"..."
Listening to Sakuragawa Rikka's account, Lin and Iwanaga Kotoko exchanged a glance, both feeling a degree of astonishment in their hearts.
Killing off all clan members in three years.
It had to be said, she had a bit of a ruthless streak.
After a brief silence, Sakuragawa Rikka continued with a calm expression:
"After killing everyone in my clan except myself, I began searching for a way to kill myself."
"I went to many places."
"Like Kyoto, Kumamoto, and Tokyo, encountering supernatural existences such as Youmu and evil spirits."
"None of them could kill me."
"Thus, I felt that if there was still an existence in the world that could kill me, perhaps only a God could."
"I began searching for Gods."
"I went to various shrines, large and small, but the few Gods I found were just yokai who had gained human faith."
"They couldn't kill me either."
"Nor could they grant my wish."
"In fact, the poison in my body would make them uncomfortable and could even cause them a certain amount of harm."
"So I stopped searching for Gods."
"In the process of searching for Gods, it wasn't completely fruitless; I accidentally obtained this broken crystal."
"Along with it, I obtained a fragmented ritual spell, which is said to be able to create a God controlled by oneself."
Through collecting human faith.
"Tetsujin Nanase is the test subject I created using this fragmented ritual spell, combined with the Youmu Stone."
"To prepare for creating a God."
After listening to Sakuragawa Rikka's account, Iwanaga Kotoko's eyes flickered slightly as she asked, "You killed all your clan members; the children too?"
"The children..."
Sakuragawa Rikka looked at Iwanaga Kotoko, her tone calm. "Except for me, everyone else died because of the experiments."
A trace of sadness flashed through her eyes.
Because among the children who died, there were some of her playmates.
"..."
Iwanaga Kotoko froze for a moment upon hearing this.
It seemed there were few normal people in this Sakuragawa family.
In fact, some couldn't even be considered human.
Including Sakuragawa Rikka herself.
After all, being able to kill herself time and time again without batting an eye, and wiping out every single member of her clan without leaving one alive—could this be considered normal?
However, thinking of the other party's experiences, she couldn't blame her for being abnormal.
If anyone was to be blamed, it was those clan members of hers who had become obsessed in their pursuit of eternal youth and immortality, making them no different from those vicious monsters.
Presumably, in their eyes, the children of the family were nothing but expendable materials.
Once this batch died out, they just had to wait for the next batch of expendables to be born.
If that was truly the case, Sakuragawa Rikka killing them all could actually be considered doing a good deed.
After a moment of silence, Iwanaga Kotoko asked thoughtfully, "So your goal in creating a God is to kill yourself?"
"Correct..."
Sakuragawa Rikka's eyes moved slightly, and she nodded to Iwanaga Kotoko.
"That answer isn't quite accurate."
At this moment, Lin put down the black tea in his hand and smiled faintly. "Your main goal in creating a God is to become a normal person. Only if that doesn't work would you choose to kill yourself."
"Or rather, either of these two goals would do."
"!!!"
Sakuragawa Rikka's pupils trembled lightly, and her eyes widened slightly.
She met Lin's gaze.
After a moment of silence, the corners of her mouth rose, and she smiled gently, saying, "I now basically believe you are a true God."
Iwanaga Kotoko blinked upon seeing this.
It seemed it was just as Lin had said.
Sakuragawa Rikka continued, "My story is finished. If you really are a God, can you fulfill my wish?"
As she spoke, anticipation surfaced in her eyes.
Her desire to create a God was to achieve her heart's desire.
If Lin really was a God, and a true God was right before her eyes, there was no need for her to seek far and wide or make unnecessary moves.
Lin smiled and looked at Sakuragawa Rikka. "Making a wish to a God requires repaying the vow once the wish is fulfilled."
"Do you feel you currently possess the ability to repay a vow?"
"Repay a vow..."
Hearing Lin's words, Sakuragawa Rikka couldn't help but fall silent.
Her gaze flickered slightly.
Iwanaga Kotoko looked at Lin.
Her brows furrowed slightly, lost in thought.
She seemed to have guessed something.
Silence persisted for a moment before Sakuragawa Rikka asked, "If my wish is granted, what do I need to give in return?"
Lin smiled. "Of the things you currently possess, the only thing of value in my eyes is you yourself."
"Me?!"
Sakuragawa Rikka was stunned upon hearing this.
Iwanaga Kotoko glanced at Lin; sure enough, it was just as she had thought.
This philandering God.
Just as Kasumigaoka Utaha had said, he was a God of Harem.
Lin smiled and continued speaking:
"If you want to realize your wish, you must offer up everything you have and become the Shrine Maiden who serves me."
"Obviously, a contradiction appears."
"If you choose to become an ordinary human, you will transcend the category of ordinary people once you become my Shrine Maiden afterward."
"If you choose death, you will become my Shrine Maiden, and I will not sit idly by and watch my Shrine Maiden die."
"So you cannot die."
"Am I right?"
As his voice fell, Lin picked up the black tea in front of him and took a sip.
"..."
Listening to Lin's explanation, Sakuragawa Rikka was slightly stunned.
Her eyes flickered, and her expression gradually became complex.
Clearly, what Lin said was not wrong.
If she prayed to Lin, the wish and the price would conflict.
She suddenly thought of something:
"If I can successfully create a God, can my wish be realized?"
Lin said, "Show me that god-creation ritual spell."
Sakuragawa Rikka hesitated upon hearing this.
In the end, she recited the god-creation ritual spell to Lin. After listening, Lin used his ability to trace it back to its source.
He quickly understood the cause and effect.
It turned out this god-creation ritual spell was born from the techniques used by Onmyoji to create Shikigami, which had been modified by someone.
Using a Divine Power Crystal combined with the power of human faith, it was indeed possible to artificially create a divine lifeform.
Correct, a divine lifeform.
Not a true God, but barely countable as a demigod.
It was just that the success rate was very small.
Moreover, one must possess a complete Divine Power Crystal, not the current one where the power had already dissipated almost completely.
It also required a massive amount of pure power of faith to possibly work.
The so-called 'pure' meant it had to be the power of faith generated by the sincere belief of believers to count.
The power of faith Sakuragawa Rikka collected using methods like urban legends couldn't be spoken of as pure at all.
Having understood the cause and effect, Lin looked at Sakuragawa Rikka and said:
"The answer is no."
He explained the reasons.
Sakuragawa Rikka fell silent again upon hearing this.
Regarding Lin's account, she held an attitude of half-belief and half-doubt in her heart.
However, after meeting Lin's gaze, the wavering scale in her heart began to tilt toward the side of belief.
The other party seemed to have no reason to deceive her.
Regarding the matter of the Divine Power Crystal, she had actually discovered anomalies long ago.
There were more and more cracks inside.
It seemed likely to shatter into countless pieces at any moment.
Just as Sakuragawa Rikka was feeling conflicted and falling into deep thought because of this, Lin stood up and said with a smile:
"Since we've finished listening to the story, we should be going."
"There is no need for Tetsujin Nanase to exist."
As his voice fell.
The Youmu Stone that Tetsujin Nanase relied on flashed with firelight and turned into dust.
Seeing this, Sakuragawa Rikka's gaze narrowed, and she hurriedly spoke out:
"Wait a moment."
________________________________________
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