Venomous Corruption

In the Celestial Realm, Takamagahara.

Upon the Sun City, due to the influence of the Eternal Worm within the cycle of reincarnation, Are had modified the contents of the Kojiki at the critical moment. The verses originally intended to weaken and bind the Great Snake were directly struck out, and the power of Yamato Mythology to suppress the Great Snake vanished in that instant.

The eight cups of sake... were useless.

Amidst a dark, triumphant laugh, the Great Snake, having regained its strength, simultaneously raised its eight massive heads. This five-to-six-hundred-meter-tall behemoth reared up its body, opening eight cavernous maws to release a terrifying roar that echoed in all directions. Under the ancient god’s aura, as vast as the sea, the entire Celestial Realm seemed to tremble.

On the other side, after Amaterasu realized something was wrong with Are, she had already flown at high speed toward the Sun City. Upon reaching the sun disk high above the sky of Takamagahara, she immediately felt the terrifying power surging from below. At that moment, she realized it was too late.

Facing this situation, Amaterasu decisively unleashed her full divine power. The Heavenly Sun Disk, constructed from her divine power, instantly swelled in size. For a time, all of Takamagahara was bathed in a blinding, intense light, and the temperature soared drastically.

From the massive Heavenly Sun Disk, a brilliant orb of light shot forth, crashing directly into the Great Snake below. Amidst a blinding glare and intense tremors, the light orb exploded. The Great Snake’s massive body was engulfed in a towering fireball. The powerful shockwave flattened all trees and buildings within a radius of over ten kilometers. Shortly after, the fireball, thousands of meters high, rose rapidly to form a giant mushroom cloud ten thousand meters tall.

Then, accompanied by another terrifying roar, a shockwave rippled out from the center of the explosion, instantly blowing away the extreme-heat dust and smoke. The Great Snake’s massive form emerged from the blast center, its dark purple scales showing not a single scratch.

Surveying the devastated environment after the explosion, the Great Snake let out a dark, mocking sneer. Then, all eight snake heads looked up together at the massive sun in the sky.

Suddenly, one of the Great Snake’s heads lunged upward, its length stretching rapidly as it struck toward the sun in the heavens with its maw wide open. Seeing this, Amaterasu concentrated nearly all her divine power into a thick, ultra-powerful solar ray, firing it directly at the lunging head.

In the sustained, high-intensity heat that could easily vaporize steel, the scales and flesh of the Great Snake’s head began to show signs of being scorched and incinerated. However, they healed and regenerated at high speed. The damage Amaterasu exerted her full strength to inflict could not keep up with the recovery speed of this ancient god of flesh and blood.

Finally, the Great Snake’s continuously extending massive head reached the sun in the heavens. With its cavernous maw, the Great Snake bit down on the sun of Takamagahara. In an instant, the sky of Takamagahara fell into darkness.

The hovering Sun City was torn down by the Great Snake’s mouth and slammed heavily into the ground. The massive city shattered into pieces. Amaterasu’s body lay battered among the ruins, as the Great Snake’s eight pairs of crimson eyes stared fixedly at her.

"How does it feel... Himiko? To calculate everything only to fall short at the final step..." the Great Snake whispered darkly to its former priestess. Covered in blood, Amaterasu struggled to lift her head and look at the Great Snake.

"So... was our plan within your expectations all along?"

"Naturally... There is a reason I, who am not among the top tier of the ancient gods, have managed to survive until the end... Do not think I did not see the trend of the boundaries changing. Do not think I did not see those other Chief Gods contacting you before you were even deified... Your intentions were clear from the very beginning..."

The Great Snake spoke coldly. Among the ancient gods, the Great Snake’s strength was only mid-tier. In the era of ancient gods where powerhouses were as numerous as trees in a forest, its ability to survive until the end relied primarily on calculation.

Lifting her head, the battered Amaterasu gazed blankly at the Great Snake and spoke slowly.

"Do you... intend to destroy me now... and the era of modern gods?"

"No, I have no intention of destroying you. You have a better use than being destroyed..." As the Great Snake spoke, the scales on its body fanned out, and countless tiny purple-scaled snakes crawled out from beneath them. These were all clones of the Great Snake.

These tiny purple snakes burrowed into the ruins of the Sun City after leaving the Great Snake. After a casual search through the debris, they found Are, who had already collapsed on the ground. Beside Are lay the Kojiki, which had reverted to its form as an ancient book.

A tiny purple snake wiggled its body and crawled to the side of the worn ancient book. It flicked its tongue, caught the scent, and then opened its mouth to bite it.

Suddenly, sharp fangs pierced the pages, and the ancient god’s venom was released into it. The entire Kojiki began to be enveloped in a faint purple light.

"Aaaah..." The moment the Great Snake’s power was injected into the Kojiki, Amaterasu’s mind was struck by a sharp pain, and her independent consciousness was being continuously stripped away.

Now, the Great Snake had begun to perform its specialty: erosion. This time, what it intended to erode was the entire Yamato pantheon. Through the Prophetic Book of Investiture, which served as the core of the mythology, it could transmit its power to every Yamato god, thereby eroding and corrupting them.

"Oh, hypocritical human-gods, now pay the price for your arrogant ignorance... Become my eternal servants, all of you..."

Watching Amaterasu’s reaction below, the Great Snake whispered. Dark, gloomy clouds began to fill the sky of Takamagahara.

...

In the mortal world, within the town of Ise, Enmusubi, who was currently manning a stall to sell goods, suddenly froze. Then, she could not help but fall to her knees, clutching her throbbing head.

"Ugh... This, what is this... My head... it hurts so much... it’s unbearable..."

Near Kinki, Kanako, who was rapidly moving away from the battlefield, also suddenly felt a surge of discomfort in her head. She stopped in the sky and could not help but clutch her forehead.

"This... what is it... Some power is invading..."

Amidst the ruins of Heian-kyo, Miketsu, who was attempting to open a passage to Takamagahara, frowned slightly. She could clearly feel a familiar power flowing out from the Inari godhead, invading her thoughts and attempting to erode and control her consciousness. Miketsu knew very well that this was the power of the Great Snake!

Although Miketsu’s soul was that of an ancient god and she did not fear the Great Snake’s erosion in the slightest, the current situation also made her aware of an extremely dire fact.

The Great Snake... had already broken free... and it had dealt with Amaterasu and seized the Kojiki! Mythology could no longer restrain its power.

Seeing this, Miketsu immediately understood what kind of upheaval had likely occurred upon Takamagahara. Amaterasu and the others... had played with fire and got burned. Now, the entire Yamato pantheon was likely facing the Great Snake’s erosion. Before long, the entire Yamato pantheon would be reduced to its puppets.

And this was only the beginning. The turn of the Great Snake and its kind had arrived...