Brave Story - Miyuki Miyabe [374]
“I do not.” Wataru’s voice was rock steady. He deliberately forced the chill running through his body to stop. “What you want is wrong.”
Onba’s large mouth opened even wider, swallowing most of her face, and she laughed from deep in her throat with a sound like rolling thunder. “My sweet, young Traveler. Do you not understand this is your last chance? Merely nod to us here and now, and you will not have to kneel at the feet of the Goddess. No—you will stand on the very top of this tower as lord of all you survey!”
“I don’t want that,” Wataru answered, his voice clear. “I’m sorry, but I can’t help you.”
Onba blinked, and her tongue swept across her face. “A foolish choice.” A swollen, green hand slid across the floor toward Wataru. Wataru leaped to the side.
“Why? Why do you run from us? Is it our body you hate? Is something so empty, so devoid of meaning more important to you than a chance to sit upon the throne of a god?”
“That’s not it,” Wataru said, shaking his head. “I don’t run because I think you’re ugly. I run because you tried to deceive me. You should have told me the truth from the beginning. You should have showed me who you were. Maybe I could have found a way to help you. Maybe we could have made this journey together.”
Onba’s mouth gaped. “Such sweet lies! Had I appeared before you as I am now, you would have run without so much as letting me speak!”
“I would have been surprised, sure. But if I had only known the truth earlier, if I had known how you truly feel, I wouldn’t have run.”
“You lie!” Onba spat, slapping the floor with her webbed hands. “Traveler! Betrayer! Your fate ends here! You wish to change your destiny? Fine! I’ll crush you into the very dust of the Dark! How’s that for a change?!”
With a tremendous roar, Onba’s grotesque body lifted off the floor and launched at Wataru. The demonkin in her wet skin rippled with a life of their own.
Wataru drew his sword, leaping to one side to strike at her flank.
Light blazed from the tip of the Brave’s Sword. For a second, it blinded even Wataru. The sword felt light as a feather in his hands.
Onba twisted and opened her mouth, releasing a blast of foul air. The force of it nearly knocked Wataru off his feet, and he found it difficult to breathe. His hands and face stung as if he had been burned. Poisonous breath!
“How many Travelers have you tempted like this, Onba?!!” Wataru shouted, rolling across the floor to stand a short distance away. “How many Travelers have you stopped here, spouting the same pleas and offers of power? You pity me? No, I pity you!”
“What gives you the right, child of man?!” A sickly-green fist connected with Wataru’s side, sending him flying across the room. It hurt to breathe. It hurt even to open his eyes. The poison is going to get me if I don’t do something quick.
“Your life is dust to me. I will swallow you whole!” Her tongue rose like an independent thing, darting through the air with a wet thwap to snake around Wataru’s body. He cut it away with his sword at the last moment. Onba screamed.
Light streaked through the air in the sword’s path. The power of the Demon’s Bane was guiding Wataru’s hand.
At last Wataru realized why he needed the Demon’s Bane to climb the Tower of Destiny and meet with the Goddess. He needed it to fight this last temptation that stood before him and the completion of his journey. He needed to defeat this unwanted thing that whispered to him of another way. This was the final trial.
Once he realized this, there was nothing to fear. Wataru jumped in front of Onba, feet apart, sword raised. “You cannot defeat me. You cannot defeat the sword.”
Onba howled like a wounded beast. The mottled demonkin pattern on her skin swirled like a portrait of madness. “Child!” she screamed, letting loose a blast of foul miasma.
“The time’s come to set right all the wrong you’ve done here, Onba.” The Brave’s Sword—the Demon’s Bane—shone brilliantly in his hand. “It is you whose story ends here! You will not return to the Dark, you will