Глава 12

So this is the airship...

All our attempts to infiltrate it ended in failure. Anyone who approached simply vanished into thin air.

Is that some kind of Sarkaz witchcraft? Surely the Lord of Fiends would know how to neutralize it.

I...

Is Theresa here?

But I can't feel—

Urgh!

A heavy pressure comes over her.

It is far too thick, far too cruel, to be described or spoken of.

Amiya can hardly stand.

What... is this...?

What are you doing, Lord of Fiends? Don't try anything funny!

Neutralize it with your witchcraft! Or else...

Ugh—

Ascalon.

Sorry I'm late.

Calm down, Ascalon.

This was all my colleague's plan! I tried to talk him out of it!

I don't intend to harm your Doctor. We're just getting a deal done. You'll be the witness.

Then get out of my way.

What is it?;......;You're really pale.

You can't feel it because you're not Sarkaz.

We're coming face to face with our history. The sum of the Sarkaz's millennia of suffering.

It's angry. It's screaming, and it's making all of us listen to it.

No wonder.

Ha, the dukes are going to be disappointed. This is no engineering or technology that can be copied.

The ship itself is a revenant.

How did the Sarkaz live?

How did the Sarkaz live in the beginning?

The Elders and the Ancients had not come upon the land yet. All things were how they should be.

Then they came.

They killed and slaughtered. They brought barbarism and rage upon the land. Their fangs and claws were not pointed at just each other, but at us as well.

The proud Sarkaz never surrendered. We fought back.

We fought rage with rage. They will taste the fruit of vengeance!

But Kazdel was destroyed in the blink of an eye.

Despicable!

They stopped at nothing. They were cunning, shameless, cruel.

How dare they trample upon pure Kazdel?!

How dare they?!

Argh—

I... the voices...

Don't let it affect you, Amiya!

Resist the illusion!

I know, I'm trying...

Argh—Aah—

Kazdel was destroyed.

The King of Sarkaz and the Royal Court led us in the fight against the scum. The Sarkaz will not permit such shameful failure.

But those cowardly Sarkaz, who call themselves the Sankta, deserted their duty. They betrayed their people, betrayed themselves!

The walls fell again, and with it our dream.

No matter. The traitors will be purged. Kazdel will stand again.

As long as the King of Sarkaz still stands, we will never fall.

The shadows...

No, it's not like the shadows from Ines's Arts. What is it?

Get out of the airship's shadow, Doctor!

The airship's shadow wriggles, stretches. The other 'Trilby Asher' whom Ascalon knocked to the ground disappears in the dark ocean.

What the hell is this...?

Suffocating black, suffocating despair, suffocating fury.

The King of Sarkaz will lead us. The King of Sarkaz.

Thirty-four times did Kazdel fall.

Six hundred and seventy-five times did Kazdel fall.

Three thousand four hundred and twenty-one times did Kazdel fall.

The shortest it took was three days, between the rebuilding of Kazdel's walls, and the hoofs of pegasi trampling it to dust.

Time and again Kazdel was destroyed. Time and again, it was rebuilt.

Time has changed our faces and theirs. But the way has never ended. Our resistance never wavered.

But each rebuilding of Kazdel took longer than the previous one.

Our civilization was devastated. Our arts were forgotten.

But we still have our hatred. The King of Sarkaz will slay our foes with it!

I am proud of this, of our unwavering resolve.

But what do I see?

A twisted chimera...

An Outblood King?!

The King of Sarkaz who stands before me is an Outblood?!

This crown is not yours to wear! This pain is not yours to stand with!

This fury is not yours to stand for!

Answer me, impostor! Answer me, fraud!

Answer the revenant's question!

The revenant...

Open your eyes and see, False King!

What do you see?

I see...

Don't look, Amiya! It's the revenant's witchcraft!

I saw tears.

I saw deep, heavy sorrow.

Has this sorrow always been with you?

Sorrow? This is no sorrow.

I feel no sorrow anymore.

You have scorched your wound with the flames of rage.

It's... painful.

I know what is real and what is false!

Answer my question!

How—dare you—

Twisted—Outblood—

How—dare—you—

Carry the burden of the Sarkaz!!!

Ascalon stumbles.

Are you ok, Ascalon?

I... I'm fine...

Amiya—

Amiya looks up towards the great shadow of the revenant.

You cannot see her face. You only know she is looking up.