Crime

Prologue–Prophet Merry-Go-Round

Chapter 1–Queen of the Glass

Scene 1—-Scene 2

Chapter 2–Project “Ma” –Eve–

Scene 1—-Scene 2—-Scene 3—-Scene 4—-Scene 5—-Scene 6—-Scene 7—-Scene 8—-Scene 9—-Scene 10—-Scene 11—-Scene 12—-Scene 13

Chapter 3–Project “Ma” –Adam–

Scene 1—-Scene 2—-Scene 3—-Scene 4—-Scene 5—-Scene 6—-Scene 7—-Scene 8—-Scene 9—-Scene 10—-Scene 11—-Scene 12—-Scene 13—-Scene 14—-Scene 15—-Scene 16—-Scene 17—-Scene 18

Chapter 4–Project “Ma” –Seth–

Scene 1—-Scene 2—-Scene 3—-Scene 4

Chapter 5–Escape of the Witch Salmhofer

Scene 1—-Scene 2—-Scene 3—-Scene 4—-Scene 5—-Scene 6—-Scene 7—-Scene 8—-Scene 9—-Scene 10—-Scene 11—-Scene 12—-Scene 13—-Scene 14

Chapter 6–moonlit bear <E>

Scene 1—-Scene 2—-Scene 3

Chapter 7–moonlit bear <A>

Scene 1—-Scene 2—-Scene 3

Epilogue–And so, to Punishment

Afterword and Work Explanations

Congratulations on successfully releasing the novelization of Original Sin Story.

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I’m very pleased at being able to draw the proper characters from the songs and also characters I wasn’t expecting to debut through the illustrations in this book.

There are some characters that I had drawn several times in the related CD jackets and videos and such, and since it had been a while for some of them I ended up dragging out some illustrations from various folders to use as references in the course of this novelization.

Ultimately I was shocked to find I didn’t have even a single page on Adam.

There really wasn’t anything.

Even as I discovered there were some characters I was sure I’d drawn but hadn’t, I worked hard to make this story enjoyable through the illustrations, so please make sure you have fun with this “Original Sin Story”.

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I’m not great at writing long letters, so let me tie this up with two people who were unexpectedly chummy.

[Here there is an illustration of a chibi Adam and Gammon drinking with each other at a bar.]

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Ichika

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Personally I really stan Miss Meta and Mister Pale.

This work is a novelization of the Act 1 portion of the “Original Sin Story” doujin CDs distributed by the “the heavenly yard” circle, and it’s also a prequel to the “Daughter of Evil” and “Deadly Sins of Evil” series published by PHP institute.

The “Deadly Sins of Evil” series, similar to this work, all had their main motifs taken from songs published previously by their writer (mothy_AkunoP), and it’s also a series that was developed over close to a decade.

In these works a span of almost a thousand years passes over the course of the series, and the following order is how it goes chronologically.

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“Original Sin Story”-->”The Lunacy of Duke Venomania”-->”Evil Food Eater Conchita”-->”Daughter of Evil (four books total)”-->Gift From the Princess Who Brought Sleep”-->”Fifth, Pierrot”-->”Tailor of Enbizaka”-->”Judgment of Corruption”-->”The Muzzle of Nemesis”-->”Master of the heavenly yard”

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In other words, the “Original Sin Story” is the “Story of the Beginning” that occurs in these series.

And depicted in it are the backstories for the figures that debut in the other works like “Adam”, “Eve”, and “Seth”, as well as the details of the creation of the key items, the “Vessels of Deadly Sin”.

…Though, since the part depicted in this work is just the first act of the “Original Sin Story” albums, any further core content will be carried over into the next book.

My initial plan was to collect all of it into one volume, but during the progression of the plot I went “Ah, this is totally impossible” and gave up on that.

In the end I decided to split it into two volumes, but even so there were a few developments I was unable to depict in this book that would also be difficult to have in the next one.

(There was the issue of page number, but I also just wanted to avoid making the story tedious with too many digressions)

For that reason I wanted to talk roughly here about the conceptual elements I could only allude to briefly or that were cut altogether.

Magic Kingdom Levianta (the story’s setting)

As shown in the main work, it’s a country whose territory is the entire northern region of Evillious, and it was founded by excavators of the legacy of the Second Period (the era wherein lived those called “Gods” like Levia and Behemo).

The true identity of these “excavators” was a clan of sorcerers, and it all started when they set their eyes on these legacy pieces as tools to more easily make use of their magical arts.

The more powerful a magical spell, the more time and preparation it would take to set it in motion. The one to realize that by using these artifacts as an intermediary they could greatly simplify the process was the sorceress who would later become the first queen of Magic Kingdom Levianta, Alice Merry-Go-Round.

Alice hired on some help and began to mine the area around the LeviaBehemo temple where many of these artifacts slept, however it was there that the original inhabitants began to put up resistance.

These natives believed that the twin-headed dragon LeviaBehemo was a divine being, and they viewed Alice and the others who would desecrate their temple as sinners.

In order to protect the boundaries of her territory, Alice built an enormous wall around the temple.  

That later came to be called the “First Wall”.

As time passed the “Second Wall” and “Third Wall” were erected, and eventually a castle took shape.

Alice named this castle Alicegrad, and declared the foundation of the country she would rule as queen, Levianta.

Even still, the pushback from the natives continued.

For the prosperity of her country, Alice decided to adopt several governmental policies to make peace with the natives.

The first was to worship LeviaBehemo as gods.

And that she would take twelve members to serve as her immediate subordinates, half of whom would be sorcerers that Alice had trained herself, and the other half being representatives chosen by the native inhabitants.

Through this reconciliation between the natives and the sorcerers, and the miraculous blessings brought about by the legacy pieces, Levianta began to walk the road of glory.

After the first queen’s death her sorceress daughter inherited her position, and at the same time also took on her mother’s name of “Alice”. That was a last ditch effort to at least somewhat maintain her majesty, the daughter being lacking in charisma compared to her mother.

But from that point on, all of the queens historically inherited the name of “Alice Merry-Go-Round”.

The current queen, “Alice Merry-Go-Round”, that shows up in the main story is the seventh queen.

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 The Senate

The central organization of Magic Kingdom Levianta made up of the first queen’s twelve subordinates, as well as their descendants.

Each of them are respectively responsible for running one of the twelve small towns that surround the castle.

That the senate was tightly unified through history…would be something of a lie; there exists a particularly large gap in the relationship between the six families descended from sorcerers (such as Loop Octopus, or Vaju) and the six descended from natives (like Asayev and Li).

 Furthermore, in the process of Gammon becoming head of the senate the Vaju family’s assets were taken over by the Loop Octopus family, resulting in there being two members of the Loop Octopus family in the senate (Gammon and his younger brother, who was the family’s main heir).

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The Forest of Held

There might be a bit of a discrepancy in the depiction of the Forest of Held (The Millennium Tree Forest) in the main work for those of you who have already read the “Daughter of Evil” and “Deadly Sins of Evil” series.

In the “Daughter of Evil” works, this forest isn’t in the country of Levianta, existing on the Elphegort~Lucifenian border far further south than the forbidden land of Nemu (the ruins of Nemu village).

In the time of the “Original Sin Story” the area around Nemu village was Leviantan territory, and furthermore the forest sat in great abundance just south of the village.

I plan to make clear the reason for the forest being curtailed by close to half its size in the next work.

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Lighwatch Temple

A facility meant to cultivate “queen candidates” run by the Asayev family, and also an extremely suspicious place containing cells and execution devices. Almost like a certain tower

Those able to be selected as shrine maidens are girls who have the power of an “Inheritor of Held”. Through this power they are able to erase “malice” from people’s hearts, and also hear the “voice of god”.

Its head priest, Yegor Asayev, has the power of an “Inheritor of Behemo”, and with his particular insight he is able to determine if another person has an “Inheritor” power. He used this ability to gather his shrine maidens.

Only, Yegor keeps it hidden from the public that the shrine maidens are “Inheritors”.

Zellana and Elluka, who appeared in this work, are blood sisters of disparate ages. Their parents are long dead.

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Research regarding “ghoul children”

Originally, Horus (Seth) had inherited the research of his “friend” who had been “the authority on the study of artificial life”.

These research theories also were utilized in the birth of the “Twins of God” in Project “Ma”.

The “ghoul children” he created had the trait of being able to grow up very rapidly, but this had the side effect of making them age rapidly as well.      

Seth worked hard to suppress this side effect, but he seems to have been unable to completely avert it.

And to make these “ghoul children” active, he needed to implant in them a reserve false personality.

The false personality had several varieties to it, such as “clean”, “preset”, or “copy”; as the name suggests, “clean” was a blank slate with no memories, “preset” had false memories that were pre-made, and “copy” was implanted with Seth’s own memories.

Furthermore, having advanced in his research on “Inheritors”, Seth was able to utilize his results on a certain “ghoul child”.

Through this, that artificial human gained the power of an “Inheritor of Gilles”, but as a side effect it results in several problems surfacing with their false personality.

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Catherine

--Once upon a time.

Catherine, a marine biologist, boarded a space ship called the “Climb I” with her husband Gilles.

She had a son with her husband, but he had been sickly, and thus was unable to become a member of the crew.

Catherine continued to lament this fact, and also grew jealous of a female psychologist named Rahab, another passenger on the ship.

That was because Rahab had two children, and both of them had been able to board the “Climb I”.

When she realized that this Rahab and Gilles were having an affair, Catherine’s jealousy turned to “anger”.

Enlisting the help of her friend, Lich, Catherine tried to secretly murder Rahab inside the spaceship.

But…she had the tables turned on her, and was brought to the brink of death.

As her consciousness faded—Catherine saw looking down on her was the man she had thought was her friend, smiling.

By the time she had realized that it was “malice” taking on Lich’s form, it was already too late.

--If I write any more than this it’ll end up spoiling some of the next book, so I’ll leave it here.

Well then…Let’s meet again in the sequel, “Original Sin Story: Punishment”!

AkunoP (mothy)

--I’ll say up front that I’m in a pretty terrible mood.

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There are many reasons for it…The biggest would be that I’ve been ousted from my position as head of Project “Ma” and ultimately been chased out of the Royal Research Institute.

Losing the “Twins of God” had been a serious blow to Gammon.

That was because he’d been scheming to use their existence to shore up his own position.

He’d already announced their birth to the public at large, and even established a new calendar…So he had to pin the blame for this failure on somebody.

…And so I wound up receiving the blowback for it.

The charge against me--“performing experiments on the artificial construction of human beings without permission from the senate”.

I needed to take responsibility for those artificial humans having run off with the twins—something like that.

Come on, what a joke!

Gammon had already known about all of that.

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The search for the twins continues even now.

I estimate that the odds of finding them are slim.

All else aside…though she may be a failed experiment, Meta is after all an artificial human born from my cells.

She’d never commit the kind of blunder that would get her found.

Eventually Gammon will give up and be forced to undertake the next Project “Ma”.

Though I have to wonder if he has anyone who could actually pull it off, now that Adam and I are gone—

Well, I suppose I’ll see how it goes.

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There’s no questioning that the “Twins of God” were key components to achieving my ambitions.

That was why I had been preparing for them since the time I had been Horus.

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However…prodigies always prepare one or two precautionary measures just in case.

I still have “Pale” with me…

And after this I think I will create even more “ghoul children”.

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The god who created the heart of man, Levia.

The god who created the body of man, Behemo.

And the god who created nature and the land, Held.

In that case—

I am the god who creates “evil”.

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“Evil” is like a virus.

It spreads, it infects—and tries to make “friends”.

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I think I should continue to try to increase the number of “myself”.

But that is, after all, little more than an “evil” of the old world.

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The same to LeviaBehemo.

The dragon god is trying to use the “Twins of God” to achieve their own wish.

But I would like to use that for a different purpose.

The expectations of a “dragon” and “evil” aren’t likely to overlap.

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Something unique to this world—

A pure being.

The birth of a new “evil”.

That is what I wish for.

And I’ll need—an “original sinner” to serve as the basis for that.

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--Pale seems to have woken up.

No…he isn’t “Pale” any longer.

Now that he’s been “reset”, I gave him a new name.

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He was looking my way with a sleepy expression.

I smiled and greeted him.

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“—Good morning, Kiril.”

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The karma of “evil”—begins now.

--After he was done burying Meta, he went back into the house.

Inside, his wife Eve was affectionately holding the twin babies and smiling.

“There there…Heeheehee.”

Naturally, they were not her children.

They were Meta’s children.

Even Eve had to have known that.

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When Eve cuddled with the babies—

Something fell down to her feet.

It was a blue spoon.

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--The witch of the forest uses a blue spoon instead of a staff—

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She had stolen the children from Meta, and then when the other woman gave chase…

She killed her with a bolt of lightning.

Adam didn’t know if Eve had genuinely intended to do that or not.

He didn’t even know if she had realized that the person chasing her was Meta—

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Whatever the case, as a result Eve had carried out her revenge—and obtained the happiness that she had wanted.

While being unable to grasp, at present…that these were little more than substitutes.

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…What should he do now?

Adam thought on that.

Meta’s husband could be desperately searching for his wife and children.

In that case, should he find him and return the children to him?

…But if he did that, it would bring to light the crime that Eve had committed, and she would most certainly be arrested.

So then…

Adam drew closer to Eve.

And then he looked down at the babies she was holding in her arms.

…If I get rid of these children—

Then that would take care of all the evidence.

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He placed his hand on one of the baby’s heads.

…This was a boy.

He was cackling innocently.

The other was…a girl.

She was blankly gazing at Adam.

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And Eve’s smile as she looked upon the both of them—

Was a peaceful one he had never seen before now.

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…I can’t.

Adam could never bring himself to kill these twins.

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It seemed there was—only one path left to him.  

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This was Eve’s sin—

And Adam’s, too.

For there was no questioning that her losing her mind was Adam’s fault.

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They would raise these twins as their own.

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Even if reality were to tear her apart someday with its fangs and claws.

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To take on this original sin and shoulder its burden—was Adam’s role.

There were several reasons that Adam had selected this land for their new home.

This southern section of the Forest of Held was connected to the northern Forest of Held that Eve had been so fond of.

On top of that, it was in the territory of Elphegort, outside of the borders of Levianta.

They had needed to leave the country to escape from their pursuers.

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Perhaps it was a result of living in a place so abundant with nature, but Eve’s condition seemed to have gotten a little better.

At first she had been completely powerless, staying cooped up inside the house all the time, but then she started going outside a little more, and eventually wound up returning to collecting forest mushrooms and fruits.

Perhaps she still remembered her customs from when she was young.

Gradually, she began to show more emotion outwardly.

He was grateful for her starting to smile, but at the same time she would also suddenly burst out crying, or conduct herself as though she was frightened of something.

“Why are you so sad?”

“What are you scared of?”

Even if he tried to ask her, she would only give meaningless replies.

…But then there were also times when she would earnestly say this:

“Our children—aren’t anywhere.”

Naturally, he knew what those words signified.

But Adam couldn’t do anything about it.

Resurrecting their dead children just wasn’t something he was capable of.

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They needed to avoid going anywhere with a lot of people as much as possible.

He knew there wasn’t much exchange between Levianta and Elphegort, but there was always a slight risk.

In addition to that, Eve was afraid of meeting anyone outside of Adam.

There was a town named Aceid a little ways away, but instead of going there they would get by trading with the people of the forest day after day.

It was a deprived life they led, but surprisingly he found they were able to manage.

Thinking on it…he’d led a far worse life when he was young before Horus had picked him up.

This was nothing, compared to that.

They would live here forever—and eventually meet their end here as well.

He could never have imagined it back when he was living in the royal capital, with so much ambition in his heart.

Yet, he had begun to think that maybe this wouldn’t be so bad.

When Adam left the house, he saw the charred corpse of a woman lying outside.

Tumbled down beside it he saw two small glass bottles full of liquid.

“…”

He dropped to his knees and checked the woman’s face.

Half of it was hideously burned, but not to the degree that he couldn’t tell who it had once been.

And once he realized that he recognized this face, Adam’s eyes opened wide.

“—Meta Salmhofer…”

The Witch of Merrigod.

The woman who had killed Adam’s colleagues and attacked the village that Eve had been living in.

Until this moment Adam had no idea that she had been living near their home.

“I see…So those twins…were your children,” he murmured, after which he scooped up the two bottles.

--There was milk inside.

And there was writing on the underside of each bottle.

“Hänsel…and Gretel.”

Those must have been the names of her children.

“…”

Adam stood, his heart heavy.

He would need to bury the body.

That would be the smallest of recompose for Meta, and would also cover up the crime that his wife had committed.

He took out his shovel from storage.

Then he went around to the back of the house and started to dig a hole--

My bad feeling was exactly on the mark.

An enormous bear that appeared out of nowhere had started chasing after me, making a frightening sight.

I didn’t know if the bear’s aim was me, or the two fruits I held in my arms…

Maybe it was both.

I felt like I had seen that bear’s face somewhere before.

I had been attacked by a bear once when I was a child, so perhaps it was the same bear as back then.

Regardless, it was clear that the bear was coming towards me with malicious intent.

I desperately ran.

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Please, forgive me.

Please overlook me—

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While reciting that to myself in my mind…

I ran through a forest path where flowers bloom, towards the direction of my house.

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When I looked behind me…

I saw a black shadow illuminated by the moon encroaching upon me, much closer than before.

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I couldn’t see my home anywhere.

I realized I was running along a path I didn’t recognize.

As I got lost—I continued to run even so, crying.

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Dark sky, CRY, cry—

Was I the one who was weeping?

No, that was--

Weeping I could hear from the fruits that I was holding.

I could hear sobbing coming from behind me as well.

The bear was crying too as it chased me.

And I was still crying, myself.

Everyone, everyone was shedding tears as they chased, as they were being chased—

Like some ridiculous comedy.

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I continued to run, lost, wandering—

Finally I could see my beloved home at the other end of my sight.

Just a bit further, only a little bit farther—

But I could sense the bear coming upon me.

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The bear’s hand gripped the coat that I was wearing.

I was done for—

Right when I thought that—

A MIRACLE occurred.

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Lightning struck the bear from above.

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The charred-black bear collapsed to the ground.

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Just narrowly escaping, I raced inside my house.

My husband inside greeted me, and kindly smiled.

But right after that…

He saw the two fruits that I held, and made a sad face.

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--I knew.

The truth is, these fruits…

Were that bear’s treasures.

A lot of time has passed since I left the country I was born and raised in.

For me , this life in a new land hasn’t been all that hard.

For this forest is linked to the one I know well.

And my husband who spent so long living in the city, seems to have finally gotten used to being a woodcutter.

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We built a small home.

Complete with a set of furniture and utensils.

We had the things we brought with us from our old home, and things we built or bought new.

A red glass, and a blue spoon.

A sword for self-defense was in our storeroom.

It was much more modest, compared to when we were living in the city.

But I am not unhappy.

For it’s just a return to gathering the forest’s bounty and selling it.

The way of living I’d led since I was very young.

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There are a lot of spirits in this forest, and a large tree god.

And there are villages of forest people, a little ways off from our house.

There’s one to the east, and one to the west.

My husband will bring fruits and timber to the village in a wagon, and trade them for things like meat, leather, bread, and candles.

That is how we make our living each day.

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This southern forest has a more bountiful harvest than the one in the north where I was born.

I’m sure that must be because it’s a place close to a god.

So whenever I gather something in this forest, I offer up a prayer to the god Held.

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--Today I picked up two large fruits in a corner of the forest.

Red, RED, bright red fruits.

I know my husband will be delighted with them.

All around me is growing quite dark, and overhead I can see the pretty moon come out.

Its pale glint only seems to make the darkness of the forest stand out all the more.

I think I ought to hurry home.

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For you see, on a dark night such as this—

A very scary bear will come out.

No.

YOU’RE not the one who’s running away.

It’s ME.

--When I think on it, mine was a life of only running away.

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To cast aside the role you are given, and flee—

I think that, too, is a type of sinful “evil”.

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These children are me, and they’re Pale.

That’s why.

I want to at least let these children be happy.

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I run through a forest path where flowers scatter.

Two babies that I love held to my breast.

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Yes, I—am a runaway.

Meta and Pale ran through a dark, nighttime street.

Fortunately the fog was thick tonight, and there was no moon out.

With the field of vision being this bad, it would be comparatively simple to flee town—

But right as she had been on the cusp of thinking that.

Pale’s gait as he ran began to rapidly grow unsteady.

Eventually—he tumbled to the ground.

“Pale!?”

Meta raced back over to him, the babies in her arms.

“Ugh…”

He seemed on the verge of losing consciousness.

…It can’t be.

Meta looked around her.

This mist that hung over them…

She recalled what had happened at the village in the forest.

“Oh…?” A man appeared there, letting out a little noise of curiosity. “Why did it only work on Pale?”

She couldn’t see his face under the mask he wore, but she knew who he was right away from the sound of his voice.

“Seth…So you’re the one who made this poisoned fog…!”

“It’s something of a byproduct of constructing ‘Venom’. He won’t die—but he will sleep for several days. Be that as it may…I couldn’t very well spread this over the entire town. I disseminated it over the route you two were most likely to use in your escape, and it seems to have paid off quite well.”    

“…”

“So, why didn’t it work on you?”

“…How should I know--?”

And then Meta peered down at her babies, taken aback.

…They were both laughing innocently.

It looked as though this mist had no ill effect on either of them, as well.

“Ah, I see.” Seth clapped his hands, appearing to have grasped something. “A woman who had the ‘Seed of God’ put inside her, and her children—Levia’s divine protection…You must have built up antibodies.”

She had no idea what he was talking about, but at any rate as long as this poison mist wasn’t working on her, she had well enough of a chance to escape from Seth.

But she couldn’t just leave Pale—

“R-run…Meta…” Pale whispered with a vacant expression. “I’ll be fine…Seth won’t…kill me.”

Seth drew closer, chuckling. “Heheh…That’s right. You’re truly incredible, Pale. An incredibly—bad child. So I won’t kill you.”

Pale pointed to the south with a trembling hand.

“Leave the…country….Somewhere with few people…The army…shouldn’t be able…to follow you there.”

“…”

Meta brought her face down to Pale, and kissed him.

“Got it. …I’ll be waiting for you in the ‘Forest of Held’.”

“Right—"

Meta stood, turned her back to Seth, and sprinted off.

“Ah—Hey now, wait up.”

Seth moved as though to chase Meta, but Pale seized his leg, still sprawled out over the ground.

“I won’t let you go…Brother.”

“Pale…I won’t kill you. I won’t, but—”

Seth shook off the hand gripping his leg, and then kicked Pale’s flank as hard as he could.

“Gugh…!”

“—I might need to ‘reset’ your mind for a bit.”

When Seth lifted his face and turned back to the direction Meta had run off—

She was already long gone.

…

…Hah!?

--The moment that Meta had regained her senses, she heard someone scream from outside.

Followed up with echoing shouts and gunfire.

And explosions.

It was clear that some kind of change was occurring inside the research institute.

Pale.

This was his work.

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--When she headed outside the room, Meta caught sight of the researchers (or rather, the information agents disguised as researchers) in a battle against people that she recognized.

Pale’s direct underlings—the remnants of Apocalypse—were rampaging, guns and blades in their hands.

“Over here!”

Meta ran over to the hall window, heeding the summons she could hear coming from it.

The boy there was--

“Pale!”

“Come outside through here, hurry!”

“Right…But, before that—”

Meta handed over two “somethings” that she was carrying to Pale.

Upon seeing them, Pale’s eyes widened.

“Oi…No way! Leave the children here!”

But Meta shook her head, climbing out of the window.

“No.”

“Babies will just get in the way!”

“…True. It would be a bit much for you to run with these two in your arms, in the body that you have now, Darling.”

Meta pulled the sheet-swaddled twins into her arms, snatching them back from Pale.

“…Augh, shit.”

With Pale appearing to give up on trying to persuade her, Meta broke out into a run after him.

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--I remembered.

That I was like my Darling…

A “ghoul child” brought into being by Seth.

I was a “failed experiment”.

I was the third that he made; I had run from Seth, fearing being put in cold storage like my “older brother”.

While on the run I had fallen from a cliff…and lost my memories.

Until today—

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I know it’s selfish.

But I don’t want these children…

To suffer the same sadness that we have.

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I won’t let these children—

Become the gods’ toys!

--Behind me I am being chased by a pale, orange light.

Standing in its center is an interminably dark, warped silhouette.

I can’t turn back.

As long as my legs are moving.

No, even if they stopped moving.

I have to keep running.

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The sense of something drawing near.

Unable to stand the stress, she turned to look behind her only once.

And there—was a ruthless scientist.

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Seth Twiright--

One night four days later.

Meta gazed at the babies that had been put in cylinders inside the “Baby Room”.

“Haha…They’re so cute.”

She’d never had any interest in children—or so she’d always believed. But when she actually stood before these babies, babies she had gone to such labor to birth, she felt they were quite precious.

It was too bad that Pale wasn’t the twins’ father.

And—that she couldn’t hold her children with her own hands.

Tomorrow the twins would be moved to the castle.

And eventually…they would be made into receptacles for the gods.

“Ultimately…you’re little more than experimental subjects.”

That was how she had come to feel, looking at them affixed with tubes.

“Just like my darling—”

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--Then, what of herself?

That thought came into her mind, unbidden.

She couldn’t remember much of her past.

Where had she been born, and to whom?

A glass cylinder…A body affixed with tubes…

This should have been her first time seeing such a thing, but it felt familiar to her.

Pale…Darling…the man I love…

When she first met him, she had somehow felt this familiarity with him.

.

The girl in the cylinder—“Gretel”, had her eyes open.

She looked at Meta, and reached out her little hand.

Without even meaning to—Meta placed her palm over hers, through the glass.

In that moment—

Meta’s destroyed memories began to be reborn.

Several months passed from then—

And Meta gave birth to twins.

A fraternal pair, male and female…Both of them wound up being placed inside a life support system immediately after they were born.

.

Inside the Royal Research Institute.

Placed in what had been named the “Baby Room” were two enormous glass cylinders.

The interior of the cylinders were filled with clear liquid, and inside each one floated a baby affixed with tubes.

Gammon gazed upon them from before the cylinders.

“—Are they alright?” he asked Seth, who was standing next to him.

“Yes. They had trouble breathing on their own right after they were born…But they’ve recovered. Now they’re in the life support system just for caution’s sake.”

“I see…I’d like to take these twins to the castle as soon as possible. Make preparations.”

“Understood. I should be able to get them ready in…one week.”

The “Twins of God” had been born without a hitch…But that didn’t mean it was all finished here.

The twins would need to be made into receptacles for the gods.

The legacy “Sin” that lay under the temple of LeviaBehemo—There would be a rite to transfer the soul of the dragon god that rested within it into the twins’ bodies. –Carrying that out was another thing that had been in the prophecy.

“The problem is how to perform such a rite, I suppose—” Seth wondered aloud, but Gammon didn’t appear all that worried about it.

“As for the rite—the queen herself will take care of everything.”

“My…What is it, specifically?”

“The ‘Swap Technique’. It is a secret art that can move a soul to a different body…Right now in Levianta there is only one person who can perform it—Queen Alice.”

“…So you’re saying there used to be others who could use the ‘Swap Technique’?”

“It’s said that all of our queens have historically been able to use it—‘Hearing the voice of the gods’ might actually just be the soul of the gods temporarily inhabiting her body.”

Seth made a show of being impressed at Gammon, but in truth he had actually learned about the “Swap Technique” long before.

That was because—he himself could use the same technique.

That was how Horus had become Seth, and how he had been able to move Pale into a new body.

…All that aside.

Seth peered at Gammon’s profile as he had started to look upon the twins once more.

You’ve become quite knowledgeable, haven’t you?

As far as Seth knew, the old Gammon was a brusque man who specialized only in swords and guns.

Has he been studying more since taking on the position of senate head? …I hardly think it’d be just that.

This in itself—was almost like some other soul had been moved into his body, now wasn’t it?

.

--The following day, Gammon announced to the citizenry that the “Twins of God”, “Hänsel” and “Gretel”, had been born.

And to commemorate this fact, under the orders of Queen Alice Merry-Go-Round a new “Evillious Calendar” was established, with the year in which the twins were born to be used as its starting point.

Ever since Gammon’s revolt, an uneasy political situation had carried on in the Twelve Royal Capitals.

The members of the senate were comprised of the heads of the twelve families that ruled over each town—that had been the standard procedure. But Gammon had decided to repeal this and dismiss each of the present members, starting with his father.

However, this caused great deal of backlash. Fearing it would reignite the fires of conflict anew, Gammon established a meeting with the twelve families, and ultimately decided to make the sons of each family into the new senate members.

Due to this, the new senate wound up being comprised largely of young people in their twenties.

Gammon made public that the queen had been in a brainwashed state by Miroku for many years.

“From now on I vow to return to the proper governmental system with the queen at its core.”

Gammon’s decree had relieved the people.

On the other hand, around this point much of the populace had also learned of the queen’s prophecy that foretold the world’s destruction.

As anxieties about this matter began to spread, the new senate headed by Gammon decided to revive Project “Ma”—

.

“—And I’m the one who has been ordered to take responsibility for it…Me, Seth Twiright.”

They were in a room in the Royal Research Institute.

Seth had explained all this to Meta, who was herself seated in a chair.

Outside the room she could hear several people walking about. They were all researchers that Seth had newly hired on, but their true identity was that of the government’s information bureau.

In other words, they were guards there to keep Meta from escaping.

“…So then, when these children are born—” Meta patted her belly, which had grown larger. “You’re saying I’ll become the next queen?”

But Seth sadly shook his head at her question.

“The details of the second Project ‘Ma’ are slightly altered from the previous one…The ‘mother of the gods’ will be able to achieve a sizable reward and commensurate status—but the position of queen will still be performed by Alice Merry-Go-Round.”

“…So the ‘mother of the gods’…only exists to give birth to the ‘Twins of God’.”

“If we didn’t have it that way, the senate would never have given permission for you, a non-virgin, to be fertilized with the ‘Seed of God’, yes?”

But Meta had qualified as an “Ma” candidate back in the first project as well. When she asked Seth about that, he explained with a shrug of his shoulders, “Back then the government still hadn’t obtained any conclusive proof of your and Pale’s relationship.”

“That’s surprisingly sloppy of the government.”

“It’s an issue of them not having a sense of the impending crisis. There’s still a few decades before the time of the destruction—the ‘Gear of Twilight’. For most people, it’s the many issues that are more immediately in front of them that take priority.”

“…”

“But that’s not so for Gammon. He has met with the queen personally—and most likely came into contact with the ‘truth’. Though I don’t know the specific contents of it. At any rate, he has privately become quite desperate to stop the world’s destruction. To the point where he is no longer concerned with keeping up appearances.”

So then…that was the reason why he was seeking an “Ma” candidate that was magically strong, regardless of whether or not they were a criminal.

Meta had already had a “Seed of God” implanted in her stomach by Seth.

She had become pregnant soon after, and started to live hidden away from the world in the royal research institute.

The people most likely had not been made aware of the fact that it was Meta who bore the “Twins of God”.  If it got out that the “Witch of Merrigod” were the “Mother of the Gods”, there’s no way there wouldn’t be an uproar about it.

In all likelihood, once the “Twins of God” were born that fact would be made public by Gammon, and they would be accepted into the populace with great celebration.

But Meta herself—

I’ll be forced to change my name and live as someone else…I suppose that would be preferable. There’s always a chance they’ll kill me to shut me up.

As far as society was concerned, Meta had already been executed in Lighwatch temple.

At the very least, the current government wasn’t a monolith. She could determine that from how Seth had gone out of his way to pull off such a trick to save her (though she didn’t know if it was something he had done on his own or if Gammon had ordered him to). If Yegor had been in on it, there wouldn’t have been any need to fake her death like that.

Though Seth had promised Meta’s safety, there was no guarantee that others would feel similarly.

And Meta didn’t even trust Seth to start with.

The reason why she was still cooperating with him regardless—

“…Hey. Is Pale okay? I wanna see him.”

She had posed this question to Seth several times before.

Each time she did he would dodge the question—

But today was different.

“Relax. I’m a man of my word.”

“Then—”

“Just like you, Pale Noel was executed publicly. But—”

“—He’s actually still alive. …Did you use the same methods as with me?”

“No. I examined him while in prison as a doctor, and…it seemed that Pale’s body had developed some defects. –He can’t maintain his own body without absorbing magical energy from other people.”

Meta had known that already.

But where was he going with this?

“Couldn’t you just…do something about that when he got out of prison?”

“That wouldn’t work. It was my estimation that as he was, Pale wouldn’t have much longer to live. …So I figured this was a good time to have him swap bodies.”

“I…don’t understand what you mean.”

“In that case—I should probably have you see for yourself.” Seth clapped his hands. “Enter.”

On cue the door opened, and a boy entered the room.

“Who’s this kid?” Meta asked.

The one to answer was not Seth, but the boy himself.

“Long time no see, Meta…It’s me, Pale.”

“…Wha?”

Obviously, the Pale that Meta knew wasn’t a boy like this, but an adult man.

But…now that she looked at him properly, his features did seem to resemble Pale’s somewhat.

“Er…So you mean…”

“You must be confused. But—it’s okay. I’ll take this opportunity to explain it all to you.” Pale turned to Seth. “I assume you don’t mind…Brother.”

Seth nodded wordlessly.

Once he’d seen that, Pale turned back to Meta.

“I—am a ‘ghoul child’.”

“…Ghoul child?”

“An artificial human created inside a beaker. My body and personality were all constructed by Seth.”

“You…expect me to believe such a crazy story?”

Pale pointed to Meta’s belly as she drew in her shoulders.

“It’s sort of like—the twins inside your stomach. The only difference is that their mother is a human woman instead of a glass vessel…that’s all it is.”

“…”

Certainly…on the point that they weren’t created by natural intercourse between a man and woman but rather an experiment of Seth’s—

They were the same.

Pale leaned against the wall, and continued his explanation.

“For some time now, Horus—or rather, Seth—has been performing research into the artificial construction of life to make the ‘Next Queen Project’ a reality. The construction of ‘ghoul children’…like myself…could be called a subspecies, or variant, of that.”

“…”

Meta silently listened to him speak, her hands resting on her expanded belly.

This boy’s way of speaking was the same as Pale’s that she knew so well.

“—Though it hasn’t been as simple as all that. Ever since I became an adult, I came to be afflicted with a problem of magical energy…Though that was better than the alternative. The ‘ghoul child’ made after me was just kept in storage as an empty shell, without a personality.”

Pale said that the body he was currently using was recycled from that “empty shell” that had been kept in storage.

“It took quite a bit of time to get my spirit affixed to this body…So we weren’t able to meet like this until now.”

“…You…knew all of this before?”

“Yeah. That’s why I…once ordered you to kill my brother. I had thought—that if I could get rid of the original of me, “Seth”, then I would become the “real” one.”

“Pale…My beloved Pale…My poor Pale…”

Meta stood and walked over to Pale, crouching down and embracing her love.

“…”

Pale looked over at Seth, his short arms around Meta’s back.

“Brother—Could you let me speak to Meta alone for a little bit?”

“…Ah, very well. I’m not so boorish as to get in the way of a lover’s meeting.”

Seth nodded and left the room, humming to himself.

.

--For a short while, the two of them continued to hold each other without a word.

Eventually, Pale whispered to Meta, “Meta…Let’s run away.”

“…!?”

“I can survive like this. There’s…no need for you to do as Seth says.”

“But—”

Meta looked down.

She was looking at her own belly, where her twins resided.

Pale nodded in understanding.

“—That’s right. It’ll be hard to escape with your body heavy with child. When you’re stable after the birth, I’ll…create a diversion. You’ll have to be patient until then.”

“…Alright, I understand.”

“Apocalypse is on the brink of destruction. But as long as we’re together…we can start over again.” Pale pulled away from Meta. “I’ll have to be going home soon.”

“…Where are you living now?”

“Seth’s house. Publicly, I’m his nephew.”

When Pale opened the door, Seth was waiting there to greet him.

“Are you done talking? Then let’s get going.”

Thus prompted, Pale left with Seth.

It almost seemed to Meta as though his limbs were bound with a thin string tied to Seth’s finger.