Shattering the Lost Paradise
A world enveloped in darkness on all sides. Color had vanished, replaced only by shades of black and white. It evoked a primordial space before the birth of light. All he could feel was his own imperfect body heat and the faint sound of his breathing.
Fuck. Why doesn't a single thing go according to plan?
Honestly, he could chalk up the Morbelroom incident to bad luck. Belloa had charged toward him instead of Luel, after all. But no matter how he turned it over in his mind, this one made no sense. The Black Magic Extremism Society and their backers, the black magic graduate alumni. In the original story, they were supposed to prove their worth at tomorrow's demonstration. From their perspective, striking then would have had far greater impact than today…
"Whatever. What's the point now that the damage is done."
He let out a heavy sigh and slowly expanded his field of vision. Pitch-black emptiness and dead silence, sensing nothing but himself. This space was called the Lost Paradise. An ideal born from a god's failed creation. A phantasm without substance, illusion incarnate.
"I never bore the likes of you."
"Vergilius scum."
"Please understand, young master."
Visions flickered before his eyes: his father, his brother, and the head butler who had cared for him, each wielding knife or spell with blatant murderous intent. Trauma? Maybe, in its own way…
Insight reveals the truth.
A blue window popped up, and the darkness gradually lifted, unveiling a full black-and-white world. Students and professors, including himself, stood frozen, trembling as if blind to everything. Some had collapsed, clutching their heads like they were dying.
Is this what they mean by hell disguised as paradise?
This world was pure illusion. Without substance, yet undeniably existent in the void.
"M-Mom!!! D-Don't abandon me!!!"
"Gaaahhh!!! Fuck you!!! I'll kill you!!!"
"S-Spare me…"
Though illusionary, it felt utterly real to those trapped inside. It should have been paradise once…
"It seems there's still a human who hasn't crumbled…"
A grotesque voice echoed from the sky, surveying the ground. The insubstantial one, Versafe. With a fear-eater like him in the Lost Paradise, it was no paradise at all.
"It's you."
It descended slowly from the heavens, exuding an aura as if it were an omnipotent god. Demonic energy scattered like rays of light, fixing its gaze upon him.
"Child, what is your name?"
He couldn't pronounce its true name, but he knew the one recorded in human history. Three hundred years ago, the great demon that drove an entire kingdom mad.
"Versafe."
"…Human, you know my name."
For a split second, its mask twisted, lips curling grotesquely—as if enraged that a mere human dared utter a god's name.
"A name unworthy of human lips."
"Bullshit. Stuck in this broken paradise so long you've convinced yourself you're a god?"
"Insolent wretch…"
Instantly, a massive surge of demonic energy poured from its body. Like facing an inquisitor, the overwhelming pressure crushed down on him.
Heavenly Martial Body resists.
Miracle Manifestation resists.
Seal of Original Sin resists.
But he had no intention of taking it lying down. Unlike back then, his body was fully restored now.
"You don't seem to grasp it. In this world, I am no different from a god."
"Bullshit."
He denied it, but it wasn't entirely wrong. The Lost Paradise was pure illusion. Even if its core was mid-tier demon level… within the phantasm, it was nigh-omnipotent.
"And don't you see? Those who truly sought paradise to lend me their strength!!!"
At its words, a nearby man collapsed. Overwhelmed by the fear in Versafe's illusion, he'd lost consciousness. This thing fed on human terror and despair.
"You think that's salvation? You mad demon fuck."
"Pity. You and I seem no different."
Versafe's mask warped further. His words had clearly struck a nerve…
This was originally Luel's role.
But Luel realizing the illusion and reclaiming her strength came much later. And with the story diverged, who knew if she'd even awaken to its falsity.
Things had changed from the original anyway.
"If I bring you salvation, wouldn't that make me a bit different from you?"
He'd take down this bastard himself.
"Fool. You think you can challenge one no different from a god?"
"Overconfident gods always die easy."
In an instant, twelve blades of pure white light formed behind the floating Versafe. Demonic rays shaped like swords slashed toward him in unison.
"Human notions of strength have limits."
Boom!!!
The blades never touched him. As if repelled by his very existence, their trajectories bent, clashing harmlessly in the air. An incomprehensible anomaly beyond physical laws. Even Versafe seemed flustered…
"Stupid fuck. What would a mid-tier demon like you know?"
Unfortunately, he wasn't a normal human. He carried memories of saving this world countless times. The sole transmigrator.
"H-How could a mere human…!!"
"Any other demon, maybe. But you? You'll never surpass me."
Defeating the insubstantial Versafe was simple. It grew strongest by conjuring its ultimate illusion. So he just had to imagine something far beyond it.
Something beyond mortal or demon.
Transcending finitude and eternity alike. Some called it god, others fate.
*****
When circles were first born in magic, humans defined the limit as ten. Those beyond were legends or myths. The great archmage Belhalm, closest any human came to the pinnacle, said:
'The realm beyond the 10th Circle is a domain of stars or gods, incomprehensible to mere cognition.'
The star-symbolizing-god realm. From that, the term Star Manifestation was born for what lay beyond the 10th Circle. A word meaning equal to divinity.
"Th-That can't… I am the god!!!"
Versafe couldn't comprehend the being staring it down. It had envisioned itself as a high demon, godlike in the Lost Paradise. It reigned supreme, master and ruler.
But now, for the first time, Versafe felt terror before this transcendent presence.
"Versafe."
"…Wh-What!?"
"Behold. This is the ideal you sought."
The man before it spoke, slowly parting his lips and moving his tongue.
"Heavens above, why rage at the earth below?"
True divine wrath.
"Transgressors of domain, struck by thunder."
Perhaps mercy for its kind.
"Fools, smitten by lightning."
Perhaps lament for its kind.
"Rebels, crushed by thunderclap."
Perhaps sorrow for fate.
"Gaze heavenward and ask."
Judgment Day from myth.
"The name of the light ray falling upon thee."
Upon the earth where god-defiers dwelt.
"It is judgment, the divine punishment."
A single ray fell from the sky, they say.
"Light shall fall upon thee."
Lightning attribute. Star Manifestation magic. Divine Punishment.
"Astrape."
A single ray pierced the void toward Versafe.
Kaboom!!!
A deafening roar, apocalypse on earth. In that horrific illusion, Versafe felt its body fading.
"Ah… Aah… This is what I desired…"
Versafe felt no pain. As if that were the sole divine mercy, it vanished slowly—in illusion and reality alike. For the first time, the demon wept and smiled, grateful to the god granting final mercy.
"Ah… It breaks."
Even in the crumbling illusion, Dante regained composure, straightening his gaze. No matter a god's failed paradise, torn by a god itself, collapse was inevitable. The fall of the Lost Paradise was only natural.
Today, I just wanna go home and crash. This is exhausting.
As he stretched his aching body, voices sounded.
"…Dante. You really…"
"…Heh. Had this kind of power…?"
People had watched him rend the paradise and deliver salvation.