When that "God" first met the white-haired boy—Al Cranel—only one primal desire gripped his heart: to possess him at any cost and claim him for his Familia in every sense of the word.
The boy's hair, white as virgin snow, and his eyes, which held a pure passion more crimson and diabolical than the wine of the gods, made the deity realize instantly that this youth was an "anomaly." He lacked something fundamental as a human being, just as that pariah god did himself.
Standing before the boy, a torrent of emotions overwhelmed the God, feelings that defied simple description.
It was not envy, nor joy, and certainly not anger.
It was the ecstasy of discovering a long-lost treasure after years of searching. At that moment, he nearly lost control of his impulse to seize the boy.
A premonition struck him: this youth was the only being capable of bringing a "madness" to the world that would rival or even surpass his own.
This boy is my other half; he is my destiny.
"If I let him go now, I will never meet his like again," the God thought. But as he reached out to bring him into his Familia, the boy spoke a name that sent a violent shock through the God's very being.
── Could this boy be the Hero Candidate raised by the Great God?!
Many among their kin knew the truth: the "Great God"—who hailed from the same homeland and was regarded by this God as a father figure—was nurturing the egg of the Final Hero, that divine genius destined to complete the "Salvation of the World."
── That Great God! He raised him! The Hero Candidate! I never imagined he would be such an anomaly!
But that, of course, was what made it entertaining. The God could not hide his sheer delight that the child smothered in the Great God's love had grown into an aberration that should not exist in the human world. As the God laughed hysterically in public, the boy looked at him as one would a suspicious stranger and walked away. In that moment, the God decided not to pursue him by force.
Instead, he chose to watch the boy from afar, a witness awaiting the "Shura" (the path of carnage and blood) the youth would inevitably walk.
── Remaining under the guardianship of Loki or Freya—the masters of the great Familias—or even with benevolent deities like Demeter or Hestia, will allow him to produce a far more exquisite "madness" than if he were with me.
Beyond that... the God wanted to see the end with his own eyes. Confident in his decision to monitor the boy's growth, a distorted smile, ill-suited to his handsome features, spread across his face as he contemplated the youth's future.
Since the boy had reached that anomalous state despite the Great God's upbringing, the God felt certain of his potential. He introduced him to Loki, the goddess of the Loki Familia, one of the city's two pillars of power.
As expected, Loki, who was always drawn to striking appearances, cared little for the strangeness of his eyes and inducted him into her Familia exactly as the God had planned. From that moment on, the God began placing "trials" in the boy's path in secret, much as the Great God had once imposed tasks upon the "Hero of Divine Artifice."
At times, he would release a hatchling dragon into the upper floors after feeding it magic stones to bolster its strength.
At other times, he manipulated the evil god Thanatos to unleash his divine pressure within the Dungeon, creating a monstrous black entity.
Other times still, he sent notorious high-ranking sinners toward the boy to force him to take their lives with his own hands, or he set a trap for the Gale Wind and sent the Juggernaut after her.
All of this aimed to temper the boy, pushing him toward the soaring peaks. These were the means to dye the boy's soul in a deeper hue and transform him into a true anomaly.
The boy met the God's expectations in the best possible way; he grew at a pace that defied all logic and annihilated countless monsters.
The boy possessed a singular talent. The God believed that one day he would become the strongest existence of his era, perhaps even rivaling the Empress of the Hera Familia, who had long been a thorn in the God's side.
As the boy achieved great deeds and gathered fame, the God watched from the shadows with intense focus, observing those eyes that gleamed with a terrifying luster.
The beauty of that sight granted the God an overwhelming happiness, akin to the intoxication of the finest divine wine. When he learned that his dear, foolish "Priestess" had formed a party with the boy—and had even fallen in love with him—he laughed for an entire day in pure amusement.
The boy's soul was drowning in a deeper madness.
The boy's brilliance was growing ever brighter.
And with all of it, the God's obsession with the boy intensified.
The other gods were enchanted by that radiance and began to move, seeking to bond with him, to draw near, and to mingle, which radically altered the environment surrounding him.
The boy, who had transitioned from a "Hero Candidate" under the Great God's protection to a full "Anomaly," was now on the cusp of inaugurating a new era.
The God laughed again as he watched him, imagining the turbulent "Heroic Epic" the boy would incite, feeling an indescribable pleasure as he considered the fate of the world.
He was entirely certain that when the boy wove his own story, it would be something truly magnificent.
But as time passed, a flaw began to mar that happiness.
── Is it not time yet?
The madness lurking in those eyes was a desire for death. The God believed the boy sought pleasure by exploiting others and that he cared nothing for his own end once his desires were sated—or rather, the God thought the "End" was the goal itself. Thus, he began to feel puzzled.
Several years had passed since he first set his sights on the boy. The youth was now a hero in Orario, yet he had not committed the anticipated "Act."
The God was ready to cooperate with all his might if the boy decided to move, but the boy did nothing, despite possessing the power and popularity required to tip the scales.
Those predatory eyes had not changed, and that madness had not withered with time.
So, why? Despite harboring such madness, and despite not numbing himself with divine wine as the God did, how was he still able to live among ordinary people as a normal person? This was the question haunting the God who had watched him for so long.
This boy was unnatural. He was beautiful enough to enchant a god, yet hideous to the extreme. He was an anomalous divine genius trapped in a madness that struck dread even into the God's heart.
That questioning gradually turned into fear. What was the boy waiting for? What did he truly seek? Why did he not move?
What was his desire? His goal? His intent? The God could no longer read the boy's movements, nor understand his objectives; he had failed to comprehend anything about him.
He could no longer measure the boy's ambitions or identify what he was waiting for. This mystery filled the God with anxiety. This boy was insane.
He carried an abnormality that the God himself feared. Even that God, who mocked everything in the Lower World, could not peer into the boy's heart.
Because he understood the depth of that madness, the God failed to grasp the psyche of a boy who suppressed his insanity despite being human, living his life as a "Hero" among the masses.
"── What are you thinking?"
The "God"—the Destroyer of the City—now felt fear.
He feared the boy who had gained enough power to crush his ambitions.
He feared that the madness now closing in on his own neck might ultimately turn against him.
●○●○●
"Right then, will you tell us which Familia you belong to now?"
The group reached the Pantry, their intended destination, after separating from Ais. However, men in white robes—likely members of Evilus—attacked them.
Their training level, however, was low. Although they possessed the Falna, they were merely a collection of amateurs who posed no threat to the Hermes Familia, which consisted of high-level adventurers. They were neutralized in an instant, and Shin, the Elf, subdued and bound them.
"── Tch!"
"Well, silence won't do you any good."
The enemies remained silent, of course, but Lulune pulled something from her pocket, laughing slyly. It was the red [Mystery] liquid—a magical drug illegally distilled from the blood of gods. This red fluid, in which crystals floated, had the power to break the "Lock" binding the Falna engraved on a follower's back.
In other words, this medicine made it possible to read the information recorded within the blessing. When the man in the white robe saw the "Unlock Medicine," his eyes widened. He pressed his lips together as if preparing for the worst, then opened his mouth.
"O God, according to the covenant, I offer you..."
The man muttered in a low voice, then tore his robe to reveal brilliant red rubies that looked like jagged rocks hidden beneath his clothes. They appeared to trap a great fire within them, strapped around his upper body like a rosary.
These were Fire Stones, "Drop Items" from monsters in the Deep Floors. If shattered, they generate an explosive, incinerating flame without any additional processing; they were parts of monster bodies that combined flammability and explosiveness.
The white-robed group were suicide bombers using drop items from the Deep Floor monster, the Flame Rock. They were anomalous believers sacrificing their lives for their organization and their god.
The man did not hesitate. The bombers prepared to incinerate their lives all at once. As he stared at Shin and Lulune, who were frozen in shock, he attempted to trigger the external detonator without a second thought—but he failed.
Two small blades (Kodachi) pierced his arms with terrifying speed, pinning them in place. In his wide, shocked eyes, the image of a masked Elf was reflected. These suicide bombers had not hidden poison in their teeth.
Had they committed suicide by poison without exploding the Fire Stones to char their skin, the "Unlock Medicine" would have revealed their rank, Familia, and primary god. Thus, they had no means of suicide but to blow themselves up.
The man no longer had a way to kill himself. He struggled desperately to pull the blades from his arms in a final act of resistance, but they did not budge an inch.
"That suicide gear... I've seen it before."
The person who had thrown the blades spoke in a voice thick with hatred, describing them as the equipment that had stolen her friends' lives. It was the masked Elf—Gale Wind, Ryu Lion.
Ryu had crossed paths with Al when Hermes asked him to check the Pantry and exterminate the colored monsters. Realizing this might involve Evilus, and knowing her comrade-in-arms Asfi was heading there as well, she offered to help investigate the 24th Floor—where Al would not be going—and accompanied them.
Now, she stood before people wearing the same garments as those she had fought in the past. In other words, these were the remnants of Evilus, whom everyone believed had been annihilated.
Their plans remained unclear, but they certainly intended nothing good. However, there was no time for contemplation.
" 'Perseus'!! These people are the same suicide bombers from the Great War seven years ago!!"
The Gale Wind abandoned her composure and shouted at the top of her lungs. These were individuals who had discarded everything for their mission; the worst possible group, prepared for death. More and more enemies began to arrive, turning their very lives into bombs to assault their opponents.
Drawing on their experience, the Gale Wind and Perseus neutralized the bombers with expertise, but their numbers were overwhelming.
Additionally, they had to contend with the Viola while constantly retreating to avoid the suicide blasts, ensuring the enemy numbers did not easily dwindle.
The members of the Hermes Familia who had not witnessed the Great War began to feel the pressure of this unnatural sight of those who did not fear death. Injuries began to appear among them despite not taking direct hits.
As anxiety gnawed at their hearts over the possibility of defeat, a thunderous explosion roared: "BOOM!!!!" It did not come from a suicide bomber, nor from a Viola attack.
It was a sound like something exploding with immense force.
"── [O you who rain down, incinerate the savages to ash!]"
"[Fusillade Fallarica]!!"
They looked over to see a massive fireball erupt, transforming into numerous bolts of "Fire Arrows" that swept through the area with an earth-shaking roar. Its power was terrifying; the Viola surrounding them vanished without a trace, and dozens of suicide bombers were hurled away by the blast pressure.
As everyone—enemy and ally alike—stood in a daze, the voice of the magical incantation rose once more.
"[Exterminate them, O lightning of exorcism ──"
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