Volume 2 – The World Sneered
A large jet black desk in the center of the room.
This was a world.
Little by little, the factors that made up a world were slowly being written into this blackness, in other words, nothingness, by the hands of the students chosen to be Gods.
The world took a vivid color.
Meanwhile, there were other members working on different desks.
There, the ‘life plan’ that would be born in this world was being put in place.
For Mary and Digi, this looked like nothing but playing with dolls that cost too much money.
But Hermes and the others were taking this very seriously, working on creating a world as they barely even slept.
Changes in their bodies occurred as the completion of the world came closer.
A part of their body transformed into something inhuman – the name they were granted, and the ‘God’ who aligns with that duty.
During this time, the others around them treated the girls not as humans, but revered them as Gods.
“……We changed a lot.”
Manny touched Hermes’s abdomen over her pajamas in their dorm room.
She sensed something rugged and solid under it.
“I can’t wait until my entire body changes. I wish the transformation was faster.”
“But…… we can’t have kids any more.”
“Ahahaha, you’re funny, Emperor. Having kids is for those who were not chosen.”
“Mhm. But I wanted to… with you….”
“Emperor, why do you call me Hermes?”
“……”
“I’m Magician. Arcana. God. I’m no longer human, right? Don’t call me by such a vulgar name.”
“……Mhm.”
Manny put her hand on her own abdomen and cast her eyes downward.
The changes in spirit depended on each individual.
This was faster for Hermes, and slower for Manny.
Manny was feeling that her precious friend had left her behind, and it was overwhelmingly sad.
In the end, the world approached completion without this difference ever being buried.
The Gods eventually stopped leaving the cradle and focused on creation.
No conversations.
That was how the vulgar humans communicated with each other.
No touching.
That was how the vulgar humans communicated with each other.
However, Manny continued being half human and her grief continued.
Even when she was sad, Hermes did not comfort her any more.
The reality of it deeply cut into Manny’s heart.
◇◇◇
“I’m starting to get bored.”
Digi walked while throwing her legs out with her hands behind her head.
Walking in front of her, Mary spoke with a fed up voice without turning around.
“I feel like we’re getting closer to the end, so please be patient.”
“Do I have to? I can just smash through this place.”
Digi swung at the blue wall with her sword.
But her sword bounced off like it was any normal sword.
“……Tsch!”
Digi clicked her tongue.
Mary almost wished that she could peel this wall off and bring it with her.
Well, that was probably impossible if it could not be cut with that sword.
They went through the door again.
There were no images in the next room.
It was surrounded by blue walls like the previous room, and there was a girl standing in the center of it.
It was Emperor – Manny.
She turned towards Mary and Digi while her black hair swung, and started speaking in a sorrowful voice.
“I wanted to record everything in this Easter egg until the end, but I ran out of time because of an emergency, so I’ll just leave these words behind.”
“Wait, did they really skimp out in the end?”
“What was the emergency, I wonder?”
“The Gods abandoned their bodies after the world was complete, and came down to their world as literal ‘Gods’. But, ‘something’ happened in our world before it was completed, and we had to go down before it was fully finished.”
Her true form probably did not resemble a human being any longer.
But Manny still kept her mind intact.
“Everyone except me…… including Hermes, are probably fighting Mytis right now, in other words, World.”
“I knew it, so World was there too……”
“I have to go as well, or they’ll be angry. Well, I don’t care if I am erased because of it, since Hermes isn’t here any more.”
This was not a happy thing.
A human sense of values was just an obstacle when one was transforming into a God and had to fulfill the duties given to them.
“To speak the truth, I understand why Mytis wants to destroy the world creation. I’m the same. I’d rather destroy this toy world than let it steal those who are precious to me.”
Manny would never be forgiven for speaking these words.
If heard, she would immediately be considered as a failed God and be changed with a replacement.
And that replacement was going berserk right now.
“But I’m a coward, so I couldn’t do anything. I watched Hermes turn into something that was no longer human, and let alone stop her with my words, I couldn’t even say anything.”
Manny bit her lips and choked up.
Seeing this, Digi started anxiously clicking the nails on her right hand.
Mary suspiciously looked on.
“I’m going to do something very cowardly now. No, I already am a coward. The shape of the ruins, the places, the journey the two of us went on together before – I left it all in the same shape. I hoped that Hermes would notice. Well, she did not.”
These were the last words left behind by Manny as a human being.
She would regret it if she did not say them.
But even this regret would vanish when she became a God.
“The only one who can enter this space is someone who possesses the powers of Magician. So, if some miracle happens and someone comes here, and if you have even a fragment of Hermes in you, I want you to hear this.”
She knew that this was far more miserable than even death, and that it was cowardice, but she had to leave these words behind.
“I loved Hermes. Not as a friend, but as a lover.”
The words that were sealed in her heart all this time.
She had probably met Hermes after enrolling in the school.
After spending one, or two years living as roommates, the love she would stake her life on was prevented by the hand of God.
On the moment of loss, her heart hurt in proportion to how much she loved her.
The deeper the love, the deeper and more irreversible the wound.
“I wanted to kiss you. I wanted you to hold me. I wanted your children. I wanted those things more than to become a God.”
One person’s normal was another person’s insanity.
The wish that could be granted if they were not chosen was already too far away now.
It was in a place too far away to reach.
“……I’m sure the people watching this will be confused. I’m sorry to wrap you up in my self-satisfaction.”
Lastly, Manny said that and stopped the recording.
Her figure disappeared.
The door opened.
The air could be felt from the other side of it, and the smell of dirt flowed in.
It seemed to be the exit.
However, Digi stood still and did not move.
Mary spoke sarcastically:
“That’s a surprise. I didn’t know you had the emotional capacity to relate someone else’s past to your own.”
“……Hahahaha, what are you talking about?”
“You can’t hide those tears with your mask.”
“……”
“That was honestly quite unpleasant for me to watch as well.”
“You’re being very mean.”
“Then why don’t you look at your own past?”
“Same goes for you too, Mary. We’re the same. We’re both killers.”
Digi challenged Mary with clever words to distract her from the tears falling out of her eyes.
She turned towards Mary and continued her unpleasant remarks.
“We shouldn’t have been born.”
“Please don’t put us together.”
“We are together. No one wants me to be me. It’s the same for you. They wanted you to be born as the vessel, but no one wanted ‘Mary Pulsherima’.”
“My sister did!”
“A lost life.”
“I have Miss. Calaria, Miss. Cutie, and Ami!”
“Lives that will be lost.”
“Ugh, please be quiet!”
Mary slashed at Digi with a blade she grew from her arm, intending on killing her.
Digi lightly stepped back to dodge.
The blade’s tip barely caught Digi’s mask, and exposed her true face.
“Wha!…… That face……”
Her mouth resembled Francis’s. Her nose. The outline of her face. The shape of her ears.
Her hair was also a beautiful blonde color.
But, there were countless ‘eyes’ on her face.
The other parts of her face were beautiful, but her numerous eyes were staring at Mary like a monster’s eyes.
Digi spoke as she rubbed her unsightly face.
“I resembled Francis the most among all the beta types, so this is what happened to me. This is what was done to me. Do you know? That there are some aristocrats who collect ‘eyeballs’ as a hobby? How much do you think Francis’s eyes would be sold for?”
In other words, a fan had imposed this unsightly face on her.
So that he could harvest Francis’s eyes.
The heart of man, more cruel than anything, had created this face.
“Even I had someone who loved me, you know? But, when an undesired life becomes desired by someone else, it creates a ‘distortion’. That someone was swallowed up by the distortion caused by me, and died.”
“That’s horrible…… don’t talk like such a terrible coincidence was your destiny!”
“I’ll say it again. We shouldn’t have been born. The more we live, the more we suffer. We have to be wiped out, erased. But I don’t want that, so-”
Digi did not pay attention to Mary’s argument.
Her sense of values was already set in stone.
There was no space to change its shape, no matter who intervened.
Digi offered one more conclusion.
“So I’ll drag the whole world into this.”
She laughed.
Like a wretched clown.
“I didn’t want to be born either. Despite that, the person who gave birth to me, Yueri, ran away to try and be happy. Pupa turns us into money and laughs. Those taken away from us never come back. What’s the value of a world like this? What’s the point? It should be destroyed. That’s how everyone will be equal, at zero. No one will have to suffer again. And the ugly humans who laugh at it all will be erased!”
“You…… really do want to destroy the world, don’t you? Does my father think the same way as well!?”
“World has the power to do it.”
“I’ll stop him.”
“Impossible.”
“No matter what happens to me, I will never give up. I will take my revenge. I will survive with my friends!”
“What if it’s already too late? What if the world will be destroyed no matter what? No, what if the world was already destroyed?”
“I can’t accept something like that!”
Mary’s voice echoed through the empty space.
It reached outside through the exit, and Calaria, who was just coming down the stairs, shouted back.
“Mary, are you okay!?”
Ami and Cutie also entered the ruins after her.
Digi turned around, surprising the three with her face.
She did not seem to care about their reactions, and spoke in a cold manner.
“……I see. I don’t know if you’re a dreamer or just that stubborn, but I wish you luck. You’re going to realize that I was right, anyway.”
She gripped her cane and disappeared after her parting threat.
“That was Magician…… did she flee?”
“Are you hurt, sis!?”
Mary slightly smiled after Ami rushed over to her.
“No, I’m fine.”
“Your face looks a little pale. Did she do something to you?”
“I’m okay, we…… didn’t fight here.”
They had somehow kept the ceasefire until the end.
In fact, Mary broke it once.
“What happened?”
“How can I explain……? I guess that we learned the myths in this ruin.”
“Myths?”
“I’ll tell you more when we get back to the car.”
The enemy already knew their position.
They had to leave this place first.
The group returned to the car and quickly departed.
Mary explained in the car what happened earlier, but Calaria and the others simply tilted their heads with confusion.
It was only natural, even Mary had not fully digested all the information yet.
However-
(Besides World, there is another arcana who wants to destroy this world……)
This world was probably cursed from the start.
Its creator wanted her own child dead.
Just like with Mary.
So, the words ‘world destruction’ used by Digi and the others were certainly no exaggeration – they literally signified the destruction of this world.