The Evil God Beyond the Smartphone

Chapter 178: Cerubim: Estasia (1)

All my memories came back vividly.

The cruel reality that I had been ignoring was still there.

I couldn’t make it disappear by turning away and avoiding it.

I was nothing but her toy, standing here.

“Estelle…”

I had lost too many things.

I couldn’t deny my weakness that failed to protect anything.

But the one who pushed me to the limit was undoubtedly Estelle in front of me.

She wanted something.

I couldn’t guess what it was.

So I had to hear it now.

“What is your purpose?”

“Are you curious?”

“Tell me.”

I glared at her, who was still smiling, and she spun her parasol leisurely.

Round.

Our eyes met across the spinning parasol.

I was sure of it.

She wouldn’t avoid my question now.

Just like she had told me everything when I didn’t know anything.

“Fine. I’ll tell you everything. I’m creating a new god.”

“How to create a god…”

“More precisely, a god who will be my counterpart on the zenith of karma.”

“Is that why you destroyed this world?”

“Partly, yes. I had to destroy this world to give birth to a god. I needed a massive amount of karma. But you see–.”

Her mysterious eyes shone with a lofty atmosphere.

Her eyes always seemed to be far above me, and they still looked down on me from afar.

“Don’t you think it’s fun to destroy a sandcastle that someone built with difficulty with your own hands?”

“What…?”

“What kind of expression would the mortals have when they see their sandcastle crumble in front of them?”

It was a dangerous look.

It was the eye of someone who wouldn’t hesitate to kill or ruin people over and over again.

But what was more dangerous was that the target was not limited to humans.

“And what kind of expression would the gods have when they face that situation themselves?”

“You, don’t tell me–.”

Estelle’s goal was to make me a god.

She wanted to create someone who would be her counterpart in a godless Earth.

But that was not all.

She also wanted to put the world beyond the smartphone in her palm.

“The zenith of karma is the most effective way for gods to exert their influence in lower dimensions outside their realm. But there is a mechanism called causality rate that limits the excessive intervention of gods.”

“Causality rate adjustment…”

“So the six goddesses created a new god who would play the role of a counterpart. Estelle, the god of retrogression. A fake divinity that they could easily control.”

I remembered the girl who had told me her name for the first time in Estelle’s story.

The god of retrogression, Estelle.

It was the name that the girl in front of me had introduced to me first.

And it was also the name that she had been claiming herself as the goddess of harmony.

“But now I’m Estelle. You can understand what that means, right?”

“Don’t tell me, you betrayed the goddesses.”

“Yes, I did. It was all my doing, to induce an imbalance of causality rate among the six goddesses, and to take away the evil god’s divinity that he used to abuse every time he killed.”

I finally understood.

I could explain all the strange phenomena that I had experienced so far.

The game on the smartphone was very unfriendly, but the game flow was strangely kind to me.

It was because there was someone who had always been watching me from beyond.

“That’s why you helped me by using the game framework…”

“Yes. I did. I was planning to use you to bring down the other gods.”

There were many hints from the beginning.

That Estasia and Aronia knew each other.

And that Aronia had received a trust from the goddess of harmony for that reason.

It was the same for what the heroes said about the different situation from before.

In the confrontation between the evil god and the goddesses that had been repeated until now, neither side was sincere.

“That’s why the goddess of order was very angry. She showed actions that she wouldn’t normally do.”

“So from start to finish, everything was playing in your palm.”

“I guess so. It was a fun puppet show.”

As Estelle spoke without losing her smile, I unknowingly gritted my teeth.

Crunch.

I felt Estelle’s emotion in my distorted sense.

I could never understand her way of thinking.

“What do you think of people…?”

“Do you really need to be so angry?”

“You killed all my precious people, and made me a murderer without knowing anything… And now you tell me not to even get angry?”

My rage reached its limit, but it only made me laugh.

I laughed because the situation was absurd.

It was a series of ridiculous stories.

And beyond all those stories, there was a being that I would never understand in my life.

“I decided to be with you. Not the other goddesses who are hiding like cowards.”

“You…”

“Don’t be sad. I’ll always be with you.”

One step. And another step.

The distance between Estelle and me, who had been apart, got closer.

As the distance between the two got closer, the gap between the emotions that were tied to each other grew bigger.

The capricious god approached me without any hesitation.

And she smiled brighter than ever as she spoke to me.

“Shall we do something bad together?”

As she said that, Estelle handed me the smartphone she was holding.

It was the smartphone that Estelle had given me as a gift when I had lost everything.

A new message popped up on the smartphone that Estelle handed me.

It was a message that showed the updated quest conditions for the <Descent> skill.

It was also the last offer that she gave me, who had controlled everything until now.

– Every time you meet one of the following conditions, the progress of <Descent> will increase by one level.

– Available karma: 1628 / 999999 (Incomplete)

– [Sacred Relic: Ergus’s Stake]: 1 / 1 (Complete)

– [Philosopher’s Stone]: 1 / 1 (Complete)

– [Heart of Origin]: 0 / 1 (Incomplete)

– Make a body for Descent (Complete)

The minimum number of kills is 500,000.

It’s a number that can never be filled unless it’s a war.

Estelle still wanted me to kill countless lives with this small device.

She wanted me to decide for myself, not by the sweet dream she showed me.

It was an absurd proposal.

I couldn’t accept such a proposal even if I knew everything.

“Do you think… I’ll accept this?”

“Don’t you like it?”

“You’ve killed millions, tens of millions… no, billions with your hand so far.”

The number of people who died by Estelle’s hand was beyond count.

And she wanted me to kill hundreds of thousands more with my own hand.

It was an insane proposal.

“How can you ask me to kill more people now!”

I shouted, letting out the air that filled my lungs.

It was like a scream that echoed in the room.

It was a clear refusal.

But Estelle didn’t hesitate and reached out to me.

She handed me the smartphone she was holding and gently caressed my cheek with her gloved hand.

I felt the soft touch of the fabric on my cheek.

“You know you can’t refuse, right?”

“You…”

“I prepared a gift for you, since you achieved your goal. It would be a shame if you didn’t accept it.”

A gift.

My mind stopped when I heard that.

The words on the smartphone in my hand lingered in my head.

I had a feeling I knew what her gift was.

“A gift…?”

“You don’t want to be alone forever, do you? So I’ll help you to be with those kids.”

That was why I kept seeing those inexplicable quests.

And that was why I kept trying to complete those impossible quests.

All my actions were leading to one truth.

“<Descent>… You don’t mean…”

“Yes. It’s my gift to you. To create a paradise for you and the ones you love.”

Estelle had one thing to tell me.

She would give me the chance I had always wanted.

She would give me the opportunity to escape from this ruined world.

Not to the Earth that had become a wasteland, but to the world beyond the crystal where the apostles were waiting.

“Me, there…”

“I know you won’t refuse. You know better than anyone what will happen to the apostles who were abandoned by the god.”

What followed was a threat.

A cruel threat that everything I had left might disappear.

My hand that was holding the smartphone with the screen on started to tremble.

Should I kill people or abandon them?

I had a cruel choice in my hand.

“So I hope you keep up the good work. Until we drive away the evil five goddesses with our evil god’s hand.”

Estelle, who had forced me to make a cruel choice, turned around.

Only her black parasol entered my sight.

Click. Click.

She walked away with a relaxed step, but soon turned her head as if she had forgotten something.

The girl with the jet-black hair that fluttered in the wind spoke to me one last time.

“Oh. And since you might have some trouble while you’re alone, I’ll attach a kid who won’t cause any problems to the plan even if he leaves the order as your escort.”

Right after Estelle’s last words.

My sight went dark.

* * * * * *

When I opened my eyes again, I was lying on a bed with someone’s lap as a pillow.

In the studio room with the light on, there was a TV in good condition.

The realm of god.

It was the scenery of the world that I had longed for many times.

A false space created by my longing for the past.

“Are you awake?”

As I regained my senses and tried to figure out the situation, I heard a stranger’s voice in my ear.

I slowly turned my eyes to the owner of the voice, and there was a girl with silver hair that flowed down.

Above the girl’s head, there was a halo shining brightly.

White wings and a glowing halo.

The identity of the girl who looked like an angel was obvious to anyone.

“Estasia…”

“Yes.”

Estasia.

The lazy angel that I had created using <Creature Maker>.

She was in my studio room.

It wasn’t strange that a game character popped out after I had faced a dream character just before.

I asked Estasia with a hollow voice.

“So you’re here now?”

“I came here because you called me, master.”

That reminded me of what Estelle had told me last.

She had said that she would attach someone who wouldn’t cause any problems to the quest even if he left the order as my escort.

It seemed that Estasia was the one she had chosen.

Estasia would be fine even if she left the order, since she could still perform the war.

Aronia would hold the branch of the order anyway.

“Who is your master among the two of us?”

But there was something I had to make sure of.

She had come here by Estelle’s will.

It was Estelle who had paid the karma to bring Estasia, and who had brought her directly to my studio room.

So I had to ask Estasia.

Whose side was she on in this place?

“I don’t know. What do you mean?”

“Estasia. Who is your master, me or Estelle?”

Who was the one who gave orders to her, Estelle or me, who was holding the smartphone?

When I asked her that, Estasia tilted her head at my question.

She looked at me with a puzzled expression, as if she couldn’t understand my question.

“Who is Estelle?”

“The goddess of harmony.”

“But my master whom I made a contract with is not a goddess.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes.”

I felt relieved when I heard Estasia’s answer.

Even though the smartphone I received was a miracle from Estelle, it seemed that all the contracts made inside it were connected to me.

Considering Estasia’s personality, she was unlikely to lie calmly.

I could trust her words as the truth.

“I hope you stay on my side no matter what.”

“I won’t do anything even if you say that.”

“Well, that’s you.”

I chuckled at Estasia’s answer.

My mood, which had sunk to the bottom, improved a little.

The angel in front of me was someone who brightened up the surroundings wherever she was.

Estelle must have brought her here for that reason.

“I can’t give up as I please now.”

I reached out and picked up the smartphone that was on the bedside table.

There was a time when I was with Estelle in the evening.

I smiled as I looked at the characters beyond the smartphone.

I was happy just by staring at the screen back then.

But not anymore.

Every time I looked at the screen, I felt uncomfortable emotions mixed together, as if I was walking through a swampy swamp.

“Is that so?”

“It must be.”

The game that Estelle created always forced me to choose.

It was the same this time.

Should I lose everything and remain noble?

Should I gain everything and survive vilely?

I had an inevitable choice in front of me.

“Should I stay good or evil? It’s time for me to decide.”

If I stained my dirty hand with more blood of hundreds of thousands, I could have a happy future in the place where the apostles were.

If I followed my will and stopped the slaughter, I would lose the apostles and be left alone in the ruined world.

It was a cowardly proposal.

It was a choice that forced me to choose evil with my own hand.

As I looked at the smartphone and recalled the choice given to me, Estasia asked me a question.

“So, which side do you want to stand on, master?”

“Me? I am…”

I had to choose a side.

I had to decide what I wanted to be.

It was a very difficult question.

But it was also a question that had an answer from the start.

“I am…”

I had been playing the game for a long time.

During that time, I had created many apostles and harvested many lives.

The story that we had built together was not something that I could discard now, even if I wanted to.

I could not abandon my apostles.

Estelle was right.

From the day I first stained my hands with blood, the answer was already set.

“I am, perhaps…”

I had been pretending not to know, but now I had to admit it.

From the day I was drunk and numb.

From the day I lost my comrades and cried out in misery.

And from the day I handed over my smartphone to Estelle completely.

From that day on, I became–

“A god of evil.”

I had become a god of evil beyond the smartphone.