Fallen God

It was a Thursday, just past 6 in the morning.

Shiro's had gotten to the engineering building early. The 2nd floor had a line of desks against floor to ceiling windows. A popular study spot, but this early, he had the whole floor to himself.

His Nuclear Power Reaction II exam was this upcoming Friday and he had come early to study all week. Enjoying the background of the sun rise, the bustling street below and the quiet halls of the building as he prepared himself.

That was until he heard panic from below.

What the?...

He looked over the desk. A speeding truck roaring down the road. Swerving out of control as it dodged other cars. It had done so perfectly as it ran the red light. However that had now put in on a direct collision course for fleeing pedestrians.

It was then that physics had stopped.

One of the truck front tires had popped. The force of which launched the truck into the air. Shoot over the pedestrians. Completely above the 1st floor and straight into the 2nd story of the engineering building.

What the?!?

He didn't feel any impact. The blinding light of the headlights consumed him.

The next moment he found himself among a silent field of ashes. Spikes of black steel piercing out from the ground in an assortment of steep angles.

"What... What just happened? Am I alive? Did the engineering building get destroyed?"

A voice of tumbling rock and bending steel spoke out behind him.

"Ahhh, there you are. You know not of the price I had to pay. The strings I had to pull to get you."

Shiro turned to face the abomination that stood in defiance of reality.

A mountain carved into the silhouette of a man with no physical joints and floating limbs. Its skin was a shell of obsidian and graphite. Cracks in its skin and the missing autonomy revealed the molten gold burning inside. The light leaked through every fracture as if the creature's true form was trying to escape its prison of stone.

Where its head should have rested, three featureless heads drifted in silent orbit above its collarbone. They possessed no eyes, ears, or mouths of their own. Instead, red horns curved inward and pierced each head.

Its rightmost head had gouged open a pair of eyes. The center carved itself ears and the left had forced open a mouth.

See evil. Hear evil. Speak evil.

The left head spoke as the atrocity walked towards Shiro.

"Since you were hit by a truck, Law dictates that you are to be sent to a new world and reincarnated rather than continuing forward."

Shiro stood in horror and confusion as it spoke.

"Though I may have sent that truck towards you."

"... you hit me with the truck?"

The being bent down and pulled a skull from the ashes. It held it like a marble in its thumb and index finger as the skull began to speak.

"Shiro Murasaki, an aerospace engineering student who switched to nuclear in his 2nd year. Interests include anime, manga, gaming and light novels. Specifically of the fantasy and sci-fi genre. Was born..."

The abomination crushed the skull to powder.

"Quite the trade. Truthfully, I wanted an older soul. A human who already had experience building nuclear bombs, but you're close enough."

"Souls? Trade? Nukes!?"

Shiro began to walk backwards away from this being. Looking around for anything to free him from this nightmare.

"There is nowhere for you to run. Come and listen to my offer."

Shiro ignored the atrocity and ran.

Ashes and rubble crumbling beneath his feet. Spikes of black steel passing him bye in this endless field of ruin.

He ran and ran.

He ran till his feet could carry him no more. Till he clung to his chest to breath while bent over on his knees.

And there, waiting in front of him, the horror. It leaned against one of the spikes, a sphere of annihilation hovered above its left palm.

"Beautiful, isn't it? Over 12,000 years ago, humanity on this world awakened. It wasn't long till the eldest son of the first man crushed his brother's skull with a stone. Now, this tiny sphere can erase hundreds of thousands in an instant. Turning cities into the ruin you see around you."

Shiro didn't look up, he had already ran through this hellscape and knew of the annihilation the monstrosity spoke of.

Shiro pleaded, still recovering from his lack of air.

"I don't know what you're talking about. There must be some misunderstanding. I'm just a student."

"There is no misunderstanding. I could not obtain a soul that was more capable. More willing... Even so, the trade is done. Your knowledge will be enough. Create me these weapons of mass destruction. Bring this annihilation to my stagnant world."

"No!"

"I am aware you're morally opposed to this, however, let me tell you a story you already know."

The ashes around Shiro began to move. A miniature landscape formed around as the abomination spoke. Figures of debris, tiny armies and kingdoms acted out the story like a play.

"A Demon King is born and Humanity is pushed to the edge of extinction. Then a Hero arrives. Travels the world to discover weapons and ancient spells. Defeats the Demon King and a new era of peace begins. Weapons of war are forgotten, spells lost to time. History becomes legends. Legends become myth. AND THEN THE CYCLE REPEATS!"

The miniature play in front of Shiro began to multiply around him. Countless little armies clashed against different heroes. An endless repeating loop.

"Again and again! A Demon King was born and will be killed with the SAME WEAPON AS THE LAST SEVEN! 130,000 YEARS AND NOTHING HAS CHANGED!!!!!!"

The monstrosity had made its point, and to Shiro’s own surprise, he could understand where it was coming from.

I mean if they're demons then would it be wrong? Humans would still fight amongst themselves, sure, but if Demons are inherently evil...

Shiro looked around at the ruined landscape.

"So this is what you want me to do? End the cycle. Make nuclear weapons, and wipe the demons out of existence?

"The Demons? No. I want you to end humanity."