Whoosh. Whiiish.
Due to his growing body, the clothes the man was wearing began to tear apart.
They were pretty high-quality leather clothes for this era, and yet they tore so easily. Hmm…
The man’s height had already surpassed three meters. He looked less like a human and more like some kind of beast or monster now.
Moreover, pitch-black fur started sprouting all over his body. Is he turning into something akin to a gorilla? Hmm.
“Huff. Hufff… This power. This magical energy. And this is just before I’ve fully absorbed it all! Keke. Now I understand why monsters are so strong. With this much strength, how could they not be!”
The man gradually began to lose his human traits—horns and a tail grew out of him, and his teeth elongated into fangs.
Once the transformation was complete, the man was reborn as something that could no longer be called human.
“Rrrooaaarrr!!!”
Roaring like a beast, the man’s voice alone cracked walls and shattered boxes filled with mana stones.
“Hmm. Rghh. Good. Good indeed. If I can make this entirely my own, I might become a god! Yes! Babel! My name will be Babel! I’ll build a towering spire reaching the heavens, grasp divine power, and become the God of Magic! And then, I’ll rain down heavenly punishment upon those humans who drove us mages away!”
Already halfway gone from humanity, the man seemed to have lost his intelligence, spewing nonsense left and right.
Poor fool. He’s already beyond redemption.
“Huff. Hufff… When I become a god, I’ll bring you along as my companion. You too shall become a new deity. I’ll grant you the glory of surpassing the Goddess of Life—a queen among gods!”
Hmm. Indeed… seems I have no choice but to eliminate him.
“You too shall become a new god! Together we will rule this world as deities!”
“This nonsense has gone on long enough.”
I merely frowned at his words.
“What’s wrong?! This is the power to become a god! How dare you reject such glory?!”
“You don’t even know what stands before you, you foolish one, and yet you talk about becoming a god?”
“What…?”
I smiled faintly and spoke.
“Open your tiny eyes and take a good look at what stands before you.”
“What do you mean?”
I slowly unleashed the power I had been holding back—the strength within this body, the magical energy, my presence, and the faith gathered as the Goddess of Life.
Just by releasing it, the top of the tower crumbled and exploded, scattering fragments of mana stones throughout the room.
“Graaahhh!!”
“Why the sudden weakness? Losing your balance, are you?”
I took a step forward.
“The god you wished to become stands before you. Open your eyes wide and behold. This is the god you sought to emulate.”
“Uuuaaaaagh!!”
The being that was once a man couldn’t withstand it, collapsing onto the ground and merging with it.
You couldn’t even endure this, and yet you dreamt of becoming a god? Foolish. So very foolish.
Boom!
The floor began to crack and collapse. Hmm. Was the tower built too shoddily? To fall apart from just this?
Well, I intended to destroy it anyway.
Still, there are innocent humans in this tower who bear no sin.
“Ye who dwell in the Tower of Babel, leave immediately.”
I imbued my low voice with power, spreading it far and wide.
Not only throughout this tower, but to all the humans of Babel. Ah, the hero will hear it too. Hmm… well, it doesn’t matter much.
The hero must face what lies ahead directly, after all.
“The foolish one atop this tower sought to become a god, to reach divinity. Thus, he coveted and stole divine things, seeking to satisfy his desires.”
The floor collapses further, breaking through to the lower layers. The pillars supporting the tower begin to crack and shatter one by one.
The rumbling grows louder.
“Such arrogance will result in nothing but utter ruin.”
The mages inside the tower are hastily fleeing. Like a swarm of ants dispersing. Pathetic humans who don’t even realize their sins.
Thanks to them, I’m starting to feel a bit weary of all this.
“Graaaahh! Krrraaaaahh!!!”
As the man’s body collapses with the floor, it transforms again. Something sprouts from his shoulder blades.
An arm? No, it has claws at the end, but it’s not an arm.
The large shape unfurls—it’s wings. Wings resembling those of a bat.
“Grrr. Grrraaahh! We’ll see about this! You’ll suffer a curse! O mighty god! Curse me if you must! O mighty god!!!!”
Foolish.
So very, very foolish.
Who is cursing whom here? Have you been so consumed by darkness that you can’t judge anything anymore?
That’s why I can no longer let this continue.
I clenched my fist lightly and thrust it downward.
Simultaneously.
KABOOM!
A massive beam of light physically struck the man trying to flee with his wings.
Even that wasn’t enough; the beam began to crush the tower itself, causing it to collapse.
Overwhelmed by divine power, the towering structure crumbles.
The futile dream of someone wishing to become a god collapses as well.
Everything will turn to ruins.
And this event will be remembered as the Wrath of God.
Thus, the Tower of Babel fell.
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
“What in the world happened here?”
The remnants of the collapsed tower where everyone fled. The hero arrived at the scene.
“Ah, you’ve come.”
“I’ve come?! Don’t ‘you’ve come’ me! How could such a tall tower collapse like this?”
“It’s simply the result of a foolish human coveting divine things while dreaming of impossibilities.”
Upon hearing my explanation, the hero looked perplexed.
“If that’s the case, then what is THAT over there? That… monster? But it has a humanoid form?”
“I already told you. A foolish human coveted divine things while dreaming of impossibilities.”
The hero seemed to grasp the situation somewhat, her expression turning cold.
“A human…? That thing?”
“Mm. A human.”
Or rather, it was a human.
“How could a human transform into something monstrous like that?”
“That’s what I’d like to know too.”
I’ve never seen a human transform like this before. Most monsters aren’t humanoid forms. Perhaps… the will and personality of a human repel fragments of darkness, but this guy intentionally absorbed them and tried to make them his own?
Hold on. If this guy could do it, could similar incidents happen elsewhere?
For instance, with elves or dwarves… lizardmen? No, they wouldn’t handle much mana, so it’s unlikely.
Anyway… there’s no guarantee something like this won’t happen again. Hmm.
We should keep an eye on this.
“Grrrrr…”
“He’s still alive somehow.”
“Indeed. Even though I struck him with enough force to bury him under rubble.”
It seems the fragments of darkness absorbed into his body are keeping him alive.
“So, mind sticking your sword into him?”
“Me? Into THAT thing?”
“Yes. He’s collected quite a lot of dark fragments, so we might as well benefit from it.”
I originally planned to gather those fragments separately, but since he’s conveniently bundled them together, there’s no helping it.
“Graaaaaaaahhhh!!!”
“Oh, he’s awake.”
“No, he’s AWAKE! Not ‘oh’! Why are you so calm about this?!”
“With our esteemed Hero here, there’s nothing to worry about, isn’t there?”
I grinned slightly, and the hero gave me an exasperated look in return.
“Don’t just dump this on me suddenly!”
The scarred black figure rose and charged toward me but was deflected by the hero’s sword.
“I swung with the intention to kill! And you blocked it?!”
“Graaaahh!!!”
“It seems his intelligence has completely evaporated. Being overwhelmed by fragments of darkness does this to you, it seems.”
“This isn’t the time to calmly analyze it!!”
The hero screamed in frustration. Eh? Tch tch. For someone who’s supposedly experienced, why is she freaking out so much?
“He’s no different from a monster, really. Just in humanoid form.”
“But he WAS human!”
“So? His foolish choices made him cease being human. Hmm… perhaps we should call him something else now.”
“Something else…?”
After thinking for a moment, I spoke.
“From now on, we should refer to beings like him as demons.”
“Demons?”
“One who originally possessed intelligence but was corrupted by darkness. It fits perfectly to call them demons.”
“Graaaaahhhh!!!”
Shut up already.
I flicked my finger lightly, and a blade-shaped wave of magical energy pierced the man’s limbs and wings, pinning him to the ground like an insect specimen.
Hmm. Since this is the first case, we should investigate it thoroughly.
