The gods died in disaster, and divine blood flowed through the mud.
The heavens tilted and the earth collapsed. The World Tree that had supported the Nine Realms fell into the vast deep sea, becoming the eternal, immovable seabed beneath it. People staggered out of their homes and discovered that, after being scoured by snowstorms and floodwaters, the world had become incomparably bright.
Amid the dazzling river of stars, brand-new gods came with the storm—Stepden, arriving on the wind."
—Ragnarok.
...
Rovi, riding the eight-legged, twelve-winged steed, withdrew his lance. The final brilliant radiance of Rhongomyniad rippled through the air like waves, spreading layer by layer until it finally vanished.
The sky was clear and the earth bright. All things returned to the way they had been before.
Rovi glanced to the side.
Below him, the earth had been swept clean by the storm. The alien energy had been burned away by the seeds, and the curtain of myth had finally disappeared. From this moment on, there would be no more Nine Realms, no more skies or passageways between worlds that only Divine Spirits could traverse. Countless living beings had all been freed from their restraints at once.
It was as though a shackle had been unlocked... and not only for them. Rovi was the same.
After destroying the World Tree, Rovi had finally completed the first step of turning death into life.
The fallen World Tree symbolized the disappearance of the last traces of the gods of Asgard. More than that, it symbolized the vacancy of the divine seat in this world.
Rovi had truly and rightfully ascended to the position of Great God.
He had left his real mark upon the world.
He had "come alive."
"Praise the great King of Storms, the Wild Hunt, Lord of Hosts, God of All Machines, sole ruler of the true starry sky!" The Storm Divine Race bowed as one and paid reverence. Even the black dragon Nidhogg, the Midgard Serpent Jormungandr, and the demon wolf Fenrir lowered their heads.
They all paid reverence, and countless living beings raised their voices together in praise of the new god.
They praised the revered name of the sole ruler of storm, the Wild Hunt, hosts, machines, and the starry sky—
Countless gods.
Countless people.
The gods were grateful to the being who had granted them wisdom, who had allowed them to become gods instead of storm giants steeped in chaotic disorder. The people were grateful to the new god who had carried them through the three winters before Ragnarok, sparing them from war, from battle, and from slaughter.
"It's so beautiful..." Skadi looked up at the starry sky, but what was reflected in her eyes was not that corner of the stars. It was the person before her.
Just as she had felt at the very beginning... compared to the gods of Asgard, Rovi was far more like a god who sheltered countless people.
Of course, to Rovi, the only thing he probably felt at that moment was...
His list of titles had gotten longer.
"Will it sound a little cooler when I introduce myself from now on?" Behind the faceplate, Rovi's eyes were deep and calm, and no one could possibly see the stray thought bouncing around behind them.
He turned the lance in his hand and declared, "GOD OF STORM, GODS WHO BELONG ONLY TO THE STARS."
"USE THE POWER YOU HOLD TO HELP ME CARVE OUT THE NEW RULES!"
New rules!?
The gods shuddered, and Skadi froze in that instant.
Was it not over yet?
Of course it was not.
He had recovered life. Naturally, the next step was to enter death.
Rovi's path in pursuit of death had only just begun!
He raised the lance in his hand, and the radiance of Rhongomyniad once again appeared between heaven and earth. He said, "I WILL CARVE OUT NEW RULES FOR THIS WORLD."
"THOSE RULES BELONG NEITHER TO GODS NOR TO HUMANS. THOSE RULES BELONG ONLY TO THE PLANET ITSELF. THEY ARE THE RULES CLOSEST TO THE STARS' ORIGINAL FORM, AND ALSO THE SYSTEM CLOSEST TO THE SOURCE OF ALL THINGS."
"THE SKY SHALL BE THE SKY, AND THE EARTH SHALL BE BELOW. LOOK UPWARD, AND YOU MAY TOUCH THE DRIFTING CLOUDS. LOOK DOWNWARD, AND YOU MAY BEHOLD FLOWING MAGMA."
"GODS ARE NOT FOREVER HIGH ABOVE, AND HUMANS ARE NOT FOREVER ANTS. THEY ARE NOT BEYOND DEFEAT, AND EVEN ANTS CAN GAZE UPON THE HEAVENS."
"COME—"
"GODS, PEOPLE, ANSWER MY CALL!"
"Praise the Lord of Hosts!" the gods shouted, answering one after another.
"Praise the Lord of Hosts!" the people cried, offering up their faith and prayers.
In that moment, Rovi sat upon the winged steed, yet it was as if he rode a small boat, his field of vision rising higher and higher with the surging wind and waves.
He rose into the atmosphere that enveloped the planetary body.
He was only one step from beyond the planet, beyond the atmosphere, beyond the world.
His distance stopped there.
But his dimension was still rising.
The power of the Storm Divine Race pushed him toward the dimension above, while the people's prayers made the lance in his hand shine ever more brilliantly.
The Ice and Snow Goddess Skadi stood with both feet on the ground. In the end, the radiance of a great god was something she could only look up to.
But in this moment, before that boundless holiness, she was willing to look up...
The only old god.
And the first new god.
Skadi adjusted the black crown upon her head. Her falling violet hair framed her delicate, beautiful face.
She lifted the hem of her skirt and bent slightly.
She had already sensed the possibility that Rovi was about to leave.
She said, "I'll wait for your return."
As the Ice and Snow Goddess.
In the posture of one welcoming someone important—
——Hm? Have you finally set aside the distance in your heart?
'Yes.'
——You really have become very honest, haven't you?
'Who could see such brilliant light and stop themselves from giving everything for it?'
Not to mention, he saved me.
He saved my past, my present, and my future.
To Skadi, wherever Rovi was, that was the safest and warmest place in the world.
"What a troublesome man... But don't worry. I'll help you find him."
"No matter where he goes..."
"Because you are me."
"Thank you, my other self." Skadi revealed a pure smile.
It was in that very instant that, within the real and dazzling river of stars, people saw a streak of light bloom brilliantly and pour down.
The enormous Machine God manifested as a shadow behind Rovi, turning, and before it disappeared, the Machine God opened its mouth and spat out a "planetary body" ravaged by a storm of lava.
That was Tartaros, surging with magma. It manifested in the present world through the prayers in people's hearts and was raised high within it.
Together with the seeds that had already been scattered, it transformed into a world that existed independently of Rovi.
Rovi separated the seeds from himself and placed them in a dimension above the ground, in a region ordinary people could not see.
Since he intended to "die," he naturally could not take them with him.
Though independent, it still belonged to Rovi. Only Rovi could open it, and he could enter it anytime, anywhere.
He named it the "Primordial Highest Heaven."
He said, "After I leave, each of you shall return to your proper place, each following the principles of the natural cycle. Await the proper time, return the world to life, and withdraw into the Inner Sea of the Planet."
"We obey the will of the God-King!"
The gods answered.
Rovi continued, "YOU SHALL REMEMBER THIS—I AM THE GOD OF HOSTS, THE GOD OF ALL MACHINES. I AM THE LORD OF THE HIGHEST HEAVEN. I AM THE ONE TRUE GOD."
"YAHWEH!"
His voice spread, and the whole of space-time seemed to freeze for an instant.
Overhead, amid the boundless stars, something seemed to look over.
Under that incomparably heavy gaze, delight rose in Rovi's heart.
So he really is "watching," is he?
Of course Rovi was not Yahweh, nor could he possibly be Yahweh.
Yahweh was the God of the monotheistic faith that would have the most believers and the widest reach in the future world.
Though Rovi had never seen him and had never had any dealings with him, he knew very clearly that this was a truly great existence. Perhaps a god from the void, perhaps an existence far more distant and exalted than the stellar-scale Chaos.
Because he could display miracles in a world where the gods had receded.
Because he could still remain utterly unrestricted in a world where the gods had withdrawn.
As a "transmigrator," Rovi knew the greatness of his power. And precisely for that reason, Rovi intended to use this stolen revered name to issue a "provocation" toward that truly mighty existence.
This was an idea Rovi had held since very early on, and an attempt he had already begun.
Ever since he obtained Kronos's machine body, ever since he gained the divine power it possessed.
The title "Lord of Hosts" had been the first step of that practice.
And now, the name "sole ruler of the starry sky," the name "Yahweh," was the same.
This was courting death.
Courting "monumental death"!
Rovi hurled the lance in his hand down toward the ground. It fell at the pole, and in an instant, a storm like spiraling, blooming light covered everything.
An invisible "membrane" slowly spread, covering the entire world. The fallen lance appeared in the sight of gods and humans like a pillar of aurora.
In that instant—
...
The sky was enveloped by radiance, and the earth was drawn together by the connections between force and force. From then on, brilliant, many-colored light could often be seen at the world's poles. That was the lance cast down by the god. It is said that beneath that light also lay Avalon, the destination of later legends of King Arthur.
From this moment, the god created a brand-new world and revealed the primordial void.
The god created soil most suited for human life. This was the covenant between god and man.
God said...
...
"INTERESTING."
A voice from the void echoed beside Rovi's ear like an explosion. The backlash generated the instant he cast down the lance sent him climbing to an even higher dimension in an instant, driving him straight toward the heights of the void.
The winged steed he had ridden vanished into the depths of Tartaros, merging with it. Unless Rovi called for it, it would never appear again.
Because it was the mount of a great god.
The running hyena "Fafnir" regained its dragon shell and joined the Stepden pantheon in the name of storm.
And Rovi arrived here.
This place was the layer between the world and the outside of the world, the deepest part of the Sea of Imaginary Numbers, the farthest and highest place that even Chaos could scarcely reach.
Darkness. Nothingness.
The surface of the abyss was like water, and only a single point of "light" appeared upon it.
It was a pure "Spirit."
It was the form in which the "Yahweh" of later generations manifested.
"INTERESTING."
The ripple of will appeared once again. "YOU STOLE MY NAME JUST TO PROVOKE ME?"
Exactly. Rovi intended to speak, only to find that he could not. He could only answer in his heart.
"IN THAT CASE—"
"WHY SHOULD I NOT GRANT YOUR WISH?"
The void, like water and like an abyss, rippled with layers of flowing light. Power that seemed nonexistent, yet somehow limitless, pressed down on Rovi all at once.
Perhaps only after he reclaimed the power of the Root engraved upon the Throne of Heroes would he be able to compare to such power.
He did not resist. Instead, his expression became one of a wish fulfilled.
He accepted its pressure, its crushing force, with his whole being.
The great deed had been accomplished.
But its aftershocks had not yet faded.
If Rovi, who had reshaped the world once more in the name of god before all people, died here, then within the records of the world, it would still count as a death for the sake of reshaping the world.
Just like the primordial gods who died to create the world in myth.
But he also had a human side.
The name "Rovi" had long since been left behind.
It would be enough for him to ascend to the Throne of Heroes and reclaim his own power.
His consciousness gradually sank amid the waves of power spreading from the "Spirit," as if his power had been stripped away and he had been thrown into an endless cycle of reincarnation.
The "Spirit" existed within emptiness.
His power could also ripple through past and future, through infinite planes.
But the voice formed by that will when it rang out again was not as cold and indifferent as Rovi had imagined. Instead... it sounded rather pleased.
"IF YOU ARE GOING TO STEAL MY NAME, THEN LET ME SEE WHETHER YOU HAVE THE QUALIFICATIONS, VISITOR FROM BEYOND THE UNIVERSE."
The Spirit of the Void did not care about his own name. With a single glance, he saw through Rovi's purpose in seeking death, and he did not mind granting it.
But Rovi's act of stealing his "name" had sparked a different kind of interest.
Over the long ages, the Spirit of the Void, who existed in the deepest part of the Sea of Imaginary Numbers and gazed into the universe, had seen far, far too many things. Yet this was still the first time someone had challenged him in this way.
Anger, killing intent, or perhaps a sense of being profaned?
He only found it very interesting.
And he liked interesting things all the more.
He wanted to see whether Rovi truly could bear this name, whether he truly could become "Yahweh"...
If he could, then he did not mind bestowing this name upon him—
If he could not, the Spirit of the Void would grant Rovi the death he desired.
Vast, indistinct, endless ripples.
Images of countless times and spaces, past and future, appeared in the "eyes" of the Spirit of the Void.
Tens of thousands of years ago, when humanity was still stumbling through its first steps, there was someone who led others out of the encirclement of beasts in that earliest age of wilderness. He led people to create tools, to create a paradise. After him, the human tribal leaders who inherited his spirit, a man and a woman, would be called "Adam" by later generations.
Ten thousand years ago, when the Vanguard of the Umbral Star attacked and the Age of Gods collapsed, the imbalance of the natural environment brought about a great flood. Yet there was someone who made his body into an ark and led humanity in its struggle to survive the flood, fearless before death. People called him "Utnapishtim."
A thousand years ago, Gilgamesh retreated into the Underworld, and Uruk perished and collapsed. Those who remained and had not managed to follow him were forced by hunger to migrate across great distances. Their leader walked at the front, using a spirit that "did not fear death" to carve out a road toward Egypt for the people, and he gained the trust of Egypt's king. People called him "Abraham."
Several centuries ago, the descendants of the people led by Abraham suffered oppression in Egypt. Someone guided them out of Egypt, facing death again and again along the way, and finally brought down the ten plagues as punishment upon the gods of Egypt. He was "Moses."
Several centuries later... Solomon ruled his age and was called the messenger of God, yet someone faced him directly and accused him of being the incarnation of a demon. For the first time, the king who knew neither sorrow nor joy felt fear and anger, and learned the truth that he was not God.
Past, present, future...
"FOR THE SAKE OF DEATH, YET NEVER BLINDLY SEEKING DEATH. MAINTAINING YOUR BOTTOM LINE, POSSESSING SUFFICIENT WISDOM, AND BECOMING A TRUE 'HERO' AGAIN AND AGAIN IN THE MIDST OF CRISIS."
"YOUR LUCK IS VERY GOOD. YOU POSSESS BOTH WISDOM AND COURAGE."
"IN THAT CASE—"
"I SHALL GRANT YOU THE NAME 'YAHWEH.'"
"YOU SHALL REMEMBER YOUR FIRST INTENT, AND NEVER FORGET IT TO THE END."
It was like waking from a distant dream, or as though he had played through an extremely long, fully immersive game.
Rovi opened his eyes blearily, and then heard that voice...
He froze for a moment. In the next second, the Spirit of the Void let down a brilliant light.
All of those previous "experiences" turned from falsehood into reality in that instant.
Tens of thousands of years...
Tens of thousands of years of seeking death and never attaining it.
The first human, the human in the great flood, the human who led people into Egypt and then out of Egypt, the human who accused Solomon—
Countless selves overlapped and returned to one body.
Rovi saw the planet's primordial scenery.
Quantity accumulated into quality.
"PRIMORDIAL. SUPREME."
"FROM THIS MOMENT ON, YOU SHALL BE 'YAHWEH.'"
The Spirit of the Void shone and flickered.
Then it expelled Rovi directly from the deepest, highest, and farthest reaches of the void!
---
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