“Um, Priest......?”

While the research was in full swing, there was a child who came knocking on the hut where ‘I’ was working.

“What is it?”

“Well...... actually.”

The child hesitated for a moment, then worked up the courage to speak.

“My dad went to the temple, and he still hasn’t come back.”

And.

Hearing that, ‘my’ body flinched to a stop.

“......That’s.”

“He said he was just going to go receive a blessing that would block contamination, but he never came back...... I went to the temple and asked the other priests, but they wouldn’t really tell me anything....... I heard you used to be someone famous, Priest. So I thought maybe you’d know something.......”

Hearing that, ‘I’ thought.

‘I kept thinking maybe... maybe not.......’

Maybe.

Maybe the other priests had changed their minds, and stopped offering sacrifices.

It wasn’t like that kind of optimistic thought had never existed at all.

“Honestly, it’s not just my dad. Lately there’ve been a lot of people in the village going missing.”

“.......”

“Anything is fine—if you know something, could you please tell me?”

But.

In the end, it was excessive optimism.

Reality was brutally realistic.

‘Your father was killed by the priests.’

If ‘I’ told this boy what must be happening at that temple, maybe things would change.

Maybe furious people would storm the temple—

and succeed in stopping that horrific sacrificial ritual.

But.

—You’re going to gamble everything on something uncertain, and betray even the ones who placed their hope in you!

Those words looping in that mind clamped down on that mouth.

“......It’s probably because the blessing disappeared.”

“Huh?”

“He might’ve fallen somewhere while working and couldn’t recover.”

In the end.

What came out of that mouth was something completely different from what ‘I’ had first thought.

“Our bodies aren’t very sturdy...... so that’s the most likely explanation, probably.”

“Ah... I-I see.”

“Still, if you wait, he might come back...... so try to wait with hope.”

After hearing that, the child shut the door, unable to hide the disappointment.

And after ‘I’ watched the child get farther away—

“Ugh...!”

‘I’

covered that mouth and retched.

‘Wait with hope?’

That’s absurd.

No one knew better than ‘me’ what happened to that child’s father.

The lie ‘I’ had just told was so disgusting, so vile, ‘I’ couldn’t hold back the nausea.

‘But...... what choice do I have?’

Unless my research succeeded.

If it failed, the only thing left—

just like my other brothers said—

was offering lives to Father.

“......Hngh.”

Tears leaked out, and a headache throbbed behind my eyes.

In this land, the concept of death was too unfamiliar.

And even now, somewhere out there, someone was dying again.

The pain and fear they were feeling—

‘I’ wasn’t even the one suffering it, and yet I could imagine it, and just thinking of the fear they must be feeling made tears spill out.

‘No....... Don’t think about it. Just think about doing my best.’

If ‘I’ kept empathizing with their pain, it would get in the way of research, and slow my progress.

The best thing ‘I’ could do was cut off that side as much as possible—

and push forward with everything ‘I’ had.

‘It’s endless.’

‘I’ had no certainty about when this research would end.

The odds of failing were higher, and that fear was huge.

But even so.

‘I’ kept going, silently—research after research.

***

I kept researching.

When I was about to starve to death, I went outside to pick roots to eat.

Then I went back into the temple and threw myself into research again.

Because I was pouring everything into it—obsessed with achieving it even a little faster—

at some point, I couldn’t even properly perceive the passage of time anymore.

And.

How much time had passed like that?

‘With this method......!’

Results were still far away.

But right when ‘I’ felt like ‘I’ had finally grabbed a few threads—

Knock, knock.

Someone knocked on the door of the temple where ‘I’ had settled.

At first, so immersed, ‘I’ didn’t even hear it.

But the knocking kept going, and only then did ‘I’ belatedly notice the sound from outside.

‘What a nuisance.......’

Frowning, still half-lost in my work, ‘I’ headed for the temple entrance.

Days that were nothing but the same research, over and over.

It was so long since something like this had interrupted that I couldn’t even remember when the last time was.

‘......A visitor?’

And maybe because of that, there was one fact ‘I’ noticed a little late.

‘This is an abandoned temple......?’

Where ‘I’ had taken up residence was an ancient temple from a faraway age.

It was in the deep wilderness, somewhere no one lived anymore.

‘I’ had chosen it because I didn’t want to watch people keep disappearing—

because being in the sanctuary here reduced the worry of disease—

and because there were many old teachings of Father left behind.

But it was a place where ‘I’ would never meet anyone.

The moment that doubt rose in my mind, that hand was already opening the temple door.

“Ah... ah...... you were alive.”

“......You are?”

And.

What was there was—

“......So it’s that brother from back then.”

In the past.

A priest who had set out to find Father with him.

“Why are you here?”

The very man who had said he would be the one to dirty his soul.

“Don’t tell me...... Father succeeded in recovering......!”

Shoving aside the strangeness I’d felt a moment ago, that was the first thing that came to mind.

If Father had succeeded in recovering—

even if the process was something ‘I’ hated—

even if all my efforts until now had come to nothing—

‘I’ thought I could still be happy.

“Really... there was.”

“......Pardon?”

But.

It didn’t take long to realize that wasn’t it.

“There was someone alive besides me...!”

In my memory, the man in front of me was a high-ranking priest with tremendous healing power.

“I’m sorry. I’m really sorry.......”

“What are you—”

“Back then, I should’ve listened to you.......”

But.

That body was already severely contaminated.

Like the state right before death arrived.

“Later I regretted it and went looking for the brothers—and for you—but by then it was too late. Everyone else... not long after leaving the temple, all of them.......”

CRUMBLE.......

“Still, I thought... maybe you might still be alive.......”

“......What is this, exactly.”

“If you were, I had to tell you... that it would be the greatest atonement I could make... so I had to endure, no matter what.......”

Had he held on until the end by sheer will?

His legs scattered into dust like ash that had burned out completely.

“Ah... now, finally...... I can rest.”

That body collapsed to the floor with a dull thud.

“Then tell me. What are you saying......!”

When ‘I’ shouted, swallowed by dread, the man lying there closed his eyes and said,

“It was a lie.......”

“What...?”

“We offered many lives. So many lives... we offered so many that there came a point where there were no lives left to offer.......”

Before ‘I’ could even process what that meant, that body began melting into a green, mushy liquid.

“But even so.......”

“.......”

“He... couldn’t recover.”

Because the contamination was too great, the man was turning into a drop of poison.

“From the start.......”

When his body had completely melted away, he opened his mouth one last time.

“It was a lie.......”

***

With those words as his last, all that remained on the floor was a single puddle of viciously toxic liquid.

And.

“A lie......?”

The eyes of ‘me’ staring at that liquid were shaking more violently than ever.

“Th-that can’t be.”

Abandoning even the research I’d been doing,

‘I’ started moving, heading somewhere.

“There’s no way he would lie.......”

Where those steps were headed was far away.

The very place where my god had once dwelled.

‘I have to confirm it......!’

It was a long, brutal journey.

But because of the research I’d done all this time, my healing power had grown even stronger.

‘I’ pushed forward, healing my body as it rotted away by the second.

HISS.......

Healing was possible—

but it didn’t make the pain of flesh rotting away vanish.

Even so, I had no room to care about that pain.

“There’s no way......!”

Something worse than physical pain was tearing at him.

And after a long journey, he managed to reach the old holy land.

And.

{Ah... ah...... you’ve come.......}

He looked at the small lump of flesh crawling all alone there.

{Ah... ah...... of course...... it’s you.}

“.......”

{All the other children...... they abandoned me and left, but... yes. Yes, you didn’t abandon me. The child I loved most.......}

That lump of flesh was much smaller than it had been before.

It spoke better than before, and that face was visible to some degree—

but it was still nothing but a hideous lump of flesh.

{Ah, child. You came. So now.......}

And.

That lump of flesh—

{Please, save me...... save me.......}

“.......”

{It hurts, it hurts so much. I don’t want to die like this.......}

Slowly.

It was dying.

[Ingredient Identification (Enhanced)]

[A god whose name was stolen]

A being crawling along the ground in extreme fear of its own death.

In that sight, there was none of the warmth Father had once shown them.

“......Our great Father.”

Maybe that was why.

‘I’ could throw the question out without hesitation.

“You said that if we offered lives to Father, you would return grace to us.”

{Ah, yes. Yes. I did.}

“Is that true?”

The lump of flesh crawled up filthily, grabbed his foot, and screamed.

{Didn’t I say it was true? So please......!}

And.

Seeing that, ‘I’ noticed something.

This was certainly Father, but—

‘He’s like us.’

Father was dying.

‘I’ didn’t know why.

Just like they hadn’t needed immunity because of that grace, maybe Father was the same.

Maybe he’d suddenly lost grace, too—and was rotting because of it.

One thing was certain.

The only way he could cling to life at all—

{Give me... lives......!}

was taking other lives.

And.

Seeing that, ‘I’ realized one more fact.

“A lie.”

To someone who couldn’t even stop their own death, there was no way they had the power to bring others back.

“A horrible... lie...!”

He lifted his foot.

No matter how weak that body was.

No matter how exhausted he was from the long journey.

“Because of your lie...... we......!”

CRUNCH!

Stomping a small, pathetic lump of flesh like this wasn’t hard.

CRUNCH, CRUNCH, CRUNCH!!!

He kept stomping it.

Even as his own leg bones broke, he didn’t stop kicking.

“Hah... hah...!”

Before long.

There was no movement left in the lump of flesh beneath his foot.

“Ugh...!”

The first killing he’d ever committed in his life.

Staggering back from the shock, he realized one thing.

‘This isn’t the first time.’

Countless people died in this land.

Tricked by that being’s lie, they offered up their own lives and vanished.

And when he’d first heard that lie—

‘I’ had been there, too.

“I should’ve stopped it.”

He had tried, and failed.

But if he’d tried harder to persuade them—

he might’ve forced a different outcome somehow.

“I should’ve found another way faster...!”

There had been progress in his research.

There were plenty of threads toward a solution.

If just a few more priests had helped him, his research might’ve been completed sooner.

He might’ve saved many people.

“Even if it was late...!”

When that child came to find him, he should’ve stopped it—even if it meant telling everyone what the priests were doing.

‘I killed them.’

But he hadn’t.

And because of that, countless people died.

Killing something with violence was his first time—

but it was no different from having killed countless people already.

“Ah... ahhhh......!”

Was it because of contamination from germs?

Or for some other reason?

Tears of blood streamed from his eyes, and a splitting headache tore at his skull.

“Ghk.......”

He rolled on the ground in pain.

Rolling over the cooling lump of flesh, he groaned.

‘Death.’

So many people died.

Because of him.

And......

‘At this rate, I’ll die.’

He, too, didn’t think he could avoid that death.

Not because of this awful contamination, or the injuries from stomping that lump of flesh until his bones broke.

It wasn’t that.

‘B-because of me.......’

Grief for the deaths of his own kind.

The guilt that those deaths were because of him.

Disappointment in himself.

Fear of the death he had created—and the death that was coming for him, too.

It numbed his reason, and drove his soul toward death.

And.

‘M-me, I.......’

He—

‘I don’t want to die......!’

Death was too terrifying.

SWISH.......

As he writhed on the floor in pain, he reached out somewhere.

What his fingertips touched was something hard—and sharp.

Something his brothers had once made for Father.

A sharp stone blade.

CRUNCH.

He drove that stone blade into his own head.

Piercing that weak hide and flesh and skull wasn’t difficult.

And then—

SQUELCH......!

“Ghk...!”

Into the hole in his head, he shoved his hand.

SQUELCH, RIP......!

“K-khehk...!”

With a hand forced into his skull, he grabbed his brain and tore through it.

When his brain was forced to be touched like that, his eyes and expression began to twist into something grotesque.

After endless research, he had realized how to touch ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) the structure of life.

He’d never done it even once before.

But he already knew how.

And.

‘I have to get rid of it......!’

The emotions ruling his head right now—

grief and guilt—

were pushing him toward certain death.

Then.

To survive, there was only one thing he had to erase.

‘I have to erase these emotions......!’

The function of the brain that lets you empathize with others’ pain and death—

and grieve because of it.

CRACKLE!!!

“Ah.”

Only after that function was gone could he finally breathe.

And.

What remained there was—

“I’m scared.”

An extreme fear of death.

And.

“Then what should I do now.”

Now.

Meaning itself had been lost.

“Ah, right. That’s right. There was that.”

Only a shell remained.

“......I have to achieve evolution.”

Only a single goal.