The Price of Transgression
The two goddesses writhed atop the Dimensional Lord’s thighs, their naked bodies pressed flush against him. The friction and pressure grinding against their most sensitive places sent jolts of unwanted pleasure through forms already hypersensitive from the thick, potent vitality saturating the Spirit Realm. A sweet, involuntary moan escaped before they could stop it.
They clamped their mouths shut in panic, as if startled by their own voices. Warm nectar trickled from where their sexes were pinned against his wrist, proof that the stimulation had taken hold. Yet none of it mattered to him.
These are nothing but overgrown children who refuse to mature. There’s no lust to be had here, and I cannot afford to show them any leniency. Even in this state they were flinging joint techniques on par with Demon King level attacks. If they truly fought for their lives, there was no telling what else they might pull out.
If he let them down now and gave them even a moment to recover, there was no telling what they would try. So he kept them seated naked on his thighs, laid them flat, and seized both of their heads in an iron grip. His authority and raw physical power crushed their resistance completely.
He had already shattered every joint in their limbs. He had even sealed the very source of their divine power. In theory they could no longer rebel, but just to be safe he continued feeding them a steady stream of his vitality, ensuring they couldn’t even form a coherent thought.
As you already know, my vitality was refined inside the Great Forest. To spiritual beings it brings overwhelming ecstasy. That’s why they’re trembling, struggling to hold back their moans while their minds melt.
Originally they had been his equals—supreme demon gods—so he remained on full alert. This level of suppression might still not be enough.
The humiliation of letting my guard down and nearly losing once is more than enough.
The slightest suspicious movement and he would use every means at his disposal to crush them without hesitation.
“We shall now proceed with judgment regarding the collective divine power theft committed through fraudulent mate contracts. Begin your defense.”
“W-we were wronged!” one of the goddesses cried out desperately. “We refused, yet they forced their divine power onto us and left!”
“That’s right! We were in our spirit-god state, so it wasn’t harmful to our bodies. That’s why we couldn’t reject them. Please summon the administrative gods—they are highest-tier deities. They will prove it!”
At the goddesses’ frantic pleas, the Dimensional Lord let out a small, amused snort. He already knew exactly how he would answer.
All the criminal highest-tier gods have already been turned into spirit gods. There’s no point in calling them back. Besides, when victims and perpetrators meet face to face, they only spout excuses and lies. It’s meaningless.
Confrontational cross-examination was procedurally sound, but it only complicated matters and delayed resolution. The fastest way was to confirm the facts, weigh the possibility of recurrence, and consider the interests involved. That was all.
This kind of unilateral judgment carries considerable side effects, but it is swift. There is no victory without sacrifice.
So he smiled brightly and dismissed their plea.
“What?”
“All the highest-tier gods stationed at the Spirit Realm Waiting Area committed acts harmful to the Divine Realm, engaged in corruption, and had grown too weak to be of any use. I killed every last one of them, reclaimed their vitality, transformed them into spirit gods, and banished them to the Spirit Realm.”
“All of them? More than two hundred highest-tier gods?”
“Correct. As the merciful Lord of Light, I did not annihilate them—I merely killed them. I even left them with ten percent of their divine power so they would have another chance to challenge themselves. Tsk—! I really should fix this soft spot of mine, but I suppose it can’t be helped when one is the Lord of Light.”
“……”
“……”
The two goddesses were so stunned they couldn’t even continue speaking. They exchanged frantic mental messages instead.
He wiped out every last highest-tier god in the Divine Realm who was even remotely connected to corruption, stole ninety percent of their divine power, and banished them to the Spirit Realm? Not even the most reckless demon gods go that far.
Inside the ‘Yugyeok Volcano’ that drains vitality, how are they supposed to recover their divine power and return? He might as well have annihilated them.
What do we do? It looks like he really intends to do the same to us.
We can’t use the hidden authorities we kept in reserve. His detection ability is terrifying—he’s suppressing everything. How can he sense and control things with such precision?
The grip on their heads allowed not the slightest slack. The moment they tried to circulate even a trace of their authority, the pressure on their skulls increased as if he would crush them, issuing a clear warning. The killing intent and fighting spirit radiating from him felt like it could explode at any second, constantly threatening death. The sheer physical strength he exerted had long since surpassed the realm of ordinary Lord Gods. They couldn’t endure it.
Our limbs are shattered so we can’t move, our heads are pinned, and we’re completely subdued—yet he’s still maintaining peak combat readiness and applying constant pressure.
Pressed naked against him, they could read a portion of his thoughts and divine power through the authority he had once wielded as a candidate for Demon King. The most absurd realization was that this supreme Lord God genuinely believed himself to be merciful.
He truly thinks that the administrative gods who lost ninety percent of their power and fell to upper-god rank or below will train hard and return. Why? Because he would do the same. Therefore it is only natural.
Only now did they understand the psychological profile they had learned as part of imperial studies: he was one of those extremely rare and dangerous types.
This Lord God wasn’t stupid or reckless. He simply judged and lived by the standards of his own life experience. Whatever was possible for him must therefore be possible for others. That was how he rendered judgment and took action.
No matter how harsh the measure, as long as he gives them a chance to return to a glorious position, he considers it mercy. The interests of the Divine Realm come first in all things.
That is why he killed every highest-tier god, returned their divine power and vitality to the Divine Realm, and feels neither regret nor pride.
If he himself ever made such a mistake, he was fully prepared to accept the consequences. If given another chance, he would be truly grateful. However, most of those who had been punished had lost both position and divinity. They would never escape their spirit-god state and would be exploited for vitality permanently. He simply dismissed that as “the choice of the weak.”
In the end, he believed he had merely done what needed to be done. Since he had not annihilated them and had even granted them another opportunity, he judged himself generous.
In a word, he was a vicious, narrow-minded, stubborn general who walked his own path alone.
This is the worst—! This Lord God has almost no social experience or experience dealing with other gods. And he doesn’t trust them. So he simply applies the written regulations exactly as they are, according to his own standards. There’s no way he’ll show mercy just because we’re goddesses.
Exactly. He really does seem that way. An extreme being who only recognizes victory and defeat, survival and death. The archetypal mercenary Lord God who succeeded through nothing but his own talent, effort, and power. The Lord God of the Independent Divine Realm whose ruthlessness makes even the demon gods he fought against shudder.
The Lord Gods of the Independent Divine Realm were infamous even among the cruel and vicious demon gods. Once they accepted a massive mercenary fee, they delivered results. They committed acts so insane that even demon gods considered them ridiculous, all to prove their worth, displaying strength beyond their divine power and leading their side to victory in war.
Most mercenary Lord Gods refused to convert into demon gods. If they did, their divinity would drop first, no matter how much the demon realm promised. True mercenary demon gods were therefore extremely rare, and while their exact circumstances were unclear, the reason for their strength was well known.
It was the desperation of those who could no longer endure in the outer macrocosm and had come to this one, pouring everything they had into protecting the Independent Divine Realm they had built. And the resolve to choose annihilation over becoming worthless again after defeat.
When beings with talent and power surpassing everyone else carry such determination, even gods or demon gods of the same rank cannot possibly stand against them.
In the early days, the demon realm had ignored them as “mere gods” and refused to hire them, suffering countless crushing defeats. Yet instead of holding grudges, they later acknowledged them as true gods of war. That was how powerful they were.
The fact that this supreme Lord God could completely suppress them—mid-tier Lord Gods with clear deficiencies—while never letting down his guard for even an instant, radiating only the desperation of someone fleeing something truly terrifying, proved it beyond doubt.
And if he had reached the rank of highest-tier Lord God among the Independent Divine Realm’s lords, there was simply no way to estimate how overwhelmingly strong he must be.
Clang! Clack! Creeeeak! Clack!
A metallic clashing sound suddenly rang out above their heads. It was the same strange, mechanical noise they had been hearing for a while. Only now did they realize it was coming from inside the Lord God’s body. The sound carried an instinctive wave of terror.
Ding—! Ding—!
“If you have no further defense, judgment will be carried out immediately. Even for Lord Gods, the theft of divine power—especially the collective theft of lower gods’ divine power—is an unforgivable felony. In accordance with the regulations of the Main Divine Realm, I, the highest-tier Lord God of Dimensions, hereby decree the sealing of the illicitly stolen divine power. Furthermore, the offending Lord Gods must compensate the Divine Realm with double the amount of vitality and divine power taken. Each of you shall pay twenty billion vitality. If you lack the vitality to pay, you will be placed in compulsory service at minimum compensation until the debt is cleared. This is your final chance to speak.”
The goddesses exchanged frantic mental messages at blinding speed, but the verdict proceeded regardless. If they could not convince him that the crime of divine power theft was not applicable, he would carry out the sentence without hesitation. If that happened, they had no idea how long they would have to live as ordinary Lord Gods before the compensation was complete.
We can’t refuse. The Main Divine Realm would never stand by, and above all, this Lord God is filled with unbreakable determination to make us pay no matter what. We cannot handle him.
After their earlier clash, they knew he was an opponent they would have to face while prepared for annihilation.
Even at our original highest-tier demon god level, victory is not guaranteed. In our current Lord God state, there is no hope at all.
Then a thought flashed through their minds.
The Lord Gods of the Independent Divine Realm were, in one respect, extremely simple. Because everything about them was extreme, they looked only at results, not causes. They focused on the present rather than the past and pursued future gains. Perhaps an unexpected argument might work on them.
It was originally a ridiculous excuse, but it just might get through.
“Wait! There are no more victims, yet you would impose such a severe punishment on us? That’s too harsh!”
“Exactly. Above all, mid-tier Lord Gods are far more useful. Ordinary Lord Gods have far too little utility. To deliberately seal our divine power just for punishment is extremely inefficient.”
They knew it was nonsense—completely ignoring past sins and speaking only of future efficiency. But it just might work on this Lord God. To him, the past was something that could be disregarded for the sake of the future.
Even so, their hearts pounded with anxiety as they spoke. Any normal Lord God would have exploded in fury: “A crime is still a crime! How dare you try such cheap tricks—!” and increased their punishment.
Yet these beings who desperately tried to forget their painful past, gave their all to the present, and sacrificed everything for the future might think differently. It was a faint, almost desperate hope.
And they had no time to think any deeper.
“That is true. A mid-tier Lord God is indeed more useful than an ordinary one. The divine power seal is hereby canceled.”
“……”
“……”
Such sophistry actually worked.
What kind of extreme mindset is this?
It meant that as long as there was practical utility, almost anything else could be ignored. The fact that such a colossal being operated on that principle was terrifying in itself. If he ever judged something as useless, the consequences would be horrifying.
If he decides we are incompetent, I shudder to think what he’ll do.
It would probably end the same way as when he killed every highest-tier god in the Spirit Realm Waiting Area as punishment.
Still, they were relieved to have avoided the divine power seal—until his next words left their mouths hanging open.
“In place of the divine power seal, the period of unpaid service and the compensation vitality will both be doubled. If you refuse, each of you will pay forty billion vitality.”
“……”
“……”