Became the Patron of Villains

At the moment when the Burning Vegetation froze after coming face to face with Alon’s true body(?)—

[Ah—]

the Darkness-Eating Sword, who had also been granted an ability by him, was witnessing the same sight as the Burning Vegetation.

That enormous eye, silently gazing at it from within that dark abyss.

Was it even right to describe that as an eye?

No. No, it was not.

That was not something that could be described as an eye.

At least, in the eyes of the Darkness-Eating Sword, it looked more like the end.

A depiction of the end of this world.

Something similar to the Star Eater’s true form that it had once imagined—

no, something even beyond that.

[.......]

The Darkness-Eating Sword, whose body trembled involuntarily before that overwhelming existence, keenly realized how foolish its thoughts had been.

In truth, unlike the Burning Vegetation, the Darkness-Eating Sword had never truly followed the Star Eater with sincerity.

To begin with, the reason it had been working so hard at the star roots and doing everything it could to catch the Star Eater’s attention was, in the end, solely to receive an ability.

To receive an ability, and based on that, become a second-stage Divine blood.

Unlike the first-tier rabble, it had merely been waiting for a chance to truly have the possibility of becoming a “god.”

And the Darkness-Eating Sword was certain that this was not its thought alone.

If that were not the case, then no matter how much force had been involved, it would have made no sense for the star roots to grow this explosively.

In other words, although the Divine blood had each gathered at the star roots for different reasons—

surely a certain proportion of them had done so in order to gain the power needed for independence.

Because for first-tier Divine blood, this was an opportunity as precious as life itself.

But at this moment, the Darkness-Eating Sword understood just how foolish its own thoughts had been.

No, not only its own.

It also understood how foolish all those who held thoughts similar to its own were.

[.......]

Because no matter if it gained an ability and became “karma,” it could not even imagine defeating that thing above, whose very identity could not be guessed at.

With trembling eyes, it silently looked up at the sky.

There, the end was still looking down on it.

‘Who in the world is the Star Eater?’

The Darkness-Eating Sword naturally found itself thinking that.

There were only two things it knew about the Star Eater.

The first was that he could steal the abilities of other Divine blood and bestow them.

The second was that he was entangled with the four great Divine blood factions in different ways.

Beyond that, everything about the Star Eater was a mystery.

Naturally so.

Because the Star Eater had never appeared in the previous war—

nor even in the war before that, when the four great factions had not yet existed.

And so, as the Darkness-Eating Sword stared at the sky and thought—

“!!!!”

—its eyes suddenly widened as though they would split apart.

Because a single thought abruptly entered its mind.

The Darkness-Eating Sword was, at best, only a first-tier Divine blood.

Even so, it was capable of simple deduction.

No—it could hardly even be called deduction.

That thing above was not the one that had reached the very brink of becoming a god in the beginning.

Nor was that thing above one of the Divine blood from the four great factions.

And yet, he was intricately entangled with the Divine blood of the four great factions, and despite living in the body of a mere human, he wielded absurd power.

He had specific ties to the four great Divine blood.

He had never appeared until now.

He was not the ■■■ that had shaken this world in the beginning—

and yet, if there existed someone with this level of absurd power—

there could only be one.

The one who, before the Divine blood had even begun moving to the surface, tore apart the divided space and annihilated more than half of the Divine blood—

the one who, because of that, received the sanction of “deterrence” and was eternally sealed in time and space—

[-!]

The Darkness-Eating Sword, which had unconsciously forgotten even to continue its thoughts, had no choice but to stop there.

At some point, the place it had been looking at was no longer the eye in the dark abyss, but a bright meadow once more.

Blankly turning its gaze, the Darkness-Eating Sword met the Burning Vegetation’s eyes.

The two looked at each other without a word, then, as if they had made a promise, turned their gazes forward.

And soon, they were able to see him.

The man looking at the two Divine blood with an endlessly indifferent expression—

the end.

The two Divine blood swallowed.

They could not dare read what the being before them was thinking.

Because there was not a single expression visible on that man’s face.

And yet at the same time, the two Divine blood could finally understand why the man before them was so endlessly emotionless.

It was not simply that he had become incapable of feeling anything.

It was simply that there was nothing for him to feel anything about.

And then, in that moment—

“Indeed, not bad.”

The man—no,

“It seems you at least meet the qualifications.”

Alon said that, swept his gaze once across the other Divine blood, then sent one last look toward the two of them before turning around.

“Do what it is you must do.”

The black abyss instantly wrapped around Alon and lifted him onto the giant dragon.

Under the gaze of the Divine blood, Alon’s group left that place.

####

After Alon left like the wind—

the gazes of the Divine blood gathered on the two of them.

The Burning Vegetation and the Darkness-Eating Sword.

Because those two had received power from the Star Eater.

Or, to be precise, because it had looked that way.

In truth, even the Divine blood were not particularly certain.

That was only natural, because all the Divine blood had seen was Alon drawing out the abilities of Divine blood, and then the moment those two abilities touched each of the two Divine blood, they vanished.

And so, the Divine blood looked at the pair in silence.

But despite those gazes, the Burning Vegetation and the Darkness-Eating Sword remained silent as they stared ahead.

Alon was no longer there.

But in his place, there was the stone statue Alon had left behind.

[.......]

[.......]

The two silently fixed their eyes on that statue, then looked at one another again.

There was no way the other Divine blood could know why he had left that statue behind.

But the two of them knew.

Because they had witnessed the Star Eater’s true nature, and they remembered the words he had spoken.

The Star Eater’s words:

Do what it is you must do.

In truth, those words could be interpreted in many ways.

But after witnessing the Star Eater’s true nature, and seeing the statue he had left behind along with words delivered only to them, what they had to do was clear.

To worship the Star Eater.

That was what they had to do.

[He was even greater than we thought.]

[...Yes. To the point that we cannot even think of running.]

The two Divine blood unconsciously trembled.

####

After some time had passed, evening came.

“But, Marquis.”

“What is it?”

“What did you mean by ‘Do what it is you must do’?”

Alon, who had come down into a nearby meadow to make camp and was now sitting in front of a campfire, suddenly found himself facing Penia’s question.

“...Huh, did I say something like that?”

“Yes? Didn’t you clearly say that earlier?”

At Penia’s words, Alon, who had been in the middle of eating a sweet potato, paused briefly, then opened his mouth.

“I suppose I did.”

“...Uh, did you not really have any thought behind it?”

Penia’s question sounded a little flustered.

At that, Alon made an awkward expression.

“No, I definitely had a thought.”

“And that was?”

“It was just that, rather than explaining this and that, I thought it would look more impressive if I simply turned around and left as I was. But when it came time for Blackie to lift me back up, there was a bit of a delay.”

“...So you just added that on?”

“That’s right.”

[Kkyu?]

At Alon’s words, Blackie, which had likewise stopped in the middle of eating, tilted its head.

As Alon stroked Blackie, he opened his mouth.

“...Did it sound a little awkward?”

“No, not exactly—but if that’s the case, then when you gave an ability to the Divine blood, did you also say you had given it even though it hadn’t actually been passed on?”

“Ah, I was curious about that too.”

At Penia’s question, Evan, who had been eating beside them, also spoke up as if he had been wondering the same thing.

At that, Alon shook his head.

“No, not that. The abilities were definitely transferred.”

“Really?”

“Yes. The two Divine blood definitely absorbed them. Right, Blackie?”

[Kkyu—]

Blackie tilted its head, but still nodded, and Evan asked,

“But just in case—what were you planning to do if the Divine blood couldn’t absorb the abilities?”

“Wasn’t that why I laid the groundwork in advance?”

“The groundwork?”

“Yes.”

“Ah—don’t tell me that whole thing at the beginning about granting them a chance was all for that?”

“That’s right.”

“...Oh.... Then if the Divine blood hadn’t been able to absorb the abilities—”

“I was planning to say, ‘So you have not yet even obtained the qualifications.’”

“...Alon, you seem strangely absentminded in these kinds of things, but at the same time you’re oddly good at getting things for free here and there....”

“I’ll take that as praise.”

Alon shrugged at Evan, who spoke with a strange expression.

Then Penia continued.

“But even so, wasn’t leaving the statue there without saying anything at all a little too much?”

“...Well, I figure they’ll understand it appropriately.”

“Mm—true, saying this and that to explain it all would probably have looked less impressive.”

Penia nodded as though that sounded reasonable.

“So then, Alon, did you check?”

“Check?”

“Yes. Your manifested state. Wasn’t that the reason you brought it there in the first place?”

At Evan’s words, Alon shook his head.

“No, I didn’t.”

“Huh? Why not?”

“There would need to be at least a few days before any change happened. So I’m deliberately not checking.”

“I see—you’re the type who prefers one big change all at once rather than watching it change bit by bit?”

“Exactly.”

Alon nodded.

Certainly, Alon too was curious about what had become of his manifested body.

But it had not even been a few hours since he left the statue there.

...And above all, rather than seeing it change little by little, he wanted to see it change all at once.

“I plan to look the moment I return to the territory.”

“I see.”

Alon was planning to confirm his manifested body after arriving back at the territory.

‘Hm—still, if I check this time, it won’t be an eye anymore, right? No—even if it is an eye, surely it won’t be that horrifying shape. At the very least, that bizarre thing with the strings of text flying around should have changed.... Maybe it’ll have just turned into a human shape outright? The statue is humanoid too, after all—’

Alon indulged in his own happy imagination.

But the two watching him—

“I don’t think it’ll end up the way Alon wants.”

“I was thinking the same thing. Somehow, when it comes to these things, there’s always something weird about Alon. Like a monkey’s paw, maybe....”

—each gave their own assessment while putting the now-familiar sweet potatoes into their mouths.

And then, a few days later.

‘Alright, then. Shall I check?’

The moment Alon arrived in Palantia, he entered the castle, let out a long sigh, and immediately began contemplating his inner world to look at his changed manifested body.

And what Alon saw when he contemplated his inner world was—

a gigantic eye and clusters of stars that had still not changed—no, that seemed even larger than before—

and between them,

“?”

tentacles like an abyss.

“???”

At the sight of the eye, now even more violently transformed than before, Alon blankly opened his mouth.

And darkness fell over his vision....

And at that same time—

“It seems Teacher has returned.”

“So it does.”

“Yeah.”

“It does indeed.”

On the eighth floor of the inner castle beside the main castle—

“......”

“......”

“......”

“......”

a suffocating atmosphere began to spread.