Chapter 340

Strangely enough, Kama thought that absorbing souls would be enough and there was no need to eat the Flesh as well, but he just couldn't bear it. As for why he was always alone, Kama didn't think about it in detail.

Maybe it's just a lack of publicity, she thought.

Ultimately, in Kama's heart, everything he did was for the purpose of "Revenge the Impostor Papiyas, the Demon King."

However, as time went on, problems began to emerge—the side effects of consuming souls.

Because of the long-term absorption of only souls, Kama's Spirit Origin was also corroded. The Goddess Divine Core was originally able to maintain her beauty and agelessness began to deteriorate gradually and eventually disappeared with the continuous advancement of Flesh labor.

In other words, the beast that once used its youth and beauty to destroy all of humanity with love has now become old and frail.

This forced Kama to make one last decision, namely the Reincarnation Ritual... even if he gets old, someone will come.

In some versions, Kama was burned to death by Shiva and reborn as the son of Krishna, Pradyumna. However, at birth, he was targeted by Demon and thrown into the sea, where he was swallowed by Great Fish. The fish was then captured and offered to the Demon. Thus, Pradyumna was very lucky to survive near his nemesis. After many trials, the grown-up Pradyumna defeated the Demon and returned in triumph.

Although this is a nauseatingly clichéd legend for Kama, and I personally dislike it, she did indeed live up to that Pradyumna. Although she considers her experience of "ultimately killing Krishna's entire family and causing Krishna to commit suicide upon seeing this" a dark chapter in her history, it's too late now, and that's all she could do.

There are only two conditions for this Ritual: first, one must have been reincarnated as a human before, and second, one must be swallowed by a fish.

As for the first condition, Kama has already done it, but in order to avoid failure, she still plans to try again, so she specially prepared four Conceptual Dress: Dharma, Porcelain, Wooden Fork, and Sickle.

These four represent the four aspects of life in the India Thought World: Dharma, wealth, enlightenment, and love.

Finally, if she successfully commits suicide using her Conceptual Dress, it will create the concept that she has "truly experienced life once," meaning she can be regarded as human. For this reason, Kama had her three clones receive the Conceptual Dress.

The original plan was to have the three clones commit suicide, and then have the person himself swallowed by the fish, in order to successfully reincarnate. However, the Ritual failed.

One reason is that the "fish" was wrong. Kama originally intended to summon a suitable fish-shaped creature, but ended up summoning...

The North Sea Kraken... that's Monster of catastrophic proportions in the Norse world...

If it were just this one problem, Kama could still find a solution, but there was another fatal problem.

A traitor was discovered within Kama, because Kama and several of his clones were supposed to commit suicide together. However, one of them refused to commit suicide, or more precisely, did not want to become human. Thus, the Ritual failed, and as a result, the entire Singularity except for the village was destroyed by the North Sea Kraken.

Because the legend of the North Sea Kraken has the characteristic of "destroying the world," this world itself has become a Singularity that has been "destroyed," endlessly Heavenly Wheel of destruction.

As a result, Kama's Spirit Origin has deteriorated significantly, making it difficult for him to even maintain his existence. He can only stay in the basement of the dilapidated village, curled up in his blankets, looking like a dead man.

Kama, who already looked like an old woman, had faint bruises appearing all over her body, which were what humans call age spots.

Outside the village, a persistent, cold rain spread through the pitch-black darkness.

Just like that, Kama moved his body slightly, and in an instant, intense pain surged throughout his body, turning into agony.

Tears were about to spill from his aged and dull eyes.

But in fact, Kama felt no urge to cry, yet her eyes involuntarily welled up with tears, overflowing with regret and burning as they dripped down her cheeks.

Suddenly, she yawned and slowly wiped away her tears.

The tears had been flowing uncontrollably for a long time, but it didn't matter anymore.

Kama didn't want to pay attention to his own weeping, but his numb mind refused to think.

Suddenly, a thought popped into my head—thankfully, I was the only one who could see this terrible scene.

"Get out of here..."

Having spent countless years in this small Singularity, Kama recognized this familiar aura all too well—it was the Impostor Papiyas who had previously helped Chaldea. Thus, despite Limbs weakness, she managed to pull out a Sickle and aim it at the people around her who were writhing in flames.

Even though she is still blind and understands that she would never be a match for him in a real fight, she still feels this way.

You've gotten old.

"Yes, Impostor, you win. You, a beast who used your youth and beauty to destroy all of humanity with love, have ended up looking so old and decrepit. For you, Impostor, it must be just a source of pleasure. Laugh if you want, isn't that great?"

"I've been keeping an eye on things. I've also defeated the North Sea Kraken outside and cleaned up the village."

Papiyas did not utter the mocking laughter that Kama had imagined; instead, there was only a calm and undisturbed silence.

"The flow of time here is different from outside. You've been here for two thousand years, and I've watched you for two thousand years, but from a realistic perspective, it's only been a few minutes."

"Are you kidding me? If you'd been here all along, how could I not have noticed...?"

"Kama, your scheme was clearly to kill everyone who came here, yet you treated the kind people kindly and let them go, while choosing to kill the wicked, right?"

"..."

Kama fell silent, for she had indeed done just that.

"In that case, I need not elaborate on the reasons for the failure of your Ritual, Kama."

The Kama in the four Ritual of Dharma, wealth, enlightenment, and love betrays Kama as the true self.

"Waaaaaah!"

The aged Kama began to weep.

"What is this?! What is this all about?! Even without this, I could vaguely sense the atmosphere, right? Ah, that's right!"

"Indeed, I had some oversights! But I also understand that killing them all was wrong! So, while showing disdain, I treated the kind people well and sent them away, and then killed all the evil ones who came for the money and women! Even so, the rumors didn't spread, so this approach is just empty talk, and the argument is invalid!"

"That's right! Although it's only occasional, unexpected Saint and gentlemen still manage to sneak in, making you wonder, 'Why is this guy human?' I've wasted a tremendous amount of Divine Power trying to drive them out safely! After years of this happening repeatedly, in the gaps when my Divine Power is exhausted, super villains appear again! Do you understand what happens then!? I have no choice but to kill them!"

"All I wanted was to see Kavia! That was enough, but I don't understand! Why can't everything just go smoothly?! Why do you have to get in my way?! Why are there so many supervillains?! Why are they so evil yet willingly let me eat them?!"

"This kind of approach can constantly put pressure on me, so that at the final Ritual, I'll have this question: 'Huh, have all my actions up to this point been wrong? Is this really necessary?' Is this what they call Counter Force, this feeling of Human Order? It's so incredibly cool, it makes me want to throw up! It's great, it's really great, all of humanity, just like that, in the worst, most awful way—ah, whatever! This kind of thing is fine no matter what!"

And so, Kama looked at Papiyas with the eyes of a child, filled with Sorrow, loneliness, and a longing for love, and cried out.

"It's okay if it's the worst, it's okay if it's the absolute worst!! Why, why, why--"

Even after all this, Kavia still hasn't come!

After shouting, Kama stopped speaking and instead bent down, panting heavily.

Novia grasped Kama's hand, and the other did not resist; with a slight press, the dry yet warm hand would return the grasp.

"You've been eating me for almost two thousand years, a total of five hundred and twenty times, right? It hurts a bit, but I can still handle it."

"... Huh?"

Kama blinked.

"You have already become a very qualified Demon King, Kama."

Novia laughed. "After Papiyas has already devoured you, so you are undoubtedly the Demon King. Now you should be able to see it, right?"

The instant the words fell, Kama truly saw the true face of the human before him, the Impostor he had always believed to be ' Papiyas'—

The person I've been waiting for, the person I love most, Kavia.

However, Kama's first reaction was not to report it, but to swing his Sickle with even more force, and then immediately run back to his bed, where he curled up under the covers, trembling uncontrollably.

"I look terrible like this..."

Tears welled in Kama's eyes as he, now an old man, trembled, "Old, ugly, and disgusting..."

No, she's always been beautiful.

Novia gently lifted the blanket, her smile unchanged. She first patted Kama's shoulder lightly, and then gently kissed the aged Kama.

"... Although it's a bit late, the main responsibility actually lies with me. Even though I've caused you suffering, I've still come, Kama."

Novia has been watching for the past two thousand years, ever since she followed Kama, who was driven out.

He was always the guest welcomed by the Kama. Initially, his personality led the Kama to send him away, but after learning of their actions, Novia made herself appear as a villain, which allowed them to eat her... Consider it a way of changing Papiyas's image back.

Although this is actually a strange behavior, given Novia's power, whether it was in the previous Great London Labyrinth or here, the things about Moro not being able to see himself and lacking magic power should theoretically be things that don't require much power to do.

However, for Novia, it was simply a matter of feeling that this was better.

"Alright, now that you know it's me, it's time to revise your perception."

"What's the meaning..."

"You've always been eating me, so how could your Spirit Origin have deteriorated? It's just your own perception."

"Doesn't that hurt...?"

"Because you have properly become the Demon King, though not Gautama Siddhartha, but Dipankara."

As Novia revealed the truth, the aged Kama quickly reverted to her youthful appearance, eventually transforming back into the young girl she had first seen in the India Age of Gods.

Then Kama cried again, sobbing in Novia's arms until he was exhausted and fell into a deep sleep.

This Singularity, trapped in a cycle of destruction, ended on such a night.

The next day, early morning, in the village's basement.

"Will it really be alright if I use a beast's Spirit Origin to go to Chaldea...?"

Following Novia, Kama was about to step out the Great Gate, asked with his head down.

"I'll make some adjustments. I'll reassign you, Kama, to be Assassin. As for the rest, I'll handle it."

"And why do you have short hair now? You always had long hair before..."

"I can adjust it if you like."

"Yes! I understand! In that case, in exchange, I'll handle your sexual desires properly, Kavia!"

Kama nodded vigorously with a smile, already planning how to make Kavia feel his 'love' once they arrived at Chaldea. He had imagined all sorts of positions. However, when she looked up—

"... Eh eh eh eh!?"

Novia, who should have been standing in front of the Great Gate, was nowhere to be seen.

"What's going on?! What's going on?! Where did my Kavia go?!"

Kama clutched his head and shouted.

At the same time, in a space where there exists a 'past', 'present', and 'Future', there is a gray sky, a parched and cracked earth, and a giant mountain piled high with countless corpses. The surrounding scene is like a living Purgatory.

In different eras and times, the species of Planet Primate change again and again in the gray sky and arid earth, and the ending is mostly the same: endless despair and endless death.

Novia arrived here the instant she stepped out of the village's Great Gate.

Novia naturally sat in the very center, which made Novia sigh and look up at the sky.

"... I'll say I wasn't there to investigate, it was just an accident, is that alright?"

At this moment, Novia has transformed into a young boy. This is probably because she used the power of Dipankara, leading Human Order to believe that 'Maitreya' has arrived. After all, for Novia, Dipankara and Maitreya are one.

As Maitreya is the Savior of the Dharma’s End Age, that is, the representative of Human Order in the 'Future', and in the Future, the mystery has been explained and is no longer an unknown existence, as a representative, he can examine the Human Order of the corresponding era through the 'Human Universe at the End of the Universe'.

In modern Human Order, this can be simply understood as your boss sending someone to conduct a spot check, which is something to be careful about.

Furthermore, since the 'Future' often corresponds to 'wishes', since Novia appeared as 'Maitreya', all 'Wish-Granting Machine' or similar entities in parallel Universe had to send their wishes to her before granting them, to see if they passed the review.

After all, some Wish-Granting Machine do actually grant wishes, but resources may not be sufficient. If the request is approved, you might even receive resources, so it's a good thing overall.

This made Novia feel like a terminal processor. In fact, the moment Novia appeared here, he immediately sensed countless 'wish' files, like emails that a programmer had accumulated over thousands or even tens of thousands of years, which he had to check one by one.

From a temporal perspective, this is a literal stillness, so there's no possibility of the wish being postponed.

"Alright, alright, you don't need to make demands of me like this. Just do what you normally do, the old rules are fine."

Novia sighed as she casually glanced at the 'wishes' accumulated over thousands of years and dismissed them all. She was planning to wait for Ritsuka, who was returning to Chaldea, to return via summoning or some minor Singularity, so she could go back along the way.

I wonder if Da Vinci and Romani will...

"... Is anyone there?"

With nothing to do, Novia squinted at the land below, which was being battered by desert winds, where two figures, one large and one small, were visible.

"Oh, it's Humanoid Wish-Granting Machine. You're lucky..."

Novia, appearing in her Lily Form, smiled slightly.

"Let me see if you bring your child before me, Sakatsuki Hiyori."

Chapter 382 Ivia: Warm on the Outside, Cold on the Inside

Just minutes ago, the centuries-old True Magic circle embedded in the Sakatsuki's Bounded Field began to fade, and the world before them transformed into a world that looked as if it had been destroyed.

Sakatsuki Hiyori naturally withdrew from her past memories and turned her gaze back to the present scene. Looking at the child she was holding hands with, she gently asked:

"... Miyu, did you make this?"

The black-haired girl didn't answer, but just shook her head listlessly.

For some reason, in that instant, Yoshiko realized that this place, which seemed to be a 'world of destruction,' was, to be precise, a world-like structure.

Od and matter are materialized and exposed in the air. Even in the seemingly dark world, there are scenes of strange creatures different from humans, and at the same time, there are countless corpses piled up in giant mountains, creating an atmosphere of incredible terror and peace coexisting.