The Substitute God War

The Main God Star had completely transformed into part of the Demon Realm following the Demon God of the Demon Realm's victory. The moment the divine races were demoted to a subordinate system and the star stabilized, the certification war against the Substitute Gods began.

At first, the united forces of all demon gods and divine races held an overwhelming advantage.

Though the Substitute Gods were formidable, they too were powerhouses who had earned the right to their own stars after endless struggle. With the divine races providing wide-area parallel divine power support and the demon races supplying wide-area serial amplification, they had been pushing the invading Substitute Gods back with overwhelming force.

Then, suddenly, the enemy grew stronger.

They abandoned planetary erosion entirely, executing countless spatial jumps while firing endless barrages of divine power cannons. Their mobility and firepower reached levels that even the Demon God of the Demon Realm and the Main Gods of the Divine Realm could not keep up with. The war had completely changed from the previous pattern of eroding a planet and then counterattacking whenever the enemy fired their cannons.

Worse still, the nature of the divine power cannons had changed. Previously, they had merely carried the authority to force double the casualties on divine and demon races. Now, they carried an additional solar-level God Slayer effect.

Any divine or demon being below the upper ranks dies or gets erased the moment they’re even grazed!

On top of that, the firing rate had more than doubled, and some kind of vitality-supplying system had increased the recovery speed of their bio-armor. Their attacks could no longer inflict fatal wounds.

BOOOOOOOM!

“Kuaaaak!”

“Uwaaaaah!”

Countless high-ranking demon gods and divine beings began to vanish under the God Destruction Cannons. As planet-sized Substitute Gods teleported across the battlefield and unleashed endless barrages, the united defensive barrier of the divine and demon races shattered in an instant.

“You bastard, just stop for a second and talk—!”

“This is invalid!”

“Oong—! Oong—! Oong?”

GRRRRRRR—! KABOOM—!

Watching the endless barrage of God Destruction Cannons dismantle the alliance of demon gods and main gods, the Demon God King in charge of this sector glared with axe-like eyes. He pointed furiously at the Substitute God Creator God before him, throwing a complete tantrum.

He had been on the verge of overwhelmingly winning this difficult certification war against the Substitute Gods—as expected of the Demon God of the Demon Realm he so favored—and had planned to head to the Demon God King Realm in high spirits to brag about it. Instead, he had been stabbed in the back.

Worse, since this was a certification war on a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠planet the Divine Realm had lost, he had been happily enjoying the sight of the Creator God’s frown, only to completely lose face in the process.

That damn Substitute God Creator suddenly showed up and let out a few resonances, and now the Substitute Gods’ abilities and personalities have completely changed. They’re running wild and there’s no way to stop them.

The united forces of divine and demon races were being tragically dismantled.

I heard some Creator God’s Main God won one-on-one and even promoted their own Creator God, but this is a complete defeat. And that one over there is the precious Demon God of the Demon Realm. If she gets erased, I’ll have to resurrect her no matter what.

Crunch—! Just thinking about the vitality it takes to resurrect the Demon God of the Demon Realm makes my teeth grind.

How am I supposed to get promoted in this state?

He had barely managed to escape the red, only to end up completely bankrupt.

It looks like I won’t be able to even dream of promotion for tens of thousands of years. If the number or strength of demon gods decreases because of this, I’ll have to give a face-to-face report to the Creator Lord immediately.

When the deficit became severe, the administrator had to personally report the losses and present improvement measures in front of the Demon Emperor and all the Demon God Kings.

There is no forgetting. Even the smallest stain remains forever. If I have to go through that, I’ll never be able to show my face in the Demon God King Realm again.

That was why, even though his eyes had rolled back in fury, he was holding back tremendously by not swearing outright.

My body is warning me that it’s dangerous if that Substitute God Creator runs wild. When the two of us teamed up, we had absolute superiority, but now I’m not so sure.

To be honest, he wasn’t sure about the Creator God, but he himself was definitely in danger. That was why he could only point and shout.

“You crazy bastards—! Since when do you get stronger in the middle of a war?! And why are you over here giving wide-area parallel divine power support?! Are you trying to end this once and for all?! If this keeps up, we’ll have to freeze that planet and redo the certification war between the Divine and Demon Realms! Besides, with the current Main Gods, there’s no way we can subjugate those strengthened Substitute Gods! How are the gods supposed to endure against Main Gods of the Substitute Gods who have been reinforced like that?!”

Of course, there was no communication with the Substitute Gods. Only resonances could be transmitted.

“Yuuuung. Uuuung—! Uuung! Ung!”

The words of the Substitute Gods could never be understood by the divine or demon races. Nor were they allowed to understand them according to his will. They were the natural enemies of the existing divine and demon races, and should they be defeated, they would become the Creator Gods and Demon God Kings of another universe who would rule this one.

They could only infer meaning from the situation and the resonances, but that was enough.

Grind! Grind!

The Demon God King’s teeth clenched so hard they seemed ready to shatter.

Looking at the situation, it seems even that Substitute God Creator was forcibly dragged here. Normally, if he was being hounded this much, he’d be firing God Destruction Cannons first, but he’s holding back his curses and only sending out resonances.

Even when he urgently requested reinforcements from the higher Demon God King Realm, only cold responses came back.

Even if it’s disadvantageous, it’s still war. If you lose, die.

It was a truly demonic answer that made his teeth grind even as he understood it.

Meanwhile, the carefree Creator God beside him was only worrying about which Main Gods to select to subjugate those Substitute Gods if the star ended up frozen.

This is the highest-ranking Demon ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠God Star I barely managed to obtain. I can’t lose it like this!

It was the result he had achieved after begging the incredibly lazy Creator God for tens of thousands of years, practically hounding him into creating a Main God Star, and then deploying the strongest Great Demon God as the Demon God of the Demon Realm.

This star is the foundation that will make me a mid-rank Demon God King. Moreover, that Great Demon God child is my direct descendant—the successor to the Demon God King that I invested countless years into creating.

He could not let the star and his successor be lost so meaninglessly.

In the end, the Demon God King had only one answer.

“Ugh—! I’ll summon the mercenary gods—!”

“Huh? You really have gone mad. Are you prepared for the deficit?”

He could hear the Creator God beside him mocking him. It was payback for the teasing he had received earlier.

This is exactly why no one can say he isn’t part of the divine races. His grudges are no joke. And that grinning smile of the Creator God who always seems so pleased with himself is truly unbearable to look at.

“If you’re not going to help, then shut up! If we lose a planet of that grade to a Substitute God Main God, you won’t be safe either! And how are we supposed to recapture it from a Substitute God Main God who’s been strengthened like that?!”

“I ran the calculations. At our current level, it’s impossible. We’d need at least one full generation of divine race replacement.”

“So you should invest quickly too.”

“Haa—! This is a complete deficit. When will you ever reach mid-rank like this? It really pains me to see you struggling so much.”

“I hate seeing your smug face too!”

“Oong—! Uuung. Uuung!”

The Demon God King grew even more furious at the responding resonance from the Substitute God Creator God.

If only we could communicate, we could at least negotiate! But this is completely one-way communication, and since he’s stronger than me, I can’t even threaten him.

The original Substitute Gods had been uncontrollable calamities akin to gods of destruction. The fact that he only went as far as devouring solar systems and could be used as fishing bait was what made him this relatively docile. When species wars broke out in other universes, he would rampage so horrifically that one would feel pity for the enemy.

“You shut up—! I’ll settle the score for that fraud you pulled earlier. Summon the Great Demon God mercenaries.”

“Summon the highest-ranking mercenary Main Gods. These guys better do a good job. Our Demon God King’s promotion is at stake.”

“Shut up—! We’re still short on forces. Even though they’re low-grade, I’ll deploy these too. Summon the Transcendents of the Middle World!”

Flashflashflashflash—!

A portion of the universe turned into light and opened like a gate. Hundreds of beings transformed into rays of light—the mercenary gods—were summoned into the area. Among them were several ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Main Gods and demon gods possessing thirteen pairs of wings. They were the strongest among the mercenary gods who had no factions and thus no stars of their own.

Their power rivaled that of Great Demon Gods and highest-ranking Main Gods. They were the ones who participated in the certification wars against the Substitute Gods in order to obtain their own stars.

Only then did a relaxed expression return to the Demon God King’s face.

“The mercenary gods are those who rose to the position of the strong through their own power alone. They should be able to stand toe-to-toe with that strengthened Substitute God Main God.”

“Their hiring fee is ridiculously expensive, but they definitely deliver on their worth.”

They were also deploying large numbers of Middle World powerhouses of ten circles or higher, who were unaffected by the Substitute Gods’ ‘God Slayer’ effect.

If it were up to the Demon God King’s temper, he would have killed all the arrogant Transcendents in the Middle World who called themselves Absolute Beings and caused nothing but trouble, converting them into vitality. But he had no choice but to raise them for moments like this.

RUMBLE—! GRRRRRRR—!

With the mercenary gods joining the battle, the war finally managed to maintain a precarious balance. The highest-ranking Main Gods and Great Demon Gods clung to the star, pouring their maximum attacks onto the Substitute God Main God and shattering its planetary bio-armor.

The infinite vitality restored the damage in the blink of an eye. The entire planetary bio-armor activated wide-area divine power cannons, shaking off the attached demon gods and Main Gods.

The localized directional divine power cannons—now called God Destruction Cannons—shook the triple defensive barrier created by the combined power of the divine races, demon races, and Middle World Absolute Beings.

They blocked spatial movement while the Middle World Absolute Beings desperately supported the divine and demon races’ assistance.

However, after a few of them were erased by the aftermath of the God Destruction Cannons, they began trying to retreat. The Demon God King’s eyes burned like flames as he warned the Middle World Absolute Beings.

“This is an investment made while prepared for a deficit. It is war. If you lose, I will turn you all into highest-grade demons and make you personally create as many lives as you have killed.”

At those words, the faces of the ten-circle Transcendents changed completely. The Demon God King and Creator God never spoke empty words, and they possessed both the ability and the merciless heart to take any measure against the defeated.

Watching them abandon retreat and launch desperate attacks that finally allowed them to gain the upper hand, the Creator God let out a sigh.

“Ease up a little. The Transcendents are valuable resources too.”

“Hmph—! These are the ones who have lived their lives slaughtering countless lives according to their own desires and emotions. From the perspective of the entire universe, their very existence is a deficit. I spared them because they contributed greatly to creating the Demon God Star, but originally they should have been erased.”

“Even if you erase them and extract their vitality, you won’t even break ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠even, will you? You need to coax them well and put them to good use if you want to get promoted.”

“That’s true. At this rate, I might end up having to work as a mercenary in his battlefield.”

“Never do that. It’s better to thoroughly squeeze the ones below you.”

The moment the words ‘his battlefield’ left the Creator God’s mouth, the carefree look in his eyes completely changed and he ground his teeth. In the distant past, he had ignorantly joined the fight to gain the power to protect this universe, only to be forced to repeat battles that made the war against the Substitute Gods look like child’s play.

His battlefield was the only way for someone like me, without any supporting forces, to gain enough power to protect a universe in a short period of time. The enormous reward wasn’t for nothing. Compared to that, bickering with the Substitute Gods or demon races here feels like a warm spring day.

Just thinking about that time sent chills down the Creator God’s spine. To him, the shouts of those desperately fighting the strengthened Substitute God Main God and the sounds of war sounded like a gentle breeze, enough to make him yawn.

Let’s live long and thin. Compared to that, this place really is what humans call heaven.

The Creator God was actually cheering them on, telling the Main Gods and demon gods fighting the Substitute Gods to do their best even as they repeated death and erasure. The Demon God King and the Substitute God Creator God looked at him in utter disbelief.

From what they had seen so far, there was no tension of the battlefield on him at all. He looked as bright and cheerful as a child who had come for a picnic at a stadium.

To them, this low-ranking Creator God was truly the strangest being imaginable.

Do you even realize that you are the weirdest one here? Why would a Creator God worry about my promotion as a Demon God King? And I am a Demon God King, not a Creator God! Why should I have to manage and operate your entire galaxy?!

That Creator God guy really seems insane. If he weren’t so ridiculously strong, I would have ended him already. I’m going crazy. Where did such a monster come from to be playing around here?

The certification war they had fought against the Creator God still remained vividly etched in the minds of the Demon God King and the Substitute God Creator God.

Ting! Tingtingting! Tatang! Tatang!

The Creator God flicked away the Demon God King’s demonic energy with a smirk. He was the powerhouse who had laughed madly as he charged straight through the God Destruction Cannons that could casually obliterate solar systems, then smashed the planetary bio-armor with his bare hands.

He won perfectly, yet he didn’t kill us.

After that, he started treating us like friends regardless of race, smiling and acting all friendly. It’s enough to drive anyone insane.

What came after the victory was even more ridiculous. The Creator God had tossed the entire galaxy to the Demon God King as if it meant nothing to him and went off to play.

Do your job properly, you bastard! You’re a Creator God, not a freeloader! Other Creator Gods work hard to create Main God Stars for their promotion! You’re capable of creating even the highest-ranking Main God Stars, so why don’t you work?!

You should ascend to become a Highest Creator God. Because of you, I’m being undervalued too.

His complaints were on the verge of exploding, but since the Creator God was stronger than them, there was truly nothing he could do.