Slightly turn back time.
Around the time when Arrogance’s Apostle Arkade was wreaking havoc in the Imperial Capital.
After chatting with Arkade, Bellion was heading towards the Imperial warehouse alone.
‘No one’s here. Well, with all this chaos going on.’
Not only were the hallways of the palace deserted, but even the soldiers who should have been guarding the warehouse had all rushed off to where the commotion was.
If an Apostle of the Evil God Cult invaded the Imperial Capital and they were just lazing around guarding the warehouse, they’d be in deep trouble later.
This was fortunate for Bellion.
“─Open.”
Upon reaching the Imperial warehouse, Bellion entered the code granted only to the royal family and opened the warehouse. Inside were piles of treasures collected from all over the Empire.
The amount of gold coins stacked up was so vast that even if one person spent it their entire life, they wouldn’t run out, and there were enough jewels to build mountains and castles—yet Bellion showed no interest in these and stepped further inside.
Towards the innermost part, where artifacts possessing special powers by mere existence lay.
‘Holy artifact, holy artifact, holy artifact… Ah, there it is.’
From ancient times. The golden chalice that the Holy Kingdom presented as a pledge of loyalty to the Empire was there. An artifact of the Sovereign God. An object imbued with divine power that could grant any wish.
Bellion flinched as he felt the intense holiness seeping into him upon touching the chalice, which emanated sanctity just by existing.
‘What… am I doing…?’
His clear mind rationally judged his actions. What was he doing right now? Wasn’t he trying to summon the Evil God using the chalice as an offering?
Was that the right thing to do? Not at all. If he summoned the Evil God, countless citizens of the Empire would suffer, and if things went wrong, the world might end…
‘And I, the master of the world…’
Into his empty mind crept a primal greed. The desire that instantly took over his whitened mind began whispering sweetly.
You can become the Emperor.
In the end, Bellion couldn’t overcome his greed.
“─O God.”
Here stands your servant.
Exceedingly greedy.
Ready to offer everything to you if it means possessing the world.
The seed of evil.
─I have waited.
It sprouts.
* * *
The Evil God peeks out. Emitting a more intense aura than any other Evil God seen before, an absolute presence.
Facing the god, Kail bit his lip and started scanning the people around him. Not only ordinary people, but those who hadn’t surpassed the rank of Master began losing their minds just by looking at the Evil God.
“Aah, Uuaaah-!”
“It’s coming! The end is coming! The end is coming!”
“Ioffermyeverythingtoyoupleasesparemymiserablelife…”
The Evil God did nothing. Yet, its mere existence was a virus contaminating this world, an invader.
Ordinary people couldn’t withstand this invasion.
“Huaaak…!”
“Yuri!”
Kail scooped up Yuri, who groaned and collapsed behind him, and quickly moved to a building where the deity wasn’t visible. After hiding Yuri inside, he checked on her condition.
Though she had surpassed the rank of Master, she didn’t go mad just by witnessing the god, but she certainly bore a heavy burden.
The fact that she carried a newborn baby in her womb likely contributed. She probably took on the full burden herself to prevent affecting the child.
“Are you okay?”
“Huuuut…”
“…Rest. I’m sorry. I should be by your side.”
“I’m… fine.”
Yuri, with a voice and expression far from fine, gently pushed Kail’s back.
“Do what you can…”
“I’ll be back soon.”
How heart-wrenching it was to leave his pregnant wife alone. Kail couldn’t bring himself to take a step.
But at the same time, he had to move these heavy feet for her sake. Right now, he was the only one who could face that enormous Evil God.
Kail Meyer.
The only thing the Sword Saint himself could do.
“Damn bastard.”
Kail spat curses as he emerged outside. Hoping against hope, he shot an Aura Blade from afar, but it couldn’t even scratch the Evil God’s skin.
Even the Aura Blade, with the strongest cutting power in the material world capable of slicing through everything, was ultimately a concept belonging to this world.
It was not a power that applied to the Evil God from outer space.
‘Is this all there is?’
Kail picked up a sword lying in the street and unleashed Superior Blade upon it. He used to think it was simply compressed Aura Blade power, but lately, that thought had changed.
This was power transcending the world. A blade that reached beyond the world to those beyond it.
Though as small as a needle, just as a needle can startle a person—enough to make a god stumble back.
“─Get lost.”
With those words, Kail kicked off the sky and soared upward. In an instant, he arrived before the Evil God and swung his sword at the startled Evil God.
A bright blue streak of light cut across the dark night sky like a meteor.
─Kyaaaaaaaak!
“…Huh?”
At the same moment, Kail was sucked into the flesh of the Evil God he had sliced. The next instant, no one saw Kail anymore.
* * *
‘…Where is this?’
Vast cosmic space. Kail found himself in a world perfectly described by that phrase, surveying his surroundings to understand where he was.
There were a few puzzling aspects for it to be actual space, namely that Kail could breathe. Just because he was an Aura Master didn’t mean he could breathe underwater, so logically, this wasn’t space.
‘Then where─.’
As Kail surveyed the situation, he realized the stars he thought were merely background were moving.
Of course, stars in space moving isn’t unusual. Space continues to expand, causing stars within it to move—a common understanding in 21st-century modern Earth.
The strange part was that the stars were moving like living creatures.
‘Crazy, it’s not like they’re fish.’
Stars swimming through pitch-black space like fish, lions eating those fish-like stars, and giants swinging clubs at those lions.
This place was an unidentified space where countless stars moved like living beings.
And in the center, the largest ‘constellation’ stood.
“─What is this.”
‘It’ wasn’t just a backdrop. It was a living organism. So enormous that it couldn’t be recognized as a single entity—it was just too big to comprehend at a glance.
Kail locked eyes with the giant overlooking him, its pupils spanning millions of light-years.
“What are you staring at?”
His hands and feet trembled, and his heart felt like it would burst. His brain couldn’t process it as a living being, and the blood vessels in his eyes had already burst, dripping blood.
Nevertheless, Kail wasn’t afraid. He boldly approached it. Then, it slowly extended its hand to point at Kail.
─■.
Its mouth opens. Considering sound travels at roughly 300 meters per second, hearing its voice from hundreds of thousands of light-years away should take several cycles of the universe’s destruction and creation—but its words echoed vividly as if whispered right beside him.
Whether fortunate or unfortunate, he couldn’t understand what it was saying. Noise akin to millions of people talking simultaneously assaulted his ears.
‘Shit… I don’t think I can cut this.’
Kail glared at the Evil God, thinking thus. It was too big. How could he possibly cut something like that? It wasn’t made for humans to defeat. Simply accepting death without resistance seemed appropriate…
“─Damn.”
Slap! Kail smacked his cheek, snapping out of it late and glaring fiercely at the Evil God. Something had clearly tampered with him in that brief moment.
Otherwise, there was no way he’d think like that.
What? Is it so huge it spans millions of light-years?
Beyond human comprehension, impossible to cut with a thin blade?
What does it matter.
There lies the Evil God. The main body of the Evil God.
And I have a sword.
Then, I can cut it.
“Let’s give it a try.”
Gripping the hilt.
With all his might.
Kail swung his sword at the Evil God.
His sword cleaved the universe.
Soon, a girl’s scream began filling the cosmos.
* * *
─Sob sob…
Cries echoed throughout.
Kail realized he had once again been transported to an incomprehensible space. The constantly changing environment was making him dizzy.
─Why are you interfering?
“…You, don’t tell me.”
Inside a room entirely white.
A black-haired girl, hugging her knees and sobbing, raised her head.
“Are you the Evil God?”
The girl quietly nodded.
