[Living with Crimson Moon in the Roman capital, you gradually came to understand this world. Although the other True Ancestors from the Millennium Castle provided information in theory, things seen with one's own eyes and things heard are clearly not the same.]
[With your comfort, Crimson Moon's temper clearly improved a lot. She wasn't as angry as before.]
[Meanwhile, the death of the Imperial Empress caused turmoil within the Roman's royal family. After all, there were many nobles in the restaurant that day, including quite a few skilled mages. Yet everyone was hypnotized, which was completely impossible for the royal family.]
[The death of the Imperial Empress in the restaurant was classified as a special unsolved case. After that, the Empire's Senate thoroughly searched the capital, determined to find the culprit who killed the Empress.]
[And Claudius IV took advantage of this opportunity to massively consolidate the Emperor's power while removing the Senate's restrictions.]
And during this most chaotic time in the Roman Empire...
"Crimson Moon, I think you can use a bit more force here."
In the early morning, within the estate of a luxurious castle, Ryuya was instructing Crimson Moon in swordsmanship.
Yes, you heard correctly. Ryuya, the candidate for Earth King, was instructing Crimson Moon, the Moon King.
Logically, it should have been Crimson Moon teaching Ryuya. But the great Moon King hadn't experienced many battles, relying entirely on magical energy, techniques, and mysterious skills.
She had no experience in close combat and was completely ignorant of swordsmanship.
Having seen Ryuya practicing swordplay early one morning by chance, Crimson Moon expressed her desire to learn.
After that, Ryuya began instructing Crimson Moon.
"Crimson Moon, you're already accustomed to using magical energy, but swordsmanship isn't that simple. You need to overcome your instincts, and only start integrating magical energy after your body is familiar with the sword techniques."
It had to be said, Ryuya was quite a reliable teacher.
Handsome appearance, bright eyes, elegant demeanor, gentle voice, coupled with his saintly swordsmanship… his existence could clearly make almost any woman fall for him.
Except Crimson Moon.
"Swordsmanship? This is too difficult."
Claiming she couldn't grasp Ryuya's instruction, Crimson Moon's learning speed was incredibly slow.
Actually, she had some different little thoughts in her heart. What Crimson Moon wanted was simply to interact with Ryuya like this, to do things different from before.
Because for some reason, she felt the Moon seemed different from before. The civilization of the previous Mechanical Epoch seemed to be brewing something.
'Impossible... they are all already dead.'
Recalling those powerful, merciless, irresistible man-made gods from back then, Crimson Moon, who had been lonely all her life, thought it was fine to just live like this with Ryuya.
No longer seeing replacing Alaya or Gaia as her life's purpose, Crimson Moon thought that perhaps the life she had been waiting for all this time was Ryuya.
She was no longer the loneliness that no one needed, nor the sole supreme being known as the Moon King.
Holding this thought, Crimson Moon abandoned her pride and lived with Ryuya in the Roman Capital. The two of them watched the changes of time and the shifts of history from the perspective of bystanders.
[In 48 AD, Agrippina poisoned her second husband, a man named Domitius Ahenobarbus, then entered the imperial palace and became Claudius's wife.]
[In the same year, Agrippina's daughter, the child from her previous husband, was adopted by Claudius IV and officially renamed Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus.]
[In the time that followed, you and Crimson Moon watched the growth of the tyrant named Nero. Destined to become king, she experienced a series of events and then became a monarch ruling over heaven and earth.]
[Finding Nero quite interesting, you sometimes went to the palace to chat with this tone-deaf Emperor, and also went with her to see the world's prosperity.]
[Seemingly indifferent to your actions, Crimson Moon was actually secretly angry many times. But the Moon King felt it was just an Emperor, so it didn't matter at all.]
[Holding onto this belief, the proud Crimson Moon continued her stubbornness.]
[Sensing Crimson Moon's emotions, the sensitive you, although having a good impression of Nero, tried your best to avoid contact with this Emperor, only helping her with some small favors.]
[And so, time passed swiftly, and you both grew slowly.]
[In 62 AD, you and Crimson Moon finally grew bored in Rome. You bid farewell to Nero, setting out from Rome to travel around the world.]
[On this new journey, you and Crimson Moon saw empires in their golden age, saw battlefields filled with the sounds of war, and saw many hidden Phantasmal Species. In the era just after Anno Domini began, the world abundant with magical energy clearly held many miracles.]
[Marveling at this beauty belonging to Earth, you finally reached adulthood, taking on the form of an adult.]
[As time passed, Crimson Moon, finally recognizing her own feelings, clearly cared about you more and more.]
[Finally, one day, you confessed to Crimson Moon.]
["Blood, if you want to be my lover, you are still far from enough."]
[For some reason, she rejected you. Crimson Moon said to wait a few more years, until you were completely grown up, then she would consider these matters.]
[Strange as Crimson Moon's answer was, you had thought she would definitely accept you, but she didn't.]
[Thinking it over, you pressed Crimson Moon for an answer, but didn't get one. You never understood why.]
Meanwhile, in the starry sky beyond Earth, the dream composed of countless stars was the miracle known as the universe. And within this miracle, on the lunar planet destroyed by various magical energies, there were nothing but traces of despair.
"...Program error. Program correcting... Program starting. Annihilation Machine God - Justice activating."
"Searching for Lunar Civilization... Search failed... Searching for Humanity... Search successful. Detected Earth civilization human activity."
"Alert. Alert. Detected presence of Moon King Crimson Moon Brunestud. Annihilation Machine Gods activating."
"Annihilation Machine God - Justice!"
"Annihilation Machine God - Prosperity!"
"Formally activating. Initiating First Directive: Destroy Humanity, Protect Peace."
"Initiating Second Directive: Destroy Moon King Crimson Moon, Protect Humanity."
"Program error... Program restarting. Commencing action."
Within the core of the Moon, the destroyed, dead star's heart, two voices had somehow been born.
As these two entities spoke, beings representing the previous epoch began to emerge… existences capable of destroying everything.
They were the super terrifying existences that had destroyed the Lunar Civilization, severely wounded Crimson Moon, and forced her to flee to Earth… the Man-Made Machine Gods!
Justice! Prosperity!