Holy War (1)
For about an hour after that, I kept tormenting the Avatar of the Black Sun. It brought back some old memories, and it felt like a nice change of pace. Honestly, experiences like this were helping me adapt to this newly altered world, one step at a time.
I gazed at the sniffling incarnation, debating whether to lift the curse or not.
"Should I... or shouldn't I?"
If I hadn't been here, my dutiful Lisia would've gotten smacked around and faced some real trouble. And right in front of me was the ringleader of it all.
"Alright, just one question."
The Avatar of the Black Sun falls silent.
"What the hell gave you the balls to attack Lisia?"
Judging by my progress in the game, no ordinary constellation would've dared touch our cult. I'd built us up to a position worthy of the title Absolute.
The messages went quiet for a while. It almost looked like a kid about to confess their wrongdoing.
The Avatar of the Black Sun says she hates your existence, Constellation Ron.
"Yeah, I figured."
They hadn't exactly been shy about hating me before. Still, even the constellations knew me by my new name now, not the old nickname. Anyway, that begged the question: why rebel against me now?
Actually, I'd felt something off ever since I first met the living Lisia. Sure, the Black Sun bastards had slapped her around, but why had she been weeping while searching for me? In my playthrough, everyone had been laughing and happy when I logged off. Resources, favorability, faith values, progress—everything was smooth sailing. No crises in sight.
So why, even with my current power level, would other cults think they could march in?
The Avatar of the Black Sun insists she had no choice.
"So what was it?"
The Avatar of the Black Sun says that if she didn't intimidate your forces somehow, your cult would launch a massive holy war against the world.
The moment I heard that, my mind went blank.
"...What?"
The Avatar of the Black Sun says your cult has gone mad.
The news hit like a truck. A massive holy war? My kids? No matter how I thought about it, it sounded like bullshit.
The Avatar of the Black Sun swears it's not a lie.
It was my cult, after all. Sure, they might pull dirty tricks, but my upright bunch starting a war? No way.
...Or is there?
I second-guessed myself. I'd pushed progress aggressively for the game, but without any malice. That made me a saint compared to the twisted plays flooding the game forums.
What I'd wanted in-game was a beefed-up cult and hot, powerful waifus. Other cults suffering from holy wars? Not my problem.
Still, I hadn't been that aggressive about starting holy wars myself.
"My kids are that bloodthirsty?"
The Avatar of the Black Sun affirms it.
"Why?"
She claims your absence is the problem.
"Huh?"
I'd just stepped away for a bit—war? I hadn't raised my kids like that. Pure fatherly love and devotion, that's all.
"You're full of shit."
No matter how I spun it, her claims clashed with my cult's nature.
The Avatar of the Black Sun insists your negligence is the issue!
"Negligence?"
She says you've abandoned your cult, so your priests are blaming others for it.
"What did I do?"
This was bullshit. All I'd done was play the game hard and just save Lisia with the power of love.
"What did you guys even do?"
The Avatar of the Black Sun denies it was them.
"Sigh, whatever."
Long story short: my cult thought these constellations were behind my disappearance, so the constellations were twisting themselves into knots just to survive.
"My kids aren't like that."
They were all smiles and giggles—no way they'd jump to such extreme conclusions. I needed to check the situation ASAP. Even with world-topping power, a global holy war was suicide.
Separation anxiety that bad?
Willing to turn their backs on the world just to find me?
"Come on, how long could I have even been gone?"
The Avatar of the Black Sun says a constellation's silence like this is unprecedented.
"That serious, huh?"
I couldn't even gauge how the world was spinning anymore. The game I knew was just click buttons, play, log off. end of story.
Borrowing from the game's lore to make sense of it: constellations were gods. They had to answer when their cultists called. But there was a disconnect between my old player self and now—could I still interfere the same way? Was my current body even the same?
Definitely not.
Forced or not, I wasn't solo anymore.
Never thought it'd be this real.
The Avatar of the Black Sun earnestly begs you to end the curse now.
"..."
I manipulated the system and found the curse cancellation tab.
Retrieve the curse placed on the Black Sun cult?
"Yeah."
Retracting a curse came with a minor penalty, but it was nothing to me. I could always slap another one on later.
The Avatar of the Black Sun lets out a sigh of relief.
"Not time to relax yet."
I still had plenty to squeeze out of her.
The Avatar of the Black Sun tenses up again.
Watching her reactions, I started checking my cult's status through the system. First off, huge swaths of the map were blacked out—deactivated due to my absence. Meanwhile, the monastery where I'd just saved Lisia had reactivated, glowing blue.
Same as before.
Build monasteries, pour holy power through devotees, activate altars and churches in the area. Limited to each monastery's territory.
"What a clusterfuck."
The map looked like separation anxiety central. Something must've gone down when I crossed into this world.
"Where do I even start fixing this..."
The managed territory was so vast, it left me spinning. Prioritize the cult's core and reactivate—
The Avatar of the Black Sun screams in terror!
"Whoa!"
The sudden alert yanked my attention back to the blaring message window.
The Avatar of the Black Sun says in horror that they have come.
"Who?"
I'd lifted the curse—shouldn't that be it?
She says your devotees have arrived.
"...My kids?"
Checking the map, countless green dots streamed toward Black Sun territory. The problem? There were way too many.
"What the...?"
Like an army marching to war, the green dots formed ranks, invading Black Sun lands at a ferocious pace.
A holy war. My bloodshot devotees, desperate to find me, had finally thrown down.
"This is insane."
This wasn't a game anymore—it was reality. I knew damn well what war meant.
Massacres with blood and guts flying in my world, led by my kids? Unacceptable.
According to the system and her info, proving my existence would fix it all.
"Who's leading this mess?"
Among the marching green dots, one shone brightest.
"Ah."
A familiar name. One of my characters. But different from Lisia, who'd come from gacha pulls—Belladys was a story character.
The Avatar of the Black Sun is aghast.
The constellation reacted knowingly upon seeing the name through me. Unforgettable for them too—she was their created monster.
"Whoa."
It was like a scripted drama: the Black Sun's most hated figure, the cult that had to stop her, and me watching.
The Avatar of the Black Sun desperately begs you to do something.
"Me?"
I had ways to interfere, but why save the bastards who'd just tried to kill my kid?
The Avatar of the Black Sun offers to do anything.
"Anything, huh?"
That changed things. I accepted her offer and decided to stop the war.
Truth was, I didn't want war either. In-game, it was just data poof. But reality? People got hurt, died. I wouldn't let that happen to my priests.
"Not like I wanna see the real Belladys or anything."
...
Lisia's living form had inspired me big time. Now it was Belladys's turn.
Would you like to use the skill, Possession?
I decided to head to the holy war site myself.