The Shadow of Anti-Karma
The Dimensional Popes and Saintesses residing within the Survival Magic Tower in the Great Forest of the Great Cavity could not hide their displeasure as they glared at the newcomer. The woman who had arrived with her naked body barely concealed by shimmering golden hair was the princess who had boldly requested to sit at the Dimensional Lord’s left side. Even standing before the Upper God-rank Saintess and the suddenly empowered Popes who now manifested Noblesse Oblige, she merely smiled lightly and met their gazes.
“So you came up here as the representative?”
“Since you are in a position to learn, you must not be aware of the current situation. Efficiency keeps dropping and time is running out, so I came as the representative.”
“You’re right. At this rate, we won’t produce a single person who can reach the 7th Circle. Magic or aura requires long-term training, and only divine power offers any hope. The War Goddess Saintess has a chance thanks to her growing divine power and Battlefield Sharing.”
Saiana, the Grey Sage, suddenly interjected while frantically trying to manage her explosively increased divine power. Watching her, the Dimensional Saintess—who had become an Upper God thanks to infinite vitality—spoke with a tone of utter disbelief.
“Some people train to death their entire lives and still barely reach the 7th Circle, yet the moment you become a Pope your authority jumps to Main God level and your divine power surpasses even that? It makes no sense—especially when it’s a spirit sage who can’t even operate her powers properly. The world really is unfair.”
“Main God is impossible. The body can’t withstand it, so most of the power is sealed. We’re barely stabilized at the Main God rank.”
“That’s exactly what makes it cheating! Even in the Divine Realm, Main God rank receives special treatment! It’s rare even among the immortal divine races, yet you’re granted it just because you became a Pope—!”
“Why didn’t you accept it yourself? Ah, right—you refused. Something about becoming the strongest and most beautiful Saintess loved by everyone and being embraced? That’s impossible now.”
“How dare you—!”
The beautiful crescent-shaped pink eyebrows shot upward. Pink hair billowed into the air as divine power erupted. Though the Grey Sage held superior authority and divine power at the Main God rank, the Dimensional Saintess held overwhelming superiority in control and combat experience. The two stood at a stalemate, yet such clashes occurred frequently.
The Yellow Emperor’s spirit frowned as if suffering a headache. It would have been beautiful if those who served the same god could unite harmoniously, but the world never worked that way. Humans lived by envying what others possessed rather than being satisfied with themselves. Two complicated thoughts surfaced in his mind’s eye.
‘Why am I only Main God rank even when I receive full support above Intermediate Lord level, while that Dimensional Saintess became an Upper God with no help at all? Do I truly have any value?’
‘I’m an Upper God now too, so why does he show no interest? Is Upper God rank still not enough? Even though I possess Probability Prediction, he gave Saiana—who has no talent for divine power—half the control over it. And I was rejected even when I tried to seduce him naked. Am I truly beautiful?’
Envy toward the other twisted into jealousy and self-doubt, swirling together. This was human nature, and because of it they clashed and opposed one another. From the Yellow Emperor’s perspective, maintaining his own power meant he should leave them be, yet in his current position as a Pope under the terrifying Dimensional Lord, it felt like marching straight into death.
‘The Grey Sage Saiana is not predicting the future, and the Dimensional Saintess is not unifying the Saintesses.’
Because of their mutual hostility, the explosive early gains in training efficiency had now come to a dizzying halt. All the spirits and women watched nervously as the two Upper God-ranked beings confronted each other. In the end, this princess had come up as the representative.
“If not a single 7th Circle appears and we produce no results, we will all turn to stone. You’ve already been given many chances in the past, so if results don’t come, immediate measures will be taken. Does Probability Prediction show that you Popes and Saintesses are exceptions? As the ones in charge, you’ll be treated even more harshly. What will happen?”
At the princess’s cold voice, Saiana’s face turned pale while she was still pressuring the others with Main God-level divine power. Her authority—once Probability Prediction and now Probability Fixation—activated after a massive calculation, revealing a horrifying result.
“Wh…what do we do?! For breaking the promise with the god, everyone—spirits and humans alike—will be annihilated by Anti-Karma, have their memories erased, and be exiled to the Four Realms.”
“You little—! Why are you only saying this now?”
“Your authority is now Probability Fixation! It can’t be changed—!”
“What did you just say? Why do we have to suffer for this too?”
Memory was the foundation of one’s realm. If it disappeared, they would become ordinary vengeful spirits instead of true spirits. All the realms they had painstakingly built up to the 7th Circle would vanish, forcing them to start over. For transcendents and superhumans, this was a harsher punishment than death or annihilation.
‘All the results of their effort and training would disappear, and they would have to wait in the Four Realms for a reincarnation whose timing they could not know, without even remembering who they once were.’
It was doubtful whether such heavily punished criminals would even be granted reincarnation, but the spirits—who had already died once—feared death or annihilation far less than this fate. Moreover, when Saiana began trembling and clinging to the Yellow Emperor’s spirit while sobbing, the situation instantly descended into chaos. The representative spirits who had been listening from outside rushed in, aghast.
“What is Anti-Karma?”
“Failing doesn’t just mean returning to the Four Realms?”
“This is insane—! While they were busy playing politics thinking everything was going well, we were on the verge of total destruction—!”
Anti-Karma — Magic Type: Necromancy / Resurrection of the Dead / Restricted Law Magic, All-purpose Wide-area Attack. Upon activation — Effect: One of the greatest spells that transcends the 9th Circle and partially interferes with Karma. It summons vengeful spirits filled with resentment to the point of abandoning one’s own positive Karma, materializes them, and grants them the right to exact revenge in exchange for receiving Karma. Those subjected to this magic are killed in the flesh by the materialized vengeful spirits in proportion to the negative Karma they have accumulated, then resurrected through resurrection of the dead, suffering endless revenge until the grudges are satisfied. Once the revenge ends, the soul is annihilated due to excessive resurrection, causing their very existence to disappear. Only purified vitality and memories remain, steeped in endless pain. The vengeful spirits whose grudges are resolved ascend to the Heavenly Realm, but must pay positive Karma to the caster and re-enter the cycle of reincarnation in the Middle World. There is no distinction between good and evil in grudges, so no one can escape. It is known as the most cruel and fair magic, feared by all beings. There is only one way to avoid it: never create vengeful spirits.
No spirit present had lived so virtuously as to avoid creating any grudges. The life of the ruling class was an endless struggle, and only the victors could rise. Because they had achieved higher positions and realms than anyone while alive, countless beings held grudges against them. Even the ordinary soldiers who had cursed them while dying on the battlefield numbered in the tens of thousands. What made it even more absurd was the simple annotation attached beside the explanation—an addition even Saiana had not known about until now. Its contents were enough to drive her completely out of her mind.
Limited to the expanded Magic Tower area. Automatic activation targeting humans and spirits in: 189 days, 12 hours, 32 minutes, 18 seconds… 17… 16…
A deathly silence fell over the Magic Tower. From somewhere, demons flew in, confirmed they were exempt, sighed in relief, and vanished, leaving only the targeted humans and spirits to stare at the dwindling timer.
‘There’s no time to fight or scheme now!’
The Survival Magic Tower was protected by the Dimensional Lord’s authority, so even Main Gods could not enter—meaning they could not leave either. They were trapped, doomed to face the punishment in six months. Saiana wept as she predicted their fate. The Yellow Emperor’s spirit forced his slack jaw to move.
“Does your Probability Fixation really mean the result can’t be changed? Even with Probability Prediction, desperate effort could still alter things, right?”
“Now there’s only a miraculous margin of error left. What do I do? Huh? Huh?”
“You little brat—! If you’d told us earlier, I wouldn’t have let the fighting go on. I’m only a Lower God at the 7th Circle, not a Main God like you. What can I possibly do?”
“I… I just wanted everyone to acknowledge me after I gained power…”
“What if we ask the Dimensional Lord for an extension?”
“Immediate execution is confirmed. He doesn’t absolutely need us. He won’t tolerate incompetence.”
“Aaaagh. You should have told us sooner. We’ve already wasted half the time.”
As the Popes floundered in despair, the Dimensional Saintess—who had been momentarily shocked—spoke up.
“We are gods now. If a miracle is needed, we will create it.”
“That’s right—! I’m a Main God now too. Moreover, I’m a god who possesses the authority of Dimensions, which is above time and space!”
Saiana’s expression brightened and she activated her authority again for another calculation. The greatest weakness of her authority was that predictions went awry if the premise was wrong or information was lacking. That was why such incidents occasionally occurred and damaged her credibility. ‘Of course, given enough time the probability becomes absolute, but losing trust from early mistakes is costly.’ This time, the mistake had been failing to recognize that she herself was now a god. She could not interfere with the time of beings above her, but those below her were fair game. Using her dimensional authority, she slowed the flow of time within a certain space and increased training intensity. A hopeful result emerged.
After a moment, a bright voice rang out.
“It’s possible! The intensive training target is the War Goddess Saintess. The method will be group sparring and education applying Battlefield Sharing! I’ll slow time while the training period lasts.”
“I’ll handle mental recovery and physical reinforcement.”
“With the War Goddess Saintess’s talent, the estimated training time is 25 years. The number of sparring sessions needed is over 102,000. Even with time extended by divine power, it’s cutting it close.”
“What if we deploy the spirits as a group?”
“10 years! Fewer than 40,000 sessions—plenty of time.”
“Call them at once—! We start immediately.”
“Just in case, strengthen the training for the others as well. Inform all the spirits of the situation and tell them not to go easy—push them hard! This is an emergency.”
The Yellow Emperor’s spirit’s message, carrying the authority of Noblesse Oblige that forced others to obey his will, spread outward. The spirits and women who had been growing languid in the paradise-like environment were thrown into an uproar. In the air, the horrifying contents of Anti-Karma and the decreasing activation timer became visible. The War Goddess Saintess, suddenly summoned, blinked her innocent eyes in fear. Though she was also a Saintess, the Dimensional Saintess—now an Upper God—stared at her with burning eyes, and Main God-ranked Popes and spirits surrounded her.
‘They look like predators eyeing their prey.’
She had received no order to dress, so she remained naked, yet even inside the warm Magic Tower she felt a chill and broke into a cold sweat from the tension. ‘The divine power support coming from the War Goddess Nation has already surpassed the highest god rank, making me overwhelmingly stronger than before. But the wall of the 7th Circle—the wall of superhumans—is far too thick.’
To surpass the human wall required effort and training on the level of death or annihilation. Even then, it was an absurdly high wall that most could never cross. ‘As a pure and kind Saintess matching the War God’s ideal female preference—unlike the vicious goddesses of the Divine Realm—she had stopped before that wall.’
‘Yet the divine power support from the War Goddess Nation already exceeds the 7th Circle.’
That was why she had been chosen as the most promising candidate. If they could strengthen the vessel to match her overflowing divine power, she would reach the 7th Circle—and the most effective methods were training and life-or-death combat.
Vwoooom—!
Above the floating Magic Tower, the Dimensional Pope erected a time barrier while the Dimensional Saintess lightly lifted the War Goddess Saintess—like a mother lion carrying her cub by the scruff—and carried her into the barrier. Suddenly transported inside the tower with no information, the War Goddess Saintess barely overcame the pressure and asked,
“U-um? What is going on?”
“You will train and spar until you reach the 7th Circle. As the Dimensional Lord’s subordinate god—the War Goddess Saintess—you must work hard, understood?”
“Yes! I will do my best.”
“Good. You will most certainly have to work hard.”
Though her tone was overflowing with kindness, the War Goddess Saintess felt an ominous chill run down her spine as she stepped into the time-controlled space the Dimensional Pope had created with all his power. Behind her, the representative spirits followed, radiating fighting spirit, while only the decreasing timer of Anti-Karma’s activation remained visible in the sky.