The Goddesses' Desperate Union
The infinite void of annihilation known as Ginnungagap, a space that no Main God of the Spirit Realm could possibly endure, began to be sucked away without a trace into some unknown place. Then a voice brimming with arrogance rang out.
Arrogant divine speech echoed as, within the destructive mist, the illusion of a colossal goddess of light rose. A supremely sensual female body formed entirely of light stretched her arms as if waking from a long slumber. Simply from her appearance and aura, she stood above any authority or divinity seen so far. Even a passing glance revealed Creator God-level authority.
At the head of that giant goddess of light, eight battle goddesses and four administrative goddesses held hands, eyes closed, chanting divine speech like incantations as they unleashed their authorities. Watching this, Lokina bit her lip hard and let out a groan.
“Ugh…! No way?”
The ritual and authority looked exactly like the secret arts that every goddess was required to learn yet must never speak of lightly.
Is this an application of the Devotion Pledge? They’re gathering everyone’s divinity and authority to the maximum to temporarily manifest a Creator God’s divinity and authority for battle? But maintaining Creator God-level authority would require nearly infinite divine power. Where are they getting that kind of divine power from?
She activated the analytical abilities unique to a mage Main God to their fullest and began a more detailed examination. No matter how powerful the Creator God-level authority was, the ones wielding it were still Main Gods, so their movements couldn’t be agile, and erasing something on the same level as Ginnungagap couldn’t be that easy.
After analyzing the countless interactions and combinations of authorities and deciphering the ritual, the answer emerged. Or rather, she had identified the source of power sustaining that Creator God-level authority. It wasn’t merely replenishing—it was endlessly recycling.
“Infinite restoration of divine power? They’re restoring the divine power used by a mere Main God-level authority without consuming it? And without regard for the user’s own divinity? What kind of ridiculous authority is that? It literally means they can spam maximum output indefinitely. How is that still only Main God rank? At this rate, there’s no way to win.”
She had never imagined they would construct such a unified authority based on the Devotion Pledge and infinite restoration. More than that, the fact that they could apply it to this degree meant someone had already performed the Devotion Pledge with them. All of them, at that.
I can’t believe there are goddesses who would actually carry out that absurdly lewd and outrageous ritual. Though I guess this finally explains why the Dimensional Lord’s prospective Creator God keeps around goddesses with such perfectly rebellious personalities.
Any male Main God or the Main God of the Divine Realm would be unable to abandon them if the condition was receiving the Devotion Pledge that could raise their innate divine power enough to become a Creator God.
Who would treat poorly goddesses who can instantly raise the hundred-billion-unit innate divine power that normally requires training and investment with the resolve to die over eternal time? Even if they rebel, gain immunity to the Main God of the Divine Realm’s authority, and build their own faction, he would have no choice but to overlook it.
Moreover, goddesses this powerful could likely raise someone by at least five hundred million units each. Twelve of them meant six billion. Even if the target of the Devotion Pledge was a Lower God, as long as they possessed usable authorities, they could instantly become an existence above Intermediate Main God. In a world where surpassing even one billion granted recognition as Main God rank, this was an impossible shortcut.
Of course, the goddesses who perform it normally refuse because of the lewd method, the difficulty of replenishing the massive amount of vitality consumed, and the temporary decline in their own divinity. It seems they’ve found a way around that.
But Lokina could never accept that goddesses maintained their trust and survival through such means. Still, this wasn’t a situation where she could properly argue or criticize. If they were willing to endure that shame and loss themselves, there was nothing she could do to stop them. All she felt was a surge of boiling rage from deep within.
“These filthy things—! Acting all high and mighty, yet they’ve dragged the dignity of goddesses straight into the gutter—! I can never forgive this.”
She truly could not tolerate it any longer. These were opponents willing to use the Devotion Pledge to survive, individuals already overwhelmingly powerful on their own, and now they had even secured an authority capable of manifesting and maintaining a unified Creator God-level divine power. The notoriety they had earned in the early days of this universe of the strong—killing incompetent partners, leading the Divine Realm, and slaughtering countless male Main Gods and other divine realms—now seemed almost mild by comparison.
Whether enemy or ally, if we let them live, they will surely do the same things they did in the past.
The Spirit God King and Spirit Main Gods, whose bodies had only just recovered, had already finished one battle and their bodies were failing to withstand the burden.
Our forces clearly hold the advantage, but we lack the stamina for a prolonged fight. We need more intact combat power.
She turned her gaze toward the otherworld’s spirit gods and beast gods who had stayed back, watching the war until now, their eyes wide with shock at the sudden appearance of Creator God-level authorities.
“Enough hesitating. You lot, join the fight too—!”
“……”
At her words, they fell silent for a moment before averting their eyes, causing her blood pressure to spike.
These beings are from the otherworld, so they hold no grudge against those goddesses. However, thanks to the long contract with the Chief God of the God Realm, they possess bodies strengthened by vitality and authority. They are the only intact fighting force we have left.
Moreover, as she had confirmed in the Spirit Realm, they were nearly equal to or stronger than the enemy.
If just ten of them could hold off that unified authority, we could push forward and win. Yet they’re avoiding it.
Then again, if they were the kind of rookies who would fearlessly jump into battle even after seeing that Creator God-level unified authority, that would be a problem too. The whole point was to buy time to dispel that unified authority.
And soon, as their eyes turned toward her, nonchalant replies came back.
“Ohohohohot—! Isn’t your head a little too high for someone asking for a favor? Besides, I have no intention of participating in a battle that offers me no benefit.”
“Too much trouble. Too much. And I hate fights I’m going to lose.”
“Shouldn’t you stop now? At this point, it doesn’t seem like they’re going to ignore us, right?”
“No thanks—! You do it.”
“How curious. That’s not an authority a Main God should be able to use, yet they’ve manifested it. It’s interesting, but I must decline fighting an opponent whose full strength is unclear.”
Answers that made her nod involuntarily.
As expected of a bunch of scoundrels. Their answers differ, but not a single one is helpful.
There was only one response to that.
As far as she knew, these beings were currently completely broke, yet their vanity was enormous.
On top of that, their combat ability was strangely high, but they possessed almost no goddess-like creation abilities. In fact, it was more accurate to say they had none at all.
Otherwise, why would they have tried to take a contractor with creation abilities and immense wealth even while fleeing the Spirit Realm?
It was all because they wanted comfort and luxury. Therefore, her declaration was simple.
“Those who do not work shall not eat. If you participate now, I will grant each of you a temple befitting a Main God. If you remain mere decorations here, I will give you an attic or a basement. And if you keep loafing around and acting arrogant, you had better prepare to live as homeless gods in the Divine Realm.”
At those words, a chilling atmosphere swept over the otherworld’s spirit gods.
Looks like I hit the nail on the head.
No, this wasn’t just their problem—it concerned every spirit god present. Having been trapped in the Spirit Realm for eons, their vitality and divinity stolen, they would all end up homeless in the Divine Realm if temples weren’t provided.
This current battle was heavily influenced by that very situation.
The data on the Divine Realm handed over by the Chief God of the God Realm showed that most of this stage’s promotions involved undeveloped territories. If they didn’t drive out those goddesses, more than half of them would end up as street homeless in the Divine Realm.
This war was fought both to settle old grudges and to secure temples where they could rest.
In this situation, no matter how much of a Main God one was, without any achievements, there was no way to allocate the insufficient number of temples.
“Th-that’s nonsense! You dare threaten me over housing? Such insolence—!”
“This is too much—! I hate you—!”
“That would be problematic. Even so, we need personal space to fix our appearance and apply makeup.”
“I’ll kill you. Are you trying to turn me into a beggar?”
“You’re not even going to share materials for testing sorcery? How unfair.”
Exactly the reaction she had expected. Since she had been entrusted with all authority over the spirit gods’ treatment and accommodations, she had already resolved to turn them all into homeless gods if there was even the slightest justifiable reason. There were simply too many of them; no divine realm could accommodate them all at once. More than half would truly have to live as homeless or in tents. These beings were the perfect candidates to set an example.
Frankly, if she made them homeless, more than half would gladly accept it.
“I’m serious. No cooperation means no consideration. If you try to gather vitality as mere gods of the Round Table instead of Divine Realm administrative gods to obtain temples, you’ll have to live homeless for over a thousand years. Managing homeless spirit gods who have neither earned achievements nor proven their abilities will be my first task. And if things go wrong, I might cut their vitality intake in half.”
At those words, the otherworld spirit gods gaped in utter disbelief. She glanced at the beast gods, but they showed little interest.
Just from their luxurious attire and maintained dignity, it was clear their circumstances were completely different.
They were the main imperial princesses of the beast tribe, known as the Substitute Gods of the otherworld. It seemed they had no worries at all about something as trivial as temples.
Indeed, the clothes they wore alone would be worth the value of building an ordinary temple.
Yet despite their seemingly refined appearance, they wore clothing extremely inconvenient for battle, and showed not the slightest sign of remorse for letting the otherworld spirit gods slip away.
Among the five, the beast god dressed in an antique ancient style—wearing a flowing golden skirt and layered upper garments—lightly bowed her head and spoke politely.
“We will handle our own temples, so there is no need for you to concern yourself.”
“Moreover, I intend to devote myself to supporting and attending my husband in his temple, so I have no plans to participate in the Divine Realm’s power struggles. I will cooperate with the management of the Divine Realm, so you need not worry at all. However, this kind of battle is difficult for us, who are beast gods of the otherworld.”
It was a polite refusal. As expected, they saw it as someone else’s problem. That was why they could remain so relaxed. Even with the benefits of a Divine Realm administrative god, if they could obtain high-purity vitality and authority through direct contracts, there was nothing to regret, and with their enormous wealth, they had no reason to fight existing factions for position.
But this was exactly why they were still naive.
No matter how much they say they won’t fight, once the opponent picks a fight, peace is over.
Organizations were never composed solely of kind and rational beings. The Divine Realm was no different, though the degree varied. If one did not fight to claim their place when the time came, they would be looked down upon and could end up being harshly tossed around the Divine Realm for no reason at all before vanishing.
With a faint smirk, she pointed at the goddesses who were absorbing the destructive authority into the giant goddess of light and said,
“They all claim to be the concubines of this Divine Realm, you know? You call yourselves the primary wives, yet you have no intention of organizing the hierarchy? If you leave such powerful concubines unchecked and enter the Divine Realm, it will haunt you for a long time. And if you don’t join the battle now, you will eventually have to deal with them on your own. At that point, it will be ten against five. Do you think you can win? Even if your abilities seem equal, will the ability-focused Chief God of the God Realm acknowledge you? Is this what they call being ‘cast aside’ in the otherworld? It seems you want to become the primary wife who gets bullied by the concubines and driven back to her original family.”
At the words ‘cast aside’ and ‘driven back to her original family,’ the relaxed atmosphere changed in an instant.
Flash—! Crackle—! Shatter—! Uwoong—! Weeing—!
The eyes of the beast gods, who had trained nearly to the limit in the elemental powers that Main Gods could wield, overflowed with murderous intent and turned terrifyingly cold.
She roughly understood the atmosphere of the otherworld.
It is a male-god-centered world where goddesses hold almost no power and receive little recognition. However, when a male god succeeds, his partner goddesses are also recognized as successful, so they desperately support and serve him.
In such a male-god-centered society, the most terrifying thing was to be abandoned by one’s male god. Being divorced was practically the same as being buried in the Divine Realm. Among such abandonments, the absolute worst was to be pushed aside by a concubine taken later in life. Even one’s original family would consider it shameful and mostly refuse to take them in, leaving them as miserable wanderers.
“We look forward to working with you from now on.”
Watching the beast gods step forward without the slightest hesitation, radiating fighting spirit toward the Creator God-level unified authority, she nodded involuntarily. It really seemed there was nothing more motivating to goddesses than jealousy.