The Sly Raccoon's Arbitrary Decree

The Spirit Realm War.

Uwoooooong—!

Fighting spirit rippled from the bodies of the Beast Lord Gods as phantom images of their respective races shimmered into existence in the empty air. The size of those spectral beasts swelled in proportion to their divine power, reaching nearly half the stature of the colossal Goddess of Light. Five such towering illusions sharing their authorities and casually shattering the self-destruction domain to close in—it was nothing short of astonishing.

‘If we ignore their lack of real combat experience, the Beast Lord Gods are undoubtedly the strongest among the Spirit Lord Gods.’

As the Beast Lord Gods unleashed their full might and advanced, the spirit gods from the Otherworld had no choice but to radiate their own divine power and move forward. Their faces were etched with clear displeasure. They had barely escaped the Spirit Realm; the idea of camping in the open instead of receiving even a modest room was utterly unacceptable.

‘These ones should be able to pin down those female Lord Gods. That will give me time to analyze their unified authority and uncover its weaknesses.’

There was no way an authority of that magnitude could be flawless, so the odds of victory remained unchanged.

Then an anomaly occurred.

Gugugugugugung!

Teo eo eo eong!

A jet-black wall gleaming with obsidian light erupted between the female Lord Gods and the spirit gods, shooting skyward. It was not physical matter but pure magical energy.

“That authority… the density of this magical power… it can’t be. Why now?”

The flow was so overwhelmingly powerful that even Lokina had never witnessed anything like it. That same power, manifesting a Creator-class unified authority, had perfectly isolated both the colossal goddess and the Beast Lord Gods.

A potent surge of divine energy then swept across the entire Divine Realm, carrying a divine proclamation.

Lokina’s lips pressed into a thin, bloodless line.

‘This Main God of the Divine Realm is extreme in every sense. He appears generous on the surface, but beneath that facade lies a completely different truth. He is a bomb—emotions piling up layer by layer until they detonate. When that happens, given the scale of his power, nothing nearby will survive unscathed.’

It would be wise not to provoke him, yet retreating now was impossible.

‘I didn’t orchestrate all of this just to settle ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠for such a half-hearted conclusion. Entering the Divine Realm in this state would be catastrophic.’

One glance revealed that the developing Divine Realm consisted mostly of empty plots, with far too few completed temples. Under those conditions, the majority of the spirit gods would be forced to sleep outdoors.

‘No one would follow a representative who made gods camp in the open, damaging their dignity.’

Even the position itself seemed inadequate when considering the sheer number of spirit gods. Therefore, they had no choice but ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠to displace the existing female Lord Gods and carve out space for themselves.

“Main God of the Divine Realm—! You entrusted me with the management of every spirit god recruited from the Spirit Realm. This contradicts your earlier words.”

“That is correct. It is no different from Gaiana, an Upper Main God of the Omnipotent Clan, overseeing the entire Divine Realm. I hereby entrust the management of all spirit gods to Lokina, the Lord of the Flipside—the strongest among the Spirit Lord Gods. It is only natural for the strongest Spirit Lord God among those whose bodies have not fully recovered to act as my proxy.”

The casual, almost lazy reply nearly made her snap, but the Dimensional Lord stood several ranks above her as a high mage god. She could not afford to challenge him recklessly.

‘The Dimensional Lord’s might, amplified by the authority of the Lord of the Flipside, is enough to send shivers through even me.’

Though the female Lord Gods’ immunity to dimensional divine power had weakened him, and his rank-transcending strength had caused Fenrir and Jormungandr to shatter pathetically, the fact that he could adjust time and manufacture such weapons in such a short span was nothing short of miraculous.

‘In the old Divine Realm, manufacturing Fenrir required nearly a thousand years. Yet with dimensional magic, as long as vitality, divine power, and computational capacity are sufficient, manipulating time and space makes anything possible.’

There was simply no way an existence who had reached the pinnacle of dimensional magic—Creator God level—would intervene so carelessly.

After a brief pause, the expected reply arrived.

“I will compensate for the lost military strength by preventing the Otherworld spirit gods and Beast Lord Gods from participating in this war.”

“Eh?”

Uwoooooong—!

The void split wide open. Through the gaping rift emerged a burning crimson giant star. Excessive solar divine power surged across the planet’s outer shell of red metal plating, radiating scorching heat even from an immense distance. The divinity it emanated nearly reached the Highest Main God level.

Everyone’s jaws dropped at the sight and the voice that followed.

“This is the first Creator God-class Machine God, Antares. I will temporarily grant you control rights. Use it freely. It self-repairs even if destroyed, so pay it no mind. Fight without restraint and leave no regrets behind.”

The utterly matter-of-fact tone left everyone speechless.

‘No matter how much of a God of War the Main God of the Divine Realm is, he’s openly inciting them to fight.’

‘The real problem is that we know he means every word.’

‘If they die fighting those vicious, overwhelmingly powerful foes, their divinity will drop again and they’ll weaken.’

‘Then, judging purely by strength, that idiot Hephais will obviously become the representative, and we’ll truly be forced to crawl on the floor.’

‘And the fact that he’s handing over such a Machine God so easily suggests even this won’t be enough to completely stop those female Lord Gods.’

Lokina and the spirit gods could no longer deny that they had rushed their gamble far too hastily. They should have reclaimed their original bodies first and overturned the board in one decisive stroke. They had judged the situation based on Torina’s past standards and never imagined there would be eight gods of war operating at the same level.

‘At this rate, challenging them while our bodies remain incompletely restored is impossible. Our control over the spirit gods is still imperfect as well, creating too many variables.’

Torina decided to withdraw for the time being. Since they would all belong to the same Divine Realm eventually, opportunities for revenge would come later.

“We accept a draw for now.”

“As you wish.”

Yet it seemed the matter would not end so simply.

Gugugugugugung!

Dududududuk!

The giant Goddess of Light began charging forward. The excited voices of the female Lord Gods crashed over the spirit gods like tidal waves of divine power. The wings of light unfurled from the Goddess of Light’s back tore straight through the wall of darkness and hurtled toward the Spirit Lord Gods.

“Who said you could end it? You attacked us to your hearts’ content and now want to stop?”

“After forcing us to reveal our bottom line, you think you can just run away?”

“We’ll send you back to the Spirit Realm together with your wretched past.”

The female Lord Gods, who had nearly been annihilated by Lokina’s previous attack, burned with fury and resentment. They were hardly the peaceful sort of goddesses who would stop fighting simply because their opponents asked them to. On the contrary, spotting an opening only made them press the assault with lethal intent.

But even that came to an end with a sharp click of the tongue.

“Tsk—! The outcome was decided from the start. If Lokina and the spirit gods had charged in from the beginning intending mutual destruction, you would have lost by all rights. Do not cling to a battle you won by sheer luck. If you still feel regret, fight again another day.”

Pazijijijik—!

Paaaa—!

Burning golden wings unfurled, seizing control of the entire battlefield in an instant. The colossal Goddess of Light melted away as though her eyes had dissolved in the sun. The twelve female Lord Gods descended to the ground, unable to conceal their shock.

“This is impossible—! Our joint authority was dispelled so effortlessly? What just happened?!”

“The authority’s protective functions had no effect at all?”

“Even our divine power link has been severed.”

“Is this truly the authority of a Main God? Not even a Creator God should be capable of this.”

The management-type female Lord Gods were far more shaken than their combat-oriented sisters, who did not fully grasp the situation. They had naturally layered multiple layers of protection onto every aspect of their unified authority, since its opponents would be upper Main Gods or numerous Main Gods working together. Releasing it mid-battle would mean total annihilation; therefore they had stacked countless defensive spell formulas so that no Main God could interfere. For such an authority to vanish so easily was simply mind-numbing.

‘What’s even more absurd is that it suppressed all of our computational power and released control directly.’

‘It didn’t break the formulas with brute force—it analyzed and dismantled them with surgical precision, leaving nothing behind.’

Inside the Dimensional Lord’s authority, no Main God’s power could function. Such a thing was impossible between equals. The implication was singular.

“A true Creator God of Dimensions!”

“You really reached it alone?”

“You’re no longer even a Main God…”

Now that he was a Creator Candidate rather than a Main God, even their final resort—Lord Slayer—had become useless. Its effectiveness would likely drop by more than half, making it impossible to bridge the gap in divine power.

Right before the dejected female Lord Gods stood their old enemies, living proof of the agonizing, painful era they had endured.

‘We anticipated some inclusion, but we never imagined they would bring every single Spirit Realm Lord God with them.’

‘If they all regain their original bodies and attack in unison, the problem becomes far too great.’

‘Just the number of Spirit Lord Gods is several times our own, and the lower spirit gods are beyond counting.’

The greatest issue was that most of the newly arrived Spirit Realm Lord Gods were their mortal enemies—the very partners whose Divine Realm had been destroyed and whose Main Gods had been lost. They could never become allies; instead, they would constantly watch for any chance at revenge.

‘On top of that, the power of Lokina, the Lord of the Flipside acting as their representative, is no small matter.’

While the female Lord Gods held a slight edge for now, the slightest mistake could lead to the same annihilation as before. Meanwhile, Lokina’s control over the spirit gods was rapidly solidifying. Furthermore, the Main God of the Divine Realm’s paranoia regarding any powerhouse capable of creating their own Divine Realm was an open secret. With his full support, once these beings broke free of upper-god divine power and attained Main God divinity, even Lord Slayer and unified authority might prove insufficient.

‘And though it looked easy, those giant monster gods referred to as mobile fortresses possess absurd defensive power and vitality.’

‘If they reinforce those creatures further and attack together, it will truly become unmanageable.’

The massive amounts of vitality and resources required to modify or strengthen such giant monster gods posed no obstacle whatsoever to a Dimensional Creator Candidate who possessed both Adamantium and the Cosmic Tree’s creation abilities.

It was no longer a matter of merely checking the dictatorship of the Main God of the Divine Realm.

‘This is disastrous. If we don’t resolve this now, the longer time passes, the more disadvantageous our position becomes.’

‘Those bastards—! They were the ones who invaded first. What kind of nonsense is this?’

‘The Goddess Alliance was underestimated, attacked, and ultimately destroyed by the Demon Race after exhausting all their forces. We never launched a direct invasion.’

The female Lord Gods’ faces darkened with a mixture of resentment and despair. Just ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠as the Divine Realm had finally normalized and become livable, the situation was twisting itself into knots once more.

And the situation deteriorated further still.

Watching the fighting spirit blaze in the eyes of the Spirit Lord Gods, the female Lord Gods felt headaches coming on. Still, with their addition the highest echelons of the Divine Realm would finally operate at full capacity, accelerating the growth of all gods.

Yet their mortal enemies, the spirit gods, would also receive these benefits, which only magnified the crisis facing the female Lord Gods.

‘If any of us are defeated and killed, causing our divinity to drop, our positions will undoubtedly be readjusted immediately.’

‘The difference in divine power growth effects would then become too vast to ever close the gap once it opens.’

Judging by the atmosphere, anyone who failed to grow stronger with desperate urgency would be hurled off the cliff in the blink of an eye.

They wanted to voice their opposition, but the two who had stepped forward as representatives of the spirit gods were clearly powerhouses on par with themselves. Above all else, the female Lord Gods were completely overwhelmed by the Dimensional Lord.

‘Even if we resist with raw power, he can dispel even our unified authority with a simple barrier and overwhelming computational capacity.’

‘There is no way our strength can affect a Dimensional Lord who has already reached Creator God.’

Witnessing the solo dominance of an excessively empowered Main God of the Divine Realm made their heads throb. On top of that, their past mortal enemies—now even stronger—would be glaring at them from within the same Divine Realm.

The female Lord Gods could only click their tongues. Their painful past truly refused to stop chasing after them.