The Name of the Forgotten God
It was an age when even the gods were greedy — when even the evil gods hungered for more.
He could not begin to imagine how much power the Demon of Greed must have held.
…And before long, the Demon of Greed appeared.
KRRRRRUMBLE!
A nameless mountain collapsed.
"Wh-what? What happened to the world?"
Covered head to toe in dust, he furrowed his brow and twisted his face into a scowl.
The Demon of Greed had been studying.
He had retreated into the mountain to grasp every technique and every power of every god he had ever fought — to make their enlightenment his own.
He had only just finished absorbing it all, only to emerge and find the world falling apart. The sheer absurdity of it left him speechless.
"So it's him. The one who broke the world."
From far away, he felt the presence of Ruin.
It was strong.
An aura of pure malice so intense it made every god he had ever fought look insignificant by comparison.
And perhaps that was why—
"Ooooh! To think a creature that powerful still exists in this world!"
Greed was delighted.
Purely, simply delighted.
If he fought that thing, he would grow even stronger.
…He knows far more than I expected.
Listening to the story, I found myself growing curious.
The forgotten god before me was clearly an evil god — so how did he know so much about the other gods' circumstances?
A fallen god, then.
I nodded to myself.
The forgotten god before my eyes was a fallen evil deity. He had once been a god of the pantheon, and after Ruin's appearance, he had turned. That much was certain.
Moreover, he knew an extraordinary amount about Greed — as if he had been spying on him in real time.
…Wait. Could he be one of the goddesses?
But he looked far too much like an old man for that.
"Greed attacked Ruin," the forgotten god said.
"What happened?"
"What do you think happened? He lost cleanly."
"…"
"But Ruin spared him. Every demon was already contributing to Ruin's work, so he decided to let Greed live."
"He spared him because their interests aligned?"
"Something like that. The problem is… Greed kept attacking him afterward. There is no explanation for it other than that he had completely lost his mind."
"…He does sound unhinged."
I wanted to deny it, but Greed reminded me of myself somehow. The way he always gave everything he had, even when anyone could see the act was insane. That pure desire to grow stronger.
"Perhaps that is why the two goddesses began to help him," the forgotten god continued. "Among all the gods, they alone stood with Greed. And Greed became the first, after Ruin's arrival, to succeed in wounding him. It was nothing more than a flesh wound — but it was, without question, the first."
"So that's what stopped Ruin?"
"No. Ruin continued destroying the world without pause. But… he seemed curious. Watching a demon and two goddesses join forces. Watching beings that should never have been able to coexist find harmony… That is surely when he conceived the design for the 'End.'"
In that instant, the forgotten god's body began to grow translucent.
RUMBLE. KRRRRRUMBLE!
The World Tree's trembling intensified.
And then—
"Af-after that, Ru… in… uuuuuaaaargh—!"
It started again.
But this time, it did not stop.
"P-please… grant me rest…!"
The forgotten god begged.
The end was approaching, and he thrashed against the prospect of a wretched final moment.
And so I made my decision.
I would save the forgotten god before me.
Switching to the form of Park Hyunmyung contained within the Ash Gloves.
Bestowing 5 Sacredness upon the Inactive Emblem.
The Emblem has been activated.
◈ Planting the activated Emblem in the earth will cause a World Tree to grow.
◈ Placing the activated Emblem upon the associated Forgotten God's Domain will restore the Forgotten God's name, and lifeforms connected to the Name-Restored God will begin to be conceived across the world.
"Wh-what are you…!"
The forgotten god was stunned.
"This power… the power of the one who makes stars!"
He had never imagined I possessed such an ability.
"But without knowing my Domain, it is a futile gesture. Even I no longer remember where I set my Domain…"
"Here."
"Here… you say?"
"This place is your Domain."
The Forgotten God.
The one who had been called Ancient.
As his form grew faint, the world itself was growing faint with him.
I understood now.
I knew who had constructed another world inside the World Tree's dungeon.
It was the old man standing right in front of me.
He had relocated his Domain here. Of course this entire world was his Domain.
I drove the activated Emblem into the ground at once.
The Activated Emblem has been placed upon the Forgotten God's Domain.
And at the same time—
My name is…
The Forgotten God.
A being so ancient he had forgotten everything, lost everything. All that remained to him were thin scraps of memory — and even those were from a distant age. Only fragmentary glimpses of his most brilliant, most prosperous days still held him together.
I always wondered about that.
Why had he been clinging to memories that were not even his own?
Why, of all things, had he gripped so tightly to memories of the two goddesses and of Greed, barely enduring by that alone — even now, on the brink of annihilation?
That very question had denied him rest all this time.
The other forgotten gods had all faded with the passage of years. But he had remained.
Who… am I?
He had wanted to know so desperately it drove him mad.
Yet no matter how he struggled, the answer would not come. Every memory connected to himself had evaporated completely. When he tried to recall, only emptiness remained.
He did not know why he had been forgotten. He did not know why he was here.
It felt as though he were trapped in an infinite cycle.
To vanish like this would be too wretched to bear.
And so, when the End appeared—
Ahh! The End has come to declare my conclusion!
—he had cheered.
The End was the one who proclaimed conclusions. The being who decided how things finished. He had believed, without a shadow of doubt, that it would end his cycle of suffering as well.
But the shape of the soul the End carried resembled someone from his memories.
…Greed. Why are you…?
The Demon of Greed.
A being who should already have met his death had appeared as the End itself. He bore a darkness beyond imagination — and yet within that darkness blazed a radiance nothing else could match.
Ahh. Rhea. Fina. You two are still…
The Forgotten God found himself smiling without meaning to.
They were still together. Even in a present where everything had changed, they still held Greed with such tender devotion.
But until the very moment the world sank into the Abyss, no god besides Rhea and Fina had ever helped Greed.
Because he was a demon. Because of the prejudice that his birth and his nature must be evil.
Only the two goddesses had devoted themselves to him.
If… if it had not been that way — if the others had stood with him — the Demon of Greed might have saved the world from Ruin.
Still so beautiful.
They were nothing like him. Unlike this forgotten, uglied creature he had become, they had bound themselves together through unshakable faith.
And that sight was so beautiful that…
…the Forgotten God's chest grew tight.
It ached. It hurt.
Why?
His lips wore a smile, yet a sorrow of unknown origin left him not knowing what to do with himself.
But one thing was certain.
That bond, transcending the ages — that fierce, unbreakable faith—
Greed. Have you completed the End that even Ruin failed to finish?
—had at last completed the End.
Of course Greed would have been capable of it. Greed had never known how to quit.
A creature so tenacious the gods themselves had clicked their tongues in disbelief. The sole being who had fought every god of the pantheon and won.
He had lost against Ruin, yes… but the Forgotten God knew the truth.
If there had been more time — if the world had truly been united — if the gods had not cast Greed aside — then the victor against Ruin would have been Greed.
Ruin must have known it too.
And so Ruin…
Ruin had… what had he done again?
The memory…
The memory cut off there.
But the severed memory began to reconnect, piece by piece.
The cause was singular.
…The Demon of Greed.
Having washed the darkness away, he had transformed into an entirely different person. His appearance was clearly not that of the Demon of Greed — and yet—
It's the same. Your soul is the same.
The shape of the soul stood out more distinctly than ever.
It was truly… beautiful.
The Demon of Greed's soul took the form of a star. A magnificent star, shimmering with golden light. No being the Forgotten God had ever seen possessed a star-soul so vivid, so sharply defined.
And the power he had used was the authority of the one who makes stars.
The power of Creation.
How could Creation and the End exist together in one being?
Even with a goddess's blessing, it should have been impossible.
There is another. Another soul — one of such brilliance.
Only then did the Forgotten God understand.
There was one more soul accompanying them. A soul so vast that even he could not take it all in.
It was likely through that soul that Greed had come to hold the power of Creation as well.
Who was it?
The Forgotten God soon met the eyes of that sacred soul — and—
The memories… have returned.
…The memories that had been forgotten and lost finally began to surface.
The Forgotten God gazed at Greed with trembling eyes.
And slowly, he opened his mouth.
"My… name is…"
"You're really strong!"
The Demon of Greed, reduced to a wreck, shuddered.
It had exceeded every imagination. He had believed himself stronger than ever before — incomparably so — and still he was no match for Ruin.
"How did you get that strong? Come on, tell me!"
"…"
"Ah, never mind. I'll figure it out myself. See you tomorrow!"
Acknowledging his defeat, the Demon of Greed waved and vanished.
"…"
Ruin sat upon his throne without the slightest movement, staring at the place where the Demon of Greed had disappeared.
He had not even needed to rise from his seat to deal with Greed. Of course, simply defeating Ruin's knights and reaching this far had been a remarkable feat in itself.
"…"
Ruin cast a weary glance, then closed his eyes once more.
His sole duty was to destroy the world. To sink this world into the Abyss — that was his work.
And the demons were contributing to that destruction. They were accelerating Ruin. There was no need to bother killing the Demons of Original Sin.
The demons appeared to feud among themselves, yet they cooperated in subtle ways. They were also cowardly and quick to read a situation. If he killed Greed, the rest of them would all go into hiding.
Keeping him alive was the more profitable choice.
The problem came the next day.
"…"
"I'm back! Let's go another round!"
…He had actually returned.
Left with no choice, Ruin severed both of Greed's arms with overwhelming force.
But the Demon of Greed did not give up.
"Again!"
The day after that.
"Again…!"
And the day after that.
Even after experiencing a gap in power he could never hope to close, Greed kept challenging him.
Only after days upon days of this did Ruin understand.
The reason Greed's recovery was strangely fast was the two goddesses behind him. Goddesses — healing a demon.
Beings that should have mixed as poorly as oil and water were joining their strength.
Humans betrayed each other as a matter of course, and even the gods stabbed one another in the back. And yet—
"…"
But that was all.
Ruin felt only weariness. In the monotony of his existence, the creature's challenges stirred nothing more than a flicker of mild interest.
If he summoned his four strongest knights, the thing would never even reach this place — but they were busy annihilating the empire.
"…"
And yet.