The Domain of Chaos
For now, I decided to push aside the strange sensation flowing through my body and deal with what was right in front of me.
<…Leviathan, what exactly are you doing?>
I nudged Leviathan, who was coiled tightly around my body, with my chin to wake her. She mumbled, still half-asleep.
[Mmm...]
She rubbed her eyes with the tip of her tail for a moment before finally registering her surroundings.
[Ah...! You're awake!]
She spoke in a genuinely delighted voice, then squeezed my body even tighter.
[Do you have any idea how hard it was for us to move you here? You looked like you'd completely exhausted your mana, so I even shared some of mine with you!]
Only then did I understand why I had opened my eyes in this place. I had fallen asleep right after my battle with Verinal's avatar. Piecing together Leviathan's words, it seemed she and the White Gold Dragons had carried me back.
Fine, I could accept that much. But why on earth did my body and my head feel so strange? For instance...
My voice sounded bizarre.
[...Huh?]
Just like Kellian when Verinal had possessed him, my voice now carried a strange resonance, as if multiple languages were being spoken simultaneously.
[What in the world is...]
Leviathan seemed quite flustered upon hearing it, but...
[Ah...!]
...she soon gasped as if realizing something, her voice rising.
[Divinity! You've completely acquired divinity...!]
<...!>
Hearing Leviathan's words, a possibility I had been desperately ignoring forced its way to the forefront of my mind.
Come to think of it, why had I gone through all that trouble—recruiting the White Gold Dragons, making Kochmir a vassal state, and doing all sorts of ridiculous things? It was all so I could live a peaceful, leisurely life here, completely free from anyone's interference, without ever ascending to divinity.
Yet that wretched Verinal, unlike a tiger that leaves behind its pelt when it dies, had left behind something utterly useless: divinity. It was infuriating.
'No. This can't be happening!'
Divinity? Me? I didn't even have a domain to oversee, let alone any proper believers! What use did I have for divinity? Why did I have to be saddled with this!
As I was frantically trying to figure out how to deal with this divine power, a voice interrupted my thoughts.
"Lady Leviathan! A guest has—ah! O Red Dragon, you are awake?!"
Elenoa had appeared at the entrance of our lair. Naturally, I wanted absolutely nothing to do with any guests, so I instinctively turned my gaze toward Leviathan.
[W-wait a moment. Tell them the Red Dragon is still disoriented and isn't ready to receive guests yet.]
Catching my drift, Leviathan quickly relayed a plausible excuse to her. However...
"Uh, well... a priest has come to visit. But he's saying something rather strange. He said he came to congratulate the Red Dragon on becoming the 'God of Chaos.'"
[Wait, what...?]
<...What did you just say?>
...It seemed things had gone horribly, horribly wrong.
To put it bluntly, I absolutely despise priests. Back when I was my old self, any priest who annoyed me even slightly was instantly reduced to ash. And recently, hadn't I just dealt with a massive headache because of one?
Having thoroughly learned that absolutely nothing good ever comes from associating with gods, I was now expected to face another priest? My head already felt like two conflicting egos were waging war inside it, and now this. A headache was already brewing, and irritation flared within me.
But the real problem was...
'Congratulating me on becoming a god? How on earth do they already know that?'
The fact that they already knew about my transformation. A mere priest possessed information that even I, the subject of it, didn't fully understand? This meant, at the very least, there was valuable information to be squeezed out of him.
"Ah, it is an honor to meet you. O Red Dragon. Or... should I call you the God of Chaos now?"
And so, I granted the priest entry. Guided by Elenoa, the priest who stepped before me appeared highly formal. He wore ceremonial robes adorned with various ornaments rather than standard clerical attire. On top of that, I could sense a potent... scent of death.
The scent, which seemed deliberately woven to mask the presence of a god, actually put me somewhat at ease. Seeing how prepared he was—as if he had carefully calculated what would please me—I could tell his sincerity was on a completely different level compared to those elves from before.
Furthermore, hadn't they approached us with the clear intention of sharing information, knowing we would be in a state of confusion? Their manners were leagues ahead of those elves who had simply knocked on our door demanding trade.
<...The God of Chaos. Why do you call me that?>
But business was business. I wasn't even entirely sure if I had truly acquired divinity. My mind was currently too cluttered to make a proper judgment. To sort this out, I needed as much information as possible.
"...Ah, do you perhaps not know yet?"
At my question, the priest turned to Leviathan to ask. Following his gaze, I also looked over at her.
[...? What do you mean we don't know?]
...Leviathan was just as clueless. Left with no choice, we both turned our attention back to the priest.
"Hmm, it would be faster to show you directly."
Saying so, the priest gestured to the other priests who had followed him. At his signal, the lower-ranking priests grunted as they hauled in a massive mirror.
Hummmm... A vivid illusion of a specific place began to ripple across its surface, coming into clear view.
"...This is the place where you, the Red Dragon, defeated Verinal's avatar."
The moment I saw the reflection, my memories came rushing back. It was the storm of chaos unleashed when my breath clashed with Verinal's magic and divinity. That storm had completely corrupted the vast region, turning it into a wasteland where no living thing could survive.
Rumble! Thunder and lightning relentlessly pelted the sky.
Crack! The ground constantly tore itself apart and regenerated in an endless cycle. Even the air temperature fluctuated wildly between freezing cold and scorching heat, entirely unpredictable.
"And the center... the exact spot where you delivered the final blow to the avatar..."
Ruuuumble! Crash! The chaotic energy born from the mixture of my mana and his divinity had seeped deep into the earth, sustaining the unstable region.
"You created this place, O Red Dragon. And there, you absorbed all the divinity that resided within Verinal's avatar."
<....>
Absorbed. Right, now that I thought about it, I did do something like that. To prevent my mana from bottoming out during the grueling battle, I had consumed the divinity leaking from him. But even that had eventually run dry, which was why I had collapsed into a deep sleep. How could waking up from that lead to this?
"That place is the 'catalyst' of your ascension."
But the priest's words were not finished.
"You could call it... your creation myth."
She bowed her head once more. As if paying audience to someone else, she looked slightly away from me and continued speaking.
"That is why I have come here. To deliver a message from those above. To invite you... to 'that place.'"
The moment she finished speaking...
Shatter! Green, spectral hands erupted from the ground beneath her feet. They bound her limbs, reshaping her very presence, and instantly filled the entire cavern with the suffocating stench of death.
She was no longer a mere priestess. Just like Kellian before, she had become a vessel for a divine being manifesting in the mortal realm.
Her name was Beul. A true deity had manifested right before my eyes.
<...!>
The moment I laid eyes on her, a surge of intense hostility welled up inside me. It was only natural. Given everything Verinal had pulled, I had developed an instinctive aversion to gods in general. Thus, I spoke in a low, threatening rumble.
"Oh? So, you are the God of Death. You must have been quite busy lately, considering all the things I've stirred up."
<...Well, indeed I was. After all, you achieved a 'feat' grand enough to grant you divinity.>
Surprisingly, however, I sensed no hostility from her. Her voice and expression carried a profound weariness. Moreover, looking closely, she hadn't even manifested a proper avatar. It was immediately clear she hadn't come here for a fight.
<...I do not know if this will offer any comfort, but personally, I believe Verinal acted with utter foolishness.>
Furthermore, her words carried a note of genuine sincerity. She sounded as if she truly pitied my current predicament. Intrigued, I dialed back my hostility a fraction and decided to hear her out.
<....>
"At least from my perspective, you have been relatively quiet lately. You simply acted on your own personal judgment, and it just so happens that your individual power was overwhelming."
...Hmm, she was absolutely right. How desperately had I yearned for a quiet life? A peaceful, comfortable existence where everything was managed automatically under a perfect system. I had merely been striving to enjoy that simple luxury. Having Beul validate my struggles brought a strange sense of comfort.
Besides, you were quite clever. The idea of growing your own forces—not because you wanted to become a god, but to entrust everything to them—was quite novel."
<...You speak sweet words.>
"I am merely stating the facts. It is just that the foolish ones failed to see through to the essence of it."
Ah, it felt as though all my hard work was finally being recognized. Unlike Leviathan, who was a constant source of annoyance, and unlike Verinal, who had spent every waking moment plotting my demise, Beul saw right through to the truth.
Because of this, my internal evaluation of Beul ticked up a notch. My favorability toward her, which had been deep in the negatives simply because she was a god, managed to climb back up to neutral. Suppressing the urge to smirk, I spoke again.
"Then, why have you come here? Now, all that remains for me is to enjoy a life of comfort."
Indeed. The main reason I had been so wary of acquiring divinity was because I found the concept of 'ascension' incredibly tedious. But now that I actually had it, things didn't seem so bad. Sure, my body felt a bit heavy, as if I had put on a massive amount of weight, but it wasn't like I was about to explode. A slight feeling of bloatedness was the extent of my discomfort. Therefore, my only remaining plan was to stay put and live out the rest of my days in peace.
Yet, despite my situation, she had personally paid me a visit. That meant she had a message to deliver or something important to discuss. As I cut straight to the chase, Beul wasted no more time and got to the point.
"You certainly don't prefer a lengthy introduction. Very well, I will get to the point. Do you not desire a life even more comfortable than the one you have now?"
<...! Such a way exists?>
At my question, she smiled and offered her proposition.
"Come under my wing. I promise you a life more comfortable than that of any other god."
...Or so she said.