The Karma That Binds the Gods
The resonant echoes of spatial transfers from the Spirit Realm war zone continued to ripple outward as additional forces arrived in the Defense Divine Realm. Wiiiiing—! Wiiiiing—!
In the vast indoor plaza below, the assembled gods from the Main God Realm had completed their deployment. There were 9 Highest Main Gods, 102 Highest Main Gods, 10,004 Upper Main Gods, 100,102 Intermediate Main Gods, and 500,420 regular Main Gods—excluding the essential minimum required to maintain control over their respective local universes. Though this force represented only about one ten-thousandth of the total military strength of the external Master Universes, every single one of them had been elevated by one Circle. It was by no means a negligible army.
‘If it’s not an all-out war but merely defending certain sectors, this should be more than enough.’
The situation was even more reassuring because the Defense Divine Realm had already been fully fortified by the Preliminary Creator God, All-Powerful Splendor Hwi. He had deployed every available resource to erect a barrier surpassing even that of a full Creator God, completely sealing off the entire outer perimeter of the Spirit Realm.
The expressions of the Main God Realm’s direct subordinate gods—who knew the full scope of the situation—were therefore not particularly grim. However, the nine Highest Main Gods standing around Hwi wore openly displeased faces. The reason was simple: the participation rate from the independent divine realms was disastrously low.
‘No matter how I look at it, their response was that the rewards didn’t justify the risk.’
‘After witnessing a Highest Creator God perish, they’ve all judged the danger level as maximum. Either they’re demanding even more compensation or they’ve gone completely dark, refusing all contact.’
‘Since they’re powerful independent Main Gods with the right to refuse conscription, we can’t force them. But if we just let this slide, morale will collapse.’
These beings were not only stronger than most direct subordinate gods but possessed an almost supernatural ability to sense danger. They never joined battlefields where defeat—and thus no payment—was likely. That was why the saying existed: “Any war the independents refuse to join is destined to be lost.”
‘What are they, rats abandoning a sinking ship? Do gods actually believe in such superstitions?’
‘Still… we can’t completely ignore it either.’
This was precisely the dilemma weighing on Preliminary Creator God Hwi. He himself had undergone a fairly dangerous verification trial, but the full support of the Almighty God Tribe had allowed him to pass with relative ease, dulling his own danger-sensing instincts. The independent gods, however, were entirely different.
Most of them were battle gods from outside who had built their own factions single-handedly. They had survived their verification trials either alone or with minimal alliances. Having matured without the protection of the Main God Realm, these independent Main Gods possessed far sharper and more reliable battlefield instincts than their direct subordinate counterparts. They could reliably produce at least twice the results relative to their divine power expenditure.
Having survived countless life-or-death struggles, they all possessed baseline authorities such as Combat Foresight and Crisis Detection, along with a host of bizarre, self-developed powers. Their combat intuition often surpassed even prophetic authorities.
‘If even they are rejecting generous rewards and going into hiding, it means this battlefield is extremely dangerous.’
Hwi had no choice but to acknowledge this truth. Of course, it made sense—this was a war so brutal that even a Creator General from an external Master Universe had charged in like a madman. Still, he couldn’t help but feel irritated.
The complete absence of these independents only fueled the dissatisfaction and anxiety of the direct subordinate gods who lacked the right to refuse. But then, a familiar and overwhelmingly powerful wave of divine energy approached. The long-awaited independent Main Gods had finally begun to respond.
“The Highest Independent Main God Who Reigns Over the Heavens has arrived to join the war.”
“Oh—! The precious ones are finally starting to show up.”
A collective murmur—whether mocking or genuinely welcoming—rose from the Highest Main Gods. A brilliant blue divine energy, clear as the sky itself, flooded the space with radiant light.
With graceful movements, the god descended from the air to the center of the plaza. His hair, an impossibly vivid blue, rippled like living water, announcing his rank as a Highest Main God. His entire suit of armor was uniformly blue. Two swords hung at his waist, two spears were strapped to his back, and countless strangely shaped divine artifacts were attached across his armor, radiating ferocious fighting spirit.
Beyond even that heavy armament, faint secretive glimmers suggested even more divine weapons hidden in the surrounding space. His entire figure was partially obscured by thick, cloud-like divine energy that he kept fully released. Even his face was hidden behind a divine mask, making him impossible to recognize. He stood in complete combat readiness, prepared to unleash his full power at any moment.
The Preliminary Creator God and the Highest Main Gods watching him clicked their tongues inwardly.
‘Fully armed and prepared for prolonged warfare.’
‘Ugh… Does this mean the situation is even worse than I thought?’
The god bowed deeply and politely toward Hwi, who returned the greeting with a slight nod.
‘With a Highest Independent Main God joining us, morale should recover.’
Hwi firmly believed that a being of this caliber would never choose a battlefield where he might die meaninglessly. Moreover, once these independents committed to a war, they fulfilled their contracts without fail. In fact, they were often more trustworthy than direct subordinates. They knew better than anyone that any independent god who broke a contract or fought disgracefully would never be hired again. That was why they fought more fiercely than anyone on the front lines.
‘They will fight to the bitter end, even at the cost of their own lives.’
‘Because the enormous compensation for participation is enough to compensate even for a Main God’s death.’
As long as the battle wasn’t a total rout where payment became impossible, they were the most reliable force available.
With a light glance from Hwi, the direct subordinate gods began adjusting their positions without complaint.
‘Whether they’re mercenary gods or independents, the strong deserve proper treatment.’
The Highest Independent Main God Who Reigns Over the Heavens held the fifth position in the overall Highest Main God rankings. Lower-ranked Highest Main Gods stood up one by one to yield their seats, yet none showed any displeasure.
‘We’ve all seen far too many wars lost simply because the strong weren’t given proper respect.’
‘Any god above Main God rank—even a mercenary—deserves proper treatment. After all, they might one day become an ally within the divine realms.’
But the moment the god who had naturally taken the fifth seat removed his helmet, everyone gasped.
Killing intent and fighting spirit poured from his armor like steam. His expression was that of a battle-crazed war god who had gone completely feral on the battlefield.
The Highest Main Gods began whispering among themselves.
‘Why does he look like he’s attending his own funeral?’
‘His divine power seems perfectly normal, though?’
‘Did something happen in the divine realm?’
Even Preliminary Creator God All-Powerful Splendor Hwi found it strange and was about to speak when, one after another, more independent Main Gods began arriving through spatial transfer. Every single one of them was fully armed and radiating murderous intent and fighting spirit so thick it was almost painful to witness.
In the end, Hwi had no choice but to ask the highest-ranking independent present.
“What is going on? Highest Independent Main God Who Reigns Over the Heavens? Has something happened to the independent divine realms?”
“Suddenly, most independent divine realms experienced critical malfunctions in several core functions. A massive amount of vitality is required for reinstallation.”
Though clearly in a state of extreme agitation, the god suppressed his emotions as much as possible and answered with utmost politeness, recognizing that Hwi was both stronger and higher in rank.
Yet the more Hwi listened, the less he understood.
‘A divine realm—the unconscious collective of spiritual bodies—experiencing a malfunction? This is the first I’ve heard of such a thing in all eternity.’
It was something that should only happen if every god within that realm had gone completely insane.
“A sudden malfunction in the divine realm’s functions? Is that even possible? Isn’t that the same as saying a god has grown old and died?”
“Both the divine realm management gods and the Main God Realm have judged the cause as ‘undeterminable.’ The verdict was that reinstallation is necessary, and we have all decided to participate in this war to secure the required vitality. Grit—!”
He ground his teeth audibly as he continued. His lips trembled so violently he could barely speak. Yet he soon regained control and spoke with deliberate, clipped clarity.
“The moment we decided to ‘participate here,’ everything ‘returned to normal.’”
The independent divine realms only normalized the instant their gods committed to this war.
Verification confirmed: No issues in realms that refused participation.
Conclusion: This is the work of Karma—or direct intervention by the Creation Realm.
……
Preliminary Creator God Hwi and the Highest Main Gods froze for a moment, then immediately understood the implication.
‘When they checked their own realms out of suspicion, only the independent divine realms that had refused to participate were affected.’
‘Then this is either intervention from the Creation Realm or the work of Karma.’
If it were the Creation Realm, even the highest divine realms would not have received a verdict of ‘undeterminable cause.’ They would have clearly stated ‘action of a superior authority.’
‘The gods are at least honest about such things.’
‘Moreover, artificially inducing a malfunction in a divine realm is beyond even a Creator God.’
Complete shutdown was possible, but the precise control required for such a subtle adjustment was impossible. After all, divine realms were terminal manifestations of the authorities granted by the Creator.
That left only one possibility.
It was the influence of Karma—the system created by the Creator that surpassed even His own authority.
‘We don’t even need to investigate why it activated. It’s obvious.’
The only one who would benefit from their participation was a single individual.
All the Highest Main Gods turned their gazes toward one person. Though their power was too weak to voice their resentment aloud, their eyes burned with silent accusation.
‘Is this your doing? Did the Absolute Realm intervene with Karma to protect a superior being?’
‘Why did you have to stir up such a massive mess in the first place? Why kill and erase the Creator Gods of the external Master Universes? Look at this disaster!’
Even as he received their insolent glares, Preliminary Creator God Hwi could not bring himself to rebuke them. Instead, he quietly shifted his gaze toward the enemy camp.
‘In this galaxy, the only being above them is me—a Preliminary Creator God. The only one whose Karma ranks below their ‘Ultimate Good’ is me, who has not yet reached ‘Absolute Good.’
If this universe developed just a little further, he would become ‘Absolute Good.’ The Absolute Realm must have forcibly intervened to prevent that crisis.
‘Of course, true Creator Gods who maintain ‘Absolute Good’ Karma are completely unaffected. Even if I make a small mistake, they remain untouched. But those who barely maintain ‘Ultimate Good’ can never escape its influence.’
He had been so focused on raising several divine realms to ‘Below Absolute Good’ in order to qualify for the Creator God verification trial that he had stopped paying attention. Seeing these gods dragged here against their will, despite their obvious hatred for the situation, sent a chill down his spine.
‘This means that if something happens to my direct Creator God who stands at ‘Absolute Good,’ the same thing will happen to me.’
Preliminary Creator God All-Powerful Splendor Hwi turned away from the Highest Independent Main God Who Reigns Over the Heavens—whose eyes still burned with barely contained killing intent—and quietly checked his own Karma value.
‘I’m still below Absolute Good. I need to raise it a bit more. I’ve already fully developed the Main God Star with one trillion believers, pushing me past Ultimate Good. One more push and I might reach Absolute Good. Training for the Creator God verification is important, but I should develop one more. Maybe then I can finally escape this tiresome preliminary existence. If I want to develop a Main God Star, the Creator God will provide one anytime. After all, He’s also desperate for achievements to advance His own rank.’
Hwi let out a sigh of relief, glad he had devoted himself to developing the Main God Realm in order to raise his Karma.
And following that came the deep regret of the Highest Independent Main God Who Reigns Over the Heavens, who now knew exactly what kind of scheme had been pulled for the sake of this Preliminary Creator God whose Karma already surpassed his own ‘Ultimate Good.’
‘When I contacted the Cyber Realm to protest, they shamelessly replied, ‘Your Karma is lower than your position. Please make more effort.’
Thanks to that, he had enjoyed the benefits of ‘Ultimate Good’ until now, only to suffer after encountering All-Powerful Splendor Hwi, who possessed even higher Karma. No one understood this bitter reality better than himself.
‘Instead of meddling with other divine realms’ interests, I should have focused on increasing my subordinate realms even if it was difficult. That would have raised both my vitality and Karma. What a terrible mistake. To think I have to voluntarily participate in such a messed-up battle… Ugh! Karma is my mortal enemy. It supported me so well before, only to stab me in the back again and again like this.’
The independent Main Gods, who had suffered the impossible misfortune of a ‘temporary divine realm system failure,’ were now completely obsessed with one thought: the moment this war ended, they would do whatever it took to raise their Karma.