"What the hell is going on?!"
Azazel couldn't hide his frustration. Understandably so. Information was scarce. All he could grasp was the vague yet certain knowledge that "something bad has happened," making the situation dire.
"Hey, Kingu… he's gone! Trihexa… gone too! Where'd they go?!"
Looking around, the number of deities and demons in the venue had dwindled significantly. Many were hastily leaving, prioritizing immediate retreat over appearances or assessing the situation. It was understandable. The clinging disgust surpassed even fear, more agonizing than the Beast of Revelation or the Old Man of the Mountain.
The Old Man of the Mountain spoke.
"A Beast has been born."
"A Beast? Something on Trihexa's level?"
"The evening bell does not name you, but that Beast seeks your heads. For that, the king devised a three-thousand-year plan, unafraid to offer his own. Yet his wrath is not fanaticism but delusion. No star holds the means to fulfill his wish."
"Please, speak plainly!"
The Old Man would answer but kept his words cryptic. This was the final chance. Overcome it as a trial, or endure it as a calamity. But if they averted their eyes from their sins, only ruin awaited. Even if they survived this time, there'd be no next. With the concept of Beast of Humanity born in this world, it was inescapable.
Then, someone teleported into the venue. Expecting another otherworldly entity, Azazel braced, but it was a crimson-robed mage—MacGregor Mathers, Sirzechs' Bishop. He carried the unconscious Queen, Grayfia Lucifugus.
Upon seeing Sirzechs, MacGregor sighed in relief and knelt, not out of courtesy but from physical and mental exhaustion.
"My apologies, Sirzechs-sama."
"MacGregor!"
"Please, tend to Grayfia-sama first."
Sirzechs took his unconscious wife from the battered Bishop.
"Are Second and Enku still fighting? If so, I'll join—"
"No, they're no longer fighting."
"So, we won?"
"No. We couldn't defeat them."
"Then the Demon God Pillars retreated?"
"No. I fled, entrusted with Grayfia-sama. With this body."
MacGregor lifted his robe, revealing his left side—charred, his left arm gone, his leg ending at the knee.
"My apologies, Sirzechs-sama. Surtr Second, Bahamut, Beowulf, Enku—all of Lucifer's peerage except Grayfia-sama and me are dead."
Sirzechs Lucifer's peerage: Rook, Knight, Pawn—dead.
Serafall Leviathan's peerage: all dead except the King.
Rating Game top players: first place defected, second place dead, third place critically injured. Their peerages—critically injured or dead.
Original 72 Pillars: annihilated. Old Satan faction: annihilated. Rizevim Livan Lucifer and his faction: defected.
Agreas: shot down. The rare metal for Evil Pieces stored within: completely lost.
Red Dragon Emperor, Hyoudou Issei: ××××.
That was the Underworld's state at present.
In a forest near Agreas in the Agares territory, two young swordsmen faced each other.
"To think we'd reunite like this, Arthur."
"I'm more surprised you're fighting on that side, Siegfried."
Siegfried, wielder of the Demon Emperor Sword Gram, a former Church warrior nicknamed Demon Emperor. The masterpiece of the Sigurd Institute and a leader of the Khaos Brigade's Hero Faction. Possessor of the Sacred Gear Twice Critical and its Balance Breaker, wielding multiple renowned demon swords alongside Gram.
Arthur, wielder of the Holy King Sword Caliburn, descendant of the Pendragon family and King Arthur. A bespectacled young man in a suit, he had taken the family heirloom Caliburn without permission. Formerly of the Hero Faction, he was supposed to have joined Vali's team recently.
Once rivals for the title of strongest swordsman in the Khaos Brigade, they now stood as enemies.
Siegfried glanced at the knights behind Arthur, their armor matching the Purge Knights from the Sixth Singularity, who committed massacres under the Lion King's authority.
"Are you serving the Lion King now?"
"Yes, that's correct. With Vali, Kuroka, and Bikou missing, the team's dysfunctional. Changing allegiance was natural."
"No thought of returning to the Hero Faction?"
"I considered it, but I received a more enticing offer."
"Knowing you, you're there to take the Lion King's head."
"Indeed, that's my intent."
The Purge Knights didn't react. Did they support Arthur's aim, believe he couldn't kill the Lion King, or have another reason?
"If anything's surprising, it's that the Round Table allowed it. The 'descendant of King Arthur' becoming a terrorist."
"They have their own sentiments."
Arthur, speaking vaguely, shifted his gaze sideways while facing Siegfried. Following suit, Siegfried saw the floating city Agreas plummeting. It was done for. The operation had failed completely.
"The Lion King's responsible for Agreas' fall, I hear."
"Yes. There was intel that you—or rather, Goetia—targeted Agreas' rare metal. His Majesty deemed it troublesome if Evil Pieces or Angels increased."
Georg had reported chaos not only here but at the decoy summit. With the Lion King present, few could challenge the Demon God Pillars. Given their stance, this world's deities were unlikely to act aggressively.
As Siegfried considered following orders to retreat, Arthur appeared. Returning was logical, but Caliburn could cleave space, making pursuit likely.
No, truth be told, he wanted to settle things here, discarding reason and duty.
"Shall we settle who's strongest, Holy King Sword?"
"That's my intention, Demon Emperor Sword."
Both drew their blades.
The being that was Hyoudou Issei pulled Ascalon from Rias Gremory's body.
"Ah…"
Rias collapsed, blood pouring from her wound.
"Rias!"
"President Rias!"
The Gremory peerage, finally free from their bindings, rushed to her. Akeno, Koneko, and Gasper surrounded her, while Yuuto summoned holy-demonic swords, standing before Issei, his blade trembling with fear, rage at his master's harm, and confusion. Above all, the miasma from the man was revolting.
"Issei-kun, why…?!"
"Don't talk, filthy Devil. You taint my ears."
The man in red armor—once Hyoudou Issei—ignored his supposed comrades, examining Ascalon's bloodied blade. He glanced at Rias, shielded by her peerage, her hollow eyes meeting his.
"Issei…?"
"A Devil stabbed by a holy sword and still alive? The sword's properties are gone. Even this antique couldn't withstand the mud. A drawback of merging with a Sacred Gear."
Muttering to himself, he turned to the Cleaner, who had paused his fight with the Devil prince to watch. The prince, Rizevim, was stunned, the events deviating from what he'd been told.
"Archer, I owe you. Without your intel, this wouldn't have been so perfect. Completing Trihexa was the right call. If it remained tied to Truth, the ring fusion would've failed."
"Who are you…?"
"I am Solomon."
Archer had suspected as much from the tone and content. The issue wasn't that he was the King of Magecraft but that he'd hijacked Hyoudou Issei's body.
"How, Solomon? How did you transfer your soul into Hyoudou Issei? The ring you used was destroyed by Sirzechs Lucifer."
"What, you thought I didn't tamper with the nine rings I returned to God? No one noticed the switch, let alone the tampering."
That was news to Archer. In his human world, Solomon's rings were destroyed by Parting, save one held by Asmodeus, which Archer—as Cao Cao—destroyed.
"As thanks for ensuring my plan's success, I'll reveal the truth. It smells like a loss flag, so I'd rather not, but it's time to share. I've come this far. I want someone to know my wish. No need to agree—when my plan succeeds, all humanity will understand its value."
This star originally lacked Beasts of Humanity due to the absence of Human Order—cosmic laws for humanity. But three thousand years ago, Solomon altered the star, birthing the original sins of Expectation and Truth. He alone was meant to bear Expectation, as he hoped for and was expected by humanity.
"I used Truth and the System to gather mud. Humans bathed in it invert their souls, elevating their phase. I waited for the mud to mature, for someone to touch it. The Noble Phantasm Hyoudou Issei just activated—World, Praise Me! I Am a Hero!—this was the goal of three thousand years! My plan required reaching this point for the next phase."
An Anti-Human Noble Phantasm, Rank A+. Its effect: accessing and mastering the star's records. A vile miracle unattainable without amassing the mud, the embodiment of the star's pain.
Useless alone, its output and function limited. A living Solomon might manage, but not modern humans. Combined with the skill Nega-Evolution, it could replicate any miracle or extremity.
"What someone on this star achieved, I can achieve. Not just humans—angels, Devils, monsters, yokai, spirits, dragons, gods. If someone did it, I can."
Solomon, in Issei's body, spread his arms grandly. Though hidden by armor, his face likely brimmed with joy—not anger, but genuine laughter.
"Now, I can recreate God's deeds! Surpass my Lord!"
The God of the Bible's acts. Archer recalled that hell—a world covered in mud, teeming with two-faced Beasts, humanity's screams, and the corpses of deities resisting God. All because Truth was destroyed.
"Impossible! Truth can't remake the world!"
"Not quite. It's just that no god powerful enough to remake the world can do so, bound by Truth. No new mighty god can arise from it either. But what about a god created by Truth itself?"
To call this vile Beast a god—less than an evil deity—was absurd.
"But you sought the value of current humanity! That's certain. In my worldline, you rejected the God of the Bible's hand."
"Exactly. I'd do that. I want to prove current humanity's value. Otherwise, we'd seem like mistakes, failures to be remade. That's nonsense."
The God of the Bible's masterpiece proclaimed this, a madness absent in the prophet or savior.
"So, I'll remake the world, keeping life intact. It's not humanity that's wrong—it's this world that belittles them. I'll reshape its laws to my desire. Truth alone was insufficient three thousand years ago. Summoning Samael back then was impossible."
The King of Magecraft's true plan was revealed—the desire of a king who knew only wrath.
"To create a world where humanity is the protagonist. All other lifeforms will be whetstones for human evolution. If this world's life isn't enough, I'll summon more from other universes, like Goetia. This star's humanity will be the most noble lifeform in all universes. That is Solomon's true plan!"
***
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