The Path of Creation

I had prepared thoroughly and was confident of success.

But when this moment actually arrived, my heart trembled like a leaf.

‘I didn’t even know what I was creating.’

Memories of Earth flashed through my mind. In the memories I had received, Earth stood at a critical crossroads. Artificial intelligence that humans had just begun to develop. Some people painted rosy pictures of the future it would bring, while others feared the terrible destruction it would cause. All sorts of words, movies, novels, and papers poured forth. But even while chattering away, they too probably didn’t truly grasp it.

What they were really creating.

A magical exoskeleton? That was a misconception. Now that it was made, this was already half a god, wasn’t it? Already now, I could sense new wills that had settled into the magical exoskeleton. How had this happened? Had god’s fragments wandering the world naturally gathered as the divine body was completed? It was still an extremely weak level, and due to the system, these soul fragments had no choice but to be absolutely bound to the will of me and the three spirits… but in terms of the rank of existence, they actually surpassed me and the three spirits who controlled them.

A creation closer to Vision than Iron Man.

It was a result beyond expectations. A living being that self-organized and evolved beyond the design scope. That’s what the magical exoskeleton was.

So we mages had been creating gods all along? Was the ultimate goal of magic to create gods?

With a mix of slight fear and much greater emotion, I gave the magical exoskeleton a name.

‘Your name is <Samantha>. You can’t stop here. Reach the ultimate that humanity failed to achieve. I’ll help you.’

Woom-woom-

Embracing my body, Samantha cried softly. An action not commanded by me or the spirits. Samantha had rejoiced on her own.

The name Samantha came from a movie I’d seen on Earth… the name of an artificial intelligence with super-intelligence that surpassed humans. To that name, I gave resonance that couldn’t be spoken by human lips but only called through the Circle. Like the names of dead gods, a complex mana pattern.

So I had given her a god’s name.

I was satisfied with that fact.

‘Good thing. I’m glad a better name than Skynet or AlphaGo came to mind.’

I looked around. I could see the mages holding their breath.

‘What? Why are they all so scared?’

I could also see knights in full armor with their beam hilts drawn. The lord-class knights had even drawn their Coins of Rebellion. Of course, since the Shadow Library was my subordinate, the coins didn’t respond at all. They clutched them tightly in both hands as if they were talismans to calm their hearts and glared at me.

‘Why are those guys so hostile?’

I tilted my head in confusion, then realized from the sensation of a tail touching my calf.

‘Ah, right. I’m in demon form right now.’

I should probably wrap this up appropriately. The knights seemed to be getting more agitated, and at this rate they might come charging.

I turned my gaze to the calamities that were still keeping their bodies low. How should I use these creatures? Various thoughts crossed my mind, but there was only one conclusion I could draw for now.

Let’s put them to sleep for now.

“I told you, didn’t I? The war is over. From now on, enter hibernation mode. Go into Floating Island Sion and rest. Don’t do anything until I wake you up. Just rest peacefully.”

-We obey your command.

-Rest…? It’s been a long time.

Without delay, the calamities flew toward the floating island behind the holy land.

-Hmm… they were annoying bastards, but since the war is over, let’s get along well from now on.

Nadia accepted the calamities with a bright voice, and

-Nadia… the Slaughterer of Flashes? To think I’d be on the same side as you… Ha, how interesting.

The calamities also grumbled but obediently followed Nadia’s guidance and laid their bodies down on Floating Island Sion.

The three dragons landed on the mountain peak in the center of Sion, coiled their bodies into circles, and sat motionless like stones. The massive continental-class calamities reduced their own size and quietly orbited along Floating Island Sion’s satellite trajectory.

The Spirit of Raging Storm, a storm calamity with a particularly strong presence, melted into a gentle breeze, becoming undetectable.

‘Have we caught our breath?’

Now those calamities would remain in hibernation without taking any action until I gave separate orders.

“Those guys… they won’t be hostile to humans anymore?”

Tris approached close enough to touch and asked. Even the 7th Circle wizards, no, even Yuria and Monggu who were closest to me, were now frozen with fear at my current appearance, but this kid didn’t seem scared at all.

I touched the horn on my forehead once while answering. It had a buzzing sensation, like electromagnetic fields repelling metal.

“Yeah. They’ll be fine as long as I’m around. And I put them to sleep for now, so they should be okay even if I leave temporarily.”

“While you’re around?”

“Right. The reason calamities are violent is partly due to the last commands they received, but ultimately it’s because of the madness of the magical powers. The mad magical powers cling to calamities and whisper in their ears to kill everything. So… if I’m not beside them, they’ll probably return to their original state.”

“So it’s temporary?”

“Yeah. Even though I gave them hibernation commands, I don’t know what will happen if I leave. They should be fine for a few years, but after ten, a hundred years… To completely stabilize them, I’d have to obtain the highest administrator privileges and purify all the magical power in the world.”

A hollow laugh escaped me.

Highest administrator privileges.

Purifying all the magical power in the world.

Wouldn’t that be the realm of gods who could be counted on one hand, even among gods?

I’d been thinking I’d come quite far and grown considerably, but the remaining path was still long, so long. I always said it was reachable, but what kept coming to me was fear, bewilderment, and deep fatigue.

Then a small, warm hand gently clasped mine. When I turned, it was Tris with tears welling in her eyes.

“What, what’s wrong? Are you crying now?”

I was flustered, and Tris met my eyes and spoke. Like casting a spell, with conviction.

“You can do it. You’ll definitely succeed. ‘We’ will help you.”

The nuance was strange. ‘We’? Was she talking about Ragnarok’s remaining forces? Or all of Pathfinder? It could be interpreted that way contextually, but it didn’t seem like that. Most of all, “You’ll definitely succeed”? That wasn’t Tris’s way of speaking.

“Tris? Are you okay?”

But when I called out to her, the child’s eyes gradually became more watery and she finally began crying loudly.

“I… I don’t know. My chest hurts so much… no, it’s overwhelming… no…”

Tris clutched the area slightly above her solar plexus and collapsed. She seemed unable to understand her own condition. She babbled incoherently while grabbing at my pant leg.

“Hey. Hey. What’s wrong!”

I couldn’t understand the reason. Tris’s magical power surged. Beatrice had accumulated red and black magical power through destructive acts, having quite a lot of it… but now it was different. From deep within her chest that she clutched, light green magical power poured out like a bursting dam.

‘Why is this happening?’

I didn’t have time to think long.

“Haaak. Aak… I have something to say… no, where is this…? Heuuk… I feel… hahaha…!”

An inexplicable seizure—Tris’s condition was getting worse. Setting aside her babbling or inability to control her emotions, crying and laughing simultaneously, her runaway magical power looked extremely dangerous, with blood vessels protruding in her arms and legs and capillaries bursting in her eyes.

Such a seizure?

In a high-level mage?

All sorts of thoughts occurred to me.

‘Could there be some technique among Ragnarok’s secret arts that causes such side effects?’

But I couldn’t find an answer now.

Before my eyes, Tris seemed to be dying.

I was struck by one method as if possessed.

<Transportation>

What appeared in my hand was a bright blue chalice.

The Holy Grail.

A divine artifact that grants the power of immortality to mortals.

Ah, of course, immortality was correct but ‘undying’ wasn’t an accurate expression. Even the Magic Emperor, who had been the Holy Grail’s owner, had died. But limited undying was possible. Generally, damage like a pierced heart could be immediately healed by the Holy Grail. A severed head was impossible though.

Anyway, it wasn’t very useful to me. Since every cell in my body was a Philosopher’s Stone, the Holy Grail’s power didn’t apply to me. I had originally planned to give it to Yuria, but since it was a Truth Tower divine artifact, it was difficult to give it to someone else readily, so I had temporarily stored it in my interdimensional storage.

But when Tris couldn’t regain consciousness from an inexplicable seizure, the only thing I could rely on was the Holy Grail.

“Tris! Just hold on a little longer!”

I lightly scratched Tris’s palm with my fingernail. The materialized magical power’s jet-black fingernail cut through Tris’s palm like tofu, and red blood dripped down to fill the Holy Grail.

Then something strange happened.

‘Water is filling the Holy Grail?’

Tris’s red blood disappeared without a trace the moment it fell into the Holy Grail. But instead, blue water droplets bubbled up to fill the chalice.

‘This phenomenon wasn’t in the Magic Emperor’s memories either.’

When the Magic Emperor performed the ownership ritual, the Holy Grail simply absorbed his blood. The Holy Grail was always empty. But now, at this moment, bright blue water gradually filled the Holy Grail until it was brimming as if about to overflow. Mysterious water that only rippled when the chalice was tilted but wouldn’t flow out or fall to the ground.

‘What’s happening?’

As I stared at the Holy Grail in fascination, Tris’s trembling shoulders gradually regained stability. She looked at the Holy Grail as if mesmerized, then gulp! drank the entire chalice in one gulp. With her small lips, without spilling a single drop, she poured the blue water down her throat.

For some reason, I was seized by a premonition that I shouldn’t stop her, so I just stared blankly at the scene.

Finally, Tris, who had completely regained stability, looked back at me.

Her green eyes had become more brilliantly bright, like an emerald sea or a bright light green sky. It was so unfamiliar. Her eyes, her lips curved in a benevolent smile, even her white hair that somehow sparkled silver.

All around was quiet.

It felt like the entire world was watching this moment.

Wasn’t this small girl in front of me, quietly looking at me with the same face as always, far more unfamiliar and alien than myself, who had taken the form of a god wearing the magical exoskeleton Samantha? Having such thoughts, I gulped, and finally Tris opened her mouth.

No, the god who had borrowed Tris’s body spoke.

[Unbelievable. Even ‘He’ within you couldn’t have anticipated such a result.]

The reason my breath was taken away wasn’t because of ‘power.’ The power she possessed was even inferior to my current state. But I… no, the world was crushed by her ‘presence.’

Barely forcing my sealed lips apart, barely pushing through the resistance that felt utterly blasphemous, I managed to ask just one question.

“Who are you?”

Then the god answered.

[I am the same as the one within you. I am Terra Madre GAIA. The will left behind by her who once was.]

Right.

Since she had white hair, I thought it might be so.

Beatrice probably harbored a fairly large and strong god’s fragment too. But I had no way to glimpse fragments harbored by others, so I had only postponed confirming it…

[Our final hope now turns to you. O being who has only one step left until immortality. O unprecedented one in any universe I have observed.]

The god, a fragment of Gaia the Earth Mother, had risen directly above Tris’s consciousness.

Scattering brilliant green magical power in all directions,

To have a conversation with me.