Yuri, with her all-seeing eyes, accurately grasped the unfolding situation.
She watched as her (so-called) master was ripped to shreds and impaled by countless angels – abominable, one-eyed angels with dragon wings – that had burst forth from the body of a god.
“Guh…!”
“Ur!!”
“What are you doing?!” she couldn’t exclaim. She hadn’t contributed enough to this battle to be able to berate others.
No, it wasn’t just her. No one had a handle on this absurdly unreasonable power. Neither of the former gods, nor herself, nor even her companions who were dedicated to providing support from the rear – no one could cope under these circumstances. They were all desperately managing to fend off attacks and survive on the spot.
There were no tricks to the enemy’s attacks. No hidden mechanisms.
It was purely a matter of overwhelming power.
There was no breathing room, no spacing. No skill involved. It was simply causing inescapable destruction over the entire area.
Therefore, this wasn’t a battle. To that god, it was merely “work” to efficiently eliminate the vermin in front of him. To resist, swinging a sword was no different than a monkey swinging a wooden stick from the palm of a god’s hand.
She knew this couldn’t continue. But she had no options left. The powers of the two gods had been stolen by the enemy, and all that remained was the meager protection of their master.
Yuri scrunched up her face at the current hopeless situation. But of course, there was no point in grumbling and complaining like this. After all, she was the one who had plunged herself into this battle.
“Yu-ri…!”
She turned at Diz’s voice. Alongside Shizuku, the two were weaving a magic circle. Protecting them, the Queen of Dragon Swallow and Sua unfurled a barrier to shield the surrounding energy.
“We can’t win a prolonged fight…! And only you can wield the sword that reaches the gods, so…!”
“A reckless charge…?”
A charge without considering the consequences wouldn’t be a wise approach. But it was an undeniable fact that there were no other options left.
“No signal is necessary. Create a path when you are ready.”
The rest would follow her lead. With that, Yuri focused her consciousness.
***
“Guh…!”
In mid-air, Ur was impaled by a golden dragon and angels. His limbs were pierced and mangled, rendering him unable to move even a fingertip. Yet, he wasn’t dead. He was alive – or rather, being kept alive.
“The Usurper.”
The Creator wasn’t keeping Ur alive out of any regard for Ur himself. The Creator showed no interest in Ur whatsoever. His hand reached out for…
“An artificial intelligence added later is unnecessary—but perhaps you could return the Heavenly Fool?”
A fragment of the Sun God within him. To retrieve it, he extended his hand towards the impaled sinner.
“Heavenly Azure Thunder!!!”
His fingertips were scorched by azure lightning. The Creator frowned.
“True Person, why do you interfere?”
The True Persons, who had been providing support from the rear, leaped into the storm of destruction to protect Ur. Of course, they didn’t possess the power to nullify gods like Ur and the others. Therefore…
“Guh, ugh…!”
“Zero, we won’t last long!!”
The barrier they created was insufficient to withstand the god’s attacks. Even though they weren’t directly targeted, they couldn’t endure within the vortex of destruction that filled the space.
“U, ugh!!!”
“AAAAAAA!!”
But still, in the meantime, Zero tried to shatter the angels impaling Ur one by one. She fought desperately to rescue Ur. However, even those angels were incredibly tough; blades couldn’t even penetrate them. Still, she repeatedly tried to thrust her sword forward.
“They are Old Humanity, and they are a detriment to you.”
This was perplexing to the Creator. He paused his outstretched hand reaching for the Usurper and addressed all the True Persons—the new humanity created by Kuraran.
“The new world is a world for you. Truly human beings, free from all sin and untouched by evil. We will create a world that exists for you.”
Yes, the True Persons were designed for this purpose.
They were the true humans, unlike the Israilians created for war against the world—beings with different appearances from birth. They were inhabitants of an ideal paradise living in a world without superiority or conflict, where everyone could love each other equally.
The Creator was about to create such a world. And yet…
“And yet, why do you reject it?”
“Are you an idiot?!”
The response was far too vulgar to be considered that of true humans.
***
“AAAAA…!!!”
“I’ve only just been born! I still haven’t done everything I want to do!”
Zero, the most advanced and strongest of the True Persons, desperately yelled with all her might as she managed to shatter the angels one by one, struggling to pull Ur free. Her words were filled with anger, akin to a child’s tantrum. She showed none of the qualities of a new humanity.
“I haven’t shown the Heavenly Sword how amazing I am! I haven’t even been able to help the Hero!”
However, her voice held power. It was filled with a childish earnestness, a selfless goodwill, and childish emotions.
“Don’t take away this world where there are so many things I don’t know, things I have to do, and things I want to do, with your arbitrary values!”
She screamed, yet the angels that still captured Ur remained tough. She couldn’t even eliminate all the angels that had burst from the god’s body. The angels created by the god as his vanguard were hard, ferocious, and violent. Tears streamed down Zero’s face as she clenched her teeth.
“AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!”
“Ugh, ugh…”
“Kuraran binds you with love and makes you fight.”
Towards their futile struggles, the Creator responded with emotionless words, as if reasoning with a disobedient child.
“He wasn’t strong, Creator. Our God.”
The rebuttal came not from Zero, but from Five, who maintained the barrier to protect her. Her fingertips turned black, like charcoal, yet she didn’t relinquish the power to protect Zero.
With a gentle expression, she addressed the God who sought to destroy everything in the world.
“You granted us knowledge, but you entrusted us with our will. You pardoned those who did not wish to fight. We are here by choice.”
“You do things like mere humans—”
“Exactly, Creator.”
Five stated firmly.
“We are not special in the least, just humans.”
“—Then, die as you wish, as mere humans.”
The God moved his hand. The reason the True Persons could stand on the front lines was solely because the Creator had not directed his killing intent towards them.
But that consideration was gone. The True Persons moved to shield and protect Zero. Yet, the Creator’s movements did not cease—
“Now!!”
Just as his arm, his fingertips, were about to reach the True Persons, one of his massive arms was severed by a slashing attack. The god’s body, which had suffered no damage until then, was wounded for the first time.
Three shadows emerged. The Golden Hero, the embodiment of the Azure Sword, and the Silver Hero followed behind them. In response, the god’s movements became incredibly swift compared to his earlier sluggish actions. He immediately began forming a magic circle, directing his power towards his own daughters.
“Bring it on!!!”
“Ash Flame Phantom Spirit!”
But before the god’s attack could reach the girls, a black darkness stole part of his power, and a gray flame enveloped them like a barrier. From atop the carriage running on the road below, the Queen of Twilight and the King of Heavenly Sage, using all their strength, stole a portion of the god’s power and protected the three girls.
“Silver Thread – Scarlet End.”
“Unyaaaaaa!!”
Taking advantage of the brief opening, the silver-haired girl unleashed her power. Threads of mixed silver and scarlet hues restrained and burned through the giant god’s flesh. They burned and destroyed all the magic circles that were being newly constructed from his countless palms. Simultaneously, the silver threads bunched together, forming a bridge, creating a path for the two girls.
“Magic Sever!!”
“Termination!!”
The two girls ran across the bridge. Wielding swords that could reach even a god, guided by their master, they swung—
“Child’s play.”
The Creator dismissed all resistance with a single word.
“Genesis.”
The sky blazed.
The light magic circle that had been continuously constructed, the genesis spell that returned everything to blank paper, began to take shape, wriggling. Its target was naturally all the warriors who had approached the god.
A pillar of light descended.
Everything at that location was swallowed by lights and burned away. The remains of the city at the giant god’s feet, the historical buildings that had survived through long periods of conflict, all vanished without a trace, swept away by the backlash.
Buildings, the remnants of warriors who tried to resist, human endeavors, villains’ schemes—everything, equally, without exception, was obliterated by the light.
Not a single person could resist that light.
A silent destruction that didn’t even permit sound, swallowed by that light, the Sin City Plaudia was reduced to a complete pile of rubble.
***
The purge of light continued.
There were no exceptions. No selection. It was a purifying light that burned away everything within the range of the magic circle etched in the sky without omission. All who had dared to bare even the slightest blade against the god were struck down and blown away.
“…”
Only the Ash King remained. But he remained there only because the god himself had left him behind.
“…Now, then.”
The Creator calmly began the process of reclaiming his power from the Usurper who had stolen his creation. Tendrils of light extended from the giant god’s body, reaching directly towards the Ash King.
“……I’ll say it, just in case.”
The tendrils of light pierced his body. And then, he reached for the power that existed within him—the fragment of the Sun God, originally his own.
“The reason I obtained the Heavenly Fool was because I had no other choice.”
During this time, the Usurper was muttering something in a small voice, but it was of no consequence to the Creator. He couldn’t find any value in the words of the descendant of the Old Humanity, the fools who had once been his enemies.
“So, I was using it out of necessity—…Hey.”
Perhaps that was why the Creator missed the warning he uttered.
“You’d best not carelessly touch what *that guy* sent.”
Of course, the Creator had no way of understanding what he was talking about.
But the moment something other than the Heavenly Fool, something that was dragged out from the Ash King, was incorporated…
“Whaaaaaaaaaaat isssssssssssssssssss?”
With an intense sense of wrongness, the back of the giant god exploded.
***
Inside the Dragon Swallow Uuga Command Center.
“Is everyone safe…?”
Amidst the violent alarm sirens, smoke, and scattered machine parts, Karkara called out. Few understood what had happened or what the current situation was. They had undoubtedly been attacked. Uuga had sustained critical damage.
But they were alive. Whether by chance, or because Uuga had held on just before complete destruction, they were still alive. If so, there was still work to be done. The uninjured crew members rebooted, enduring their pain in response to Karkara’s words.
“What… happened, damn it.”
“Uuga has crashed! Part of the gravity control magic circle is damaged!”
“Prioritize restoring control! The warriors will fall if only the Machine Screws remain!”
Full recovery was likely impossible. Still, they searched for what they could do and desperately worked to restore the situation. All for the sake of survival.
“Restart the Remote Viewing Crystal! We need to assess the situation!”
And to do that, they restarted the Remote Viewing Crystal, which, despite its cracks, was somehow still functional. Everyone present witnessed the crystal and the scene it displayed.
“What…?”
“Is that…?”
And then, they were speechless for a moment.
The scene displayed on the crystal was something that, even for those who had witnessed countless world-shattering events, was difficult to comprehend or grasp.
“Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!?”
The colossal god. The strongest being, who had overwhelmed everything and against whom all their combined forces had been useless, was writhing in agony.
“Is it… suffering?”
“What…?”
They couldn’t believe they had inflicted damage. Nor could they imagine Ur, who was in tatters before the giant god, being able to do anything. As everyone watched to see what was happening, the situation shifted further.
“Ah!?”
Something suddenly protruded from the back of the giant god, where it had burst.
It was an arm. A completely black arm, unlike the god’s body. Thin, somewhat youthful, and considerably smaller than the giant god—a child’s arm.
It pushed out, as if devouring the god’s flesh and power, and emerged.
And then—
“—Alright!!! Jackpot!!!”
A voice of the same quality as the Creator’s, yet completely unlike the Creator’s; a rough, malevolent voice filled with carnal desires, announced its appearance.
A black child.
No one knew this child, this form—yet, the moment they saw it, those who would understand instantly grasped its identity. The King of Darkness who had reigned at the bottom of the Great Abyss of the Continent of Israilia for a long time, the embodiment of evil, the ultimate charismatic figure, who had ravaged Plaudia alongside the Mechanical God and was defeated—
Or so it was thought.
“A once-in-a-lifetime gamble, a grand success!! Hahahaha!!!!”
“Sleepy, noisy.”
“Hey, hey, don’t complain, right? When it’s like this, you should rejoice like an idiot, right? Partner.”
The Demon King—no, the Demon God, Black, had been reborn into this world.
“—What?”
At this rebirth, everyone was dumbfounded, mouths agape, and words naturally slipped out.
“Ah, ah…?”
“No way, that guy…”
“That idiot.”
“Unbelievable, that damn idiot.”
“That super ultra idiot—”
A torrent of curses and insults poured out. But ultimately, everyone’s thoughts and words converged into a single phrase—
“You did it!!!”
