Chapter 439
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 439
Chapter Title: Why Is That Coming Out From There?
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[Uh...]
She blinked once.
Yuna Kyung tilted her head and asked,
[What's a lamp genie?]
"You don't know? It must be in fairy tales at least."
[The orphanage I grew up in didn't have many fairy tale books, so I never really got a chance to read minor ones like that.]
"A minor fairy tale... That's an interesting way to put it."
[Is it that famous of a fairy tale?]
"Heh heh. If I had to say, it's normal not to know. It wasn't even a fairy tale to begin with."
[Hmm, sounds like it's not that fun of a story.]
She'd thought about buying fairy tale books for the kids at the orphanage if it was one, but oh well.
Hearing Yuna Kyung's mutterings, Syr chuckled softly.
From fairy tale collections to folklore anthologies and even royal grimoires.
There was no way to obtain storybooks about the black wizard Aladdin, who had been designated a forbidden text after the Demon God War and either burned or sealed away.
[But why bring up a fairy tale all of a sudden?]
"Just curious."
[About what?]
"If a magic like something out of a fairy tale book existed in reality—one that could grant any three wishes—what would you wish for?"
Syr smiled meaningfully as she asked.
Yuna Kyung replied indifferently.
[I wouldn't wish for anything.]
"...Why not?"
[Because there's no way something that ridiculous exists.]
Magic was ultimately equivalent exchange.
To gain something, you had to pay an equal price.
So there couldn't be magic that granted any wish, and even if there was, who'd dare use it with the terrifying cost?
Watching Yuna Kyung state it so bluntly—unlike her usual carefree self—Syr muttered disappointingly.
"That's a more boring answer than I expected."
Would she wish to become human again?
Or something else?
She'd been looking forward to it so much.
But her regret at Yuna Kyung's textbook response—now that she'd learned a bit of magic—lasted only a moment.
Syr added languidly,
"Still wiser than those greedy fools, at least."
[Greedy fools?]
"I'm talking about the kids who seriously tried to make that wish-granting magic I mentioned a reality."
[...There were idiots like that?]
"Can't exactly call them idiots. Similar magic has existed since the Silver Age, after all."
Wish-granting magic.
To be precise, many had researched ways to perform miracles without borrowing divine power.
Not just black wizards, but witches and priests too.
Even if it was a taboo set by the gods, those who handled mysteries couldn't help but covet the power of miracles—the prototype of all magic.
Of course, the outcomes were miserable.
Executed after being caught by the gods.
Or stripped of everything as payment.
Or their wishes twisted in bizarre ways.
Out of every three who tried, one died, one was ruined, and one ended up worse than dead.
In the worst cases, all three suffered it.
That was why most legends about wish-granting treasures ended in tragedy.
But if a hundred failed, one might succeed.
Compiling those rare successes, the superhumans of the Silver Age finally perfected one magic.
That was the 'Lamp Genie.'
A spell that most efficiently realized miracles by using a fake spirit created through magic as a medium.
Of course, even that had limits on wishes based on cost and user's ability, and could only be used three times in a lifetime.
But the mere fact that humans could wield miraculous power made it the ultimate magic.
That was why wish magic appeared sporadically in history, even after magic declined post-Silver Age.
But greed knows no bounds.
For those unsatisfied with limited wishes, research continued steadily to perfect true wish magic—one that could grant anything.
And after eons...
They finally succeeded.
A magic that connected the mere fake spirit of the Lamp Genie to providence itself, turning it into a tool that granted unlimited wishes.
"But kid, do you know what you call a being that grants wishes without any cost if you just pray to it?"
[...A god?]
"Then, if you could create that god through magic, what would you call it?"
[Huh?]
As if wondering what nonsense that was, Yuna Kyung blinked.
Syr slowly turned her head.
'Those Dawn of Darkness Society kids were talented fools, too.'
The black door Rimon had entered.
More precisely, sensing the vortex of fear, despair, rage, and every negative emotion being sucked inside.
And the divinity growing ever stronger as it absorbed them.
The legendary great witch, who had lived eons that would have killed even absolutes of old, muttered inwardly.
'If only they hadn't tried making a god of magic and dreamed smaller—like immortality—they might not have died like that.'
"A Demon God is a god of magic."
"A being that feeds on the world's negative emotions as faith and grants wishes."
"Without personality or need for followers, it's more perfect than any god in the world."
Unlike gods who acted to gain faith and bestowed miracles sparingly even on devotees, it could grant infinite miracles.
The strongest weapon humanity ever created—a fake god that was magic itself.
Explaining the Demon God's nature, Sergei declared,
"Thus, with the Demon God's power, we could build a nation where all citizens are happy, free, and equal."
Food? Create it with miracles.
Labor? Summon workers with miracles.
Military? Wipe out enemies with miracles.
Anyone with even basic knowledge of governance would vomit blood at such absurd solutions.
But with a Demon God—an omnipotent wish machine and ultimate perpetual motion device—such nonsense became possible.
It could create an ideal nation where the absolute majority enjoyed maximum happiness.
"So if you truly are humanity's guardian deity, don't stand in my way, Sword Duke."
He wasn't even asking for help.
Just don't interfere.
After staring intently at Sergei—whose words blurred the line between plea and warning—Rimon said flatly,
"Can't do that."
"You'll stop me?"
"Yeah. There's one contradiction in what you said."
Others might have been swayed by his utopia and missed it.
But Rimon—an old master with a long life and deeper knowledge of Demon Gods than anyone—spotted the flaw in Sergei's dream.
"If you really make a nation where everyone is happy, there's no source left for the Demon God's power—the negative emotions."
"..."
"That's why you talk about an ideal nation but never say you'll remake the whole world into one."
"..."
"For your nation to stay happy, the rest of the world has to keep suffering."
Stung to the core, Sergei stared heavily at Rimon for a moment before murmuring lowly,
"I'll only use the overflowing negative emotions in the world. I won't deliberately make other nations' people miserable."
"What if it's not enough for your ideal nation?"
"My calculations say it will be."
"What calculations? That billions of miserable people are enough to make 500 million happy?"
"..."
"What if a lot of those billions are less miserable than you think, or become happy later? Blame it on bad math?"
"..."
"If even you don't know what choice you'll make then, let me tell you."
He smirked.
Sneered coldly.
And Rimon declared,
"You'll sacrifice humans."
"At first, you'll offer death row inmates on altars or torment major criminals for negative emotions."
"But it'll never be enough, so eventually even kids who stole a loaf of bread become your offerings."
"Still short? You'll start a war against the whole world to build your ideal nation."
Like a prophet.
Without a hint of doubt, describing the ruin Sergei would reach.
Sergei countered,
"...That won't happen. That's not the nation I'm building."
"No, it will."
Dismissing the rebuttal so simply, Rimon sneered.
"Did you even know why the Demon God started indiscriminate slaughter during the Demon God War?"
"That was just backlash because you massacred the black wizards summoning it mid-descent, removing the wish-makers."
"Sorry, wrong. From the moment they summoned it, they wished for one thing."
Sergei froze—he hadn't known that.
Rimon told him lowly,
"Their wish was: 'Make a world where black wizards aren't persecuted.'"
"To grant that, the Demon God had one problem to solve."
"Killing me."
It was obvious.
He'd massacred the black wizards who made it.
And as long as Rimon lived, intent on purging more, no amount of altering providence could fulfill it.
So the Demon God attacked him immediately upon descent.
"But it couldn't kill me—instead, it died."
"Judging it lacked power to kill me, the Demon God sought more negative emotions right after reviving."
"The result? Europe's devastation."
Wishes must be granted.
If the price is short?
It forces the price.
A god without emotions or ego, acting solely to grant wishes unconditionally—that was the Demon God War.
Rimon said mockingly,
"That's what a Demon God is."
"Even if you only wish good, it inherently craves death and destruction."
"You might've become one to avoid that... but that's your worst mistake."
Having fused his personality into the system-like, perfect Demon God that lacked one.
It would now function as a 'god that forces an ideal society.'
And to do so, it'd make all humanity miserable except Russocan.
Under the Sergei-like belief that it was noble sacrifice for the greater good.
"...I see."
Eyes closed, facing Rimon—who gripped his sword hilt, radiating chilling intent like he might draw any second.
Sergei knew arguing he wouldn't doom the world wouldn't sway him.
He was humanity's guardian deity.
No man who let a tumor feeding on human misery fester.
"If that's your will..."
Sergei abandoned talk.
After a heavy stare, he raised one hand.
"I'll enforce my will by force."
Rumble rumble rumble...
Thus, the forest, land, valley, flora, and fauna—like paradise on earth—melted into shadows all at once.
The moment a staff appeared in Sergei's hand.
A voice rang out...
"【World Break】."
⟨ World Break ⟩
BOOOOM!!!
Dazzling light like a sun that could instant-kill even absolutes incinerated and shattered everything around.
[Huh?]
Yuna Kyung blinked while chatting with Syr about the black door.
It wasn't just the countless monsters suddenly bursting out.
She'd braced for this since the Demon God's revival.
The problem was their appearance.
Like paper screens under moonlight.
Shadows with only outlines, no substance.
And each had a grotesque form indistinguishable from beast or monster—far too familiar to Yuna Kyung.
[...Why is that coming out from there?]
The calamity that razed London.
And plunged the British Empire into terror.
Facing the infinite shadows pouring out, Yuna Kyung could only gape in shock.