# Chapter 12: The Village That No Longer Exists
# Chapter 12: The Village That No Longer Exists
*— The Spirit World.*
It was a place shaped entirely by Master's memories — the long-vanished "Village of Beginnings."
Enaga, Akebi, and Chia stood there, looking out at a scene that shouldn't have existed anywhere anymore.
---
**The Village Square**
The sky churned with a murky darkness none of them had ever seen before, the air itself trembling with an ominous rumble that could only mean one thing: the Demon Lord was coming.
At the center of it all stood Master — still just a small child.
Surrounding him were the adults of the village.
And a prophet's voice, trembling, cutting through the silence.
"...Every soul in this village carries the bloodline of the strongest. That is precisely why the Demon Lord himself will come to wipe this village off the map — to snuff out that seed before it grows. ...And even if every one of us stood together, I see no future where we win."
The prophet's eyes were bloodshot, fixed on the young Master.
"So there's only one path left. We transfer the mana of every soul in this village into the youngest one among us — the one with the strongest will. Our final task isn't to preserve this village. It's to give birth to something the world has never seen before... and never will again. The single strongest being who will ever exist."
The young Master said nothing, only stared up at the adults around him.
In his eyes wasn't fear. It was refusal.
"Stop it... please. I never asked for this...!!!"
But the adults' hands rose toward him, all at once.
The ritual began — with a stillness that was almost cruel.
One by one, particles of light spilled from the villagers' bodies and were drawn into the young Master.
And in exchange, the instant each of them touched him, the life drained from their bodies, and with a dry, brittle sound, they crumbled into ash.
"Dad...! Mom!!"
Master reached out, but his hands never touched anyone.
The moment he tried, the people he loved turned to gray dust and slipped through his fingers.
An entire village's worth of lives, condensed into mana and poured into a single child.
Unable to bear the crushing weight of it, the young Master let out a scream.
**"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!"**
When the light finally faded, all that remained was one child, wrapped in mana like a swirling galaxy — and an ocean of ash stretching out in every direction.
---
The scene shifted back to the center of the Spirit World.
The afterimages of memory dissolved, and Master — in his present form — stood before the three of them.
His shoulders didn't carry the glory of being the world's #1. They carried the weight of countless deaths, more than anyone could ever count.
Master turned quietly toward Chia.
"...Route. Being the strongest? It's really not fun at all."
His usual dry, joking smile was gone — his eyes were clouded with something much closer to grief.
"My power was never mine alone to begin with."
Chia's staff slipped from his hand and hit the ground.
His shoulders shook, rattling like something coming apart.
Whatever pride Chia had been carrying suddenly felt unbearably small, set against the price Master had paid to become what he was.
Master walked over slowly and stopped right in front of him.
"...So. I need you to stop pushing yourself like this. Please."
Master's hand settled on Chia's trembling shoulder.
The instant it did, something inside Chia — something stretched taut for far too long — broke apart with an almost audible sound.
"...ah...... aaahh...!!"
Chia threw his staff aside and collapsed at Master's feet, clinging to him.
Not a shred remained of the world #2's pride, or the cold, expressionless mask he always wore.
"I'm sorry...!! I'm so sorry...!! What was I even— what was I THINKING...!!"
He clung to Master's legs, sobbing openly like a child.
The crushing weight of being "the world's #2" — a burden he'd carried like it meant everything — now looked painfully small and self-centered next to the weight of an entire village's worth of lives that Master had carried alone.
That guilt shattered him completely.
"Master... I... I tried to kill you...!!"
Master's brow creased, troubled, as he looked down at Chia sobbing at his feet.
"Heheh... — hey, wait, you've got snot all over me, gross...!! *(visibly recoiling)*"
"...uh— WAAAAAAAAAAAH!!"
Off to the side, Witch Enaga watched the whole scene with cold, unmoved eyes.
Her anger toward Chia was still smoldering.
"...Uh, excuse me. You think crying it out now just makes this okay? You didn't just try to kill ME — you tried to kill Master too—!!"
Enaga raised her staff and took a step toward Chia.
"I'm not forgiving you...! No matter how sorry you are, I'm going to—"
"Now, now, Enaga, don't be so harsh... heh-heh..."
"Master, stay out of this! I'm not gonna feel better until I turn this guy into a pile of ash with a Giga Divoid!!"
Sparks flew between Enaga and Chia. Chia kept yelling apologies, but his mana started building on reflex, reacting to Enaga's murderous intent.
Right as it looked like they were about to clash all over again instead of making up—
"—Alright, that's enough."
Master snapped his fingers.
In an instant, the air of the Spirit World changed completely.
"".........!?!?!?""
Both Enaga and Chia were flattened to the ground, as if some massive, invisible foot had stomped down on them at once.
Faces pressed into the dirt, unable to move so much as a finger, crushed under overwhelming pressure.
"Hmm, yes — for kids who can't make up on their own, getting real friendly with the ground is exactly what the doctor ordered."
Chuckling to himself, Master strolled right between the two flattened kids.
"...Ma— Master...! Heavy... I'm gonna DIE...!!"
"...I'm— sorr— y...!!"
"Alright, listen up, you two — if you keep this fighting up, I'll just crank this Spirit World's gravity up to a hundred times the sun's, how about that? You'll both make lovely little pancakes! lol"
Beside them, Akebi clapped his hands, laughing. "Woooow, lol!"
"Alright, look each other in the eye, and on the count of three, say 'let's make up.' Whoever doesn't say it stays a pancake."
"...F-fine! Fine, okay, I get it!!"
"...I— I'll say it...!!"
Master eased up on the pressure just slightly, and the two of them lifted their mud-caked faces, exchanging awkward glances.
**"" ...l-let's... make up.........""**
Their voices came out barely audible, like mosquitoes buzzing.
Even so, having shared a brush with death and been forced into peace by Master's absurd, overwhelming power, the tense, bloodthirsty air between them had shifted into something like a strange, reluctant camaraderie.
"Excellent! Violence really does solve everything, huh! lol"
Once Master let up the pressure completely, Chia wobbled to his feet and bowed deeply to Enaga.
"...Enaga, I'm sorry. I had no idea — not about your strength, and definitely not about the weight of what you were trying to protect."
Enaga scoffed and turned her face away.
Still, her cowlick swayed just a little softer than usual.
"...Just don't ever ruin Akebi's red bean daifuku again. Do it one more time, and I really will erase you."
"Ahaha! Great, everyone's friends again!"
Akebi slapped both of their backs, and Chia winced with an "owww" all over again.
Master watched them, satisfied, and gave Enaga's cowlick a gentle little re-tie.
"Alright... I suppose it's about time we head back to reality."
None of them realized yet that Master's words were about to signal the start of something far more devastating.
