As night deepened and silence claimed the world outside the window, Kuro began to speak in a hushed, gentle tone.
"Umm, well then, where should I start?"
"……B-Before that, can I ask you something?"
"Yes?"
"……What exactly is the meaning of… this position?"
I was sitting on the sofa, and Kuro was sitting in the exact same spot. Yes, the same spot.
To put it plainly, Kuro was currently sitting on my lap.
My heart was pounding like a hammer against a bell. Why were girls' bodies so impossibly soft? Between the supple sensation on my knees and the warmth radiating from her, my heart raced and a flush crept steadily up my face.
To make matters worse, Kuro was leaning back against me, entrusting me with her weight. I could feel her body heat not just on my lap, but against my chest as well.
"I just wanted to be close to Kaito-kun…… Is that wrong?"
"!? N-No, it’s not wrong."
"Ehehe, thank you. Kaito-kun, you're so warm……"
She smiled happily, her cheeks blushing a delicate cherry-blossom pink. Her expression was so devastatingly lovely it was practically lethal.
Confronted with such an adorable sight, I reflexively voiced my consent. Kuro let out a contented sigh and rubbed the back of her head against my chest.
She was acting more pampered and childish than usual. Perhaps for Kuro, being spoiled like this was her ultimate expression of love.
Feeling that affection along with her warmth, I reached around and gently hugged her from behind.
Kuro smiled even wider at my embrace before returning to the topic at hand.
"Then, first…… I’ll tell you who I really am."
"I understand."
It would be a lie to say I wasn't curious.
She possessed power that rivaled Shiro-san, the strongest god in existence, and according to Alice, she was the only one capable of slaying her. Just what kind of being was she?
As a mere human, I could only imagine she was something beyond my wildest comprehension.
"……I am…… 'The Other Shiro'."
"……Huh?"
"Shiro and I are mirror-image counterparts. We are two sides of the same coin."
"Wait, what does that mean?"
The other Shiro-san…… That claim brought back the memory of the form Kuro had taken earlier.
She had looked exactly like her—or rather, aside from the hair color, they were identical. The description of being "the other Shiro-san" fit her perfectly.
"The Shiro you know has actually mellowed out quite a bit. The Shiro of the past was much colder, much more detached."
"……"
"Shiro created this world, but…… she didn't believe her actions were 'right' or that what she had done was particularly wonderful. So, when Shiro created the world, she divided her own omnipotent power in half."
"In half?"
"Yeah…… She dropped that half of her power into the world she had just made, giving it only the barest minimum of knowledge…… That was me."
The picture was starting to become clear.
Kuro was a being created with the same power as Shiro-san, intended to serve as a judge for the world Shiro-san had built.
Kuro nodded as if to confirm my thoughts and continued.
"Shiro’s reason for creating me was simple. She wanted someone who would watch the world, grow alongside it, and kill the Creator God if they ever decided that a Creator was no longer necessary. Shiro wasn't even interested in her own existence. She believed her role would end once the world was finished. So, she left the management of reality to the Gods and didn't even bother to look at it herself. She simply waited for the day I would come to kill her, or for the day I would give up on the world and destroy it."
"……"
Honestly, I couldn't wrap my head around Shiro-san’s perspective back then. Perhaps it was a "godly" way of looking at things, but the idea that she felt no interest even in herself sent a chill down my spine.
Creating a being specifically to kill her when her role was done, and not caring if her own creation was annihilated if it proved a failure…… It was an incredibly cold, systematic way of thinking.
However, things hadn't gone according to Shiro-san's original design.
The current Shiro-san, while still having her detached and airheaded moments, was a human-like goddess capable of kindness and affection. Despite everything, I'd grown quite fond of her.
"……Well, eventually, I saw the world. I lived in it, and I came to love it. And then, because it pissed me off, I went and punched Shiro."
"……Excuse me?"
"I mean, it’s true, isn't it? She made this beautiful, wonderful world, yet she just assumed a philosophical air and ignored it. Then she had the nerve to say, 'Please kill me later.' It felt like she was mocking everything. I was furious. It was the world she created, right? Then I felt she should take responsibility, watch over it, and support it."
Kuro had originally been the same existence as Shiro-san, but through her life in the world, she had forged a definitive sense of self. That was why she couldn't forgive the version of her that refused to engage with creation.
"And so, I went to the God Realm to punch Shiro…… That was the war twenty thousand years ago."
"Does that mean the war between the Demon Realm and the God Realm…… was essentially just a fight between you and Shiro-san?"
"That’s about the size of it!"
Kuro puffed out her small chest and nodded with a proud expression. I could only stare at her, exasperated.
"Shiro and I are perfectly matched in power, but I was given a special magic by Shiro herself that could kill her in a single strike. However, I didn't actually want to kill her or destroy anything. I just wanted to pick a fight and have a real talk with her. But if I fought the other Gods and got worn out, it would put me at a disadvantage because Shiro and I were originally equal."
"……Which is why you brought the Six Kings with you."
"Right. Everyone helped me drag Shiro out from the depths of the God Realm."
Kuro paused for a moment, then began to describe the events of that era with a distant look in her eyes……
——Twenty Thousand Years Ago——
On that day, a massive tremor rocked the God Realm.
The God Realm Gate, the only path connecting the higher realm to the Demon Realm and the Human Realm, lay in ruins. Through the breach stepped individuals possessing astronomical levels of magic power.
The first to detect this unprecedented intrusion was a Supreme God.
"!? (What is this magic power!? Six…… no, seven signatures?)"
Chronoa, the God of Space-Time, sensed the massive presence that had suddenly appeared and abandoned her duties to stand.
Moving from the God Realm to the lower worlds was possible, but the reverse was supposed to be restricted to the Gods alone. If Chronoa was sensing non-divine magic within the realm, it meant only one thing.
"……Did they rewrite the magic formula? Shallow Vernal-sama's gate…… Her very formula…… Gh!?"
As the realization hit her, Chronoa immediately flew out of the temple.
She saw a massive plume of smoke rising from the direction of the God Realm Gate. Without a second's delay, Chronoa used her authority to stop time for the entire world.
"……I know not who you are, but I shall make you regret baring your blade against the God Realm!"
For the goddess who governed time, distance was no obstacle.
She began to move within the frozen world, intending to reach the gate in what would be less than a blink to anyone else. However, she never arrived.
"Gugh!?"
The moment she started moving, a powerful impact slammed into Chronoa, throwing her to the ground.
Even with her defenses as a Supreme God, the blow was so overwhelming she could only let out a groan of agony as she struggled to right herself.
The physical damage healed instantly, but the shock on her face remained.
"……Impossible. Who are you!? How can you move within my stopped time!?"
"……A feat of that level is a simple matter for me, a 'servant.' I cannot allow you to reach my master."
With short, platinum-blonde hair fluttering in the wind, the intruder stood calmly before Chronoa. Ein faced the goddess with a composed, vigilant stance.
"……(What is this absurd magic power? I can't believe it. She rivals me, a Supreme God…… If the other attackers are this strong, we're in trouble!)"
A bead of sweat trickled down Chronoa’s forehead.
She could feel Ein’s strength through her very skin. The realization that there were six more individuals of this caliber filled her with dread.
Still, she refused to let it show. Chronoa shifted into a combat stance. If such monsters were attacking the God Realm, she had to stop them here and now.
Life, the God of Life, had also sensed the attack and was heading toward the gate. Using her divinity, she viewed the scene through the eyes of the Gods already on the front lines.
"……(I sensed seven, but there are only three at the gate…… A magic beast, a dragon, and a spirit. Have the others scattered? How troublesome…… Regardless, that magic power is extraordinary. I must suppress those three myself!)"
Recognizing this as the greatest crisis in the history of the God Realm, Life immediately exercised her power over life.
Radiant magic power flowed around her like falling stars, each one taking the shape of an armored soldier wielding a massive spear.
Their numbers quickly swelled to tens of thousands. At Life’s command, the army flew toward the gate in a single, coordinated strike.
"Go, my vanguard—what!?"
The armored soldiers never reached their targets. Instead, they began to fall from the sky in unison.
"……I won't let you pass."
"……(What a loathsome presence. It feels like death itself……)"
Wrapped in a pale light and the ominous magic power of death, Isis descended before the God of Life.
As the armored soldiers touched the aura Isis projected, their inner light of life was snuffed out, and they tumbled to the ground as empty husks.
"……If you…… get in the way…… I’ll kill you."
"……You certainly have power, I'll give you that. But I'll thank you not to underestimate me!!"
"!?"
Life’s body erupted in a brilliant light, and a legion far larger than the previous one materialized in the air.
"I govern Life. To resurrect the fallen or create life anew is a simple task. Incarnation of Death…… no matter how many soldiers you slay, I shall simply create a larger army to replace them."
"……It doesn't matter. I'll just…… kill them all."
Isis glared at Life and the army that filled her vision. The magic power of death surrounding her began to swell, growing even more potent.
Life and death, two fundamental opposites, stood on the precipice of a silent, world-shaking collision.
"……Geez, this has moved way past the point of being a 'pain'."
Listening to the thunder of battle echoing through the realm, Fate, the God of Fate, watched the conflict from high above.
"……(Both the God of Space-Time and the God of Life are being held back. It seems every single one of these people is our equal. It can't be helped. I guess I'll have to take care of the remaining five myself.)"
As the goddess of destiny, Fate possessed the authority to determine probabilities and decide outcomes.
If she exerted her influence over the battlefield, miracles would favor her allies, while the enemy would be plagued by a constant stream of misfortune.
But the moment Fate tried to exercise her power, reality blurred like static, and her influence was completely nullified.
"!?"
"……How scary. Meddling with causality…… Gods really are something else."
"……(When did she get here!? I couldn't even sense her approach.)"
"So, I'm going to have to ask you to stay right here!"
Her robe and its attached chains swaying, Shaltier made her declaration in a light, casual tone.
Fate met that voice with a cold, piercing gaze.
"……You think you can stop me?"
"I can. I am a Hollow Illusion…… the Clown Who Deceives the World. I am not bound by fate."
"……A clown, indeed. That’s a decent joke…… though it isn't very funny."
The God who determined destiny and the Clown who deceived the world. Much like the other Supreme Gods, Fate had found herself matched against a formidable foe.
And while these battles of titans raged across the realm, the strongest existence in the world slowly rose from her divine seat and began to walk toward the battlefield.
She did not yet know that someone was waiting for her with all their heart.