Chapter 206: The Descent of the Evil God (4)
The divine weapon that pierced through her abdomen.
The Goddess of Harmony who screamed.
And myself, standing in front of her.
I recalled all these things vividly in my mind as I looked at the Goddess of Harmony, who was shedding tears of blood in front of me.
“You, you… what are you doing…!”
The Goddess of Harmony looked at me with eyes mixed with confusion and resentment.
It didn’t suit her, who always looked down on me from above.
Of course it didn’t.
She didn’t know how much time I had spent for this moment.
She didn’t know how careful I had been to prevent any information from leaking to Estelle.
-“I’ve been waiting for this.”
It was almost impossible to kill a complete god.
They could reduce their influence in this world drastically, but it was difficult to destroy them by moving the humans on the ground.
Besides, I was an immature god who had just gained divinity and ascended to the throne of god.
So I had to make a plan.
A plan that seemed worthless, but I had to prove that it could reach her.
To kill the god who ruled the heavens.
To sever the connection between the divine and this world, and make it impossible for them to interfere with the ground as gods.
My goal was to erase the Goddess of Harmony from this world completely.
“Why, why are you doing this… why are you doing this to me…!”
For that, I chose the Goddess of Abundance as my partner.
Estelle had carried out many schemes to reduce the influence of the goddesses on the ground.
And now, the situation on the ground was favorable for the Order.
That’s why I chose to trade with the Goddess of Abundance.
She would finish off the Goddess of Harmony with Ascalon while I held her down.
-“I just fulfilled the contract we made with Karma’s decree in front of us.”
The power of Ascalon, the divine weapon, could reach even God.
That was not an exaggeration.
If a god who had incarnated into a human body in the divine sanctuary that had elevated its dimension, it was possible to sever the connection with Karma’s decree.
And the Goddess of Harmony was not only a threat to me.
Her schemes had twisted the causality of all the goddesses to a dangerous level.
It was impossible for Crossbridge to overwhelm the Order without the intervention of the goddesses in such a state of twisted causality.
As the Goddess of Abundance, she had no reason to refuse my offer.
The divine weapon that pierced through her abdomen.
The Goddess of Harmony who screamed.
And myself, standing in front of her.
I recalled all these things vividly in my mind as I looked at the Goddess of Harmony, who was shedding tears of blood in front of me.
“You, you… what are you doing…!”
The Goddess of Harmony looked at me with eyes mixed with confusion and resentment.
It didn’t suit her, who always looked down on me from above.
Of course it didn’t.
She didn’t know how much time I had spent for this moment.
She didn’t know how careful I had been to prevent any information from leaking to Estelle.
-“I’ve been waiting for this.”
Killing a complete god was almost impossible.
They could reduce their influence in this world drastically, but it was difficult to destroy them by moving the humans on the ground.
Besides, I was an immature god who had just gained divinity and ascended to the throne of god.
So I had to make a plan.
A plan that seemed worthless, but I had to prove that it could reach her.
To kill the god who ruled the heavens.
To sever the connection between the divine and this world, and make it impossible for them to interfere with the ground as gods.
My goal was to erase the Goddess of Harmony from this world completely.
“Why, why are you doing this… why are you doing this to me…!”
For that, I chose the Goddess of Abundance as my partner.
Estelle had carried out many schemes to reduce the influence of the goddesses on the ground.
And now, the situation on the ground was favorable for the Order.
That’s why I chose to trade with the Goddess of Abundance.
She would finish off the Goddess of Harmony with Ascalon while I held her down.
-“I just fulfilled the contract we made with Karma’s decree in front of us.”
Ascalon, the divine weapon, could reach even God.
That was not an exaggeration.
If a god who had incarnated into a human body in the divine sanctuary that had elevated its dimension, it was possible to sever the connection with Karma’s decree.
And the Goddess of Harmony was not only a threat to me.
Her schemes had twisted the causality of all the goddesses to a dangerous level.
It was impossible for Crossbridge to overwhelm the Order without the intervention of the goddesses in such a state of twisted causality.
As the Goddess of Abundance, she had no reason to refuse my offer.
The only condition for the new contract between me and the Goddess of Abundance was one thing.
To guarantee the safety of all clerics except for the hero of abundance after fulfilling the contract.
It meant that she promised to send out all those who could pose a threat to me from the holy land without any battle or plunder.
This contract would last for 100 years, and peace would continue for 100 years as long as the clerics did not attack first.
Of course, I was careful not to expose any part of the process to Estelle until the contract was made.
I even used Aronia and Estasia’s halo connection to relay my orders to the apostle, and then communicated my intentions to the Goddess of Abundance through him again.
“What are you doing… why are you doing this to me…!”
I smiled as I realized that fact too late, looking at the Goddess of Harmony who resented me.
It was an expression that I would never see otherwise.
It was an expression that a god, a great being, could only show when they were cornered at the edge of a cliff.
I approached closer to the Goddess of Harmony, who was bound by my shadow.
And then I whispered in her ear with a small voice that only she could hear.
-“Because it’s more fun that way.”
“What…?”
She looked at me with blank eyes.
What a foolish face she had.
It was funny that she had hidden such a face all this time, even though she knew how to make it.
-“Isn’t it more enjoyable to take revenge at a crucial moment than to follow orders stupidly?”
“You, now, how do you see me…”
She looked at me with eyes filled with malice.
Hatred. Malice. And resentment.
All those things were what I used to look at her with in the past.
I stepped back from the Goddess of Harmony, who began to disappear scattering particles of light.
The Goddess of Harmony would no longer interfere with the ground.
The six temples in Crossbridge would also be replaced by towering buildings of the Order from now on.
-“This will be the last time I see you here.”
I smiled and said goodbye to her as she faded away.
Pah—!
The last ray of light squeezed out by Ascalon severed the connection between the Goddess of Harmony and Karma’s decree.
The bright cluster of light scattered and the Sanctuary of Harmony collapsed miserably.
The stained glass that decorated the temple of Harmony shattered into pieces, and the only thing left here was the broken trace of faith.
-“Let’s meet again soon. Estelle.”
There was no longer a being called the Goddess of Harmony in the world beyond my smartphone.
There was no place for her, and her followers would disappear in the flow of time.
Even the glory of her past would fade away completely someday, leaving no trace behind.
The era of Harmony had come to an end.
Because of the god of destruction who had descended here.
-“Eutenia.”
I turned my gaze to Eutenia as soon as I defeated Estelle.
She was looking at Estelle, who was scattering, with a nervous gaze, and then she lifted her head when she heard my voice.
“Yes, your greatness.”
-“Take care of that guy and then withdraw the troops from the temple of abundance.”
I pointed at the hero of abundance, who was fading away as his light dimmed, and Eutenia asked me with a question.
“What do you mean…?”
-“It’s a mercy that I bestow as a winner’s magnanimity.”
“I understand. If that’s your command…!”
Eutenia nodded as if she finally accepted my words.
There would be nothing more to worry about once I dealt with the hero of abundance here.
“…”
I saw the hero, who was leaning as his divinity faded.
The hero of abundance, Gilford Proud.
He was a miserable hero who had been used until the end.
But I had no choice but to kill him.
We were incompatible beings.
-“A worthless life.”
I was a god of evil here.
And he was a hero.
***
My blurred vision returned, and this time I saw Estasia standing on the roof of my studio apartment.
I started to move my body on Earth by controlling my consciousness that was split into two.
Even though I had severed the divinity of the Goddess of Harmony from Karma’s decree, Estelle, who had the divinity of retrogression, was still on Earth.
Our fight was not over yet.
Estasia asked me with a worried face as I staggered up from my seat.
“Are you okay now?”
“I’m fine. It was nothing.”
I looked at the smartphone in my hand, touching my forehead.
The smartphone that had been showing Eutenia until a moment ago had its screen turned off.
It was natural.
The reason why I had been interfering with another world until now was because of this divine device that I had received from the Goddess of Harmony.
Since the divinity of Harmony had been completely cut off from Karma’s decree, her divine device would no longer work properly.
“Don’t do anything too dangerous.”
“Maybe this will be the last dangerous thing I do.”
“…Is that so?”
It was not a definite answer.
I didn’t know everything about the future either.
But fighting against gods would be the last time for a while.
It had been a very long time.
I had killed my comrades with my own hands, deceived by Estelle, and stained myself with countless blood to get here.
All that was left in the long time was a tattered heart and a degraded mind.
If I were to describe a person’s life as a flame, I was nothing but a candle with little wick left.
“Revenge should be done at once.”
“Is that your way, master?”
But I couldn’t stop here yet.
The opportunity that I had grasped was not something that I had built up alone.
I had come here after passing through many sacrifices and screams.
Not as a human who had been chased and hidden in a ruined world, but as a god who had been created by human history.
“So stay with me until the end, Estasia.”
I reached out my hand to Estasia, who still looked worried.
Swoosh.
Estasia grabbed my hand and knelt down politely, kissing the back of my hand.
It was the utmost reverence that a lost angel showed to her god.
I blessed Estasia and looked at the scenery beyond the rusted railing.
It was a sight of restless souls wandering the streets in a savage landscape.
“If that’s what you want, master.”
Years ago.
It was the world’s landscape that had been created by an unprecedented disaster that started in Africa.
It was the destruction of humanity that Estelle, the god of retrogression, had created.
She had destroyed this world and reduced my life to a mere amusement.
The favor of the evil god was like a dreadful swamp with no bottom.
“…”
I had been Estelle’s toy until now.
I had been hurt, fallen, and broken many times according to her intentions.
But the story that would start from now on would be completely different from before.
The one who would move the pieces on the huge game board was not Estelle, but myself.
“I’ll pray for you.”
Estasia lifted her lips from the back of my hand and clasped her hands together.
Flap.
Her black wings spread out beautifully, scattering black feathers around.
As she fluttered the feathers that glowed faintly, Estasia closed her eyes and began to pray.
Ah——.
A beautiful voice that only the heavenly angels could have filled the air and spread around.
“What a pleasant sound. Is this the song of an angel?”
An angel who prayed with all her heart could create a miracle.
A pure white angel could heal people, calm their minds, and bring them the light of hope.
But the black angel in front of me was an apostle of destruction who had made a contract with the god of destruction.
Her prayer would no longer heal people.
Instead, her song would drive the world to destruction.
“Ah ah ah——.”
I walked to the front of the rusted railing, listening to the angel’s song in my ears.
Clang.
I grabbed the railing that looked like it would collapse at any moment, and looked at the world that had already faced destruction once.
It was pitiful and worthless.
I was going to break the world that I saw in front of me.
It started with Estasia’s prelude of destruction.
The world that began to crumble under the influence of the power of destruction would create a causality correction by Karma’s decree.
A huge distortion that would not allow any freedom to the two evil gods who existed in the world.
Estelle, who faced the distortion caused by causality correction, would face a choice of either-or filled with pain.
“…To hide this and call it a passive game. What a wicked hobby.”
I clenched my smartphone tightly in the midst of the voice spreading on the roof.
Through this small smartphone screen, I had witnessed many stories of people.
I had faced the stories of heroes who fell.
I had watched the stories of evil that stirred.
They each shouted their own justice, and burned their bodies in their beliefs.
They deceived themselves that they could be anything, and moved forward.
They became moths that burned brightly, and ran towards the other side of the line where there was no retreat.
-“I will be your god.”
The fleeting stories that burned like flames——
I couldn’t leave them as mere amusement for a moment.
-“Please let me be a part of your great story.”
The prayer that Eutenia had offered to me sometime ago echoed in my ears.
A great story.
It was a story that didn’t suit someone like me at all.
But I had to find the right story with my own hands.
“A great story…”
There was a story that suited a hero for a hero.
And there was a story that suited an apostle for an apostle.
I had to give them all the right endings with my own hands.
Destiny or something like that should never block their way.
“…Since you said so much, I guess I have to live up to it now.”
That must have been the role left for a being called god.
I made up my mind and looked at the ghosts crawling on the ground.
Hoo.
The air that filled my lungs brought me a pleasant pressure.
I spat out my voice that I had pressed to the limit, and told my story to the world where I had been wandering alone.
“Everyone, listen——”
The voice of god spread everywhere.
There was no longer me who had chased salvation in a narrow room.
I was no longer the pathetic loner who lived in hiding.
The cruel fate that had bound me had collapsed and crumbled by itself.
I would destroy the world.
The god who was about to be born had to destroy the world.
“Right here, right now.”
The ghosts looked up at me as my voice vibrated.
The eyes of those who couldn’t die and lived on gathered on me.
Sorrow. Pain. Anger. Sadness.
Many emotions flowed and intertwined.
And beyond that, I faced the moment of light that I had to chase.
The fleeting flame that had moved the hearts of the great ones ignited my chest.
I was not afraid.
The fate that had tied me had long burned to ashes.
“Your god has descended——.”
It was time.
It was time to reclaim what I had lost once.
