Ch.211Gods, Kings, and Humans (3)

My thoughts froze.

Hometown (同鄕). Did he mean “hometown” in the sense that I understood?

Strictly speaking, the Demon King’s words weren’t actually “words.” They weren’t language formed of sound, but rather the pure projection of his will onto the world.

There could be some margin of error in understanding this. Just as humans cannot fully comprehend divine revelations and prophecies.

But I had “eyes.” My gaze that observed the essence of existence allowed me to fully understand the Demon King’s will.

The “hometown” the Demon King spoke of was exactly the word as I understood it.

Don’t you believe it? Then let me ask you. Don’t you think this world is too similar?

“To the novel where your story is written? That’s because the ancient Divine Order—”

No.

The gods who ruled this world. Aren’t they remarkably similar to the myths of our world?

I repeated the Demon King’s name. Simon Magus. That name originally came from the Bible. The name of a sorcerer who tried to buy divine authority with silver (ἀργύριον: argyrion).

So it wasn’t just a coincidence?

Have you heard my name? Then you must already know the names of other gods as well. The people of our homeland, who still live in a single timeline, named the planets revolving around the sun after the ancient gods.

Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto…

No. Pluto was expelled, wasn’t it? Pluto would be truly disappointed if he heard that.

Knowledge from Earth beyond dimensions flowed out as if it were nothing. I searched through my memories in confusion.

Clearly, there was a time when I encountered traces of Earth, just like this moment. It was in the dream I had because of Hestia’s lamp¹.

What did Hestia’s ancient priest say?

Regarding the similarities between Earth’s modern civilization and the magical society’s architectural patterns, he said it “might be the Demon King’s influence.” I didn’t have time to pay attention to it then.

The following statement that “Earth once had supernatural abilities too” was more shocking.

Now the Demon King’s declaration and Hestia’s clue are coming together.

The Demon King came from Earth.

Then, the only one in this world—

“…Ortes!”

Hector’s voice awakened me. I gritted my teeth and continued my sword dance. The Demon King gently swung the World Sword in his hand.

Space was sliced.

I rolled my body. The Demon King appeared, cutting through the space where I had just been.

Yes, child who has lived in the same world. I know your hometown. I know the way back home.

“Shut up!”

***

Ortes continued his calculations while swinging his sword. He needed to read the spatial coordinates to send to Carisia. The Demon King held a sword in his right hand and floated a magic circle in his left.

To Ortes, it looked like some kind of compass. A magic circle floating parallel above his left palm pointing to the sky. In the middle, something like a needle was spinning around.

Suddenly, at some point, a thread wound around the needle. A thread whose origin and existence were unknown.

Ortes’s eyes read the name of the thread. “Fate.”

As the thread tangled and became disheveled, the surrounding space began to distort abruptly. A sword thrust straight forward extended toward the back of his head, and stepping to the left made him fall downward.

Hector and Ortes did their best to navigate through the spatial chaos. Ortes with the power of his eyes, and Hector by dismantling the distortions one by one with his sword techniques, confident that what created this spatial vortex was “magic.”

The Demon King stood in the middle of the space distorted like a kaleidoscope. His will flowed into Ortes.

Wasn’t returning home your most intimate desire? Why do you turn away from your true heart?

The Demon King’s words pierced Ortes’s core. Although Ortes had told himself he had given up on returning to Earth, he wasn’t an honest person even to himself.

He recalled a peaceful home where neither high-frequency blades nor special eyes were necessary.

This isn’t even a temptation to sell this world for a few pieces of silver. You just need to return home.

This wasn’t betrayal. It was just a kind of retirement. But if there was one thing that bothered him—

Haven’t you shown overflowing dedication to this world?

Ortes came back to his senses.

“No! All I’ve done in this world is cause trouble!”

There were indeed objects to which Ortes had dedicated himself without expecting anything in return.

But that was never this world itself. How many sparks of conflict had he thrown into the world, how many disputes had he fabricated? As a result of that trouble, the stagnant waters of the Ten Towers’ solid rule might begin to flow again.

But that was for Ortes himself. To call it dedication to the world would be an exaggeration; it was more accurately described as an expression of pure selfishness. There were only those who happened to benefit from Ortes’s actions.

Conviction grew in Ortes’s eyes.

Even the Demon King doesn’t know everything.

Then he could win.

The moment Ortes broke free from the future the Demon King had drawn, he could perfectly read the spatial coordinates.

Phoebus’s crystal swayed on Ortes’s chest. It was a means to transmit spatial coordinates in the extreme chaos where the entire world was being infiltrated by extra-dimensional forces.

Phoebus’s crystal was a solidified projection of part of the celestial realm where Phoebus resided. The reason prophecies flowing from divinity were immediately delivered to the owner was because the essence of the crystal was connected to the metaphysical space where prophecies surged.

Ortes reversed his thinking here.

Prophecies descend from heaven to earth. But Ortes himself possessed eyes that could interfere with any magical formula.

Then, if he used Phoebus’s crystal like a telescope to leave a message in Phoebus’s realm, couldn’t Joaquin read it as a prophecy?

The simple experiment conducted before marching against the Demon King had been successful. But that was an attempt in a perfectly controlled environment.

Ortes gritted his teeth and swung his sword at the Demon King, cutting off his magical formula. Incomprehensible formulas were continuously springing forth.

Simultaneously, he interfered with Phoebus’s realm to leave a trace. Ortes prayed that Joaquin would read it as quickly as possible.

If the Demon King interfered with the world structure using his fate-twisting magic again, the spatial coordinates would be distorted once more.

***

Joaquin was reading the heavenly signs. The celestial sphere where the heavenly signs should be engraved was covered by extra-dimensional forces and couldn’t be seen. He had to remove the indescribable colors of the extra-dimension to see the original heavens.

The Great Temple of Pluto amplified his sacred power. However, Joaquin alone couldn’t penetrate the thick wall of extra-dimensional magical power.

So the Divine Order gathered. All those who remained, except for the Pope and the Holy Maiden who were preparing something else, pooled their divine power and projected it toward the heavens.

Very slightly, a crack appeared in the extra-dimensional covered sky. A part of the original clear sky shone through.

Joaquin received a revelation.

***

Criton, who couldn’t escape and ended up returning to Hydra Saro, really wanted to cry. But there was nowhere left in the world to hide, so what could he do? All he could do was endure the stares directed at him and do what he was told.

Kaicle and Bertrand gave orders to Gerryones, who in turn directed Criton. The tasks involved stuffing magical cores or stones in various parts of the city, or extracting all the magical power and injecting that suspicious energy called “divine power” that had been extracted from sacred objects.

Criton didn’t know what his work meant. He was acting as a human counterweight to balance the magical equilibrium of the Etna-Elysion city fusion complex before spatial movement.

***

Taros was busy moving in a place that had been the underground of Etna City and was now the upper layer of Elysion, gathering mutants like himself.

Their contamination had occurred while maintaining Etna City’s magical power generators. Thus, the mutants were more knowledgeable about the magical power conduits than anyone else in Etna City—about the maze-like structure created by the tangled conduits underground, or emergency repair methods for the conduits.

If divine power were to flow through channels designed for magical power, there would inevitably be repulsion. The mutants were responsible for cleaning, tightening, and oiling the bursting and breaking magical conduits, handling emergency repairs until this final battle ended.

***

Meconion took a deep breath, inhaling toxic, addictive substances generally harmful to the human body deep into her lungs. Before her were numerous patients infiltrated by the extra-dimension.

Beside her, the mad doctor Divius was happily preparing for surgery, taking out bizarre tools.

The patients were those who had somehow escaped to Elysion as the Demon King infiltrated the world. If these magicians were left unattended, each would become a connection point to the extra-dimension and melt away.

If that happened, the extra-dimension would pour into Elysion, and that absurd plan to drop Elysion on the Demon King’s head would come to nothing.

Extra-dimensional infiltration affected both mind and body. While Meconion used her drug fragrance to take away the patients’ consciousness and block mental infiltration, Divius began the excisions.

***

Everyone alive now was moving. Without exception, they were running around looking for something they could do.

It was the struggle to survive, humanity’s desperate fight to confront the Demon King.