The World After Defeat – 3
It was such a sudden action that neither Erica nor Iris nor Claudia beside her had the chance to stop it. Lize strode forward confidently.
The Creature that Devours the World, still smirking, welcomed the audacious human woman with a round of mocking applause. Clap, clap, clap, the sound rang hollow.
“How brave. What brings you out here?”
“I can’t listen to you anymore. It feels like you’re already bragging as if you’ve won.”
“Oh, was it not bravery, but ignorance? How sad. If I told you the truth, you wouldn’t even listen. What would you do if it really turns out that I have won?”
“Nonsense. I never believed you when you bragged about Delta’s death.”
The smirk on the Creature’s face deepened even further.
“Whether you believe it or not is your own freedom, human. But remember, the longer you deny reality, the greater the disappointment and despair will be when you witness the truth.”
“Witness the truth? The only truth I believe is that you’re lying and Delta is still alive.”
“You know nothing. Your defeat has already been predetermined. Do you think just because you hold on to that strange power he left behind, something will change? Do you think you can use that power to kill me?”
Instead of answering, Lize raised her dagger, which was starting to frost over.
“How foolish. It’s pathetic that you can’t face the truth, buried in impossibilities. Do you not realize that baseless belief is nothing but unfounded speculation and delusion?”
“I’ve got my reasons. I saw what kind of person Delta was.”
A chilling aura radiated through the blue dagger. Huuuh, the breath escaping her lips turned into a white mist that scattered in the air.
“I saw what he did, what he knew, and what he was going to do. So….”
The completely white dagger, covered in frost, shimmered briefly.
“I will fight. Until Delta returns.”
Upon hearing her response, the Creature that Devours the World burst into laughter. While the dragon, transformed into a human, laughed like a person, the others slowly moved forward as well.
Kaiquilia gnashed her teeth and aimed her holy sword, while Floretta and Luna clutched their sacred relics. Stella and Selene joined the Popes behind them, infusing flail and rapier with divine power symbolizing the sun and moon.
The remaining three commanders of the Silver Dawn Knights stood beside Lize. Minerva and Nix moved closer to Kaiquilia, drawing magic circles in the air with the tips of their staffs.
Then, Eclipse whispered to Aurora, who had been standing dumbfounded with trembling fists.
“Do you wish to fight alongside us, child?”
“……Of course. I don’t want to stay back alone. I want to be of help somehow.”
“What would you do if you could?”
“Is it really possible?!”
Aurora’s eyes lit up as she looked at the glowing mass of light in front of her. Eclipse nodded slightly.
“I can grant you potential. Overlaying one of your future possibilities onto the present. But…”
The end of her words trailed off.
“Once I overlay that potential, you must remember that you can never possess that future. If you hold a sword and fight this time, you will never wield a sword again, and if you fight with magic, you will never be able to use magic again. The same goes for divine power. That is the price of shouldering the future in a human body.”
“……”
“Will you still do it?”
“I will.”
Without the slightest hesitation, Aurora answered.
Never wield a sword again? Not be able to use magic in the future? It didn’t matter. After all, she had no attachment or desire for such power.
What Aurora wanted was not to become strong or anything, but to gain the strength to fight that creature currently shaped like Delta in this moment. Thus, what came after didn’t matter.
Tap.
Eclipse lightly touched Aurora’s head as she confirmed the will rising in her golden eyes.
“Then it shall be so.”
As soon as those words finished, the mana circuits spread throughout Aurora’s body opened, and a blue light poured from her fingertips. The others, startled, all turned to look.
Especially Minerva couldn’t take her eyes off Aurora even after the others turned back.
“How….”
“This is a part of the possibility that has vanished, granted to that child.”
“A part of her possibility, you say…?”
Minerva examined the blue mana overflowing from Aurora’s body. It was enough to compare with any mage tower and wouldn’t be out of place.
“Child, remember that this is only temporary power. Your body won’t endure for long. And when the power fades, you—”
“I won’t be able to use mana again, right? I know. But it doesn’t matter. If I can just say that I fought alongside Delta, that will be enough.”
Finally, Aurora returned to Kaiquilia’s side, bringing Minerva with her.
The Creature that Devours the World, seeing this, even discarded the weapon in his hand, sneering. Despite having their weapons imbued with true death, their demeanor suggested they were totally relaxed.
“You’ve chosen to throw away your lives for a man who is already dead… What a touching story.”
He lightly flicked his fingers.
“I understand your wills. Then show me your full power. Perhaps you can reach the same place as that man.”
“Nonsense.”
Kaiquilia was the first to leap out. A golden light closely followed the charging figure. The Creature that Devours the World swung his fists, as if deeming his foes unworthy of weapons.
Bam!
A shockwave burst forth, tearing through the air. Kaiquilia raised her holy sword to block the shockwave, but even after doing so and getting knocked back, she crashed into the ground.
Cough…!
Barely stabilizing, Kaiquilia tried to stand but collapsed, unable to put any strength into her right leg. Checking the injury, she found her ankle bent at a 180-degree angle.
“Are you really trying to kill me? Is this some sort of playful teasing?”
As she mocked, Floretta and Luna prepared to step forward, but a breath came out just a moment faster. The Popes urgently deployed a sacred barrier.
The pitch-black breath collided with the barrier made of golden and silver light. The barrier began to shred at incredible speed, disappearing entirely within two seconds.
The Popes jumped from the collapsing barrier just in time. The breath narrowly grazed by. Just grazing was enough to melt flesh and expose muscles and bones.
“Is that it?”
While Floretta and Luna grit their teeth, stifling their moans as they began healing, Stella and Selene made their moves. Stella advanced head-on while Luna hid in the shadows, targeting the flanks.
“……!”
It was a futile effort.
The weighted projectile targeting their heads was caught in the palm of his hand. The rapier was similarly captured effortlessly. The true essence contained was wasted in the fake.
The two struggled to pull free their seized weapons, but the Creature that Devours the World showed no sign of movement even while they both fought desperately.
“How pathetic. I may as well yawn.”
The arm holding the weapons moved lightly. Stella and Selene were sent crashing back to their original spots, a cloud of dust forming as they created a large pit.
The remaining commanders of the Silver Dawn Knights, who had been worried they might get caught up in it all, swiftly closed the distance. Lize was at the forefront, followed by Iris, while Claudia and Erica flanked them.
Before Lize could swing the dagger she held, the Creature that Devours the World moved. He snatched the blue dagger and tossed it aside.
Lize and Erica collided with all their might. Crack, a horrific sound echoed as the bones where they collided shattered. Lize’s shoulder shattered, and Erica’s thigh met the same fate.
Seeing the two of them fall without being able to resist properly, Iris gritted her teeth and swung her sword. The essence within her crude longsword trembled slightly.
“What did I say?”
But the next moment, the Creature that Devours the World had escaped her attack range.
The same shockwave that had flung Kaiquilia was unleashed on Iris. She coughed up blood, flying far away.
Lastly, as Claudia’s greatsword was about to reach the Creature’s neck, the Creature redirected the tip of the sword by releasing a fake essence.
Fwooosh!
The hilt of Claudia’s sword slammed into her chest. Pushing the swinging sword back, it was the hilt that pierced through a human’s chest, not the blade.
“Oh, it’s magic. Then I should step back to prevent my allies from getting caught up, right?”
With Claudia collapsing to the ground, the Creature effortlessly moved into the vacant space as he saw the three remaining humans preparing their spells from afar.
As if inviting them to shoot, his head lazily bobbed up and down. Minerva, Nix, and Aurora simultaneously unleashed their magic.
A massive meteor fell from the sky, black flames engulfed the earth, and an unfathomable number of mana spears filled the remaining space.
“Is that all you have?”
As the Creature that Devours the World casually admired the magic, he spoke up lazily.
From his mouth erupted a pitch-black breath.
The three arms that grazed the breath instantly evaporated. Aurora clutched her evaporated arm, stifling a groan, while Nix and Minerva trembled with pain.
Soon, the magic fell, but the Creature that Devours the World calmly walked out unscathed from the hellish scene.
“It’s your turn now, Goddess.”
Snap, the sound of his fingers snapping echoed. Immediately, the black void that had trapped Eclipse shattered into pieces.
Eclipse finally gained freedom, landing on the ground. He had been trapped in that black void since the moment the fingers first snapped before the fight began.
“What are you doing? If you don’t heal my wounds quickly, I’m going to die!”
The Creature that Devours the World beckoned. None here, including the Popes, Minerva, Nix, or Aurora, could heal their own wounds.
Eclipse hurriedly cast a barrier of light. Evaporated arms returned, broken bones healed, and a twisted body regained form.
The injuries that could not have been healed, no matter how much healing magic or sacred spells had been poured onto them, were healed the moment they touched the barrier that Eclipse cast.
The laws of the world dictated it that way.
“Look closely, humans.”
As Eclipse gathered up the injured in the barrier, the Creature that Devours the World began to walk slowly towards him. In his hand was a sword shaped like the wingless nightmare.
“You are about to witness your Goddess’s defeat.”
Immortal Mission
I was floating in a strange space.
In fact, I couldn’t even say whether “floating” was the right term. I felt like I was drifting somewhere, and that was all I could sense. It might have felt similar to being submerged in water, relaxed and weightless.
I couldn’t tell if my eyes were open or closed. Even if I thought I had my eyes closed or opened, all I could see was darkness.
‘……Am I dead?’
This memory suddenly came rushing back as time flowed endlessly. I struggled not to get swept away by boredom, clinging desperately to that memory.
That damned lizard stabbed a knife into my abdomen, and in the end, my head was blown off. Most humans die when their heads are blown off. I could say I died back then without any doubt.
‘If I’m dead, then why can I think like this?’
I asked myself a question, but there was no answer.
I pondered deeply. I had been ripped from my abdomen to my shoulders, so I would have died even if I left it be, and finally, my head was blown off. It wouldn’t be absurd to think I was dead.
But suddenly saying I was dead didn’t sit right with me because it bothered me that I was able to think at all. I couldn’t grasp why it was possible.
The more I thought, the more complicated my mind got rather than straightening out the situation.
‘I don’t know. Maybe I’ll just ignore it and move on.’
It wouldn’t change anything, no matter what conclusion I reached. I lost to that lizard, and thus I died. It was probably better to brush it off, thinking there might be some reason I didn’t know.
I had done that too many times before.
I moved forward for no clear reason or goal, simply because I was alive. Squashing death beneath me while pressing on with injuries was all that mattered.
That action had no purpose. No reason. I simply moved because I had not died. If I were to accept this similarly this time, then that would be the end of it.
While I was lost in that vague thought, I began to feel the sensations in my fingertips and toes gradually fading away. The concepts of fingers and toes drifted away from flesh.
The sensation of my body fading gradually ascended. Soon my forearms disappeared, then my calves. It continued consuming my arms and legs, showing no signs of stopping.
‘……But what happens if my head disappears too?’
The thought sent a chill to my chest. For some unknown reason, if I were to completely disappear like this, then it felt like there would be no turning back.
My heart raced, and I desperately tried to think of something. Anything at all would suffice. I needed to distract myself. Various scattered memories flooded into my mind.
Then, the fading sensations of my limbs began to return. I wiggled my fingers. They were moving. I wiggled my toes. The same was true.
‘Now I can tell for sure. This is definitely a real space.’
At least I set aside where I was. It seemed I could feel sensations of those limbs that had vanished or returned.
‘What kind of world is this anyway?’
Deciding to push through this situation, my body began to disappear, but as I struggled to recall memories, the vanished body returned. What was this situation like?
‘Did I miss something?’
The last time I fought the Creature that Devours the World, my abdomen was pierced, and then he finished me off by blowing my head off. I had replayed that memory over dozens of times.
But what happened next?
I knew for sure that I had died. That wouldn’t change. There was absolutely no way this could be reality.
If that were the case, then I could consider that I fell into the afterlife after I died.
‘No.’
I swiftly denied that possibility.
Whether that truly existed was a different matter, but if this were the afterlife, then either Eclipse or the Creature that Devours the World would have to recognize my existence.
If Eclipse had recognized me, he would have come to bring me back, and if the Creature had, he would have come to finish me off completely. If that wasn’t the case, then the chance of this being the afterlife was slim.
As I repeated my thoughts over and over, I eventually realized that the sensations in my body had become much clearer. The feeling of drifting aimlessly was completely gone.
My eyelids fluttered. I had my eyes closed. It was only now that I realized that.
‘Open.’
I commanded with my will. The closed eyelids fluttered strongly.
‘Open.’
I commanded once more. I poured strength into a single word, giving it purpose and intention.
My eyes opened.
Inky-black pupils reflected the world.
“……”
I looked around. It was an empty space. A space made of something black, or perhaps it was black because it was empty, and only I was floating in it.
I inspected my body. The pitch-black uniform I had worn until the very end. Nothing had changed. Just as I was about to lift my head again, I noticed a bright, radiant color glowing on the back of my hand.
I flipped my hand over.
“Why is this here…?”
And I looked on with astonishment.
The mark symbolizing the Immortal Mission. The golden and silver mixed symbol glimmered clearly on the back of my right hand, just like in the game.
My astonishment quickly turned into confusion. An Immortal mark on this body? It made no sense.
I had used the true death on my own body to defeat the final Immortal Centipede in Brightest Darkness 3, causing my body to wither away. This was Eclipse’s newly created body.
So how could an Immortal mark be carved into this newly created flesh? Eclipse wouldn’t have arbitrarily given me the Immortal Mission while creating a new body.
In the first place, the mission should have ended in the age of Brightest Darkness 1. Brightest Darkness 2 was merely a process of restoring a broken soul, and Brightest Darkness 3 was a journey to defeat the Immortal Centipede.
Brightest Darkness 4 was based on an entirely different world, so it was unnecessary to discuss such matters—
‘……Wait.’
Is it really unrelated?
I felt as though I had received a slap to the back of my head. If I had saved the world, restored the soul, and defeated the Immortal Centipede, did my mission truly come to an end? Was what I “aimed for,” truly it?
What was I here for?
“Ugh…!”
As I became aware of that fact, I felt something burning hot on my hand.
No, it wasn’t just a sensation. The mark symbolizing the Immortal Mission was truly emanating a bright light. The surrounding darkness dared not come near that light.
“……Was it so?”
I clenched my right fist tightly.
The mission is not yet over. The reason I came here was to repay the debt I owed to the Creature that Devours the World. The debt that Eclipse had to bring me here and put me through hardship.
The debt still loomed large, still unpaid.
“Not yet.”
Color returned to my body. The pale skin returned to its original hue.
“It’s not… over yet.”
Breath resumed. I moved my neck, inhaling deeply. The once frozen limbs creaked as they flexed. My body temperature rose, and the still-beating heart began to thump again. Thump, thump, the soft pulse sounded.
*Through the series of Brightest Darkness, you may have encountered many broken immortals. They were all once humans who had been granted the Immortal Mission, but unable to withstand repeated deaths, their souls were shattered and only their bodies remained.
*The reason the protagonist does not become one of them is will.
*In the game, it’s simply labeled as health, but in truth, it represents mental strength. Because they’re immortal, they never die, and wounds heal automatically, so health holds no meaning.
*Death in Brightest Darkness is not a physical death. It is merely an unconscious state caused by mental strength dropping to zero due to pain. To put it simply, it’s just a temporary fainting state.
*However, the protagonist always rises again, no matter how many times they fall. They silently follow the player’s will to attack, dodge, and move forward. Ultimately, they reach the game’s ending.
*The protagonist never breaks. They never give up. The moment the protagonist breaks is solely when the user playing the game gives up.
*As long as the player exists, the protagonist is always there.
I recalled an interview from the creators of Brightest Darkness, which had suddenly resurfaced as a meme after being buried for seven years.
The moment the protagonist breaks is only when the player gives up. As long as the player doesn’t give up, the protagonist would rise again and again in accordance with that will.
“The protagonist never breaks… Right. It’s a true statement.”
And I had not given up on the game.
Breathe in!
According to my will, the mark symbolizing the Immortal Mission shone brighter. The mission buried deep in my soul awakened completely through the trigger of death.
As long as this exists, I won’t die.
As long as I don’t die, I won’t break.
“I’m not breaking, not as long as I’m here.”
The sensations in my body returned completely. I was standing on my own two legs, seeing the world with my own two eyes, and breathing with my own mouth.
The final memories pushed through in waves. All the countless deaths, all those experiences, blended together into one within me.
My body began to reconstruct itself.
Return
Lize swiftly beheaded the middle-aged man rushing at her. As the essence of true death negated him, his headless body crumbled down.
Where one had fallen, three took its place. After dodging an attack, Lize looked around. Claudia, Erica, and Iris were all fighting desperately.
The situation wasn’t good. It was clearly visible that their movements had slowed significantly compared to the beginning. Their breaths were ragged, and the white sleeveless tops were soaked with sweat, slightly revealing their bodies.
But there was no time to rest. Lize bit her teeth and swung her blue dagger while blocking the swinging attacks.
“What’s wrong? Are you already tired? If you don’t fight properly, these things will infest your world!”
The Creature that Devours the World, while fighting Eclipse, kept an eye on the remaining humans with contempt, mocking Lize.
In fact, the word “fight” hardly held true. Eclipse had been completely overwhelmed, unable to land a single effective blow. What was happening couldn’t even be called a battle.
“Since I’ve granted you a chance, why do you look so glum?”
Such mercy was absurd. The endlessly emerging copies from the ground weren’t made to kill them.
They were made to toy with them.
If the intention was to kill, they would have been sent out with far higher specs from the start, not slightly weaker ones who could be killed if they put in their all.
“Burst!”
At Aurora’s fingertips, crystalline mana burst forth like buckshot. Embedded in the bodies of humans, the crystal projectiles split into smaller pieces.
The humans struck by the projectiles collapsed, but they managed to rise up again, dragging themselves forward. Whether blood poured from their holes or bones broke, they carried on without concern.
“These persistent ones….”
While Aurora cursed, she noticed a human with the same appearance as the woman from the imperial palace beginning to cast a magic circle. Clenching her teeth, Aurora cast a defensive spell.
Hundreds of crystal projectiles bombarded the protective spell.
Crack!
“Argh!”
The barrier didn’t hold for long. With the sound of glass shattering, one of the projectiles pierced through and lodged itself in her right calf. Aurora staggered.
Though dozens more projectiles breached the barrier, she suddenly found herself somewhere else. She was beside Minerva.
Amid staving off her replica, she had to ensure her spells wouldn’t harm her allies, which meant Minerva’s condition wasn’t particularly great either. She was drenched in sweat from her face to her cleavage.
Wiping her cheek with the back of her hand, Minerva said, “Concentrate, child. You mustn’t fall yet.”
“……I’m sorry, Lady Minerva.”
“There’s nothing to apologize for. If you need to, take a moment to rest. I can find a way to buy us some time.”
“No. I can fight more.”
Aurora gritted her teeth, ignoring the pain as she stood back up, refusing to let herself fall here. It would be too shameful to face the others.
She didn’t use healing magic. It wouldn’t work anyway, the result of whatever world’s laws dictated it. That trash in the form of Delta had directly explained it.
Not believing the explanation, she had tried it, and it turned out he was indeed correct.
“Look at how desperately they thrash about. Isn’t that right, Goddess?”
The Creature that Devours the World observed all of this, gaze filled with derision directed at Eclipse.
“It appears those pitiful humans are fighting so desperately. You, of all people, should be trying much harder, don’t you think?”
Gag… Shut up….
“Your mouth is impudent.”
The wingless nightmare struck Eclipse, smashing him in the gut. Gasping, Eclipse clutched his stomach and knelt down.
Gah, letting out a breath had droplets of clear liquid falling from his mouth. His body was already a mess of wounds. His skin had been torn, and he had over ten dark bruises.
“At this point, we might as well doubt whether you’re a goddess at all.”
Eclipse couldn’t counter even a bit. He was losing strength even now.
Thus, as time passed, the more the Creature became stronger while Eclipse grew weaker. Even now, crushed to the ground and being pummeled, that held true.
The Creature that Devours the World, hands in his pockets, casually walked around the battlefield. The utter humanity in a red-eyed glare was fixed on the humans, who fought for their lives against their copies.
“Look at those futile beings. Observe how foolish and ignorant they are. See them deny and refuse the truth. They foolishly keep reciting unattainable hopes, endlessly resisting in vain. All their actions are mere illusions.”
“…….”
“I will grant you the opportunity to save them, Goddess.”
Weakened and unable to heal even simple wounds, Eclipse trembled as he lifted his head.
“Directly deny hope with your own account. Declare that man is dead, and will not return. Declare it in the name of the Goddess. Should you do that, I will spare them. What do you say?”
“Nonsense… Gack?!”
Eclipse immediately rejected the deal as something that wasn’t even worthy of consideration. The wingless nightmare struck his head again. His body collapsed onto the ground. The place that was struck grew red and swollen.
The Creature had not once drawn a blade since this fight began. It was meant to mock Eclipse, proving that someone like him was sufficient only to be hit with the hilt.
“Things are starting to get dull. If you’re going to kill time, you should entertain me in the meantime. How long will you keep getting beaten without a fight?”
“I can still—”
Bam!
“The process here doesn’t qualify as a real fight, Goddess. You should understand your place.”
Being struck in the stomach sent Eclipse flying, crashing back down and rolling across the ground. The Creature paced leisurely towards the spot where he had landed.
“Now tell me, do you truly still believe in that meaningless hope? That man is not dead, and that he will return in time?”
“……Delta is. He’s not dead, yet.”
“Oh dear. We have a goddess who doesn’t understand a word I’m saying. I must have stated how I killed that man at least ten times by now. Yet you still cling to such hopes, huh?”
“When I first brought Delta here, I thought it was impossible, and it couldn’t be. Yet here we are, and what’s happening now? You’re going to get your comeuppance for—”
Crash!
Eclipse slammed against the ground. The Creature used his dragon-form hand to pin him beneath as a hint of rage glimmered in his expression.
“Stop spouting useless words.”
As the crushing weight intensified, Eclipse let out a pained moan. His vertical pupils reflected the glimmer of hatred.
“I understand your intent.”
Crack, the pressure increased, and Eclipse gasped, helplessly straining against the overpowering weight.
“I will give you what you want. You absolute scum don’t deserve a chance to speak.”
The Creature that Devours the World removed his hand. Strange black liquid began to ooze from the ground, forcing Eclipse to kneel, grabbing his jaw and prying his mouth open.
Just when the black liquid attempted to enter, hesitating, it halted mere inches from his lips.
The Creature, sensing something’s off, turned his gaze down.
“……What?”
Suddenly, a shadow manifested in front of him.
There was no time to understand the situation. As the surroundings brightened, the silhouette grew even more distinct. In the face of an unconceivable occurrence, the Creature that Devours the World turned his gaze in the opposite direction.
He saw the sun rise in the sky.
“……”
Every being on the ground stopped moving. Simultaneously, they gazed upward. All the noise of battle that filled the empty space fizzled out like a dying ember.
The dark sky lit up with sunbeams. Everything with eyes was witnessing that radiant light.
However, while it was a sun, it was not a sun. Because it had not been created by Eclipse. It wasn’t Eclipse’s sun.
“Ah….”
With Eclipse’s astonished voice, the sun descended toward the ground.
As if the world itself were descending, there was nothing on the ground that could appropriately face the sun setting in the twilight sky. All they could do was stare blankly as the sun touched the ground and shattered.
Boom!
As the sun fully descended, an immense brilliance erupted forth. A tidal wave of light swept the earth, turning everything in sight golden.
The bodies swept away by the light began to heal. Damaged arms returned, torn flesh reattached, and broken bones mended. Even Eclipse’s injuries began to mend.
Wounds that had gotten progressively worse without any method of healing were all being treated now. Eclipse gazed, water filling his eyes, at the skin that was healing and the bruises vanishing.
“Aah…”
Tears of joy trickled down his cheeks.
AH!
Unlike those healed humans, some beings screamed painfully as they were wrapped in the light.
They were the clones created by the Creature that Devours the World. Those copies howled in agony when consumed by light, collapsing to the ground.
“Guh….”
The tears that had welled in his eyes streamed down his cheeks.
What had just been conjured was a sacred spell named ‘The Benevolent Sun’. Eclipse had been through the entirety of Brightest Darkness and even put this spell into it himself.
Its effect was to broadly heal allies’ health and deal damage to enemies equivalent to a portion of that healing. This meant that the sun had recognized Eclipse and the other humans as allies.
To prove that thought was correct, Eclipse’s body wasn’t just healing; it overflowed with vigor compared to before the fight.
“What… is this!?”
The Creature that Devours the World, with bloodshot eyes, glared at Eclipse, who simply turned his head back upwards.
The full moon began to rise in the sky.
Replacing the fading golden light, silver took its place. Gradually, very slowly, the full moon descended upon the earth. The copies rolling on the ground, tortured in pain, were swept away in an instant.
Eclipse knew this too. It was a sacred spell named ‘The Merciful Moon’.
Its effect was to harm a wide area of enemies, and similarly heal allies’ health according to the damage inflicted. Again, the moon had recognized Eclipse and the other humans as allies.
Confirming that the thought had been right, Eclipse found himself surging with more energy and vitality than before the battle.
“This… is absurd!”
While the Creature that Devours the World fixed its gaze somewhere, Eclipse gathered the women scattered around him towards his side. Countless pairs of eyes filled with astonishment were directed at the goddess.
“Was that just the work of the Goddess?!”
“I didn’t do anything!”
Eclipse slowly shook his head. The tears from his cheeks glistened as the dozen pairs of eyes widened in surprise.
Silence fell for a moment, but it was short-lived.
Someone with a familiar appearance began walking toward this way.
As soon as I had emerged from that strange space, the Creature that Devours the World, still possessing my form, wore an expression filled with astonishment.
Abandoning all sense of dignity, it displayed its shock openly. I frowned at it.
“Are you still messing around in my form?”
“You brat…!”
It ground its teeth, deepening its crimson vertical pupils. It seemed that by instinct, it sensed that I was not the fake.
“You should have died! I ensured you were dead! I verified everything thoroughly until the very last moment!”
“Yeah. I died. I can’t be certain without memory, but I probably got a thorough finish too.”
I responded calmly, and my reaction made its voice sharpen.
“There was no sign of you coming back; how are you still alive?!”
“Alive? That’s simple.”
I aimed the wingless nightmare at it. And returning the smirk that it had always shown me, I spoke.
“Phase 2, you bastard.”
