Maybe that’s all we are to her, and maybe she sees this whole world as an experiment, too.
And if it all went under, she wouldn’t think twice about it.
“What were you trying to do in this world, exactly?”
“Nothing much. As I said before, I didn’t have any serious goals in mind, you know? Officially, I just lent a little support to help revive the planet on the ebony god’s request. Everything else was just a little personal project of mine. The same goes for you reincarnations. I didn’t do it out of any ill will, even if I wouldn’t quite call it good will, either.”
“What ‘personal project’?”
“I wanted to turn an entire world into a game. Then I wanted to see if anyone might find a way to become a god in that toxic gamelike environment. That’s about it.”
Wakaba’s calm comment belies the total insanity of the concept and scale.
She really isn’t like us at all.
The way she thinks is just too different from that of any normal human.
It’s to the point that just talking to her like this feels so wrong it almost makes me sick.
Even though we’re speaking the same language, I don’t think we’ll ever understand each other.
“I had high hopes for that Potimas Harrifenas, and for you, Demon Lord Ariel. I thought both of you might be able to attain godhood. Turns out I was wrong about that, though. Especially Potimas Harrifenas… Given his obsession with staying alive, I thought he might find a way to surpass the limits of the human vessel to achieve it, but it didn’t work out very well for him.”
“I shudder to think what would’ve happened if he became a god.”
Demon Lord Ariel looks blatantly disgusted.
As far as I can tell, Wakaba didn’t care whether someone was good or evil, only if they could become a god or not.
She just wanted someone, anyone, to produce results in her little experiment.
Something like that, anyway.
“Okay, enough about all that. What’s up with that weird copy of yours? The so-called ivory god?”
I change the subject before her thoughts on the previous one can drive me totally insane.
I want to know what the deal is with that weird Wakaba look-alike.
That’s basically got to be her puppet or something, right?
Seems a little excessive to pit it against the original ebony god if you’re trying to give the world a “boost,” though.
Not to mention, something feels off about that idea.
Would Wakaba here really get involved with such a proactive pawn?
“Ah, yes, my stand-in. If I was to reincarnate all of the students and one teacher present in that classroom, my seat would be left empty. In order to fill in that gap, I reincarnated the soul of a spider that just happened to be in the classroom at the time. Oh, and instilled it with memories of being Hiiro Wakaba.”
“Excuse me?”
That doesn’t even make any sense.
Confused, I look around at Shun and the others, not one of whom appears to understand what Wakaba is saying.
“What does that even mean?”
“Exactly what I said. It’s just a spider. So weak that even I thought it was just going to die right away. It only existed to prove that Hiiro Wakaba also got reincarnated. At first, anyway.”
I still don’t get it, or maybe it’s just not possible to understand at all.
That fake Wakaba wasn’t working for this one?
“So she’s not your pawn?”
“Oh no. That thing does whatever it wants. Amusing, isn’t it? The humans I had such high hopes for turned out to be a flop, and the creature I threw in as an expendable substitute is the one that wound up attaining godhood.”
Umm…o-kaaay?
To sum it up, that means the fake Wakaba became a god all on her own, and is fighting the ebony god of her own free will?
“You have my gratitude for sending White to this world, and to me.”
Demon Lord Ariel’s voice is full of warm feelings toward that fake Wakaba.
I can tell from her voice that the Demon Lord trusts the fake Wakaba completely, at the very least.
“The destruction of the system, and the collection of the resulting energy. It’s a method I left as a hidden feature, but given the current state of that world, I would say that it’s the correct choice. While the plan the Word of God pontiff there came up with isn’t bad, either, between the uncertainty and the huge losses involved, there’s a good chance it wouldn’t produce enough energy.”
At Wakaba’s words, everyone turns to look at the pontiff.
Finally, he speaks, as if he can’t handle the pressure of all those stares.
“My plan was to kill all of the gods who exist in this world.”
Huh? I don’t think I get it.
“What do you mean by that?”
Yuri is the one who questions the pontiff. Apparently, she didn’t get it, either.
“A god is a life-form containing an immense amount of energy. And the system has the ability to collect energy from any living thing that dies, even if that living thing is a god. If a god were to die, the system would be able to collect its energy, you see.”
Ahh, that’s why you were gonna kill the gods?
Wait a sec. Doesn’t that mean…
“So you intended to lay waste to Goddess Sariel, the ivory god, and even your own ally, the ebony god?”
“Just so.”
Without another word, Yuri fires attack magic at the pontiff.
Huh? Wha—?!
“Watch out!”
Barely a second before the spell can hit the pontiff, Shun jumps in the way and blocks it.
If he hadn’t made it in time, wouldn’t that have killed the old pontiff?!
“Yuri! What do you think you’re doing?!”
“I could ask you the same question. Get out of the way so I can kill him, Shun.”
“What? Are you hearing yourself right now, young lady?”
Ms. Oka seems distressed at Yuri’s words.
“But that man needs to die immediately. How dare you speak of the gods that way? Hurry up and die, Pontiff. Die.”
Yikes! When did Yuri get so scary?!
“Yuri. I can understand where you’re coming from, but please restrain yourself for now. This is no time for us humans to be fighting among ourselves.”
“…Oh, all right.”