The Spirit Realm Purge
The Spirit Realm War
“Tsk—! It’s dangerous, so don’t recklessly unleash your killing intent in front of me. Your emotions are running so high right now that some of it’s mixed into your aura. I reflexively counterattack.”
“U-understood…”
Watching the man shrink back and nod weakly, I clicked my tongue again. Why wouldn’t I understand how he feels? In the Divine Realm, if you lack power, you must never show anger before a superior. One wrong word or outburst and you could die on the spot.
A Main God would simply gather evidence of blasphemy and end it cleanly.
At least my Fighting Spirit has become usable now that I’m a God of War. That’s a relief.
Until recently it had been laughably weak. Earlier, I’d even wondered whether someone like that could truly serve as an ally.
“Tsk tsk—! I have no intention of reporting you to the Main Divine Realm, so go and handle the selection properly. I have no desire to harm a future ally.”
“R-really? You truly won’t file a separate report with the Main Divine Realm?”
“What benefit would I gain by reporting you? Unless it raised my Karma even a little, this isn’t even my territory. Reporting you would only give the Main Divine Realm a headache and earn me their resentment. The Chief God of the God Realm is supposed to handle matters in his own realm and simply report the results.”
Raising one’s Karma in another’s domain was extremely difficult. To prevent the tyranny of high-ranking Main Gods, most such attempts received negative judgments—and in practice, that was exactly what happened. The only real way was to receive positive Karma transferred from someone else.
At the Dimensional Lord’s words, the other god’s face lit up with unmistakable joy. He must have felt like he’d found the only escape route in a completely surrounded battlefield where death had seemed certain.
“Thank you. If this matter is resolved well, I will definitely become your ally. I will also select the finest possible Spirit Gods by any means necessary.”
“If you don’t, there’d be no point in me going through all this trouble. Hurry up and finish, then select the Spirit Gods. Forced summons on disciplinary targets!”
Even after limiting the summons to only major crimes—excluding the countless petty offenses with no direct victims—most gods above the Upper God rank were dragged in. The situation involved millions of corrupt acts.
The barrier is wide, yet they filled it instantly. It’s truly astonishing.
They were now half-melted, flabby gods and weaklings so frail they couldn’t even move under the power-draining effect of Yugyeok Volcano.
I’m already sick of looking at them.
Deciding to handle everything in one go, I activated the Root School magic.
“If this is not truth, grant me death. Continuous activation.”
When casting magic externally, one’s existence could be detected, so I engraved the spell by making direct contact with each of them.
Most of them are below Highest God rank anyway, so applying it is easy.
I naturally explained the effect of the magic now placed upon them.
I am the Lord God of Light. I do not stab people in the back with cowardly traps.
I made certain they understood that if the magic judged their words as lies, they would die without fail.
“If you can say, ‘I am absolutely innocent. At the time, I had no choice,’ I will forgive you. If not, I will judge you all guilty, kill you, strip away your divinity, recover the vitality and divine power, and immediately expel you to the Spirit Realm.”
The Dimensional Lord simply struck from the front, fair and square.
To the strong and competent, I give a chance for improvement no matter what wrong they have done. But I give no such chances to the weak and incompetent.
Yet some gods still opened their mouths, thinking perhaps this was all a bluff. They had never witnessed the authority of a Supreme Main God. The only Main God they had ever seen was a broken, middle-ranked one who had been betrayed by his wife and goddess and lost all hope—reduced to a sick chicken. So they looked down on me.
Thus they cried out in one voice.
“It’s a misunderstanding! It may look that way to you, but it wasn’t wrong—”
“That’s right! You cannot suddenly discipline us like this when we are not even criminals—!”
“No matter how supreme a Main God you are, you cannot treat innocent gods however you please.”
“No—! We’ll really die—! Before a Supreme Main God who gazes upon the Creator, any god below Main God rank is no different from a mortal believer. All authorities apply perfectly!”
A Highest-rank administrator god, now so shrunken he could no longer be called fat, shouted desperately. But it was already too late.
The judgment of falsehood struck before they could even scream.
Crack—! Craack—!
The hearts engraved with the magic burst apart, and the rings of divine power above their heads shattered into pieces. Those who had tried to turn a blind eye to their own sins collapsed, vomiting blood without even understanding why.
Whether they were Highest Gods or possessed ‘extreme goodness’ Karma, those were merely external appearances.
Even if they convinced themselves it couldn’t be helped given the circumstances, it remains engraved in the subconscious.
Guilt and the pangs of conscience, carved like brands into the subconscious that even they themselves could not fully grasp, exerted enormous influence on divine power. Yet they rarely showed outwardly, and the resulting Karma effect was minimal.
But once caught by this magic, the subconscious judged truth from falsehood. Those who had not lived truly honest lives all met the same end.
Vrrrrrr—! Vrrrrrr—!
The God Realm recovered vitality from the dying gods and even reclaimed their divine power. All of them fell to Upper God rank or below, and by the Dimensional Lord’s authority of ‘Lower God disciplinary rights,’ they were converted into Spirit Gods.
If they had cultivated even a moderate amount of Innate Divine Power, they wouldn’t have fallen this far. They’re paying a harsh price for living only by exploitation.
Despite being only a hundred Highest Gods, more than fifty billion in divine power was gathered. It seemed they had embezzled quite a lot.
I placed it all under my control and began purifying and unifying it.
In the end, half of the Highest Gods who had been forcibly summoned as criminals died. Their shining divine blood soaked the ground, and their bodies returned to vitality.
When a spiritual being—a god—died, only their divine spirit remained. All physical matter became the foundation of the God Realm.
To obtain excellent Spirit Gods, normalizing this place must come first. That’s why I’m doing this.
Their crimes had already gone far beyond what could be overlooked, and there were no precious Main God rank or higher beings among them.
Therefore, I spoke while looking at the criminal gods who had strayed from the path of the God of Light, their own mouths now covered by both hands to stifle their screams.
“Silence will be taken as an admission of guilt. If you cannot confess that you are innocent, then die.”
Since I could not use the magic on myself, I partially manifested the hybrid Machine God form and reinforced both hands.
Oooooooong—! Giiiiiiing—!
A crimson metallic glow—10th Circle demonic god flesh mixed with adamantium—appeared over my hands like gauntlets.
With this, the only real weakness of a god’s body—its durability and offensive power—has risen dramatically. Of course, compared to the demon god race, but the lacking defense has been supplemented. At my current level, I could tear apart even an Upper Main God in this state. So a mere administrative Highest God’s body, who isn’t even a God of War, will split apart like paper.
Since the enemies were completely immobilized by Yugyeok Volcano’s vitality drain, I finished them in an instant.
Ting—! Clack—! Ting—! Clack—!
When I lightly flexed my fingers, the hybrid body of Machine God and flesh produced metallic sounds and the clashing of joints at the same time.
As expected, it’s still incomplete. The disharmony between the Machine God form and my body is severe. It needs to be fusion, not mere mixing. This kind of dissonance means I can’t maintain it for long. Because it’s ‘mechanical’ rather than pure ‘magic,’ my understanding is lacking. I’ll have to look forward to results from Idea and the subordinate goddesses after this.
Although I had succeeded, the extreme instability caused bleeding and rejection reactions that produced metallic sounds from various places even after the mixing was complete.
But to the gods hearing metal ringing from a body, it was an enormous threat. The now-ordinary-looking fat god shouted.
“W-wait, please! No matter how high-ranking a Main God you are, arbitrarily executing gods like this is a violation of regulations!”
Even though a single wrong word could mean death, the fact that he still shouted suggested he had made up his mind. In a situation where he had been driven this far, staying silent would truly leave him unable to do anything before dying. He had to struggle at least.
“Violation of regulations?”
“Yes! According to Main Divine Realm regulations, even a Main God possessing ‘Lower God disciplinary rights’ becomes subject to punishment if they kill a god and seize the divine power for themselves. Moreover, even if the cause for punishment is clear, if the procedure is not properly followed, it is invalid!”
“And?”
“I will report every detail and submit to the judgment of the Main Divine Realm. Therefore, you must cease this tyrannical abuse of authority. No matter how supreme a Main God you are, such large-scale executions and divine power recovery on this scale cannot be tolerated.”
He truly was a competent administrator god.
He seems to have noticed that I intend to kill them all and take their divine power and vitality.
Well, of course. I had already used three hundred goddesses from the Goddess Department who had attempted rebellion, along with fifty Highest Gods of War who plotted mass desertion, as the foundation to ascend to Supreme Main God rank. There was no way he wouldn’t know. Besides, if the Main Divine Realm judged the matter, his chances of survival would be higher than now.
Above all, he must be wary of the fact that if I, who currently have no faction in the Main Divine Realm, start getting caught on technicalities, there will be no end to it.
Literally speaking, no matter how many times these beings had challenged me, committed these crimes, or even obtained disciplinary rights from the Chief God of the God Realm, carrying out executions on this scale would cause problems even for an independent divine realm. Over ninety percent of the gods here were criminals, and it would create massive disruptions to the operation of the God Realm.
But he had misjudged one thing.
I am a God of War, not an administrator god. Hardships are not to be avoided. One must pay the price and break through them to become stronger. How could someone who wishes to enforce their will upon the world only pursue safety?
I had already internalized as basic truth—while wandering as a mercenary god—that there is no victory without sacrifice.
Therefore, the Dimensional Lord engraved magic upon his own heart.
“If this is not truth, grant me death.”
If the other party sincerely accepted it, the 2nd Circle application limit did not matter. He would operate it temporarily until this situation ended.
Now, even the slightest lie from me will result in death.
At that action, the face of the administrator god—who had seemed slightly fatter—turned completely pale.
He seems to have understood up to this point.
The reason I would willingly cast upon myself a dangerous magic that could lead to my own destruction.
“However, there are exceptions. In cases where the God Realm faces a crisis, or when Lower Gods suppress a rebellion and swift handling is required, if one secures fairness with their own life, collective processing is possible. I stake my life on that fairness. Hoooooo—!”
He now drew in a long breath.
Because it will not tolerate even the slightest delusion or impurity, if I have even slightly mistaken my own heart, I will die. Then I would receive permanent disposition from him, but becoming his pride comes first.
If one lived long while led by personal emotions and desires, one could never reach the goal. In that sense, organizing things this way was also good.
“I swear that all my actions are for the normalization of the Spirit Realm Waiting Area and the development of my own divine realm. Furthermore, I hold not even the slightest greed toward the recovered divine power and vitality. It is merely punishment. Everything is aimed at the progress of the universe and the improvement of my Karma.”
Vrrrrrr—!
He remained unharmed.
My heart has never coveted what is not mine, just as it never steps into a fight without compensation.
When neither his heart nor his head exploded, the fat god lowered his head. He had never expected that the other party would use a magic capable of killing even himself.
After this, no matter what fault the Main Divine Realm tries to find, they will not be able to raise objections against a judgment made by a Main God who staked his own life.
Anyone who wished to object would have to present a better solution and stake an equal level of resolve.
Which Supreme Main God would stake their life to defend administrator gods who had turned the Spirit Realm Waiting Area into something just short of the Demon Realm?
They might endure it for vitality and divine power, but such a thing was impossible.
“Any objections?”
“N-none…”
The Dimensional Lord looked at the completely resigned former fat god, then threw himself among the trembling personnel of the Spirit Realm Waiting Area.
The speed of a black magician from the Root School is the highest among all professions.
When the physical body of a Supreme Main God rank was combined with the strength of the hybrid Machine God form, the result was horrific.
Shhhhhhhhh—!
Brushing past them, the lightly swung hands and limbs caused the bodies of Highest Gods to crumble like mud. As if they were sand sculptures, the scattered bodies filled the air. When I returned to my original position, the only surviving gods were about half—those who had tried to defeat me with words and regulations until the very end. The only one left was the formerly competent fat god.
Even so, after confirming the deaths of colleagues he had once treated like family—albeit falsely—and their conversion into Spirit Gods, the fact that only he remained alive made him stare at the Dimensional Lord with puzzled eyes.
A Main God must spare those who are either stronger than Main God rank or absolutely necessary with no possible replacement.
One person could not handle everything alone. There was no way the Spirit Realm Waiting Area’s Intermediate Main God and direct subordinate ordinary Main Gods—left dazed and unable to think after such a merciless purge—could manage administrative duties by themselves.
I am doing this to the Spirit Realm Waiting Area—which was worse than a complete mess—to obtain excellent Spirit Gods and secure one alliance. If it collapses from a lack of administrator gods, that would be putting the cart before the horse.
Although it was for the sake of corruption, the fact that he had created a new divine realm structure proved he was no ordinary competent administrator. His ability was at least at Main God rank or above. I had to make good use of him.
Of course, I had no intention of making things easy for him just because I spared his life.
“Can you handle all the management alone?”
When I silently pointed my right hand—covered in the metallic gauntlet—at the administrator god’s forehead, divine blood that had somehow gotten on it sparkled as it flowed down my hand. When the blood-stained ring finger touched his forehead, it left a red mark as if stamped with a seal.
Realizing this was his final chance, the administrator god nodded frantically and shouted.
“I can do it alone—! I have already been handling all management! Just leave it to me!”
Satisfied with the answer, I withdrew my gaze and looked at the bound rebel Main Gods.
I have given them more than enough punishment as they desired.
The blood of the gods who had died in the plaza was still flowing, and the broken bodies were disintegrating into vitality and disappearing. Since it was harsher than what they had wanted, they would have no complaints.
“Now it is your turn.”
“!?”
“!!!”
“……”
At the Dimensional Lord’s words, the iron chains that had been rattling across the Main Gods’ bodies fell completely still, and silence descended.