The Legend of Level 0 in Academy City

Perhaps it has been decades, or perhaps it has been hundreds of years.

Still retaining a youthful demeanor, Inoue Hideka returned once again to the small courtyard that held some hazy but still beautiful memories.

Despite the passage of time, Inoue Hideka, though still a young man, has shed his youthful arrogance.

His eyes were deep, his face weathered, and he looked travel-worn.

It's that time of year again when cherry blossoms are in full bloom.

The cherry tree that absorbed all the nutrients in the vicinity and survived on its own has now grown into a huge and lush tree.

Pink cherry blossoms swayed gently in the breeze, their fragrance wafting into the nostrils of a man who looked like a young boy but was actually over seventy.

Inoue Hideka stood beneath the towering cherry blossom tree, gazing sadly at the tombstone in front of her bearing the name of Saten Ruiko.

He reached out and gently touched the black and white photo of Saten Ruiko. She was smiling so happily in the photo, but there was no color in it.

At this moment, that familiar and cheerful smiling face made Inoue Hideka miss it even more.

The owner of the smiling face, that girl who always exuded vitality, is buried at our feet, under this cherry blossom tree full of romantic sentiment.

They were so close, yet it was as if they were separated by a dimensional barrier; no matter what, they could not touch each other.

Tick-tock, tick-tock...

Quietly, silently... lines of clear tears streamed down the young face, dripping onto the ground and merging into the land that buried the girl.

Inoue Hideka simply stood quietly, carefully and diligently reflecting on everything she had experienced since coming into this world.

For a long, long time...

Time flowed quietly, and as night fell, the boy still stood there with a worried expression.

As the stars twinkle and the moon rises above the horizon.

"Raiko, I'm here. Are you alright?" In the end, Inoue Eika murmured, "Wait for me, just a little while longer... wait for me."

then.

Inoue Hideka began to quietly recite some incantations. After a while, a white light emanated from his body, and then he began to recite another incantation.

This time, not long after, a blood-red liquid began to seep from his body.

A slight cracking sound emanated from his body.

More and more blood flowed from his body, staining his clothes red, and then pooled into a stream, flowing from his face to his neck, and then through his body, the bright red blood finally flowing into the land where Saten Ruiko and his own body were buried.

As her blood gradually drained away, Inoue Hideka, who had been struggling to stay conscious with special magic, eventually collapsed to the ground, falling in front of Saten Ruiko's tombstone.

He reached out again, gently stroking the cold stone tablet, his eyes filled with longing, as if he could see the person he most wanted to see in the next moment.

Passersby might have thought Inoue Hidekazu was committing suicide, but undoubtedly, he was perfectly lucid at that moment, and he knew what he was doing.

ceremony!

This is a ritual unique to Inoue Hideka, a ritual to become a demon god.

Othinus was not born a demon god; she acquired wisdom through a special method. Based on this wisdom, Othinus offered her right eye, which she had gouged out herself, at the Mimir Well. Through this ritualistic act of destruction—gouging out a single eye—she systematized the "sacrifice," elevating herself from a mortal to a demon god.

There is another demon god—the monk, who starved to death in his own body through his own will. It is because of this that he was able to transcend the six realms and become a perfect Buddha in just one lifetime as a mortal.

There are no born demon gods; they all have to go through a special ritual before they can become demon gods.

However, this is on the premise that their magic has reached its pinnacle.

Several hundred years passed in the blink of an eye, and Inoue Hideka believed that his magic had been honed to its ultimate level.

So all that's left is a ritual tailored specifically for yourself—

He used magic to inflict damage on his body, draining all his blood as a sacrifice to the one buried here. This was the root cause that led him down the path of magic, namely, Saten Ruiko.

Beneath this land lies the body of Saten Ruiko.

Inoue Hideka wanted to use his own blood to nourish this land, which was extremely special to him in many ways.

of course.

He knew he probably wouldn't succeed.

In this world, he may never get what he wants. Once he sets a goal, no matter how long it takes, that goal will never be achieved for various reasons.

To describe the current situation in more precise terms:

How could a new demon god be allowed to be born in a world created by a demon god?

After doing all this and spending countless hours, Inoue Hidekazu had only one purpose—

"Is that enough... Othinus!"

He lay under the cherry blossom tree, gazing at the hazy, ethereal sky, and with the last ounce of strength remaining in his body, he shouted these words.

Chapter 503 Nightmare, Awakening

Let's go back to the moment when Euthinus decided to test Inoue Hideka.

As if the world had frozen, Inoue Hideka's eyes became vacant. He stared straight at the empty space in front of him, his gaze unwavering.

It looked as if someone had taken away its soul.

However, it was only Inoue Hideka's own world that seemed to have frozen in time.

Upon discovering Inoue Eika's condition, Orelus turned to look at Euthinus, his face filled with doubt and hostility.

“What did you do to him?” Orelels asked.

"Oh? You still can't shake your kind-hearted nature?" Othinus glanced at Orelus dismissively and scoffed, "He's just a human. What does his life or death have to do with you?"

"What did you do to him!" Orelus ignored Othinus's attitude, remained hostile, and repeated his previous words.

"Heh... Right now, his consciousness is experiencing various forms of death. Since he's going to accept my test, he should be prepared to endure torture, right? What? Are you going to stop me?"

Upon hearing this, O'Reilly's expression softened slightly. He turned to look at Inoue Hideka, whose eyes were vacant and who remained motionless, and said coldly:

"No. Since it's his choice, there's no need for me to interfere. However, if anything goes wrong, I will definitely take action."

Euthinus curled his lip in disdain, said nothing, and waited to the side with an air of nonchalance yet confidence that victory was assured.

After a brief moment of emptiness, Inoue Hideka's expression gradually turned painful.

It looked as if it was suffering some kind of great torment, sometimes struggling, sometimes ferocious, and sometimes becoming numb and empty.

This situation lasted for several minutes, and Euthinus's eyes gradually showed signs of impatience.

She brandished the Spear of the Supreme God in her hand, then looked at Inoue Hideka with an expression of great interest.

Inoue Hideka's expression changed once again with Euthinus's action.

His expression remained one of persistent confusion, tinged with a barely perceptible hint of reminiscence.

Seeing this, O'Reilly asked warily, "What trick are you up to now?"

"Heh." Euthinus chuckled dismissively, ignoring Orelels and continuing to look with interest at Inoue Hideka's face.

Then, at a certain moment, Inoue Hideka's expression suddenly changed from confusion to one of determination and resilience.

At this moment, Othinus seemed to have discovered something, and her interested expression suddenly turned dull. She once again swung the Spear of the Gods in her hand.

"Hmph!" With a mocking snort, Othinus's face was filled with arrogant confidence, as if he was watching a good show. He glanced at Inoue Hideka, then turned his head away, casually looking around.

Judging from her expression, she seemed quite satisfied with the decision she had just made, and was convinced that she would succeed this time.

Inoue Hideka's expression once again showed a deep and prolonged state of pain.

However, this "long period" was only relative to the rapid changes just now. In reality, it only lasted for a few minutes. When Inoue Hideka recovered from the pain and became expressionless, for the first time, a look of 'incomprehension' appeared in Othinus's eyes.

She turned her head and looked at Inoue Hideka with a slight hint of doubt.

A moment later, Othinus, seemingly having figured something out, gave Inoue Hideka a disdainful snort and muttered to himself with contempt:

"Heh, it's just human selfishness anyway. To dare attempt to touch the divine realm, which is inaccessible to humans, and act with selfish motives—it's obvious they can't succeed. Let me think..."

Euthinus spoke with a smile that turned up at the corners of her mouth, her chin resting on her hand, yet her expression gave off a devilish feeling. After a moment's thought, she said lightly:

"Is it better to immerse you in a false world where you never feel anything amiss, or to shatter the illusion and let it wither away in pain?"

"What are you saying, Othinus!" Orelus, seeing the situation was turning against him, glared at Othinus. "I will decide whether to take action based on your answer!"

“It’s nothing, ha!” Euthinus chuckled softly, saying nonchalantly, “It’s just creating a false yet so real world for him that he can’t possibly discover it. I’ll let him experience what true despair is, but don’t worry…”

"I will not let him die easily until his body and mind are completely ruined and he has completely lost hope of living."

“Demon God…” Orelels stared at Euthinus and murmured, “Are you a demon god or a devil?”

"Well, who knows?" Othinus ignored the sarcasm in Orelels's words, brushed his wind-blown blond hair behind his head, and his lips curled up even more.

Time flowed quietly.

Neither of them spoke again, and Euthinus awaited the outcome of what she called 'Inoue Eika being ruined'.

Orelus, on the other hand, respected Inoue Hideka's choice and silently watched to see if a human like Inoue Hideka could truly break through the trap set by Othinus and ultimately persuade Othinus to save the innocent girl.

The sun gradually sank below the horizon, and the sky grew dark.

Inoue Hideka continues to walk the path paved by the demon god, and Othinus and Orelus, who are respectively a demon god and a quasi-demon god, are not lacking in this patience.

No one knows exactly how much time has passed, but a new sunrise slowly rises from the east.

As the light pierced through the clouds and descended upon the earth, a sudden look of surprise filled the eyes of Euthinus, whose face was flushed by the dawn's glow.

She opened her mouth, then murmured in disbelief, "Why?"

Immediately afterward, Euthinus brandished the Spear of the Gods with some haste, looking directly into Inoue Hideka's eyes for the first time, and demanded, "When? When did you discover this?"

------

In Inoue Hidekazu's timeline, countless centuries later, he once again stood on the familiar Tokyo Bay, the familiar Japan, and the familiar ground of the world of A Certain Magical Index.

The first sensation of numbness in Inoue Hidekazu's legs was immediately transmitted to his brain. Upon hearing Othinus's question, Inoue Hidekazu moved his lips.

But perhaps because he hadn't spoken for a long time, he didn't say what he wanted to say immediately.

After pursing his lips and biting them hard a few times, Inoue Hideka replied to Othinus in a low voice:

“Mikoto… Mikoto, she couldn’t possibly do something like that. I believe her… I believe in our relationship, she couldn’t possibly leave me because of something like that. In other words, from the moment that ‘Misaka Mikoto’ chose to leave me after seeing my memories, I realized it…”

"The world I live in is a false world created by the demon god Othinus!"

"So, why?" Euthinus asked, puzzled. "Why waste so much time inside? Why endure centuries of solitude without exposing this lie?"