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"…Where is this?"
A pitch-black world shrouded in darkness. Aldias , who had been standing alone in the gloom, looked around and immediately recognized the place.
"This is… my spiritual world?"
His own inner self, a place he had entered only once before. Why was he here, when he should have been in the midst of battle with Spaß? As he pondered this, Aldias suddenly sensed a presence behind him and spun around.
A young man stood there. Long, silvery hair reaching his shoulders, blue eyes. A man in his early twenties, clad in a white robe. At first glance, he seemed to have a gentle demeanor, but the mocking smile on his face ruined it all.
"Who… are you?"
"That's quite a rude thing to say. I haven't forgotten a single thing about you."
That alone made Aldias realize. He didn't recognize the man's appearance, but he couldn't forget his voice and magical power. Unconsciously, he clenched his fists, trying to suppress the simmering anger within him.
"Why are you here…! No, why are you alive… Ehit!!"
The God of Creation, Ehit. The man whose soul should have been utterly shattered by Aldias appeared in perfect physical form.
"It merely means your power wasn't enough to destroy me… or so I'd like to say, but this state is utterly unpleasant even for me."
Aldias frowned at Ehit's sudden change from a smirking, frivolous expression to one of annoyance, and then noticed the difference from the Ehit he knew before.
(I don't sense any divinity?)
Ehit was an irredeemable scoundrel with a twisted personality, but he was still a god, even if he was once human. The overflowing divinity that he used to exude was completely absent from the current Ehit. At that moment, Aldias arrived at a hypothesis.
"Divine Sealing Black Chains."
A conceptual magic that Aldias had used to bind Ehit's soul and extinguish it. Its effect was limited only to the target Aldias specified. He had used this conceptual magic to kill Ehit, the "God." At that time, the God of Creation Ehithad indeed died. Therefore…
"Unexpected. To think there was a human part left in you."
Ehit's soul hadn't completely sublimated into a "god." If he thought that way, it would explain why Ehit was alive. At that time, he had never imagined that Ehit's true identity was a former human. Even if he had, he wouldn't have thought that he would deliberately leave a human part behind.
"Tch, that damn old man! What an incomplete sublimation! I wouldn't do such a half-hearted thing!!"
"…Perhaps he deliberately left it behind."
"What did you say?"
"He tried to use you, an enemy, as a stepping stone for humanity's growth. If he knew your personality, it wouldn't be strange for him to have intentionally left a part of you."
"…Tch."
Ehit was about to retort to Aldias's explanation, but perhaps it was a reason even he could accept, as he clicked his tongue and turned his face away.
"…So, what are you planning?"
In that instant, a dense killing intent from Aldias struck Ehit. He understood why Ehit was alive. But what was his reason for lurking, hiding his presence, and interfering at this particular moment?
"Are you planning to take over my body again?"
"Hmph, if I could, I would have done it long ago. I am now merely a remnant of magical power, having lost not only my physical body but even the vessel of my soul. I can interfere, but dominion is impossible."
"Then what do you want now?"
"…I will lend you a hand."
"…What?"
"I said, I will help you kill that old man."
Aldias involuntarily doubted his own ears. Cooperation? Him and this guy? To Aldias , Ehit was an absolute enemy. He was the enemy of his comrades, a being he continued to hate even after death. And it should be the same for Ehit. He should hate Aldias for killing him… Faced with such an offer of cooperation, the first thing that came to Aldias's mind was an immense suspicion.
"What's your game? Lending a hand to the man who killed you?"
"Honestly, I'd like to tear you to shreds right now, but there's something more important to prioritize."
"And that's killing Spaß?"
"Yes, it's infuriating just thinking about it...!"
Ehit's eyes narrowed, and he openly expressed his anger, uttering grievances against the god who wasn't present.
"Using me... me, a superior being...! Don't make me laugh! I am the absolute! The one truly worthy of ruling the world as a god!!"
The glorious history of having reigned as the God of Creation... the fact that it was merely a temporary throne intentionally created by Spasswas what Ehit found most unbearable. Ehit, having his soul destroyed, had his perception obstruction lifted by Spaß, and he had regained his memories. He also seemed to be aware of Spaß's story at Divine Mountain through Aldias . Being "used." That fact seemed to have stung Ehit's pride more than being "killed."
"You expect me to believe that story?"
"Then what do you plan to do? Do you think you can do anything against him, when you can't even understand what he did to you?"
"...You know about that thing of his?"
"That is 'Interference with Principle.'"
"'Interference with Principle'?"
"Hmph. It's no wonder you low-level beings don't understand. Principle is the information that fills the world itself. It is matter, life, stars, time, and boundaries."
The world where Ehit was born was a world where magic technology had developed far beyond Tortus. Its development was so astounding that even extending life by hundreds of years was possible. And the continuously developing technology finally succeeded in interfering with the world's principles. In any era, across any world, researchers cannot suppress their curiosity. Like a child given a new toy, the technology of principle interference was mischievously played with. As a result of being toyed with at the whim of curiosity, the principles collapsed, leading to the destruction of the world itself. That was the cause of Ehit's world's demise.
"Principle, in other words, is the law of the world itself. Why is fire hot? Why is ice cold? Why does magic activate? Why do people live? Everything is shaped by principle."
Interfering with principles, extinguishing magical formulas. Then, the formulas themselves cease to exist in this world, making it impossible to even cast them. Interfering with principles, rewriting atmospheric information. Then, air that merely brushed the skin transforms into the blade of a kamaitachi that gouges flesh. There are countless other examples: rewriting elemental information to spew explosions from nothing, summon lightning, or freeze bodies. If you were to state it, it's a power that can do anything. That is "Principle Alteration."
"Your body exploding was also due to that. You seemed to have protected yourself with an artifact, but once it was destroyed, he targeted the gaps. Do you understand? If he were serious, a person's life... no, even a star's fate could end with a single 'word.'"
Honestly, it's a miracle you didn't die instantly. As Ehit continued, Aldias pondered for a while before speaking.
"...You said that in your world, you also performed 'Interference with Principle,' right? Then, can you do the same?"
"I can... if I spend enough time and effort."
"Interference with Principle," in other words, is synonymous with recreating the world. To accomplish something of that magnitude, even Ehit needed a considerable amount of preparation. It was certainly impossible to alter information with a single word, and using it in combat was almost out of the question.
"To perform 'Interference with Principle,' one must connect their consciousness to the world, accurately read the target's information, and absorb it. Only then, by rewriting or deleting it, does it become possible. No one among the 'Reached,' including myself, has been able to skip that process."
"Reached?"
In Ehit's world, there were individuals called "Reached." Even in a world where magic was highly developed, they were a collective term for those who possessed magical talent that surpassed others and could individually wield the essence of magic. These individuals, including Ehit, interfered with principles and even made interdimensional transfer possible. They used that power to attempt to escape their collapsing world.
"Wait. Was the interdimensional transfer not by Spaß's hand?"
Aldias paused at Ehit's explanation of the "Reached." Aldias had long presumed that Ehit had been summoned to this world by Spaß, but if Ehit's story was true, then these individuals called the "Reached" had transferred to this world by their own power.
"So, if you interfere with principles, you can even perceive beings from other worlds?"
"...Who knows. It's probably not impossible if one tried, but we simply transferred to the coordinates of this world, which we somehow came to know. Annoyingly, Spassmust have already been interfering with us all at that time. All the Reached."
As I've said many times, to activate transfer magic, one needs to accurately grasp the coordinates of the destination. However, at that time, Ehit and the others had completed a transfer magic that transcended worlds, and for some reason, they set the coordinates of Tortus, which they shouldn't have known, in that magical formula. Not a single one of the Reached felt any discomfort about this throughout their lives. Even Ehit only noticed the contradiction after almost all of his soul was destroyed by Aldias . In other words, Ehit and the others were not summoned to this world by Spaß. They were lured to this world by having a path shown to them.
Now that his memories had returned, he could recall it as if it were yesterday. His own figure, creating a world-transcending transfer magic and cheerfully setting the coordinates. His foolish figure, completely unaware of why he knew the coordinates, dancing perfectly to his designs.
Gritting his teeth, Ehit's furious expression made Aldias somewhat agree with his reason for prioritizing Spassover him. Because he had glimpsed Ehit's memories, he understood well. This guy was a mass of pride. He wouldn't be satisfied unless he was at the top, and he hated being looked down upon by others more than anything. He undoubtedly harbored resentment towards Aldias for killing him. But more than that, he had been manipulated for a long time. More than anything, his own foolishness in not questioning it at all was probably fueling his anger.
"...To get back to the point, you said that 'Interference with Principle' requires a considerable amount of time and effort. But Spassdoesn't fall under that category."
"Naturally. In the first place, you're changing the laws of the world, aren't you? It's not something a single person can easily change. But he is a different story. This world is his creation. For him, it's merely rewriting the laws he himself created."
The big difference between Ehit and Spaß. It was the point of whose creation this world was. Unlike Ehit, who had to grasp information from scratch, there was an excessively large difference from the start with Spaß, who understood all the information of this world.
As Ehit explained this, Aldias narrowed her eyes and glared at Ehit.
"...No, that's not all. If that logic holds, you should be able to manipulate the demonkin and beastmen as you please... and you shouldn't have lost to me."
If it was his own creation, Ehit wouldn't fall behind even Spaß. Ehit subtly implied this, but Aldias knew from Ehit's memories that the demonkin and beastmen were synthetic creatures created by Ehit's hand. By that logic, Ehit shouldn't have fallen behind Aldias , a demonkin, and more importantly, Spasshad easily performed "Interference with Principle" even on Aldias , a demonkin who was half Ehit's creation.
"Indeed, there must be a difference between creator and non-creator. But more than anything, the difference as a pure being... it seems that even becoming a god later in life couldn't bridge that gap."
"..."
"The 'God's Word' you used. This was probably created as a lower-tier version of 'Interference with Principle,' wasn't it?"
"Tch!"
"God's Word" wielded an influence befitting a divine act. However, this was not meant to demonstrate God's majesty, but was something created for humans to use, as it did not reach the divine realm. If the members of the Holy Church were to know this, they might collapse on the spot in shock.
"Ngh!—I see...! To counter Spaß's power, we don't necessarily need to interfere with principles ourselves."
"You're still annoyingly quick on the uptake. But if you've realized that, you must understand. You need my power to kill him."
Without words, Aldias understood the usefulness of borrowing Ehit's power. Indeed, for Aldias alone, it was impossible to defeat Spassnow, no matter how much he struggled. It would be the same result even with Aletia's or Miledi's power. However, with Ehit... Ehit, who was a part of Aldias yet maintained his own clear ego, that method was feasible. It would be a dangerous, improvised attempt. But it was certainly worth it.
But...
"......"
"What's wrong? What is there to agonize over? It's your choice what to do, but do you have another option?"
Ehit was right. Aldias had no other choice but to borrow Ehit's hand. However, even though he understood that, he hesitated to take the man's hand.
"You destroyed this world and killed countless comrades."
"What of it? You, too, have killed countless humans, haven't you? No matter what ideals you preach, killing is still killing. We can choose to do so without hesitation to satisfy our desires. You and I are the same."
"I'll kill you right here and now. This time, without even a shred of magical power left."
"Hah, go ahead and try. If so, I'll watch from the afterlife, mocking as everything you want to protect is destroyed."
That would be quite an amusing sight as well. As Ehit continued, Aldias felt his magical power subtly leak out, unconsciously. He had no intention of claiming his actions were righteous. He took away the precious things of others to protect his own. He had long ago made that resolve. Incorporating humans as vassal states was merely a move in anticipation of the battle with Spaß. Otherwise, he wouldn't have taken the risk of absorbing them with minimal casualties. He would have prioritized the demonkin's peace, regardless of how many deaths occurred in enemy nations.
Still, he couldn't stand being lumped in with this guy.
Perhaps it was because he was in his own spiritual world, but Aldias could sense that Ehit was not lying. He genuinely wanted to kill Spassfirst, not to trap Aldias . But at the same time, he also didn't care if Aldias didn't accept the offer.
(...Still, to team up with this guy—)
As Aldias struggled with a choice that wasn't a choice, he suddenly heard a voice.
『Don't give up!!』
『Ngh!?—This voice... Freed!?』
Then, in succession, the voices of his comrades echoed.
『Hold on! Even for a second! Keep holding on!!』
『Even if you say 'hold on,' what are we supposed to do against that!?』
『That guy...! It pisses Miledi -san off that he won't move an inch!!』
『Then it's perfect! Buy us even a little time!! Then surely...』
『Lord Aldias will come!!』
『"Aldias will come!!』
"—Ngh!?"
They were fighting. Freed, Hajime, Miledi, Aletia... they were fighting Spaß. And they believed in him. That he would surely return. They were waiting for him... him, who had once been defeated.
"......Haaaah—"
Hearing the shouts of his comrades, Aldias instantly cooled his head and regained his composure.
Yes. He had comrades waiting for him. Family who believed in him. Then, he would swallow a bit of hatred. Aldias stared at Ehit's figure, then calmly walked closer. He stopped beside Ehit, and without turning his face, he spoke.
"......Just don't hold me back."
With just that, he walked away without waiting for Ehit's reply.
"Hmph, that's my line. You're using my power. Don't you dare do anything pathetic."
Ehit, shrugging his shoulders as if to say, "Good grief," followed Aldias , moving through the darkness. They didn't face each other. They didn't shake hands. They didn't even match their pace. Still, even as they envisioned different scenery, the two geniuses of magic, transcending worlds, took their first step together in the same direction.
Aldias and Ehit. A unique, one-time tag team was born here.
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