For a moment, I was struck dumb after hearing the demon’s words.
I couldn’t easily make sense of what that demon was saying.
“Not… hostile?”
I mulled over those words.
Not hostile. No malice. Just…
“…I don’t quite understand. Aren’t they creatures whose very existence is packed full of malice?”
There was no need to go as far as the Blackout Zone. Just looking at the Mimic Beasts was enough.
Those horrific monsters threatened not only our lives, but our very existence.
Inside the Blackout Zone, they had repeated the actions they had performed in life.
Monsters created to replace humans, using humans as their material.
That was the essence of them I had felt.
“…Perhaps what you felt wasn’t entirely wrong. Those monsters are indeed bound together by malice toward humans.”
It seemed even the demon could not deny that much.
The demon continued in a detached voice.
“But look closely. That is only the scream of the creation. It is not the intent of the creator.”
“Not… the intent? After creating a hell like this?”
I swallowed a hollow laugh.
Monsters that wore human skin and twisted memories from life to inflict suffering.
If that was not malice, then what in the world was it?
“A blessing.”
The demon spoke as though murmuring.
“From their perspective, I suspect… they believed they were bestowing a blessing.”
I was left speechless by that shameless word. A blessing? Twisting limbs, tearing souls to shreds, and turning people into grotesque lumps of flesh was a blessing?
“Don’t joke with me. Do the screams those monsters let out truly sound like the voices of the blessed to you?”
“From a human perspective, no. In truth, even I don’t fully understand their essence. They are beings molded in a framework completely different from people like us. But… at the very least, their principles of action can be grasped.”
The demon stopped speaking for a moment and gazed beyond the fog.
As though seeing some lingering afterimage of a past that did not exist there.
“They pity mortals. Very much so. That is why they do not disregard even the most insignificant word you utter.”
This… was something I could accept to some degree.
The mote of that immense existence I had encountered when purifying the Incubator.
Though it had used countless children as materials to create a horrific monstrosity, when I demanded that it withdraw quietly, it had left without complaint.
At the time, I had only found it strange… but after hearing the demon’s words, I could understand it to some extent.
“…Let’s say that’s true. But if so, couldn’t we simply tell them to stop everything and leave?”
“That would be a very splendid solution. Of course, it would be nice if that worked, but your situation was fortunate. Most of the time, they don’t take things at face value.”
The demon pondered for a moment before continuing.
“Do you know why the Mimic Beasts came into being?”
“…How could I? Don’t tell me someone actually requested something like that?”
“It was a very young child. Children naturally think certain things, don’t they? Things like wanting to become like their parents. They didn’t even request it. They merely thought it, but by chance, those beings heard.”
That much was enough.
Because I could understand what it meant.
Wanting to become like one’s parents. Then what if one were to wear their skin?
“…So you’re saying the Mimic Beasts are the result of them distorting and granting that innocent wish?”
“Not only the Mimic Beasts. Most monsters were born that way. And from their perspective, it probably wasn’t a distortion. …Probably.”
At those words, I felt my mind grow distant on its own.
If monsters were simply trying to kill us because they hated us, that would have been better. Hatred was an emotion I could understand, and its end led to conflict.
‘…This just makes it feel empty.’
Only now did I somewhat understand what the demon had meant when he said they had no malice.
If the demon’s words were true… and if what I understood was correct.
There was no such thing as malice in them.
They had merely granted wishes out of pure goodwill, and this was the result.
For some reason, I felt hollow.
“Then, what… are we supposed to do? There’s a high chance they’ll distort even a request to stop. In that case…”
“We drive them out.”
The demon declared as much.
“They and we cannot coexist. To begin with, their way of thinking cannot be understood by our standards.”
That was clear from the fact that the reason the Mimic Beasts were created had arisen purely from goodwill.
We could not understand them, and they could not understand us either.
“In such a situation, the problem is that they are far too kind. Even if it is not a wish directly made to them, if they happen to overhear it, they grant it.”
They clearly held goodwill toward us. And the scale of it was extraordinary as well. Enough that they granted wishes no one had even prayed for.
But the circumstances underlying that were the problem.
They could not understand us, and we could not understand them.
In such a situation, the greater the goodwill, the more they pitied humans, the more horrific monsters were bound to be born.
“Even telling them to stop is a problem. As the existence of the Mimic Beasts and other monsters proves, there is no chance they will take our words at face value.”
So in the end, they were nothing more than a ticking time bomb.
“That is why we have to drive them out. So that those who cannot be reasoned with, those who create this chaos, can never come near again.”
The demon declared so.
‘…He’s right. It’s not as though we’ve been given any method beyond that.’
But that method had many problems too.
A very fatal problem, at that.
“But how exactly are we supposed to drive them out? By what means, and who would even do it?”
At those words, the demon smiled brightly and said,
“You.”
“…Pardon?”
“You are the only one who can do it.”
At the demon’s words, I was once again struck dumb.
‘Me? I can?’
To be honest, I could only think it was impossible.
I was aware that I was a special existence. Not knowing that much would make me an idiot.
But no matter how special I was, that did not mean I was a great existence.
Because I was still nothing more than a trifling human.
Reversing Mimic Beasts, healing wounds, and holding minds together.
Of course, they were remarkable abilities. But were they powers capable of resolving this worldwide disaster? Naturally not.
I collapsed just from purifying a mere handful of people, so it did not mean much.
“…How am I supposed to…?”
“You have divine power, don’t you? That inexhaustible, infinite power.”
“I understand that divine power is an incredible force, but if you ask whether I, the one who wields it, am incredible… I don’t think that’s the case…”
“Then you must become an incredible existence yourself.”
The demon’s words were terribly simple. Become an incredible existence. His tone was as light as if he were advising a passerby to become a god starting today.
In truth, there was little difference.
After all, the reason I had ended up in this state was simply that I had gone to sleep and woken up like this.
I suddenly looked up at the halo floating above my head.
The halo was scattering a faint light in every direction.
Even now, it still did not feel real.
The moment I had faced the mote that created the Incubator was vivid in my mind.
If I had not had divine power, I would have chosen mental suicide hundreds of times over. I had not even been attacked by anything. Merely facing it had been enough.
Being told to become great enough to drive out such beings did not resonate with me at all.
“…Aren’t there plenty of other candidates? Like the being that mutated me into this.”
“Ah, that one…”
The demon muttered as though displeased.
Well, the being that had mutated me was probably a divine existence in the traditional sense, so there was no way it would be on good terms with a demon.
“Loathsomely enough, that one cannot step forward. The board would grow too large. If that one were to fight them, every living soul on this land would evaporate.”
So… I understood it to mean that it was too powerful to step in.
‘…Ha. What kind of ridiculous situation is this?’
I clutched my head at the absurdity of it all.
“…What about you, then?”
“I don’t have divine power. Unless you transfer that power to me… But could you handle that?”
“…Pardon?”
“I’m a demon, you know. I would torment humans with malice, and for reasons of my own.”
Those words left me a little flustered.
It was a demon-like thing to say, but it differed from the attitude he had shown until just now.
After all, he had been saying this entire time that we had to drive them from this land for humanity’s sake…
The demon smiled playfully and continued.
“Well, I have no intention of doing it, so if it is to be done, you have to do it. And before you met me, didn’t you hear what knowledge I would give you?”
At those words, I thought back carefully.
There had indeed been one piece of related information.
“…A way to handle divine power better and reach a higher realm.”
At those words, the demon’s bright yellow eyes curved into arcs.
The demon whispered to me.
“That’s right. I will give you the knowledge that will let you go further.”