Book Eater

Chapter 357: Lust’s Apocalypse (1)

Tae Rang, the man who had introduced himself as a daoist, took a deep breath and told a long story.

A month ago, the great Central Empire had occupied more than half of the East Continent. The empire was so large that an express horse would take several months to travel from one end to the other, so news typically traveled very slowly.

Two hundred and fifty six lords governed the empire’s territories from their castles, who were then overseen by eight prices. This feudal style of governance also slowed communication inside the empire. There were institutions like the magic towers, but the situation was different from the Western Continent where magic power and artifacts were spread widely throughout the continent. The East Continent handled the problem of sending and receiving information using homing pigeons.

Tae Rang continued, “The supreme justice read the heavens and said that a disaster would begin from the capital city.”

Theo also had the ability to read the heavens, but he urged the daoist to continue.

“That night, the heavenly star was red, and the people in the Central Empire started to turn into creatures, regardless of their identity, sex, and age.”

It was literally a nightmare. One prince of the Central Empire had once calculated that the empire’s population had reached one billion in number. The lords of each province had conducted their own census, which had reached one hundred million. What would happen if all of these citizens were transformed into monsters? Even half would be fifty million monsters.

An average citizen who couldn’t even handle a single wild dog wouldn’t be able to kill a warrior who had been transformed into a monster. This catastrophe had the potential to threaten not just the empire, but the material world as a whole.

No, the monsters devoured each other, and the survivors protected themselves, like this village. Even so, the number was likely to be reduced considerably.

This wasn’t the first time Theo had heard the situation, so he was able to take the additional details to evaluate the scale of the disaster.

I haven’t figured out why, but the empire seems to be under the influence of the Receptacle of Solitude. When the monsters eat each other, they fill their stomachs, but there is no sign of their power increasing. There is no one to do farming or other matters, so the survivors won’t be able to last a year without sacrificing something.

In some ways, it was the same with beasts. Their physical abilities outstripped ordinary humans, and they were only intelligent enough to deceive hunters. A tiger or a bear couldn’t be anything other than a predator in an ecosystem.

Then what was a predator’s nemesis? Something on the same level as a predator? A cunning prey that couldn’t be caught? No, that wasn’t enough to become a nemesis. A nemesis was something that couldn’t be overcome. For a predator, it was an empty stomach.

An environment in which all prey disappeared was deadly to predators, and these monsters were no exception. Once the monsters ran out of humans, wild animals, and wild birds, they would eat their own kind, and the numbers would be reduced.

Theo had all these answers, but there was one problem left. “... The survivors need to defend themselves so that the monsters can’t fill their hunger.”

Tae Rang’s eyes widened at Theo’s words. “T-That’s the same thing the supreme justice said. I only said a few words so how...?”

“It is obvious when calmly looking at the situation,” Theo said. Then while ignoring Tae Rang’s eyes which were filled with admiration, Theo asked about his colleagues who had come ahead of him, “Rather, my colleagues should’ve stopped in this village before me. Did you borrow the strength of those two people?”

“Ah, I’ll explain from here!” Lee Seol spoke on behalf of Tae Rang, who was too busy admiring Theo. “If you are talking about Theo’s wife and the silver haired girl, they went to help Hyungkang Castle three hundred kilometers to the northwest.”

“Hyungkang Castle?”

“Yes! The residents of the castle have been transformed into monsters. But since there is an outstanding master present, there wasn’t any serious damage. All the nearby survivors gathered in Hyungkang Castle along with a judiciary of the royal family.”

As the strongest empire on the East Continent, the lords were competent. The number of monsters that were changed might’ve been small at first, but it wouldn't have been easy to defend the castle and calm the confused people. However, if there was a master level shaman present, then the castle should be able to have defenses that wouldn’t be easily surpassed.

Nevertheless, there was one reason why extra power was needed.

The mutant monsters have master level mana.

But once he thought about it once again, Theo found it strange. A monster shouldn’t have such a sharp increase in its strength even after transformation. According to the judiciary, there was little difference between a strong warrior and a monster. Then there must be a reason why the mutation was happening.

- User.?

Gluttony spoke as he came to this conclusion.

- I am certain that I know the truth of this phenomenon.

***

After Tae Rang finished his story, Theo asked for the room. Once he confirmed that there was no one around with his senses and a transcendent’s magic, he sat in a chair and spoke.

“Start.”

Gluttony replied instantly.

- First, this is caused by Lust.

Theo nodded. “I guessed. I wasn’t sure until you confirmed it.”

- I was the same. I realized the nature of this phenomenon after receiving a clue from User’s reasoning,?

Gluttony continued in an excited voice.

- Why did the mutations in shamanism occur? Why did the ability of an individual become so variable and why is it irrelevant to their life before the change? The key to this question is Lust’s struggle.

Theo’s eyes narrowed. “Struggle?”

- That’s right. It has to do with something you did. It is a little different but similar to the butterfly effect.

The butterfly effect?

Theo was confused, but Gluttony’s voice only grew more excited.

-Sloth! Prometheus’ arrangement that you performed set Lust’s plans on fire. That is what caused this disaster.

“Crazy!” Theo’s eyes widened as he realized everything in an instant.

Gluttony was right. When he had been forced to banish Sloth, the material world’s mana concentration would decrease significantly and irrevocably over the next few centuries. That had hit Lust like a thunderbolt across the ocean. The decline in mana concentration would interfere with the conception of an upper species, blocking the purpose of her existence.

- Thus, Lust started the last chapter. How many children has she given birth to on the East Continent for over a thousand years and how many descendants did they give birth to? Lust has triggered the latent potential in those who inherited her bloodline!

“That is why they turned into monsters?”

- Perhaps. User, don’t you know better than anyone how monsters are made? They aren’t monsters but remnants of their parent species. Ulfheenar, Arv, Vulcan... They were failures who disappointed Lust.

Gluttony’s explanation was clear, accurate, and cruel enough to not leave any doubts. Theo wasn’t responsible, but he played a role in this catastrophe. The plan to expel Sloth and lower the mana concentration of the world had all come from the god who looked ahead to the future.

Theo let go of his last protests. “I see.”

He wasn’t swayed by guilt and looked at the reality in front of him. “The mutation comes from the blood of the upper species flowing in their veins. She triggered all the blood relatives in an attempt to draw out a winner, and the monsters are just failures who didn’t become an upper species.”

- Yes.

“I don’t understand the method of throwing everything into an unlikely possibility, but it is a grimoire.” Theo’s head was ice cold as he analyzed the situation. “... Let’s assume that at least one million people inherited Lust’s blood. Is there the possibility of a winner appearing among them?”

- Well, I can’t calculate it with my ability.

“Hrmm, I guess it is more like gambling than speculation.” However, Theo’s eyes gleamed. “But can you answer my question, Seimei?”

It was a name that popped up without any context, but neither the grimoire or the magician were surprised. Gluttony was silent, and no one spoke for a while. Theo waited a few more seconds before glancing at his left hand. It was a silent demonstration that Theo would call him using the user’s authority.

[... Ah. Were you waiting for me to comment?]

Sure enough, the genderless voice was Seimei’s soul rising to the surface of his consciousness.

Theo’s voice was wintry. “Haven’t I been waiting for a while? I crossed the wall as you stated in your advice. Now that I am a transcendent, you should be able to confide in me. Am I right?"

[W-Well, yes.]

He continued inexorably, “The reason you told me not to approach the capital must have something to do with this grimoire.”

[Kuoong...]

As usual, Theo waited for Seimei to speak on his own. However, Seimei was silent for a few moments. When he sensed Theo’s determination in his words and gaze, Seimei withdrew his hesitation.

[I understand. I’ll tell you everything that remains in my memories.]

Theo’s eyes dimmed, and a gender ambiguous person appeared in his mind. They were dressed in red and white, while ebony hair and golden eyes framed his face. This was Abe no Seimei, the strongest onmyōji in Japan.

Seimei greeted Theo solemnly.

[Now, I will start from the beginning.]

Despite this being a disturbing story for him, Seimei’s determination didn’t waver. Theo listened as the old shaman confessed the truth that no one else knew.

[It is as you guessed. I am the child of a yokai and Lust—a person who is a descendant of the white and golden nine-tailed fox, and neither a human nor yokai.]

He was a half-man, half-yokai. Originally, it was something that shouldn’t be possible. Seimei was an upper species that had been created using Lust’s power. It was far short of her ultimate goal, but Seimei was a monster who could battle a fully grown dragon on even terms. Thus, Lust had to raise Seimei well and use him to protect her. Unlike her other failures, she had planned to keep him and even imitated a maternal figure.

However, a problem had occurred in an unexpected place.

[My father saved me.]

Seimei smiled as he recalled the proud memory.

[I still don’t know whether it was because a nine-tailed fox was attracted to a transcendent body or my father’s great paternal instinct? Personally, I hope it was the latter.]

Theo connected the dots. “Thanks to him, you escaped from Lust’s grasp.”

[Well, that is what happened. You should roughly know what happened next. I hid in Japan and walked the path of a shaman, reaching the level of a transcendent. I instinctively knew that I couldn’t work for my mother.]

Despite being born from a wicked yokai and a grimoire, Abe no Seimei’s nature was just and good. He couldn’t stand injustice and rescued the weak. At that time, Japan was a small place consisting of several villagers, rather than a kingdom. He created and led the onmyōjis to bring peace to the populace. After a century of hard work and struggles, he settled in Japan with his successor and completed his organization.

[I thought I could win.]

Lust exercised absolute power over her bloodline, but she couldn’t interfere with a transcendent who had been removed from the framework of cause and effect. Abe no Seimei had only crossed the border once he was sure of that. He had passed through the lands of the empire, defeating everyone who faced him and entered the capital. Seimei was incomparably more powerful than when he had escaped from the empire, and he wanted to destroy his mother.

After revealing all nine of his tails, he had called down a meteor shower to hit the imperial palace in the heart of the capital. But he was defeated.

[... It was my first and last mistake.]

Seimei’s smile vanished.