Goushinnso Memento possessed the bold, unrestrained air of a warrior. Examined closely, she differed subtly from Gyakushinn Miko, who had always bloomed with fierce dignity.
But Aldrich could no longer feel it.
Every eye socket was filled with firelight.
The enormous mass of flesh burned, and the city somehow set off fireworks in response. Whether it was intentional or coincidence, no one knew. Her attack looked fierce, but Hoshino knew it was not as devastating in battle as it appeared.
He was a gigantic ball of flesh.
Even if he lay there without moving and let Goushinnso Memento burn him, it would take days and nights of uninterrupted fire to consume him.
But the searing pain was very real.
Listening to the screams ringing in her ears, Hoshino watched the enormous flesh ball that had descended with crushing force suddenly halt in midair, then shake violently. Ten thousand suffering souls trembled within its body as Aldrich, in a daze, reached out toward the master in his heart.
"Mercy, silent deep sea, grant me mercy!"
He spoke Innsmouth, the language closest to divine speech. It sounded like the empty muttering of a madman, yet it contained power closest to the deep sea.
The fickle wind echoed through the narrow alleyways, letting out mournful, sobbing wails.
There was no response.
The deep sea did not answer Aldrich's summons.
After all, it was a god that did not much care to answer summons. The deep sea might have been sleeping at that very moment. Whether its followers lived or died had nothing to do with it; perhaps it did not even know that the little crawling insects on land worshipped it.
Thinking about it, that was rather tragic.
"It's too late to run now. You've been marked as an enemy of the shrine.