The Silver Key.
This was the ultimate taboo known only to the gods and buddhas of the three-digit tier and above — an indelible stain of shame that had been branded into existence on the very day Little Garden, that world born from the convergence of all the heavens, first came to be.
When gods and buddhas from every corner of creation had gathered here to celebrate the birth of the realm called Little Garden, an unknowable existence from beyond the heavens had passed overhead, and the silver key slipped from its embrace and fell.
It merely fell.
And yet that simple, careless fall was like molten iron poured into an insect's nest. The moment it landed upon the newborn Little Garden, the entire world was run clean through — warped and displaced in ways that defied all imagination.
As a star spirit, Shiroyasha had naturally been aware of that incident. She had not witnessed the Silver Key's descent at close range, but the total annihilation of form and soul — gods and buddhas without number, not even having the time to resist — had played out right before her eyes.
Even back then, at the height of her power as the Solar Star Spirit, she had prided herself on being capable of doing the same to the vast majority of gods and buddhas within Little Garden. But that was still only an object belonging to that existence — not the existence itself.
"It seems you two are already familiar with us, so I suppose introductions aren't necessary~"
Shiroyasha snapped her folding fan open again and studied the two outsiders who had followed that silver key — now returned to Little Garden — on its descent:
"But before I answer any questions, wouldn't it be polite to at least state your names first? That's only common courtesy, no~?"
She made no move to answer Suke's earlier question, instead turning it back on them with a question of her own.
Their origins were clearly suspicious — calling them "invaders" of Little Garden would not have been entirely inaccurate, in a sense. But Shiroyasha had already stepped back from the front lines; she bore no particular responsibility or reason to deal with an existence like this on behalf of the gods and buddhas in the upper levels. She'd much rather satisfy her own curiosity first.
"My name is Abigail. I am the Door Witch who serves the supreme and ultimate archetype — the Omniscient and Omnipotent (Fake), the One in All and the Lord of the Gate."
A faint light kindled in Abigail's eyes. Beneath her solemn expression, her white hair stirred without any wind, and a colossal, all-encompassing presence erupted from her as its epicenter, threatening to engulf everything in its path:
"I have come on this journey to hold you accountable on behalf of the one I serve for your repeated transgressions! You shall—"
"—Uwah!"
But that supremely imposing display did not last long at all. A hand appeared from beside her, and a finger flicked squarely into her forehead — striking dead-center on that eye containing the cosmos within its pupil.
A pained yelp escaped from Abigail — a sound resembling a small animal's cry of hurt, but with a very obviously wrong timbre.
Suke had suspected something was off from the moment it started.
"Get off Little Abi and stop causing trouble!"
He snapped a sharp rebuke at whatever existence was currently cursing its luck on the other side of the keyhole in Abigail's forehead, having nearly just had its eye flicked out. Then he turned immediately to comfort Little Abi, who was holding her forehead in pain:
"Are you okay, Little Abi? Boss Mabel is really something else — what does she think you are, some kind of free ride she can just hop into whenever she feels like it?"
"Here, eat this cake and it won't hurt anymore — open up."
"Mm~ I'm fine, thank you, Big Brother~..."
She opened her little mouth and accepted the piece of Chocolate Cake Suke offered her. As her hair faded from white back to gold, Abigail suddenly found that this feeling of being fussed over wasn't actually so bad.
After all, if Uncle hadn't used her as a vessel, Big Brother wouldn't be doting on her like this... wait, she shouldn't be having thoughts like that. How could she~
"Right then. As you can see, she's called Abigail, and my name is Suke."
Suke turned to face Shiroyasha and Black Rabbit, hands on his hips.
"A true hero doesn't need to explain their origins. Surely the illustrious White Night King isn't the type to get hung up on little details like that?"
Honestly, he just had no idea how to introduce himself. Abigail was fine, but what was he supposed to say about himself — that he was a farmer? In a Little Garden where big shots were absolutely everywhere, his prestige rating would plummet through the floor in an instant!
Though if you really thought about it, you couldn't exactly say "farmer" had no prestige to it either.
Take some of the protagonists from certain other stories — one sold dubious medicine, another slaughtered pigs for a living, and people still called them Immortal Kings!
"Eek~! Lady Shiroyasha, that presence just now was...?"
In stark contrast to the warmth on Suke's side of things, Black Rabbit — who had been sheltering behind Shiroyasha — was clearly still not recovered from the shock of everything that had just happened.
Just witnessing the silver streak of light punch straight through the "Kanme" courtyard that Lady Shiroyasha presided over had been staggering enough. But the moment that girl erupted with her presence, Black Rabbit had felt her soul almost leave her body on the spot!
That presence — even Lord Indra had never possessed anything remotely like it!
"'Overcoming the Omnipotence Paradox' — the Agnostic..." Shiroyasha murmured to herself, looking thoughtful.
Just sensing the other party's presence at close range had already given her a great deal to work with.
"...Well, Little Black Rabbit, I'll explain later~ For now, from where I'm standing, neither of them seems to mean any harm. How about we go inside and have a proper chat~"
"Eh, eh?! Is — is that really alright, Lady Shiroyasha~?!"
Facing the prospect of her lady calmly inviting two individuals who were plainly suspicious and clearly violated every principle of how Little Garden was supposed to work — Black Rabbit nearly went full Hajimi-Rabbit mode, every metaphorical hair on her body standing on end!
Because even an idiot could have seen from the presence that golden-haired girl had just released that she had absolutely nothing to do with the Order faction or the Justice faction!
Were they secretly allied Outer enemies that Lady Shiroyasha had been colluding with all along, or some top-tier Demon Lord bent on turning Little Garden completely upside-down?!
____
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