High in the sky, the realm of the Constellations, the divine realm.
I, using the power of the Constellation, sat cross-legged in the very center of our Constellation's domain, in the form of an avatar.
In the shape of a young girl, not my own.
Boom!
Suddenly, space distorted beside me, and the Demon God, holding a bag of popcorn, appeared.
"Half a success."
"...It seems like it didn’t go according to plan."
"Yeah. But it's not like there’s no effect. About half of the sin has been washed away."
Half?
Unfortunately, it seemed like curing everything with just one horror game wasn’t going to be possible.
"And now, he’s on his way here."
The strong, flowing divine power sensed from afar.
He was coming here.
"Thank you."
It wasn’t the best-case scenario, but the current situation was within the expected range.
It was one of the scenarios we came up with after brainstorming with the Goddess of Wisdom.
Boom!
With the deafening sound of air being torn apart, something rapidly descended and hit the ground.
The Dark Elf Constellation, who had been kneeling, stood up.
Constellation [The Thief].
Born a Dark Elf, the god of moderation who had unified the two feuding Elves.
"You."
He spoke, his face contorted in anger.
"What have you done to me?"
He glared at me, his expression twisted in a way I could barely bear.
A murderous intent radiated from him.
Ugh.
Why did I ever agree to do this?
I had thought it would be easy, with the harsh gods around me, but I was transcendent—having reached the peak in one field and ascended.
Even in the form of an avatar, the murderous intent emanating from him made my body tremble uncontrollably.
"How dare you give me such a fucking experience!"
Thud.
As he was about to charge toward me with an awful, violent atmosphere, someone stepped in front of him.
"What’s this?"
"I’m the bodyguard."
Constellation [Sacrifice] drew a sword from her waist.
"Even if you’re having a bad pick-up, you shouldn’t cause a scene in someone else's shop. Didn’t I already tell you there’s no refund?"
"...They’re completely disrespecting me!"
The Thief, in a fit of rage, charged at [Sacrifice], and the two clashed.
Boom! Boom!
For a human, just hearing the sound of gods fighting would stop their heart.
Crunch, crunch.
Someone half-lying beside me was watching the scene like it was a movie, tossing popcorn into their mouth.
"Hey... Demon God?"
"Eh."
"Are you not going to help?"
"Why would I? How often do you get to see such a fun shitshow?"
...Wasn’t I supposed to trust this demon, or whatever it is?
If the customized game for [The Thief] didn’t purify him, the Goddess of Wisdom had predicted that he would get angry and come after the god of dreams.
She had said that using someone like Safira might provoke him into anger.
The second plan was to knock [The Thief] out and kidnap him, incorporating his story into the game.
Right now, [The Thief] was flying toward us, already half-lost in reason.
The plan was for Constable Ren and the Demon God to knock him down and imprison him.
Crunch, crunch.
Why the hell is the Demon God just eating popcorn?
Seeing my dumbfounded expression, the Demon God laughed and added,
"Don’t worry. [Sacrifice] is stronger than you think."
"But this isn’t the time for that..."
"More than anything, I trust him as a teammate."
Boom! Boom!
"What the hell! Why isn’t he fighting back!"
In the Demon God’s gaze, [The Thief] couldn’t even mount a proper counterattack and was being pushed back.
"I’ve been training hard to restore my peak form for you, don’t you feel bad if you don’t believe in me?"
Boom!
As soon as the Demon God finished speaking, [The Thief], struck by [Sacrifice]’s blow, lost consciousness and collapsed.
"See?"
Ah...
I had thought she was a god who focused all her stats on strength rather than intelligence, but she was showing me another side. Though, from the oil shining at her mouth and the popcorn crumbs, she didn’t seem much different, but anyway.
Maybe I’ve been underestimating our investors too much.
"Rian. Mission accomplished."
Constellation Ren had subdued the unconscious [The Thief] and dragged him over.
"Good job."
Now that I think about it, both [Sacrifice] and [The Thief] were gods of the 7 Great Heroes.
While their rank didn’t directly symbolize strength or combat ability, their status was on par.
Both were heroes who had saved their clans or nations.
[The Thief] had lived a life of indulgence after falling into sin and pursuing lust, but [Sacrifice] had overcome sloth and restored her abilities through steady training.
I should have trusted our side. It was an obvious win.
"What will you do now?"
I took the Dark Elf god from her hands.
I used the power of dreams to envelop him.
"We need help."
[Wrath] and [Pride] weren’t broken by my power alone.
It was made possible by these people.
"The help of our clients."
Should I use the power of collective intelligence?
***
“Hello, my little ones~!”
An elf woman, her aesthetic beauty enhanced even further, smiled brightly as she turned on her broadcasting magic tool.
The broadcaster, Legatia, a former influencer from the land’s most influential family, Miss Reiphania, had undeniable influence.
With the dawn of a peaceful era on the continent came technological advances.
The communication technology through magical tools had reached its peak, and alongside the development of communities, a new media form emerged: personal broadcasts through magical tools.
The broadcasting system, compared to other technologies, developed much faster, largely due to the influence of the Constellations across the continent.
The idea to apply the relationship between Constellations and their Apostles to communication technology led to the birth of personal broadcasting. Viewers could now enjoy the feeling of becoming a Constellation themselves.
The entire continent focused on this broadcast, and the market grew rapidly.
Several individuals stood at the top of this market, and Legatia was one of them.
“Now, what shall we do today... drumroll...!”
When it came to appearance, the first race that came to mind was the elf, and she had an exceptional beauty, coupled with the broadcasting charm to match. Her broadcasting presence had grown so vast that it rivaled the imperial aristocracy.
“Today, we’re going to play [Akashic Archive]!”
She thought to herself, deciding to pretend to be scared just like last time as she started the game on her terminal.
[Akashic Archive] was a virtual reality game brought to life through special powers, but since the broadcast magic tool allowed for adjustments to the player’s sensory inputs, it didn’t affect the broadcast.
“Let’s have a look.”
Upon logging into the game, a new event window appeared, filling her vision.
Beside the event mode from last time, there was a new button to start the new event mode.
Updat𝓮d from frёewebnoѵēl.com.
Click.
She pressed the button, and for a moment, the darkness enveloped her vision before the usual [Akashic Archive] world unfolded.
There was one difference, however.
“What’s this? Where’s the Overseer?”
The overseer, who always greeted her in the archive, had disappeared.
Alone in the massive archive, it felt strange, even though it was the same place she was used to.
Trying to ignore the sense of unease and disconnect, Legatia scanned the surroundings and found a note.
“Is this a manual for the [Akashic Archive] administrator?”
She picked up the note and began reading it.
“...What is this?”
Legatia’s face twisted as she finished reading the note.
She didn’t understand the intent.
Was this some kind of joke by the Overseer?
Was it just meant to create a scary atmosphere?
“Well, first I need to find the Overseer. Seems like they’re playing some weird prank.”
Legatia began walking in one direction.
The archive was quite large, but surely she’d find it eventually.
After all, it’s just a game, not real life.
She walked for a while, reassured by these comforting thoughts.
“...Why does it feel like I’m going in circles?”
Sector 21-5
The bookshelf was filled with books.
“...Is this it?”
Frowning, she moved to the next bookshelf to check the number.
Sector 21-5
“Isn’t this the same...?”
She returned to the bookshelf she had just seen.
Sector 21-5
The space was repeating.
Smash!
At that moment, all the lights in the archive went out.
Her vision was plunged into darkness.
“What—what’s going on!”
Her heart seemed to drop.
— - - - -
The elf’s keen senses tingled.
— - - - -
— - - -
Something was coming.
An unknown, chilling, terrifying presence was approaching, targeting her.
The strange energy surrounding her froze her body, making her unable to move.
What should I do...!
Just then,
Crack!
Someone’s hand grabbed her wrist.
“Eek!”
And then, they pulled her.
“Shhh...”
She could see someone with dark skin holding her in their arms, pressing their finger to her lips in the darkness.
Crash!
Something crashed down on the place she had just been standing.