Chapter 57 – Divine Schadenfreude

【Amaterasu PoV】

Another morning in paradise.

My personal prison.

I slumped in my moonlight throne, staring at the divine monitor with dead eyes.

The screen flickered with images of my world.

My boring, perfect, infuriatingly peaceful world.

I hated it here.

The walls of my new office were decorated with swirling nebulae.

Beautiful cosmic art that I couldn’t appreciate.

Every star felt like a reminder of my failure.

The promotion had been a curse disguised as a blessing.

Zeus himself had congratulated me.

His booming voice had echoed through the celestial halls.

He praised my choice of heroes.

He called Ryuuji Sato a once-in-a-millennium soul.

A shining example of pure heroism.

I wanted to scream.

That kid was supposed to be my ticket to unemployment.

He was supposed to have immense power and zero self-control.

He was supposed to destroy everything.

Instead, he saved it.

Every single time.

He was so impossibly good that every scheme I threw at him backfired spectacularly.

I tried to banish him to a death trap.

A monster-filled labyrinth that should have broken his spirit.

He turned it into a character test.

He convinced his party I was testing their loyalty.

The audacity.

I planted a corrupt mayor in his path.

Mayor Pedro was supposed to bribe the heroes.

He was supposed to create division.

To make them choose between morality and pragmatism.

Instead, the mayor turned out to be genuinely good.

And Ryuuji saw through the villainous appearance instantly.

He trusted the man everyone else feared.

It was infuriating.

I sent Siegfried, a fake hero, to manipulate them.

A fraud wearing shining armor.

The perfect wolf in shepherd’s clothing.

Ryuuji sniffed him out in seconds.

The kid looked at a perfect smile and saw rot underneath.

My beautiful plans were ashes.

My dreams of retirement were dead.

My travel brochures for Brazil were gathering dust.

All because of one stupidly pure Japanese teenager.

I grabbed a bowl of divine popcorn.

It materialized on my desk with a shimmer of golden light.

Each kernel was perfectly salted.

I shoved a handful into my mouth.

It tasted like disappointment.

The monitor showed Olvido in real-time.

The starter town where my heroes had been causing problems.

Or rather, solving them.

The town was bustling.

Happy.

Prosperous.

The market stalls were full.

Children were playing in the streets.

The mayor was waving cheerfully at passing merchants.

Disgusting.

This was supposed to be a disaster zone by now.

I had sent a monster horde three weeks ago.

Ryuuji organized a defense so brilliant it made the town guard cry tears of joy.

They built a statue of him.

A statue.

Of my weapon of mass destruction.

I wanted to throw my popcorn at the screen.

Then something caught my attention.

A ripple in the fabric of space.

It was subtle.

Delicate.

The kind of intrusion only a trained deity would notice.

Someone was breaking into my world.

I sat up straight.

My boredom evaporated like morning dew.

My divine senses went on high alert.

This was new.

This was interesting.

I zoomed the monitor out.

The image shifted, scanning the realm for the source.

A figure materialized at the edge of the forest outside Olvido.

Dark hair that fell in artful waves.

A black tunic that screamed expensive taste.

A sharp smile that promised trouble.

I knew that aesthetic.

I knew that entire vibe.

“Loki.”

I said his name out loud.

My voice was flat.

Unimpressed.

The god of mischief stood among the trees.

His presence was subtle.

Hidden from mortal eyes but visible to me.

He had no business here.

No jurisdiction.

No invitation.

Divine law was clear.

You didn’t enter another god’s realm without permission.

It was the celestial equivalent of breaking and entering.

I should report him.

I should sound the alarm.

Instead, I leaned forward.

My curiosity was piqued.

I pulled up his divine file with a flick of my wrist.

Golden text materialized in the air.

It scrolled past my vision.

“Loki, God of Mischief and Chaos. Specialty: Corruption of pure souls. Known for: Undermining authority. Current status: Bitter about recent promotion snub. Threat level: Moderate to Catastrophic depending on motivation.”

I read the line about the promotion again.

A slow smile crept across my face.

He was jealous.

The petty bastard was jealous of my promotion.

I had climbed the divine corporate ladder faster than anyone in history.

From slacker goddess to Regional Director in one fiscal quarter.

It was a record.

An embarrassing, unwanted record.

And Loki, who had been grinding for centuries, was salty about it.

This was beautiful.

This was the best news I’d had in weeks.

I watched as he walked with purpose toward the town.

His movements were smooth.

Practiced.

The walk of a predator stalking prey.

His gaze was fixed on something.

On someone.

On Ryuuji.

My smile widened.

Of course.

Loki thought he could corrupt my hero.

He thought he could break the most annoyingly pure soul in existence.

He thought he could succeed where I had failed.

The arrogance was breathtaking.

He had no idea what he was walking into.

But I did.

I had months of data.

I had watched Ryuuji turn every single villain into an ally.

I had watched him reform corrupt officials.

I had watched him give second chances to frauds and scumbags.

The kid was a walking redemption arc factory.

And I was going to let Loki try anyway.

I leaned back in my chair.

A plan was forming.

A glorious, terrible, utterly selfish plan.

If I couldn’t make Ryuuji destroy the world myself, maybe Loki could.

The god of mischief specialized in corruption.

In temptation.

In dragging pure souls into darkness.

He was famous for it.

His entire portfolio was built on making good people do bad things.

If anyone could turn my golden boy into a world-ending catastrophe, it was him.

I should stop this.

Divine law required it.

It was my duty to protect my heroes from divine interference.

I should send a warning to Ryuuji.

A divine message.

A smiting bolt aimed at Loki’s smug face.

Anything.

I did nothing.

I just sat there.

Watching.

Waiting.

I conjured more popcorn.

The bowl refilled itself with a shimmer.

I grabbed another handful.

The salty crunch was satisfying.

This was going to be good.

Loki raised his hand.

A shimmering illusion rippled over his form.

The black tunic was replaced by worn leather armor.

His divine aura was suppressed.

Hidden beneath layers of mortal disguise.

He looked like an adventurer now.

Charming.

Trustworthy.

Slightly roguish.

The kind of character that would fit perfectly into a hero’s party.

The kind of guy who would earn their trust before stabbing them in the back.

Classic Loki.

He approached the town gates.

The guards didn’t even blink.

They saw a friendly traveler and waved him through.

Idiots.

He walked into the square.

The bustling market surrounded him.

His eyes scanned the crowd with calculated precision.

Then they landed on Ryuuji.

The kid was talking to Kenji about something.

Probably something heroic and deeply annoying.

His posture was relaxed.

His expression was open and trusting.

He looked like the easiest mark in the world.

Loki’s smile sharpened.

He adjusted his pack.

He started walking toward them.

This was the opening move.

The first step in a divine scheme.

I grabbed more popcorn.

My smile was manic now.

Unhinged.

Free.

“Good luck, Loki.”

I said it to the screen.

To the universe.

To my own desperate hope.

I meant it.

Not because I wanted him to succeed in corrupting Ryuuji.

That would be a disaster for the kid.

But because watching Loki fail would be entertainment.

Pure, schadenfreude-filled entertainment.

And if he somehow succeeded?

If he actually managed to twist my pure-hearted hero into something dark and destructive?

Then Ryuuji would finally snap.

He would finally unleash that monstrous power I knew he possessed.

He would destroy my world in a fit of justified rage.

The other gods would blame me for choosing such a volatile hero.

They would investigate my methods.

They would strip my title.

Demote me.

Fire me.

Set me free.

Either way, I won.

If Loki failed, I got to watch a smug deity get humiliated by a teenage mortal.

If Loki succeeded, I got my retirement and my beach in Brazil.

It was a win-win scenario.

The best thing that had happened to me since this nightmare promotion began.

For the first time in months, I felt something other than crushing despair.

I felt hope.

Dark, twisted, utterly selfish hope.

But hope nonetheless.

I dimmed the lights in my office.

The nebulae outside swirled in vibrant purples and blues.

The monitor glowed in the darkness.

It showed Loki introducing himself to the party.

His performance was flawless.

His smile was warm and genuine.

His body language was open and friendly.

He looked like a hero.

Ryuuji looked polite.

His default expression of mild confusion was firmly in place.

Kenji looked welcoming.

His golden retriever energy was on full display.

He was already extending his hand for a friendly shake.

Reina looked suspicious.

Her eyes were narrowed.

Her hand rested casually near the hilt of her dagger.

Good instincts.

Useless against a god, but good nonetheless.

Daisuke just grunted.

His contribution to every conversation.

It was a perfect setup.

A classic infiltration scenario.

Loki would charm them.

He would become their trusted ally.

He would learn their weaknesses.

And then, when the moment was right, he would strike.

He would tempt Ryuuji with something irresistible.

Power, maybe.

Or forbidden knowledge.

Or a beautiful woman.

Loki was famous for his honey traps.

He would use every trick in his divine arsenal.

Temptation.

Manipulation.

Seduction.

Psychological warfare.

And Ryuuji, that beautiful disaster, would either resist it all or finally break.

I settled deeper into my throne.

The cushions molded to my form.

My popcorn bowl was full.

My entertainment was secured.

My future, for the first time in forever, was uncertain.

And uncertainty was better than this gilded cage.

“Welcome to my world, you smug bastard.”

My voice was filled with dark anticipation.

It echoed in the empty office.

“Let’s see if you can break my perfect little hero.”

The god of mischief thought this would be easy.

He thought he was infiltrating a standard heroic party.

Three naive teenagers and a socially awkward loner.

Easy pickings.

He had no idea.

He had no idea he was entering a narrative so chaotic, so perfectly constructed for disaster, that even divine beings couldn’t navigate it.

Ryuuji Sato had survived everything I threw at him.

A yandere who would burn the world for him.

A fake villain who was actually the most genuine man in town.

A fake hero who was actually a greedy fraud.

An accidental dungeon collapse that he somehow survived.

A monster horde that he organized a defense against.

Every single obstacle had made him look more heroic.

More pure.

More impossibly good.

Loki was about to get the education of his immortal life.

And I had a front-row seat.

I raised my bowl in a mock toast.

The popcorn glinted in the dim light.

“To chaos.”

My grin was pure malice.

“To corruption.”

My eyes gleamed with desperate hope.

“To my beautiful, inevitable freedom.”

The screen showed Loki shaking hands with Kenji.

The golden boy was beaming.

Already welcoming the new member to their group.

The deal was sealed.

Loki was in the party.

My divine sabotage had officially begun.

Let the games begin.