Chapter 506: A Nameless God

Inside the pseudo-sun. There was a tiny world created by the Original Text of the poisonous Junelva.

A strong green color and a strong demonic presence were reflected. Not a trace of human civilization was in sight, and an era of demonic tribal nations spread across the land.

There was no order or law, only faith and the law of the jungle reigned freely. This immature world was experiencing chaotic freedom to the fullest.

At the center of the world was a temple made of earth and mud.

Spires rose up on all four sides of the temple, and numerous gigantic statues were lined up as if to praise something. There was a balance between unfinished beauty and exquisite grandeur.

The tall trees surrounded the temple that worshiped a single god. The great god of the sun and wind, whose name had been lost.

「…It brings back so many memories. So this is your ideal world. 」

The Original Text was made up of the fundamental desires of those who possessed it. Therefore, the world created from the Original Text was ideal in itself. Just as Drigman desired a controlled world, Junelva yearned for this chaotic freedom.

The inside of the temple was dimly lit. The only source of light was the sunlight streaming in from a cross-shaped window in the ceiling. However, the shadows created by that faint light gave the place a certain solemnity.

Junelva stood in the temple and opened his beak. His ferocious eyes were fixed only on the bronze dragon Shadraput.

「That’s right. The weak become food, and the strong become food for the strongest. There is no order here. That’s what evil is like, and I believe that freedom is proof of evil. 」

Junelva’s Original Text was, in other words, endless freedom. A primitive world where there was no order, where the law code was lost, and discipline wasn’t even recognized. It was the time when gods and other living things were the closest.

「Besides, a world with little magical power is a flat one. 」

The large bird face spewed out smoke of miasma. It was proof that the extensive wounds inflicted on his body by the dense magical power were being repaired.

But that wasn’t all. Shadraput noticed that Junelva’s face and body were gradually changing. It was as if he was trying to return to his past.

Shadraput took on a human form and said with firm lips.

「Junelva…What are you doing? Your time as a god has ended. What’s the point of trying to force yourself to regain your divinity? 」

Shadraput looked into Junelva’s eyes as she said this, wondering if she was just being manipulated by the Gear’s will. She then stepped back with sand fluttered around her feet.

There was a fair distance between them, but to each of them it was no longer just fair distance. One quick step and they’d have their hands at each other’s throat. This was the real distance between them.

Even Shadraput couldn’t escape. No, there was no one in this world who could escape from Junelva’s grasp. Still, her eyes dashed around, as if searching for an opening.

Junelva felt strong indignation at even that state. His voice, laced with emotion, echoed through the temple.

「Shadraput…the bronze dragon. I should be the one asking you this. I’ve been asking you this for the past few hundred years. Why did you run away back then? You abandoned your allies and everything else! 」

There was no need to say when it happened.

A great war that involved the human hero Altia and the Great Demon Vrilligant, as well as the dragon race, magical devilish beings like Junelva, and their kin.

And then, there was the battle where Shadraput transformed into an insect and fled.

Why?

Even Junelva knew that Shadraput could be strangely timid. But that day, Shadraput was supposed to have been on the front line herself. So why did she run away?

Because of that action, the front line fell into chaos. The humans launched their offensive as if they had known about such chaos.

As a result, the earth was covered in dragon blood, and many of the demonic birds under Junelva’s command were forced to throw away their lives. It was only because of Vrilligant that the battlefield was able to maintain its appearance, but in some cases it was close to a massacre.

When asked, Shadraput answered nonchalantly.

「It was because I was scared. Besides, it’s foolish to go up against a monster like Altia. 」

I was scared.

Foolish.

Junelva felt a daze in his heart, and at the same time, terrible heat in the corners of his eyes and brain.

What did she say? Junelva thought about it for a long time. Was there a reason? Or had she really betrayed him?

She simply said that she was scared.

In an instant, rage rained down on Junelva’s heart. The beak showed no signs of stopping. The miasma clung to his body, changing its shape rapidly.

「It was the same with Vrilligant. Why did you choose the path of submission without even resisting! There were plenty of other options! 」

Shadraput shrugged her shoulders and responded as if to say something obvious.

「That’s because Vrilligant was powerful. It’s only natural to obey the strongest. 」

「…That’s stupid. Shadraput! Shadraput! You weren’t like that! 」

At the same time that Junelva yelled, his body reached the peak of transformation. His wings were long and stretched out, and his body was no longer that of a bird.

It was a giant snake. A winged snake that no one worshipped anymore, and even few know of.

There was a nameless god yelling.

「…Stop it. What will you accomplish by doing something like this? There’s no point! 」

Shadraput unconsciously twisted her eyes at the familiar figure. There was no doubt about his appearance from when he was a god, along with the miasma that surrounded him.

The demonic pressure emanating from his body was incomparable to when he was a magical devilish being. He could control a city by opening his mouth. If he strengthened his gaze, then he would be able to shoot down every demon on earth.

He had this magnificent figure, but Shadraput looked at him with a sad heart.

At this moment, he had regained his divinity. This was due in part to the influence of this ideal world, and perhaps also to the guidance of that Gear.

However, no matter how much Junelva used his Original Text, this era was too fragile for him to exist as a god.

He would only be able to maintain his current form for a short time. What would happen beyond that was no longer clear.

Shadraput had a tragic expression on her face. And even the nameless god facing her was filled with grief and rage.

Why? It seemed to ask. Hundreds of years of emotions were erupting in that form, causing him to lose his reason.

Junelva thought the following: why did you run away back then? Why did you submit back then? It was strange. Why?

Why didn’t she choose to see me?

…The roar of the nameless god stirred the temple. Mud and earth began to crumble, and sand rained.

The winged snake opened its jaws and leapt to swallow Shadraput. What spread inside its mouth looked like void. Those swallowed by it would simply disappear, becoming nothing.

The full might of the giant snake that had once swallowed an entire continent was now being poured out upon just one person.

Shadraput no longer had any way to escape. Annihilation would await her even if she could escape for a moment. It was already approaching before her very eyes. Escape was impossible no matter how powerful a dragon’s power were.

Shadraput was simply sad.

It was so sad that Junelva had taken such measures to destroy her.

「…」

Shadraput called out his former name. Their encounter was over in an instant.

It wasn’t a battle. The weak were simply consumed by the strong.

It was just like the freedom that this world idealized.

「…I have taught you this countless times since you were a baby. 」

A voice echoed through the crumbling temple. The copper dragon spoke while grabbing the snake’s heart.

「Since you were born into this world, everything has been a struggle, from sleeping to eating to breathing to running away. 」

The eyes of the copper dragon in human form were cruelly cold. The nameless god’s heart was still alive, but the copper dragon silenced it with her strong fangs.

「You could have won back then if you had used all the true poison you once had. But you no longer had that power, then why risk your own life? 」

Throwing away that chance to win and challenging a foolish short-term battle. How foolish. This made Shadraput sad. Not even being able to escape was enough to show his cowardice.

The snake was on the verge of losing its life. Even as it spat out blood from its entire body, it still looked at Shadraput and shed a single tear.

「…Why? Why, you? 」

Shadraput took those words as a continuation of his previous question. She crossed her legs on top of the snake’s massive body and said the following words.

「I told you. It’s foolish to challenge a monster. Besides, a human would die within a hundred years. Why risk fighting? 」

Vrilligant seemed to be the same. Any being who wielded great power without hiding it would eventually come into conflict with an equal or greater being and receive a fatal wound. There was no one in this world who could continue to thrive forever. Shadraput knew he was destined for extinction.

「The only thing permitted in this world is a perfect victory. I’m scared that I won’t be able to achieve it. I’m scared of losing and dying. Perfection takes precedence over everything else. Pride and dignity…all are meaningless in the face of defeat. 」

The copper dragon spoke loudly with sadness. In the end, no one could understand this. Shadraput sighed deeply as she watched the crumbling temple and the end of this world.

The only thing she could be happy about was that there was now one less person who could kill her.

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