In the distant past, in the Eriel dimension.
This was a place where the dimension was called Eriel, the planet was called Eriel, and even the continent was called Eriel.
If there was one unique characteristic of this world...
It was that power inflation was absolutely, ridiculously severe!
For people living in Eriel, handling magic wasn't special at all.
Rather, one needed to possess at least one power beyond magic—martial arts, beast liberation, divine power, aura, or even strange spirits(?)—to be considered normal.
Children going for walks would casually roast passing monsters with fire magic.
And it was perfectly natural for that same child to become strong enough to obliterate an entire village with explosion magic just a month later.
Adults who witnessed this would say:
"I once wanted to burn down a village too."
"Then why didn't you?"
"Because the village elder put up a dimensional barrier, so I couldn't."
"Ah~"
Truly, this place had power inflation so severe that power itself had fled from inflation!
Even in such a place as Eriel... there was one race that was terribly mistreated.
The rabbit beastkin, humanoids with rabbit ears.
They were unfortunate beings who were weak in magic, couldn't use martial arts, and couldn't even properly perform beast liberation.
Their physical abilities were superior to humans, but that was all.
Though they could run as fast as the wind and snap tall trees in one go, they couldn't escape human magic or break barriers made of mana.
For these rabbit beastkin, the word "slave" wasn't particularly special.
Humans called rabbit beastkin cute while freely abusing their bodies, called them docile while stealing their food, and called them good while putting leashes on them and treating them like slaves.
But even without humans around, they were such a weak race that they could be wiped out as an entire tribe if a passing dragon appeared.
Their only advantages were their strong reproductive abilities and their survival skills that let them eat almost anything and live.
Because of this, they had come to accept a life of one-sided abuse and exploitation as normal.
And among them was one small rabbit beastkin who didn't even have a name.
Always bullied, robbed, and abused, she thought:
*Emotions are useless; they only make things harder for me.*
She discarded all her negative emotions and reached a state close to enlightenment.
Then one day, she asked a fundamental question about her life:
*...Why do humans torment us?*
It wasn't hatred or revenge... just pure curiosity.
That curiosity couldn't be resolved no matter how much she pondered, and eventually led to direct action.
She hid in some bushes and, for the first time in her life, threw a rotten fruit at a human's head.
-Splat!
"Ack! Who's there?!"
The human, surprised after being hit by fruit.
Humans around, startled.
Humans getting angry, demanding to know who threw it.
*...Huh?*
At that moment, what she felt was pure joy.
Revenge? Justice?
She felt none of those emotions.
*This... is incredibly fun?*
Unlike the negative emotions she had discarded in the past, a positive emotion she had never felt before filled her heart.
The very fact that she, who had always been bullied by humans, was now bullying humans in return was thrilling and fun.
Indeed, now she could understand why humans kept tormenting her kind—it was this enjoyable.
If that was the case, wouldn't mutual tormenting and fighting multiply the enjoyment?
With that thought, she immediately began preparing numerous pranks to play on humans.
Placing rotten fruit on sleeping humans' heads, digging pit traps to make humans fall in.
She giggled every day while playing small pranks on humans.
"You damn rabbit beastkin!!!! I'll kill you right now!!!"
"Ungrateful wretch who doesn't appreciate being spared!!!"
The sight of humans swinging swords and shooting magic into the air in rage was truly ridiculous.
Being a rabbit beastkin didn't mean she was stupid, so she could escape using pre-prepared escape routes and throw off human pursuit.
*Humans are truly a foolish race!*
Thus, the "fun game" between her and humans seemed set to continue.
But peace didn't last long.
Enraged humans recruited soldiers and invaded the village where rabbit beastkin lived.
The result was... a horrific massacre.
Houses burned, and rabbit beastkin died without offering much resistance.
That night.
"Ha... haha..."
Having hidden until the end and survived, she was still laughing in the village filled with her people's corpses.
*I don't understand... if you kill them, you can't torment them anymore. Why did they kill them?*
An expression of complete incomprehension regarding human actions.
Her emotions were more questioning than fearful.
The death of her people? She didn't feel even a hint of guilt, so not a single tear fell.
She thought that if humans hated her so much, they could have just killed her and been done with it—killing her entire race was just humans being stupidly foolish.
Thinking this way, she actually felt annoyed.
*...Come to think of it, this is absurd?*
Her people died painfully because humans were too stupid.
Wouldn't it be better if such stupid humans all died?
As she was thinking this, the air in front of her tore in half, and someone appeared.
A deformed being with a blood-red body and strangely protruding horns.
This being, commonly known as a "devil," greeted her with a frivolous voice.
"Kihahaha~! Hello there! Cute and adorable little rabbit~!"
"...Who are you?"
"Me? Who am I? Kihaha! I am~ the devil of 『Wrath』 who absolutely loves angry emotions! Just call me Satan~!!"
In the village drenched with the smell of blood, Satan introduced himself with exaggerated gestures.
Satan's tongue was so long it seemed about to pop out to his neck, and the corners of his mouth were split almost to his ears.
"By the way, why are you laughing alone when all your people are dead? Or... are your emotions broken? Hmm?"
She was looking at Satan but gave no answer, just watching.
"...It's hard to find interesting souls to look at these days, but you have just the right feel~! Kihahaha!"
Satan laughed frivolously and pulled out a bottle from a dimensional rift.
Inside the bottle was a dark red soul that was still burning.
"This is the soul of a priest aged 87! This guy lived his whole life serving his god, so I killed his entire family, everyone around him, and even the people he saved! Then, just before he died, he cried out to his god! Asked why he didn't save them! That expression at that moment~! It still makes me laugh just thinking about it!!! Kihahahaha!!!"
After putting the bottle back into the dimensional rift, Satan pointed at her with his finger.
"In that sense, you too~! Are perfect for my soul collection! When you become so angry that you lose your mind— I think you'll burn with an exceptionally good feeling~!!"
She stared blankly and tilted her head.
"...What's that for? What are you going to use it for?"
"To display! To appreciate! To enjoy! And if I get bored, I might eat it deliciously! Kihahahaha!"
Satan started spinning and dancing on the spot.
"Souls containing moments of peak anger! I'll line them up on the shelves of my palace! And appreciate them! Isn't that wonderful? You should feel honored~?"
After pondering Satan's words briefly, she said:
"Are you crazy?"
"......I'll take that as a compliment~! Now, listen~!"
As Satan reached out again, red magical power rose from his fingertips.
"I'll help you very kindly~! I can resurrect all your people! Then you just give me your soul and the contract is complete~! How about it? Total profit, right? Such opportunities are really rare~?"
Satan demanded her soul in exchange for reviving her people.
However, she couldn't possibly believe what Satan was saying.
"Then help me first."
"Oh~?"
"I'll see how well you help, then I'll think about it."
"Wow~ This cute little thing is really something! That's why I like you even more-! Kihahahahahahaha-!!!"
Satan laughed loudly and spread his arms.
"Authority! 『Wrath Forge (分怒鑄造)』—!"
Red smoke burst from Satan's body and enveloped the corpses around them.
The dead bodies began to twitch as bones reassembled and flesh clumped together.
But these people weren't resurrected in their original forms.
A giant bear-rabbit with a massive body.
A mackerel-rabbit with rabbit leg fins on a mackerel's body.
A rabbit with three heads.
A crow-rabbit with black wings.
A spider-rabbit with eight legs.
"■■■■■—!!!"
The villagers who had been "rabbit beastkin" until just a day ago had transformed into twisted "deformed rabbits" and began making incomprehensible howls.
Then they immediately started running toward the human village.
Soon after, screams of many humans dying echoed from far away.
"Kihahahaha!!! How is it? Impressive, right? They've changed so stylishly that you can't even recognize their original forms! Moreover, they've become much stronger with my authority! I heard becoming stronger was the long-cherished wish of rabbit beastkin, so I fulfilled that wish~! Aren't I too kind~!?"
At Satan's words, she gave a hollow laugh.
"Indeed, they have become stronger."
"Right? Right right right~!"
Satan clapped his hands excitedly.
Then suddenly, with a twisted smile, he demanded payment for his "help."
"So—! Let's decide now, my cutie~? If you hand over your soul, I can turn these guys back to their original forms? After all, your people turning like that was all because you provoked it—"
"No, it wasn't?"
"......Huh?"
"You made them like that, didn't you? Are you stupid?"
"......What?"
She began to retort with a disgusted expression.
"You can't even lie properly, you look weird, and your lines are childish... Humans would do better than you. Why don't you go learn from humans?"
Satan's expression hardened for the first time.
"...You dare say that I am inferior to those trash humans?"
The frivolous tone and exaggerated movements were all gone.
Instead, an enormous authority of 『Wrath』 leaked out and began attacking her mind.
In truth, the human attack on the rabbit beastkin village was all a play staged by Satan.
He had instigated conflict between races, hoping anyone would produce delicious, quality anger.
So naturally, she, exposed defenseless to the power of his authority, should have lost her mind to anger from the beginning.
But despite Satan unleashing his authority at maximum output, her state, showing not even a speck of anger, was clearly anomalous.
"Can't you understand that either? How are you less intelligent than humans? Do you have no brains?"
"I could tear your body to pieces right now and forcibly extract your soul...?"
As Satan began to express his anger with death threats, she looked slightly surprised before quickly giggling.
"But aren't you the devil of 『Wrath』? How can you not endure this much talk and get angry? A devil who handles wrath can't control his own anger? Wow~ That's such a waste of your name."
"...Will you... not shut that mouth...!"
Satan began to grow increasingly angry at her words.
At the same time, the authority of 『Wrath』 grew stronger, but nothing happened to her.
It was as if the emotion of "anger" itself had been carved out of her.
And at this moment, she thought of the magic words that could definitely trigger Satan's anger.
"Scratched?"
"...I am not scratched!!! I am the great devil of 『Wrath』! I who have lived for eternal time would never be scratched by the words of a mere rabbit beastkin—"
"Old?"
"KUAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAK—!!!!!!!!!"
Satan, who had lost his rationality to anger, roared at her.
His entire body expanded and swelled greatly, and magical power erupted from his body like it was going berserk.
Then, suddenly, something strange happened.
-Thud!
Something began to convulse inside Satan's body.
The authority of 『Wrath』 had moved.
The condition for maintaining that authority was feeding it "quality anger" at regular intervals.
Satan had lived his entire life feeding anger to his authority.
However—
At this moment.
"The most delicious and tasty quality anger" was placed on the authority's plate.
And that was Satan's own anger.
The authority of 『Wrath』 was greatly satisfied.
The authority immediately picked up a fork and knife and began to devour Satan—anger more appetizing and nutritious than anything else.
"Ugh, uwaaa——!! No! Stop! I am not food—!!!"
Satan's body began to be eaten from the inside, and his body began to compress grotesquely.
In the end, Satan was swallowed by the authority of 『Wrath』, and as a result, the power of the authority that had lost its master lingered in the air.
And that authority immediately entered a new body.
"...Huh?"
The rabbit beastkin, who had briefly fainted due to Satan's roar, opened her eyes again.
The rabbit beastkin who had accidentally defeated Satan with her words.
Inside her dwelled the authority of 『Wrath』 that had belonged to Satan, and she had been reborn as a much more powerful being because the authority had devoured Satan.
She sat there for a long time before going down to where the human village had been.
The place was already filled with humans who had died miserably due to the rampage of the deformed rabbits.
"Ah, they're all dead? Then I can't torment them anymore."
At that moment, a brilliant idea occurred to her.
"Then should I resurrect them? So, um... 『Wrath Forge』?"
Red mist burst from her body and began to envelop the corpses of humans.
If it had been Satan, he would have created monsters combining animal and human features.
But she did the opposite, merging all the human corpses into one.
What was created was a giant centipede monster mixed with rabbit features.
Because so many corpses were merged into one, each leg resembled another centipede.
"This suits you perfectly."
She climbed onto the monster, the giant centipede-rabbit that had been born, and looked up at the sky.
The sky was clear, and the wind was cool.
After that day.
Stories began to spread like urban legends about sightings of bizarre deformed rabbits deep in the abandoned forest.
These deformed rabbits wouldn't attack unless their territory was invaded, but the terrifying legend said that if you accidentally invaded their territory, you would meet a horrible death.
The legend persisted for years, but since the deformed rabbits never left their territory, humans suffered no harm.
Eventually, as no one dared to invade their territory, the legend of the deformed rabbits' domain... slowly faded into oblivion.
Then one day.
"GOMTOKI-!!!"
"Wow! The bear-shaped rabbit is so cute!"
A few days ago, a mysterious little angel appeared in Eriel.
From the moment the angel, who introduced herself as Tricia, encountered a rabbit beastkin—
The story of the process of saving the otherworld Eriel began.
The first page of a cheerful and joyful adventure tale started.
