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Chapter 123

The Ruined City of the Goddess.

Deep within the former military facility in Ichigaya – the Goddess’s Garden.

In the Goddess’s Garden, a figure of ambiguous gender, with a tailcoat and silk hat, is savoring some tea.

「Well then— 」

「How were the results of the future calculations? Lucifer… no… Mr. Virus of the System?」

「I’d like you to recognize me not as the System’s Virus, but as the god who governs the diversity of humanity’s future, the God of Order.」

「And? How was it?」

「Actually, it’s not future calculation, but simply a massively large simulation device. The performance here is much better than the one in the Vatican. It’s almost… at the level where you could call it the scenario of the Absolute God.」

「You’ve always been unwilling to listen, haven’t you? But, what about me? What did you find out?」

With a playful tone, Lucifer spoke,

「My apologies. I can only see until the near future, but undoubtedly, humanity will significantly decrease in numbers. Beyond that, they will continue to suffer from population control measures like major disasters or the presence of external gods.」

「So, it will end up like that.」

「Because Lute McLane can’t defeat Moses. There’s no way to resist the lawlessness of parasitizing an external god.」

With a distant gaze, the Goddess took a sip of her tea.

「Then, shall we start over… and reset the world?」

「Even if we say start over, it’s just moving to one of the countless parallel worlds. Similar to the reasoning behind reincarnators coming to the future, even we don’t fully understand it… but the fact remains that we can abandon this world, rewind time a bit, and travel to different worlds. Well, we just have to accept it as it is.」

「I’m fed up with it. But, what exactly are these countless parallel worlds?」

「It’s just a hypothesis, but… including you and me… this world itself might be a dream-like world in the computation process of the simulator. Or perhaps, before the great destruction where civilizations were lost, the world afterward was simulated, and what we’re in right now is presented as one of the possibilities.」

「The world has not reached its end, and this world is still in the process of computation…? If so, are we two assistants of the simulator assembled to find the optimal solution…?」

「It’s just a possibility. Regarding reincarnators, if it’s not time travel but a method of inputting the data of such individuals into the simulator, then perhaps…」

「It’s intriguing, but rather far-fetched.」

「Well, in any case, the truth doesn’t matter to us. What matters is what’s real here and now.」

「Anyway, we continue to wander through countless failed worlds, perpetuating the destruction of parallel worlds…」

They both simultaneously placed their teacups down and sighed.

「But what do you think was the cause of this defeat?」

「The key is Lute McLane. That’s for sure. Or perhaps, if he had obtained the God-Eating skill at the Tower of Mirage and devoured the ancient gods… things might have been different.」

「And the fact that the Human-Demon Emperor was not completed is painful. The military power on the side of humanity has become too fragile. The pattern where those two factors were present was the closest to success we’ve seen so far.」

「In any case, fundamental resolution by the human faction – the elimination of the external gods – is no longer achievable.」

「Out of countless branches, just one casual conversation, one misplaced action at that level, and then… the situation becomes irreversible…」

「Yes, in this world, presenting the optimal solution for the world is no longer possible. Shall we embark on the next possibility… to a parallel world?」

However… the Goddess smiled faintly.

「Even so, let’s at least see it through to the end.」

「What’s with that attitude?」

「It might not be the correct answer. However, even so, if it’s those kids… perhaps they’ll present us with the possibility of another path.」