Piercing Through

On the desolate land, the fierce winds gradually subsided. Numerous skeletal soldiers had been ground into dust, and the tall Onbashira had snapped and collapsed. The entire ancient battlefield appeared even more desolate and ruined. Kanako stood atop a broken Onbashira, clutching her chest and panting heavily, her clothes torn in many places.

In contrast, the colossal Tokoyo-no-Kami stood before her. After a bitter struggle, Its corpulent and grotesque body was almost undamaged. It remained coiled in place, Its dark eyes seemingly staring mockingly at Kanako.

“Indeed... a false god is a false god... no matter how dazzling your techniques, they cannot hide the fact of your weak divine power. I thought your second challenge would conceal some trump card, but it seems I was overthinking it...” A childish voice echoed within the Divine Domain as Tokoyo-no-Kami mocked Kanako to Its heart’s content.

“Hmph... don’t get ahead of yourself, you worm...” Kanako said weakly, looking at Tokoyo-no-Kami, who continued to mock without reserve.

“Heh... in your current state, you’ve already lost. I should be grateful. Although I could metamorphose into a pupa after absorbing the ley lines for a few more days, devouring you will accelerate this process...” Tokoyo-no-Kami said slowly. As It spoke, several light threads tightly coiled around Kanako, immobilizing her.

“Urgh... damn it...” Bound by the light threads, Kanako immediately felt a sense of dread. She instantly tried to use the power of her Divine Domain to escape the predicament, but no sooner had she activated it than countless cracks appeared throughout the Divine Domain. Then, the entire world shattered and collapsed like glass, and everything returned to the deep, vast cavern.

“What...”

“Has this false corrosive space finally reached its limit? You need to rely on such a contraption to exert power, yet you dare call yourself a god?” Tokoyo-no-Kami snorted coldly, looking at the collapsing space and Kanako’s astonished face. Just as It was about to drag Kanako over to devour her, the astonishment on Kanako’s face transformed into a smile.

“Heh... if I can’t be called a god, then you’re at most just a stupid worm...”

“You...” Seeing Kanako’s sudden change in demeanor, Tokoyo-no-Kami grew annoyed. Just as It was about to immediately drag this false god, stubborn even in death, over to devour her, It suddenly felt that something was amiss.

Tokoyo-no-Kami could feel a powerful and terrifying energy signature approaching from above, already almost directly over Its head.

Realizing the gravity of the situation, Tokoyo-no-Kami immediately tried to move and dodge, but Its body was too corpulent, making it extremely difficult for it to make an emergency dodge.

From the ceiling of the underground cavern, an incredibly thick, blinding white light melted through the rock and shot straight down. Traversing over 6,000 meters of thick geological strata, this white light, fired directly from space, struck Tokoyo-no-Kami’s corpulent and colossal body with pinpoint accuracy. Under temperatures of tens of thousands of degrees Celsius, Tokoyo-no-Kami’s incredibly tough hide was instantly melted through, creating a massive opening that pierced one-third of Its body from top to bottom, and continued to melt through the stone ground beneath It.

The blinding white light illuminated the entire pitch-black cavern. Tokoyo-no-Kami’s unearthly, high-pitched shriek echoed through every corner of the lair, even making Kanako, who had just broken free from the light threads, involuntarily close her eyes and cover her ears. Under the piercing and scorching of the high-energy spiritual drilling laser, Tokoyo-no-Kami’s corpulent and grotesque body was vaporized almost half, and the remaining portion began to disintegrate inch by inch, breaking down into tens of millions of tiny larval clones that scattered and burrowed into the ground.

Finally, when the white light faded and completely vanished, Tokoyo-no-Kami’s figure was no longer seen in the vast cavern. Kanako slowly opened her eyes, looking with some astonishment at the empty underground space.

“An ultra-high-energy spiritual beam capable of drilling so deep into the earth? Uka-no-Mitama-no-Mikoto, your methods are truly surprising...” Kanako exclaimed.

Before this, Miketsu had instructed Kanako to use her Divine Domain to delay Tokoyo-no-Kami and shield Its perception of the outside world, preparing for Miketsu’s own attack. But Kanako had never imagined the attack would be like this.

That light just now, though merely spiritual power, had accumulated and irradiated an incredibly terrifying amount within a small area. If such an attack had missed and hit her, she would likely have been turned to ash on the spot... How exactly did Uka-no-Mitama-no-Mikoto achieve such spiritual methods, comparable to divine arts?

Thinking of Tokoyo-no-Kami’s shriek earlier, Kanako couldn’t help but feel a shiver of dread, musing that at least Its aim was decent.

“Yo... it’s finally settled, that guy’s pretty reliable, huh? Let’s go, Kanako, we should head up. Kaki is still waiting for us up there.” At this moment, Suwako slowly descended beside Kanako, speaking as she looked at the empty cavern before them.

“Suwako... I just saw the un-melted part of that worm’s body disintegrate into countless small pieces before vanishing... It’s not completely dead, is it?” Kanako said slowly, looking at Suwako. Suwako listened, then fell silent for a moment before tilting her head.

“Who knows...”

...

On the space station, after the attack mission concluded, everyone on board collectively sighed in relief. After this, most of the moon rabbits and Eirin returned to the Inari Secret Realm to attend the belated victory banquet, but Miketsu did not go back with them.

Inside the space station, Miketsu stood behind a large window, continuing to admire the azure Earth. Beside her, a flash of brilliant light appeared, and Toyohime’s figure materialized.

“Lady Uka...” Approaching Miketsu, Toyohime bowed slightly and extended her hand. Miketsu nodded in response and took Toyohime’s outstretched hand.

Then, after another flash of brilliant light, their figures vanished from the space station. When they reappeared, they were in a wilderness, and before them stood Kaki, holding Harumutsu, and Suwako.

“You’ve worked hard, Toyohime. Please wait over there for now...”

Stepping out of the freshly drawn coordinate Magical Array, Miketsu spoke to Toyohime. Toyohime nodded in response and left the scene. Kaki, holding Harumutsu, did the same; after bowing to Miketsu, she withdrew with Toyohime. For a moment, only Miketsu and Suwako remained.

“How is it? What’s the situation with that worm?” Uka asked directly, looking at the frog god before her.

“Half of Its body was destroyed, and the rest self-destructed and escaped. The energy It had accumulated for Its pupation has been depleted by at least half.” Suwako said bluntly, spreading her hands.

“So, It’s not dead yet?”

“It is the God of Reincarnation. Unless Its current reincarnation cycle has reached its final, adult stage, It cannot be killed. Before that, no matter what methods are used, It cannot be eradicated. That’s just how it is with that creature; if you want to kill It, you must face It at Its strongest.” Suwako said with a helpless tone, and Miketsu frowned.

“Then wasn’t what I did today all for naught?”

“It certainly wasn’t for naught. First, you saved Kanako and me. Then, you set back that worm’s pupation progress once more. Otherwise, It would have pupated in less than two days. That creature’s pupa is the toughest thing I’ve ever seen; only the strongest Ancient Gods can shake it. Once It pupates, It will be unstoppable in a world where no other Ancient Gods exist. Then we would only be able to await the reappearance of the Ancient God Tokoyo Butterfly, and I don’t believe we would have a single shred of a chance.”