The Dimensional Lord's Exile
In the vast emptiness of space on one side of the Goddess Department's battlefield, a being wrapped in radiant light unfurled thirteen pairs of wings of pure brilliance. A heavy sigh escaped him. The surrounding void was pitch-black, dotted only by countless distant stars. From the mouth of this sacred, luminous figure poured a torrent of crude curses.
The Dimensional Lord had grown so sick of cleaning up the messes caused by the goddesses that he'd roughly locked onto coordinates in the Spirit Realm and initiated a dimensional shift—only to nearly die the moment he arrived.
The Spirit Realm forms the foundational soil and base of this entire universe, making it the outermost layer. If we compare the universe to a planet, the Main Divine Realm would be inside the planet, while the Spirit Realm is like its atmosphere. That's why normal spatial movement is impossible; only ultra-long-range dimensional travel works.
He had shifted outside the Divine Realm, confirmed the Spirit Realm's coordinates, and immediately performed the dimensional jump—only to get caught in the aftershocks of some exalted beings' authentication battle.
Of all the rotten luck, the dimensional coordinates along my path had been slightly distorted by the eternal authentication war between the Main Divine Realm and the Creation Realm.
What infuriated him even more was that it hadn't been a direct hit. It was merely the collateral from an exchange of blows, yet even that had been enough to overwhelm his High Lord God's dimensional authority and send him flying.
Weakness is a sin, so I can't even complain.
The bigger problem was that the error had been so minuscule it hadn't affected communication, so he hadn't noticed it at all.
I forgot that maintaining maximum output makes me a High Lord God. The higher the realm, the larger the error becomes. In the end, this is my fault. An error that a Mid-tier Lord God could ignore becomes uncontrollable at maximum output for a High Lord God. With an ultra-long-range dimensional shift, I could've been bounced straight into imaginary space.
Imaginary space would've been better. There was a fifty-fifty chance I'd get flung into the Creation Realm and crushed to death by the dense divine power there. This is exactly why being the Sly Raccoon is such a blessing. Fifty-fifty odds almost always lean toward the good outcome.
He let out a long, exhausted breath. "Huuuuuuu..."
At least he'd been bounced into some random galaxy, which allowed him a sigh of relief. When he checked the coordinates again, he found himself luckily straddling the space between the Main Divine Realm and the Spirit Realm.
"Phew! I'm alive! But stabilization of the dimensional coordinates will take a whole month? I have to wait here like this until then? I'm already dying from how busy I am—this is seriously annoying."
His face twisted into a scowl on its own.
When he urgently contacted the Cyber Realm about the incident, they determined the error was so tiny that natural recovery was the best solution. When he asked what he was supposed to do, they informed him that he could either perform consecutive long-range spatial jumps or wait the full month until stabilization finished.
If he wanted immediate rescue, they'd demand the vitality of an entire star as payment.
They want an entire star just to come rescue me? Since when did the Cyber Realm and Main Divine Realm turn into such exploitative corporations?
Everyone was short on vitality, so there was no mercy to be found. Requesting rescue would damage the dignity of a High Lord God, and the distance was too great for long-range spatial movement to be viable. In the end, waiting was his only option.
It's not that I lack vitality or don't have stars to offer as payment. I may value the dignity of a High Lord God first and foremost, but I'd rather endure a month here than go crazy paying a star for something like this.
The Dimensional Lord still hadn't gathered enough stars to pay the goddesses as compensation for their Devotion Pledges.
Grinding my teeth! Who do they think they're trying to rip off with such a pathetic attempt?
He gnashed his teeth furiously, even considering dropping his divinity to Mid-tier Lord God level to attempt the dimensional shift anyway. But he had no idea what the tiny dimensional coordinate error might cause, so here he was on the second week of his forced stay.
Floating in empty space with nothing around, he figured he might as well make the best of it and contemplate his demonic arts.
However, the Dimensional Lord still retained the emotions of a sentient being.
No matter how focused he became on his demonic arts, being surrounded by absolutely nothing with only the faint light of distant planets visible made this feel exactly like being locked in prison, staring blankly at the sky beyond the bars. Or perhaps like a lowly soldier standing night watch at an outpost, endlessly gazing at the city lights?
Unable to endure the boredom any longer, the Dimensional Lord began repeating long-range spatial jumps two weeks later in search of a star that showed signs of life.
Fortunately, he found a planet with intelligent life that possessed both reason and advanced science. This wasn't the Main Divine Realm or the Middle World—it was a material realm situated between the Spirit Realm and the Middle World.
The structure of most universes was a stable sphere, with the Creator at the absolute center acting as its core. From there, it was divided like layers of an onion into the Creation Realm, Main Divine Realm, Divine Realm, Middle World, Material Realm, and Spirit Realm, with various other realms like the Phantom Beast Realm mixed in between to form additional barriers.
The Spirit Realm I'm heading to is the outermost boundary of this universe, essentially the membrane separating it from other universes. Battles against other universes occur there as well. He had refused to submit to that being and continued his struggle, but from the perspective of other universes, he was seen as a traitor who had grown powerful with that being's support. Of course, because the Creator continued to grow stronger by updating his record of consecutive defeats against that being, they didn't treat him with outright hostility.
His personality had grown increasingly vicious, and he had become overwhelmingly stronger than other Creators, to the point where no one in the Creator Realm dared speak against him openly.
If he got even slightly upset, he'd grab them by the collar and shake them while yelling about why they were using words when they had perfectly good fists. And yet he had grown so powerful that even the Creator Realm couldn't do anything about it.
But the Creators who grew angry at such behavior would order their subordinate Creator Gods to openly insult him and provoke wars. Naturally, there was no Creator God brave enough to tell the Creator, "Your violent behavior is causing trouble for everyone, so please restrain yourself."
In the past he had been gentle and usually showed great benevolence, but he would occasionally have fits triggered by memories of his defeats against that being.
The problem was that those fits only seemed to occur in front of Creator Gods or Demon Emperor candidates who didn't listen well or displeased him.
During every meeting presided over by the Creator, he would have the Substitute Gods' Creator Gods, regular Creator Gods, and Demon Emperor candidates attend without distinction. If any of his subordinates lost in an authentication battle, they had to report it to him in person.
Apparently, reporting a defeat would remind him of painful memories from the past, triggering a fit that resulted in them getting beaten in front of all the highest ruling class.
Why don't they resist? The Creator has grown so strong compared to the past that even if the entire universe's forces united against him, they couldn't win. He trained with such deep-seated grudge that even if the Creator General, the Demon Emperor, the Substitute Race's Creator Candidates, and the Alliance joined forces, they still couldn't hold out.
He was no longer the Creator who had once lacked power and been forced to tolerate the conflict between the demon race and god race.
Burning with the will to oppose that being, he had trained and challenged himself so intensely that he had been overly influenced. When friction arose between the god race and demon race, he had spoken these words:
He had truly spoken those words on the battlefield where the god race and demon race were about to wage massive war, and then declared it across the Main Universe.
The god race and demon race on the battlefield had been terrified and protested, but every single being there had been erased and their vitality harvested.
It had happened right after he had been defeated by that being, beaten half to death, and returned in the middle of a fit.
At that time, the Creator General and Demon Emperor had tried to unite as they had in the past to protest to the Creator, but they had nearly caused the complete erasure of both the god race and demon race from this universe.
From the Creator's perspective, his heart leaned toward the Substitute Race—who diligently created planets, made them flourish, and developed the universe—rather than the others.
He had given them power. Though they had fought against that being and been defeated, he intended to make the powerful, obedient, and capable Substitute Race the ruling class of this universe.
Only after the Creator General and Demon Emperor had realized the gravity of the situation and desperately seized control of their positions to offer unconditional apologies had they managed to resolve the crisis. The demon race, who had been subtly rebelling against the god race while also trying to oppose the Creator, had no choice but to bow their heads.
The Creator had grown absurdly strong and was resolute in his fits of rage. Countless members of the Substitute Race had already entered the universe, flattering the Creator, making it a situation where everyone would have been disposed of if they resisted.
The god race and demon race had barely avoided disposal, and the power struggle with the Substitute Race was still ongoing.
Because of this, the Creator Gods couldn't say a single word. While dealing with the Substitute Race and demon race was already a headache, they found the weaker ones even more annoying and simply dispatched only Lord Gods to block them.
The Lord Gods of this universe possess combat ability equivalent to Creator Gods from other universes, but their other authorities are weak, putting them at a disadvantage. They can only focus on defense. This place is the battlefield of the Creator Gods. Their opponents are Creator Gods from other universes and their elite forces.
The Creator Gods themselves couldn't step forward without losing face, and a deathmatch between Creator Gods would become a political issue.
On the surface, they maintained an alliance of Creators to oppose that being, but because battles between high-ranking Creator Gods would escalate into major problems, only the lower-ranking Lord Gods were left to suffer. Of course, these were localized skirmishes rather than full-scale wars, but they were still incredibly dangerous.
No matter how weak in combat the Creator Gods from other universes might be, facing them directly with only a Lord God's authority was risky. They could be annihilated by strikes from beings of higher divinity than themselves. This was the battlefield that Lord Gods feared most.
The region was so vast that it was divided into sectors managed by Creator Gods. They would send Lord Gods who had caused incidents or those they disliked to serve as checks against the enemy.
Occasionally, if a sector's Lord God was annihilated by the hostile Creator Gods, they would pay a price and dispatch a replacement until the original was revived.
That swindler of a Main God of the Divine Realm was probably there right now, diligently earning vitality and stars. If the opponent was strong enough to annihilate a Lord God of this universe, they must be quite powerful. I offer my condolences.
With those thoughts in mind, he descended to the inhabited planet only to be utterly dumbfounded.
He was suddenly attacked without warning.
This was a fairly advanced inhabited planet he had traveled a considerable distance to find. Their science had developed machine gods to an incredible degree. He had come here hoping to rest for a while. As the God of Light, he had spread his wings of light wide and sent friendly intentions. Yet they attacked him?
All attacks from a lower material realm were meaningless against gods of the Main Divine Realm, who could manipulate reality, govern laws, and alter them at will. Their very existence existed on a completely different density.
If a Lord God was like steel, then all phenomena and changes in this place were less than air. They would only take minor damage from heat exceeding that of a sun or pressure greater than a black hole. Yet these beings were firing pathetic metal objects and light beams.
From the small giant-shaped metal dolls flying through the sky and the streamlined flying objects, countless beams and small metal projectiles flew toward him—only to disintegrate naturally, unable to withstand the pressure of his very existence.
Rumble rumble rumble rumble rumble rumble rumble—!
Since their machine gods were advanced enough to travel through space, massive beams of high-heat light fired relentlessly from the planet's orbit and beyond, all targeting the Dimensional Lord. Satellites around the planet and metal ships floating in space poured out endless barrages.
But no matter how much they fired, they couldn't even scratch a regular Lord God, let alone a High Lord God like him.
It had no effect at all, but it was starting to get on his nerves. He had come here to rest for a moment in the middle of his busy schedule—what was this nonsense?
He could sense countless machine gods moving with clear hostility toward the Dimensional Lord. In his eyes, they were still beings ruled by matter who couldn't even interfere with phenomena. They were at a level where it was embarrassing to even call them gods.
A High Lord God from the upper Main Divine Realm had descended upon a lower material realm and unleashed his fury. The entire planet and solar system trembled at his voice.