![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
idolaChapter 3: The Consequences of Devouring God—
---
Several years passed, according to the calendar. But he couldn’t feel it. He had no perception of time. He hadn’t, not since that day when he first entered the demon’s lair. But the fact that his sister got taller and prettier every day meant that time was passing. He was changing, too, always just taller than Ferris. But he didn’t feel that what he saw in the mirror was really him anymore. Maybe it was because of all the wicked things he’d devoured, but he couldn’t really tell what he was supposed to be anymore.
He could feel his own existence become hazy, and felt that he’d disappear entirely.
But she stopped him. His sister stopped him. Because she pulled him towards his humanity. In that way, whether he would eventually lose sight of himself and disappear depended on her.
And then one day, she said something. She said it with her blank face hiding the light inside her, and with her pretty, monotone voice. “What’s this ‘love’ they speak of? Brother.”
Lucile forced himself back to reality when he heard her question, pulling his mind out of whatever haze it was wandering in, and faced her. She was a beautiful girl with long, golden hair and clear blue eyes. She was, if he recalled correctly, fourteen now. So she was already at the age where she could bear a child. But despite that fact, she had never gained the single power that their parents cared about. She’d probably never stood before Eris at all. Basically, she was disposable. She was a tool to be used by either their father or by Lucile in order to have children with.
And she asked him a question. Asked him what love was.
Lucile’s eyes lowered to the book in her hands. It was a poetry anthology. He couldn’t recall its specific contents. But she’d asked about love, so there was probably something about love in there.
He smiled faintly. “Ferris, you don’t know what love is?”
He said it slowly, carefully, to make sure that he was really talking.
She nodded. She didn’t know. Well, obviously. Because there was no such thing as love here. Not here in the Eris family. Why would love exist somewhere that was made solely to be used as puppets by Eris?
Even so, Lucile responded quietly and calmly. “I’m sure that the feeling I have for you is love, Ferris.”
Ferris tilted her head a little. It was cute. “Really? You love me?”
“Of course. You’re my precious sister. I think that our mom and dad and Iris all love you, too.”
“……”
Ferris’ eyes clouded over. As expected, she didn’t understand.
She was bruised all over. But that was nothing new. She always had been, for the past ten years. Because their parents beat her daily. He’d given her a bunch of her bruises, too. Too many to count. He did it when his father ordered him to train with her. Because his father liked to torment her in every way possible.
So she was covered in wounds. To the point where she couldn’t understand what love was. Her body shook. Shook from the pain in her heart. “That’s love?”
Lucile put the book he was holding away, then looked back to Ferris. “Is your training tough?”
Don’t just ask that, he scolded himself internally.
When he used to ask that, he’d also pet her head. And when he did she’d show him some emotion. She’d open up her heart and cry. But she didn’t cry now. She didn’t smile now. She just shook her head to say that training wasn’t that bad. Even though it absolutely was. Being born into this stupid place was nothing if it wasn’t tough. But she didn’t even know that anymore. Because they called her trash every single day and trained her until she was bloody and bruised every single day.
It was really just abuse disguised as training now.
But she said it wasn’t too bad.
“……”
Lucile smiled.
He reached out his hand. “I see. You’re remarkable,” he said and pet her head.
“Mm? Am I being praised?”
“No. You’re being loved,” he corrected while running a hand through her hair.
She made a face as she considered it, then closed her eyes as he petted her hair. He couldn’t understand what she was feeling at all anymore. He was already too far separated from the world of humans. But what he said was true. He did love her. To the point where he didn’t care if the rest of the world ended or not. Because she anchored him to his humanity. Because she alone had smiled at him in this pitch black place.
He recalled her innocent smile from when she was still just an infant. Seeing her then had motivated him to move forward. It still did. It motivated him to devour Eris and release her from all of this—
“……”
Ferris finally opened her eyes again after being pet for some time. When she did, she spoke with a little more understanding than before. “I see. So this is love…”
Lucile nodded. “Yes. This is love.”
“Hm. It’s not bad. Do you want me to pet your head too?”
“Ahahahahah.”
“Mm? Why are you laughing?” Ferris asked, dejected. No matter how emotionless her face might be, the light inside of her had not disappeared.
So he gazed at that light and spoke. “I was just thinking about how cute you are.”
“Mm? I’m cute?”
“You’re cute. So I love you.”
“So you pet my head?”
“Mhm.”
“Then I will go to love Iris,” Ferris said and pulled away.
Lucile just smiled. “Yeah. Go love her until her hair’s all messed up.”
“Mm. Leave it to me,” Ferris said. She enthusiastically marched over to the door to go see Iris.
Lucile watched her kindly.
She turned back with a questioning look in her eyes. “Brother, aren’t you going to go love Iris with me?”
Lucile vaguely shook his head. “I still have something I need to do. But you and Iris need to go to bed soon.”
“Something you need to do? What are you doing?”
What was he doing?
Lucile felt his expression falter for a moment. It twitched like it wanted to cry. He was surprised that he was still capable of emotions like that.
He’d destroyed much of himself since that day. But he could still feel his heart move when he was with his sister. He felt his conviction to press on falter.
“……”
He planned to go eat Eris. To finish what he’d already started.
First he ate its arms. Then its legs. Its eyes. Its guts. Bit by bit he took what he was able to, and now he was finally at the point where he could devour Eris’ soul. But if he did that, he wouldn’t be himself anymore. He was well aware of that fact. The more of Eris he devoured, the further he was drawn from reality. So if he ate its soul, he was sure that he’d be unable to return to this again. He’d never be able to feel this emotion when he looked at his sister again.
He was hesitating. His feet were heavy. But he was sure he could move again. Because he was really only hesitating a little. Because he really wasn’t all that human anymore, anyway. Because he couldn’t really feel human emotions anymore, anyway. So.
“……”
He forced his expression into something that would look like a smile. And he answered his sister’s question of what he had to do. “I’m going to see the world’s abyss.”
“…Abyss?” She looked troubled. She didn’t understand.
So he smiled. “You don’t have to worry about it, Ferris. Now go to sleep with Iris. Tomorrow will come early.”
She nodded absentmindedly. “Mm.”
And that was the end of their conversation. The end of his final conversation with her.
She left the library, heading for someone that Lucile couldn’t reach. She was probably going to go pet Iris’ head now. To go love her lots. Good. There was no reason for them to be cursed like he was.
He’d end everything somewhere out of their sight. He’d end this darkness without them ever knowing it. Because it’d be before the demon ever raised a hand against them. Before their parents ever touched them.
“…I better go now.”
But he didn’t realize that this was really the beginning of everything, not the end.
He didn’t realize that the thing he’d curse most of all was only just beginning.
---
Devouring Eris was simple. Easy.
Because he took his time. He took a long time. He finished off its body first, then devoured its soul. And then every part of it was inside of him.
Eating these things always felt the same. His whole body always ached afterwards. He hurt like he never hurt before, but in exchange he felt such a pleasant fullness.
He hurt this time, too.
But hurting that way was proof that he was still living in this world. So he crouched on the floor and held himself and tried to bear the pain, his whole body shivering uncontrollably, waiting for when he’d get used to the pain, waiting for when it’d go away.
But it wasn’t fading much at all. Because he’d eaten such a big demon, far larger than he’d ever consumed at once before. So it couldn’t be helped. So all he could do was try his hardest to overcome it. He had to, or else it would destroy him from the inside.
And when he did… something happened. Something that had never happened before.
He heard a voice.
He knew that it was Eris’ voice, but it’d been so long. And why was it happening?
Devouring something meant that it lost any sense of self, of consciousness, and lost all of its power. Then Lucile gained everything that it had had before. And yet this demon called Eris had evidently retained its consciousness and was now communicating with him.
This was bad.
Wasn’t he the one being eaten now?
He scowled.
Was he too hasty? Did he try to devour it before he was really ready?
He didn’t have the time to wait around anymore. He had to end everything before his father ever touched Ferris…
“……”
A voice interrupted his thoughts. It was Eris, trying to talk to him. Speaking right in his ears.
If only he could just eat its voice, too.
“Aww… this sucks,” it said. And then in the darkness of his mind, the image of a man appeared. It was the demon who he just devoured. And he was the spitting image of Lucile. He was smiling sadly, something that reached his blue eyes. His blond hair was just like Lucile’s too. But his eyes held a symbol like that of a crescent moon. “Why did this even happen… Seriously, who tricked you?”
“I wasn’t—”
“You weren’t tricked? But this wasn’t what I wanted. It isn’t what Ryner wanted, either. And it shouldn’t be what you want. So who wants it then? Who wrote this scene?”
A faint doubt shadowed over his heart.
He was right. This wasn’t a plan that Lucile had devised himself. Why was he doing this now? Why could he do this?
He couldn’t recall how he was able to devour demons that were decades old, or even hundreds of years old. He couldn’t recall how he was able to devour the demon before his eyes.
“What is that man who’s been manipulating you?”
“That man?” Lucile repeated.
“You don’t remember?”
“……”
“Well, if he could do this, then he probably isn’t human. A goddess, then? No, those guys are pretty reasonable. They wouldn’t do anything this horrible. Then what is he, other than mad?”
Lucile couldn’t answer. Because he couldn’t remember anything at all. He didn’t even know what he was doing now. The only thing he was sure of was that he wanted to protect his sister. But was that really something that he had independently decided…?
“I’m in trouble,” the demon said. “Ryner’s been ripped from me… How am I supposed to protect Aslude now?”
He turned his crescent-moon branded eyes to Lucile, who he regarded with sadness. “Why did you devour me?”
“To save my sister.”
“That’s it? Are you s—”
“That’s everything to me.”
“……”
“Everything.”
The demon smiled sadly. “Yeah… I guess it is. Come to think about it, I’m that way with Aslude.”
“……”
“We’re all mad, in the end. We can’t bear everything alone. We can’t bear to be alone. So we wish for love. And this is what happens when we do.”
“……”
“It’s okay. Just finish eating me. I can’t stop you now… and you’re fine with that, right?”
“……”
“Eat me. Then I’ll be untied from the chains of this curse, and you’ll inherit it in my place. You’ll be fine if you can manage to save Aslude.”
Lucile didn’t understand what that meant. But he didn’t really have a choice in the matter at this point. Because everything would end if he didn’t. His sister would fall into darkness and disappear.
So he finished eating it. The demon didn’t resist. He just watched him sadly.
“……”
His expression looked like pity to Lucile.
And then he spoke his final words to Lucile.
“I hope… that you can be happy.”
Then he disappeared.
When he did, his memories, his pain, and his agony all shot through Lucile. It was all disorganized to the point where he couldn’t really comprehend any of it. But he did understand the horrible exhaustion of it all. Because Eris had been alone for far too long. He’d been here, putting up a front for far too long. Because he was protecting this world from destruction, protecting his beloved hero until he could stand on his own two feet again.
But his front ended here. Lucile ate every last part of him, and now everything of his was now Lucile’s. The horrible loneliness eating a hole inside of him was Lucile’s now, too.
“……”
He didn’t say anything.
Because he didn’t care about being lonely.
He didn’t care about the world.
He didn’t care about the hero.
The only thing that mattered to him was saving his sister.
He turned, easily widening his consciousness and the area that he could perceive. He could easily find what mattered to him like this.
He thought of going there. And that alone made him appear there.
“……”
The dojo was the same as always. Ferris was lying on the ground. She had broken bones, her whole body was covered in wounds, and she’d even been stripped. Their mother was holding Ferris down by the hair.
Ferris looked absolutely terrified. Like she’d fallen into despair. Into darkness. Like her light was about to blow out.
But there was no reason for that.
The Eris family had already lost its reason to exist. The demon was no more, so they didn’t have to protect this place anymore. But his parents didn’t know that. So they were making fools of themselves fussing about this now.
“Now, Brother,” their mother said.
Their father nodded and began to loosen his clothes.
Ferris struggled with all her power. But she could hardly do more than twitch now. Because her arms were both broken and their mother was holding her down.
“Uu… uuuau…”
She was so scared. But she couldn’t even scream.
His father reached his hand out. His foolish, dirty hand. The hand of someone who was but one single gear in the workings of the world, the hand of a weak man. And he made to touch Ferris with it.
Lucile raised his own hand. He was pretty far, but with a wave he was able to project it onto his mother’s neck and grasp her. Rip her.
Her headless body made a dull sound as it fell to the floor next to Ferris.
It’s okay now, Lucile thought. You don’t need to be afraid anymore.
Blood from their mother’s severed carotids sprayed around Ferris.
She looked at it. Watched her mother’s blood spurt out towards her. She became even more frightened.
He’d come to save her, but she just looked more and more scared.
But that realization didn’t feel like anything. He couldn’t feel anything.
All he thought was oh, that makes sense.
He’d devoured a demon. It went without saying that he’d be different now. But he didn’t really care. Because he’d protected his sister. He’d completed his objective.
“Wha… you,” his father said. He sounded a little scared.
“My, my, Father. What exactly are you partaking in? An Eris mustn’t make a face like that while doing such a thing. Otherwise rumors that we’ve fallen may spread, yes?” Lucile spat. His voice was different from before, and it now strongly carried that demon’s scent. It had the quiet, oppressive aura of someone who looked down on all others.
Their father turned to look to the dojo’s entrance where Lucile stood. Then his eyes moved to his sister’s head dangling from Lucile’s hand. But he soon recovered his composure. Because he was the head of the Eris family and a genius among them. He didn’t feel threatened by Lucile’s ability at all. He just watched Lucile coldly.
“So? What exactly do you want to accomplish here? I already know that you’ve gotten stronger than your mother. But do you really think that you’ll live if you get in my way?”
He was absolutely clueless. Lucile smiled faintly. Because it was funny.
Ferris looked at him and shivered. She shivered because of him. Lucile’s smile just widened. So he’d really reached the point where he couldn’t go back anymore. Now she looked at him with fear. She was afraid of the person who wanted to save her here.
He felt laughter bubble up in his throat. Because it was just so funny.
But he didn’t laugh. Ferris needed to get out of here and rest before anything else.
Then he could tell her that the curse surrounding them was broken.
He smiled from the depths of darkness, as a demon would. “I wonder.”
“I see. So you’re trying to say that you’re stronger than me, aren’t you? So you’re saying that you too can be the one who breeds with Ferris—”
“Don’t soil my cute sister with your rotten words.”
Killing intent wafted from his father. see. So what you’re really trying to say is that you’re a useless child who can’t understand the Eris family either.”
How funny.
The Eris family didn’t even need to exist anymore. Their curse didn’t exist anymore.
His father picked up his mother’s wooden sword. “We don’t need the useless.” Then he disappeared. Or at least, he probably disappeared from Ferris’ point of view.
Lucile stepped into the gap between reality and nothingness, where he could see his father approaching him with ease. “You sure are slow,” he whispered. He caught his father’s sword with his mother’s severed head and laughed. Laughed and laughed and laughed.
His father swung his sword again and again. But it never hit Lucile. It never even grazed him.
He caught the wooden sword with his bare hands. “Haha. Do you really fancy yourself a genius at that level?”
His father made a new expression for the very first time. “Wh… what…
He was confused. Antsy.
It was a human expression.
So even his father was human, in the end. Human just like Ferris and Iris.
But not like him.
So this was the end. This was the end of everything.
That was what he wanted to say. But that’s not what came out of his mouth.
“In the beginning…”
But nothing was beginning. Nothing should have been beginning.
This was the end. So why was he talking about beginnings?
“In the beginning,” he whispered, “There was destruction. And in that demise was rebirth… Destruction… rebirth… destruction… rebirth… destruction… rebirth… destruction… rebirth… destruction… rebirth… he, hehheh… heh… heheh… hahahah… hahahahahaha…”
He laughed. It sounded absolutely mad. But he couldn’t stop. He couldn’t stop, even though Ferris was shivering in fear.
Even his father was shaking. “It couldn’t be that you…”
He laughed. “You said that I don’t understand the Eris family, right? And that we don’t need the useless, correct? But you’re the useless one, aren’t you? Everything will end soon, my incompetent Father. The disgusting, cursed blood and role of the Eris family will end with my generation. I alone will bear our cursed shackles. So the old generation may now leave the stage at peace,” Lucile said, his tone seeming to ridicule everything in this world.
With that, Lucile raised his hand up to end it.
“Wh, what are you saying? You’re mad. You can’t have… have—”
Lucile lowered his hand.
His father splattered open, his insides flying everywhere.
That should have marked the end of everything. The darkness and mystery surrounding their family should have ended then and there.
But he was overcome with the urge to partake in blood. And not just his father’s, either. Ferris’. Iris’. He wanted to gouge them out and slurp their insides up.
It was a severe, maddening hunger.
He wanted to eat Ferris. He wanted to eat Iris. He wanted to do it and change the world for Aslude, for Roland. For his beloved, beloved hero…
“……”
Lucile bit his tongue. Hard. To the point where he wondered if he’d bit it straight off. He came back to himself, forcing the devoured demon’s power down.
He felt like he’d throw up from the mere desire to consume them, overwhelming as it was. He was starved. He was on the verge of tears.
And then something rose in his mind. He couldn’t recall when he’d first heard it, or who had said to him.
“And then you’ll be expelled from this world and go mad. You’ll rise as something incompatible with humanity and incompatible with divinity - you’ll be the God Devourer Lucile. So goodbye, _____. Your complete humanity will end once and for all—”
He hadn’t caught the rest of it back then. But he remembered those words abruptly, as if he’d been put under a spell so that he’d hear them again here and now.
It was such a kind, ambitionless voice. And it continued, not in his memory, but in his mind.
“Your life will end once here, and an endless battle will start up again. You will never be satisfied. Not until you obtain a hero, not until you obtain true love. You’ll go mad from hunger for all demons, all gods, all people… and your worst hunger of all will be the desire to eat those who are beloved to you - hunger for your sister, strong enough to make you writhe in pain. Well, you can just eat her. It won’t get rid of your hunger even if you do, though. I’m not an expert on this, but you seem nice, so I’m sure you’ll suffer a lot. It’ll be real pitiful. But, well, that’s life for you… So you need to keep moving forward. If you don’t, then I’ll put you out of your misery.”
That’s what someone told him. A man he didn’t know anything about.
He said that his hunger wouldn’t disappear until Lucile obtained a hero. That his greedy insides that craved eating his own sisters wouldn’t disappear.
He looked at his sister. His beautiful sister, covered in their mother’s blood. She looked delicious. To the point where he sincerely doubted his ability to keep his greed in check.
She was beautiful. Too beautiful.
He watched her shiver.
And then. Then.
“You don’t have to be afraid anymore, Ferris. Everything’s over now. I’ll protect you from now on,” he said, despite the painful, overpowering hunger inside of him.
---
He began to search for the hero.
It was, in the truest sense, a search for his hero. Because he was looking for someone who’d save him.
Years passed before he found one. But his hunger didn’t fade even when he did, as if it was trying to tell him that he wasn’t a real hero yet. Because the hero had to eat two sides of the same coin first - the lonesome Ryner, and the demon Eris, and become Truth. Because this hunger would never end if he didn’t.
“……”
Lucile pulled his fingers from his head. When he did, they came out with a magic circle that shone gold. It was in all likelihood something that man called Lieral had buried in his mind when he was younger.
“…So he’s been manipulating my memories,” he whispered. He flicked the magic circle and it disappeared. He was sure that there were countless other little tricks in him, places where he’d been tampered with. But there was nothing he could do about them now. They were far too deep. He couldn’t reach them. He’d kill himself trying to rip them out.
The curse of the God Devourer Lucile, for example. Lieral had to make it strong enough that Lucile, who had been powerless back then, would be able to truly devour demons. He’d surely replicated the spell countless times inside of him so it’d work, and now it was impossible to separate it from himself.
But he’d retrieved his memories from Lieral’s seal.
He thought of last night’s events again. He recalled the man who’d gotten in his and Sion’s way when they tried to kill a goddess. That was most likely Lieral.
“It’s useless, Lucile. You’re still playing in the shallows. You can’t reach me, no matter what you do now… You need to go deeper, deeper, so deep that no one can hear you screaming in the dark…”
That’s what Lieral told him. He also said that he’d come to save them, and that they might be of use to him.
“Now it’d be nice if you’d run. I’ll pacify this Goddess somehow. You guys need to go find more power while I do. Just enough power to shoulder this country’s darkness. You need to have just enough power to devour Ryner before one of you becomes king of this country…”
That’s what he said. So in other words, he’d come to their aid.
Aslude Roland’s descendant, the king, had to eat the lonesome Ryner and the demon Eris in order to reach truth and gain power. And he’d come to meddle with that. Whether the descendant was able to bear Aslude Roland or not made the number of Human α fluctuate, so Lieral had come to ensure that the king of their country didn’t devour the Lonesome Demon or anything. Because he was always hard at work for his son, who he’d gone mad to save.
He should have known that the current king wouldn’t be able to reach Truth without breaking. But he’d still come to meddle. He likely meant to prevent Sion from devouring Lucile and Ryner and reaching Truth, too. Even though this warped and rotten world would never be able to return without Truth. Even though Lucile’s hunger would be eternal if Sion never devoured him.
None of that had anything to do with Lieral. He was just mad. Mad from love.
“…The door forward opens nice and wide when everyone’s that mad, I suppose.” Lucile couldn’t help but smile.
“…Who’s ‘everyone?’” A woman asked.
He turned around. His sister stood just past the dojo’s entrance.
She looked at him. All normal in his regular white martial arts outfit.
Lucile smiled. “You still can’t sleep?”
“It’s already morning.”
“It is?”
“Yeah.”
Lucile looked past her. Sure enough, the sky was starting to light up. “…To think that so much time has passed.”
“You didn’t sleep?” Ferris asked.
You didn’t sleep?
How many years had it been since he slept? He’d completely forgotten what sleep was even like.
But he smiled anyway. “I guess not. I had better get a little sleep, then. I just lost track of time while thinking…”
Then he heard his other sister’s voice.
“Siiiissteeeeeeerrrrr!!” She yelled. He could hear her feet running towards her, and then a cute girl best described as a mini Ferris leapt up off the ground to hug her sister. But Ferris stopped her hug from connecting with a hand on her forehead. “Wah! I’ve been blocked!”
Iris sounded happy. He smiled as he looked at her, his sister who was still so expressive. He felt that he’d done the right thing when he looked at her. Even if this kind of happy scene could only exist in the present. Even if it wasn’t eternal. Because they could smile now, even if now was the only time it’d ever be possible.
“Good morning, Sister!” Iris said. Then her eyes alone moved to Lucile. “Good morning to you too, Brother!”
“Yeah. Good morning.”
“What are you doing here?”
“Pulling an all-nighter.”
“You didn’t sleep?”
“No.”
“Aren’t you sleepy?”
“Hmm. I don’t know. I’m not lazy like you are, Iris. I work hard and train every day. So it’s easy for me to go a day without sleep.”
Iris scowled cutely. “Iris isn’t lazy. I hate you.”
Then Ferris took her hand away and Iris leapt at her sister again.
“I love you so much, Sister!”
But she was blocked again. “Be a little quieter.”
“Okaaay,” Iris said. Then Ferris let go of her again. “I’m hungryyy~,” Iris said, then raced off again.
Ferris watched her go, then glanced back at Lucile. She still looked tense when she looked at him. Because he’d killed their parents in front of her. He didn’t know if she feared him, hated him, or regretted things. But it didn’t really matter what it was. They didn’t really have anything to do with each other anymore. Not now that their family’s curse had been lifted.
Well, he was still cursed though. But Ferris and Iris, who had escaped the curse, could now smile every day. They could go somewhere, anywhere but here, and live their lives.
So he smiled. “Ferris, you should eat breakfast t—”
“Sisterrr! The dango man is here!!” Iris yelled from outside.
The dango man was Sion, naturally. Aslude Roland.
Sion peeked into the dojo from the garden on the other side while Iris spun around in excitement.
Sion had silver hair and golden eyes. But he was cursed just the same as Lucile now. He too was possessed by a deep darkness. He was desperately struggling in it.
“…Then how about you invite him to have breakfast with everyone,” Lucile said.
Ferris’ eyes widened.
It made him a little happy. Because she didn’t look like she was scared of him or hated him right now. Instead, she looked relieved.
He smiled and walked with them.
He didn’t know what might lie on their path. The demon said that this wasn’t how he wanted things to happen, and that the Goddesses wouldn’t do something so mad, either. Was this something that Lieral thought up, then? Lucile didn’t think so.
Then what should they do?
“…Why are we even doing this?” Lucile whispered to himself.
Everyone was moving forward with their own goals in mind. One person’s joy was another person’s sadness. One’s despair was another’s hope. That’s how the world’s strings were tied together. Everyone was just trying their hardest to live.
Whether they were called mad or criticized for their foolishness, all they could do was frantically crawl forward.
What was the last scene of the tragic concerto of the insane? What would they gain from all of this?
“……”
Lucile looked at the adolescent who carried the same sad ambition as his. He was cursed, too. But he was smiling kindly nonetheless. Sadly, but kindly. He watched the Fallen Dark Hero as he smiled at Iris’ spinning—
“……”
But he didn’t say anything.
And so the revolution began.
The devil didn’t know, either.
The Goddesses didn’t know, either.
The hero didn’t know, either.
Nobody knew whose play they were in, but they’d all scream and run around and kill each other anyway.
And now the curtain was rising.
---
