I, Matou Sakura, Third of the Flame-Chasers! Chapter 30

"We meet again, Miss Matou Sakura!"

Matou Sakura's eyes widened sharply. Some unseen instinct told her the answer.

"It's you!"

Forty-One, Evil God

She was a deity.

Though she differed somewhat from the gods as humans understood them, many humans worshipped her as one.

In many respects, she truly was a god.

She possessed terrifying power that surpassed humanity.

Though that was merely how humans saw it.

She preferred to call her power a blessing that allowed life to see the true nature of the world.

It was power bestowed upon her by the great Father God.

She was a god, yet she had no duties of her own. If anything, she simply sought out interesting things.

But interesting things were usually fleeting, and the time they could endure was always so short.

Yet she continued searching.

A shift in her gaze led her to discover an exceedingly fascinating existence.

From the perspective of a world's master, that was an outsider.

But she was not that world's master. Even if she wanted to become its master, the powerful being who governed the greater universe to which that world belonged would not care.

She had dealt with him many times before. She had even deceived Cthulhu into investing a portion of his power there, creating an interesting little fellow.

Ah, this was not the time for that. She had to find that interesting little fellow.

And then she found her. When that little fellow left her body in the form of a soul and wandered through the universe, she pulled her into the edge of a multiverse she was using as a temporary foothold.

This was an adorable little fellow. The light emanating from her soul was fascinating, and she even carried a creation of that iron lump upon her.

If she remembered correctly, it seemed to be called the AllSpark?

Interesting.

She remembered that the AllSpark of that world should still be in that iron lump's possession. Could it be that he had made another one?

But on closer inspection

, that AllSpark bore neither that iron lump's mark nor aura. In other words, it was not that iron lump's creation.

Then where had this AllSpark come from?

Across the vast multiverse, only that iron lump could create an AllSpark. Only its abilities could produce an artifact capable of bringing toys to life.

Something created from nothing?

Her curiosity toward this little fellow grew even stronger.

But this form made the little fellow far too wary, so she should change forms.

She gently sent the little fellow back into her body. This time, she had only destroyed one universe.

That was tremendous progress compared to the three universes last time.

There was no helping it. Every creation in this greater universe was simply too fragile for her.

Then she met that little fellow again, using the body of the one called The Ancient One in that world.

When she took this body, someone had even set their sights on me. How interesting.

A great tiger, and a man and a woman.

Their eyes were not bad, but they were far too weak...

With only a smile, she enjoyed one interesting scene after another.

But for now, this little fellow was more important.

"The Ancient One?"

Matou Sakura's expression turned grave. The Ancient One before her gave her a terrible feeling. Could that existence truly have possessed The Ancient One's body?

Then what about Vishanti?

Given the relationship between The Ancient One and Vishanti, even though many Ancient Ones still existed, Vishanti would never allow another being to occupy The Ancient One's body!

This concerned the dignity of a multiversal powerhouse.

"The Ancient One you speak of has already fallen asleep."

The Ancient One—or rather, an Ancient One who was not The Ancient One.

"Allow me to briefly introduce myself. Before that, you needn't be so nervous. I will not harm you."

Matou Sakura remained silent, but she relaxed her taut body.

It was not that she trusted the other party so easily. Rather, with the other party's strength, killing her would take no more than a thought.

Before an absolute gap in strength, everything was powerless.

Just like her battle with Finality. "Who are you?"

"Do you want my true name or a false one?"

The Ancient One before her wore a girlish smile.

The scene before her seemed to collapse.

Even Matou Sakura could not help feeling nauseated.

Yet the Ancient One felt nothing of it at the moment. Perhaps she was even enjoying it.

"A false name, then."

Normally, it would be better to ask for someone's true name. But considering that the other party was suspected to be an existence above the Multiversal Level, rashly asking for her true name might result in being crushed into dust by some unseen power.

It was only a possibility, but she still had to be cautious.

Before returning to the Honkai World, she would never allow death to come near her!

For that, she could pay any price!

"What lovely eyes."

The not-Ancient One gave a soft laugh. She liked the look in this little one's eyes.

Those dark golden eyes always reminded her of a hero she had once encountered. That fellow had been quite good, but unfortunately...

Fools never lived long, and those unwilling to give up anything gained nothing in return.

That was the rule of the world, and the way all things operated.

"Just call me Nyarko."

As she lightly spoke her name, this space twisted beyond imagination.

But in the very next second, the distortion capable of destroying the entire world—even the universe—vanished.

Yet Matou Sakura's eyes had already widened.

Nyarko!

Was she that Nyarko!?

If she truly was that Nyarko!

Then that meant... among the known Three Great Gods and the unknown Nyarlathotep!

"It seems you know me."

The Ancient One—or rather, Nyarko wearing the Ancient One's form—revealed an amused expression.

"This name only appeared after I devoured another version of myself. Logically speaking, only those few should know it."

"It seems information from another world has leaked out. But there should be very few worlds capable of bearing information about me, so tell me, little one—where do you come from?"

"Earth..."

Matou Sakura's voice trembled. She should not have given that answer, but she could not control her body.

It was as though invisible threads had wrapped around her body, controlling it without form.

"Earth?"

Nyarko frowned slightly. She could naturally tell that the girl was not lying, but she could say with certainty that Earth should not have been capable of bearing information about her.

Even that human had only gained the status of an agent because he had once connected to Cthulhu's dream. Only then had he been able to use a mortal tool like a pen to write stories about the existence of beings like them.

And because that person was human, he had drawn the attention of other existences, resulting in many books recording stories that belonged to them.

Many of them were stories written by the Great Old Ones

and those boring Outer God kin, who manipulated that human into writing tales related to their own existence.

But those stories were a mixture of truth and falsehood.

For example, Hastur had once written a little story about Cthulhu being killed after getting rammed by a ship.

Wait, it was not as though there were no Earths capable of receiving that information.

There were many Earths, but a few were always more special than the rest.

For instance, the Earth of this greater universe was the center of that universe.

And in her memories, there existed a legendary Earth—a transit station that received all information!

A miracle that knew all, yet could never be reached!

When the Unknown Became Known

At that moment, Nyarko understood something. It was the feeling of some unknown being unraveled.

She had not experienced such a feeling in a long time. Though she was not Yog-Sothoth and did not possess the authority of omniscience, she could still be considered omniscient. Things unknown to her could be said not to exist.

But now...

This little one before her had unraveled one of her unknowns and brought her information about that Star of Miracles.

Although she knew that place would do her no good, after all, it was a place no one could ever find.

That planet existed within the absolutely unknowable Third World.

In other words, the Third World encompassed both the known that was already known and the unknown that had yet to be known. It could also be called a realm of contradictions.

Though being unable to uncover that world's location, merely knowing some information about it was already an incredible feat.

After all, it was an unknowable world.

It was just a pity she could not ask any more questions.

She could sense that, after receiving this answer from the little girl, an existence on a far higher level had locked onto her. Its source lay within the little girl before her.

Some kind of protection? This feeling was in no way inferior to Father God should he awaken.

Nyarko narrowed her eyes slightly, then woke the little girl before her.

Clarity returned to Matou Sakura's bewildered eyes. She immediately looked warily at Nyarko—or rather, Nyarlathotep.

"You don't need to be so wary of me."

Nyarko smiled softly. If she had not been using The Ancient One's body, Matou Sakura might have felt better, but she was using The Ancient One's body now.

It looked very strange indeed.

"It seems using this body isn't quite right."

Nyarko noticed the problem. She smiled and said cheerfully, "Then I'll be leaving for now. I'll come find you again after a while. Consider this a gift for our first meeting."

As she spoke, Nyarko controlled The Ancient One's body and slapped a hand against Matou Sakura's forehead at a speed she could not catch.

In an instant, soul and body separated once again. But in the next instant, they abruptly fused back together.

"Miss Matou Sakura, are you all right?"