Chapter 803: Malice

The existence that drove this world toward destruction.

Its actions were absurdly cruel.

It pierced a hole in a perfectly intact world.

Then, using the difference in pressure between the punctured world and the outside, it caused countless beings wandering through the outer universe to flow into this world.

As though that were not enough, it even suppressed in advance the world’s means of resistance that possessed the power to oppose the invasion.

‘Unthinkable malice.’

Malice so immense that it made me wonder what kind of grudge one would have to harbor to do something like this.

If there was anything I knew about that malice.

‘......Those zombies.’

The bug that should be residing inside that Prince.

Only that the existence that created those bugs and that malice were closely related.

But now.

=Where do you think that malice came from?=

This bastard.

Had mentioned that malice.

Thinking about it.

When I saw this bastard’s memories.

I learned that even for these demons, invading another world was not such an easy thing.

Even so, they invaded countless other worlds and offered the spoils to the Demon Realm.

The reason that was possible was precisely.

‘Those bugs.’

Mirinae’s home.

The Forest of Ten Thousand Beasts was a powerful world.

Normally, even demons would not have found it easy to invade that world.

But the reason the Forest of Ten Thousand Beasts’ barrier was breached was simple.

‘Because the immortals’ power had weakened...... while they were preventing the bugs from gnawing away at the world’s barrier.’

Those demons.

Were making intelligent use of those bugs, the byproducts of that malice.

“You know, don’t you?”

GRAB, and.

I shouted as I seized that enormous soul.

“Who the hell is it, and why would that bastard do something like this......!”

Had those bugs not existed, our world could have remained peaceful, unknown to outside enemies.

Countless people suffered because of that malice.

I would never forget the names of those who died fighting beside me for as long as I lived.

“What the hell did it want...... to do this, this kind of thing......!”

The cause of all those tragedies.

Because this bastard knew its identity.

=What it wanted...... you ask.=

Then.

Facing my anger, it answered calmly.

=Nothing.=

“......What?”

=It wants nothing.=

At that moment.

I felt something stirring inside it.

=You saw that man...... the bug inside him, did you not?=

“.......”

=A life born solely from pure hatred and malice. Normally, such a life should not exist.=

Of course I knew.

Those bugs...... the zombies pierced holes into worlds and infiltrated them.

After that, they parasitized the inhabitants of those worlds and continued to evolve.

When their given energy was nearly exhausted and they were on the verge of disappearing, the strongest individual devoured its weaker kin and evolved.

By repeating that process, every living creature on the surface was annihilated, leaving behind only a single individual that had achieved the greatest evolution.

And even that one individual.......

=Is ultimately destined to starve to death.=

“.......”

=If the existence that created these bugs wanted something, it would never have created them in this manner.=

If that existence coveted other worlds.

Their end should not have been starvation.

At the very least, the invading zombies should have survived and ruled that world.

Then that land would belong to the zombies’ creator.

But the existence that made them created them so that even those zombies would ultimately perish.

They destroyed another world.

And once their purpose had been fulfilled, they were forced into a destiny in which they themselves could do nothing but perish.

......The destiny that Prince had tried to resist by any means possible.

There was only one thing it desired.

‘Pure destruction.’

It did not wish to obtain anything.

It merely wished to destroy.

=You must be wondering why. The reason is simpler than you think.=

He waved his hand with a bitter smile.

=Because to them, even coveting another world has already become meaningless.=

“......?”

Them......?

As I wondered at those words.

FWAAAAASH.......

My foresight responded to its will.

And looked toward another place.

‘......The universe.’

The vast universe.

The empty universe through which countless worlds wandered.

And.

=Can you see it?=

The viewpoint of the world it showed me moved rapidly.

Farther and farther toward the outskirts of that vast universe.

The viewpoint raced fiercely toward the end of the universe.

Eventually, it finally reached the end of the universe.

And there, in that vast emptiness.

At its edge.......

=Can you see...... what they look like?=

Occupying one corner of that vast emptiness.

There was an enormous darkness.

***

‘What the hell is that?’

It was the emptiness in which countless worlds existed.

Its size was so great that it could only be described as infinite.

But that darkness filled a portion of that emptiness completely.

Roughly one quarter of the endless emptiness was filled with that darkness.

WRITHE.......

And.

As I looked at it, I realized one thing.

“......Is it moving?”

They were not merely motionless specks of dust.

An existence that enormous.

Though only little by little, it was clearly writhing and moving.

As I wondered because I did not know what it was.

=Where there is a beginning, there is an end. An absolute law of this universe that cannot be defied.=

Avaritia spoke while looking at that darkness.

=That is why the Alliance decided to survive together.=

“.......”

=The worlds hunted by the Alliance become fuel for Hell and are used without a single thing left behind. But if so.=

If the worlds existing in the universe were divided into three categories.

The Alliance and the worlds hunted by the Alliance.

And.

=The worlds that neither joined the Alliance nor were hunted by the Alliance.=

They would fall into the third and final category.

That third category was probably overwhelmingly more numerous than the first two.

=The law applies to them without exception as well. Just as we saw long ago, many worlds fell to unavoidable destruction.=

“.......”

=But even if it cannot be defied, there would be no one who would meet the end without even resisting.=

The law of the universe this bastard had spoken of.

When I heard of that law, I became angry and said I would resist it.

=Just as you did, countless beings fought against that end. They waged great struggles against the countless destructions that approached them.=

But when I thought about it.

How many beings would hear that their end had already been decided and simply say, I see, and accept it?

I could not have been the only existence that chose to resist that fate.

No, rather, most existences would have chosen resistance.

And.

=In the end, they were defeated.=

Most of them were ultimately defeated.

Only after hearing those words.

Was I able to realize the identity of that overwhelming multitude of darkness.

That was not a world.

Nor was it a single enormous life-form.

‘......Countless eyes.’

Most of them were not individually all that large.

The absolute majority were far smaller than Avaritia.

But...... their number was beyond description.

=Those who resisted destruction, but were defeated.=

That was...... a kind of residue.

They had once possessed enough power to attempt to resist destruction.

=Those are the remains of those lives and worlds.=

But in the end, they were the remains of those who had failed.

***

Worlds already destroyed.

Gods already dead.

The fate of those who resisted the laws of the world, but were ultimately defeated.

“......There are that many?”

The stars drifting through the empty universe were each individual worlds.

But most of those worlds were separated from one another by great distances.

The space between the stars was merely empty space containing nothing.

But that darkness was different.

An area equal to one quarter of this enormous empty universe.

Darkness filling that entire area without even the smallest gap.

Only then was I able to realize it.

‘No matter how many worlds still remain.’

The number of remaining worlds was as numerous as the stars in the sky.

But.

‘Compared to the worlds that have already fallen, it is absurdly small.’

Even all those stars in the sky.

Compared to the number of worlds piled within that darkness, they were nothing more than a mere handful.

=No existence with hope remaining is present there. Even if their world was destroyed, those who still had hope would rather seek to rule another world and become its master.=

“.......”

=But they are different. They have no hope. Naturally...... because they have already been defeated, and their ending has already been decided.=

They had walked the same path of resistance as me.

But were ultimately defeated.

=There must have been countless beings among them greater than I. Among them, there must also have been those who possessed Divine Names such as hope or light. Even among those I saw. Life and death, space and time...... there were countless beings of unsurpassed greatness.=

But their end was that.

They had already been defeated, and that ending could never be overturned.

Whether their Divine Name had been hope or light.

......From the moment they lost that hope and light, those existences could no longer exist as gods of such Divine Names.

=Their power alone remains immense, but they have lost everything, even their names. No such thing as reason exists within them. Whatever name once defined their existence, it would become meaningless once they reached the ‘end.’=

“.......”

=Even so, because they had been powerful existences, they could not disappear completely, and as the residue left behind continued to accumulate there...... they eventually clumped together until they became no different from a single entity.=

But they were existences that must have been completely different from one another from birth.

Even though they had lost even their names and fallen there as corpses, they should have had nothing in common.

Even so, they had gathered together like that.

There was probably only one thought shared by every existence there.

=They must feel wronged and resentful.=

They shared the fact that they had tried to resist destruction, but were ultimately defeated.

A thought that losers would naturally possess.

=That is why that darkness became an existence that moves according to that single shared thought.=

The zombies invade other worlds, but do not rule them.

They neither plunder anything from those places nor create anything there.

Losers filled only with grievance and resentment.

Hatred and malice.

=May this destruction not befall only us.=

That was why.

There was only one action that could emerge from it.

=May others...... end up just like us.=

They did not seek to obtain anything.

They merely.

=That is the malice you experienced.=

Wished only for more hopeless existences.

More beings reduced to the same state as themselves.