The Weight of Absolute Power
The surrounding Main Gods, who had been gazing at the shattered remnants of divine artifacts—now reduced not merely to dust but completely erased by the concentrated destructive power of the Spirit Realm war—with expressions of awe, lowered their heads in unison. Even those who had grumbled that Hwi’s reckless behavior had sparked such a colossal conflict dared not meet his eyes.
As expected, nothing controls those beneath you quite like a display of overwhelming force.
Killing and annihilating the Creator Gods this time had not been a thoughtless act. Had the Creator God King not intervened, Hwi could have dealt with any invaders at his leisure. He had eliminated them swiftly precisely to prevent further complications.
Because the most effective way to quell unrest is to demonstrate a power so absolute that the opponent deems resistance utterly impossible.
Hwi had governed his own tribe the same way, forcing them to focus solely on progress and development. Every decision had been rooted in past experience and the conditions around him. Yet he had never imagined the Creator would grow so enraged as to accept the Substitute Gods into their ranks. That was why even the Creator God King had burst forth.
I planned to suppress them quickly and return to training. Things have become truly twisted.
Under the original plan, neither the Highest Creator of that frail Main Universe nor the Origin of his own tribe could have stopped him. A single Highest Main God seated in the position of honor would have sufficed to defend the Divine Realm, allowing him to clean up the rest alone if necessary.
It would take time, but I could have swept them away one by one.
So long as that Creator God King—who possessed a higher divinity than himself—had not appeared, he could have eradicated them all given enough time. Since he was faster than the Creator God King, evasion and annihilation would have been possible.
Yet if he began rampaging freely, the Defense Divine Realm would be left defenseless. These Highest Main Gods could never protect the core of the Divine Realm on their own. The aggressive interception battle he desired had been restricted from the start.
In that case, only a prolonged defensive war remains.
Hwi clicked his tongue inwardly while searching for countermeasures.
Tsk! If only there were a Main God capable of pinning down the Creator God King in my place, I could end this somehow. But there is absolutely no one. Even the Main Gods of the Independent Divine Realms could last no more than a minute at best. And that Creator God King whose eyes are rolling with madness is deeply unsettling.
What lingered in his mind was the expression on the outer universe’s Creator God King as he retreated—sacrificing an arm to Hwi’s attack while taking every Highest Creator God with him.
It was a face from which even fury had vanished, utterly expressionless.
Of course, it was not emotionless. The anger had burned so hot it had transcended into something beyond rage.
From experience, enemies like that are truly terrifying.
In the early days of his mercenary god career, right before he had tasted annihilation, he had fought a desperate battle against a Demon God during a certification trial against a regular Main God. That Demon God had worn the same face.
After subjugating his own tribe, when pride and arrogance had pierced the heavens, Hwi had looked down on his opponent and mocked him—only to end up fighting to the brink of mutual annihilation.
True to the Demon God race, the creature had attacked with ferocious fighting spirit and overwhelming power, determined to drag Hwi down with him. At the time, Hwi’s body had not yet been fully tempered and his guard had been lax. He could neither counter nor evade the blows.
The Demon God specialized in relentless consecutive attacks that left no room to breathe. The moment Hwi’s defense faltered even slightly, true annihilation would follow. He had been forced to focus solely on defense.
He had been miserably and one-sidedly ravaged. Countless restorations had consumed massive amounts of divine power, bringing him to the very edge of annihilation.
It had been a truly desperate struggle: whose reserves would run out first—the demonic power fueling the Demon God’s attacks, or Hwi’s divine power used for defense and bodily restoration?
In the end, the opposing Demon God had poured every last drop of demonic power and vitality into the assault before annihilating himself. Hwi had not truly won; he had barely survived by relying on his tempered physique.
After that ordeal, he had come to his senses, trained even harder, and never again underestimated any opponent, always fighting with full strength. Such situations had never repeated. Yet even now, remembering that time sent a chill through his entire being.
Looking back, the expression the Demon God had shown after being so pathetically mocked by a younger Hwi had been exactly like the one he had just witnessed.
It was the face of one who had resolved to kill their enemy no matter what—even if it meant abandoning the future and everything else.
It had been an unyielding determination, pouring out desperate attacks while prepared for annihilation, expending even their original demonic power without reservation.
Even against equals or inferiors, such an opponent had forced a brutal struggle. This time, however, the enemy possessed higher divinity than Hwi himself—and was a Creator God King on top of that.
The latent power of a Creator God King, the Origin of the entire God Race, cannot be underestimated. That potential is undoubtedly greater than mine, even as a member of the Almighty God Tribe.
Yet he had let the decisive opportunity slip, merely provoking the enemy and shaving away some divine power before allowing retreat. No matter how he reflected on it, the decision had been utterly foolish.
Damn it! This is becoming extremely unsettling. I should have been willing to make some sacrifices and killed him then. Next time, it may become unmanageable. But attacking with full power only to receive a counterattack would endanger even my body, given the higher divinity of a Creator God King. It was impossible to risk. I need more strength.
To revive his tribe and manifest his ideals in the world, his current power was woefully insufficient. He already knew the path he must take, yet the probability of success was so slim that he hesitated endlessly.
Will I be able to survive this time?
Hwi seriously contemplated whether he should once again attempt the higher stages of his training regimen.
He had barely survived the initial phase of the first stage and abandoned further training, but the current situation was far too critical to avoid it.
He knew proceeding with the training was essentially suicidal, yet it was still better than defeat here.
My defeat as the Origin would mean the collapse of the entire Almighty Tribe, which has only just begun to stir and revive. That single candidate for Demon God King could never sustain so many tribe members on his own.
The Almighty Tribe was a colossal clan that could barely be maintained by the ten trillion sentient beings and one trillion believers residing on the Main God Star where Hwi, a Creator Candidate, served as the Main God of the Divine Realm. Without the enormous amounts of vitality that “that guy” occasionally sent them, revival would have remained a distant dream.
The revival of the Almighty God Tribe was the crystallized culmination of the dreams and ideals they had pursued after overthrowing the entire previous ruling class, staking everything on the outcome.
Had he not been the Main God of the Divine Realm bearing responsibility for most of the tribe, he would have ignored them entirely and pursued the training that nearly guaranteed annihilation. But as the Main God of the Divine Realm and one of the tribe’s Origins, maintaining and reviving both the Divine Realm and the tribe was an absolute duty.
Any Main God of the Divine Realm who avoided that duty even once would lose all qualification, and no one would follow them.
Although they had purged countless elders and rulers under the banner of reform, the tribe’s absolute obedience stemmed from the hope of the better future they had promised—something greater than the old regime.
They understood all too well that rule by power alone was temporary. Therefore, they had to keep their promise to revive the tribe. Failure would reduce them to nothing more than mutant rebels transformed by another’s authority.
More pressing than such criticism was the fear that, should problems arise now, all the young tribe members who had entered the new Main God training process for the reformed Almighty God Tribe might wither away entirely.
They were the finest Main God-level deities carefully selected from the entire tribe. There were no further candidates; believing this to be their final chance, they had poured every available resource into the project.
The fruits of those long efforts were only just beginning to appear. They were approaching the completion of Main Gods worthy of recognition even within this Main Universe. If he were to lose his Main God Star now, the opportunity would be gone forever.
He was a God of Combat. He seized opportunities only through strength. He neither knew nor cared about anything else.
He already understood what he must do. Yet because the probability of success was so miserably low and the pain so immense, he continued to hesitate.
Must I truly challenge the first heavenly verse of the Incomprehensible Eight Time Tunes—the middle chapter of Heavenly Time Without Limit, known as Heavenly Connection Accumulated Mountain? That absurd foundational training that demands one endlessly repeat the dangerous first chapter, instructing one to “pile mountains to reach the sky”?
Merely imitating the basic training had already killed countless members of the tribe. That he and “that guy” had endured it still seemed like a miracle no matter how many times he reconsidered it. Had they not charged forward madly with the desperate resolve that there was no retreat for those of lowly birth, they would never have succeeded.
Honestly, he no longer remembered how they had succeeded. The agony during training had erased even those memories.
Yet if he now challenged the middle chapter training process—which required repeating such foundational drills— even he would surely face annihilation.
The problem was that there was no other path. If another way existed, he would avoid this one at any cost.
Hwi no longer paid any attention to the surrounding gods who bowed their heads before his mighty power. The only issue that mattered now was finding a way to stop the rampaging Creator God King.
Rather than the steadily increasing number of enemy forces, his focus remained locked on the Creator God King, whose killing intent continued to intensify.
Swaaaaaah!
The aura shifted—cold and razor-sharp—driving home the realization that there was no longer any room for leisure. At last, he was witnessing a God of Combat truly worthy of the highest position and divine power of a Creator God King within the Divine Realm.
This was no longer the pathetic skirmishes of before. This was genuine battle.
Whether he should rejoice or feel dread, even he could not tell.
If I were alone, it would be truly delightful to be acknowledged by the Creator God King enough for him to fight me seriously. But as the Main God of the Divine Realm, this is the worst possible crisis. I need a concrete plan. Even Karma’s support seems to have reached its limit, so I must devise my own measures. The Main Divine Realm has also hit its ceiling. I should request assistance from the Creation Realm. Fortunately, since I am a Creator Candidate, they will likely accept to some degree.
The true powerhouses of the Divine Realm in this galaxy had already gathered in nearly full force. Their numbers were fewer than the enemy’s, but deploying regular Main Gods or those directly under the Main Divine Realm to increase their count would only result in lower overall quality, amplifying casualties rather than helping.
The one-sided victories they had achieved so far were extremely localized triumphs made possible by the special nature of a Creator God-level Defense Divine Realm and surprise attacks from beings stronger than their opponents.
Moreover, the enemy was already in a desperate state. They would not retreat simply because a few members of their highest ruling class had been annihilated.
If things go wrong now, it will escalate into a massive all-out war with millions of Main Gods from the 500th Master Universe launching an assault. This will not be settled unless one side suffers near-total annihilation.
Such an enormous concentration of Main God forces naturally did not exist within a Defense Divine Realm that was little more than a single galaxy. Even attempting to compensate for insufficient numbers with the authorities of higher Main Gods would fail; neither the Main God of the Divine Realm nor those from Independent Divine Realms possessed wide-area attack techniques of that scale.
Most were specialized one-on-one combatants—swordsmen or warrior types. No matter how powerful one became, there were always limits and fields of expertise.
Even Hwi, while his personal authority had been maximized to confront the Substitute Gods’ Main Gods, retained the same limited capability when dealing with large groups. He would have to hunt them down and annihilate them one by one. That would take far too much time.
He could defeat a great army alone, but if his allies were wiped out during that time, it would still be his defeat. In a true frontal war, they would naturally lose.
What now? We desperately need many Main Gods of the Divine Realm who possess authorities capable of handling large armies, yet they have all pushed their personal techniques to the limit and have no capacity left. At best, the wide-area authorities that a single Main God reigning above the heavens can display are insufficient to control the entire battlefield. In the end, can we only continue holding the main gate? If the enemy triggers some sudden variable in this state, we will be breached instantly.
The war situation favored him, yet the fact that the enemy held the initiative to attack was the core problem.
There is no choice but to rely on the Defense Divine Realm and endure. With only a small elite force, there is simply no other way.
Pure defense would inevitably reach its limit.
The enemy was currently at a disadvantage, but they would employ every possible method, and the situation would gradually spiral beyond control. No matter how weak they were overall, when countless gods were gathered, there would always be exceptionally powerful individuals among them. Once those beings began to appear, opposition would become truly impossible.
In short, a single galaxy could never withstand the full potential of another Master Universe.
They must be hesitating. Therefore, we absolutely cannot give them time.
Yet the very situation Hwi feared was already unfolding.