The Return of The Mythical Archmage [EN]: Chapter 412

I relayed all the information I had just received from Bale to the two gods.

“……”

“……”

I conveyed everything, including the details I hadn’t had time to explain before.

The two gods were lost in thought, each with a different expression.

“I roughly understand,” Umbra said, breaking the silence. She had been deep in thought with a ferocious expression.

“…Seriously, what a mess.”

“Yes.”

Umbra clicked her tongue.

She looked annoyed that things weren’t going as planned.

More precisely, she seemed irritated that her expectations had been completely shattered.

“Okay, I think I understand correctly, but just in case I’ve misunderstood something, I’ll explain it in my own words. Tell me if I get anything wrong.”

“Yes.”

Umbra paused for a moment before beginning to speak.

“The originator of the power you possess, Ray Bell Bytenner, and his adversary, the dark mage Bale Stoll. They were originally a single god called the ‘Human God.'”

“That’s correct.”

“And the Human God is the hero god who killed the End God.”

“Yes.”

“Lastly, right now, the End God’s power is imbued in Bale Stoll, a clone of the Human God.”

“…Yes.”

It was a perfect summary.

“The reason you’re telling us this is probably because you think we might know something about it.”

“Yes.”

“…I see.”

I thought that if anyone knew something, it would be these two who had lived through the mythical era. [The mythical era refers to a time of gods and legends, often before recorded history.]

Even if they didn’t know, I hoped they could at least form new hypotheses based on information we didn’t have.

“I appreciate you trusting us, but unfortunately, we’re no different from you.”

Umbra turned her gaze towards Persona.

It was as if she was asking with her eyes, ‘You don’t know either, do you?’

“…….”

Persona didn’t react at all. He was still lost in his own world, deep in thought with his usual expression.

Umbra sighed softly.

“He’s really…”

She sighed at Persona’s stubbornness, lost in his own world even in such a critical situation.

“Let’s just leave him be… Anyway, we… no, I don’t know anything. Human God. It’s the first time I’ve even heard of such a being.”

Human God. A being that was the core of this whole situation.

Since we didn’t know anything about him, there was no way to make any assumptions.

That’s what she was saying.

“Even a far-fetched hypothesis is fine. You can even write a novel. Please tell me anything that comes to mind.”

I had somewhat expected that these two might not know about the Human God.

They had disappeared with the birth of the End God.

They were bound to be ignorant about the End God’s death.

It was only natural that they wouldn’t know about the Human God, who was related to the End God’s death.

“…Write a novel?”

“Yes.”

But the only thing these two didn’t know about was the Human God.

They were ‘gods’ who had lived through the mythical era.

They knew what the mythical era was like, what the divine realm was like, and what the human realm was like.

They possessed countless pieces of information that I didn’t know.

‘Those who know the historical background and those who don’t have different ranges of thought.’

I didn’t know anything about the mythical era, so I couldn’t form any hypotheses.

But these two would be different.

I wondered if they might have something come to mind.

“…Honestly, it’s not like I don’t have anything in mind.”

Umbra slightly frowned.

“I’ve seen the End God’s power with my own eyes…”

A strange light emanated from her narrowed eyes.

“And the name Human God. The god of humans. I have some thoughts about that too.”

As expected.

“Considering the structure of the divine and human realms, and the creation myth of the gods, I could write a pretty good novel.”

Umbra looked directly into my eyes.

“But, are you sure? This is just a hypothesis based on your words. It’s not the truth.”

She looked like she was worried about something.

“If you’re worried that I might get caught up in that hypothesis, I’d like to tell you that you don’t need to worry.”

Once a person hears a piece of information, they inevitably focus their thoughts on it.

It’s not easy to shake off the trap of common sense and what’s considered the right answer.

Umbra was probably worried that I would fall into that trap.

“It’s not something you can be so sure about.”

Umbra’s eyes sharpened.

“It’s not easy for people, gods or not, to ignore their biases. In fact, you were caught up in that way of thinking this time, weren’t you?”

“…….”

She was right.

I had acted as if I was certain that my teacher and Bale’s past was the End God.

Even though there was evidence that suggested otherwise, I had dismissed it, thinking it was nothing.

“I think it’s best not to listen to uncertain information.”

The evil god Umbra.

I had just thought of her as the reincarnation of evil.

But it seemed that wasn’t the case at all.

She was just an ordinary person, or rather, a god, who belonged to the ‘evil’ group.

Every single thing she said was correct, so I had nothing to say.

“If you understand, then let’s not listen to my story…”

“No.”

Umbra frowned again.

“…You agreed with what I said, didn’t you?”

But why?

That was the look on her face.

“It’s true that once I hear something from Umbra, I won’t be able to see the information I get afterward with 100% objectivity. If that happens, there’s a good chance that unfavorable situations will arise later.”

“You know that well.”

If you know all that, why would you insist on listening?

That’s what her expression seemed to say.

“If I were alone, I wouldn’t have tried to listen.”

Having made a mistake once, I wouldn’t have tried to listen to uncertain information.

“…If you were alone?”

“Yes.”

But I wasn’t alone.

“I have a trustworthy partner. A partner who is much smarter and more intelligent than I am.”

I had Mimir by my side.

With Mimir, there was no chance of getting caught up in a cycle of thought and messing things up.

“No matter how much of a genius your partner is, the trap of common sense, the trap of what’s obvious, isn’t something you can easily avoid…”

“I don’t plan on telling my partner what I hear from Umbra.”

“…….”

Umbra stopped talking.

“That will solve all the problems.”

“…So, your partner will be able to analyze the information objectively in a blank state, and you will be able to grasp any clues you might have missed based on the information you heard from me?”

“Yes. This way, we can kill two birds with one stone.”

Me and Mimir.

We would be able to look at the information from two different perspectives.

“I see. There was such a method.”

Umbra’s eyes sparkled with amusement.

“I’ve never had a colleague I could trust enough to rely on like that, so I never even thought of such a method.”

“…Is that so?”

I glanced at Persona.

Judging from his earlier behavior, it seemed like she trusted Persona a lot.

“Trusting someone and relying on them are different. Especially in this kind of situation. To completely entrust my thoughts to someone else. Ugh. I can’t do it.”

Umbra shuddered slightly as if it was horrible.

“…Is that so?”

I honestly couldn’t understand what was so horrible about it.

“You’re blessed. To have a genius who is on a similar level as you, who thinks like you, and who you can trust 100%.”

Umbra looked at me with a slightly envious expression.

“I’m jealous. If I had even one partner like that in my life, my divine life would have been a little different.”

A hint of regret could be seen amidst the envy.

“…Okay. Anyway. If that’s the case, then I can speak freely.”

Umbra smiled faintly.

“First, before I say anything, I’ll explain the structure of the divine realm and the gods.”

“Yes.”

She had mentioned it briefly earlier.

The differences between the divine and human realms.

And the creation myth of the gods.

“First, the power of the gods. Divine power is always maintained at a certain level.”

Divine power is maintained?

“You don’t mean that the power of individual gods is maintained… You mean that the total amount of power, the combined power of all gods, always converges to a certain level. Is that what you mean?”

“That’s right. You’re smart.”

“So there’s such a law.”

In short, the power of all existing gods is always maintained at 100.

“So usually, when new gods are born, it’s likely after some gods have died.”

If divine power converges to 100, it means that if it’s full at 100, new gods cannot be born.

“So the End God was born that way. What god died that allowed such a monster to be born?”

According to this law, the End God’s immense power can be somewhat explained.

“There was a war. A conflict between the divine realm and our forces, the Karma.”

Umbra’s expression darkened.

“Many gods died in that battle. You could say that 20… no, 30% of all gods died.”

“…30%.”

In short, out of the total divine power of 100, a vacancy of 30 was created.

“Then the End God must have been born with that 30% of power.”

“That’s right.”

A monster with 30% of the combined power of all gods.

With such a monster, it was understandable that the divine realm was destroyed in an instant.

“Perhaps. The desire to absorb more divine power was a big reason why he destroyed the divine realm.”

“…Absorb power?”

What did she mean by absorbing power?

“I said earlier that the maximum divine power is always maintained at a certain level, right?”

“Yes.”

The divine power of 100 is always maintained.

I guess you could call it the law of conservation of divine power.

“To maintain that certain amount of divine power, there is a method of creating new gods, but there is also a method of the remaining gods absorbing divine power.”

“Ah.”

I see.

‘Growing divine power means absorbing someone else’s divine power.’

Umbra, a god born from the shadows of the human realm.

Her grown divine power was proof that divine power could be absorbed.

“The End God wanted to absorb all the power of the divine realm and become a true god, the only god.”

“Creating his own world… That fits perfectly with what he said.”

“That’s right.”

Rather than adding something to a world someone else created, he wanted to create his own world from scratch.

Absorbing divine power was the best way to put that into practice.

“If he had absorbed all the divine power that flowed out at that time… the world would have ended. Or rather, it would have been reborn. If that had happened, I wouldn’t be here talking to you.”

If everything in the world was erased, it would be the same as the past disappearing.

In other words, Umbra wouldn’t be able to remember the End God.

In the first place, Umbra herself should have completely disappeared.

“In other words, the fact that I exist like this is proof that the End God failed to absorb all the divine power at that time.”

But Umbra exists now.

The End God failed to recreate this world.

In other words, the End God failed to absorb all the divine power of the divine realm.

“He failed to absorb the large amount of divine power that was released at that time, and let some of it go. That’s why we’re able to have this conversation now.”

“…That makes sense.”

The logic was perfect.

“So here’s a question. What happened to the divine power that he missed?”

“…Huh?”

Come to think of it…

“Did it return to the divine realm according to the laws of the divine realm, and new gods were born?”

“Wouldn’t that be the case?”

“No.”

Umbra shook her head.

“That’s what would have happened normally. The highest shrine in the divine realm has the highest divine technique for absorbing divine power engraved on it. If it were normal, a new god would have been born somewhere in the divine realm, centered around that divine technique. But…”

“…Ah. You said the divine realm was erased by the End God.”

“Exactly.”

The divine technique to return divine power to the divine realm had disappeared.

“Because of the End God’s foolish actions, the divine realm could no longer absorb divine power. And…”

Umbra raised her index finger and pointed downwards.

“The divine power that wasn’t returned to the divine realm would have naturally moved downwards.”

Downwards.

“The human realm.”

The human realm, located below the divine realm.

A large amount of divine power flowed into that place.

“And that divine power would have given birth to a new god.”

It wasn’t difficult to predict what she was going to say next.

“Since divine power has the property of wanting to be symmetrical, it would have formed another great power as a counterpart to the great power on the other side.”

A god born in the human realm due to the outflow of great divine power.

A hero god of the human realm who opposed the End God and defeated him.

“That’s the creation myth of the Human God that I think of.”

That was the birth of the Human God.