The man behind the destruction of the world in the future.
The man at the center of the project to create demon kings, and the genius life mage conducting research on demon king cells.
My enemy, who destroyed Almana in my previous life, is right here.
“Well… What is the meaning of this, Memoria?”
“…‘Father’”
Memoria walks towards him clearly not sensing any danger.
“Don’t go, Memoria.”
I have a bad feeling about this, and try to stop her, but I’m too late.
“…Memoria didn’t take Chrom Chronogate’s memories, but there is something even better. Chrom Chronogate said he’ll be ‘father’s’ ally. That way there’s no need to take away memories, and everyone is happy…”
A dull noise echoes. I don’t understand what it is at first, but when I see Memoria on the floor, I get it.
Cradle knocked Memoria down.
“…Ah.”
The flower crown she had on her head falls to the ground.
I’m about to reach out and pick her up, but before I can, she is stomped by Cradle.
“…‘Father’…?”
“Do you understand why you were hit, Memoria?”
“…M-Memoria failed her duty, and was a bad girl…?”
“No, wrong. You’re not a bad girl. Everyone can fail. That is most definitely not a bad thing. I even forgive you for letting Chrom Chronogate deceive you and letting him convince you to bring him to our base. So why did I hit you?”
Cradle says while kicking her.
“It was simply because I get joy from it. That’s why I hit you. That’s why I kicked you. Parents should discipline their children.”
“…I-I’m sorry…”
“Don’t apologize. You did nothing wrong. I am in the wrong for being needlessly violent. It’s absurd. So irrational. I can’t help but feel sorry for you as you tremble in pain… And yet I hit you. And yet I kicked you.”
“U…Ku…”
‘Father’
That’s what Memoria calls this man.
But the way Cradle looks at Memoria… He’s just looking at a doll.
He raises his hand again, but…
“…Stop.”
I can’t stand here and watch, so I step in.
Cradle’s dead, muddy eyes look all over me.
“Nice to meet you. Are you Chrom Chronogate?”
“…And you’re Cradle Destar.”
“Hou, you know me?”
“Yes… Very well. You’re a survivor of the angel sisters (Elmana) project, and the leader of the project to create demon kings. The genius life mage who researches demon king cells and formulated the theory to create demon kings. You create demon kings because your dream is to evolve this world into one ruled by chosen mages and demon kings…”
“Kukuku… You do know me well. As usual, you know too much. It’s as though you have seen the future. You really are a very interesting sample.”
Says Cradle with no shame, and not trying to deny anything.
“But I will make one correction. I don’t care about making the world evolve or anything of the sort.“
“…What?”
“Evolve? Ruled by chosen mages? Worthless. That is a false ideal. A bad ideal. You can reach the same conclusion if you apply some common sense.”
“But then why help with creating demon kings…”
“Isn’t it obvious? I am committing this sin out of joy.”
“…Ah?”
I freeze without thinking.
I don’t get it. Maybe I just don’t want to get it.
“Creating demon kings and destroying the world… That’s bad. It’s wrong. Completely illogical. It would cause many to be unhappy. It would draw a lot of resentment. Only a void awaits after the world has been destroyed. I’m sure I will lament my foolishness after I have destroyed the world, and feel a lot of regret over it.”
Cradle’s eyes become moist with something like mud, and an ecstatic smile forms on his face.
“Isn’t it joyful?”
“…”
I’m speechless. I don’t get it.
“And that’s the reason why you… You…”
Why you destroyed my hometown in my previous life?
Why you killed El, Mister Sirius, and Miss Reina?
Why you destroyed our future?
“Kufufu, don’t make such a scary face. It’s exciting, isn’t it?”
The corners of cradle’s mouth are raised like a clay doll’s.
“Boy, I will teach you about evil. I’m evil. The opposite of justice isn’t another kind of justice or anything of the sort. An evil in this world that simply shouldn’t exist. Not for justice, aesthetic, or beliefs, someone who plays with life simply out of pure joy and feels no shame about it. I am evil, whichever way you look at it. So? Did that teach you a little about the world?”
“…”
I can’t understand.
The more I hear… The less I understand.
My head hurts, and I feel like throwing up.
But I don’t need to understand. I’ll never see eye to eye with him.
That I understand, so…
“Yes… I will end you here.”
I unsheathe my sword as I walk towards Cradle.
I’m not hesitating anymore. I need to end him before he can cause any more sorrow.
But Cradle retains his composure and his smile.
“End? No, this is where I begin.”
I stop. No, the immense magic energy coming up from behind me stops me.
“…!”
The intense magic energy is enough to blow me away.
I quickly jump out of the way, and raise my head.
At the source of this magic energy… Is Memoria.
“…Ah… Uku… It hurts, ‘father’…”
She’s writhing on the ground and holding her head, and her body is releasing an abnormal amount of magic energy for a person.
“W-what…”
I don’t understand, but I have a bad feeling about this.
My instincts are telling me this is bad.
“Memoria! …!?”
I reach out to her, but then…
“…UuaAAaAaAAAAh!”
A large amount of blank pages are released from her body, like an explosion.
Memory eating pages swirl around as they overrun the room, and bricks fly out of the walls and ceiling.
I can’t get close to her at this point.
“…Kuh! ‘Time, stop’!”
I designate an area and activate a stoppage formula.
An area where time is stopped forms around me in the shape of a dome, and paper sticks to it as their time is stopped.
(Damn. What is this power…)
There’s a lot more paper than last night.
I can’t even move with all this stopped paper surrounding me.
It doesn’t look like Memoria has her invocation item, her book. It doesn’t even look like she’s formulating anything.
Manipulating the logic of the world according to her will. This isn’t magic anymore, it’s sorcery.
(Can it be…)
I look at Cradle.
His mouth is still twisted into a smile.
“Did you turn Memoria into a demon king, Cradle!?”
“Turned into a demon king? What a joyous thing to ask. Do you think I wouldn’t do something so sad?”
“You…!”
It must’ve been when he hit her. That’s when he planted those demon king cells in her.
He realized I defeated her and came here to take him down, and used Memoria’s life as a betting chip to get out of a hopeless situation.
And that bet was a success.
Memoria Lostmemory of the twelve sages.
That’s the name of a girl who became a demon king in my previous life.
That means… Memoria has what it takes to become a demon king.
“U… N-no… NoOOooOO!”
“Memoria…”
Memoria sinks to the floor and screams in anguish.
It looks like the power of a demon king is too much for her to bear.
The transformation is still progressing, and magic energy is still being released from her body.
“…”
Even if I want to get close, the blank papers block my way.
Their numbers keep increasing, and they encircle me, burying me.
It was a mistake to protect myself with this time stoppage technique.
If there was a best option, it must have been…
To accelerate and kill Memoria.
“Aren’t you nice? You had plenty of opportunities to kill Memoria, but you ended up becoming emotionally attached to an enemy you just met. No one can save you if you’re that nice.”
A tremendous amount of memory pages soar from the capital, and are sucked towards Memoria.
Eventually, these pages form what looks like a white sacred veil, and giant white wings.
Memoria flutters these wings, and spreads memory pages.
She’s like… A pure white angel.
(Yes…)
As I’m being buried in white paper, I remember this angel’s name.
The fourth demon king, White Paper Angel Lostmemory.
A new calamity has been born into this world.
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Justice and Evil…. is just a human concept~
Since the creation of everything: Power is everything~
If you have more Power, you win~
If you have less Power, you lose~
Ain’t that simple~?