Project GB is an official initiative by Re:Library.

Of course, I didn’t have even a shred of affection for this depraved b̲a̲s̲t̲a̲r̲d̲. But still, the realization irritated me, he had never really liked me. He’d just been toying with me. And now he tells me it was all a joke? What the hell do you mean by “just kidding”!?

Azure God—no, Devta—gave a faint, wry smile when he caught the irritation flashing across my face.

“I know it’s too late now, but you’ve always been someone special to me. When I saw that you hadn’t changed at all since the past, I thought…maybe you were the one who could take the reins of this world. Maybe I misunderstood everything. You’re right about that. My hands are stained with too much blood, and I passed the point of redemption long ago. So I’ll go, bearing all my sins and mistakes. I know I’m forcing this burden onto you, and I’m sorry… but I hope you’ll guide this lost world in my place.”

Once he finished, Devta collapsed where he stood. His life was slipping away like grains of sand through open fingers. Maybe he noticed my shoulders shaking, or how my head was hanging low, because he let out a soft, satisfied laugh through ragged breaths.

“…Haha, are those tears? Don’t be sad. It’s not your fault. The world is simply shedding one of its sinners, someone who pretended to be a god. The source of its suffering will be gone.”

He said it as gently as he could. But I couldn’t hold it in anymore. I raised my head, grabbed Devta by the front of his robes, and hauled him upright even as his body protested.

“That’s exactly why you suck!”

His expression, already dim with the shadow of death, twisted in surprise at my outburst. Whatever words he had prepared were swallowed whole.

“Why are you giving up so easily!? Why do you always make every decision on your own!? Why won’t you trust the people who live in this world!? They’re doing their best, fighting every day with what little they have, and you—you’re just sitting here in your own closed-off little world! I don’t care about your grand ‘end the world’s suffering’ speech! You think you’re some all-knowing being? You’re just a coward drowning in your own pessimism! You didn’t want to face reality, so you dumped it all on someone else. And now, after everything, your grand solution is death? Not even by your own hand, you wanted someone else to do it for you!”

I activated the «Resurrection» spell with my left hand.

“You think death will give you peace? No way. I’m dragging you right back out of its jaws, and then I’m going to make you take responsibility for every last thing!”

Even if he had something to say, I didn’t let him. I pressed my right hand to his chest, dead set on casting the spell. His expression shifted, from shock, to confusion, to regret, then worry…and finally, to quiet resignation.

“You don’t need to overthink it. Sure, I said I’d make you pay for everything, but I’ll carry at least half the load with you. That said, I’m putting my foot down on the whole ‘be my woman’ thing. Not happening.”

Devta let out a weak, wry chuckle and closed his eyes, as if finally at peace with what was to come. I relaxed for a brief moment and moved to cast the resurrection spell—when a wet, sickening sound suddenly came from within my own body.

A second later, searing heat spread through my lower abdomen.

“…What…?”

I looked down. From the gaping wound that had nearly torn Devta in half, a thin male hand had slithered out like a serpent and rammed straight through my level 99 battle gear, «Anne of Geierstein». It burst clean through my back. I’d been pierced.

“Argh—hhaaagh!”

Blinding pain tore through me as the reality set in, and a torrent of blood burst from the wound.

With a casual flick, the hand flung me aside like garbage. I slammed hard into a nearby stone pillar, my body embedding into it with a sickening crunch. Blood dripped steadily from the wound, painting a trail beneath me.

“Wh… argh…”

A basic healing spell wouldn’t be enough. I hurriedly cast an advanced healing spell and activated my auto-regeneration buff, clawing my HP back from the brink. The wound in my stomach slowly knit itself shut, but my armor was beyond saving. No repairing that in the middle of battle.

I pushed myself back onto my feet, my legs still unsteady from the impact. When I looked toward the scene, I saw something horrible…two pale hands emerging from the gaping wound in Devta’s chest. They tore through muscle and tissue with a sickening crack, peeling him open like an insect shedding its shell.

The sight was so grotesque I nearly looked away, but I forced myself to watch. A young man slowly pulled himself free from the hollowed remains of what was once Devta—unconscious, or possibly already dead. He looked up, blue hair swept back, and grinned as he slithered out the rest of the way. With effortless grace, he landed softly on the stone floor.

He looked to be around twenty years old, though his race was hard to place. Standing roughly 185 centimeters tall, he had a lean, long-limbed frame sculpted to perfection, like some idealized human form. Something about him felt feral, untamed. His ocean-blue eyes held a strange androgynous allure—he carried the strength of a man, the softness of a woman, and a presence both commanding and cunning.

“Seriously, what a useless idiot,” the man muttered, not even sparing me a glance. “Now I have to clean up his mess.”

I rushed toward Devta, who was barely clinging to life, and tried to cast Resurrection again, the same spell I’d failed to finish earlier. But just then, a transparent, colorless jewel materialized above the mysterious man’s palm, almost like magic. Well, maybe it really was.

“Whoa there. Rein in your heroic instincts,” he said lazily. “You try that now, and you’ll cause a full-on doppelgänger paradox. Let the guy retire for good.”

I didn’t fully understand what he meant, but I was out of time. I turned my focus back to Devta and cast the Resurrection spell. A warm light enveloped him, but just as it did, a sharp crack rang out. The jewel in the man’s hand shattered into glittering fragments. Devta didn’t move.

“Why isn’t the spell working?! Why?!”

“Because I just shattered that idiot’s Life Jewel,” the man said flatly. “He doesn’t exist anymore. What exactly do you think the spell’s going to bring back?” He spoke casually, flicking the broken fragments of the jewel onto Devta’s lifeless body like they were trash.

“Life… jewel? What the hell is that…?”

There was too much to take in, and I couldn’t form a proper response. The man just bared his shark-like teeth and laughed.

“That fool really believed this jewel held your data—Hiyuki’s data—from «E.H.O.», the version that never got resurrected. But he was dead wrong. He called himself hollow, right? Turns out, he was right. That blank, colorless jewel? It was his all along.”

The man threw his head back and laughed, sneering as he looked down at Devta’s body, now nothing more than an empty shell at his feet.

I ignored his mocking laughter and tried casting Resurrection again. And again. But just like he said, nothing worked. No matter how many times I tried, there was no response. Finally accepting it, I turned to the man still standing across from me.

“So… who the hell are you supposed to be?” I asked, fixing him with a glare.

The man grinned, lips curling with amusement, and gave an exaggerated shrug.

“I’m what you’d call Devta’s ‘inner self.’ Oh, right…I forgot my introduction. Nice to meet you, Hiyu. I am Azure God, or better yet, the true creator of this world, appointed by Sefer Yetzirah.”

He spread his arms wide with theatrical flair as he declared his title.

He definitely gave off an overwhelming aura, but more importantly…why was he also naked? What was with these self-proclaimed gods and their obsession with stripping?

In the end, I just let out a tired sigh. I didn’t even have the strength left to retort.