The Goddess Department's Folly
As the Goddess Department's war meeting entered its middle phase, the God of Knowledge and the female Main Gods began shouting at each other, discarding all pretense of dignity.
This is so noisy I could die. It seems this damn Divine Realm Round Table Conference is nothing but a shouting match.
Though he had no idea what the argument was about, the God of Knowledge launched a fierce attack, citing sharp historical precedents while glancing at the Dimensional and War God. The female Main Gods countered with arguments about principles and efficiency. As usual, the outnumbered God of Knowledge and the male gods found themselves pushed back.
One mouth can't outtalk ten.
Cheers from goddesses and jeers from gods echoed throughout the hall, turning the meeting into a chaotic marketplace. It was impossible to tell whether this was the Divine Realm Round Table Conference or an auction house.
Damn it. I'd rather have it like the Demon Realm—let the winner do as they please and erase the loser. At least decisions are simple when even the victor gets erased by the Demon Gods if they fail.
The sight of demon gods fawning over their superiors while desperately fighting for their own interests behind the scenes brought a hollow laugh to his lips.
In the Demon Realm, if a subordinate's performance is lacking or they misspeak even once, their demonic power is immediately reclaimed. That's why they all train desperately. This place has a different kind of energy—it's almost comical.
Still, the Divine Realm advanced faster than the Demon Realm. It was more efficient for each god to pursue their own desires than for everyone to cater to a single demon goddess's whims.
In the end, this ridiculous Divine Realm that is always fighting is better than the rigidly unified Demon Realm. What a strange thought.
For him, this was an extremely leisurely situation. There were no wars or national battles in the Divine Realm that required the War God's intervention.
The only matters that might require the War God's attention now are rebellions by Demigods in the Middle World and requests from the Holy Empires to purge heretics. All of them are cases where they look down on me.
Demigods dared to make demands of a Main God, while nations that were not even the Holy Empire of War sought permission to wage war in a god's name or slaughter the followers of other gods. It was the first time since becoming the mercenary god at Main God level that he had been treated so lightly.
I'll kill anyone who interferes with the management of the Middle World or the War God's duties. And like the dark mage I once was, I'll make good use of their bones.
The Dimensional and War God slowly smiled as he savored the decision already made in his heart. Thinking of the divine power, vitality, and positive karma he would gain by eliminating the Absolute Beings of the Middle World who had challenged the "Extreme Good" Main God, as well as the corrupted priests of the fallen Holy Empire, only deepened his satisfaction.
As the highest-ranking god of the Round Table, I will accumulate even more positive karma and increase my divine power while carrying out my duties. Everything else—the male gods' struggle for rights or the goddesses' defense of theirs—has nothing to do with me.
That was what he thought. Yet he had severely underestimated the absurdity of this ridiculous Divine Realm.
What nonsense is she spouting? Those Goddess Department fools—!
His full-power divine energy fluctuated without him realizing it. The agenda items below Upper God level had ended in chaos, and now matters involving Upper Gods and above were being raised. Since most were High Gods capable of handling their own affairs, the majority of reports concluded with "no issues." However, even the highest-ranking goddesses appeared to be divided into factions.
The primordial goddesses make up forty percent of the female Main Gods, while the new-generation goddesses make up sixty percent. In terms of divine power, the primordial goddesses overwhelmingly dominate at the Upper God level, while the new-generation goddesses are mostly at Intermediate God level or below.
The real problem began when the Main God-level goddess who led the Goddess Department started speaking.
"Now that the war with the Substitute Gods has ended, in order to permanently establish peace without any more pointless wars…"
Pointless wars? I used the Ultimate Magic because of the Demon God King's schemes, all for the sake of the Divine Realm that isn't even my own world. On top of that, I lost both arms and went through hell to recover them.
"We must bid farewell to the barbaric era of struggle and recognize that a groundbreaking alternative is needed now."
Barbaric? Bidding farewell to the era of struggle? Who decided that in his universe? A groundbreaking alternative? If we could have lived without fighting, would I have gone through all that trouble? Go outside this ridiculous Divine Realm. It's a brutal world where you die in an instant if you're careless.
The Main God-level goddess of the Goddess Department grew increasingly absurd. The God of Knowledge now wore an expression of complete resignation, staring up at the sky. The female Main Gods glanced at the protagonist before grinding their teeth while looking at the Main God-level goddess.
It seems even they cannot control her.
Main Gods received special treatment in the Divine Realm and were extremely valuable. Unless karma was involved, they were rarely punished. Because they had a high chance of becoming Main Gods, erasing one required the Creator God's approval. The words spoken by such a goddess sounded incredibly sweet, drawing cheers from the new-generation goddesses.
"First, participation in the War God and Combat God positions, which were previously forbidden to goddesses."
Huh? What is this? Are they saying the goddesses will now enter the brutal battlefields they hated so much? They fiercely opposed it because death and erasure ran rampant in the battles between demon gods and Substitute Gods. Have they really come to their senses? There may be no more Substitute God invasions, but fighting demon gods still requires being prepared for death.
The God of Knowledge and the female Main Gods widened their eyes in shock. Their expressions showed they could not believe what they were hearing. The male gods stood with their mouths agape, as if such a thing was impossible. Then the next words left them stunned.
"Of course, since their combat abilities are weak, they will only participate as high-ranking gods in rear command. Given the advantage of goddesses being able to provide direct divine power support, this must be implemented. For the sake of goddess equality, male gods must abandon their selfishness and boldly open these positions."
So in the end, they wanted the highest-ranking War God and Combat God seats for themselves. On top of that, they had no intention of going to the front lines and planned to handle politics from here instead.
I knew it. Good grief—!
The Dimensional and War God's head, which had been trying to ignore everything, slowly began to heat up.
If all the highest-ranking gods are here, who will deal with the Demon Kings? Are they saying Upper Gods who can't even put up a fight should handle it with their bodies? How are they supposed to command without ever going to the battlefield? Do they think this is the Creator God's battlefield where hundreds of thousands of gods fight?
Sighs from male gods echoed here and there. They were even demanding the remaining exclusive seats of the highest-ranking male gods, which were only at ten percent.
The expressions of the primordial Combat Gods have reached the point of enlightenment.
At the demand for command rights from a goddess who knew nothing of battle, they seemed to have lost even the energy to be angry. If she were not a precious Main God-level goddess, their intent to not let this slide was palpable. Yet her hollow reaction only emboldened the speaker further.
"Second, now that the threat of the Substitute Gods has disappeared, a drastic reduction in War Gods and Combat Gods is also necessary. Instead of wasting vast amounts of vitality on reckless consumption, we must increase allocations to support unfortunate and weak goddesses. Even now, countless goddesses are struggling with their lives."
Clap, clap, clap! Applause from goddesses rang through the Divine Realm Round Table Conference.
Do these fools even know what's happening outside? Other Divine Realms and the Demon Realm are glaring at each other while expanding their ruling planets, all because of the massive vitality consumption from fighting the strengthened Substitute Gods.
Even localized wars between Divine Realms were occurring over planets with no ownership. There won't be an all-out war between Divine Realms, but if the Demon Realms unite and invade, who will stop them? Will it be the unfortunate and weak goddesses who received free vitality support? While struggling to live in the goddess-only Divine Realm, how do they plan to fight demon gods? Especially when they claim their combat power is weak and they'll only command from the rear?
He wanted to shout that even frog-in-a-well arguments had their limits, but he suppressed the urge.
If I get involved now, it'll be a real headache. I just need to complete my contracts with the female Main Gods, receive their innate divine power, and maintain the War God's position without issues.
But the next words nearly snapped his reason.
"Third, now that peace has arrived, special positions like War God and Combat God that only consume vitality without producing anything are no longer needed. Military and security forces must be merged into one without distinction."
This time, the Dimensional and War God felt as if he had been struck hard on the head.
War Gods and Combat Gods are unnecessary? Then why am I sitting here?
Above all, the suggestion of mixing elite War Gods with security gods who could not even use divine artifacts properly and could not dodge simple magic was something he could not overlook.
They really intend to ruin the Divine Realm completely.
In reality, the Main God-level goddess of the Goddess Department was willing to do anything to secure fixed positions for goddesses at the Upper God level.
Surely she doesn't actually find those male security gods who only carry shields around reliable, does she?
Security gods who could only defend with shields would all be erased in less than ten minutes if he stepped in.
"Fourth, the titles 'War God' and 'Combat God,' remnants of past male-centered bad habits, must be renamed to 'Guardian God.' The one-sided male-centered naming must disappear. This is the unified will of the six hundred highest-ranking goddesses who are members of the Goddess Department. I ask the highest-ranking god of the Round Table, the War God, to approve the unified title of Guardian God."
"……"
A deathly silence enveloped the Divine Realm Round Table Conference. Even the primordial Combat Gods and male gods suffered under the suffocating fighting spirit and killing intent pouring from the War God. The female Main Gods wore expressions of shock, as if they had not expected the discussion to reach this point.
This is a complete desecration of the War God's existence.
The Goddess Department must be furious from being ignored by the War God so many times and prepared this, but a Main God has far exceeded the permissible range of what a Main God can do to another Main God.
No matter how free communication was in this Divine Realm, the difference in divine power and level was absolute. Especially the highest-ranking goddesses who had recently received self-discipline for neglecting the management of the Middle World's Absolute Beings now felt genuine fear. Since most of the high-ranking goddesses making these claims were their daughters, they could not escape responsibility.
These girls went on vacation together and I had no idea they were plotting something like this.
Surely they aren't acting this way because they don't know how strong the Dimensional and War God is?
Directly denying and attempting to change another god's divine position was tantamount to challenging that god to a duel to the death in other Divine Realms. The God of Knowledge and the female Main Gods froze at the explosive surge of the Dimensional and War God's divine power, which seemed ready to erupt at any moment.
A tremendous roar echoed throughout the entire Divine Realm. The Main God of the Divine Realm had personally cast Immortality on the Round Table, making it indestructible except by divine power beyond that level—yet it shattered into pieces and vanished into dust. The faces of the God of Knowledge, the primordial gods, and the female Main Gods, who knew the special nature of this Round Table, turned ashen.
His innate divine power output has truly surpassed even the Main God of the Divine Realm!
The Round Table could never be destroyed unless its output was exceeded. At the center of the table turning to dust, thirteen pairs of wings fully unfurled and blazed, while eleven layers of light circles compressed to the point of taking physical form, pressuring everyone present.
The attribute of Dimensions includes time and space, the highest authority, making defense extremely difficult.
Even Main Gods would be instantly severed by the wings of Dimensions.
This was the moment they keenly realized that with the current power of the male and female Main Gods, they could not stop the Dimensional Lord.
"You called me, the War God, a 'Guardian God'? Do you understand what that implies? You tried to render me, the War God, completely useless. Are you trying to distort our contract again? And who exactly am I supposed to guard? You goddesses, without any compensation? Do you take me for a mere watchdog?"
The goddesses trembled violently under the overwhelming divine power, unable to even respond.
"No one who has insulted me has gone unpunished, and no one ever will. You, who are merely Main God level, dared to insult me, the War God and Intermediate Main God of Dimensions. Try to keep your precious lives with those arrogant mouths of yours! On top of that, I'll blow this ridiculous Divine Realm to pieces—!"
The Dimensional and War God's roar, which even mentioned the destruction of the Divine Realm, shook the entire realm.