There never had been and never would be something like a “dimensional gap”. After all, it was not like different worlds floated around somewhere in a bunch of bubbles—without the direct intervention of a god, to one world, another may as well not exist, and even a god could only carry through a soul without its body, and this alone expended a large amount of energy. That being the case, there was naturally no “inbetween”, either.

And yet, from that dimensional gap that didn’t exist, something was “watching”.

That is—to say it was watching was an affront to any creature with eyes, yet a better word didn’t exist. To say it “thought” was an insult to the very concept of a mind, but to say it was mindless would be unfair treatment.

The summit of evil, the foundation of good, the creator of all logic, the fundamental contradiction in all arguments, the avatar of judgment, the eater of worlds. This “something” had many names, but none of those were its true name.

But then, it wasn’t as though it had a “true name” to begin with.

To say it thought could not be right, but instinct alone could not explain its behaviour. This “something” passed its “time” by spreading its influence to worlds that were “near” it, insofar as objects could be near each other in a space that fundamentally didn’t exist. Due to what the “something” was, it could not enter worlds wholesale without an invitation, so it influenced them from the outside to obtain such an invitation.

Sometimes it was feared, sometimes it was worshipped—regardless, all the worlds it influenced eventually met the same fate.

Their gods devoured, their people massacred and their world destroyed.

Although it was hard to say, exactly, it was likely the “something” didn’t even know what resistance was, let alone what it felt like.

And yet even this “something” could “feel” that its newest prey was fighting it.

This world was just like all the others, it had “thought”. Easier, even. It had six gods!

And yet, before it could even capture the second—it “wanted” to enjoy all six at the same time, if possible—it got distracted by a couple of mortals and their delicious despair.

So it whispered and whispered and devoured them from the inside out.

To the man with a heart as though a pit of despair, it whispered and whispered to deepen and darken that pit.

To the man with a heart as though the fire of hope itself, it whispered and whispered and fanned the flames.

And thus, it would cause a war and create the chaos it so desired——!

Except that didn’t happen.

But, the chaos caused by sending in two of its fragments should not be small, either. They should easily be able to wreak some havoc——!

And that didn’t happen, either.

The shred that had once belonged to some god of fire encountered this world’s god of wind, accompanied by a man whose soul was well-entrenched in pitch-black darkness and a trio of creatures that would, in any other world, be powerful enough as to be fighting each other and thus wholly distracted.

The other shred, meanwhile, came face-to-face with this world’s god of fire, accompanied by a bizarre alliance of light and dark. Although it had originally planned to use the dark girl’s darkness against herself, the youth who wielded an absurd sword had warned her against that course of action, and thus it found itself pelted by light from three sources and fire from the god.

In the “something”’s fabricated rage, it half forgot about the third puppet it had obtained and focused its non-existent attention wholly on “watching” its two shards.

The raging giant of fire lashed out in anger at the black-souled man. Yet with little more than a jump, the man dodged the tongue of flame and the girl clad in scales, now ten metres tall and more than twice as long, breathed fire that surpassed the giant’s and beat back the attack. Of course, such a thing could not harm the giant—the only effect was its anger flaring up once more, so it once more lashed out—yet this time, its tentacle was cut to pieces by blades of wind.

“I can even cut… Fire. Don’t, underestimate me?”

With a furious roar, the giant unfolded its wings and took to the skies, from where it pelted the forest with flames.

“You lot, after it! We are pursuing!”

Although the giant “wanted” to climb a little higher to get a wider field of attack, it found its path impeded by the scaled girl. It lashed out and lashed out, but sadly, its fire could not penetrate her scales.

Its roar was a fair bit louder, this time.

The black-souled man’s claws went straight through the giant’s wings without accomplishing much of anything, prompting him to beat a hasty retreat. After a few words the giant did not care to listen to, he started to chant a spell.

An opening, or so it “thought”. It rushed in his direction, and crashed straight into a wall it couldn’t see.

Upon closer examination, the white-garbed woman had woven a barrier between “it” and the man.

Unforgivable.

It rushed in her direction, intent on turning her into charred flesh—

“[Darkness-Attribute Magic: Chains of the Cruel Empress].”

Despite having no interest whatsoever in the man’s words, the giant found its attention stolen away and “gawked” at him for several seconds, which gave the spell ample time to activate.

An ominous purple magic circle, dozens of metres in diameter but with only the giant within its bounds, marked the ground as the demon lord’s property. With a response faster than anyone could even imagine, the giant attempted to flee—but once more, it crashed straight into a wall, this time formed by that very magic circle. The giant roared and roared and attempted to escape several times in several more directions, but each time found itself blocked.

Mana ran through the circle like a snake hunting its prey, and it wrapped around itself again and again until it attained solid, miasmic form—disgusting, dripping black chains rose from the ground and flew through the sky.

“As I figured,” the black-souled man said, an arrogant smirk on his face. “It appears to be almost entirely immune to physical attacks, but spells that affect it at its core are uninhibited.”

The chains sought the giant with relentless persistence, and in the slight moment it took to get its bearings, its arm was chained up.

Then its other arm.

Then its legs, and its torso.

Although it still produced a sickening bell-like sound with its every movement, those movements themselves were much smaller and more restrained, and though it tried to fly away or tear the chains several times, its attempts were unsuccessful.

“It is a little disappointing that I cannot display the spell’s full potential, but I suppose that cannot be helped… That said, I am in no condition to perform a finishing blow. Tempest. Cooperate with Lady Sylph and rend this thing limb from limb.”

The white-garbed woman nodded and took place next to the god of wind. After a few moments of discussion, she started chanting.

Of course, the giant attempted to reach over and melt the both of them into a paste, but bound by chains, it could not reach.

“[Water-Attribute Magic: Hymn of the Typhoon]!”

“Mh… Now? ‘Kay. [Divine Enchant: Wind].”

A magic circle, significantly smaller than that of the Chains, blue this time. Overlapping it, a similar circle, green.

From the circles flowed water, little by little at first, confined to the circle’s bounds.

Yet within seconds, rather than little flows of water, torrents gushed forth and the level of the water rose and rose.

Up to the giant’s knees, its waist, its shoulders.

With the destructive force of a flood, the slightly green-tinted water rushed around and around and ripped the giant of flames to shreds and then ripped those shreds to smaller shreds, until they could no longer cling to life and, one by one, were extinguished by the power of a thousand seas.

Thus, the giant that had once been a god of fire collapsed and fell apart, until nothing was left.

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The other avatar, which had once been a young elf in the pits of despair, moved around the room it had created itself in at speeds that were beyond any doubt absurd. The sounds it produced were rather unsettling—in addition to the bell-like sounds that seemed almost trademark of these things, an almost laughter-like sound left its mouth with its every movement.

“How the hell am I supposed to hit something that fast?!” The young man, sword in hand, slashed and slashed, but his attacks simply wouldn’t connect.

“Just keep trying ‘til something connects, kid!”

“What kind of advice is that?!”

“Would ye two quit your infighting ‘nd focus on the en’my!”

The vampire, sword in hand, spread her wings to the side, allowing her to speed up and practically match the avatar’s speed. She slashed at it several times, in addition to the jabs of her spears of blood, yet every attack she launched was repelled by tentacles sprouting from the avatar’s back. Although they were by no means precise enough for parrying, they certainly served for blocking, just fine.

She made a rare face of displeasure and backed off, tactically placing herself between the avatar and the room’s exit. “Ex’rcise caution. ‘Tis not only fast, but also tough.”

“I’ll keep it in mind.” The young man, with his sword of holy light, attempted to cleave through the darkness covering the room and, of course, failed miserably.

«Wielder! What did I tell you about this darkness?!»

“That’s not just the tentacles, but the darkness in the room, too? But it’s everywhere!”

“Quit fightin’ with your sword, kid, and dodge her attack before it gets you!”

“Ugh-?!”

“[Light-Attribute Magic: Holy Ray]!”

A beam of light appeared from the mage girl’s staff, and the fire god’s warning was just enough to save the young man and the vampire from the unfortunate fate of being accidentally skewered by their own ally. It missed the avatar, too, but ended up hitting the wall opposite the door and lighting up the room, if just a little.

“Watch where you’re aiming, Ebstrea!”

“Is it thy intention t’ strike us along with this acc’rsed shadow?!”

“S-Sorry!”

«Look alive, you all!»

The sword’s warning, combined with the vampire’s acute senses, gave her ample time to cut the tentacle approaching her to pieces, and the fire god, too, managed to burn up the attack before it hit her. Yet the young man, blessed with neither a vampire’s senses nor a fire god’s passive fire aura, could not react in time, and was thus struck square in the face.

He left cracks in the wall he was smashed into, and his sword clattered onto the ground.

“Thank the heavens we don’t feel pain…” he said, laughing at himself.

“Reynald, that…” the mage girl said, gingerly pointing at the young man’s arm, which was very much twisted in a direction it shouldn’t have been.

“That looks rath’r disadv’ntageous,” the vampire said, moving one of her bloodforged weapons over to the young man’s side. “I c’nnot guarantee thy safety if thou stayeth like such, but if thou were t’ part with some of thy blood, I could eas’ly fix such a wound.” This all she had said without taking her eyes off of the avatar, and she once more deflected an attack.

“The hell? You’re not just a tank, but a healer, too? So you’re like a cleric?”

“Thy answer!”

“Right, right… So this is a deal with the devil, is it. What, does one of you do favours for souls, too? Fix me up.”

“V’ry well. M’lady, please take over as the pr’mary damage dealer f’r a mom’nt.”

“Gotcha, missy.”

Forced to split her attention, the vampire was now significantly less capable of keeping the avatar’s attention on herself with annoying jabs and obnoxious feints, after all.

The spear floated closer to the young man, and returned to its original liquid state right over his arm, where it quickly seeped inside.

Not twenty seconds later, the blood reemerged, with a fair bit more volume and notably brighter, leaving the young man’s arm in a more-or-less healthy state.

“Wow, that was fast… Thanks.”

“Grat’tude is unneeded. I have received my payment.”

Fresh with vigour, the young man stepped forward once more and, pinned between the vampire’s spears of blood, the vampire’s sword, the fire god’s fists and the mage girl’s incessant strikes of light, it could no longer dodge his attack.

Its arm came clean off.

It unleashed a scream barely recognisable as such, which forced all three frontliners to take a step back—providing the perfect opportunity for another strike from the mage girl.

“[Light-Attribute Magic: Exorcising Beam]!”

It was struck dead-on in the chest, and yet nothing happened.

“It can resist exorcisms? You’re kidding, right…? Well, good thing I didn’t try any…” The young man rebuilt his combat stance regardless.

“This shall lead us nowhere! Mage girl, t’ my side! M’lady, sword-wielder, distract it f’r a moment!”

“Gotcha, missy!” The fire god nodded and threw a punch.

“Wasn’t I supposed to be in charge? Well, fine.” The young man, too, launched another attack.

“Ah, uh, yes! What do you need?”

“Thou art skilled with light-attr’bute magic, nay?”

“I am, but…”

“Then follow my lead.”

The vampire started a chant for a spell, and soon, a magic circle spread below her feet. The mage girl, with little to do other than follow orders, just went along with it.

“You two, hurry it up back there, the kid and I can’t keep this up forever!”

“[Light-Attribute Magic: Blessing o’ the D’vine Spirit]!”

“[Light-Attribute Magic: Blessing of the Divine Spirit]!”

This was obviously a spell the mage girl would never have been able to cast on her own—in fact, it was a spell barely any Heroes could use.

The magic circle shrunk and moved to fit snugly around the vampire’s sword, and she raised it to the sky.

“O Lifedrinker, I call upon thy power! [Drink]!”

As Charlotte spoke the sword’s keyword, the thing absorbed the entirety of an absurdly high-level light-attribute spell cast by two mages, and soon the deep red symbols on its side glowed stronger than even Claiomh Solais, prompted by the vampiric blood running through the sword's veins. Indeed, this was Lifedrinker’s most important effect—the ability to absorb any kind of energy to strengthen itself.

“Keep it pinned f’r a slight bit long’r!”

“We’re countin’ on you, missy!”

“Don’t let this chance go to waste, you absurd monstrosity of a vampire!”

“I shan’t!”

And thus, the sword pierced through the approximate location of the avatar’s heart and eroded its very being away as though it had never existed to begin with.

With wet dripping sounds, the leftovers of the thing fell to the ground, but soon they, too, were driven away by Lifedrinker’s light.

The “something” that “lived” in the non-existent dimensional gap let out what couldn’t have been a scream while filled with something that couldn’t have been rage.