Little Pink Starfish

When the Demon God dwelled in hell, she often asked herself a question.

What did the sensation of death feel like?

All creatures who committed grave sins in life inevitably fell into hell. But hell was no place for spirits to dwell. The soul was the most fragile part of a creature’s being—one might say its vital spot—and hell was far too barren a place to contain such souls.

Even if they could adapt to that environment, the punishments the souls endured were unbearably cruel.

For example, those who killed their kin became toys for young demons. The teeth of these barely-sharpened juvenile demons would bite and tear at parts of the soul. The sinner screamed. Soon they begged to be devoured instead. Souls cannot be consumed; only in heaven could they be reformed or obliterated. The young demons bit the writhing soul and laughed in delight.

Thus, the question was asked:

“What did the sensation of death feel like?”

Those who had killed kin answered that it was sweet.

Therefore, they claimed to bear no guilt.

They said they merely gave their kin a proper rest.

Mortals with limited lifespans interpreted death’s meaning in various ways.

Some said death was the end of life. All things vanish with death. Others said death was the true rest from life’s labor—signaling a release from endless struggle.

‘…Foolish talk.’

The Demon God remembered the sensation at the moment of death.

Defeated by Mateo Bernstein, immersed in the baptismal waters wrought by the One and All Savior’s power, struggling beneath the surface before dissolving away—she could never forget that baptismal process.

Death was neither the end nor true rest.

Sensations dwelling in the flesh evaporated one by one, leaving the weakened body trapped with only the soul inside.

Am I truly dying? Really dying?

With such a clownish doubt, only the soul remained imprisoned in a body that no longer moved.

In that darkness, a small light suddenly appeared.

‘That light…’

The Demon God thought. To shine in such thick darkness could only mean the One and All Savior.

But the Demon God’s guess was wrong. The small light was her own soul.

The One and All Savior was the darkness enveloping that small light. The primordial darkness existing before the cosmos and even before the division of dimensions. That was the One and All Savior.

[Yes. That is I…]

Suddenly a voice without pitch or tone echoed.

[…The One and All Savior you know.]

In the beginning, there was no light. It was only when the One and All Savior commanded light to exist that light appeared in the endless dark. So it was no wonder that the One and All Savior was the darkness behind the light.

“…Am I dead?”

[Of course.]

The One and All Savior answered calmly.

[You must have expected as much. There was no way for you to survive. The invasion via the Gate was thwarted by the union of Stars and creatures, and you were baptized by a human hero.]

“Yes, that’s right.”

The Demon God laughed hollowly.

“But I did not expect death to feel this filthy. One and All Savior, you fashioned the world in such a filthy way.”

[I agree. The world I made is still undergoing trial and error. Some dimensions prospered through magic but perished through magic; some thrived by physical might but fell by physical might; some flourished with science but were undone by science.]

The One and All Savior answered honestly.

[This is inevitable. I never expected to make a perfect world from the start. It is the nature of inquiry to obtain certainty through various samples. Without mistakes, success is impossible. Every world I have created so far is but a series of errors, so one day I will make a perfect world.]

There was no emotion in the One and All Savior’s voice. That terrified the Demon God.

The One and All Savior did not cherish the world he created. It was merely a failed mathematical formula to him. He rearranged formulas in countless ways to seek answers, and when one failed, he would simply write a new formula on the next line.

In short, the world was just a formula to the One and All Savior.

“…I expected as much.”

The Demon God said, almost vomiting out the words.

“That was why I believed I could succeed.”

[What success do you speak of?]

“To let the demons live outside hell.”

The Demon God’s goal was to etch the demons into this world as a true species.

Born in the barren hell, living outside the world’s worst depths, scorned from birth, her kin were considered disgusting—but she wanted to carve them into this world as genuine creatures of the One and All Savior.

“You made the demons to be inherently evil. By contrast, you made angels. Demons are terrifying, teachers, and rightly hated. I pitied them.”

[Interesting. I imbued the demons with a limited form of pity. They can only pity themselves, seeing themselves as the most miserable beings.]

“That sounds right.”

The Demon God agreed. Demons had little pity.

Pity stripped away, demons took pleasure in others’ suffering, and sometimes even their own suffering brought them ecstasy. Demons were surely such beings.

“However… you appointed a non-demon as King of Hell.”

The Star Hated by All was a fallen angel, not a demon.

At first, demons mocked the Star Hated by All, then challenged him, and after failing, they were filled with fear. The Star Hated by All instilled fear into the fearless. The Demon God began watching him.

“To my eyes, a low-ranked demon, the Star Hated by All was exactly fit for King of Hell. Proud, selfish, arrogant, yet he brought order to hell. And above all…”

The Star Hated by All knew pity.

[Indeed.]

The One and All Savior agreed.

[That too is strange. I imbued angels with only limited pity. They may pity only within the limits of their discipline. For example, they feel no pity for those I label as sinners. But the Star Hated by All…]

He pitied the fallen.

The ones expelled from paradise.

“He knew that too.”

The Demon God glimpsed the Star Hated by All’s palace. He protected those who voluntarily escaped the world made by the One and All Savior—souls known as suicides, who until the Star fell to hell, had received the same punishment as other sinners.

“…That’s why I thought he was like a father to me.”

Demons had no parent-child relationships.

That was because demons were created by the One and All Savior at every turning point in history. Some demons were made to spread disease on earth; others, to spread war. The One and All Savior created new demons whenever evil was needed in the world. Low-ranked demons like the Demon God were merely spirits of sinners whipped to punish in hell.

“If you say you created me as a low-ranked demon…”

The Demon God smiled.

“I believe the Star Hated by All gave birth to me as the Demon God.”

[Understood.]

The One and All Savior acknowledged the Demon God’s words.

The Demon God was truly a fictitious being. The One and All Savior had never planned a god of evil. Such an absurd being could only have been created by the Star Hated by All, who opposed Him.

[You fulfilled your role well. You pitied only demons, thus did not hesitate to kill my creatures. And you did not fear failure because…]

“I never expected you to care for humans.”

The Demon God answered firmly.

There are countless creatures in this world. Among them, the One and All Savior surely does not favor humans above all else. Even if demons invaded a planet covered in humans, the One and All Savior would coldly observe the process. The Demon God believed so.

[Of course, I do not cherish humans.]

Favoring one species would be unfair, the One and All Savior said.

[Had you triumphed over humans, I would have acknowledged your sovereignty. That too would have been an answer. But…]

“Other Stars did not.”

Perhaps because they overlooked human history. They dwelled on a small planet and interacted with many Stars. Without the Stars’ power, humans would surely have lost to demons, yet the Demon God had greatly underestimated the exchanges between gods and creatures.

[Exactly. You know everything perfectly.]

If there is one thing you do not know… the One and All Savior whispered.

[You are likely thinking this sequence is your death process. But that is not so.]

The One and All Savior laughed.

A mechanical, lifeless laugh. At once, the halo of light around the Demon God’s soul began to brighten.

[You died long ago.]

“…What do you mean?”

The Demon God asked, feeling as if the baptism by Mateo Bernstein had just happened.

[The moment of death feels brief because of intense pain. Mateo Bernstein has long since died, and much time has passed since. Now his daughter lives peacefully in this world.]

“The daughter of Mateo Bernstein…?”

[Yes. Thanks to her, I was able to call you to speak.]

As the One and All Savior’s voice faded, a figure came into the Demon God’s sight.

A frail, gloomy girl.

The Demon God could tell she was Mateo Bernstein’s daughter.

[The time of contract, Demon God. There is a creature in this world who needs you.]

To the Demon God shrouded in confusion, the One and All Savior declared:

[In the name of God, you must fulfill God’s role.]