Book 6: Chapter 6

It was, an infinite darkness.

No matter how far one went, there was no end.

No matter how long one waited, there was no dawn.

There was one spot, where there was light.

A throne that floated within the darkness──only at that spot.

The one sitting upon that throne was a black haired young girl.

Her shining red eyes, they asserted that that young girl was not a mere Human.

But, it wasn’t like that was her true form.

Then again, it wasn’t like she had a true form.

She had become like this after changing into a form that met with a single Human’s tastes, that was all.

That which had abdicated even her name……She was something called the Demon God.

Demon God.

The reason of all good and evil.

The factor of all inconsistency.

The point of issue of all logic.

The origin of good and the last stop of evil.

In this place where everything was born, the Demon God laughed sounding satisfied.

「I see, I see. You’re pretty good, aren’t you, Vermudol.」

Having seen everything, the Demon God made that comment about this time’s case.

The story about Ykslaas that Vermudol told Gordy and Ichika was all true.

The Elements who were set up as evil were destroyed by the other members of mankind who claimed to be justice.

And then, it was also true that the God of Life Philia was the one who plotted it all.

The reason was terribly simple.

It was because the beings known as the Elements were much too different among the members of mankind.

And then, the members of mankind were more narrow-minded than the Gods had thought.

The poison known as dissension had spread little by little, and had started to eat into mankind.

Jealousy, fear.

Various unsightly emotions had encroached mankind, and it could be seen that it would have a spontaneous discharge.

That was a weakness that mankind possessed, and was a flaw that would eventually destroy mankind itself.

However, most of the Gods took an optimistic view on this problem, and did not harbor any interest in it.

But, only the God of Life Philia was different.

She alone held concern for mankind.

In contrast with the other Gods who only loved the races that they were individually interested in, she equally loved all of mankind.

Therefore, she was distressed.

It was because this problem had already surpassed the stage where it could be peacefully resolved even if a God interfered.

Even if Philia herself propagated harmony in the form of an oracle, just how much of an effect would that happen?

Even if it temporarily stopped, if it were to explode with some kind of impetus, the seed of dissension that had matured even more would definitely turn into a fire that would thoroughly burn all of mankind.

In that case, all of mankind that she loved would perish.

Something needed to be done.

However, the seed of dissension could no longer be removed.

That is why Philia created “that”.

The Sacrifice’s Cage.

It was a curse given to those who possessed the fate of perishing as evil.

By creating a sacrifice that would accept mankind’s distortions into their body, Philia thought that mankind’s harmony would be preserved.

Of course, since this was administered in a place that was completely unrelated to mankind, she wondered if it was possible to cancel out the distortion that had the present time Elements as the center.

However, she immediately discerned that that was impossible.

Things had already reached a point where the trench between the Elements and the other members of mankind couldn’t be filled.

That is why she had no choice but to take another method.

For example──make the leader of the Elements be evil, and have the people convict them.

At the very least, the other members of mankind should have the fear they harbored towards the Elements vanish with this.

The Elements would probably enter an era of misfortune for a time, but surely a chance for reconciliation would be created eventually.

And that would be the time that Philia would smooth things over.

It was because she thought that way that Philia didn’t create the Spirit King Ystia as complete evil.

She thought that things would be resolved with that.

「However, the unexpected happened.」

The Elements vanished from the world.

That’s right, that was something that was unforeseen.

Touting the justification known as justice, mankind didn’t stop until they completely destroyed the Elements which should have been fellow members of mankind.

Philia saw this result, and had to change her plan.

Mankind’s distortions needed to be continuously adjusted by the Gods.

For mankind, a common enemy needed to always exist.

This was the start of everything.

This was the single truth that surrounded Ykslaas.

However──

Based on this, there was a strange point in the current Ykslaas’s case.

It was about the range of what Ykslaas understood.

What Ykslaas’s soul knew was no more than the range of what was related to her life.

What she knew at most was only the fact that the Elements were not evil.

In other words, there was no way that Ykslaas should know about the truth surrounding the Goddess.

Despite that, why was Ykslaas able to arrive at the conclusion that the God of Life was the cause?

The Demon God knew that reason.

Vermudol had induced her to do that.

「Kukuku, that truly is wicked. After all, it’s all the truth.」

The key was the Philia shadow that had appeared when Vermudol connected to Ykslaas’s Life Seed.

Even if it was just a part of it, Vermudol had taken in a fragment of the shadow that possessed Philia’s memories while he was unconscious.

What was in there was probably the truth surrounding Ykslaas at most, but that was enough for Vermudol.

After all, when Vermudol became aware of the information from the shadow, the place he was at was within Ykslaas.

After that, it was enough if he transplanted that information into Ykslaas’s soul and made her notice the truth.

That was surely much more effective than awkwardly persuading her.

As a result, what was completed was a young girl that knew all of the truth and who the true enemy was……that is how it turned out.

Vermudol merely had to accept her.

「Yup, yup. I think that is a truly good hand to play, Vermudol.」

The Demon God did not say that that was evil.

It wasn’t like Vermudol had the leeway for something like honestly persuading Ykslaas.

Even if it was forced, there should have been a need to make her understand.

But, for the Demon God, that sort of thing didn’t matter.

What she had interest in, was just a single point.

It was the fact that Vermudol didn’t have a single moment of hesitation to play this hand.

「It’s true that you don’t have much leeway. But you know, Vermudol. Depending on what your true nature is, the meaning of that action changes, you know?」

Was that kindness towards Ykslaas?

Or, was that cool-headedness as the Demon King?

Or maybe, was that slyness that utilized even tragedy?

Depending on which one was his real intention, it would surely decide the path Vermudol would walk from now on.

Would he follow a path similar to Gramfia’s, or would it be a different path?

「Or it might be all of them. Fufu, I’m looking forward to it, Vermudol. I’m truly looking forward to it. 」

Vermudol probably didn’t notice……but actually, Ichika had guessed the parts that he didn’t explain.

Furthermore, she chose to not say anything about it.

Surely she would also give considerable influence on where Vermudol would finally go.

The Demon God didn’t have that much expectation of that, but this was also a happy miscalculation.

If she had any complaints, there was one.

「Vermudol. Just when will you call for me? Since things had reached a good part not too long ago, I thought that it would be soon for sure.」

As of right now, Vermudol showed no signs of planning to do so.

Even though she had gone through the trouble of thinking of various lines for when she was summoned, they all became pointless now.

「Honestly, jeez. He couldn’t have forgotten about me, right?」

Looking like she became sulky, the Demon God tumbled down from her throne.

This was a story of a place that was no where, where the Demon God was at.