Clay waited.

In the ruined library, he could do nothing but wait.

'What in the world...'

Right after being engulfed in light, Selimia and the human figure had disappeared from that spot together. All he could do was remain there until they reappeared.

'That was definitely Selimia's true soul.'

The human figure was a spiritual entity, and Selimia, though possessing her own consciousness, could be called a shell of a body.

The body is bound to be dominated by the mind. Clay let out a groan, judging that the human figure would overwhelm Selimia nine times out of ten.

'I can't be sure what the result will be.'

If the human figure succeeded in dominating Selimia's body, Clay would have no choice but to fight right here.

Clay looked back towards the library entrance. Due to the commotion, the ceiling there had collapsed and it was already blocked.

'This is frustrating.'

It would be good to call for reinforcements, but he couldn't clear the debris.

'The entire library has become unstable.'

If he touched anything wrong, the building itself could collapse in an instant.

'Is no sound leaking outside?'

He didn't know what the human figure had done, but it seemed this place and the outside were now cut off.

No matter how he thought about it, there was nothing he could do right now. Truly, absurdly so.

'Selimia.'

A being born as a shell.

Thinking about the situation she, who was in fact in the same position as Clay, was now facing, he couldn't help but feel a little bleak.

Unlike him, who at least had time to accept his situation, she had come face to face with reality without any preparation.

'I hope she can overcome it.'

He could only hope that she could overcome that reality.

Kwajik!

Then, suddenly, he heard the sound of something breaking.

Kwajik! Kwajajak!

Clay turned his head this way and that, but there was nothing immediately visible.

'This is...'

A crack.

The moment he realized that the empty air was subtly cracking,

Kwachang!

It shattered.

"Keuk?!"

What appeared was a space filled with darkness. His body was about to be sucked into the hole that had formed in the air.

For a moment, he just stood there, holding on, but soon he was able to spot someone.

"Is that?"

She was running towards the hole in the wall. While Clay wore a dazed expression, she threw herself towards him.

Catching her as she was thrown into his arms rather roughly, Clay tumbled to the floor.

"Selimia?"

As soon as his body stopped, Clay lifted his head and asked. Selimia turned her gaze to him.

"Your Majesty..."

"Are you alright?"

"I'm alright, but it's not over yet..."

At those words, Clay looked at the place where the hole was. Sure enough, another being was crawling out from there.

"Stop, right there!"

A figure identical to Selimia.

But there were cracks all over its visible body, and some parts had even broken off and fallen away.

"Give me back, my body!"

Hearing that crazed voice, Clay sighed.

"Aium."

He didn't know what had happened inside, but she was collapsing.

"You've become a hideous sight."

"Demon King...!"

Her anger was directed at Clay, who was holding Selimia.

"You, who were born human, yet shamelessly prolong your life in that position!"

"Are you just going to resort to accusations now?"

It seemed she had lost the dignity of a god.

"I have no intention of living forever in the same way as you."

"How arrogant!"

Aium muttered as she staggered towards Clay.

"You are all nothing but shells. If you try to occupy a place that is not yours, this world will eventually lose its balance and collapse. Precisely because you are trying to survive so wretchedly."

"Are you talking about yourself when you say wretched?"

Clay rebuked her.

"Look at yourself now."

She couldn't maintain her form.

"Whatever happened inside, you did not have the significance of a being that could overwhelm Selimia. On the contrary, you were overwhelmed."

"I..."

"I have no intention of denying the reason you had to survive."

Aium of Eternity.

The reason she had become the weak point of this world was none other than this.

"You and this world are a community of fate."

Not a metaphor, but a literal community of fate.

"As long as this world exists, you will live forever, but conversely, if you die, this world will die with you."

Unreasonable.

The reason why the other ancient gods could only be her derivatives.

"But that's none of my business."

He had already been betrayed by the humanity he had believed in and by Elhaen. Whether this world lived or died no longer mattered to him.

No, of course, it did matter. He was now the leader of the demons.

But that was not a reason to hold him back.

"The world being destroyed might not be such a bad ending after all."

For Elhaen, who wanted this world, that would be something he would truly not want to experience.

"Don't talk nonsense!"

Aium shouted in agitation.

"I tried to save this world! Me surviving was the only way to maintain this world!"

"And I'm telling you it's none of my business."

Clay glared at her.

"And, is it really true that this world can only be maintained if you are alive?"

"What did you say?"

"I'm asking if 'Aium of Eternity' necessarily has to be 'you'."

For a moment, she flinched.

"What..."

She was collapsing. But Selimia was the opposite. On the contrary, as time went on, Selimia's vitality was growing stronger.

At some point, Selimia had fully come to her senses and was looking at Aium. Aium looked at Selimia's appearance with a frightened expression.

"No. It can't be."

"I won, didn't I?"

At that moment, Selimia spoke.

"You were a being that remained only as guilt for selling out this world. 'Aium' is me."

Selimia got out of Clay's arms and stood up.

"Your Majesty, please wait a moment."

"Selimia."

Clay asked Selimia.

"Are you, the Selimia I know?"

"I don't know, about that."

Selimia gave an awkward smile.

"But seeing as I'm like this even after finding out everything, I suppose I really do like being by your side, Your Majesty."

"Is that so."

"Because when I'm by your side, I feel like I can live as I please."

As she said that, Selimia walked towards Aium.

"I'll finish this."

"No!"

Aium shouted.

"You only shared my memories! You can't take anything from me!"

"I told you. You were just a lump of guilt."

In the dark space where only the two of them existed, Selimia, who had received all of Aium's memories and experiences, could understand.

How she was born.

"You said you were the incarnation of this world, right?"

A god that was this world, itself.

"Have you ever thought of it differently?"

That she was a being born reflecting the will of this world.

"I am the new heart that this world has nurtured."

A new one created to cut out and replace the rotten heart.

"This is a succession ceremony."

"What, are you talking about?"

"You have lost your qualification."

Selimia glared at Aium.

"This world does not wish to be dominated."

This world did not wish for everything to be handed over to a god from the outside.

"That's why I was born."

A monster that would run wild, risking death, and live as it pleased.

"A coward like you is not needed."

"Noooooo!"

Aium rushed at Selimia. The two became entangled and tumbled on the floor.

"No! I am the heart of this world!"

Aium pinned Selimia down and swung her fists wildly. The tremendous sound of impacts echoed and re-echoed throughout the library.

But,

"What, did you say?"

The one collapsing was Aium. As if she was being hit as much as she was hitting, Aium was breaking down.

"Don't worry."

Selimia said to such an Aium.

"You and I are one, anyway."

Just representing different wills.

"It's just that your way has come to an end."

"Aah, aaaaaah!"

Aium grabbed her collapsing face.

"Now, I've finally been released!"

She shouted as if it was unfair.

"I was trapped on my own for the sake of this world! Hiding the truth...!"

"You're not unaware of what has become of it now that you've hidden it like that, are you?"

The world continues to exist. That might have been as Aium wished, but in the end, everything came to be played in Elhaen's hands.

"So just disappear now."

"Keuaaaah!"

Aium could no longer maintain her form properly. As she collapsed, her hands on the floor, she looked back at Clay.

"Demon King!"

She shouted with a face full of numerous emotions.

"I am not the only original sin that must disappear from this world!"

As if it was unfair for her to disappear alone, she threw a final wrench in the works.

"Humans too, have an original sin! Even humans like you, an original sin you are born with...!"

It might not have been something to say to someone who had already been betrayed by humanity and become the Demon King, but Clay showed a slight waver at those words.

Perhaps it was due to the last remaining discomfort of one who had been a Hero and had become the king of demons.

Because Aium's next words might grant legitimacy to his becoming the Demon King.

As if to inform him that all humans were beings who deserved to be punished anyway.

"Humans were cre... by Elhaen."

Selimia's hand pierced through Aium's head. Aium's body trembled and creaked like a broken doll.

As if puzzle pieces were falling apart, the things that constituted Aium's body poured out.

"The demons, were originally, this world's..."

Selimia pulled her arm out of Aium. Then Aium's face collapsed and disappeared.

The rest of her body also slowly cracked and scattered into dust. Selimia looked down at the scene in silence.

A moment of silence.

Clay took a step.

"Selimia."

When he called, Selimia looked at him.

"Your Majesty, I won."

"Yes."

Aium was no longer here. No, she now existed here under a different name.

"May I hear the answer?"

So the conversation was not yet over. Selimia gave Clay an awkward smile.

"I don't want to confuse you, Your Majesty."

"If it's confusion, I've already tasted more than enough of it."

He already had a faint idea of what Aium was about to say. He just wanted to hear it for sure.

"Even if the history I knew is denied, it's alright now."

"Your Majesty."

"Really."

Selimia, who had been meeting Clay's gaze as he said that, opened her mouth not long after.

"Then..."

Selimia finished the story Aium was about to tell.

That the demons were the original inhabitants of this world, and humans were a model race, created by Elhaen to dominate the history of this world.