Soul of Darkness release squad.

Commander: Power Structure 22 POV.

“We are here.” I announced to the team, but they knew that already.

We were at a small stone shrine. It told of an unimaginable darkness, and how that darkness had been sealed here long ago. The text was written in a language I barely understood, but the Supreme Master could read it and told us it was Japanese. I tried to learn from him alongside others, but it was too challenging for me.

I am Shimaho, or at least that is my new name. Once someone not worth my name, I was given a purpose by Lord Hajime. He allowed me to work under him, and as I did, I grew into one of the greatest witches in the United States. 

Working under Lord Hajime was the greatest honor, and I wanted to refuse when I was offered my own Prime Number. I wanted to stay 1-M. But Lord Hajime, over multiple conversations, told me that my power would better be used as Prime Number 22.¹So while Brian calls them origin numbers, the Power Structure holder calls them the Prime Numbers, thus why she is referring to herself as a Prime Number.

In all honesty, I’m against our current plan. Not because I don’t believe in it, but because it places my dear Hajime in a world of suffering. We are sending him to the past alone, with no one there to support him. Yes the demon lord will be there, but we don’t know how long Hajime will have to wait for them. 

So many times I wanted to go with him. I would have gladly left everything behind just to be with him. But when I was just his letter, I didn’t have the right to offer that idea. And by the time I was forced to become a Prime Number, it was already too late to change the plan. 

As the Supreme Master said, by the time we could rewrite the magic circle to account for the change, the abnormal would have figured out our plan and put an end to it.

So I had no choice but to let Hajime go with nothing but the little love I could give him, my First of Magic Unique Skill. I hope it will carry him through the plan.

Losing the skill hurt, but compared to losing the one I love forever, giving up a small piece of my soul was nothing.

“Prepare the sacrifice release ritual!” I commanded. 

“B-But, Lady Shimaho! That wasn’t the plan!” One of my previous equals, 1-S, reminded me.

“I don’t care.” I told them. “It was always plan F in case others failed. We are just starting with it instead. I want this ancient being released now.”

“But we need someone with more than 10,000 mana to be the sacrifice!” 1-R reminded me.

“I know. I will be the sacrifice.” I told them. 

I got a few words of opposition, but I am the highest ranked here, so my word was the law. 

1-R, 1-S and some of their sub-numbers began drawing the necessary magic circle with magic paint on the stone the shrine had been made of, while I calmed myself and gathered as much mana into my body as I could.

My mana pool was already full, but with a secret technique of the Supreme Master, you could get some more mana into your body. It was only around 10%, but it might help, so I gathered as much as I could.

By the time they finished drawing the circle, I was mentally ready to accept my faith. So I stepped to the middle of the circle before ordering everyone to step away. This magic circle, when activated, would cast a powerful Erasure Magic spell that will surely erase the seal holding the creature in place.

Sadly someone would have to be in the middle of it, and that person has to have more than 10,000 mana to activate it. And since the spell would erase everything around it, the person in the middle would have to sacrifice themselves for it.

I couldn’t ask any of my companions to do it, but without Hajime, my life serves no purpose. Hopefully by sacrificing myself my soul will seek out my unique skill and will be able to join Hajime on his trip.

I laid down on the sacrificial altar at the very center and began pouring my mana into the magic circle. I saw it light up around me, so I closed my eyes and waited for the end.

…

…

…

…

I expected pain, but I felt nothing. Nothing unusual. I still felt the stone altar below me. I felt air going into my lungs and coming back out as I breathed in and out. I still heard the chatter of my companions.

The glow is dying down. Is this it? It took a while, but as the lightglow of the magic darkened fully, I believed that the end was here.

…

…

I felt something slightly heavy attach itself to my face. I wasn’t quite sure what, but perhaps the God of Death had taken a hold of my face and was dragging me to the afterlife. 

Hopefully I have a chance to talk to them. They might allow me to spend my afterlife suffering with my dear Hajime.

“Lady Shimaho!” I heard 1-R’s voice calling. But that is impossible. … unless he died somehow as well. Was he too close to the magic circle? “I didn’t work!”

WHAT?! What does he mean it didn’t work? The magic circle was perfect! I poured my heart and soul into it. It must have worked!

I sat up and opened my eyes. And I immediately noticed some sort of strange mask that had attached itself to my face. It had eye holes so I could still see, but my field of view was slightly limited. I tried to pull it off, but it was stuck.

The glow of the magic circle had fully faded, but nothing around us had been erased. The shrine was still here. 

As 1-R stepped within the bounds of the magic circle, a mask appeared on his face. And it was hideous. Green, purple and red, with spikes coming out of it, and something that looked like a bite gag of a horse. Luckily that gag hadn’t forced itself into my mouth, or I would feel disgusted. Only Hajime may force his way into my mouth.

“... what is going on?” I asked no one. 

“Couldn’t let you sacrifice yourself like that.” I heard a young sounding female voice say.

I looked around trying to locate where the speaker was, but I saw no one besides my companions. 

“Up here.” The voice added, and as I looked up, I saw a girl with long blond hair and two differently colored eyes staring down at me. 

She wore a blue and pink outfit, including a massive pointy hat. In her hand was a staff that held a blade at the end of it. Was she a Sorcerer or a Swordswoman?

“You know, if you really love someone, don’t kill yourself for them. Live for them.” She spoke from up high as if she was better than me. 

“What do you know!?” I yelled in frustration. “I do what I do as I must! For the future of this world and for Hajime!”

“... oh. So you love him. No surprise then.” She said, and her voice, which was kind and compassionate before, now sounded cold and sarcastic. “You two are perfect for each other. Both willing to give your life …” The mocking girl cut herself off for some reason.

“What do you mean?! Hajime is everything anyone would ever want!” I told her.

“... Perhaps. If you want someone who will twist your body into their ideal form. … Would he actually do that? He could but …”

“He already made sure I’m perfect!” I told her, recalling the one time Hajime had used his blessing on me. His Unique Skill really was like nothing else, able to twist the world to his whims. 

“So he used his skill on you?” She asked. “Shame. I would have preferred to face the true you. Now you are only his puppet.”

“I will be whatever he wants me to be!”

“You are delusional.” She said. “Now, how about you surrender? My dear Brian already took in your friends. You are the last one. And with no mana, you stand no chance.”

I looked around and she was right. All of my companions were gone. And as I was scanning the forests around the shrine, the abnormal teleported in.

“Did you have your fun with her?” He asked the girl.

“Not really. She is too obsessed. Worse than you were with Laura.”

“... that bad, huh.” The abnormal said.

“Definetely even worse.” She said. 

“Oh, by the way.” The girl said, as she floated down and touched onto the ground. “Do you want to know how we dealt with your little spell? Go on, ask. I don’t mind sharing.”

I didn’t know what else to do, so I decided to ask. Maybe with a bit of time I could contact the Supreme Master and tell him that the abnormal knows of our plans.

“... yes.” I answered, trying to sound meek.

“It was really simple really.” The girl said. “I just activated Mask of Restrict while limiting its area of effect to the magic circle. It prevented you from tributing yourself.” As she told me that, she took one of the abnormal’s cards off of the device on her left hand and showed it to me. She then made the card disappear, which made the mask I had been forced to wear to disappear as well.

“Sadly your magic circle was a bit too powerful for just that, so I also had to use Advanced Erasure Magic to delete your Erasure Magic, otherwise the magic circle would have destroyed the Mask of Restrict and still activated.” She added.

Advanced Erasure Magic? Is that even possible? Neither Lord Hajime or the Supreme Master can use something like that, or even know of something like that.

Lord Hajime. Supreme Master. Please hear this message! We were unprepared! 

As the abnormal approached me, I did something I never thought I’d do. I prayed for help. And not from Hajime. Or the Supreme Master. But from anyone who could hear my cries.

Please! Any greater force there is! Let Hajime make it to the past or this was all for nothing!

The abnormal took a hold of me and I didn’t resist. But I was still surprised when we teleported somewhere. 

His teleportation was so gentle. It didn’t cause my head to spin at all. It was almost like I hadn’t even moved. Nothing compared to the dizzying experience of our teleportation stones.

Before I could even figure out where I was, I was already in a prison made of earth, with iron bars on one side, blocking my exit.

I looked outside and saw rows and rows of other cells. Some of them had multiple people in them, but the ones on the level I was at only had one person in each. 

I went for the iron bars, but despite putting all of my strength into it, they didn’t budge. I also tried my magic, but I had barely recovered any mana.

“Don’t bother. Our skills are sealed.” I heard from the cell maybe three or four to my right. “The abnormal said even an adult dragon couldn’t bend them. Besides, I tried and I have a lot more Strength than you, 22.”

“Seven? Is that you?”

“Yes. He got me as well.” Seven said. “Some sort of paralytic poison that made me choose to stay behind. He picked me up after the troops had walked far enough. What about you?” 

“... I failed. I couldn’t do anything. He and … one of his wives I think. Prevented us from using the sacrifice release ritual. Took all of us in.”

“I see…” Seven said quietly enough where I just barely heard him.

“Have you contacted the Supreme Master?” I asked.

“I’ve been trying to.” Seven said. “But the abnormal must somehow be blocking us. We believed he could, but we didn’t think … he could do it at this scale.”

“I … we … did we really do all we did for nothing? Are we nothing compared to him?” I asked.

“Don’t give up yet.” Seven said. “As long as 1 and the great leader are free, we can win!”

“... Yes.” I agreed, trying to regain some of that enthusiasm. Even if I can’t do anything, I’m not giving up. I can still be of use for Hajime.

And as I thought that, I felt a wave of Dark attributed mana roll over this prison. Even with my skills sealed, I knew what that meant. 

The abnormal somehow made a mistake. The sacrifice release ritual activated and the being of darkness was released from its prison. Only it could cause that sort of mana wave.

nro_8

So … I didn’t mean for 22 to take the entire chapter. This chapter was meant to contain both her, and the immortal snail release. But … it didn’t exactly go as planned. She wanted the words, so she got them. And while she may have been taken in, somehow the Soul of Darkness was released.