That may be what he says, but is there really no manipulation behind it?
Anyone with even a little sense would know there had to be something going on in the shadows. Otherwise the final outcome would've been the complete annihilation of Loki Familia.
But Bell didn't dig further into that topic.
And to be fair, he wasn't lying. Even if the Lv.8 "Spirit" had been fake, its true Lv.7 strength had been absolutely real.
"Sword Princess, anything else?"
He'd already said everything that needed saying. It was time to part ways.
"Wait."
Bell paused mid-step, turning back with a puzzled look as Ais stopped him.
"I still have something I want to ask."
"Oh~? Then go ahead."
"I want to know… why did the gods of Evilus want to plunge the world into chaos?"
Bell blinked, momentarily thrown off, then let out a small laugh.
"So that's what you were curious about. I thought it'd be something really important."
He had no idea where Ais had gotten this sudden curiosity, but to him, it wasn't something worth hiding.
"That's just the self-important delusion of the Evilus gods."
"Heh~ They wanted to use the world as leverage to see whether the being that created them would care."
Bell snorted with open disdain, casually revealing the very foundation of Evilus's ambitions.
He had thought long and hard about the Evilus group before coming to this conclusion. And once he did, he found it utterly laughable.
To him, it was nothing but the gods' futile, pointless struggle.
To threaten the world in order to intimidate the higher-dimensional existence that created the gods themselves? That was pure arrogance.
Did they really think that causing some commotion would make the World acknowledge them?
In truth, gods were nothing more than canaries created by the world.
Why would the world ever feel threatened by the canaries it created?
"The arrogant gods truly believed such antics would make the 'World' look their way, hoping to force answers to the questions they could never solve."
As he spoke, Bell burst out laughing.
"Pff—hahahahaha!"
"My stomach… those idiots actually think such useless tricks will attract the World's attention? The being capable of creating them—do they think He'd care if they make a mess on the surface?"
"Well, I guess I can understand it. They honestly think the 'World' cares."
Still stifling his laughter, Bell rubbed at his aching stomach.
He looked up at the utterly confused Ais and shook his head lightly. He didn't mind explaining.
After all, this was essentially a secret on a world-scale. The very ambition of the gods of Evilus who longed to drag the world back into chaos.
Ais tilted her head, replaying Bell's scoffing words and that final sentence. Her confusion only deepened.
"The World… is it a person? If that being called 'the World' created the world, why wouldn't He care?"
Once his stomach stopped hurting, Bell straightened up with a faint smile.
"Whether the World is a person… that I truly can't answer. He's likely a higher-dimensional existence—something far beyond gods, and even more distant from humans."
"As for why He doesn't care… Sword Princess, when you use an Elixir, do you keep the bottle afterward?"
Ais responded almost automatically.
"No."
Realizing what she'd said, she stared at Bell in disbelief.
Bell only shrugged and continued.
"Sword Princess, if you created the Elixir, and the bottle was made of precious, irreplaceable material—if it broke, there would be no more—what would you do with it after using the Elixir?"
Ais couldn't stay lost in her earlier confusion. Instead, she seriously pondered his question.
"If the material was valuable, I'd keep the bottle, clean it, and use it again for the Elixir."
Bell nodded approvingly.
"Exactly. Now then—Sword Princess, how many times do you think this world has been cleansed?"
...
"How many times do you think this world has been cleansed?"
Hearing the youth's question echo through the projection, the gods atop the Tower of Babel fell into a stunned, deathly silence.
"Cleansed… how many times…"
The light nearly drained from their eyes.
They didn't want to believe it. Couldn't believe it.
"So… the reason the world doesn't care about Evilus's actions is because once things reach an unrecoverable state, there will be no salvation—it simply resets the world?"
At that moment, the gods finally understood what it felt like to be insects.
During a world-cleansing, gods and insects were the same—helpless beings with no resistance.
Even Hermes, who had mentally prepared himself, felt his heart seize.
'This—this is the truth of the world!?'
If this was the truth, Hermes could think of nothing more cruel.
'If this is the true nature of the world… then once it reaches that point, even the gods cannot escape being reset.'
The thought of everything he had ever done being wiped clean—every moment forced to be lived again—made his breathing grow tight.
His mind instinctively rejected it.
But Hermes quickly realized something:
If there weren't at least some basis for this truth, Bell wouldn't have said it here.
Which meant… this was almost certainly real.
"No way… this kid can't be serious…"
The other gods were equally stunned.
They didn't want to accept it. Yet once exposed, some truths could no longer be ignored—especially those involving the higher-dimensional existence called the World.
"It's probably true."
Loki spoke up, her voice steady. Shock flickered in her eyes, but she could accept the reality.
"That brat might scheme against me and Freya, but he wouldn't lie to my child behind my back just to fool them."
"The things said unintentionally tend to be the truest."