kscans

Chapter 70 - The Reincarnated Hero Who Devours God

The magic island of Never Island. On the ruined land, Taiga Nanjo, Hero Ares, stood alone.

"I beat the Demon Lord! Yeah! It's my win!"

At the end of a life-or-death battle with Demon Lord Regna=Val=Noct, he raised his sword and declared victory amidst the black smoke. His figure was truly that of a 'legendary hero.'

"Fuhah... finally... is it all over now?"

But he knew.

It was not the end. It was the sound of a beginning.

Ares looked up at the sky and said mockingly,

"...Come on out, 'God'-san."

At that moment, the world came to a standstill. Raindrops floated in mid-air, and the thunder froze in its frame.

'It' descended from a crack in the sky.

A god clad in code and mechanical armor, wearing an expressionless mask. Its name was the Creator God Sephillos Code.

"...Well done, to have reached this far. Hero, Taiga Nanjo."

Its voice was a fusion of machine and prayer, a sound both merciless and sacred. Ares, with his sword still on his shoulder, grinned.

"Heh, so the 'mastermind' finally makes an appearance."

But the god did not blame Ares. Rather, its eyes were filled with praise.

"Splendid, Hero Ares. Taiga Nanjo. You are the 'unexpected variable' I have been waiting for."

The god's words were quiet, yet carried a certain heat.

"A hero saves the world, a hero defeats the demon lord... I did not desire such 'predestination.' I was a human who questioned such stories. ...As this world's developer, Toshio Imada."

"Your name from my previous world... I've heard it before. You... were one of the developers."

"That is correct. But I was defeated in meetings. I was forced to create a 'conventional' story. That is why I buried a 'hidden potential' in this world. Three years later, with my own death, I activated the 'bug'... and sent the reincarnators."

"It's like... God is checking the answers for the world."

The god tilted its mask slightly, as if to smile, and said,

"Exactly. But... among them all, you were the most destructive, and the most beautiful."

"Eh?"

"You wished to make this 'world' your own, destroyed the predetermined fate, deviated from the scenario, and became one who could reach God."

The sky filled with rainbow-colored energy. It was a light of blessing. The 'praise' of the Creator God.

"Hero Ares. You have destroyed this world and guided it to the world I desired."

"...Heheh, so I was the protagonist after all."

"But the trials are not over. You must meet the remaining 'five reincarnators,' the final reincarnator, Yuto Mikazuki. And when you defeat Mamoru the Hobgoblin, I will truly give you... 'everything you desire.'"

Ares's eyes gleamed.

"I'm looking forward to it, Sephillos Code... no, 'Toshio Imada.'"

"You are the first to call me by that name. Be proud. You are the existence that devours this world and challenges God. Taiga Nanjo, Hero Ares."

Ares swung his sword, carving a single declaration into the blood and flame-stained earth.

"Then from here on out, I'll repaint it with my story. I'll even destroy the story you created!"

At that very moment.

The eyes of Demon Lord Regna=Val=Noct, who had collapsed with a sword of light in his chest, faintly moved, as if recalling his former 'companion.'

He smiled faintly.

"Mamoru... I leave the rest... this world, to you."

Those words might not have been heard by anyone. But they were surely transmitted, as a final wave of magic remaining on the earth, to the successor of the monsters' hope.

And the story connects to another protagonist, to Mamoru the Hobgoblin.