Solitär ｢
Summary
Macht's recollection continues at the scene of another village being massacred. There he encounters Wahrheit, one of the members of the Three Great Knightly Families of the Northern Lands. Wahrheit begins attacking Macht despite the demon's warning. Initially, Macht engages in combat with him. However, once Wahrheit states that through examining Macht's previous massacres he has concluded that there must be some complicated activation mechanism to his special magic, Macht unceremoniously ends the battle, turning the knight into gold without any trouble.
Afterwards, Macht meets up with an eccentric demon who engages in research on human beings, whose name is Solitär. She leads him back to her lodging and shows him the skeletal remains from a shark and an orca. She explains to him the concept of "Convergent Evolution." When Macht asks her about the human emotions which demons lacked, Solitär tells him the reason is because the demons evolved to prey on humans. Even though they have similar appearances and behaviors, they are entirely different creatures, thus they will never be able to understand each other. In response, Macht tells her that demons might be able to coexist with humans if they are able to understand their emotions, and that demons like him have more than enough time to waste.
Afterwards, Macht sits by himself at the site of another settlement he destroyed. He is visited by Schlacht the Omniscient, who asks for his assistance in the battle to take down the Hero of the South.
Plot Details
Macht, having destroyed a human village in the Northern Lands, finds no new emotion coming to him. He discovers someone was trying to ambush him and tells them it was useless to find an opening. It is Wahrheit, one of the members of the three Great Knightly Families of the Northern Lands. Macht comments that he must have stayed in the region too long that humans have begun sending annoying daredevils after him. He tells Wahrheit to leave him alone, but the knight refuses, beginning to attack the demon with a flurry of arrows. Wahrheit says that according to the orders from The Emperor, he must eradicate all presence of the Demon King's Army.
Initially, Macht defends against the onslaught using his sword. In the middle of battle, Wahrheit talks about his conclusion that Macht's signature magic, Diagoldze, must have a complex activation condition because not every village he has attacked was transmuted into gold. This thought amuses Macht, who smirks and looks down on the idea that his magic requires any "activation conditions." He asks Wahrheit if all humans worry about such intricacies every time they use magic. Demons think of using magic as simply a natural function of the body, like moving one's limbs, which is done almost subconsciously. Macht then decides to answer the knight's question, telling him that there is no "activation conditions" to his magic; if he chooses to use it, every battle would end in an instant. To demonstrate, he immediately turns Wahrheit into gold.
Wahrheit, shocked by the revelation, cannot complete his question of why Macht would not use his magic all the time. Macht answers him anyway: because it's boring to do so. His magic is simply too powerful that it renders almost every battle meaningless. He asks Wahrheit whether this could be called a battle and whether it was fun, which naturally Wahrheit cannot respond to. Macht leaves the scene, saying he detests such battles.
On a beachside, he meets Solitär, a female demon who engages in research on human kind, who is examining the corpse of an orca. She introduces herself and offers a handshake, but Macht either does not understand the gesture or deliberately chooses not to, instead choosing to inspect the body of the dead orca. He calls it a "fish," to which Solitär agrees that it did "look like" a fish.
Solitär later brings him back to a hanger she has repurposed from the humans and shows Macht the skeleton specimens of a shark and an orca. She explains that only one skeleton belonged to a fish and asks if Macht knows of "Convergent Evolution." When Macht replies in the negative, Solitär explains that the orca's ancestors used to live on the land, but after hundreds of years of having adapted to live underwater it has taken on a form similar to a fish. However, in the inside, the orca is a mammal, a creature completely different than a fish.
She invites Macht to tea and tells him his question is trivial when he asks about the emotions of malice and guilt. Solitär says that if demons felt hurt every time they deceived humans, they would have gone extinct. When Macht does not understand what this means either, Solitär explains that humans and demons are completely different creatures; their appearance, ability to converse, and humanlike behaviors are nothing but means to deceive and kill humans. Thus demons will never be able to understand those emotions humans have, like one cannot hope to understand the feelings of an insect flying in the air. She tells Macht that it is only a waste of time to ponder such things. Macht is not deterred by this assertion, saying that he has nothing but time to waste, and believes that coexistence with humans is possible if he can understand their emotions. Solitär is fascinated by his statement.
At the site of another village destroyed at his hand, Macht is approached by Schlacht, the right-hand of the Demon King who is capable of seeing the future. Schlacht propositions Macht to cooperate with him in defeating the Hero of the South, to which the latter appears reluctant.
Characters in Order of Appearance
(Mentioned)
Locations
- The Northern Lands
Battles and Events
Battles
Events
Objects of Interest
Spells
- Diagoldze — The Spell to Transmute All Creation into Gold: Macht's signature magic. It is the ultimate curse, undetectable as magic and cannot be undone even with the Goddess's magic. Therefore, defense and evasion are impossible. According to Macht, he can activate this magic at will, without any apparent contact with the target. He was even capable of doing so remotely to targets outside the Great Barrier of Golden Land. The gold created by his magic is indestructible and unmalleable.