Forty-Seven: The Experiment Destroyed

As the car rolled through the wasteland, I gazed out the left window at the scenery. Wind had carved the rocks into all manner of shapes, and the straight mountains looked like fortresses of hard-edged stone.

It was beautiful, but dangerous; I was so taken with the view that I nearly drove the car over a cliff. The whole scene descended into utter chaos. Lamia, the Broken Bell, and Solace tumbled over and over inside the vehicle.

Clutching her head and rubbing the swelling from the impact, Lamia snapped, "Can you even drive?"

I defended myself. "I'm no professional. It'd be normal for me to be bad at it."

Besides, the seasoned drivers, Old Will and Warden, had both been left as corpses in the wilderness. I was still alive; at the very least, I was better than they were.

Lamia said, "Then at least watch the road."

In truth, it was all the fault of the scenery, which had distracted me. Of course, the rough, unpaved road shared some of the blame. Was the road department asleep at the wheel? And then there were the recent upheavals weighing on my mind; all of it was beyond human control. As for me, I almost pitied myself, and even admired myself for having driven this far.

Half the car's tires were hanging in the air. The four of us strained with all our strength before we managed to haul it back into place.

Lamia said, "Let's give this little Yune a name. It isn't a Yune, and it might even be more useful than one."

I said offhandedly, "Masquerade Ball?"

Lamia shook her head. "No good. It's awkward to say, and it doesn't resemble a Yune."

I thought the name hardly mattered. My mind was still on what Legan had told me: long ago, humans and blood kin had coexisted, but in those days humans did not believe blood kin existed at all. Blood kin hid behind the curtain of human society, manipulating human history through blood. They could seize the mind, and since humans ruled the world, it was as if blood kin held the world in their grasp.

Yet the blood kin's situation was in fact terribly perilous. Since they had to sleep by day and would quickly be reduced to ash under the sun, humans could readily exterminate them. Among blood kin there arose an inviolable pact, which they called the iron law of the masquerade ball: to erase all evidence of blood kin activity from the world. Only by hiding could they survive; only by hiding could they continue feeding on humanity.

These predators feared their prey, and yet depended on it like parasites. They had long been left behind by the age, surviving only by clinging to humanity's sails, until the day humanity surpassed them.

That iron law endures to this day. Though the world has already fallen into ruin, in the Black Coffin most residents still do not know that the rulers and nobles are blood-drinking monsters.

Lamia said, "I've decided. How about we call it Juno?"

I said, "It can be that, but in the end Legan will have the final say."

Lamia asked, "The marquis told you to handle the matter of the Sun King. Have you come up with any leads?"

I said, "First, if we want to deal with the Sun King, we have to preserve ourselves. We can't let even a drop of their blood get on us. We should take a page from the Sword-and-Shield Society and wear armor so seamless that not even water can seep through it, only then can we fight the Sun King."

Lamia asked, "And then?"

I replied, "Then I can say for certain that they're all in a state of slumber right now. Someone has to wake them up deliberately; until then, they're no threat. As for the method of waking them, it's sunlight. Plenty of sunlight."

I pointed to the ground. "Near where the Sun King lies dormant, there's very likely to be an edible mushroom, and the three-headed hound demon roams there as well. If we find the mushroom or the hound demon, we can determine the Sun King's approximate location. They may have become statues, or been buried underground, or disguised themselves as trees. In any case, we should be able to spot the signs."

Lamia nodded. "Based on your experience, that seems right."

I said, "They always claim to be immortal, to be approaching perfection, but they have weaknesses. First, the blood of the Lichen Blood can wound them, even kill them. Second, for some unknown reason, they must enter a state of slumber. I think it's the night; they were born of the sun, so perhaps darkness is harmful to them."

Lamia said, "They can still move freely at night. Isn't that how it was in the Waterless Village? As for the first method, if there are too many of them, one person alone is far from enough. Could we burn them to death with fire?"

I said, "If we get the chance, we can test it."

We drove the car into the city and got out to search it. I wasn't worried that Legan would fail to find us; he seemed able to smell our trail, and by nightfall he would appear.

In a corner of a sealed shopping mall, I found the same mushroom from the Waterless Village. Lamia listened carefully and indeed heard a faint murmur. The murmur was impossible to make out, yet it drew one in with desperate force; once understood, it could drive a person mad in just a few days.

That was the hymn of the Sun King.

We searched everywhere. Solace said, "Look here, this one's promising!"

On one of the stone pillars, I made out the silhouette of a man, so I carved the shape out with my dagger. It did not awaken, but the hymn instantly grew much louder.

Lamia's face twisted in pain. Grinding her teeth, she said, "It's horrifying. Even knowing what it is, I still can't help..."

The Broken Bell said, "Solace and I are walking corpses. We can resist his corruption."

Lamia gave a bitter smile. "Then I suppose I'm the most troublesome one here."

She and I fetched fuel tanks from a nearby gas station, and afterward the Broken Bell placed the statue in the sunlight. Lamia stood at a distance, aiming her gun at it.

After about an hour, we heard singing as if it came from the edge of the heavens. I said indignantly, "That sounds even worse than Phaega singing!"

Lamia asked, "You've heard Phaega sing? Since when were you two so close?"

I said, "Don't be jealous. She's like a daughter to me."

Lamia laughed. "Jealous of what? I like Phaega too."

Suddenly, the statue turned to blood and dripped to the ground. I immediately ignited the gasoline spread below. The infected thing became a man, many organs sprouting across his body. He showed a sinister smile and said, "This heat, this flame, how can it compare to the sun?"

He charged at me. I thrust with my longsword, and the Shadow-Seeking Yew pierced him through. The Sun Infected let out an unbelieving scream and collapsed to the ground, soon falling silent. I suspected he was feigning death, so I stabbed him several more times. Sure enough, he roared in rage and leaped up again. I used the Shadow Shepherd to grind him to pieces. Only then was I finally certain he would not rise again.

I said, "Confirmed. Fire doesn't scare him. Find another one!"

Inside another pillar near that mushroom, we dug out a second subject. By then the sun had set, and the city had fallen into darkness.

Solace said, "Could it be afraid of the shadows outdoors? Just as blood kin retreat indoors to sleep when the sun comes up, perhaps the Sun Infected do the same. They may be even more fragile than blood kin."

At once, we all thought the same thing and cried out, "Moonlight!"

We carried the test subject beneath the moonlight. He suddenly screamed as if his buttocks had been set on fire. No longer a statue, he became a blood-soaked man; fine cracks began appearing all over his body, filling him with terror. He fled toward any place with cover. I rushed forward and cut him down with a thought-blade, reducing him to pulp.

The Broken Bell said, "It really works."

Legan's voice came from nearby. "No. He was only frightened. The damage moonlight does to him is not significant."

We looked up at the moon. It was a half moon, with only about one-eighth of its face showing. I said, "The more visible the moon, the more lethal it is to them."

Legan said, "Their long slumber may have something to do with the full moon."

I said, "Exactly. Think about it: the Sun Infected are ruined if even a sliver of sunlight brushes them. By the same logic, if they are touched by the light of a full moon, they are forced into sleep, or they can't survive. That explains why, after they destroyed the world, they vanished as well. They have a natural enemy they fear above all else. The blood of the Lichen Blood is secondary; the most important thing is the power of the full moon."

Solace said, "Too bad it's still a long way off before the moon is full."

Legan said, "No need to wait. I can summon the light of the full moon."

We were astonished, yet we believed he was not boasting. Legan may not have been ancient, but he had endured inhuman training, making him as formidable as an old blood kin.

He said, "I'll be away for a bit. Prepare another test subject."

When Legan returned, he was dragging an unconscious bandit. He bit open the bandit's throat and spilled the blood into a perfect circle. Then he sat beneath the moon and meditated for about half an hour. After that, he lifted both hands to the sky and let out a wolf's howl, like the alpha beast of a primeval jungle.

A beam of gentle moonlight fell upon Legan.

"In moonlight at the height of the full moon, my beast blood becomes twice as strong," he said. "I usually use this trick against troublesome foes. I never expected it to have another use."

Before that moonlight could fade, we brought the infected one into it. As we had predicted, the moment the first ray touched him, his face was filled with despair. Within ten seconds, he had been reduced entirely to ash.

Legan said, "Now two things can be confirmed. First, the Sun Infected hide indoors because that keeps them from the full moon. Second, moonlight can harm them; at the full moon, the infected face utter ruin. Third, the thought-blade of Longinus is extremely effective against a single infected."

Lamia said, "Fourth, fire is like taking a hot bath to them."

Legan said, "We can make the most airtight protective suits, the radiation-proof kind. Have the squad search the underground places without windows and see whether there are any frozen statues."

I said, "We can't store them all together. Those songs can seize the mind, and the effect might multiply, driving the search team mad. We can take it slowly and destroy them one by one."

Unfortunately, there was no practical way to manufacture moonlight on a large scale. Even Legan's blood curse was extremely troublesome to perform.

Legan said, "Perhaps the Demon Sect will have a method. I hear demons are closely tied to moonlight. There may be clues there."

I asked, "The Demon Sect? Haven't they always been against us?"

Legan replied, "He is far from the most sinister man in the Black Coffin. Compared with the other elders, he is still relatively reasonable. Besides, we must search for any surviving bloodline of the Lichen Blood, if any such bloodline still survives."