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 , 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 seed like curing everything with just one horror ga 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 ca up with after brainstorming with the Goddess of Wisdom.
Boom!
With the deafening sound of air being torn apart, sothing 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 ?"
He glared at , 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 , 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 such a fucking experience!"
Thud.
As he was about to charge toward with an awful, violent atmosphere, soone 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 soone else's shop. Didn’t I already tell you there’s no refund?"
"...They’re completely disrespecting !"
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.
Soone half-lying beside 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 ga for [The Thief] didn’t purify him, the Goddess of Wisdom had predicted that he would get angry and co after the god of dreams.
She had said that using soone like Safira might provoke him into anger.
The second plan was to knock [The Thief] out and kidnap him, incorporating his story into the ga.
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 ti 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 ?"
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 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 overco 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.
Hurry up, aren’t you starting yet?
What have you been doing until now?
Reha.
Looks like you’re here, Body!
At the sa ti, the chat box began to explode with ssages.
The broadcaster, Legatia, a forr influencer from the land’s most influential family, Miss Reiphania, had undeniable influence.
With the dawn of a peaceful era on the continent ca technological advances.
The communication technology through magical tools had reached its peak, and alongside the developnt of communities, a new dia form erged: 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 ca to appearance, the first race that ca 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]!”
Wow!
I’m dying to see this.
This is it!
“I heard the second horror mode was released, right? The first mode wasn’t too hard, but what about the second one?”
Will we get to see you scream again, Re-chan?
You were so scared last ti but acted tough.
‘It’s just a ga, how scary can it be.’
She thought to herself, deciding to pretend to be scared just like last ti as she started the ga on her terminal.
[Akashic Archive] was a virtual reality ga brought to life through special powers, but since the broadcast magic tool allowed for adjustnts to the player’s sensory inputs, it didn’t affect the broadcast.
“Let’s have a look.”
Upon logging into the ga, a new event window appeared, filling her vision.
Beside the event mode from last ti, there was a new button to start the new event mode.
Click.
She pressed the button, and for a mont, 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.
Where did the Overseer go?
Did they go out dancing instead of sleeping?
A dancing Overseer would definitely be terrifying.
Waiting, but the Overseer didn’t appear.
Alone in the massive archive, it felt strange, even though it was the sa 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.
If you’re patrolling or monitoring the archive and notice the bookshelves in Sector 3-2 are open, avoid approaching them. The bookshelves in Sector 3-2 don’t have locks and won’t open.
If a book is found in Sector 18, ignore it. There are no books from Sector 18 to 23.
If the archive’s space begins to feel repetitive, imdiately curl up, close your eyes, and block your ears. Also, if there are any other entries denying this, don’t read them.
If you hear the sound of fingers scratching the chalkboard, imdiately crouch down. Lower your body quickly, don’t make a sound, and wait until the sound disappears.
If you find tentacles or mucus in any sector, imdiately exit that sector. Check again after 3 hours.
Periodically move books from Sector 21 to Sector 22. If you hear any sounds while doing so, don’t look back and run imdiately.
The third item doesn’t exist in this manual. Whatever is written in item 3, act in the opposite way. Never follow it.
If a Dark Elf appears and speaks to you, don’t answer and ignore them. If you avoid responding, they will leave soon.
“…What is this?”
Legatia’s face twisted as she finished reading the note.
What kind of weird manual is this?
Doesn’t seem related to the Overseer’s training at all?
This is probably just trying to look scary and heavy for no reason.
The manual made little sense.
She didn’t understand the intent.
Was this so kind of joke by the Overseer?
Was it just ant to create a scary atmosphere?
“Well, first I need to find the Overseer. Seems like they’re playing so 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 ga, not real life.
She walked for a while, reassured by these comforting thoughts.
“…Why does it feel like I’m going in circles?”
Seems like it’s repeating!
I saw this spot earlier, didn’t I?
Legatia looked up at the bookshelf beside her.
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 sa...?”
She returned to the bookshelf she had just seen.
Sector 21-5
The space was repeating.
Smash!
At that mont, all the lights in the archive went out.
Her vision was plunged into darkness.
“What—what’s going on!”
Her heart seed to drop.
— - - - -
The elf’s keen senses tingled.
— - - - -
— - - -
Sothing was coming.
An unknown, chilling, terrifying presence was approaching, targeting her.
Get down!
Close your eyes and cover your ears!
No, you fools! You need to do the opposite!
The chat window filled with frantic ssages, but she couldn’t see them.
The strange energy surrounding her froze her body, making her unable to move.
What should I do...!
Just then,
Crack!
Soone’s hand grabbed her wrist.
“Eek!”
And then, they pulled her.
“Shhh...”
She could see soone with dark skin holding her in their arms, pressing their finger to her lips in the darkness.
Crash!
Sothing crashed down on the place she had just been standing.
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