Hero’s Downfall Report

49 – Of People, Lions, Bulls, and Eagles (6)

Maria was facing the beasts. When the monster rushed with its four arms, she countered by thrusting a spear and dagger.

The beast roared, trying to crush Maria with its body each time, but she dodged quickly, as if she already knew its movements.

Cain rushed to the central square to help Maria. However, he quickly dodged as Beatrice’s decaying arm reached out to grab him.

“It’s because of that woman.”

Beatrice’s arm pointed towards Lily.

“Is it because of that woman that you’re turning away from me? I’m dead, and that woman is alive. Ah, just answer me this. When is that woman’s neck going to be cut?”

“Noisy.”

“No, it won’t be.”

Beatrice chuckled and took a step back.

“No, you can’t harm that child. It shouldn’t be like that. I want to help that child. That woman needs to know what a monster you are.”

Beatrice’s shadow loomed over Lily.

Like Cain, Lily also wielded a cudgel, blocking the elderly who were approaching. However, her movements were sluggish, and the humans ensnared in shadows clung persistently to Lily.

In her haste to push the elderly away with the cudgel, Lily’s body was covered by Beatrice.

Lily screamed and stepped back. She tried to regain her composure, but her movements became heavier. Countless hands dragged Lily to the ground, as if trying to strangle her. They climbed onto her body, attempting to strangle her.

On the other side, Maria’s scream was heard. It was caught on the monster’s leg, distorted. Arms with daggers and swords pierced the Inquisitor’s body, trying to disembowel him.

Cain threw his staff at the monster’s back. The creature screamed unexpectedly. In that moment, Maria rolled away to escape.

Since he had no choice but to draw his sword, Cain ran towards Lily. He threw himself at the elderly, pushing them away. His shoulders seemed to detach, and his body felt like it was breaking, but enduring the pain, he held onto Lily.

“No… I don’t want to… I don’t want it anymore…! Stop…”

Lily screamed, trembling. Cain himself seemed not to recognize her.

“Lily, Liliana!”

However, Lily clutched her face even more intensely. She cowered desperately, defending herself.

“No, don’t, stop! Please, please stop!”

“Step back!”

Cain shouted. Incredibly, Lily lowered her hand.

“Huh…?”

“Step back! Snap out of it! It’s a shadow. Just a shadow specter!”

He struck the approaching figure’s jaw with his fist and kicked its chest with his foot. Lily’s eyes became clearer.

“Cain.”

Lily reached out her arm. Cain, holding it firmly, pulled her close.

“We need to help Maria! Can you go?”

“Yes, yes!”

Cain drew his sword. Lily also picked up her fallen knife from the ground. At the moment the monster tried to strike Maria, Lily swiftly cut through its legs and waist, while Cain severed its back and arms.

The monster twisted its body, howling in agony. Maria’s dagger pierced through the monster’s left, or rather, male side of the neck. The woman who lost her mate screamed in despair, dragging her body with a desperate cry.

– “Kairos…!”

Beatrice’s face overlapped with the woman’s. The hand holding the sword trembled, but she forced herself to steady it.

“You’re just a specter.”

The sword sliced through the air. Thud. Beatrice’s head fell to the ground. From the headless creature, grotesque bugs crawled out. Just like lifting tools from a damp basement, they rushed into people’s bodies.

– Why?

Beatrice’s voice strangely remained calm.

– Why? Why did you kill me? Why did you have to kill me? You were supposed to save me.

Cain deliberately ignored her. He turned his head towards Maria.

“The bastard, throwing a tantrum…”

As exhausted as she was, she couldn’t even lift her arms properly.

“The sacred fire? Is that not enough?”

“The power of the shadows is too strong,” Maria’s voice was strained.

“Too strong. It has rooted itself deep within the hearts of the Masada people for too long. It didn’t come from outside. It grew from within the hearts of the Masada people. It’s not just a matter of a day or two. It’s not something that can be driven away with light, especially at night.”

People outside let out louder screams. One by one, the lights in the Masada houses went out, just like Cain and Lily had described. The people of Masada were facing their own nightmares.

Denying it. Panicking. Eventually running away. Getting confused. They would throw things they could grab randomly, not even knowing what they were doing. They would strike down the hands that came to help with knives. Arms trying to regain composure would strangle throats.

“What can we do with our strength?”

Even Lily trembled. Maria laughed.

“Even the fierce lady has a tender side. Can you do it, Cain? I have one request.”

“Tell me.”

“Pierce my heart.”

He almost said it was madness, but Maria was serious.

“Quickly. There’s no time. If you don’t do it, Lily will have to. Trust me. If I can do it, I would… my dear. Hurry!”

“No, it’s not possible!” Lily approached Maria. “What nonsensical words are you saying?”

“Stab quickly, you brute!”

Maria screamed as if in agony. Lily, surprised, stepped back. Cain’s sword pierced through Maria’s body.

“Ah… Ah…!”

Lily staggered backward. Maria, as if finding an amusing joke, chuckled as she collapsed to the ground like a broken doll.

Lily rushed to Maria. Cain held Lily back. Startled and confused, Lily struggled.

Maria, with her head bowed and blood dripping from her lips, suddenly lifted her head.

“Who goes there?”

It was a cold, newly-formed voice. A voice that seemed forced, as if squeezed out.

“Who dared to touch the daughter of the willow tree?”

Maria stood up. She remained with Cain’s sword embedded in her heart. As if intoxicated, Maria’s body shuddered. Even holding her head seemed difficult.

“It’s you. It’s you, indeed. I know you. I know you, the one who tried to harm my daughter…”

“Maria requested it.”

Cain replied dryly.

“Maria asked me to stab her heart with a knife. The wickedness is plunging the village into chaos. Since it was Maria’s request, I bear no responsibility.”

If trees could walk, would they look like that? Maria turned her body hesitantly. She looked at the crawling shadows, people tearing each other apart like insects, and the burning buildings of Masada.

“Futile and full of malice. There’s so much that shouldn’t exist. Fungus that rots the tree roots is plentiful! Fungi that devour others to fatten themselves. Resilient things that won’t easily disappear, even as they exploit without killing enough.”

Maria knelt down. She touched the ground with her palm. Tearfully, she scattered a clot of blood on the ground. The writhing tumor resembled a heart.

Roots and vines extended from the heart. They raced through the streets like moles digging a road. They clung to the walls like ivy, climbing up. Like vine tendrils, they wrapped around the arms and legs of people enveloped in shadows.

“All returning to the ground are rotten. Those lying on the earth have all taken their last breath.

However, even things that have already died can be resurrected by the earth. It’s the method of riding the great flow of the vast world without bypassing the rotting things.

Even the seemingly eternal sky repeats its cold and fickle nature, so how can those born from the earth escape it?”

Roots and vines absorbed the shadows.

As if it were morning sunlight, as if they were precious nutrients.

The shadows gathered around the beating blood clump like a rhythmic thud. As if the shadows still had more work to do, they swept the heart with a thud, thud sound.

Eventually, the blood clot split. Like a sprout growing, crimson leaves bloomed from there. Instead of green, they were brown, tinged with a dark red.

Nevertheless, the heart still thudded. With each beat, it gradually grew. The bulbous part became quite robust, and the slender branches that seemed delicate at first thickened, becoming more gruesome.

It grew like a tree, but it wasn’t a tree. It resembled a piece of art growing from the ground.

There were various forms of suffering depicted. A person being bitten by a snake, tearing at their own body. Someone behind them, watching and enjoying. A carving of a pyramid made of the heads of heretics, joyful crusaders etched into the piece.

There was a man committing adultery with another man’s wife, and a child stealing money from their parents’ wallet. The greedy expression of a merchant deceiving the sacred, and the grotesque figure of one serving someone other than the gods of life and death.

The image of a crusader, seemingly punishing his own child, and the sight of someone drunk barging into others’ homes causing a ruckus.

All the sins committed by the people of Masada were growing on the dead tree, engraved into it. Cain even saw himself, in that gruesome image, cutting Beatrice’s throat.

The tree of sin had now grown immensely, as if reaching the heavens. Those who witnessed their sins being embodied in the tree cried out in agony.

“Save us.”

Maria whispered.

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“Go. And never sin again. There may be nothing that can be hidden for a lifetime, but there is also nothing that must be carried for a lifetime. Now go.”

Maria snapped her fingers. The sacred fire consumed the tree. Just like Haspel burned his brother’s body, the prophet of life and death’s fire devoured the sinful tree.

From the burning tree of light, butterflies emerged.

They were as bright and beautiful as the stars in the night sky. As if Masada had become a vast and beautiful garden, each person gathered there was like a pretty and beautiful flower, and the butterflies playfully teased the surroundings.

They consoled the hearts of those surprised and saddened. Gently landing on the burning floor, they comforted, and sitting on the bodies torn and bleeding, they encouraged new growth.

Eventually, the butterflies landed on people’s shoulders. Silently, like sand flowing through fingers, they dispersed. Small and beautiful, like the beauty of the world seen for the first time when the eyes open, they vanished.

Thud. Cain’s sword was drawn with a sound. Maria, who had collapsed to the ground, coughed. Lily bent down, holding and comforting Maria.