As much as she pissed me off, she wasn't wrong. Though Claudia was important to me — in a warped way, of course — there was no denying that I forgot about her whenever I grew too passionate about whatever was happening before me.
That was part of my nature, and I couldn't do much about it. I wasn't good at thinking far ahead. Though I had to protect the one I'd eventually consume, I generally lived in the moment, and had trouble hiding it.
"Truly. As a woman, I must say that Bey severely lacks a sense of danger. Claudia is a good girl that feels so indebted to you that she'd never run away. That truth keeps you resting on your laurels. Basically, you just don't believe she'd ever leave you"
"Well, isn't that just the truth. Men like him are such an enigma. I cannot even begin to understand what makes them so confident. You think she'll like you no matter how badly you mistreat her, don't you? Just how empty is that head of yours."
"..."
We definitely weren't on the same page, but they weren't wrong about me lacking a sense of danger.
I took Claudia's presence for granted and thought that'd never change, so I never even considered making a mistake related to her.
Since the time I'd killed Heiga and experienced the greatest sense of accomplishment, my life had gone exactly how I wanted. I barely even knew what failure was.
Sure, Lord Heydrich stomped me, but I consider that a blessing. I had no experience with real disgrace. Mercurius' words? Bullshit. All of it.
"If you keep being so complacent, you might just get dumped one day. Or perhaps someone else might come and take her. You should keep that in the back of your mind."
"Shut the fuck up. So what now? You two gonna tag along?"
"Yes. And not just because of Claudia."
"Huh? The fuck do you mean?"
Babylon sighed and shrugged, as if to indicate I'd just asked something stupid.
"We haven't dealt with the source of the anomaly yet. If we leave without taking care of it, this will happen over and over again. Of course, cremating all the corpses here would prevent that, but we don't have the means to do that right now."
She signaled as to look around. Well, she wasn't wrong there.
"Oh, I see. These corpses are just catalysts, after all. And since Katyn is so full of them, this would never end."
Sure, we'd shattered and neutralized the magic animating the corpse this time, but they could easily rise again if given power once more.
The source of it all was the magician. We had to find his cadaver or hideout or whatever and destroy it so it'd stop leaking the abnormality.
We'd been ordered to deal with the anomaly, so going back without taking care of its true form wasn't an option.
"Exactly. We haven't completed our mission yet. Though I'm worried about Claudia, this should take priority. We can't march into the lion's den with her at our side, after all."
I heaved a long sigh and nodded.
"Fine. So, got any hints?"
"I can't say I don't. As I said before, Katyn's anomaly occurs on rainy nights with a full moon. The whether is the most important factor here."
Rain, then. She was basically telling us to come to the conclusion on our own. While I tilted my head in confusion, Beatrice nodded in understanding.
"I see. It's below us, then?"
"Yes, I'm sure I already said this, but the root cause is within the earth. They buried the corpses above something dangerous, and the rain created a path — a link between them. It's quite simple."
Water flows downward, and so does blood.
The massacre here rejuvenated the old and withered arcane sleeping deep within the earth.
"Well. I kinda get it. What's the plan, then? We digging a hole or what?"
"That's the last resort. First, let's look around. We're on a hill right now, so we might find something when we go down."
"Something like a cave, I assume?"
"Or similar, yes. With that in mind, let's go."
We followed after Babylon, went down the corpse-covered hill, and began exploring the surroundings.
Finding something that fit the description was no trouble at all.
"This has to be it."
Just as Beatrice expected, there was a slanted cave opening.
Frankly, it didn't look all that special, but exploring it seemed like our best option. Plus...
"This belongs to Claudia, doesn't it?"
...We found Claudia's kerchief right next to the entrance. Its presence helped me form a really simple conclusion.
"So, while we were dancing with the corpses, she went and hid here, eh? Well, credit where it's due. She's better than I expected."
"There you go again with your lack of care... Were you even listening to Riza? This might be the lion's den."
"I wouldn't be so sure."
Babylon placed her hand on her jaw and peered into the cave. There was prudence in her tone.
"It doesn't feel like there's anything bad here, so it might be just another cave. She'll be perfectly fine if that's the case. Then again, it might be just that whatever's inside doesn't react to humans. Either way, we won't know until we head deeper."
"So, you're saying the situation inside could change the moment we enter?"
"And that we should avoid thinking of Claudia for now?"
"Yes. I know you're concerned, but you should avoid calling her or anything like that. Nothing bad comes out of being a little careful. If whatever is inside doesn't realize that Claudia is there, there's no need to help it."
If you asked me, she was being needlessly cautious, but there was logic in her words. After all, sensors were used to spot threats.
The castle of a magician would never recognized mere women and children as such, and if Claudia slipped by unnoticed, it was best she stayed that way.
Though, honestly, a part of me thought that giving her a bit of a scare would be for the better.
"All right. Let's just go, then. Whatever's there might attack us, but it's not like that's enough to scare ya, eh?"
"Of course."
"Excellent. Do be on your guards, though."
And so, the three of us walked in. The entrance was tight, but inside was decently wide and tall.
The path was a slight downwards slope. We began walking down, and after about two minutes, the space billowed out enough to let ten people walk side-by-side.
"Amazing... It's far wider and deeper than I imagined. It's a one way path so far, so we definitely won't get lost, but even so, this is most unusual."
"Truly. Also, have you realized? This cavern is probably helical."
The path was constantly curving, so I had the same impression. Combined with the fact that we were going downward, it was fair to assume the overall design was a spiral.
"So? What about it?"
"Do you really not understand? It means that this cavern has some sort of purpose as a three-dimensional construct. Now, if we discover that certain sections of it have something set up in them, then we'd know it's a part of some sort of magic formation."
"Maybe they'd form a pentagram or a hexagon or something... Well, it's not unlikely."
"I'm not seeing shit, though."
I looked around and didn't notice anything strange.
Sure, we didn't have any sources of light on us, but that didn't stop me from seeing the inside of the cave down to the finest details. Our eyesight was — and still is — too good for normal darkness to cause us any problems.
Keyword: normal.
"Don't rush, Bey. We're about to complete the first circle. If anything does happen, now would be the time for it."
The moment she warned me...
"..."
...I stepped into emptiness. It surprised me, but the lack of a falling sensation made it clear I didn't just walk into some hole.
Even so, I couldn't feel anything beneath my feet, not to mention that I couldn't see anything...
Again, my eyesight isn't normal. I'm confident it outclasses those shitty night-vision scope.
Despite that, I couldn't see a single inch in front of me. I felt I'd been ejected into outer space or something.
"Damn... Now this is something."
But exactly because of that, the situation actually brought me joy. Sure, it pissed me off that they got me first, but it was clear that I'd finally found a proper opponent.
I also realized that I'd been separated from Babylon and Beatrice. I couldn't see them, of course, but I couldn't even feel their presence, either.
For all I knew, they might've been right next to me, but the darkness was far too thick for me to know. It had the density and the quality to cut off not just vision, but the other senses, too.
"So? What's your next move?"
Now that I'd activated a trap, there were many exciting twists and turns I could experience. I gave the opponent a moment to make their move, but the darkness and the silence remained unchanging.
"Lazy fuckhead. Want me to come to you, eh?"
It was hard to call it "walking" wheni didn't actually feel anything beneath my feet, but that was more or less what I started doing.
I didn't know about the others, but I, obviously, wasn't the type to be scared of the dark. I unhesitatingly continued forward, fully intent on making something happen.
I hoped to see something tasteful. Something stimulating.
That was pretty much the only thing on my mind. My heart was hungering for thrill.
What I got, though, was nothing I expected.
"...I failed again."
A voice resounded through the darkness. It was a woman's lament, dense with shame and indignation.
"Why? Why isn't it working? I've done so much — far too much to stop now... If I don't show any results, it will all have been in vain!"
I recognized the voice. It belonged to a person I knew pretty well — a woman I'd just talked to just a few moments ago.
Even so, I could tell that it wasn't the same person talking. Her words were completely unrelated to the situation at hand, after all.
"...Still this isn't fake, either."
It was very real, in fact.
It was the truth about the woman known as "Riza Brenner."
"That's why I have to keep moving forward."
Suddenly, a strange vision expanded before me.
"I have to re-think it all. Where did I go wrong? At which step did I do something unnecessary? No... What is it that I didn't do?"
It was a tasteless, sterile-looking room. In it, there was a woman, moaning out words as her cheeks shook with fright. She was clearly at her wit's end. The panic, irritation, and fear in her expression weren't enviable in the least.
From what I could tell, she'd barely bathed, ate, or slept recently. Her hair was greasy, her clothes were worn-out, and her cheeks were thin. Despite it all, however, her tired eyes were burning with a passion.
She looked like a soldier on the verge of snapping after being thrown into the worst battlefield imaginable. Hell, all the death and absurdity in the room made it feel much like a battlefield in and of itself.
"Whoa... Damn. I'm impressed. I was told about this, but... Yeah, this place is Babylon's Degenerate as fuck."
The woman was surrounded by countless corpses. At first glance, it didn't look like they had any wounds, but that made the scene even more eerie.
I couldn't even tell which of the brats were boys or girls. Considering they were all under ten, that probably wasn't all that special, but I could tell that it was mostly due to their fucked upbringing.
A warped environment makes for warped growth. Just like brats brought up by wolves grew up to think they were wolves, so too did the corpses here look like they hadn't led a normal human life.
Coming from me, that must be pretty rich. Still, the scene was both grotesque and somewhat divine. In a way, these genderless brats were like angels.
Their brains were tampered with to open the channels of consciousness unused by normal people, forcing them to see colors and hear sounds imperceivable by anyone else. Interacting with such things had caused them to break under the weight of their own power.
Evolution, eugenics, the children of the sun, the Third Reich's future, the creation of the Übermensch.
That was Riza Brenner's goal, and the result was staring me in the face.
These angels weren't blowing the trumpets of blessing. The woman's castle, ironically called "The Fount of Life," was a place that only created more death.
"That's more or less how it is, but..."
What of it, though? Was there any point in showing that vision to me?
It made me feel kinda funny and stupid, like I'd walked in on someone I knew fucking, but that was the extent of it. I didn't see the meaning behind the show.
Ignoring my confusion, the scene continued.
"By itself, attempting to create psychics isn't a mistake. It's dangerous, yes, but the world isn't in a state that allows such a reason to get in the way. The war won't end thanks to songs of philanthropy and equality. No, what we need is overwhelming power... A war drum to inspire hope in our people — a call to arms! All the peoples of the world claim to be superior to the rest, and the war is so chaotic because it doesn't go beyond mere claims. We need to give shape to this confidence. We need to show the world that our children are a step forward in evolution, ahead of them all... And just being a bit smarter or prettier isn't enough. They need access to power that normal humans can't hope to wield. They need to be a cut above the rest. For that, we need psychics... Beings that are obviously greater than us."
Miracles brought humans to their knees. They feared and revered them. After all, no one would resist a country full of people who could fly.
Our relationship with Lord Heydrich was similar. Hell, you could say the same about most religions. Everyone would follow the words of someone who could come back from the dead or predict the future.
Of course, I could see Babylon's point. If a man's lot in war was to bleed on the battlefield and a woman's worth was to birth and nurture children, her ultimate goal was to create an evolved next generation.
If the Third Reich could mass-produce psychics, it would instantly be considered a glorious land chosen by God or whatever.
That notion might seem simplistic, but when shit turns way too convoluted, it's the basic punches that deal the most damage. If you ask me, to seize control over something huge like a World War, you need a degree of clarity most would consider fucking stupid.
I mean, WWII resulted in the creation of the nukes. Back then, in terms of ridiculousness, that was pretty much the equivalent of flying psychics.
"That's why my attempts, themselves, weren't a mistake. I also know about 90% of the means behind creating psychics. The problem is that..."
Babylon looked around. All she saw were the corpses of the little angels.
"...none of the children can bear it. It's not versatile at all. Should I lower my standards, then? No, that'd be putting the cart before the horse. In fact, I should focus on creating a purebred with the greatest qualities imaginable. If I don't compromise here, I'll raise the standard of those that follow... And if I don't succeed a single time, there will never be a second attempt. I don't want their sacrifices to be in vain. That's out of the question. And for that, I need..."
She bit her finger. Her legs shook and her faced turned pale, giving me a good idea of what she was thinking.
I wasn't completely clueless back then. And hell, it was a pretty damn simple train of thought.
"Eugenics... A genius' child is a genius, and a superhuman's child is a superhuman."
Mixing the army's elites and women from some respected household wasn't enough to creature superhuman brats.
Because of that, there was only one answer.
"It's me... I have to be the one to give birth."
One of the Claws and Fangs of the Gold, a knight of the Longinus Dreizehn Orden — Riza Brenner herself was a fitting mother to a superhuman.
It was only obvious. In fact, you'd expect it to be the first thing she ever tried.
And from what I've heard, she actually did just that. Tons of times, too.
"But... What do I have to do to have a child...? No matter how much and with how many men I lay, my womb is still barren. Am I the greatest flaw here? Is it my disposition? Did I kill too many children and have too much loveless intercourse to be deserving of motherhood? If that's the case, then there's nothing I can..."
Her panic and fear was alien to me, obviously. Unless we're shooting blanks or something, men have hundreds of chances to make a brat with a single release of their seed.
A barren field, though, doesn't bear any fruit. So it's clearly much harsher for women. Considering the situation, the only logical conclusion was that there was something wrong with her womb.
Funnily enough, Babylon, whose goal was the birth of the ultimate human, found an impassable barrier in infertility. Just as she'd said, without a single success, she would never have a second one.
"What should I do? What can I do? I want a child... I want to hold him in my arms... Please, let me become a mother... I'll do anything for that... "
Regardless of their goal, that definitely wasn't something a mass-murderer of other people's brat had any right to say. All irony aside, though, this was definitely a prime example of a woman giving in to madness.
Because of that...
"If that's what it takes, I'll even sell my soul to the Devil."
"Splendid. Then allow me to impart a truth upon you."
...I half-expected the voice I heard next. The words were accompanied by a storm of visual static.
"How long have you been there...?"
I could feel the woman's surprise in her tone. The magician ignored it and continued blessing his with his mercurial curse.
"You envision birth while embracing death. You are akin to Salome — a woman who only feels love when cradling corpses. You are at your best when pressing your lips against detached head, applying cosmetics to cadavers, decorating corpse shrouds, and consummating your affection in graveyards. Your womb shall reject all men who still draw breath. If you desire an overman, cast away the acts of the layman. That is what it takes to birth the Sonnenkind."
"You mean..."
What she was telling her to do was...
"Indeed. There should soon be a corpse above all corpses. Do not miss the opportunity, venerable great harlot. You shall not have a second one. Consort with Him while singing 'Ah, Jochanaan, Jochanaan, thou art even more beautiful in death.' Hehehe, hahahahaha, hahahahahahahah..."
"..."
Then the darkness returned. Once again surrounded by a defeaning silence, I heaved a light sigh.