Documents of Evil-The Third Period; After the Destruction
The Muzzle of Nemesis, documents of evil part 3
“The Irregular; Allen”
The “heavenly yard” was the land of heaven where the souls of the dead would wander.
There was a device called a “BLACKBOX” there, and the soul of a boy named Allen was locked up inside it.
After the world was destroyed by “Punishment”, the lid to the “BLACKBOX” was opened and Allen was released.
And there he realized something. All the souls that should have been in the “heavenly yard” had vanished. Allen learned from the sun god Sickle that thanks to the influence of the world’s destruction, all of the souls had fallen to the ground world.
And so, under Sickle’s orders, Allen dropped down to the ground world once more.
After reuniting with the Millennium Tree Michaela, Allen followed her direction to meet with various figures.
They were the ones who had once made contracts with the “Demons of Deadly Sin”.
After greeting Duke Venomania and conversing with the Evil Food Eater, Allen headed for the Lucifenian Palace in order to meet his sister, Riliane.
Despite having managed to see her, a bizarre occurrence took place before they could talk.
All of the souls in the palace began to fall into sleep one by one, due to the drug “gift” from the Sleep Princess.
Heading to the Sleep Princess alongside Michaela’s friend Clarith, he witnessed the scene of Fifth, Pierrot sealing the Sleep Princess into a doll.
Next Allen reunited with Kayo at the ruins of Enbizaka. She wound up going to the courthouse to receive her judgment. Chasing after her, Allen realized that this building was identical to the USE Dark Star Courthouse.
Kayo’s trial was held by the Dark Star Bureau Director Gallerian Marlon.
The sentence—execution.
However, before the sentencing could be carried out the Master of the Hellish Yard, Gumillia, appeared, and sent Gallerian’s soul to the Hellish Yard once more. By Gumillia’s hand, Allen was flung down to the place called the “grave yard”.
There he met with Nemesis, who had destroyed her sense of self; using a golden key she set into motion a destructive power.
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The light of a “Punishment” that would even destroy souls—Allen was swallowed up by it, but when he came to again he was once more inside the “BLACKBOX” in the “heavenly yard”. It seemed that time had rewound to right before he was released.
However, if things kept up the way they were, the same thing would happen again. Steadying his resolve to stop Nemesis, Allen once more headed to the ground world.
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“heavenly yard”
The land where the souls of those who died in the present world reside along with the sun god Sickle. It is called heaven.
It’s possible to see it from the ground world, and it is called the “Moon”.
Due to the destruction of the world, the boundary between the Hellish Yard and the ground world was erased, and as a result all of the souls fell to the ground world.
The former earth god Held and Levia’s brother Behemo were also there. However, after the world’s destruction Held too went down to the ground world, and Behemo went missing.
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“grave yard”
A space that exists deep in the bowels of Seth’s laboratory “Lunaca Labora”. A large amount of the legacy of the Second Period taken from the spaceship “Climb One” rests there. You could call it a grave site.
Behemo managed this place during the creation of the Third Period.
This legacy that Banica Conchita had tried to get her hands on yet remains, not having been destroyed by the weapon “Punishment” fired by Nemesis.
What’s more, there is another facility that connects the ground world and the “grave yard” outside of “Lunaca Labora”. It was underneath the Castle of Hedgehog in Marlon, but it was destroyed by the Zorach family centuries ago.
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“hellish yard”
The place called the hellish yard, where the souls of those who did evil deeds in life go. Further in is the place called “hell”.
It was originally a facility Levia created for research into the spirit data of the new humanity during the creation of the Third Period. Levia proposed using it for the purpose of managing “HER”s after the creation was finished as well, but Hazuki and Held refused. This became one of the causes of their fight.
It went abandoned for a long time due to the defeat of Levia and the others, but several centuries back it wound up being managed by Gumillia and Seth.
All those who contracted with a “Demon of Deadly Sin” fell down to it without exception, but now that the barrier between this and the ground world is gone, the contractors have all escaped.
However, Venomania, Gallerian, and Kayo have presently been brought back once more by the Master of the Hellish Yard.
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“the ground world”
Everything was turned to ash by “Punishment”.
However, thanks to the souls of the dead (spirit data), much of the nature and buildings that existed before the destruction and such were given concrete form, and appeared on the ground world.
These were illusory, and so didn’t actually exist, but the souls were able to interact with them as they did when they were alive.
Not just by looking, but by touching, and eating, and so on.
These illusions were brought about by the merging of the Hellish Yard and the ground world.
After the world’s destruction, the souls wander the ground world divided up into various communities.
This may appear to be no different from before the world was destroyed, but the fact remains that they are dead, and they cannot hope for any advancement past this point.
The popular name of a device that was originally created to perform a special spiritual observation technique called the “Swap”.
After the spaceship “Climb One” departed from Earth, the crewmembers ended up creating several new models of it. All of them shared the points of “spirit data manipulation” and “movement to particular spaces”, but their functions differed depending on the type.
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Type E
The original device developed under the leadership of Held Yggdra.
Under the operation of those with the talent to perform a “Swap”, it is able to vicariously experience another person’s life. This vicarious experience takes place inside a particular space in the “Black Box”, and it’s even possible to re-experience things like pain and taste. It was loaded onto the “Climb One” as well, but was damaged due to some troubles mid-journey. It was discarded due to being inoperable.
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Type S
A second edition newly created by physicist Seth Twiright based on the original device.
This one placed heavy emphasis in improving upon the “Black Box”’s shifting space function. It was able to move person’s spirit data to another world separate from the present reality, a so-called “parallel world”, and could also conversely also summon the spirit data of someone from that parallel world to the present reality. The only ones who could operate it were an even more select few out of those with the talent for doing the “Swap”, and the only two people to ever actually use it in the Second Period were Seth and Levia Barisol.
It was not loaded onto the “Climb One”, but Seth rebuilt a smaller version of the “Black Box” in the Third Period. However, between the two this machine was actually closer in design to the original device. The Third Period version of the “Type S” Black Box is only able to go to the spiritual world inside a select person.
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Type L
A “Black Box” developed in the “Climb One” under Levia Barisol’s guidance.
It greatly intensified the function of the Type E version, and as such was able to completely move one’s spirit data into another person’s body. In other words, someone could be reborn as a different person entirely.
Furthermore, one could use it even without having the talent for performing the “Swap”; to avoid misuse it was programmed so that it could only be used with the permission of the entire “Climb One” crew. Although, in the event that a crewmember was determined to have died, their permission requirement would be erased automatically (and while this is ordinarily impossible, if a deleted crewmember were to be revived, they would once more be added to the list of required members).
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Others
Several other models of “BlackBox” were created on the “Climb One”, however most of them are thought to have been rendered inoperable due to the spaceship crash. Still, several “Black Box”es have been confirmed to exist in the Third Period. Aside from the one Seth made that was covered earlier, there’s also a “BLACKBOX” in the “Heavenly Yard”, its developer unknown. Inside this “BLACKBOX” there is an akashic record of the accumulated data of all of the souls that exist in the heavenly yard, and by viewing all of it once can vicariously experience the history of the Third Period.
It isn’t flawless, however, as one cannot view the data of those souls that had fallen to the Hellish Yard.
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“evil”
The “malice” gene that was propagating in the final days of the Second Period. Those afflicted with it became deviants called “HER(Hereditary Evil Raiser)”s. Ultimately two-thirds of the world’s population became “HER”s, and this became the source of the world’s fall to ruin.
The plan was for there to be no “HER”s born into the Third Period, but due to conspiring on Seth’s end the “evil” gene wound up being brought into the new world.
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“Earth”
The planet that the people of the Second Period once lived in. However, at some point the crewmembers of the “Climb One” started calling the planet “Gudnatia” rather than “Earth”. They called the new planet that they discovered “Earth” in its place, and tried to bring about a new society there.
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“Climb One Crewmembers”
Held
His specialty was biology, but he was a genius who had left behind several achievements in other fields as well. He had even worked as a judge on Earth once.
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Rahab
Levia’s mother. A highly skilled psychologist, she was the first person with the “Swap” talent to be selected. She becomes the “Demon of Envy” in the Third Period.
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Gilles
A space scientist. He was also one of Rahab’s lovers. He becomes the “Demon of Lust” in the Third Period.
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Vlad
A researcher of biotechnology. He was a huge eater. He becomes the “Demon of Gluttony” in the Third Period, but he ends up being taken into Banica Conchita.
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Eater
Vlad’s cousin, and also his assistant. He died before the creation of the Third Period.
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Marie
A historian. The youngest among the crew. She becomes the “Demon of Pride” in the Third Period.
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Salem
An economist. He wasn’t of much use, but it’s said the tea he made was quite delicious. He becomes the “Demon of Greed” in the Third Period.
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Lich
An authority on creating artificial humans.
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Michael
Lich’s younger brother. Also one of Levia’s assistants. Dies before the creation of the Third Period.
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Behemo
Levia’s younger twin brother. Worked as one of Lich’s assistants.
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Seth
A physicist. Was also one of a particular artificially created lifeform called the “mask race”. Boarded the "Climb One” by masquerading as another person. He becomes the “Demon of Wrath” in the Third Period.
The great war that began as a result of the assassination of the Asmodean prince was gradually wrapped up after the revolt that occurred in Holy Levianta in the year 983. However, at the same time it made obvious the decline of the USE (Union State of Evillious), and around the time Nemesis was released from prison in year 985, each country in Evillious was starting to take its own individual measures.
In year 986, Gammon Octo, the leader of the Tasan Party in Elphegort, gave Nemesis the position of vice-leader. There were voices in opposition of making a political novice such as herself the vice-leader, but ultimately she was promoted through Gammon’s own will and the backing of the public.
Nemesis, who had killed the reviled Gallerian Marlon, was seen as a hero by the people. Gammon figured that they needed her popularity to take back the Tasan Party’s influence.
Nemesis was promoted to the new head of the Tasan party by Gammon’s disappearance in the year 989. That same year, the Tasan party achieved majority control of Elphegort. Nemesis then proceeded to press on with changing Elphegort into the military regime that Gammon had originally conceived.
That same year, former Dark Star Bureau director Hanma Baldured died in Elphegort’s Yatski Village.
Needed for this militarization was an enormous amount of funds and public support. On the one hand the Tasan administration deepened its relationship with the Yarera Zusco Conglomerate, while on the other it began to suppress the foreign-bound Freezis Conglomerate. This “anti-Freezis” policy wound up gathering the support of Elphegort ultranationalists.
As the militarization of the country progressed, its relationship with its neighboring nations worsened. Lucifenia and Marlon in particular would frequently voice criticism of Elphegort’s military regime. One cause of that being that both countries had a deep connection to the Freezis Conglomerate.
Meanwhile, the countries of Asmodean and Beelzenia, whose relationships with Lucifenia were bad due to conditions before the great war, supported Elphegort’s policies. These three countries, having already joined in alliance, developed an even friendly relationship under the banner of opposing Lucifenia. Asmodean especially was collapsing into an economic crisis due to events from before the great war, and so even from within the country there were more and more voices clamoring to merge with Elphegort.
In the year 991, Elphegort proposed an annexation of Asmodean under the pretext of guardianship. The Asmodean government put the matter of whether they would take the merger or remain independent to a public vote. The government had naturally envisioned that independence votes would take the lead, but contrary to their expectations, annexation won by a thin margin. They had misread the lack of faith that the people of their country had towards their government.
In 992, Asmodean merged with Elphegort. The former Asmodean government proposed changing the country name to “Elphegort Asmodean”, but the Tasan party refused. The new country name was decided as “Tasan Elphegort”.
In 993, Tasan Elphegort finally declared war on Lucifenia. They were excommunicated from the USE, but as the USE’s structure had already become largely ineffectual Tasan Elphegort made no move to rescind their invasion force. That same year Beelzenia also declared war on Lucifenia.
In response to this, Marlon and Holy Levianta that headed the USE military planned a full-scale siege of Tasan Elphegort. The neutral power, the United States of Maistia, announced its intent to provide aid to the USE allied nations. And due to Jakoku declaring war on Maistia, the coals of flame were spread across the entire world.
In 995, the Republic of Lucifenia fell to Tasan Elphegort. But Tasan Elphegort’s steady advance stopped there, and the USE side gradually came to hold the advantage.
In 998, the Tasan party began research into a new weapon “Punishment” to defeat their unfavorable position in the war. They fired the prototype on a forest in their own country. One of its developers who witnessed its power was said to have murmured, “Now we are all sons of bitches”.
The second prototype was to be aimed at the United States of Maistia. But the test failed, and the location that “Punishment” actually landed on was Jakoku, far removed from its target. Due to this Jakoku’s southern island of Onigashima suffered catastrophic destruction.
Fearing the existence of “Punishment”, Maistia’s president Tarot dispatched a special task force led by Bruno Zero. They launched an assault on Tasan headquarters, but the mission ended in failure.
In 999, the USE army surrounded Tasan Elphegort. They called for a complete surrender. But the next day—a sum total of 108 “Punishments” were launched at the entire world from Tasan Elphegort.
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“Organizations/Important Figures”
The Freezis Conglomerate
Commander Muspell Freezis dies in year 985. His son Surtr inherits his position. By this time the once affluent Freezis Conglomerate is on the road to decline. This is further accelerated by their oppression by the Tasan Party, and by the time Tasan Elphegort invades Lucifenia their branches in other countries have already been closed down, leaving only their headquarters in Marlon. However, their actual circumstances aside, the prestige they had to their name was going strong even during the great war.
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The Yarera Zusco Conglomerate
They supported Tasan Elphegort right up until the world was destroyed. However, company head Gusuma Yarera had initially refused to provide the Tasan party aid. This was because his little sister and niece had died during the incident with the S.S. Titanis. Gusuma would often voice his hatred towards the perpetrator Nemesis to his underlings. But aside from his personal feelings, he was also a natural-born businessman, and a patriot. Ultimately he prioritized his organization’s profits and his country’s prosperity.
Gusuma’s younger adopted brother Jorm died during the Leviantan revolt the following year in 984. Publicly it was a suicide, but it’s not clear if that was really the case. There are rumors that he was poisoned by Gusuma.
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Gammon Octo
He suddenly went missing in year 989. It was made public soon afterwards that he’d died in the Millennium Tree Forest. However, in truth that wasn’t the case. He had lived on in “Evils Theater”. Gammon had been captured by the theater’s “residents”, and afterwards came to work as their “gardener” in exchange for staying his execution. There, he came to learn many “truths” about the world. But in the end he was caught up in the “Punishment” that Nemesis fired at the forest.
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Restaurant “Graveyard”
A suspicious restaurant that was shut down by some conspiring on Gallerian’s part.
The owner Lich and the cook Eater temporarily became members of PN afterwards, but after Gallerian’s death they apparently wound up becoming residents of “Evils Theater”.
After the girl who worked as Waiter was released from prison, she went missing. Some witnesses claimed to have seen her with a woman wearing a kimono in the Millennium Tree Forest, but the truth is uncertain.
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Hel Jaakko
Originally a member of PN. After leaving the Dark Star Bureau, she quietly lived in Holy Levianta with her family.
In 998 she was suddenly reunited with her old friend Bruno. Realizing the danger posed to the world, she spurred on her aged body and resolved to give Bruno her assistance.
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Feng Li
Originally a member of PN. After leaving Gallerian he returned to his home country. There he met the girl of his dreams (a human) and had two children with her. He fled with his family to Levianta due to the political instability in said home country. At first he tried to discourage his old friend Hel from taking such reckless action, but ultimately he joined in on the assault against the Tasan party with her.
--This is the story of someone who achieved a glorious ‘revenge’-
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…That’s how I might sum up this story in one sentence.
Although well, if everyone were able to say, “vengeance is worthless, let’s look toward the future instead”, the world would become a more peaceful place. The fact that this doesn’t work out is just the nature of human beings, and I think a life that doesn’t have any anger in it at all would be wearisome in itself.
The name of the main character in this one is taken from the name of the Greek goddess “Nemesis”. Though I made a pretty big mistake—Nemesis isn’t the god of “revenge”, she’s the god of “righteous retribution”. Well, I’m only just borrowing the name, and I wound up making the novel have both motifs anyway.
As far as the contents while the novel is mainly based on the story depicted in the songs “Muzzle of Nemesis” and “the Last Revolver”, it does have a few things added onto it. I was concerned that if I added too much it would jumble up the scenes a little bit, so I included some documents at the end of the book. And this series also has scenes that don’t show up anywhere except in messages given for purchase and in a CD short story, so it also has the dual purpose of supplementing for those who haven’t read them. Well, even if you don’t read them the story (should) be composed in such a way that you can understand it by the book alone.
And even if you don’t understand, please don’t get mad at me.
“Anger” is “evil”.
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In the previous work’s afterward I recall writing something like “I’ll wrap up all the foreshadowing in the next work”, but it seems that didn’t go as planned after all. I even think I increased the amount of foreshadowing, in fact.
Well, please don't get mad. After all I (plan) to wrap them up in the next one.
For when all is said and done, it is the “last” one.
Yes. This long series will finally meet its conclusion with the next work.
…And yet, there is no song to base it off of.
So I’ll make one.
Maybe I’ll make the title…”master of the heavenly yard (tentatively)”. Though I don’t know whether I’ll release the song or the novel first.
The world that was destroyed—what sort of fate awaits it at the other side?
<--Hey, look outside> Mr. Ziz said to me from inside his water tank.
Complying with his words, I approached the window.
At some point it had started snowing.
And there was someone waving at me from under the withered cherry blossom tree.
It was Shakuson.
The one I love.
“Could you come here a minute?” he called to me.
I left the house.
When I jogged up to his side, Shakuson gave me a slightly happy smile.
“It’s started snowing. We’ve got a white Christmas.”
“Haha, we do…The party’s going to start soon. Where’s your brother?”
“He’s still at work. But he shouldn’t be too late,” Shakuson said, pulling out a small box. “I figured I’d give you this early. It’s your Christmas present. …Open it.”
I took the box from him, and looked inside.
In the box was—
“…I don’t believe it…”
It was a diamond ring.
“It’s an engagement ring. Though I didn’t have much choice in diamond size with my salary.”
“…”
“—Will you marry me?”
“…Thank you. You’ve made me very happy.”
I had no reason at all to refuse.
His expression lit up—and then he tightly embraced me.
“Let’s get married in the spring. Should we…tell your parents tonight?”
“Nah. It might be better to wait for another day, wouldn’t it? If we tell them today it’ll just be overshadowed by the Christmas party.”
“That’s probably true. Well then, we’ll just hide this ring for tonight—”
And there Shakuson looked taken aback, as though having just noticed something.
I turned to where he was looking.
Standing there was an embarrassed-looking Nikolay.
“…Ah, sorry. I wasn’t trying to spy on you or anything—”
“…”
“Relax. I won’t tell Gallerian or your mother.”
“…Haha. Sorry for making you fuss on our behalf.”
“I just came here to get some grub tonight.”
“I see—Welcome, Nikolay. Come on, let’s go inside.”
“Yes, let’s. It’s quite chilly today.”
Nikolay folded his arms and shivered in an exaggerated manner.
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When the three of us got in the house, the food for the party was already lined up on the dining table.
“My, this all looks delicious,” Shakuson crowed.
Bruno, standing nearby, smiled in a slightly awkward fashion. “I put a bit more effort into it for tonight—Where’s Mr. Gammon?”
“He’s a little caught up with work.”
As the two of them chatted, Nikolay gazed upon the food with a fixated stare.
“It’s been a long time since I’ve eaten anything that wasn’t made by Hodr. He’s far too mindful of my health, and all the food he makes is so bland…I wonder how much I can indulge tonight.”
Ever since his daughter got married and left the house, Nikolay had been living along with his servant Hodr.
Said Hodr was spending tonight with his own family, and so my mother had invited Nikolay over, figuring he would be lonely by himself.
I wanted to start the party early for his sake, but…There were other invited guests outside of Gammon who were yet to arrive.
But soon enough there was a knock on the door to the foyer.
When Bruno opened the door there was my father’s friend General Tony and his family, as well as Shiro holding a wine bottle in hand.
“My my. Welcome to our home—Please, wait here a moment.”
After Bruno bowed his head to General Tony, he headed for the study.
A few moments later he reappeared with my mother and father.
The general and my father exchanged a brief hug.
“Merry Christmas! Thanks for inviting me tonight, Gallerian!”
“Come on now, this is a party. The more the merrier.” After my father then exchanged his greetings with Nikolay, he at last approached Shakuson. “…Welcome, Shakuson.”
“…Thank you very much for inviting me tonight, sir.”
They exchanged an amiable handshake, but it looked a little bit stiff.
…Yeah, it was better to hold off on announcing the engagement after all.
“Looks like everyone’s here, so let’s get this started shall we?” my mother said, clapping her hands.
Apparently she hadn’t noticed that Gammon wasn’t here.
What could I say, she was as irresponsible as always.
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Everyone sat at the dining table, and the Christmas party of the year began.
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My father, leading everyone in toasts.
Mr. Ziz, earning my mother’s ire by snitching cake.
Nikolay, displaying his ice magic as a party trick.
General Tony, cutting the food into smaller portions for his young child.
Shiro, her arms pinned back by Bruno to keep her from rampaging in her drunkenness.
Gammon arrived late, losing his footing in the entrance to the foyer and excitingly tumbling about.
My eyes met with Shakuson sitting across from me, and though it was a little embarrassed we both shared a smile.
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A mail carrier wearing a red uniform came in with a package in tow.
After thanking her for coming out on such a cold night, I unwrapped the cord sealing the box.
Inside was a single revolver.
A Naga Custom .44—that was the model of the gun.
The accompanying card read only, Merry Christmas! –From the members of Zeus.
It was a poor-taste Christmas present from Narcissus and the others.
Postman—no, the “Servant of Evil” Allen Avadonia, stood by my side.
“Welcome back.”
It was a short greeting.
Where in the world had I returned to?
I knew the answer to that, now.
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This was—the real world.
A nothing world after it had been brought to ruin.
--The world I had destroyed.
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That clinic.
That laboratory.
And me, working there.
Allen told me that it was all a delusion.
But that wasn’t right.
It had also been a truth.
Before this world had been born.
The world that I had lived in.
That was the way it had looked before it fell.
Before we had “run away” to space.
That was me from the days I had fought there.
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“What I’d like to ask first,” I said to Allen. “Is how you’re here on the ground world now, when you died centuries ago.”
Allen replied, smiling slightly, “It’s not just me. Everyone is here. Everyone who once lived in this world.”
“Even though the world was destroyed?”
“It’s because it was destroyed. Almost all of the souls are here on the ground world as a result of the barrier between this place and the hellish yard being broken.”
“Then are you a soul too?”
I didn’t really need to ask that.
I had just said it myself.
He died centuries ago.
“I see…Everyone’s a soul. Then there’s no more living people in this world, I suppose.”
“Wrong.” Allen shook his head. “There is one.”
“Huh?”
“—You. The sole living thing in this world…is you. On the world’s last day, a deranged Nemesis fired the weapon of mass destruction “Punishment” all over the world.”
“…Inside Nemesis’ spirit was a ‘malice’ that sought destruction--one of the ‘gods’ that had once been locked up in the ark. The voice of her ‘other self’ that Nemesis heard was the ‘malice’ that slept inside her.”
Inside that ark, I had wished for the world’s destruction.
I suppose that meant that in a sense, after a thousand years I had finally achieved my original aim.
…Though it wasn’t all that satisfying now.
“The world was obliterated by ‘Punishment’. But how am I still—”
“Don’t you know? A demon contractor—can’t commit suicide. Your body was blown away by ‘Punishment’. However, as long as a single scrap of your flesh remains, you’ll be revived eventually.”
I had destroyed the world, and I alone survived.
“Never has there been a more bothersome suicide attempt.”
“Ha ha, I guess so. …Your body was reformed. But you hadn’t gone back to normal exactly. Your shattered heart wasn’t restored.”
“I don’t care much for your wording.”
“Then let’s reword it as ‘your body and spirit were separated’. Nemesis’ soulless body continued to wander through the empty world, and meanwhile the spirit locked itself up inside a delusion world of its own creation.”
So that delusion had been the laboratory in the clinic.
“But why did you come inside the delusion to meet me?”
“Nemesis’ body was solely devoted to repeating the last actions that she had taken. Wandering eternally through the same moment forever, neither moving into the past nor the future.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“The world’s destruction by ‘Punishment’—Her body was trying to repeat it.”
“But…such a thing is impossible, isn’t it?”
If everything was destroyed then even ‘Punishment’ wouldn’t exist anymore.
“You’d think so. But even without ‘Punishment’ there’s still the thing it was based off of.”
“…The ‘Boy’.”
“Yes, the creature that brings destruction. Seth created various things with that as his starting point, such as ‘ghoul children’ and ‘Grim the End’. The ‘boy’ was also caught up in the world’s destruction, but…as a living creature he had a soul. That yet remains in the depths of Lunaca Labora—the ‘grave yard’.” Allen pointed to the ground. “Nemesis’ body went to the ‘grave yard’ looking for the ‘boy’’s soul, and tried to carry out her destruction once more. ...It took a great deal of effort to put a stop to her.”
“But there’s nothing left on the ground world to destroy, right?”
“The ‘boy’ as he is now is a soul. So then the targets of his destruction would be other souls like himself. If I hadn’t stopped Nemesis’ actions, then even the beings that wander the ground world like us would have been erased. Once that happened the world truly would have ended.”
“…I see.”
By ‘souls’ he was talking about spirit data.
“Even after capturing Nemesis that didn’t mean everything was settled. Without bodies ourselves we couldn’t hold her back forever.”
“So then you came to see me—Nemesis’ soul.”
“Yes. We needed to get her back to normal. …However, it wasn’t a straight-forward issue getting inside your spirit world. I had to satisfy various conditions. One among them was that I needed to disguise myself as ‘someone who existed in Nemesis’ memories’.”
“That’s why you were dressed as Postman.”
“Going as myself wouldn’t have cut it. I had met ‘Elluka Clockworker’ before, but ‘Nemesis’ was different. They’re based on the same person, but when you ‘swapped’ into Nemesis you lost your memories.”
But Allen hadn’t entered that spirit world alone.
I hadn’t seen them directly, but I could sense other people there.
--And I had another question as well.
“What was that ‘Irregular System’?”
“Well, that was a last resort to get you to remember everything. It was difficult for me to perform on my own, so I relied on some help.” Allen snapped his fingers. “—Elluka Clockworker’s apprentices.”
The two of them suddenly appeared from nowhere.
.
--Michaela, who had inherited Held’s remains and become a god of the forest.
--Gumillia, who had become Master of the Hellish Yard after the duel of Merrigod Plateau.
.
The two of them had always watched over me after I was reborn as Nemesis.
I spoke to a smiling Michaela, “So then, the true identity of the ‘Will of the Forest’—I know that now. You were the one who tried to save me.”
“Haha…Were you alright when it came to Lich?”
“In the end I never met him as Nemesis even once. Well, I have finally remembered…the connection between the two of you. Though I know to be cautious of him, to an extent.”
Next I approached Gumillia, expressionless as ever.
She was wearing a mask.
Yes, it was the mask of the “Demon of Wrath”.
“You’re the one who sent Mr. Ziz to me.”
“…Because I, couldn’t leave the Hellish Yard. But, frankly, he wasn’t much help. On the contrary, actually, he made things more complicated.”
I could hear a voice coming from the mask.
<But I did intend to follow your command? At the very least I upheld my promise to keep Nemesis from dying>
“That’s true. …Thank you for everything, Mr. Ziz—or rather, Seth,” I thanked the mask.
<…Hmph. You and I have an old debt with each other. Don’t think this makes us even>
“That’s my line. Come on, let’s set aside our quarrels for now.”
Michaela giggled as she watched us from the side.
“What’s so funny, Michaela?” I asked. Still smiling, Michaela handed me a mirror.
“Oh, it’s you and Gumillia. When you two are lined up like that you’re almost like twins.”
I accepted the mirror and looked at my face.
--Reflected there was no longer Levia.
It was Nemesis’ face.
That was proof that my body and spirit had once more become one.
“…Now that you mention it, is there a reason why Nemesis and Gumillia look so much like each other?”
Allen was the one to answer my simple question. “Events like that were occurring all over the world just before its destruction…Though asking the one who created the “World’s Rules” might be the fastest method for answering that, don’t you think?”
“You mean the sun god—Sickle.”
“He is currently in the ‘heavenly yard’. We can go there, but…I don’t know if we’ll be able to return to the ground world once we do. That’s why—there’s something I want to do here before then."
“I haven’t got any urgent business, so that’s fine…What is it?”
“There’s still many ‘mysteries’ left on the ground world. I’d like to solve them…and there are also some people I want to see. First—let’s head to ‘Evils Theater’.”
“…What do you mean? Are you saying that theater is still around?”
“Surprisingly, yeah. That alone is still around, despite the fact that everything else has burned down.”
That theater had also survived unscathed when the prototype “Punishment” was fired at the Millennium Tree Forest as well.
That was certainly a curious point.
“Will you come with me? L—Er, what name would you prefer I call you by?”
“It doesn’t matter to me. Levia, Elluka, Nemesis. The fact remains that all are me.”
When I said that, the other people around us started to voice their various opinions.
“Hmm, I think maybe her real name of Levia would be better.”
“…Elluka.”
<No, she’s Nemesis right now>
Listening to the three of them quibble from the side, I answered Allen, “—Alright. I’ll go with you. It’ll help me ‘kill time’, yeah?”
“Thank you very much. That’s reassuring.”
“But the world is already in ruins—What’s your ultimate goal here?”
When I asked him that, Allen replied, his expression full of self-confidence:
I am none other than one of the beings who made this world.
Yet I had spent too long as one of the new humans in it.
I could no longer grasp the workings of the world as it continued to change.
--But it seemed that was not the case for Ma.
She was able to foresee that this world would one day be destroyed.
And so, she considered what she ought to do to survive that destruction.
.
The answer that Ma arrived at was to become a “pure being”.
I don’t know what that was.
…An old fogie like me wouldn’t understand the thinking of a young person.
Well, at any rate it seemed that she wanted to become extremely powerful.
.
What became a hindrance to becoming this “pure being” was “pure malice”.
Essentially, Irina and myself who were “HER”s.
But at the same time, we were also some of the components Ma was composed from.
She couldn’t exist if she removed us.
Ma couldn’t preserve herself for very long with only Eve’s spirit left.
.
“If Eve alone is not enough, then I’ll supplement with the other demons.”
That was the extremely reckless conclusion that Ma arrived at.
Her plan was to drive out me and Irina, and fill up the space that opened with “Demons of Deadly Sin”.
.
The first one that she took in was the “Demon of Envy”—my mother.
Yet despite having been absorbed, she did not make any move to obey Ma.
The next was the “Demon of Greed”, Salem.
…Being a proper British gentleman, he unfortunately yielded to Ma all too quickly.
.
By obtaining the power of both Eve and Salem, Ma was able to manage enough allowance for her to safely expel myself and Irina.
But in order to do that, she would need people who could be “receptacles” for us.
The first candidate she considered was the daughter of Hanma Baldured—the girl who would later go by the name “Postman”.
A condition for becoming a “receptacle” was that they had to be someone with so-called “magical talent”. …But in this era there weren’t many people like that left.
Ma searched long and hard, until she finally found someone with such potential.
That was Hanma.
However—there was another problem. The “receptacle” would have to be the same gender as us—in other words, it needed to be a woman. As a man, Hanma didn’t fit that requirement.
It was there Ma laid eyes on Hanma’s daughter, and collected her. Then she tried to move my spirit from herself into the girl using the “Swap Technique”.
For a moment it seemed to have worked, but I quickly came back. Hanma’s daughter had been insufficient as a “receptacle”.
.
She didn’t seem likely to find any good candidates after that.
And when it came to physical bodies that had magical ability—there was really only Ma’s own body, “Kayo Sudou”.
Even so, Ma did not give up.
If there weren’t any to be found, she figured that she would “create” one herself.
And so she grew pregnant with the child of her lover, Gandalf Marlon.
Gandalf was descended from Seth—or, more accurately, Seth’s clone Keel Freezis. She must have thought that a child born with his genes would most certainly be a suitable “receptacle”.
But in contrast to her expectations…inside her stomach was a boy.
And without any recourse, she—
Waited.
For the day when her son Gallerian would have a child of his own.
.
Eventually Gallerian married, and his daughter Michelle was born.
The girl that Ma had been eagerly waiting for.
And yet, even so—
“I still need one more.”
To drive out both myself and Irina, she needed one more person.
The action that she took there—was to have a relationship with Gallerian.
And, disgustingly, Ma grew pregnant with a child with her own son.
.
The fetus inside her womb was connected to herself.
In that condition it was much easier to do the “Swap Technique”.
She would implant a new spirit into the fetus before it could develop its own self.
There was no need to wait for it to grow to adulthood.
Upon learning that the fetus was female using a device in Lunaca Labora, Ma—
Finally was able to move “it”.
.
The one she chose was not Irina, but me.
My spirit data was shifted to a new body—her daughter.
.
In this world there is a certain Rule.
--“The souls of those who are reincarnated shall have their prior memories sealed”—
.
Why did such a Rule exist?
Now I know.
It was implemented by Professor Held and Hazuki to avert our becoming managers of the new humanity.
For if they lost their memories, even a “god”…could be reduced to a mere “person”.
It was our last resort after failing to avert the destruction of the world. That is, to flee from Earth.
Seventy-two people were selected for the crew of the large spaceship, “Climb One”. All of them were celebrated scientists and researchers, as well as their assistants.
I, Levia Barisol, rode on the ship alongside my brother and my mother.
We had already selected several candidate planets viable for human immigration from many years of space exploration. The goal of the “Climb One” was to improve upon the environment of one of them to make it closer to that of Earth’s.
We weren’t the only ones able to successfully escape from Earth. Once we had achieved our goal we would reconvene with other spaceships and restart our culture on this new planet—or so we planned.
As time went on, one by one the periodic communications from the other ships came to a stop.
I can only speculate as to why. But I think it’s because some of the deviants who had been the cause of the Earth’s destruction—“HER”s—had snuck into their crew.
Ultimately we were forced to conclude that the “Climb One” was completely on its own. The odds of there being any other Earthlings alive outside of us was exceedingly close to 0.
We altered our initial goal, and decided that we wouldn’t just improve upon the new planet’s environment, but also undertake the creation of a new lifeform that was close to that of earth people. Unfortunately the genes of the spaceship crew had already mutated, and as such we had to give up on creating any clones. There was no point in making lifeforms with no reproductive potential, after all.
The task given to me was fine tuning the new lifeforms’ minds. They would need to be able to build up a culture similar to that of what we had on Earth in a shorter timespan. One of the crew who liked computer games had remarked that it was like a “New Game Plus”, which wasn’t actually all that wrong.
As per its name, the “Climb One” had to become a foundation by which mankind could “climb up” from the tragedy of their dead Earth.
.
At the end of a long period of work, we finally achieved our great feat.
An environment that resembled Earth’s, and a new race of humanity.
We had successfully created both.
It took many sacrifices to get there. A being of “HER” had been on the “Climb One” as well.
Seth Twiright—A man who by all rights would not normally be on the ship. Right before he had been selected as part of the crew it was discovered that he was an “HER”, and it was thought that after that he had committed suicide. No one noticed for quite some time that he had ridden on the “Climb One” by masquerading as another member of the crew.
As a result a great deal of the crew died, and it wound up leaving some slightly distorted figures in the long-awaited new world, the “Third Period”.
I had retained the spirit data of the deceased sixty-two crew members. Under suggestion from Professor Held, these ended up being installed in a forest in the new world.
They would watch over the new world as “spirits” that could have no influence on its culture.
Thanks to Seth there was a very high probability that “HER”s had been born into the new world as well.
The remaining crew discussed what counter-measures we could enforce, but it was there that a definitive crack arose.
Eight of us--I, my brother Behemo, my mother Rahab, and Gilles, Vlad, Marie, Salem, and Lich--insisted that we should transplant our spirit data into the new race of humans and proactively manage the new world hereafter.
But the remaining two—Professor Held and Hazuki—opposed that.
They argued that “The role of ‘Climb One’ is over. Now we should leave the world to the new humans, and quietly wait for death inside this spaceship”.
We just couldn’t accept that.
Neglecting this world that we struggled so long to create.
I don’t know what the two of them were thinking.
In terms of numbers, we were the overwhelming majority.
But the “Black Box” device we needed to move the spirit data couldn’t be used without the consent of all living crewmembers.
The verbal quarrel finally broke out into a mutual slaughter.
--And at the end of it, the spaceship “Climb One” crashed to the ground.
.
Our physical bodies were destroyed, but fortunately our spirit data remained in the ship.
However, without our bodies we wouldn’t be able to use the “Black Box”. I’m repeating myself, but to activate the device we needed a living crewmember.
Even if we could work the “Black Box” through some means, we had no destination for the spirit data to be moved to. At that time it would have been fortuitous if there were a body in the new humanity that was suitable to be transferred into, but it was hard to imagine that working out well.
What I came up with as a compromise was a “dud” sample left in the crashed ship alongside the “Black Box”. It was a creature that my brother had created during the course of his research into the new humanity, and it had a form that was almost like a “dragon” from fantasy stories. We would move our spirit data into it temporarily as it sat in cold storage, and after that take our time waiting for a body among the new humans.
…Only, my brother—the one who actually made it—apparently wasn’t that enthusiastic about this plan.
Right before the spaceship crashed, Professor Held and Hazuki injected me and my brother with a certain chemical.
It was a drug that could change humans into this “dragon”. And we wound up with the unpleasant sensation of feeling both the fear of our bodies changing into monsters, and also at the same time fear of the imminent crash.
--In any case, first we had to resolve the problem with the “Black Box”.
There was nothing we could do but wait, for quite some time. Perhaps once the new humanity’s culture developed there would eventually be someone who could activate the “Black Box”.
We continued to wait for that day inside the ship as spirits.
--And it was through that that I came to learn the reasoning for Professor Held and Hazuki’s objection.
Thanks to Seth, my spirit had also become violated by malice—“HER”.
As time went on, my spirit data was gradually changing.
And—
In the end, I became something that desired only destruction and chaos.
We had no use for a world that would not be as we wished.
We would destroy it all.
And then do it over again from the beginning.
.
Finally, our chance arrived.
Seth Twiright was truly an amazing man. It seemed he’d been able to manage a transfer of his spirit data right before we killed him.
We didn’t notice it because he’d moved his spirit data to a body that he’d been keeping in cold storage. He’d slipped it past our notice by sneaking it among the sleeping new humanity.
The cold storage device was shut down by a timer, and he finally opened his eyes inside a laboratory named “Lunaca Labora”.
An illegal stowaway though he may be, Seth was also a member of the crew of the “Climb One”, as far as it went.
He should have been able to activate the “Black Box”.
The problem was, trapped in the ship as we were, we had no way of contacting Seth across such a vast distance.
The culture of the new world had advanced considerably. As our technology was scattered through the area around the crashed ship in particular, a country with a superior culture that made use of it came to be, called the Magic Kingdom Levianta.
Ruling this country was a woman called Alice Merry-Go-Round. Strangely, she had the ability to contact us.
I don’t know why. All I can say is that it was an unanticipated product of this new world that was outside of our supervision.
My brother and I decided to disguise ourselves as “gods” and give a revelation to Alice.
But then, us being “gods” wasn’t entirely a lie. We did create this world, after all.
By Alice’s decree Seth was invited into Levianta. He ended up being in charge of the ark “Sin”—what the people of Levianta called the “Climb One”—as one of their researchers.
Naturally, we ordered Seth to activate the “Black Box”…but he refused.
There was no way he’d accept what we told him to do, given we tried to kill him.
However—we still had a chance.
In the “Climb One”, Seth had infiltrated as one of the members of the team that designed the new humanity. Using that knowledge, he newly constructed artificial humans in the world called “ghoul children”.
These were also clones of Seth.
So then, these “ghoul children” should also have been able to use the “Black Box”.
What was more, my brother and I had been progressing along in preparations to obtain bodies. He had told me that he wanted a proper human body, not just the failed “dragon”.
And so we tried to have appropriate bodies—the “Twins of God”—born into the world via “Project Ma”—an artificial insemination project named such by the new humans.
Although, that apparently wasn’t working out. The first mother selected had miscarried, and the next one safely birthed the twins but then ran off with them. Due to various troubles with the ones after that, we were unable to secure bodies we could move into.
And as that went on, time passed pointlessly.
.
The “ghoul children” each had their own individual will, and some of them lived within the country of Levianta.
That was the siblings Kiril Clockworker and Irina Clockworker. I considered using one of them to get to the “Black Box”.
Fortunately—or perhaps unfortunately—Irina was selected as one of the candidates for mother in “Project Ma”. My brother proposed waiting for her to give birth to the “Twins of God” and then having Irina activate the “Black Box” afterward.
But—I couldn’t stand to wait any longer.
I didn’t know if Irina could give birth to the “Twins of God”. It might be another failure.
If that was the case, then we already had a body. Even if it looked like a dragon, at least I would be able to get outside.
A certain woman was murdered during the pointless quarrel over the selection for mother candidate in the seventh “Project Ma”.
Her name was Elluka.
She was Kiril’s girlfriend.
Kiril’s heart had grown weak.
It was simpler than anything to take advantage of it.
I guided Kiril to the ship—and was finally able to get him to activate the “Black Box”.
However…he was after all a mere clone. The certification didn’t completely take, and so the “Black Box”—broken down due to the crash and age—started to run out of control.
The “dragon” defrosted and started to rampage before we could shift our spirit data into it, destroying the ship.
Amid all the chaos the “Black Box” continued to operate on its own—and moved mine and my brother’s spirit data somewhere.
That place was…Elluka’s body.
.
In this world there is a certain Rule.
--“The souls of those who are reincarnated shall have their prior memories sealed”—
.
Having “swapped” into a body that wasn’t suited for transfer, I lost my memories.
.
I have several questions regarding the experiences of the others’ spirit data aside from my brother and I.
First, Professor Held. He and Hazuki’s data wasn’t inside the crashed ship.
But there was a being called the “Great Land God Held” in this world. A great tree of the forest that had a will of its own.
If his true identity were that of Professor Held’s spirit data, then when in the world had he found the time to move said data there?
And I was quite sure that he hadn’t wanted to oversee this new world in the first place.
There was another god in this world—that bat they called the Sun God was probably Hazuki, but I had the same questions regarding that as I did the Great Land God Held.
And aside from that, there was also the data of the remaining six who had been in the crashed ship with us.
I had thought that they vanished after being caught up in the ship’s destruction, yet their souls had at some point been settled inside various items called “The Vessels of Deadly Sin” along with Seth.
--Strictly speaking, Lich was the exception. His soul alone had come to live in the forest as a spirit along with the other crewmembers, not joining with the rest of us.
…Though naturally, at the time I had lost all memories of being Levia, and so I had not been able to even contemplate such questions then.
.
I came to live in the new world as “the sorceress Elluka Clockworker”.
Perhaps influenced by having obtained a body from this new humanity, I became able to perform a movement of spirit data even without a “Black Box”. By using this to periodically change the body I dwelled in, I was able to live for a very long time.
A man searching for his lost love, Karchess.
A wild thief, Platonic.
The drunkard red swordsman, Leonhart.
The cool and collected assassin head maid, Mariam.
My adorable apprentices, Michaela and Gumillia.
The servant devoted to his sister, Allen.
The hot-blooded cop, Ayn.
I had met with various people along the way, and also parted with them.
--That life changed about six hundred years after I had first “swapped” into Elluka.
There was another aside from me who led an eternal life. The girl who had her spirit data put into a red cat plushy by Seth…Kiril’s little sister, Irina.
She had challenged me to a duel.
As a result of the battle at Merrigod Plateau, my brother who was inside Elluka with me went to the “heavenly yard”—
And my spirit was swallowed up by a new being.
A woman who was born as the result of a merging between me, Irina, and one of the “Demons of Deadly Sin”, Eve.
Looks like I'd been able to safely return to the current world.
I guess the emergency system managed a safe shut down.
My whole body was covered in sweat. Likely a result of the overheating.
The door wouldn’t open on its own either, so I had to shove on it fairly hard.
“Welcome back—you look pretty worn out,” Postman greeted me in an easygoing fashion.
Was this—the same Postman as the one that I had seen inside Nemesis’ mind?
Their clothes were certainly identical.
As for the voice…The Postman in there never spoke a word, so I couldn’t compare them. It just sounded to me like a girl using a deep voice, but of course I couldn’t be sure of anything.
“Have you seen the six people—all of them?”
I nodded in response to the question.
“To put them chronologically…There was Shakuson, Tony Ausdin, Gallerian Marlon, Nikolay Tolle, Bruno Zero, and Kayo Sudou—that’s all six.”
“Oh, wonderful! I knew you could.”
Postman clapped.
I wasn’t all that happy about it.
All I felt was…relief at having been able to finally end this farce.
“So then, would you like me to explain the details on each one?”
“Before that…I’d like to hear your impressions. What you think now that you’ve been able to observe Nemesis’ life.”
“My impressions huh…”
“What sort of person did you think she was?”
“…To put it all in brief—I think she was a weak person with no independence.”
“Woah, that’s a bit harsh.”
“She led her life always being led along by someone. It is because she herself recognized this that she always directed her ‘anger’ outwardly. ‘I’m not to blame, it’s someone else’, and so on.”
“And so she ultimately directed that anger at the world?”
“Yes. She had only two options left to her. To destroy herself, or destroy everything outside of herself. When she was young, Nemesis chose the former, and when she grew up she chose the latter.”
Though ultimately there wasn’t any great difference between them. Anger, self-loathing, revenge, atonement—all of it was just a difference between where you directed your aggression.
I heaved a sigh.
There was no real point in taking any of this seriously.
“But then, well…All of this--is little more than a discussion of what went on inside her delusions.”
“Delusions?” Postman pulled a curious expression. “What are you saying was a delusion?”
“All of it. Nemesis’ life that I saw. I still tried to analyze her psychology as a humble scientist, but…ultimately I was completely unable to experience her true life with this ‘Swap’. All of it was codswallop, from start to finish.”
“…What makes you so certain of that?”
“Magic, demons—Are you trying to tell me that a fantasy with such things featuring in it is based in reality? What I saw was little more than a story that Nemesis concocted in her own head.”
“You might not believe in it, but maybe these things do really exist.”
“Huh? Then there’s also the Evillious region—Are you saying that these countries like Elphegort and Levianta are real? I’ve never heard these names before. Elphegort is modeled off of Germany, and Levianta off of Russia, right? Whatever the case, this is a world that only exists inside her mind. There is no weapon called ‘Punishment’, and the world hasn’t yet been destroyed!”
All of it was a delusion, and delusions—were common in people who had psychological abnormalities.
I had figured that out right from the beginning.
If I hadn’t been menaced into it, I would have suspended the “Swap” immediately.
“Come now, let’s put a stop to this foolish nonsense. I’m sure that it’s true Nemesis killed six people at least. Based on your reaction the names were accurate as well. But as for the process by which she did so…I can’t imagine that what I’ve seen here is the truth.”
Postman sighed regretfully.
“Hah…I see.”
“I do apologize that I wasn’t able to provide the answers you were seeking.”
“—I guess this still isn’t enough.”
“Not enough? What is?”
“You…are mistaken. The Evillious region truly does exist. No…I suppose it’d be more accurate to say it did exist. Everything’s been destroyed by ‘Punishment’.”
“…Sounds like you need therapy too.”
“Well then—what about if I did this?”
Postman took off his hat and revealed his true face to me.
He looked a lot like the Postman in Nemesis’ delusion.
But he was different.
The Postman of the real world was male after all.
“Do you remember anything, looking at my face?”
“…Not really. I guess you’re fairly good looking but you’re not really my type.”
He did look like my brother somewhat.
“And still it’s…not working. You and I met once, a long time ago.”
“Doesn’t ring a bell.”
“—Allen Avadonia. That is my name. …Though my true name is Alexiel. I was once a servant who worked in a royal palace, and you were a sorceress.”
“Enough with the fantasy already—”
“It’s the opposite. It’s all just the opposite. Nemesis’ life that you saw is the reality, and this laboratory—this world itself is a delusion that you created!”
Allen approached the Black Box and started to fiddle about with an exterior panel.
“Stop it! Someone unqualified can’t be messing around with—”
.
<Code input complete
Beginning activation of—Irregular System>
.
“Irregular System”?
What is that?
I had no idea that—the Black Box had such a system in it.
.
<Confirm subject
Beginning “Swap” of Levia Barisol>
.
My body started to be sucked into the Black Box.
--Just like what had been done to me by that illusion of Kayo in Nemesis’ memories.
“Please…stop…”
I don’t want to go in there.
I—don’t want to see the truth.
“I’m sorry, Elluka. But now this is the only way I can put an end to the ‘Endless Destruction of the World’.”
There was a screen and audience seats. And behind me was a film projector.
I had no memory of where this was, but--
The name for this place immediately came to my mind.
.
--Evils Theater
.
A name that showed up in Nemesis' memories.
.
“…Wait a second. If that’s the case then this must be—"
That meant that I was inside the world in Nemesis’ memories.
That in itself wasn’t all that strange a thing.
I was after all in the middle of performing a “Swap” with her spirit.
But if this was a vicarious experience of Nemesis’ memories—
Then how was it that I was myself?
Normally I would lose my own memories while in the middle of an experience.
I would completely become Nemesis while seeing her life.
But right now, I—
I was inside Nemesis’ world while retaining my memories as Levia.
My feet spontaneously headed deeper into the hall.
I walked inside a single room there—it had “director’s room” written on the door.
This must be the director’s collection. Several antique-looking items were inside.
Katana.
Scissors.
Wineglass.
Spoon.
Mirror.
And--
That doll.
The green haired doll that Mr. Ziz had fished out of the sea and Gallerian had owned.
I approached the doll to look at it more closely.
At that moment, I incidentally looked at my face in the nearby mirror.
--Yes, that was my face.
Not Nemesis, me—Levia.
It appeared that this wasn’t just a memory, but that I had entered this memory world as myself, even in appearance.
…Looks like the Black Box has gone into a full-blown breakdown.
I was growing increasingly more anxious over whether or not I’d be able to return to the real world.
--I heard the sound of a door open from behind me.
A new person had entered this room.
“So you’ve come, Nemesis. …Or should I be calling you now Führer Sudou?”
It was a woman’s voice.
When I turned around I could see—the woman in the kimono who had sucked me in.
Despite my appearance, she had acknowledged me as “Nemesis”.
And yet, appearances aside even my memories were my own, not Nemesis’. Apparently we were acquaintances, but I had no idea how I ought to respond.
--However, my mouth began to run of its own accord, and said:
“…Long time no see, Mother.”
Bizarrely enough, regardless of the fact that I was myself, the memory was proceeding smoothly along with the vicarious experiencing of Nemesis’ life.
I wound up feeling like I was being forced to play the role of “Nemesis”.
“Surprising, isn’t it? That this theater alone is untouched despite the forest having completely burned down,” Nemesis’ mother—Kayo Sudou said.
But her expression immediately turned serious.
Rather, she almost seemed a little angry.
“…”
I—Or rather Nemesis—made no reply.
Kayo continued talking, gazing fixedly at Nemesis. “I had no inkling that you would be able to resurrect the ‘boy’—that thing that was sealed away a thousand years ago. I don’t know how you found it…Though, well, I imagine you had some hints from the ‘Demon of Wrath’.”
Nemesis, who had been silent up to now, finally opened her mouth.
Though my will tried to go against it, it was evidently pointless.
“That ‘boy’ was in that ancient legacy site in Levianta…Lunaca Labora. The only one who was able to undo the seal was his creator, the ‘Demon of Wrath’—Mr. Ziz.”
“So, the demon tried to trick you into using it to destroy the world.”
“No. Actually, Mr. Ziz was against it. It is because he didn’t want to use it that he sealed it away himself. But I persuaded him, and in the end he relented. He said to ‘do as you like’.”
“Why would you do such a thing…”
“I need enormous power to secure victory for Tasan Elphegort! …I’ve been working hard in the Tasan Party, and so I’ve become its leader. Now I am in a position to govern the whole country—but of course this important role is almost impossible for me to do by myself. Now that Gammon is gone I’ve been trying to better the country all on my own.”
“And the result of that was this invasion of your neighboring nations?”
“If I hadn’t done that, I wouldn’t have been able to hold down the dissatisfaction smoldering in the country. War begat war, and then suddenly Elphegort had become the enemy of almost all the other nations.”
It appeared that chronologically this was approximately around the time Nemesis killed Bruno.
Kayo took out a pipe and started to smoke it.
“—And so, unable to backpedal on your actions, finally you turned to a forbidden weapon.”
“I had my nation’s scientists analyze the ‘boy’ and improve upon it into a practical weapon—the weapon of mass destruction, ‘Punishment’.”
“The other countries aren’t likely to keep quiet once they learn such a thing exists.”
“True. Actually, just the other day some assassins arrived from the United States of Maistia looking to destroy ‘Punishment’. And their leader…was Bruno.”
“Bruno Zero!? That’s a blast from the past. So he was still alive, huh.”
Upon hearing that, Nemesis snorted. “—He’s dead now though. I killed him.”
“That’s quite merciless of you. I would think you’d view that man as your savior.”
“Savior? Him? …Don’t be stupid. He was always serving Gallerian. No—maybe he was the one who was truly ‘evil’.”
“Bruno…He likely had his own mixed feelings on you. Because he loved Gallerian he couldn’t simply watch his daughter die. But—I’m positive he also despised you, more than that. He hated me, so he hadn’t wanted to accept the fact that there was a child between myself and Gallerian.”
So, he had mixed feelings of love and hate.
“…That’s got nothing to do with me.”
On that point Nemesis and I were in agreement. It’s not like she chose the parent she was born to.
Kayo sighed as she continued smoking. “Hah…You’ve killed quite a few people, haven’t you. –Including Nikolay.”
“That was ten years ago already. He himself asked me to kill him. I merely granted his wish. …Nikolay told me something. That he ‘hadn’t been able to fulfill his role’. And that’s why you chased him out of the forest.”
“His ‘role’, huh—It’s true, he didn’t carry out what I ordered him to do.”
“But Nikolay did properly look after me. Unlike you, always absent from home.”
Kayo once again blew out smoke.
She shut her eyes once, and then immediately opened them again, saying, “…You misunderstand what Nikolay’s ‘role’ was.”
“What…do you mean?”
“I did not order him to protect you. …Just the opposite. I told him to kill you when he got the chance.”
“Wh…”
“But he opposed that. He wasn’t that soft when he was young, albeit. Maybe he was touched from having watched you from nearby for so long. Perhaps he was projecting, seeing you as being like his real daughter.”
“Now that you mention it, I think he did mention having a daughter…”
“You’ve met her yourself, I’m sure—Come in,” Kayo called out to the other side of the door.
Yet another person arrived in the room.
“—Postman!?”
Nemesis was the one who shouted that then, but if I had been able to move I would have shouted just the same.
“You know that she was a member of PN—or rather Pere Noel, yes?”
“Yeah. I would receive my assassin orders through her.”
“At the same time, Postman is also my servant. Due to some circumstances I was entrusted with her by Nikolay.”
Kayo gestured with her eyes, and Postman took off the cap that was hiding her face.
Nemesis—and myself as well—saw her face for the first time.
She was an adorable young girl with blonde hair.
--She was a girl!?
But comparing that fact with what Kayo had just said, one answer came forward.
Essentially, Postman’s true identity…was that of Nikolay’s daughter.
Though in spite of that, there seemed to be too much of an age gap there.
As though appearing to anticipate that question, Kayo began to explain. “Postman doesn’t age, you see. It’s a side effect of a treatment I performed on her.”
“A treatment?”
“When she was young, she was assailed by an incurable illness. Having been newly appointed a judge of the Dark Star Bureau, Nikolay—or rather, Hanma Baldured, consulted me, as I was the girlfriend of one of his then-colleagues. And I was rumored to have been a witch. …So, I performed a treatment with magic. But it didn’t go completely right. The illness was cured, but in return she had become doll-like, having lost her voice and her will.”
Kayo patted her hand on Postman’s head.
But there was no change in Postman’s expression.
“That wound up being the cause for Hanma’s divorce with his wife. Still he continued to raise his daughter alone for a time, but he was quite young, and with his eyes on advancement in the Dark Star Bureau he came to bear increasingly heavier responsibilities. At the same time, he also had become obsessed with magic that would allow one to wield power that exceeded human knowledge. Hanma volunteered to become my apprentice, and in exchange for accepting him I sought for him to give his daughter to me.”
“For—what purpose?”
“I was seeking a ‘raw material’ like her. A living doll to make into a ‘receptacle’. –Though, ultimately that didn’t work out. …Whatever the case, Hanma must have regretted having let go of his daughter, somewhere in his heart.”
“But wait a second. There’s a discrepancy in your age with that story just now. Isn’t Nikolay a great deal older than you?”
“…I’m like Postman. I am also a being that doesn’t age.”
I couldn’t make sense of it all, so far removed from common sense.
Nemesis must have been the same. She returned back to the main topic relating to herself.
“…Why did you order Nikolay to kill me?”
“It’s simple. You--were something that fulfilled its purpose to me merely by being born. Once you had achieved that, I had no more use for you.”
“I don’t understand…birthing a child only to kill them.”
“That’s not it. It’s not that I wanted to kill you, really. I just didn’t need you. I just asked Nikolay to dispose of my discarded refuse.”
“…I don’t believe you. You were always so kind to me—”
“You—have distorted your own memories. Right after you were born I left the forest, and I never went back until you were arrested. You have created these false memories of me raising you because you didn’t want to accept that.”
“…Then what about Mr. Ziz? The blue octopus you gave me as a Christmas present—”
“You mean the ‘Demon of Wrath’? If I had really given him to you as a present I would have then realized what his true identity was, don’t you think?”
“But Mr. Ziz told me you’d bought him at the market—”
“If he told you that then I’m sure he was just playing along with you. So as to keep you from falling apart if you noticed the inconsistency.”
--Certainly, among all the memories that I had seen up until now…Kayo had never actually made an appearance, not once.
Everything that had to do with her was just reminiscence in Nemesis’s memories.
…They had all been little more than her own delusions—
“You’re lying…That can’t…”
“Nemesis. Even you must have realized it somewhere deep in your heart, haven’t you? It was for that reason—you tried to kill me. –By dropping ‘Punishment’ on this forest where I am!”
“No! It was because there…are monsters in this forest, and people were frequently going missing here...I was trying to give the people of my country less grounds for concern--”
“It was for that reason alone you dropped a weapon of mass destruction on the country that you rule? You don’t think that’s strange for you to say? …Sorry, but you won’t be able to kill me that easily!”
Kayo leaped towards Nemesis, and started to strangle her neck with her hands.
“Grk…”
It hurt.
Nemesis’ pain was being transmitted to me.
She tried with all her might to throw off Kayo’s arms, but to no avail.
“H…ow? I…have…demonic…power…”
“What a pity for you. I also have demons inside me! I am not some mere contractor like you! I—have taken six demons into myself!”
Six…that lined up with how many antiques there were in the room.
“So I am able to kill you, contractor that you are. Once I learned that you had the ‘Demon of Wrath’ dwelling inside you, I couldn’t leave you be any longer. –I will kill you, and then steal the last demon!”
Kayo tightened her grip even further.
“Glu…eck.”
In response, I could feel Nemesis’ body progressively begin to grow weaker.
If this kept up—
“…Huh!?”
Suddenly the strangling force slackened.
Seeing an opportunity, Nemesis kicked Kayo in the stomach.
Unable to take the blow, Kayo released her.
“Hack!...urgh…”
After breathing on all fours for a moment, Nemesis raised her head.
--Kayo was laying on the ground, groaning in pain.
One of the artifacts in the room—the katana—was thrust deep into her back.
“Ggu—Postman…Damn you!”
Behind Kayo as she screamed stood Postman, expressionless with hands stained in blood.
“…”
Despite bearing a blade wound that would normally have been fatal, Kayo was still alive.
If what she said was true…Only a contractor would be able to put a stop to her.
“…Mother.”
Nemesis stood and drew her gun from its holster.
--It was the revolver.
“Hey Mother—Right now I’m pointing the muzzle of my gun at someone.”
That person was none other than Nemesis’ mother herself.
“You don’t have…the right to call me mother…You bitch, I should have killed you myself right after giving birth to you.”
“You are a very, very evil woman. Abandoning me in the forest, bringing so many people to unhappiness—"
“—If it hadn’t been for you and her, I could have taken in the Demon of Deadly Sin…and become a truly ‘pure being’…I was so close…”
The katana in Kayo’s back fell out, and the wound began to steadily close.
She had a marvelous recovery ability.
“Now, I…I don’t care what happens. No matter how hard I try I can’t help this world. So then, rather—”
“…That is your true nature, Nemesis. The one who desires destruction…Your real identity is—”
--What Kayo said in the end was drowned out by the gunshot.
.
…
Nemesis was kneeling by Kayo’s corpse, sobbing.
“…Ua—uuuaah…”
--Poor Nemesis.
Continuously betrayed by those you believed in.
Unable to make anyone happy no matter how hard you tried.
You aren't to blame.
The one at fault is--
.
This very world itself.
.
So you need to purify everything.
Destroy it all.
.
…Whose voice is this?
Mine?
No, it can't be.
This is--"the other Nemesis".
The being that had always been speaking to her.
The other me.
Me.
Nemesis.
Me.
Levia.
Me.
Me.
Me.
.
Obeying my voice, Nemesis left the theater.
And then entered the nearby Tasan Headquarters.
There was no way that it would be so nearby, but that doesn’t matter.
More important than that now.
Hurry and press the switch.
The forbidden device is beyond this point.
If you do it now no one will discover it.
Come, hurry.
Bring everything to an end.
Bring punishment.
Down to this world.
--
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