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Last Embryo Volume 8 Prologue Part 1

PROLOGUE

Let us go back in time a little, to a moment before all the Players landed on the Lost Continent of Atlantis.

What a miscalculation. Who would’ve thought that two Half Celestial Spirits would awake while I was still asleep? That is what the monster that was hiding in Arjuna’s shadow was thinking as he was surveying the situation in Little Garden.

The monstrous shadow, which was calling itself 「The King of Murderous Species」has been gradually regaining his consciousness and sense of self little by little ever since they have began to approach the continent of Atlantis. However, even now that he successfully managed to attach himself to the shadow of someone who had direct connection with Indra’s bloodline, it was still not possible for him to fully grasp all of the information on what was happening outside. That’s because if he were to act too openly and allowed his existence to be discovered even by accident, he could have been easily eliminated by his host. That is why 「The King of Murderous Species」 could only result to latching onto the pieces of information from outside whenever they were passing through Arjuna’s mind.

However, this time he had to admit that his information gathering had ultimately amounted to nothing useful and only wasted his time.

He was prioritizing getting the information about what happened to the other Half celestial Spirits, but the pieces of information that he managed to obtain this time only made him angry.

He was angry because he learned that the other two Half Celestial Spirits that have awakened while 「The King of Murderous Species」was still asleep were Willa de Ignis Fatuus and Seiten Taisei – otherwise known as Sun Wukong, who were basically like younger siblings to him.

At first 「The King of Murderous Species」 rejoiced at the thought of his younger siblings awakening as well, but the more he was learning about the circumstances of the two and about what happened with them, the emotions that he was feeling turned from happiness into anger, then sadness and then into bottomless wrath.

『After all, there should be a limit to how stupid someone might be! 』

『On one hand, we have a girl who became a slave, follows the saints and admires ghosts and pumpkins just like her father, while on the other hand we have a brat who believes that miscellaneous spirits, dragons and other monsters are his family, even though he possesses enough strength to go toe to toe with the 「Heavenly Army」itself!!!!!!』

「The King of Murderous Species」 continued to violently shout in grief, step on the ground and throw temper tantrums inside of Arjuna’s mind, but he couldn’t allow himself to completely lose himself in anger. If he had really started despairing over what has become of his siblings, then the change that has occurred within him would surely be transmitted to Krishna through Arjuna.

Doing his best to suppress the burning anger, 「The King of Murderous Species」looked over the information that he acquired one more time.

『Well…. At the vert least, it’s good to see that Seiten Taisei managed to become someone who could fight against 「The Heavenly Army」like that. Besides, if you look at it carefully, then aren’t the people who joined my little sister similar to him, in a way?』

It can be interpreted that those who joined Seiten Taisei in his battle against the heavens became one of the first Communities that accepted its members regardless of their values or species, creating a family whose bond went above and beyond that the typical boundaries. If only they had won the war that they had started, then it is possible that Little Garden would be entirely different from how it is now.

『Seiten Taisei. So even though you are already a Half Celestial Spirit, you still want to aim at being the 『Origin』candidate as well? What you are trying to do is cross not only the barriers between humans, but between species as well… what foolishness. It took 10,000 years for humans to cross the barriers of their own races, and you want to cross the boundaries of species together with them? Such act is beyond hideous. You, who continued to hold onto such lofty ideals until you got yourself burned by them…』

… You truly are an idiot.

「The King of Murderous Species」 let out a sigh filled with more anger than ever before. When it comes to humans, it is going to take at least another thousand years before they are going to be able to cross the boundaries of their own species and communicate their feelings between themselves properly. It’s a situation that those people who think that this is going to be enough to overcome the catastrophic eruption won’t even be able to understand.

However, the ideals that Seiten Taisei followed were not bad in and out of themselves.

Even if his ideals were the ones that stemmed from his desire to be loved, it could still be said that they were still far more specific wishes than the ones of 「The King of Murderous Species’s」who had no purpose other than to slaughter the entirety of mankind.

The difference between Earth’s Mother Goddess Gaia and 「The King of Murderous Species」was exactly that: this difference between their wishes. And if Seiten Taisei’s wish is truly unshakeable, then entrusting him with the Authority of the Blue Star might ot be a bad thing to do after all.

『In order to do that, I must know more about Seiten Taisei. It just so happens that his brothers-in-law are also onboard of the Giant Spirit Train right now. It might be a bit dangerous to do, but let’s ignite the flame of their vengeance for a little bit.』

「The King of Murderous Species」laughed gloomily as his shadow stretched itself out inside of Arjuna’s mind, and the fire that he kindled spread in an instant, bringing to light the shadows of the 「Seven Star War」.

* * *

Giant Spirit Train VIP Wagon, Purple Smoke Bar Lounge.

The Giant Spirit Train 『Sun Thousand』carried a lot of different individuals from across all races and factions onboard itself, the only thing they all had in common being the Players participating in the 2nd War for the Sun’s Authority.

It should probably go without saying that when it comes to Sponsors and people involved with the War’s operations behind the scenes, as well as various Gods, Shuras and Buddhist deities, they all managed to secure the best seats possible for themselves because they splurged a lot of money for that very purpose.

However, if so any Gods, Shuras and Buddhas gather in a single place all at once, it would be inevitable that some of them would want nothing more than to kill one another if they ever had the chance to meet face to face.

One of such people was the man with an eyepatch who sat at the bar lounge among the billowing clouds of purple smoke. That eyepatch-wearing man tilted his glass and quietly observed the liquor inside of it, only to then shift his gaze to the screen that was displaying the highlights of today’s Exhibition Gift Games.

After watching the images of the Gift Game which involved fighting against the hordes of monster birds where one of the participating boys played an especially prominent role in his team achieving victory, Kouryu, The Saurian Demon Lord, bitterly ordered more sake to be poured for himself.
The boy that he watched with an especially keen eye was…

(… Arjuna of the Indian Pantheon, Indra’s beloved son. He is said to be one of the strongest fighters among the demigods of all the mythologies, but to me, he looks like a man who lacks ambition.)

Once he finished watching the Game’s highlights, Kouryu asked the female clerk who was tending to the bar for yet another drink, and the girl, who was a member of the 『Thousand Eyes』Community, sighed and as she complied with his wish.

「Kouryu-sama, don’t you think that if you keep drinking your alcohol with your brows frowned like that, it’s going to ruin its taste for you?」

「Huh?! What’s this now?! Don’t you know that there’s nothing more rude than complaining about how someone is drinking their booze?!」

「That might be true, but I think that Kouryu-sama would enjoy more elegance if you were to attend a tea ceremony or a banquet. If you’re going to be making such a bitter face as if you could completely understand the taste of the alcohol that you’re drinking, you’re only going to make things more painful for the person serving that alcohol to you.」