1991, early spring in Tokyo, Japan, before spring had fully arrived.
In the unlit underground cavern, a mass of pitch-black Chaos, formed from despair and based on desire, writhed.
Its very existence was an abyss; “It”, wriggling underground, was a high-density collection of this world’s darkness.
“——”
Gazing at the towering sewer ceiling, the black mud seemed to sigh helplessly.
With the sigh, the dark flesh sea prostrate within the great cavern also began to boil.
Its appearance was just as recorded in the Book of Revelation: a black wave approaching the city, rising without wind.
The black mud’s name was Rhode.
Initially, he wasn’t a mass of black mud, but just an ordinary Transmigration.
Thanks to the excellent matching mechanism of Hedgehog Cat District, Rhode successfully Transmigration to Type-Moon Japan.
This was rare.
Subsequently, Rhode, with the spirit of a craftsman who sharpens his tools before battle, got his first job.
The workplace was in the Tokyo sewers.
He never expected that even after Rebirth, he would only be destined to live a relatively failed life in the sewers.
But that wasn’t the worst part.
On his first day of work, Rhode, unaware of the hardships of the Tokyo people, was eaten by an unknown black mud.
It was a case of dying early to be reborn early.
However, after his body was swallowed by the black mud, Rhode’s Soul was not extinguished; it continued to resist indomitably.
Perhaps Rhode’s Soul itself came from a higher dimension, or perhaps his spirit was inherently very compatible with the black mud.
In any case.
After six days and seven nights, the black mud’s will perished in its struggle with Rhode.
Upon successful Possession, Rhode also understood what he was now.
Throughout the long history of humanity, It had other names that struck fear into billions.
[Apocalypse Beast] [Number of the Beast] [666]
[Seven-Headed Ten-Horned] [Red Dragon] [Antichrist]
[anti-messiah] [Sodoms Beast]
[Satan] [Ancient Serpent]
However, in the Type-Moon world, how should It be most appropriately called?
The manifestation of great desire and gluttony, the King of the World who possesses the authority to blaspheme all things.
—The Sixth Beast, [Beast VI], who wields the authority to kill.
That being said, the current Rhode was still just an unhatched pupa.
Only by gathering seven heroic Souls in the ritual known as the Holy Grail War would It grow the seven heads of great sin and wear the ten crowns of blasphemy.
“But I don’t want to destroy the world either…”
Rhode sighed again.
So hungry.
After becoming the Sixth Beast, he felt a continuous, unending hunger every moment.
He didn’t know how much time had passed.
A day?
Three months?
Ten years?
Sixty-five million years?
After his five senses blurred, even the concept of time became difficult to grasp.
Then, at some point on a certain day.
Although no one said “Let there be light,” a sudden ray of brightness still pierced the pitch-black underground.
“——Huh? I clearly set up a barrier to prevent ordinary people from entering.”
An ethereal voice woke Rhode, and It raised its faceless form to gaze upward.
A young girl, emitting a faint glow in the pitch-black underground, wore a green dress on her delicate frame.
Her light golden hair reflected her light blue eyes, and her doll-like face was filled with confusion.
A brilliantly blooming flowers standing in the mud, her name was——Manaka.
With his knowledge from his previous life, combined with the memories buried in the [Devil King’s Divine Core], Rhode understood everything.
This was the person who stole a certain Christian relic from the Holy Church and placed it in the Tokyo underground to cultivate it as a Beast’s egg.
Manaka, she was one of the culprits who turned him from a human into a monster.
Unexpectedly, Rhode did not harbor resentment towards her.
After all, the girl, more beautiful than any flowers, looked at the ugly creature, which should not exist in this world, with gentle eyes.
“Good boy, have you been good here?”
The fairy’s song echoed in the underground cavern, and Rhode, who had no internal organs, felt as if his heart was beating violently.
The possessed black mud’s will released its final ripple, and desires surpassing what human minds could contain surged from within the dark flesh sea.
The Beast seemed to want to say something to her.
It wanted to eat.
It wanted to violate.
It wanted to destroy.
It wanted to kill.
It wanted to insult.
It wanted to fall from grace.
No, that’s not right.
Before all that, there should have been an originating desire that transcended all worldly desires.
——It wanted to be born.
That’s right, I want to be born.
Then, It uttered the first sound a human masters after birth.
That common sound that transcends nations, races, and skin colors.
“Mama.”
In the windless great cavern, the black mud churned like a tsunami, letting out its first cry.
“…How is that possible.”
Facing the Beast that had gained reason and language prematurely, Manaka was first confused, then smiled.
“There are still three years until the Fuyuki Holy Grail War, are you already impatient to be born?”
Manaka smoothed her skirt and squatted at the edge of the black mud’s cliff.
She placed her slender fingertips on her chin and tilted her head.
“How troublesome. If you want to hatch, you must offer the Souls of seven Heroic Spirits, or prepare thousands of human Souls as sacrifices. Can’t you wait a little longer?”
Mama.
Mama.
Mama.
The black mud squirmed and trembled.
It wanted to be born.
It wanted to be born.
It wanted to be born.
The headless, hornless, faceless sea of flesh boiled and shrieked, and in response, Manaka, with loving eyes, stretched out her hand to the darkness.
“…Heh heh, what a willful child.”
However, the moment her slender, delicate fingertips touched the black mud, they dissolved.
“…Huh?”
Gazing at her disappearing fingers and the gushing crimson, Manaka’s face did not contort in pain; instead, it revealed an expression of joy, as if she had discovered a new continent.
“That’s right.”
As if confiding in a child, yet also speaking to herself, the girl who was a mother murmured.
“As for the living sacrifice, isn’t there one right here?”
“Mama, Mama…”
Rhode, instantly understanding Manaka’s intention, swelled his body in panic, shrieking again—
You can come this far, but no further.
However, the girl, as a mother, took Its pulsation as the ecstasy of imminent birth.
Manaka knelt on the ground, extending her arms.
“Heh heh, can’t wait any longer? Come on, eat me. Good child~”
The girl smiled and embraced the dark mud, which had already swelled into a small mountain.
“…Ugh.”
The frowning expression lasted only a moment; Manaka was naturally dissolved.
Her splendid Western dress, her fair skin, her slender limbs, her beautiful face…
the moment they touched the black mud, they were mercilessly disintegrated.
Even the mother [Great Babylon], praised as the Princess of the Root, was as fragile and ridiculous as a pile of salt before the Beast holding the great authority of killing.
The angel had told John: The enraged Seven-Headed Ten-Horned plundered the mother’s treasures, stripped her clothes, devoured her flesh, and finally burned her bones.
The account in the Book of Revelation was realized in this way.
The boiling sea of flesh became calm after swallowing the girl, as if nothing had happened.
“Hmm, I see.”
At a time when all should have been silent, a boy’s voice suddenly echoed above the dark primordial sea.
“Although the human body is a bit restrictive, this sense of confinement is not bad.”
At the same time, a pure white body emerged from the dark depths.
No, two bodies.
The newborn boy held Manaka in his arms, walking out of the black waves step by step.
Beast VI, possessing a human vessel, manifested here.
Rhodes looked down at the girl in his arms; she had already opened her hazy eyes.
The exhausted mother raised her hand to stroke the boy’s face.
“Rhodes, let’s go home.”