God's Atlantis

I'd steeled myself to die once if I had to… but I'd figured I'd at least take one of his arms with me.

That was when it happened. A blue butterfly, utterly out of place in the middle of a battle, fluttered up in front of me.

It settled lightly on my shoulder. Instantly, my vision shifted. I reappeared some distance away from Balor.

"Who the hell are you?!"

Balor bellowed, irritation thick in his voice. The way his thirteen pupils rolled and swiveled told me he had no idea where Elena was. Of course, I didn't know where she was either.

—I can't show myself.

A familiar woman's voice brushed my ear. Elena.

—Unlike you, who can fake death with that ridiculous golden mask, I have no way to disguise dying. Using illusion magic just to reveal myself would be a waste of mana. I'll support you like this.

I grinned.

"If it's your support — and nobody else's — then even a god is fair game."

Her mere presence felt like having a million-strong army at my back. Light returned to a situation that had been pure despair.

"…I'll kill the one in front of me first. Then I'll find the one hiding and kill them too."

Even with thirteen eyes, Balor still couldn't locate Elena. He came for me instead.

—It's hard to move freely on limited ground.

My body lifted into the sky. The sensation was both strange and familiar. I was clearly flying, yet it felt as though my feet were planted on solid earth — a contradictory feeling. My body moved exactly as I willed it.

—In the myths, Balor died when his eye burst, didn't he? Myth is a god's karma. The eyes are Balor's weakness.

"I know. That's why I've been aiming for them. Never managed it, though."

—Thirteen eyes. Burst every last one of them.

"…Can't I just go for the ones on his body?"

—The other twelve are the same eyes. If he'd simply inflated the number with magic for show, they wouldn't hit this hard. To kill Balor, you have to destroy all thirteen.

"What a pain."

I didn't doubt Elena for a second. Gripping Hwaryeonbido, I shot toward the nearest eyeball. The twelve free eyes shifted, forming a circle around me. Their pupils flared. My body flinched on reflex at the telltale motion of beams about to fire.

—Don't stop.

Trusting Elena, I poured power into Hwaryeonbido. Astrape's crimson current crackled along the red blade.

A high, keening whine filled the air.

Crimson beams lanced toward me all at once.

A blue butterfly appeared at my side — then vanished.

Elena's Illusion Butterfly Art temporarily deceived the laws of the world. It bent space itself, twisting every beam aimed at me off into random directions.

First one.

A wet slice.

I carved through one of Balor's eyes. The split eyeball hit the ground with a heavy, wet slap.

Straight to the second!

I closed on an eyeball less than ten meters away. It tried to flee, but I was faster.

A hard metallic ring.

Hwaryeonbido bounced off an invisible barrier.

So you won't go down easy.

Crackling red lightning surged.

I pushed Astrape past its limit. My mana circuits began to sting. I didn't care. Even if they burned out completely, I could heal them later.

Death is right in front of me. Hesitate even a little here and I'm dead.

A grinding, tearing screech.

I forced the blade through the barrier and drove it into the eyeball. Crimson lightning incinerated it from within.

Eleven eyes left.

I took out four more in succession. Seven remaining. My breath was ragged, clawing at the back of my throat. My mana circuits were at their limit. Blood streamed from my mouth, nose, and ears. But I didn't stop.

The iris of my next target shifted from red to purple. My body locked up for an instant. I couldn't move.

—The Evil Eye of Stasis. Better to fling the freeze effect somewhere else.

Thanks to Elena's support, I was moving again in under three seconds. But three seconds was a long time. A beam from far away vaporized both my legs.

I didn't stop. I could still fly without them.

A wet puncture.

Another eyeball dropped. Six left.

—It's a trap.

The eyeball burst. Flame engulfed my body. I burned. By the time Elena used Illusion Butterfly Art to snuff out the fire, I was already charred black. My body plummeted.

—Healing with illusion is… impossible. Divine power is woven into your wounds. That wasn't ordinary fire.

Feeling my consciousness slip, I activated Complete Recovery. Fresh skin pushed up through the blackened ruin. My vaporized legs reappeared. I arrested my fall and shot skyward again.

"Kh… more impressive than I expected."

Balor's grudging admission reached me. Even so, his attacks never let up. Dodging the beams was all I could manage. Elena covered my mistakes, but she was tanking a god's attacks. She had limits too.

The five remaining free-floating eyeballs began scattering in every direction. My face twisted. The distance between them stretched past ten kilometers.

"Balor. For a god, you're being awfully petty."

"You're free to celebrate. It means you've pushed me this far."

Balor was shameless about it. I flew after the eyes. They darted freely through the air, firing beams as they went. Their movement was sharper than before. Fewer eyes meant better control for Balor.

"Elena. At this rate, we'll tire out first. Any ideas?"

—…There is one. But I'll have to use Complete Recovery as well, so my support may get rough after that.

"Better than collapsing from exhaustion. And this bastard — he's getting stronger ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the longer this goes. Or adapting, maybe? Either way, dragging it out works against us."

—Agreed. …Shall we give the gods a shock?

A blue butterfly appeared.

It flew across the sky. One, two, three. With every beat of its wings, the number grew.

When the butterflies reached roughly a thousand, the multiplication stopped. I knew instinctively that Elena had died. Then the butterflies began multiplying again.

She used Complete Recovery and reactivated Illusion Butterfly Art.

In the end, some three thousand butterflies filled the sky.

—Hold on. I'm going to flip the world.

Elena declared it.

Thousands of butterflies dissolved at once, seeping into the fabric of space.

The world inverted. More precisely, Zone 5,485 inverted. Ground became sky, sky became ground. And it didn't stop there — the world spun and spun. The more it turned, the smaller it became.

The distance to Balor's far-flung eyes was forcibly compressed.

"…Who is helping you? This… is not something a human can do. Which god is backing you?"

Balor's presence had weakened. The power the Corrupted Zone had been feeding him was gone.

"You're right. A god is helping me."

A lie. Hopefully it would clutter his thinking even a little.

Crackling red lightning.

Six bolts of thunder coalesced around me and began to merge.

Manryeo — Ten Thousand Thunders.

The whirling lightning hurled bolts at the eyeballs. Three were pierced clean through. The remaining three vanished behind barriers.

Three is a win. Hitting them in the chaos was the right call.

Balor called the two free-floating eyes back. They sank into his forehead. Three eyes fixed on me.

I flew at him. The closer I got, the less overwhelming his body seemed.

…Elena's support again.

Probably her last. I wouldn't ask for more. Gripping Hwaryeonbido — which had grown along with me — I charged Balor.

His three eyes shifted to purple. The Evil Eye of Stasis. My body locked. A victor's smile curved Balor's mouth.

"No help from that one this time. You won't break free like before."

Exactly what I'd been waiting for.

I activated the skill I'd been saving for the absolute last moment.

Heavenly Mind.

I didn't move until the perfect moment. I played the part of someone frozen by the Evil Eye of Stasis.

Balor reached for my throat. The instant that massive hand was about to close around my neck, I drove my blade into his enormous eye.

"GRAAAAGH! H-how…?!"

"Lightning!!"

Crimson current raced through his body. He convulsed, seizing from the shock.

"I-I won't go down like this…!"

The purple pupil on his forehead tried to shift back to red.

"Eye poke!"

I jammed the index and middle fingers of my left hand into his remaining eyes. A wet crunch. My fingers sank deep. Balor had lost every last eye.

"I… I, to a mere human…!!"

Balor's colossal frame toppled.

The inverted world righted itself. The compressed space expanded. The ground settled back where it belonged, and the sky rose. My enlarged body shrank to ordinary human size.

Sponsorships poured in without end. Most of the Constellations I was on speaking terms with sponsored generously, while nameless ones tossed in around a thousand AP.

Admission fees. A battle between a god and a human — and a human winning — was almost unheard of. They wouldn't forget this easily, not in hundreds of years, not in ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠thousands.

Of course, some Constellations didn't sponsor at all.

I set the Constellations' messages aside. What mattered was the reward. Balor's corpse had crumbled to dust, leaving no items behind. The reward would come from the System.

Seventy-five percent contribution.

Without Elena's help, the one who died would have been me, not Balor.

Elena forfeited hers? Elena… I still don't know where she is.

Option one was the dud, for starters.

Balor's Evil Eye. Broken as hell on paper — but the System would never hand over a god's authority clean. It had to be nerfed at least five times over.

An SSS-Rank Promotion Ticket isn't something you pick up easily… but it still falls short of Constellation Creation. A constellation is the kind of prize you only get for a myth that stuns the gods. If Elena hadn't forfeited, it wouldn't even be on the list.

Who knew when a chance like this would come again.

I chose option two.

Hmm. Lightning Constellation?

…Fair enough. Atlantis is on its eighth cycle. Constellations don't reset, so leftovers aren't surprising. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠If I want something that benefits me as the Heavenly Demon… hmm. Does a Demon Constellation exist?

……

Every constellation I actually want already exists. Fine. Go with this.

I've already decided.

I could almost swear the System sighed. Probably my imagination. The System wouldn't do that.

Twinkle. Twinkle.

A new constellation appeared in the blue sky.

Light bloomed among the shining stars and drew connecting lines. With that, the people of Atlantis would know ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠a new constellation had been born.

That brightest star up top is the clitoris. Below it, the labia minora, the urethra… all the way down to the vaginal opening. Perfect recreation. Anyone can tell it's a pussy.

I like it.