【Miko of Slaughter Intro】The Cult of the Death God

Black clouds spread across the sky, threatening rain at any moment.

Occasional flashes of lightning streak across the sky, illuminating the interior of a ruined chapel.

This is a ruined village, wiped out long ago by a horde of monsters and left abandoned ever since.

Hardly anyone remembers what this village was called in its heyday...... and the chapel, once painted a beautiful white and kept pristine, now simply surrenders itself to decay.

......Or so it should have been.

A violent flash of lightning strikes with a roar, illuminating the chapel once more.

It reveals decorations inside the chapel, created by human hands in recent times.

Yes, the chapel of this ruined village, where no one should be living, has indeed been decorated in praise of a god.

But not with arranged flowers, or wooden statues in the likeness of the god, or anything of that sort.

They are severed heads.

Wolves, boars, deer, rats...... and humans.

Those heads, frozen in expressions of agony, are lined up in neat rows on the chapel's tables, while blasphemous patterns and prayers to a god are painted on the walls in blood.

Toss a devout believer of the Holy Goddess into this place and they would go mad in under 5 seconds; and at its very center, 5 men and women, their whole bodies covered in black robes, sat in a ring around a strange magic circle.

“......An oracle has descended.”

A man with a shaved head, wearing a robe with especially lavish embroidery...... Founder Dahachie, spoke with a faint smile, yet solemnly.

“Ooh......!”

“What manner of oracle......?”

“How blessed we are......”

The cultists buzzed with excitement, waiting for the Founder's next words.

Once the room had fallen silent again, Dahachie went on.

“‘My miko, the Miko of Slaughter, descends. The white-haired girl, the youngest daughter of Toveil.’”

“What......! Miko-sama, you say......!”

“Toveil...... the Count Toveil house of the Demes Kingdom, then?”

“Let us go and welcome her at once......!”

They are the Death God's cult: the ‘Purple Dual Rings’.

Even among the groups devoted to Death God Alogoros, they are one of the most prominent cults.

Their ranks are made up of skilled hands whose trade is assassination; by killing people and offering their souls to the Death God, they accumulate virtue, and they earn ‘purified wealth’ to live on in this world.

Their goal is to keep accumulating virtue, become favored followers of Alogoros, and engage in eternal slaughter.

“......The oracle continues. You must not be hasty.”

Dahachie spoke quietly, restraining the cultists who had stood up and were ready to head for the Demes Kingdom immediately.

“‘The miko's guide is not among you. It is the “Grim Reaper of Ashgo,” who dwells deep in Zahan. Bring the miko and the guide together. That is the divine command laid upon you.’”

The cultists froze, stunned by the oracle the Founder recited.

“What, did you say......!!?”

One man, livid, pressed in on Dahachie.

“We are the foremost believers of the noble god Alogoros-sama! Why are we not worthy to be Miko-sama's guide!?”

Dahachie's gentle expression never faltered. Calmly, quietly, he spoke a single word.

“Silence.”

So he said.

It happened in the next instant.

The man who had pressed in on Dahachie was diced to pieces by something unseen, and died.

Chunks of meat fell botoboto onto the floor, and a spreading sea of blood painted over the magic circle.

“Oh, noble god Alogoros-sama...... We offer you a new sacrifice. Please accept it......”

“““Please accept it......”””

For several minutes they prayed to their god, bowed at the waist, hands forming a sign at their chests...... then Dahachie spoke again.

“Zahan is a sacred peak towering on the border between the Raybreak Kingdom and the Teenidys Kingdom...... I hear our miko, the youngest daughter of Toveil, is still only 6 years old. The road to Zahan would be rather harsh for one so young. It would be best to make contact with the guide first, and then head for the Demes Kingdom with him in tow.”

None of the cultists objected to the Founder's plan.

Each of them nodded and set about preparing for the journey.

“Still, the ‘Grim Reaper of Ashgo’...... the legendary assassin of whom it was said, ‘there is no one he cannot kill’......”

“I heard he vanished 10 years ago, but to think he was hiding on Sacred Mount Zahan...... right under the nose of the Guardian Sacred Beast Jarnayaharma.”

“To bear ‘Grim Reaper’, the very title of our god, what sacrilege......”

“............”

Founder Dahachie listened to the cultists' conversation in silence, his smile never fading.

Then, someone spoke to him again.

His name was Yoron.

He was the youngest and least experienced believer among the cultists.

“All the same, Founder-sama, it still troubles me. Why did Alogoros-sama not recognize us as guides?”

“............”

“Day and night, we have killed, and killed, and killed...... offering souls to Alogoros-sama. And yet, why......”

“............”

“Founder-sama, have you received any oracle regarding that point? What, exactly, were we lacking?”

“............”

Founder Dahachie did not answer.

He simply smiled and stared intently at Yoron.

In the next instant, Yoron too had been reduced to diced chunks of meat, just like the man before him, scattered on the ground.

“Oh, noble god Alogoros-sama...... We offer you a new sacrifice. Please accept it......”

““Please accept it......””

“......Well then, let us go, everyone. We shall go to welcome the guide, and our Miko of Slaughter.”

With dark clouds still looming, the 3 remaining members of the ‘Purple Dual Rings’ set off toward Zahan.

The thunder continued to rumble gorogoro in the distant sky, endlessly.

Just when some enemy-organization-looking folks show up, 2 of the 5 go and die on their own in the very same chapter......