The Devil’s Guide to God Slaying

“False alarm, I can still move. Must’ve been numb from all those punches.”

Adam was still grinning stupidly beneath me while wiggling his appendages. For a moment, a frown crossed his face, and he began to mutter.

“I could’ve sworn that you hit me harder than that… but it doesn’t matter I suppose.”

I sighed and unmounted him, collapsing onto the wooden ground. I quickly realised, however, as I banged my head on the floor, that falling onto hard ground wasn’t as therapeutic of an experience as I had expected from the media. Perhaps you’re supposed to support your neck during the fall? Seeing my predicament, Adam began to uncontrollably laugh. I wanted to ask him what was so funny… but I did unfortunately understand. Rolling over slightly, I sighed once again. I was going to have to do it.

“Why the glum face, Ellie?”

“…”

I hesitated, once more running over the wording of what I wanted to say. Perhaps I could do it later and- Adam tilted his head at my silence.

“Hm?”

… I was fairly confident that he knew exactly what he was doing. My face began to flush out of embarrassment. Well, that’s a first at least. Adam’s laughter immediately restarted at the sight. I realised that I just needed to do this now.

“I am very, very sorry, Adam. I shouldn’t have damaged your property or hit you. If I can-”

Unfortunately, my apology only served to intensify his laughter. My embarrassment intensified, and I gained a sudden urge – that I resisted, mind you – to cover my face.

“Why so serious? No harm was done.”

… Harm was done, it was just undone before you realised what happened….

“Ellie, I wouldn’t have cared even if you’d crippled me. It would have still been my loss”

That gave me pause.

“I thought you were saying that you’d won?”

“That was only by your standards. As you said before that, by my standards you achieved a valid victory condition.”

So, he’s willing to convert…?

“With that being said, I don’t think I can convert to your religion.”

I released the breath I had been subconsciously holding, and my emotions cooled.

“I understand.”

“No, I don’t think you do.”

“…?”

Adam gave the gentlest smile I had ever seen on his face, and his eyes seemed to fog up as he looked at something far in the distance.

“How could I ever believe in a god when I’ve finally found what I’ve been seeking my entire life?”

“What do you mean?”

His eyes sharpened once more as I felt the abyss I had observed when I first met him staring straight at me. His face, usually a mask of playfulness was.

“Even if you proved to me that some supernatural immensely powerful entity similar to what was described in ancient religious texts existed, why should I believe in it?”

“… Are you making an argument that objective reality is impossible to prove or something to that effect?”

“Not at all. What I am saying is that the existence of such a being doesn’t necessarily mean that said being is a ‘god’. A ‘god’ is a being of worship and reverence, but does ‘strength’ necessarily predicate that?”

“Wasn’t your entire game based on that premise – that ‘strength’ is the only thing you find worthwhile to recognise?”

Adam smiled once more.

“You disproved that for me.”

“I see where you’re going with this.”

“Even when winning against me, you lost by another standard. I’ve realised that my own standard of worth is entirely meaningless. I don’t recognise you as superior to me, I recognise that you are a wall that I can overcome with effort.”

“… I doubt that.”

Adam chuckled.

“And that’s what makes humans so great! They keep improving! That’s the one thing I should have learned from the start when I first competing against other Mods – that improving was the key to all of this. How can an absolute being become better than they were yesterday? That would imply they aren’t absolute.”

“But how does that change the fact that they’re absolute?”

A childish sparkle seemed to cross Adam’s eyes at my question.

“It doesn’t. It just means that, if God were real, I would want to kill him.”

My eye violently twitched, and I felt a slight pang of nervousness overcome me. Adam, ignoring that, continued.

“And once I’ve killed God, I would surpass him and become a stronger god myself.”

“… I thought you said that humans and gods are fundamentally different.”

“Exactly, Ellie! I would become the first human god!”

“You differentiate Mods as superior to humans, though.”

“That was based on typical ability. Haven’t we already established that you’ve proven ability isn’t the only factor? If it was, then you wouldn’t lose to me, nor I to Lillia.”

I stared at him for a moment.

“Through all of this, you’ve ignored that people didn’t just worship gods because of their power. Going into the 20th and 21st century, the primary reason for worship was moral guidance.”

“And why would I need that?”

“… What do you mean? Of course you need to be moral.”

“I have my own beliefs. I don’t need someone else to impose their own inflexible ethical system on me.”

“Your ethical system seems overly flexible….”

Adam grinned.

“Yeah, but isn’t that a good thing too?”

I exhaled. This is just sophistry on a meaningless tangent. Humanity could never surpass a god in the first place. Nonetheless, I suppose it’s worth asking….

“What would you do if your life was tied to promoting a god – if you would die if you couldn’t get them believers?”

“Die.”

Adam instantly responded, before beginning to elaborate.

“I’ve lived a good, free life. I would rather die than lose that freedom.”

A shiver ran down my spine. I can’t do that. Still seated on the ground, I grabbed onto my legs.

“… Dying seems lonely.”

Adam tilted his head and approached me, a gentle expression on his face. He grabbed onto my shoulder as he knelt down in front of me.

“Ellie, we all die.”

“They’re pretty close to making humans immune to aging, you know?”

“But still, they’ll die too. It’s unavoidable.”

I couldn’t say anything. Well, to be more frank, I didn’t want to say anything. Adam continued regardless.

“It’s the reason us humans are so innovative, you know? If we didn’t have a deadline, we’d never improve. We’d never find ways around that deadline.”

But I don’t want that! I want to stay here! I’ve done everything I could to get here, how could I leave now just because I can’t get a damn believer! Adam, seemingly sensing my emotional instability, suddenly pulled me into an embrace, where he was patting me back.

“It’s okay, Ellie. I don’t know what you’re thinking of right now, but.”

“… Your caring about my feelings seems to be a stark character change from earlier. Since when did that happen?”

Adam smirked.

“Since today.”

I narrowed my eyes slightly, before finally letting him continue. Just on this occasion, I’ll let this human touch me. And so, we continued like that for another dozen minutes.

===

I stood before Adam, now calm. I was distinctly aware that nothing I did from then on would change his mind on the issue of the Lord. Moreover, I had used multiple miracles and had achieved very little. In other words, I was closer to dying than ever. Nonetheless, I was now on good terms with Adam, the heir to the Myers family.

“Have you ever considered using your talents for anything other than competing with other people, Adam?”

Adam looked amused at the suggestion.

“How would I do that?”

“Look at the news…? There’s plenty that. For a man talking up humans so much, you don’t seem very interested in helping humanity.”

Adam began to laugh.

“Just because I’ve grown to appreciate humans doesn’t mean I need to help them.”

“If humanity collapses due to mismanagement, wouldn’t that affect you too?”

“… That probably won’t happen.”

“Everyone dies, right?”

“…”

At that comment, I left with a new contact in my E-watch. Glancing down, I realised that I had a missed call from Sarah. I felt a slight upward tug at my lips as I called her back.

===

Adam watched Elysia’s departing figure, deep in thought. It seemed like Elysia had lost someone close to her at some point. Sighing, he could only grin.

“Either way, maybe Elysia really is a prophet….”

Then, he cracked his neck and began to stretch.

“Well, no matter. Even if she was, that would just mean that I’ll get to be the first human to surpass a prophet.”