NOVEL NEXT Chapter 136
Thousands of creaking stairs crisscrossing the red sky.
At the end, an enormous gray throne, which shouldn’t have been visible, began to wobble.
The fake miracle, shimmering with golden and black hues, twisted the world’s providence, drawing the three goddesses, merely bystanders and troublemakers, onto the stage.
True blasphemy.
True usurpation.
Unprecedented hostility surged from the sacred space where the three goddesses were seated. It was unlike the previous sense of emptiness and ridicule; it was a genuine threat aimed at those who dared to blaspheme the gods.
The language of divinity.
The first tongue.
The language of the gods intertwined with the original language, spreading forth in grotesque and disgusting sounds.
Lowly humans might spew blood and collapse just from hearing it.
The three goddesses who had merely laughed and overseen Magical Girl HAZARD finally made their first appearance on stage, overwhelmed by confusion.
The goddesses of [Plague] and [War] emitted hostility.
[■■■…■■!!]
[Forever cursed ■■■■!!]
“Huhuhuhu, you really look like a scared little mouse,” mocked the girl wearing the black crown.
She scoffed with all her might, even flush creeping onto her pale face.
The curses from the three goddesses were powerless before the strength granted by the starlight.
“Hahahahaha!!! This is truly hilarious!!! You’re really an idiot!!”
Golden light shimmered from the halo formed by sharp black stars, a sign of the goddesses’ father, the mightiest will who governs this world.
Erebus could sneer at the three goddesses.
“Honestly… gods are just like helpless babies before chaos.”
Erebus gripped the hem of her bizarre dress, where nobility and rags coexisted, and took a step forward. Her gaze rested on the confusion and fury of the three goddesses abandoned by their father, the great primordial chaos.
“Yet you still tried to make me miserable, mock me, and use me?”
Foolish [Start].
Weak [Plague].
Impatient [War].
And…
“Hello, Mother. Thanks to the curse you bestowed upon the apostles, I lived a pitiful name of destruction, even more so than the goddess of [Start]. So, it’s alright to say you’re my mother instead of [Start] or [Plague]. Right?”
[…….]
“You really look pathetic. Now I understand why you were hiding in the Throne of Nihility. You’re still struggling to manifest your avatar like a ghost. You don’t care if the goddess of death also dies.”
An entity obstructed the stairs leading to the Throne of Nihility. Normally, the divine that humanity rejected couldn’t interfere with the world, but due to this trial, where the boundary between the realm of gods and the human world blurred, it somehow managed to manifest with very weak power.
The curse of the world.
The one responsible for altering fate so that all apostles couldn’t protect the human world.
The daughter of the world, who existed longer than the goddess of [Start].
The second most divine goddess, who fell from grace the moment death ceased to be an object of worship and became a cold concept.
The Goddess of [Death].
The Goddess of [Death] was a translucent divinity draped in a black veil. Existing before even the naming of the gods, she was born from the concept of ‘Death’ which bore no name.
Born from human will, she resembled humans, mocked them, and hated them, forcefully traversing the fabric of the world.
Just to stop the usurper.
[…We will return.]
“Why the sudden arrogant tone? Huh? Where did that loathsome demeanor go, from overseeing Magical Girl HAZARD while laughing? Huh?”
[Return, usurper.]
“Piss off. I’m not scared at all, so just get absorbed quietly.”
The goddess of [Greed]… Erebus finally reached out to absorb the one responsible for thrusting her into a cruel curse of division and multiplication, taking her first step toward usurping the world.
[…I curse you.]
The Goddess of [Death] extended her hand to apply the strongest curse of the evil god to protect the throne of the three goddesses. To slowly complete the final curse growing within the Throne of Nihility.
“Stop it.”
“…Huh?”
[…….]
As the two entities exchanged gestures filled with malice, a girl aiming a shining white arrow approached.
Whoooosh――
Bright white stars gathered in a cross formation, creating a shining halo.
A complete world.
A world of hope.
Not a world destined for destruction, but a place where a girl dreams of a dazzling tomorrow.
With her white, brilliantly shining starlight and fluttering robes, the Goddess of [Hope] was ready to unleash the most powerful strike at any moment.
With the gods,
the stars,
and the will of humankind.
The three goddesses representing their wills took the stage in this chaotic setting.
＊
“……”
What’s going on?
I was truly confused.
Suddenly, [Plague] appeared, colluding with the will of the stars to become the new divine entity, a four-star magical girl, while the Throne of Nihility, which was supposed to appear at the end of the trial, forcibly emerged, tearing through the space.
‘If only we could rush to the end of this trial like this…!’
One thing was certain: even if one side among Erebus and the Goddess of [Death] won, it wouldn’t be good for humanity. I thought of just wiping both sides out in one go, preparing my strongest attack while pushing through the countless interventions of [Greed]’s army.
‘If I could just shoot an arrow and obliterate them both…!’
Even now, there are countless magical girls fighting against the devastation of the world, continuing their struggles.
I was troubled about the magical girls around the world who were enduring hard battles, separated from the strongest magical girls’ protection.
The two foes standing before me.
The Goddess of [Death], the strongest among the three goddesses, struggled to wield her power.
The most self-serving apostle among the four apostles.
It was clear they would be the most troublesome enemies in this fight.
“Hikari!”
“Heir!”
Two girls wrapped in white flames and silver energy appeared behind me. They were ready to act according to my judgment, each adorned with starlight.
The successors left by the Goddess of [Start].
And comrades who transcended the path she had prepared.
With these two, who supported me regarding matters involving the three goddesses, I felt an unprecedented sense of security.
This opportunity and preparation would never come again.
‘Let’s do this…! If not now…!’
As I was about to release my arrow towards the gap presented by the two entities, Erebus tilting her pale face towards me.
The whisper she let out revealed my greatest desire.
“Don’t you want to go home?”
“What?”
“I mean home, the place where you lived, not the one the Goddess of [Start] called you to. The place where everything you truly loved exists.”
Erebus seemed to know about an alien substance that didn’t exist in the world that was destroyed by the will of the stars.
An outsider summoned by the Goddess of [Start], disconnected from the original fate of this star.
My identity.
My purpose.
She pointed with her pale hand towards the Goddess of [Death]. Like the goddess of [Greed], she was slowly attempting to draw out the most valid desire from my heart at this moment.
A desire completely unrelated to this world.
“You know, killing the essence of these beings in the Throne of Nihility would leave behind ‘pieces of the world.’ With that, you could interfere with other dimensions and universes by borrowing the power of this star.”
“…Universes.”
“Right. Why bother with all these trials? Why interfere with the homeowner’s worries as a guest? The will of the stars has allowed me after all?”
“…….”
“If you don’t interfere with me, I’ll hand that over to you. All I want is to ‘exist’ by inheriting the memories of humankind living in this world. Nothing more. What do you say?”
I could go see my mother.
I could heal my mother.
Maybe I could live in more happiness than ever, enjoying unprecedented bliss through all the unique skills of magical girls.
As much as I’ve given this world,
I could take back from it.
It was a very tempting proposal.
But…
“Anyway, this work of this universe is just a ‘story’ for you who came from another universe. Why are you so invested? Isn’t it enough to exist as a fake?”
“No.”
“Huh?”
“It isn’t a story.”
Erebus didn’t understand.
I love this world too.
I loved it even before coming here.
I walked alongside the life of a girl, watching over everything.
This proposal was, for me, a false ending.
Unique Skill of the Goddess of [Hope]
Eternal Flow 萬物流轉
“I want not the three goddesses, nor the will of the stars, but the hope that all the people I love carry within themselves.”
Paaaah――!!
An enormous arrow filled with light was fired.
The bodies of Erebus and the avatar left by the Goddess of [Death] braced for a powerful strike, momentarily engulfed in a blinding white light that filled the red sky.