"—Elma!"
"""—!?"""
When we arrived at the throne room, we found Elma being protected by Tirna and Terra-sama, who apparently had arrived earlier.
"Exa! Everyone!" Elma raised her voice in response to my call.
There was a huge hole in the center of the throne room, and a woman who seemed to be one of the"Eight Sacrifices"was lying unconscious on the floor, so I'd thought there had been a huge battle, but hearing her voice, it seemed Elma was fine.
"I'm glad you're safe! Tirna and Terra-sama too!" I shouted.
"Mm, we're okay. Elma apparently didn't suffer too terribly, either."
"I see. That's good." Stroking my chest in relief at Tirna's words, I stepped forward so as to cover them behind me.
The white-haired man sitting on the throne then said in a bored manner, "You're finally here. You took too long, Savior."
"Elysium…"
Yes, he was the former 'Sword' Saint and the current genesis god—Elysium.
Given that I could sense no one else around, it seemed that he was the only one here.
It was probably safe to assume that the rest of the"Eight Sacrifices"had been defeated, just like the woman who was lying unconscious on the floor.
Yet, even in this situation, he was still relaxedly sitting on the throne while resting his face on his palm; did he still have something up his sleeve or something?
Sure, Elma had yet had the Phoenix Seal engraved on herself, which may be the source of his confidence, but…
At that moment.
"—My Lord, please give us a chance to ask you a question," said Yomi as he and Aetia went to kneel before Elysium.
Elysium, his face still resting on his palm, then responded, "All right. Let's hear it."
"I apologize in advance for my rudeness, but My Lord, for what reason did you create us?"
"Is it not obvious? It's for the creation of the new world."
"For that reason, would you even go so far as to sacrifice us to Valon?"
Elysium had been expressionless until now, but his eyebrow twitched at Yomi's question.
Did that tick him off?
Well, Aetia had said it herself. To Elysium, they might be nothing more than pawns.
That sounded to me like he would get rid of them without hesitation depending on his mood. If worse came to worst, I'd protect Yomi.
As I carefully watched Elysium's movement, he muttered, "Is that so."
"?"
It gave me an indescribable sense of incongruity, but… at that time.
——Rumble!
『―!?』
All of a sudden the ground shook violently as though it had made a collision.
As we all raised our vigilance wondering what was going on, "…It seems that our goal has been achieved," Elysium rose up from the throne and slowly began to descend the stairs, but…
——Crackle crackle!
『―Wha!?』
…he gradually transformed into a different person as he did.
"—How unfortunate, isn't it?"
What now appeared before us was a beautiful girl—no, a beautiful boy with a much smaller stature than Elysium, making him seemed to be in his mid to late teens at first glance.
Yes, he was Patty—one of the"Eight Sacrifices"like Yomi and the others.
"W-why were you pretending to be Elysium-sama…!?"
Seeing his shocked face, it seemed that even Yomi, who had said that Patty was like a brother to him, had no idea that he had replaced Elysium.
Naturally, we were just as stunned as Yomi. Patty, looking over us, said, "Now the"God's Garden"has reached "World of Oblivion: Judgement"— the bottommost layer of "World of Oblivion". With all of you who bear the Phoenix Seal gathered here, the Savior will not be able to escape from this place. As such, I'm sorry to say this, but I'll have to have you stay here with us until Elysium-sama finishes creating the new world."
"W-what did you say…!?"
"World of Oblivion: Judgement"…
Since when did we…
"You see, our goal from the very beginning was to confine you here in"World of Oblivion: Judgement". But you can warp to the saintesses' sides through the Phoenix Seal. So, it was necessary for us to lure out everyone who has the Phoenix Seal here. And you, Elma, was the perfect bait to that end."
"You…"
As Elma knitted her eyebrows seemingly surprised, Patty continued, "I was the only one privy to this plan. After all, in order distract you from sensing the slowly descending"God's Garden", the"Eight Sacrifices"had to fight with all they had against you.
"Though, I never imagined Valon would do something like that…" Patty averted his eyes with a melancholic look on his face.
Phinis-sama inquired with a sad expression on her face, "Do you fully understand what you did…?"
"Of course. But well, it's not like we're gonna die, anyway. Why don't you admit your defeat and wait until everything's over? If you do so, I think the Lord will allow you to live in the new world."
"No… you've got it wrong…"
"?"
Phinis-sama shook her head sideways, causing Patty to tilt his head.
Seeing that, Phinis-sama said, "You seem to be thinking that that demi-human will come back and rescue you, but that is not going to happen… After all, anyone who falls into this place, even if they have the power of god of genesis, will never be able to escape…"
"Huh…?"