The night before the festival began, the knights of the temple and the military were heading towards the witches’ gathering place.
Sardes, a knight of the temple, walked toward the gathering site and took out a necklace from his chest.
When he opened it, his wife was smiling happily while holding their young daughter.
Sardes showed the necklace to a young, tense man—Schwein, who had just been knighted.
“This is my wife and daughter. What do you think? Aren’t they beautiful?”
“Wow, they are beautiful.”
“Right? They’re my treasures.”
Sardes smiled as he looked at the picture.
“You look so happy.”
“I am. Every day is new and fresh. You’ll understand once you get married, and your child is born surrounded by blessings.”
Sardes continued talking about his everyday life—how lovely his wife looked when she fell asleep with their child, how cute it was when the child clung to his legs calling out “Dad!” when he came home from work, and how their daughter pouted after being scolded by her mother for causing trouble.
From the middle of the conversation, Schwein started regretting encouraging him and listened to Sardes’ words passively, letting them drift in one ear and out the other.
He wondered if the same strict captain he usually saw could be the same person.
Yet, as Sardes kept talking to him, Schwein felt his tension ease.
He thought perhaps the captain was trying to help him relax.
Well, part of that was true.
Initially, Sardes had been speaking to help Schwein unwind.
But eventually, he got so excited bragging about his wife and daughter that he forgot the original purpose.
Unaware of this, Schwein began thinking that his superior was actually a pretty good person.
Before long, they reached the area where the witches were gathering.
As they approached, eerie laughter from the witches filled the night sky.
The ominous atmosphere was palpable, and laughter scratched the air.
Around the festival area, there were bone fences, made by tying animal bones and some human bones together like a wall.
The bone fence gave off a grotesque vibe, making it uncomfortable to look at.
Sardes silently prayed to the god for the souls of the dead who had not found peace, hoping they could rest and be at peace.
Beyond the bone fence, witches dressed in ragged clothes gathered around a large fire in the center, talking and laughing.
The witches’ pale skin was stained with the blood of sacrifices, creating a horrifying atmosphere.
The ground was littered with blood and pieces of sacrificed bodies, leaving dark red stains on the floor.
In the corner, some witches were preparing sacrifices for demons.
They had human bodies impaled on large skewers from their backsides to their mouths, arranged like twisted art.
“How cruel and unforgivable this act is…!” one of the knights muttered in the dark.
Some of the younger knights and soldiers gagged, unable to stomach the sight.
They couldn’t understand how other humans could do such things.
“Hello?”
Suddenly, a chilling female voice came from beside them.
Sardes swung his sword horizontally without thinking.
“Oops! That’s dangerous! You can’t just swing your sword like that!”
The woman who had suddenly appeared in the darkness easily dodged the swing.
Her lower abdomen, barely covered, revealed a shameful tattoo—a mark of a witch—shining on her skin.
The sacred mark of a woman who should bear life had instead been desecrated by a witch’s symbol.
“Dammit! A witch! The ambush plan is exposed!”
Sardes shouted, and the knights and soldiers hiding in the dark rushed towards the witches who were gathered.
Sardes pointed his sword at the witch in front of him, who appeared to be a young woman.
He glanced at Schwein standing next to him.
Schwein was trembling, unsure of what to do, standing awkwardly in place.
Sardes yelled at Schwein, who seemed to be still unsure of his stance.
“Schwein! Focus!”
“Y-Yes! Captain!”
Sardes kept his eyes on the witch before him.
She seemed young, but one should never underestimate her just because she appeared youthful.
A witch who had made a pact with a demon stopped aging, so it was possible that the woman in front of him had lived for over 100 years.
Sardes was sweating profusely.
The witch in front of him exuded an air of calm confidence, showing no openings.
He could tell that this would not be an easy fight.
But he couldn’t afford to show fear.
The new recruit was watching him closely.
His family lived in the labyrinth city.
The god was watching over them.
There was much for him to protect.
“I’ll send you to hell, evil witch.”
“Heh heh heh… Hell, you say? To us, this world is already hell.”
Sardes charged at the witch.
A magic circle appeared in front of her.
Sardes’ sword clashed with the witch’s magic.
“Now, pay attention!!!”
A young witch stepped into the center of the festival.
She seemed to be drunk, her face flushed with alcohol, and holding a human head twisted in pain in one hand.
With exaggerated movements, she looked down at the people and spoke.
“What a magnificent day this is! The endless hunger of ours is being filled with all this meat and alcohol.”
A young witch boldly began her speech.
In Sardes’ remaining eye, he could see witches eating without paying attention to the speech, others laughing with amusement, and some witches teasing others with impolite gestures.
“We’ve brought this disgusting temple knight to offer as a sacrifice to our great Beelzebub! What was his name again… Ah, Schwein! His name is Schwein! Schwein! Aren’t you glad to be a sacrifice to the god? Schwein is honored to be offered to Lord Beelzebub!”
The witches burst into laughter at the witch’s one-woman show.
The captured knights and soldiers felt sorrow for their fallen comrades who would be desecrated after death.
They sank into despair, thinking they might be next.
“Now! Let’s cheer for Beelzebub’s resurrection, and for our sacrifice, Schwein!”
“And let’s give thanks to the disgusting god who sent us these sacrifices! Corrupted god, may you grant us even more sacrifices for the demons!”
Laughter erupted.
The witch gestured around, asking for even louder cheers.
“You… you are insane!! How can fellow humans do such things?! Are you even human!? Why are you doing this when we are all creations of the same god!?”
Sardes shouted, full of fury, at the witches who were mocking Schwein’s death.
Sardes’ outburst was met with mocking laughter from the witches.
“Ha ha! A fellow creation, you say? The god must throw his creations into the fire like meat to be roasted~ My parents and siblings were burned in the name of the god. And so were the neighbors. The whole village! The charge? They were accused of consorting with evil witches! I’ve never even seen a witch!
I was so wronged that I made a pact with the great Beelzebub and became a witch. And I gained the power to strike back at that damn god. I broke free from oppression. I gained freedom.
Now, I don’t even know why I lived so foolishly. The temple always told me not to do this or that. But now, I can live as I wish. Finally, I can face the real me, free from the chains that bound me.”
“The god is merciful. If you repent now and ask for forgiveness…”
“Shut up. Why should I beg for forgiveness? Did your temple ever ask for forgiveness from me? Has your god ever asked for my forgiveness? Never! So I won’t ask for forgiveness. And the actions I’m about to take, I won’t apologize for those either.”
“Wait… wait a second! What are you going to do…”
“Now, how about sending a message to the god you blindly worship? Tell them that we’ll take our revenge on them one day!”
“Spare… spare me…! Aaaaaaah!”
The witch thrust a skewer into Sardes’ backside.
The skewer pierced through his body, emerging from his mouth.
Sardes’ intestines hung from the end of the skewer.
The witches, watching the brutal scene, cheered and laughed as though they were enjoying a magic show.
The knights and soldiers, witnessing the scene, denied the reality in horror and prayed to the silent god.
Oh God. Oh God.
Please have mercy on us.
Please show us mercy.
Save us from these evil witches.
There was no answer.
Their last hope was abandoned, discarded like flesh on the ground.
The witches skewered the remaining knights and soldiers with the same skewers as Sardes.
The ground was stained with blood and intestines, and flies began to swarm around the scene.
“Now! Let’s offer these sacrifices to the king of flies!”
The witches threw the humans impaled on the skewers into the flames.
Let’s take revenge on the temple!
Let’s sentence the labyrinth city to destruction!
Let’s offer sacrifices to the demon of gluttony!
Oh King of Flies! Answer our call!
Thousands of flies began to gather in one place.
The flies swarmed together, eventually taking the form of a twisted, emaciated human figure, as if on the verge of collapse.
“Witches abandoned by the god. Your god will not listen to your prayers. But I will answer your desires.”
Though the god did not answer the calls of the pitiful knights and soldiers, the demon answered the witches’ calls.
That night, when the red moon rose, Beelzebub appeared in response to the witches’ call.