll work.”
“Divinity is not science, doctor. The Gods will not be pleased if you violate their laws like a child playing with a toy.”
“Yeah, yeah, whatever. Just get on with it already, Haumann. I don’t have all day,” the Emperor interrupted dismissively.
Urged by the Emperor, the doctor began the operation despite the priest’s silent protest. Scalpels, clamps, and other surgical instruments floated into the air, obeying the doctor’s commands. Valves opened and closed as though moved by invisible hands. It was like a one-man orchestra, with the doctor as its conductor and the girl as his instrument.
Yet every incision resonated painfully with the entity. Every muscle pulled, every bone cracked—it was as if the girl’s pain was his own. Though she remained blissfully unconscious throughout the surgery, the entity was not so fortunate. His senses were overwhelmed by unspeakable pain, sharper and deeper than anything he had thought possible.
At one point, the girl began to spasm uncontrollably. Her heart pounded so fiercely it felt as if it might burst at any moment—and still, the doctor continued without pause.
Finally, the doctor removed a small, pure-black hexagonal chip—the Binder—from a wooden box. The entity noticed its size was no larger than a pinky finger. After carefully measuring the placement, the doctor slid it into a spot beneath the girl’s navel. Instantly, a surge of power began to flow from the Binder into the girl. The energy burned hot and dense, like molten metal coursing through veins.
But something far stranger began to happen to the entity. He could feel himself being pulled, absorbed into the girl. The more energy the Binder poured into her, the less of him seemed to remain separate.
Until finally—
♢♦♢♦♢
He found himself floating in an endless sky, with no ground beneath him. The expanse stretched infinitely in all directions, its hues shifting between gray, silver, and gold. Clouds surrounded him—close enough to touch, yet somehow just out of reach. He wondered if they were soft like wool or crisp like cotton candy, though his rational mind reminded him they were merely water vapor. If only his thoughts could also answer where he was or why he was here.
A cheerful voice broke through his musings, coming from behind him.
“Finally, I can see you, Mister Angel.”
He turned to see the gray-haired girl, a pair of white wings spread gracefully behind her. She wore a smile he had only ever seen in her memories.
“You…”
The words caught in his throat, a foreboding sense of dread silencing him. He couldn’t bring himself to continue, but the girl seemed to understand. She nodded gently.
“Yup. I’m off to see Mommy. I just wanted to say thank you before I go.”
Her words confirmed his worst fears, and a heavy weight settled on his heart.
“I’m… sorry. I couldn’t do anything for you in the end…”
“That’s not true,” the girl said, shaking her head. “I was in such a dark place before you came, Mister Angel. I hated Daddy for leaving us behind. I hated Mommy for letting go of my hand. And I hated myself for always getting in trouble. Even though I love my parents so much, I cursed them in my heart for abandoning me. I cursed the world. I cursed everyone and everything.”
“…”
“But then,” she said, wrapping her arms around him. Her warmth spread through his chest, soothing the ache in his heart. “You came, Mister Angel. You fixed the broken pieces of me. You stayed by my side. You showed me beautiful dreams of Mommy and Daddy. If not for you, I would have become a vengeful spirit, trapped forever in hatred until I cease to exist. That’s why… Thank you for being there for me.”
“This isn’t fair…” he choked out, tears spilling freely. “You didn’t deserve any of this.”
“Yup,” the girl replied softly, her smile unwavering. “But I’m okay now. Thank you for crying for me.”
“I’m here because you called me,” he said, his voice trembling with desperation. “You’re my sole reason to exist. If you’re gone… I don’t know what I am. I don’t know what to do.”
“There are many other children still trapped in hatred. They died cursing the world around them. Save them, Mister Angel—just like you saved me.”
“But that’s not fair!” he protested, his voice breaking. “I promised to get you out of there! I promised…” His words faltered, the weight of them too much to bear.
“…I promised to grant you any wish.”
“Then,” the girl lifted her head from his chest and looked up at him. “Please tell Daddy I’m sorry he couldn’t find me. That’s my one and only wish.”
♢♦♢♦♢
What stood before the doctor, the priest, and the Emperor was a God made flesh. He stood at 2 meters tall, hovering as though no law of physics could restrain him. Every muscle on his body was perfectly chiseled, flowing seamlessly into one another like living marble, taut and defined yet effortlessly graceful. His golden skin shimmered like molten sunlight, radiating divine authority with every movement. Eyes like twin suns pierced into their very souls, and his presence made the air dense, crackling with an otherworldly energy that seemed to warp reality itself.
Suddenly, glowing purple magic circles appeared around the entity, and from within them, tentacles erupted, wrapping around him with violent force. The doctor raised his hand, a matching purple circle glowing on his palm.
“You did it…” the Emperor muttered, half in disbelief. “You crazy son of a bi*ch, you actually did it!”
“Your Majesty, bind him with your Slave Magic before he regains his will,” the doctor commanded sharply.
“O-, oh, you’re right.”
The Emperor jolted as if waking from a dream, fumbling to pull a black ring from his pocket. Sliding it onto his finger, he watched as black runes materialized around the entity’s neck. The spinning runes solidified into a dark collar, sealing the divine figure in their control.
“Fufu… HAHAHA! It’s mine! The world is finally mine! Screw Adalhard! Screw Yamato! Screw the Land of the Sun! And screw Amaterasu! My Empire will be the strongest in the world!!”
The priest stood frozen, his disbelief unbroken even as the Emperor’s maniacal laughter was abruptly cut off—by a golden hand gripping his throat.
“—h-how…”
The Emperor dangled helplessly, lifted into the air as he clawed at the hand that held him. His gaze darted to the black collar meant to control the divine being, now shattered into pieces with a single squeeze. The entity’s eyes burned crimson with unspeakable fury as they bore into his.
“…crap.”
The golden shimmer of the divine figure began to shift, turning to a radiant silver. Fur sprouted across his form, his frame expanding and reshaping until what had been a man now towered as a colossal Bear deity.
“GRRRROOOOOAAAAAAAWWWWWWRRR!!!”
The roar was deafening, reverberating through the very souls of all who heard it. Then, with a single, devastating motion, the Bear God slammed the Emperor into the floor, shaking the entire room with the force of his rage.
{ ♥ }
