The Destruction God has descended.
Well, I had expected the strange entity we brought back to be a menace to society, and strangely enough, that's exactly what I got: A chaotic rampant of desires that has no limitations.
Demons, that's what they call those who do wicked things for wicked purposes. Humans believe that it is all Demonic Beasts that cause suffering. They do not even understand the truth of this world...
It is not Demons destroying this world, it is literally Gods like the crazy psycho in front of me who almost took the lives of hundreds. The worst part about this was that this creature did not repent...!
"Would you have slaughtered innocents to have your own way?" I asked the creature seriously.
"I know what you're getting at, but it's not like I was taking human lives or anything." She shrugged.
"Beasts lives are important too... Are you part of the 'Purists' that have been gaining attention lately?" I interrogated the woman with eyes that had no bitterness but true righteous fury.
Why does she view life so poorly?
"I don't even know what Purists are. Hey, it's not like you can expect a Monster that has been living amongst humans to emphasise with animals. I've been eating chicken with clear heart." The woman actually joked as she leaned on her palm.
I can't believe I'm accepting this crazy psycho as part of the Gorgon Religion. She reminds me of two Gods I knew back in ancient times, but was nothing like those 'parents' that had nurtured this world...
"You are one of those 'animals'." My words caused the nonchalance on the woman's face to vanish.
"I'm merely who I am. Nothing more, nothing less."
"That's a convenient ideology. Does that mean everyone else are nothing but insects to you?"
"If I said 'of course', you wouldn't be able to do anything about it. Why even bother to ask?"
"..." My eyes stared at the woman harshly as the powers I had hidden from others gathered up.
"Are you planning on attacking?" She asked me gleefully as she was looking forward to a fight.
I held back my malice and closed my eyes for a good second to exorcise my fury before looking at her once again. She seemed surprised by my composure as I put a plate in front of her.
"This is the heart of a Wrath Goblin, a very rare variant that only has a dozen left in my horde of followers." I introduced the meat left on the plate which had enough energy to trigger an evolution.
Compared to the Humans, those who were considered 'Monsters' were not loved by the world despite their advantage in numbers. There were not many Monsters with the talent or opportunities to gain a high enough form to threaten a society.
Monsters who sought evolution could not bring their bodies to the point of surpassing their limitations often. Though there were shortcuts for everything in the world, even cheating one's body.
Eating the flesh of a Demonic Beast has the highest chance of inciting an evolution. As long as a Monster wishes, they can evolve immediately after they have changed in such delectable flesh.
For becoming a Demonic Beast, certain steps had to be taken. However, there was a reason I presented the opportunity to gain the Wrath Attribute rather than the others. After all, I had researched enough to find that this Attribute actually contained aspects of the Time Attribute weaved into it. As long as she gained it, then the concept of time should stop bothering her.
In retrospect, I felt a headache from this situation...
Why did the Empress talk me with giving away benefits to this mongrel of a Godly Monster?
I disdained this trash who seemed to have parts of every species except Human on her body.
"Finally." She spoke and reached out her hand towards the meat, but I slapped her hand away.
"This isn't to be eaten raw, not unless you want to lose yourself in a berserk state after evolution."
"You should have cooked it then." She spoke dismissively while looking at me like an object.
I had felt this gaze from Humans before. It was the eyes of someone who thought themselves 'unique'.
"How annoying."
"..." My dark tone momentarily confused her.
"You remind me of myself." I gave her a bone chilling smile normally given to heretics.
The Naga Temple didn't focus on virtue, but rather a Beast's 'self-control'. All Demonic Beasts of our temple go through several trials before they are able to be welcomed as one of our own.
Each one of them are given trials that allow them to overcome their 'Sin' and become true worshippers.
Those that fail become food, that was the ideology of the Gorgon Religion. It was simplistic and rational, without errors. Those who can become true worshippers aren't that high in numbers.
In actuality, if it weren't for the high fertility of Goblins as well as the Demonic Monsters themselves being created in droves recently, it would have been impossible for me to have such an organised group of Goblins, no matter how skilful I was. The amount of Demonic Monsters I had to kill on a regular basis was now most likely higher than the citizens of this prosperous empire.
Naga Priests were even harder to nurture than regular followers to the point that it was fortunate that I had been able to attain that useful Cat and Tiger duo who have been able to lessen my burden. Even if I'm facing the Destruction God, I can safely say that I am not to be underestimated just because of my normally gentle demeanour.
Ah, looking at her brought back memories...
There was something I wanted to show this Destruction God, as my smokey legs condensed images of a tale of my past. Something I'd never expected I would tell to this passionless heretic.
"Let me tell you a story: There was a time in the past where a wolf envied there bright moon." The smoke condensed not using the Dark Attribute, but the personal Attribute of mine I called 'Negative'.
The figures of my story appeared in my neon blue magical energy that fluctuated in colour somewhat.
"It howled in agony as it felt the moon was much more magnificent and beautiful than itself. The wolf was a narcissist who knew no bounds, but the feelings in his heart could never be washed away."
I didn't bother showing any relatability or even pretending this was a folktale about someone who had moral integrity. In my ancient past, there had been many times I'd only realised my arrogance after the fact. So I could quite romanticise it...
"He was truly an honest wolf despite his horrible personality. Everyday, it would lament towards the night sky, unable to touch or hold the tiny gem that was no bigger than its palm. To it, the moon was both unfathomable and mysterious to its eyes."
There was a nostalgic look on my face as I remembered trying to grab then moon as a child with no avail. Sometimes, it would give off a warmth like a mother in the darkness. For a orphan like me, that feeling was truly wonderful to me.
Oh how I miss the Moon Mother of all Beasts, how her darkness wrapped us and gave our affection.
"One day, a change occurred as the moon sent down word of a child of the eclipse. The only child of Beast and Human in the world loved most by the moon and sun, an existence that caused the wolf to burn with jealousy. It's heart unspeakably void."
The nuance in the images were vivid as I illustrated the events of that time afterwards with regret.
"And fill that emptiness, he devoured the head of the child and digested it into aspects of destruction. He believed such an act would appease its ego, but ignored how his own action had inevitably estranged it from the 'mother' he so dearly loved. The wolf was punished, erased from the world, all until the day the Gods died, and the balance of the world broke for the first time. The wolf from then on devoted itself to salvation."
As the story ended, the images of I was showing through my powers disappeared as everything returned to how it was. The look on this woman named Disharmony finally went through a change.
She started to take me more seriously...!
"The moral of the story: Don't commit sins out of apathy. They only lead to a gruesome end." This interpretation wasn't rejected by the Destruction God before me as she made a complicated face.
"That didn't sound like just a myth."
"Myths are not tales that are untrue... but history that doesn't fit properly into the widely acknowledged timeline. You can interpret this story however you want." I didn't show any openings.
It was at this point that I took out a few herbs, Yin Water, and prized creation used in alchemy called the Yang Fire. I multitasked between talking to her and refining the meat into proper evolution material that could be easily devoured by any Monster.
"Why tell me this...?"
"I felt like you needed to hear it."
"Hmph, sophistry." She snorted as she pretended to have no interest in the origins of my story.
"If you're going to stay here, you should get to know the 'animals' you so look down upon, or is it beyond you, and your pride as a God?" The eyes of the woman watched me alchemise medicine in awe. Her gaze then pried off by her own accord.
"...We'll see." She didn't say anything more than that as I continued my refinement of the medicine.
After a long while, I presented to her the fresh medicine made from a Wrath Goblin that needed to be devoured as soon as it was made. As soon as the Destruction God saw it, she threw it into her mouth without any doubts of it being poisoned.
What a naive person... (I didn't poison it.)
From that moment on, an evolution phenomenon happened that seemed to rip the world apart.
The image of the sun and moon arose on a strange graph that positioned the different Attributes she possessed into different positions. The body of this abomination between Mystic Races started to fade as the only of her left remaining was darkness.
Perhaps now would be the best time to kill her, but I knew that wasn't the case. Her eyes were still filled with clarity and that arm that contained the power over destruction still existed on that shadowy body as it loomed over the 'spheres'.
The word 'planets' popped into my mind as I realised this was an illustration of the world that those Heroes and Totems of the past had seen. A world where the 'planets' orbited the largest star.
Knowledge from a distant past arose in my head as I started to feel curious about something.
"Why this Evolution Phenomenon?" I asked the Destruction God becoming a Demonic Beast.
"Heh, then let me tell YOU a story: One about an otherworldly soldier who lost his sense of 'Self'."
She took her time as her shadowy left arm held onto and brought to the planet named 'Earth'.
"There was once a soldier who had been reborn into another world seeking peace and fortune. A man turned into a child, an detached flesh nurtured a soul, and watching over them was an enigmatic God who spoke words but gave no solutions."
The shadowy figure skipped over a lot of things while speaking to the point I was confused in whether she was telling this to ME or talking to herself... She mumbled a little before continuing:
"Anyway, this was a chaotic story filled with a lot of Disharmony. The world always hated the soldier."
She spoke as a change started to occur as the planets orbiting the sun started shaking before slowly coming to a halt. The D Rank Magical Capacity of a Monster who had only undergone their Initial Evolution and started to reach its limits.
The C Rank was where most Beast's would find their most perfect forms that suited their personal preferences. This actions one had done in their life also contributed to stabilising the the new form.
"And so the soldier thought: 'Well, is it not fine to hate the world back?'" After speaking that last line of her 'story', the flames of what I considered to be the 'Wrath Attribute', a subcategory of the Evil Attribute, started to arise on her left arm.
A new Ability Core seemed to be forming at this moment as I could sense her tapping into the balance of the world using my Negative Attribute's unique qualities. My face fell at this situation....
No, this just can't be! How?! How was a clear Destruction God like her able to tap into another Attribute...?!!! The flames that burnt down and devoured the planets on that 'solar system' before extinguishing, yet its power confused to increase.
The depth of the Evil Attribute was shown to me at this moment as I could sense that this Destruction God had somehow 'evolved' into a Demon God, not a Demonic Beast...! The darkness was pushed back by the sheer power of the Evil Attribute she nurtured before forming a new body for her. It was as if I was witnessing the birth of a new entity...!!!
The solar system disappeared and the figure of the the woman once again returned, but there was a change in her looks as her earthen brown skin turned into a strange shade of black that bordered on white. A greyness that held hints of two colours.
Her left arm seemed to contain and bring forth all the world's evil in order to balance the broken scale of this world, and her right hand truly embodied the power over destruction. Her back was straight in an authoritative manner as she laughed out loud.
Thus, a true 'Demon' has been born...!