Chapter 11.5: A World Fallen Into Despair

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The world “Arcadia,” governed by Goddess Tsuki.

That world was almost identical to Earth in every way.

The compassionate Goddess Tsuki loved the world and bestowed blessings upon many living creatures.

The world grew slowly, and as time passed, many creatures lived happily, evolving and regressing repeatedly.

In that flow, just like on Earth, humans began to rise to prominence.

Using a power called “science,” they grew at an overwhelming pace compared to other creatures, eventually dominating the entire world.

By the time Goddess Tsuki, who had fallen asleep after blessing many creatures, awoke, it was already too late—the world was under human control.

Even worse, humanity had begun to challenge the gods.

Whether fortunate or unfortunate, the compassionate Goddess Tsuki loved even those humans and granted them blessings.

No…… she ended up granting them.

With the immense gap between humans and gods bridged by her blessings, humanity reached the point of capturing Goddess Tsuki.

By the time she realized it, even Goddess Tsuki could no longer defeat humanity, and they stripped her of her divine form.

Thus, the goddess vanished from the world, and the laws of the world began to collapse.

Yet humanity didn’t stop advancing “science” even to surpass the laws of the world.

Eventually, humanity discarded their weak flesh and transitioned into fully mechanical beings.

A utopian world everyone thought would last forever.

A world that overcame the fear of death and gained eternal life.

A perfectly harmonious world, managed by a flawless society where no discontent could arise.

However, the nightmare for humanity had already begun.

In a world without death, people’s hearts gradually started to rot.

Their bodies could be maintained indefinitely without decaying. But their hearts could not be repaired.

The final measure humanity took in that state was────war.

The thrill that could only be gained by hurting each other.

Because of it, not only humanity but many species were consumed by a sea of fire.

When the lives of countless creatures were extinguished, a scholar released Goddess Tsuki, drastically changing the situation.

Order returned to the world, and humanity had no means to resist Goddess Tsuki, who now had “science” on her side.

But it was already too late.

The only life left in the world────was humanity.

Goddess Tsuki and the scholar exchanged words over a long time and arrived at a final answer.

“Biological Completion Plan”

Until peace returned to the world someday and it could once again overflow with countless creatures, they would strip humanity of their “hearts,” leaving a world sustained solely by order.

Releasing “Decaying Venom” across the globe to prevent the mechanical humans opposing Goddess Tsuki from wiping out her forces might have been part of the scholar’s strategy.

The world “Arcadia”…… transformed into a world of despair, reached by humanity that had surpassed even the gods.

Eventually, the mechanical humans who didn’t follow Goddess Tsuki went extinct, and those who remained lost all their hearts under her command, becoming mere puppets that kept moving, maintaining the sole giant city “Mantineia” built in the world.

Goddess Tsuki was left alone in a world where all the creatures she loved had perished, destined to spend an eternity-like expanse of time.

Until the day life would sprout again, she continued watching over the withered garden and world from the rooftop of the “Completion Tower,” where the seeds were stored.

Years, decades, centuries, millennia…… Goddess Tsuki, too, eventually lost her emotions and ceased to be a divine being.

Even so, she clung to the faint hope that a child of fate who could save the world would surely appear someday, and she kept waiting.

Until, one day────an existence that would kill her and regenerate the world────the “Fool” would appear.