Chapter 28: Gods and Humans

For your sake, even if I should lose the world,

For the sake of the world, I do not want to lose you.

– Byron

It was a pure white space.

There was nothing.

Just a vast, sprawling white void.

"Aaaah, what a letdown. I can't believe it ends like this. It's game over. How boring."

I turned my head toward the voice.

Floating lightly upside down in midair was a girl who looked exactly like me.

"Game over?"

I asked the girl floating upside down who was my spitting image.

"Yeah, that's right. They got us. I wanted to go wild a bit more, too. We underestimated this 'Will of the Planet' thing. To think that ridiculously huge Aragami was the key."

A key? What does that mean? She means a literal key, right?

"Exactly. A key. Look at it. The guy is on a rampage, devouring everything indiscriminately. At this rate, everything is going to be completely eaten."

The girl snapped her fingers, and a monitor-like image flickered into existence in the white space.

What used to be "Damned Odin" had sprouted countless black branches from its body, extending them everywhere and devouring everything in sight.

The ground, the ruins of buildings, other Aragami. It bit into and repeatedly preyed upon objects at random.

"Is this... the precursor to a Devouring Apocalypse?"

From my hazily clouded memories, a familiar piece of knowledge was suddenly called forth in my mind.

"Oh? What, did the memories from your previous world come back? You got it. This is the prelude to that 'Devouring Apocalypse' thing. Well, not that it matters anymore."

Right, the Devouring Apocalypse. A terrifying method of purification where a Singularity, driven by the Will of the Planet, reduces all matter in the world to nothingness.

This world had already faced that crisis several times, and each time, it was narrowly prevented by generations of God Eaters.

...God Eaters? Right. God Eaters. There was an action game like that a long time ago. Before? A long time ago? When was that?

...To begin with, I'm not a person of this world.

I was a normal human, a normal guy, Japanese, working a normal job, playing games normally on my days off.

A game that closely resembled this world, called God Eater.

"Right, right, so you remember that much. For some reason, while playing the game, you ended up coming to this world."

That's right. I was born in this alternate world just like my game avatar, and eventually became a God Eater—an AGE.

...From there, bitter memories that I didn't even want to remember flashed through my mind.

But there was something that had always been bothering me.

"Hey, me. Is this really that God Eater world? That's been bugging me no matter what."

"Hmm, who knows. Even I don't know that. But this world is infinitely close to the lore of the series. It might simply be a similar, different world, or maybe it's the real deal. If you search the world, you might be able to meet the characters from the past games, right? Well, there might be some differences from the original work. Just like that old guy."

The one who looked like me pointed at the monitor.

There, trapped in a mass of flesh, a man with a cross-shaped scar between his eyebrows was desperately calling out something.

"Bell! Wake up! Ugh, at this rate... Wake up! BELL!!!"

Werner Gadolin. The former leader of the revolutionary army, Crimson Queen. An AGE who lost his life by committing suicide in an Ash Storm.

Or, so it was supposed to be.

Werner was alive. If this followed the original story, he should already be dead.

"Yeah. That guy was still alive even after his suicide attempt. Barely. He was pretty weak, so if we'd left him alone, he would have just died. But that didn't happen."

...Right. Werner didn't die.

That's because he met me, and I saved him.

"Yeah, even if it was just a coincidence. We saved that old guy. He was originally supposed to die, though. He's an irregularity, so to speak. Well, our very existence is an irregularity in itself."

So I saved him. I, who had even forgotten about myself. And then, Werner gave me the name "Bell."

After that, for a short while, I lived alongside Werner as "Bell."

"Haha, a name—it's like we're a dog or a cat. Hey now, isn't the position reversed? We were the ones who picked him up. Well, it can't be helped. At that time, our memories and everything else were vague and hazy. We didn't even know our own real name."

That's right. My real name. Not my game avatar's character name, but my real name from before coming to this world, the one I lived with in reality.

My real name—

—My—

"Hey, look. Old man Werner is still trying his best. Good grief, even though it's useless no matter what he does. Everything will be devoured and this world is finished. He really doesn't know when to give up."

On the monitor projected in the pale space, Werner was still buried in the mass of flesh, desperately reaching his hand out toward me.

"Bell! Damn it! Are you unconscious...? Can I become that Aragami one more time...? Ugh, I don't quite know how to control the transformation...! What should I do... Think... Think! There has to be a way... Don't give up, don't you give up...! Hang on, Bell! I'll save you right away...!"

Why, how come, why would he go that far for me...?

"I don't want to lose anything else... No, I won't let you be lost...! Just as you gave me a reason to live... I want to give you a reason to live, too...!!"

...Werner.

My reason... to live...

"Hahaha, lmao, old man's trying so damn hard. That's hilarious, lol."

"...You know, when I realized this was the world of God Eater that I loved so much, I was super happy."

The words tumbled out of my mouth naturally.

"Huh? What's this? All of a sudden."

"...Even as a kid, I thought about it. My dad and my mom were God Arc Wielders, taking down Aragami. They were relied on by everyone in the village. They were incredibly cool."

The words just kept spilling out one after another.

"They were true heroes... I swore that when I grew up, I would definitely become a God Arc Wielder, a God Eater."

"........."

The other me stared silently as I spoke.

The words continued without stopping.

"...But, reality doesn't work out that well, does it? The village was attacked by Aragami and wiped out. My dad and mom were eaten and killed. Ah, I'm going to die too, I thought calmly."

"...But, that didn't happen, right?"

The other me chimed in.

"...Yeah. I didn't die. By chance, I was saved by a patrol of God Eaters."

The only survivor was me. Good luck? Incredible fortune? Just happened to be lucky?

No, the opposite. It was the worst.

I was sold.

Because I had the aptitude, the compatibility to be a God Eater.

As an AGE.

A Port in some small, unknown facility. I was made to realize it. The days of despair that began in that prison. The game's lore I had thought I knew—that it was nothing but a product of delusion.

"...I managed to become the profession I wanted to be in the game I loved. Yes, I became it. Forced to fight Aragami day in and day out while scavenging like trash every day..."

"...Welcome to a shitty workplace, right? The resources we desperately managed to scrounge up while risking our lives were snatched away by the guards."

"...I hated it, but those guys forcefully pinned me down while I was sleeping..."

Just remembering it makes me sick to my stomach.

When one was done, the next man would immediately climb on top of my exhausted body in rapid succession...

The few other AGE girls who were in my generation too...

Unable to even put up a fight, I could do nothing but cry weakly and beg for forgiveness...

"...Honestly, humans... every last one of them is an incorrigible, shitty bunch."

My comrades dwindled steadily. The ones eaten by Aragami. The ones who got sick. The ones killed as an example for defying the guards. The ones sold to other Ports.

The ones who deliberately let themselves be eaten by an Aragami to die...

That girl... she was smiling at the end. She had given up on everything. That was the look on her face.

"But, we didn't give up, did we?"

Yeah, I didn't give up. I waited for my chance.

That's why I willingly offered my body to those filthy men.

My treatment got slightly better. I received better food and medicine than the other AGEs in my generation.

I also trained my body. I utterly despised the female body I was born with, but I learned that it was useful when dealing with men.

"...And so, we endured and endured... until finally, the chance..."

"That time arrived."

The Ash Storm hit.

And just like that, I escaped and gained my freedom.

"...Honestly, I thought countless times that this world should just disappear. In fact, I wanted to smash it to pieces with my own two hands. Even now, that hasn't changed."

I clenched my fist tightly.

And then I looked at Werner on the monitor.

Werner, who was continuing to resist desperately, trying to defy fate.

I'm not the great person you think I am. Especially knowing that you've been through a lot in the past yourself. Well, I guess I'm not even human anymore, anyway.

I've been tainted for a long time now. Body and soul. I've killed many people. I've devoured people. I remember it, when I fought that golden Vajra, how I gorged myself on human children.

I remember it vividly. That taste. The rich taste of that fragrant blood. The soft texture of tender meat. Just remembering it makes me nauseous, yet at the same time, I feel an inescapable urge to devour it again.

I can understand that I'm already a lost cause. This devouring instinct won't stop anymore, and it can't be changed.

I'll probably degrade into just another Aragami that indiscriminately devours people.

A fitting monster for a dying world.

However...

"Hey, me. Who was it that caused this Devouring Apocalypse again?"

I asked the other me.

"Hmm? Wasn't it this ridiculously huge Aragami that ate us?"

"No. That's not it. The root of it. The culprit who arranged this and is giving the orders."

"Ah, well that's the Will of the Planet—wait, you're not actually thinking..."

The other me widened her eyes in realization.

"You know, I've always wondered about it. Who in the world created Aragami? The wonderful piece of shit who turned this world into such a hellhole."

I cast a glance at Werner on the monitor.

"...Back then, I thought the world I was in before was pretty much shit too, but I think that was just because I wasn't really living my life to the fullest. Now, I can honestly say that even a cesspool of a world like this isn't surprisingly all that bad."

"...You."

"So, I think I'll go all out for the first time in a while. Won't you join me? For old times' sake, as the same 'me'."

I grinned like a brat who just thought of a prank.

"Heh... hehe, hahaha, AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!"

In response, the other me clutched her stomach and burst into roaring laughter.

Then, she flipped her upside-down body right-side up with a twirl, floating down until she was right in front of me.

"...Honestly, the chances of winning are practically zero. After all, our opponent is basically our 'creator.' Are you still going to do it?"

Her face was smiling, but her eyes weren't smiling at all.

"...Yeah. I'll do it. Let's take 'em down."

"...I see. Well then, shall we go? To the very core of this planet, to the cradle of the 'Primordial Mother'."

The moment the other me said that, the white space suddenly emitted a blinding light, and then faded to black.