Muska, who held secrets, obviously wouldn't let the ignorant Soldiers follow him into the hub.
When Mori Tsukisa's group reached the end of the passage and entered the hall, it was heavily guarded. Soldiers with guns stood alert before a door as tall as a stone wall. The patterns on it fit together so tightly that there was no sign it had just been opened.
Nagini walked over with a swaying posture in front of everyone, her heels clicking 'da-da' on the stone slabs.
Gunfire erupted.
The woman let the bullets hit her body as she walked. Her long legs transformed into a snake's tail, and her black and yellow shadow wound around the pillars. When she reappeared, she was a massive snake head, baring her fangs fiercely toward the source of the bullets... Mori Tsukisa sat on a small cushion Nagini had laid out for her before departing at the corner, counting the people one by one based on the feedback from the black fate lines.
"Fifteen... twenty... twenty-seven, thirty-one..."
The maid worked quickly. A minute later, she wiped her fingers and lips and reappeared before the others. Seeing Baru and Sheeta both take two steps back, Nagini gave a cold snort.
"All done?"
The woman nodded, straightened Mori Tsukisa's clothes, looked at Baru, and warned: "If you can't even accept this much, you can go back to the mine and continue being a worker."
This much?
They only understood once they turned the corner.
—'This much' meant that everyone had been bitten to death, had their necks snapped, or had been torn apart at the waist. Those severed limbs, fragments, and faces could almost be rearranged and combined to assemble a brand-new Soldier.
And that's exactly what Mori Tsukisa was doing.
The girl used the tip of her little shoe to kick a shoulder, rolling it over to a man's torso, then ran under a pillar to pick out two legs and kick them over.
Finally, she used a counting-off method to choose a head... "Look! Haha, his legs are shorter than his arms!"
—She had used a short person's legs and a tall person's arms.
Everyone was already used to Mori Tsukisa's sickness, and only Sheeta was a bit afraid, biting her lip. But in the end, she said nothing and pulled Baru to the huge stone wall.
She reached out and pressed the central pattern.
Along the girl's palm, blue ribbon-like light paths turned from dim to bright, flowing and spreading in circles according to the wall's texture. After a few breaths, the entire wall was lit up.
Suddenly, Mori Tsukisa heard the slight sound of a gun being cocked. She immediately stepped forward and pulled the dazed Sheeta and Baru behind her, waiting for the crack to gradually widen—
Bang!
The gun fired.
With a light flick of her table knife, she parried the bullet with a 'ding'. Inside the space, the first thing to enter their sight was a giant—an incredibly massive blue diamond-shaped gem.
It was a flying stone magnified countless times.
Muska was standing to the side holding a pistol, looking at Sheeta and Baru with a distorted face.
"Queen Lucita... are you here to witness the birth of a king?"
Mori Tsukisa had a 'he's an idiot' expression on her face as she pulled Sheeta and Baru inside: half-height grass, water that splashed when stepped on, humid air, and thick vines everywhere.
Even that massive floating flying stone was wrapped in layers of vines.
This place had been desolate for far too long.
"Don't move!" Muska pointed his pistol straight at Mori Tsukisa; this woman had just blocked his bullet. "This is mine! It's mine! I will be the king here, ruling over everything in the World!"
"Sure." Mori Tsukisa nodded perfunctorily, then patted Bastet's head. "Where is your god box? Can you feel it?"
The black cat's emerald eyes only stared at the slowly rotating flying stone.
It was inside.
Inside the stone casing, there was a small square box.
Silver twisted patterns surrounded it. The box had no lock, yet there was no gap to open it. It was as if it were a naturally formed stone.
"So, we have to smash this stone?"
"Don't even think about it!" Muska moved forward tremblingly, his tiny shadow blocking the giant gem. "This is mine! It's mine! I am the king, my rule—"
"What do you think, should we smash it?" Mori Tsukisa, who wasn't listening at all, was still asking Bastet.
Suddenly, the black cat narrowed its eyes.
"Mori Tsukisa." It spoke solemnly, the sound waves of its voice echoing in the vast hub. Layers of silver ripples became visibly clearer and heavier: "It has arrived."
It said.
Mori Tsukisa turned her head.
Muska covered his face, glaring at them maliciously. When he moved his hand—the scale on his forehead was emitting black light.
"Great Anubis, you promised me! Destroy them! Let me become the Master of Laputa!" the man roared, ripping off his brown sunglasses and throwing away his pistol. "Come! Emerge! Kill them!!"
A black butterfly flapped its wings and floated past.
The World stood still.
The stone ceiling, originally covered in vines and patterns, suddenly seemed distant. Black light exploded, splitting through layers of stone walls and greenery, as if a pair of invisible hands had effortlessly torn this enclosed place in half.
Revealing the sky above.
Sheeta stared blankly. She could feel the wind whistling past high above, hear the cries of flocks of birds, and see white clouds drifting not far from her line of sight.
Nothing was there.
The stone ceiling and everything obstructing them had been sliced open.
The clouds and the blue firmament twisted inward, and black ripples rolled and contracted into a colorless Origin Point: a round scepter was the first thing to emerge... thunder boomed loudly.
'I come from the River of the Underworld.'
'I command the Underworld.'
'I gather the dead.'
'I judge the departed souls.'
'I walk upon the earth, erasing impurity.'
'When I open my eyes, evil spirits and filth burn.'
'When I sleep, the World is lost as if in a fog.'
'I am the end of all things, and also the beginning of all things...'
A long sigh, like a devout prayer, followed. A pair of black sharp claws holding the scepter reached out from the black Origin Point, followed by another arm, the upper body, and the head.
Its lower body seemed unable to pass through the twisted black vortex. The massive body leaned beneath the firmament in a half-formed state. The jackal's head hung low, and endless black viscous liquid seemed to gush from its eyes, bubbling and stirring up huge waves.
Thunder flashed behind It. When the scepter shifted slightly, the space rippled with tiny cracks; Its black body was smeared with golden patterns, and countless wailing faces peered out from within, striking terror into the heart.
Anubis, the Gatekeeper of the Underworld.
"Bastet, hand the god box over to me..." The roar exploded in their ears. Sheeta and Baru simultaneously fell to their knees, covering their ears in pain. Blood seeped from the corners of their eyes and their palms, dripping onto the ground.
The sharp claws extended by the jackal—the length of a single nail exceeded Imhotep's height. It looked down upon the small figures below like a giant, gazing at them with arrogance and disdain.
Mori Tsukisa watched Bastet, who was facing a formidable enemy, and lifted her chin: "I always said dogs are man's best friend, but jackals definitely are not."
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