Volume 1 – Following the Maze Drawn With Lines of Blood
“Things started over 20 years ago. At the time, the arcana user of Justice, who was based in Pupa Industries, made the proposal for ‘modern homunculus theory’.”
(He’s starting from that long ago? That’s embarrassing, but……)
Kalinga, still covered in blood and ignoring Cutie’s appearance, submerged himself in his own world.
◇◇◇
The homunculus theory caught King Henry’s eyes, and he invested a large sum of money.
The research was linked with his ‘dream’, and it was named World Destruction.
Henry’s dream – it was a questionable thing that he called ‘true world peace’.
Blood from two humans was necessary to create a homunculus.
The proposer, Justice, was the first specimen who offered her blood.
Her blood was mixed with the blood of various sorcerers and gave birth to many homunculi.
In the research institution, they were called Alpha Types.
They were raised in Pupa’s facilities.
Their environment was not bad, and they were allowed as much freedom as possible inside the facilities, and were given food, education, and even love.
But, one day, Justice took one child with her and disappeared.
She had gotten afraid of her own research that could keep infinitely creating new lives, and decided to run away.
After a few years, Justice’s blood reserves also ran out, and new homunculi had to be created with different blood.
The blood belonged to King Henry, and his queen at the time, Blair.
The children who were born from this were called Beta Types.
However, as it was clear which parent the homunculus resembled according to their gender, they were different from normal children.
So the boys looked like King Henry, and the girls looked like Blair – in other words, many children were born with faces that looked like Francis’s.
Three years after the birth of the Beta Types.
When the facilities were getting crowded with the Alpha and the Beta children, a new homunculus was born.
Blonde hair.
White limbs.
A face that did not resemble Francis’s – and a clearly different appearance from the other children so far.
“Yes, this is the vessel that I’ve always desired…..!”
Kalinga remembered how excited King Henry was when he happened to see him by coincidence.
This baby was personally named ‘Mary’ by the king.
A short while after Mary’s birth, the workers at the facilities became very busy.
World Destruction would finally be carried out – that was the rumor that Kalinga and the other children heard.
This was necessary for the ‘true world peace’ Henry talked about.
The birth of the homunculi was simply a process to enable that.
‘True world peace’ was supposed to arrive if the experiments succeeded.
Speaking from the results, the experiments failed.
Not many people knew what happened.
Apparently, an outsider had interfered somehow.
And, this seemed to be a failure that could not be undone.
The researchers fell into depression, and for some reason, repeatedly apologized to Kalinga and the others.
A short while after that, the facilities were closed and the children were taken in by aristocrats who became their ‘caretakers’.
The homunculi were reluctant to leave each other.
Because they were raised like family.
But, they went on their own paths with the thought that they could meet each other again if they survived.
The aristocrat who had taken Kalinga had also taken four other children.
On their first meeting, he said this with a smile:
“From today on, I’m your family. Let’s not have any weird hesitations, and let’s become a real family.”
At the very least, his facial expression and words were gentle back then.
Kalinga was full of anxiety, so he remembered that he and his comrades felt some relief after that.
Late at night during the first night they came to the estate, a lone boy was summoned by an aristocrat.
He had not returned during the day, and finally showed up when the sky was getting darker.
His body was full of bruises.
Most of his teeth were taken out.
His body was full of crudely made piercings.
His hair was messily cut up.
His fingers were strangely twisted.
There was no light left in his eyes.
Right then, Kalinga and the others knew.
They knew that they had no future.
And the boy, who was continuously used, lost his life one week later.
His corpse was abandoned in the basement given to Kalinga and the others.
Kalinga and the boy were close, and Kalinga took care of the boy’s corpse and treated it like a hug pillow.
Even after it rotted and started emitting a stench.
This seemed to have agitated the aristocrat, so Kalinga became the next target.
The remaining three were afraid.
They spent their time huddled up in a corner of the room.
Barely any food passed through their mouths.
They lost weight, began speaking in meaningless words, and their hair started to fall out due to stress.
Two of them died in a month.
“We’re using them up too quickly. Let’s treat the remaining ones carefully, as tools.”
The aristocrat spoke with his usual facial expression.
Kalinga knew for the first time that some humans put on the mask of a good person and lied.
The remaining three, as the aristocrat said, were treated carefully.
Carefully, carefully, extending their pain for as long as possible, not allowing them to die even if they begged for it, killing their spirits to make sure they don’t escape.
Despite that, one of them died after the first year.
Another one died in the third year.
Kalinga lived for 10 years, as he was handled with great care, being the last one remaining.
He had already forgotten his own name.
He wanted to give up on everything and run away from the pain.
He wanted to become nothing and disappear.
An opportunity visited him when he began to think that way.
The aristocrat died.
Everyone in the estate was killed in one night.
Even the sorcerer could not oppose the attacker.
Then, the culprit stood before Kalinga, and reached out to him.
“You survived well. Come now, let’s go.”
“Where? I’m a tool. Being used is all I’m good for. But who would use such a dirty and worn-out tool?”
“You’re not a tool any more. From now on, you’re going to live your life as the protagonist. According to your own will.”
“Me…… the protagonist……”
Kalinga reflexively took the hand.
There was hope on the other side.
The destruction of the world.
Choosing to destroy an irredeemable world like this by one’s own hands was a choice truly worthy of a protagonist.
◇◇◇
“I had a reunion with my siblings where I was taken after that. Hemlock’s elder sister, who was forced to become addicted to drugs, Aoi, who had lost her face, and the others who all had similar scars. But we were glad to have survived. However, even after our tragic conditions, our existences were not made public, and World Destruction was actually continuing. In a different shape, as a tool to make money.”
Kalinga did not tell all the details of his memory.
But the parts he did tell were quite substantial.
(That’s a long story…… My body is cold…… I might die…… I want to ask him some things, can this, end already…..?)
Cutie’s life was spilling away.
She was not used to fighting in the first place, and was of course not used to feeling pain like this either.
She was battered, and on the verge of death, but she could still stand and fight – she was not that broken yet.
“Insignificant aristocrats with tiny Sorcery Values, wealthy merchants who rose up with money, who were not even sorcerers, were tricked into thinking they could become arcana users and the Kingdom earned money while doing research as they used us! Such evil cannot be forgiven! As the protagonist, I can’t let it happen!”
Kalinga’s story continued.
He was completely fired up and immersed in his own world, and continued speaking with rage as he spit.
“And! People like you, like the princess, like Calaria! I cannot let the mistake of allowing fulfilled people to earn power happen! I condemn it, by the name of the protagonist!”
In short, he did not like Cutie, who had bought arcana with money.
From the outside, he was right in thinking this way.
“Don’t you have anything to say?”
There was a lot Cutie wanted to say, of course.
But she didn’t have the power to say them to him.
“Your power is built on our sacrifice. Doesn’t that make you feel bad? Don’t you feel ashamed? Say it, Cutie Majoraaaaaaaam!”
While Kalinga fell into rage, Cutie summoned all her power and raised her arm.
Then, she raised a finger at him.
“You’re so full of yourself, it’s disgusting.”
This rubbed Kalinga the wrong way.
He opened his eyes wide, and shouted with an anger that was too powerful.
“! I see…… Is that how it is? You’re the same as those filthy aristocrats. All business people are the same! That aristocrat was the same too. It’s pointless to chat with a natural born villain! So you can just die…… Ugh…… ah…… huh?”
He suddenly started coughing and put his hand on his mouth before looking at it.
It was painted bright red with blood.
“I listened to your performance, so…… be grateful.”
Cutie provoked Kalinga with a grin.
“Ugh, agh, goh…… T-This…… It’s inside…… my…… body….!?”
“Bloody…… jelly…… fish…… you shouldn’t let someone’s blood stay on you.”
It was the great volume of blood that spurted out and stained Kalinga when he hit Cutie.
She used her powers to transform it to jellyfish.
She secretly made it invade him through his nose and mouth into his body.
“Gah……. Ah…..! The protagonist…… cannot…… be defeated here…..! Not like this……!”
His body was torn to shreds from the inside, but he did not go down.
Cutie did not care about that.
But for him, the story he had told Cutie was an important subject that made up the most of his life.
“But I have to…… Aoi…… Everyone……”
However, life never went on forever.
Light went out of his eyes, his body lost strength, and Kalinga collapsed.
He did not move again after that.
Cutie’s eyelids felt heavy, but she somehow stopped them from closing and repeatedly took shallow breaths.
And she looked up, and spoke to herself in a grumpy manner:
“You may have been unhappy too. Blood connection may be an important thing.”
She never killed anyone before.
She was not ready to throw her life away.
But that did not mean she did not have any burdens.
“But, you know…… Even without a blood connection, I’m desperate too.”
There were things Cutie could not give up on either, even while having the same level of power.
“I have to, get close, to my father’s, real daughter…… I have to do my best……”
“Cutiiieeee!”
The moment the fight ended, her father leaped out of his room and rushed towards his daughter, who was full of wounds.
After a short delay, Calaria also kicked open the elevator shaft and arrived at the highest floor.
“Hey Cutie, are you okay!?”
“Cutie, I’m so sorry Cutie! I should have sacrificed myself, after all…..!”
Cutie did not die.
But her father could not help but blame himself when he saw how hurt she was.
Calaria did not want to get between parent and child.
“You defeated him alone…… not bad.”
She crossed her arms and muttered while looking at Kalinga’s corpse.