A Shared Plight and a New Destiny

“Is this not a reflection of my own plight?”

Within the Immaculate Realm, she had spent countless days bearing witness to the Divine Realm’s brutal oppression of ordinary beings. She had seen the Laws of Reason relentlessly suppress the world’s inherent limits, and watched as demons mercilessly slaughtered life throughout the Starfield. All the while, Gloria could only observe, powerless.

Gloria’s true form, much like X’s, had endured similar fates, subjected to various seals and gruesome dismemberment. Her intrinsic truth had even been transmuted into sustenance for the Laws of Reason, inadvertently empowering her adversary.

Even their ultimate fates echoed each other. Unable to endure such atrocities any longer, both had, through persistent effort, finally broken free from the lands that had held them captive.

Their motivations, however, diverged. Gloria sought to eradicate the very root of injustice, whereas X merely yearned to escape the unfairness of the world.

“Given how strikingly similar our plights are, why not seize upon this common ground and become kindred spirits, friends bound by shared experience?”

Gloria quietly closed her eyes, her soul slowly receding into a profound stillness.

Upon awakening once more within the mental space, X found her body feeling as though dozens of tons of molten lead had been poured into her, a burden so immense even her gravity core struggled to bear it.

Conversely, her mind felt extraordinarily clear, its processing efficiency increased by more than tenfold. She seemed capable of comprehending everything, an urge to immediately solve the new five great problems of physics burning within her. Yet, overriding this intellectual ambition was a powerful impulse that surged through her, compelling her thoughts and gaze to fixate on the diminutive figure before her.

‘I yearn to protect her… to cherish her… to dote on her…’

At that moment, Gloria was not floating serenely above, but was instead kneeling before X, ensuring their gazes met at an equal height.

With arms crossed over her chest, Gloria’s expression, while tinged with disdain, no longer held the utter revulsion she had initially directed at X, like one gazing upon scum. Instead, it conveyed a reluctant acceptance.

‘Ah, if only I could personally peel back that sheer veil, and taste that tender skin with my tongue, I would have no regrets, even if it meant my lifespan was halved!’

‘Surely, such a transgression against a deity would invite divine retribution. Wouldn’t that be even better, perhaps?’

“Ah, I can’t hold back any longer! I’m already dead, so what does it matter if I break laws or commit crimes? Come here, my little kitty, let big sister lavish you with affection!”

Just as X lost all control, poised to lunge forward, her vision abruptly spun, her orientation inverted, and she found herself plunging through empty air, only to land with an ungraceful thud upon the transparent platform.

“Ouch!”

“Source of Dark Arts, Fourth Manifestation: Inversion.”

Gloria’s soft murmur drifted from behind X.

“While this may be your physical body and your mental domain, allowing you to actively reshape its form and reign as its omnipotent master, my power is sufficient to utterly shatter your mental space—and indeed, the very real universe you inhabit. I strongly advise you against entertaining any extraneous thoughts or making futile attempts. There is simply no possibility of you defeating me here.”

Only then did X manage to forcefully quell the surging impulse within her, finally gaining a rudimentary understanding of the space she now occupied.

This was a virtual expanse, suffused with mental mist and utterly devoid of any discernible up, down, left, or right. The passage of time itself felt imperceptible, yet her consciousness remained remarkably lucid. It was as though every abstract thought within this space had transmuted into clearly visible, materialized ripples. The moment she focused her mind, the mist would coalesce into concrete images. And with just a touch more concentration, she could ‘perceive’ the very thoughts of these manifestations.

It was akin to reading a book: characters within the narrative are incapable of discerning each other’s thoughts, yet an outside observer can effortlessly perceive every nuance of their inner world.

X was, in essence, the author of this mental domain; she was a deity of a higher order than the space itself, capable of reading the thoughts of every character within it and orchestrating their destinies.

Or so it should have been. Yet, this power proved utterly ineffective against the petite girl who proclaimed herself a demon god. Her thoughts remained entirely unreadable, an unselectable void.

What did this signify? It meant her opponent’s power was so immense, the computational results so vast, that the very fabric of this mental world refused to display them. This was unequivocally an entity X could not hope to contend with. No matter how naive she might be, after directly experiencing such power, she would never be foolish enough to consider pitting her own fragile existence against such an unyielding force.

Terms like ‘Source of Dark Arts,’ ‘Infusion,’ and ‘Inversion’ instantly conveyed the impression of extraordinarily potent, high-tier abilities.

Until this moment, even as the sovereign of this mental domain, X could only vaguely perceive Gloria’s emotional shifts, which manifested as changes in the surrounding mental mist. Annoyance would bring a faint blush of red, while true rage would ignite a crimson inferno. Calmness, conversely, presented as pure white. What, then, were these delicate pink bubbles now swirling around the little girl’s ahoge?

“Ahem, ahem,” Gloria cleared her throat, gently tugging X’s thoughts back from the precipice of her musings. She then clapped her hands together, much like a preschool teacher seeking to capture the attention of her young charges. “Now, where shall we begin…”

X dutifully turned, her hands clasped around her knees, gazing at Gloria with wide, expectant eyes, her resistance seemingly quelled. At least, on the surface, she appeared to have abandoned any further schemes.

“My apologies for earlier,” Gloria began, “I was wrong to put on airs, which led you to some unnecessary misunderstandings regarding my words.”

X offered a slight shake of her head, indicating her complete indifference. In truth, her perception of this newcomer had already begun to shift. At the very least, Gloria was not some boorish, unreasonable individual.

“Allow me to reintroduce myself,” Gloria continued. “My name is Gloria. I am the Blasphemous Demon God, hailing from another realm, who wields the truths of Origin and End, possessing supreme authority—or at least, I once did.

Regarding my story, I shall keep it brief.

Beyond this specific Star Sector, this universe, this world, and this plane, lies an even more colossal domain, known as the Starfield.

During the tumultuous Age of Chaos, I partook in the War of Gods, a fierce struggle for dominion over the Starfield. My soul suffered grievous wounds, and my power dwindled to less than a tenth of its former might. Ultimately, the Divine Realm united to seal me within the void of the Ruin Realm’s spectral prison.

After enduring the cleansing of countless eons in that void, I finally broke free from my shackles, achieving a new birth. Employing intricate machinations, I returned to the mortal plane. However, in a nexus where planes intersected, the physical vessel I had painstakingly crafted was stolen by an Outer God. Left with no other recourse, my soul possessed you, and in doing so, simultaneously granted you a new lease on life.”

The moment the narrative shifted to storytelling, X’s attention snapped into focus, her eyes widening instantly. She had never imagined this petite girl possessed such an extraordinary background. While these fantastical plots typically belonged to magic novels, and X herself had devoured so many online that her cerebral cortex felt grooved, capable of churning out thousands of multi-million-word epics, listening to the adorable little girl earnestly recite chuunibyou pronouncements about being a mighty demon god from another realm was still remarkably novel.

At the very least, X knew she could never deliver such overtly chuunibyou declarations to others without her face flushing crimson and her heart pounding.

“In truth, you’re quite fortunate,” Gloria declared. “Because, according to the original trajectory of events, under the devastating impact of the Skyfire Cannon, you faced a 99.9999% probability of being utterly obliterated, your remains so thoroughly destroyed that even your own mother wouldn’t recognize them. Haha, I know you don’t have a mother, but don’t you find that expression amusing?”

“…”

“Ahem, ahem, in any case, it was precisely because I happened to possess your body that you merely suffered the destruction of your physical form by the heavenly fire. Your gravity core, propelled by the shockwave, was hurled hundreds of kilometers to the depths of the Arctic Ocean, yet you did not perish completely. Subsequently, my power restored you. It is no exaggeration to say that my very arrival rewrote your destiny. You still have ample time to utter a few words of gratitude to your savior now.”