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A nineteen-inch monitor cast a bluish glow across the room.
On the screen, dozens of photos filled the display: weathered stone tablets, cracked and moss-eaten. Under each tablet, lines of translated text stared back at Ryo and Asagi.
{Our people fear Them. Every night, the shaman makes us kneel before Their idols and offer up beautiful young girls and boys.}
{Are these what Gods are supposed to be? They suck the blood of women. They strip them naked and abuse them in front of us.}
{This... they are doing things no different from how humans create children. Are they really gods?}
{The shaman seems delighted by this. After the ritual he tells us our tribe will soon welcome a new 'Divine Child'.}
{'Divine Child'... Hmm, like the Kids who can use the weapons granted by the gods and control metal beasts with divine power to fight off monsters?}
{Did their mothers go through this cruel ritual too? I can't stop thinking about it. I plan to stay in this tribe that saved my life and watch for a while longer.}
There was only one table and one chair in the apartment, so Ryo stood behind the chair, resting his chin lightly on Asagi's shoulder as he read.
"A diary?" he asked.
"Yeah," she replied, trying to ignore how close he was. "They dug this up in the Demon District under Europe. Based on dating, the carvings are at least six thousand years old."
Bloodsucking… divine children… Ryo frowned, then said, "Let's keep going."
{Today I met with the shaman. He says the Devas created beastmen, elves, merfolk and other races. They are the gods who made all life.}
{I asked him if that included humans.}
{He shook his head and said with great sorrow: 'Humans are not. We are sinners, not created by the gods. So we can only live within the borders the gods set, sacrificing offerings in exchange for protection.'}
{Offerings? He means the boys and girls they drain, humiliate and kill?}
{I can't believe it. In my homeland, the Dragons never asked for sacrifices. Don't these people understand that every gift has its price?}
{I refuse to accept this life. I can't imagine having children here only for them to suffer under these gods as well. I need to do something.}
{I didn't tell the shaman. I don't trust him, not yet…}
{...}
{Heh, I should never have accepted that Dragon's assignment to investigate the Western Continent. There are no humans here. Only livestock raised to feed and entertain the gods living on the ground.}
{The ones they call Divine Children contacted me. They want to use me to reach my homeland, to reach the Dragons. They're planning something…}
{I didn't even consider it might be a trap. I agreed right away, because without Dragons, humans would stand no chance against gods.}
{The next day I learned something shocking. The Divine Children contacted other tribes. They even reached beastmen, fairies, and merfolk. I even saw a stone giant sitting beside one of them. They formed an alliance? How long have these children been preparing?}
{Hope... these children's eyes are filled with hope and determination for the future...}
From there, the inscriptions grew faint. Time had eaten away at the stone.
Ryo scrolled through each photo. On the last few intact tablets, he found another set of striking entries.
{We got their weakness, these so-called gods fear sunlight. Sunlight burns their bodies and kills them for real.}
{Haha! If our leader Abel hadn't executed one of them himself, we'd never have known. No wonder Abel said they weren't gods, just blood-sucking monsters. So that's what they really are!}
Another damaged gap.
{The dragons have joined us. We will wage war on these blood-drinking monsters. Humanity will strike back. This is war!}
{We must win. We can only win!}
After that, there were no more records. Ryo straightened up and rubbed the bridge of his nose.
"Well… that was a miscalculation."
These so-called "Devas or gods," judging from the fragments, weren't divine at all. They were a species with genetic engineering and vampire-like traits, almost like something out of a closed-world lab experiment.
Their rule had been brutal, so the races they created joined forces with humans to overthrow them. They ended up as nothing more than ancient history.
It was nothing like Ryo's theory of naturally born divinities. Completely different category of being.
"What do you mean 'miscalculation'?" Asagi asked softly.
"I misjudged what the Deva actually was. Gods afraid of sunlight… seriously?"
Ryo laughed coldly, narrowed his eyes, and murmured. "Though it seems they did absorb human faith for a time. If that's true, they could probably ascend through belief and become demigods."
"Ryo, for the Deva, most scholars on Itogami Island now believe they were just superhuman ancient races, not actual gods."
As she spoke, Asagi closed the photos and opened a series of academic reports.
"According to this research, the difference between the Deva and modern vampires is basically that spirit power became magic power, and they developed familiars as weapons. Aside from that, they aren't all that different."
Ryo's mouth twitched with a self-mocking smile. "Yeah… I get it now."
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