Where Stars Go Mad

The snow lady stared in horror as the people in the village went crazy over the lack of supplies. In order to survive as long as possible, some had to die. It was the natural course of a town fated to be destroyed in the future. 

The lack of supplies had been created by confining the activity of the marionettes within the town range. Each marionette was supposed to have their own fate trajectory and while that had been accomplished, perhaps due to the influence of an outsider, the effectiveness had increased tremendously. 

What was originally a preplanned ending, had now become an entirely new independent fate. The marionettes in the original trajectory would have never met such a snow lady that brought them hope of the outside. 

Such hope had stimulated and changed the trajectories of the entire town. Tianzun had made a single mistake, originally he had limited the town entrances and exits to only allow external objects and eventually only supplies. 

He had forgotten to account for that people counted as supplies. Slaves counted as supplies. The snow lady had been captured and would have been captured as a prostitute. Especially with the suppression spell active on her. 

She would have been a sitting duck for the townspeople. 

Yet when he dreamed of those multiple fragments, for some reason he couldn't allow this outsider to be killed. It was puzzling, but regardless this was someone he didn't want dead. 

~~~~

The yuki onna looked shocked at the amount of people attempting to kill her. She closed her eyes and braced for death only to find their arms stopped mid way and straining against something. 

All of the villagers seemed to look surprised as more tried to stab her. Their arms suddenly lifted up in the air and their fingers released their holds on their weapons. It was shocking to her. In that instant everyone in the town looked up into the grey fog. The fighting within the town stopped completely. 

The yuki onna felt terribly scared, her power had been sealed, and something about this town wasn't quite right. At first they were all normal, but due to lack of supplies they started killing each other and tried to kill her as well. 

All of a sudden they stop and all look at the sky. 

The townspeople soon went slack for a moment before they all turned to her and pinched their right eye before noticing something was missing. They all reached into their pockets and produced a monocle and placed it on. 

"Hello, Miss..." All the voices of the remaining townspeople spoke in sync creating a eery cacophony of voices. The voice was clearly asking for her name. 

She took a deep breath before answering, "Setsuka, my name is Setsuka." The townspeople hummed all at once before parting way for a man cloaked in black and yellow, he too shared the same crystal monocle. 

His smile put her off, it wasn't a genuine smile, it was a smile of deception. 

"Hello, Lady Setsuka. You can call me... Mysteries. Yes, just call me Mysteries" 

Setsuka stared at the surrounding frozen townspeople before asking, "What is going on here?" Tianzun smiled, "Yes it was quite unfortunate but perhaps also fortunate that you were pulled into this live art work. Those townspeople are all marionettes. All extensions of me given different fate trajectories." 

The snow lady suddenly pieced the monocle and the actions together as Tianzun continued, "Originally the town was supposed to end sometime later. Yet with you an outsider appearing, it was my mistake. I had only planned to reduce the entrances and exits to limit merchants and their merchandise." 

He looked at her before looking with mock pity, "I suppose I forgot to take into account that people could also be merchandise. But regardless, with an outsider who never noticed the oddity until the late stages, I suppose my live artwork was a success." 

Setsuka soon spoked up and asked, "So why can't the townspeople exit and why do the exits not appear anymore? I'd like to leave."

Tianzun nodded, "Reasonable, and the reason for that is, this town is situated in the spirit world." The lady froze when the spirit world was mentioned. She raised an eyebrow as she asked with caution, "Like the spirit world where all information and contracted creatures reside? The one where it was said to be the source of divination and prophecies?"

Tianzun nodded, "Yes, I had connected the entrances of the town to places in reality. That way my painting could survive longer." There was no way he was going to reveal he needed to do this to ascend to a god. He could only disguise it as a whim. 

The lady looked at him with reverence all of a sudden, "You're a deity." Tianzun had no idea how she came to the conclusion but he'd use it either way. 

"Yes, I am the ruler of the spirit world." His mouth suddenly flowed without stop, he could tell this was a past memory acting up again. 

"I am the Lord of Mysteries, King of Space-Time, Beacon of Destiny, Embodiment of Sefirah Castle and Dominator of the Spirit World." Tianzun quickly took note of the titles and committed them to memory. 

Setsuka narrowed her eyes with suspicion. "I've never heard of a deity with that name." Tianzun quickly replied, "I'm still in the process of awakening. It's been quite some time since I fell asleep. The current me is still recovering power, however make no mistake. That does not stop me from being a deity." 

Setsuka nodded before looking at the townspeople that soon disappeared from view. The town itself had become empty. 

"So why didn't you let the marionettes kill me? I'm sure my life is quite insignificant in the view of the gods no?" 

Tianzun tilted his head, "I suppose it was what humanity I had left. While I don't care nor feel sad. I suppose I still have a conscience." 

The snow lady giggled, "A god can have a conscience?" Tianzun rolled his eyes as he grafted the exit of the the town to a location in the real world. "Your exit ticket. After you." He gestured towards the unchanged dirt road. 

Setsuka looked surprised, "I didn't think you'd be such a gentleman~" 

Tianzun raised an eyebrow in confusion, "A gentleman? No, I'm letting you go first so if anything happens you'll die first." 

An icy glare met with eyes filled with subtle madness. 

"Asshole." She spat out as Tianzun nodded. The word asshole felt just right at home. Felt like whatever he was missing was a part of it. She soon walked the same dirt road that never changed yet somewhere along the path, the world around them shifted as a frozen winter country soon appeared. 

Tianzun soon appeared after with a scheming grin, he had finished his ritual early, but he might as well have remained a Sequence 2 Miracle Invoker. He hadn't stocked up any miracles or anything of the sort. 

For now he would continue to act as a miracle invoker. 

The lady soon asked him, "What are you doing to do now?" For the first time, Tianzun took a proper look at her. Long black hair and blue eyes and covered in a pure white yukata. His brain spun as he grinned before shutting down the idea. 

Beauty = Popularity 

Popularity = Followers

Frankly he had the idea of making the woman his priest or something along the lines. But soon shut it down as her personality was downright horrid. Looks all elegant, yet the mouth is venomous. 

"I'm going to travel and grant wishes." Tianzun replied in a short and concise manner. The snow lady snickered, "A deity granting wishes? And traveling personally to grant them?" 

Tianzun nodded before her sudden question stunned him, "Do you ever get lonely?" He thought back to all that time since he had awakened without any memories. Sure he participated in huge events, but he never felt like he belonged. 

No it was perhaps more accurate to say that he didn't belong to this world or era. Perhaps the only place he could call home was Sefirah Castle.

"I'm not quite sure how to answer that." The snow lady grinned, "Since you grant wishes, how about granting mine?" 

Tianzun raised a questioning eyebrow, such an easy opportunity to accumulate miracle power? He nodded, "Speak your wish." 

Setsuka threw an equally scheming grin while somehow maintaining her elegance? "Let me travel with you under your protection!" A sound of glass shattering within Tianzun's head sounded out. 

"Huh?" 

//Next Chapter: The Fraud Holy Grail//