Chapter 47
Yuurai awoke in the darkness.
She couldn't see anything, but she could tell she was conscious.
"...Where is this?"
Her voice came out. Yuurai touched her body and confirmed that at least she had one. However, her senses were dull, and she thought she might not be in a physical form.
She also couldn't tell up from down, and felt as if she were floating in a zero-gravity space.
"Awake, are you?"
She heard someone's voice. It sounded female, but if told it was a high-pitched male voice, she could believe that too.
Yuurai looked around, but couldn't see the speaker. There was only darkness.
"...Who?"
"I am God."
"...Huh. What kind of god? Are you in charge of reincarnation or something?"
Could this be the god who reincarnated her from Earth to this world? That's what Yuurai thought.
"Reincarnation is not my domain. I am merely an evil god."
"Evil god...? What exactly does an evil god do?"
"I whimsically give birth to great evils upon the earth. Generally, they are called Demon Kings."
"Wow, what a nasty god... You should just perish..."
"...You're not the type to be intimidated by an evil god, are you?"
The evil god gave off a sigh of exasperation.
"It doesn't really feel real when you say 'evil god'. Anyway, if you really are one, can I ask you a few things?"
"Ah, go ahead. I'm just a rotting god with too much time on my hands."
(This evil god really doesn't have any dignity... Makes it easier to talk though.)
"...First of all, where is this? I'm not dead, right?"
"You could call this hell. But you are not dead. You'll return to the surface soon."
"That's a relief. So, evil god, what do you want from me?"
"I want nothing. Your soul merely connected with mine temporarily because you stepped into the Divine Realm."
"The Divine Realm...? Hmm... Oh, maybe because I used Soul Rebirth to bring someone back to life?"
"Well, that's part of it. More importantly, your power has already reached the realm of the gods."
"...Ah, yeah, my magical power was insanely high when I was corrupted..."
Even a magical energy of 100,000 would be among the strongest on the surface. If it's close to ten million, it's on a whole different dimension.
The difference between human and god. It must be that kind of dimensional gap.
"With your power, you could even rebuild the surface world from scratch."
"I have no intention of doing that. I just want to live peacefully."
"To think someone with such power desires only peace."
"Yeah. Rebuilding or ruling the surface isn't what I want."
"...A strange soul has slipped in. But that too might be interesting..."
Hmm, the evil god nodded.
"Oh, by the way, evil god, you know I came from another world, right? So, why am I in this other world in the first place?"
"...Collateral damage, perhaps."
"...Collateral damage?"
"I wasn't the one who brought you to this world. It was another god. If I am an evil god, then that one is a good god. Well, a god nonetheless. That god summoned someone else here, and your soul got dragged along as a side effect."
"...Come to think of it, right before I died on Earth, I think I saw a girl's corpse. So she was the one originally summoned, and I just got caught up in it?"
"That's right."
"Ugh, what a nuisance... But maybe it's better than just dying and that being the end...?"
"It might have been better for you. But for this world, it turned into a disaster that killed tens of thousands."
"...It's not like I wanted to kill anyone. The first time was just an accident, and the second time I was just defending myself from attackers."
"I know the circumstances. I quite enjoyed watching your battles."
"...Are evil gods just peeping perverts?"
"Might be something like that."
"...No use telling a god to stop peeping, huh. Then... if I was brought here by accident, why was that girl summoned?"
"The god tried to take control of the surface... something like that."
"Take control of the surface...? How exactly?"
"Probably wanted to eliminate all evil beings like monsters and create a pure world."
"...Is that really okay? If this world has no monsters, wouldn't that cause a lot of problems?"
"Yes, it would. You could say monsters and humans coexist in a way. Without monsters, conflicts among humans would increase. There are many other inconveniences too."
"Then it's no good."
"Indeed."
"...Wait, is that god stupid or something?"
"I don't know if they're stupid. Just overly pure."
"...I see. By the way, with that girl's power, could she really eliminate all the monsters on the surface?"
"If the god's plan had gone as intended, maybe. But the distortion caused by bringing in a soul from another world quickly gave rise to a monstrous being—you. No matter how much the god tinkered with the girl's soul and tried to send a powerful warrior to the surface, monster extermination is no longer possible. Perhaps the world itself does not wish to be purified."
"...You make it sound like the world has a will of its own."
"It probably does. Even if a god created the world, it's no longer in their hands. I don't know the details myself."
"Hmm... By the way, why do I have such strong power? That girl was made strong on purpose by the god, but in my case?"
"First of all, a soul from another world is outside this world's framework. Normally, both body and soul have limits, but you don't. The more you train, the more you kill, the stronger you become. After killing twenty thousand people in that state, you gained incomprehensible strength. Let me tell you, even as a Dark Lich, your power is abnormal."
"I see..."
"Also, you probably don't remember, but you've died and come back to life many times in this world. Over roughly five years. You were trapped in a dark dungeon, born as a monster, killed by adventurers, then born again as a monster, and so on. More accurately, even when you were killed, your soul didn't die. Your body perished, but your soul reconstructed itself repeatedly. During that time, your soul, which was originally foreign to this world, transformed even further. That's why you can now use divine powers like Soul Rebirth."
"...Is that so? I don't remember being killed at all though."
"Perhaps you didn't even have self-awareness when you were first born as a monster."
"I see... So, where is that girl now?"
"In the Holy Capital. She's being raised as a holy warrior, called the Child of Blessing. She's only five, but inside, she's the same as you. You'll likely meet her someday."
"I see... Will we have to fight?"
"I don't know. But she's probably no longer your match."
"I see... Then, maybe we can become friends?"
"That's up to you."
"I hope we can be friends then."
Yuurai found it a meaningful time, having been able to ask so many things.
The being claimed to be an evil god, but didn't feel particularly malevolent, so it probably wasn't all lies.
"...Oh, one last thing. My name, Filanzer—what is it? Who gave it to me?"
"I did. You could call it a blessing from the evil god. When you fight as the Demon King, use that name. It will allow you to manifest a power different from Corruption."
"...Huh. Well, if I feel like it, I'll give it a try."
"Yes, do that. ...It's about time for you to wake up. Do you have any more questions?"
"Um, I've asked what I can think of for now, but will I get to talk to you again?"
"Yes, you will. You're already a kind of god. If you wish, we can converse. Not always, but sometimes."
"As long as we can talk, that's fine. See you."
The evil god chuckled.
"How casual you are, speaking like that to an evil god."
"Can't help it, right? I still don't really feel like you're an evil god. If you want respect, try acting more dignified."
"I don't need respect. Farewell then."
Yuurai's consciousness began to fade.
Her awareness disappeared into the darkness.
Soon after, Yuurai awoke once more on her usual bed in the lord's castle.