Chapter 193

ROLE-PLAYING END …A long, long time ago, a mass of earth was flung through the heavens during a battle between the gods. A powerful, earth-shattering attack sent the land hurtling into the heavens by coincidence. It gradually broke apart—a calamity of shards plummeting toward the ground before vanishing… This calamity was mere happenstance…and yet. It remained in the memories of all intelligent life as the calamity that floated through the heavens. And after an eternity of being immortalized in memory, it eventually gained a core and became a Phantasma… It wasn’t clear who gave it this name, but at some point in time, the Phantasma became known as Avant Heim. And while the mass of land continued to float through the heavens, raining down hell on earth… It was nothing more than an apparatus that replicated a past event. A system. It had no goal or intent to harm—it didn’t even have an identity. Someone feared it. Someone dreamed of its return. And someone—desired it. And so it existed. The calamity was born again—as a monster… Why did the monster rain destruction on the earth below? Because…that’s what monsters do. Because it was a monster. It was doing what it was born to do, as a phantasm. No one wondered why clouds rained, and no clouds would answer them should they ever be asked. This monster was like a cloud—one that rained destruction on all it passed over. ………… “?! Th-there it is…! The light!! Heh-heh-heh. So you gonna tell me what’s up, Av’n’? I wanna know why you’re ignoring me!!” said a one-horned Flügel hunched over on the ground. She was wearing a helmet and had a pickax in her hands—Azril, struggling for breath… “Nyaaa! It was hard to dig to your core while I have the strength of an Immanity, Av’n’!! And I’m stuck here wonderin’ why no one wanted to lend me a hand!! You’d think it’d help to open up a little hole in space or something!! It was my first time even touching a pickax! Why should the leader of the Flügel be the one doing all the digging?!” The young woman shared her discontent—from beneath her previous lord’s throne. It was the deepest part of the Phantasma Avant Heim…in other words— “……………………” It sluggishly turned to Azril without saying a word. But the hollow boy—what looked like a boy—soon stared elsewhere. More than half of its body was covered in bluish-white crystals, and whatever it was, it was clearly not human. Like Azril, it had a single horn, a sign that the two shared their power with one another. The vaguely humanoid figure had one eye closed, as if it was dreaming… This—was where Avant Heim’s core resided… “Hrm… Is that still on your mind? So much that you’d ignore me?!” Only a month ago—Avant Heim had stopped responding when she called. So three days ago, I decided to come see his core. Try and ignore me, face-to-face. Azril had started digging three days earlier and had finally reached Avant Heim’s core. But evidently, he ignored her once they were face-to-face. I think I’m gonna cry! Tears were welling up in Azril’s eyes when— “…On your mind…? Who? The Phantasma—?” The young boy looked back emotionlessly at Azril and tilted his head in confusion. Oh… Looks like Av’n’ can’t tell. Azril didn’t share only her power with Avant Heim—but their subconsciousness as well. That’s how she knew why he was reminiscing about something that had happened so long ago. And she understood what that eye of his was watching so dreamily—more so than Avant Heim did. Av’n’s gaze was fixed on a tall tower in the center of Garad Golm… The Domain of Despair. The Hope-Consuming Beast. The Phantom of Destruction—the Devil. Av’n’ lacked the self-awareness—if he had any at all—to vocalize why he was looking over there. Azril, on the other hand, could put his subconscious feelings into words: The Devil is a Phantasma, just like me. Something born without reason or purpose. An existence without meaning or will. A calamity. A monster. Just a system— Just… A Phantasma… A dream someone saw… That’s what he should be. How it should work, but…the Devil had something. A role, a goal, and a meaning to his existence—things Av’n’ had once been given but had lost. Most of all, the Devil wanted something, and he worked to get it. He had a clear sense of self… The Devil has everything I lack. Everything. We’re both Phantasmas—we should be the same…but why are we so different? In other words, Av’n’ was… “…Oh-ho, nya? So you’re jealous? Of him…?” Azril said it for him. “…Jealous…of him…? A fellow Phantasma—?” It only confused Av’n’, who lacked the self-awareness to really understand it all. Azril chuckled wryly to herself. Maybe a year ago, I would’ve felt jealous with Av’n’. But not anymore. Her little sister worked for two masters who were far too weak for comfort. Azril, just like those two masters, spent a little less than a year crawling along on the ground like an ant.