CHAPTER 64: THE TRUTH / THE SEVEN ONMYOJI

"My name is Iceborn. I am the seventh Onmyoji of this world."

"Don’t take this as rudeness, but..." said Lirael. "Honorable guardians, could you please tell us—what exactly do you want from us?"

"To be honest, at first we were curious about the nature of your teleportation into our world," Payton replied. "Since humans aren’t much of a problem for us, we didn’t really bother deciding whether it was worth killing you. That portal you can summon... where does it come from?"

Riven froze. Everyone turned to look at him.

I gave him a pat on the back. Come on, weirdo, don’t be nervous!

"...It’s my doing. My name is Riven il Riverfall, and I found the spell in my father’s archives. He... keeps a lot of different scrolls, he’s a sort of collector. The whole country trusts him, and I read one scroll and... learned to summon a strange portal. Because of me, my friends got into trouble, so if you’re planning to imprison us, then...!"

"Enough, kid, don’t try to play the hero," Sigfried cut him off. "If we were planning to finish you off, you wouldn’t be sitting here in this room and seeing our faces. In fact, you can think of the punishment for illegal intrusion into our world as a trial devised by Lady Sayuri."

"Sigfried is absolutely right," Payton added, taking a sip of tea. "However, as we’ve found out, you’re not exactly faint-hearted. Young mages?"

"We’re all from the same academy," Aimer replied.

Payton smirked.

"I see. Surprising how well everything lines up. Right, Iceborn?"

He gave Iceborn a penetrating look. Iceborn turned his eyes toward the door.

"It seems, in this case, you should meet someone."

Someone...?

The door to the room opened, and in walked...

"Salazar?!"

He was dressed the same as the locals here. His gaze was cold, and he calmly sat at the far end, near Iceborn.

"...But how are you here?" I couldn’t hide my surprise.

"Well, what a twist of fate! Salazar himself," Tyrion chuckled.

Ah, right. None of my friends knew him. I was the only one who had spoken to him in person.

"This young man arrived thanks to Iceborn, who, in turn, visited Earth for reconnaissance. And, oddly enough, he also knows about the attack of evil spirits in your world."

"Evil spirits... So you know about them too?!"

"Without a doubt," Payton replied. "Allow me to tell you a brief history long forgotten by time.

We, the residents of the Void Realm, live many times longer than humans. I have lived through the age when the era of mages on Earth had only just ignited. Compared to you, we have only one god—Mado. He is the one who granted us his power and built this sanctuary.

But in the past, the honorable Mado had a blood relative. Shugen. You know it as the Almighty Crystal."

"So the crystal..."

Yes, it all fits perfectly. No matter how it was hidden, magic was not born on Earth.

"In the times when your world was ruled by dragons, Earth was inhabited not only by humans... but also by the Original Sins. They are the embodiment of mankind’s desire to exterminate dragons. Their nature is closely bound to the dragons themselves, and until the last dragon perished on Earth, these spirits existed alongside humans."

"Wait... So you’re saying that these evil spirits were created by us? Humans? That’s unbelievable—they’re terrifying! Do humans really dream of such horrible spirits?"

"Not at all. They take such forms because human desires are corrupt."

Well, that’s a twist. All this time I had been fighting people’s thoughts and dreams... Wait.

"But if they vanished along with the dragons, how did they return?" I raised my hand.

"That’s something you should be asking yourself."

The room fell silent.

Me...?

"Won’t you tell us—and your friends—what it is you’ve been trying so hard to hide?"

My friends looked at me questioningly. The Grimmveil trio already knew, but Riven and Ash...

...The time had to come. Damn, and I had only been hiding it so Lirael could walk free without worry. Then why was I nervous now? Had I really gotten so used to lying?

"Atheron, that is your name, isn’t it? A great summon, a High Spirit. In your body flows dragon blood, and your soul is closely tied to those your kind once tried to exterminate."

Riven stared at me in confusion.

"Atheron..."

"Yes," I answered, this time firmly. "That’s right."

"When you were resurrected as a summoned spirit, the Original Sins returned to the world. Now do you understand the heart of the problem?"

"Wait just a second!" Ash cut in. "If that’s the case, then if Atheron dies, those creatures will disappear too?"

"Exactly."

Unease. That was the only word that could describe me now.

"These monsters will keep appearing in the world endlessly, until the very source of their existence disappears. In short, if your friend dies here, peace will return to Earth."

"Otherwise, the same record will keep playing over and over, so..." Ash pondered aloud.

"Well then, honored guests—what’s your choice? If you want to return peace to your academy, I can give you a sword, and you can cut off your friend’s head. The choice is yours."

A dead pause.

My ears rang. My teeth clenched. I could hardly believe what I was hearing. Lirael looked the heaviest burdened, her fist clenched tight.

But who was I kidding? Why was I fighting so hard to live? I was just a damn summon who’d been given a second chance at life.

I wasn’t supposed to be alive now; in fact, I should have fallen to Saddler’s hand. Everyone would be better off if I were gone...

...

"Absolutely not! Even if you force me, I’ll never raise my hand against Atheron!" Ash said with an almost cheerful smile.

I looked at her and saw that the others agreed with her words.

"He’s our friend, after all. He’s trusted us, and we don’t see him as just a summon, but as an equal human being. Let people suffer through their problems because of these damn monsters—in the end, they deserve to face their desires head-on."

W-what...?

"Guys..."

Sayuri clapped. My friends’ answer seemed to satisfy her.

Payton smiled:

"There’s a second option. I assume you’ve been waiting for it eagerly.

Dear guests. We gathered you here because you’ve shown us perfect warrior qualities. We, the seven Onmyouji, do not plan to solve the problems of the human world. But we can train humans so they can solve them on their own.

Walk the path of Mado, and with our help you will become stronger. Much stronger than you can imagine."

The Seven Paths of Mado... So they were willing to become our mentors and lead us to power! The kind of power I had dreamed of since my first appearance in this world!

No way in hell I was passing up this chance!

Ash and I grinned like demons from hell.

"Each of the teachers can guide you on their path. Each path is unique, so we advise you to choose wisely. We’re giving you an excellent chance to defend your Earth."

If there were only seven Onmyouji, and they were ranked in order...

Then obviously you should pick the strongest!

Ash and I thought it at the same time, as if sharing a single brain.

"But before that, I’d like to clarify something," Sayuri interrupted our thoughts. "As you’ve understood, we have trusted you—beings from another world. Therefore, you should be honest with us, and with your friends as well. I believe there is still one secret left among you, isn’t there?"

The woman gave Ash a charming look.

Ash immediately understood. We all turned our attention to her.

"Ash, what is it?"

"How should I explain this, my friends... Well, I think there’s no point in hiding it any longer, since some of you have already guessed."

Ash turned to us with her usual bold expression.

"In truth... I’m also a High Spirit."