Within a world of absolute darkness.
"High Priest, perhaps you should wait a little longer. We've already waited through such an immense span of time. Besides, everyone agreed that Gremlin must not interfere with the free development of the human world."
A mature, gentle, yet sorrowful female voice echoed through the pitch-black void, stirring an irresistible urge to weep in anyone who heard it. The voice was languid and ethereal, so captivating that one could easily imagine its owner as an alluring, graceful beauty.
Within this special phase, where concepts were blurred and existence hovered somewhere between reality and nonexistence, no one could see where the speaker was or what she looked like. Nevertheless, her voice carried clearly through the darkness.
"Besides, High Priest, have you seriously considered what kind of consequences our intervention in the material world would bring?"
"Hahaha~"
The elderly man's deep, parched laughter somehow brought to mind the cry of a night owl perched upon the withered, insect-eaten branches of a dead tree.
"My apologies, my apologies. Whenever this old man discovers an unusual newcomer with the qualifications to become a Magic God, I simply cannot contain my excitement... Besides, given the current state of affairs in the human world, the complete destruction of the Roman Catholic Church and the drastic weakening of the magic side's power in the material world are going too far."
"My, my~ High Priest, didn't you also experience a period of confusion when you first ascended to the position of Magic God? You nearly destroyed the material world yourself back then~"
The seductive female voice stretched out her words playfully.
"Hmph! Nephthys! Those are entirely different matters. This old man voluntarily undertook the Sokushinbutsu ritual out of a desire to save all sentient beings. Why do you think I starved myself to death without food or water until I became a dried corpse? It was to create a Buddhist paradise on Earth where everyone could attain Buddhahood!"
The elderly voice was clearly displeased that the woman had equated his actions with the ongoing war in the material world, a conflict driven by the struggle to divide the world's interests.
"But in the end..." His indignant rebuttal faltered. The old man seemed to recall the period when he had ascended to become a Magic God, and his stern words gave way to bitter self-mockery. "In the end..."
"In the end, because of something as ridiculous as temple politics, this old man was not recognized as a Buddha. My grand ambition became nothing more than an empty dream. Without a Buddhist name or an appointed role, I became a nameless Buddha wandering the earth... How tragic, how lamentable... And how absurd. Absurd! What absurd humans! What an absurd world!"
The old man's hoarse words openly conveyed his contempt for humanity. It was difficult to tell whether his feelings stemmed from anger or pity.
"Sometimes, this old man wonders whether the world would become a better place if I chose to exterminate humanity... Or whether it would simply become even more ridiculous."
"But that's impossible. If the material world were destroyed, what would happen to us? Besides, High Priest, give it a rest. We've heard about your experiences and your grand ambitions so many times that our ears are practically covered in calluses."
"Let's talk about something else instead. That girl named Selene, who apparently hasn't mastered any magic whatsoever, yet managed to defeat a magician possessing some of our characteristics. Hmm~ How should we classify someone like him? Let's call him a quasi-Magic God. Yes, the girl named Selene who defeated a quasi-Magic God."
Compared with the same old stories she had heard from the High Priest countless times before, the owner of the alluring voice—Nephthys—was clearly far more interested in this subject.
"Hey, hey, hey! High Priest! Nephthys! What are you talking about? Hehe~ I think I heard something about a Magic God! Has another new companion joined us? Is it little Othinus?"
Another voice joined the conversation.
Rather than merely youthful, it sounded like the voice of a very young girl, carrying a touch of childish innocence and lively curiosity. Judging by her rapid succession of questions, the newcomer seemed particularly energetic.
"Not her. But Niang-Niang, where have you been?" the mature woman asked.
"Hehe! In a place like this, distance and time don't really matter, do they~? We can't get out no matter what we do. And even if we managed to escape, we'd attract attention on a global scale, and not in a good way. Here, even a distance as thin as a layer of skin can stretch into infinity."
"In that case, where are the others?"
"Old man, did becoming a mummy make you forgetful? Zombie Girl, little Chimera, and everyone else are all here. It's just that in a place where even the width of a single strand of hair contains an infinite distance, whether we happen to run into each other is entirely a matter of luck~~"
The lively, childlike voice sounded positively enthusiastic. "Anyway, let's get back to what you were talking about! Is there a new Magic God? Who is it?"
"Niang-Niang, you really should pay a little more attention to what's happening in the material world." The dry, hoarse voice paused briefly. "She isn't quite a Magic God yet. Selene... Hmm?"
It was not only the withered old man. The mature, alluring woman, the young girl with the innocent voice, and the other supreme beings dwelling or sleeping within the darkness all reacted almost simultaneously.
This space, which existed nowhere in the world, had actually been invaded?
By whom?
"Gentlemen of Gremlin. I've finally found you."
CRACK!
The darkness shattered.
An external force split it open vertically.
Hummm!
An intense white light poured in from outside, driving away the darkness and illuminating the bodies of the assembled Magic Gods.
One was an elderly man with gray skin stretched tightly over an emaciated frame. His eyes had black sclerae and green irises. He wore purple robes adorned with pure gold, with a flame-shaped collar rising behind his head. In his hand, he carried a golden sword that resembled a walking stick.
He looked like a senior, highly respected Buddhist, and an endless sense of compassion seemed to radiate from him. Yet for a monk, his attire was rather excessively extravagant.
Another was a mature woman with an alluring figure, chocolate-colored skin, and long silver hair cascading to her waist. Beneath her magnificent, differently colored eyes were two tear streaks.
Her body was otherwise naked, wrapped only in pure white bandages, making her resemble a mummy excavated from an ancient Egyptian pyramid. Unlike those dried and preserved corpses, however, this female mummy possessed living flesh and blood. Her white bandages were wrapped so loosely around her body that they seemed more like a provocative costume.
The way they clung to her graceful feminine curves only heightened her sensual allure.
Another was a petite, delicate-looking girl with black hair and green eyes. She wore a white cheongsam with such a daring design that it almost seemed to have undergone modern alterations, featuring an extremely short hem and two enormous sleeves.
Most of her skin was exposed, and against the white fabric, its coloration appeared extraordinarily unnatural, a bluish-purple shade reminiscent of the hanged ghosts from traditional Chinese folktales. She wore an official's hat decorated with a peacock feather, while a special talisman was pasted to her forehead.
Rather than an immortal sage, she looked more like a jiangshi, a hopping corpse. That was probably the impression she would give anyone who saw her.
In the next instant, within this place where even the width of a single strand of hair could expand into an infinite distance, figures appeared in rapid succession.
A girl whose entire body was covered in stitches descended silently. A woman whose body incorporated sinister elements of lions, goats, and venomous snakes appeared. A bare-chested young man covered in war paint and tattoos, with silver prosthetic limbs, descended with a thunderous impact...
The supreme beings all directed curious gazes toward the intruder who had stepped into their divine domain.
Yes, curiosity.
The Magic Gods felt no hostility toward this uninvited guest. On the contrary, they found the situation rather entertaining. In a place of eternal boredom like the Hidden World, something amusing had finally happened.
"This old man was just wondering why I hadn't seen you in so long. So you've been busy with such a touching little side project... The magical power of science, the Holy Right of the destined savior, the accumulated foundations of Christianity, and that ridiculous, inexplicable angel..."
The voice was elderly, dry, and hoarse. Although distance had no meaning here, the withered old man appeared visually closest to the intruder. With a sharp metallic sound, he planted his golden sword against the boundless void.
His tone resembled someone calling out the name of an old acquaintance he had not seen in many years.
"Human magician, Edward Alexander Crowley."
The magician standing before him possessed long silver hair that extended to his heels and wore green surgical clothing. His face displayed none of the emotions of joy, anger, sorrow, or pleasure. He replied in a cold, mechanical voice.
"Converting coordinates composed entirely of nonexistent numbers into decimal notation... So it really is possible."
Aleister was still adapting to the rules of this special phase, but he did not pause for even a moment. He focused on the void before him, working tirelessly to extract every piece of information he needed. He converted it all into pure formulas and numbers, seeking to transform even the smallest fragment into data that might prove advantageous.
This was Aleister's first encounter with complete Magic Gods.
And there were several of them.
With this, their safe haven would collapse.
They would be forced into the material world, where they would find themselves pursued by its inhabitants.
As he watched the world beneath the pitch-black heavens gradually disintegrate, Aleister silently considered the next steps of his plan.
I still need to weaken them by every means available.
Aleister understood perfectly well that he was exploiting the Magic Gods' reluctance to destroy the material world.
After all, there was only one material world, and it was the birthplace of everyone. Leaving aside the fate of all living beings, the Magic Gods themselves certainly did not wish to see it completely destroyed.
Otherwise, they would never have sealed themselves away within the special phase they called the Hidden World.
Aleister raised his tightly clenched left hand. A silver-white staff resembling a spiraling tower radiated an unprecedented brilliance, its intense white light threatening to illuminate every corner of the crumbling Hidden World.
For the first time, the Blasting Rod revealed its true brilliance.
It was a supplementary spell that applied the principles of Spiritual Tripping, amplifying a magical attack's power to ten times whatever the target imagined it to be. This was Aleister's ultimate trump card, the secret technique that gave him the confidence to confront multiple Magic Gods simultaneously despite possessing a mortal body.
Spiritual Tripping and the Blasting Rod had originally been signature techniques of Allan Bennett, Aleister's mentor during his years as a magician. Bennett had subsequently taught both techniques to Aleister.
Spiritual Tripping was a technique for transmitting one's own meditation to another person. In essence, it was magic that forcibly implanted meditative imagery into the observer's mind. A target who perceived the caster's actions would suffer destructive force equivalent to what they themselves imagined those actions could produce.
One had to remember that Magic Gods had attained divinity through the relentless study of magic, reaching the very pinnacle of the magical path. Without exception, they possessed knowledge far beyond human imagination, and consequently, immeasurably vast reserves of knowledge and imaginations more active than any mortal could comprehend.
Just how greatly will the destruction of the Hidden World affect everything that is supposed to happen afterward?
The Magic Gods watched Aleister's movements with considerable interest. The attack he was preparing, unique and perhaps even the strongest of its kind in the material world, probably seemed to them little more than a monkey's performance at a circus.
It was simply entertainment.
They were already wondering where they would sleep, shut themselves away, or amuse themselves after the Hidden World was destroyed.
"Your determination to eradicate all magic really is quite extreme."
The extravagantly dressed, withered old man known as the High Priest parted his shriveled, yellowed lips in a grin that could easily frighten small children. His manner was relaxed, like an old friend greeting someone after a long separation, and he seemed to harbor little hostility.
"A Magic God of Science replacing the Magic Gods of Magic. Is that what you have in mind? Forgive this old man's ignorance, but that's certainly an eye-opening idea. If only you directed such extraordinary determination toward the proper path, perhaps you could even join Gremlin yourself."
In other words, Aleister still possessed the qualifications to become a Magic God.
"What you call the proper path is not my path."
Aleister brusquely interrupted the Magic God High Priest.
And that meant...
Fish of the Last Supper!
Within the special phase separated from the material world by no more than a sheet of paper, yet remaining impossibly distant...
Rumble! Rumble! Rumble!
...
As though God Himself had issued a command to the world, the moment Aleister activated the sacred incantation from within the Hidden World, the entire world abruptly responded to his will.
The boundless heavens resembled a battered curtain slashed open by a blade, and every multicolored veil of light previously suspended in the sky suddenly flared with brilliance.
The purple starry sky symbolizing the mysterious world gradually turned orange.
Centered on Fiamma of the Right's fully angelic body, cracks appeared across the heavens and continued spreading outward until they extended across the entire sky.
And the scope of this transformation encompassed the whole world.
At the same time, the crowds who were still seething with anger, some of whom had even descended into riots and begun attacking Roman Catholic churches, suddenly experienced waves of dizziness and intense discomfort.
Responding in kind was a miraculous golden radiance. It was as though someone had lifted the religious murals from the walls of churches and spread them across the sky, staining both heaven and earth an eerie golden color.
The heavens were filled with the burning hues of dawn just before sunrise.
"The Holy Right has been activated. The Star of Bethlehem's angelic ritual has begun. The Fish of the Last Supper..."
Atop the Star of Bethlehem, which had become an anchor for the worldwide composite magical array, Selene pressed her hand against the chest of Fiamma of the Right's body. While providing Aleister with strategic support, her eyes were also covered by a layer of emerald fluorescence.
"What an intense confrontation. Still, the Gremlin of the material world should be appearing soon, shouldn't they?"
Selene had seen what the Magic Gods looked like.
To be fair, they certainly lived up to the "demonic" part of their title. Not a single one of them looked like a benevolent deity.
Just look at them. Ghostly wails, sinister winds, dried corpses, mummies, zombies, stitched-together monsters... What in the world was all that supposed to be? Their entire aesthetic looked as though it had crawled straight out of the underworld.
"Tch~"
The zombie girl in particular, with her official's hat adorned with a peacock feather and a special talisman pasted to her forehead, made Selene furrow her brows slightly and shake her head in apparent disappointment.
"Looking at things that way, you're still the one I find most appealing."
Selene's sudden remark left Stiyl and the other two, who were gathered around the little white-haired nun, somewhat bewildered.
Is someone else here?
The next instant, a woman's voice rang out from nowhere, sending chills down all three of their spines.
"You... know me?"