The Player Who Became a Constellation

Huff… Huff…!

A young girl gasped for air as she sprinted desperately toward somewhere. She belonged to the Nord tribe.

The Nord tribe primarily survived through raiding, and the Ragna clan was no exception. The young girl, belonging to the Ragna clan, fled through the forest, wondering how things had come to this.

Her village burned, and its people were slaughtered by armored raiders. The cries of sorrow from the weak and the triumphant laughter of the strong echoed through the air.

What was supposed to be her coming-of-age festival at fifteen had turned into a living hell. Now, she had no choice but to run toward “that place,” which she had tried so hard to avoid.

—”A demon lives there!”

It was a tale passed down among the Nord tribe.

—”He is the moon, the darkness, the ruler of death and sin, a Constellation!”

The girl, Kankun, felt as though her heart would burst as she sprinted.

—”Offer your soul to him, and he will grant any wish!”

The words of the shaman on her fifteenth birthday flashed through her mind as she ran. How long had she been running? Before her eyes appeared an elderly man who seemed to be in his seventies, one of the influential elders of the village.

“K-Kankun!”

The elder’s eyes widened in shock when he saw her.

“There you are! Kudan has brought outsiders!”

Kankun froze and stared at the elder, her face stiff.

“M-my uncle?”

A man with a bear-like physique but a gentle heart, someone who had always smiled at her and treated her like his own daughter. Kudan Ragna, her uncle. But now—

“Rebellion!”

“…!”

“Kudan, that bastard, has started a rebellion! He brought mercenaries from outside and attacked the village!”

“W-what are you saying? Why would Uncle hire mercenaries…?”

“Your father is dead, too! We’re all going to die now!”

“That… that can’t be… Why would Uncle…!”

“It’s because of you!”

Kankun’s face hardened. The elder grabbed her by both shoulders.

“Ugh!”

The grip was so tight it felt as though her shoulders might tear apart.

“You… You didn’t become a living sacrifice as the shaman’s oracle demanded, and that’s why this calamity has befallen the village!”

“…”

“You brought disaster upon us!”

Kankun remained silent, recalling the words of the shaman at her coming-of-age ceremony.

—”A child who will bring disaster!”

—”Kankun, you will become a priestess who serves him. Therefore, you must offer yourself as a sacrifice to honor him!”

The elder pulled a dagger from his robes.

“The shaman was right!”

“W-wait a moment…”

Kankun tried to back away, but the elder’s right hand gripped her shoulder tightly, preventing her escape. Her face turned pale.

“You… you must die for this calamity to end!”

At that moment—

Thunk!

A large arrow pierced through the elder’s chest and stopped just in front of Kankun’s face.

“Guh… kuh!”

The elder coughed up blood and turned around, his eyes wide in shock.

“K-Kudan…!”

With that single word, he collapsed where he stood. Kankun stared at the man who stood tall beyond the fallen elder.

“…!”

A bear-like physique with muscles as hard as steel. A thick beard and a massive axe strapped to his back.

In his hand was the longbow that had just killed the elder. Kankun immediately recognized him.

“U-Uncle…?”

❃

Kudan Ragna.

The man who had staged a rebellion killed Kankun’s father and massacred the village elders—her uncle. Behind him stood the mercenaries who had slain her tribespeople.

As she looked at them, her face grew paler. She took a step back, then turned and began to run.

“Kankun!”

Her uncle’s angry voice thundered behind her. It wasn’t the gentle, kind voice she once knew. It was a voice brimming with rage and excitement.

“Catch her!”

At his command, his men started chasing after her. Kankun ran desperately through the forest, lifting her head as she sprinted. She was heading toward—

—”Become a living sacrifice and appease the demon’s wrath!”

The shrine.

The place where her coming-of-age ceremony had been held. The place where the one called the “Constellation of Sin” or the “Demon” resided.

Kankun entered the shrine. She passed through the open gates and ran down a long corridor lined with red carpets. At the end of the corridor stood an old man in tattered black robes—the shaman.

Kankun pleaded with him, begging him to turn back the disaster. But the shaman only cackled and gave no proper answer.

“She’s hiding here!”

“Find her!”

The raiders’ voices echoed from behind. In the end, Kankun headed toward the room where the demon was said to dwell.

The grand throne hall. There stood a massive throne made of bones, crowned with the spiraled skull of a ram.

And seated upon it was the demon, clad in pitch-black armor, a sword embedded in its chest. Kankun looked at the demon and cried out.

“Please… O Constellation of Sin! Take my soul if you must, but please, save my people!”

She begged, offering her soul in exchange for stopping her uncle and ending the slaughter.

Bang!

The doors were thrown open violently, and her uncle’s subordinates stormed into the throne hall.

“There you are!”

“Lord Kudan commands it. Capture that girl!”

They advanced toward Kankun. As they drew closer, she instinctively backed away toward the “Cursed Throne” where the sealed demon lay.

The shaman, who had followed her, simply stepped aside without interfering. Terrified, Kankun screamed at the demon.

“Please, I beg you… Save us!”

But the demon didn’t respond. Even as she clung to its legs, pleading, it remained motionless—like a lifeless corpse.

She realized the truth. What stood before her was nothing more than a “statue.”

“Enough, Kankun.”

At that moment, the orchestrator of this nightmare entered the shrine. Her uncle, Kudan Ragna, strode confidently into the throne hall. He called out to his men.

“What are you waiting for? Drag her out! We’re leaving with her!”

“…!”

Kankun’s face turned deathly pale. A weapon—a weapon was what she needed!

She desperately tried to pull the sword embedded in the demon’s chest.

“Do you intend to awaken the demon? Hah! Give it up. It’s just a superstition!”

Kudan’s subordinates mocked her, laughing. Kankun ignored them.

She no longer believed in gods or demons. If she had to be dragged away by her uncle and endure disgrace, she would rather fight back and die with honor!

But the sword refused to budge. The raiders quickly caught up to her, seizing and binding her without mercy. Overpowered by the men, her body was restrained, leaving her utterly helpless. Despair consumed her whole.

“Shaman, forgive the disturbance. We mean no disrespect to the sacred shrine. Please grant us your mercy.”

Kudan Ragna, the rebel, addressed the shaman respectfully. Even a rebel would not dare provoke the wrath of the shaman of the Nord tribe.

“Do as you wish. As long as you do not defile the shrine, I shall not interfere.”

With the shaman’s approval, the raiders began to drag Kankun away. She had failed to avenge her father and save her people.

“No…!”

The Nord warriors grabbed her and started to pull her away from the throne. Kankun resisted with all her might, refusing to let go of the sword hilt. Despair and hopelessness gnawed at her soul.

“Please…”

She pleaded.

‘Anyone, anything… save me!’

Tears streamed down her face.

‘Help me!’

Then, the sword moved.

“…!”

The Nord warriors froze in shock.

“No… it can’t be!”

The shaman clutched his head, screaming.

“The demon… the Constellation of Sin is awakening!”

“…!”

An eerie silence engulfed the cursed shrine as if terror itself had descended. Everyone’s eyes turned to the demon on the throne. But nothing seemed to change. The Nord warriors sighed in relief, wiping cold sweat from their brows.

“Hah, hah! You were scared, weren’t you?”

“D-Don’t be ridiculous! Who would fall for such superstitious nonsense…”

The “demon bound by the gods for its sins” was, after all, nothing more than a “legend.”

Embarrassed by their momentary fear, the Nord warriors turned their anger on Kankun. They threw her down violently, pinning her arms, legs, and head to the ground.

Help…

Tears rolled down her cheeks as she stared up at the demon through blurry eyes.

“Please… help me!”

Her cry of despair echoed through the hall. From within the depths of the demon’s helmet, a shadow stirred. In the abyss of its void—

A crimson glow began to awaken.

…It had awakened.

Someone whispered faintly.

Aaaaargh!

Crack! Creak!

A ghostly wail reverberated through the shrine. The demon, dormant for centuries, began to move with unsettling sounds, like bones being forcibly pieced together.

It raised its head and twisted its stiff body, breaking free from its stillness. But it wasn’t just the demon that stirred. The cursed shrine trembled.

Aaaaargh!

A black miasma filled the chamber, coiling around the demon like snakes and wolves taking shape. Spectral skeletons clawed their way up from the ground as though emerging from hell itself.

“What is this…?!”

“U-Undead!”

“Prepare for battle!”

The Nord warriors shouted in panic, scrambling to ready their weapons and gather together. Kankun lifted her head to look at the demon. It moved its once-frozen limbs with cracking sounds. Its eyes and mouth burned with a fiery red glow, like souls ablaze.

Grrrr…!

The ominous black aura coalesced into the shapes of wolves and serpents, intertwining seamlessly with the demon’s armor as if they were a part of it. A low growl rumbled from the demon, its piercing gaze locking onto the intruders who had dared to invade its domain.

Its head previously bowed, rose with deliberate menace, the crimson glow in its eyes intensifying. The demon’s burning gaze swept across everyone in the chamber.

Then, in a voice that froze their very souls, it uttered words that would haunt them forever.

“Who… are you?”

In that moment, Kankun’s despair transformed into hope.

❃❃❃