Inner Destroyer

　The sea? The night?

　"Of course we didn't send anyone in directly, but we have tried deploying a variety of unmanned reconnaissance methods."

　The official Yin Yang Master spoke faster.

　"All the drones malfunctioned immediately upon entering. We switched to using bird-shaped Shikigami, but they all died instantly. The puppet Shikigami made of non-living structures were able to move freely within, but the feedback was extremely vague."

　"So far, we can confirm that within the reconstruction area... there are probably no survivors."

　"And where Mt. Hakkoda once stood, there now stands a gigantic deity estimated to be about fifty meters tall—three faces, six arms. This is likely the 'Peacock King' worshipped by the 'True Buddhism' mentioned in the report."

　When he said this, Gojo Masamichi's face turned gloomy.

　"We tried to get the puppet shikigami close to 'Him', but they automatically disintegrated at a very long distance. The Yin-Yang beings who controlled those shikigami must have been illuminated by the divine power along the causal line, and directly—"

　He swallowed and described it in a very restrained way: "It turned into gas directly on the spot."

　Just meeting the giant's eyes could easily break a mortal's body and soul. That's all.

　The sea of ​​lifelessness.

　Endless dark void.

　Vaguely, Elaine had already thought of something.

　"Can you confirm what the Peacock King is doing right now?"

　She frowned and asked,

　"Has it ceased activity? Or is it still under observation? Or has it entered some kind of...stable state?"

　"Very difficult."

　The civil servant Onmyoji's expression became even uglier.

　"The only good news at the moment is that Lei Pu Zhenren brought back two captured True Buddhism cadres. They have now been carefully examined and are willing to come forward to explain some things."

　Just as he finished speaking, the door of the conference room slowly opened.

　The two "captives" brought back by Qi Xing were carefully escorted into the room by four official exorcists.

　Ruyue Jian's face was pale, just like a white rabbit that was pulled out and frightened to death. Her eyes were red and swollen from crying, and she was staggering when she walked.

　In comparison, although Shijo Aoi also looked unhappy and her breath seemed a little weak, her expression was surprisingly calm.

　She pursed her lips and adjusted her collar. Instead of avoiding everyone's gaze, she raised her head and looked at everyone fearlessly.

　"I know what you want to ask now."

　Her voice was still calm and clear.

　“Amaterasu didn’t tell us everything. But we do have some information to share.”

　"First of all, I want you to understand one thing

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　—"

　"If you haven't considered this a world-class catastrophe, then you haven't understood anything."

　As soon as these words were spoken, all the public servants present became nervous.

　Instead, Elaine nodded quietly: "Please speak, Miss Shijo."

　"Amaterasu told us before that after capturing Kamigorin, she wanted to test the extent to which the Black God's miko could control the White God's followers."

　"She said she wanted to test whether she could create a 'new god' using artificial faith and the djinn as material."

　The witch of the black god, an artificially constructed belief.

　At this point, Elaine actually had some idea of ​​what these keywords meant.

　She had said before that the beliefs and legends surrounding the "Tomb of Christ" in Shingo Village, Aomori Prefecture, were inherently bizarre.

　No one would believe that Jesus would actually sneak all the way across the Asian continent and run from Siberia to live in seclusion in Northeast Japan, right?

　Elaine had originally suspected that this was a strange variant of Christianity that developed over time after Christianity was introduced to Japan in the 16th century, when Japanese believers fled to the northeastern countryside to escape the "Prohibition of Christianity" and persecution by the shogunate. There are actually quite a few such strange things in the world.

　Until now, "True Buddhism" has finally admitted that this strange Aomori Christ Tomb is actually a legend that Yaobikuni spent about four hundred years to gradually cultivate and build locally for her project.

　It's common knowledge that legends and beliefs can bring power... Even so, this kind of thing is actually possible?? Isn't that too far-fetched?!

　"I find it far-fetched, but even if we haven't captured Kamigorin, Amaterasu has still controlled Konjac Myo-o with Christ's Tomb—at least she seems to be able to give him orders. So the first step of the test should be considered a success."

　Shijo Aoi said coldly.

　but,

　"'Control it?'"

　Elaine immediately noticed something odd about her words.

　"Is the part you use for 'summoning' handled separately?"

　"Yes. The energy used for summoning comes from the ley lines throughout the Northeast, as well as the long-accumulated evil desires of the people."

　There is nothing to hide now, Shijo Aoi said it very straightforwardly,

　"And she also used a piece of Buddha's finger bone... As for where it came from, I don't know, it seems someone gave it to her recently - anyway, she used it as a summoning medium."

　"None of this is important now. The key is the next step in Amaterasu's planned experiment. She said she wanted to see if she could reset the entire Northeast first."

　My goodness, are they going to format all of Tohoku, Japan, and turn it into a dark, chaotic sea before the creation of the world, with no light and no sky? What a grand plan!

　"This is truly a disaster on a national scale."

　Elaine frowned and nodded seriously.

　"But if it's limited to northeastern Japan...it still seems a little short of a 'world-class' disaster?"

　Shijo Aoi shook her head: "It's not Northeast Japan."

　"what?"

　“She’s talking about all of Northeast Asia.”

　Shijo Aoi answered dryly.

　Northeast Asia.

　As soon as these three words came out, the air in the conference room suddenly froze.

　This is a geographical concept of a sub-region, and the scope varies slightly depending on the definition. But generally speaking, it includes at least Mongolia, the Korean Peninsula, Russia's Far East, Japan's Tohoku region... and the northeastern regions of some neighboring countries.

　The total area of ​​the entire Asian continent is about 45 million square kilometers, and Northeast Asia is slightly less than one-fifth of the entire Asia.

　This is indeed not a problem of just one country.

　"Even with the power of the Peacock King, it's impossible to reset such a large area immediately. He should be gathering power and casting spells right now."

　"But I guess it would only take a day or two at most."

　"If you fail to defeat the Peacock King, then in two days at the latest, one-fifth of Asia, including all land, sea, and sky within this radius, will return to the chaos that existed before the creation of the world."

　"I hope you can think of a solution."

　107: There is no way to win

　It was three hours later that Qi Xing regained consciousness.

　He sat on the hospital bed, shoveling food into his mouth while Elaine explained the current situation. Finally, he swallowed the steamed egg in his mouth and said, "I don't think Susano is lying. But you should have verified it, right?"

　“It’s actually very difficult to verify.”

　Elaine sighed.

　"Satellites and drones are useless, and we don't dare use magic to directly detect it. We can only observe its energy fluctuations indirectly from outside the area."

　"That energy fluctuation does exist, and its frequency is increasing every hour. We estimate that it will reach its peak in about forty hours."

　Forty hours.

　Qi Xing paused chewing, then burst into laughter.

　Then the "Peacock King" will remake the entire Northeast Asia, an area of ​​about 9 million square kilometers, excluding the water and air.

　"Okay."

　He swallowed the last bite of food, his tone so calm that it made people shudder.

　"Not long, not short either. Just enough for me to prepare."

　The person who had just been roasted to a crisp by the "Peacock King" and had finally crawled back from the brink of death, actually said such words.

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　Just like a madman.

　Elaine remained calm, not even complaining. She simply said, "Based on the divine radiation currently detected, the maximum combat output of the Peacock King is approximately 4.6 times that of when you, Qi Xing, entered combat mode through the Silver Coin."

　"Four point six times, oh wow, that's scary."

　Qi Xing remained calm,

　"However, it's not a gap that can't be bridged through compatibility and tactical preparation. Besides, I'm not fighting alone."

　"—Sasa, please introduce my enemy this time. What is its weakness?"

　The loli evil god, who had been silent for a long time, finally showed up at this time and came out from behind Qi Xing's head.

　However, before she could answer, everyone felt a strange uneasiness and dizziness rising from under their feet.

　"earthquake?"

　"It's not an earthquake."

　Elaine immediately denied it.

　There was a strange feeling of "dislocation" in the air - like the subtle fluctuation of the eardrum being suddenly pinched and then released, or like the joints between bones being pulled hard.

　This is not the vibration of the earth's crust, but the shaking of space itself.

　The bookshelves didn't collapse, and the walls didn't crumble, but everyone felt a terrifying strangeness:

　It was as if the world beneath our feet was being lifted up, thrown down, and then shaken violently by an invisible giant hand.

　It is the very structure of the world that is vibrating.

　"Do you think formatting is just a matter of sweeping a few apertures?"

　Sasa finally spoke, her tone cold but filled with anger.

　"What you feel now is that the 'heaven' and the 'earth' are being twisted around."

　This time, she deliberately made herself visible to everyone. When Elaine heard the devil's words, her brows furrowed slightly.

　"Don't keep saying things that are incomprehensible and scary."

　Qi Xing just shrugged.

　"It's just a matter of death. Even if I'm wiped out along with the space, isn't it still the same death? I don't mind dying this way."

　"The point is—Sasa, why is it that the mantra of the Peacock King clearly states that it is "reconstructing" the world, "creating a nation," and "reshaping the heavens, the earth, the sea, and the land," but it actually turns the world into chaos?"

　"Maybe because Yaobai Bhikkhuni is an idiot."

　Sasa sneered,

　"I don't know where she got this cheat from. But she seems to think that by capturing any of my djinn, she can freely read the universe's database and load custom plots..."

　"That's ridiculous. Would I grant this permission to every djinn?"

　Qi Xing grinned: "Only the governor is allowed to set fires, but the people are not allowed to light lamps, right?"

　Miss Sasa, who secretly copied her father's database and then ran away saying she was going to pursue her dream of creating original works, was almost choked to death by Qi Xing's words.

　But she gritted her teeth and continued, "In short, a giant without authority can only complete the 'formatting' step, returning the space to its initial state. What is the initial state? I don't need to explain it, right?"

　There is indeed no need for that. Even Qi Xing understood what this meant.

　——In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth.

　——The earth was without form and void, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters.