Ch.18862. You Shall Burn the World Asunder.

I increasingly realize that there are different types and methods of glimpsing the future.

A confirmed future.

A future to be reached.

A future to be realized.

When the probability of possibilities becomes involved, the content changes.

And the moment the meaning of certainty is applied and combined, it transcends relative concepts and acquires absoluteness.

However, this is limited to horizontal events.

And when we define the stage where horizontal events occur as the world.

Me, and Elhermina, who we’ve established is the Demon Lord of this era and also my daughter from another world.

She should have been someone I could never meet, no matter what.

At the point where worlds are divided, past, present, and future lose their meaning once again.

Whether one accepts this as virtual reality or fictional reality is up to the individual.

But when it overlaps with our reality, how on earth should we define it?

“The vast, expansive world that transcends and surpasses the standards of the world we perceive… encompasses all of that.”

We distinguish objects through reflected light.

Given that, it takes a full 8 minutes at the speed of light for the sun to create an image in our eyes.

But while the sun is relatively close, what about the stars?

Some stars are thousands or tens of thousands of light-years away.

And they, despite traveling at the same speed as the sunlight we see, take thousands or tens of thousands of years to become the countless stars we know in the night sky.

Yet they are all traces from thousands or tens of thousands of years ago.

Perhaps even older than that.

The world is this vast.

We just didn’t know it.

Even if we did know, it would be hard to truly grasp.

It’s impossible for us to seriously comprehend all of it right now.

Those skilled in numbers and principles make guesses through theories, equations, and formulas.

But that’s all they can do.

In any case, that’s the kind of world it is.

The world as we define it.

Then what does a parallel world mean?

Does it refer to a world or realm that exists in some distant place, miraculously similar to our environment or conditions, something we dismiss as a miracle because it’s beyond our understanding, such an absurd concept?

“Understanding the natural order is permitted. Exploring truth is permitted. But what is not permitted for created beings is understanding providence, principles, and higher meanings.”

Because.

“They don’t deserve it.”

It’s like that.

It’s the same as instructing an ant to build an empire identical to what humans have created.

It’s impossible.

They have built vast underground worlds no less extensive than human empires, occasionally invading and being invaded, sometimes losing everything in an instant to disasters and calamities.

But that’s fundamentally different in scale and essence from the civilization humans have built.

Ants surely communicate with each other, but whether they pass down and develop art, culture, knowledge, and technology from generation to generation, to the point where great ant magicians might emerge, or chosen saviors, prophets, and seers among ants might appear…

That would be clearly distinct from human achievements.

Perhaps it could be something more revolutionary and advanced in a different sense than human civilization.

After all, the wisdom humans learn from beasts and insects is immeasurably vast.

“Qualification is important. Even if one has ability and potential, those without qualification cannot rise to or even reach… the realm of providence.”

Why is that?

Because it is the realm of the divine.

The reason humans must absolutely bow their heads to the divine is very simple.

Given essence.

Purpose.

And qualification.

“Those who are born instinctively pursue it. To be higher, to have more, to go deeper, to be greater, to be stronger, to do better, to improve… they constantly push themselves to the edge of the cliff.”

But.

The borrowed bodies they inhabit reject this. Refuse it.

From birth, we enter into a power struggle between our bodies and ourselves.

This is the first war.

Those who lose this battle are buried under the constraints of the body and driven in the direction the body seeks.

They become faithful to desires, faithful to instincts, and ultimately slaves to them.

Craving delicious things. Craving splendid things. Craving beautiful things.

From there, they become sensitive to profit and loss.

Even parental love cannot be monopolized unless one is alone.

Even the admiration of others, even if you are special, if someone more special appears…

You lose everything.

The interest, admiration, and love of others are thus limited.

Like fruits with a set limit.

Resources are limited like this.

Territory is limited, and even gold mines have designated owners.

Beautiful companions, the war between males and females begins the same way.

In this manner, species repeatedly progress through growth and decline.

And the individual is a pitiful soul swept away by these irresistible waves and gusts.

“Fate or destiny is ultimately like a mission assigned to individuals by the will of the world. It could also be called a role, a livelihood, or a calling.”

It’s not a difficult concept when you think about it.

The question is how to define, prove, and distinguish it.

“And even if you reject and refuse it, that’s not the end. There’s a next, and a next after that.”

Even if a child born to a skilled carpenter refuses carpentry, they face another crossroads of choices.

All those choices are my fate and destiny.

Even if born into a great knight family, one can walk a path other than knighthood.

Being forced to become a knight despite lacking talent is also fate, and rejecting that to change course is also fate.

Viewed this way, isn’t life so… contemptible?

“In your era, you may not know yet… but as thought concepts develop and religious views sink, as enlightenment and ideological discernment begin to spread along with freedom, such conclusions emerge.”

That feeling you have now that everything is futile.

That very idea, that way of thinking, holding skeptical and resigned notions, feeling that everything is meaningless and fleeting.

This is the birth of skepticism.

“…Skepticism?”

“The Great Demon Lord said it’s one of the ideological views you would naturally reach. He mentioned that what starts from there is also valuable, but I wouldn’t know. It’s not my concern. The concept of skepticism already exists in this era, but he said it would hatch after more time passes. Of course, your situation is different since your religious views have collapsed.”

“……”

I asked for an explanation of the world’s will, but why has the conversation become so complicated?

“When you try to specifically understand something you already know, errors occur. A river is a river, but if you start analyzing what properties it has, how it’s composed, how it formed, what its origins and purposes are, and how many different ways it can be used… you could spend a lifetime researching just one river and still not be enough.”

“……”

“Since your curiosity takes this form, I can only increase the variety of my expressions.”

“Is the world’s will simply what the world desires? Is that all there is to it?”

“Yes. And those who implement that will are you people, and the one who designs that will is… what you call that.”

She pointed her finger toward the sky.

But since we were indoors, the sky was just pitch black.

A dark interior without a single lamp.

“It’s like when an emperor in a country decides to build some grand building… the common people have no choice but to follow along. The same goes for war.”

“……”

Then.

“So even my burning the world is ultimately part of that will and plan.”

And now I clearly understand what that means.

Though it’s a future that could never come to pass, I instead reflect on the past.

And as I trace back and delve into the branches that might have existed in the past, my conjectures begin to clarify.

As Elhermina said.

If Elhermina had been taken hostage and died in a foreign country…

How would I, who was considered brilliant and sharp from childhood, not to mention a genius by public evaluation, have taken it?

“……”

Based on that, though it’s a past that couldn’t exist in the current world.

I visualize it piece by piece in my mind.

As if drawing a new present and future from a non-existent past.

After all, the future I glimpse is in the realm of prediction.

And that prediction is a method of breaking down into branches to peek at and examine specifically.

And this could be fully utilized to concretize the past as well.

But no matter how much I increase my concentration and maximize immersion.

It’s impossible to feel it as reality.

It’s possible momentarily, but the mental drain is severe.

This is why I can’t actively use it in combat.

Instinctively, I seem to utilize some of that realm in the unconscious domain, but that’s all.

“……”

But here.

After reaching the World Tree, I realized I could use this more clearly and vividly than before.

And the half Lævateinn that Elhermina handed me.

This charred half wooden staff that Verethragna mentioned as the Great Tree would help with this.

“And you might be able to find the past you’ve lost.”

My ability to glimpse the past is not omnipotent.

In that sense, if I had carelessly tried to read something like the World Tree, I would probably have been bound here for life.

…So I realize this too is a lowly and petty destiny that is not destiny.

If these conditions hadn’t been met.

Even if I had reached the World Tree, I would have wasted a tremendous amount of time or wandered around this area for a very long time.

“So, what do you plan to look at first?”

As the Demon Lord asked with folded arms, I pondered briefly.

“I don’t think the order matters much, regardless of what I choose to see.”

Because what I want to see from now on are such things.

The past I’ve lost.

And the reality of the past that some feared, though it’s now unreachable.

And besides that…

I had no other particular interest.

“First.”

So the choice wasn’t difficult.

“Let’s examine what this world is that I supposedly burn.”

====

The white-haired boy rose from the ashes.

Though they were ashes, they were actually something that had been reduced to ash and dust by fabric.

But defining them as “something” would be a great insult to them.

Yet the boy had no choice but to define them as such.

The stench that made him want to vomit, that invaded rather than just assaulted his sense of smell… was the most abominable odor in the world.

Being consciously aware of its true nature was terrifying.

His hands trembled involuntarily.

Though his breathing became tangled, the boy kept his gaze fixed on the sky as he stepped over the pit of corpses.

If he lowered his gaze even slightly, all he would see was the blackened, charred… ashes of various colors.

The faint colors that remained were merely from the clothes and possessions they had worn in life.

The young man tried to recall how he had ended up in this state.

‘The fire…’

It had swept through the entire area.

Though not quite a common soldier, he had participated in the war as a knight apprentice and was unwittingly caught in the flames that suddenly split the ground and surged forth.

More precisely, he had pushed away a comrade to prevent him from being caught in it, and instead was engulfed in the fire himself.

Was that why?

He didn’t know how much time had passed, but there was a stillness amid the chaos.

Everything had gone quiet.

“Huh! Huh!”

As he emerged from the pit of corpses, what he saw was another battlefield.

But the tide of battle had already turned.

In the distance, he could see the enemy forces retreating.

And cavalry chasing after them like wild dogs hunting prey.

Screams and cheers crossed and overlapped.

And thus, the world produces a living hell.

It was a moment when hell descended upon the world.

“Ugh!”

After trying to hold back his nausea, he finally vomited his stomach contents and wiped his mouth before heading toward the front.

While he had been unconscious, his position had been pushed back to the rear.

He had to head to the front.

Only there could he face him.

Except for those pursuing the retreating forces, post-battle processing was already in full swing.

An encampment was being set up in the middle of the battlefield, and as the situation was being assessed, someone grabbed the boy and shouted:

“E-Elimion! You bastard! You’re safe!”

“Your Highness, the Crown Prince?”

Seeing his uncle-like figure grabbing his shoulder in a terrible state.

The boy, Elimion, couldn’t hide his gloomy feelings.

His once splendid armor and weapons were nowhere to be seen, and his condition was so miserable that he could have been mistaken for a common soldier.

Yet despite his appearance, he seemed to be in no real trouble.

A sigh of relief escaped involuntarily.

“You’re safe too, Your Highness.”

“I’ve always had bad luck, haven’t I?”

He chuckled and patted the boy’s back several times.

“…Was being used as bait part of the plan?”

“I was told it might come to that. Thanks to that… we won overwhelmingly, didn’t we?”

“But for Your Highness to be in such a state!”

“Mion. Isn’t everyone here risking their lives? How could I be careful with my own body?”

“……”

It was both right and wrong.

If they had lost him here, even winning dozens of wars would have been meaningless.

“…This kind of approach is problematic if it happens every time.”

Because of it, Elimion himself had nearly died.

And the state of Crown Prince Alesius, his uncle, was terrible.

“I was told this isn’t a tactic to be used repeatedly. Besides, this was more of a factional struggle than a tactic. To minimize our damage and force the enemy to bleed, we had to give up certain things.”

“…Isn’t that my brother’s thinking? Did Your Highness agree to it?”

“Mion. As you know……”

Alesius sighed as he spoke.

“Kariel’s strategies have never failed. That’s a clear fact.”

“But there have been so many casualties, haven’t there?”

“In exchange, our enemies have lost everything. As they always have.”

“……”

“And this is Kariel’s first battle as a legion commander. Even as a mere battalion commander, he was a man who overthrew an entire country. Now he leads a legion. Do you understand what this means…?”

It was then.

“Your Highness. It’s good that you’re personally comforting your subordinates, but it’s problematic to be tied down to one person. It could be misunderstood as favoritism.”

With a dull yet burnt bloody scent.

As if this is what blood would smell like burning in flames.

“T-That’s…”

“It’s fine. I’m sure Your Highness has your reasons.”

The Crown Prince Alesius’s expression visibly hardened.

He couldn’t even properly meet the other’s eyes.

“…Brother.”

His jaw turned.

“Insolent bastard.”

Though spoken softly, it sounded as savage as a beast about to bite into a neck.

Enough to make every hair on one’s body stand on end.

“Know your place, knight apprentice. How many times must I repeat myself? Are you throwing your weight around privately hoping other soldiers will watch your back? Are you boasting about your hero’s bloodline now?”

“…That’s not possible.”

Elimion glared with his two eyes.

And meeting those eyes from a slightly higher position was a pair of golden ones.

Through jet-black hair, a mocking gaze pierced like spears.

The apprentice knight, of the Radiant bloodline, the genius of the century who never missed being top of his class at the academy.

Beyond Elimion’s eyes, his intensely cold killing intent penetrated the boy’s mind without restraint.

“Then instead of slacking off here, do your job.”

“Ka-Kariel. Don’t be so harsh. He’s your brother, isn’t he?”

“Your Highness. Our bloodline doesn’t die unless you cut off our heads. So there’s absolutely no problem.”

“But… your attack engulfing Elimion was clearly… your mistake, wasn’t it?”

“Half of war is luck. If it was his fate to die from that, nothing could be done.”

“Even so, that kind of approach…!”

“……”

Though Alesius argued vehemently, he eventually trailed off when Kariel calmly looked at him.

“I have never made a wrong choice. At least in battles and wars. You agree with this, don’t you?”

“…Yes. It’s a clear fact.”

“Then believe me. I am the empire’s victory and the agent carrying out God’s will.”

Therefore.

“Everything I do is solely God’s will. So God will judge. All matters of killing and saving.”

“……”

“So we just need to kill faithfully. Diligently. With all our hearts. So kill without hesitation.”

As for the rest.

“Let God judge it all.”