The Tower of Babylonia Stands in the Sky

The appearance of the Main God of the Divine Realm at the Great Forest battlefield caused the surrounding highest-ranking gods to bow their heads one after another in deference. A deep, resonant hum filled the air. When the Main God healed the Orc God, whose bleeding still hadn’t stopped, and even restored his diminished divinity, the Beast God lowered his head even further. He was strictly adhering to the principle that the strong deserve respect.

I should have been annihilated during that fight with the Giant King back then.

In the distant past, when he had served the Main God as a God King and raced across planetary development battlefields, those had been the Beast God’s golden years. But now that time felt impossibly far away.

To live this long and end up in such a sorry state…

The self he remembered—arriving on this star, creating the Divine Realm, nurturing life, and fighting desperately against invading outsiders—had once shone with hope. Yet the God King he had once revered now looked unbearably weary and tormented.

“The Demon King summoning was the work of the black mages. Moreover, that great black sorcerer has reacted sensitively and is already on the move. His power is both immense and bizarre, so do not intervene until we have a precise grasp of his abilities.”

“Understood.”

Granzoa and the other goddesses looked visibly displeased at the Beast God’s rude tone, yet they said nothing. The killing intent he had displayed moments ago had been thick with the readiness to turn this very spot into a battlefield. Sensing the increasingly murderous atmosphere among the highest-ranking male gods around them, they understood they had no choice but to let it pass. The Main God of the Divine Realm acted swiftly as well.

“Beast God, who caused a disturbance in the Main God Temple, I order you to head to the Boundary immediately and reflect upon your actions. Fulfill your duties there until further instructions arrive.”

“I shall obey your command, my King.”

The Beast God bowed deeply in response, and as he walked away, the Main God of the Divine Realm’s eyes clouded over for a brief moment.

Am I punishing only the male gods again? This isn’t right! The free and equal world I once dreamed of was never supposed to look like this.

The Beast God had been his loyal subordinate since the days when the Main God had operated as a mercenary god. He had followed him through endless eons of war. The very subordinate who had saved and aided him countless times while he rose to become the Main God of the Divine Realm—rewarded with a bountiful Main God Star acknowledged by the Creator Gods—now had to be disciplined. It felt as though his heart were being torn apart.

All because of those pathetic direct descendants who only favor the goddesses, I am forced to send even my oldest loyal subject into a local conflict against the Demon Race. How humiliating.

Regardless, with the Main God of the Divine Realm’s appearance, the situation had been somewhat resolved. The gods turned their attention back to the black sorcerer, only for their faces to drain of all color.

A colossal planet was falling from the sky toward the ground.

“What in the world is that? Surely it can’t be a meteor?”

“It’s far too big to be a meteor! Can that black sorcerer even manipulate stars?”

It had already been a full day since the most prosperous human empire’s capital, Mortal, had been seized by a suddenly appearing Demon King and tens of thousands of black mages, transformed into a horrific hellscape.

The empire’s mighty superhumans and ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠its formidable army of one million had been utterly annihilated before the Demon King in less than a day. The metropolis of ten million souls was then plundered by the black mages and offered as sacrifices to the demon race.

Blood now flowed through the capital’s sewers instead of water. On every street, corpses branded with sacrificial marks were piled into mountains, rotting where they lay.

Kuhahahahaha—!

Uahahahaha—!

The black mages, bursting with mad laughter as they tortured and killed their fellow humans, were no longer human at all. Everything in the imperial capital was rotting and falling into corruption. The once-beautiful city was now filled with death; the only things that still moved were the black mages.

Uuuurgh—! Uuuurgh—!

Now only zombies with exposed bones, as if searching for new victims, wandered the night streets with glowing red eyes.

One of the victims, dying, stared blankly up at the sky.

So that was the black mages’ summoning magic, and we were the sacrifices. If someone would just give me strength, I would never forgive those wicked black mages.

Despite his vow, the pain in his slashed-open belly had already vanished, and his consciousness was fading. He lifted his eyelids, which had been torn away, and gazed at the moon one last time.

Ah! That moon is still so beautiful.

Yet in his dying eyes, it looked like two moons. And they were growing larger.

Before the expanding moon, a figure in a black robe floated in the sky. As the silhouette grew large enough to blot out the heavens, an ear-splitting roar shook the air.

“Clash Planet-!”

One of the two moons swelled until it seemed to cover the entire imperial capital, then slammed straight down. The black-robed figure at the center of the enlarged moon flew toward the Demon King’s face—which had grown larger than the royal palace—and struck it with a colossal burst of light, knocking it down.

Puhahaha—!

Puuuuurk—!

The moment the victim felt his body floating into the air, the moon was right before his eyes.

Aaah—! So it wasn’t the moon… it was a rock.

With that final thought, he heard a tremendous roar and lost consciousness.

“Kuaaaaagh! You insane black sorcerer—!”

“I’ll kill you in the most brutal way possible, Demon King—!”

Kwa-jijijijijijijik—!

The enormous star grazed the entire capital sideways, tearing everything apart as it advanced and grinding all it touched into powder. The vast capital’s entire area fell into the star’s path, and a region more than ten times larger was obliterated by overwhelming gravity, frictional heat, and flying debris.

Ujijijiji—!

Everything inside the capital was pulverized into dust. Not a single one of the black mages who had been offering sacrifices managed to escape. Before the star even arrived, the black sorcerer had already blocked the Demon King and the black mages’ teleportation.

They watched the star descend with their own eyes until the very last moment—shattered into pieces by debris, ground apart by the star, or burned away without leaving a trace.

At the very front of the fallen star, the lower half of the Demon King—who had descended in his true body—had been sucked into the frictional zone and was screaming as it disintegrated. The black sorcerer had struck the Demon King’s face with vast magical power, knocking him down, then pinned the Demon King’s body in place with magic. He slowly fed the lower half into the star’s grinding zone, literally grinding him apart.

Between the blinding heat—hotter than the sun—generated where the two planets scraped against each other, a silver metal with a faint black sheen appeared. It was instantly sucked into a subspace pocket. The black sorcerer simply continued to feed the Demon King little by little between the stars, making sure he was thoroughly ground up.

Watching the Demon King scream in the overwhelming heat that was burning his ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠highest-ranking demon-god body, the black sorcerer spoke coldly.

“Do you have any idea how much karma your little conspiracy with those black mages has cost me? Regret manifesting in the Middle World as physical matter, and at least be useful to me this way.”

Krrrrrrung!

Thud—!

The star and the Demon King advanced together, grinding away hundreds of kilometers of land. They slammed into the mountain range in front of the capital, shattering several peaks into flat plains before finally stopping. On top of that star stood the black sorcerer, holding the Demon King’s head—most of whose body had been lost in the recent attack and had shrunk to human size—by the horn protruding from it.

True to his nature as a spiritual entity, the Demon King had resisted the heat burning his body until he exhausted all his magic power. Even reduced to just a head, he was still alive. Despite being in such agony that he seemed on the verge of madness, he shouted.

“Kuhk—! Kill… kill me.”

The Demon King had already exhausted all his magic power and could no longer manifest in the Middle World. Even his physical true body had suffered irreparable damage. If he died now, he would fall to the rank of highest-ranking demon, but returning to the Demon Realm to regenerate as quickly as possible was his best option.

Yet the sorcerer only replied coldly.

“I’ll deal with you as brutally as the Demon King currently being summoned, so that your name remains forever in the history of the Middle World.”

“Kuhuk—! You bastard—!”

Holding the Demon King up by the horn right before his eyes and wearing a chilling smile, the black sorcerer looked exactly like a demon god. It was the same smile the demon gods wore when they executed Demon Kings who refused to obey, claiming they had challenged their authority, and then cast them into the Middle World.

Who the hell started the rumor that this insane black sorcerer is a coward? Even Demon Kings don’t drop stars like this.

The black sorcerer flew up from the star and raced along the thousands-of-kilometers-long trench created by the collision of the two celestial bodies, heading toward the capital. A massive silhouette appeared before him.

“The next Demon King is arriving. Shall I try catching this one a different way? I already have enough Demon Adamantium, after all.”

Confirming that the Demon King summoning was nearly complete, the black sorcerer’s magic power surged like a storm across the sky. The manifestation of a mighty tenth-circle spell was about to begin.

A Demon King with a body as enormous as a giant’s, possessing three pairs of horns and wings, savored the abundant vitality of the Middle World through his materialized flesh and let out a tremendous roar toward the heavens. The air vibrated and the ground shook from his magic power alone.

The Demon King, who had been briefly enjoying his manifestation in the Middle World, turned to offer praise to the black mages who had summoned him—only to freeze in shock.

All he could see was a colossal trench where smoke rose in curls and rocks had melted. Nothing remained but an impossibly wide and endlessly long scar in the earth. The first Demon King, the countless black mages, and the sacrifices were all gone.

“What the—!”

As the startled Demon King looked around, his guard momentarily dropped. Something appeared via spatial teleportation right in front of his chest, and a brilliant light erupted from above it.

“Gigantic Meteor-! Dimensional Barrier, manifest!”

“Are you the great black sorcerer? Kugh—!”

The dimensional barrier began crushing the Demon King’s own body with tremendous pressure.

Uduuudududuk!

Kukukukukung—!

The dimensional barrier tightened around his legs, causing him to lose balance. The Demon King was forced to the ground, and the black sorcerer wrapped in a black robe descended right onto his face.

“You really go down ridiculously easily. The Demon Realm must be quite peaceful these days, huh?”

“A being called ‘great’ resorting to a surprise attack?”

Uuuung—! Uuuung—!

Uduk! Uduk!

He poured power into breaking the dimensional barrier, but it only tightened further. Instead, it curled his body—except for the head—into a ball and stood him upright like a roly-poly toy. The pain of his first physical body made him want to scream.

“Surprise attacks are the beauty of war. I am a black sorcerer of the Root School, and all my combat doctrines are based solely on survival and victory.”

“Kuk—! Kuuuugh—!”

Looking down at the struggling Demon King, the black sorcerer spat out venomous words in a tone of utter contempt.

“Hah… I thought a Demon King would be a worthy opponent, but ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠you’re even weaker than an ogre that only has strength.”

“Shut up! This pathetic barrier is nothing!”

He mobilized every authority he possessed to dispel the barrier, but he couldn’t even identify what kind of barrier it was. It was crushing his highest-ranking demon body—harder than any material in this world—like clay.

“Pfft! It’s a Main God-level dimensional barrier. No matter how much you twist space-time, unless you are a demon god who rules over dimensions, you cannot escape this barrier.”

“Uwaaaaaagh—! You coward—!”

Pajijijijijijik!

The dimensional barrier began compressing endlessly, forcibly shrinking the enormous demon body.

“Shut up. According to the laws of the Demon Realm, the weak become food for the strong and disappear.”

“Ugh—! You cannot defeat a Demon King with the physical laws of the Middle World. No matter how much you compress me, you cannot kill me. The moment this barrier is released will be the moment you die.”

Having been ambushed without being able to use any of his power and suffering such humiliation, the Demon King began shouting frantically.

“I agree. To defeat a spiritual-entity Demon King, only another spiritual entity—a god—can do it. By the way, what do you think this is?”

What the black sorcerer held before the Demon King’s eyes was the head of the first Demon King who had arrived earlier. Below the neck, it was covered in charred black ash, and regeneration in that area had completely stopped. It meant the Demon King’s immortal eternity had vanished.

“In the Demon Realm, spiritual-entity Demon Kings are immortal, but when a Demon King manifests in the Middle World ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠as physical matter, they fall under the interference of natural laws. Of course, as long as they have magic power, they can make themselves an exception to those laws. But once that magic power runs out, their body is nothing more than ordinary matter.”

“Uuuugh—!”

The second Demon King was rendered speechless by the miserable sight of his equal. The sorcerer’s voice continued to drill into his ears.

“A Demon King’s body that has come under the rule of physical laws will be pulverized like this if it receives damage exceeding its durability. Since there is no demonic energy in the Middle World, natural recovery is impossible. When you die, your soul will return to the Demon Realm and be reborn as a highest-ranking demon, but…”

The first Demon King, reduced to only a head, had not died. He simply kept his eyes tightly shut, as if too ashamed to look at his fellow Demon King, and groaned in pain.

“That gives me no benefit at all. It would be rather dull if I fought two Demon Kings and received no reward whatsoever. That would be a disgrace to the Root School.”

The sky split open, and a colossal rectangular screen large enough to cover the entire heavens appeared.

The rectangular surface sparkled and began to illuminate the dark night sky.

“Now then—let’s put on a show. For the sake of my karma—!”

The black sorcerer’s chant, filled with cheerful energy, rang across the night sky as it drew forth magical power.

Gooooooo—!

A rectangular barrier spread across the sky of the Middle World, growing until it covered the entire heavens. The white screen eventually hid countless stars and the moon. Every sentient being in the Middle World looked up at it, unsure what to do.

The ruling class, who could sense the scale of power at work, fell into even greater chaos.

“What is this? In a situation where a tenth-circle black sorcerer who contracted with a Demon King has summoned one and is carrying out a massacre, what is that thing?”

“It appears to be magic. Reports indicate that an immeasurable amount of magic power is covering the entire Middle World.”

“What? Is this the black sorcerer’s doing?”

“This scale is absolutely impossible for a seventh-circle mage. If a tenth-circle black sorcerer truly exists, it can only be him.”

The human empire and the mages began scrambling in all directions, analyzing the situation and trying to predict the result of the spell.

“Truly a wicked power that does not fear the gods.”

“The temple orders, paladins, saints, and saintesses have all finished preparing to activate their divine power. No matter what kind of magic that is, we will be able to block it, Your Eminence.”

“A mere human capable of influencing the entire Middle World? It is a power that must be eradicated.”

The forces gathered to carry out the oracle ordering the subjugation of the black sorcerer stared up at the sky, steeling their resolve.

“Ugh… just what is he trying to do?”

The Dragon Emperor, who had been waiting near the Great Forest, had all his wings broken by the shockwave of the black sorcerer’s summoning magic and had collapsed from severe injuries. Still in relatively better condition, he was helping the nearby Dragon Kings and Holy Dragons recover as he looked up at the sky.

The High Orcs and Nagas who had barely survived the previous battle also sensed the familiar magic power and looked upward.

While most sentient beings in the Middle World stared fearfully at the white-covered sky, light began to shine from the screen. A voice like thunder rang out across the entire heavens.

“The Tower of Babylonia does not fall and stands in the sky.”

A gigantic silhouette that seemed to cover the entire sky suddenly appeared within the screen. It was the black sorcerer, his entire body wrapped in a black robe, holding something in his hand. The figure holding a head in his hand looked down upon the entire Middle World from the sky and declared:

“I am a tenth-circle black sorcerer of the Root School.”