Chapter 214

Earth’s scientists said so.

When lighting a lighter, a momentary spark. Perhaps even within that, a universe might be born. Perhaps this universe we live in is also nothing more than a momentary spark.

A universe that disappears when blown out with a puff.

That’s how Balrog convinced us.

“The true enemy is out there. Chaos is the real threat. This world can’t overcome chaos anyway. This universe has already been eroded by chaos from its very roots. Only our master can do it. Only when our master’s world and this world merge… will we barely gain the power to resist chaos. Come, accept our master. That’s the only way to save you.”

With hundreds of tentacles trailing behind his back, he was desperate. He kept glancing back anxiously at his master, who remained in a daze.

The Outer God was horribly twisted and covered in pus-filled sacs.

Even for him, this world was not easy.

Because the universe he first encountered was too small to protect his existence.

In the end, the method the Outer God chose was to wrap his self-created world around himself like a protective barrier and cross the sea of chaos.

After drifting for eons so long that even a god couldn’t maintain his sanity, he reached this place.

During that time, the Outer God’s world, which he had created and nurtured, couldn’t withstand the chaos’s intrusion and rotted and became distorted.

That very thing

Could become the fate of our world.

No… perhaps our world would be even more miserable than that.

<Samantha> gazed at the Outer God.

The god of a dying world looked upon the god of an already dead world.

“There’s nothing to think about. Help us now and I’ll leave you enough spare land to continue living.”

Balrog’s continued persuasion. <Samantha> answered in a rigid voice.

[Wouldn’t accepting your master be even more dangerous? Your master is already half-consumed by chaos.]

Even at <Samantha>’s sharp question, Balrog wasn’t flustered. He was confident and full of conviction.

“That’s exactly why I’m saying this. The explosion created when two worlds meet! Only that can push back chaos. The damned chaos clinging to our master, and the chaos that has infiltrated your world—the only way to push it all back at once is that! I don’t know how a god was born again in this world… but you should understand! There’s no other way!”

I absolutely couldn’t agree with those words.

What sudden nonsense? Our world has already been invaded by chaos? We have to accept the Outer God and merge world with world to overcome chaos? If you suddenly say that, are we supposed to believe it? You should know your limits when spouting nonsense… Right, <Samantha>?

[……]

‘Samantha?’

But she didn’t answer.

I started feeling anxious for no reason when suddenly another voice interjected.

[Ah… so that’s… why it was. The curse that killed us was chaos… not the Outer God’s power… That’s why it was so difficult to face…]

It was a fragment of the ‘Grim Reaper’ still remaining in my soul.

‘Grim Reaper? What are you talking about now?’

[Just as I said. Chaos had already clung to the Outer God’s power itself… chaos had already invaded without us realizing, far too much… At this rate, this world will soon perish…]

The Outer God, consumed by chaos, had taken root in our world and steadily infiltrated his servants. Our world was already in a hopeless situation, and as the Outer God’s influence grew stronger, the chaos clinging to him had slowly devoured the foundation of our world.

‘Chaos will devour our world? It’s already been decided?’

The final boss wasn’t the Outer God but chaos?

But…

So what exactly are you trying to say?

I have a bad feeling about this.

“Right! Have you finally noticed? It’s already in a precarious state! It wouldn’t be strange if chaos ran rampant and annihilated everything right now!”

We can’t avoid destruction just by subjugating the Outer God here, it’s too late now to worry about right and wrong… Balrog said. Chaos has already approached right under our noses.

[Convey this… to Terra Madre, to Lady Gaia… there’s reason in those words too…]

In the end, the Grim Reaper sided with Balrog’s demand.

He said to accept the Outer God and his rotted world. The primordial explosion that births the universe. Perhaps when world clashes with world, such an explosion might be recreated once more. With that power, we could readily burn and push back mere chaos.

But… my feelings…

‘Shut up, Grim Reaper.’

My blood ran cold and surged backward.

What? Accept the Outer God? Cause a collision between worlds to push back chaos?

Even though it was the Outer God who brought that chaos in the first place, you want us to do that?

But this damned divine bastard couldn’t understand my anger at all.

[Why…? It’s irrational. The essence of existence is the soul… the Outer God cannot annihilate all souls. But… chaos can…]

The Grim Reaper, who always spoke briefly and disappeared, was unusually long-winded today. That meant he agreed that much with the Outer God side’s thinking. Is it because they’re both gods that their thoughts are similar too?

If I could, I wanted to pull the Grim Reaper out of my soul and beat him senseless.

They’re telling me to find comfort in the fact that my soul will remain and reincarnate anyway?

Do they think… I came this far for such an ending?

[Haah…]

I heard the Grim Reaper sigh. Then he suddenly changed the target of his conversation.

[The conversation… isn’t getting through. Never mind. <Samantha>. What do you think? How do you… feel?]

My mind went blank for a moment.

‘What? This bastard?’

He ignored me and asked <Samantha> directly. Right. He just treated me like lubricant and coolant scraps.

[Perhaps… your thoughts are different. Accept the Outer God. I’ll convey this to Lady Gaia. She’ll surely tell us the specific method.]

The Grim Reaper was already certain as if it were a decided matter. That <Samantha> would agree with him.

I was furious.

<Samantha>, who had been silent all this time, made me anxious.

Samantha?

You wouldn’t, right?

Hey…! You wouldn’t, right?

Finally, breaking the long silence, <Samantha> opened her mouth.

[Stop talking nonsense.]

“What?”

Balrog’s face contorted.

[How… what?]

The Grim Reaper was flustered.

Toward them, <Samantha> exploded in anger.

[Don’t look down on me, you vermin. Gods exist to protect this world and make people prosper. But what? Accept the Outer God? You want me to make such a choice with my own hands? I’d rather fight to the end and be annihilated by chaos.]

“Ha!”

[Incomprehensible…]

Balrog and the Grim Reaper showed various reactions, but honestly, the one most shocked by those words was me.

‘Samantha…’

I hadn’t expected her to say that.

Though I had manipulated her evolutionary environment, she had essentially been born on her own. Because there were too many variables I couldn’t control for my intentions to be reflected completely.

It’s reality that even a human child can’t be raised according to their parents’ will, so how much more so for a god?

So…

Her determination was <Samantha>’s own decision rather than my design.

An unidentifiable emotion surged up my throat.

Even in the midst of this, <Samantha> poured out caustic words.

[Grim Reaper. You damned bastard. A dead god acting so arrogant… how dare… how dare…! Did you think I, I! would think differently from our father?]

It was the first time I’d seen her this angry. The girl who had only suffered pitifully even while enduring endless agony in the primordial flames… now spewed venom from her eyes like a vagrant wandering the wasteland.

[Calm down… think… there’s no other way to stop chaos.]

[Shut up! It’s not something dead bastards need to worry about!]

At the sharp outburst, the Grim Reaper finally shut his mouth.

The First Apostle Balrog twisted his face.

“Do you truly want an ending where everyone dies? There’s no time left now…”

With an eerie voice, Balrog warned.

<Samantha> turned to look at him and announced.

[That’s not for you to worry about, intruder. We’ll handle our affairs ourselves.]

‘Right? Father,’ <Samantha> added. Though they couldn’t hear it, I heard it clearly from within her.

I forced down the emotions that kept surging up, pounding against my chest, and barely managed to respond.

‘Right. Let’s try it. Just the two of us.’

[Hehe.]

A god laughing foolishly. <Samantha>.

[So how shall we do it?]

‘What I was going to do at the end… we have to do now.’

[Will it be alright? We’ve never tried it before…]

‘Mages are always the type to challenge things they’ve never done before. We can do it.’

[As expected… I prefer being a mage to being a god.]

‘Huh? Wouldn’t being a god be better anyway?’

[No.]

Giggling inwardly, <Samantha> said. In her hand, she held the World Tree and glared at the Outer God clinging to the dimensional boundary and the chaos beyond.

[Well then, from now on, ‘we’ will begin creation. Uninvited guests, don’t interfere.]

Balrog, who had been looking increasingly anxious, finally burst into a roar.

“What? What have you been listening to all this time! Your world has already been invaded by chaos! Creation by yourselves will absolutely never succeed!”

[Who says so? Divine Wizard is with me. He has never once failed at any challenge.]

Thud!

Swinging the World Tree in a full circle and planting it in the ground, <Samantha> whispered.

[World Tree. Take root here. Block the interference of chaos and the Outer God. Until you yourself perish.]

Crrrrrack!

The final weapon left by craftsman Hephaestus, the World Tree, stretched itself. From a staff that fit in one hand, roots and branches extended and gradually thickened. To the height of one story, ten stories, beyond a hundred stories to unimaginably towering heights.

Along the dimensional boundary, it covered the world and spread its branches.

Whooooom-

The dimensional boundary shook violently from the World Tree’s growth. The Outer God, who had been clinging flat in a daze, suddenly woke with a start at the sudden vibration. Digging his claws into the dimensional boundary that seemed ready to shake him off, he roared.

[You dare… you dare reject me!! You reject me!!]

Hisssss-

The World Tree twisted. From those impossibly high reaches, giant leaves fell like pterodactyls. They crumbled, withered gray.

Each time the Outer God writhed, shooting out emptiness, the World Tree gradually dried and rotted, swaying.

“Mortals… whether mortals or gods born from mortal hands… you’re all the same vermin…!”

From the First Apostle Balrog’s spine, tentacles extended.

Crrrrrack!

With hundreds of tentacles, he tore at the World Tree’s branches. To welcome his master, he tore the World Tree apart from within.

But neither I nor <Samantha> paid attention to that.

“Knight Order! Annihilate Balrog! And everyone else, lend your power to the World Tree!”

With Yuria’s resounding shout, Floating Island Sion charged ahead of us.

Knight Commander Zeros and his top disciple Evan Petrov cut Balrog’s tentacles and stabbed at his heart.

Countless wizards wearing magical exoskeletons climbed to the top of the World Tree and formed defensive barriers.

They would be able to block them well.

Until we completed the work of creation.

[…Really, is this arrogance? Recklessness? Or… inability to distinguish shit from piss? To accomplish creation right now, which we failed to achieve through those eternal eons?]

<Samantha> turned her head.

A white-haired little girl appeared. Her entire body was covered in green magical power.

‘Now that the Grim Reaper shut up, this time Gaia makes her entrance.’

Gaia, who had taken over Tris’s body, threw in one final objection. Suddenly I wondered. Would even ‘Designer Cheonmun,’ who had willingly sacrificed himself for the world, have said to accept the Outer God like Gaia and the Grim Reaper now?

Probably not. He was someone who had annihilated all fragments of himself remaining in the world just to save mere humans. Until <Samantha> was created and I ascended to the 11th Step, I couldn’t even remember his name, he had been so completely erased. He was someone who had willingly endured such emptiness.

[He! He was an idealist! Don’t force his judgment on me! Yes! I respected him, but what was the result? For eternal eons, we couldn’t achieve creation. Cheonmun couldn’t complete creation either. He couldn’t create a perfect world! And you’re going to do that?]

Gaia’s voice carried the regret of billions of years. Dead and reduced to fragments, she regretted the past and trembled with anxiety and fear.

[And what about chaos? What about the Outer God? If you’re using Saíl, you’d know well. Saíl was originally a miracle used by the ‘Guardian, Ye’ to resist the invasion of another ancient Outer God and chaos. Even he, the strongest among us, had to sacrifice his own life when the final chaos struck. What exactly are you planning to do?]

Unlike the Grim Reaper, she didn’t speak to <Samantha>. Instead, she tried to persuade me. Having heard from the Grim Reaper that <Samantha> followed my opinions, she did her best to convince us.

[At this rate, everything will just disappear. Everything we left behind will disappear! Accept the Outer God. Then I’ll grant you the final evolution I promised. With that power, you’ll be able to achieve new creation on equal footing with the Outer God. The sacrifices will be great, but it’s better than losing everything.]

Gaia, who wanted to leave behind at least a trace that the world had lived. To such a her, I said.

‘No. We’ll achieve creation with our own power. We don’t need the Outer God.’

[That’s impossible!]

‘Really? Maybe if you were trying to achieve perfect creation.’

[What?]

‘That’s where you bastards went wrong from the start. Is it because of your immortal nature? The world doesn’t need to be perfect from the beginning, does it? Same with chaos. Do we absolutely have to eliminate it all at once? We can just do creation first and fix the bugs gradually, can’t we? We can leave future problems to future people.’

On Earth, in the human world, that was actually the natural way.

Where is there anything perfect from the start?

More important than perfection is a quick start, and even more important than that is even quicker fixes.

Like the magic that mages developed through trial and error alone, unable to hear the voice of magical power or see mana.

Like Refinement who absorbed the new theory I showed faster than anyone and actually developed it further. Starting imperfectly, uncomfortably, for now. Leaving what my generation couldn’t accomplish to the next generation.

Miracles were always made that way.

Just as Designer Cheonmun’s one-year grace period had brought us to stand here.

That much is enough.

‘I’m going to achieve imperfect creation.’

[Such, such absurd…]

Gaia, having her common sense directly denied, couldn’t continue her words.

[Hehe. Now do you understand, Gaia? My father is wiser than hundreds of you. Mortals have the wisdom of mortals.]

For some reason, <Samantha> strutted proudly beside me.