VII. All Under Heaven: Deneb, Altair, Vega (2)

The name Vasuki comes from the venomous serpent that gods and demons used to churn the Ocean of Milk in Indian myth.

When the chainsaw — a Rank V Nephilim reshaped into an object — flared with light, a white liquid surged upward. Just as Minogame's Domain, Abyss R'lyeh, had once torn a hole in the world, a fragment of the Pure White Milk Sea — Sagara Kshira — took form before my eyes.

"Oh my gosh~~! I'm all sticky with white liquid. Isn't this way too dirty? An OnlyFans upload? Now that's a tempting idea~."

Rumira clowned around, tasting the milk that had splattered across her body.

"It's just milk? What, is this a mukbang bit all of a sudden?"

No. This was no ordinary milk.

According to the legend that a tree whose flowers never withered was born from the Ocean of Milk, any living thing that drank from the Pure White Milk Sea found its time slowed. They aged slowly. They died slowly. A half-measure of immortality.

"Eternal seventeen!!? For real? No way? I'll take that welcome~."

Someone must have tipped her off in the chat, because Mira flashed a peace sign.

On the surface, it sounded like the broken, god-beast power it was supposed to be. The reality was different. That thing was closer to a curse.

"Pwah— wanna glass, babe?"

"Since when am I your babe. I'll pass."

Rumira hopped up onto the columbarium roof, brandishing a cup-shaped object and mugging for an audience that wasn't there. The winged tablet still circled around her in lazy loops.

"What, scared it'll be an indirect kiss? That's adorable. Or do you want yours truly to nurse you personally? Kyaa~. Pervert~."

I'd thought Chameleon had the most infuriating way of talking of anyone I'd ever met. This girl just stole first place. As if I'd fall for a chest like that when I've got our Junior Sister Lan at home.

"With a rating like that, your stream's getting banned. And I have zero interest in becoming Vasuki's thrall."

My gaze hardened to a blade's edge. Drink the milk of the Pure White Milk Sea, and you become Vasuki's thrall — which meant becoming a subordinate of Rumira, the girl who had turned a Divine Beast into an object.

They say both the elixir of immortality and a venom that could slay even gods slept in the Ocean of Milk. The Second Beast That Binds Time to the Earth could, on a whim, turn the blood of its ageless thralls into poison and kill them. Work them like dogs, then slaughter them the moment things went south, so Mira could forge their corpses into weapons with Corpse Eternal Night. A thoroughly vicious tactic.

—And the Divine Beast's true power had yet to show itself.

"Get down from that roof! Come down here and let's finish this!"

I shouted as I waded through waves thick as condensed milk.

"I was in the middle of a viewer mission~. But— if you want to watch that badly, I'll let you take your time."

She pursed her lips like she was annoyed, then immediately broke into a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠hihihi, flashing her teeth. The moment Mira activated her jujutsu, a precept-mark surfaced on her forehead. A serpent-like sigil joined it.

The Snake Eye embedded in the chainsaw flashed, and a ring-shaped Domain closed around me. At once my body moved as if sunk in slow motion, arms flailing like an astronaut drifting through zero gravity.

Kh.

This was why Vasuki was called the Beast That Binds Time to the Earth. The flow of time on any land where the Divine Beast descended slowed to a crawl. Time itself was pinned to the past. That was why the barrier dungeon Lost Paradise still held an eternal tropical climate, as if the distant past had never ended — and why the residents and Nephilim who had drunk the milk had, over eons, become elemental spirits.

—Now that Vasuki had been reduced to an object, that same bondage of time was being reproduced inside a makeshift Domain.

Wiiiiiiiiiiiiing—

A viciously spinning saw-blade forced its way through the ring that held me.

"Yours truly's Vasuki Saw doesn't get affected by the time bind, you know~."

And just like that, the blade sheared through my right arm — the one gripping the greatsword. The arm coming off was slow. The blood spraying was slow. The pain arriving was slow. Whether she'd slowed time to a near-standstill or not, I could feel my cells being severed one by one.

A moment later, Vasuki's jujutsu lifted from my head alone. Mira set down the chainsaw and twisted her lips into a playful smirk.

"I'm honestly pretty impressed by your grit~. Hey…… you sure you don't want to join the Seven Deadly Sins Cult? ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠If you took the Baptism, I think you'd make officer material."

"Absolutely not. I'd bite my tongue off and die first."

"Aang, I got rejected! C'mere."

The girl pouted and beckoned, and the winged tablet fluttered over, parking itself right under my chin like a microphone.

"Alright, alright, mission time. Now that you've had ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠a taste of how ridicu—lously strong yours truly has gotten, I want our viewers to answer: who'd win, me or the Greedy Wolf Star?!"

She grinned, showing those sharp fangs, and tossed out a question that was sloppy as hell.

"Hmm. Get it right and I'll rewind time for you. Your arm'll be fine. Get it wrong and you're a one-armed man for good~?"

"You lose."

The moment I cut her off like that, a flash of murderous frenzy lit Rumira's eyes.

That's closer to your true nature, isn't it? Envy.

"Wheew. The jealousy is just pouring out. The more it does, the more I want to take everything, you know? I'll kill the Greedy Wolf Star and stick your arm back on after, so until then, take your punishment~."

She seemed to settle herself, whistling flippantly as she released the makeshift Domain. The instant the bondage of time came undone, agony crashed over me. My severed arm flew, painting a trail of blood through the air. She'd used a Universal Cursed Technique, apparently — the bleeding stopped. It still hurt like hell.

Damro, one of the Five Swords Under Heaven, hadn't been able to withstand a saw forged from a Divine Beast either. The blade had shattered.

It was an overwhelmingly hopeless situation.

—If Rumira had known my Innate Cursed Technique, that is.

A hairline gap, born in the instant bound time came free. I lunged and bit down on the tablet, snatching it in my teeth. Bracing for my teeth to shatter, I crushed the crystal tablet between my jaws.

Crrrk-k-k-k-k-runch.

Blood. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Cursed Energy running like electricity. Shattering crystal display. So this is what you taste like, Mr. Tablet.

The wings that had been flapping behind it stopped beating.

"That was a latest-model wing tablet~! More importantly, if you wreck it, our viewers can't watch yours truly's shining victory! I was already losing the viewer poll four-to-six!"

Mira touched the rim of her monocle, telekinetic power gathering in the frame. A mercury whip and a frost-breathing hook came flying, locking onto me. This was the exact same standoff we'd had at the spring.

I dragged in a ragged, boiling breath, and only then did she recall her objects. Then she sauntered toward me, her voice dripping with coquetry.

"I was a tiiiny bit surprised, but you've hit your limit, right? Whew, stream's a wrap. We'll show the Greedy Wolf Star when he gets here — so from now on, let's do something 'fun.'"

"Let's."

The moment I answered, her face went blank, then flushed red. So she's actually weak to being hit on? Not that I cared.

"Wh-wheew~? Bold, aren't we. Were you just putting on a show earlier 'cause the camera was rolling? I'll show you every last technique yours truly honed on those all-night dirty-game streams."

(030)~♪

As if the fluster had never happened, Rumira whistled with shameless ease.

"No one's watching. Let's decide a winner. Hah……!!"

As if answering my voice, Cursed Energy gathered with the same ferocity as when I'd faced Byeoljubu Minogame. The sensation was a little different this time — more open, more unbound. The pastel-toned columbarium, that place that reduced death to something light and bearable, shattered to pieces as if it could not tolerate this sacrilege.

"A hidden-power expert, is that it!!? Holy crap. Haven't you watched way too many comics? And here yours truly let her guard down~."

Rumira stuck her tongue out, talking like it was nothing.

"But there's a Divine Beast here, you know~."

Grrrrrr. A sound like a beast's roar spilled from the chainsaw.

An azure sky unfolded — a sky that could only be described as the vault of heaven. On the ground, an utterly ordinary cityscape. The only living people here were Rumira and me, but this was the neighborhood I'd lived in before the possession.

If this counts as an inner landscape, I guess it does.

Just how impoverished is my imagination? I gave a bitter smile and gave my one remaining arm a small, almost careless swing.

Rumira flinched at the motion, but when nothing happened she broke into a hihihi. Chainsaw in hand, Mira hopped up onto a garden wall and looked down at me.

"Nyaaah~. What a plain little Domain."

"Yours is the cheap-looking one. What do you even think about on a normal day?"

"Okay, fair. So what are you gonna try─? Whew. I was worried, but the Vasuki Saw's power is still intact. And look at you — no arm, no sword."

The precept-mark, wrapped in a serpent sigil, rose above Mira's head.

"Huh─?"

At my out-of-nowhere line, Mira swallowed without meaning to. She looked like she couldn't believe what she'd just heard. I explained, enunciating every word.

"Falling Wind Cleave is an Innate Cursed Technique that forges blades of wind. I just cut you across the waist. It's so sharp you don't even know you've been sliced — and three minutes later, you split apart and die."

"Wheew. I know that one. It's the Innate Cursed Technique of the sorcerer that yours truly's ultimate bias, HundredKillZone, slaughtered. Where'd you even steal that lie from~?"

Precisely speaking, it belonged to Hwang Seonpung, the Last Words Collector.

"Ahaha. Wait, are you a closet stan of HundredKillZone?" — the girl's eyes shone brilliantly.

"I am HundredKillZone, Rumira. And you could never have beaten Eunha anyway — but if you try to hurt her, I'll take on anyone. The Seven Stars. The Pope. A Divine Beast. The King of Jujutsu. Anyone."

I spoke it quietly, packing the words with resolve.

Inside my Domain, I can use the Innate Cursed Technique of anyone I've defeated one-on-one. Guaranteed hit and certain kill, included.

"What's this~. I should've gotten an autograph. Next time I'll make sure to conquer you for real."

Stealing a dead man's jujutsu. Mira, who carried a similar Innate Cursed Technique, seemed to get the gist. She laughed for a long time. Hihihihi. A mad, ringing laugh.

Thud—

The laughter cut off, and something heavy hit the floor.

I didn't look behind me.