The Charm That Binds Goddesses
A heavy silence settled over the female transcendents after the honest explanation of why the Goddess Department needed them in the war.
“They’ve told us everything.”
“They intend to start a conflict with the Divine Realm, test the fallen demigods and transcendents, kill the weak, and keep the strong.”
“The survivors will be accepted into the lower divine realms of the Middle World, where they can accumulate merit and be guided toward ‘Extreme Good’ karma.”
“Finally, they will be welcomed into the Divine Realm itself, strengthening everyone in the process.”
Meanwhile, the Dimensional and War God had no time to worry about whether someone was merely a demigod or transcendent. His Dimensional Authority and the information network of the Cyber Realm had picked up unsettling movements from other divine realms and the Demon Realm.
“Following the strengthening of the Substitute Gods, the existing factions that lost vast amounts of vitality and countless gods and demon gods are now attempting mergers and consolidations to survive and grow larger.”
Even stars once deemed worthless were being brought under direct control, and countless communications regarding alliances and betrayals filled the universe.
“The aftershocks will eventually reach even this remote resort world on the frontier. Before that happens, I must secure as much power as possible to avoid being swept into the chaos.”
It was difficult to suddenly increase or strengthen the number of spiritual beings who had become gods. “In the end, the only option is to properly educate the transcendents no one cares about and absorb them into the Divine Realm.”
Only he, who had reached the rank of Main God as the absolute ruler of the Middle World, could accomplish this.
“The demigods and transcendents who were discriminated against by the pure divine race won’t easily trust the Divine Realm. But if it’s me—a Main God who originated from the Middle World—I can earn a certain degree of trust. Before that, I need to build a force that cannot be ignored. Alone, my words would be nothing but empty noise. That’s why I’m speaking with them and offering contracts.”
The minimum number of gods required to form a divine realm around a star was roughly one thousand. With his thirteen pairs of dimensional wings and karma at ‘Extreme Good,’ no one could oppose the establishment and operation of a lower divine realm.
“I’ve already filled the numbers with the mercenary compensation from the Substitute God War. If this divine realm rejects them, I’ll simply accept them into my own lower realm.”
The female transcendents lowered their heads even deeper than before, kneeling before him. Though they possessed complete divinity, they had been rejected by the Divine Realm solely because they were transcendents, and had fought with deep resentment. Now that a legitimate path to godhood had opened before them, they had no reason to refuse.
“Just as I expected. Though I can’t quite understand why their faces are all flushed and their breathing is ragged. It must be because of this appearance. Should I be pleased about that? At least persuasion required no effort at all.”
In the past, pushing through something of this scale would have required fierce arguments and prolonged debates. Now, all it took was a bright smile.
“We offer a complete subordination contract to the Dimensional Lord. Please guide us to become true gods.”
“I accept.”
The fervent wishes of the female transcendents reached his spirit. For a moment, their past pain and anguish left him dizzy, but he organized it all into a single thought and set it aside.
“Your lives were better than mine. Trials are opportunities for warriors to leap forward. Pain is not something to overcome, but to savor. Overcome it all and seize your glory.”
No painful past of theirs could compare to the suffering he had endured when his karma was ‘Extremely Evil.’ From childhood, when he understood nothing, he had been thrown into a life of extreme survival, and even after growing up, nothing changed. Yet in the end, he had won and reached this place as the Lord of Light. Because of that, he could suppress and organize all of their emotions.
The eyes of the female transcendents began to shine with fighting spirit, just like his, and their expressions brightened. Comparing themselves to him made them feel they had been fortunate, to the point where some even wondered whether they should feel angry about it.
Once the contracts with the female transcendents were complete, the doors to the audience chamber opened. The neatly dressed female prisoners who entered were startled by the words that immediately followed.
“So, you’re saying all of you want complete subordination? The conditions can stay the same?”
“Yes. We earnestly request your approval.”
The atmosphere around the female prisoners had completely changed from before. They kept their heads lowered. Moreover, their faces flushed red with embarrassment whenever they glanced at him—an enormous difference from their earlier wild behavior.
“Damn it. This is also thanks to my current appearance.”
The Dimensional and War God felt a sudden surge of frustration. If he had still possessed his original rough warrior or mage appearance, things would not have gone so smoothly.
“Is appearance really everything? No, it absolutely isn’t.”
He had originally planned to fight and subdue them like he had with the Spirit Lords, then threaten them into contracts. Yet with the face of this beautiful divine youth, a mere smile was enough to resolve everything.
“Just by smiling, goddesses, demon goddesses, and even female transcendents all happily follow along. I feel like a fool for worrying about the mercenary god issue earlier.”
Even after becoming completely subordinate gods, their thoughts remained filled with pinkish affection toward him. There was no resentment or rebellion anywhere.
“Just because my appearance changed into that of a beautiful divine youth, this is the result. What a filthy world that only looks at appearances. And the center of that world is me. I can’t even complain about it.”
He was caught between being the Lord of Light and an incubus king who seduced gods and demon gods, and a sigh escaped him.
“Wait a moment—if I had appeared in this form right after becoming a god, what would have happened? With an appearance that even spiritual beings find this appealing, maybe I wouldn’t have fought with Granzoa either? I might have been living comfortably as a Main God in this divine realm by now. Does that mean all my past hardships were because of my human appearance? Haa… Let’s stop with these hypotheticals.”
It was a highly plausible judgment. Regardless, he had no intention of turning back the past. He simply felt displeased at the thought that his human appearance had been that unattractive.
“I was rather confident in my looks back then.”
In the past, he had possessed a perfectly trained body covered in proud proofs of victory and survival—a warrior’s physique. “Of course, it could inspire awe and fear in some, but it was evidence of fierce survival.”
Yet realizing that this had been such a problem and that he had lived so difficult a life because of it twisted his mood.
“After first obtaining divinity, I disliked this frail boy-god appearance and chose to revert to my past human form.”
That warrior form had been met with tremendous rejection, while this beautiful divine youth appearance was passionately welcomed and made everything far easier to handle. The more he became a god, the more foolish his past self seemed for rejecting the frail boy-god form.
“The reason I lived so hard in the past was ultimately because I, the one who chose the human warrior appearance as the pinnacle of self-satisfaction, was wrong? This was before the Divine Realm and Granzoa began discriminating.”
It was the moment he once again realized his greatest flaw: his lack of social experience.
“Haa… I should have tried having deep conversations with beings other than my master. Most of my experience came from indirect memories through memory transfer, so problems always arise.”
He resolved that when the next choice came, he would deliberate carefully and seek advice from those around him, though he still felt unsettled. Regardless of his inner thoughts, the matter had resolved well, so he happily formed the subordination contracts.
In the end, he obtained a total of 1,010 subordinates: 100 female transcendents, 153 goddesses and demon goddesses recovering from former Main God status, and 755 upper-grade goddesses and demon goddesses.
“With this number, no one can claim it isn’t a divine realm. Compared to this place, which is an upper divine realm, it’s one-tenth the size, so it could also be called a middle-grade divine realm.”
His territory consisted solely of his personal divine temple, and he had no worshippers. However, the infinite vitality and divine power from Origin’s faction and the demonic energy supplied from the Great Forest solved everything.
“It’s a miniature version of the independent vitality supply structure of the eternal ruling Great Demon God.”
The Great Demon God’s demon realm had installed and operated mana-gathering devices throughout the entire Demon Realm. “Above all, since innate divine power is most important, I have no intention of accepting worshippers for the time being.”
The innate divine power gained through training as a fighting god was paramount. If one only increased divine power by gathering worshippers, they would often be annihilated on the battlefield due to insufficient output and recovery.
“The sly raccoon Main God proved this problem during the recent incident.”
The upper-grade monstrous Main God with a total divine power of twenty billion had only five billion in innate divine power and nearly faced complete annihilation by the Substitute Gods. “He’s now desperately training again. But since he stopped training for so long, it will take tremendous effort and time to regain his original output.”
Considering his disgraceful behavior during the authentication war, it was questionable whether he could even pass the Creator God’s authentication war in that state.
“My subordinate gods must never become the ugly sight of those who rely on faith and then fall. For now, training comes first.”
When his thoughts were conveyed to everyone, they lowered their heads and expressed agreement as if it were only natural.
“This is the advantage of complete subordination gods. Their thoughts are connected to mine, so no explanation is needed.”
They could perfectly understand each other’s intentions and move with the same ideology. Of course, since the thoughts of the upper god were most important and his divine power was superior, no command could be refused, and they would continue to be influenced and assimilated.
“Before refusing a command, they wouldn’t even be able to oppose someone with superior divine power anyway.”
The advantages were perfect communication and easy sharing of divine power. The disadvantage was that if he, the complete superior god, were annihilated, everything would end.
“It’s usually a relationship that only appears in final battles where everything in the divine or demon realm is at stake. However, to rapidly increase the divine power of subordinate gods and prevent any potential problems, this is the best option.”
From the perspective of the Dimensional and War God, he first needed to organize the hierarchy among those whose divine powers were similar and whose opinions were scattered.
“A divine realm without hierarchy or rank is nothing more than a social gathering. Above all, middle managers are absolutely necessary.”
He couldn’t possibly attend to over a thousand people himself.
“Select the strongest among the divine race, demon race, and transcendents as representatives. I will grant them Dimensional Authority and provide divine power and vitality.”
The moment they heard he would grant vitality, the women’s thoughts stirred and their eyes sparkled.
Twinkle twinkle!
A sudden chill ran down the Dimensional and War God’s spine.