A Little Short of the Mark
The World Tree was babbling on about being the mother of all things, the earth and wind and water of the world, or whatever. I'd listened to its long-winded self-introduction.
"Get to the point. You're just a big tree, right?"
[Me? A tree?]
"Aren't you? Don't you do photosynthesis?"
[I am the origin of this world, the mother who gives birth to all life, rooted in this forest since the dawn of time──]
"Yeah, yeah. So you do photosynthesize."
[……Die!]
Logic, overwhelming victory! It got mad because it couldn't win the argument. This was a common trait among inferior creatures lacking intelligence.
[Feel the forest's wrath in your bones!]
Crack! Jet-black roots burst from the ground in every direction. Hundreds of tentacles, each as thick as a log, bristling with sharp thorns.
"Hmm."
I glanced down at the roots trying to ensnare me. Did this thing really think it could bind an ultimate being like a dragon with such crude vine whips?
With a flick of my tail—whoosh—the log-thick root tentacles snapped like dry straw.
[N-no way! My roots are death vines that absorbed the forest's essence! Just touching them should make your flesh peel from your bones in agony!]
"It's a weed."
[A weed!? Then how about this!]
This time the half-burned branches trembled wildly, and palm-sized golden leaves sharpened their edges before launching all at once.
Whirr! Each one spun like a razor blade as it flew. It might sting a bit if they cut you. Of course, that only applied to frail inferior creatures.
"Annoying."
With two casual waves of my hand, the leaf storm lost direction and scattered.
[This insolent lizard……!]
Bang! Boom! Knots along the trunk swelled and burst, spewing crimson spores. In an instant the entire clearing filled with thick fog. A sour stench stung my nose.
"Cough, cough."
It tickled my nostrils.
[Hehehe…… It's over! Inhale even a single breath of that toxin and mold will bloom deep in your lungs, slowly killing you from the inside out!]
"Ugh……"
[Huh?]
The World Tree's hundreds of eyeballs all snapped toward me at once.
"Achoo!"
Whoosh—! The gale from my sneeze blew the thick spores away cleanly. The clear sky reappeared.
[Graaaah! Why! Why doesn't anything work on you!!]
The tree had apparently wanted to imitate grand catastrophes or divine wrath. But honestly, from my perspective it was no different from sweeping fallen leaves or pulling weeds. This was the difference in rank between living beings.
[Just a little! If I'd had just a little more time! I could have become a true god!]
"Oh yeah?"
I yawned so wide my jaw nearly split.
"That 'little' you were short of is called skill."
The most pathetic thing in the world was hearing someone say they 'almost made it.' What was the difference between a dinosaur killed by a meteor saying 'I almost survived' and this? If you didn't make it, you didn't make it.
[S-shut your mouth!]
The tree monster thrashed, raising every last root and branch at once. Black tentacles writhed as if to cover the sky.
"Breath would be wasted on you."
It was supposed to be the breath of destruction. I couldn't just use it to burn some weeds. It would be beneath me. Beneath me.
"Let's go, Yumitas. Body slam!"
I gave myself a pep talk, folded my wings once, then spread them wide and charged like a pink cannonball.
Kwaaaaaang!!
[Grrraaagh!]
The World Tree split clean in two from the center. Its thick trunk shattered, spraying fragments everywhere.
[N-no…… My divinity……!]
As the dust settled, only a blackened stump remained where the World Tree had stood.
"Kyahaha! This is the difference between plants and animals!"
That's when something popped out from the center of the stump. A fist-sized, bright red, perfectly round fruit. Its smooth, glossy surface looked incredibly delicious.
[It can't end like this……! I'll resurrect even if it takes another thousand years……!]
The fruit rolled away, trying to escape. So that was the World Tree's true body. If I let it get away, it would sprout again someday and cause more trouble.
Whoosh. I transformed into my girl form, snatched the rolling fruit with one hand.
"It's a peach."
[It's not a peach! I am the World Tree that supports this world, Yggdrasil──]
Crunch. Juice exploded in my mouth. Oh. Surprisingly sweet.
Nom nom nom. Gulp.
"Mm, not bad."
That was the end. The grand ambition of the World Tree, which had called itself the mother of all things, ended pathetically as a dragon's after-meal snack.
Burp— A dragon belch escaped me.
*
Alright, the real main event starts now.
I wiped the juice from the corner of my mouth with the back of my hand and slowly turned to look at the elves. Think about it. I'd just chewed up and eaten the 'Mother World Tree' these guys had devoted their entire lives to worshiping.
"Hehehe."
What must it feel like for believers to watch their god get devoured right before their eyes?
"……Mother?"
The blonde elf staggered. Her flowing golden hair fell into disarray as she stared blankly at the stump.
"Where…… did Mother go……?"
"The light…… I can't feel the warm light anymore……."
The elves began to stir. A few looked back and forth between the charred stump and me, then flinched and shrank back.
Oh. Ooh. There it was. That expression. A faint but unmistakable hint of fear!
'Finally!'
This was the moment I'd been waiting for.
"Kyahaha! Yes, look closely! That pathetic little tree you called Mother was nothing more than a dessert for me!"
I laughed as wickedly as I could.
"So? How does it feel? Scary, right? Like the world is collapsing."
Despair. Scream and prostrate yourselves. Beg me for mercy, please!
"Aah……."
At that moment, clear light returned to the blonde elf's previously dazed eyes. She stared at the blackened, shattered stump.
"Is that…… Mother's…… true form……?"
Hundreds of bloodshot eyeballs. Rows of sharp, pointed teeth. Black, rotting flesh.
"I believed it was the most beautiful thing…… and devoted my whole life to that beauty…… and it was just an ugly, hideous mass of eyeballs……?"
Good. Shame. Betrayal. Disgust. Any negative emotion was welcome. From there, it only needed one more step—one tiny step—toward fear of this grand self.
"Aah! Now I understand."
She took a step toward me.
"Wait, I didn't mean physically come closer!?"
"We've been deceived by false beauty all this time!"
Another step.
"The golden shell. The sweet lie of 'Mother.' What lurked inside was an ugly monster. A fake pretending to be beautiful."
Her eyes sparkled with ecstasy.
"You instantly destroyed the idol of deception and revealed its hideous true nature to the world. And then…… you filled that empty space with this overwhelming, dazzling presence."
"Hey. Hold on. Why are your eyes shining like that?"
"Those soft pink scales. Those exquisitely curved horns. That sacred radiance! How adorable it is!"
"Wait! Listen to me for a second!"
"This is true beauty!"
Thud! The blonde elf dropped to her knees right there.
"The one we should have been worshiping from the beginning was you!"
The blonde elf spread her arms wide and cried out.
"Brothers and sisters! Open your eyes! For a thousand years we have been deceived by a false idol! We called that hideous parasite 'Mother' and let it suck out our souls!"
The elves murmured among themselves.
"But this person, this great dragon, has liberated us from that lie! They have torn away the ugly veil that blinded our eyes!"
"Ooh……."
"Aah……."
"The only truly beautiful, truly great, and truly legitimate god is the dragon! The one and only beauty to which we must devote our entire lives!"
Thud! Thud! Thud! The elves all fell to their knees at once. The same ones who had been retching at the World Tree's remains moments ago now bowed their heads toward me in perfect unison.
"We were livestock. Cattle whose souls were being devoured by those filthy tentacles……"
"The divine dragon has descended in person and destroyed the false idol that deceived us!"
"The only truly beautiful and legitimate god is the benevolent divine dragon!"
Again. It was happening again? I'd only burned that tacky tree because it had the nerve to illegally claim this grand self's property.
"No, no! You're all wrong!"
I waved my hands desperately.
"This grand self didn't do it to enlighten you! I just found that monster tree insolent and──"
"You mercilessly destroy any falsehood that displeases you! What pure and upright aesthetic sense! What uncompromising purity!"
"You stupid pointy-eared idiots! I didn't save you! I spared you so I could exploit you!"
"We understand! We will engrave that profound meaning in our hearts! We who were once gardeners of the rotten tree shall now become the guardians of the dragon race. We elves will devote our entire lives to serving your beauty!"
"Gyaaaaah!"
"Aah, the divine dragon roars with joy!"
This is so unfair! Why do they keep calling me a divine dragon!? I'm supposed to be a heartless, tearless tyrant dragon!
While this grand self was looking up at the sky and lamenting, something began to leak from the blackened hole in the center of the stump where the World Tree had been rooted. Red, orange, yellow, green, blue…… colorful rainbow light.
"……Huh?"
Even the elves, who had been lost in their worship, began lifting their heads one by one. From the hole, glowing orbs of light in every color poured out. The once-dark clearing was instantly filled with fantastical hues.
"Oh my god……."
The blonde elf's mouth fell open.
"Could this be…… spirits?"
Spirits?
"They are spirits. The forest spirits that disappeared from this forest long ago…… the ones our ancestors only sang about in legends!"
I see. So that World Tree monster had been trapping them under its roots and sucking them dry. What a meticulous exploiter.
"Looks like they're happy to see the outside world after so long."
Anyway, it had nothing to do with me. They'd go their own way.
Bzzz— The light particles all changed direction at once. And then they began swarming straight toward me.
"……Eh?"
The rainbow-colored spirits swirled around me in a spinning vortex.
"You firefly-looking things! Get away from me!"
I swatted at the spirits that were rubbing against me, trying to shoo them away. But no matter how much I waved them off, the spirits only laughed merrily and clung to me even more enthusiastically.