The place we arrived at was a marshland.
The ground was muddy, each step sinking slightly into the earth, with water seeping through the gaps in the grass. If my boots hadn’t been waterproofed, they would have been soaked through by now.
The area was filled with tall plants resembling cattails, offering some cover, but also severely limiting our visibility. Chocola and I pushed forward, parting the grasses as we went.
In a somewhat open spot lay a shallow swamp—its stagnant, heavy air, thick with magic, revealed the presence of a magic power crucible. And there, resting on the water’s surface, was a creature.
A crocodile.
Its back was covered in spines like those of a hedgehog, and horns similar to a bull’s grew from its head. The tail was encased entirely in crucible crystals, giving it an unnerving appearance. Despite its short stature, its sheer size—excluding the mouth and tail—was comparable to that of our family Pochi.
It noticed us, but merely glanced in our direction, making no effort to move. It was too weak, too close to death, to react.
The lifespan of a mutant is short.
These creatures, after all, are abominations created by prolonged exposure to a magic power crucible.
According to research in Sidera, the odd physical traits these creatures exhibit—body parts that resemble other animals—are akin to malignant tumors, like cancer.
The chaotic magic power that mutates them also eats away at their bodies. Unable to control the magic power within, the excess energy crystallizes into the crucible crystals that affix themselves to their bodies. These crystals burrow into healthy tissue, growing and eventually ravaging their insides until they can no longer sustain life.
While their transformed bodies and out of control magic power give them temporary strength, it’s akin to burning firewood—fueling power by sacrificing their own lifespan.
In Sidera, citizens are taught to flee immediately if they encounter a mutant. They designate the area a no-go zone and wait for the creature to die from its rapidly ticking clock.
In short, these creatures are rushing toward death simply by existing.
It’s hard not to pity them.
But I don’t feel sympathy.
Had we met this crocodile just a few days earlier, it would have attacked us without hesitation. Its reason long gone, driven only by savagery and hunger, it had become a lonely husk—an existence that could only end in tragedy.
Five minutes passed, then ten, then fifteen.
Chocola and I stood watch. The mutated crocodile turned its gaze away, though what it was thinking—if anything—remained a mystery. Perhaps it thought nothing at all. Regardless, its life burned away, even at the very end, and what should have taken days for a normal creature to succumb to, this one completed in a mere half-hour.
A long, soft exhale.
As the creature’s pulse stopped and its life ended, the crucible crystals encasing its tail began to glow, emitting a weak but toxic attribute.
Then, just like the snake before, it exploded.
「Ugh…」
Light, sound, wind, shock, destruction. I held Chocola close, deflecting the explosion with a barrier. Yet, something was different. The explosion had indeed occurred—the body had shattered, and the surrounding area was left in ruin—but there was no magic power fueling it.
Though physically, the explosion had happened, what occurred magically was more like an implosion. The chaotic energy wasn’t released outward; instead, it was drawn inward, creating a denser, more stagnant crucible of magic. Rather than dispersing the magic power, it seemed to deepen the stagnation.
「Grurrr… grrrr!」
Chocola growled. Even though the explosion had ended and the surroundings were quiet, he was more emotional now than when the crocodile was alive, baring his fangs in heightened vigilance.
「This is awful… at least three times… no, maybe five times worse than before.」
「Grurrrr…!」
What lay before us was a dense, swirling vortex of energy, almost as if it had mass. It was less like sludge and more like a bottomless swamp—a magic power crucible.
In time, it would probably dissipate on its own. After all, the higher the concentration of magic, the harder it is to sustain.
But this was a ‘Divine Will’s Broth’, a place where magic power crucibles form easily and are slow to fade. The chances of this concentration of magic lingering, rather than disappearing, were far higher here than anywhere else.
「If this remains… a new creature will claim this place as its lair.」
That creature would soon mutate into something else.
「And that mutant, if left unchecked, would live out its short lifespan.」
As it dies, its magic will pool together like before, thickening and sinking even deeper into the earth.
「It’s a cycle. A rare, almost miraculous cycle. Mutants die naturally, layering crucibles of magic power one atop the other, growing denser and heavier, eventually connecting together… that’s what creates a Teikou.」
「Bark!」
Disgusted by the oppressive energy before us, Chocola let out a fierce bark, his body shimmering with light as he charged into the aftermath of the explosion. A beam of energy cut through the magic power crucible, scattering it into nothingness.
As Chocola gracefully returned to my side, I petted him gently, recalling the final dream I’d had just the night before.
※※※
The mutants, gathered in one place and bound in captivity.
One of the group had said, ‘Let’s kill them all.’
But someone else countered, ‘We can’t.’
I don’t know if it was out of pity or simple revulsion.
In the end, the second opinion prevailed. ‘They’ll die soon enough anyway. There’s no need for us to dirty our hands.’
It was ignorance. At the time, they didn’t yet understand the process by which a demon king was created.
They probably assumed these creatures were merely being kept, like livestock.
They prepared to withdraw.
The facility was mostly destroyed, and leaving the mutants wouldn’t change anything. The mission was essentially complete, and they congratulated themselves on a job well done.
But just as they passed through the castle’s main gate…
The grand hall where they had erupted in a pillar of light, scorching the sky in a massive explosion.
Magic power that had stagnated, compressed, and solidified to its limit, finally gave birth to a rare existence.
The demon king’s castle had fulfilled its purpose, and with that, their mission had failed.
Emerging from the rubble, the demon king let out a monstrous roar.
After that, an entire kingdom fell, and two of Four Seasons-san’s comrades died. It was only after that great cost that the demon king was finally defeated.
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