The Bells of Creation Ring (12/30)
The sky was shrouded in dust and debris. The once-blue heavens had been stained a murky gray, the sunlight blocked out, with only faint rays filtering through the thick clouds.
The ground had been torn apart by the tremendous impact, forming countless massive cracks and craters. What had once been flat land was now rugged and uneven.
A scorched wasteland spread around the point of impact. Blazing flames roared, swallowing everything around them in a sea of fire.
The air was thick with the pungent stench of sulfur and burning, making it hard to breathe.
The shockwave from the impact reverberated through the air with deafening roars, filling people with fear.
Wearing the Firefly IV Strategic Assault Armor, Firefly stood amid this harsh environment without being affected in the slightest, as though she were standing on ordinary ground.
After all, she was the one who had caused this scene.
Fortunately, Firefly had prepared in advance. The Game Field had isolated most of the damage.
Sam stepped forward, walking ahead one step at a time.
Nilam, Gene, and Guaguala had completely vanished from before her, leaving behind not even a fragment of wreckage.
Only the three Drivers and the Laser Raise Risers remained where they had been.
Firefly locked onto the locations of the three items and dug them out of the scorched earth. Seeing that the three Transformation Devices were not badly damaged, she relaxed considerably.
This meant the Game Producer's Driver had fallen into her hands as well.
In other words, she could now make a wish directly to the Creation Goddess.
And among the entire DGP operation, only one enemy remained that she absolutely had to face—the DGP's original creator.
Suel!
That old man had lurked behind the scenes for thousands of years. He was the one who had turned Geats' mother into a Creation Goddess statue that fulfilled others' wishes.
After Mitsume awakened the power of miracles and Suel turned her into a Goddess statue, he had even begun trying to imitate the Creation Goddess Mitsume and create more beings like her.
The navigators of the DGP Grand Prix were all successors to the Creation Goddess.
As long as they awakened the Creation Power, they could seamlessly take over when Mitsume had been completely drained.
The current navigator, Tsumuri, was one of them. Her predecessor as Game Navigator, Milu, had been one as well.
It was just that Milu had died because of Nemero...
"Even though I held back as much as I could, I still seem to have caused massive destruction and disaster."
After leaving the completely destroyed area, Firefly hovered high in the sky in her Sam form, observing the activity below.
Even with the restrictions of the game rules, quite a few innocent people had still been caught up in it.
But...
Firefly looked at the two Drivers in her hands. It seemed she still had a way to make amends.
Without hesitating further, Firefly immediately used the Vision Driver to enter the Creation Shrine once more.
Just as before, the place was empty, with no one else around. She had thought someone might be waiting for her here, such as Suel...
But there was no one. That man had not appeared.
Seeing no one, Firefly did not dwell on it and shifted her gaze to the Creation Goddess statue before her.
Because of her appearance, the Creation Goddess statue had not gone through the wishes Geats had made in the original timeline, so its condition seemed slightly better.
After thinking for a moment, Firefly took out the two Drivers in her hands and activated their wish-granting authority.
"Then please grant my wish, Creation Goddess."
"Restore the people and objects in the areas that were affected outside the game rules..."
Strictly speaking, Firefly had no personal wish that she needed the Creation Goddess to fulfill. The wishes she truly wanted could not be granted by the statue before her.
For one thing, the Creation Power was limited.
But Firefly also wanted to witness the Creation Goddess grant a wish and see her power firsthand. She was curious about the Creation Power displayed by the Goddess.
Furthermore, the damage from the previous battle had almost entirely been caused by her, so she made this wish.
This wish should not consume much of the Creation Goddess statue's power...
As Firefly voiced her wish, the bells of creation rang throughout the world, and the Creation Power manifested from the Goddess statue.
Other than the Game Field Firefly had enclosed, the affected buildings and people outside it were rapidly restored to how they had originally been.
As for the Game Field Firefly had created with the Administrator Driver, it remained unchanged.
There was no need to restore it, since no one was there.
More importantly, restoring it would recreate the Jyamato Garden as well. Wouldn't that mean she had fought for nothing?
"So that's why they don't keep making the Creation Goddess grant wishes after fulfilling one."
Watching the Creation Power displayed by the Creation Goddess statue, Firefly resolved a minor doubt in her heart.
Aside from the DGP Grand Prix normally allowing the Desire God to have only one wish fulfilled, Azuma Michinaga and the others had also obtained two Drivers and come here to make their wishes in the original story.
But after fulfilling their own wishes, they had not continued to make the Creation Goddess statue do anything else...
Firefly had originally thought they were simply satisfied after having one wish fulfilled, or that it was necessary for the plot. Now, it seemed the statue's existence had been consumed too greatly and needed time to recover.
Especially during the DGP Grand Prix, each time the Desire God's wish was fulfilled, it did not merely grant the winner's wish. The operators also had the Creation Goddess statue reshape the entire world.
It restored the places damaged by the DGP Grand Prix, as well as all innocent bystanders who had died after being caught up in it rather than killed by Jyamato.
Along with resetting the memories of everyone in the world, the consumption naturally could not have been small.
The DGP operation's method of quickly restoring the Creation Goddess statue's Creation Power was to hold another Grand Prix, using the misfortune of some people to accelerate the Goddess's Creation Power and thereby fulfill the Desire God's happiness.
Even so, the recovery of the Goddess's Creation Power could not keep up with its consumption, which was why she had become like this.
And according to Geats' future circumstances, the proper way to increase Creation Power was through the intense wishes of others.
Having understood all this, Firefly came up with a few ideas.
Compared to reshaping the world, her wish had merely restored the people who had been partially caught up in the damage, so it consumed very little of the Creation Goddess statue's power.
She could even continue making wishes...
Just like after Tsumuri became the Creation Goddess, when Keiwa Sakurai wanted to continue after his first wish led to his sister being killed. The reason it had not been granted was only because Tsumuri had just awakened, while Geats had also awakened and taken away part of the Creation Power.
Under normal circumstances, it was possible.
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"Then let's continue with the next wish!"
Having confirmed that the Creation Goddess statue before her could continue, and that her previous wish had consumed an extremely small amount of Creation Power...
Firefly decided to test it again. Although she guessed the Goddess before her most likely could not accomplish it, she still wanted to experiment.
"Grant me the power of an Aeon..."
"..."
Yet after Firefly finished speaking, there was only silence. Nothing happened.
As expected, it could not be done!
"Then what about granting me the power of an Emanator?"
After waiting for a while, there was still no reaction.
"Forget it, Creation Goddess. My next wish is... for you to gain freedom and no longer be bound by the rules."
Firefly stopped making random wishes. There was no way such power could be granted, no matter how she thought about it. Judging from the future Fox God's own abilities, he had not reached the level of an Aeon, much less possessed the ability to fulfill others' wishes.
Though one thing was absurd. The Fox God himself had said that the power of time was ineffective against a Creation God, yet the movie had turned out like that.
After giving it some thought, Firefly still voiced her wish for the Creation Goddess before her to no longer be restrained.
However...
Although the Creation Goddess statue before her swayed a few times, the wish was still not granted. The rule-based restraints on the Creation Goddess truly were not so easily broken.
"That doesn't work either?"
After pondering for a moment, Firefly realized that although she was called the Creation Goddess, due to certain circumstances and the limitations of the Creation Power, many wishes could not be fulfilled.
"Then let's leave it at that for now!"
Seeing the cracks on the Goddess statue, Firefly stopped putting her through any more trouble.
Although Geats' side of things had been somewhat bizarre, the Creation Goddess before her had not actually done anything worthy of hatred.
As for the claim that much misfortune had happened because of her?
Becoming the Creation Goddess statue had not been her choice. She had been controlled by the DGP operation and treated as a tool in its hands.
That was also why Firefly felt somewhat repulsed when Keiwa Sakurai hypocritically blamed the Creation Goddess.
Rather than hating the DGP operation that controlled the Creation Goddess, he blamed the Creation Goddess herself and shifted the root of all misfortune onto the Goddess.
That was simply unreasonable.
With no other wishes to make, Firefly turned and vanished from the Creation Shrine.
The Creation Goddess could not grant the wishes Firefly wanted, while the other wishes were unnecessary.
In any case, both Drivers were in her hands. If she truly needed to use the Creation Goddess, it would not be too late to come back then.
For now, it was time to tally her gains.
Although Firefly was not necessarily afraid of Suel behind the DGP operation, she still had no good way to deal with the power of time.
Therefore, if possible, she hoped to draw something related to time to counter Suel's influence over it...
After returning home...
Firefly handed the two Desire Drivers and two Laser Raise Risers to Herta, asking her to help analyze their data.
Many of these items were extremely useful. Even if they were brought to the Star Rail universe, those geniuses would probably be interested in them.
Only then did Firefly inspect her greatest gain.
Points... (Kill) Killed a large number of developing Jyamato embryos, soldier-class Jyamato, and special/high-level Jyamato. Obtained 9,800 Points. (Kill) Killed a giant Jyamato boss. Obtained 1,500 Points. (Achievement) Destroyed the Jyamato Garden. Obtained 3,000 Points. (Achievement) Destroyed a Jyamato seed possessing Creation Power and prevented the birth of the God Jyamato. Reward: 3,000 Points. (Kill) Eliminated the Jyamato cultivation gardener. Obtained 500 Points. (Achievement) Defeated and eliminated Kamen Rider Beroba. Obtained 1,000 Points. (Achievement) Defeated and eliminated Kamen Rider Regad. Obtained 1,500 Points. (Achievement) Defeated and eliminated Kamen Rider Ziin, "Gene." Obtained 1,000 Points. (Achievement) Defeated and eliminated Kamen Rider Kekera, "Guaguala." Obtained 1,000 Points. (Achievement) Obtained the Regad Driver. Obtained 1,500 Points. (Achievement) Had the Creation Goddess fulfill one of your wishes. Obtained 1,000 Points. Total obtained: 24,800 Points.
"..."
"Nearly twenty-five thousand Points?!"
Firefly had expected the Point rewards this time would not be low. She had not only destroyed the garden that cultivated Jyamato, but also defeated so many Future People and obtained the Game Producer's Driver.