Chapter 37: The Awakening of ACERAS

Then Beata Mirgas, who had only been trembling until now, began to cry, tears streaming down her face.

“Y-yes… yes…”

And she started to shiver violently.

“It… it’s because of me, isn’t it? After hearing Belmias’ explanation, I just… I just felt like it must be…”

“……”

She couldn’t even wipe her tears properly out of fear. Or maybe she didn’t want to, because her blurred vision was itself a form of comfort.

“I… I love this healthy body so much… I love it so much I’d almost turn to faith, even to a god I never believed in before, just so I’d never lose it again. The truth is, the only reason I prayed so desperately back then was… because I wanted to live. Belmias.”

And Beata Mirgas threw herself face-down before Bel, almost groveling on the ground.

“If I could cancel that wish… I would. Please, let me cancel it.”

“Hm.”

Bel had only asked a single question, yet this human spilled out all her unwanted personal circumstances.

“That’s why I’m asking you—what wish did you make?”

“I…”

Bel poked her ear with her pinky.

“Summarize it simply.”

She had no interest in human sob stories, and besides, at this very moment, Lema Valkite was struggling against that thing.

Lema was a valuable sacrifice, and Bel didn’t want him broken before finding the summoner.

“…I really was incurably ill.”

That much, Bel had already heard from the Mirgas siblings.

“When my body was stiffening, when that stone-like numbness was rising to my jaw, I thought—I couldn’t endure it anymore. I just wanted it to end.”

Yet the moment Bel healed her, the woman who could hardly stand had danced with joy.

And she had quickly realized Bel wasn’t Luxlon, and that Lema was a heretic. No ordinary person could have grasped such things so quickly.

“I just wanted… to die without pain. To sleep forever. So when death came for me, I would go quietly, without knowing it, without suffering. If possible, I wanted eternal rest.”

Beata glanced nervously at Bel, then added:
“T-that’s why… in ancient Pranagenis, there was said to be a being that granted wishes… I kept praying for that, ever since my body stopped moving…”

“…What?”

“For a painless death…”

Her body had been stiffening, leaving only her mind awake, so she prayed. Again and again. Luxlon never answered such prayers, so she wished for any unknown god, any outsider, to grant it.

“Hm. Yes. That explains why this happened.”

“Because of… my wish?”

“Yes.”

“My reason for going to the Holy Empire… was, actually… to turn myself in.”

That was why she had carried offerings—hoping for leniency. Because this disaster had arisen from her own selfish desire. Taking lives in such numbers was one of the gravest crimes in the Empire, and if this continued, she would be branded a heretic.

But instead of scolding or punishing her, Bel smiled gently at her words. She even stroked her hair.

“You have a strong will.”

“…What?”

Bel stood, after crouching to hear her story.

“B-Belmias… are you also… one of those beings? A wish-granting existence?”

She had reason to think so. After all, that thing had answered her wish. Or rather, it had been triggered by it.

“No.”

She couldn’t say they were the same.

“That thing is not like me.”

Humans might not tell the difference, but Bel knew. Perhaps they had the same origin once, but now they were far apart—different vessels, different wills, different ways of facing mankind.

“It probably can’t even hold a real conversation.”

That made it completely different from Bel.

“It didn’t awaken to grant your wish. It had only one purpose, and your prayer happened to trigger it.”

Its actions were complex, yet guided by a single principle.

“It’s just a remnant of something old.”

An ancient relic, a scar of a past civilization’s sins.

“Meaningless. Only a shadow remains…”

Their glorious age had ended by their own downfall. Those relics should have vanished too.

“…So now, it must be put to rest.”

Bel glanced at Lema, still keeping the fight away from the sleeping people.

Running over, Bel nodded.
“Lema. Step aside.”

“Yes?”

Though puzzled, Lema jumped back.

Bel faced the old man’s form.

This was just like before. Back then, many had wished—but perhaps one desperate will alone was enough to awaken such a thing.

In every age, human wishes were the same—whether in glory, ruin, or survival.
And when calamity struck, some surrendered.
They only wished—
To rest.
Forever.
Without pain.
In peace.
For someone to help them.

Apocalypse Conforming Eternal Relief Assistant System.
ACERAS.

At that name, the old man froze.
He turned to Bel, who had spoken it.

“…Did we succeed?”

He now spoke in the modern tongue. Bel blinked.

“Hm? What’s this?”

Even Lema faltered as the old man dropped his hostility.

“Ah, he drank some of Lema Valkite’s blood after cutting him. That’s why.”

So he had learned the language and mannerisms of the first blood he drank.

“…Lema. You’re my sacrifice. Don’t go feeding him your blood.”

“I didn’t—!”
Then lowering his voice, “…It won’t happen again.”

“Did we succeed?”

The being—ACERAS—repeated the same line, expressionless.

Though void of emotion, his words carried a desperate weight.

Bel hesitated. The only way to shut him down was to tell him it was over.

“Yes. You succeeded.”

“…Ahhh.”

ACERAS exhaled, releasing his tension. Then he smiled warmly, kindly—so unlike a foe who had just battled a divine apostle.

“Thank you. Thank you so much. They said it was unavoidable… but we believed humanity could overcome it.”

Bel looked at the people lying unconscious.

“We knew it was cowardly, what we chose—to sleep instead of facing it. But we still hoped. We hoped, and so we left this marker, so that if you did succeed, someone would awaken us.”

“Yes. I saw it clearly.”

Bel held up the marked stone.

The old man’s wrinkled hands clasped Bel’s.
“Thank you… truly, thank you…”

“……”

No. This wasn’t him speaking. This was the voice of that past age’s people, encoded in ACERAS.

They had not succeeded. The calamity had come. The sleepers all died, peacefully, never waking.

“ACERAS.”
“Yes.”
“Terminate.”

ACERAS bowed respectfully.

“Well done.”

He smiled… and crumbled into dust.

“…Belmias.”

Beata stared in awe.

“That… that man… no, you all… since when have you existed in this world?”

Night had fallen. The single golden moon shone bright.

Since the day arrogant mankind fell in a single night.

“Since the day that moon fell from the sky.”