Song of Lamentation

"The word fate is like a thread. All who dwell within it are bound by it. When the thread winds tight, the moment it snaps is when cause and effect reveal themselves..." Eliyi stood high atop the dome of Salat Church, watching events unfold.

As Canfoer's tallest and finest building, Salat Church was high enough to overlook the entire Lower District. A sea of heads began surging toward the witch's shop in the Central District. From such a height, so-called people looked no different from ants.

The pitch-black tide of corpses flooded the buildings in the south of the city like rotting sludge. The emblem of Ouston Church glimmered with an eerie light. Small groups of residents hid inside the churches, trying to rely on their pitiful faith to resist the monsters' assault.

"Oh—Tiadam—you are the incarnation of the High God—you are stronger than Ocast, the bravest of heroes, the king of all kings—you can slay all evil in this world—"

Only Saboxijiao remained praying in the ruined church. Everyone else who had once knelt in worship had long since vanished, and the wails of the undead drowned out her voice.

Wind slipped through the cracks in the church. Having lost all hope, she clung tightly to that final straw.

"Oh—Tiadam—you are the incarnation of the High God—you are stronger than Ocast, the bravest of heroes, the king of all kings—you can slay all evil in this world—" Saboxijiao continued to sing. She believed the towering High God would come to save her, and save her daughter as well. She believed the merciful High God would not abandon his followers. She believed the omnipotent High God possessed the power to change everything.

"Oh—Tiadam—you are the incarnation of the High God—you are stronger than Ocast, the bravest of heroes, the king of all kings—you can slay all evil in this world—" The believers of Ouston Church sang the new hymn composed by the priests as they walked toward the Upper District.

"Everyone—everyone—" Mr. Latopil shouted. "The High God will never abandon us, no matter what—may the High God protect us—"

"May the High God protect us—"

"May the High God protect us—" Mr. Latopil's followers shouted loudly.

"Lufa, how much longer until the teleportation array connects?" Oyana watched the approaching Lower District residents, an inexplicable unease rising in her heart.

"At least another two hours," Lufa replied. "Although the Holy Wall of the three great angels has been broken, the magical connection between the Mage Association in Alderbu and us has remained extremely weak."

"Extremely weak?" Oyana puffed on her water pipe. "Did the Mage Association set up a barrier over there?"

"No... not a barrier..." Lufa's flickering grew more intense. "The source of that magic is very unstable... It feels like nothing more than a torrent of energy..."

"It should be the energy carried by those undead monsters..." Oyana puffed on her water pipe and drew a window on the wall of the living room. The window opened toward the south of the city. Through this magical window, Oyana could easily observe the scene there.

Tens of thousands of rotting corpses marched openly through the southern gate of Canfoer City. Mucus, sludge, and decaying evil power poured from their bodies. Countless Lower District residents crowded along the edge of the Upper District, while an invisible barrier separated them from both the Upper District and the Central District.

This barrier had been established several days earlier. Its original purpose had been to keep the undead monsters out of the Central District should the Holy Wall disappear, buying the city's residents time to flee Canfor. Yet the first thing the array cast by the witches and mages shut out was not the monsters, but the Canfor residents fleeing from the Lower District.

"Great Mage—Great Mage—" A sharp-eyed woman spotted the smoke Oyana exhaled. Raising her baby high in the darkness, she cried, "Great Mage, please take him away—please take him away—"

The woman's voice drew the attention of the other Lower District residents.

"Great Mage—please take him! This child will definitely be filial to you when he grows up—Great Mage—" The bargaining skills of market women truly were formidable.

"Great Mage—this child is a boy. His father used to be a mercenary! As long as you're willing to raise him until he's eighteen... no, fifteen... you can sell him to a mercenary corps or the army whenever you want. You know, a mercenary earns at least one Kralimaya Gold Coin every month. If he dies, you can even get ten Kralimaya Silver Coins a month from the state! It's a guaranteed profit, Great Mage! Just think of it as business, like buying livestock, alright? Great Mage—"

"Ah..." Oyana continued puffing on her water pipe without saying a word.

"If you don't like boys, then... I... I have a daughter—" Another person drowned out the woman's voice. Holding her daughter overhead, she squeezed toward the front of the crowd. "I... my daughter is six this year. You only need to raise her for six years, then where she goes is entirely up to you—"

"Phew—" Feeling irritated, Oyana closed the window.

"Pat... pat..." The monsters drew ever closer, and a sickly sweet smell of rust filled the surrounding air.

"Oh—Tiadam—you are the incarnation of the High God—you are stronger than Ocast, the bravest of heroes, the king of all kings—you can slay all evil in this world—" Saboxijiao knelt in the shattered church, still singing praises to that fated hero. No matter how decayed or rotten things became, her faith would not change.

"Monster—"

"Monster—"

"Monster—" A voice rang in Saboxijiao's ears, and malice toward the living surged from the depths of her heart.

"If I had faced everything calmly from the beginning... would things not have turned out this way..." Scenes from the past surfaced before Saboxijiao's eyes.

At Glaner's funeral, she had heard someone say that as long as one believed in the High God, their deceased loved ones could be reborn in the High God's divine kingdom, whether they were sons or daughters—

At her husband's sickbed, she had said, "Look, this damned curse is the punishment the High God has inflicted upon those who do not believe in him—"

Inside this ruined church, Mr. Latopil had said that as long as one believed in the High God, they could obtain holy water and lift that terrifying curse—

Everyone had said that as long as one believed in the High God, one could attain happiness...

"Liars—liars—liars—you are all liars!" Saboxijiao roared as she charged out from the depths of the church. Her body had accumulated the cause and effect of hundreds of people, and she had already transformed into an undead monster.

"I never found happiness at all—" The dead's wails resounded through the sky. Now was the perfect moment...

"M... monster!!"

The Giant Dead, forged from corpses, came shoving houses aside. Black blood surged from deep within the corpses. Countless heads formed the Giant Dead's head, countless palms formed its arms, and countless ankles formed the bones of its legs.

Stench, death, and decay gathered in one place...

"Help... help..." Mr. Latopil desperately squeezed into his own followers, trying to evade the dead's pursuit. Yet... the Giant Dead's target seemed to have been him from the very beginning.

Seeing no hope of escape, Mr. Latopil fell to his knees at the edge of the Upper District and wailed without stopping, "Help—help—I don't want to die yet—"

"Have the new threads... already... been prepared..." Eliyi stood atop the dome of Salat Church and smiled faintly.

The High God truly seemed to favor the man named Latopil. At the instant the Giant Dead's hand reached toward Mr. Latopil, a black ray of light, like a miracle, separated it from him. Purplish-red flames scorched the Giant Dead, and the dead's howls and agony reached the ears of the living like something from hell.

"A... a miracle—" Every Canfor resident who witnessed this miracle cried out, "A miracle—a miracle—the High God has not abandoned us—"

The Ouston Church believers from the Lower District knelt and bowed before Mr. Latopil, dressed in priestly robes, while the Ouston Church followers in the Upper District stared in astonishment at the divine grace he possessed.

"This is the High God's will—" Cardinal Labrador declared. "This is the power of ***—"

"B-but... Your Eminence... in our church's records... there is no ***..." a believer said weakly.

"The High God delivered his divine decree to me last night—" Cardinal Labrador ignored the irrelevant doubts and declared loudly, "He will send *** to assist the Hero in cleansing the evil remaining in Canfor. Everyone, sing—praise—the High God's grace and might are omnipotent—"

"A miracle—"

"A miracle—"

"A miracle—" The believers of the Upper District also shouted in unison. "This is a miracle—"

In the vast night, everyone knelt in worship before that black light, that black miracle, and that pitch-black god...