Man-God (Hitogami)

By Orsted's account, the Man-God once killed the First Dragon God. Since then every Dragon God from the second onward exists for one purpose — to destroy the Man-God; this is the cherished aim of the ancient Dragon race.

He cannot move people between worlds (that is the Dragon God's specialty); his power is confined to dreams and advice. In this world he is widely known as «Jinshin», and only those he has deceived personally call him «Hitogami» — future Rudeus says he does this to mock the initiated.

For long ages his chief adversary was the Demon God Laplace. Thus Orsted's schemes — to revive Laplace and prepare to slay him for access to the Man-God — are mortally dangerous to the Man-God himself.

The Man-God appears to Rudeus only in dreams, in an endless white void. His figure seems covered in a mosaic: focus on any facial feature and it slips from memory, making him impossible to recall. His voice is androgynous, neither clearly male nor female.

When finally defeated, his body is shown broken into pieces and bound by the translucent chains of a magic circle — a fallen, sealed final boss.

Outwardly affable and caring: he insists he is «on Rudeus's side» and wishes only to help. In truth he is a calculating manipulator who hands out advice that looks beneficial in order to nudge the hero's life toward the outcome he wants. He frames his interest in Rudeus as mere curiosity — watching an otherworlder is entertaining.

Again and again he uses the line «follow it or not, that's up to you», shedding responsibility and leaving the choice to his victim. Future Rudeus warns plainly: the Man-God has never once told an obvious lie in all his life — that is exactly how he banks trust, so that at one decisive moment he will be believed unconditionally.

Beneath the genial mask lies a cold hatred of the Dragon race and of any who can oppose him. At the very end, stripped of everything, he confesses his mutual hatred to Rudeus, yet his voice carries more sorrow than malice.

He first speaks to Rudeus in a dream right after the Teleport Incident strands him on the Demon Continent. Calling himself the «Human-God», he claims he wants to help him get home and gives a first piece of advice — help the man who will be nearby (so begins the road with Ruijerd). The suspicious Rudeus distrusts him for a long time, yet repeatedly finds the advice seemingly working in his favor.

For years the Man-God manipulates Rudeus's life. It was his counsel to go to Begaritt that led to Paul's death (by the god's own admission). At a pivotal point (Turning Point 4) he nearly forces Rudeus into the basement, which in the original line of fate would have killed Roxy and then Sylphiette. But the plot is foiled by an aged Rudeus arrived from the future, who exposes the «final boss» and adjures him: doubt the Man-God, but never openly oppose him.

After Rudeus allies with Orsted, the Man-God wages a shadow war against them through his envoy Geese and hidden «apostles» — people Rudeus is unlikely to meet (Dragon King Country's king Leonard, General Jade, and others). Thus he drives Prince Pax to suicide, derailing Laplace's birth at the needed point. In the decisive battles his pawns — Geese, the former Sword God Gal Farion, the Battle God Badigadi — are defeated.

A final vision shows that in the future Orsted and a band of eight heroes (including Rudeus's descendants) rise against the Man-God, dismember him, and seal him forever. Stripped of all power, he is condemned to live alone for eternity in the white void — solely so that the world continues to exist.

Orsted and everyone the Man-God has deceived react violently to the very name «Hitogami» — it is by this reaction that Rudeus identifies those connected to him.

Orsted is hidden from the Man-God's sight thanks to the First Dragon God's secret art — the same magic that makes all around Orsted loathe him and slows his mana recovery.