Planetary Punishment and the Frontline Defense
The planets slammed straight into the ground with a shockwave that shook the entire Spirit Realm War God Temple. KWAAAAAANG—!
“Uwaaaaaaaaah!”
The highest-ranked gods screamed and scattered in panic at the sudden catastrophe. ‘They can’t even withstand the aftershock of a planetary explosion.’ To be so fragile that they shriek like that meant they were in desperate need of training.
‘All of you have just won the mandatory training lottery.’
From beneath the planets that had crushed the goddesses came a chorus of colorful screams. As expected, none of them had actually died.
“Krrghhhhh—!”
“Graaaaaah—!”
“Ugh—!”
“Aaaaaaaaah—!”
Since they could survive even if the Divine Realm itself were destroyed, they all clearly possessed some degree of skill.
‘Thank goodness. Killing a Main God would deduct Karma, so I have to be careful, but my short temper is the problem.’
Among them, the Goddess of Alchemy stood out. She hadn’t collapsed and was holding the fallen planet up with both arms, yet her face looked as if she might die at any second as she asked,
“Why… why even me? I didn’t do anything….”
Several Main Gods—excluding the two who had just been about to fight—lifted the planet using their own authorities and tried to wriggle free. At her question, however, they all turned to look at me.
“It’s before the contract. I simply held every Main God in the Spirit Realm jointly responsible for their rudeness.”
“T-that’s not fair—!”
If they still had the energy to complain, it seemed I could afford to increase the weight a little more. This was absolutely not because of personal jealousy. Punishment had to be equally harsh. Only by adding burden according to ability could it be considered fair.
KUUUUUUUUUNG—!
“Krrghhhhhk—!”
When I casually lifted a single planet, they could no longer speak and simply endured with faces flushed crimson. Another Main God tried to say something, but the moment I added one more planet he clamped his mouth shut.
As someone who had lived as a mercenary god and only luckily risen to Highest Main God, I no longer knew why I had ever bothered trying to act with dignity.
‘Even the Main God I believed competent enough to dump work on tried to start a personal fight right in front of the Spirit God.’
I needed to finish this quickly and head into the Spirit Realm to recruit useful divine spirits, yet they were only wasting my time. I hoped I would find powerhouses there comparable to my own Otherworld Spirit Gods.
“From now on, until the contracts are completed, any wrongdoing by the Spirit Gods will be met with joint liability.”
WOOOOOOOOOONG—!
The circle of divine power and the wings of light roared as they expanded. Projecting power outward was difficult, but I could at least display it. Unless I showed the strength of my divinity and authority, they would never acknowledge me.
The circle of divine power instantly surpassed the War God Temple and swallowed the entire Spirit Realm Waiting Area as my domain. My authority’s range was not the usual thousand kilometers of an ordinary Main God. Thanks to the title, the released body possessed a range of a million kilometers—equivalent to a Creator God.
Therefore, no matter how wide the Spirit Realm Waiting Area was, it was easy. Dozens more planets rose into the sky above the Spirit Realm Waiting Area.
“Whether management gods or spirit gods, distinguishing between them is now annoying. From now on I will hold you jointly responsible. The crime of insulting superiors and damaging divine dignity will be borne collectively by the entire Spirit Realm Waiting Area.”
KWAAAAAAAAAANG—!KWAAANG—!
I dropped the planets—each reduced to one-hundredth of their original size—all at once. With their gravity and attractive force maximized and radiating outward, they crashed straight down. The spirit gods and management gods naturally panicked and rushed to block them.
‘I already killed every highest god and sent them here, so if they don’t suffer to the brink of death, they won’t be able to stop this.’
Watching them defend with every ounce of their divine power and divinity, unable even to scream, eased my mood a little.
“Make a sound and I’ll add more planets.”
I finished with a light threat and began compiling every spirit god’s past into Personal History.
Of course, my mind was full of complaints.
‘That’s just my fate. When have I ever lived comfortably enough to enjoy the benefits of subordinates? Just don’t cause trouble and live quietly. Damn it! It was a nice dream.’
While the Dimensional Lord grumbled and scanned the detailed contents of the resumes being written, hundreds of spirit gods and management gods desperately struggled around him to avoid being crushed to death by the planets. The area overflowed with nothing but groans.
“Ughhhhhh!”
“Hrrrrrrrrgh!”
CLATTER—!
A short while later, the past records of every spirit god who had applied were complete. Tens of thousands of book-like resumes flew through the air and landed before each of them. Contracts with nearly identical content were provided alongside.
“These are contracts officially recognized by the Divine Realm. I have removed any unconditional loyalty or restrictions that could limit the development of divine power. Also, since only those who are extremely virtuous may enter the Divine Realm, they will accumulate Karma in the lower realms first. Once they become extremely virtuous, they will receive positions in the Divine Realm. Those at or above Main God rank are exempt from such measures. Sign them.”
The gods trembled. With both hands bound and every ounce of divine power spent holding up the planets, they wanted to scream about how they were supposed to sign, but they lacked even the strength to do so. Above all, the idea that a Main God could freely manipulate hundreds of planets across such a vast domain was unimaginable. They wondered what could have happened in the outer universe for such a being to remain merely a Highest Main God.
Yet he showed no sign of considering their circumstances.
“Once every signature is finished, I will release you.”
He looked positively delighted. He resembled a teacher handing out group punishment to a class of misbehaving children.
He had distributed the weight so precisely that they barely retained enough strength to sign. Once the signatures were somehow completed, the planets vanished. The signed contracts flew over and stacked themselves in front of one person.
“Organize them properly and build the organization well. You are now the representative of the spirit gods.”
Staring at the thousands of contracts, she couldn’t close her mouth.
‘He knows all our pasts and still entrusts this to me?’
She had rebelled against the Main God of the Divine Realm multiple times. Even moments ago, upon meeting her old enemy, she had been unable to control her emotions and tried to start a fight.
She had no idea what he was thinking by giving her this role, but she absolutely refused to accept it this way.
‘If you’re going to do it, seize it from me. Do I look like someone who would quietly accept something being dumped on them? I am the God of Schemes, a deity who has carried out countless rebellions. Do you truly believe I would meekly follow a forced contract like this?’
She was about to rip them to shreds when he placed a bundle of blank appointment letters on top. It was a complete “do whatever you want.”
When she looked at him in bewilderment, a wave of joyful divine power reached her.
“You may do as you please. Oh, right—! Do you know ‘Torina’ well?”
“…….”
An extremely irritating name suddenly popped out. Since he knew her entire past, it was only natural. It was a name that had clung to her annoyingly ever since she first entered the Divine Realm.
Her suffering had begun the moment they became entangled and compared to each other.
‘The glorious victories she achieved through the high status and innate power I lacked, built on the popularity she gained, simply turned every victory and benefit I had obtained by any means necessary into something filthy.’
Of course, at the very beginning they had admired each other’s strength enough to become sworn sisters. But their completely different positions and personalities had gradually transformed their relationship into hostility.
‘I should have realized then that a direct descendant of the Main God and a god who converted from an enemy race would never get along.’
With those around them fanning the flames and several incidents getting involved, they had become unforgivable enemies. Yet with the destruction of the Divine Realm, it should have ended.
‘Now it’s nothing more than a memory.’
All she needed to do was deal with that bitch who had contributed so greatly to putting her in this state. But the next words delivered a heavy blow.
“She currently serves as Divine Realm Management Main God in my Highest Divine Realm. She receives thirty-two times the divine power support and has already moved past the intermediate stage, now aiming for upper Main God. She is on a completely different level from you, who remains an upper god. Or will the chance to become equal come again? It seems more impossible with every passing day, doesn’t it? Does it not matter to you? Hehe—! If you organize things well and manage them properly, I’ll consider it.”
CRAAAAAACK—!
Strength unconsciously surged into her hand, crushing the appointment letter.
‘How dare she speak of memories. She was the root cause who spread malicious rumors about me from the very beginning.’
She had never been the God of Schemes at first. She had been closer to the God of Knowledge and Wisdom.
‘Yet when I created a plan to minimize damage, she went around calling it cowardly. The information reached the enemy and ruined everything. Still, after I executed it without regard for any means and barely secured victory, she took all the credit by flamboyantly striking lightning and swinging her hammer a few times at the front of the battlefield where everyone could see.’
Since they were the first sworn sisters in the Divine Realm, I had endured it once or twice and spoken nicely several times. But she turned the tables, openly causing chaos and spreading rumors until I was permanently labeled as the untrustworthy God of Schemes.
‘I took light revenge several times, but with that brute strength and authority she rampaged even more spectacularly. After every victory she revealed all my schemes, criticized me, and drove me further into a corner. No matter how hard I worked or how many victories I achieved, it only created suspicion and adverse effects that pushed me deeper into the abyss.’
In the end, she was the mortal enemy who had played a decisive role in creating the situation where rebellion became my only choice. What made it even more infuriating was that it had not come from malice—if it had, I could have taken revenge without hesitation—but from goodwill and pity, framed as advice. Because of that, I had hesitated to deal with her, and this was the result.
Ultimately, she was the greatest culprit behind my fall to upper god and my imprisonment here.
‘Above all, as if I would ever forgive her for stealing the companion I chose after abandoning my entire clan—!’
Burning with fierce vengeance, she began drawing up the organizational chart while examining the contracts and resumes. The goddesses of the same Divine Realm she had just seen vanished from her mind. She could deal with that level anytime.
‘Now is the time to handle the biggest culprit whose survival I have confirmed.’
Moreover, to hear that she had been living comfortably as the management Main God of the Highest Divine Realm and was already on the verge of becoming an upper Main God made it absolutely unforgivable. While she herself had been hiding in the Spirit Realm Waiting Area, avoiding vitality absorption by disguising herself as an upper god and barely surviving.
‘This time I will definitely earn more recognition than you, become your superior, and use you however I wish—! I will put you in the completely opposite position from the past. Fortunately, that radical Main God of the Divine Realm seems to get along better with me than with you, so this time the advantage is mine.’
Burning with the flames of revenge, she even forgot to scheme.
GUGUGUGUGUGUNG!
The main gate of the Defense Divine Realm of the Spirit Realm opened. With thirteen pairs of wings of light fluttering behind them, the Main Gods descended before the gate. Standing at the very front was Hwi, the current Main God of the Defense Divine Realm, and the fourteen around him were all Highest Main Gods.
They had appeared not inside the safe barrier but outside, ready to strike the enemy. The enemy camp began to stir at the sudden arrival of these powerful war gods.
No matter how strong they were, the reason for the agitation was the recklessness of only fifteen war gods stepping outside the defensive barrier to provoke an enemy force numbering in the hundreds of thousands.
Yet they had no choice. Although the Spirit Realm was protected by the Creator God’s authority, no authority was perfect. Therefore, they had intentionally created a clear weakness in one part of the barrier—the main gate.
In exchange, they reinforced every other area to create an absolutely unbreakable defensive wall. This was the basic design of all defense divine realms. In return, the weakness was literally as narrow as the tip of a needle and could be defended by a single god. Protecting that weakness was the highest priority duty of the defense divine realm’s Main God.
‘A truly strong Main God would allow no intrusion even alone, but if weak, the breach would be too easy. Therefore only Main Gods whose skill has been fully verified are sent.’
Those escorting the Main God defending the gate alone were naturally the elite of the elite. That was why the Preliminary Creator God Hwi and the Highest Main Gods now stood in formation before the main gate, waiting for the enemy. The other Main Gods could only watch them with respect as they stepped out through the barrier’s main gate to block that massive army with a tiny force.
WOOOOOOOOOONG—!
The thirteen pairs of wings of light belonging to the Preliminary Creator God Hwi, the All-Powerful One, received support from the Creator-level defense divine realm, causing his divine power to surpass one trillion. His body, trained to the extreme and even beyond to transcendence, handled it with ease.
In full divine power release, he already possessed strength that would treat Highest Creator Gods from past universes as mere underlings. He was powerful enough to annihilate Highest Creator Gods from outer universes.
Yet he could not stop feeling tense. The enemy Creator General’s momentum and divine power were far from ordinary, and their numbers were overwhelming. To reduce damage to the defense divine realm, defending from inside was dangerous. That was why they had resorted to this absurd maneuver and come outside.
‘If the weak point—the main gate—breaks and the crack expands, it will allow full intrusion. Therefore we must come out and fight. The strongest me and the Highest Main Gods will confront the enemy head-on. Allow not even a single intrusion. This main universe is everything we created through countless sacrifices. No one can defile it.’
This was the speech he had given to the subordinate and independent Main Gods who had gathered at his command when he came to the main gate.
A fervent cheer and applause that seemed to flip the entire defense divine realm erupted. Yet inside, he was burning with frustration.
“They really did build the defense divine realm well. I’d like to see the designer’s face someday.”