The abused merchant’s daughter – 88 | Sousaku – 創作

Chapter 2, Episode 42: Despair

Despair.
It ruled over the holy city of Kardiana.

On the final day of the Sunlit Moon ritual, when Kardiana was asleep, tragedy struck.

The incarnation of a horror that occurred 500 years ago. The emergence of ghouls and the rebellion against the sacred tree due to the forbidden curse.
Angry shouts and screams echoed in the square in the center of the royal city.

"Run away!! Ghouls!! The ghouls are here!!!! "

Suddenly ghouls appeared in many places and began to attack people.

It was a bizarre sight to see the figure of what was thought to be an ordinary person suddenly begin to agonize, then roar and change to a pale blue color.
Gradually, the skin of those turned scaly and pale, and fangs sprouted, transforming them into the very ghouls feared and dreaded in the Bible.

The ghouls were more than 500 years old.
A forbidden spell created by humans to oppose the sacred tree.
A forbidden magic used to try to steal Faralina's power in the past.
Stories found in picture books and the holy scriptures, such as fairy tales and legends――Or so they were supposed to be.
Those very legends were coming into life, appearing in this very city, slaughtering the people.
Nobody in the city ever learned the truth.
The Darsha worshipers, who were supposed to have been destroyed by Faralina, had suddenly turned into ghouls and were attacking people everywhere.
The ghouls appeared without any apparent reason, and the people had no choice but to run away from them.

Looking down from the top of the tall clock tower at the people fleeing from the ghouls, the Darsha worshiper who had possessed Alberto smiled.

Five hundred years ago, the Darsha religion was revered in secret throughout the land as the hope of the people.
This was because there were many humans who harbored resentment toward the holy trees, which, despite their benevolence, only granted humans a portion of their blessings.
Despite the greenery before them, the holy trees did not allow humans to live there, considering it the land of animals and sacred beasts.
They were outraged at the situation in which children, the poor, and the elderly were being left to die of hunger by the holy trees.

That's when the Darsha religion appeared.
To place the holy trees under human control and all the green lands into human hands——Subjugating the holy trees, they would create an ideal world without hunger or thirst.

Based on this philosophy, the Darsha worshipers challenged the holy tree Faralina to battle.

With the forbidden spell in their hands, it seemed as if they would win the battle, but――The Darsha worshipers were defeated. The power of the holy tree was beyond human imagination.

And what awaited the defeated Darsha worshipers was not only a counterattack by the holy trees――It was the betrayal of humans.

After Faralina being attacked, the holy trees showed hostility toward humans, who then began killing the Darsha worshipers. In a gruesome manner.

I still remember that moment vividly. My comrades being killed right before my eyes.

The sight of even crying children being mercilessly killed was like looking at a scene from hell.
They took a stand for the future of humanity, but as soon as they were defeated, they were persecuted and killed, accused of being responsible for the failure. I also――500 years ago, I was on the verge of death and sealed myself away with my companions.

But a few years ago. Before I knew it, I had possessed Alberto's body.

All of the members of the research team who came to investigate the ruins were possessed by the spirits of the Darsha worshipers who had been killed there.
Sasha and the others were also possessed by the Darsha worshipers.
Why did the Darsha worshipers make a comeback now? ――No one knew the answer.

However, everyone was convinced that it was fate.
God giving them the opportunity to take revenge.

If they learn that the forbidden spell has been revived, the holy trees will surely destroy all of humanity this time.

Yes, the destruction of mankind in Kardiana was only the beginning.
Even if the enraged holy trees tried to destroy them (the heretics), what would that matter?

If humans are also destroyed, then so be it. What they desired was the destruction of those who betrayed them.
If humanity were to be brutally destroyed by the sacred trees, it would prove that the Darsha worshipers were right.

"Come!! Let the royal city of Kardiana fall, let mankind meet its demise!!
We must take revenge on the humans who forced us to challenge the sacred tree alone and persecuted us as soon as we were defeated!!!! "

From atop a small clock tower, the Darsha worshiper Alberto saw the people fleeing below and his own men transformed into ghouls and attacking them. At that moment, he trembled with joy.

Zugogogogo.

With a loud noise, it appeared.
A giant tree, surpassing the holy tree Kardiana, suddenly appeared in the center of the royal city of Kardiana.
Looking over there in a panic, one could see a blonde-haired girl with red eyes standing in the tree tops.

"What! ? No way, is that the saint! ? "

As soon as the girl smiling with her golden hair fluttering in the moonlit night raised her hand,

Zash!!!!!

――The countless trees throughout the kingdom of Kardiana pierced only the ghouls and continued to hurt them until the ghouls' recovery power could no longer keep up with the damage.

Vines flew toward the ghouls as if to assist the fleeing people, the ghouls were being destroyed.
Those creatures, still in their original human shape, were mercilessly crushed, cut up, and splattered with blood.

"It can't be!!! A mere saint can use such power! ?
We're in the middle of the sunlit ceremony where the holy tree sleeps, aren't we! ? The Holy Tree didn't possess the Saint, so how can she attack in such a wide range! ? I've never heard of a saint being able to use such power………"

When the Darsha worshiper cried out,

――What are you trying to comprehend with mere human knowledge?
I think you got carried away by your success with Faralina……――

At that moment, a cute voice directly echoed from somewhere in their brain, causing the heretic to widen his eyes.
A girl looked at him.

She smiled and laughed lightlyーー then, her mouth moved.

"Found you."

――She mouthed.
At the same time, the voice echoed in their head again.

――Sorry ☆ My saint is the most powerful and out of the ordinary ☆――

Those were the last words he heard. The Darsha worshippers had their bodies pierced by tree vines.
The evil people understood. That this girl was Sonia, the Saint of Kardiana.
And that the owner of the voice directly in their head was the holy tree Kardiana.