Chapter 83 : The Call of the Goddess Religion

In the beginning, the world was only chaos.

A mass of endlessly circulating starlight within a star containing enormous power.

From within, the largest fragment broke off and gained form and will.

The daughter of the world.

The first goddess.

In the chaos where nothing was determined, she whispered to the small starlights looking at her that the world was divided into sky and earth. Hearing those words, the small starlights believed for the first time that they were standing on the ground and looking up at the sky.

“Daughter of the world, then what is that flowing there?”

“That is the sea.”

“Daughter of the world, then what is that hot thing there?”

“That is fire.”

“Daughter of the world, then what is this warmth that rises when we are together?”

“That is love.”

The more she told the formless small starlights about the world, the more rapidly the daughter of the world’s power diminished. As the stars changed their perception of looking at the world, she consumed power no different from creation.

After the starlights and the daughter of the world exchanged ten thousand questions and answers.

The daughter of the world became incomparably weaker than before.

The world the starlights saw was no longer endless chaos.

The starlights played, engraving into the world what the goddess had taught them. And they changed their own appearances to be exactly like the daughter of the world, which they thought was the most beautiful.

They were no longer formless starlights, but humans with golden and silver eyes.

Because everything they imagined came true, there was no boundary between dream and reality.

Because there was no separation in the golden and silver starlight, there was no boundary between life and death.

An age when everyone emitted starlight.

They called the first age the [Golden Age].

They called the daughter of the world who guided them the goddess of [Beginning].

Because everyone could remember when words were spoken, they didn’t leave records.

Because whatever they wanted appeared just by thinking about it, they didn’t make things.

Because they were reborn with starlight even when their bodies collapsed at the end of their lifespan, they didn’t fear death.

Because their own appearance was more beautiful than anything else, they didn’t try to possess other things.

The first goddess loved the first humans who perceived the world according to her words and imitated her appearance. An age when the boundary between humans and gods was blurred. She played together with them in the same world.

The goddess only loved humanity for 20,000 years.

* * *

“…”

“…”

Yuki and I calmed our emotions and sat quietly listening to the Divine Maiden’s explanation below the lighthouse.

The Golden Age.

Though it was clearly a story of beautiful humanity playing in an ideal world loved by the goddess, for some reason my heart didn’t race.

‘Isn’t it just that they lived without any purpose, receiving whatever the first goddess gave them?’

For as long as 20,000 years.

And the world where the first humans created by the goddess lived looked like…

“Just from the explanation, the first humans sound… like magical girls.”

Yuki muttered with her eyes swollen from crying.

Yuki still seemed to have negative feelings towards the Divine Maiden, deliberately sitting turned away from her. But the Divine Maiden didn’t notice this intention at all.

“That’s right. Because the first goddess constructed the evolution ritual.”

“Evolution ritual? <Magical Girl HAZARD>?”

“Yes. That name too was decided by the first goddess just before she burned herself.”

“…”

The Divine Maiden remained expressionless even after hearing that I came from a place similar to this world and encountered its future as a story.

“The Golden Age perished before long. The first humans who had lived in order for too long wanted to return to chaos.”

The first humans became tired and despaired after living for 20,000 years.

Eternal joy and pleasure became insensitive, and only emptiness and pain remained.

To end the emptiness, the first humans exploded hundreds of millions of starlights to create their own death. Because if they left scars on the star flowing in perfect circulation, their eternal lives could also end.

Death.

Rejecting the world created by the goddess, the first humans inflicted wounds on the star to create death.

Due to humanity’s will to reject the goddess, the goddess of [Beginning] lost her right to interfere in this world and was banished to another dimension.

From the explosion of enormous starlight, a fragment rose and the second daughter of the world was born.

An age when humans lost their god-like power by consuming all starlight and the concept of death began to dominate. They called the age when they escaped from purposeless empty happiness and created death as their own destination the [Bronze Age].

They called the second daughter of the world born there the goddess of [Death].

There, humans began to fight over resources that were no longer infinite. The fights grew larger and more intense, but through robust bodies with remnants of starlight, they left many legends. The Bronze Age ended and the [Age of Heroes] began, where people started to admire the legends born there more than the fights.

When the age of worshipping and fearing death itself ended, the goddess of [Death] also lost her right to interfere in the world and was banished.

In that place, the third fragment rose and the goddess of [War] was born.

After the Age of Heroes ended, humans with not even remnants of starlight left in their bodies became weak. Humans who could no longer regenerate when limbs were cut off and became vulnerable to disease and poison now began to fear plagues more than war. They focused on making tools and weapons to protect themselves. They called that age the [Iron Age].

When the age of worshipping and being enthusiastic about war itself ended, the goddess of [War] also lost her right to interfere in the world and was banished.

In that place, the fourth fragment rose and the goddess of [Plague] was born.

When humans finally became weak and selfish enough to fear their own greed more than death, war, and plague themselves. The goddess of [Plague] was banished while cursing that human greed would become the most terrible plague.

[Beginning], [Death], [War], [Plague]

After the Golden, Bronze, Hero, and Iron Ages led by the four goddesses passed, the [Age of Greed] began.

The banished goddesses wanted to re-enter the flow of the world, but they could no longer interfere in a world where humans had finally forgotten the goddesses who had led them.

“That is the current age.”

Yuki and I were momentarily stunned by the story of such a grand scale. 

Humans and gods.

In this world, the concept of gods existed in history as multiple personalities and was forgotten.

‘Is that why they hated humanity who forgot them and changed?’

While I was thinking that, Yuki seemed to have the same thought and asked the Divine Maiden.

“Did the goddesses other than [Beginning] try to destroy humanity because they hated humans who banished them?”

“No. The destruction began from the scars on the star left by the first humans.”

The hundreds of millions of starlights that were exploded to deny the world created by the goddess of [Beginning]. That left scars on the star greater than the gods. Human malice and desire over tens of thousands of years seeped into those scars.

The goddesses called it the world’s pus.

The will contained in the star wanted to spit out that pus onto humanity at any time.

It wanted to eliminate all descendants of the first humans who dared to wound the world and fill it with malice. The karma of what the first humans did to deny the world created by the goddess burst out in the distant future.

“Then the demons appearing in <Magical Girl HAZARD> are…?!”

“They are the manifestation of the pus flowing from the star’s wounds to destroy humanity who inflicted those wounds.”

The star’s wounds.

Traces of despair committed by humans who lived in the mythical age wishing for their own death. That became karma trying to destroy the current humanity.

“The three goddesses who could not interfere with the dimension due to humanity’s will to reject the goddesses wanted the world’s pus… the demons to naturally destroy humanity and weaken human will so they could return to the flow of the star.”

I recalled Doctor, the magical girl of [Puppet], saying this world would be destroyed anyway.

-Before the gods ruin the human world.

It seemed Doctor also knew that the demons and goddesses were on the same side.

‘Did the magical girl of [War] behind the scenes not give proper information?’

With such curiosity, I asked the Divine Maiden.

“Are you saying that humanity was destined to be destroyed by the demons spurting out from the star’s wounds even without the goddesses?”

“That’s right. The trial was merely a ritual to foretell and prepare for when the demons would emerge from the star’s wounds. Even if the goddesses hadn’t started the trial, the demons would have appeared.”

“If humanity was going to be destroyed anyway, why such a ritual…”

Isn’t humanity’s destruction what the three goddesses wanted?

“Because the goddess of [Beginning] staked all her fragments to give humanity a chance. So that humans themselves could overcome the world’s pus and evolve. Putting forth sloppy rules that seemed like the three goddesses could easily interfere.”

Tens of thousands of years after being banished by the first humans.

The goddess of [Beginning], weakened as much as possible, still wanted to give humanity a chance.