I'll Show You True Darkness
But then, there was no longer any need.
Not that I'd ever followed the rules to begin with.
I smiled quietly to myself.
"…I'll show you what true darkness is, Forgotten God."
The form of Randolph engraved upon the Gloves of Omen appears!
Another Ruin — its true meaning.
…In the end, he is only mortal.
The Forgotten God recovered her composure.
Lilith's power — a primordial force that no one could possibly resist. Combined with her own curse, the tide of battle had completely reversed.
Of course it had. A being bound by a mortal fate that even a goddess's love could not rewrite — how could such a creature possibly withstand the combined might of Lilith and an evil god?
He possesses an unexpected divinity, I'll grant him that… but even so, saving everyone is beyond him.
Still, he had been surprising. A mortal, by nature, could not endure primordial darkness. They would be consumed, reduced to a puppet dancing to her will. Indeed, wasn't everyone present already under her thrall? The Ruler of the North, the Legendary Druid, the Empire's strongest warrior — all of them. Every soul bound by mortal fate was powerless before the Origin.
Everyone except the Druid of the Golden Rule.
It must have been the Nameless Eagle, along with his countless divine qualifications, that allowed him to endure. Only divinity could withstand primordial darkness.
But it was not enough. Even powerful divinity could save only the Druid of the Golden Rule himself. He simply did not possess divinity on a scale capable of redeeming everyone gathered here. The proof of that was unfolding right before her eyes.
"Give up and accept the darkness."
The Forgotten God smiled. For all the times the Druid of the Golden Rule had thrown her off balance, it was plain to see he was now being overwhelmed, his strength failing.
His stunt of summoning a being from beyond the Truth had been rather impressive. However—
"Your performance of playing at godhood was quite convincing. But you are no god, child."
Now she was certain. He was not an immortal god but a mortal human — one who merely held the qualification to bear divine sanctity. Possessing the qualification did not change his essence. He carried fragments of a god, nothing more. He had never become a god himself.
…Ha.
How ridiculous. Truly, utterly ridiculous — that she had treated him with such tension all this time. She had been completely taken in by his act. A considerable holder of divinity, yes, but nowhere near enough to face both her and Lilith at once.
Which made it strange.
He overcame the Trial of Truth with only this much?
Impossible. The Trial of Truth had been verified since the beginning of time as an impossible test — one that could never be completed, one that had driven countless gods to despair. Its power was so overwhelming that the laws of the world itself revolved around the Truth.
…She knew. She had experienced it firsthand.
So the fact that the Druid of the Golden Rule had overcome the Trial of Truth and summoned a being from beyond it could only mean—
It is proof that the power of the Truth has weakened.
Perhaps the Truth itself had grown frail. The thought kindled hope within her.
If I win this confrontation, I will reclaim everything that is mine.
The Forgotten God. She did not know her own name. She had forgotten it. She was certain she had once been a powerful evil god, and she remembered only this much: that the Truth had erased her.
Even among the many Forgotten Gods dwelling in this World Tree Dungeon, her standing was exceptional — yet reclaiming her name was no simple task even for her.
There was only one way.
To reach the roots of the World Tree.
But for Forgotten Gods to approach those roots, certain conditions had to be met. First, they had to defeat challengers and collect at least one hundred Forgotten Knights' Souls. The emblem of another Forgotten God was also required. Only then could one reclaim a name while slipping past the gaze of the Truth.
But if the Truth's power had weakened…
I can reclaim everything that was forgotten and stolen from me!
Reaching the World Tree's roots would restore only a name — nothing more than the awakening of self-awareness. But what the Truth had taken from her went far beyond that. It had driven every being who followed her, every thing upon which her name had been inscribed, into ruin. And more still: everything that had once symbolized her power had vanished.
She might be able to reclaim it all. The method was simple — face the Trial of Truth head-on. Reach the roots of the World Tree and refuse to look away from the Truth. Do not flee. In that moment, the Truth would turn its gaze upon her.
And then—
"You've won. I concede my defeat."
The Druid of the Golden Rule, driven into a corner, spoke the words. To admit defeat so readily — well, his act had been exposed. He had little choice.
However.
"Too late, child. Die quietly."
Had he accepted her first offer, things might have been different. But it was far too late now. Had he become her other half, he could have truly attained eternal immortality. He had made the wrong choice.
The Duel continues.
The rules have changed.
Only the Erasure of Existence shall determine victory and defeat.
The Forgotten God rewrote the regulations at will — an act that violated the ordinances laid down by the Truth. The Truth might turn its eyes upon her for it, but she paid it no mind. She was certain the Truth's power had weakened.
What she desired was annihilation. To erase that fraud for all eternity. To take everything from him, and to possess everything herself.
The two detestable goddesses, above all, were unforgivable.
That seat is mine. It should have been mine from the beginning.
She could not recall the precise reason. But a deep regret and resentment toward the goddesses remained. Once she reclaimed her name, the reason would surely return with it. What she knew with certainty was this: the Forgotten God was convinced that the goddesses' place had originally belonged to her.
At first she had intended to seize the child — the Druid of the Golden Rule — and thereby prove her superiority over the two goddesses. But now…
Once I reclaim everything, I will return to my rightful place.
…There was no longer any need for that.
She need only take the two goddesses' seats for herself. If she could fully reclaim everything from the Truth, it would be possible. And if one asked how an evil god could become a goddess — was the method not standing right before her?
The one beloved by both goddesses. The one whose fierce divinity was so intense it could even create the illusion of godhood itself!
If she could kill that being and claim him as her puppet, becoming a goddess would be trivial.
Die. Die and become my puppet.
There were no variables. Nowhere to run. Assured of her victory, the Forgotten God smiled radiantly.
…And in that very moment.
"…I'll show you what true darkness is, Forgotten God."
What was he suddenly talking about? True darkness? Was he claiming that the darkness of the Forgotten God and Lilith was somehow false?
He's spouting nonsense.
Unable to accept defeat, he must have gone mad. Besides — how would a being of pure sanctity know anything of "true darkness"?
But the Forgotten God had no choice but to wipe the smile from her face.
He's evolving again…?
His form had begun to change once more. It was absurd, but it seemed he was evolving yet again. A futile gesture. Nothing more than a death throe.
She soon realized she was wrong.
Fsssssssh—
His divinity was vanishing. Cracks spread through it, and through those fissures, darkness began to pour forth.
It was not merely his appearance that changed. His very nature had inverted. Light became darkness in an instant — consumed and erased in a single breath, gone without a trace. Darkness claimed its place instead.
No. That was not right.
This was not merely darkness filling the vacancy left by light. This was a darkness so vast, so absolute, that the sacred form of mere moments ago seemed faded and pale — a darkness that rendered all the divine majesty he had displayed until now utterly meaningless.
And so the Forgotten God stopped.
Every being present came to a halt. It was as though time itself had frozen. And the phenomenon was not confined to this place alone.
KRRRRRUMBLE!
It was shaking. The entire World Tree.
The Forgotten God's pupils trembled violently.
"You… you are…"
She knew the instant she saw it — what that presence was. And in the same breath, she understood.
"The one who overcame the Trial of Truth was never the Druid of the Golden Rule…"
It was that presence. That darkness. What had broken through the Trial of Truth was none other than that Ruin.
She shuddered. Without realizing it, she took a step backward.
She had experienced the Truth. And so she knew of Ruin as well — for among the powers the Truth wielded was the power of Ruin.
I have to run.
The Forgotten God was afraid. She had never felt this emotion before. It went beyond mere fear.
I don't want to die…!
…Not wanting to die. Was that not the kind of thing mortals said? Creatures like humans, whose ends were already determined?
But she was a god. Born a god, an existence that never died. So why — why did the thought I want to live rise within her?
Because she was afraid? Because that presence was the one who had truly overcome the Trial of Truth? It could not be merely from sensing the power of Ruin.
It is something entirely different. That… that is Another Ruin!
…It had been different from the start. Ruin could erase a god's name and cast them out beyond the world, but it could not fully annihilate a god. Yet that thing was Another Ruin — called Ruin, yet nothing like Ruin at all.
Ah—!
She understood. What it was. How it had been able to escape the Truth!
"You are…!"
The Forgotten God took one more step back. But she could move no farther. His darkness had already coiled around her.
This, too, was incomprehensible. Darkness that surpassed even an evil god's darkness — could such a thing exist? And yet it was more primordial still, something that truly resided at the very end of all things.
Ruin, and yet not Ruin. A darkness that annihilated gods.
What should such a being be called? And if such a being truly existed—
…It could only be called the End.
Ruin destroys all things.
But the End proclaims the conclusion of all things.
Even gods are no exception. The natural antithesis of immortals — that is the End.
Ruin can destroy the world, but it cannot declare the world's own conclusion. The End can.
This place is another world entirely.
The moment I transformed into Randolph, the truth of this world became visible. I understood that the World Tree Dungeon was another world unto itself.
This was the world of the Forgotten Gods — a twisted, ruined, wrong world they had tangled and despoiled.
From the beginning, only defeated and forgotten evil gods dwell here.
Why had forgotten evil gods taken root in the World Tree of Honor? Why had they summoned the souls of honorable knights only to make them forgotten as well?
The reason was simple.