The Goddess Department's Reckoning

The Dimensional and War God could defeat all eight combat-oriented goddesses and four administrative goddesses of the Goddess Department in battle, but it would be a hard-fought struggle. ‘As expected of the highest existences among goddesses—the Goddesses themselves. They are incomparably beautiful, yet their power matches that beauty.’

Moreover, after clashing repeatedly with the former Main God—who possessed 20 billion in divine power—across eons, they had honed their authorities to an extreme degree. ‘If my own divine power rises to the intermediate Main God level, even most upper Main Gods won’t be able to handle me. That’s precisely why I insisted that during the recovery phase of the Devotion Pledge, they must never provide any more divine power beyond restoration.’

If all of them reached the intermediate Main God rank, even he would have no choice but to flee. ‘The combination of the Lord Slayer authority that forces triple damage against Main Gods, the highest-tier combat authorities, and the results of infinite training is terrifying. On top of that, four new intermediate goddesses have been added to supplement their lacking divine power. Their overall might is now on an entirely different level compared to when the former Main God-level goddesses pooled their strength.’

To confront the monstrous upper Main God of the Divine Realm who wielded 20 billion in divine power and the Sword God authority, the goddesses—like the High Elf Queens—had trained coordinated tactics and prepared for eons. Their proficiency would be no less impressive. ‘Just imagining these intermediate Main God goddesses uniting to attack me sends chills down my spine.’

After quite some time had passed, the sobbing and whimpering from the goddesses gradually subsided as their emotions seemed to settle. ‘They’re checking their surroundings and becoming aware of my presence again.’

The dresses they had completely torn apart earlier in their uncontrollable rage left them at a loss. The combat-type goddesses, who had already seen each other naked during the Devotion Pledge, reacted less dramatically. However, the administrative ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠goddesses—who were seeing this for the first time—were in complete panic. They frantically covered their breasts and private areas with their hands, curling up as much as possible.

Suddenly, twelve breathtaking goddesses appeared in his sealed office, their bodies barely covered by the tattered remnants of fabric. Watching them desperately sink deep into the sofas or lean against tables to hide themselves, he felt a headache far stronger than any surge of desire. ‘Why do I keep getting tangled up with these goddesses in such bizarre ways?’

The reason these goddesses could not create or reassemble material to cover their nudity was simple: this was his personal temple. Without his permission, they could not use any space- or time-related authorities at all. Furthermore, all their other authorities were downgraded by one stage as a baseline effect. Unable to manipulate their own sub-space or create matter, they could not even retrieve clothing, which only heightened their panic. ‘I can roughly guess why they came, but this is going to cause another massive headache.’

Shocked at having revealed their naked bodies, they seemed unable to properly control their absorption of vitality. Their faces flushed crimson, and their breathing grew ragged. From his male perspective, watching these supremely beautiful goddesses—now the only ones naked—absorb immense vitality out of shame and transform that shame into arousal was naturally arousing. Yet this was hardly the time.

What made it worse was the way their hands, which covered their breasts and private parts, began to twitch and move as if they wanted to caress themselves. This was serious.

Snap!

He lightly flicked his fingers, manifesting magic that clothed each goddess in the most splendid attire they could remember from their memories, realizing its highest possible form while simultaneously cutting off the influx of vitality. He also reinforced the garments with divine power so they would not tear even if divine power was unleashed again.

Whoosh—! Shuhahaha—!

Suddenly, their shredded clothing transformed into outfits so luxurious that even a Main God of the Divine Realm would see them for the first time. The goddesses looked at themselves and their surroundings in stunned silence for a moment, then began sobbing once more. Seeing this, he could say nothing and simply remained quiet.

At this point, the administrative goddesses recalled his earlier actions and thought of him as a lecherous god. ‘Haaah—! This is terrible—! I… I got so excited that I couldn’t control my absorption of vitality. And my clothes… they’re all torn off, leaving me… completely naked.’

‘They call him an incredible pervert, right? Even when our divine ranks are equal, his personal temple restricts our authorities. If this continues, won’t we all be helplessly violated?’

‘I was prepared to become part of his harem in the worst case, but… this… this is—!’

‘Hiiik—! In this state of overwhelming vitality influx, if the Dimensional and War God so much as channels even a little divine power into us, none of us will be able to endure it.’

The administrative goddesses tried desperately to calm their arousal and regain composure, but every time the Dimensional and War God’s gaze fell upon their naked bodies, they instinctively moved to avoid it—only to absorb more vitality and grow even more excited. The combat goddesses were in a similar state, though they seemed to be making slightly more effort to regain control. Still, the severity of having absorbed massive amounts of vitality through arousal was the same.

The plan to negotiate on equal footing had completely collapsed. At this rate, it would be no different from coming here to willingly offer their bodies. Dressed in plain clothes and having absorbed far more vitality than their capacity could handle, they had lost their reason.

Since a male Main God would never refuse to ravish them in such a situation, they were utterly panicked and desperate, trying to block their senses. But the influx of vitality was not something that could be suppressed so easily. ‘Even if I block some of my senses, I still can’t endure this.’

‘My body keeps getting hotter, and my breathing grows more labored.’

At this rate, if the Dimensional and War God so much as touched them lightly, they feared they would be the ones to pounce on him and writhe in uncontrollable lust.

Then, like salvation, the influx of vitality was suddenly cut off. Just before they could begin comforting themselves, the replenishment of vitality transformed their state into one of euphoric fullness of divine power. Moreover, the incomparably splendid garments they had never seen before replaced their torn dresses, covering their nakedness and leaving them dazed once again.

Once the immediate crisis of being helplessly violated by a lecherous god had passed, their minds stabilized. The earlier despairing situation, combined with the sight of these unprecedentedly luxurious clothes he had provided, brought a fresh wave of sorrow and relief. They could no longer hold back their sobs.

‘No matter how wrong we were in the past, the situation left us no choice. It was an unimaginably long time ago.’

‘Yet because gods do not forget, he showed not the slightest leniency. He was preparing to punish us without mercy.’

The forced reclamation of their innate divine power was an utterly unreasonable and cruel punishment for them—the very goddesses who had elevated this once-barren land into a top-tier upper Divine Realm. Yet it was being considered as a matter of course, and the despair was overwhelming. They could not control their emotions.

‘The reclamation and bestowal of innate divine power is an authority surpassing even that of a Creator God. Our Devotion Pledge was a collective effort to manifest that very power.’

‘Innate divine power refers to the vitality of the body that a god has cultivated through absorbing vitality and training, along with newly created or strengthened authorities.’

The goddesses’ Devotion Pledge involved multiple participants forming a sanctuary to temporarily expand and reinforce the recipient’s body beyond its limits. It then imprinted and engraved the authorities and bodily vitality they had cultivated through training onto that expanded vessel, allowing it to be maintained even outside the sanctuary. The core of the process was the executor pouring all the information, authorities, and enhanced bodily vitality cultivated over eons into the recipient’s enlarged vessel, converting it into innate divine power and sustaining it.

Therefore, if the same executor performed the ritual multiple times, the recipient would not gain a significant increase because the information regarding the strengthened authorities and bodily vitality already existed within them. Additionally, because the divine power required to form the sanctuary was immense, the task had to be divided among many participants. Their individual divine power and authorities interfered with one another, and due to the vast capacity of the authorities, the information degraded during the divided imprinting process. This resulted in significant loss, preventing the authorities and bodily vitality from being bestowed perfectly.

However, a being above the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Creator God level could bypass these limitations. With transcendent divine power exceeding 100 billion, they could copy the god’s own authority information and bodily vitality in a single instant without any loss and bestow it upon another god.

‘This was the scheme the former Main God of the Divine Realm—who had become a reserve Creator God—devised to secure divine power and strengthen his direct lineage.’

Of course, even a Creator God consumed enormous divine power to create a sanctuary, and the replication was limited to beings with 1st circle divine power or below. This made it difficult even for ordinary Main Gods, with the upper limit being near the highest ranks. There were, however, exceptions.

‘The method involves separating the original cultivated authorities and bodily vitality developed through training and transferring them directly to the recipient.’

The memories of forming those authorities remained, but because the bodily vitality trained through cultivation and the strengthened authorities were completely transferred, the recipient god would lose all their divine rank and be reset to an initial state as if newly born. Moreover, since the process placed no burden on the copier—only requiring them to act as a transmitter—it could be performed even by a highest-ranking Main God. The only prerequisite was that the recipient’s body vessel had to be large enough to accommodate everything. Any excess innate divine power that surpassed the vessel could simply be discarded.

‘For the recipient, it is the greatest blessing imaginable. For the one forced to give it, there is no crueler punishment.’

Even if a god died and their divine rank fell, some foundation of their bodily vitality and authorities would remain, allowing for a relatively quick recovery. This punishment, however, erased the authorities and bodily vitality entirely, forcing them to rebuild everything from scratch.

Therefore, if one’s innate divine power was reclaimed by a Creator God, both the vitality composing their body and all their authorities would vanish. There would be no way to recover them. They would have no choice but to begin training again from the very beginning in the state of a newly born spiritual being.

‘Simple death causes one’s divine power to drop, but the foundation of past bodily vitality and authorities remains, allowing for easier recovery than before.’

‘However, the reclamation of innate divine power completely strips away all authorities and bodily vitality accumulated through training since birth. One must start over as a newborn god.’

When the goddesses realized that such a heinous punishment was being discussed as a potential measure against them—despite them having committed no wrongdoing in the recent events, only because it was deemed “dangerous”—their reason and pride seemed to shatter completely.

After another long while, the Dimensional Lord prepared tea once more and offered it to them. They drank it while shedding only tears of sorrow. At least the administrative goddesses managed to regain some composure and proceeded with the negotiations, albeit with great difficulty.

“If you appoint one of us as the Divine Realm Administrative Main God and form an alliance with us, we will cooperate with you wholeheartedly.”

“That is not possible. While you administrative goddesses possess sufficient divine rank, you lack enough achievements within the Divine Realm to qualify as the Divine Realm Administrative Main God. I only acknowledged the Goddess of Agriculture because she contributed greatly by making her authorities freely available to the Divine Realm. Furthermore, I do not engage in vague long-term contracts such as alliances. I only accept short-term contracts that produce clear results based on defined conditions.”

“Then what must we do to earn the position of Divine Realm Administrative Main God from you?”

For powerful intermediate goddesses, this was an extremely submissive attitude. Then again, the earlier incident had been incredibly shocking. ‘If I had fallen victim to that scheme to fully reclaim my innate divine power, I truly would not have left the Divine Realm and Main Divine Realm untouched. The situation felt far too radical and was clearly driving us toward war with the goddesses. My instincts warned me to stop, and thank the heavens I did.’

Even if he possessed the strength to defeat the goddesses, the aftermath of war would leave him unable to escape responsibility for neglecting management and allowing the realm to fall to an intermediate Divine Realm. He had nearly fallen into another trap. ‘Although I am the God of War, war is always the last resort and yields little profit. Negotiation is the proper path here.’

At least he still had the power to take revenge. They, however, were currently under disciplinary restrictions and lacked the strength. Revenge required power, so for now they could only swallow their fury. And to grow stronger, they desperately needed the position of Divine Realm Administrative Main God as well as his full cooperation as the Main God of the Divine Realm.

‘Because I will not tolerate the same kind of loopholes that exceed one’s divine rank as I did in the past. And if the Main Divine Realm continues to act so hostile, they will have no choice but to grow stronger and challenge the authentication trials themselves. That makes it even more urgent. That said, I have no intention of exploiting them through unfair contracts.’

If he could not control his own desires and exploited their weaknesses to force unfair contracts, he might gain short-term benefits, but he would eventually be shunned by everyone and end up exactly like the former Main God of the Divine Realm.

“Open your authorities for free if they can contribute to the development of the Divine Realm, just as the Goddess of Agriculture did. I will judge the results accordingly. I refuse an indefinite alliance. As gods of the same Divine Realm, cooperation is the only option.”

“As the Main God of the Divine Realm, do you not desire divine power or other rights?”

“One must possess over 100 billion in innate divine power output to become a Creator God. Divine power gathered from followers recovers slowly and is unstable, so it is not recognized beyond the Creator stage. As I am currently aiming to become a Creator God, the only thing that interests me as a highest-ranking Main God—aside from the divine power amplification effect—is nothing else.”

He could see the administrative goddesses’ faces stiffen. In a Divine Realm as broken as this one, a Main God could easily extort divine power from the realm and use it as a foundation to build his own separate Divine Realm elsewhere. However, divine power obtained from followers was no more than a sandcastle. One had to cultivate true innate divine power through training.

Moreover, in his universe, all beings above the Creator God level possessed over 100 billion in innate divine power. In the past universe, that amount would have made one the absolute strongest, capable of ruling the cosmos. Here, it was merely the basic qualification to be considered a Creator God.

Strengthening one’s innate divine power was far more difficult than increasing divine power through followers. Yet because battles between gods of the same rank were ultimately decided by the output of their innate divine power, it mattered all the more. ‘Divine power gathered from followers may let one enjoy the privileges of a higher god temporarily, but if one grows complacent and stops training, their innate divine power will decline and they may even lose to lower gods.’

The greatest problem was believing in one’s inflated divine power and authorities like a balloon, becoming deluded about one’s own strength and settling into complacency. The former Main God of the Divine Realm, who had received support exceeding 15 billion in divine power from the realm, mistook it for his own complete power. As a result, he was miserably defeated by the Great Demon God—who had once been his equal—and became so weakened that he hindered the battles against the Substitute Gods of the same rank.

Having witnessed such a sight, the Dimensional and War God concluded that it was better to ignore divine power offered by followers. He had willingly contributed even the divine power he received as a management fee toward the development and advancement of this Divine Realm.

‘In the end, steady training is the only answer. My complete subordinate gods are supplied with infinite vitality and receive divine power amplification effects while being made to focus solely on training. It takes more time, but my complete subordinate gods are recovering their innate divine power at tremendous speed with the support of highest-ranking gods from the highest Divine Realm and infinite vitality. They will become even stronger than before.’

The representatives of each race who had emerged victorious in their respective racial struggles had already provided a portion of their Main God-level divine power ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠and unique authorities to the Divine Realm for free. As a result of those achievements, they had claimed the highest seats at the Round Table.

‘I could restore the divine power of the remaining Main God-level beings as well, but for the sake of organizational management, I am leaving them to train on their own until they earn sufficient merits. If I reward those without achievements, the organization will collapse immediately. These administrative goddesses should already understand this fact. This is an extremely fair contract.’

The administrative goddesses exchanged glances, their expressions showing deep consideration. Indeed, while it sounded nice to call it “free disclosure of authorities,” it was essentially revealing all of one’s hidden cards. It was an extremely difficult request. And if other gods examined those authorities and discovered any weaknesses, the consequences could be fatal. That was why it was so hard to accept.

‘Under normal circumstances, this would be an outrageous demand. It would be like telling me—a mage—to reveal all of my magic, which is as important to me as life itself.’

Of course, ordinary gods’ authorities did not hold that level of importance. Nevertheless, without accumulating achievements through such sacrifice, even if they possessed the divine rank, the gods of the Divine Realm would never accept these suddenly appearing goddesses. Knowing all of this, they hesitated and could not bring themselves to refuse.