"What could I do to kill gods? I can't even kill that one human mage..." I ask in my mind, knowing that this woman floating in space before me can hear it. Thankfully, she has closed her eyes again and her smile has returned to a more neutral expression. Still, I can say with one look that she's an evil far greater than maou-mama and I could ever be. I feel that this self-proclaimed goddess could cause more destruction than the two of us together, if she put her mind into it.

"Maybe you cannot do so yet, but your potential is far greater than you imagine." Juzual speaks in an encouraging tone. "There is a reason why the gods are lending the humans their strength to overthrow your mother, after all." I'm a sucker for maou-mama, who just seems to be so helpless without me - even though I know that she's far stronger than I am right now - so whenever anything involving someone opposing her is mentioned, I can't help but pay close attention.

"Continue..."

"What if I told you that your mother, and in extension, you, are an existence foreign to this world?" The witch begins with a question. Wait, is she aware of the fact that I'm a reincarnator? I mean, I've practically come to the conclusion that maou-mama is one as well, since she uses Japanese honorifics. Is this the moment of truth? "The primordial being called the Crawling Chaos, which was banished to the stars twenty two cycles ago, initially came from among the stars." Huh, is she implying that we're aliens?

"Are you saying that we're from space?" Senka did call me a Cosmic Horror, and I know from several experiences that my real appearance seems to induce madness in those who see it, most likely depending on their mental fortitude. Thinking back, I have to give Aurelia props for not going crazy upon seeing my real face, or from being kept inside my body for this long.

"In a sense, yes." A slightly mischievous expression flashes across Juzual's face, as she puts a slender finger to her chin and smiles. "More importantly, your kind has the potential for unlimited growth. You must have noticed it yourself." Well, as long as I have stuff to swallow, I can quickly break it down to increase my own mass. And I did notice that there's a correlation between my physical strength and my size, since I can increase my muscle density practically infinitely, even while I remain at human size. But that's obvious, and I feel like that it's not what she means.

"Do elaborate." Is she saying that there's more to a Crawling Chaos than just eating stuff and becoming bigger? I mean, it'll end when I can cover the surface of the entire planet, or consumed every living being, so that could hardly be called infinite growth.

"You will learn about it yourself, sooner or later." Opening her eyes into slits, similar to those of a Buddha statue, she wears a mocking grin - the air around her is in complete contrast to that of the merciful and compassionate enlightened one. With a dismissive wave of her hand, she continues. "What you need to know for now is that those beings calling themselves gods and what the humans call gods are not one and the same."

"What do you mean?" There have been people calling themselves gods throughout human history, so if that's the case, then I could understand it. But in a world where magic and monsters exist, calling oneself a god without having the power to back up that claim seems to be a foolish endeavor.

"It would appear that you do not know the creation myth of this world, according to current human canon, so I shall give you a lesson about its from the very beginning." Announces the Witch of the End, ironically. Well, be my guest, not like I have much more to do right now, I'm sure I won't be getting to the moon for a few more days.

The twin gods, the Lord of the Sky and the Guardian of the Soil stirred the primordial chaos and separated it into the heavens and the earth, defining above and below. The former's wife, the Lady of Brilliance, placed herself in the newly created sky, and became the sun, her radiance illuminating the darkness that ruled before. The Guide of Tomorrow decided that there would be day and night, so that the Lady of Brilliance could find rest. The Bringer of Winter's Frost and the Bearer of the Flame created the seasons by splitting the cycle into their respective domains.

The Mage of the Beginning saw that the world was a lonely place, so he sowed life as he saw fit, finally creating humans in the image of the gods. His son decided to stay among the fierce creations that piqued his interest, becoming the Walker of the Wild, protector of nature. The Liberator of Souls found that life without death holds no meaning, so he decided that all living beings must meet an end to make way for the generations that follow, thus, creating the cycle of life and death.

However, the final remaining goddess, nameless due to having no domain of her own, considered that if there is a beginning, there has to be an end. The meaning to an existence lies in its eventual conclusion, regardless of the manner in which that is achieved. The Liberator of Souls already governed over life and death, but she would go further beyond the mere concept of the living.

"She would become the Witch of the End, who would end all of existence one day." Said witch speaks with a charming smile that sends a shiver down my spine. She seems to notice my apprehension, as her eyes open slightly. "Do not worry, that will not affect you, yet."

"This isn't helping your case..."

"The history lesson is not over yet." Her expression looks smug to me, but it must be my imagination... right?

Two thousand cycles ago, a group of individuals traveled across the ocean from the West, each one of them a sorcerer of great power. In fact, their powers were so immense that they could be considered gods from the point of view of simple mortals. They found a collection of small continents where humans, dwarves, elves and other beings lived in a culturally advanced but technologically underdeveloped society. There were many small nations and one large empire in the process of expanding its influence greatly through both military might and economic success, soon to achieve hegemony over all continents.

On a whim, several of those sorcerers decided to join different factions of humans and fight against each other, causing severe damage in the population and crippling many of the human nations over the course of the next three hundred cycles. But one day, the twins Zenlith and Exla had an altercation, after which they went their separate ways, their relationship irreconcilable. Leaving the populated continents behind, the latter chose a voluntary exile on an unpopulated island, turning it into the most fertile land through her presence. This split caused the others to separate as well, and one after another, they died on different battlefields or disappeared in the folds of time, to never be heard of again. In truth, they had grown tired of the wars between humans and retreated to their own sanctums, pursuing their studies or hedonistic pleasures once more.

The individual named Alverost built his very own garden of paradise on a largely unpopulated continent in the east. Experimenting with life itself, he created chimeras with varying degrees of success. He soon achieved a sustainable population of beings completely different from anything the world has seen before and thus, found a new pastime in this research. Retreating into solitary life, he was since engrossed in creating ever more beautiful and bizarre life forms.

In the meantime, three others introduced magic to the world of humans on the largest continent, where the empire was in the process of regaining control over its provinces and colonies. Serent, Kanundra and Zylos began to propagate the secrets of manipulating the hidden energies of the world, spreading only destructive spells and withholding all knowledge of utilitarian ones for the purpose of pitting humans against each other in battles that would look like child's play to these godlike beings. Amusing themselves with these little games, they spent their time teaching as wise sages, wandering mages and hermits dwelling in the mountains.

Sintress, the most compassionate one among them, traveled across the lands disguised as a simple human and gathered spiritual followers, who flocked to her as their savior. Her actions brought salvation and enlightenment to the poor and soon a new branch within the religion of the empire formed. In malicious mischief, Shelnir manipulated the emperor to order her arrest, conduct a humiliating public trial and had her executed by immolation. Of course, she knew that Sintress would not die from that, and it was only a means to alleviate her own boredom. While those actions turned the saintly being into a martyr for the people, it served to create a break in their previously amicable relationship.

Another three hundred cycles passed, before the others became aware of Alverost's machinations. Through his tinkering with life, he had created a new culture, a new force in this collection of continents that operated in a foreign way, compared to human society. The first humans made contact with those and based on their interpretation of religion, gave a very specific name to these new beings.

"Demons." Juzual states after a dramatic pause, but it was already obvious that she would be saying that. She pouts a little at my lack of shock or amazement at this reveal.

In reality, I'm seriously perturbed. Does this mean that all demon races were artificially created by this Alverost person? That's a huge departure from a fantasy setting, oi! Although, admittedly, my existence is something outside of simple fantasy, too. Still, to think these sorcerers brought magic to the humans from somewhere else, too... but really, I did wonder why there was no magic specific to everyday use, with the vast majority only effective for combat. So that was deliberate.

Ugh, these sorcerers piss me off!

"However, this is far from over." The Witch of the End continues in a serious tone, as the previous pout has disappeared from her lips and a neutral expression returned to her face.

Many of these sorcerers reconnected and proceeded to help Alverost, planning how to use the emergence of this new race for their amusement. What followed was three hundred cycles of war games on a massive scale. They created intricate cultural norms and systems among the humans and demons, so that the two races would at times become irreconcilable enemies, while at others coming close to peace - only for the political climate to shift and war break out once more on their whims.

With the emergence of ever stronger beings among the demons, Shelnir and Serent developed a new idea: The demon lord's aura. To that end, the two worked with Alverost to introduce a power within all his creations to propagate an aura in their vicinity, which would denote that they are demons. At the same time, Shelnir created a new tradition: A ritual that the demon lord had to undergo to be formally recognized. However, the true purpose of that ritual was to massively amplify that being's aura, which would cause its existence to spread a blessing to all who shared its wavelength, while possessing a near global corrupting effect on anything else.

Following that, demonkind slowly became more and more militaristic, while humanity began to rally under one banner to fight this new threat. This happened against all expectations and they saw that to be an incredible success, as the game was beginning to evolve in ways they had never imagined. The project grew in scale and they became completely engrossed in it for the following one thousand cycles.

Unbeknownst to them, during that time, one demon lord came very close to the power of those sorcerers, and proceeded to rule for nearly seven hundred cycles. Aldeath's potential seemed limitless and he would have one day been able to join their ranks, if it was not for his lack of respect before these godlike beings. They were amused at his inability to perceive the difference in their strength, and decided to observe him. Only the prideful Zenlith was truly offended, and he secretly plotted to bring Aldeath down without the others noticing. After all, he still did not wish to ruin his companions' fun.

Then the primordial being that would be called the Crawling Chaos appeared.

"Oh, I know that part." I interject prematurely, but Juzual shoots me a glare with her black hole eyes, which immediately shuts me up.

"You do not know it from this perspective." She says and closes her eyes once again, a slightly grim frown on her face. It feels like the next part might be quite important, so I pay close attention - even though this is space and it's completely quiet, so there's nothing to distract me in the first place.

Not a single one of the sorcerers could have foreseen such a development. Out of nowhere, one day, a large amorphous mass covering the area of a small village began to create a panic on the Demon Continent. It was exuding a miasma many times more potent than what Shelnir's ritual did for the demon lord, even though it was not one of Alverost's creations. Curiously, that effect did not spread beyond a certain range around its body, causing the power to circulate and gather within. Those who entered would go mad or simply die from an overdose of the blessing. After all, too much of something beneficial can turn it into a deadly toxin.

Alverost was overjoyed at the opportunity to study something never before seen. It was as if a child had found a new toy that had been put by his bedside in his sleep. Yet, his joy was short-lived, as he was unable to glean any useful information from the Crawling Chaos, no matter how he tried to research it. It caused him great stress and for the first time, he overtly expressed anger and frustration.

The others watched curiously as the demons devised a plan to defeat it by throwing it into space. Unknown to anyone at the time, that solution had been proposed by none other than Zenlith himself, who oversaw its success in the avatar of a demon. The plan succeeded and the Crawling Chaos was never seen again. Some believe that it disappeared into the infinite darkness, other say that it was burned up in the sun. What exactly happened to the Crawling Chaos is only known to Zenlith, as he is the one who knows best about space.

In the process, Aldeath lost a large portion of his armies. That had been part of Zenlith's scheme to make this powerful demon lord's eventual defeat at the hands of humanity more believable. He planned to smite him personally, using his avatar, the Emperor of Terminus, who had been set up for that very purpose since his birth.

However, not a single one of the sorcerers was aware of the existence of a remnant of the Crawling Chaos, which took on the form of a female demon.

"Yes, that would be my mother." I comment, mulling over the new information I gained. So the banishment of the primordial Crawling Chaos was facilitated by this Zenlith guy. And Aldeath's defeat, despite how strong he apparently was, was also because of him. He sounds like a real villain... And learning that all this animosity between humans and demons was engineered by these sorcerers makes me angry. Not just Zenlith, all of them have been controlling the fates of the people for the past two millennia.

"And now comes the most important part." Juzual states almost impatiently.

This remnant went undetected because unlike the primordial one, it possessed a consciousness and the ability to reason. It consciously hid to gain power and knowledge, completely hidden from the eyes of everyone. They only learned about her existence when Zenlith, having replaced the Emperor of Terminus, sprung his plan into motion and killed Aldeath on the battlefield. The new Crawling Chaos, Pelomyx, appeared out of nowhere and dealt Zenlith a mortal blow, before single-handedly eliminating the human army within mere seconds.

Shocked and dazed, he retreated to his sanctum to recuperate, where he remains to this day. The others, unaware of their companion's actions, simply viewed her as an even more powerful being than Aldeath. As with the previous demon lord, they approached her with the proposition to eventually join their ranks, but she refused just the same. This time, Shelnir was angered. She proposed taking the place of the human gods, so that they could become involved in the game while still working within its constraints.

Wow, maou-mama is incredible! Who would have thought that she fought a god and came out on top? Although, knowing her, she most likely didn't even know that he was a god. Which makes her refusal to play along with them even more incredible.

"These self-proclaimed gods still think of this as nothing but a game, because they do not know what a threat Pelomyx represents. They wish to eliminate her within the rules of the game they have created, because she poses a threat to its continued existence. If she were to begin to set her mind on devouring the world, it would break the balance between humanity and the demons that they have created over such a long period of time." She explains, before a disdainful sneer fills her face at the thought. "They do not want to lose their plaything, but at the same time they still restrain themselves. That shall be their downfall."

I think so, too. If they don't take her out and continue to play games with her, she may outgrow them eventually. It's obvious that in their complacency these sorcerers have stopped considering the possibility of anything to rise up to their own level, or even surpass them. But this is still talking of maou-mama, who had two decades to grow stronger. I'm sure I don't come even near her level of power as of right now.

"In a battle of such monsters, who think human magic is just child's play, how can I get a word in edgewise, if I can't even defeat a few of those humans mages on my own?" Returning to my first question.

"Because human magic has evolved. These days, to replicate what these sorcerers are capable of, mortals only require time. After all, they were something similar to humans before." Her smile grows sinister once again and an uncomfortable shiver runs down my spine. "They are not immortal, even if their lifespan is infinite." I suspected as much. "And you have someone like that inside your body right now, do you not? She is the one human who has come closest to the sorcerers out of her own power."

What!?