God descends,
Behind me,
Surveys the battlefield and my enemies,
and gives the perfect orders.
✦ ✦ ✦
God is dead. Or gone. Or perhaps never existed in the first place.
Even if one accepts that there are vestiges of human history that can be mistaken as miracles, they are the results of our ancestors’ hard work and labor—certainly not holy works of God. Human reality is a path of suffering with no savior in sight. Yet with this in mind, I still continue to practice as a priest.
But what is this I see before me? This raven-haired girl fighting. Such strength. Such speed. In the blink of an eye she takes down three goblins. With the piece of ripped cloth in her left hand she distracts them, dances around her victim, and then smashes down with the ax in her right hand. Poisonous rat and sword rabbit alike are lost in her wiles before she lops off their heads.
Such brilliance. Such awe-inspiring skill. This girl exceeds the bounds of humanity. In terms of mere physical strength and mastery of the human body, perhaps some knights might be her equal. But they wouldn’t fight like her. No, they would not.
Look! The way she dodged that claw swipe. It’s as if she has eyes on the back of her head. Goodness, can she see the future? She just jumped back as if predicting that surprise attack!
And then there’s her offense. With the least amount of effort she inflicts the greatest damage. Every swing of her ax finds a neck. Heads upon heads roll, with nary a war cry.
It’s as if she’s possessed by God. A human, victorious in battle? Such a tale is heard only in dreams.
“What is it, priest? Did you spot the banner of the reinforcements?”
“Why, Lord Willow!” I forgot all about the excuse I made to climb the bell tower. I cannot bear to witness the bleak, pathetic scene my church, now turned into an evacuation center, has become. Then again, considering the distance between us and the fort, there is no possibility of reinforcements arriving in time to matter.
“Unfortunately, I cannot see any dust clouds that might signal the approach of horses.”
“I see... Then what about survivors?”
“Judging from how the monsters have turned to infighting, I believe the fields and groves are a lost cause. If anyone is out there, I’d guess they are in the administrative ward or the storage facility.”
“The administrative ward was attacked by a troll. There’s no saving them.” In other words, they became bait to draw away the monsters so that we might survive. My lord’s chiseled features cloud over at the thought. It must have been quite a decision to make. What a terrible position to be in. He’s only here to escape the battle for succession among his famous military family, after all. That’s an abandonment of his legal rights—a desertion of his orthodox life. And yet expectations of his family name and abilities haunt him like a duty. How paltry and noble a man with more obligations than rights.
The opposite is just a bag of rottenness. Many, many of this type have adorned the royal palace, both in the past and the present. All of them are, and will continue to be, submerged in presumptuous sentiment.
“Priest, how long will the warding circle you constructed last?”
“Until tomorrow morning at best. The stench is just too strong.”
“I see... Then we must flee before the night ends. I shall create an escape route for us. You lead the commoners and injured out.”
“My Lord, I cannot.”
“I apologize, but I must insist.”
“No, you see, it would appear that we are saved.” He gives me a puzzled look, and I do not blame him. His mouth and eyes widen in a slightly foolish fashion. How would he react to something even more unexpected?
“Please, see it for yourself. It is a miracle.” Oh, the hand I’m using to point is trembling. How hilariously shameful. A failure of a priest like myself, who never offered a prayer in his life, is now struck by faith. I’m even crying! I’m like a little boy. Me, Felipo Valkie Millennium!
But even so... My word, how beautiful it is, this girl’s game of death—her dance of evil’s destruction. She slays the monsters with grace, banishing the nightmares with every flip of her raven hair. Flashes of her white blade strike down the demons, brilliantly smashing the despair of humanity.
“Ah, that girl? The one with the black hair?”
“You know her? Where is she from?”
“I don’t know the details. I only spoke to her once.”
“Did you at least get her name?”
“Kuroi.” Wonderful. Even the sound of it brimmed with exaltation.
“Oh, no! She’s lost her weapon! We must help—”
“I think you need not worry, my Lord.”
“G-Goodness!” She glances at her ax, stuck in the corpse of a sherboa, with no sign of panic or remorse. There is a flutter of the cloth in her left hand and a hatchet appears in her right. She cleaves through the swarm of poisonous rats and readies herself for the next kill. A mad ape snatches her cloth away, but this doesn’t faze her. She turns around, a small spear in her left hand. When she picked it up I have no idea, but she instantly drives it into her opponent. Then hurls it, ending the life of another monster that was crawling up on the rubble. Next, a dagger held in reverse, she rushes a sword rabbit.
This must be magic—magic that produces weapons from empty space. This magic has no relation to the classic elements of fire, water, wind, earth, and thunder. It’s proof that this girl is special. Clear, undeniable evidence that she is a chosen being.
Ha!
Which means that there exists a being who loves her above others and has granted her their favor.
Heh heh... What fortune. Yes, what fortune! The existence of God has been proven, before my very eyes! With dazzling persuasiveness!
✦ ✦ ✦
Hmm... Mmm? Can humans use the spell Accept Blade? I’d understand if I was an elf or a vampire, but... it’s such a rare job skill. Is this a hidden event? Whoa, I forgot about the chat while streaming! Bad streamer, bad streamer! Strike a gallant pose (never show the face, though)!
Anyway.
So, Kuroi can use magic huh? This is quite the bizarre turn of events. Learning magic in DDR is no easy feat, and its uses are heavily limited. For humans, especially, it’s a masochistic endeavor.
First, there’s the fact that what elements you can use is restricted depending on your race. Elves use water and wind, while vampires use earth and thunder. For some reason, humans are limited to only using fire magic. Not only that, but the balance is completely off. If you focus on offensive magic, humans are trapped between two insurmountable walls known as elves and vampires. Humans are supposed to be second when it comes to magic, too.
The reason for this is the existence of “Guardian Gods.” All magic is a gift bestowed by Guardian Gods in the world of DDR. For elves it’s the Dragon God, and for vampires it’s the Demon God. Each race is blessed with divine, godly powers. But humans don’t have a Guardian God. What the hell is that?
It’s for this reason that their magic is weak, they receive no help from familiars, fall sick easily, and are generally short-lived. In this world humans are reduced to a depressingly weak race. Yup, that’s DDR for you.
That’s not to say that playing as elves or vampires is a cakewalk, either. They have their own difficulties. For example, it’s really tough to appease a Guardian God. Seriously tough. Not only are they unreasonable, but they often make their followers run endless errands for no reward, send them on quests with no preparation, demand mysterious tributes—the list goes on. And despite all of this, the power of their blessings aren’t stable, so it’s a generally stressful affair. Plus, if you manage to piss one off, they’ll curse you into oblivion. Sometimes they even step onto the mortal plane to kill their transgressors personally.
Remember the sherboa’s giant tusk that dropped for me? I was actually planning to offer it to the Demon God. The plan was to ally myself with the vampires and snag a tiny bit of their blessings for myself. I really wanted thunder magic. I never imagined the blessing would materialize as Accept magic, though. Summoning magic is really rare.
Which god even accepts this tusk as a tribute, then? Skipping the ritual and randomly materializing its power on its own just screams Demon God to me. It’s the peak of wildness. The Dragon God is really particular about order and rituals... Huh? What do you mean, Devil God? Man, I’ve never seen anything like this on the wiki. Wow! Should I start a thread and investigate this? Oh, but, it’s my policy to not look up outside info while streaming...!