I Only Want to Slay Gods [Western Fantasy]

[Next novel: After Fighting My Nemesis to the Death. Blurb below.]

The day a divine punishment struck the Northern Capital and reduced it to ruins, You Yi, buried underground with her family, suddenly awakened her magical talent.

When the Territorial Army finally dug You Yi out, they said sorrowfully, "Miss, we're sorry to inform you that you're an orphan now. The stables outside the city will take you in. Work hard brushing horses for the noblemen, and good luck."

You Yi gazed at her family beneath the white cloth and said nothing.

From then on, she had only one goal in life:

Become the strongest mage. She would kill the deity who had unleashed divine punishment on the Northern Capital.

From the start, all she had was an unsuitable wand left behind by her late sister, and no idea how to summon any specific spells.

But later...

An upperclasswoman who faced off against You Yi said, "I unleashed thorn magic, fire magic, and ice magic from every direction, and she just charged at me and whacked me on the head with the butt of her gun. How is that fair?"

An upperclassman who lost to You Yi protested, "Her level is way lower than mine, but then she suddenly cheats, levels up twice on the spot, and summons an ultra-high-level spell. She has to be cheating!"

Years later, You Yi, the Holy Lance Mage hailed as the "Rose of the Empire," had become the cherished disciple of Pope Vincent.

In Vincent's eyes, You Yi was like moonlight in a clear night sky: pure and resolute, always striving toward one goal. She was also like a sweet-faced rabbit with a hidden dark side, always concealing unexpected "schemes" beneath her lovely, gentle appearance.

He once tried to train You Yi to become an archbishop of the Holy City, then find her a suitable husband, perhaps an imperial prince, a lord, or a general.

But You Yi said, "Men will only slow down my shooting."

"Of course, my teacher, Your Holiness, the supreme Pope, you're the exception."

[The mage progression: novice awakens magical talent → magician → magister → mage → spirit mage → illusionist → master → demigod (half-demon)]

[Content notes]

1. The career plot takes center stage, with romance as a supporting thread.

2. The heroine is a gun-wielding magical girl who rises from humble beginnings to challenge the powerful. She's a sweet-faced schemer. Her love interest is her teacher, Vincent Gray Sistine, the Pope at the summit of the holy hierarchy.

3. The level of technology is based on Europe from the late nineteenth century through World War I.

My next novel is After Fighting My Nemesis to the Death. Please add it to your reading list. Blurb:

The day before I was to be engaged to Yun Huaqing, I was attacked by my nemesis, Qi Yu. He devoured one of my blue-silver crystal butterfly wings, and his magic circle tore apart most of my soul. In return, I gravely wounded his essence.

To survive, I transmigrated a hundred years into the future and became Zi Zhi, an unfavored princess of the Jiang Kingdom.

By then, Qi Yu had become the Ghost King, a figure whose very name struck terror into people's hearts. Wherever he went, corpses piled up by the millions and cries of grief filled the air. He also had another identity: Wen Shu, the most inscrutable prince of the Xia Kingdom, and Princess Zi Zhi's betrothed.

A century later, fallen ghosts ran rampant and the world teetered on the brink of collapse. The nations were all scheming against one another, united in appearance but divided at heart. The people suffered and inner demons multiplied, all because I, the rarest Pure Goddess in a thousand years, had fallen. After enduring hardship for so long, people no longer remembered my past sacrifices or mourned my death. They began to resent me for dying by accident and leaving them to suffer.

One day, I saw with my own eyes a woman who looked like me, escorted by my former lover Yun Huaqing, receiving the people's thunderous adoration. They said she was the new Pure Goddess, more beautiful, stronger, and more compassionate than I had been. She took everything that had been mine: my reputation, position, family, power, and love. Meanwhile, I could only inhabit Princess Zi Zhi's ordinary, frail body, dragging my broken soul and wings along as I continued my endless struggle against Qi Yu.

So I turned to darkness.

My restored soul was full of black, wicked energy. A new pair of butterfly wings grew from my back, ink-black and blood-red, mottled and terrifyingly powerful. The feeling of being able to do whatever I wanted was wonderful. Qi Yu, Yun Huaqing, the new goddess: to hell with them all. This stupid world could just be destroyed.

But then I saw Qi Yu crying. The all-powerful Ghost King held me and wept like a child whose heart had been torn apart.

He was a vengeful ghost who had crawled out of a mountain of his people's corpses and a sea of their blood and tears. His only wish was to overturn this hypocritical world. The "Pure Goddess" was an obstacle he had to remove, and he was willing to endure a curse to do it.

The curse was this: anyone who killed the Pure Goddess would inevitably fall in love with her.

He scoffed at the idea.

Later, she fell into darkness and smiled. His tears ran dry, turning to blood, and his heart shattered to ash.

Notes:

1. The main story is told in third person, with a male love interest. This is a fantasy world where cultivation can extend one's lifespan. The heroine's family from before her fall are mostly still alive a century later, though they have grown old.

2. There will be both angst and sweetness, so I'm not using simple labels. I just want to write a dramatic, high-conflict love story full of tension. Whether it turns out that way is another matter, so please don't expect too much from me.

Theme: What the heart yearns for can ultimately become a miracle.