“A natural outcome,” Yaiba said. “Muu-sama’s power is such that calling it divine would not be incorrect. Earlier, I said she created this land, but her power was not limited to land alone. Muu-sama could create anything.”
“Anything?”
“Anything.”
“Hey. Don’t tell me—”
Al’s cheek twitched as something clicked in her mind.
Meeting her gaze straight on, Yaiba spoke with grave certainty.
“Of course… Humans as well.”
“—?!”
“You’re not saying she got married, had a husband, and gave birth to kids the normal way, right?”
“That is not the case,” Yaiba said quietly. “Muu-sama created humans from nothing at all. Those she brought into being varied in age and gender, and the place where those created people gathered is what became this country.”
“She’s seriously a god,” Al muttered.
At her words, the rest of us were left speechless. After all, what she had done was exactly what you’d expect from a god.
She created land and living beings. That was something no human could ever accomplish.
Even I couldn’t do that. Right? No, I’m not doing that. I’m human. It’s fine.
Yeah. Thinking about it any further was honestly terrifying, so I decided to stop. There was no way I could do something like that. I was human, after all.
In any case, Lady Muu was truly a being worthy of the title of god.
“So about Muu-sama’s power being sealed…?”
“Muu-sama wielded power akin to that of a god,” Yaiba said, his voice heavy. “Yet while her power was divine, her heart was that of a human.”
“Huh?”
“Muu-sama created many humans and lived among them. But of those she created, the ones who could truly be called her children, many ended up betraying her. Some tried to eliminate her, while others sought to use her for their own purposes.” Yaiba lowered his gaze. “To be betrayed by the humans she herself had created… Muu-sama’s heart was deeply wounded. And so, in order to never feel that pain again, she sealed away her own power along with her heart. That is the Muu-sama you see before you now.”
“That’s so sad,” Saria whispered.
She was only voicing what she honestly felt.
Not just Muu-sama, Zeanos and even the Black Dragon God had all suffered in much the same way because of humans.
We really are a hopeless species, aren’t we? Well. I guess I’m human too.
“So then,” Al said, scratching her cheek, “what kind of position has Muu-sama held all this time? She’s basically a founding god, right?”
“Before sealing her heart, Muu-sama ruled this country as its queen,” Yaiba explained. “But after the sealing, she became little more than a symbol of the nation, a presence that merely existed. As a result, the country fractured. Lords who sought to take her place rose up one after another, and thus this land descended into an age of war.”
“I see…”
So her position was something like the emperor back in Japan. Or rather, closer to the emperor during the Sengoku period, maybe?
With that thought, a question naturally surfaced.
“Then why target Muu-sama now?” I asked. “She sealed her own power, didn’t she?”
“She did,” Yaiba said. “However, the one orchestrating this incident appears to possess the means to break her seal. That is precisely why they are targeting her.”
“That’s insane. You mean they want the power to create anything?”
“No,” he replied firmly. “Their objective is not that power.”
“Huh?”
“Muu-sama possesses another aspect,” Yaiba said with a gravity that made my skin prickle.
Another one? There’s more?
“She has two faces,” he continued. “One is that of the one who brings forth existence from nothing: the creator. And the other is that of one who is nothingness itself.”
“Is… nothingness?”
“In other words,” Yaiba said quietly, “the power to reduce everything to nothing.”
The implications hit us like a physical blow, and once again, we were struck dumb.
E-Everything… to nothing?
Al, her face twitching just like before, forced out the question. “D-Don’t tell me… that power too…”
“Anything,” Yaiba answered. “Without exception.”
“…”
There were no words left.
To erase anything at all.
In other words, even humans could be erased, their existence wiped away as if they had never been there at all.
“A being that possesses both creation and destruction, one who embodies existence and nothingness alike. That is Mu-Yu, the truth of Muu-sama’s nature… and everything our enemy is after.”
Let me just say one thing. I remembered having the same thought when we helped Routier’s father, Zephal, but the scale of things now was truly absurd.
What the hell? I already thought things were ridiculous when we faced the Night King, but this was on a whole different level! There was yet another outrageously overpowered existence sitting right here!
Was there really any opening for a Demon God to exploit in this world?! How could that even be possible?! This didn’t look like a world where a Demon God could get anything done! Then again, maybe the Demon God is even more insane than everything I’ve seen so far. That is possible.
Still, this is way more dangerous than me. Not even close.
I can’t erase humans—
… Huh? No. That line of thought feels bad. Really bad.
D-Don’t think about it.
It’s fine. I’m human. Just human.
“We do not know how knowledge of Muu-sama’s power leaked to the outer lands,” Tsukikage said, her expression grave. “But we cannot hand Muu-sama over to such vile beings, who would pursue her for nothing more than their own selfish desires.”
She finished firmly, her resolve unmistakable.
“We’ve talked long enough. It’s time we move. If the ones who attacked us haven’t returned by now, the enemy has likely already sensed something is wrong.”
“Understood.”
We nodded, then followed after Tsukikage, leaving the area behind.