"Kirei, have you found any clues about him?"
Inside a church in Fuyuki City, an elderly priest stood with his back turned to his son, asking about news regarding the target entrusted by the Counter Force to be defeated.
Unlike magi who pursued the Root, the Church, as a religious institution, placed great importance on potential end-of-the-world crises.
Even now, both the old priest and his son had been given the responsibility of confronting such an apocalyptic crisis.
If they failed, the Church would dispatch Executors from the Burial Agency to handle it.
"I've used every method available, yet I still haven't found a single clue."
Kirei replied listlessly. He had mobilized all of Fuyuki Church's resources to search, but not even a trace had surfaced.
Fuyuki City remained as peaceful as ever.
Yet precisely in times like this, the deeper the peace, the more terrifying it felt.
Risei gazed at the empty church and felt a faint unease stirring within.
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"Slow. Too slow."
Looking at the writhing mass of Blacklight Virus—its dark red and black substance churning and merging—Aslan sighed helplessly and muttered quietly:
"After all this time, it still can't fully digest even the most basic Phantasmal Species?"
This wasn't what he had expected. Logically, the evolution speed of the Blacklight Virus—the Last Trial of Mankind—shouldn't be this sluggish.
But in reality, both its evolution and infectivity were unsatisfactory.
More accurately, the Blacklight Virus's capabilities were entirely focused on infection and mass production. It could easily infect and assimilate Six-Digit beings, but struggled against Five-Digit entities.
All genes consumed were recorded across every virus particle. Once infected, every host could manifest in their strongest possible form.
This perfectly aligned with the worldview of Magic-less Technology. But when facing things beyond that worldview, it was powerless.
For example, even the most ordinary Phantasmal Species capable of Magecraft—no matter how completely the Blacklight Virus digested their body—it could never develop a source of Mana.
"The limitations shouldn't be this severe."
"Wait… could it be due to something else? Authority, worldview, and achievements?"
The Blacklight Virus gained the Authority of the Last Trial of Mankind because of the ego of a few high-ranking individuals who created a world-destroying virus.
Much like Aži Dahāka, born from the devastation caused by planet-destroying superweapons and the evil rulers who wielded them.
The overlap between Blacklight's Authority and Aži Dahāka's was extremely high. In fact, the birth of the Blacklight Virus could be considered another manifestation of Absolute Evil.
Currently, the Authority of Absolute Evil is entirely controlled by Aži Dahāka. Naturally, any achievements stemming from Absolute Evil flow toward Aži Dahāka instead.
This causes Aži Dahāka's Authority to continuously swell.
In contrast, Blacklight lacks any other historical support from humanity aside from the title of Last Trial of Mankind.
Without accelerated achievements or backing from human history, the consequence is that Blacklight's growth depends entirely on its own abilities?
Aslan hadn't anticipated that the growth of the Last Trial of Mankind would face resource competition.
Blacklight is Absolute Evil, and Aži Dahāka is also Absolute Evil—but the Absolute Evil is Aži Dahāka.
Thus, all achievements necessary for Blacklight's growth—those born from Absolute Evil—are siphoned away to Aži Dahāka, not to the Blacklight Virus.
Just as with the Last Trial of Mankind, Dystopia, and Absolute Evil born from the Third Perpetual Motion Machine.
Only after Dystopia vanishes does Absolute Evil gain the chance to grow.
That's exactly the relationship between Blacklight and Aži Dahāka now.
Understanding this connection made Aslan feel a headache coming on.
Indeed, the Last Trial of Mankind wasn't easy to deal with.
Suddenly, a pair of cool hands pressed gently against Aslan's temples, softly massaging them.
Aslan lay back into Manaka's lap, receiving both a thigh pillow and gentle massage from the girl.
"What troubles my prince?"
"Perhaps Manaka can help?"
"It's nothing serious. I just wanted to raise a pet, but the Authority of this pet has already been claimed by another existence."
"Then just cut off that existence's Authority—or better yet, kill it?"
Manaka said without hesitation, her sweet voice carrying a hint of cruelty.
In the eyes of a Princess of the Root like her, nothing in the world mattered more than Aslan.
"By the way, what kind of pet does my prince wish to raise? Can Manaka assist?"
"Cutting Authority?"
Aslan murmured softly. His eyes gradually brightened. An idea sparked.
Conflict with Aži Dahāka—this was a disadvantage, but also an opportunity.
After all, Aži Dahāka no longer needed to keep growing. When his Authority swelled to its limit and the Wind of Degeneration arose, the entire Little Garden—and countless human histories across worlds—would be annihilated together.
Aži Dahāka didn't need achievements of Absolute Evil or support from human history. But Blacklight did.
Now was the time for Blacklight to emerge.
"Thank you, Manaka. I've found a way."
Aslan said joyfully—so overjoyed, in fact, that he kissed Manaka's cheek.
Still, this method carried certain risks.
It might even cause the Wind of Degeneration to blow once more.
Now was the time for All the World's Evils and Angra Mainyu to appear.
Using All the World's Evils as a foundation, reconstruct the Authority of Blacklight. Then use Angra Mainyu to draw the attention of the Mother of All Evils.
Aslan didn't believe that the Mother of All Evils—the Two-Digit Human Evil—could have died so easily. She was likely severely wounded and sleeping somewhere.
One who bears the name Mother of All Evils could effortlessly awaken her.
Once she awoke, everything would become simple. Because Absolute Evil inevitably leads to the destruction of humanity.
The Mother of All Evils doesn't want humanity destroyed—so she allowed Aži Dahāka to bear the title of Absolute Evil, becoming a flawed Last Trial of Mankind.
Yet even so, this couldn't prevent the swelling of Absolute Evil's Authority.
Even three years later, Ouroboros had to relinquish Absolute Evil and allow it to be defeated.
Aslan boldly speculated that it wouldn't take years for the Authority of Absolute Evil to reach its limit and trigger the Wind of Degeneration.
The basis of this speculation was the birth of the Savior Kalki. If Little Garden weren't truly approaching its end, why would Kalki be born?
After all, Little Garden's Central Core wouldn't freely bestow the Authority of the Savior without good reason.
This Authority of the Savior isn't an achievement or title earned by Aslan for saving the world, but rather a destined hero fated to save the world.
The closer the apocalypse approaches, the stronger the support the Savior receives from Little Garden's Central Core—even reaching Two-Digit levels.
Avesta, Another Cosmology containing ten different cosmic perspectives, could also be an experiment by the Sun King Group on The Preserver Vishnu.
The Ten Avatars of Vishnu—the first Avatar Ark, the second Cosmic Dragon Kurma, the eighth Krishna, the ninth Siddhartha—are all Two-Digit.
Among them, Siddhartha is Shakyamuni's alias.
The Preserver Vishnu has nothing to do with the Vishnu of Little Garden. It's just that Hinduism exaggerated him too much.
Still, this Authority has a high probability of materializing, making Vishnu extremely unlucky.
All four Two-Digit beings wear the disguise of his Avatars and act in his name. Now Vishnu is utterly resigned.
Hermes faced a similar fate with The Threefold Great Hermes. Once completed, he too will become One-Digit.
However, unlike Vishnu, and unlike Hinduism which proclaims others as his Avatars, Hermes didn't promote himself that way.
Thus, he avoided becoming a subject of experimentation for the Big Shots.