Chapter 233
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 233
His chest felt tight, his mind a chaotic mess of thoughts and worries.
“…I thought you were…”
At first, he had thought Arjio was human.
But as time passed, he realized that couldn’t be the case. The average human lifespan was fifty years; even under the best circumstances, it was a struggle to live past a hundred. He had wondered if the New Humanity might have longer lifespans, but even that was a stretch.
What kind of human could spend 281 years molding a person from a grotesque slurry of flesh?
“…I remember… calling out to you.”
The memory had returned to him terribly late.
“I… I definitely… inside that cramped prison…”
“You called for me.”
“I was terrified. I was so lonely, and the pain had lasted so long that my mind was hazy. I didn’t want to be there anymore. I couldn’t hold out any longer…”
“I’d say you held out long enough,” Arjio remarked.
“…”
“Do you regret it?”
“…”
“You look like you do. At least a little.”
The realization that he had summoned the very Evil God sealed with countless lives and so much blood was horrifying. Yet, at the same time, he felt a flicker of gratitude. In the end, this Evil God was the only one who had answered his screams.
Conflicting emotions warred within him.
“…”
Biting his lip, Ater took a deep breath and asked, “…Why do you take the form of a human?”
“Because I was human.”
“…You were. Right. Of course…”
“There is another reason, though.”
Arjio was not complete.
“I am… well, how should I put it?”
“…?”
“I am not a complete piece.”
“…A complete piece?”
“Only ninety-nine parts out of a hundred have gathered.”
The assimilation was incomplete.
“Quite a few pieces have gathered over time, but there are still many deficiencies. To tell you the truth, this isn’t my true form. Ever since I was ten, I’ve existed in the form of a beast. I just happen to know how to mimic humans…”
Thus, Arjio’s current appearance was a kind of mimicry. It was the form of ‘Arjio’ that the people of ‘that time’ remembered most. Ultimately, since his current form was based on a portrait, this was unavoidable.
“So you need not worry. I cannot become the threat you fear, for I have not yet received my most essential and important piece.”
“…Where is that piece?”
“Beneath this tomb.”
“There was a level below…?”
“It seems the mages made some arrangements to borrow my power when they created their fake world. To be precise, it is closer to the power of the ‘Evil God Arjio’ rather than ‘my’ power…”
“Are the two that different?”
“It would be difficult to call them the same.”
The Evil God was a monster born from the accumulated hatred and resentment of countless saints. While Arjio’s personality might reside within it, he was not the entity itself. Although his endlessly burning wrath had been suppressed when he became a portrait, it was merely contained, not gone.
“In a manner of speaking, my heart and limbs have been divided into tens of thousands of pieces and stored separately.”
“…Why didn’t you take them back?”
“I cannot take them back.”
He looked at Ater as if stating the obvious.
“Did you not seal me away?”
“…Ah.”
Ater stood in a daze for a long moment.
“…”
He asked belatedly, “…Does it still remain? The influence of the seal?”
“So many precious lives were sacrificed for it, so of course it remains. What the mages tampered with was merely its location and management, not the seal itself.”
“Then what are you, standing before me right now?”
“The very last beast of the Black Forest.”
“…No, you aren’t.”
Ater clenched his fists tightly.
“You were a saint.”
“Oh, please. I don’t particularly care for that word.”
‘Saint’ was a word suited for someone of Giovanni’s temperament, someone who would meekly guide the lambs. For Arjio, words like Evil God, monster, or beast fit perfectly. They symbolized unbridled wrath and meaningful suffering.
But Ater, his expression darkening, did not seem to see it that way at all.
“…”
“Good heavens, are you actually blaming yourself right now?” Arjio drawled.
How admirable.
“Because you feel what you all did wasn’t justified?”
“…Why… why would you say… such a thing? You, of all people.”
“I can say it precisely because it’s me.”
“You hated us. That is why you killed so many people.”
“It is true that I killed them, but I did not hate them. At least, ‘I’ didn’t,” he said, entirely sincere. “I simply wanted to express my anger.”
“Then direct that anger at me, at least.”
“But the wrath I harbor is not directed at you. It is meant for the cowards who insulted me as a filthy beast and burned my family in the Black Forest. You must not force me to direct a petty, misplaced anger toward you.”
“…”
Ater’s mouth opened and closed several times, his face crumpling miserably.
“You look conflicted.”
Sensing that Ater needed time, Gio was about to stand up when—
“…Wait, Arjio.”
“What is it?”
“Please… tell me…”
He hesitated before making his request, a firm resolve shining in his furrowed eyes.
“Tell me your story.”
Through the records of the ruins, he had learned many hidden truths, but they were mere fragments. The materials were far too scarce to truly understand, remember, and reflect upon the stories of those countless saints.
He wanted to hear Arjio’s story.
“Tell me what kind of existence you were.”
“That is not difficult,” Gio said, tilting his head. “But will you believe me?”
“…I will judge with all my might.”
“…In that case…”
Gio liked that answer.
“You truly are human,” Arjio said. One who carries a heavy weight of values.
* * *
“I was the child of a prestigious family.”
Contrary to his imposing voice, the Evil God’s story flowed gently.
“We served as a shield, preventing the monsters of the disaster-ridden Black Forest from escaping into the outside world. It was a family that performed an honorable duty, highly respected by the people.”
“…And you?”
“I was the youngest son. I was quite doted upon because I was dexterous and had an ideal appearance. In particular, I showed outstanding talent in the arts. Dance, painting, music…”
“…That doesn’t seem to suit the Evil God I know.”
“I am truly glad to see you can joke around now.”
He spoke of once being loved.
“However, this family gave birth to a monster in every generation. That monster would gradually take the form of a beast, eventually growing into an unspeakable demon. Once those traits began to show, the family would lock the young beast in the Black Forest to ward off the disaster.”
“What was the reason? Out of pure disgust?”
“I can’t say that wasn’t part of it… but if they didn’t, the young beast would draw disaster from the Black Forest and spread it to the world. Believing that the Black Forest and the human-like beast were one and the same, the family continued that tradition.”
“But you were all clearly saints…”
“It’s just that no one remembered.”
It wasn’t that disaster flowed from the Black Forest because a monster was born; rather, it was because a saint was born that the disaster of the Black Forest could be contained. But as too much time passed, people forgot this, remembering only that ‘the monster must be abandoned in the Black Forest.’
“Thus, I grew up in the Black Forest. And there, I came to learn the true meaning of my existence.”
“You must have felt wronged.”
“It was more amusing than anything. I wondered what on earth humans believed in to act that way. On the other hand, they were so insignificant that they were almost cute. Such is the nature of fragile beings—they break and crumble the moment I stir things up.”
“…”
“Well, and then…” The face of the one who called himself a monster softened gently. “I made many family members and friends.”
“…Do you mean the beasts of the Black Forest?”
“Them too.”
“Was there anyone else?”
“Those I captured.”
“…” Ater hesitated before speaking. “You mean the living sacrifices offered to you.”
“Indeed. Thanks to that, rumors spread that I was a cannibal.”
“Why did you…”
“The more people feared me, the easier it was to do what I wanted. And above all, what would be the point of refuting it?”
Arjio knew human stubbornness and obstinacy better than anyone. Had he not been turned into the monster of the Black Forest because of that very bigotry? Though he found the outcome somewhat amusing, his anger toward those who despised him had never truly vanished.
He simply had no reason to persuade them.
“Why bother?”
And so, Arjio lived as a beast.
“After some time passed, with me living as I pleased and the people paralyzed with fear… my family must have felt compelled to do something, because they made a move. They went so far as to unleash a part of the Black Forest.”
“…I don’t quite understand.”
“I told you that the family I was born into had been holding back the disaster sealed in the Black Forest for generations, yes? They drew out the very essence of the disaster that formed the Black Forest—water from its deepest depths.”
“Water…?”
“I simply called it the Black Water.”
Though other people called it something else.
“The rest of the world called it the Epidemic.”
“…Wait a moment.” Ater was taken aback. “Even that wasn’t your doing?”
That terrible poison that rotted human minds, decayed their bodies, and ultimately drove the world to the brink of ruin—it didn’t belong to the Evil God? Even that was the result of human stupidity?
“I thought at the very least it had escaped from the Black Forest… B-but why… shouldn’t something like that have been kept inside the Black Forest? Why was it stored in your family’s estate?”
“Recalling the past remembered by the very first saint, it seems the purpose was to divide the burden. They likely split the roles, keeping one world-ending disaster in the forest and another within the family.”
“Why did your family members spread it to the world?”
“They didn’t realize it was a disaster. They merely thought of it as a highly dangerous but ancient and sacred weapon passed down through the family. They intended to use it as a weapon to subjugate me.”
“…”
“To them, my existence must have been an eyesore.”
It was a top secret that such a beast-like demon could be born from a noble family. Yet, even after entering the Black Forest, the young monster did not die. He lived on, roaming the world, and they feared when he might speak out to disgrace the family or return to seek revenge.
“Incredibly foolish, isn’t it?”
In the end, they opened the ‘weapon’ with the goal of subjugating the Cruel Beast Arjio, and the result was the Epidemic that blanketed the world. The family took no responsibility for it, keeping their mouths shut until they quietly collapsed into ruin.
“As a result, I became the demon who tore people apart alive, the instigator of countless incidents, and the culprit who spread the Epidemic that rotted everyone from young children to the elderly.”
“…And so…”
“The Black Forest was burned. I believe you already know this part, but eventually, the court dispatched an army to close in on me from all sides. In the end, I was severely burned along with the Black Forest, and I died in the arms of my family.”
“…Is that how the ‘Evil God Arjio’ was made? The Cruel Beast?”
“You understand well.” He smiled, looking pleased. “Are you curious why I didn’t flee from the fire attack?”
“…Did you lack the ability? But according to the records… you could have easily…”
“Perhaps I could have fled.”
But he hadn’t.
“To be honest, I don’t remember the reason.”
“…What?”
“It is likely buried deep within my remaining pieces. But who knows? Perhaps there was some treasure in the Black Forest I couldn’t bear to leave behind. Or maybe it was a lingering affection for my home. Or perhaps the army simply hemmed me in too tightly for escape.”
“…Were you not simply exhausted?”
“That is also a plausible explanation. Perhaps I believed this was the ending that suited me best.”
A monster ending like a monster.
“…Well, that is what I thought, but…”
“The Evil God Arjio could not hide his hatred for humanity.”
“That wicked divinity was not made of me alone.”
“Yes, I suppose so.”
Ater knew well what happened after that.
“…You truly did not hate us.”
“At least, I had no reason to.”
“…Ha…”
He felt utterly hollow.