“Thank me? For what....”
—When I lost my reason and was tormenting my children... it was you who granted those children a proper death.
“......”
—Not only did you do what I should have done in their stead. You have even granted me dissolution... I cannot help but feel gratitude.
Of course.
It had vented that noxious miasma out of fury at the twisting of its world.
But it hadn’t wanted its innocent children to suffer for it.
I was the one who ended those children’s pain.
And that was what it was thanking me for.
“......”
—You seem... ill at ease?
Even so.
I couldn’t accept that gratitude whole.
“Obviously. You, and your children... in the end you all still end up dead.”
—Hmm.
“Not being able to die properly was the worst-case scenario. So I decided to gift them death. But that’s all it is.”
Arms folded,
I told it frankly how I felt.
“All I did was move things from worst to second-worst. Nothing grand.”
As for the Chef of Dasmur—
He used the power of cuisine to save one whose natural span had run out.
If that final course he served the Pope were set before them,
even those slaves suffering down there might have lived.
‘I’ve still got a long way to go.’
I had no choice but to resolve it this way.
But in the end, all I’d done was choose second-worst over worst.
There’s no way I’d be satisfied with that.
—I think it was something unavoidable...
“There’s no such thing as unavoidable. I just wasn’t able to do it.”
—...Is that so. If that is what you think, then so it shall be.
I wasn’t exactly pleased.
Even so—
—But it’s also true that I feel grateful.
It still
seemed to feel grateful to me.
“No need to go that far... I had my own goal.”
—I know. But expressing thanks is my prerogative.
At those words,
something came to mind.
[Title — ‘One Who Satisfied Morzan’]
[The effect of the Title will be decided through consultation with the concerned party.]
That unknown Title.
And its effect.
To say the effect would be set by mutual agreement—
I’d thought, what kind of nonsense is that?
—So... I would like to offer you my own repayment.
“...?”
Only now did I think
I understood what it meant.
—Please accept it.
Fwaaah—...
The colossal hunk of flesh—
a part of it seemed to turn blue,
then—
FWAANG!
“—Gkh...!?”
It rushed at me and slammed into me.
A sudden full-body tackle.
I was so thrown that I didn’t even dodge.
Luckily—or so I should call it—
there was no impact of a huge mass smashing into me.
Instead...
[The remains of a fallen god fuse into Divine power.]
As if melting,
the enormous flesh flowed into my body.
“What the hell...!?”
The massive chunk was entering me.
I thrust out a «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» hand to try to stop it, but all I felt was air parting.
Staring, flustered,
I heard the hunk—now reduced by a third—speak.
—Regrettably, there is not much I can give in my current state. Therefore—
“Therefore?”
—Power that will dissolve anyway and return to nothing. I shall hand it over to you.
“...!”
At that,
my mouth fell open in shock.
Fallen as it might be,
this was a being that had held enough mana to fill this entire Gate.
It’s the kind of power that could likely annihilate even our unit in an instant.
If I could obtain power like that—
that would be a huge deal, sure, but—
“Do you really think that’s possible...!?”
The problem is that a thing like that can’t be possible.
‘Excessive buffs cause severe harm even to the user.’
Even with just my cuisine’s buffs—
I can barely withstand stacking my own dishes beyond four stages.
Yes, I’ve got ridiculous stats,
and that lets me bear more buff load than anyone else in the unit,
but considering the power left in this flesh—
I’d handle maybe a tenth...
No, not even a ten-thousandth properly.
—Of course, it must be refined in its own way.
Thankfully,
it seemed to know that as well.
Presently,
the contents of the Title changed.
[One Who Satisfied Morzan]
[Effect — The consumable stat, ‘Morzan,’ settles as a sub-stat of Divine power.]
“...?”
At that,
I opened my status window.
[Stats]
[Divine power — 8 (+1)]
[Morzan — 1]
Divine power had become (+1).
And beneath it, a new, unidentified stat had taken its place.
“A consumable stat?”
—One is recompense for ending my children’s pain.
“What?”
Before I could even read through the effect—
Sssk—
Of the flesh that remained,
half melted again,
and drove itself into me.
[Divine power — 8 (+2)]
[Morzan — 2]
Then,
a voice resounded in my head.
—Another is gratitude for granting me a proper death.
Divine power—a stat I still don’t fully understand,
and now this new stat settling as its sub-stat.
A stat of unknown nature had become 2.
—The last one is...
I tensed, thinking it would ram me again.
Unexpectedly, it didn’t.
—If you make me one promise, I will grant it as thanks.
“...A promise?”
—You walked into the depths of my most profound thoughts... then you must have read the memories held in those thoughts as well.
“Well... yeah, I did.”
Because they were a god’s memories,
they were more fragmentary than what I saw of the Chef of Dasmur, and there wasn’t much I could get.
But.
I had seen them.
—In that case. Did you also see that being which devoured me?
“...I don’t know if I can say I ‘saw’ it.”
The instant I tried to look straight at it,
my brain felt like it would explode and I had to wrench my gaze away.
—It is... a being that devours worlds and eats gods.
A god-eater.
—You relieved my pent-up emotions... but even so, my grudge has not vanished.
As it said.
The way I resolved this was no more than moving from worst to second-worst.
The true grudge remained unassuaged—a thing incomplete.
—Therefore...
And—
no one welcomes an incomplete ending like that.
—I want you to promise that someday you will subjugate that being.
“...!”
What kind of insane talk is this.
This thing—once a god—lost after a fierce battle against it.
There’s no way I could bring something like that down.
It’s embarrassing to admit,
but when I first saw its memories down below,
I even felt fear at that fact.
“There’s no way I could do that...”
—If it is only that you don’t know where it is, there is no need to worry. You already seem to be related to that being to some degree.
“What?”
Even after I said there’s no way,
it was talking nonsense about location and whatnot.
—And...
I started to rebut that,
but it wasn’t done.
Most of it had entered my body already,
and the remaining lump, much smaller than before, twitched.
As if focusing on something, it quivered—
then spoke again.
—The world beyond the door you opened. There as well... there are traces of that one having passed by.
“...!”
At that,
I could only grit my teeth.
“If it passed through, then that means—”
—In every world... the godhood that created that world is with it.
What it said
was a perfect answer to one of the questions I’d had.
‘There is no world without a god.’
Only—
—By contrast... on that surface above, I do not feel the presence of any other godhood.
“......”
Just as I suspected.
“Earth’s god ended up the same as you.”
—Most likely—no, surely so.
Just like this one.
It was devoured in the distant past.
—However.
“...?”
—I can feel traces of godhood remaining, very, very faintly. It seems the godhood on this side fared better than I did.
I had more I wanted to ask about that,
but it continued, as if it had no time.
—With this much entanglement with that being, you will someday come face-to-face with it.
“...You want me to clean that thing up. Whether it’s impossible or not is beside the point.”
No.
It’s ninety-nine percent impossible.
“If I promise and then fail, what happens?”
—What. You are misunderstanding my request. I am not asking you to surely fulfill that promise. I ask only that you make it.
...Not sure what difference that makes,
but it didn’t seem to intend any penalty,
even if I failed.
Arms still folded, I thought.
‘If this thing is truly an enemy I’ll meet someday—’
Then.
That monster which suddenly appeared, devoured Morzan, and vanished—
I have no reason to think it’ll be kindly disposed toward me.
Whether I want it or not,
there’s a high chance we’ll face each other as enemies.
“...In that case, fine.”
If I’m going to face it anyway, it’ll be an enemy I fight.
I don’t feel even a speck of confidence that I could win,
but—
“I promise. If I ever meet that thing... I’ll do everything I can to try to subjugate it.”
—Thank you.
“If I fail, you don’t get to complain at me later.”
—Ha-ha. Of course.
A promise of this level—
I could make that much.
Hearing my words, it sounded oddly relieved,
and muttered softly:
—If it is you, someday... you will be able to resolve my grudge.
“...Huh?”
—Then... at last, I can let myself dissolve in peace.
As it
said that—
—I shall believe in you.
Dding—
A familiar alert sounded.
[An overwhelmingly higher-ranked being harbors faith and belief toward you!]
“...What?”
What kind of
bullshit is this.
[Faith typically travels one way—from the lower toward the higher.]
[But, very rarely, there is belief in the reverse direction.]
[The belief of a higher-ranked being grants even greater Divine power to its object.]
[Divine power stat increases by ‘3’.]
The very moment it declared it would believe in me,
my Divine power rose.
And—
“‘3’...?”
An enormous jump.
FWAANG—
The last remaining chunk also tried a final tackle at me,
and began to be absorbed into my chest.
“W-wait...!”
Just before it vanished into me completely,
I shot out a hurried question as I watched it.
“You said you sensed a remnant... does that mean a god remains on Earth!?”
It clearly knew a lot.
I still had many things I wanted to ask it.
—No. That is only a remnant...
“Then that remnant is...!”
—Look at me now. A fallen thing that cannot even be called a god... That divinity will be in the same plight as I.
Saying its piece and vanishing—
Like hell I’m letting that slide!
“You said you saw our world. Can’t you tell the cause of the invasion!?”
—The causes of a world’s destruction are many.
Which was
the same thing Vimanar had said.
There are many causes for a world’s destruction, so it cannot know Earth’s cause—
I thought it was about to spit that useless line again, but...
—Among them, what you are experiencing... is most likely caused by countless godhoods that sought to deny destruction.
“...What!?”
—Godhoods are beings born to be unable to help but love their creations. And that fate is at times a curse. It can lead to tragedy.
I don’t know exactly what that means,
but I did get a hint.
‘Godhoods of other worlds... as a result of trying to deny destruction.’
And—
with most of it now inside me,
less than a tenth remained.
“This bugged me from the start...!”
—Hmm?
“You... why!”
I decided to throw it
one last question.
“Why have you been speaking so formally to me!?”
A trivial question,
but it had been quietly needling me.
‘This thing is a great godhood.’
It literally created heaven and earth,
molded new races—a bona fide god.
A human like me
must look like less than an ant.
And yet—
its manner of address to me was nothing but scrupulously polite.
—Ha-ha... that is your final question?
It was something I could have let pass,
but call it a hunch—
it just weirdly stuck with me.
‘If Minjae is right... my hunch might be more accurate than I think.’
So I asked.
And—
—It is true that even to me, fallen as I am, you look smaller than an ant.
“......”
—If I wished to erase you and your forces on the surface... even a wretch fallen to this degree like me could wipe you out in an instant without trouble.
“I figured. So why would someone as grand as you...?”
—But there is something you would do well to know.
Its answer—how should I put it—
was rather hard for me to wrap my head around.
—For beings like us, changes with the flow of time... the past and the future—
“...?”
—Those things... are of less significance than you think.
It,
as if finding my question quite amusing,
—The reason for my formal address, ha-ha.
“...?”
even while it was in the midst of being absorbed into me,
spoke with pleasant laughter.
—Would Morzan raise his manner of speech to one who is not of a rank worthy of it?
To me...
it was utterly incomprehensible.
