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“This world… it almost collapsed once, didn’t it?”
“It wasn’t on the verge of reaching its lifespan, nor was it facing an apocalypse, but from a human’s point of view, yes, that’s about right.”

I’d seen countless worlds before, but this one was quite a rare find. A world where humanity lived in the sky, straight out of a fantasy story. The floating islands above weren’t natural formations, but fragments of the ground below, artificial refuges created long ago by humans seeking escape. As for how they had managed to make them float… well, there were complicated explanations involving magic and science, but to put it simply. They were using the world’s energy to stay aloft.

That, of course, shortened the world’s lifespan. But the ones who created the floating islands must have known that. Despite having lifted massive chunks of land into the sky, the energy consumption was surprisingly low. And over time, the devices supporting the islands had begun to self-destruct, with smaller ones falling first. It was a deliberate mechanism, a desperate attempt to stretch out the time they had left.

They hoped that, before the final limit came, humanity would somehow reclaim the surface. Unfortunately, the fact that I was here meant that hope had already been extinguished.

As for why they had to flee to the skies in the first place…

“Each one of them is on the level of a Demon Lord.”
“Think you could defeat one, Lullus?”
“It’s possible.”
“But no one from this world could manage this, could they?”

Once upon a time, the humans had created living weapons. The remnants of those creations eventually conquered the surface, forcing humanity into the sky. Even if the world itself wanted to intervene, the most it could create was a single Demon Lord. Maybe it could take down a few of the bio-weapons if it tried hard enough, but it was obvious that wouldn’t be enough to reclaim the world.

And this, this was the state of things even after they managed to seal away the most dangerous being in the world. Now, however, that seal had been broken. The cause, apparently, had been a certain religion. One preaching salvation through destruction, rebirth through ruin. In other words, a cult. It had existed since the time humanity fled to the skies. I wasn’t here to judge them, but really, it was only a matter of time before something like that emerged.

There were always people who craved destruction, no matter the world.

Usually, such groups never achieved their goal. But this world… this world was one of the rare exceptions. It was already set to collapse in ten to fifteen years, but thanks to the newly awakened monster, it wouldn’t last even one. From that perspective, I almost feel like I should commend the cult for their efficiency.

Then again, ten years was a significant difference for human lives.

My role in this world was to witness its end. The local god wanted to see how this world would perish by its own hand, through the very weapons humans created. I was merely the camerawoman. Since the god saw through my eyes, I couldn’t exactly spend my time napping, either.

I’d resigned myself to a decade of observation, but when that became just one year, I found myself oddly grateful to the cult for cutting my workload short.

“It’s eating quite a bit,” Fumitsuki remarked.
“It’s fascinating, in its own way. A world ending like this… It’s different from how the World Eater does it.”
“Yeah. Nano converts worlds into energy and consumes them, after all.”

Now then, about this so-called dangerous being. It had round, adorable eyes and pinkish skin, with a long crocodile-like snout. Overall, it looked like a mixture of a crocodile and a hippopotamus. At a glance, it was almost cute. Until you noticed its sheer size, large enough to make mountain ranges look small.

And what was it doing? Exactly as Fumitsuki said. Devouring the land with single-minded focus. The more it ate, the larger it grew, and the faster the process became. Apparently, there was nothing it couldn’t eat. Metal, magma, ice, and rubber were all devoured without hesitation.

I began to suspect that the god of this world wasn’t interested in the world’s end at all… but rather in seeing this creature’s end.

Fortunately for humanity, the Crocpo, as I decided to call it, couldn’t fly, and it didn’t seem interested in people. Unfortunately, that meant people wouldn’t die instantly, devoured in a flash. Instead, they’d perish slowly, as their floating islands fell, fully aware of the terror.

Even now, as I thought about that, more islands were breaking away from their anchors and plummeting to the ground. Elsewhere, smaller islands were being sacrificed to keep larger ones afloat just a bit longer.

The sight of islands falling from the sky had its own fantasy touch to it. Though I suppose that was only possible when they were floating to begin with.

“Fumitsuki, do you think you could defeat that Crocpo?”
“Crocpo? That’s what we’re calling it now?”
“I just made it up. Unless you prefer Crocopotamus?”
“No, no, Crocpo’s easier to remember.”
“So, could you win?”
“Probably. It seems contained within the size of a single world. Still, if I got careless, it could be dangerous.”

Fumitsuki had been my familiar for a long time, so that much should have been manageable for her. And that told us something else. Despite its size, the Crocpo’s power was still confined within the bounds of this world. A god could easily destroy the entire realm fighting it, but this creature could act freely without causing such collateral damage.

Watching it now, though, I began to doubt whether it was capable of anything beyond eating.

“By the way, I heard the Crocpo used to attack humans.”
“Oh? It doesn’t seem interested in them at all now.”
“I overheard the lament of one of the people who broke the seal. When the creature awoke, it completely ignored the humans before it and immediately began devouring the ground. They collapsed to their knees in despair.”

Apparently, only one of those had lamented. The others rejoiced, believing the world’s end had finally come, just as their faith promised. Sadly, I couldn’t confirm all the details myself. I didn’t have omniscient vision, only the limited observational tools I had cobbled together.

“If that’s true, why do you think it ignores humans now?”
“Maybe it’s following someone’s command.”
“If that were possible, wouldn’t it have avoided being sealed in the first place?”
“Perhaps someone new appeared. Someone capable of controlling it. Humans are capable of truly astonishing things, sometimes.”
“Fair point.”

Fumitsuki nodded and turned her gaze back to the devoured land. Watching that monstrous being, which was on the level of a Demon Lord, roam freely across the world, she let out a soft sigh.

About a year later, after consuming the world in its entirety, the Crocpo, for reasons we still didn’t understand, simply vanished before our eyes.