Under the moonlit night, within the secret realm of the Inari Shrine, Miketsu stood before Suwako and voiced her doubts directly. Faced with these questions, Suwako did not answer immediately. Instead, she stared at Miketsu with a cold, stern expression, remaining silent for a long time.
"Do you... not wish to speak?"
"No, I simply didn't expect you to know so much about that fellow. Even among the gods of Takamagahara, knowledge of him is likely limited to what is found in mere myths." Suwako spoke slowly, reaching up to slightly lower the brim of her hat.
"As I said, Heian-kyo is my domain. Naturally, I am aware of the secrets hidden beneath it. I have already clashed with the Great Snake's influence in the shadows more than once... and yet, my knowledge of him is far from sufficient. I need to know more about him, and you seem to have some sort of connection to him. Can you tell me..."
"Though I have thwarted the Great Snake's plans several times, his power only continues to grow stronger," Miketsu said to Suwako with a solemn expression. Suwako stood silently for a long while before finally letting out a soft sigh.
"I—or rather, what I once was... in a sense, I am of the same kind as that snake."
Hearing Suwako's words, Miketsu felt a slight jolt of shock. This immediately reminded her of the God of the Eternal World she had encountered on Nightless Island not long ago. According to Suwako, she, the Great Snake, and the God of the Eternal World were all the same type of existence!
"Of the same kind?"
Miketsu was still reeling from the surprise when Suwako turned her gaze toward the horizon, murmuring to herself as she watched the bright moon in the sky.
"When the ancestors of humanity were still crawling on all fours in humility, before the Three Realms were divided and civilization had yet to dawn, we already reigned over the earth. For eons, we were the masters of this world, enduring through countless ages and calamities. We were the first to be endowed with the title of 'god,' receiving the worship of all living things since time immemorial..."
"Heh, Uka-no-Mitama-no-Mikoto, you, Kanako, and those beings on Takamagahara are called orthodox gods. However, if it were up to me, you should be called Modern Gods. As for us... we are the Ancient Gods."
Placing a hand over her heart, Suwako spoke with gravitas. Waves of realization surged through Miketsu's heart. Although she had harbored similar suspicions after the incident with the God of the Eternal World, hearing it confirmed still left her shaken. "Ancient Gods... You are the primordial deities who existed before us?"
"Yes. We are powerful biological entities that evolved naturally from this world, scattered across every corner of the earth. We once created countless kin and were enshrined as gods by the earliest civilizations. We used our colossal forms and infinite strength to slaughter and fight one another, reshaping and changing this world. We brought endless blessings to all living creatures upon it, but we also wrought disasters of extinction..." Suwako murmured with a hollow look in her eyes, as if reminiscing about the distant past. After absorbing this information, Miketsu took a deep breath and continued her inquiry.
"You once ruled this world, but why did you all fall? Was it because of the Modern Gods?"
"No, it was because of internal strife. Although I call that snake one of my kind, in the past, we never would have considered ourselves to have anything in common. Every Ancient God was an insufferably arrogant being; we were almost entirely hostile toward one another, and cooperation was rare. The history of the Ancient Gods, from beginning to end, is a chronicle of never-ending civil war. We all believed that the Ancient God who survived the slaughter to the very end would rule everything. Yet, the final result was the end of the age of Ancient Gods and the rise of you Modern Gods..." Suwako continued, but Miketsu's questions were far from over.
"If the Ancient Gods slaughtered each other to the point of extinction, then what is your current state? Can dead Ancient Gods be resurrected?"
"No. The vast majority of Ancient Gods are dead and gone, unable to return. Only a few, under special circumstances or possessing unique traits that allowed their spirits to endure after their physical bodies perished, have the possibility of revival. For example... me."
"Among the Ancient Gods, I was part of the group that died quite late. By then, the rules of this world had begun to change, and that mysterious thing called faith appeared. Although my Ancient God body was slain, the kingdom I created was not destroyed. My human kin continued to worship me, and the faith they generated sustained my dissipating spirit, eventually transforming me into what you call a wild god."
Suwako continued to answer Miketsu's questions, but within her words, Miketsu grasped another point.
"You said the rules of the world changed, leading to the appearance of faith? Was there no faith in the age of the Ancient Gods?"
"Ancient Gods had no faith, nor did they need it. We were already powerful in our own right. It was only natural for other creatures to fear and worship us. Our slaughter or blessings toward other beings were granted according to our whims. We weren't like the wild gods and orthodox gods of today who must obtain faith to exist... Of course, I am currently just a wild god myself. It would be quite troublesome if I lacked faith..."
As Suwako spoke, she gave a somewhat helpless smile and spread her hands.
"Then... what is your relationship with Takeminakata—or rather, Kanako? Does she know you are an Ancient God?"
"Of course she doesn't. She was originally a deity sent by Takamagahara to the mortal realm to sweep away unruly faiths and conquer territories. When she reached the kingdom I had left behind, I fought a great battle against her to protect and maintain my faith. In the end, I lost to her, and the faith of the entire kingdom was converted to her, falling under the rule of Takamagahara—or rather, the Yamato Mythology..."
"Heh, but because I had ruled that kingdom for so long, the people still held me in great awe even after my defeat. Though they ostensibly converted to Kanako, they continued to worship me in secret. Kanako was unable to obtain faith from her conquered land."
At this point, Suwako couldn't help but chuckle, as if picturing the frustrated look on Kanako's face when she had won but gained nothing.
"I originally thought that, faced with followers who only worshipped her on the surface, she would act like the other orthodox gods of Yamato who go out to conquer—directly bringing down divine punishment and massacring the defiant ones to make an example of them, forcing the rest to convert through deep-seated fear. But Kanako didn't do that. Instead, she created a new divine name called Moriya-no-Kami and shared it with me. She proclaimed within the kingdom that Moriya-no-Kami was the original Suwa Daimyojin as well as Takeminakata-no-Kami, merging us into a single object of worship so we could receive the people's devotion together..."
"Thus, she obtained faith through the divine name she shared with me, and I did not vanish despite my defeat. She and I have existed together under the same divine name ever since..."
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