Salmora.
He probably thought I would kill Leon.
It was only natural, considering my past and my actions were a path of destruction.
Whether it was a hero, a demon king, or a god, I destroyed everything and walked upon their ashes.
However.
‘That’s exactly what Salmora would expect.’
Salmora is a man with an extraordinary ability to read the moves of others.
Reading moves doesn’t simply mean predicting the future.
It means identifying a specific path obtained by synthesizing countless past events and actions.
Therefore, he couldn’t help but think I would kill Leon.
My current method, winnowing Leon over, was meant to use that against him.
And.
‘If I can absorb the Church of Creation, which has already dominated the world, I can reduce unnecessary sacrifices and time.’
It is time to think about efficiency.
This is because this is no longer a fight against the Demon Clan or gods.
It is human versus human and when that war and conflict break out, it is the humans who are sacrificed.
When I had separated my emotions, I wondered what that mattered.
But now, I can clearly realize it.
‘To get ahead of his moves, the path of destruction and the Asura is not enough.’
To overturn the expectations of the man who understands me, I needed a path of mercy.
And that start would be the most useful one, the creation god Leon.
“You’re… forgiving me?”
A questioning gaze follows.
It is only natural.
He truly tried to kill me.
To spare someone who harbored murderous intent?
That must be unexpected.
“Salmora must have told you. How wicked and cruel I was.”
Leon is a vessel that has only just been created.
That heart of his is as pure as a newborn baby’s.
And to use him, Salmora would have needed me to be the villain.
Thus, he must have injected him with all sorts of infamy and malicious talk.
But such a villain spares him despite his obvious murderous intent?
He must be confused.
However.
“You have talent. You’re just stagnant because you haven’t found a proper teacher. And Salmora wouldn’t have been able to show you that path.”
Of course, Salmora is strong.
But his strength is not karma built through training, but knowledge and schemes.
That might be a great ability for a counselor, scholar, or researcher, but it is not appropriate for those like Leon who accumulate karma.
These aren’t just empty words.
I am the only one who can show him the proper path.
I was a true teacher who could make him walk the right way.
“Of course, if you refuse, that’s the end of it. But don’t you want to obtain it? My sword from earlier, and that will. If it’s you, it’s entirely possible to manifest it.”
Of course, if Leon refuses, this all ends.
But it was something worth trying at least once.
A foothold for a reversal to strike back at Salmora, who is surely plotting something in the shadows.
A face deep in thought.
If Salmora had been here, he would have confused the boy, but there is no one here to interfere.
“…Could I, like you, handle such a sword?”
His humble tone and hostility had changed to polite speech and respect.
It was clear that his reaction had already crossed more than halfway over.
But I couldn’t be relieved yet.
“If it’s you, it’s possible. You have innate talent, so you might even surpass me before long.”
This wasn’t an exaggeration meant to tempt him.
Even though he lost to me, Leon is a creation god.
Of course, his divine rank permanently disappeared with the destruction of Asgard, but he is still a being with immense talent and rank.
It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that, excluding him, there is no one in this world capable of manifesting my sword.
“But Father…”
Father.
That must refer to Salmora.
“Father, you say. You should know by now. The fact that he isn’t your father. And that he intended to use you.”
“…”
Now, I need to tell him the reality.
“Salmora’s desire is the perfection of knowledge. He has no interest in anything other than satisfying his lust for knowledge. Your birth must have also been caused by his desire for knowledge.”
“…”
He cannot refute it.
Leon, he knows.
He knows he cannot contradict my words.
That it was the truth he had tried so hard to hide.
“And the truth that he sent you to your death, knowing I would kill you.”
Salmora is one of the few beings who knows me best.
If it was him, he would have known I would surpass Leon by any means necessary.
No.
‘Perhaps he was trying to verify something through Leon’s death.’
Putting forward an incomplete Leon.
Accepting this duel was all part of a plan he had established.
That was why I couldn’t kill Leon even more.
“Now, choose. Will you sacrifice even the church that believes in you through a hollow death, or will you take this hand to suppress unnecessary sacrifices and find your own path?”
In fact, it was no different from a choice without options.
Leon grabbed my hand.
“I was… foolish.”
Leon realized his limits and acknowledged those limits.
That is also the first step toward transcending them.
“What happened…?”
“What’s with the atmosphere all of a sudden?”
Rather, it was the Church of Creation’s side that didn’t understand.
Until just a moment ago, they were ready to kill the Order of Victory and me, branding us as heretics.
But not only had their master, Leon, been defeated, he had also taken my hand.
“Everyone, listen!”
And Leon knew what he had to do.
“From this moment on, the Order of Victory and the Church of Creation are one.”
At those words, the confusion in the venue grew even greater.
They were one?
Until just a moment ago, they were calling each other heretics and engaging in a war of annihilation that wouldn’t end until they killed each other.
“We are… all the same humans.”
Leon, who was a divine being until recently but as Asgard collapsed, he became human.
Of course, he possessed power that didn’t seem human, but since he was staying in this world anyway, he was a human.
A human who must eat food.
A human who can only survive if they sleep.
“The situation is such that we haven’t even completely dealt with the remaining remnants of the Demon Clan. Is it really the right path to still fight for each other’s interests in what can be called a crisis for humanity?”
Perhaps it was because he was by Salmora’s side.
Not only does he grasp reality well, but he is also quite eloquent.
“There is no longer a need for that. Despite my defeat, the Order of Victory has shown mercy. It is a natural human duty to repay a favor after receiving grace. Therefore, I have chosen that one path for everyone, going beyond the animosity of the churches to become one.”
Was it because that persuasion worked?
“Indeed!”
“Those words are correct!”
“Oh—Great Creation God!”
“Leon!”
Persuaded by those words, people began to cry out Leon’s name.
“And there is something I must reveal here.”
In the atmosphere of fanaticism, Leon decided to reveal one fact.
“Everyone, from now on, I am not the God of Creation, nor am I Taecho.”
At that shocking statement.
“…What?”
“What does that mean?”
People were flustered.
He’s not the God of Creation.
“Not long ago, Asgard, which manages divine ranks, collapsed.”
Saying so, he glanced at me.
“Due to the collapse of Asgard, every being you consider a god has been extinguished.”
To be precise, it is the blocking of the intervention of divine ranks, similar to the Twilight of the Gods I caused in the past.
Asgard is like the command center that creates divine ranks.
With that gone, divine ranks can no longer exist.
Everything that remains in this world exists only as a human or a species.
The Twilight of the Gods I caused in the past was to seal the gods for a certain period of time.
However, through the Sword of Genesis, Asgard has completely collapsed, and the beings called gods are now in a state where they can never interfere in this world again.
“That is why I am also a human just like you. You could say I have lost the qualification to be called the God of Creation.”
That was a declaration made with quite a bit of courage.
“…”
In an instant, the expressions of the church members who had lost the God of Creation, their master, were a mess.
That meant.
“Then?!”
“No, way…?”
The gaze of the Order of Victory toward me was the same.
“That’s right. I have also lost the Status of Victory.”
There is no reason to hide it.
“The world of the gods has come to an end.”
The fact that the world of the gods had ended meant one thing.
“And our era, the era of humans, has begun.”
A world where gods can no longer interfere.
A world purely enjoyed by humans, without gods like in the past, has begun.
“Therefore, there is no longer a need to believe in someone or rely on them.” Leon declared, “Please believe. Divine ranks no longer exist, and the only things to believe in are ourselves. And humanity.”
Until recently, worshipping a god could yield immense benefits.
From consumables to artifacts and even authority.
But that era has passed.
The only thing to believe in is oneself.
“As of today, I will dissolve the Church of Creation.”
A declaration of the dissolution of the Church of Creation.
Of course, it was the same for me.
“The Order of Victory ends here as well.”
Even though it was a fate that had already run its course, ending it officially held a different meaning.
The era where humans once again ruled the world had come.
***
A laboratory shrouded in darkness.
There was someone there, wearing a characteristic smile.
“As expected of Valdevron Brocia. No, Kim Si-won. It’s an idea worthy of the one I chose and recognized!”
Salmora.
The one who hadn’t shown himself until the very end was looking at a crystal ball in one corner of the laboratory.
Visible there were Kim Si-won and Leon, declaring the era of humans.
He was sitting quietly, watching what was happening in a very distant place.
Kim Si-won’s move.
It was certainly something that went against Salmora’s expectations.
He suddenly found himself having to change all his plans, but he didn’t care.
Rather he seemed to be in a pleasant mood, even humming.
“Humming~!”
“Yes. It wouldn’t be fun if it ended like this. No, I would have been disappointed if it had ended that way. He-he-he.”
If he had chosen to kill Leon.
If he had chosen the move Salmora had predicted, the game would have ended there.
But this time, Kim Si-won made a choice that defied his expectations and walked the only path of survival.
However.
“How long do you think that will last?”
He laughs gloomily, enlarging the image of Kim Si-won in the crystal ball.
“Rustle.”
He then covered the crystal ball with a black cloth and left the spot.
A lingering afterimage of light remained wherever he passed.
“Glub, glub.”
There was something inside a giant crystal tube filled with liquid.
Surprisingly, it was a living, moving creature but it wasn’t complete yet.
It was pulsating small, surrounded by a round membrane, as if cells were dividing.
“It’s soon.”
There isn’t much time left.
“Now that all the questions about the Demon Clan, humans, and gods have been solved, the most perfect species will be born.”
Through his experiments so far, he had solved the secrets of all species.
That amazing lust for knowledge had given birth to a single life form.
That was the most perfect species.
It was his most perfect masterpiece, to be called the New Humanity.