Sinking into the Core

Entangled by a massive tongue from behind, the Tokoyo Butterfly was dragged directly out of the Celestial Realm and into the mortal world. Amidst the high-speed retraction of the giant tongue, it was pulled all the way from Europe toward the East.

Its massive body sliced through the sky at extreme speeds, crossing countless mountains and rivers, leaping over deserts and oceans, until it was finally hauled to the islands of the Far East. There, a gargantuan, wide-open maw awaited it.

The Tokoyo Butterfly was coiled by immense force and pulled into the mouth of the Ancient God of Earth. As the mountain-like maw closed with an indescribable, heavy pressure, the butterfly’s many razor-sharp, slender appendages jammed against the edges of the upper and lower jaws. It braced itself with everything it had, resisting the Ancient God of Earth’s attempt to swallow it.

"Oh my... you reacted quite quickly. If you were any slower, you would have been swallowed whole," Suwako said with a smile from atop the head of the Ancient God of Earth. The Tokoyo Butterfly let out a sound of pure shock.

"It's you... You've revived as well... Impossible! You shouldn't have met the requirements!" the Tokoyo Butterfly exclaimed in consternation while struggling against the Ancient God of Earth’s crushing bite. Suwako replied with total composure.

"This world is always full of unknowns and surprises. Anything is possible, isn't it? You thought I had no chance of revival, but I've actually been waiting here for you for a long time."

"You... you intentionally waited for me to come out first?"

"That's right. If I had revived first, how could you have felt safe enough to emerge from your pupa?" Suwako continued to smile. Although she had gathered the conditions for her revival some time ago, she had chosen to wait until now for various reasons.

First, the goals of Amaterasu and the modern gods were unclear. Although Miketsu suspected that Amaterasu might be the priestess of the Great Snake, there was no proof. Suwako had to let Amaterasu expose her own issues first. If Suwako had revived before the modern gods' problems came to light, she likely would have been besieged by the major Chief Gods, allowing the Great Snake to benefit from the chaos.

Second, the Tokoyo Butterfly’s cocoon was so sturdy that even an ancient god could hardly damage it. If it realized there was danger outside, it could stay inside the pupa indefinitely, waiting hundreds or thousands of years for the right moment. Therefore, to solve the problem of the Tokoyo Butterfly once and for all, she had to wait for it to break its cocoon while it believed it had an 'overwhelming advantage' and faced 'no threat.'

Thus, after various discussions with Miketsu, Suwako decided to revive only after sensing the Tokoyo Butterfly had emerged. Then, she would suppress it herself.

The Ancient God of Earth increased its biting force further. The Tokoyo Butterfly’s body and appendages were pressed tighter under the immense pressure; clearly, the butterfly could not match the Ancient God of Earth in raw strength. It could only radiate its power at full output, inflicting decay upon the Ancient God of Earth.

The power of the Tokoyo Butterfly in its adult form could affect even an ancient god. Though the process was slow, fine cracks began to appear on the rocky skin of the Ancient God of Earth’s mouth, showing signs of slight weathering. Around them, vast swathes of forest began to wither and carbonize. The solid earth was rapidly eroding into sand. Beasts and yokai caught in the peripheral influence became piles of skeletons before they could even react. What was once a lush forest turned into a wasteland in an instant.

Seeing that it still could not escape the Ancient God of Earth’s maw, the Tokoyo Butterfly’s mouthparts opened wide. Within them, a bewitching, seven-colored light overflowed as powerful energy gathered. The Tokoyo Butterfly intended to fire a breath attack directly into the Ancient God of Earth’s mouth. Sensing this, the Ancient God of Earth retracted its giant tongue and began to condense its own breath. A brilliant yellow light shone out from the depths of its dark, massive maw.

Seeing this, the Tokoyo Butterfly was momentarily stunned. It realized that if this continued, it would be a point-blank exchange of breath attacks. If both sides fired at full power, it could not possibly survive at this distance.

In response, the Tokoyo Butterfly released its only partially condensed breath into the Ancient God of Earth’s maw, and the Ancient God of Earth likewise unleashed its own gathering energy.

The breaths of the two ancient gods collided at close range, and a massive explosion of energy erupted. A giant sphere of light rapidly expanded from the center of the decaying wasteland, instantly reaching a radius of over ten kilometers, swallowing the ancient gods at the center and everything within range. The brilliant point of light was clearly visible even from the Monitoring Pavilion in orbit. The powerful shockwave knocked down trees at an even greater distance. Dozens of miles away, on the shore of Lake Suwa, Sanae felt the violent wind blowing toward her and covered her face with her sleeve.

"Lady Suwako..."

As the light faded, the original decaying wasteland had become a gargantuan circular crater. At the bottom of this deep pit lay the mangled body of the Tokoyo Butterfly.

Two-thirds of its massive, dazzling wings had been destroyed. Half of its razor-like appendages were gone. Its armored, segmented body was covered in gaping rifts, and fluorescent green fluid flowed everywhere. It was a scene of a creature on the verge of death from heavy injuries.

'No... I must... recover quickly... and leave...'

Amidst its weak thoughts, the Tokoyo Butterfly struggled to lift its broken wings. In a flash of eerie green light, its wounds began to heal at a pace visible to the naked eye, and its wings gradually regained their fullness. This was the butterfly adjusting its own life process to accelerate the healing of its wounds. In terms of recovery, it was superior to the Ancient God of Earth that was Suwako.

Once its wings were partially restored, the Tokoyo Butterfly vibrated them to take flight. But before it could even clear a hundred meters from the ground, the earth directly exploded. Four thick, long, grey-white rock snakes shot into the sky, biting the Tokoyo Butterfly firmly and dragging it back to the ground with immense force.

"What..."

From beneath the earth, the massive body of the Ancient God of Earth burst through the soil. Its giant maw was covered in deep cracks and wounds, and bright red blood flowed from it. Ignoring its injuries, the Ancient God of Earth slammed a foot down on the Tokoyo Butterfly that had failed to take flight, pinning it down with absolute weight.

Atop the Ancient God of Earth’s head, Suwako looked around at the desolate, silent scene, her brow furrowing slightly.

"Sigh... It seems I can't keep tangling with you like this. Otherwise, the collateral damage will get out of control. Kaki and Sanae might be in danger..."

As she spoke, Suwako’s ancient god power surged. The earth beneath the Ancient God of Earth’s feet began to sink rapidly. The Tokoyo Butterfly was pressed down by the Ancient God of Earth, falling all the way into the abyss.

"What... are you doing!?"

The pinned Tokoyo Butterfly struggled frantically, radiating decay as it shouted its question. Suwako replied calmly.

"Nothing much. I just felt that killing you up here was a bit too much effort, so I'm sending you somewhere more convenient..."

"Somewhere more convenient..."

"The Earth's core. A creature of your level shouldn't be able to survive there," Suwako answered with a slight smile. She intended to press the Tokoyo Butterfly all the way to the center of the planet, using the extreme heat and pressure to destroy it.

"The Earth's core! Are you mad? Once we reach that place, even you won't escape unscathed! Do you want to suffer from unhealable injuries for tens of thousands of years?"

"It doesn't matter. I don't particularly care for this ancient god body anyway. As long as you and that snake are dead, everything will be fine."

"Lunatic..."

"Ah, among the ancient gods, I suppose I could be considered a lunatic..."

Suwako gave her final smiling reply and accelerated the sinking speed. The darkness surrounding them gradually shifted into a glowing crimson, and the temperature rose sharply. They had broken through the crust and entered the mantle.

Thus, amidst ever-increasing heat and pressure, Suwako suppressed the Tokoyo Butterfly, heading all the way toward the Earth's core—heading toward destruction.