Uh... My head still hurts. This is not something that I can heal with flesh shaping... Maybe I went a bit too far during that fight, and ending it with a headbutt might not have been a good idea either.

At least I was able to recover my mana by taking advantage of that leyline around here. But there's no way I'll be able to recover the dress I was wearing, all the fire and explosions have reduced it to rags. I guess I should be grateful that it didn't get completely destroyed, I probably wouldn't have noticed considering how intense the fight was.

Seeing how I keep on having this problem, it's about time that I try to come up with a solution. And so, I tried to make a dress of darkness to cover myself, from my chest to my tighs. It's not ideal, this thing only blocks light, so I'm still only wearing the few strips of cloth that remain from my dress.

"Quite the convenient method to change clothes you have."

"This is actually the first time I've done this. I got the idea a moment ago."

"The first time? ... It's difficult to get used to the ease with which you use magic."

"Look, I need to return soon so let's get to the point. What did you need to tell me? What's going to happen when you die?"

"Ah, that... How to explain? I suppose I should start from the beginning. Tell me, how do you imagine that void mana comes to be?"

"How it comes to be? Isn't it just mana without an element?"

"Yes, but normally, such a thing should be impossible. The elements are tied to the will of life, and all mana seeks to be dyed by them. In a world as full of life as this one, such a thing as mana that fails to obtain an element should not be possible. For void mana to exist, a force that keeps the elements away is required."

"But if the elements are the will of living beings... What kind of force could affect something like that?"

"A will to not live."

To not live... That does indeed sound like...

"What are the demons exactly?"

"Those beings come from a different plane of existence, one in which there's no life that can give color to mana. They require void mana to multiply, and to obtain it they will attempt to deceive people to make them fall into evil or despair. Long ago, the demons decided to invade our world with the intent of wiping out all life. The five 'gods' were born at around that time, as if in response, and we fought against them."

"Wait, did you say 'decided'? Are those things capable of making decisions? They didn't seem intelligent to me."

"Most are not. However, with the will to not live present in the void mana of this world, they created six beings that were the very embodiment of the weaknesses of people's hearts. They called themselves 'the paths to the void', but that's a bit too abstract, so we called them 'titans', as they were all quite large. Those creatures did not possess their own will either, they merely mimicked the intelligence of the sapient beings that they came from, but it was enough for them to lead the demons. I suppose another way to explain would be... Have you seen a great spirit before by any chance?"

"Uh, no... I've never seen a great spirit and I know next to nothing about them... Actually, I've don't know much about regular spirits either."

"Oh, well, simply keep in mind that demons are similar to spirits and the titans are similar to great spirits."

"So they are similar to something I know nothing about. Good to know."

"I'm surprised to learn that you are capable of sarcasm... Back to the point. There was a war against the demons and the people of the world rallied behind us, but even our best efforts proved to be insufficient. To this day I still ask why it was that no god of darkness was born. Ambition, willpower, and chaos are all also an important element of life, without it, we were incomplete. And so, five gods had to face six titans, we were not able to win."

I've already seen his power first-hand. He couldn't win even when he had four more like him at his side?

"Then why is it that we're all alive right now and there are almost no demons around?"

"That's because the titans... offered us a deal... It was enforced by something far more powerful than the magic contracts you might know."

Vilde's expression becomes somber.

"What was the deal?"

"The titans would leave this world and not come back until all of the five gods were dead. In exchange, we had to forbid our followers from studying dark magic. That deal didn't appear to make any sense, but considering that we were on the brink of defeat, it was too good to pass... We were such fools..."

It's true that the gods were said to have rejected dark magic, but it was because of a deal?

"Those abominations were born from the weaknesses of sapient beings, they knew us better than we knew ourselves." Vilde continues. "We believed that the war was hopeless, but in hindsight, that was not the case at all. The people of the world had all united to help us, their will kept giving more and more power to the elements we used to overcome the void. And I'm certain that, eventually, they would overcome their fear of the darkness and a dark god would finally be born. The void titans must have come to the realization that they were making the world stronger by giving it a common foe, and so, they decided to leave.

And so we were left as the most powerful beings in this world. Never could we have imagined how difficult it would be to retain our righteousness in such a situation. By being so obviously evil, the demons had made it far too easy to be good. And even if they were no longer here, they could still tell us their lies."

"Lies?"

"Indeed, lies, lies and misunderstandings are the source of all evil. And the demons are the biggest liars of all, how else could they convince someone that it would be better to not be alive? Without the enemy we were clearly meant to fight, we were left with no purpose and far too much power... Power by itself does not corrupt, but lies do, and people with power are in a position to be lied to more than anyone. Those who wanted to take advantage of us, those who were afraid of telling the truth, and the mindless worshippers that were blinded by our power. They told us far too many lies for us to see through them all. They claimed that we were perfect beings and everything we said was right, and eventually we ended up believing them.

For the time being, I would prefer to avoid going into details. What you need to know is that we fell into evil and many of our followers turned against us, exactly as the titans had planned. We lost the very thing that gave us a chance to win, and at that time, the world relic of darkness came into being. That thing had a mind of its own, no matter how many times we defeated its wielder, it would escape from us and come back with some new power in the hands of someone else. One by one the gods died, the titans would soon be able to return to a weakened world.

But something didn't go according to their plan, the last wielder of the relic knew about the deal and was far more rational than they had anticipated. She spared my life after defeating me and made me promise to never leave this place... This was meant to be both my punishment and a way for me to stay alive long enough for someone capable of opposing the titans to appear."

"I see, so that's why you are here. And when you die, those titans will come back bringing all of their demons with them... Uh, that's really bad, isn't it?"

"Ah, worry not. By now, there's already someone in this world that I'm certain will be able to take care of that problem."

"Ah, well. Then I wish them the best of luck."

"Don't try to play dumb, you know that I'm talking about you."

"But I can't do that! I can't even beat you!"

Seriously, how am I supposed to deal with an enemy that five Vildes couldn't win against?

"And here I was under the impression that you enjoyed a challenge."

"Not when the world is going to end if I lose!!! Can I even beat them by myself?!"

"No, that's absolutely impossible."

"Eh?"

"The void titans are the embodiment of all the evil and despair in the world. To even think that you could fight them by yourself would be the height of arrogance."

"Than what do you want me to do?!"

"You need to make the rest of the world stronger as well." From his pocket, he takes the black queen piece from the chess game we played earlier. "The queen might be the strongest piece, but you can't win the game with her alone. You will need allies to support you."

"Have you been carrying that piece the whole fight just so you could make that point now?"

"However, if you wish to avoid my fate, you must be selective with the people you surround yourself with." Says Vilde, completely ignoring my question. "You need people that will always tell you the truth, and won't be afraid to call you out when you do something stupid. A devout follower that does nothing more than offer praise is like a poison for the soul."

"Well, it's too late to get rid of Irvan, but I have plenty of people telling me the truth. Even when I don't want to hear it..."

"Marvelous! Then there should be nothing to worry about."

"I still haven't decided if I'm really the right person to fight those demons..."

"Oh, you are. And even if you were not, it's far too late to have doubts now that the fight has already started."

"What do you mean by that?"

"I'm not aware of what the titans have been doing since I've been a prisoner here, I imagine that they must have been working to corrupt whoever the world put in charge of guarding the elements after us... However, they seem to have turned their gazes to you now. That prophecy you showed me makes it clear, they obviously had some influence on it."

"They influenced the prophecy?!"

"Last time they had many troubles deceiving people as a result of being so obviously evil. And now, the one individual that could become the biggest obstacle to their invasion is someone that inspires terror in everyone she meets. Therefore, they most likely will attempt to make YOU the villain this time... By making you evil or, if that fails, by convincing everyone else that you are evil. And that's why that prophecy was so ambiguous about your villain status."

"Uh..."

As if I didn't have enough trouble getting people to accept me, now I have some embodiments of evil working to make it even harder. That's just great...

"And that will be all for now. Although, before you leave, I would like to teach you a certain skill that might help you identify the void element."

"A skill? I don't know, I'm supposed to go back soon."

"Does that gate spell of yours not allow you to return in an instant? And this skill should only take a moment for you to learn, seeing how your 'battle analyst' already gives you most of what you should need for it."

That does sound interesting... But what was it that I needed to do? I had to go back soon for something, but with everything that has happened here, it got out of my mind.

Oh well, if I can't remember right away, it's probably nothing important.

forli

I wasn't sure what to call the leaders of the void demons. I had already used demon lord and king, and that would imply that they had some form of society. I also considered 'archdemon', but that mostly seems to be used as a middle manager demon in most stories, it doesn't imply the level of threat that these things are supposed to be.

So I went with titans, it sounds strong, and a titan is the sort of thing a god fights.