“Oh? Fire, how are you, old friend? Your fire blazes ever more like our sun.”
Six clouds of mana gathered on the “highest point of the world.” Whether it really was was of no concern to me as I hadn’t read up on these geological facts. Still, if the WWEE said so, then who was I to argue with them when I had no stakes in this argument? Instead, I squinted at the gathering being held before me, wondering why each of these mana clouds were just that: mana clouds.
For the great elemental emperors, the former “gods” of Peolynca who acted as the world’s elemental primarchs, they didn’t assume a body similar to the normal and greater elementals, but they shared the appearance of the lesser elemental and fae. Nothing imposing or “god-like” could be seen here. Though if this was the last month before the descent of the Origin Gods, then they should have been demigods at this point.
I looked over to Hikari as it seemed we shared the same opinion, though the elementals around us couldn’t be bothered by this. We shrugged and just watched as everything unfolded.
“Haha, it has been too long after all! Too long, my friends!” a cloud of holy mana spoke with a male voice, unlike [Providence’s Will]. “The sun rises once again, gifting this world the mana to morph into its own. As the world grows, so do we primarchs. As long as the elves, humans, and beastmen grow, so will the beauty of this world. Honestly, haven’t all of you taken a peek at what the humanoids are creating? Such wonderful buildings and shining monuments in our favor! They made me look most radiant, like an incarnation of the sun itself when I am just a little fae like all.”
“A little fae with light that can scorch an elf’s body into ash…” the Wind Elemental Emperor answered. “Well… as long as the humanoids keep the progression to a certain tempo. We have seen how much those ‘villages’ and ‘towns’ are doing to our land. So many large buildings will only ruin the flow of the wind.”
“Ha, you’re the only one who complains about that, Wind,” a brown cloud of mana replied, prompting me to look at the Earth Elemental Emperor as they floated around, silent despite their grouchy nature. “Evolution is a simple law of the world. Everything has to progress, even the wind and earth. Whether it’s disasters or a gentle touch, everything the faemancers and engineers do will benefit the world. We cannot stand still. We must grow just like the monsters. The humanoids understand this, so we must do the same!”
… They’ve sounded like this even back then? Though they do sound a bit less annoyed. Less of a nasally tone.
“Naturally, you would say that, Earth. Defending your earthen humanoids makes sense. You play with life, molding them from ore and stone, and what has that even done for you?” the Water Elemental Emperor responded in a snarky tone, almost like they wanted to mock them. “I agree with Wind. Too much development will only alter the world too much. Have you not seen how enchanting and alchemy are developing? Even your magic-less ‘imperfect’ dwarves are starting to develop this runic tattoo invention of theirs, though, it is due to your failure, after all.”
The Earth Elemental Emperor huffed, snarling back with a loud contemptuous growl. “Haaaaa? Why is it that you still cannot let that fact go? If our existence allowed the birth of elves and their mutation into humans and beastmen, then why can I not create my own humanoid race? Fairies are born from the appearances of those humanoids, so what is wrong about the earth birthing flesh and blood? Humanoids need everything the earth provides to survive.”
“Humanoids need water to stay hydrated and the wind to breathe, not to mention the power of fire to face dangers. Light gives them sight and darkness rest. They need all of us, not just you, Earth!” Water argued. “Yet, look at what you created in your attempt to create life with your mana instead of letting Peolynca simply decide its fate—you created numerous failed dwarven subraces, each missing something that makes them similar to the elves or humans. Your ‘perfect’ variant wasn’t even able to remain alive for long enough, while the current dwarves are unable to commune with us fae. They cannot cast spells or borrow our strength because you went against the natural order!”
“Yes, yes! Water speaks the truth!” Fire added, although their participation felt a bit hollow after Water’s eloquent complaint. “Though, Water… isn’t the fact that the dwarves still surviving as well as the other humanoids not a testament to development? If they hadn’t grown so fast, they would have been defeated by the others. The humans are rather violent, no? My fellow fire elementals do like their fiery nature, but a lot of wars have happened between them and the dwarves.”
“Not to mention the beastmen,” Light stated. “Poor children… they pray to me for salvation when day breaks, and for Dark when night comes. Hmm, if only we could do more.”
“It’s impossible, though.” For the first time, the Dark Elemental Emperor spoke, causing all the elementals to turn silent as they sighed, seemingly expecting something to happen. “We all know this. The wishes of the humanoids, monsters, and fae have raised us above them. This is as far as we can go without breaking out of the divine realm we had created.”
“… We exude mana that is toxic to ‘lower beings,’” Wind said. “Our divine mana, as Light said.”
“A realm created so we can banish this divine mana. A home where we can watch over the world, just like how we are floating on the ‘throat of the world.’ This is our duty as primarchs. The controller of the elements. The balancers of Peolynca,” Water added. “Our divine mana has killed how many young fae already? How many faemancers? We took too long. Too much fun. Too much naivety… We should have come to this realm before it escalated to their deaths.”
The six elementals went silent, almost as if they were praying to the departed. I squinted as I heard this, feeling a hint of sympathy for all of them as I could understand that conundrum too well. “Exiling yourself to protect those you love” has floated in my mind far too many times now.
So this is how the demigods had to live. Even if they weren’t like the Origin Gods in strength, just a bit of divine mana was already damaging to everybody’s soul, huh? No, maybe I was underestimating the amount of divine mana they actually had, considering they were ready to ascend to godhood before the Origin Gods came. If their divine mana was so troublesome, then the WWEE rampaging in Frozen Nest would have somehow hurt my soul… Ah!
[“This dreamland is connected to your souls, yes,”] the WWEE spoke as the scenery froze like a still painting. [“It isn’t false to call this something similar to an unconscious, but to somebody who has experienced this ‘dreamland’ as often as you did in your ‘dreams,’ it should feel similar. My mana connects my soul to yours, allowing me to read information from it through dreams, as you can do it now to mine. After all, interfering with Tasianna’s and Stain’s brains to gain the information we needed would have demanded more work, but your soul? Although we weren’t capable of it, we still learned how the Dark Elemental Emperor worked as the ‘Renewer of Souls.’ The former god of death.”]
“I heard you hurt Vifi’s soul,” I replied, glaring at them for calling Vifi with that vile nickname. “Are you attempting to do the same?”
[“Oh, yes. I am,”] they answered. [“Though your usurpation ability and general divine mana resistance is an issue, it won’t be soon. Just watch. Gain the answer and truth of what happened then, and you will grant me the knowledge from your soul. Aurena’s and Crustacia’s eyes will peer onto us, once again!”]
It almost sounded like a Faustian bargain, honestly. Though admittedly, I was a bit curious now that everything had happened. I wanted to know what exactly happened to change the Elemental Emperor so much. Sure, they did have their serious points as this discussion showed, but I could feel the slightly whimsical nature of a fae in them with the Light Elemental Emperor and, even, the Earth Elemental Emperor.
Regardless of what I wanted, the memory unfroze and continued.
“Which is why I have called for all of you.” Dark reassumed control of the discussion. “We are the primarchs of this world, and while it isn’t true, many of the faemancers have started to call us ‘Faeshdiviel’ in the Common tongue the humans invented. In Elven, it translates into ‘Lords of the Elemental Divinity.’ Gods, as the elves would call them. The name has gained popularity.”
“That has happened for a long time already, Dark,” Light corrected them. “Those monuments I mentioned are no recent phenomenon, but it has happened ever since we left for the divine realm. When the humanoids stopped seeing us.”
Water coughed, interrupting Light. “Further correction: it happened through the humans and beastmen, you mean. The ‘shorter lifespan’ humanoids, as the elven elders call them. Though it makes sense since the newly born humanoids wouldn’t treat us like friends, as the elves and dragonkin would. We would be similar to natural phenomena like hurricanes and tsunamis. Beings more powerful than our greater elementals.”
“Yes, sorry! Thank you for the correction,” Light laughed, sounding so incredibly jolly. “Yes, quite correct. As such, something the humanoids call religion has emerged to the point that it has even spread to the elves and the other long-lived monsters. When the elderly fell into eternal slumber, the newly born took over, and they embraced ‘religion’ as they started praying to us. Haven’t you felt all that newfound mana?”
“… So it isn’t new?”
“No!” the other five elementals shouted, causing Dark to fall into a moment of silence.
“… So, I called this meeting too late?”
“Yes!”
“By how many years?”
And now the other elementals went silent. I guess to the demigods, years were just numbers. It didn’t matter when it happened; all that mattered was that it did happen.
“That’s why I keep sending you invitations to my party!” Light pouted. “Ah, we have to join to celebrate a bit once in a while, old friend. Those who pray to our two religions keep using the same excuse each time they attack each other—‘The light and dark elementals do not like each other.’ Always the same!”
“… But that’s just because our elemental-aligned mana hurts the other. Since when do the dark and light fae despise each other?”
“Banal!” the other four elementals yelled.
Light nodded as much as a cloud of mana could. “Yup, yup! Dark cannot absorb light mana well, and that applies to most elements, really. Even the hybridized elemental kings are having trouble with humanoids thinking whatever they want. Why can’t they just have fun and celebrate more? More food and plenty of fun stories would help them make up immediately!”
“Because they are humanoids,” Fire said. “The elementals are born from the wellspring of mana to create the six elementals until they split up into the hybrids by melding together. From there, monsters and plants are born, and from them, the humanoids. They live just like monsters. We can’t blame them. They can’t be like us fae since they always have to think so much about eating and living! If only the humanoids could absorb and eat mana like we do!”
“That’s why I tried to make the perfect humanoid race… but Water thinks it’s all useless. Pah, doing something about a faulty natural order should be our duties as primarchs!” Earth complained, causing Water to simply scoff at them.
Though before the two could return to their squabbles, Dark silenced them all. “Ahem, first, I want to apologize for calling this meeting this late… Not much time passes while living in the darkness of the world.”
“That’s why you need light just as much as we light elementals need darkness to rest!” Light scoffed, causing Dark to start rolling in the air. It looked… depressing.
“Maybe, but that is how the cycle of life is done. As the primarch of the dark element, my duty is to maintain the cycle; otherwise, something might happen to Peolynca’s souls. Do not forget, each soul was once an elemental like us. They might be plants, other fae, monsters, or humanoids now, but they were once just like us,” Dark mentioned, causing the elementals to all fall silent again, praying to them most likely. After some time had passed, Dark continued, “Even if our gathering has been late, I want us to make the decision—will we become gods? Like our followers want?”
“But how?” Wind asked.
“I do not know,” Dark replied, causing the elementals to grow restless. “What is a god, anyway? Our followers keep repeating how they wish for us to be their gods, but what does that mean? Is it a being that controls the elemental balance of the world? Then aren’t we just that? Is it a being who possesses power that exceeds the limits of a normal fae? Then aren’t we just that? Is it a being who is being praised and honored by the words and prayers of their followers and kin? Then aren’t we just that? What is it that makes us ‘gods ’? What would we need to do to become that ideal?”
“… Why are you asking us about that? Wouldn’t it be better to ask the philosophers and theorists? In fact, the current archmage would probably enjoy such a question,” Wind stated to prevent any silence. However, before they could speak, though, the memory froze again.
I turned to the elemental emperor.
[“What do you think a god is?”]
I shrugged, and so did Hikari. We looked at each other for a moment before replying with the same answer. “A god is an ideal.”
[“An ideal, you two say?”]
Hikari nodded. “There are two descriptions for a god, and that is what you should have asked. First, the gods like the current divines. Those are the beings of immeasurable power who control an aspect of life, lording over us like kings and emperors. They demand piousness—fealty—and faith—taxes—to protect you and grant you some sort of boon.”
“And then you have the concept of a god,” I continued. “Somebody who you believe is the ‘ideal’ being or concept that suits your world vision and perception. I’ve met gods, and some of them do not fit how their followers see them. Yes, Aurena does fit some characterizations like her followers believe she should have, but there are parts that she personally hates to be associated with. One example is that the Goddess of Light and the God of Darkness despise each other, despite the fact that they are family.”
“Didn’t that happen with the Light Elemental Emperor and the Dark Elemental Emperor?” Hikari pointed at the memory. “The people who worship gods will rarely view a god in the same light as another because some people project their ideal onto them. That is why a ‘god,’ the concept of one, is an ideal to us. After all, to some people, even a ‘lowly’ popstar can seem like a god.”
I sighed, remembering a small memory of Papa. “Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was a genius musician who was stolen from Earth at such a young age. His brilliance showed in the emotional depths of his compositions to the point that people are deifying him after his death. To them, he is a ‘gift of god.’ Didn’t that apply to you elementals, as well?”
A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
[“The exile,”] [Providence’s Will] stated with Goddess Andira’s voice, giving me a whiplash with how the catalyst was supposed to be the Light Elemental Emperor’s remains. In a way, you could call it a reincarnation. [“The elemental emperor exiled themselves to the heavens, leaving the world of mortals. We ‘died’ to the many people below and were turned into deities through this belief. Our non-existence in their world view granted us more faith than when we first lived amongst mortals.”]
[“The world moved while our perception of time started to die,”] the Earth Elemental Emperor added in melancholy. [“Ha… Water, Wind, Fire, and Dark never really fit that ‘ideal’ of a god. They were unfit to remain in the realm of heaven, only acting as primarchs. They got lonely. Light was the most joyful amongst us and enjoyed the attention of those who worshipped them, and that was their downfall. I… I always sought the perfect creation, so I kept creating more dwarves, always reiterating the process for the perfected patron race in my loneliness. I wanted to fix the mistake of my last ‘perfection.’ Yet, as you know, I left for heaven before more waves of dwarven variants could be born in the mortal realm. This left two of my oldest variants—the taz and inko—to adapt to their flaws and grow from them, becoming the one unified dwarven race. The imperfect became the perfect, as Fugnarus would say.”]
[“Yes, exactly,”] the WWEE agreed. [“If we go by the young dragoness’s definition, we would have been failures of gods. We were, after all, only elementals. We never asked to be leaders just like the elemental kings, but we had to grow into the role. Gaze at us, young princess, for you accepted your role with pride. Peolynca’s demigods were failures. Look at us, frolicking during this meeting to discuss how we would become gods. We did not find an answer back then, and none of us agreed on anything when our reigns were ending.”]
“… You can regret your past, but speaking about it so badly won’t make you feel better,” I said.
[“You are right. Going through Tasianna’s and Stain’s memories has taught us that. The past is chains. If it wasn’t, then Tasianna wouldn’t have given up on the dreamland so easily. The ‘fairy tale’ she so dearly wished for stood before her, and she grabbed it with all her might, while Vifi understood the hardship of her past was more like a foundation. They aren’t there to be forgotten. She learned to live with it. So, she walked forward and ‘killed’ her father to become free of her chains… like how you accepted your past to become free. Isn’t that right, Hestia? Hikari?”] the WWEE approached us, orbiting us like a planet. [“But… There is one thing I do disagree with, though. A ‘god’ isn’t just an ideal.”]
The memory fast-forwarded. As the WWEE mentioned, no resolution was found between the elementals, and the meeting was disbanded just like that. Instead, the elementals took the time to simply play like the many elementals below. They sang, they told stories about their worshippers, and they helped Dark understand what they had missed over the years, like a hermit relearning how to live in society.
If I assessed them with the standard of what I imagine a demigod would do, it almost seemed like the fantasized version of the Greek pantheon. Sure, they did their jobs when they wanted to, but aside from the Dark and Water Elemental Emperor, who were diligent enough, the rest did whatever they wanted, leaving their jobs unattended most of the time to play.
The Light Elemental Emperor would watch their followers as if they were characters from a sitcom. The Fire Elemental Emperor would try to work, but they looked like an energetic puppy trying to get out of their cage to play or bite. Wind was the most lonely as they watched the many fairies, elementals, and lesser fae frolic, gazing down at them with such melancholy that it felt like they were infecting me with it. And Earth, well, they were more preoccupied with creating that perfect dwarven race despite the fact that the taz and inko dwarves were living fine, with the majority of the population still looking up to the Earth Elemental Emperor as their god creator.
Meanwhile, Dark continued managing the cycle of rebirth as the God of Death, while Water managed the water bodies in the world to ensure they wouldn’t overtake the landmasses. Though, as I watched this, I was a bit curious about the cycle of rebirth and who managed it before the Dark Elemental Emperor.
[“It had always been Dark,”] the WWEE explained. [“They were the oldest. Darkness was there when Peolynca was created, and as the other elemental mana were created to create our world. Maybe there was another elemental who managed the cycle of rebirth before the Dark Elemental Emperor, but none of us asked them. After all, why would we need to know such information?”]
‘What use is it to ask about the dead as a fae?’ was what it meant. I understood them, but that still didn’t quench my curiosity. Then again, maybe something so primordial should just remain in the dark. After all, if I were to believe the WWEE, then the Dark Elemental Emperor turned into—
Diiing…
I snapped my head to the sky, well, further up into the heavenly realm when I heard that soul-piercing bell. Like a reverberating metal sheet, the divine realm shook as that sound kept ringing, filling the emptiness of the world the elemental emperors lived in. Their sight moved away from the mortal realm as they stared up, though it was the Light Elemental Emperor who was the first to notice the threat wasn’t coming from above, but below.
The crack appeared in the darkness of the world. There, in the world of shadows where souls go to be reborn, light began to stream out. Even the abyss, which could consume all, felt like it had an ending. I could see a horizon in the vast darkness of the world, causing my mind to slow down as I couldn’t comprehend such a limit in this limitless world of darkness. How could there be an end in an abyss that would consume all?
The memory plunged all of us into this world of unending limits. It was like being abandoned in the depths of the ocean with no clear sign of what was up, left, right, or down. Was I upside down? Was I swimming in the correct direction? Would I reach the surface? What was… below me?
Something in my mind couldn’t comprehend any of this. I could see the light touch the horizon of this place, but was it simply a limitation of my mental faculties and eyes, or did this world actually have a limit? This question made what should be clear unclear. The abyss became brighter and brighter, until the darkness vanished entirely, until it looked like an unending world of light. The abyssal darkness was now switched to an abyssal light, where I could not see the horizon.
… It was so bright, yet it only unsettled me even further.
And without anybody answering my questions, a dark crack appeared where the bright crack once existed. Dark clouds of soot streamed from it like a smoking oven. I stared at it.
[“Don’t.”] [Providence’s Will] and the EEE moved in front of Hikari and me, blocking our sight. [“Don’t look at it directly. Even with your soul, the hostile gaze of a being so old that it unfetters any sense of reality would be like a curse. There are limitations—knowledge—that should not be learned.”]
The crack grew wider until I saw the outline of what looked like an eye. The two friendly elementals moved around, adjusting themselves to block only the pupil, while Hikari and I could see the pitch-black iris. The eye… it continued shedding as if it were a scalekin, breaking out newer layers as it kept growing.
“Ah—”
I snapped my head around when I heard that small sound, only to see something evaporate into nothing. Black clouds… vanishing. The memory didn’t freeze. The elemental let it all happen before me without showing me what had just happened, but I knew it was related to the Dark Elemental Emperor. After all, once the cloud vanished, the abyssal light dimmed, returning to its prior state as the world of shadows.
“Kraaaaaaaaaiiiiiiiahhh!” With a wild, untamed roar, the eye broke apart as a skeletal being burst out of it, shining a bright light in this darkness like a lighthouse. Both elementals then moved away, exposing Hikari and me to the sight of this being. “Do not look at us, Hestia. Hikari.”
Huh? My eyes widened as I heard those words escape that skeletal being’s clacking mouth.
[“… Even here? Aurena?”] I heard the WWEE speak.
I needed an explanation, but neither my mind nor mouth wished to pose that question. A desire grew in my heart that overwhelmed any sense I had. I wanted to know more! A gluttony for knowledge; yes, I wanted to know more! I wanted to see what happened here! My eyes did not deviate from the sight of the skeletal beast, no matter whose voice I heard, and I was glad to do so as the black crack kept opening.
A tentacled creature with a gaping mouth tha██████
Ah? What? Did my mind just go—
The sight of the creature was████████ and it only got more grand as ███████ Oh, the flam█████████████ !
Huh? Huh? What is going on with my mind? Why is my vision blurring?
████ of the ea██████ and the█████ forces████████ Honestly, how did they █████
… What is going on in my head? These aren’t my thoughts. What’s going on? Huh?
?╘|￡??πe?┤?D??Θ↑Ω±?B￠ ████████████████████
Arrrrghkkk, what the—
[“Move!”] [Providence’s Will] and the EEE pushed both Hikari and me outside of the darkness, causing us to fall into a perpetual hole of darkness. Wind was pressing against our back as it felt like something was trying to bring us back to that—
Wait. My thoughts are back.
All those random words spoken in my voice vanished from my head, and I was able to start forming coherent thoughts again. The weird static noise and blankness in my mind, as if my brain was trying to internalize something only for me to lose that learned information, was finally silenced, and my inability to look away from the darkness stopped.
I looked over at Hikari, but something weird was happening behind her. Apparently, something similar was happening behind me as well and she gave me the same confused look I was giving her.
Instead of a long-winded memory, a PowerPoint slideshow flashed before my eyes.
“Dark!” The Light Elemental Emperor shrieked as the Dark Elemental Emperor was absorbed into the world of darkness by a figure in the dark, their silhouette hidden by an ever-moving cloud of smoke. “Ahhhhh! Dark! Noooooo!”
“No, run! Run!” Wind screamed as they grabbed Light, turning themselves into a giant tornado that escaped from the sudden attack by six unknown attackers. However, they didn’t get far as water started gathering into droplets inside the tornado, pulling the Wind Elemental Emperor to a mass of green water before it turned into the head of a fish.
“… Their language is an assortment of growls and grunts through vocal chords similar to our worshippers back home. Tongue clicking, teeth clashing, and lip movements form the noises needed to communicate. The most common form of their mortal… is this. Bipedal. Twin limbs. Endurance build,” the fish said as the different silhouettes started to take the form of humanoids, although none of them had a clear appearance.
“Let us go! Let us go!” Wind begged, though as if they were frozen in time, the wind forming their body didn’t move one bit.
“You are the divine authorities in this world?” the fish head, having obtained a feminine voice, asked, only for a shadowy humanoid to answer in Wind’s stead.
“The soul authority has been taken when my daughter and I entered the world,” he said. “Yes. This is the world’s ‘paradise.’ The divine realm as these amalgamations of energy—mana, as these Peolyncians call it—call it.”
“Then—”
“Release them!” Water shouted before turning themselves into a giant tsunami, crashing against the six silhouettes, only for a huge portion of the water to vanish into two blackholes. “Wha—!”
“Archdemon-level,” a woman made from rocks and dust stated. “Higher order, though. Demi-gods.”
Even if I knew who these people were, considering the context, I could not recognize their voices. Even this person—without a doubt, Crustacia—didn’t sound like the person I had met after the Event Quest disaster.
“So there are no true divine authorities yet,” a winged figure clad in white light stated. “We may assume these empty spots. Elemental Emperors, we are beings from a universe—nay, a dimension—far, far away from yours. You may call it ‘Edjurl’ in your language. We will request once again—may we assume control over the divine authorities of your world and become its ‘primarchs’?”
Not even Aurena sounds the same. It’s almost as if they are two different people.
However, before these invaders could gain an answer, Fire and Earth burst from the ground and grabbed their injured companions before they flew away. Considering how, probably, Plesia and Marsven stopped two of the Elemental Emperors as if they were “ants,” as Crustacia called them, they could have done something here as well, but they let the elementals flee.
“… I feel weakened. None know of our names here, Sto█”
Urrrgh! S-so that’s what this blankness was! Arrrgh! Just listening to their true names felt like my mind, no, my soul was about to break. This same feeling I had when I first met Aurena felt as painful as back then. It felt like my soul still wasn’t whole, vulnerable to the influences of these divine presences.
As if they felt it as well, [Providence’s Will] and the EEE gathered around Hikari and me, orbiting us once again. [“Don’t separate. You two are one whole soul.”]
Hikari and I grabbed each other’s hands, holding each other together as we spiral through this slideshow of memories. We continued watching.
The invaders didn’t chase after the elementals as they started to do something with the divine realm, though the memories stopped here as the WWEE weren’t there to witness. However, instead, the memories shifted to what had happened afterward—the elementals were losing their divine mana.
Fire felt it first as they crashed from the divine realm, as the elementals were discussing what to do with the invaders, crashing into the middle of Altrust, just slightly north of the Great Desert of Evida. From what I remembered, that portion of the world should be part of the ocean, though.
Like a meteorite striking a planet, the land was torn asunder while the elemental’s cries of pain caused the sky to turn red. Their fire mana corroded this portion of the world as a rain of fire darkened the entire world for three days. It was as if a lunar eclipse had hidden the sun for all that time, but it somehow didn’t stop the sun from feeding the world.
Light could be seen here and there, shining so brightly that it was impossible to look into it. It nourished the plantlife with solar energy, while warming those close to these pillars of sunshine. The Light Elemental Emperor’s worshipper thought this was done by them, but from the reaction of Light in the divine realm, it was Aurena’s.
“My followers! No! I-I didn’t—” Light broke down despite the fact that their name was constantly called. None of these people knew another god had saved them.
Unfortunately, that misunderstanding would soon be absolved, and Light’s chagrin would only grow. For on the third day, the sky cleared as a grand tsunami washed away the fiery crater the Fire Elemental Emperor had left behind, forcing them to flee as Plesia’s water healed the wound left behind on the land. The people, the environment, and the buildings that once made this destroyed region their home were forgotten as it was overshadowed by the bountiful rain afterward.
Light shone down on the world as the silhouettes of the invaders started to appear behind the black, raining clouds. When the rain stopped, the figures revealed themselves to the world like a sign from the heavens.
An angelic woman, a mermaid with the bottom of a kraken, a demure woman with twintails, a young girl with rainbow-colored butterfly wings, a burning wickerman with wings of flames, and a man with eyes covering their bodies were shown. They did not speak as the world was stunned, but all would become clear as a particular blue screen appeared in front of all of them.
The bottomless hole finally stopped as Hikari and I landed on the mortal realm, though, somewhere we couldn’t tell. It didn’t matter though since the slideshow hadn’t ended.
In the middle of where Carmaniate was, Shiterno had caught up to Fire as they began their fight with the cheers of the denizens there. A fiery explosion erupted as it scorched the entirety of this region, drenching the grounds with so much mana that mutations quickly took over the land. The land had turned into something similar to a monster-infested area with how diverse its environments were, from a moist marshland to the south and a freezing hell in the north.
“Do not kill them, He█” Plesia said to Shiterno after the latter had finished the Fire Elemental Emperor like a bloodhound. “This land… is rather undeveloped. Let us show the world, especially those hopeless beastmen, what we gods can do to this world.”
Urgh, can’t get used to it. I complained, but the pain quickly subsided as I saw the “miracle” at work, terraforming the past Carmaniate to its current state.
“Praise Danterno! Praise Plesia! Praise Crustacia! Praise Zephira!” the people cried. “They are our true gods! Our world now has protectors! They watch us and help us!”
“I-it’s a miracle! Such a potent healing magic, even without elementals! Ooooh, praise the miracle giver—Goddess Aurena!”
“Bring us safety, God of Darkness. Oh, you bring us safety in the night and against our enemies. Please… save us.”
Within a week, the world had changed.
“Praise the ‘Origin Gods!’”
The Descent of the Origin Gods had weakened the elemental emperors entirely. Just like Fire, their fall from the heavens was swift. Each, feeling betrayed by their followers, was overwhelmed by their emotions and instincts. Just like any other fae, they did not think; they simply acted on what they desired, and right now, they could only desire to return to the realm they had created.
“Aurena! You are a false usurper! The Light Elemental Emperor will not yield to you!”
“Oh, pitiful followers of a mere mortal. The age of the elementals is gone! Do not deny the descent of a true goddess! Not one made from our wishes, but one who came to answer us!”
Elves, humans, and beastmen populated both sides of the holy war. Once brothers and sisters in faith, now divided as both sides would not give up on their preferred deity.
[“Do you see why I disagree?”]
I turned around, seeing the mana cloud of the Water-Wind Elemental Emperor approach me.
[“Yes, the gods must be ideal to our thinking and wishes, but what matters more than that is power! Like you said at first: a god is a ruler who possesses divine authority! They are natural disasters made flesh, and none shall deny their might!”]
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