I Became an Outer God (2)

'Wait, why are you all acting like this all of a sudden?!'

We were getting along so well!

You said newbies were welcome! You said you'd answer questions if I had any!

Stunned by the sudden cold shoulder, I asked them why they were suddenly treating me like this.

'Ah. So it's because I'm below their level….'

Well, what else could you expect from a gallery run by gods….

The moment anyone seemed even slightly beneath them, they'd flip their stance ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠and start hurling mockery — and in a way, that arrogance and self-absorption did feel fitting for the gods of myth.

But still….

'Hmph.'

Honestly, it stung a little. It's not like I couldn't have known.

Looking at the posts on the gallery, most of them seemed to have lower divinity rankings than mine, for what it's worth.

Ah. Fine, then.

You touched me first. This isn't my fault.

As a higher-order being, I resolved to pass judgment upon them.

… In the form of shitposting.

This was the foundational secret technique of the shitposter — the very first move I had honed through my past life and my worlds of delusion.

I cracked my knuckles for some good old-fashioned spamming.

I don't have fingers, but whatever.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

I kept up the spam fully prepared to be banned, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠but for some reason, the Mod and the Sub Mods were nowhere to be seen!

The stage was set.

I could keep spamming until the very moment they gave in to my demands!

Next came my magnum opus.

Just as I finished composing the post — [Fellow gallery users, please help, how do you make an avatar?] — and was about to hit the upload button…

A notification popped up saying I'd received comments, and I opened the post to check.

'Heh.'

At last, I had found a gallery user willing to help me: Cultivator (109.50).

It was my victory.

Come to think of it, he was right.

Despite having no physical body, I could see and feel it all — the Void pressing in from every direction, the river of galaxies drifting and flowing around me.

I stared hard at a galaxy that was no more than a single point.

My field of view narrowed further and further, and soon everything within that galaxy began to come into vivid focus.

Star clusters, star systems, planets. And even the lives scurrying about upon them.

It was a strange sensation.

Less like peering down at the place, and more like becoming a part of it.

Cities and civilizations were nice and all… but I'd already enjoyed those in vicarious fashion within my worlds of delusion.

Which meant that for who I was now, the thing I missed most and longed to face was nature.

The one thing I could never quite recreate in my imaginings, no matter how hard I tried.

Green fields, a cool breeze, deep and tangled forests.

I chose a planet that resembled Earth's natural environment, one that seemed to have never yet felt the hand of civilization.

I knew perfectly well how to make ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠a human.

After all, the very first thing I'd ever studied in my quest to build a perfect world of delusion was the creation of the human body.

But what form should I give it?

Hmm… If there was one thing I'd learned from dwelling in my worlds of delusion, it was this: I have a weakness for small, cute, fragile things.

For now I'd be living out in nature, but someday I'd want to visit civilized cities too….

And if I was making one anyway, an adorable little girl sounded just right.

First, I shaped a brain.

Next, a nervous system branching out from it like roots.

Then blood vessels and a heart to cradle that nervous system.

Bones. Muscle.

And last, after wrapping it all in skin, I sculpted a face upon it.

Large, sharp eyes and a fine, high nose bridge, lips like cherries.

I laid a mane of long, glossy, red-tinged hair over her head.

… She looked a little too handsome, so once I dressed her in clothes as well….

She was complete.

Following his advice, I peeled off a piece of myself.

A part — a very, very small part.

About the size of a single fingernail clipping, I severed a fragment of my essence and slipped it inside the avatar.

I felt my consciousness merge into one with the body of the girl I had created.

And then… the moment I opened my eyes, I was standing on the surface of the planet.

"…!!!!"

Vast, open fields!

Warm sunshine!

A smile spread across my face of its own accord.

"Ha… haha…."

Heart pounding, I took my very first step upon the ground.

— KWAANG!!!

… In that instant, shockwaves erupted from beneath my feet, and the planet's entire atmosphere was blasted away!

— KUGUGUGUGU

…….

Startled, I squeezed my eyes shut for a moment and opened them again — to find an enormous crater centered squarely on me.

I crawled up out of the crater and looked around: the lush greenery was gone, and nothing but desolate wasteland greeted my eyes.

… Maybe I'm a lot stronger than I thought.

A vast and barren wasteland, where even the life of a single blade of grass was denied.

Two men were making their way across the parched earth, leaving footprints in the dry ground behind them.

Crunch, crunch. With every step, an oddly unpleasant sensation seeped up from below, and one of them couldn't help furrowing his brow as he called out to the other, who was walking along with his eyes on a radar scanner.

"This planet… according to the data, it used to be covered in vegetation, right?"

"That's what it said."

"Looks like a dead wasteland to me…. Just walking across it makes me feel gross somehow. Hey, Daniel. How's the signal looking?"

"That's the thing… something's off. We've got a signal, but…."

"But?"

"The jamming's throwing off the coordinates. Can't get a clean fix."

"Radio interference?"

At that, the man tilted his head and glanced around at their surroundings.

"They said this place had no settlers, right? The only things that'd deliberately jam our comms are humans."

"That's what I'm saying. Maybe a scavenger set up shop here or something…. Oh!"

"What?"

"Got a life sign."

"Yeah?"

At those words, the man drew the beam particle rifle slung across his back.

"Where?"

"Over there. By the rocks."

The man leveled the muzzle in the direction the other was pointing, raised the scope to his eye, and zoomed in.

"… A child?"

What appeared in the scope was a young girl.

And a strikingly beautiful child at that.

Red-tinged hair and skin like white jade, with delicate, finely wrought features.

Crimson eyes that gave off an air of mystery.

Dressed in a frilled dress, the little girl was leaning against a boulder, looking up at the sky and playing, waving her hand at nothing.

"That little kid's a scavenger?"

"No way…. A nomad, maybe? Hold on a sec."

Shortly after, the man established contact with the mothership through his earpiece.

"Mothership, this is scout team. We've spotted a child. Looks like a nomad, and they appear to be broadcasting the radio interference. Think you can sweep for any settlements via satellite?"

{ -kzzt- }

"Mothership?"

"What's wrong?"

"Can't get through. Must be the jamming."

"Hmph…. Well, let's finish the job first, then head back to the ship and report."

With that, the man rested the rifle's stock against his shoulder.

And without a moment's hesitation, aimed the muzzle at the little girl.

'If intelligent life is discovered on the planet's surface, exterminate it. Show no mercy.'

That was the order they'd been given.

Any ordinary person would have trembled in that moment, torn between guilt and the command.

But there was not a trace of guilt anywhere in the men's conversation.

No — if anything, they seemed to be enjoying themselves.

"Man, that little brat's got the worst luck ever~."

"Tell me about it. Ahh, what a waste though. Cute little face like that — if she'd grown up a few years, I'd have had myself some fun first."

"No kidding. Let's wrap this up fast and head back. I'm starving."

They were no mere explorers — they were beings who lived by murder and plunder.

Members of the space pirate fleet, the Thumb.

With a faint smile touched by euphoria, the man centered the scope on the girl's head.

And pulled the trigger.