"... Another subject has died. Pathetic, couldn't resist the corruption of the soul."
As the devil looked into the distance, he spun the balls in his hands, squinted his eyes, created a paper in his hands, and minutes later, he destroyed it.
"Now that I've finished your last request, what should I do with this newly created species?"
He rose from his throne and looked outside, savoring the last sight he would see. Suddenly, from the castle wall, a female demon, two meters tall with wings, broke the wall like a cannonball, shattering the devil king's throne.
The devil king, who had almost predicted this, was not particularly surprised. He calmly looked at the broken wall, and about 20 people entered.
When the devil king looked at them, half of them started trembling at their knees, but the other half wasted no time and attacked the devil king.
Although the devil king skillfully evaded the successive attacks, he couldn't kill them due to the hero's grace.
'Pathetic,' he thought. Due to forbidden things, he couldn't show his true power, and he couldn't go beyond being a sandbag.
The battle dragged on, hours chased hours, days chased days, and after a war that lasted 6 days and 7 nights, the devil king had sent only one person to eternity.
There could be tons of reasons for this: the hero's grace, the devil king's shackles, the hero's resurrection magic, and the like.
Incomprehensible things, but the devil king, whose end was death, had forgotten how many times he had died. In these days of war, the ecosystem of the battlefield changed, and now, dozens of kilometers of land became uninhabitable.
As the devil king held his intestines spilling out of his stomach, he collapsed onto his feet, sat on the ground, looked silently at the heroes, and after closing his eyes, he died.
As soon as he died, the world disappeared, and an infinite void enveloped it. Now all those tortures were over, and he returned to the spiritual realm. It was clear that he missed this, and his sorrow over the failure of the subject could be felt.
"Aquirus... Ah, it happened. He couldn't resist the corruption of the soul."
After looking into infinity, he spoke back. "Another failed experiment... What went wrong this time?"
No matter how much he thought, he couldn't find an answer. "I guess my wisdom suffered after my fall. But probably his biggest mistake was not reproducing. The only thing left from him is this poorly developed mushroom."
After holding the mushroom in his hand, he put it back on the ground.
"I can't strengthen this mushroom; the cosmos's punishment is still upon me."
Afterward, he closed his eyes and stayed in a sleeping position for about 2 years. Then he suddenly opened his eyes and stood up. He created something indescribable with words in his hands and stared at it for a while.
"As I expected, the cosmos took Aquirus's soul... Then it may not be considered a complete failure; if the cosmos took it, it will use him somewhere. But where? And when?"
He closed his eyes for a few seconds, and when he opened them, he seemed a bit surprised. He started searching for something on the same screen and couldn't believe his eyes when the search was done.
"... Is this possible? No, no, cosmoc... How many unknown features did you have?" He took a sample from the mushroom on the screen and took the mushroom left by Aquirus, inserting both into the screen at the same time, then waited for a while.
"...Damn, are the similarities this high? When did it diverge from the primitive ancestor?" The letters on the screen changed, and after getting the answer, he closed the screen and looked at the black void for a moment before returning to his throne.
"... Interesting, very contradictory but not impossible. In fact, it would be strange if it weren't like this. If the cosmos can intervene in the past... In the future, no, no. What did my past self have that I didn't know?"
After staying like that for a long time, he stood up again and threw the mushroom left by Aquirus into the void, disappearing along with the void.
"I guess he used his soul to create that mushroom at that moment, so actually, that mushroom is largely Aquirus's..."
"It's pathetic for them to spread my sacredness to the world. I guess I'll declare war on heaven in the next hundred years." He spoke with the same indifference in his eyes and walked in a certain direction with the same indifference.
After walking for hours, days, and even months, he arrived at a person. When he arrived, something happened inside, but it didn't last long.
"... Why have you come, demon?" said the shadowy figure sitting.
"I need your help," replied the demon.
Eyes suddenly appeared on the shadowy figure's face, and he looked at the demon closely.
"I see you've escaped from your shackles."
"Not exactly, but it's true that I've escaped that dimension of torture," he said, folding his hands.
"... Shall we discuss this matter over a drink?" Using his hands, he created a warm metallic liquid that instantly entered the shadowy creature's body.
The demon's share disappeared instantly. "Thanks for the drink. I assume you know about the incident of those 7 demigods. And you probably know about the attack they will launch in the future."
"They cannot win against Heaven, even if he is no longer there, the remaining quintet is still there."
"I know, but they can make it 'unlivable' there." After crossing out the 'unlivable' part, the shadowy creature took another sip of his drink.
"Demon... We know this, but we cannot help. You know that."
"Unfortunately, I know, my old friend. We, the old ones, have fallen into pathetic states. And only five of us remain."
"Unfortunately, I know. That's why we created those experiments."
The sadness on the demon's face became more apparent. "... How can I forget? The cosmos shackled us for that reason."
"Yes," he looked at his drink for a while, and it re-entered the shadowy body. "But it was something that had to be done."
"Unfortunately, it was. Life would surpass us somehow. One way or another. But they cannot win against the cosmos without that thing."
"I think you're giving too much information to the readers."
"... Are they still here?" He began to look around, but he couldn't exactly figure out where to look.
"I don't know~ I don't think she'll finish this section here."
The shadowy entity closed its eyes and spoke after a long silence. "What do you want from me?"
No one else heard the conversation that took place there. "... It might work. How much of your godhood have you reclaimed? No, how much can you use?"
The demon fell into deep silence. "At most, 1%."
"Probably enough, but that place is really challenging. The chosen subject may not survive."
"I know, and there are other people there as well. But you also know. We need the technology of that ancient race."
"Yes, but we cannot decide this on our own. You know this too."
"They don't need to know about it, and you know that." After a long silence, the shadowy creature spoke again.
"How sure are you that it will succeed?"
"I'm not sure, but." He remained silent for a short while and continued. "We can access that system."
He responded instantly, "The cosmos will notice. If the ancient Type 2 civilization had been given thousands of more years, they would have become a Type 3 civilization."
"Don't worry; I have my own ways."
"... If you say so, okay. But there's still a big problem. Most people on many worlds have already fallen under the control of the rebels."
"Don't worry; things will be easier with the help of this subject's mushroom."
"Since you mentioned it, I couldn't exactly examine that mushroom. What features does it have?"
"It can gather souls. It can store them and merge them together."
"Does it have any limitations?"
"Most likely, it can't hold the souls of beings like leviathans."
"So, how will this be useful for us?" he drank even more alcohol this time.
"Well, actually, it's not useful for us right now, but it could be useful thanks to the intervention of the cosmos."
"Can you summarize? My alcohol is running out."
The devil looked at the shadowy creature with a strange expression and then sighed, taking a deep breath. "Haah, the cosmos revived this mushroom in the past, and thus, we can take the soul of someone from the past, provided their soul hasn't suffered too much damage."
The shadowy creature drank the last of its remaining alcohol and spoke. "Hmm? Looks like you've learned this ability of the cosmos."
"... Damn, did you know about your alcohol?"
"Yeah, you didn't ask."
The devil took a deep breath. "I guess it's the consequence of being the first to fall."
The shadowy creature continued, "So, are you sure that's where it should be? I mean, their technology could be very useful for us, but it's still a tough job."
"The mushroom in this cosmos has probably invaded such a planet."
"Even if it did, it can't have any memories."
"No need for that; we can revive it with my divinity."
"How much do we have the right to do, at most?"
Author's note: So, didn't expect me to finish it here, huh? Hehe, but I must admit I didn't expect to drag it out this much either. I would either get bored or ruin the story in the halfway through the novel. After all, I'm still an amateur. The beginning of the story might have started dull. Normal, considering I have very little experience, after all. But if the later chapters are better than the early ones, it makes me happy. And indeed, it's been a long time since a chapter came out. My mistake, and if possible, scold me in the comments. Although I don't know if anyone reads this final chapter. I wish I could check the beginning for readability. Or maybe I don't know how to check. And I wish someone would really criticize and comment on what I've done. I hope someone like that comes along in the future. And I don't want to keep you too long. Yes, this was the finale; probably in the future, different stories will come within this universe. And my next novel will probably be something related to school life. Anyway, if I've rescued you from reality for a few minutes, lucky me. See you in the next story.