Chapter 42: Curse of Knowledge

The human girl's body was so fragile.

Merely brushing against a Magic Orb, it shattered, limbs scattering in all directions.

Psht-

A mist of blood, erupting from Myuant-17-06's disintegrated body, covered the girl's face.

“Ah……”

The girl's mind went blank.

Like a malfunctioning machine, she stood with her mouth agape, dazedly denying reality.

This must be a dream.

This miserable, cruel reality couldn't be real.

“……How bothersome.”

The Research Director frowned.

One girl, an idiot. Another, foolishly suicidal.

It seemed he'd have to use this troublesome one as the host.

He preferred the suicidal girl's body.

“Tsk, no helping it.”

Once she ascended to Divinity, it wouldn't matter anyway.

Just in case, he'd have to implement some restrictions.

The Research Director stretched out his hand and flicked his wrist. An invisible hand seized the girl and dragged her before him.

“Has the shock shut down her mind?”

The Research Director removed his gloves and placed his hand on the girl's head.

Hum-

As he channeled Magic Power into his hand, it sank into the girl's brain like it was parting jelly, rummaging around inside.

“This is actually better. Perfect for implementing restrictive seals.”

The massive magic circle that filled the sector shrunk gradually, then rose and imprinted itself onto the girl's body.

Simultaneously, blood gushed from the remains of Myuant-17-06, flowing towards her like a stream.

“Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!”

The process of manipulating her insides and inscribing Extreme Magic, like enchanting an object.

The girl screamed in agony.

“Ah, it hurts! It hurts!”

Even she, who had endured countless experiments, couldn't withstand the searing pain of the inscription that manipulated her very soul.

“That one’s useless now, so I’ll use her as a material.”

The Research Director reached out to Myuant-25-03, who had been clinging to Myuant-17-06's back before falling and crawling on the floor.

“W-Wait! Stop! No! P-Please, no!”

Amidst the hellish pain, the girl desperately reached out to protect her friend.

Crack!

The girl, who had maintained her human form despite her destroyed brain, turned into a splash of blood, becoming ink for the inscription.

“S-Samsam! … No… not Samsam-i too… T-That can't… be…”

The girl couldn't believe the reality unfolding before her.

They were all dead.

All because she tried to escape.

If they had stayed in their cells, this wouldn't have happened.

It was all her fault. Her choice had caused this.

“No. If you had stayed, I would have incinerated you all and started experiments on the next batch. So thank you for breaking out of your cell. I don’t have much time left.”

“You! Yooooou! I’ll kill you! I’ll kill you!”

“Rejoice, and be grateful, you insect. You are becoming a God.”

The man, both hands plunged into the girl’s head, laughed, seemingly pleased by her rage.

“The first God created by humans! And a God who Supervises Wisdom, no less!”

Rumble-

The earth trembled as a mystical energy enveloped the girl.

“All conditions for ascension to Constellation have been met!”

According to his research, two conditions were required for the birth of a God:

Gathering Faith from sentient beings to condense Divinity, or…

“Knowledge exceeding a certain threshold, and various abilities to support it! A being that threatens the subject, and the subject's hardships and trials! And lastly…”

The Research Director looked down at the girl.

Her eyes, blazing with fury, met his.

“The completion of the Narrative through overcoming hardship.”

“Dieeeee!!!”

Crack-

Simultaneously, the girl's Psychokinesis shattered the Research Director's head.

Blood and brain matter splattered from his fragmented skull.

……He’s dead.

The monster who bought me as a test subject and tormented me since childhood with endless modifications and experiments.

The bastard who brutally killed and tortured my friends. He’s dead.

“……Really?”

The magic circle, which had stopped the moment the Research Director's head exploded, remained still.

The girl couldn't believe it.

He was really dead?

No matter how she looked, he was a headless corpse with no signs of life.

“He’s dead… he’s dead…… he’s dead……!”

Tears began to fall, one by one.

“Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!”

The girl collapsed to the floor, sobbing uncontrollably.

It's all my fault.

If it wasn’t for me, no, if I had died instead, they wouldn't have vanished without a trace!

If only they hadn’t met me!

“I’m sorry everyone! I’m so sorry! Waaaaaaaaah!”

But no matter how much she wailed and pounded the ground, her friends didn't return.

Only her cries echoed through the empty space.

Then-.

Woooong-

The vanished mystical energy surged back, filling the space around her.

“Wh…What!?”

Blood gushed from the Research Director’s corpse, flowing into her.

“……No.”

The girl finally understood why the Research Director had died so easily.

He had intended to die by her hand all along.

He became the villain in her Narrative, the final condition for her to become an artificial Constellation.

She hadn't achieved revenge.

Instead… she had perfectly completed his plan.

“No… No! Stop!”

As the clouds thickened, the girl's body slowly began to rise.

She tried to reject the divine clouds enveloping her, but it was no use.

All conditions had been met, and the Narrative was complete.

The girl ascended to Constellation.

* * *

When the girl regained consciousness, she found herself sitting somewhere in a dark room.

The Divine Power she gained upon becoming a God.

It was the ability to perceive everything in the Leypania Continent and internalize all knowledge within it.

Thanks to this, she knew she had ascended to Heaven.

So the Research Director’s research had been about artificially creating Gods.

Using the research facility and himself as sacrifices.

Having lost her beloved friends and the target of her revenge, only to fulfill his ultimate desire, the girl sat in a daze for a while.

Then, a thought struck her.

With the power of a God…

Couldn’t she bring back Samsam-i and Yukyuk-i?

Using not just her human knowledge, but the full extent of her Godly Power, she searched for a way to resurrect her friends.

Resurrection of the Undead through Dark Magic.

A common occurrence throughout the Continent.

This won't work. They don't have bodies, and I can't turn them into Undead.

The power of an Extra-Dimensional God to turn illusions into reality.

Records showed this happened several times in the previous Mythological Era.

This won't work either. Borrowing the power of a Foreign Deity? Who knows what that Foreign Deity would do. In the records, those who made contracts with Foreign Deities never met happy endings.

Finally.

Gathering Faith for those forgotten and being reborn as a Constellation.

This was possible.

Many Constellations were deified after death through epics.

If she created and spread a Narrative about Samsam-i and Yukyuk-i, they might be resurrected!

Filled with elation, the girl stood up.

Then-.

Thump!

-You must not waste your power as a Constellation on useless endeavors.

“Eek!”

Something massive slammed into her mind.

Screaming in pain, she collapsed.

“Wh-What…….”

-You are the God I created.

-Obey my commands.

The Research Director's voice, multiplied dozens of times, echoed in her head.

“You’re… dead… you’re dead, so why!”

The Research Director’s voice endlessly repeated, suppressing her actions.

As if some of her actions would harm herself, he restricted certain behaviors.

Whenever she tried to leave her Domain, interact with other Gods, or attempt various other actions, the voice would echo, blocking her.

Under the voice’s control, she was only allowed to use the Power of Wisdom and Knowledge, and to gather Divinity through her Apostle.

Even when she obeyed, the situation wasn't much different.

The voice echoed periodically, constricting and conditioning her mind even if she did nothing.

A dead human tormented a living God, the voice repeating endlessly.

Through her Divine Power, the girl discovered how to eliminate the voice.

The Research Director, to control and maintain his masterpiece, the artificial Constellation, left behind shackles in the form of a curse.

Since it was designed to suppress a God, it was maintained through unique conditions and restrictions.

Because the Research Director had planned and created her from the beginning, he was able to implant the curse through inscription beforehand.

The restriction and condition that powered and maintained this curse was her own knowledge.

The more knowledge she possessed about the Continent, the stronger the curse became.

For an ordinary human, even a sage, this curse wouldn’t be that strong.

But for the girl, who possessed the Power of Wisdom and Knowledge and inherently knew everything about the Continent, it was powerful enough to bind a God.

It was precisely because she possessed the Power of Knowledge that she couldn't break the Curse of Knowledge.

To break this curse, she needed knowledge from another world, not of this Continent, namely, Extra-Dimensional knowledge.

“No… please stop…….”

But the Research Director’s repeating voice in the Curse of Knowledge wouldn't allow her to seek anything Extra-Dimensional.

In the end, the girl could only clutch her head and struggle to forget the pain.

Creak- Creak

Trying to forget the present by recalling happy memories from the past...

...Praying that someone would bring knowledge from another dimension to break her curse,

Waiting for a Prince to appear and save her one day.

Rustle-

Then, the girl's terrible nightmare split in two.

“I’m sorry, Lady Constellation.”

A black-haired boy reached out to her from between the cracks in space.

“I’m so sorry for making you relive such painful memories.”

The girl blankly took the boy's hand.

“I think I can break these shackles.”

Pulled by the boy, the girl rose beyond the Constellation's Domain, which had imprisoned her for an eternity.

“Will you hang out with me for a bit? I’m going to break these shackles right now.”

A hazy Dream World.

A world of pleasure, intricately woven with giant Neon Signs and concrete jungles.

A world she didn't know, a world she had never seen, even with her Godly Power.

With knowledge from beyond, to unravel the long Curse of Knowledge.