The Golden Tower split down its center.
Under its own weight, the crevice yawned wide. Then, with a thunderous roar, the structure tore completely in two.
As dust billowed into the air, I held my sword at the ready and watched intently. Soon, a humanoid form emerged from the cross-section of the tower.
Its silhouette was hazily defined. From the contours of its body, it appeared to be female, but it lacked features like eyes or a mouth. Though golden in hue, it looked more like a crude clay doll.
The humanoid turned its head toward me. I felt no hostility from it; the entity seemed only to stare blankly.
I questioned it. "You are the False God, I presume."
"—Why? This... is the people’s... happiness."
The False God did not truly respond to my words, but merely muttered to itself. It was a clear, youthful girl's voice. I felt a jarring sense of dissonance at her claim.
"Happiness, you say?"
"—Everything... as one. Everyone... together. Fear of death... gone."
The False God spoke in broken fragments, revealing the motive behind her absorption of humanity.
"—Demon King... interference. With this... everyone... can be saved."
"Becoming your sustenance is not salvation," I denied her flatly. "It is merely the abandonment of survival."
The False God shook her head.
"—No. Everyone... is living. Here... they won’t die. Eternal... life."
"It’s not a matter of biology. It’s a matter of the spirit. You are an insult to the dignity of life."
Even as I argued, I acknowledged a wave of self-loathing. How could I utter such things when I was the one who had turned humans into the undead? If anyone was an insult to life, it was I.
Yet, I had to say it. The False God was wrong. I continued my assertion as if to convince myself.
"You’ve devoured countless worlds in the past, haven’t you? You use the lives you’ve harvested as fuel to gorge yourself on the next."
"—Not... so. Just... protecting... fragile... lives. Everyone... is happy."
The False God began to tremble. She wrapped her arms around herself and let out a pained groan. I pressed on, ignoring her distress.
"So you find it acceptable to destroy their egos and emotions, leaving them as a muddled mass of existence?"
"—Dying... is pitiful. Living... is joy. Not... wrong."
"I see. I understand your position."
I lowered my guard slightly, relaxing my shoulders. There was no point in arguing further. We had reached a full understanding of each other's views, and further debate was useless.
"I will admit this: we are of the same kind. We are both trying to save people based on our own selfish convictions. Only our philosophies and methods differ."
At our core, the False God and I were the same. We both desired to save others and were willing to run wild, ignoring any cost to achieve it. We affirmed our own madness, wielding our respective ideals to crush any opposing sense of justice.
"We both carry lives on our shoulders—an uncountable number of them. We have fought to the death, staking all of those lives on the outcome."
I leveled the tip of the Keepsake Sword at the False God. She was out of my reach, but it didn't matter. I could close the distance in a heartbeat. Her life was already in my hands.
"I shall take up the lives and the will you carry."
"—No. Don’t... want to die. Dying... is so... scary. Everyone... is scared."
"I won’t let you escape. Give up."
I teleported directly in front of the False God. Before she could react, I swung my sword in a single, fluid flash. The blade carved through her golden torso diagonally. Her upper body was flung upward before falling to the ground and rolling away.
Gray smoke billowed from the wound.
"—Ah, aah..."
The Golden Tower withered rapidly. Its former majesty and mystery vanished without a trace, leaving behind only a fading shell. Its luster died, turning a putrid, dark color.
The False God lay on the ground, reaching out an arm. Her hand grasped at nothing. She spun her words feebly.
"—This... is death. Everyone’s... lives... vanishing... into... nothing."
Her fleeting gaze searched the air before finally settling on me. In a voice that was barely a whisper, she spoke.
"—Please... don’t... forget."
With those final words, the False God grew still. Only the smoke continued to rise from the cut. Her form shriveled until it was unrecognizable, eventually losing all volume.
Certain that she was dead, I sheathed the Keepsake Sword.
"…………"
The tentacles that had blanketed the area were long since withered and dead. The smoke she had emitted thickened into a dense miasma that spread everywhere. I absorbed it all, leaving nothing behind.
The power of the False God flooded into me. I brought it under control within my body, dominating it as my own. The Beast's Power integrated into my being, subsumed by the authority of the Demon King.
The long war against the Beasts of the Outside World had finally come to an end.