Interlude. Fragment.

  [I’m a person born into the lowest position.]

  [I’m the deepest and the widest, but yet to be one.]

  In a game called Yo-Ma Great War Zero, a war RPG series, there was an existence that was known as the Great Ancient Wizard. Where he came from was a mystery. The strength of his body was so deep that nobody ever dared to confront him. Knowing nothing about himself, he was led by the noble forest fairy Mirole, who overcame the divine environment to save her people, confront the demons, and gained the fairy’s love.

  [For the sake of perfect union, I have made you and your brothers.]

  [This is a contract, to begin with, a promise to be performed at the end.]

  He was always silent and never talked about himself. At first, it was because he didn’t know anything about himself. But from some point on, when doubts arose about himself, he began to be afraid of himself, so he tried not to talk about himself even more. He dominated Magic that no one knew about and grew faster than anyone else. Such a being couldn’t fall from a place where there was nothing.

  [Call my name when you’re all set.]

  [By then, the best of you will be reborn as the true me.]

  It wasn’t only because of the powerful magic that he could regain his memory little by little. A lousy memory was also coming back together. He started to think that the things he used to be hostile to, in fact, were the things he shouldn’t be hostile to.

  When was it? When the songs of a forest fairy who loved the peace and dreamed of regeneration of the land began to feel abominable. The princess of the noble and holy forest fairy began to be tainted as her desire led and engulfed in her desire to trample.

  [Constant struggle and desire.]

  [And I shall be at the end of it.]

  [The whole world will be united.]

  The last time he got all his memories back was the moment the Demon Tribes tried to bring the Devil to the earth. He stepped forward suddenly and carried out the magic of the seal with all his might. The cracks in all the other worlds that flood Middle Earth…the Devil could destroy the world even if he were using his own body. All sealed inside. It was reborn as a complete Devil.

  ― That was how it was supposed to be.

  * * *

  When he opened his eyes for the first time in the world, knowledge flowed into him, the knowledge that he wasn’t supposed to know about. Every memory from the birth to the ending. When he stood up, confused and bipedal, there was already no place for him to stand. The forest fairy princess chose another man and left him there. Instead, it was the Demon Tribe that appeared in front of him.

  [Feeling the dark magic. Or rather, another fragment of His Majesty, the Devil.]

  “So…”


  If he hadn’t recalled, he wouldn’t have dealt with Dark Magic. But having awakened himself so early as a fragment of the Devil, he was unable to conceal the magic inherent in him. And that was the occasion to bring the Devil to his presence.

  [I’m different. I’m just his child, and I can’t take him to me.]

  “I am…”


  [Do you remember his voice?]

  “…”


  Nodding in silence, the First Demon replied.

  [It’s all his wish that you will open your eyes; you just have to keep up.]

  It was a matter of the moment that he felt a slight dislike. But he knew he couldn’t get away from the Devil himself. The mixed memories confused him, but only the fate before him was recognizable.

  [How do you refer to yourself?]

  “How can I…”


  Then there was a name that crossed his mind. But in the extreme antipathy it had to offer, he inadvertently turned it upside down.

  “Nave.”


  [Good, Nave. Until you get back to where you belong, that will be your name.]

  Where he should be, to the man who uttered the words quietly, the First Demon smiled and added.

  [That is the promise of the Devil.]

  “Promise.”


  [Come to the Demon Realm. We need to prepare a ceremony to summon him to Middle Earth.]

  It wasn’t until he had a complete memory that the man began to take a different step from his own. But the man questioned. He seemed to know more about the world than he should. He became more powerful and performed more incredible things than what he had done. He knew what was going to happen at the end, so he honestly told the First Demon.

  [Humans will form a tribal coalition trying to stop the Demon Tribes? That’s a silly thing to say.]

  The only thing that came back was a snort.

  [Even if their strength was improved temporarily, soon everything will rise at the feet of His Majesty, the Devil.]

  [So, Nave, we just have to focus on serving him safely.]

  However, things were just getting messed up. The man who took his place increased the power of Middle Earth with unique abilities and even interfered with the Demon Realm. On the other hand, Nave moved with the First Demon, but still, he only faltered without a firm sense of himself.

  ‘What am I doing here if my planted memories are real?’


  ‘It is my duty to bring the Devil to Earth. But can my own will be involved in it?’


  ‘Why am I stuck in this dark, red land of the Devil?’


  ‘Forest fairy princess, who is that man with her?’


  ‘If I can’t change anything with the memory I’m given, isn’t it meaningless?’


  What he met at the end of it was a girl who he didn’t remember but kept catching his eye strangely.

  “Die!”


  Somehow, he couldn’t actively respond to the girl who stared at him like an enemy. Maybe it was because she possessed the right skills to bring down the Devil. Not just because of that. And the moment she kicked hard and picked up the necklace that had fallen off, he finally realized everything.

  ‘We were connected.’


  The man who took his place, ironically, was the man who handed over his memory. One of the countless fragments that made up the man flowed into him, giving him a glimpse into the secrets of the world that shouldn’t be peeked at. In return, he was ousted from his original position, and another man shamelessly seized it. At the end of it, he completely forgot what awaited, pretending to be the world’s leading character by imitating himself.

  ‘It’s funny.’


  Then you have to step up to the plate to fix everything. A proper ending to the fate that the man remembered as Yo-Ma Great War Zero was the perfect descent of the Devil that no one could deny. Punish the fakes, bring down the Devil ultimately, and regain the position he deserved. Evan’s fake, Nave, then abandoned the name again. The fake wasn’t himself; it was Evan, Zero, him.

  And the Devil more splendidly, powerfully, devoured the whole world.

  * * *

  “Ah…”


  It was at that moment that Evan realized his deficit; only at the moment, he regained some of his lost parts. He realized that he had lost it all this time. It was an absurd illusion that he was the Great Ancient Wizard. He forced himself to take the place of the main character, who was supposed to be someone else. But that in itself was rather fortunate.

  Initially, the Great Ancient Wizard wasn’t a good being but was just one of the alter ego created for his own sake. Could it be any more ironic that it awakened the source earlier thanks to Evan, which led to the Demon Realm?

  “Wow, that’s not all. Maybe…”


  Maybe on the way over from Sherden. Maybe more than that, from the moment he awakened his past life. The moment he recognized it, he realized that his fragments were scattered throughout the world in many forms. Some flowed back into Sherden; some had backtracked into this world, creating a reason for them to look over Middle Earth. Some of them flowed into modern Earth and became the basis for the famous Yo-Ma Great War series.

  “Zero, Zero…?”


  “It’s okay, Mirole. I’m just a little confused.”


  “Zero…”


  Mirole held on to his one arm with strength, trembling with instinctive fear. Evan chewed his lips, feeling her warmth, and looked up at the massive pillar of magic. There was a creature who slowly opened his eyes in it. A vast and evil being, without a trace of his precious sister, Elizabeth, or the Great Ancient Wizard.

  Many things had to be sacrificed, but they all had been reborn as they deserve. What was heard in it was unexpectedly a beautiful voice. Evan squinted as he faced it.

  [You made things difficult, but as a result, I was able to descend because you were there.]

  [I will let you come within me, too.]

  “What a load of nonsense.”


  The moment he raised his strength by answering back irritably to the Devil in a pillar of energy that spewed nonsense, Evan somehow felt a new possibility within him. Perhaps it was because he recovered another being, part of the Great Ancient Wizard, together in the process of retrieving his fragments. That made possible what he thought would be impossible for the rest of his life.

  “…”


  A small magic wand rose above Evan’s hand. It was exactly like the magic the Great Ancient Wizard in the game used to handle.

  “Ha.”


  It wasn’t funny that he had a third job now. Evan grinned bitterly and reached out his hand and aimed at the Devil, who appeared from the pillar of Dark Magic. Maybell held on to him with a worried look.

  “Master, there’s your sister in there…”


  “Yes, it’ll be hard to kill, but even if I could, I shouldn’t. At least for now.”


  At one time, he thought of sealing the Devil to follow the scenario during the Yo-Ma Great War Zero. But it wasn’t right. It was inevitable, for a different reason than in the game. But as it was in the history of the real world. To save Evan’s sister, the Devil had to be sealed here.

  “We’ll help you, god.”


  “You have to neutralize him without killing him.”


  Sharay and Arpa stepped forward. From the beginning, they were entitled to be confident that they had raised their power by limiting their competition against the Devil.

  “Sorry, I didn’t mean to…this is going to be a lot of burden on you guys.”


  “That’s exactly what I want, god…!”


  “God Oppa, don’t hesitate.”


  “All right, then.”


  As the Devil began to take an increasingly firm form, a torsion began to occur as the area around them couldn’t withstand its terrible energy. Evan did not hesitate to activate his unique armor. The formless armor of the soul enveloped his entire body and strengthened the magic circle he created.

  “You guys…”


  He pondered what he had gained. After learning about magic, he checked everything that he could try in his head.

  “Have you ever heard of split compression?”


  As soon as he concluded, he proved to be done with his calculations.