With the night completely gone and silence reigns outside the window,
Kuro speaks in a calm tone.
[Errr, well then, where shall we begin?]
[…B- Before we do that, can I ask you one question?]
[Unnn?]
[…What's with our position…
I'm currently sitting on the sofa, while Kuro is sitting in the same spot…
Yes, in the same spot…
What I'm trying to say is that Kuro is on my lap.
My heart is beating o- outrageously fast… Why is it that girls' bodies are
so soft all over the place… The softness and warmth I feel in my lap
make my heart rang out like an alarm clock, and my face gets hotter and
hotter.
Moreover, Kuro is leaning her body weight on my body, making me feel
her body heat on my chest as well as my lap.
[I want to keep close to Kaito-kun… Is it no good?]
[!? N- No, it's not no good.]
[Ehehe, thanks. Kaito-kun, you're warm.]
Kuro's expression, with a happy grin and her cheeks blushing like red
cherries, is so cute that it could even kill people.
Seeing her cuteness that I couldn't resist, I relexively replied with
approval, to which Kuro happily rubs the back of her head against my
chest.
Kuro is somewhat more childlike and more fawning than before…
Perhaps, for Kuro, the act of fawning is the best way to express
affection.
Feeling the warmth of those actions, I gently hug Kuro's body from
behind.
Kuro happily smiles at my actions, then tells me the topic she was
talking to me about right from the start.
[Then, irst of all… I'll tell you my true identity.]
[Alright.]
I'm not sure if I really care about Kuro's true identity, but to be honest,
I'd be lying if I said I didn't care about it at all.
According to Alice, she's as powerful as the most powerful God in the
world and the only being who can kill Shiro-san… In that case, what
kind of being is she?
What I can only vaguely imagine is that she must be a very amazing
being, at least to me, a mere human being.
[…I'm actually…"another Shiro".]
[…Eh?]
[Shiro and I are mirror images of each other, and we are two sides of
the same coin.]
[Errr, what does that mean?]
Kuro tells me that she's another Shiro-san… When Kuro said that, I
remembered her appearance earlier.
She looks just like Shiro-san… Rather, they look exactly the same except
for the color of their hair… Her appearance certainly makes the word
"another Shiro-san" it.
[Kaito-kun, the Shiro you met was actually quite harmonious. The old
Shiro was more cold and indifferent.]
[......]
[Shiro, you see, is the one who created this world… but she never
thought that what she did was right or that her actions were great… Not
even a shred of any thoughts at all. So, even when Shiro created the
world, she "divided" her power, which was omnipotent, in half.]
[Half?]
[Yes… and half of that power dropped into the world she has created,
giving it the bare minimum of knowledge… and that half is me.]
Somehow, the story started to make sense to me.
Kuro is a being with the same power as her as she's made from her own
abilities, and at the same time, she was responsible for assessing the
world that Shiro-san had created.
As if to afirm it, Kuro nodded once before she continued speaking.
[The reason Shiro created me is simple. After I see the world and grow
along with it… When this world decided that it didn't need the
existence of the God of Creation anymore, she created a being that
could kill the God of Creation. Shiro wasn't even interested in her own
self. She thought that as soon as she created the world, her role would
eventually come to an end. Leaving the management of the world to the
Gods she created, not even looking at the world… Only waiting for me to
come back to kill her or for when I've decided to abandon the world
and destroy it.]
[......]
Honestly, I can't understand the thoughts of the Shiro-san at that time.
No, I supposed you could say that it's God-like in a way… but hearing
that she doesn't even care about herself, is in a way, giving me the chills.
If necessary, she will create a being to kill herself when her role is over,
and if it's a failure, she's willing to destroy even the world she created…
She's too cold and thinks systematically…
However, things just didn't go according to Shiro-san's intentions.
There actually may be some indifference in the current airheaded
Shiro-san, but I think she's become a human-like God illed with both
kindness and love, for all sorts of reason, I also like Shiro-san a lot.
[…Well, after that, I saw this world with my own eyes, I lived with it, I
loved it… And I got irritated, so I punched Shiro in the face.]
[…Huh?]
[I mean, yeah. She has created such a beautiful, wonderful world, but
she's not even looking at it, only looking at the future even when no one
asked her to do so, and then, even having the gall to ask me to kill her… I
feel like she's just messing around. So, I got really angry… I mean, isn't
she the one who made this world? Then, take responsibility, and watch
over them! Support them when needed!]
Kuro was originally the same existence as Shiro-san, but because she
lived with the world, loved this world, and built a irm sense of self…
She couldn't forgive Shiro-san… her other self, who remained
unconcerned for the world.
[So, I went to the God Realm to beat up Shiro… 20,000 years ago.]
[Does that mean that the war between the Demon Realm and the God
Realm 20,000 years ago… was just because of a quarrel between Kuro
and Shiro-san?]
[Well, I guess you could describe it as such!]
Looking at Kuro pufing out her small chest as she proudly nodded her
head, I can't help but be taken aback.
[Me and Shiro are totally evenly matched in strength… I had a special
magic that could kill Shiro in one strike, given to me by no other than
Shiro herself. However, I didn't want to kill Shiro, nor did I want to
destroy the world… I just wanted to ight Shiro and punch my opinions
to her face, but if I do that, the other Gods would deinitely ight me and
I would just exhaust myself ighting them… We're originally evenly
matched with each other, so the more I'm exhausted, the more I'm at a
disadvantage.]
[…That's why you went there with the Six Kings…]
[Unnn. With everyone's help, I pulled Shiro out of the inner areas of the
God Realm.]
Stopping there for a few moments, Kuro slowly began to talk about that
time…
——- 20, 000 Years Ago ——-
On that day, a great earthquake resounded throughout the God Realm.
The Divine Gate, which was the only path that connects the God Realm
to the Demon Realm, the Human Realm and the other worlds at that
time, was destroyed, and beings who possessed great magnitude of
magic powers appeared.
And the one who perceived this abnormal situation the earliest was a
Supreme God of the God Realm…
[ ! ? (What… this magic power!? 6 beings… No, 7?) ]
Chronois, the God of Time and Space, sensed the huge magic power that
has suddenly appeared in the God Realm, stopping her hands from
doing her work and stands up.
You can certainly move from the God Realm to the Demon Realm and
the Human Realm. However, only the Gods were supposed to be able to
move from the Demon Realm and Human Realm into the God Realm.
In other words, the fact that Chronois is currently sensing the magic
power of beings other than Gods…
[…No way, they overwritten the technique in the Gate!? The Gate that
Shallow Vernal-sama herself built… imbued with a magic technique
that Shallow Vernal-sama herself has written… Kuh!?]
As soon as she became aware of the situation. Chronois immediately
leaped out of her temple.
As soon as she leaped out, on a far distance… she could see a large
smoke rising from the direction of the Divine Gate and Chronois
instantly stopped the world's time.
[…Whoever you are… I will make you regret the day you pointed your
blade on the God Realm!]
For Chronois, she who governs time, distance isn't a hindrance to
anything.
Starting to move along the halted time, Chronois reaches the Divine
Gate in less than even a blink of an eye for the others—— is what
should have happened.
[Guh!?]
Immediately after she started to move, Chronois is struck by a powerful
impact that knocked her to the ground.
Even with the defensive capabilities of a Supreme God, it's a strike so
powerful that she couldn't completely block it, and while she cried out
in anguish, she immediately regained her stance.
The damage to her body can be recovered instantly. However, the
astonishment on Chronois's face hasn't disappeared.
[…This is impossible… Who are you! How are you still moving within
my halted time…]
[…Something like that is easy for an "attendant" like me… I can't let you
go anywhere near my master.]
With her short, platinum-colored cropped hair luttering, the assailant
calmly standing before Chronois… Ein, confronted Chronois who was
standing before her in a guarded stance.
[…(What in the world is with her idiotic amount of magic power… It's
unbelievable. It's even comparable to a Supreme God like me… If the
other invaders are around her level, then this will be bad!)]
A bead of sweat trickles down Chronois's forehead.
She understands Ein's strength on her skin, and she shudders, thinking
that there are still six powerful people of her level.
However, Chronois didn't let that show on her face, and immediately
readied for battle… For if beings of this level of strength are attacking
the God Realm, she must rush to the scene as soon as possible…
Just like Chronois, the God of Life, Life sensed the attack and
immediately went to the area where they were invaded from, the Divine
Gate, and through her ability, she caught the sight of the assailants
through the eyes of the Gods in the area.
[…(I detected seven magic powers, but there are only three in the
Divine Gate… A Magical Beast, a Dragon and a Spirit… The other beings
have scattered already huh, how troublesome… Anyway, they possess
incredible magic power… However, I need to suppress those three)]
Life has also sensed the power of the assailants and deciding that these
beings are the greatest danger since the beginning of the God Realm,
she immediately used her power to control life.
Shining magic power swirled around Life like shooting stars, and each
of them transformed into armored soldiers armed with huge spears.
The number of these troops easily reached tens of thousands, and all of
them lew straight towards the invaders according to Life's instructions.
[Forward, vanguard troo—— Wha!?]
However, the armored soldiers never reached the three assailants, and
all of them began to fall at the same time.
[…I won't let you go through.]
[…(What a sinister magic power… It's as if it's death itself…)]
Isis descends in front of Life, clad in her sinister magic power of death
glowing bluish-white.
The armored soldiers who were touched by the magic power of death
released by Isis fall one by one, extinguishing the light of their lives.
[…If you… interfere… I will kill you.]
[…I see, that's a considerable magic power you possess… However, how
about you don't underestimate me too much!!!?]
[ ! ? ]
With those words, Life's body glows with light, and a legion of soldiers
far exceeding the previous one appears around her.
[I am she who governs life. It's easy for me to revive lost lives and even
create new ones… Incarnation of Death… No matter how many soldiers
you kill, I will create a legion that will surpass it.]
[…It doesn't matter… All I have to do… is kill them all.]
Staring at Life, who has a legion of soldiers completely illing her ield of
vision, the magic power of death Isis is clad in swelled even more
powerfully.
Life and Death, two conlicting forces, now quietly collide.
[…I guess I can't say that I'm not going to participate since it's
troublesome huh.]
Hearing the sound of battle echoing through the God Realm, Fate, the
God of Fate, silently watches the battle from above.
[…(The God of Time and Space and the God of Life are both being
overwhelmed. Are you telling me that each of the fellows has power
rivalling ours… It can't be helped. In this situation, I just have to go all
out and deal with the remaining ive.)]
Fate, she who governs fate, has the power to determine the possibilities.
Therefore, if she looks over the entire battleield, miracles will continue
to happen to her allies and misfortune will continue to befall on her
enemies.
And the moment Fate was about to exert her power to determine their
fate, the landscape turned into static and her power vanished.
[ ! ? ]
[…How scary, you are~~ You can even tamper the principle of
causalities, you Gods really are quite outrageous beings.]
[…(When did she!? How come I didn't sense her approach?)]
[In that case~~ Let's conine you right here!]
Shaking her chained robe, Shalltear declared with an unserious tone.
Warding off those words with her indifferent gaze, Fate quietly replied
to her.
[…You, stop me? Did you really think you can do it?]
[That's something I can do. Because I'm an empty illusion… The clown
who deceives the world… unbound by fate and destiny.]
[…As expected of a clown. That's a funny joke you said there… Though
that's something that I would laugh about…]
The God who deines destiny, and the clown who deceives the world…
Like the other Supreme Gods, Fate also had to face a powerful enemy.
And thus, while the battle is being waged by beings holding powerful
abilities… The most powerful being in the world had slowly risen from
the Throne of God, and was beginning to walk into the battleield.
Without knowing that there's a being waiting for her arrival…