The Evil God’s power was overwhelming.
Perhaps that meant his resurrection was complete. But despite that, it had to be said that there was still something petty and human about his behavior.
“Ah, this isn’t good,” he muttered. “If I don’t find a way to hold back, Yuichi Sakaki will just crumple immediately...”
Ende could see nothing godlike in his smug behavior. “There’s a little too much Hiromichi Rokuhara in you to make me think the Evil God has really awakened... is it just my imagination?”
Ende approached. The slender man and the snake-woman remained still, so she walked past them to approach Hiromichi.
“Hmm? Oh, I’m not Hiromichi Rokuhara. It’s just that I have no distinct personality of my own,” he said. “I’m nothing but the will to eradicate humanity. I need a foundation to build on, or I’ll lack the self-determination to carry out that will.”
It seemed the host had an influence on the Evil God’s resurrection. Ende found that convenient enough for her purposes; the Evil God himself would have no reason to fight Yuichi. It was extremely possible that immediately after awakening, he’d start acting to carry out humanity’s destruction. But Hiromichi had a grudge against Yuichi, and if influenced by Hiromichi, the Evil God would probably want to defeat him.
“By the way, how are you going to wipe out humanity?” Ende asked casually. “The fight earlier proved that you’re certainly strong, but I’m sure you don’t intend to just go around killing people one at a time.”
“Certainly not. But exterminating humanity has become comparatively easy these days, don’t you think? They’ve created the means for it entirely by themselves. I just need enough power to get in and make use of those means.”
Weapons of mass destruction, perhaps? The fact of the matter was that humanity, right now, was standing upon thin ice.
Peace was maintained by the fact that the world’s great nations all had weapons pointed at each other, but a single mistake could tip the balance and set off a chain reaction of retaliation. That was probably what the Evil God was referring to.
“Anyway, I really need you to die,” he continued.
This was a possibility Ende hadn’t ever considered. She couldn’t die, and the Evil God had no reason to kill her; that was what she had assumed.
But suddenly, her chest felt very hot. It took Ende a few moments to remember what that sudden feeling was: pain.
She checked.
The sword Hiromichi had been holding was sticking out of her chest.
“Yeah, looks like Dimension Cutter did the job.”
The sword was pulled out of her.
Ende backed away.
“You Outers seem to fancy yourselves gods, but to me, you’re just a part of the same humanity that needs eradicating. Obviously, I’m going to kill you if I have the chance.”
This future shouldn’t have existed, Ende thought. This completely unforeseen development left her feeling totally adrift.
The room spun around her, followed by a sensation like plunging backwards into darkness.
“I forcibly narrowed down the possibilities.” The one who said that was one of the Evil God’s bodies, which had not made one move up until this point. It was the slender man.
“My, my. You look so shocked. After all this, are you truly afraid of death?” That teasing voice came from the half-snake woman with no eyes.
Ende typically claimed that she was bored of living, but the truth was, she felt very differently when death was there, staring her in the face.
“Whew... well, it is a little shocking,” she bluffed as she backed off further. “I’ve gotta say, it’s scarier than I was expecting...”
Fortunately, he had missed her heart; piercing a lung was a serious injury, but it would take more than that to kill an Outer for good.
Still, she would only survive until his next attack. Now that she knew what the Evil God could do, there didn’t seem to be much hope for escape.
Just as she was about to give up, a drone interposed itself between the Evil God and Ende.
“Run!”
As Mutsuko shouted, the drone lit up. It let out a flash of light directed at the Evil God.
Ende ran for the door opposite the one she had come in from.
“Tch!” The Evil God snapped his tongue, annoyed.
It was a simple move, but it had been surprisingly effective.
“Hey, everyone knows that the Taiyo-ken works even on top-tier enemies!” Mutsuko boasted.
Ende hesitated for a moment, wondering if it was all right to leave Mutsuko there. But even if she stayed, there was nothing she could do in her current condition.
She ran out the door.