Glorious Vanity (SI LitRPG)

I felt a headache coming on. One that definitely wasn't help by the fact that a beautiful woman with black hair and... wings? Yep. Those were definitely wings. Also black, like a fallen angel, but definitely angel wings.

Anyway, I had a headache and it wasn't being helped by the fact that Alice had popped up in the flesh and was shaking me around.

At times like these, Freyr would usually be there to bail me out. My lovely wife was the clingy sort after all, so seeing Alice shake me like this would definitely set her off.

Unfortunately, since Avalon had showed up, and since she 100% looked like a daughter between me and Freyr... and since she was hugging Freyr and calling her Mama, my beloved wife was out of commission.

Gale... Nope. He was focused on carefully reading the messages that popped up in front of him.

Aqua... Yeah, she was just enjoying watching me get shaken around by Alice.

And speaking of Alice...

I shifted my gaze back to the beautiful woman who was clearly panicking and gently pried myself loose. "Relax, Alice."

"Relax!?" Alice let herself be pried away, but she glared at me and said, "How am I supposed to relax about a situation like this?!" She jabbed me in the chest and said, "Because of you, ALL OF US ARE BEING TARGETED BY ALL OF EXISTENCE!"

[Many gods laugh at the schadenfreude.]

[Many goddess sympathize with the newly birthed angel.]

[A Trickster God clicks his tongue in annoyance and declares he will send aid as soon as possible.]

[A Phantom Thief says help is on the way.]

[A Betrayed Valkyrie casually sharpens her spear.]

[A Warrior King adjusts his glasses.]

Yeah. No pressure at all. Totally wasn't a lot riding on my next courses of action.

But that was fine. I was used to high stake situations.

...At least that was the lie I was telling myself, and since I was both a master liar due to <Man of a Thousand Faces> and a Shameless Flirt who seemed to include death in that list, it didn't bother me too much.

Looking at Alice, I smiled and said, "Breathe. I'll sort this out."

Alice ran her hands through her hair before covering her face. "Argh... What did I get myself into...?"

A brief breather. Everyone was taking the time to get a handle on the situation, so I did the same.

Right now, we were safe. At least for a little while longer. Since <Disengage> had sent us so far away from the capitol and plopped us on a rooftop, we didn't have to worry about any immediate dangers.

So that wasn't what I needed to focus on.

Instead...

Well, my eyesight wasn't the best, but you'd have to be blind to not see all the lights filling up the city and spawning people in. Most were ordinary humans without mana. Probably the 'generated characters' that the system or overseer was talking about.

However, I saw a few people shining like stars hidden in the growing crowd. Clearly high-level chosen sent in by spiteful, curious, or bored gods.

Going by the flow of how things were going...

Sakura, Seol, Jon, and Akira had probably just gotten the update. And the 'MC' of this scenario probably would have reached the capitol with his crew.

Now, if the story played out like I planned originally, that would mean that a trio of relatively ordinary people who just recently got abilities would show up and meet with survivors at the capitol before deciding on what to do next.

Unfortunately, I never actually wrote that chapter, so I wasn't sure. Not only that, but even if it did play out like that, the fact that the four power-hitters were chilling in the capitol with the halo of "all that is good in the world" around them meant that it didn't matter.

So... let's extrapolate.

Judging from what I knew about those four, they would definitely force the generated characters... the people of this world, that is. Anyway, they would force the people of this world to go along with what they planned.

Jon would try and use violence to get what he wanted, which was power, authority, and women.

Akira wouldn't care at first, but his Arcueid/Moka/Shinobu vampire princess expy would drag him along to implementing some sort of order. And after that, since he seemed to be a relatively good person, he'd probably stop Jon.

But Sakura was there, and she definitely would just rally people up to try and exploit the opportunity in front of them.

Seol... Well, if he was a regressor, he would play along with everyone else while probably abusing system exploits to train his abilities. That, or scout useful people from the future. And since he had those Future Gauging Karmic Eyes or whatever, he would definitely be able to say and do the right things to get what he wanted.

...All of which meant that Akira would probably stay neutral and do his own thing and Jon would run a little wild. That left Sakura and Seol to probably team up to try and take me and my little group out.

And since they had those insight skills of theirs, they would probably spend the next couple of hours stacking the deck before rushing to smack me in the back of the head.

Great.

[Your calm if nihilistic analysis of the situation has been acknowledged. +1 intelligence (+3 due to <Well-Read>)]

Gee, thanks System. Way to cheer me up. Not.

I shook my head and then started surveying the terrain to start making a plan.

We were... Yes. We were definitely on the highest building in the city. There might have been higher ones earlier, but if there were, they had been destroyed in the chaos and flames I unleashed.

Looking around in every direction, the area... Nope. Unfamiliar. I could see a few American flags here and there along with the remains of a water tower in the distance, but it didn't look like a city I recognized.

...That didn't mean it *wasn't* a city I recognized. Was never really good at GeoGuessr. But either way, it was good. That meant I wouldn't be too guilty about blowing it up.

Opening my status, I made a quick mental note of everything new... mostly my updated bonus points and titles. After that...

"So they want me to be a Demon Lord, huh? In that case..."

[<No One's Story> denies the role being forced upon you by the gods.]

[<A Different Path> rejects the destiny being enforced.]

[<Lesser Flames of Muspell> quivers in anticipation of new destruction.]

[<Loki's Blessing (Minor)> anticipates how you will fool the world.]

[<World Creator (Minor)> slowly blossoms.]

[<Hero Creator> awaits your command.]

[<Demon Lord Seeking the World's Destruction> chuckles with expectations.]

[You have opened the <Sponsor System>.]

[You have opened the <Constellation System>.]

[<A Heaven Defying Human> has entered channel 497.]

[<Constellation - Apocalypse Eschatology> has entered channel 497.]

xxx

>A Trickster God: What's this?
>A Flame Giant: What nameless god enters at a time like this?
>The Inviolable Morning Star: Kahahaha. Is it Cain? Or Abel? I see that you're interested in our new friend here as well.
>The Elusive Plotter: Could everyone please just follow the script? At this rate we'll never get to the ending.
>A Phantom Thief: @<The Elusive Plotter> Please. As if people actually care about the ending. It's all about the journey.
>A Heaven Defying Human: @<everyone> I hope you're watching carefully. My Chosen is about to put on quite the show.
>A Flame Giant: @<A Heaven Defying Human> IT WAS YOU! BASTARD! CHALLENGE ME, RIGHT NOW!
>A Wisdom God: Could we please calm down? This situation is not one that calls for violence.
>An Angel of Justice: I agree with the wise god. Other gods are beginning to join the channel. At this rate...
>A God of Thunder has entered channel 497
>Myriad Heavenly Transformations has entered channel 497
>Only I Exist Within Eternity has entered channel 497
>...
>...
>...
>SYSTEM: Warning. Channel 497 has reached capacity. Further attempts to join will require payment of causality by new arrivals.
>The Awaiting King has paid 10,000 CP and entered channel 497
>A Mage of Flowers has paid 10,000 CP and entered channel 497
>...
>...
>...
>The Elusive Plotter: FVCKERS. Can't you go watch something else?! Goddammit!
>The Inviolable Morning Star: @<The Elusive Plotter> Do you want to sentence god to damnation?
>A Demi-fiend has paid 1,000,000 CP and entered channel 497

xxx

I stared at the blurred chat log that was worse than the live chat during a debut stream of a new Hololive idol and then let out a deep sigh.

Well. Didn't expect such heavy hitters to show up, but since they're expecting a show...