Trees create an environment simply by multiplying in number.
They gather into a forest, their gaps become paths and clearings, the air that threads through them turns into wind, and they draw plants, animals, and monsters to give birth to an ecosystem.
By a god’s side there always stands a tree. Not a few trees symbolize them «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» or their weapons.
That’s why the forest now cast over my surroundings feels far more menacing than the fake hell Bael fashioned.
"My word."
And before my eyes—or rather, if I lift my gaze a little—
"You really dragged me here."
A woman I had never seen sat upon a branch, eyes wide in surprise.
Her eyes were blue, her hair black by contrast.
The black hair resembled the Roach family’s color like mine, yet when it caught the light it flushed reddish.
Her blue eyes brought Elodie to mind; if Elodie’s eyes were deep and tranquil like a lake, this woman’s shone like gemstones. Eyes unfit for a human.
Her attire was exceedingly rough. White cloth draped over her, fixed in place by armor. The pieces on her shoulders, chest, and waist were surely a god’s armor, yet from the cloth that swathed her body I felt nothing at all.
"Are you Atena?"
At my question the woman looked even more startled and covered her mouth with a hand.
"Heavens. You speak to me without honorifics."
"Sorry. I’m the type who wants to be on friendly terms with the whole world."
"This level of brazen rudeness is almost amusing."
Having said so, Atena dropped from the tree.
As if on cue, something flew out of the woods and settled on her shoulder.
'An owl...'
They say the owl is Atena’s symbol. Does that animal have some ability as well?
I’d like to put it in the workshop, but unfortunately it’s a living creature, so I can’t.
...Am I thinking too inhumanly?
"So then, what are you?"
Atena asked.
"You’re a human, yet you handle a demon’s power, you even anticipated Pandemonium. And while knowing who I am, you affect an impudent manner."
I tilted my head at that.
"You don’t know who I am?"
"What do you mean, ‘don’t know’? Are you that great? For a human."
Atena shot back with a look of disbelief.
But from my side, it was odd.
'The gods can’t watch every place in the human world at once, but they can watch anywhere. That’s why they can bestow Divine Power upon whatever human they wish.'
Baldur, Hephaestus, and Rudra belong to entirely different mythologies, yet all three granted Divine Power to their chosen humans on the continent of Falind.
Poseidon may be trapped in that sea and unable to gather information, but Atena is not. Crossing continents poses no problem to a god.
And yet no information about me has reached her at all.
'Am I overestimating myself?'
Well, what’s so grand about replicating Artemis’s weapon, Hestia showing me her hearth, felling Belphegor, and Odin possessing the imperial princess to cast me out. From a god’s perspective it might all be nothing.
Either way, it’s to my benefit.
"Does who I am matter? We can keep it brief and handle the business at hand."
Since she says she doesn’t know, I’d rather she stay that way.
"Business?"
"Get away from Carla."
Atena let out a breathless laugh at that.
I continued.
"I intend to use Carla, and you make that a nuisance."
"......You want me to ‘get away’ because I’m a nuisance?"
"Right. When you order a product and the freebie thrown in doesn’t please you, you ask them to leave it out. You understand, don’t you?"
Just as I got that far—
Screee—eek
A sound like a door cracking open drifted in.
Thoom!
Instead of a door, the sky shut; the once-blue forest was instantly draped in black.
At the same time, on the branches above, countless birds that had been invisible till now—nocturnal things—stared at me with their round, impassive eyes. A rain of gazes in the dark, and queer cries.
"To make the sky go bright then black. Impressive."
To be honest, it wasn’t that impressive. This isn’t the real world; of course such a thing can happen.
Fwip!
A root burst from underground and skewered my abdomen.
A speed you could neither dodge nor block, one that lightly outstripped even the perception of a swordsman using aura. Pain surged, and blood flowed from my belly.
...This, too, is not impressive.
"A human who can’t tell courage from stupidity. I should give you proper instruction here—"
Crunch!
I seized the root with my hand and tore it out of my abdomen.
Blood should have poured freely, but the hole healed at once and only a stain remained.
'Bael, and now her. So ordinarily this sort of attack is effective, is it.'
Bael had lopped my hand with something like a guillotine; Atena’s idea was similar.
If I had met Atena in reality, I would have been far more tense.
If a root this thick pierced my abdomen at a speed my eyes couldn’t even see, I would have sobbed more from despair than pain. I wouldn’t have known how to win.
Atena asked in amazement,
"H-How can a human perform ‘Contemplation’ instantly?"
"You need terminology for something this trivial?"
Whether it’s enduring pain, or restoring my body—
To me, Pandemonium is a battle staked upon how vividly each soul subsists. In the end, it’s a contest of will. That’s why Bael tried to frighten me.
If Atena’s aim is also to make me submit through pain, then it follows.
"Should I let just a sliver show."
A moment ago I thought it best that Atena didn’t know me.
But if she looks down on me this much, we can’t have a conversation.
So just a little.
At least so this won’t end as a fight where I gain nothing.
'Bael made lava and wraiths. Atena makes birds, swaps day and night.'
In short, while their soul-power has a representative image, within that they can modulate in their own ways.
I’m still unpolished. When I fought Bael, I simply poured everything out.
"I doubt I can make anything with my demon’s power."
Speaking thus, I raised a hand. As I had with Bael, I shaped it like a gun and aimed at Atena.
"But I can narrow the scope."
"......What in the world are you—"
Whick!
Immediately.
A hole opened in Atena’s left shoulder.
It made almost no sound, a petty little scene like a candle going out.
A god’s shoulder gained a petty hole.
"?!"
Atena touched her shoulder in shock. She probably felt no pain. Not only pain—nothing about this existing made sense.
"H-How did you... T-This is...!"
She seemed startled that she couldn’t evade it, couldn’t block it, and that there was no pain.
But to my eye, what shocked her most was—
"What’s wrong?"
I asked to confirm my certainty.
"Can’t you restore it?"
"......!"
Just as I tore out the root and erased the wound on my belly, Atena would be trying something similar.
But it wasn’t easy, apparently.
"Well, since it wasn’t a physical puncture, the method might be a bit tricky."
It likely isn’t impossible. My ability is a little peculiar, but this is a battle of minds. With a stronger mind, she should be able to restore it somehow.
She’ll just have to think in a slightly different way.
"Try believing that I’m not a fake."
"W-What are you even saying!"
Atena shouted, as if thinking I was taunting her. But I have no easier way to explain it.
'Bael, king of hell. Atena of Greek myth...'
Even Bael, who leads the 72 demons, left me overwhelmingly favored in this kind of fight.
Atena is very famous among the Greeks, but gods do not necessarily outrank demons. The Seven Deadly Sins like Belphegor seem to surpass most ordinary gods already.
If you compare fame or influence, it’s hard to judge which is greater, Bael or Atena.
Hm. It really is hard.
"I can judge now."
This time I opened my hand and sliced down toward Atena from above.
Tat!
The meaning was obvious, so Atena hurriedly dodged to the left.
And then—
"......Huh......!"
The right-hand world from Atena’s perspective was wiped pitch-black.
Forest, birds, night—gone as if they had never existed.
"Hm, so the world without an opponent goes first. I wondered if the side I slashed toward would vanish."
"Y-You...!"
Atena called me with a vacant look.
As if she couldn’t believe what she had seen.
But frankly, it leaves me unmoved. I don’t feel like I’ve done anything great.
'It’s fake anyway.'
What’s so great about erasing a fake world? No matter how much content it contains, a game disappears the moment you send it to the trash.
I looked at Atena. Perhaps now she might be willing to talk.
"Atena, you turned this world to night to scare me."
"......!"
The part of the forest that hadn’t been erased clamored. Birds took wing and left her side. Trees howled in the wind, and I walked between them with steady steps.
"It’s a good idea. Darkness gives humans fear. In a forest, even more so."
"......Tch!"
Atena stretched out both hands. A spear and a shield appeared in them. Armament—of course. The closer Atena draws to a god’s aspect, the stronger she’ll surely be here as well. Sound thinking.
"So someone who knows it well like you has no reason to be afraid. Whether it’s the night you created, or the darkness I created—how different are they, really."
Whoosh—
Thud!
Atena’s spear flew and struck my shoulder. Perhaps she meant to avenge the hole in her own.
Even after throwing it at me, Atena still held a spear.
It seems she still wasn’t inclined to talk. I’m trying very hard on my side.
Shff!
I pulled the spear free and tossed it away.
"But honestly, I don’t like it."
I said, looking at the side of the world I had erased.
Jet black. Not a speck left. However I might wish to phrase it otherwise, it was simply black.
"Why, if I erased the world, does ‘black’ remain?"
"......?"
"If it’s truly erased, shouldn’t even ‘pitch-black’ be gone? Neither black nor white should exist. It’s a bit disappointing, this."
At my words, Atena’s expression twisted as if she were seeing something grotesque. As though the will to fight had fled her, she blinked, and the strength faded from the spear and shield in her hands.
Oh—at last my heart is getting through? My sincere desire to have a conversation is finally working.
"In the end, my power is the same."
I let out a sigh.
"It acts like a big shot, like an eraser that turns all else into fakes."
To show a more human face, I shrugged. I even smiled.
"But even the erasing is fake, I suppose."
"......."
At that, Atena lowered both hands. As expected—gods understand my heart.
"See, even if I do this—"
Slash—
This time I erased everything while leaving only Atena and a single tree trunk behind her.
"Even though it looks erased, the darkness remains. Clearly I didn’t erase it properly."
I was working hard to convey that there was no need to fear me.
Then—
Step.
Atena slowly leaned her back against the tree trunk behind her—
Thump.
—and sank down.
