Chapter 95

Chapter Prologue Not a Pleasant Story Gods’ Games We Play Not long after Fay had first met the Dragon God Leoleshea… High up in the blue sky, higher than the birds and fluffy white clouds, floated a glittering silver city—the Myth City of Heckt-Scheherezade, where the magic of the ancient magical civilization still existed. And on that day, in that library… …Chaos was alone again. “……” The shelves were covered in dust. This library had no librarian, so no one knew exactly which books were on the shelves. “This is not a pleasant story,” muttered Chaos Ul Arc, former leader of the Awaken team at the Ruin branch office of the Arcane Court. After he had welcomed a young man named Fay to his team—a boy said by many to be the most promising rookie in history—they had gone on a winning streak in the gods’ games. Emphasis on had. “I see how it is, Fay.” Chaos held a battered old history book in one hand, but his gaze was fixed on a small monitor on the desk. It showed a game against a massive deity, some ten thousand meters long. The Endless God Uroboros—and one young man was bringing the contest to a close. “Time to compare answers, Uroboros!” “That’s the strategy for you, isn’t it, Uroboros? Let the god bring down the god.” Chaos was watching the broadcast. He couldn’t resist a dry laugh. “You haven’t changed a bit.” He hadn’t been worried. He knew that even without Awaken, that rookie was going to make himself known throughout the world. Which was exactly the issue. “This story’s not pleasant at all.” The moment he opened the cover of the tattered history book, it snapped off—it wasn’t a cover at all, but a lid. It was a toy box masquerading as a book. Inside were a dozen or so old cards—a game that had lain dormant there for three thousand years. If Chaos himself hadn’t found them, they might have continued to sleep silently for all eternity. “Fay. I wonder if you’ll ever catch up to Heleneia’s win count in the gods’ games.” Heleneia, he suspected, would see that as a threat. She would stop at nothing to interfere with Fay. “I could tell them to play nice… But I guess it wouldn’t help. Not with Heleneia, anyway.” He sighed, causing the accumulated dust on the book to fly into the air. They would meet, sometime. As people who had utterly mastered the gods’ games, they would have to. “Natural enemies? Nah… More like ‘hate what you are,’ I guess. Whatever, she’s not going to like him.” One question remained: Chaos. Can’t you do anything? “Sorry, Heleneia,” he said. He took the worn cards and closed the empty box, putting it back on the shelf. “The most I can do is try to tell this crappy story in an amusing way. Whatever happens after that is up to you.”