Canary's words sent Izayoi's mind racing. All the details and phenomena he couldn't understand before were rapidly reassembled, allowing him to gradually piece together the truth.
If the Bull of Heaven was merely the whim of a powerful ruler, symbolizing how an immature reign could destroy the world, then the Demon Lord Dystopia was a reign matured to its absolute peak.
It could not only negate the divinity of others but also establish its own unique faith, seizing all power in its hands with an extremely asymmetrical advantage.
And the Typhon incarnation symbolized the screams of the victims.
The more powerful the ruler, the more pronounced their dominance, the deeper the darkness hidden in the shadows. The moment that darkness swelled and went berserk was the moment the victims would destroy the world with their cataclysmic rage.
In a sense, the ruler and the victim were two sides of the same coin. The greater the ruler's advantage, the deeper the victim's fury.
But when he thought about it, Saigo Homura's existence didn't belong to either category.
He wasn't a victim of human experimentation but a researcher of the Third Stellar Particle. Nor was he a ruler who would conduct such experiments; he had always despised such acts.
Even if Saigo Homura declared his intent to descend into Absolute Evil, Izayoi believed his younger brother would never do such a thing.
So, if Saigo Homura belonged to neither side, on what grounds did he bear the destiny of Absolute Evil? On what grounds did he bear the Spiritual Status of a Human Final Trial?
"As a researcher, besides the victims, Homura was the first to master the Third Stellar Particle!"
Realization dawned on Izayoi.
"Even a ruler couldn't possibly grasp the power of the Third Stellar Particle faster than the researchers!"
"Indignant at the ruler's cruelty, sympathetic to the victims' suffering, a researcher who falls to the path of evil not as a ruler, but as a rebel against the ruler... I see! So that's the truth of the Demon Lord of Absolute Evil!"
He realized his previous assumption was wrong.
In Zoroastrian mythology, the Demon Lord Azi Dahaka was defeated as a ruler, a king cursed by a demon. When considering the destiny he symbolized, most would assume it was that of a ruler who couldn't resist temptation and fell from grace.
But considering his title, it was clearly more than that.
As the pinnacle of evil, Absolute Evil didn't just symbolize the single destiny of a ruler committing evil due to possessing overwhelming power. In fact, it likely symbolized all malevolent destinies related to rulers.
This included the evil of a ruler wishing to destroy the world, as well as the evil born from witnessing a ruler's sins, leading to doubt and rage, and ultimately a willingness to destroy the world because of it.
Saigo Homura was on the latter path.
He didn't want to become a ruler himself. Rather, he had witnessed the many tragedies created by rulers and fell into utter despair, becoming a factor for world destruction.
If humanity was destined to be ruled by the powerful, if such tragedies were necessary for its continuation...
Then let humanity itself, along with all its sins, be annihilated!
"You could say that. The destiny Homura bears is indeed that of a supervisor."
Canary nodded.
The Demon Lord of Absolute Evil symbolized several types of apocalypses, and Saigo Homura represented one of the most unique among them.
"Ultimately, it's a result determined by material reality. The physical properties of the Third Stellar Particle are so superior that the closer one is to it, the more likely they are to grasp overwhelming power, to the point of triggering a world-ending crisis."
In the past, even the invention of the atomic bomb only made a few countries on Earth tread carefully.
Since everyone possessed weapons of mass destruction and no one could achieve a decisive technological advantage over their enemies, a winner-take-all scenario was impossible.
The prosperity built upon the system of nuclear deterrence has lasted to this day.
However, everything changed after the discovery of the Third Stellar Particle.
Even if research into the Third Stellar Particle was like nuclear research—where large organizations could achieve results by investing enough manpower, capital, and resources—there was a key difference.
Unlike nuclear weapons, the results of Third Stellar Particle research could easily create a crushing, generation-defining technological gap.
Putting other things aside, just look at Izayoi himself. If Saigo Touya hadn't intended to use his son to rule the world, Izayoi's physical capabilities alone would have been enough to completely annihilate all other powers before they could achieve significant results.
It was just like the crisis caused by the Bull of Heaven.
No matter how much of a genius Saigo Homura was, even if he could figure out the principles of the Bull of Heaven in a day or two and create a device to counter or combat it, he simply wouldn't have had the time to do so without Kudo Asuka's help.
The Bull of Heaven could have destroyed the entire world in half a day, completely halting all other research.
In this context, time was the most important factor.
Whoever first mastered the power to destroy the world could wipe out everyone else before they developed a power that surpassed their own, thereby establishing a unique advantage.
In this race, being even a few minutes ahead was enough to change the fate of the entire world.
This was the origin of the apocalyptic crisis.
"Therefore, these three types of people, being the closest to the Third Stellar Particle, have the most unprecedented impact on human history," Canary concluded.
"The first to establish rule are the rulers. As the architects of the system and creators of the project, they naturally reap all the benefits of the Third Stellar Particle research, so long as the oppression isn't too severe, and become the rulers of the world."
"Next are the victims. As test subjects, they are the pioneers who first come into contact with all sorts of unverified powers. Once they obtain the power to break their cages, the victims' rage will inevitably make the world tremble."
"Finally, there are the researchers. What makes them special is that rulers need them to obtain complete, harmless power, and victims need them to gain game-breaking power through experiments. The researchers are the bridge for everything. And when that bridge develops its own will, the balance between ruler and victim instantly collapses. Knowledge is power, and as it happens, researchers are the ones who possess the most knowledge."
From this perspective, the Dystopia Demon Lord, the Demon Lord of Absolute Evil, and Typhon were a trinity. They were three apocalypses tightly woven around the concept of the Third Stellar Particle.
"..."
Understanding this, Izayoi's expression grew even heavier. The more sense Canary's explanation made, the more it proved that shouldering the trial of the Demon Lord of Absolute Evil was Homura's original destiny.
He acknowledged the importance of the researchers and knew that Homura's sacrifice was of his own will, but as an older brother, he didn't want his younger brother to bear such a sorrowful fate.
"Is there no other way? Does Homura have to walk this path?" Izayoi asked, a hint of desperation in his voice. "Didn't you say Lord Su Mo already defeated the Demon Lord of Absolute Evil? This Final Trial has already been overcome. Why is it necessary for Homura to go through it again?"
After all, the Bull of Heaven was also a trial that had been vanquished before. The reason he was so frantic this time was simply due to his own lack of ability.
Since he had sworn to overcome the trial and become a savior, he had no right to question the difficulty of the task—that would be nothing more than a loser's whine.
However, upon hearing Izayoi's words...
"Er..."
Canary subconsciously averted her gaze, looking somewhat guilty.
"Hm?"
Izayoi sharply noticed her lack of confidence and probed further.
"Teacher Canary, the reason you're making us overcome a Final Trial that's already been cleared again is..."
Watching Canary's expression as she stared up at the sky, Izayoi suddenly recalled the last part of the conversation he had overheard and immediately said, "Don't tell me it has something to do with a mistake you made, Teacher Canary?"
He didn't know what the mistake was, but Su Mo had said it himself, so it couldn't be wrong.
As expected—
"What mistake! I had no choice back then but to use an expedient measure! It's mainly the Divine Child's fault, and you could argue it was a problem of Lord Su Mo's lack of supervision, though Lord Su Mo wasn't in Little Garden at the time... Lamia, don't glare at me like that, it's creepy! I was just joking!"
"Alright, alright, I apologize! I'll apologize to Lord Su Mo in person later, okay?! It's not like Lord Su Mo even has a problem with it... I'll stop, I'll really stop! I admit, this matter does have a little something to do with me."
Canary had tried to argue, but halfway through her stubborn denial, a glare from the shadow behind Su Mo scared her into shrinking closer to him, and she finally changed her tune.
Izayoi completely ignored Canary's increasingly intimate behavior around Su Mo. He was far more concerned about his brother than the affairs of adults.
"Teacher Canary, what exactly happened?"
"It's about the Dystopia Demon Lord!" Canary didn't keep him in suspense. "The reason we have to resolve all three Demon Lords together is to completely overcome the Dystopia Demon Lord."
"Completely overcome the Dystopia Demon Lord?" Izayoi asked, puzzled. "Isn't that the Demon Lord you once said was your greatest achievement and honor, the Final Trial you ended with your own hands?"
Why did they need to overcome a Final Trial that had already been defeated?
"To be precise, I only *ended* the Dystopia Demon Lord, reducing the probability of its birth to near zero. I didn't overcome it in the correct way... and that is the root of the problem now."
Canary sighed, airing her own dirty laundry. "It is precisely because of that mistake of mine that we now have no choice but to summon all three Demon Lords at once to overcome them again, as a way to atone for my past failure."