NOVEL NEXT “Heart?! Why is it in such a place?!” (Haine)
(Didn’t I say so? That’s the kind of setup I prepared.) (Quasar)
Words that are not voiced out, words that are transmitted through the soul waves.
That Shiva, he is going to talk about something that he doesn’t want Karen-san and Hyue to hear.
(In order to have you fight me seriously, I made it so everything that resolves it will overlap with my death. That’s why I left the Lord of Flies here.) (Quasar)
Shiva once again taps on his left chest.
“No way! Then, in order to completely stop Beelzebub—!!” (Hyue)
“We have to hit Shiva-san’s heart too?!” (Karen)
The conclusion it led to had made Karen-san and Hyue tremble in fear.
“You can’t! You definitely can’t!! There must be a way to—!!” (Hyue)
“The Lord of Flies is inside my heart. Earth, Water, Fire, Wind, Light; no matter what element is used, it is not possible to conveniently destroy only the Lord of Flies. Haine, that goes for your dark divine power too.” (Shiva)
Shiva’s gaze is directed straight at me.
The waves of the soul once again undulate.
(This is…my way of putting an end to things.) (Quasar)
Shiva…the Wind God Quasar said.
(The first time I felt that humans were a threat was soon after the history of humans began. The time when the Dark Underworld Country fell. On the verge of destruction, the rage of a single human had begun eating away light, and was becoming bigger without limits.) (Quasar)
The shadow hero, Doraha huh.
Learning the technique to change the light divine power to shadow from the Queen Izanami, she was a combatant with no equal.
But she went on a rampage because of the grieve of her falling country, and ended up becoming the very embodiment of a shadow that devours all light.
(We four Base Elements couldn’t do anything about that. If Inflation hadn’t appeared in a hurry to seal it, the world would have fallen at that point. At that moment, I felt the fearsomeness of humans. If I were to research that, I wondered if I could defeat you, Entropy.) (Quasar)
That’s why you made contact with the humans, is that what you are trying to say?
(At that time, I was also told about the power of prayers by Inflation, and I got more and more into humans. I incarnated as a human on my own will, even imitated what Inflation did; learned from humans, and sipped on the power the humans gave to me. It was all for the sake of winning against Entropy…… But…) (Quasar)
That guy’s face…Shiva’s face smiled in self-derision.
(…It is just as you say. I at some point in time ended up loving humans. Living together with them, fighting together with them, and the city that was raised through ups and downs; not only did this become irreplaceable for the humans, it also became irreplaceable for me.) (Quasar)
Wind capital, Rudras Metropolis.
The city that the Wind God and Wind people created by supporting each other.
(But even so, I am a God. I can’t do something as shameful as bending my original intention. The Wind Church that I raised in order to defeat you, this Rudras Metropolis that exists to defeat you; the moment I learned about your return, I couldn’t not challenge you…… And so, today I was splendidly defeated.) (Quasar)
I felt that the image I had of him was slowly being changed.
From the beginning, this guy didn’t have any intentions in destroying the humans. Even if he had fallen into despair after being defeated by me, he had no intentions of dragging the humans down with him.
That’s not the reason why he had Beelzebub go on a rampage.
(You…wanted me to kill you?) (Entropy)
(…)
(In order to corner me into having no options but to do that, you prepared Beelzebub?) (Entropy)
(If I can’t surpass you in those 1,600 years I devoted myself, I wanted to at least fall by your hands.) (Quasar)
This conversation is something I can’t have Hyue and Karen-san hear no matter what.
He thought that if he were to threaten me to destroy the humans, I who loves humans from the depths of my heart, would kill Shiva in order to stop that.
Did you really think that?
(The Wind Church has already obtained their promised land that is Rudras Metropolis. There’s already no need for me to stay. Humans would end up relying too much on Gods. The last selfishness I have is -Dark God Entropy- to be put to an end by the ultimate God. After killing this body, you can seal or erase or do whatever you want to my God self as well.) (Quasar)
The sounds of the soul stopped.
“…Now, if you are going to do it, you better be fast. The flies that have usurped the humans’ bodies will finish laying all the eggs after a day. If that happens, even if you were to wipe out Beelzebub, it would be pointless.” (Shiva)
“Fine.” (Haine)
A swirl of dark matter is released from both of my hands.
“Haine-san?!” (Karen)
“What are you doing?! Stop it!” (Hyue)
Without giving any time for Karen and Hyue to stop me, both of my hands hit the chest of Shiva.
“[Dark Matter, Set]” (Haine)
Shiva was blown away by the impact.
He falls face-up on the floor powerless.
At the same time as this happened, an overwhelming change occurred in the sky.
The black army of flies -those guys that still covered the sky even when I had erased close to half of them- began dying away as if in sync with Shiva.
I could even hear the sound of each and every one of the flies vanishing.
Several millions were occurring consecutively, so with only just that, it was enough to ring in my ears.
But their destruction was occurring practically at the same time, so the sound soon stopped.
The black lid disappeared, and the sky spread through our vision.
“…Beelzebub has died. That means—!!” (Karen)
“Aniue-sama!! Aniue-sama!!” (Hyue)
Hyue clings onto the body of Shiva.
“No, Aniue-sama! Please don’t die!! No, no!! Uwaaaaaaa!!” (Hyue)
The evil in Rudras Metropolis is gone now.
The people that had their body usurped by the flies at the surroundings of the city must be regaining their consciousness right about now.
The fight has finished.
“Haine-san!” (Karen)
Karen-san looks at me as if biting at me.
She didn’t say anything, but her gaze was as if shouting ‘why did you kill him?!’.
If I hadn’t defeated Shiva…the Lord of Flies inside of him, the situation couldn’t be salvaged.
Because Karen-san knew this, she couldn’t criticise me straight on, even so, there’s no way she would obediently accept it.
That’s why I simply accepted that glare.
It was beginning to hurt me already, so I speak.
“…How long are you planning on laying down there?” (Haine)
- 164: Wind’s direction
Someone got up –while patting the head of the clinging Hyue.
“?!!!”
Seeing this, Karen-san makes a face as if she saw a zombie.
“Shiva-san is alive?! What?!” (Karen)
Shiva that should have been dead after being pierced in the heart got up as if nothing had happened, and it looks like Karen-san is in big confusion right now.
“Haine! You—!!” (Shiva)
Shiva himself seems to be bewildered. Looks like he himself doesn’t know why he is alive.
Well, that’s understandable.
The Lord of Flies, that served as the core of Beelzebub and was lodged inside the heart of Shiva, was supposed to be destroyed along with the outside after all.
Let’s explain it to him then.
“…The second property of dark matter, Gravity Manipulation.” (Haine)
“?”
“By using that property, I released a gravity blade at a single direction. Should I call it a gravity laser? It was a laser that I adjusted its power in order to not destroy the body. That penetrated the flesh, and -Shiva- your body was penetrated without harming it.” (Haine)
“And you used that to destroy the Lord of Flies, you say? But if it doesn’t destroy the flesh, then it should be able to penetrate the Lord of Flies in the same way and not destroy it.” (Shiva)
Shiva stands up staggering.
Even if he is weakened, it looks like he still has the guts to give out questions that sound like complains.
“That’s right. That’s why I released a gravity blade from two points, my right and left hand.” (Haine)
I show both of my hands that are still smouldering.
The gravity blade that came out from two points entered the body of Shiva, crossed over inside his body, and drew an x.
At the intersection point, the Lord of Flies was there.
If it’s one blade, the gravity blade wouldn’t be able to harm matter, but once two overlap, it can show power that surpasses that.
At the place where two gravity blades overlap, the Lord of Flies was crushed and died.
Without hurting any other parts.
“Kuromiya Haine! You really are…!!” (Shiva)
While being supported by Hyue, Shiva comes to where I am.
Even if I held back, his body was hit with dark matter, so there’s no way the damage would be zero.
“Toreido Shiva.” (Haine)
Wind God Quasar.
“I will say it once more. You think you couldn’t win against me. But in my perspective, I have already lost. You really got me right in your palms in a lot of cases.” (Haine)
I grabbed his collar and forcefully brought him close to me.
You saw the potential of humans, and in order to reach out to it, you got close to humans, and in the end, lived together with them.
Opening way to a new civilization, leading a group, sharing joys and sorrows, you have lived together with humans all the way until now.
Those are things I wanted to do.
In the 1,600 years I was sealed, you have fulfilled that wish of mine more than I could have expected!
“This city, the people living in it! It is the very thing I wanted to make! You went and stole the march to make it, and yet, you say you lost?! It is the contrary! I am filled with a sense of defeat right now! This land that you have made, the things you gave form to, are things that are leaps and bounds superior to that of a title like ultimate God!” (Haine)
It is splendid.
Releasing Shiva’s collar, he staggered back around three steps, and his back was once again supported by Hyue.
“…………..I have lost.” (Shiva)
“Aniue-sama?” (Hyue)
Ignoring for now Hyue who was making a dubious expression, Shiva mutters.
“As expected, I don’t think I can possibly be able to compare to you. To think you would be able to make my defeat shine with so much worth. Rudras Metropolis!” (Shiva)
At the top of the Wind Church’s headquarters, we look down at the cityscape.
“A shining defeat huh. Sounds like a joke.” (Shiva)
“Like I said, that’s not it. Call it a victory.” (Haine)
The two girls look at us in confusion, at the two of us that stand side by side.
At any rate, with this, the incident at the Wind capital, Rudras Metropolis, has reached a conclusion.
***
After the fight concluded, we were completely exhausted and didn’t feel like moving.
We were staying at the penthouse of a hotel at the Wind Church’s multistoried division.
At a place a bit far away, Karen-san and Hyue were conversing.
“…Blue sky.” (Hyue)
“What’s the matter, Hyue-san?” (Karen)
“It is my first time seeing it. I have never left Rudras Metropolis once in my life, and Rudras Metropolis has been covered by the Wind Barrier since I can remember.” (Hyue)
“Seriously?! That’s not good! Hyue-san needs to learn about more things!” (Karen)
Voices that were high and cheerful enough to melt the brain were ringing in our ears.
“Looks like there’s still room for improvement in this metropolis.” (Shiva)
“Hm.” (Haine)
But now that it is over and I properly look back at it, the very first objective we had, the subjugation of the Mother Monster, has been completed, so it should be a result worthy of celebration.
Wind Mother Monster, Beelzebub.
Several billions of flies created a swarm, and they were all one monster as a whole.
It seems like they move at different locations to lay eggs that gave birth to wind element monsters, but now, that will stop.
“But you, why is it that you used a Mother Monster as a barrier? Could it be that you wanted to gain faith with it just like Mantle did?” (Haine)
“Don’t joke around. For me, Mother Monsters are something I don’t care about. It is simply something I created due to the relationship I have with the Base Elements, and because it would serve as a way to temper the members of the Wind Church. The reason why I used Beelzebub as a Wind Barrier was simply because I was giving use to what I had at hand.” (Shiva)
“I see.” (Haine)
It is quite the dangerous talk here but…Karen-san and Hyue shouldn’t be able to hear it with them concentrating on their own conversation, right?
“But Entr—no, Kuromiya Haine, you are not thinking that you have defeated Beelzebub with this, right?” (Shiva)
“Eh? Is that not the case?” (Haine)
“It may have been the core and its Lord, but a Mother Monster that would be wiped out just by crushing one fly would be way too brittle, don’t you think? In case something like this happened, I properly created an insurance.” (Shiva)
Eeeh?
And here I thought it would be over.
“Beelzebub has laid a special egg somewhere, and has it hidden. It is called the ‘Green Emperor Egg’ you see. Once the Lord of Flies dies, it will automatically hatch, and a new Lord will be born.” (Shiva)
“…Then, as long as I don’t destroy that one too…” (Haine)
“No matter how many times you defeat it, you will go right back where you started.” (Shiva)
What’s…with…that?
I finally felt accomplished for a moment there, and yet, that has all gone out flying and was replaced by an exhaustion that was multiplied by several times.
“…But it will take some time before the ‘Green Emperor Egg’ hatches out after the death of the Lord of Flies. If you crush the egg before that happens, Beelzebub will meet its true end. Let’s do that immediately.” (Shiva)
Is what Shiva says as he stands up swaying around.
“Eh? Is that fine? Crushing the Mother Monster.” (Haine)
“Did you not listen to what I said? I don’t care about Mother Monsters. But as the Wind Founder, there’s no benefit in me going against the consensus of the five Churches. I will be having those flies take their leave in duty.” (Shiva)
What a cool way of thinking as a Founder.
He has lived a long life as a human, so he must not feel it as pressing that the faith humans have of him as a God is lowering.
In the first place, I feel like he has obtained a lot more religious faith from the humans compared to the other Gods.
“…From now on, if we deepen our friendship with the other churches, there will be no need for something like a Wind Barrier after all.” (Shiva)
“Hm? What did you say just now?” (Haine)
Shiva said something under his breath, as if speaking to himself.
At this very moment, the wind is trying to change its direction.