“It seems an uninvited guest has arrived.”
My eyes widened at Deus’s unexpected words. I hesitantly asked a question in the following silence.
“By guest…… do you mean an existence that flowed in through a gap like those men you made into sows?”
“No, this time the feeling is a bit different. How should I put it.”
“……”
“More like a feeling that makes me want to kill them in earnest.”
Leaving me lost in thought, Deus moved his steps quickly. Until now he had been desperate to devour me, but now he was treating me like air. Just as I was flustered by Deus’s sudden change in attitude, I clenched my fists and followed alongside him. And I questioned him like a reporter chasing a corrupt politician.
“Wait a minute, what about my proposal? Is it permission? Or is it rejection?”
“Mm, neither really…… more like ‘do that shit yourself.'”
“Then you’re going to live here alone for the rest of your life?”
“I told you, some fates can’t be defied.”
I bumped into Deus’s back as he stopped abruptly and grabbed my forehead. Deus, who had been quietly watching a line of ants passing by his feet, said in a calm voice.
“I like this place. I’m not curious about the real world or anything.”
“……”
“I shouldn’t be curious either.”
As Deus blocked their path with his foot, the ants that had been in confusion eventually turned back in the opposite direction. A faint smile hung on Deus’s lips as he watched the scene.
“So there’s no exit to get out. That’s the conclusion I’ve reached.”
My heart sank with a thud. The moment I thought I might be trapped in this bizarre space for the rest of my life, my vision went dark. I grabbed my throbbing forehead and thought.
‘Well, Kiss mentioned it in the original work too. That the only way to leave this Void is to eliminate Deus, the master of the Void.’
To escape from the Void, I had to kill Deus—this was truly a vexing matter for me who needed to make that bastard my ally. A chilling intuition flashed through my mind for a moment. The fact that I entered this place meant the entrance to the Void had opened.
‘Could it be, the uninvited guest is……’
In an instant, all the blood in my body turned ice cold. It wasn’t entirely impossible. The person with the most powerful succession rights in the current imperial family was Deus. Since the door to the Void, which normally couldn’t be easily accessed, had opened, the clever Kiss would surely think this was a golden opportunity to eliminate Deus.
The ominous intuition gradually turned into certainty. I thought I had to prevent their meeting by any means necessary. I hurriedly blocked Deus’s path as he tried to go up to the surface.
“Where are you going?”
“I need to go welcome the guest.”
Silence flowed. I asked back in a dubious voice.
“By welcome, you mean…… you’re not planning to have a friendly tea time, right?”
“Ash, you pretend to be smart but don’t know what welcome means. Welcome means, you see, hitting each other until you’re on the verge of death. Not something trivial like tea time.”
I glared at Deus, who spoke as if it were obvious. It’s not me who doesn’t know the meaning of welcome, it’s you. As the situation turned out this way, I naturally imagined the next scene. Deus would go on the offensive in the name of welcoming, and Kiss, who discovered Deus, would fight back as if he’d been waiting.
There were two possible outcomes. If Deus killed Kiss, I would be trapped here without escape, since I had no military force to kill Deus. Conversely, if Kiss killed Deus, he would safely become Emperor as in the original work, so my death was confirmed. Either way led to hell.
“That person called the guest. I think……”
My mind raced quickly in front of the crisis. Since I had no confidence in explaining the difference between welcome and hostility to this Azathoth-like bastard, I settled on trying to gain sympathy. With the most sorrowful expression possible, I grabbed Deus’s collar slightly. And I pleaded in an earnest voice.
“I think…… they’re someone I love. They must have come to rescue me.”
“……”
“So I’d appreciate it if you didn’t attack first or do anything hostile like that…… I’ll do anything instead.”
I got goosebumps even as I spoke, but I had no choice. I had to prevent Deus from attacking Kiss even if it meant gaining sympathy. Deus, who had been looking at me quietly, asked an unexpected question.
“What does it mean to love?”
“……Huh?”
Do I have to explain from there? But would someone like me who’s lived as a loser their whole life know what it means to like someone? Just as I was groaning and pondering, something suddenly flashed through my mind. It was a line from a scene in the original work where Lilia, Kiss’s birth mother, explained to young Kiss what love was.
[Kiss, to love someone means, you see, that your whole world changes to that person. Your beliefs, your values. It’s an emotion that makes everything meaningless.]
Lilia, who appeared in the work, wasn’t a politically clever woman, but she was a character honest about her desires. The type who would say she’d be fine going to hell as long as she could receive love from the man she loved. Lilia, who was a fervent advocate of love, also cherished her son Kiss very much. If Lilia had lived even a little longer, Kiss’s personality might have become gentler than it is now.
“My whole world changes to that person.”
“……”
“For that person, I would……”
Just as I was continuing to speak while suppressing the embarrassment, solid arms of unknown ownership embraced my neck. A scent like laundry dried in warm sunlight hit me sharply. A voice tinged with humor pierced my ears.
“You would?”
Kiss, who had made eye contact with me, tilted his head as if telling me to say more. In the atmosphere filled with silence, my body froze with my mouth hanging open. Kiss, who had moved his gaze toward Deus, opened his mouth.
“Long time no see, Deus. Have you been well?”
Setting aside how Kiss found this place, my mind went blank at the thought that he might have heard the fervent love confession I had just spouted. Unlike me in confusion, Deus, who had been looking at me with a cold expression throughout, re-gripped the hacksaw he was holding.
“Aha, I wondered who it was…… it’s Kiss. No way, you were much cuter when you were young than now!”
“I don’t think we were close enough to call each other by pet names.”
“Idiot, that doesn’t matter.”
Unlike his relaxed voice, I felt Kiss’s hand grasping my shoulder tighten. Deus’s eyes, soaked with excitement, sparkled and shone. With a whoosh sound, the hacksaw that cut through the air was thrust right in front of my nose. Deus’s voice, full of murderous intent, rang out.
“Because we can get close from now on.”
With a ‘crack’ sound, the floor that began splitting from beneath Deus’s feet approached Kiss. At the same time as Kiss’s one foot fell through the split floor, I unconsciously reached out my hand.
“Kiss-nim!”
Surprise flashed for a moment in Kiss’s eyes, which had been indifferent throughout. The moment I barely caught Kiss’s hand as he was about to fall, Kiss instead put strength into the hand he grasped and pulled me toward himself.
“Ash, you really……”
Pulled by the strong force, I ended up in Kiss’s arms. I felt solid arms embracing my waist. Laughter that didn’t match the situation of falling pierced my ears.
* * *
“Ugh……”
I opened my eyes, feeling something damp touching my cheek. I saw green fireflies swimming freely in the dark space. I checked my surroundings in my drowsy state of mind.
‘The afterlife…… doesn’t seem to be it.’
I remembered the floor splitting and falling down with Kiss. But for some reason, I was now lying neatly in what looked like a swamp. Just as I was looking around with a confused face, my heart dropped at the gorgeous face that entered my vision.
“You’re awake?”
“……”
“Want to eat some?”
Kiss, holding a handful of purple berries, said while chewing something. They were berries with a color that anyone could see shouldn’t be eaten. I asked back in a serious voice.
“Do you know what that is before eating it?”
“I’m hungry, what can I do?”
“If you eat just any food because you’re hungry in a place like this, you’ll die……”
“I fed it to this guy and he was fine though?”
Kiss pointed at something. Following Kiss’s fingertip with my gaze, I saw the guide rabbit trembling with its mouth area stained purple. Kiss added in a regretful voice.
“Though it’s a bit lacking in sweetness.”
I pushed away Kiss’s hand thrusting the berries at me as if asking if I really wouldn’t eat, and sighed.
“Where the hell are we?”
“There’s nothing to be surprised about, this is the lowest level of the Void.”
The rabbit, which had been trembling with its snout stained, suddenly opened its mouth. I narrowed my eyes at the thick voice that didn’t match its cute appearance.
“……Melody?”
“Hoho, you finally recognize me. Of course you would, since it looks exactly like me.”
“……”
“Actually, this isn’t me, but rather an existence close to my alter ego. But in my urgent heart, I had no choice but to borrow this mouth.”
Since I didn’t have the energy to raise objections, I silently got up from the mud-soaked ground. Perhaps because my clothes had absorbed mud, my body felt heavy like wet cotton. I sighed and looked around the unidentifiable space.
“This is the lowest level of the Void?”
“That’s right, this place is both the lowest level of the Void and……”
“……”
“The space where Lord Deus’s heart sleeps.”
My eyes widened at the unexpected development. Deus’s only weakness, who didn’t die by conventional methods, was precisely his heart. As an existence like a core where Deus’s magic power was condensed, if the heart was pierced with the holy sword Kiss possessed, Deus’s existence would be completely annihilated along with this Void.
“That’s welcome news.”
Kiss, who had been listening to the story, said while smiling faintly. The holy sword at Kiss’s waist entered my eyes. It meant that if that sword found and pierced the heart, Deus would be annihilated. I carefully asked a question.
“Is killing Deus really the only way to leave this Void?”
“Theoretically, that’s correct, but……”
Melody, who had been hesitating, slowly continued.
“This Void is ultimately like a fortress that Lord Deus created to hide his heart.”
“……”
“Therefore, the moment he recognizes this world as ‘an unnecessary space,’ it collapses. That’s the only way to escape this Void without killing Lord Deus.”
So if Deus’s heart is the sword, this Void is the sheath protecting that sword? After pondering and organizing my thoughts, I made up my mind. I wiped the mud on my face with the back of my hand and opened my mouth.
“Let’s find Deus’s heart first.”
