Chapter 107: The Truth of the Witch and Saint
“So your soul was indeed within that girl…! But why! Why were you unable to emerge…!”
“It’s because you tried to devour this child and drag her into this miasmic world.”
“…?!”
“Your attempt to fully absorb this child, who still wavered without dissolving into the miasma, backfired on you. Certainly, if you had fully absorbed her, your power would have grown stronger. That’s why you delved so deeply…but being able to enter also means being able to exit from within.”
“You…!”
Miasma overflowed from the black Charl. No, this entire world itself resonated with the black Charl’s anger.
“It’s useless.”
Yet—a golden radiance dispelled all the resonating miasma.
“I am now the embodiment of the fifth attribute magical power. An indomitable mass impervious to miasmic absorption. You knew that, which is why you shattered Charl’s heart and stripped away her power and will to resist before trying to absorb her, didn’t you?”
“…!”
“Stand down. For now.”
The golden light spread through the world, and the black Charl’s form utterly vanished without a trace.
“…It’s gone.”
“It hasn’t disappeared. She is an eternal being. I’ve just suppressed her for a bit.”
I faced the girl of light again. The more I looked, the more her face was the spitting image of Charl’s.
“Um…who are you? Earlier, with Claudia…could you really be…?”
“Yes. My name is Claudia. I am the one who fought the Night Witch along with my comrades long ago.”
“You’re truly the Saint…!? But why are you here? Why from within me? Since when…?”
Charl asked excitedly. Claudia simply smiled peacefully as she watched.
“I have been within you all along. From the very beginning…since the moment you were born, I have dwelled within your soul.”
“Eh…Claudia was within me?”
“In my current state, I am but a soul…in a sense, a ‘spirit’.”
“A spirit, like the ones that dwell within the Royal Ring? But you were human, weren’t you Saint Claudia…?”
“Spirits are simply souls that existed in worlds apart from this one. There are gods, angels, phantasmal beasts, and even former humans among them. Not all humans can become spirits, but it’s not impossible either. That’s why I am here now. And precisely because I am a spirit, I was able to take residence within your soul that shares my bloodline.”
“…Does that mean…Claudia is my ancestor!? My father never mentioned anything of the sort!”
“To be precise, you are a descendant of my sister’s lineage…I myself passed from this world before having any children of my own.”
“I…I didn’t know…”
“My sister likely chose not to leave any records about me in order to protect her family and children. After all, I was once condemned as a witch.”
Saint Claudia.
While now renowned as a member of the party that defeated the Night Witch, there are also records of her being burned at the stake as a witch before the Night Witch’s emergence.
“…I was born with the power of the fifth attribute. Though it is accepted as a royal magic now, back then, possessing magic of an unusual color unlike most made me an ‘heretic.’ Even so, I believed there was meaning in being born with this special power, and I did what I could in my own way. Among those efforts was developing the ‘purification’ magic. It was around the time the magic rings were first being created and disseminated, so I had a friend who was a goldsmith craft one for me.”
“…It is said the Saint traveled purging disasters with her holy power.”
“Those ‘disasters’ were in fact the emerging miasma and the Ragments born from it. By ‘holy power,’ they meant the fifth attribute purification magic. But the people back then could not accept the existence of either miasma by that name or the Ragments. They feared acknowledging the existence of monsters they could not defeat by their own strength. If they accepted their existence, it would mean having to confront that fear. So they condemned me as an evil witch and burned me at the stake. By burying me as a heretic, a witch, they could simply deny the existence of miasma and Ragments.”
“………………”
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The foolish acts stemming from human weakness and fear. The audacious atrocities. Charl still believed in humanity’s innate goodness. Malice was merely one side of them. That conclusion remained unchanged. But at the same time, she keenly realized that goodness too was simply one side of humanity. She would not avert her eyes from this truth. It was precisely because she resolved this that she asked Claudia:
“…Saint Claudia, you are indeed a magnificent person whose name was passed down through history. But how? After being unilaterally condemned as an evil witch and burned at the stake…how were you still able to fight the Night Witch?”
“‘Saint.’ I know I am called that now through you…but I did not fight the Night Witch for any lofty goals or ideals befitting a saint. I did it out of a sense of responsibility.”
“Responsibility?”
“The responsibility of the one who gave birth to the Night Witch.”
“What do you mean? You gave birth to the Night Witch…? But that can’t be…you were one of the heroes who fought against her, weren’t you Saint Claudia?”
“…Miasma is the ‘devouring phenomenon.’ It has the power to absorb, reconstruct the information of what it has devoured, and expel it as a Ragment. That was all it was back then, just that simple phenomenon. But on that day…that night when I was burned at the stake as a witch, the miasma devoured me.”
“—!”
The Night Witch. The saint condemned as a witch. It was not mere coincidence.
“Miasma can only absorb living things. By the time I was burned, my physical body was already dead, so the miasma devoured only my heart…my heart filled with resentment towards humanity.”
“Resentment…”
“When I was condemned as an evil witch and burned at the stake, I cursed the ugliness in people’s hearts. I came to vehemently hate humanity itself. By devouring that resentful heart of mine, the mindless, unthinking miasma gave birth to a persona – the ‘Night Witch’ – a witch consumed with hatred for humankind.”
“…So the Night Witch became an existence that brought calamity to humans, and the Ragments became monsters that attacked people.”
“The witch and monsters born of intense negative emotions. That’s why the hearts of people became the Night Witch’s power. That’s why she created the ‘Children of Six Emotions’ – to harvest those anguished hearts which empowered her. That hatred was her origin and source of strength.”
The Saint Claudia’s resentment towards humanity. That was the true nature of the Night Witch and the Ragments.
“Hatred. Negative emotion. I was consumed by darkness. But I knew…just as my friend who created the Purification Rings is for me…that people possess not just malice, but a benevolent side too. It was that part of me that still believed in human goodness that mustered what little strength remained to transform my soul into a spirit…on that night the Witch was born, the Saint was reborn as well.”
The Witch and Saint born from one human. That was the start of everything.
“As a spirit, I resolved to take responsibility for giving birth to the Witch by fighting the Night Witch myself. While purifying the miasma across the lands, I encountered others with similar powers and we eventually became comrades in arms against the Night Witch. We won, and my friends went on to establish a nation to save those suffering from miasma. As for me, I exhausted my power and ascended to the spirit realm…Time passed, and you were born, Charlotte. You who rivaled the Saint’s fifth attribute power. As a spirit, I resonated with your soul and took residence within it. That’s why you inherited the fifth attribute despite not being royalty…Perhaps I subconsciously sensed the Night Witch’s resurgence. But once I had ascended to the spirit realm, I could not manifest outwardly by my own will unless I used a special method.”
“A special method…like what happened earlier?”
“Yes. I manifested by exploiting the opening when the Night Witch tried to enter you. But there are other methods too. And that method is the power I wish to entrust to you.”
The ritual to summon the spirit Saint Claudia.
Remembering it made Charl think of the black-haired, black-eyed boy fighting.
“—The Royal Garment Ring…!”
“Yes. In this spirit form, I can be summoned by the rings, or lend you my power directly.”
“…But Saint Claudia, I do not possess such a magic Rings.”
“No need to worry. Your fiancé will deliver that Rings to you.”
The Saint smiled with absolute certainty. In that moment, Charl sensed it.
The figure of her beloved desperately fighting through the despair before him.
“…Al-kin…”
She could inexplicably believe that he would surely come.
“…I’m sorry.”
“Saint Claudia?”
“…The Night Witch is a calamity I birthed. Entrusting you descendants with this duty is an unforgivable sin on my part. That you have no choice but to face that Witch in my stead is all my fault. Charl. Charlotte. I saw everything while inside you. I know the suffering you endured. I’m truly sorry.”
“…You’re right. There was a lot of suffering. But it wasn’t solely your responsibility. I made many mistakes too.”
Which is why, Charl stated firmly while meeting the downcast Saint’s eyes:
“I forgive you. For your sins. Even if no one else in the world forgives you, I alone will forgive you. So lift your head and walk forth. Let’s start over. Once more.”
“…You’ve truly become a strong girl.”
The Saint gazed at her like a mother watching her child, and Charl smiled back. The instant after—a fissure cracked through the endlessly stretching pitch-black world.
“It seems your escort has arrived.”
Claudia’s body glowed and dissolved into particles of light.
“Charl. I will return inside you once more.”
“…Yes. Next time, it will be by my own power that I summon you. At that time, please lend me your strength.”
“Yes. Let us fight together. To fulfill the ideal you hold.”
The Saint turned to particles of light, returning into Charl and dissipating as if melting away. Watching this, Charl ran towards the expanding fissure. Light slowly leaked into the darkness, the radiance overflowing as if prying it open.
“—Charl!”
“—Al!”
Taking the hand outstretched from the radiance, and then—.
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