The first saintess told me. That a very universal order was necessary, and that it would not change in the future. She appealed desperately, as if trying to persuade me.
I thought she said it because I was the King of Humans. I thought it stemmed from a desire for recognition, wanting to boast of her own achievements... but that didn't seem to be the case.
"So you're asking me to be your yardstick. Providing guidelines on how you should act from now on."
"Yeah! That's it!"
"If I become your yardstick, what happens to me?"
"Hmm... I need to think about it a little..."
She grabbed her head and groaned, then spoke as if she'd just had a brilliant idea.
"Wanna come inside me?"
"No, I don't want to."
She was telling me to discard my physical body and enter her mental world? That's practically dying. Would I do that?
"You're not dying! You'll be able to feel everything I see, hear, and feel!"
"Living together with you at my age is a bit... Besides, it's cramped."
"It's not cramped! I often hear that my capacity is vast!"
"I like walking on my own legs and seeing with my own eyes. It's suffocating to only see what others show me."
"Ugh."
Trailing off, she cautiously proposed again.
"Then, though it's a bit inconvenient, would you stand by my side? You will move freely on your own two feet, but in return, I'll be at risk of losing you."
"Do we really have to be together?"
"Of course. You're the yardstick. Just like one must always carry a compass on them even if they don't take it out often, I must carry you!"
"A life bound to you. That would be hell for a younger brother."
"Hell doesn't accommodate your convenience. It doesn't cherish or treat you preciously, nor does it propose to you with such affectionate words. So comparing your older sister to hell is wrong!"
Well, a devil in hell wouldn't be a pretty older sister who buys you good meals and treats you kindly.
The second option was a bit appealing. It meant I could watch the world under her protection and meddle here and there. Wielding absolute power would be fun, too.
"I don't want to."
But I don't want to. I rejected her proposal outright. Her expression grew a bit bewildered.
"You don't like this, you don't like that. It's really hard to satisfy my little brother's tastes."
"I'm your little brother. Just understand that I'm being a little spoiled."
"Please understand that I can't understand you either. Let me ask. Why don't you like it?"
As she thought, it was true that I took sides. In the Military Nation, I sided with Aibi; in the Allied Nations, with Peru; in the Principality, with Tir.
But I always left an opposing side. And I made the winds clash against each other.
"Games with a predetermined outcome aren't fun."
Then she asked back, looking surprised.
"Games? You play those?"
"They're fun. You should try it too."
"Didn't you say games with predetermined outcomes aren't fun? You can read minds."
Well, I am at a much greater advantage than others. But the outcome isn't set in stone.
"Sister, do you know how I won so many games?"
"Since you asked me to ask, I'll ask. How did you win?"
"Because I played that many games."
If I won all the time, no one would play with me. I have to lose appropriately sometimes. And losing isn't that hard.
"Sometimes the flipped cards smile upon the opponent, and the board changes due to sudden whims. You might get a hand you couldn't win with even if you died and came back to life. Even I, who can read the opponent's schemes, have lost numerous times. If we're talking about win rate, it's probably around 60%."
"For something you like, you're not that good at it."
"60% is good enough. And it has to be that way for them to include me in the next game. No one looks for someone who wins every day."
There are times to win and times to lose. Many things don't go my way. But if I win, I rejoice; if I lose, I shake it off and move on to the next game.
"I want everyone to sit at the game board. Even if it's not fair, and everyone has different stakes, they must become opponents in the game. I cannot decide which wind is right or wrong. Because that's what the game is for—to decide that."
Whether this is right or that is right changes from moment to moment. Even the judgments I make, who can read people's minds, are wrong 40% of the time. A 60% win rate shouldn't become the absolute answer.
I lose sometimes, too. But a loss isn't necessarily wrong. It just means my play didn't fit this round.
So, there's even less reason to set a definitive answer that doesn't exist.
"The answer is found each time. Continuously, into the future. As long as there is an opponent, we must keep competing."
That's why I won't take the side of order. I won't stand by her side and judge the world based on my own judgments.
I'll just keep playing the game.
She looked at me with a bit of disappointment. It was a gaze like one looking at a little brother who won't listen. I'm not actually a younger brother, nor do I have an older sister, but somehow I felt I could understand their feelings.
"Is that the conclusion you've reached?"
"Yeah."
If what she needs is a yardstick, she should follow that yardstick. If this is the conclusion I've reached, she must follow it too.
However, if there's still one remaining problem...
"Then, who will be my opponent?"
She is special.
Even among the conceptual beings called Beast Kings, the King of Humankind, who rules the continent and has reached the seat of the Demon God, is special. She can't even judge right or wrong. Because her actions will become law and truth itself.
So perhaps that's why I'm here.
"I hear you talking as if everything in the world will go your way. Does life look that easy to you? Hmph, what a joke. I'll be your opponent."
You can't always fight battles you're guaranteed to win. Humans must always clash their winds against each other to find the answer.
Those are my words, and they apply to me as well.
"...You? You, who are weak and ordinary?"
"I'll show you what I'm made of. Follow me."
Because I'm the only one who can be her opponent. I grabbed her hand and led the way.
***
Nevita's methods were rough and forceful. After surviving about five near-death crises, Shae barely escaped the seed chamber. Shaking off Cheon-aeng, Shae flew up into the sky and looked down at Nevita, panting heavily.
'Nevita is a Demon God and can use that power in combat. It's incredibly powerful... but it's not without a weakness! Nevita lacks mobility!'
A tree takes root and stands firm in its place. It was the same for Nevita. Her power came from the earth and the tree; she couldn't easily trespass into the empty sky.
That was precisely why Shae had managed to stay alive despite clashing with Nevita several times. If she saved her life with Cheonbangyeong and fled into the sky, it was difficult for Nevita to chase her.
Nevita moved by riding the Tree of Origin. It was as if the Tree of Origin itself grabbed and pulled her up. That was also tremendously fast, but no matter what, it couldn't compare to flying in the sky. Shae thought from a safe distance.
'By now, the druids must have infiltrated the Layer of Lords. I need to draw her attention. I can't guarantee if they'll succeed or not, but if Nevita goes, it'll certainly fail!'
Having made up her mind, Shae shouted towards Nevita.
"Let's just watch together. Let's see who becomes the next King of Humans!"
"You will not be able to do that."
Even though there were already countless threats directed at the Tree of Origin, Nevita paid no attention to anything else and glared straight at Shae. As if, as long as it wasn't Shae, the other threats were nothing.
"You're acting arrogant just because you're in the sky. How long do you think I'll let you be?"
Nevita grabbed the small World Tree with both hands and pressed it against the Tree of Origin. Roots instantly shot out from the cross-section of the small World Tree and dug deep into the Tree of Origin.
"The sky is inherently empty and hollow. It can only leave you alone and watch, unable to help. Therefore, celestial gods are essentially false and cannot help but be empty existences."
The appearance of the small World Tree changed. Some parts grew, while others withered and fell off. It was like an invisible landscaper pruning it. Shae opened her eyes wide and observed the sight.
'What is that? That shape...'
The small World Tree, which had irregularly changed its shape... looked exactly like the Tree of Origin.
The moment Shae realized that, Nevita grasped a branch of the small World Tree with her hand and moved it.
Then, something unbelievable happened.
The Tree of Origin, comparable in size to a mountain, did not move macroscopically. From a microscopic view, the people living on it saw its branches swaying in the wind, but that was merely an extremely small part growing on branches that had split off dozens of times from the Tree of Origin. The thick trunk and the large branches extending from it were not on a scale that would sway even in a storm.
Yet, that Tree of Origin.
Is moving.
The massive bulk moves. The displaced air produces a deep, rumbling sound. Leaves that couldn't keep up with the movement scatter like clumps of feathers, and branches that snap under inertia echo a sound akin to a carpentry workshop across the world.
"Huh? The branch..."
"Aaaagh!"
"Save me!"
And, the screams of humans embroidered upon it scattered like falling leaves.
The World Tree was fair. It didn't concern itself with the safety of the bugs that lived off eating its leaves on its body. It simply moved.
The residents under the shade of the World Tree would feel unjustly treated. Common sense dictates that trees don't move. Even if they worried about falling, no one would have expected the tree to move and drop them.
"Damn it...!"
Aghast, Shae desperately fled. Because of its sheer scale, the Tree of Origin seemed to move slowly, but the speed of the branches actually approaching far exceeded the speed of sound.
A graze meant death. Even if she dodged, she would be swept up in the aftermath. Shae instinctively flew diagonally. Spitting out compressed air as she fled, an arm bearing countless branches swung down in front of her.
An attack that blurs the sense of perspective. A spectacle akin to the world itself attacking. The vortexes hanging from the branches distort space, and the shockwaves tear the world apart. In movements surpassing the speed of sound, even the wind becomes a massive whip targeting Shae.
At the last moment, Shae detonated the wind beneath her feet.
"Ugh!"
Just as she thought she had narrowly dodged the massive branch, countless smaller branches suddenly grew and flew at her. It was like the soldiers of hell reaching out to grab her. Shae slashed through all of them with a wind-wrapped slash.
"Hah! Hah! Nevita, you crazy bitch...!"
But Shae couldn't laugh. Because countless people were flying away along with the leaves right before her eyes. All sorts of screams rode the wind, then faded into the distance.
People live on the branches of the World Tree. And the people who lived off the blessings bestowed by the Tree of Origin paid far too steep a price for it.
There was no way to save them, nor the leeway to do so. Shae was so busy watching the people falling like leaves that she was late to notice Nevita's presence. Nevita, who had appeared at some point, grew sharply cut bamboo towards Shae. Amidst dozens of bamboo spears rising, Shae, who detected the attack with Cheonbangyeong, continuously dodged and deflected the spears as she plummeted downwards.
"There are people living up there! Do you not care if they die?!"
"How laughable. Do you think I would bat an eye at the deaths of those who freeload off the tree as they please?"
"It's not just one or two, it's over hundreds! They'll all die!"
Shae shouted, her emotions running high, but Nevita merely stared at her calmly.
"Who was it that blocked the water flow to weaken the tree's energy?"
Shae glared.
The ones who blocked the water flow were the druids, including Nenyap. Probably the Saintess of the Sun helped too. That way, they could make the earth even drier.
"Who was it that gave up facing me and flew up into the sky to stall for time?"
That was Shae. She flew into the sky to stall for time. Because if she stayed here, Nevita wouldn't have many ways to intervene. It was a rational choice.
"Who was it that insisted on making this place the battlefield? You came to us, played all sorts of tricks. Are you planning to take them as hostages?"
She had no such intention. However, it was equally true that when devising the plan, she hadn't taken the safety of the World Tree's residents into account.
Since even Shae hadn't predicted that Nevita would move the Tree of Origin itself, it would be difficult to hold Shae responsible. But could she hold Nevita responsible?
Nevita gave the answer to that as well.
"If you must, then make it my responsibility. I don't mind."
Saying that it was just a play on words anyway, she muttered and moved the branches to chase Shae. Shae clicked her tongue as she saw Nevita approaching by riding the tree.
"Tch...!"
'I have to go up. People live below! If I go higher, she won't use her full power for fear of hurting the King of Humans!'
The residents under the shade of the World Tree mainly lived on the lower levels. If Shae went even higher, it would be more rational to move the uninhabited upper branches, so the lower residents would be safe.
That was about the only choice Shae could make.
"I acknowledge that intention."
However, having her mind read by Nevita was a huge misfortune for Shae.
The Tree of Origin slumped down. The countless branches that had grown as if covering the sky all fell at once, targeting Shae. Hanging from them were the fleshy fruits condensed with beasts.
To Shae, it was as if countless siege weapons were falling. She captured all of them with her Chilsaegan and dodged them with minimal movement, but an even bigger problem lay behind that.
The Tree of Origin fell, targeting Shae. Wrapped in storms and roaring sounds, the branch of the World Tree falling to target a single human was a disaster imbued with malice.
It was not on a scale that could be dodged or blocked. Shae raised Cheon-aeng. To block that, she had no choice but to cut through it!
"Cheongeomgi! Doryongcham...!"
Spinning her body greatly in midair, Shae increased the size of Cheon-aeng and unleashed a massive slash.
However, there was no foothold here. Jijan, who would have served as a base for Cheon-aeng, wasn't here right now either. The slash of Cheon-aeng was massive and powerful, but compared to the Tree of Origin, it was no different from an ant before an elephant.
The slash left a large gash on the branch, but the branch still swept Shae away.
"Kyaa...!"
A dizzying shock rocked her entire body. A blow that seemed to knock her out for a moment. Shae's body plummeted to the ground like a stake.
Feeling a pain as if her whole body was breaking, Shae gritted her teeth. She couldn't let her guard down just because it hurt. Her opponent was Nevita. The absolute being of this world. Even the short moment of struggling in pain was a luxury.
'No. I need to... stay focused...!'
"This is enough. Now, end it."
However, the gap in their power was clear. No matter how much she urged herself, struggled, and tried, it couldn't be bridged.
Nevita lightly pulled the branch of the small World Tree. Accordingly, the branch of the World Tree also bent with a creaking sound.
How much potential energy was hiding within it? How much colossal power was lying dormant?
And when that power was liberated, what would happen?
Nevita let go of the branch.
"...Ah."
Even Cheonbangyeong couldn't react. There was no need to react. How could she possibly react and respond to the branch of the World Tree chasing her at a speed exceeding the speed of sound?
Shae's shell shattered.
It was a power far too harsh for a single human to withstand. Even Cheonbangyeong, which had saved Shae's life countless times until now, couldn't save her.
Cheonbangyeong was a ki-technique engraved on the flesh. It moved the whole body unconsciously, circulated the ki-techniques, and reacted to attacks.
Even her thoughts—Cheonbangyeong, which controlled them unconsciously.
Fell silent, failing to fulfill its duty before the massive disaster known as the Demon God.
Shae's consciousness sank deeper, right along with her body.