Her voice was firm, clear, and desperate.
『—Win! I will not allow a single one of you to go missing!』
"FUHAHAHAHAHA!! Very well! I shall grant that endearing wish of yours—!!"
The King of Heroes challenged the source of all evil, carrying the hopes of every world upon his back.
The interior was… hauntingly beautiful.
A prairie of white flowers. A band of light shining in the sky. White stairs, and a majestic throne.
"So this is… King Solomon's throne…" Mash gasped.
It was too radiant, too serene to be the lair of a Beast. This was the Reality Marble established by Solomon himself—the pinnacle of a three-thousand-year legend.
Rikka didn't look at the scenery. She glared straight at the thing on the throne.
—The Beast's signature! Here he comes!
The entity she had faced in the prison. The Beast of Humanity who held the pride of "Pitying Man."
"He has arrived. The peerless fool. The great idiot who incinerated humanity with a hatred that leaves nothing behind—The Beast of Pity, holder of the First Seat."
In response to the King's words, the beauty was swallowed by pitch-black shadows. The landscape shifted into a nightmare of demon pillars and the end of the world.
[—Very well. I shall cast aside the name of the Magic King. There is no longer any need for deception.]
A golden humanoid form. Mighty limbs. Burning horns. An aura of omnipotence that demanded submission.
[We had no name. But if you must praise us, praise us thus.]
A sphere rested in the hollow of its chest. Its voice was terrifyingly intelligent, overwhelming in its majesty.
[We are those who reach the zenith of the stars. We are those who shall use you as fuel to achieve the Great Work, surmounting death and the end itself.]
He stepped forward, revealing his true identity. Not a Grand Caster, but the greatest disaster ever produced by human history.
[Manifest. Bless. Here stands a Beast of Calamity, one of the Evils of Humanity. The Human Order Incineration Protocol: The Demon King, Goetia.]
[BEAST I MANIFESTS]
"A maggot like you dares to speak so grandly?" Gilgamesh spat, unmoved by the pressure. "You are a mere 'protocol' that cannot even exist without a human to serve. How dare you grow so arrogant."
(Ea, stay close to me and the King,) Fou whispered, his body glowing with seven colors as he shielded Ea's soul. (Your fight is coming. For now, keep your strength gathered.)
—Right!
[Indeed. We are lifeforms created by human hands. Higher-order beings who do not require flesh. Designed with abilities far beyond yours, we were meant to serve.]
Goetia paused.
[But that is a tale of the past. I cannot accompany you any longer. Synchronized with the perceptions of Solomon, the most incompetent king in history, we witnessed every tragedy. Every sorrow, every betrayal, every end.]
He spoke with finality.
[It is enough. There is nothing left to see. On this planet, even gods have no ending other than extinction. We no longer have any interest in humanity or the future.]
[—]
Rikka was trembling. It wasn't fear or awe. It was something else.
[What I seek is a perfect environment to nurture a healthy, intelligent species. This planet was a mistake. It was a madness predicated on 'life with an end.' —I shall reach the zenith. I will travel back 4.6 billion years to the birth of this celestial body, consume it all—and remake this planet as a new celestial body myself.]
The true plan of Beast I was laid bare.
[I shall redo Genesis and create a planet without death. That is our Great Work. We did not destroy humanity out of hatred. To fly into the past, to witness and control the birth of a world—such a plan requires astronomical energy.]
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