[Afterword 2] Good Night, Bai
The essence of a god is a rule. Even if that rule develops a personality, a consciousness, it cannot change its fundamental nature.
And “Destruction” was no exception.
To open her eyes was to see destruction. To close them was to fall into a deep slumber. She didn’t know how long this had been going on, but every world’s will feared her, because her arrival meant the end of their world.
No world could escape. Even the once-glorious “Promised Land” had fallen, had become the “Place of Divine Advent.”
And almost everyone in the Place of Divine Advent had had their true names erased, and had been hunted to extinction by the endless “destruction.” Only a few, with special abilities, had managed to survive.
Even the “Ancestral” (her true name), who had been only a step away from godhood, had had to watch over a desolate world, had had to wage a desperate, eons-long war against God.
And in the end, the “Ancestral” had succeeded.
“Destruction” had been eternally sealed in the Place of Divine Advent. She was awake, but her vision was no longer filled with a burning world and the screams of the dying, only an endless, desolate silence.
No, there was another… being. Though it was hard to say if she could be called a being.
Born from the rules of destruction and the will of the world, raised in the world of living beings, a weapon, a lock…
She could also be called her daughter.
The silver-white girl closed her eyes, and with the “Ancestral” who had been in this desolate world for thousands of years, she wandered in the endless silence and darkness.
But unlike the “Ancestral,” the silver-white girl was surrounded by a swirling vortex of starlit, destructive flames, a terrifying aura that could not escape.
Because she was also destruction, so she could not be destroyed. God was thus eternally trapped in the Place of Divine Advent with her. “Destruction” had become the first god to be successfully slain in the thousands of worlds.
…Was that really the case?
Bai slowly opened her eyes. An eternity had passed in this desolate world, so long that she had lost all track of time.
The destructive flames, like a shower of sparks, were within her reach. They were still trying to destroy the last living being in the Place of Divine Advent, but it was all in vain.
“Bai, you’re awake again.”
A soft voice came from within the sparks.
Bai didn’t respond. She stood up, her terrifying, dark-gold eyes silently observing the desolate world.
Her mother—the will of the world, the “Ancestral”—had spent countless eons in such a desolate world, watching over the future?
But her current situation seemed even more hopeless.
At least her mother had had the obsession of slaying God, and had endured unimaginable suffering to remain in the Place of Divine Advent.
“Tell me your story again. I’d love to hear it,” the soft voice continued.
Bai turned her head, her gaze falling on the destructive sparks, her eyelids drooping slightly.
“God… ‘Destruction,’ you’ve changed a lot.”
Eons had passed, and yet, destruction was the only thing that had changed in this desolate world.
“Is that… not a good thing?” Destruction said softly. “I am your mother. In your memories, the mother I saw should be like this.”
“……”
Yes, like the will of the world, the “Ancestral,” “Destruction” was also Bai’s mother.
“Destruction” and the “Ancestral” had created her, and she had then been born at the hands of Sister Neily, and had grown up as a living being in the world.
What a strange life, a fusion of the rules of God, the will of the world, and a living being. Bai was likely the most unique being in all the thousands of worlds.
“Tell me your story again. I love to hear it.”
The destructive sparks trembled slightly, as if sitting up straight.
“My memories, you’ve already seen them, haven’t you?” Bai said. “Telling them again… what’s the point?”
Destruction chuckled softly. “I can only see the memories stored in your mind, cold, lifeless images. Only when you tell them yourself can you infuse them with your emotions.
“That way… I’ll know what your story truly is.”
Bai was silent for a moment. “I’ve told it many times.”
“A child’s story, a mother can never hear enough,” Destruction said softly, then paused. “Do you find it strange, a god’s personality… why is it like this? It seems no different from a living being.”
Bai remained silent.
“Because a god is not an omniscient, omnipotent being. It only represents a corresponding rule. My consciousness was born from the chaos of ‘destruction.’ It’s not that I possess the power of God, but that the power of God gave birth to me.
“I don’t know how to face living beings, because no living being can approach me. Even the will of the world fears my existence, because my appearance means the end of the entire world.
“Only… the ‘Ancestral’ could truly approach me. But that was all. Just approach.”
From the very beginning, in the endless eons, Bai was the only being Destruction could truly interact with, and it was she who had gradually shaped her from a blank slate into a “mother.”
This, Bai knew.
Bai, as a lock, had trapped the rules of God in the Place of Divine Advent. She and Destruction were now one and the same.
Destruction could see her memories, and she could… feel the changes in Destruction’s personality, her true thoughts and intentions.
“Do you want to go back and see?” Destruction suddenly said.
“…Yes,” Bai said.
She had never hidden her longing. She had deceived Ara to have this chance to slay God.
But Ara?
Ara was a part of Bai, but Bai… was Ara’s everything.
Bai couldn’t imagine Ara wandering the earth alone.
Every time a memory of Ara appeared in her mind, it was a searing pain, and even in her slumber, tears would uncontrollably fall.
“Go back,” Destruction said.
“‘Destruction,’ why?” Bai immediately turned her head, her brow furrowed. “If I leave, you will return to…”
“No, Bai. Not anymore,” Destruction said softly, the specks of starlight coalescing into a human form, the form of the “Ancestral.”
She walked towards Bai, her arms open, and gently embraced her.
“A god is a rule, not an entity, not a concept.
“Actually… you’ve already slain God, Bai. You’ve extinguished my rule, and your existence also contains the rule of ‘destruction.’ From now on… I will no longer exist.”
The form of Destruction began to dissipate, but her soft voice continued.
“Haven’t you noticed? Every time you sleep, when you wake up… the destructive flames around you, which symbolize ‘destruction,’ are fewer and fewer, until now, only a few embers remain.
“A strange phenomenon… I, born from ‘destruction,’ cannot control ‘destruction.’ But you can, Bai. You have truly mastered the rule called ‘destruction.'”
Bai was silent.
She could feel it. The “destruction” that had almost become a part of her was gradually fading, and the rule of “destruction” was now filling and reshaping her body.
From now on, she would be a being who was neither a rule, nor the will of the world, nor a living being. No one could give her existence meaning.
“Mother, are you just… disappearing?”
Bai spoke, and she found her voice trembling. This was the first time she had called “Destruction” mother.
“The ‘destruction’ rule that I represent has already crumbled. Only your ‘destruction’ remains,” the soft voice said faintly. “My demise is inevitable.”
For some reason, although this should have been the defeat of her fated enemy, Bai’s heart was filled with sorrow.
“Go back, Bai, my child. I know you want to. This is your wish, the longing you couldn’t suppress when you repeated those stories over and over again.
“And my existence is insignificant in those stories.”
The starlight of destruction gradually faded, and with her last ounce of strength, she formed a faint smile.
“And besides, Ara is still waiting for you.”
Ara…
A small, purple figure seemed to appear before her, as if she could reach out and touch her. This was the belief that had sustained her through the countless eons in the Place of Divine Advent.
“Sleep, sleep, my dear treasure…”
Destruction began to sing softly, the lullaby that was deeply imprinted in Bai’s mind.
“Close your eyes, forget your sorrow…”
“The moon is high, the night dream descends.”
As she sang, Bai’s eyelids grew heavy.
She tried with all her might to hold onto her mother’s last smile, but her fading consciousness would not allow it.
“Good night, good night, answer the call of the dream, and rest in its warmth…”
She fell asleep.
“Good night, Bai.”
I Became a White-Haired Loli – End
