Yamauchi Sawa was a kind girl. Everyone who knew her probably shared this same assessment.
Born into an ordinary family, Sawa's parents taught her the virtues of kindness, purity, and sincerity from a young age.
Growing up in such a warm environment, logically, she should have lived the life of a normal, ordinary girl… free and fulfilling, not hated or disliked by anyone, with a couple of close friends and maybe a secret crush.
'I live a very happy life.'
She had a perfect best friend. As for romance, Sawa didn't have any particular demands… mainly, she couldn't really find anyone she liked.
'Although I think so, Kurumi doesn't seem to agree.'
Kurumi was Sawa's closest friend, the only one she truly acknowledged as a real best friend.
"Kurumi, why do you always look so worried lately?"
Unlike Sawa, Kurumi came from a well-off family. The girl, who seemed like nobility from birth, attracted everyone's attention at school.
Although Sawa was no less than Kurumi in terms of looks or aura, her modest and reserved nature, combined with Kurumi's halo, naturally meant Sawa didn't attract much attention.
Seeing her friend recently showing a sense of helplessness, Sawa didn't understand why Kurumi, with her superior family background and seemingly happy life, would wear such an expression.
"Sawa, I feel... this world is so difficult."
The world in her eyes held a sense of bewildering powerlessness. In Kurumi's view, some people were born gravely ill, with little time left, some families struggled in poverty, lacking clothes and food, some were caught in wars, some were born with disabilities...
It was a world full of the strong preying on the weak, where the only sin written was one.
Weakness is a sin!
TV, magazines, live streams, reports... and her own eyes.
What felt most terrifying was the massive Spacequake from a few years ago, capable of destroying all humanity.
Feeling the world's cruelty and misfortune, Kurumi decided she wanted to do something. She decided to become a hero!
"Hahaha, Kurumi, that's so like you."
Looking at her best friend, seeing a naive sense of justice in her, infected by Kurumi's childish idealism, Sawa laughed.
"Since you think that way, then I'll help you."
"As your best friend, let's bring peace to this world."
Making such a vow, afterwards, on an otherwise ordinary day after school, Sawa parted ways with her best friend at the end of the road, each heading to their own home.
"Yamauchi Sawa."
Someone was calling her.
Blinking, Sawa saw no one.
Thinking it was her imagination, she continued walking but soon felt a sense of wrongness because there was no one around.
To be precise, she had been walking on the same, unchanging street for a long time.
"What in the world... is going on?"
No people, no animals, no city noise from vehicles. It was as if the whole world had paused, even the light of the setting sun had stalled.
Her breathing grew rapid. Gently pinching her own arm, Sawa knew she wasn't dreaming… she was truly witnessing this unbelievable situation.
'Then... what was happening?'
Sawa felt fear and confusion, but she had to keep walking because staying put wouldn't lead anywhere.
But soon she stopped, because a phantom appeared before her.
"Who are you?"
"Do you want... to obtain power?"
The phantom, full of starlight, was unclear in form but beautiful, very beautiful. Feeling envy towards such beauty, Sawa was stunned.
"Who are you? What power?"
"I... I am... a Spirit."
As the starlight shattered, a girl with an astonishingly beautiful face appeared before Sawa. She wore a gorgeous dress, her lovely figure even more enviable, but the melancholy in her eyes was heartbreaking.
"A Spirit?"
"Yes."
"Then... you're the one who caused the Spacequakes?"
"It was me..."
"How is that possible?"
Utterly unable to imagine that the Spacequake capable of destroying humanity was caused by the girl before her, Sawa didn't understand what was happening.
"You... are you afraid of me?"
Showing considerable interest in Sawa's existence, the girl asked.
"I..."
"Never mind, it's not important."
Shaking her head, acting as if Sawa's reaction didn't matter, the peerlessly beautiful girl just stared into Sawa's eyes and asked, "It might seem sudden to ask like this, but I still want to ask... do you need power?"
"Power? What kind?"
"The power to save the world, to change everything."
These words were a lie.
Merely paving the way for Ryuya's path to becoming a Star God, Mio spoke these words, quickly making Sawa feel the weight of responsibility on her shoulders.
"Save the world?"
Letting out a derisive laugh, feeling her own naivety, Sawa remembered what Kurumi had once told her.
"Sawa, I want to be a hero."
"Sawa, I want to save the world."
Though it sounded like a full-blown Chuunibyou fantasy, Sawa knew Kurumi was serious.
Shaking her head, finally giving confirmation to her own absurd thought, Sawa felt she was truly an idiot, willing to become some ' Ally of Justice'...
Accepting the Sephira from Mio, she thereafter entered Mio's Inverse Side to acclimatize to her power.
But...
"Here, why..."
Filled with sorrow, despair, hatred, complex emotions... What did Sawa see in this vast world? The dark side of humanity.
"Sawa, this place is... where humanity casts away its shadows."
Explaining the meaning of the Inverse Side's existence to Sawa, it was like the world's shadow, humanity's shadow.
Containing countless human negative emotions, Mio asked Sawa if she wanted to train herself here.
"If I refuse, what happens?"
Looking at Mio, Sawa certainly didn't want to stay in such a world.
"Nothing will happen. Humanity has survived for thousands of years, and continuing to survive isn't a problem."
"This place... is merely a sea of consciousness."
Shaking her head, indicating the Inverse Side held no real meaning, Mio simply told Sawa that the so-called Inverse Side was, in essence, just a gathering of negative emotions.
For anything significant to happen here, humanity would probably need tens of thousands of years and billions of deaths to accumulate enough negative energy.
"In that case, is there even a question?"
Smiling and nodding at Mio, Sawa, of course, chose... agreement.
'As an Ally of Justice, I will find my path here.'
'Kurumi, just you wait. I will definitely fulfill your dream.'
Her initial idea was merely to train herself in the Inverse Side. But as time passed, Sawa naturally failed to withstand the corrosion of the Inverse Side.
Disturbed by these negative emotions, she began to indulge in them, and her spiritual ability transformed, becoming a different form of spiritual power.
That was the so-called Inversion… the Demon King state.
"Al·Lucifugus, eliminate them."
Gradually accustomed to slaughter, Sawa stayed in the Inverse Side for over twenty years.
During this time, she forgot her past, forgot everything about herself, only knowing she had a promise with someone.
Having devoured countless negative emotions and digested the entire Inverse Side, she gained countless 'soldiers' and multiple 'selves'.
Now, finally having completed the growth of the last soldier, looking at Mio who had returned, she felt the woman looked familiar, so familiar that...
"It's time to begin the final war, Yamauchi Sawa."
"Defeat all the Spirits. Then you will be the final victor… The Fruit."
Very satisfied with Sawa's growth, Mio knew that the final step for Ryuya to become a Star God, the divine core belonging to the Star God, had been completed.
And it was precisely... Yamauchi Sawa.