Star Rail: Starting with a Lyre, Living off Busking

Of all the gods involved, the most noteworthy were those worshiped by the Kingdom of Humanity—aligned with the gods of order.

First among them was the Supreme God of Law and Justice, whose true form was an immense sphere of radiant light. A cold and rational entity, the Supreme God's principles bore similarities to Svarog's: whatever plan most effectively ensured the planet's survival received its full support.

At present, Venti was the best option, so the Supreme God wasted no time backing him and offering a promise:

Not only would the cyclical revival of the Demon King be brought to an end, but the Supreme God also gifted Venti the Scales of the Divine, a tool with limited-time capabilities for temporal manipulation—restricted to Snail III, of course.

Following the Supreme God was the Valkyrie, the goddess of war and martial prowess. Her form matched the traditional depiction of a fierce female warrior clad in armor, though her mechanical, wing-like appendages set her apart.

While the Valkyrie had no objection to ending the Demon King's periodic calamity, it wasn't because it greatly benefited her. Continuous conflict sustained her strength, and the unending wars from the Demon King's revival undoubtedly aligned with her divine role.

However, the Valkyrie had little to fear. With the numerous species across the Four Corners of the World, even humans alone provided enough internal strife to ensure her divine power wouldn't wane.

Thus, she quickly agreed to support Venti's plan—but with one condition: she wanted to spar with him.

Fights between gods were often described as battles that could rend the heavens and shatter the earth. Historical records attributed vast devastation to these clashes, and the gods certainly possessed the power to bring ruin to the Four Corners.

Still, such battles were limited to this planet. Their ability to meddle with fate through dice rolls, or other divine rights, were simply mechanisms baked into the world's design. Outside this celestial stage, those powers were meaningless.

Venti, having already reached this level of strength back in Belobog, was well-equipped to handle the Valkyrie.

The challenge lay not in matching her strength but in holding back enough to avoid killing her outright. After all, restraining one's power didn't mean weakening oneself—it simply meant being cautious.

Venti had no desire to cause unnecessary destruction and summon the vile spawn of Abundance, an ever-lurking danger. But here in the divine realm, such concerns were irrelevant.

In less than two rounds, he disarmed the Valkyrie, metaphorically and literally—her helmet lay discarded at his feet.

The defeated Valkyrie bore no resentment, though the encounter deepened her respect for external powers.

In her estimation, the Trailblazers were anything but ordinary. March 7 might have seemed like the most approachable, but even the gray-haired girl carried hidden depths.

As for the rest—Dan Heng, Himeko, and even the mysterious middle-aged man who came and went—none of them seemed simple either.

Such revelations left the Valkyrie quietly introspective, questioning her own limits.

Still, a promise was a promise. After her defeat, the Valkyrie bestowed her blessing upon the travelers, marking them with her divine favor.

The next god to approach Venti was the God of Trade, a shrewd-looking figure clad in a fine suit, sporting a neatly trimmed goatee and a monocle.

Uninterested in pleasantries, the God of Trade got straight to the point.

"Does the outside world have organizations similar to the Kingdom's Merchant Guilds?"

"Yes," Venti replied with a wry smile. "There's a group called the Interstellar Peace Corporation."

"Once the calamity is resolved, could you arrange for me to meet some of their representatives?"

"I could. But introductions come at a price~"

Venti laid out three options for the god:

Basic: An introduction to a low-ranking employee.

Standard: A meeting with a departmental manager.

Premium: A connection to one of the company's senior executives.

Though Venti lacked deep ties to the Interstellar Peace Corporation, his association with Herta and Estelle made it easy to extend such offers.

Estelle, the corporation's heiress, had no interest in managing the family business. She was keen on building alliances that would ensure she could avoid being forced into an inheritance she didn't want.

Previously, Estelle had been carefree, thanks to Herta's oversight of the corporation's interests. However, after the assault on the Herta Space Station, Estelle was compelled to rethink her security arrangements.

Herta, preoccupied with her own experiments, had barely reacted to the attack, treating the station more as a convenient storage facility than anything else.

For Estelle, the station was a vital asset—one worth protecting.

The arrival of someone like Venti, capable of serving as a powerful ally, presented a perfect solution to her problems. Their prior collaboration in defending the station further cemented her resolve to cultivate this relationship.

From any angle, forming a strong alliance with Venti was an investment that would yield significant returns.

The terms of the Trade God's bargain perfectly matched his domain. In exchange for Venti's introductions to key figures in the Interstellar Peace Corporation, the Trade God offered numerous gifts and blessings. As a token of goodwill, he even threw in a Golden Blessing for the Trailblazers—a minor boon that, while limited to this planet, served as a symbolic gesture of support.

Next came the God of Knowledge, one of the gods of order. True to his name, his desire was simple: knowledge, particularly forbidden knowledge from beyond this world.

Interestingly, it was this god who first posed the question: What lies beyond the stars?

Having deciphered fragments of information left by the learned members of the Akademiya who once visited this planet, his insatiable thirst for understanding drove him to explore beyond its boundaries.

However, when the gods sealed the planet, his ambitions were crushed. As the lone dissenter against the planetary lockdown, he could do little but fume in frustration, powerless against the consensus of his divine peers.

For centuries, he had studied every scrap of knowledge within the Four Corners of the World. Yet, beyond this planet lay an infinite cosmos teeming with mysteries, and the thought of it burned in his mind.

Venti shared insights about Aeons, the galaxy's factions, and countless other concepts. These revelations delighted the God of Knowledge, who eagerly agreed to lend his vote.

As part of his gratitude, he bestowed the Blessing of Knowledge upon the Trailblazers. This blessing allowed them to decipher all forms of written text, no matter the language, and included extensive information about the Demon King: weaknesses, strategies, and a comprehensive battle guide.

It was, essentially, a boss guide delivered on a silver platter.

With his preparations underway to barter this newfound cosmic knowledge, the God of Knowledge departed in high spirits.

As for the chaotic gods, they were far less accommodating. Lacking reason or structure, most of these beings thrived on disorder and violence, leaving little room for negotiation.

Thus, Venti dealt with them the only way he could—by defeating them one by one.

His victories earned reluctant respect, and in some cases, surprising cooperation. The chaotic gods even offered up the Goblin God as a sacrificial pawn and commanded their followers to remain quiet for the time being.

While they initially intended to grant blessings to the Trailblazers, they ultimately refrained, realizing it might break the rules of their pantheon.

With his divine diplomacy and battles concluded, Venti sighed in relief, content to relax with a cup of tea infused with wolfberry while the rest of the team marched forward.

---

The Demon King's Stronghold

The landscape changed as the Trailblazers ventured deeper into enemy territory. The land became a wasteland of corrupted soil, littered with skeletal remains that exuded unrelenting malice.

The monsters they encountered also grew more fearsome, with creatures leaning heavily toward chaotic archetypes. March 7 was astounded by the variety: werewolves, headless knights, sirens, chimeras, skeletal birds, and spider demons, to name a few.

They even crossed paths with a former Demon General. With the westward front collapsing and two generals slain overnight, the remaining Demon Generals, assuming the return of a legendary hero, decided retreat was the better part of valor.

Most fled toward the Demon King's lair, hoping the King's presence would offer safety. However, one particularly unlucky general ran headfirst into the Trailblazers.

Pinned to the ground by the Silver Branch Knight's spear, the defeated general groaned in despair, already knowing resistance was futile.

"Still not strong enough, even before the buffs," March 7 muttered, smirking at the sight. With the gods' blessings bolstering their strength, the Trailblazers were an unstoppable force.

"You'd think Demon Generals would have a little more backbone," March 7 teased, looking at the restrained general. "That last guy, the troll lord, fought to the bitter end rather than surrender."

"That's not fair!" the general protested, shaking his head vehemently. "I'm not some muscle-brained idiot who only knows how to train!"

"Every war, we're the ones thrown to the wolves first—whether we win or lose, most of us end up dead anyway. And if we're lucky enough to survive, we spend every waking moment watching our backs for the hero to show up!"

Glancing nervously at the Trailblazers, he added, "How about we make a deal? You seal me up somewhere—just don't kill me!"

With the location of the Demon King's hiding place revealed, Mimiya sealed the general using a specialized scroll from her village.

The scroll not only prevented the Demon King from absorbing the general's soul but also blocked any attempts to reclaim his blessings.

With the general secured, the Trailblazers pushed onward toward their destination—a deep abyssal cavern at the westernmost edge of the continent.

As they neared the entrance, they witnessed two purple soul lights flying through the sky from the north and south.

The remnants of the Gargoyle General and Earth Dragon General were being drawn to the cavern.

The Demon King, sensing the impending threat, had begun recalling the blessings and souls of his subordinates to hasten his revival.

While the power of the Stellaron had already significantly strengthened the Demon King, absorbing his generals' souls was still part of the rules governing his existence.

The Stellaron completed what the Demon King had been missing, allowing him to fully emerge from his summoning circle.

Clad in a bull-horned mask that symbolized his dominion over all monsters, the Demon King's form was both awe-inspiring and terrifying.

The Earth Dragon's body endowed him with near-impenetrable physical and magical resistance, along with the authority to summon magma.

The Gargoyle's wings granted him gravity-defying flight and lightning-based magic, as well as the ability to replicate multiple bodies.

Although the Demon King lacked the Raven's Cursed Eye, the Troll's brute strength, and the Sea Star's regenerative abilities, the Stellaron's power compensated for these losses tenfold.

His strength surged to godlike levels. Even if all the past heroes united against him, they would stand no chance.

No one dared underestimate the Demon King now.

With centuries of rage and frustration bubbling over, the newly resurrected Demon King launched a devastating assault. Towering over a hundred meters tall, the sheer size and power of his charge sent shockwaves of dread rippling through the battlefield.

Even with March 7's shields in place, the team had no intention of taking a direct hit. They immediately dispersed, shifting into a strategy of baiting and counterattacking.

The Demon King stayed airborne, keenly aware of his advantages. For a being of his size, relinquishing his aerial superiority to engage in melee would have been a foolish move.

After a failed strike, he ascended higher, his wings propelling him upward. From above, he prepared a storm of lightning magic to annihilate the "ants" below.

Unfortunately for him, the Trailblazers were well-equipped to handle aerial threats.

With a single blast from Himeko's orbital cannon, the Demon King was knocked from the sky.

Though the impact wasn't lethal, it destroyed much of his gargoyle wings, forcing him to crash land. This opened the battlefield for the close-combat specialists: Dan Heng, Stelle, and the Silver Branch Knight.

Each had their role—Dan Heng harried the Demon King with calculated strikes, Stelle targeted weak points to dismantle his defenses, and the Silver Branch Knight unleashed relentless bursts of damage.

Their combined assault left the Demon King momentarily disoriented. But he was not alone.

From the distance, the Demon King's army surged forth like a relentless tide. Only March 7 and Himeko stood in their way.

March 7, though an archer bolstered by divine blessings, could only take out so many monsters at once. To counter the overwhelming numbers, she summoned the powers of the Six-Phased Ice to freeze the advancing hordes, leaving them vulnerable to Himeko's automated turrets for cleanup.

Their efforts bought time, but the strain was evident.

As Himeko's orbital cannon charged for a second shot, the blast obliterated the remaining minions, granting the Trailblazers a brief reprieve.

However, the Demon King entered his second phase.

The horns of his mask cracked and shattered, revealing a grotesque amalgamation of blood and sinew beneath. The scales on his draconic body fell away, evaporating into vapor, leaving behind an exoskeleton of exposed bone and steaming muscle. His damaged wings split into four, their structure resembling nightmarish constructs.

Where once he moved on four legs, he now rose onto two, towering even higher. His claws, gleaming with crimson energy, tore through the air, generating waves of spatial distortion.

"Feel pain…"

The Demon King's voice was a guttural snarl, his mind almost entirely consumed by the Stellaron's influence. He muttered incoherent words as his attacks grew erratic and indiscriminate.

Even his own army wasn't spared from the devastation. Caught in the blasts, the surviving monsters scattered in fear.

Dan Heng and the Silver Branch Knight chose to evade rather than confront the colossal swipes head-on.

But Stelle, ever fearless, charged directly at the towering foe.

Predictably, she was swatted aside like a fly, sent hurtling across the battlefield. Her bat slipped from her grip, and she landed unconscious.

March 7 gasped in alarm, her heart leaping at the sight of her comrade falling. But before she could react, something unexpected happened.

A beam of light pierced the sky, breaking through the tear in the Veil that shrouded the planet.

Though the gods had constructed the Veil to isolate the planet, it had been weakened during Venti's negotiations. None of the gods had bothered to repair the breach, and now, they deliberately left it open.

From the heavens, a single gaze descended—an omniscient presence focused on this forsaken battlefield.

In that moment, this long-forgotten world, sealed away for eons, became the object of the Aeon's attention.

And as Elio's script dictated, the forgotten chessboard received its long-awaited intervention.

---

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