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Apparently, she lived out her natural lifespan and was reborn through the cycle of reincarnation. No one knew which world she ended up in; that was a mystery. But that was a long, long time ago. The scale of time was different for gods and humans.

“So, I guess all that’s left is just to watch how it ends, huh?”
“Seems that way.”

It looked like even the well-behaved World Eater was starting to get impatient. She began what you might call eating on the go. That made it sound lighthearted, but what was actually happening before our eyes was anything but lighthearted. The enormous, sky-sized wolf was descending toward a major city, as if the heavens themselves were falling.

It felt like the apocalypse. Not that I knew what the real apocalypse looked like, but maybe the World Eater was actually the manifestation of the King of Terror. I’d only ever heard vague stories of that King of Terror.

From this distance, an ordinary person wouldn’t be able to hear anything, but with divine hearing, I could catch the sounds rising from the nation below. Screams and shouts blend, the very sound of despair. Some still fought bravely, but even in their voices, I could hear the beginnings of resignation. They were trying to contact other nations, it seemed, but not very successfully. Those who arrived by teleportation magic weren’t battalions sent to save the country in earnest, but scouts sent to observe.

Still, they were coming despite everything, so no one could complain. The scouts weren’t weak; normally, they would’ve been plenty of military strength, but this time, their opponent was simply too overwhelming. And since those scouts had the authority and equipment to retreat once they deemed the situation hopeless, they wouldn’t stay and fight to the bitter end.

You couldn’t really blame them; they didn’t even know what the World Eater wanted. A monster that had suddenly appeared in the sky. Was it an enemy of the whole world, to be fought with everything they had? Or just a threat to this one nation? With no way to know, they couldn’t make any grand decisions.

The nation we were observing was, in a sense, a sacrificial pawn. If they managed to defeat the creature, great, the other nations had sent enough token forces to claim they’d helped. If they failed, and the monster vanished after destroying just one country, that was acceptable too. They’d feel sorry, sure, but their own nations came first. Better that than risk becoming the monster’s next target.

If the creature continued its advance, then the entire world would unite to strike back. I had a feeling that, behind the scenes, that very discussion was already underway. But the truth was, once the World Eater reached the ground and wiped out a single nation, it was already too late. The people of this world didn’t know that.

“Knowing how this will end just makes it harder not to wonder, doesn’t it? Why don’t they unite right now?”
“That’s just how it is. If everyone truly understood everything, I wouldn’t have become a god in the first place.”
“When you put it like that… it really is a fair point.”

If Toriyama Makoto had understood what that country was planning back then, he probably wouldn’t have been killed; he could have used his skill to live out his full life in that world. Then again, maybe the world itself would have collapsed before that. Either way, he wouldn’t have been taken by god and would’ve just simply reincarnated.

It took a full day for the World Eater to descend completely to the ground. By then, no people, no buildings, no living things remained around her. Everything that touched her enormous body vanished instantly, no doubt consumed. The few who managed to escape were left alone. Then the World Eater opened that decorative-looking mouth of hers and began eating the world itself.

Those observing from afar looked relieved when she stopped moving, but when she began digging into the ground, their faces shifted to confusion.

“Checkmate.”
“Was there ever a future where humans could’ve beaten Orbis—”
“World Eater.”
“Could’ve beaten the World Eater?”
“If the entire world had worked together properly, they might have been able to push her back. And in this case, even that would count as a victory.”

Once the World Eater burrowed into the ground and vanished from sight, I told Fumitsuki and Lullus to return. There was nothing left to stop her now; the world would soon collapse. I’d seen countless worlds crumble before, but I didn’t know what would happen when the World Eater was the one destroying them.

If it were just me, I’d be fine. But Fumitsuki and Lullus might get caught in the aftermath and erased, so I sent them back. They didn’t argue, whether because they understood or simply because it was an order from their superior, I didn’t know, but I was grateful for their obedience.

Whether humans could sense it or not, the world was vanishing, being eaten, from its very center outward. The land that once supported everything began to drift like ice floes, then thin like fragile frost.

And in the next moment, the ground was gone. Yet people still stood where the ground should have been, until black shadows rose and swallowed them from the feet up. It didn’t look painful. That almost made it worse. Confused, they screamed and wept, unable to form coherent words as they disappeared.

And so, the world was gone.

◆◆◆

For some reason, I wasn’t gone. Not that it was that strange, there was no way I’d be erased by something on the World Eater’s level. Even so, the entire world had vanished, leaving only my form intact. In the void, only I and the World Eater remained. Then, I heard a cheerful voice say, “Hey, nano!”

“It’s been a while. Or should I say, nice to meet you?”
“It’s been a while, Nano! We finally get to meet, Nano!”

This “Nano, Nano” way of talking was the World Eater. She’d been talking like that ever since the moment she gained self-awareness as a world. And now, instead of a gigantic wolf, she appeared as a small girl, about ten years old. She looked like an even mix of me, Lullus, and Fumitsuki. Since Lullus modeled her human form after mine, the resemblance was strong; we could easily pass for sisters.

“Mother, where are Yume and Lullus?”
“I sent them ahead to work. You’ll probably see them again soon.”
“Aww, that’s too bad, Nano.”
“Wait, what’s with the mother?”
“Well, you’re my mom, Nano.”

Apparently, I was her mother. Which would make the God of Chaos the father… That was unpleasant. The God of Chaos was the one who created the conscious world in the first place, and that world, influenced by me, was reborn as the World Eater. So technically, yes, she was created by the two of us. Still, looking at her now, unchanged from the time she had been just a world with a consciousness, it was hard to think of her as a child.

“Do you remember what it was like back when you were a conscious world?”
“I do, Nano! Otherwise, I wouldn’t remember Yume and Lullus, Nano!”
“I thought so. In that case, let’s drop the ‘Mother’ thing.”
“Then what should I call you?”

Tilting her head curiously, she waited for my answer.

“How about ‘big sis’? That feels more natural.”

After all, she had always felt more like a younger sister to me.

“So big sis, Nano!”
“Yes, yes. I’m your big sister. So, tell me, do you have some kind of standard for which worlds you eat?”
“I only eat the ones that are already done, Nano! The ones that want to be eaten!”
“That’s good to hear. Just make sure you don’t overdo it, okay?”
“I know, Nano. If I eat too much, I’ll get scolded, Nano!”

If all she got was a scolding, that’d be fine. But at least she knew it was wrong to go too far; that was enough. If she ever accidentally became a true god, though, she’d probably be executed.

“Well then, big sis, Nano is going to sleep for a while, Nano!”

I remembered now, her first-person pronoun really was Nano. As I watched her settle into what would likely be a sleep no one could ever wake her from, I couldn’t help feeling envious. “Alright then. Sleep well, World Eater.”