‘Chaos’.
A multi-dimensional evil force that appears as the main villain of [Deus Ex Machina].
At its center are the three deities known as the Triumvirate of Evil.
These three deities exist as equals, each commanding their own powers, working together to invade other dimensions.
In a distant past, ‘Chaos’ sought to engulf this dimension. Back then, it was before the birth of the God of Madness, Atzoatl, so the invasion was executed by two evil deities.
The conquest of the continents by the two evil gods nearly succeeded, but due to the sacrifice of Deus, ‘Chaos’ faced defeat and had to retreat.
Afterward, the remaining deities began to be cautious of ‘Chaos’ and devised countermeasures, causing ‘Chaos’ to give up on this dimension and switch to another one… that was the setup.
A long time passed, and ‘Chaos’ conducted stealthy operations for a long time.
This time, to properly swallow the continent, it had quietly prepared a proxy named Saula.
The work that ‘Chaos’ carried out was done without being detected by the other deities aware of its existence.
As a result, in Part 1 of [Deus Ex Machina], ‘Chaos’ successfully plunged the continent into utter chaos.
However, I just recently purified Saula, causing ‘Chaos’ to lose the proxy it had prepared for such a long time.
…So I thought ‘Chaos’ might be up to some other business.
But I never expected it would lead to this.
Right now, thankfully in a fainted state, Achilles Gomez, who resides within Andre, was from this continent.
A fallen human who gained immortality through a pact with ‘Chaos’ and became a servant of Lilith.
Empowered by evil, he became a loyal demon of Lilith.
In the final chapter of Part 1 of [Deus Ex Machina], he displayed tremendous might as a subordinate demon of Saula.
Who would have thought that his soul would end up inside Andre?
It was probably the work of Andre’s club senior, who had fallen to ‘Chaos’. They planned to resurrect him by granting him a physical body.
Who would have thought they would act so quickly? Perhaps the loss of Saula played a role.
The actions of ‘Chaos’ far exceeded my expectations.
To think they would bring out a ‘Greater Demon’ in a possession form so soon. If the other deities existing on the continent catch wind of this, ‘Chaos’ could find itself in a really sticky situation!
Even after encountering Saula, I’ve been too complacent.
If it weren’t for Meiru, this would have turned into a troublesome mess, yet I’m being so laid-back.
I’ve been too relaxed recently since things have been going smoothly with my clones.
Snap out of it. The future has already changed.
Anything could happen. I need to be careful.
Of course, while this situation is unexpected, it’s quite positive.
I’ve incapacitated a powerful demon of ‘Chaos’. If I handle it well, I can snatch away one of their strong pawns before the full-scale invasion of ‘Chaos’ even begins.
…First and foremost, I need to extract Achilles Gomez’s soul from Andre.
And then seal that soul.
Souls tend to return to their owners unless specific measures are taken for spirit management.
So unless I seal the soul, it would return to its owner, Lilith.
If that happens, Lilith would regain a powerful subordinate, so sealing Achilles is critical.
“I don’t really understand what you mean by ‘seal’ or ‘demon’, and I don’t know how you know this either.”
Since I can’t explain everything, I briefly summarized the current situation to Meiru and Sunny and cut to the chase.
They must be confused. To have to seal a demon’s soul they’ve never heard of or seen before.
Especially considering it’s coming from a brother they don’t have a good relationship with.
“But even so, I don’t have many options.”
“Luke. Andre. Are you okay? Can you come back?”
“Maybe… I think I can.”
Retrieving someone who’s been possessed isn’t easy.
And the stronger the possessed soul, the harder it becomes to reclaim the host.
Extracting and sealing the Greater Demon that’s taken over Andre’s body…
This isn’t exactly an event you’d expect in the beginning of a first-year first semester at an academy, right?
Even if I face the worst-case scenario, I think my ‘Gift’ will solve it.
Verification through my clones.
Through this, I reached a conclusion.
I possess ‘Divine’.
Just earlier, Achilles mentioned it too. ‘Divine’.
It was originally a power of a deity, but for some reason, it seems I have it too.
Ignis has it too, so it’s not that weird anymore.
The source of that divinity is probably the book I wrote.
That’s why my ‘Gift’ brings forth miracles.
And this power, while not always as I think, has wrought necessary miracles exactly when needed.
During the time of Hans, with Saula, and in Capernaum.
If… if the ‘mother’ Ignis spoke of is Deus… and if Deus awakened because of the book I wrote…
But if that were the case, it would be strange that Deus didn’t let me know about it.
The secret of ‘Divine’ remains in the labyrinth.
Whatever the truth may be, I want to preserve this ability as much as possible.
‘Assembling Divinity to trigger miracles,’ my ‘Gift’.
The phrase ‘Assembling Divinity’.
I get that it causes miracles through divinity, but… it seems to consume the divinity.
If that’s the case, I don’t know how much divinity goes into creating miracles, and if I waste it, I might find myself unable to use it when I really need to.
I want to save this power unless I’m in a situation I genuinely can’t control.
And if I rely too much on this power, I fear my own abilities may regress.
I’ve worked hard to polish talents I didn’t have to venture with the protagonists of [Deus Ex Machina].
Having just entered the mainstream of [Deus Ex Machina] story, I might end up incapacitating myself if I lean on this kind of power.
Earlier, I nearly failed to properly counter Achilles’s attack.
Unless the worst happens, I plan to conserve this power as much as possible.
Of course, restoring Andre is essential since he’s an invaluable ally.
So, my plan is this.
Zing
“What is this, Luke?”
I pulled out a small box from the void and placed it over the fainted Andre’s head.
Then, the artifact, ‘Nyx’s Garden’, activated.
Light emitted like a scan, enveloping the surroundings.
“Right now, it’s the only way to save Andre.”
Except for using my ‘Gift’.
“If I use this artifact, I can enter Andre’s inner world. And within it, there will be the demon that took over Andre’s body. If I can fight and defeat the demon in its inner world, I can expel it and reclaim Andre.”
This artifact is really meant for use elsewhere, but I never expected to use it this way.
“Wait a minute, so you’re saying you’re going to go in and fight the demon? With a demon?”
“That’s right. Oh, you don’t need to worry. The demons in the inner world aren’t as tough, they’re easier to handle.”
Of course, that’s a lie. In fact, beings in the inner world are shaped by the strongest moments they’ve experienced, so the Achilles Gomez inside the inner world would be incredibly powerful, befitting a Greater Demon.
“…I wasn’t really worried. I just thought it could be dangerous if the purification of the demon failed.”
“Anyway, once I go in and defeat the demon, its soul will come out. Sunny, you’ll need to catch that soul and seal it here.”
“In a jar?”
“Yeah. In a jar. The soul of the one who lost in a battle in the inner world will be frail, so if you hit it with magical energy, it should be able to go in the jar. This jar… was created for the purpose of possessing someone, thus it has a strong seal.”
Sunny can attack the soul.
“…Got it. I don’t know how you know all this, but that means we can win, right?”
“Yep, we can win. For sure.”
Why do you think I obtained this artifact?
I’m confident I can win.
I’ve even beaten a Dark Elf who reached the level of a master using the inner world. What was their name again? ‘Mahomet,’ right?
“Alright then, let’s give it a shot.”
“Luke. Good luck. Be safe.”
“Of course.”
I activated ‘Nyx’s Garden’.
Wiiing
Gradually, my vision was engulfed in darkness… and then brightened again.
A vast plain.
A sunny wide-open field with windmills and wheat fields.
Is this Andre’s inner world?
-Hmm… Pink? This looks quite different from that body earlier… Not that intimidating, I must say. I thought it was a god, but maybe it’s not. Who are you, really?
Something enormous spoke to me from behind.
Turning around, a giant demon towering at least 20 meters was looking down at me.
Achilles Gomez… this is the Greater Demon.
-Aren’t you going to tell me who you are? Whatever. Since you’ve entered the host’s inner world, you must want to expel the master. However, you’ve underestimated your opponent. I am Achilles Gomez, the second commander of Lilith’s legion, who governs desires! You stand no chance against someone like me!
Boom
It struck the ground angrily with one hand.
-It doesn’t matter whether you reveal your identity or not. I’ll capture you here and unveil your true form. Everything is for ‘Lady Lilith’!
With that, it kicked the ground and lunged at me.
A fist the size of a house flew towards my face.
A wicked aura erupted from it.
Even the strongest of humans would be flattened by such a powerful strike.
This inner world embodies the strongest moments the soul has experienced, so this would be the peak form of Achilles Gomez during the war in another dimension.
Kuung
-…Hmm? This feeling… It can’t be. It’s impossible. To block my attack…?
I lightly deflected its attack with my hand and sent it back.
Drawing my sword, I lunged into its chest and pierced through.
-Glugh! How… is a human capable of this…?
The story of embodying the strongest moments experienced applies to me as well.
And the peak moment I experienced…
…was Dia in [Deus Ex Machina].
The strongest Dia who defeated Saula and progressed to the second part of the storyline.
A far cry from the mid-boss of the first part, the ‘playable protagonist’.
My site has received a lot of DMCA notices, lol. From now on, I will update the MTL on https://darkmtl.com/.
The site is fast and lightweight because there are no ads yet. However, the theme is different from Cybor-TL, so take some time to familiarize yourself.
Support me by donating at least $10, and you'll have the right to request any novel from Novelpia (excluding 19+ content) using a newly developed tool.