Even if you're a corrupted magical girl, you still have to try to redeem yourself.

Now is a great time.

"What are the three pillars?"

"Are you kidding me?" Sumireko Yumehara turned her head back, her tone unusually changing, and if you had to describe it specifically, it was angry.

However, Yuuki Yukino's expression when she asked this question was far too serious, as if she truly knew nothing about what she currently possessed.

“It seems your situation is complicated as well.” Sumireko Yumehara sighed, noticing Yuuki Yukino’s current state. “Everyone’s wand is named after something from mythology, fairy tales, or monsters, right?”

Since Sumireko Yumehara was willing to explain, Yuuki Yukino was naturally eager to hear it too: "Mhm."

"Every magical girl's strongest state is divine liberation, right?" Sumireko Yumehara asked again.

"Mmm." Yuuki Yui nodded again.

"So, have you ever thought about this question: what kind of person qualifies as a god?" Sumireko Yumehara continued.

What defines a god?

This question doesn't seem to require much thought.

"A god is someone who is stronger than a human, capable of doing more things than a human, more powerful, and more worshipped, right?" Yuuki Yui answered with the simplest explanation.

If her situation were a little easier, she might have given a flippant answer like, "The most powerful are gods," although her current answer is essentially the same thing.

“It’s true to some extent, but not entirely. Do you want to think about it again?” Sumireko Yumehara replied.

Are my answers not entirely correct?

Yuuki Yukino then began to think again.

The concept of God has appeared many times in various works, and if you think about it in depth, there are indeed many things worth pondering.

For example, in the currently popular isekai (another world) reincarnation genre, a huge goddess appears at the beginning and tells each reincarnated person who is brought in by a big truck: You're awake! You're dead! You're going to another world! This is your cheat code, so please handle it carefully!

Speaking of reincarnation, why don't I have any cheat codes? Like the kind where you can just lie down and do quests and get good equipment and new abilities, or have an old man living in a ring.

However, I do have a different counterpart living in an unknown alternate dimension, which can be considered my cheat code.

I just don't know why this cheat code didn't come to my aid this time.

That being said, aren't otherworld goddesses the kind of extra-human characters who have the power of reincarnation and are impossible for normal characters to romance or even interact with?

Yes, that's the case most of the time. Although there are occasional cases of "dumb goddesses," most of the time they exist as a background character, a reasonable motive, or a universal excuse.

Similar to it is the main god in the infinite flow genre, which is usually a large ball of light. Some are system menus, and some are humanoid, similar to the cheat system you imagine, giving out rewards and tasks.

Although these can all be called good ways to be lazy, many authors are too lazy to think and will just throw out a female voice to start another world or throw out a main god to play the infinite flow, without needing to explain how these "gods" came about. Yuuki Yuen felt this deeply when reading the manga.

But putting those aside, their overall scale is still quite high most of the time.

Sometimes it's not that they can't be explained, but rather that their existence is so powerful that it's difficult to explain.

Regardless of this type of work, there is another type of work where gods are also made by humans. In the endings of some fantasy works from earlier years, the protagonist would usually become a god or slay a god, because it looked really cool and cheesy.

Yuuki Yuki isn't disliked, but the gods in those works—or more accurately, the concept of "gods" in those works—are mostly just powerful "people."

To give a simple example, if an ordinary person can lift a tripod after training, then if there were a god in this work, he might be able to lift a mountain.

Oh right, Yuuki Yuuki also read a story where the protagonist is a chef. In that world, a god who could kill someone with a single glare was ultimately killed by the protagonist. Apart from the boss seeming very powerful, I didn't think this god was anything special.

However, these gods have one thing in common: they must have a name.

What god of emotions, sea god, evil god, demon god, or the dark god of Gunara?

People are as their names suggest; their names are their characteristics, perhaps even the source of their power? Just as the sea god can manipulate the sea, and the god of emotions can control emotions.

Aside from the much-modified content, the earliest mentions of deities are still found in the origin myths of various regions.

In the most traditional myths, the impression that the gods left on Yuuki Eri was that she was a group of people living in the divine realm, indulging in extravagance and pleasure, occasionally having minor conflicts, and occasionally going to the human world to have a fling. Oh no, I mean, gods.

These gods are similar to those in the current works that Yuuki En had previously envisioned. Gods generally wield certain powers, or they must wield a certain power, and some gods may even wield multiple powers.

For example, the most famous person who controls thunder and lightning is Thor of Helicia, as well as Zeus in Greek mythology, and Wen Taishi, the Heavenly Venerable of Universal Transformation and Responding to Thunder in a certain classic mythology. Different mythologies have different characters with the same power.

This is also reflected in the wands. For example, the Death Angel of Saint Hymn and the Izanami of Chiyuu are both powers related to death, but the abilities they exhibit are somewhat different.

Xiao Qianyou's destined death was blackish-red, but Sheng Shiyin's death fire was pale.

So no matter where the gods are from, whether in mythology, fairy tales, or comics, they all seem to have one thing in common.

"In other words, every god possesses power, or authority, that is beyond the reach of humans?" Yuuki asked tentatively.

"That's about it." This time, Sumireko Yumehara didn't continue making Yuuki Yukino play any more guessing games, and took the initiative to explain: "Let me explain it to you."

"Some people believe that God is something beyond the scope of human cognition, but this is not entirely correct. People are afraid of natural disasters, floods, and death, so they call these unknown forces the power of God."

"At first, people thought that gods lived in the sky and under the sea, but later, when people mastered the power of space travel and the power to explore the seabed, they discovered that there were no gods there."

"So people believed that God was outside the heavens, but gradually, people also gained the ability to explore space and other planets, but there was no God there."

"Could it be outside the Milky Way? Perhaps in another space? Perhaps on another timeline? Perhaps a higher-dimensional being? This is how the concept of God has been expanded, and it will continue to expand endlessly in the future."

"But these are all wrong. If we simply attribute God to beings that are more advanced than humans, then it is nothing more than a simple accumulation of numbers."

That's right, it's just a simple summation of numbers.

Returning to the various literary and artistic works that Yuki En is familiar with, many of them exhibit similar situations.

In the previous episode, the protagonist was invincible, but in the next episode, enemies appeared from the sky.

Otherworldly creatures, extraterrestrial demons, and visitors from outer space are all examples of expanding the concept time and time again, bringing things that are as far beyond human imagination as possible into the story.

The protagonist gradually increases his combat power, going from killing and wiping out villages to destroying the world and exploding planets, but he is still doing the same things, only on a bigger stage.

“A true god cannot simply be a powerful human or a monster,” Yuuki Yuuki murmured, expressing her opinion.

“Yes, you’re right. They are fundamentally different from humans, and that is the breaking of the framework.” Sumireko Yumehara replied, “Although their powers are not entirely accurate, they all possess things that are difficult for ordinary people to do.”

“Now that we understand the concept of God, is there a difference in strength between gods?” Sumireko Yumehara then asked.

In the past world, Yuuki Yuuki had read and seen many comics, and there were countless works that used various mythologies as backgrounds.

There are serious battles between humans and gods, as well as chaotic brawls of influential historical figures, and even more unconventional comics filled with abstract and obscure Nibelungen rewrites.

A simple contest of rank is a story development that audiences enjoy and is the least likely to go wrong with. However, it becomes very difficult when it involves combat power from different systems.

Of course, the final solutions are varied and diverse, but there must be a difference in strength between gods.

For example, the difference between the eight million gods who can become gods from anything and the Amatsu gods who exist in Takamagahara is obvious.

“Yes,” Yuuki Yuuki replied.

“Yes, there are differences in strength between gods.” Sumireko Yumehara nodded. “Then what about wands named after gods?”

"There should be, right?" Yuuki Yui replied after drawing on her previous experience.

Sumireko Yumehara shook her head: "Wrong. There may be some mutual restraint between wands and between abilities, but there is no clear distinction between strong and weak."

"The names used to name a magic wand are merely a personification of an ability. They do not represent that the magical girl possesses all the abilities of that god, nor do they represent the strength or weakness of a magical girl."

"Therefore, it is wrong to simply compare the strength of magic wands by name and think that a little girl in a fairy tale could not possibly defeat the goddess of the underworld."

"In the end, the divine name of the wand is just a name. They are not real gods because they cannot achieve that breakthrough."

Yumehara Sumireko's words were somewhat understandable to Yuuki Eri.

Treat each magical girl as a game character—although they were originally game characters—and from this perspective, even if their growth is different, the weaker mecha that grows up first can indeed defeat the powerful mecha that was just created.

"But does God, or anything similar to God, truly not exist in this world?"

Sumireko Yumehara asked again, but the next second, she gave the answer herself:

"It exists, it is the god of magical girls that we have all seen, the one we cannot fight even if we come into contact with him."

Yes, Yuuki Yukari knew it was that primordial magical girl, the source of all magical girls who could become the rules themselves.

"If the original magical girl had a magic wand, then that wand would naturally possess powers related to gods. Therefore, it is not impossible for a magic wand to possess divine authority that is beyond human reach."

"Then, who is that corrupted magical girl whom the magical girls, whose divine imprint is in the rules themselves, seek to hunt down?"

"Who is it?" Yuuki Yuuki immediately grasped the key point.

She might not care so much about other things, those are just stories and rumors, but the one that Yumehara Sumireko said was worth hunting down even by the original magical girls, and the one that she hadn't been able to successfully hunt down for so long, could only be that original, fallen magical girl.

However, Yukihara Sumireko's answer surprised Yuuki Yuuki.

"I do not know."

If you don't know, why did you tell yourself so much?

"But I know some weaker beings related to that hunted being. They are the offspring of the gods. Their existence is also forbidden. Even though they are the offspring of the gods, they still hold a portion of the authority. They are the Three Pillar Gods."

Sumireko Yumehara continued speaking.

"Releasing flames, freezing the earth, and creating hurricanes are all technologies that humans can master. But the Three Pillar Gods, their authority, I dare not say that it is absolutely impossible to replicate, but it is definitely more difficult for humans to access."

"The darkness that gives birth to life, the nameless mist that transcends all time and space, and... the blind and foolish witch, I don't need to tell you what kind of power you have, do I?"

Yuuki Enishi nodded slowly and heavily. Indeed, she didn't need Yumehara Sumireko to say it; she should know her own situation better than anyone else.

"The power of the Three Pillar Gods could not have been obtained out of thin air, and no one knows how this power was obtained, but without a doubt, it is all closely related to that original dark magical girl."

Is it closely related to the original corrupted magical girl?

However, his corruption was only connected to two people.

Inuyama Tomoe gave herself the Black Magic Mark, and Nishio Reki gave the Black Magic Mark to Inuyama Tomoe.

Could the original corrupted magical girls be related to them?

No, we can't be so absolute. Maybe Nishio Reki also saw that original corrupted magical girl.

"So, my Nyarlathotep, Loki of Utsuro Mashiro, and who else are the Three Pillar Gods?" Yuuki Yuuki muttered to herself, while seeking confirmation from Yumehara Sumireko.

"Loki? What Loki?" Yumehara Sumireko, on the other hand, looked puzzled, as if she had never heard of the name before.

“It’s Loki, the god of lies, the kind of power that makes lies come true.” Yuuki Yuuya was also taken aback, and then explained further.

"What are you talking about? Manipulating lies, inciting conflict, creating chaos—aren't those the abilities of your Nyarlathotep? How could they possibly be hers?"

"Huh? What are you talking about now?" Yuuki Yuen was completely confused this time.

She could indeed create some fictional wands, but she had never even considered making lies come true, nor did she think she had that ability.

After Yuuki Enka spent some time telling Yumehara Sumireko about her experiences in Nijiha City, Yumehara Sumireko's expression remained uncertain for a while.

"Liar! She doesn't tell a single truth. From the moment we met, she's been lying to you. The idea that the God of Lies is her magic wand is a complete lie! She even claimed your abilities are hers. This woman is truly..."