Book 10: Chapter 11

The Mazoku that were just born did not possess any decent knowledge, and therefore, they invaded the Cazarelia Continent in order to quickly obtain 「fresh knowledge」.

When Vermudol heard that, he asked a question to Raidolg.

「They attacked……Were they, riding on Dragons?」

「There certainly were Dragons as well. But they basically swam there. The Mazoku from those days were energetic, weren’t they.」

That’s right, they truly were 「energetic」.

The thought processes of the Mazoku from those days were extraordinarily simple.

Ahh, there are this many opponents that I can fight, there is a vast 「world」 that I don’t know about, I can boost myself to my heart’s content──The Mazoku that followed such desires in their hearts rushed on towards mankind……And as a result, they trampled them down like it was only natural.

Mankind was diverse, and with fighting styles that matched the various racial characteristics, there were even some that developed enough strength to overwhelm the fellow living creatures of the Cazarelia Continent.

But, the ones who didn’t fall into that category were in the majority.

For example, those that devoted themselves to creating even better fields, those that immersed themselves in earning more money, and those who were infatuated with becoming even more beautiful.

Or, those who sought to be a better father or better mother than anyone else.

There were even those who tried to live that day, the next day, and the yet unforeseen future in happiness.

Due to the Mazoku’s attack, the good people and the bad people, the adults, the children, and the elderly, anyone and everyone were equally returned to the flow of life.

The weak who ran away would go under the Mazokus’ anger and scorn, and the strong that fought against them would go under their delight and respect and get blasted away.

To bring down the Mazoku that were scattered throughout the continent, the power of the Gods alone was not enough.

In those days, when the idea of the Temple Knights who would act as a God’s agent had not even existed, the chivalric orders of mankind would go to various places to have hard fights and outpush the Mazoku with their numbers, and it would be impossible to cope with Mazoku with something on the level of a vigilante corps.

No, there were more times where even the chivalric orders would be routed.

At the beginning of the wars, even the chivalric orders of the Shadowmen, who had a succession of victories, were brittle once the secret of their half magical power bodies was exposed.

Even if hand-to-hand combat didn’t quite get through to the half magical power bodies of the Shadowmen, magic got through to them quite well.

Having high amounts of magical power, and specializing in magic as well, there was no way the Mazoku would have a hard time with them.

Even the chivalric orders of the Metalio, who boasted the best technological prowess amongst mankind, struggled. It was because the Mazoku had started to learn about 「becoming armed」.

Having realized that the reason for the Metalio chivalric orders’ durability and destructive power was in that equipment, the Mazoku stole the equipment of the Metalio that they defeated and started to arm themselves.

When clad in equal equipment, it was easy for them to defeat the Metalio with brute strength.

It was the same for the Sylphid chivalric orders who were described as being like the wind.

The Mazoku ended up imitating the refined movements of the Sylphid.

Having realized that they would be no match for 「techniques」 with just their original physical abilities, they mastered the Sylphids’ movements as if doing a perceptive study on them.

Even the chivalric orders of the Beastmen, who possessed physical abilities that were like those of animals, were unable to make the best use of that advantage when up against the Mazoku.

The Mazoku excelled in physical ability to begin with, and even the hyper intuition that closely resembled predicting the future that was peculiar to the Beastmen was useless when up against the Mazokus’ pure instinct and battle sense.

Even the chivalric orders of the Luspelio, who boasted the highest peak of magical power amongst mankind, were pushed back little by little.

Magic was, in other words, about talent and skill.

Many of the Mazoku were filled with talent in terms of magic, and due to their avaricious craving towards strength, they mastered the Luspelios’ magic skills little by little.

The ones who continued the struggle for supremacy against the Mazoku even when it had turned into that sort of situation were the Izektia, who possessed the strongest bodies amongst mankind.

They, who were strong individually and could move like a single creature as long as they had someone who could be their leader even as a group, felt that if they could not be a match for them individually, and unhesitantly opposed the Mazoku with numbers.

The Mazoku, who ran hard on individualism, were unable to oppose that……And the Izektia, who were also called Bug-men, were the only ones who continued to fight against the Mazoku from head on.

……That’s right, in the case of the Izektia, they were not a 「chivalric order」.

The true nature of the Izektia, who were also said to have every citizen of theirs as knights, was that of a completely battle-orientated race, and that way of theirs was somewhat similar to the Mazoku.

That was probably also the reason why they were able to oppose the Mazoku though.

Within all of that, the ones who continued to have a succession of defeats from the beginning were the chivalric orders of the Humans.

They were the most mediocre amongst mankind, yet were the race filled with the most potential among them, but in this case, it also ended up becoming a minus for them.

But, the biggest cause of it was because they were the ones closest to the Mazoku’s continent.

And then, the fact that the movements of the Mazoku, who competed with each other to scramble for the fruits of battle, had resembled  「group battles」 were a disadvantage for the Humans.

The Mazoku, who purely felt that they were competing against each other when they had the same enemy in front of them, had naturally learned ways of moving that wouldn’t obstruct each other.

By doing that, in cases where it turned into a fight where it was group versus group, there was no way that the Humans would have a chance of success.

The fact that they weren’t destroyed despite that was none other than because they had the God of Life Philia’s divine protection, as well as the God of Fire Agnam’s backing, who predicted that things would probably be fine for a while after seeing the Izektia’s war situation.

Like that, the fight between the allied forces of mankind and the Gods of that time and the Mazoku had unfolded into a seesawing fight.

「However, that is quite strange.」

Ichika displayed doubt in Raidolg’s story.

「If I remember correctly, the previous Demon King Gramfia should have only 『somehow』 sensed the existence of the other continent. If that sort of history exists, why was it not passed down?」

「It is because they perished.」

With Philia’s mutter, silence was born in that place.

Unable to immediately understand the meaning of those words, everyone stopped moving.

And then, the one who opened their mouth first, was Kain.

「Perished……Eh, but, both the Mazoku and the Humans are here like this……」

「Yes, it is exactly as you say, Hero Kain. This world is a world 『after it perished』. Everything that perished, and this is the result of us trying to once again guide mankind despite that.」

That’s right, the world of Remfilia had perished at one point.

Due to the advent of the Demon God, the balance of the world had largely collapsed, because the anxiety of mankind of that time──the idea of “isn’t there a sinister God that those Mazoku worship” gave power to their terror.

Mankind’s countless fears and anxieties gathered, turned into a gigantic will that meddled with the world……and just as they had imagined, Gods called 「Wentas (the Warped Gods)」 were created in the world.

They trampled down over mankind, over the Mazoku, over everything, and destroyed everything.

Even the Cazerelia Continent crumbled, splitting into the current Shutaia Continent and another continent.

Naturally, even the Gods that were originally in Remfilia did not get off unscathed, and by sacrificing the God of Darkness, they created the 『Sea of Farthest Ends』, and sealed the last remaining Wentas (Warped God) of Water in there.

A majority of mankind had perished, and the world vanished.

It was there that this current world was constructed, is what Philia said.

「Eh……But, no way.」

「The God of Darkness died……? But, isn’t Dagulas-sama that God of Darkness?」

「Yes, that is right. And that is the reason why I am unable to accept Vermudol.」

In response to Ykslaas’s question, which could be said to be a justified one, Philia glared at Vermudol and answered.

「The Demon King of those days had died. And then, Demon King Dagulas transformed into the God of Darkness. As if literally filling up an unoccupied seat of a God……see.」