Happy Ending
Constellation... an being ascending from its mortal form and turning into a spiritual being, or a being of a higher realm. Some martial artists even regarded them as 'Immortals', beings who had transcended the limits of mortal life and death.
After all that Seraphine went through, she became the first one ever to become a constellation, being the host of the brightest star in the sky above, shining brightly 24 hours a day, a constant, brilliant light in the darkness of space.
It was a transformation that was both a reward and a curse, a new existence that was beyond anything she had ever known.
Not only power, but she also received several higher knowledge and information, like it was directly injected into her mind, a flood of understanding that was overwhelming at first.
She knew things she had never learned, saw things she had never seen....Such as cosmic realm, A.K.A the land of gods.
For the next few days, the experience was the most unique of her life. She was soon greeted by the deities one after another, whether it was the god of lightning, Zeus, or the god of weather and thunder, Indra, or the goddess of beauty, Mysteria.
The same gods, which probably almost everyone in the world follows and worships, their names spoken in prayers and temples across the lands. And now she was one of them, a new deity in the pantheon of the heavens.
The only difference was that she was once a human, a mortal who had clawed her way to divinity, while these were natural-born deities.
They taught her how to manipulate her star, to make an habitable atmosphere, to control gravity, and even to control the weather on it. She learned to create places, cities, and kingdoms with her one thought, to be the absolute ruler of her star land, a piece of world of her own making.
But of course, it would depend on her power and mana. Higher-level deities could easily do it, such as Surya, the sun god, who could easily make a kingdom with his one thought. While lower deities would even struggle to make a city.
But thankfully, even after just becoming a constellation, she was certainly above average. Before dying, she had quite a number of worshippers, When she was alive, having thousands of churches of her own, And it only increased after her death.
All and all, the other deities were quite friendly despite her being an outcast.
But was the same for Seraphine?
Of course not.
She hated them, every single one of them. Because these were the same deities who were doing whatever they pleased, controlling everything, playing with the lives of mortals like they were pieces on a game board. Especially the sun god, who had increased his temperature so much that a whole region turned into a desert.
Who knows how many people died because of his whim, his carelessness. She was sick of every god, yet they had no guilt at all, as if they were just following the rules of nature.
She wouldn't have been able to hold her anger if the sun god had come to meet her. But from other deities, she got to know that after that disaster, the sun god had turned lethargic, had become an object thing, just existing and carrying on his duty.
Despite all the hate, she couldn't take it out on them. As someone new to everything here, she had to stick with them to gain experience, to learn the ways of the gods.
This was, of course, the perk of being a human and a conqueror, a mind that knew how to play the long game. She decided to lay low until the right time, to wait for the perfect moment to strike.
And just like that, years after years passed by like a river, a flow of time that was both endless and unchanging. After her, many new constellations were born, other mortals who had achieved divinity.
Unlike the present day, meeting the minimum requirement for becoming a constellation was way less.
Cult leaders, clan leaders, kings, queens, and even actors got the seed of godhood. The only difference was that not everyone could survive it, most died, or turned into mindless monsters.
"Immortal, I'm the ageless, immortal being now," these were mostly the most common words of those who became the constellations.
The situation seemed quite better than expected. Just like on earth, they were like a united group with Seraphine as their leader.
But there was still one problem: power!
Compared to the natural-born deities, they were pale in comparison. Only Seraphine was quite powerful, but even she was not a match for higher-ranking deities like Indra.
And the reason was the followers. Unlike them, the natural-born deities had thousands of years of trust, loyalty, and a large number of followers.
One solution was to do cultivation, to slowly build their power over time. But to achieve such strength, they would have to continue in the cultivation state for dozens of centuries, and even then, those higher-ranking deities would catch up like nothing.
Even today, the top ones were having a meeting regarding it.
Seraphine was sitting on her seat, which was clearly more decorated and taller than the others, a throne of polished starlight that indicated her higher position among them.
"Everyone, I have finally found two ways to solve the problem, but for that, we have to cooperate with each other," she says, her voice echoing in the room.
At once, everyone's eyes widen in surprise. They only thought that they would discuss and think of a possible solution, which they had been trying for the past years.
None of them said anything back, just leaned forward to hear everything clearly, their bodies tense with anticipation.
"First is this," Seraphine says, and the next second, a blue-colored hologram-like screen appears in the air, a shimmering rectangle of light.
"What's this?" one of them says in confusion.
"A system," Seraphine replies, her voice a simple answer to a complex question.
"System?" they repeat, a chorus of confused voices.
"Yes. You can also call it a bait. Since we can't go to the mortal realm, but we can still vaguely communicate with them, just like those deities do before showing a miracle," she explains.
"We will sign a contract with chosen individuals and then provide them benefits. We have no scarcity of essence stones and knowledge. We'll provide them the benefits, and in return, tell them to do good deeds, such as saving people, defeating beasts, and spreading our name and faith among people," she adds.
"With this way, sooner or later, we'll get a drastic increase in new followers," Seraphine exclaims.
Everyone looks at each other, their eyes wide with a dawning realization.
"That's a great idea," many said, the response was quite positive.
"Of course, I'll make some rules and regulations. You can call it a contract, so that none of us can use it unfairly," Seraphine adds.
"What's the second way?" one of them asks.
Seraphine was silent for a second, reorganizing her words, Then she says, "These gods have years of history and loyalty, and even after the use of the system, there will still be a huge number of groups which will never convert," she says, her voice turning serious.
Everyone nods, they too knew it was true.
"But that is where we'll change our way. Instead of changing the faith of people, we'll change the one who they have their faith in," Seraphine says.
"What?" they gasp, a collective sound of disbelief comes.
"Yes! We'll replace the gods, slowly but surely, stealing their identity and faking it till we'll become the original one instead," she says, turning her head towards a woman with silver hair and soft blue eyes.
"Ice monarch, it'll first start with you," she says.
"Me?" Ice monarch repeats in surprise, her voice a mix of shock and fear.
"The moon goddess is dead, and there's no successor. You'll take over the throne and act as the moon goddess from now on. And with the help of the system, spread the name of the moon goddess and see if you'll get a boost in power," she explains.
"B-but, she died with her essence. I won't get the power of the moon goddess even if I were to take the throne," Ice monarch protests.
"There's no need. Once this works and all the followers of the moon goddess will be transferred to you, soon enough you'll surpass the real moon goddess," Seraphine orders.
"And you, Stormfire. The sun god has turned lethargic and been like this all this time. He'll also be an easy target. You'll steal his identity, and whenever you'll provide the system, you'll introduce yourself as the sun god," she explains, her plan was already in motion.
She then looks at everyone present, her eyes sweeping across the room, a leader's gaze that held them all in its thrall. "To have a successful result, we must cooperate with each other. No one will take an already stolen identity. This was the earliest version of the system. If anyone can do new improvements, they should share it with others," she says, continuing her speech about teamwork.
"And lastly, we should be ready for an all-out war," she says.
Everyone nods in return, their faces grim but firm.
And just like that, from that day on, they started building their own systems,. Ice monarch took the seat of the moon goddess.
To be honest, the natural-born deities were quite happy that the Ice monarch took the seat. Because following the will of nature, they can't do it, and neither a new moon goddess was going to be born.
But they had no idea about the hidden schemes behind it.
As years after years flowed by like a river, it has already been two hundred years.
Seraphine's plan worked way better than expected. Almost everyone of them had taken on a high profile and had a huge boost in power, their strength growing with every new follower.
Some stole the identity of the old gods, slipping into their roles like a thief in the night, their lies becoming the new truth.
Others tried to make a new name for themselves, like Seraphim, who kept her identity as the goddess of humanity.
At this point, the natural-born deities started sensing something fishy about them as well. Their power were going weaker despite the boost in followers. Their power had started to decrease drastically.
And before they knew it, a great purge came. Like a huge wave of the ocean, the constellations started wiping out the deities and officially took their places. Some even absorbed their essence.
And without anyone on earth realizing, the history had already been changed. The gods they were worshipping had changed.
There was still a sun god, there was still a moon goddess, a god of lightning, a goddess of water... But they weren't natural-born anymore. They were constellations, ascended mortals who had stolen the place of the old gods.
And surprisingly, nature itself actually accepted them. Because only some of them had their essence stone absorbed by the constellations, still no new deities were born to take back what was theirs. It was as if the world itself had agreed to the change.
Because unlike those old deities, the constellations were doing a much better job. Crimes were at their lowest, people had love for each other.
It was an age of purity.
But the constellations were not the only reason for this age of prosperity.
Another reason was the Kingdom of Seraphine, and its king, Aurora.
After taking the throne, he silenced every criticism against him with his development, his rules, and his way of ruling. He was a king who led by example, a leader who cared for his people, and they, in turn, loved him for it.
Not only that, he used his blood and gave it to his chosen individuals.
First was his personal maid and secretary, Silphy. After taking the blood, she turned into the first succubus, a being of otherworldly charm which could charm even non-living things.
His king's guard also turned into a demon with long horns and red eyes.
The king's guard's son turned into a bull demon.
In total, he turned one hundred and fifty-one individuals into demons just like himself.
But among them, there were also chosen individuals who had Aurora's blood running more thickly in them.
They were called DEMON LORDS, the subordinates most closest to him, his most trusted allies.
Yet he didn't stop there. Aurora went to hell, married one of the kings of hell, Aphrodite Mohini. With her, he did some experiments for years and finally made one of his exceptional demon lords: the Lord of Anomaly.
Aurora couldn't control anomalies, but the Lord of Anomaly could control most of them, unless they were quite powerful.
With him, Aurora solved another problem of all living beings on earth, taking care of the problem of anomalies.
Two hundred years passed since then. The population of demons also increased drastically. There were already different clans of demons, forming wealth and political powers, a society that was as complex and varied as any human kingdom.
While some had contests to become new demon lords, And this is where Aurora got his title as 'Demon King'.
Soon enough, Demon King Aurora also ascended to godhood, successfully becoming a constellation.
"We meet again, son. You have grown up so much," Seraphine says, her eyes red and teary.
"Mother..." he says in a low voice. He didn't hug her, thinking it would be too immature for his age, but the pain behind his words was clearly there.
He kind of knew his mother would be alive somewhere in heaven, but being apart for so many centuries was still painful.
"I wish I could meet my other sons too," she sighs.
Unlike Aurora, they had chosen freedom and left the home, travelling around the world.
From then on, the mother-son duo did work together to solve problems.
Meanwhile, on earth, upon his absence, the demon lords were governing different parts of his territory.
Since there were many new emerging non-human races such as beast kins, demons, vampires, and wolfmen, the society was already being kinda used to them.
Although they were not welcomed at every place, but in the kingdom of Seraphine, demons and vampires had already become the majority of the population.
Humans were happy in their society, demons, beast kin, vampires in theirs.
It was without a doubt, A Happy Ending.