Side Story: The Bet Between God and the Great Demon
"Chief Administrator? A dimensional rift has occurred in the 17th dimension."
"That region has always been prone to being yanked into other dimensions. Someone probably just pulled one out to fetch a warrior from yet another world."
The angel who had submitted the report left, and another one stepped in.
"The 66th dimension has met its end."
"Any survivors?"
"A few are still clinging on, but..."
"I'll file the progress report later. Next."
An angel departed, and the next one entered, and the cycle of paperwork continued.
Every day, hundreds to thousands of dimensional reports crossed his desk. After centuries of this, he had simply grown tired of it all.
"Was it a mistake to ask the gods for salvation? If only I'd handed my body over to the demons back then, things might have turned out better."
It was a pointless thought. Hell was already screaming about labor shortages, after all. Faust sighed as he processed the next report, when someone burst through the door, panting.
"Chief Administrator! There's an emergency!"
"What is it?"
"A soul in our dimension has gone completely out of control!"
Faust tore his eyes from the documents. The dimensional manager stood before him, breathing hard. For a manager to come running like this meant the situation was serious.
What happened when a soul rampaged out of control? The affected dimension would slowly drag every other dimension it had ever touched into ruin.
"This paperwork never ends. Raphael, could you handle these reports for me?"
"Would you consider freezing time again?"
"I know what happened last time you froze time. Some dimensions went haywire. I'll handle it myself while you're gone."
Faust straightened his tie and followed the manager to the scene. The rampaging soul was devouring dimensional energy at an alarming rate, preparing to erase the dimension entirely.
"I did everything I could to suppress it. If this continues, both this dimension and the 17th will be wiped out."
"If only this dimension disappears, fine. But if it drags every linked dimension down with it, including the administrators, that's a problem."
Space Disconnected
Faust severed the space around the rampaging soul to stop it from siphoning dimensional energy, then began preparing a negotiation table to calm it down.
Next, he reshaped the soul's body into the form that would feel most at ease, then dug into its memories while it was still calming down.
"Feeling the most comfortable in the body of a pot-bellied middle-aged man? What a peculiar taste. Very well, shall I take a look at your fragmented memories?"
'I just wanted to live looking like I was in pain. I wanted to look sickly no matter what I did. I lived looking too healthy, and when I was in pain, no one ever noticed. Why am I the only one who's unlucky? I just want to be worried about by someone else, to be comforted...'
"...You actually succeeded in rampaging with such a weak reason? How much resentment did you have to carry to make even souls that usually fail at rampaging succeed?"
Most souls rampaged because of grudges. Strong-willed souls who had been wronged would burn with hatred and force their way into rampage. But this one had done it out of pure, bureaucratic frustration at being misunderstood. It was the first time Faust had ever seen it happen.
"If I grant your wish, I can turn you into a sickly-looking person, can't I...? Speaking of which, did you ask me to handle the 'Shell' in the 24th dimension?"
The Shell was a dangerous element. It wasn't a problem in itself, but if anyone realized what it was and touched it, it would unravel and cause chaos.
"Twenty-two years without a single soul in that dimension realizing what the Shell was. Truly fortunate. I'll take care of this rampaging soul while I'm at it."
As the rampaging soul slowly calmed, Faust opened his mouth and made it aware of death.
"Are you conscious? I don't have time, so I'll be direct. You died."
"What?"
"You died."
"Just now?"
Most souls rejected the idea of death. They hadn't prepared themselves. Only one in ten accepted it cleanly. And this soul was that one.
"Your body was at the absolute limit of what it could endure. Dying was inevitable. More precisely, your body was never meant to survive in the first place."
"Is that so?"
"You accepted death faster than most."
Compared to other souls, this one had accepted death far too quickly. Normally they would have rampaged again on the spot, doubling the trouble. But this time it seemed to flow more smoothly.
"Well, even if the doctor drags it out for a month, it's not like I can live forever. So who are you? The grim reaper? Or a god?"
"A god."
Faust had wanted to explain in detail, but time was running out. He decided to impersonate a god. If it was because of work, the true God would understand.
"Does a god normally guide the dead? I heard the grim reaper does that."
"Your life was so miserable that I came to grant you a wish. Originally the grim reaper should have come, but you're a special case."
It was a special case. Normally a low- or mid-rank angel, or the demon in charge, would come to collect the soul. While waiting for the soul to ask about the wish, it demanded detailed explanations.
"So any wish is fine? Reincarnation, past life, possession... anything?"
"Anything. And I won't ask for just one. Up to three is fine."
Faust had originally planned to grant only one and send it straight to the 24th dimension, but curiosity had gotten the better of him after seeing the soul's grievance. He decided to grant three.
Curious how the soul would use the remaining two wishes. Extremely curious.
"Make my body look sickly no matter what I do, even if I'm healthy. Physically, not mentally. No matter what I do, make me look like a sunfish."
"...I'll give you a chance to retract."
Three wishes... all for making the body look sickly? Not for power or ability?
Faust offered the chance to retract, but the soul answered immediately that it had no intention of doing so.
"I have no intention of retracting."
"Fine. I'll grant your wish. Don't blame me later. I did give you the chance to retract."
"Don't make me anxious. Just grant the wish already."
This guy was dead serious about looking sickly.
Faust had been bored for a while, so he marked the soul with a signature so he could keep an eye on it when he felt like it.
"Once you enter the gate, your wish will be fulfilled immediately. The place you'll live is similar to where you were, but different. There, you'll live as a 'healthy person who looks sick.' Satisfied?"
"Yes."
"Time's up. Live your next life happily."
Time in the disconnected space was running out, so after saying goodbye, Faust quickly began work on the 'Shell' in the 24th dimension.
Body Appearance Parameter Set
"Let's see, what would be good... First, make the appearance as sickly as possible... Shit, I messed up."
This wasn't just sickly-looking. It was corpse-like. Faust tried to adjust again, but the 24th dimension restricted divine and demonic power. He didn't have enough power to invest more into customization.
"Of all places, the 24th dimension... Fine, I'll keep investing as much as I can. By the way, is this 'Shell' female? Whatever, she chose it, so she'll figure it out."
After completing the setting, Faust turned back toward the heavenly records to resume paperwork. But the manager from the 17th dimension followed him.
"Did you resolve it?"
"I did. I sent that soul from this dimension to the 24th."
"The demons won't just sit still."
"Demons? Why would that soul have anything to do with demons?"
At Faust's question, the 17th dimension manager scratched his head.
"That soul is actually destined for Hell. The assigned demon will probably throw a fit if he finds out."
"Who is the assigned demon?"
"Great Demon Mephistopheles."
Faust's headache returned.
A soul with enough power to destroy a dimension in a rampage should have been a good worker. It was clear he was about to come to Heaven and cause chaos.
"I'll deal with the paperwork later. I'm going back. Handle the aftermath yourself."
"Thank you, Chief Administrator."
Faust returned to Heaven as fast as he could, finishing the remaining paperwork and stopping Mephistopheles from causing trouble.
...
As the day's paperwork neared completion in Heaven, Faust stretched.
"Raphael, put these sorted reports over there."
"Yes, sir. What other work do you have?"
"You can go home early."
He told the great demons and archangels they could leave as well, but commotion erupted outside.
"Stop! We have to keep the great demon out of the office!"
"Get out! You damn demons! Faust, how can you still be chief administrator after this?"
"How dare a disgusting great demon set foot in this holy place! Leave at once!"
"Holy? This place is full of hypocrisy. Hell is far more holy! You fucking flies!"
Raphael, who had brought the reports, quietly summoned her spear and prepared to respond.
"Raphael? Put the spear away."
"But if Mephistopheles attacks..."
"Better to prepare for defense. If we clash, we'll have to work three days straight. Can you handle it?"
"..."
After a moment's thought, she quietly sheathed her spear. The door burst open, and a red-haired woman in a suit staggered in, panting.
BOOM!!!
"Faust, you fucking bastard. Do you have no sense of decency?"
"I was just doing my job."
"Oh, really?"
She quietly drew a whip wrapped in flames and said,
"Then I'll burn all these documents? Burning Heaven is part of my job, you know?"
"...Stop the whipping."
Mephistopheles was genuinely about to burn every document in sight, so Faust began preparing to defend them.
"You people have no decency? You forced a contract to be broken and stole what was mine. Now you're sending even that soul to another dimension?"
"It couldn't be helped. If I left it, dozens of dimensions would have been destroyed. Would you have let that happen?"
After hearing the explanation, Mephistopheles calmed down and recalled her whip. She asked where the soul had been sent.
"So, which dimension did you send it to?"
"The 24th."
Correction. Not the truth.
"Fuck! You sent it to a dimension where divine and demonic power are restricted?"
"Why? It can handle a light poltergeist, right?"
"A light poltergeist would make me suffer for weeks. Would you do it? And why the 24th dimension?"
Angry, Faust explained in a low voice.
"There was a Shell in the 24th dimension. I sent the soul from the 17th dimension there to handle the rampage and take care of the 24th dimension's business at the same time. I had no choice."
"A Shell? The one that appears only once per dimension?"
"Yes. It had existed for a long time, so I put the rampaging soul in it just in case someone touched it."
Mephistopheles sighed while calming down.
"The 24th dimension is easy to retrieve. Besides, Hell is already short on workers."
"But we're not a small elite force? We only hire the best workers."
"Of course we hire the best. But if one takes a vacation, Hell collapses. Anyway, that's not the point. So if that human died in the 24th dimension, would it belong to Hell?"
"No, that's not the case."
When a dimension changes, souls can choose their afterlife destination. It was the same as saying a soul destined for Hell could go to Heaven.
"I can't give my precious successor to you."
"Shut up. That soul was originally ours. Cancel that before I burn the documents."
"If you want to try, go ahead."
Faust had already summoned the archangels and placed strong protective wards on the documents. No matter how great a demon, they couldn't break through multiple archangels. But he couldn't let a great demon stay in Heaven too long, so he spoke to Mephistopheles.
"Meph, let's make a bet like before."
"Don't make me laugh. The god is still breaking contracts and taking what he wants. What would I do?"
"The god is on vacation for a hundred years anyway. A human's lifespan can't exceed a hundred years, so it's worth betting on?"
Curious, Mephistopheles grinned madly.
"Fine. What are the stakes?"
"If I win, I'll work in Hell for a hundred years for free. But if I lose, you'll send me a worker of equal skill."
"Good. This time, don't run away if you lose, Faust."
"I have no intention of losing, you damn great demon."
The bet between God and the Great Demon had begun again, crossing time.