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Azure God looked down at the blade still jutting from his chest and the ruined mess of his torso. A faint smile rose to his lips as he began to speak.

“…So you really did defy your fate, Hiyuki. I knew it. You were right, the future isn’t a straight line. No matter how slim the odds, nothing is certain until it happens. And you… you grasped the future you wanted with your own hands. Unlike me, trapped in the shadow of my past… you moved forward. That’s something to admire.”

For a brief moment, my hands froze on Amadeus. His gentle voice, that peaceful expression, made my resolve falter.

“But you’re still far too naive.”

Still wearing that smile, he reached toward the floor, ignoring the sword lodged through his chest, and picked up the weapon lying there. It was Gilles de Rais, the sword I had set aside. With a flick of his wrist, he hurled it toward me. I had no choice but to let go of Amadeus and jerk back to avoid the strike.

The blade whistled past my cheek, grazing it by a hair, and embedded itself with a ringing clang into the ceiling.

A complete reversal. Just as I had thrown my weapon earlier to create an opening, he’d mimicked my tactic and caught me off guard. If I could use his weapon, then of course he could use mine. He’d used my own sword to shake me, opening the perfect chance to counter with his bare hands.

“You’re such a textbook case of naivety. You should’ve finished me the moment you drove that blade in. This is what happens when you hesitate.”

Even with Amadeus still buried in his chest, Azure God gripped the blade tightly, bracing against the floor as he forced himself upright. Then, he began to pull.

“You’re not taking it out!”

I ignored the pounding in my head and sprinted forward, shouting as I grabbed the blade with both hands. Its edge sliced deep into my palms, blood dripping freely, but I didn’t care. Clenching my teeth, I forced the sword sideways, driving it across his chest and straight through his heart.

Blood poured from the widening wound, soaking my black shoes and painting the floor beneath us a deep crimson.

“Hah! You really took your time… but at least you got the job done in the end.”

He coughed up a mouthful of blood and broke into a ragged laugh. Even as he stood on death’s doorstep, there was something unsettlingly calm in his voice that sent a chill down my spine.

I instinctively backed away, trying to gain distance. Azure God watched me with weary eyes and gave a faint, bitter smile. Even now, he didn’t fall.

“Relax. My time’s over. I’ve lost, and I’ll accept it with grace. I won’t fight you again. Not after this.”

His words let some of the tension drain from my shoulders, until the next sentence took the breath right out of me.

“There are still uncertainties, but one thing is clear, you’ve become the «God Slayer». The old gods fall, and the young take their place. It’s a classic rite of passage, like something out of The Golden Bough. So… congratulations, or maybe condolences. Either way, the throne is yours now.”

“W-wait, what are you even saying!?” I ran toward him, panic bubbling up. “I don’t want to become a god, I never signed up for that! I refuse!”

But Azure God only smiled, serene and almost joyful, like someone who had finally been freed from a heavy burden.

“You may not want this, but it’s already been set in motion. I told you, this place only functions because someone manages it. You can’t leave unless you defeat me, and now that you have, the role falls to you. Unlike Earth, where the people’s karma and collective consciousness uphold the laws of reality, this world is still too young, too fragile. Without a god, it will collapse. That’s why, when the old god—or demon king, if you prefer—is slain, the right to govern is passed to the one who defeated him. If you refuse, this world will cease to exist.”

Ugh, what kind of soap opera mess had I stumbled into?! It felt like one of those situations where you’re suddenly told your dead parents left you a massive inheritance, but now you’re stuck managing the fallout. And of course, there’s no option to walk away, not with a bunch of scary men breathing down your neck. Just figure it out already!

When he talked about “this place,” I honestly thought he just meant this weird mental or temporal room. But a whole “world”? This was some next-level scam, I swear.

“It really has been an eternity…” Despite having a sword through his chest, Azure God showed no sign of pain. He simply smiled, calm and composed, and kept speaking.

“Once I was integrated into the world-building system by Sefer Yetzirah, I learned what it truly valued…societal diversity, ecological balance, evolving moral structures. The crystallization of that data, the creation of a ‘World,’ was all that mattered to it. Individual lives? Those were never its concern. So no matter how many times I pleaded, my wish to revive the person named Kanade Ayase—no, Hiyuki—was never granted.”

I wasn’t sure whether to curse Sefer Yetzirah’s indifference or scold Azure God for his selfish obsession with resurrecting someone who might not have wanted it. Torn between the two, I kept my mouth shut and let him continue.

If I had to nitpick—though it felt a little late for that—I still couldn’t help but wonder: who exactly was I? If Azure God wasn’t the one who created me, then someone else must have intervened. I wanted to believe I wasn’t just a copy… but I couldn’t rule out the possibility of being a clone either.

“Still, as long as I existed in physical form, I couldn’t remain alone forever. I spent what must have been five thousand years in a world without humans. But Sefer Yetzirah didn’t like that. It intervened. Animals began to evolve, eventually giving rise to beast-like beings that resembled humans. I had no choice but to rebuild the world with humanity in it. I tried to get it right. I gave them shelter, guidance, ensured harmony with other species, hoping it would spare them from conflict. I offered protection, support, everything I could. But no matter what I did… it always ended the same. They either became decadent or fell into apathy, and then faded away.”

He exhaled, long and weary, like a man collapsing under centuries of disappointment.

“So I tried something else. I built moral codes and social systems into religion. I even gave them measurable ‘karma values.’ But again, with time, those values became tools for division, excuses for discrimination, reasons to wage war. I kept wondering…was it truly impossible for humans to abandon selfishness? So I gave them a common enemy, created using data from E.H.O.’s mob monsters, hoping they would unite against it. But every time, they failed. They fell into depravity, chaos, infighting. I lost count of how many times I tried to reset the world. It was like flipping an hourglass, only to watch the same sand fall in the same shape.”

“Eventually, I lost sight of it all. I forgot I had once aimed to build a utopia and simply drifted through each day. I even thought of dying, but my existence was too deeply woven into the system. I couldn’t separate myself from the world. There was only one way out. If a «God Slayer» appeared, I could be released from these chains. But in a world still so young, it was nothing more than a dream.”

“Wait just a go̲d̲d̲a̲m̲n̲ second! Are you serious?! No wonder your whole attitude felt off—always saying ‘become my woman’ or ‘be my slave,’ but without any real conviction. You didn’t want me. Not really. You were just trying to provoke me. Push me hard enough so I’d snap and kill you. That was the plan, wasn’t it?! You just wanted to dump this whole messed-up job on me and finally be free!”