After leaving the sewers, Kaelith and Manaka walked together through the bustling streets of Tokyo at night.
Kaelith had somehow managed to find a blanket, which he wrapped around their bare bodies.
The two heads poking out from under the blanket leaned against each other, hand in hand, walking in sync on their way home.
From a distance, they looked like a pair of cloaked wanderers—utterly out of place amid the modern cityscape.
Having taken on human form, the Beast known as Sodom's Beast now appeared as a young boy.
A boy, about 150 centimeters tall—his skin pale, his short hair black as ink, his cold black eyes giving off a quiet, indifferent air.
"Why did you do something so reckless?"
There was a trace of reproach in Kaelith's tone.
"If I hadn't spat you out in time and reconstructed your body, you'd be dead right now."
"Reckless? No, you're mistaken," Manaka said softly, resting her head against his shoulder and giving a small shake.
"I intended for this from the very beginning—to be eaten by you… and to let you consume my world."
…
Kaelith's creator—Manaka Sajyou—was a girl who embodied truth itself.
She was the girl who could accomplish anything.
When she wished for life, life bloomed.
When she whispered death, death spread.
You could say the world was connected to her—and she to the world.
The omniscient, omnipotent girl.
Everything could be controlled, achieved, or destroyed at her whim.
Yet precisely because of that, she could find no joy in anything. So she set a single rule for herself—
[Never look upon your own future.]
A being on par with the world itself, she deliberately limited her own omnipotence.
A rule. A restraint. A chain.
Without limitation, omnipotence was far too boring.
And in the end, her decision had been correct.
She managed to keep on "living." But that was all it was—just existing.
She saw all, owned all, understood all.
At the end of her selflessness, gazing upon the pure-white purgatory from the throne of divinity, she was, for all intents and purposes—a god.
But aside from living like a ghost, she had no other choice.
For her, there was nothing to expect from the future.
After all, this was "a world where the prince will never appear."
Though Manaka was the ruler of this world, she was never its protagonist.
To live was to suffer endlessly.
To live while dying.
To die while living.
No pain. No sorrow. No joy. No hope.
Day after day, a walking corpse going through the motions.
Eventually, her mind reached its breaking point.
And then, Manaka made a decision that defied her own creators—
Let it all perish.
This dull, meaningless world.
Along with the entire history of mankind—its very foundation, human order itself—let it all be destroyed.
"The result of that decision… is you, my precious child."
Manaka stopped walking. From beneath the blanket, she reached out and cupped Kaelith's face in her hands.
"You are a Beast—born from the tainted Holy Grail, the incarnation of calamity."
In Christian legend, there once existed two Holy Grails.
The first was the true Holy Grail—the cup that held the blood of the Savior, said to perform miracles.
The other, however, was the Cup of Abundance—the one that appeared alongside the Beast and the Whore of Babylon in Revelation, symbolizing mankind's greed and pride.
They looked exactly the same—only the contents they once held were different.
One held holy blood. The other, filth.
A certain Cardinal of the Holy Church had unknowingly kept the latter, mistaking it for the true Grail.
Manaka stole that false Grail from him—and buried it beneath Tokyo.
Using it as a catalyst, she nurtured a demon king strong enough to annihilate this tedious, agonizing world.
That demon king was Kaelith, the Beast VI.
And what is a Beast?
If Manaka was the princess who possessed the world, then Kaelith was the Beast destined to destroy it.
"When you roar, people will wail, and cities will burn. The earth will crumble, the seas will turn red with blood. When you open your jaws, everything woven by life—The world, history, dreams, wishes… even time, space, and causality—will all be devoured by you."
Her flawless face glowed faintly with joy as she spoke, her eyes moist and shimmering.
"So, I once longed for you—to eat me, to eat my world."
"…Once?"
"Yes. Once."
Manaka nodded gently.
"But not anymore. There's no need to destroy the world—or to kill me. None of that matters anymore."
"…"
Kaelith fell silent, lost in thought.
What could have caused such a change in her heart?
She had been in utter despair about the world only moments ago.
"…Did something good happen?" Kaelith asked.
He suspected the reason—though it felt a little self-congratulatory to admit it.
It was probably something like, 'Because of your existence, Manaka realized this world isn't entirely meaningless.'
He waited expectantly for her to say those words.
"Yes, something good happened. Today is a special day… the most important day of all."
Suddenly, Manaka let go of his hand, her bare feet tapping lightly as she skipped away from him.
She spun. And spun again.
"You who gave me a heart—my beloved child!
You who saved my life—my noble one!"
In the dim alleyway, lit only by fragments of scattered city light, Manaka twirled joyfully, innocent and radiant as she danced.
Her slender, fair body glowed under the faint light—elegant, dazzling, and impossibly beautiful.
"Happy birthday, Kaelith!"
"Hey! Wait—don't run off like that! Put the blanket back on! What if someone else sees you?!"
Ah, girls… I give up.
Kaelith threw the blanket over her and managed to catch her in time.
Manaka crouched down, a bit flustered, the blanket forming a small hill around her curled-up body.
Kaelith stood over her, arms crossed, looking down sternly.
"Enough fooling around. I'd rather not spend my birthday in jail for public indecency—with my mother, no less."
"...Mmm… it's so dark. I can't see anything."
A few seconds later, Manaka lifted the edge of the blanket like a kitten poking its head out.
"Sorry, Kaelith. I think I misjudged your nature. You're not a Beast of Calamity after all."
Kaelith blinked, puzzled.
"Huh? Then what am I supposed to be? Aren't I Beast VI—the Antichrist?"
Manaka met his eyes and nodded softly.
A faint blush spread across her cheeks as she whispered—
"Kaelith… you must be my own Messiah—the Savior born for Manaka alone."