The former Temple of Time. In that barely sustained otherworldly space, where most of the Demon Gods constituting it have vanished, two Demon Gods face each other.
"Fifty-nine pillars were annihilated in the battle in Heaven."
Fifty-nine of the 72 Demon Gods. Far more than half. That many Demon Gods perished under the banner of Human Order Correction.
They didn't want to die. Nor did they lack purpose beyond reaching the apex. Still, those fifty-nine pillars carved a path to that apex. They etched the way of the King of Magecraft's familiars into this world.
There are exceptions like Phenex.
They can never be revived. Even the faint remnants left after the battle were collected by a certain dragon using Serpents.
"Four pillars—Baal, Glasya-Labolas, Asmodeus, Flauros—leapt to another world."
Some for revenge against an ordinary boy, others to reunite with a magical girl they once served. Some to witness the reality of those two.
There was friction with the Hero Faction. Not only were they excluded from the final battle, but no farewells were exchanged. Many expressed intent to join the leap to another world. Surprisingly, Cao Cao chose to stay in this world from the start.
Also, Rizevim Livan Lucifer is an ally. It's likely a superficial alliance, so they'd better watch their backs.
Though they succeeded in leaping to another world, it's unclear if they reached their destination, F. They might wander through various worlds before arriving at F.
"Seven pillars—Andras, Sitri, Astaroth, Gremory, Halphas, Naberius, Crocell—chose to remain on this star permanently."
In the battle in Heaven, many Demon Gods were annihilated. Most survivors suffered severe spiritual core damage, too severe to endure a leap to another world. Some had always planned to stay in this world.
As planned, Andras sustains existence by using Valerie as a host. Others followed suit: some parasitize angel corpses, some merge with magical beasts, some heal wounds within humans. Still, they can no longer exist as immortal magecraft formulas as before.
How they spend their finite lives is their choice. Halphas formed a cooperative relationship with divine and demonic entities, while Naberius plans to continue acting with the Hero Faction.
"I—Zepar—will observe the conclusion of the Red Dragon and then continue guarding the spear at this Temple of Time ruin."
Zepar escaped annihilation. He chose neither fusion with other life, nor corpse usage, nor parasitism. Nor did he desire to return to that cosmos.
Zepar was the primary and greatest cause that led that boy to such an end. Thus, Zepar has a duty to witness his conclusion, a responsibility to see the Red Dragon's final moments.
After confirming his fate, Zepar will guard this accursed god-slaying spear. Though the God of the Bible was destroyed along with Solomon, remnants of its will seem to linger in this spear. The power of deicide is coveted by all. Thus, a Demon God must oversee it until it passes to the next bearer.
"What about you, Raum? With your crumbling spiritual core, what end do you seek?"
Demon God Raum. The only Demon God besides Zepar to maintain himself solely with his spiritual core, choosing to remain on this star.
"Well, I think I'll create new life."
"What?"
"You must understand by now. The disappearance of Truth or the Bible alone doesn't save humanity."
It's not as if only the God of the Bibles and Devils harm humans. They were just the most blatant. Norse, Greek, Indian, Japanese, Chinese—non-humans are harmful to humans. Not their only aspect, but few non-humans see humans as equals, especially now that Truth is gone.
Over three thousand years, some gods and Devils may have learned restraint, but many might rampage seeking the glory of three thousand years ago.
"But we executed the Bible Revision knowing this. From here, it's their journey. We are Solomon's 72 Demon Gods. In their name, we had a duty to stop Solomon and the God of the Bible, even in another world. That purpose was achieved. Many comrades fell with satisfaction and conviction. What more could we seek?"
"Shut up."
Raum denies Zepar's words and the other Demon Gods' choices with a voice of absolute zero.
"Be silent. To be satisfied with this level of salvation, comrade Zepa-something…!"
"Continuing? Still going with that bit?"
"Ah, sorry. Genuine mistake."
"I'd prefer it was intentional."
"Correction… Shut up, Zepa-whatever! Tch, pfft!"
"Hm, can I cry now?"
Ignoring Zepar's jest, Raum reveals his conclusion.
"My mandate is to end truth using delirium, enlightenment, and fiction. Especially using the taboo of taboos, the fictional mythology spun by a man dreaming alone, and the higher-dimensional beings from the outer cosmos aligned with that delusion."
"But the danger of that power was proven by parallel universes. Your technique was useful, though."
"Indeed. But it only temporarily repelled them. It couldn't be used to counter the God of the Bible, far from the ideal I seek."
"So what will you do? Summon E's Milk Goddess?"
"Out of the question. I have something far more inspiring."
We couldn't do it. Not in F, C, or E—gods couldn't save humans. It was the same in this universe, D. But.
"Humans. Humans, Zepa-something."
"Decide whether you're serious or joking, alright?"
"It's all human work. In a world where myths exist as reality, despite the foundation of the Bible and Truth, people created false gods. A truly fictional mythology, nonexistent in any universe—Gnosticism."
Gnosticism. The ideology that knowledge is justice. A heretical sect derived from yet denying the Bible.
"The Aeon Sophia, the Demiurge Yaldabaoth. Such gods exist nowhere. At least not in the other worlds we observed. If this world's people could find outer-cosmic gods, it'd be E's vulgar spirit king or mechanical evil god."
"…"
"Uroboros—the Dragon God of infinity and the serpent symbolizing Gnosticism, the reason it's the strongest in the world. The reason Trihexa, a mass of human emotions, rivaled Great Red in just three thousand years."
Samael and Solomon birthed Trihexa. Great Red severed Ophis. Neither inherited the creator's intentions, making them sufficient samples for Raum.
"I've already made a pact with Kousaka Mitsuya. The X#X members, the Longinus Blue Innovate Garden and Ultimate Capricorn, the current state of the star where mystery and Human Order mix, and the spoils from the Bible war. With these, even creating a god is possible."
Now is the time. Miss this era, and there's no next chance. With Solomon's leak of mysteries to all humanity and gods preparing to expand using the Bible's collapse, there's a gap in this cold war. With the System dismantled, Longinus ends with this generation. New Longinus have been confirmed, but their current wielders will be the last.
Great Red, Ophis, Trihexa. Creating a new transcendental lifeform to succeed them is only possible in this era.
"…We should've realized sooner. We can't do it. Existing Shura gods and Buddhas can't do it. No matter how foolish the god or kind the Satan, it can't be done. So—"
If it's not in our hands, nor in any universe, we'll create it.
"I swear here. I'll create a god for humanity, a Satan to walk with humans. A Demon God, Mishandra, who sees the same sights as humans—"
As Raum's presence vanishes from the Temple of Time ruins, Zepar lets out a disappointed monologue, tinged with a sigh-like tone if he were human.
"Foolish. The Bible war produced deserters among us."
Some of the 72 Demon Gods likely shared Raum's thinking. But Raum alone survived with that mindset. He succeeded, won, and thus sought more.
"Demon God Raum. In place of the now-defunct Control Bureau—no, as a single Demon God, I pass judgment on you."
—May your delusion perish. Your answer failed three thousand years ago.
Because Raum's delusion mirrors Solomon's life in this world. The original sin past humans wished upon Solomon, which he imposed on future humanity. Raum should know from this war how sinful expectation is, yet he chose that path. Like humans repeating history's mistakes.
If this is the result of victory in the Bible war, if this is the fruit of the grand endeavor—
How splendidly foolish.
"Don't you think so, our beloved child Ophis?"
On the throne in the Temple of Time, where the King of Men Goetia once sat, a Dragon God mimicking a human girl sits.
Perhaps due to mental growth, she appears older than before. And on her face is the soft smile of a girl her age, one the King of Men never saw.
"If Mishandra is born—"
Gazing at the now-defunct ring, Ophis suggests an intriguing possibility.
"Would they be my younger sibling, Zepa-something?"
"What? No way, you too with that bit?"
You didn't need to inherit that, Zepar thinks, a bit deflated.
"…Sorry to keep you waiting."
"Not really. The winner settles things with Albion, right?"
"Yeah, that's the deal. I got a message to meet at the place we first fought. …So, what was your goal, anyway? As Ddraig and as Arthur?"
"I, and me, wanted to see the future."
"Future?"
"I, of the Pendragon family. Me, of the Red Dragon Emperor—I wanted to know your future, Issei."
"Red Dragon Emperor? No, I'm—Issei Hyoudou."
"—I see."
"Let's go, Ddraig!"
"Come, Issei!"
"…Well, that's settled."
"So, the plan using the Demon Gods is over, Mephisto Pheles?"
"Don't make it sound so bad, Great Red. I'm neither mastermind nor culprit. It was Samael, the God of the Bible, and Solomon who did something with the Demon Gods and Evils of Humanity. You and I—those aligned with the deterrent—just got the scraps."
"No more Saviors will be born. Devils are extinct, the One God is gone. Humanity's future can now be shaped to suit the deterrent—me."
"Exactly. Shall we start by pitting Greece against the Aztecs? Or get India, China, and Japan to form an Asian alliance first? Either way, we'll see which faction absorbs the Khaos Brigade or Biblical remnants. Your work's done, Great Red. Swim in the dimensional gap until the star's final moment."
"That's true for this universe's True Dragon, me. But the True Dragon me in other parallel universes still has work. …It's infuriating to think you'll give me more work."
"Hm? Talking about the universe where that Savior kid was born?"
"Yes. Because you seduced the latest Savior, my work as True Dragon increased. Using my body to revive a lowly reincarnated devil. And telling a Savior who should hate the Bible, 'If you don't want to be like Solomon, forgive devils and angels'—what nonsense."
"But he forgave them, didn't he? Or tried to?"
"Correct. And you had that love trampled. By inciting the crimson-haired princess that the Savior was trying to destroy devils, you trapped them in a quagmire of total resistance."
"Got it. Even in a parallel universe, I played it well."
"Like with the Queen of Sheba. 'Bat' is fitting. Guarding humanity during Beast X's manifestation, yet trusted by devils post-war. …Shouldn't you have switched to devils? Less hassle."
"Devils will completely stop in a century anyway, without doing anything. If you care about the star's future, you can't protect endangered species. They're in the way unless they go extinct quickly. Humans are easier to handle and more convenient."
"There was a universe where they survived until the brink of extinction."
"The world where the Red Dragon Emperor died from Samael's poison and was revived as a clone of you and Ophis."
"Because one reincarnated devil and those around him monopolized the potential for devil evolution, the species as a whole never progressed. Thus, they perished. On a macro level, devils failed to break free from their framework. They couldn't adapt to inevitable extinction."
"A foolish race. More foolish than humans. Devils shouldn't have left the Underworld for another millennium. Their power and wisdom led them to interfere with other races before understanding the Underworld or themselves. The result: this Underworld incineration."
"By the way, what did you gain from Heaven's collapse?"
"I wanted to recover Sacred Gear institutions, but Goetia destroyed those thoroughly. All I got was an outer-cosmos interference device. I'll use it to summon discarded possibilities—something called Lostbelts, apparently. Using their lifeforms, I'll control the mythologies. Thanks to Goetia destroying the Bible, the Shura gods and Buddhas clearly understand the outer cosmos's dangers."
"That's excessive scrap recycling. Don't stir up unnecessary anger."
"Huh? Come on, it's just trash. I'll use it as I please, burn it out as I please—who's gonna get mad? No one has that right. Especially not the discarded ones."
***
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