Several hundred years ago,
the people of the Lower World felt something very complicated when they looked upon the gods who had descended for the first time.
Anger at the destruction of the towers they had painstakingly built.
Awe at the sight of even grander, even more colossal towers being erected in an instant.
Doubt toward the gods' proposal.
And...
fear of beings higher than themselves.
The gods do not grow.
They are eternal, unchanging beings.
Even if they die, they are omnipotent beings who will return again after thousands of years have passed.
That was what a god was.
Unlike now, people several hundred years ago are said to have felt fear when they looked at the gods.
Then do omnipotent gods also feel fear?
The answer was,
"...It really is... Pandora?"
"Hiiik!?"
"The poor child..."
The gods feel fear too.
[...I ask you, Bellf Crozzo the smith. Do you know who Pandora is?]
"Haah..."
The gods are not omnipotent.
That was something Pandora occasionally said before the trial began.
All kinds of gazes could be felt from the luxurious spectator seats.
"Pandora... why did she come back?"
Fear.
"Shouldn't we kill her right away?"
Anxiety.
"..."
Pity.
[I ask again, do you know who Pandora is?]
"...I do."
The murmuring grew even louder.
For the people gathered here, the Dungeon was the means to fulfill their dreams, the worst place imaginable that gave birth to the monsters they hated above all else, and
Orario's greatest resource.
[Why did you release Pandora?]
"I didn't release her. That girl can't move on her own right now."
[...]
The murmuring died down.
[Does she, right now, hate Orario?]
You hate Orario?
[I have no particular thoughts about it.]
"She's indifferent."
[Then... does she hate the gods?]
[To be honest... I do hate them, but by now it hardly matters.]
"...Just talk to her directly."
I took Excalibur off my back.
And,
[This is...]
I separated Pandora.
""""Eek!?""""
Pandora is Excalibur's heart.
When Excalibur stores and uses Pandora's surplus energy, it fires it in the form of light.
Without Pandora, it becomes a sword with terrible efficiency because it absorbs its owner's magic power.
[That... was not expected, however...]
[We didn't expect that either.]
That's life for you. Things never go according to plan.
Ah, are those the newborns?