Appraising Faust proved summarily impossible.

Not in the sense that her status was illegible, or anything.

It just would not come out.

Well, in a way, it made sense. Unlike the avatars so far, which were, essentially, ‘infected’ residents of our world, Faust’s origin lay entirely outside it. Although her body was made from the same mana as anything else, her ‘core’—that is to say, her soul and its components, felt thoroughly foreign. Some parts of it adhered to certain rules, but I could not even tell if they were all following the same ruleset.

There was a high chance her soul was a composite of several souls from a multitude of worlds. From her general actions, behaviour and speech pattern, I could somehow guess that she had only one set of memories…

In other words, those other souls were probably integrated into her.

I could not for the life of me even begin to figure out what kind of purpose such an action would have. The only possibility I could think of was that it would strengthen her soul’s resistance to external influences…

If this was about that, then Meph-whatever had spectacularly, brilliantly, with the greatest of elegance and grace,

Completely failed.

At the very least, in the case of anti-me countermeasures.

After all, my authority could take control of the soul, but to limit it to just that would be so insulting it would instead become funny.

Even given Faust’s soul did not conform to our world’s standard at all—that is to say, the countermeasures were useless anyway—my skill still affected her body. Thus, even if her soul were to react in response to Meph-whatever’s orders, as long as she did not actually want to fulfil the orders, her body would lock up.

I was not sure it could be called a loophole—I believed it to be more along the lines of a gaping pit… But in any case, with this, there was no risk of her suddenly turning and attacking us.

After all, her intent to break free from Meph-whatever’s shackles was true.

***

After that, I had Faust demonstrate some more of her base capabilities as we kept moving.

Though she only had one wing, she could float—she could go quite high, and quite fast, though her precise maneuvres left something to be desired—and her horn and tail doubled as weaponry, in addition to the obvious claws on her hands. In addition, her teeth were reasonably sharp…

“You… Are completely built for physical confrontations, are you not…?”

“After all, I can just copy whatever magic my opponent’s using. My body’s made of magic, but I don’t have the least bit of talent using it, no matter what world I’m in…”

She cast her green eyes to the ground, heaving a sigh.

“I… See. That sounds rough.”

Here I was, the demon king, supposed to be the most charismatic person in the world, and I was having trouble consoling someone who looked like a little girl.

“You suck at comforting people. Wow.”

“Oh, shut it.”

Prompted by her giggles, though they may have been at my expense, I could not help but laugh, myself.

… Behind me, I could almost sense Charlotte grumbling in my direction. I made a quiet note to give her some attention later.

“Master…”

I was pulled from my conversation with Faust by a tug on my sleeve and a distinctly sleepy-sounding voice.

“Hmm? Ah, Davna. Is something the matter?”

“I’m tired…”

I stopped in my tracks and directed my gaze upwards. Mostly, I saw snow—though we were out of Vauxshire, we were still in the blizzard. But beyond that, just barely, I could make out—

A dark blue sky, decorated with twinkling stars.

“…”

We had left the water at a relatively late time, which meant it was already afternoon when we woke up, not to mention that there was the whole deal with the village…

“ ‘Tis unexpectedly late, but I would like to get home without camping out again… Very well. Come, Davna.”

I gestured for her to come closer, so she did.

To put it simply, I scooped her up in my arms, then spread my wings.

“Sleep. I will carry you. The rest of you, fly on your own.”

Navillus’s new ability allowed her to simply mimic a flying creature to fly, so with Tempest using a spell to allow the mortals the ability to fly, all was solved.

… It took me several seconds to realise I had subconsciously and completely casually split the group into ‘mortals’ and ‘immortals’, but the plan was to make everyone immortal anyway, so I decided to pay it no mind.

***

Under the cloudless, starry sky, what welcomed us home was the usual brigade of maids… Along with two people who were distinctly not maids. I set the still-sleepy Davna down and turned to the welcoming committee.

“Master.”

On one hand, we had her. Her wicked grin was stronger than it had ever been, and the spark of madness in her eyes, flaring brighter than ever before, told me all I needed to know.

“So you have succeeded, Tempest.”

“So I have. I have not yet tested it as a component of anything, but…”

“But the practical tests have succeeded? Splendid. Aye, it will suffice.”

And then the other.

“Astaroth… Welcome back.”

My beloved goddess. She whom I dedicated my very existence to. My place to be.

“We have successfully returned.”

I placed my hand in front of my chest in mock politeness, one of the corners of my mouth slightly raised.

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“Mhm. Congratulations.”

Without a further word of warning, she walked over and wrapped her arms around my chest. The soft, sweet fragrance of her avatar calmed my heart, which was, due to a variety of events, in a bit of a turbulent…

No, wait.

“Avatar”?

But this is just outside her Thousand Throne. Not to mention, this ‘her’ is more powerful than the Sylph and Salamander I met in Sylph’s divine realm, and there is no power difference between this ‘her’ and the ‘her’ I often meet up with in her own divine realm…

And yet, I instinctively comprehended this ‘her’ to be nought more than an avatar. A fake body, created for the purpose of interacting with the world.

I felt like I was about to discover something no one should know… Something about the way worlds were created, about the way their form was decided. Something even Entropy herself may have forgotten.

And yet, I was not entirely opposed to learning this information… It felt like, perhaps, if I just had one more push…

I was almost certain Faust knew, and yet there was no way she would tell me outright. A way to draw an answer out of her…

I realised I had felt this feeling of almost figuring something out once before. Just yesterday, in fact.

This was a complete and total guess, but I decided to throw it out there anyway. If I was wrong, I could simply play it off.

“Faust.”

My words drew attention to her. It seemed she had gone unnoticed up to this point, but everyone turned their eyes to her small frame.

“Master, may I ask…?” Tempest asked, canting her head to the side with an inquisitive gaze.

“A new ally. We picked her up along the way. I shall have you look into her later.”

“Understood.”

Tempest nodded, an anticipating expression already on her face.

“Astaroth, is she…”

“Aye, she is related to Mephistopheles.”

“Mrrgrr…”

Entropy grumbled with some sort of mild dissatisfaction, but she did not seem to be seriously upset.

“Hmm?” Faust asked, interest seeping into her voice. “So this is your… I see. Yeah, I see, I see. How interesting… She’s cute.”

An objectively correct appraisal. My mental appraisal of Faust went up by a few points.

“So, did you need something, demon king?”

Faust’s face was adorned with a charming, innocent, slightly teasing smile—an expression she had been wearing ever since she was released from that abhorrent thing’s shackles.

“Aye, Faust. I have a question for you.”

A complete, utter guess, based on something that could not even be called circumstantial evidence.

“What does the concept of desire mean to you?”

The question itself was, obviously, absurdly pretentious. Yet I had a hunch I was on the right track.

“ ‘Desire’, huh? I didn’t realise you were the type to philosophise about that sort of thing.”

She tilted her head left and right a few times, then made a teasing smirk.

“If I had to give an answer that’d fit your personality… Hmm. Craving something so badly that you’d do anything for it. Whether that be stabbing your own mother, slaughtering your own country, eradicating an entire people, regicide, patricide, deicide…”

Her words gripped my heart. Aye, she was matching my personality perfectly. Indeed, this was my perfect answer.

“The idea that you’d do anything to obtain that which you wish for. To claim that one star, brighter than any other, you will extinguish any star you need to. If someone gets in your way, despise them for it, and kill them. If someone wants to be your power, love them for it, and use them. Knock down any wall in your way, no matter what load it bears. Even if that load is the whole world… Just break it all, and create a new world. Your own paradise. That’s what ‘desire’ means to me… No, to all existences like me. Whether they were born a god or a mortal, no matter what path in life they took… That’s what ‘desire’ means to us. You, and me… And surely, anyone else who follows a path that leads to the same conclusion. One cannot reach the pinnacle otherwise.”

Her expression was as soft-spoken as always, but behind those otherworldly, beautiful green eyes of hers burned a passionate, absurd, selfish, egotistical, reckless flame.

Surely, that same flame burned in my eyes.

“Ahaha… Hahahaha…”

I could not prevent some chuckles from leaking out of my mouth, and soon—

“Hahahahahahaha…! Hahahahahahahahahaha! Aaaahahahahaha!”

I was laughing the loudest I recalled laughing, not just since coming to this world, but even before then. Never during my previous life… Nay, not even during the lives before that, which I was sure by now I had had, had I ever…

“Ahh… Nay, Faust, do not make that expression, I am not making fun of you… It is just that, you truly do have a grasp of my personality. From less than a day of interaction… And there is something else I was laughing at. Myself. I, who already knew the answer, but yet felt the need to confirm it with a third party anyway.”

Of course, I had no proof, but I was convinced. That was the true identity of a ‘God’. That was the true form of a ‘world’. More than ever before, I was burning with curiosity. The desire to see what lay beyond. Beyond the precipice. Fall off a cliff? Nay, I would jump down of my own volition, doing anything I could to make my descent faster. I would leap into the abyss head-first and explore its depths with my own eyes.

This world was nought more than a stage. A farce, which would birth no happiness.

So then, what was required to construct a new stage, which would bring the ultimate bliss to those who watched its play? One could not build a stage where there already was one, but it was also difficult to break a stage while standing atop it.

To the back of the stage—

My final destination came into view.

Ahh, how I looked forward to the seventh Saint. I had already completely forgotten my grief, like a broken doll, only mimicking emotions and forgetting them the moment something else came up. Of course, this would render many of my preparations a waste of time, but that, too, I forgot about the moment I thought of it.

[https://i.imgur.com/TOs4HlS.png]

With a grin on my face and the avatar of my beloved in my arms, I simply, earnestly, pleaded for the Holy Astal Kingdom’s final assault to come.

“Come, Rachiel… Come, Reynald! Come, Claiomh Solais! I am awaiting you with bated breath! Guide me to the throne…!”