Chapter 44: Backstabbing

“Uh… P-Princess？ Do you perhaps know what they do in there？”

The boy turned to the Girl, who tilted her head with a feigned innocent expression.

“Isn’t it a place where ladies and their Knights go? Look, that couple over there is going in, too.”

The Girl pointed to a couple entering a motel.

The Male Researcher, laden with the woman's luggage, was fawning over her, trying to appease her.

……Ah.

How do I explain this.

You see, Princess? That’s not…it’s not like that….

As the boy's mind went blank,

“Hurry up!”

The Girl grabbed his wrist and pulled him roughly.

Whoa, why is she so strong?!

“W-Wait a minute!”

“What wait a minute! Come on!”

Just as the boy was dragged through the motel door by the Girl,

Kugugugugung-

The world shook.

“…Huh？ I didn’t do anything？”

As if a massive earthquake had struck, the surrounding buildings began to collapse, turning into a scene of chaos.

“……Prince. Do you dislike me that much？”

“N-No! I didn’t do anything!”

The boy fell for the Girl's act of pretending to be dejected and slumped over. It was at that moment,

-Finally! The time has come!

A grating voice echoed.

“!!!”

The Girl's face was filled with horror.

She knew that voice.

A voice she had heard far too many times.

A voice that had never been pleasant, from her human days to the present.

A voice she thought she would never hear again.

“……No.”

That voice.

“No!”

Why?

Wasn't the nightmare over？

She had torn off all the shackles.

The Girl began to tremble.

It doesn't make sense.

It was only a voice before, but now it's interfering with reality.

Shake- Shake- Shake- Shake

“No…stop it…please….”

The brilliant and beautiful dream of one night blurred.

Despair washed over her, as if telling her she didn't deserve such happiness.

“No…!”

The Girl curled up.

She no longer had the strength to do anything, nor the will to resist.

Just hearing that voice.

Pat-

A warm touch embraced her whole body.

“Princess.”

“!!!”

The boy hugged her.

“I told you earlier. Those nightmares are over now.”

“……Huh？”

The Girl looked up to see the lovely face of the Male Researcher.

“No more nightmares will dare to torment you, Princess. I’ll protect you.”

The face of the Prince she had only dreamed of.

The touch of the Prince she had imagined would one day rescue her from this hell.

Its beauty and warmth were more radiant than anything she had ever dreamed of.

The Girl slowly stood up, holding the boy's hand.

“That bastard is the one who tormented you, Princess, right？”

The boy smiled.

“If I get rid of him, you’ll be able to sleep peacefully, right, Princess？”

“……Yes.”

Just sleep peacefully?

If the voice that kept her from leaving her room, her Domain, disappeared, she could roam freely.

She could leave her Domain, descend to the lower world, sneak into the boy's room, and sleep with him.

How many children would be good?

Constellations couldn't get pregnant, but if she created an Avatar Body, it would be entirely possible.

She should tell her Apostles to create an Avatar Body when she returned.

And then!

Crack!

“Urk!”

Just as the Girl's fantasies reached their peak,

A hand suddenly appeared, piercing through the boy's chest from behind.

“Ahh……”

A woman with the same appearance as the Girl.

“Get rid of whom?”

But her smile was nothing like the Girl's; it overflowed with a terrifyingly malicious and cruel aura.

Crack!

Magic Power erupted from the hole in his chest.

“Gah!”

The light flickered a few times, and then

Kaboom!

The boy's body exploded, scattering in all directions.

He was reduced to unrecognizable pieces of meat.

“Thank you, insect. Thanks to you, the conditions for Resurrection have been met.”

The evil being with the Girl's appearance smiled sinisterly.

The Research Director.

The Research Director, thought to be dead, was revived as a soul fragment.

Thud-

The Girl's legs gave way, and she collapsed to her knees.

It was inside me all this time….

The Research Director's blood that had been absorbed when the Girl ascended to Godhood.

It wasn't just a catalyst for Magic.

It was a single arrangement to hide within her, use her Divine Body as a host, and resurrect as a God.

That was the reason why she was specifically chosen for artificial Deification, and why all the other Researchers were killed.

“Hah, Whoo.”

The Research Director spread her arms, taking a deep breath in and then letting it out.

“I didn’t have much time left. I didn’t have enough time to build a Narrative to become a God. However, if I artificially created a God and waited inside, it was entirely possible.”

The Research Director had a dream since childhood.

To become a great God encompassing all the knowledge of humanity.

He had lived with the single-minded goal of one day surpassing the Gods.

A child prodigy known for her genius from a young age, he became a renowned scholar across the Continent and rose to the position of Research Director of the Imperial Research Institute, the Empire’s finest research facility.

But he couldn't become a God.

Despite his superior intellect and the knowledge he had gathered from all over the Continent, he ultimately failed to achieve Divinity.

What was the reason?

After much research, he finally discovered the condition she lacked.

A Narrative.

The three scholar Constellations, including the Magi-Engineer, all had their own Narratives, but she didn't.

A Narrative that would become the Core for condensing a sufficient amount of Divinity.

And by the time he realized this, he was too old.

He had masked his aging with a mask and forcibly extended his lifespan, but she had reached her limit.

There wasn't enough time to acquire a Narrative and become a God.

The Research Director thought.

If I can't become one, I'll create one.

And I will use that God as a host to be reborn as a Constellation.

The Research Director, hiding his true intentions, persuaded the Emperor.

The Emperor, swayed by his persuasion, approved the absurd plan to artificially create a God without even considering that it would lead to his downfall after his betrayal.

“And finally, all the conditions have been met.”

No matter how many arrangements were hidden, a God is a God.

To usurp a God's Divinity, several demanding conditions had to be met.

The God's emotional state had to be unstable and weakened.

Above all, contact had to be made with something from the Otherworld that could neutralize the God's Divine Power to some extent.

The voice that constantly echoed in the Girl's mind, tormenting her.

It was meant to control the Girl as desired and lead her to fulfill the conditions.

Wooong-

The Divine Power that constitutes the world.

The Divinity within the Girl.

All power began to be sucked into the Research Director.

Ah…….

Again.

He died because of me.

I asked him to….

If he hadn’t gotten involved with me, he wouldn’t have died.

I'm doing this again…….

As the despairing Girl stood before her, the Research Director greedily devoured her Divinity.

Such a magnificent meal!

Absolute Power of Knowledge over the Leypania Continent, plus the Otherworld knowledge and the Dream Power.

The Continent would welcome a new Goddess of Wisdom.

The greatest human God that had ever existed!

“Thank you, you insect! You were my greatest masterpiece! Hahahahahahahahaha!”

The long years spent hiding within the Girl's Divinity.

It was truly difficult.

But it's all over.

Now the Continent will bow before me!

Only I, who encompasses all knowledge and intelligence, will stand tall as the true master of the Continent!

“Another backstab, huh?”

At that moment, a voice she thought she would never hear rang out.

“!!!!”

The Research Director's eyes widened.

“If you keep using the same patterns, the Players are gonna complain about recycled boss fights.”

Crack!

“Kraaagh!”

A sudden, invisible force slammed the Research Director hard into the ground.

The Research Director couldn't comprehend the situation.

What just happened？

How did it penetrate all the defensive mechanisms surrounding me and strike my Core!

I should have erased its very existence!!

“The master of a dream doesn't die in a dream.”

Thud!

The boy's foot stepped on and crushed the Research Director's back.

“They can’t die, even if they want to. Not within the dream.”

Anything is possible within a dream.

Except for one thing: death.

As long as the Dream Power functions properly, no one can stop the master of the dream.

But unlike that guy back then, you can't nullify the Divine Power, can you?

What kind of Boss should I make you into?

Players have been getting bored with the existing bosses lately, so it would be nice if you had some varied patterns.