Idea, the Demiurge 

Crushing, stoning, prostitution, general war-related themes such as extreme violence.

A long, long time ago, Idea the Demiurge manifested in the small world of the miniature garden.
In order to create the world of her ideals, she bestowed two Reasons that harnessed the power of emotions.

One was “hope” – the power to anchor a soul in a body that served as its cage.
The other was “despair” – the power to separate a soul from its body.

And then, God created humans, living creatures to make the world prosperous in her place.
Furthermore, she divided some of her immense power as “Elementals” and unleashed them on the world.

The power of the Elementals made the world more prosperous, and humans lived a meager life under their faith in God.

But this did not last long.
As the human population increased, the world became ravaged by its desires.
God was not happy with this, and used the power of the Elementals to pass judgment on humans, but humans gradually became dissatisfied with God.
As a result, humans created beings who could draw from the power of the Elementals, called “Sibyls”.

When humans offer their souls to the Elementals, they are given a form and a will, and descend into the world of the miniature as “Sibyls”.
Aside from being able to use Elemental powers, the Sibyls were the same as normal humans.
Their powers were used by humans, and humanity developed civilization as it pleased.
And so, the world shaped by human desires has deviated from the ideal world that God had envisioned.
In her grief, God declared this world to be a failure, and took action to bring judgment on the foolish humans.

In order to recover her own powers and reduce the human population, God plotted to make humans fight each other.
It was an easy task.
Humans were already divided into those who worshiped the Sibyls and those who schemed to rule them.
To the worshipers, she bestowed bountiful earth and abundant harvests as a fertility Goddess.
To the schemers, she incited the notion that wealth was something to be seized and plundered as a Hero-King.

And what happened then?
The foolish humans began to fight, to resist invasions from afar, to envy and rob others of their prosperity.
The flames of war spread quickly, and death, or rather despair, flooded the world.
Eventually, that despair consumed the Sibyls, and the four Elementals left their bodies and returned to God. It all went according to God’s plan.

God used monsters to trample over the remaining humans.
But humans also worshiped a “Saint” and struggled against God.

A small world called the miniature garden.
Will humans reject God with hope in their hearts?
Will God destroy humans to achieve her ideals?

–The final judgment was about to be made.

The holy city of Valvala.
That place was the last stronghold of humans and the very embodiment of hope for survival.
Idea, who has devoured countless lives and sought to destroy humans, finally appeared, accompanied by her army of monsters.
To welcome Idea stood the feeble human army.
What was going to take place was a one-sided massacre, no different from the ones that happened in other cities.
Gazing down from the sky with boredom, Idea spotted a shining light among humans and raised the corners of her mouth.

“Oh…”

It was a human whose soul shone with an intensity incomparable to any other.
Around her, the souls of the powerless humans were also shining brighter.

“Is it because there is one with a strong soul that you humans still resist, refusing to give up hope?”

Idea looked at the young girl’s face and smiled arrogantly.
The girl – Saint Anna – glared at the smiling God.

“Fine, give that soul to me. Then I will stop feeding on the souls of this city – no, of any other human being!”

What Idea desired was a human soul that possessed the power of the four Elementals and a strong radiance.
The invasions thus far had served not only to destroy mankind, but also to select one with a powerful soul.
And now, that one soul was before Idea’s eyes.

In the end, humanity would have been destroyed.
However, Idea thought that if she could obtain the soul she wanted without wasting her power, there was nothing better.
Humans raised voices of confusion at Idea’s sudden proposal.
They would easily choose the path of salvation.
It is the nature of weak humans not to oppose an overwhelmingly strong person.
However, a human with a strong and shining soul – Saint Anna- shattered Idea’s plans.

“Even if I am gone, Idea will continue to exist in this world, and we do not know when she will try to destroy humanity again. Remember. The sorrow that God has brought us. The lives that have been mercilessly lost. The only way we can smile and face tomorrow is to defeat God!”

Anna’s words solidified humanity’s resolve to defeat Idea.
Idea’s twisted smile disappeared from her face in response.

“Well, it’s fine. It’s just that the order has changed.”

It was not too late to absorb a strong soul, even after humanity had been eradicated.
The army of monsters led by Idea and the army of soldiers led by Anna.
The two forces collided head-on.

God and humanity.
The curtains were raised on the final battle.

Even if humans resisted, they would have been utterly crushed and trampled by the monster army.
Contrary to Idea’s imagined scenario, humans unexpectedly showed resistance.
Even in the face of overwhelming power, they did not give up and fought back as one.

“Just the presence of someone with strong hope can make souls grow this powerful.”

They did not have special powers like the Sibyls.
Simply weak humans were fighting well against hordes of monsters.
To Idea, this was an amazing phenomenon.
As a God, Idea naturally knew the Reason of this world.
Yet hope, the will to press forward toward the future, sometimes creates supernatural power.
This power rivaled the one of the four Elementals the Sibyls once possessed, and even the one of the monsters.
Those who gained the light of the Saint had, in this desperate situation with no retreat, miraculously succeeded in imbuing themselves with power capable of opposing the monsters.
If things continued like this, the monster army would have been pushed aside and Idea would have been not able to obtain the Saint’s soul.
That is, if Idea chose to do nothing.

“You found hope and use it as strength? Interesting.”

With a smile on her face, Idea raised her hand over her monster army.
The moment her hand glowed with an ominous light, a change occurred within her army.
The monsters, emitting groans, contorted their bodies and crushed the humans beneath them.
Then, they exploded, and the area was stained with their bodily fluids and human blood.
The momentum of humanity, who had seemed to be gaining the upper hand, was shattered by monsters who cared not even for their own deaths.

“Humans are destined to be ruined… No, I will bring ruin to them.”

Looking down at the battlefield that has become a hellish landscape, Idea smiled twistedly.

“No, you won’t!”

But then Anna’s voice echoed.
Even though the devastation spreads below them, her eyes still showed no sign of giving up.
Idea felt a strange thrill stir within her.

“I’m sure we can overcome this fate of destruction…! Hope will never be crushed as long as we don’t give up!”

Anna’s eyes were still filled with the light of hope, encouraging humans.
Yet that light of hope proved too feeble to reverse the tide of battle once it began to turn.
Some had their limbs torn off, and others had their heads bitten off.
Mountains of those who were once humans were piling up.

“Idea, Demiurge… I will not yield to you!”

Even as the corpses piled up, Anna did not give up hope, and glared at God with her hands clasped as if in prayer.
Idea looked down at the saint.

In this world, there is a way to kill a person other than destroying the body.
That is, profound despair.

The Sibyls who once possessed the power of the four Elementals all decayed, consumed by despair.
Idea’s face broke into a smile.
It was also amusing to watch as eyes once full of hope lost their light in despair, and they let go of their souls.

The God’s evil smile made Anna tremble, but she had a strong will that she had to not break.
Anna picked up a nearby long staff and unleashed a magic spell made from the power of humanity’s hope towards Idea.
Anna, who was just an ordinary girl until yesterday, has found hope in a world of despair and obtained powers beyond human comprehension.
Though she had obtained magic through nothing but the will to pray for hope, now was no time for astonishment.
However, the magic that was released as a light bullet was only an object of interest to Idea, who also transcended human knowledge. It had no terror for her.
With a mere flick of her hand, it vanished without a trace.

“Wha…!?”

Unable to accept this fact, Anna continued to unleashed her magic.
Ten, a hundred, or more spells?
How many times could she cast them? What effect would they have?
No one knew.
But humans had no choice but to rely on her power at this point.
Of course, that included Anna herself.
A relentless storm of light, unleashed without pause, assaulted Idea.

Eventually, out of breath, Anna fell to her knees.
Her eyes widened as soon as she looked at the sky where Idea was.

“The power of hope is not to be underestimated. But before me, the creator of the world, you should know that such power is no more than trash.”

All the hope Anna unleashed was powerless before Idea.
No matter how many attacks she unleashed, she could not inflict a single wound on Idea.
This fact crushed Anna’s and humanity’s hope.
Seeing Anna’s expression clearly dimmed by the fading light of hope, Idea’s lips curled into an even broader smile of delight.
At Idea’s feet in the air, her army of monsters began to overrun the place, as if they were reaping in turn from the humans who had lost hope.

The fact that Anna’s magic didn’t work on Idea brought humans closer to despair.
No matter how many monsters they defeated, they kept coming.
On the other hand human soldiers were limited.
One by one, those close to the monsters were turned into silent lumps of flesh by their overwhelming power.
In the midst of this seemingly endless nightmare, humans recalled the words of the Demiurge.

“Fine, give that soul to me. Then I will stop feeding on the souls of this city – no, of any other human being!”

This was before the battle began, when there was still hope that the Demiurge could be defeated.
But what of reality now?
Even the power of the Saint couldn’t reach God, and humans were also being defeated by the monsters.
There was never any hope of winning from the start.

What if… What if they had simply accepted God’s proposal and offered up the Saint back then?
Perhaps they wouldn’t have had to fight such an agonizing, endless battle.
The world might have been saved with just the sacrifice of the Saint.
It was not too late.
If they offer up the Saint, those who were alive now should be able to survive.
Hasn’t the Saint said so too?

–She would gladly give her life for the sake of humanity.

“The Saint! If we give up her now! We’ll be saved!”

One of the soldiers spoke up.
The Saint cannot be betrayed.
Even those who had thought so had begun to harbor the hope that they might be saved if they betrayed her.
Once born, this desire quickly swelled and swallowed up their trust and loyalty to the Saint in the blink of an eye.

It soon developed into a chorus of voices calling for “the Saint to be given up”.
The soldiers, now reduced to a mob, turned on their heels and ran towards Anna, not the monsters.

In any age, humans can only think of saving themselves.

Anna’s magic did not work on Idea.
But even so, Anna continued to attack.

Perhaps a single strike could inflict a fatal wound.
Perhaps a weakness could be found in Idea.

She had believed in such a tiny miracle.
But even this feeble hope was quickly shattered.

–Not by the God who should have been defeated, but by the hands of humans who should be protected.

“W-What are you doing?! Gah!”
“What’s going on?”

Focusing on Idea, Anna didn’t notice.
She had suddenly found herself surrounded by soldiers who should have been fighting the monsters.
Standing in the sky, Idea watched the whole thing with interest.

“Get out of the way! Capture the Saint!”

The guards protecting her were being cut down by soldiers who should have been their comrades.
Anna couldn’t comprehend the bizarre scene for a moment.

“…Why…are you doing this?”

Anna stopped moving after the sudden massacre and was easily captured by the soldiers.

“Hehe, sorry, Saintly Maiden. We don’t want to die yet.”
“You'll save us, right?”

She couldn’t comprehend the meaning of the words hurled at her by the soldiers who had fought so fiercely alongside her until just moments ago.

“Then give us at least a part of your life. For us humans!”
“Your life will save us all! It’s a small price to pay, right!?”

Her resistance was futile, and Anna’s limbs were held down so tightly that she was left with bruises, and stones were pelted into her face.

Why were her comrades, who had been fighting for their lives until just a moment ago, now doing this?
Such questions, along with their heartless words and merciless force, brought deep sadness to Anna’s heart.

“Uh, uh…”

The girl’s sobs were drowned out by the angry shouts of the soldiers.
Have they all gone mad before God’s overwhelming power?
Or perhaps these soldiers represented the true nature of humanity.

Anna couldn’t bear it any longer and a tear fell from her eye.
Until now, she has done her best to be a pillar of hope for humanity.
If it meant saving humans, she would have not hesitate to give her life.
She hadn’t been lying when she thought that.
But… Were the people before her now truly worth risking her life to save?
As her will wavered, she felt as if her heart was being swallowed by a great black vortex.

“Everyone… Why…have I…done everything for these humans…up until now…?”

Her words, muttered in a husky voice, reached no one.
The light of hope faded from the Saint’s eyes, and she was offered before God by human hands.

The expressions of the humans who offered the Saint as a sacrifice were refreshingly bright.
That act would have saved humanity.
The life of just one girl would save the world. No one doubted that it was a small price to pay.
That’s why God muttered in a bored tone.

“Foolish humans. You are an utter failure, as I thought.”

Her voice carried no anger of disappointment, no joy of victory.
She looked down at the humans, her expression stripped of even the emotion she had shown towards Anna earlier.
And from that moment onward, humans never spoke to Idea again.

A flash of light erupted as Idea raised her hands over humans.
Not a single drop of blood, not a shred of flesh remained. Everything vanished without a trace.
The surroundings were enveloped in silence, as if it were a deserted wilderness to begin with.
Amidst this apocalyptic scene, only Anna survived, lying on the ground.
Perhaps due to the impact of the flash of light Idea unleashed, the shackles binding her hands and feet had disappeared, and she was free.

Her translucent, beautiful skin bore gruesome wounds.
Unable even to cradle her aching body in her own arms, her white robes were stained with mud and blood, as if reflecting the darkness consuming her heart.

Crawling on the ground, Anna could not move a muscle, just gazing at the battlefield that had been reduced to nothing.
Her feelings had been trampled on by those she was meant to protect, and in an instant they had all vanished from this world.
Should she be angry at being betrayed, or sad that everything she was meant to protect had been lost?
Emotions swirled within her, and she had given up even the ability to think.

At that moment, Anna heard a voice coming from somewhere.
The voice belonged to a soldier who had captured her and asked her to give up her life because he didn’t want to die.
He was barely alive, having lost all his limbs; it would only be a matter of time before he died.

“S…aint… Sa…ve… Me…”
“Ah! You!!”

Anna’s eyes met the soldier’s, and she reflexively kicked him away as he spoke those words.
He betrayed her, tried to sacrifice her, and now he begs her for help?
How utterly disgusting.
Rage overflowed, simultaneously filling her heart with bitter regret.

“Sa…int…”

The soldier’s words were cut short.
Idea crushed the soldier’s head and landed in front of Anna.

Anna stared blankly at the God who had finally appeared within reach.
It was only a matter of time before her strong soul that had shone with hope was swallowed by pitch-black darkness.

Up until now, the Saint had devoted herself tirelessly for humanity.
It certainly took her time to realize her mission, but she thought she had been fighting for humans, for the world, as their hope.
However, in order to save only themselves, humans easily abandoned Anna.

“Humans are foolish after all. They won’t hesitate to push down their beloved kin if it means they can survive.”

Idea had some respect for Anna’s strong soul and the power of hope that it generated.
Anna was a being who could give hope to others without giving up in despair to foolish humans or to the overwhelming power of God.
That was the human heart Idea sought… Something very rare in this failed world.
That’s why Idea wanted that soul – she wanted to dye it in despair with her own hands and tear it away from her body.
However, the shocking outcome was different from what Idea had imagined.
In the end, Anna’s soul was betrayed by the ones she believed in, and was stained with despair.

“After all, this world needs to be remade. This time, it will be a world where sages gather, not fools.”

Hearing Idea’s words, Anna sensed what was about to happen to her.
That her soul would be devoured by God.

“Why…were humans born?”

Facing imminent death, the words Anna desperately wove from her hollow eyes and trembling mouth were neither defeat nor resistance.
It was a question about the absurdity of this world itself.

“It’s all my failure.”

And those were the last words the Saint heard.
A burst of light engulfed the battlefield.
In the pure white vision, Anna’s fading consciousness thought.

I was saved. This world, this hell, was not my fault.

God’s play, the sin of this humanity born flawed…
It’s not my fault, not at all…

The eye-burning light subsided in an instant.
All that was left on the battlefield was Idea, holding her own hands, stained black as if they had been scorched.
And also the remains of what had once been the Saint, her body devoured by God.

–A voice was heard in the warm light.
Why didn’t you help me?
You were a saint in name only.
You died because you didn’t protect me.

Memories of her life as a human.
There should have been so many happy, joyful moments.

But before Anna knew it, her own feelings were gradually being erased by humans’ resentment emerging from the black darkness.
And so her bright, warm memories were replaced with pain and suffering.
Finally, unable to recall anything but pain and the seemingly endless view of hell, Anna’s consciousness was swallowed by darkness and disappeared forever.

As what was once a young girl lay before her, Idea slowly knelt down.
She held her hand over the corpse, burned in deep black despair, and a single grain of light emerged.
The soul that had belonged to the Saint radiated a powerful brilliance.
It now fell into the hands of the Demiurge.

“I have regained the power of the four Elementals, and obtained a strong soul. Now, I am ready to create the next world!”

A satisfied laughter echoed across the earth at the end of the world.
Idea now could create her perfect world run by the sages, and not foolish humans.
Her heart was now filled with joy.

“Now, after absorbing this soul, I shall go and eliminate the remaining living things.”

Anna’s soul was in her hand.
It began to merge into Idea’s soul.
For a moment, she felt elated. At last, the fragments of herself bestowed upon humanity long ago would become one.
But right after that, Idea’s face twisted in pain.

“?! What is…!?”

Overwhelmed by unexpected pain, Idea collapsed to the ground.
A black darkness spread from the depths of her soul.
Pain, suffering, and sorrow threatened to engulf God’s soul.

“This is…that human’s… No… The power of the Elementals is reacting-”

It was as if her soul and body were separating.
Were the four Elementals reacting to the despair of the Saint’s soul?
It was five times greater than regular despair. Maybe even more, since there was also the despair of the fallen Sibyls.
Countless despairs were awakened and surged into Idea’s single soul.
The power that once constituted the God, meant to bring prosperity to the world.
The result of bestowing that power upon humanity was that, over long ages, it became a mass of profound despair, now returning to its master.
And even God could possess no vessel to accept that despair.

Eventually, Idea was torn away from the body she created as her host.
In this world, having one’s soul torn away from one’s body due to profound despair means death.
And that Reason also applied to Idea… That is, to God herself.
It was a rule that all who descended to this world had to follow.

“You still defy God even in death? How foolish can you be, humans!!”

God crouches and shouts, not wanting to tear away her soul.
Her voice announcing the end of the world was said to have reached the ends of the earth.

–God’s scream shook the world itself.

Having lost the protection of the Elementals, the already ravaged world hurtled toward collapse.
Everywhere, the earth split open, lava erupted, surging hurricanes swept down trees, and torrential floods washed everything away.
The natural disasters were destroying the places where not only humans, but all living things lived.
It was as if all of human history, built up until now, was being reduced to nothing.

Idea’s soul was torn from its host.
God’s power was so immense that even if she was only a soul, she could barely maintain her existence.
It would create a new host and descend into this world of the miniature garden.
That was how it was meant to be.
However, the five souls that Idea had absorbed would not allow this.
The souls of the four elementals and Anna, a strong human, were all stained with the color of profound despair.
The tales of despair etched into them flowed ceaselessly into Idea, now reduced to a mere soul.

The memories of the Sibyls stained in despair by selfish humans.
The pain, sadness and suffering of despair stretched over multiple layers.
All of them simultaneously shook Idea’s soul and consciousness, possessing such immense power it could even swallow the very Demiurge.
Unable to create a new host body, her soul no longer had even the faintest power to possess nearby humans or creatures.
Having lost all power to the endless, infinite despair, Idea’s soul bore no trace of the sublime God she once was.

Just like the humans she detested, Idea had become a powerless and weak being, possessing no power whatsoever.
And even though she had become such a fragile soul, the profound despair of the Saint and the Sibyls rained down mercilessly on her.
The unbearable agony lasted forever, and Idea continued to taste an endless hell.

How much time had passed?
After spending what felt like an eternity, but also an instant, Idea began to beg.

If she had to wander around in a living hell, she would rather just disappear.

A time of despair that seemed to go on forever.
It came to an end the moment Idea wished for her own destruction.

The pain of a body being destroyed and stolen, the pain of a heart breaking as it continued to lose what was precious to it…
The despair of the girls flowing into God sliced her soul apart.
Leaving behind a scream that shook the world, God vanished completely from the miniature garden, along with the souls she had absorbed.

How did Idea’s death cry sound to the humans left behind in the dying world?

After the battle between the Saint and the Demiurge, the world collapsed.
The power of the four Elementals that supported the world, the Saint whose strong soul was the source of people’s hope, and even the God who absorbed them all… They no longer existed in this world.
But even so, the few humans who survived continued to pray.

They knelt on the ground, raised their hands to the sky, and prayed,
“God, please save us.”

To a benevolent God who would save them, who didn’t know where they were.
To a hope that they didn’t know where it lay.
Humans could do nothing but cling to those.

The invasion of the Demiurge has decimated humanity, and cataclysmic disasters had nearly destroyed the land where people could find peace.
The barely surviving holy city of Valvala bore no trace of its former prosperity.
Those who have stopped thinking, consumed by despair, continued to pray to the heavens. The rest fought over scarce supplies, killing one another.
A world devoid of order, a world after the end, stretched out before them.

In a corner of the ruins of Valvala…
In a building that had relatively retained its shape, a young woman was gazing out the window with vacant eyes.
The sky should have been dyed crimson red under normal circumstances.
Yet, ever since the day the world was destroyed, it remained shrouded in clouds neither gray nor black, as if it had lost all color.
No matter when she looked at it, the sky remained unchanged. To the woman, it seemed as if it was telling humans that light was no longer necessary.
And as if to embody this, shouts and screams echoed from outside the building.

“There is no light, no future, nothing… Nothing changes, neither the world nor humans…”

When she closed her eyes, she was forced to remember horrible memories.
The time when she was forced to shoulder expectations and responsibilities, and was sent out to the battlefield not knowing when she would die.
Hellish days where she was betrayed by those she trusted, and watching those close to her die.
In the end, the only one she could believe in was herself.

“I’ll survive even if I have to crawl on the ground or sip mud… I’m not going to die so easily…”
“Hey, you.”

An old man called out to the woman as she looked up at the dim sky.
When she turned towards him, another man had also entered the room.
The man’s persistent, appraising gaze made the woman instinctively step back.

“Customer, what do you think of this one?”
“She’s nice. I’ll take her.”

The woman felt disgust at the vulgar conversation between those two men.
Without caring about her reaction, the younger one walked up to her and put his arm around her shoulders.
In that instant, a pungent stench so foul she hesitated to open her eyes hit her nose, making her face contort.

“Hehe, thank you for coming. Hey, treat him well.”
“…Understood.”

A powerless, weak woman was not allowed to resist.
Speaking in a trembling voice, she clenched her teeth until they nearly cracked as the man took her to another room.
The moment she passed the old man, she glared at him with murderous eyes, but he paid no attention.
After the two of them left the room, the old man, with dead eyes, looked out the window just as the woman has done.

“This is a world without God or miracles, where we just wait for death. If we can enjoy ourselves to the fullest before dying, that’s better than nothing… Heh, heh heh…”

The old man’s broken laughter echoed through the room.
There were no longer any humans in this world who truly believe in God or have hope.
They had to wait for death amidst the despair that remained.
That was the only path left for them.