Necromancer Of The Black Bible (111)

The next morning.

Sanchez opened his eyes to sunlight filtering through the window.

Seeing the ceiling painted with stars made him smile.

The constellation he had drawn at Elin’s request—she always wanted to fall asleep gazing at the night sky.

Elin had used magic to breathe light into the painting, and the two of them would lie awake through the night talking beneath those stars.

But yesterday they did not.

Because it was the day they pledged their vows, they spent a special night alone together.

Warm breath and heat.

Ecstatic sensations.

As Sanchez recalled them, he suddenly felt the side of the bed empty and sat up.

“Huh?”

Elin was gone.

Had she gone out somewhere?

Sanchez rose, hastily threw on clothes, and stepped outside.

The savory smell of stew tickled his nostrils.

At that moment a voice came from the kitchen.

“Sanchez?”

It was Elin’s voice.

She greeted him with her usual clear smile.

“You’re awake?”

“Did you make breakfast?”

“Well, yes.”

Elin’s grin was adorable.

Sanchez walked up behind her and hugged her tight.

“It smells delicious.”

“Go wash up quickly. It’s almost ready.”

Sanchez lightly kissed Elin’s cheek and went into the bathroom.

The place was lavishly decorated by Elin’s magic.

A large wooden tub big enough for both of them and a long tube set into the wall.

When he stroked a nearby branch, water flowed from the tube.

Sanchez stripped and stepped into the tub to let the water hit him.

Drip, drip—

The amount was just right.

Enough to soak his hair and body.

Sanchez washed himself with fragrant herb leaves.

Then he dried off with a towel.

He saw his brightly smiling reflection in the large mirror mounted on the wall.

The image felt somehow unfamiliar.

‘Is this me?’

Sanchez peered into the mirror and tried different expressions.

But no matter how he changed his face, he couldn’t erase that bright smile.

Had he ever been this happy in his thirty-plus years?

Could he be any happier than this?

Sanchez quickly shook his head and muttered.

“All happiness is granted by the gods. Do not act rashly. The moment a demon grows jealous, that happiness becomes prey for evil.”

He murmured several passages from scripture and opened his eyes.

It was then.

A faint green light shimmered in his eyes reflected in the mirror.

‘What is that?’

As he asked himself, the light slowly swept across his entire body.

And.

Weird markings began to etch themselves on his skin.

‘Wh-what is this!’

He tried to make a sound, but nothing came out.

He couldn’t move his limbs at will.

‘Gah, ugh! B-breath…!!’

Sanchez stood frozen, and soon a voice began to whisper in his ear.

-Sanchez. Sorry, but I must borrow your body for a while.

‘What? You—who are you! Just who are you to take my body….’

-My name is Equinox. From now on another will use your body. During that time you’ll see all his thoughts and memories. When he finishes his work, I will return your body to you.

‘What does that mean…!’

-All of this is the will of Kallios. So obey.

‘…!!!’

At those words Sanchez lost consciousness.

The vitality in his eyes faded and his pupils went white.

The markings on his body began to glow far more intensely.

The light wrapped around Sanchez’s naked form, and his body rose into the air.

A moment later.

As the light dissipated, the body that had floated fell to the floor.

Thud.

Perhaps from the shock, Sanchez shot awake.

“Ugh—”

The sound that escaped his mouth was a tremendous shock to him.

He touched his throat and tried making a sound again.

“Ah, ah, ah.”

Even more startling were his hands.

Sanchez frowned as he looked at his own hands, almost unwrinkled.

“How can this be…”

He hurriedly rose and, turning his head without thinking, saw his reflection.

A man with mild, soft eyes.

His short hair was brown, but the beard covering his jaw was silver.

He knew the name of the man in the mirror.

“Sanchez.”

Recalling a name he thought long forgotten, he finally realized he had returned to the past.

At that moment a voice spoke within his mind.

-You have returned to the past.

-Huh?

-You carved a forbidden magic circle onto your disciple’s body, and at my advice you overlaid another circle. Remember?

A sudden, head-splitting pain struck.

Blood flowed from his nose and nausea rose.

But the man clamped his nose and mouth and barely endured the pain.

As the lightning-like agony swept through him, distant memories began to shimmer into view like a mirage.

<When Illinas carves the forbidden magic circle, after the ritual ends overlay this magic circle atop it. When you die your soul will dwell here. Through this you may cross time and space. Thus someday you will meet your disciple again.>

At the thought, the man could remember everything.

Who he had been.

Who was now speaking from within his mind.

And where he was and why he had come to be here.

-Have your memories returned?

• …Yes. Spirit of Equinox.

The man wiped the blood from his nose and stood before the mirror.

A man in Sanchez’s form.

He was Damian’s master, Balthazar.

By the power of the magic circle Equinox revealed, he had crossed space and time and returned to his younger body.

Balthazar, possessing Sanchez’s body, did not feel it was real for a while.

But meeting his wife Elin, making love with her each night, and going to the Investigation Bureau for work made him gradually realize.

‘I’ve returned to the past.’

And not just any past—he was back immediately after marrying his wife, the sweetest period of his life.

From then on he prayed to Equinox every morning and evening.

A prayer of thanks for granting him a second chance.

But Equinox answered coldly.

-Do not be mistaken, Balthazar. You cannot remain whole here.

-What do you mean? My body is healthy. And I retain the memories of my previous life.

-Your soul is not whole. Soon you will go mad.

Balthazar was at a loss for words.

He had rejoiced at finally getting a second chance after so much hardship, and now this.

Equinox drove home the point to his still-confused listener.

-You came here by means of the supplemental magic circle you overlaid, but a supplemental circle cannot contain a whole soul.

Hearing that, Balthazar’s eyes snapped open.

-So because my soul couldn’t be fully contained in the supplemental circle, only part of it came here.

Balthazar asked again, sounding regretful.

-But if you had increased the circle’s capacity I could have returned whole. Why did you summon only a portion of my soul?

-Do you truly want to know why?

Balthazar fell silent waiting for the answer, and Equinox continued.

-Your soul had already begun to corrupt. It started when you learned imperfect necromancy with the Ring the Demon King gave you.

-Then even now….

-Yes. I tore away the parts that had become fully corrupted by that circle, but this is a stopgap. Soon you will go mad.

Balthazar’s gaze sank.

Equinox’s words were true.

Before returning he had sensed something wrong with his soul.

He would occasionally lose consciousness, and each time the surroundings had been left in ruin.

Fortunately his disciple Damian had survived.

Recalling those events, Balthazar slowly nodded.

-I understand now. You summoned me for a reason, even if only like this, yes?

-Yes.

-Damian is in danger, then.

-He is not in inherent danger. He must pass an important trial.

-A trial…

Balthazar mulled over the past and pointed out one specific part.

• He is about to face the trial of the fifth Mana Ring.

Equinox fell silent, and Balthazar sighed deeply.

Then he smiled faintly and asked.

-How is Damian faring? At this time he should still be in his childhood.

-He made a clever choice. Upon returning he bargained with Dikrea and obtained a whole yet mature body. If you meet him you likely won’t recognize him.

Balthazar’s smile deepened.

His bright pupil Damian.

The boy was prodigious—teach him one thing and he grasped ten, sometimes discovering facts even Balthazar had missed.

Whenever he taught magic he would think,

‘If we’d met a little earlier, we might have changed many things.’

Looking back, many present outcomes stemmed from that thought.

‘But I mustn’t relax yet. There is work to be done.’

For Damian to gain the power of aeons he had to acquire the fifth Mana Ring.

Obtaining it required a special sacrifice.

Balthazar himself had paid that price, so he could imagine how precarious Damian’s situation was.

‘Pull yourself together. I don’t have much time left.’

A pale bluish light flowed from Balthazar’s eyes.

Sensing it in the hand mirror, Balthazar recalled Equinox’s warning that his soul continued to rot.

He also recalled the promise made to him and the determination he had held then.

Steeling himself, Balthazar asked Equinox.

-While I am here, can I meet Damian even once?

-You will. The threads of fate between the two of you already intersect.

-Thank you. Then what should I do from now on?

-Illinas has dispatched a shadow.

‘If a shadow…’

There is only one shadow of Illinas.

The shadow assassin Murak.

A notorious demon comparable to the dark warlock Shador.

-Illinas ordered him to obtain first the weapon that can slay Damian.

-He fears he cannot kill him outright, then.

A deep smile spread at the corner of Balthazar’s mouth.

From that single line he could gauge Damian’s current level.

-I see Equinox’s intent now. If you summoned me at this time, it must be because Murak has come here. Then the fiend must be after a weapon in the Church’s treasury…. If Illinas commanded him to find it, it must be a very special weapon.

Balthazar paused in thought and answered again.

-Ksiratis. Could it be that he’s seeking this?

-Precisely.

At Equinox’s reply Balthazar smiled brightly.

Ksiratis’s other name is ‘the weapon that killed a god.’ If Ksiratis is needed to slay Damian, then at least Damian’s current power approaches the divine.

-I will stop Murak.

At that, Balthazar rose from his seat.

A deep green aura swirled once through his eyes and vanished.