Leave a comment

This was the house of the Fairy Princess, located in the deepest part of Alfheim.

After the battle was over, Terra, Luna, and Pollux faced each other across the table. Pollux ordered her fairy subordinates to brew some black tea and then turned to face Terra and Luna with a serious look.

“Now then…You wanted to create an avatar, right? To be precise, you desired a body that isn’t a demon in order to avoid the fate of demons, I think.”

“Oh, yes. Whether it be fighting Ruphas Mafahl or searching for some other way, it seems that right now we don’t really have free will of our own.”

The demon race was bound by fate. He didn’t know the details, since the person who knew, Venus, was no longer around. No, even if she was around, she wouldn’t have spoken truthfully. The other person who seemed to know was his father, the Demon King, but Terra no longer trusted him. Because if Terra’s guess was correct…that man was definitely not a demon. He was more like a sacred existence that stood opposite to the demons.

Basically, the Demon King was an actor whose purpose was to enliven the stage prepared by the Goddess. The demons were only dolls created as chess pieces for the Demon King.

This wasn’t simply a leap of his imagination. They were called “counterfeit devils” and “the Goddess’ toys” by Aigokeros. If the demons didn’t kill people, they would die. Furthermore, when they died, they would cease to exist and turn into mana. This was what Venus meant by “dolls”.

If the pieces were put together together, one would understand even if he didn’t want to. The fact was that the demons were arcane magic of the Goddess, which was used to forcibly oppose the humanoids.

He didn’t know what the thoughts and intentions of the Goddess were when she did such a thing. But there was one thing that he could say for certain. From the beginning, the Goddess never intended for the demons to win.

At the milestones of each era, whenever the humanoids were in danger, the Goddess would reach out to save them. Sometimes, she empowered the people who were called heroes to miraculously turn the tide.

However, if the truth was known, it would become such a ridiculous and humorous scene. It was the Goddess herself who created the demons to afflict the humanoids, yet she would rescue them from the crisis created by herself as if she was the goddess of compassion.

She was basically playing by a script that she wrote herself. Both enemies and allies were moved by the Goddess. It was just a puppet show. They were only dolls that couldn’t help but move according to her scenario.

You…have noticed this, therefore you begged my father to save Luna.

In Terra’s mind, he thought of a man who was his subordinate and his friend. He…Mercurius must have reached this truth before him and thought that only the Demon King could change this fate. Thus, he rushed recklessly into action. In the end, he went to Draupnir like he was being led by the nose…and met his worst possible end in a conflict with the hero and the Tyrannical Twelve Stars. When he found out about his friend’s wish, Terra couldn’t stay silent anymore.

His father, the leader of the demons, wasn’t on their side. He wasn’t an ally from the start. If things remained the way they were, there was no way for Luna to survive. Now that Ruphas Mafahl had returned, it would only be a matter of time before the demons were exterminated. The only way to save Luna was to transform her into something other than a demon.

Similarly, Luna had also noticed the fate of the demons. She thought that it must be averted, even if it was only for Terra alone. Meanwhile, Terra was unaware of her thoughts. They were so similar to each other.

“I’ll start with the conclusion first. What you desire most right now is the method to move the body of an avatar…but I can’t teach it to you.”

“…What?”

“To be precise, I don’t know it myself. I can certainly create avatars with divine power and can also let them be possessed by the souls of the dead to result in something akin to resurrection. But I have never heard of transforming an arcane magic lifeform, such as a demon, into a fairy. It’s just unprecedented. We are divine magic, while you are arcane magic. As you know, divine magic and arcane magic are opposing powers. Honestly speaking, I’ve never even considered such a thing.”

Divine power was the opposite of arcane power and had the property of being able to repel arcane power. For example, shields created by divine magic utilized this property. Furthermore, it could be used to enhance substances other than arcane power. This was also used by healing and strengthening skills.

In other words, arcane magic was the power to create what did not exist, while divine magic was the power to enhance what already existed. In the first place, their natures were completely different.

“We could let you die and then try to revive you with Argonautai…but I don’t know if that will work.”

“May I hear the reason?”

“It might be a bit cruel to say this…but it’s possible that you may not even have a soul in the first place.”

Pollux’s words caused Luna’s shoulders to shudder.

“We fairies are the avatars of plants, so there are souls in our true bodies. To be precise, a part of the soul is separated from the body to dwell within the avatar. But you demons…”

“…were created from nothing, right?”

“Yes. For example, there’s no soul in an arcane magic like Fireball or Aqua Blast, right? You may have a soul because you have a sense of self, but then again, it’s also possible that you don’t. And if you don’t…even I cannot summon something that doesn’t exist. Divine magic is the power that works on what already exists…Likewise, my Argonautai works on an existing soul to strengthen and materialize it…It doesn’t have the power to create something from nothing.”

Hearing Pollux’s explanation, Terra bit his lips. He was willing to accept any truth and had vowed to his dear friend to save Luna no matter what the truth might be. But…But he couldn’t see any light at the end of the tunnel. No matter how much he wanted to save her, he couldn’t find a way. However, Pollux continued speaking.

“But I haven’t attempted it myself, so I can’t say for sure that it’s impossible.”

“Th—then…!”

“Reincarnating a demon into a fairy…Isn’t that interesting? I can’t promise that I can definitely do it, but I’ll try to find out if there’s a way to do so.”

“Thank you!”

Terra stood up and unconsciously grabbed the hands of Pollux, who was smiling gently. Behind him, Luna showed an unamused expression on her face, but Terra didn’t seem to notice.

The Fairy Princess’ collaboration…There was nothing more encouraging than this at the present moment. Of course, since this collaborator was a member of the Tyrannical Twelve Stars, she would turn from collaborator to enemy in an instant if they became hostile to Ruphas Mafahl. Even so, he was happy that she was purely concerned about them at the moment.

“Ah, hmm. Can you let go of my hands for the time being? Your cute girlfriend-san is already burning with jealousy.”

When Pollux teased him, Luna hurriedly turned away. Terra quickly tried to explain, but he was probably not accustomed to doing this. Stuttering “Ah”, “That…”, and “It’s different”, he just couldn’t get to the point. Looking at their reactions, Pollux laughed lightly.

These two people are not villains.

Although her master was merciless towards demons, perhaps it was possible to arrange for these two to be spared. As she thought so, she had a good feeling about this. No, if everything was going according to her master’s plans, she should currently be more gentle than she was before. Although she didn’t know how much of her had returned, it was possible that some gentleness still remained.

For the time being, she didn’t have any way to save them with her current knowledge. Then…it might be a bit risky, but she had no choice but to search the memories of her true body. Even if she didn’t know it, her true body might.

However, Pollux’s thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a heavy pressure that assaulted her in the next moment.

“——!”

Something was coming inside her very being. An irresistibly strong will was forcibly dominating her. Furthermore, Pollux knew its identity. She was expecting this to happen eventually. But…But why now of all times?

“Fairy Princess-dono!?”

“…Ru—Run…! Take the children…quickly…from Alfheim…”

“But…”

“Hurry! Before I’m…dominated by the Goddess! If I’m no longer myself, I won’t be able to hold back next time!”

“——! Sorry about this!”

Seeing Pollux shouting desperately, Terra understood that this was not a matter they could deal with right now. Even though he hesitated for a moment, he quickly grabbed Luna’s hand and jumped away. He didn’t want to abandon Pollux as doing so was the most shameful misdeed possible to him.

However, if Pollux became an enemy and she decided not to hold back, he wouldn’t be able to protect Luna. After considering this, he decided to make a quick withdrawal. While watching Terra’s back get further away, Pollux gave a sarcastic smile.

“To think that…she would move me, who is a cornerstone for the balance of the world…It seems the Goddess-sama is running out of options. Although this signifies just how well Ruphas-sama’s plan is going…I should be pleased yet I’m having mixed feelings. But this was expected…I’ve read this flow of events…The timing is really terrible though.”

Pollux laughed and forced her own soul into dormancy. If the Goddess wanted to use this body…Fine, she’d let her have it. But as a price, this would narrow the Goddess’ vision.

Most people didn’t know about this, but the Goddess didn’t always see everything that was happening in the world. Instead, the opposite was true. Her vision was narrow because it was too broad.

For example, suppose there was a model that perfectly mimicked the planet called Midgard. There were towns and people in the model, and they moved in sync with reality. Would one be able to observe the people’s activities through it? No, it would be impossible. They would be too small, while the observer was too big.

This was the relationship between the Goddess and Midgard. She was usually looking at the world with a magnifying glass or microscope to observe a very narrow area. Therefore, she couldn’t observe everything. She had to use terminals (avatars) to act as her hands and send dolls to act on her behalf.

Because their existences were too different, it was difficult for her to completely grasp all the tiny people. However, it wasn’t like there was no solution to this. She could log in to her avatars or dolls and observe the world through their eyes.

Pollux was not the Goddess’ avatar, but there was virtually no difference. To be precise, her true body was simply such an existence. Although Pollux was a fairy that had separated from her true body and established her own ego, she could still be forcefully used if the Goddess wanted to do so.

Of course, if she wanted to resist, she could do so for tens of minutes, but she didn’t do so. This was because even if she resisted now, the result would be the same. Besides, there were merits to not resisting.

If the Goddess logged in to her, the Goddess’ perspective would be narrowed to her own perspective. In other words, the Goddess couldn’t grasp her master’s actions while Pollux was being controlled. This was basically a double-edged sword for the Goddess. While she obtained Pollux’s power, Ruphas would be completely free, even if it was only temporarily.

“The rest is up to Ruphas-sama…I don’t think I’ll be killed, but the next time I wake up, I should be prepared to have at least lost an arm…”

Her body surrendered, but her memories did not. Pollux sealed her soul by her own will, preventing the Goddess from being able to read her memories. Even so, she herself was unclear which of her memories were true and which ones were lies.

For example, she followed Ruphas’ order to give Castor the Key to the Heavens. But when she thought about it now, was it really the real thing? Because…if it was really in the hands of the Demon King right now, Terra and Luna should have already…

“Ugh!? Ah, ah—!”

This was the limit of Pollux’s thoughts. Her consciousness was painted white and she had the unpleasant feeling of losing herself.

Ruphas-sama…elder brother-san…

And the light disappeared from Pollux’s eyes.

Concept Art of Pollux