Chapter 173 - Intermission: Kuromueina ① ~ The Divided Power of the Almighty ~
With the night completely gone and silence reigns outside the window, Kuro speaks in a calm tone.
[Errr, well then, where shall we begin?]
[……B- Before we do that, can I ask you one question?]
[Unnn?][……What’s with our position……
I’m currently sitting on the sofa, while Kuro is sitting in the same spot…… Yes, in the same spot……
What I’m trying to say is that Kuro is on my lap.
My heart is beating o- outrageously fast…… Why is it that girls’ bodies are so soft all over the place…… The softness and warmth I feel in my lap make my heart rang out like an alarm clock, and my face gets hotter and hotter.
Moreover, Kuro is leaning her body weight on my body, making me feel her body heat on my chest as well as my lap.
[I want to keep close to Kaito-kun…… Is it no good?]
[!? N- No, it’s not no good.][Ehehe, thanks. Kaito-kun, you’re warm.]
Kuro’s expression, with a happy grin and her cheeks blushing like red cherries, is so cute that it could even kill people.
Seeing her cuteness that I couldn’t resist, I reflexively replied with approval, to which Kuro happily rubs the back of her head against my chest.
Kuro is somewhat more childlike and more fawning than before…… Perhaps, for Kuro, the act of fawning is the best way to express affection.
Feeling the warmth of those actions, I gently hug Kuro’s body from behind.
Kuro happily smiles at my actions, then tells me the topic she was talking to me about right from the start.
[Then, first of all…… I’ll tell you my true identity.]
[Alright.]
I’m not sure if I really care about Kuro’s true identity, but to be honest, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t care about it at all.
According to Alice, she’s as powerful as the most powerful God in the world and the only being who can kill Shiro-san…… In that case, what kind of being is she?
What I can only vaguely imagine is that she must be a very amazing being, at least to me, a mere human being.
[……I’m actually…… “another Shiro”.]
[……Eh?]
[Shiro and I are mirror images of each other, and we are two sides of the same coin.]
[Errr, what does that mean?]
Kuro tells me that she’s another Shiro-san…… When Kuro said that, I remembered her appearance earlier.
She looks just like Shiro-san…… Rather, they look exactly the same except for the color of their hair…… Her appearance certainly makes the word “another Shiro-san” fit.
[Kaito-kun, the Shiro you met was actually quite harmonious. The old Shiro was more cold and indifferent.]
[…………………..]
[Shiro, you see, is the one who created this world…… but she never thought that what she did was right or that her actions were great…… Not even a shred of any thoughts at all. So, even when Shiro created the world, she “divided” her power, which was omnipotent, in half.]
[Half?]
[Yes…… and half of that power dropped into the world she has created, giving it the bare minimum of knowledge…… and that half is me.]
Somehow, the story started to make sense to me.
Kuro is a being with the same power as her as she’s made from her own abilities, and at the same time, she was responsible for assessing the world that Shiro-san had created.
As if to affirm it, Kuro nodded once before she continued speaking.
[The reason Shiro created me is simple. After I see the world and grow along with it…… When this world decided that it didn’t need the existence of the God of Creation anymore, she created a being that could kill the God of Creation. Shiro wasn’t even interested in her own self. She thought that as soon as she created the world, her role would eventually come to an end. Leaving the management of the world to the Gods she created, not even looking at the world…… Only waiting for me to come back to kill her or for when I’ve decided to abandon the world and destroy it.]
[……………………]
Honestly, I can’t understand the thoughts of the Shiro-san at that time. No, I supposed you could say that it’s God-like in a way…… but hearing that she doesn’t even care about herself, is in a way, giving me the chills.
If necessary, she will create a being to kill herself when her role is over, and if it’s a failure, she’s willing to destroy even the world she created…… She’s too cold and thinks systematically……
However, things just didn’t go according to Shiro-san’s intentions.
There actually may be some indifference in the current airheaded Shiro-san, but I think she’s become a human-like God filled with both kindness and love, for all sorts of reason, I also like Shiro-san a lot.
[……Well, after that, I saw this world with my own eyes, I lived with it, I loved it…… And I got irritated, so I punched Shiro in the face.]
[……Huh?]
[I mean, yeah. She has created such a beautiful, wonderful world, but she’s not even looking at it, only looking at the future even when no one asked her to do so, and then, even having the gall to ask me to kill her…… I feel like she’s just messing around. So, I got really angry…… I mean, isn’t she the one who made this world? Then, take responsibility, and watch over them! Support them when needed!]
Kuro was originally the same existence as Shiro-san, but because she lived with the world, loved this world, and built a firm sense of self…… She couldn’t forgive Shiro-san…… her other self, who remained unconcerned for the world.
[So, I went to the God Realm to beat up Shiro…… 20,000 years ago.]
[Does that mean that the war between the Demon Realm and the God Realm 20,000 years ago…… was just because of a quarrel between Kuro and Shiro-san?]
[Well, I guess you could describe it as such!]
Looking at Kuro puffing out her small chest as she proudly nodded her head, I can’t help but be taken aback.
[Me and Shiro are totally evenly matched in strength…… I had a special magic that could kill Shiro in one strike, given to me by no other than Shiro herself. However, I didn’t want to kill Shiro, nor did I want to destroy the world…… I just wanted to fight Shiro and punch my opinions to her face, but if I do that, the other Gods would definitely fight me and I would just exhaust myself fighting them…… We’re originally evenly matched with each other, so the more I’m exhausted, the more I’m at a disadvantage.]
[……That’s why you went there with the Six Kings……]
[Unnn. With everyone’s help, I pulled Shiro out of the inner areas of the God Realm.]
Stopping there for a few moments, Kuro slowly began to talk about that time……
——- 20, 000 Years Ago ——-
On that day, a great earthquake resounded throughout the God Realm.
The Divine Gate, which was the only path that connects the God Realm to the Demon Realm, the Human Realm and the other worlds at that time, was destroyed, and beings who possessed great magnitude of magic powers appeared.
And the one who perceived this abnormal situation the earliest was a Supreme God of the God Realm……
[!? (What…… this magic power!? 6 beings…… No, 7?) ]
Chronois, the God of Time and Space, sensed the huge magic power that has suddenly appeared in the God Realm, stopping her hands from doing her work and stands up.
You can certainly move from the God Realm to the Demon Realm and the Human Realm. However, only the Gods were supposed to be able to move from the Demon Realm and Human Realm into the God Realm.
In other words, the fact that Chronois is currently sensing the magic power of beings other than Gods……
[……No way, they overwritten the technique in the Gate!? The Gate that Shallow Vernal-sama herself built…… imbued with a magic technique that Shallow Vernal-sama herself has written…… Kuh!?]
As soon as she became aware of the situation. Chronois immediately leaped out of her temple.
As soon as she leaped out, on a far distance…… she could see a large smoke rising from the direction of the Divine Gate and Chronois instantly stopped the world’s time.
[……Whoever you are…… I will make you regret the day you pointed your blade on the God Realm!]
For Chronois, she who governs time, distance isn’t a hindrance to anything.
Starting to move along the halted time, Chronois reaches the Divine Gate in less than even a blink of an eye for the others—— is what should have happened.
[Guh!?]
Immediately after she started to move, Chronois is struck by a powerful impact that knocked her to the ground.
Even with the defensive capabilities of a Supreme God, it’s a strike so powerful that she couldn’t completely block it, and while she cried out in anguish, she immediately regained her stance.
The damage to her body can be recovered instantly. However, the astonishment on Chronois’s face hasn’t disappeared.
[……This is impossible…… Who are you! How are you still moving within my halted time……]
[……Something like that is easy for an “attendant” like me…… I can’t let you go anywhere near my master.]
With her short, platinum-colored cropped hair fluttering, the assailant calmly standing before Chronois…… Ein, confronted Chronois who was standing before her in a guarded stance.
[…… (What in the world is with her idiotic amount of magic power…… It’s unbelievable. It’s even comparable to a Supreme God like me…… If the other invaders are around her level, then this will be bad!)]
A bead of sweat trickles down Chronois’s forehead.
She understands Ein’s strength on her skin, and she shudders, thinking that there are still six powerful people of her level.
However, Chronois didn’t let that show on her face, and immediately readied for battle…… For if beings of this level of strength are attacking the God Realm, she must rush to the scene as soon as possible……
Just like Chronois, the God of Life, Life sensed the attack and immediately went to the area where they were invaded from, the Divine Gate, and through her ability, she caught the sight of the assailants through the eyes of the Gods in the area.
[…… (I detected seven magic powers, but there are only three in the Divine Gate…… A Magical Beast, a Dragon and a Spirit…… The other beings have scattered already huh, how troublesome…… Anyway, they possess incredible magic power…… However, I need to suppress those three)]
Life has also sensed the power of the assailants and deciding that these beings are the greatest danger since the beginning of the God Realm, she immediately used her power to control life.
Shining magic power swirled around Life like shooting stars, and each of them transformed into armored soldiers armed with huge spears.
The number of these troops easily reached tens of thousands, and all of them flew straight towards the invaders according to Life’s instructions.
[Forward, vanguard troo—— Wha!?]
However, the armored soldiers never reached the three assailants, and all of them began to fall at the same time.
[……I won’t let you go through.]
[……(What a sinister magic power…… It’s as if it’s death itself……)]
Isis descends in front of Life, clad in her sinister magic power of death glowing bluish-white.
The armored soldiers who were touched by the magic power of death released by Isis fall one by one, extinguishing the light of their lives.
[……If you…… interfere…… I will kill you.]
[……I see, that’s a considerable magic power you possess…… However, how about you don’t underestimate me too much!!!?]
[!? ]
With those words, Life’s body glows with light, and a legion of soldiers far exceeding the previous one appears around her.
[I am she who governs life. It’s easy for me to revive lost lives and even create new ones…… Incarnation of Death…… No matter how many soldiers you kill, I will create a legion that will surpass it.]
[……It doesn’t matter…… All I have to do…… is kill them all.]
Staring at Life, who has a legion of soldiers completely filling her field of vision, the magic power of death Isis is clad in swelled even more powerfully.
Life and Death, two conflicting forces, now quietly collide.
[……I guess I can’t say that I’m not going to participate since it’s troublesome huh.]
Hearing the sound of battle echoing through the God Realm, Fate, the God of Fate, silently watches the battle from above.
[…… (The God of Time and Space and the God of Life are both being overwhelmed. Are you telling me that each of the fellows has power rivalling ours…… It can’t be helped. In this situation, I just have to go all out and deal with the remaining five.)]
Fate, she who governs fate, has the power to determine the possibilities.
Therefore, if she looks over the entire battlefield, miracles will continue to happen to her allies and misfortune will continue to befall on her enemies.
And the moment Fate was about to exert her power to determine their fate, the landscape turned into static and her power vanished.
[!? ]
[……How scary, you are~~ You can even tamper the principle of causalities, you Gods really are quite outrageous beings.]
[…… (When did she!? How come I didn’t sense her approach?)]
[In that case~~ Let’s confine you right here!]
Shaking her chained robe, Shalltear declared with an unserious tone.
Warding off those words with her indifferent gaze, Fate quietly replied to her.
[……You, stop me? Did you really think you can do it?]
[That’s something I can do. Because I’m an empty illusion…… The clown who deceives the world…… unbound by fate and destiny.]
[……As expected of a clown. That’s a funny joke you said there…… Though that’s something that I would laugh about……]
The God who defines destiny, and the clown who deceives the world…… Like the other Supreme Gods, Fate also had to face a powerful enemy.
And thus, while the battle is being waged by beings holding powerful abilities…… The most powerful being in the world had slowly risen from the Throne of God, and was beginning to walk into the battlefield.
Without knowing that there’s a being waiting for her arrival……
**********
{Author’s Notes}
This is a three-part Intermission Chapter about Kuro’s past.
The battle against the God Realm will end next time. I’ll finish the Intermission itself tomorrow.
Also, at this time…… the word “maid” is not yet in this world.
Serious-senpai: […… Egghhh…… Sniff…… When will I ever get my turn……]
{You can play an active role in Intermissions. You’re even the leading role there.}
Serious-senpai: [……Ehhh. (Kyun~)]
Serious-senpai is an easy-to-please heroine.
T/N: 43/209+21
Boss Foxy said to add my kofi at the end of the chapters again…… Anyway, don’t think I could finish all three today. Each of these three-part Intermission Chapters is quite long.
