The Flow of a Possible Future
A single current that might have arrived during the Spirit Realm War. If the transcendent spirit gods of the Otherworld had been missed, the moment the Divine Realm's reorganization finished, they would have been dragged away by the Creator God Profright. Whether direct subordinate or independent made no difference. With his eyes completely rolled back at the near-death of the one who would succeed him, the All-Powerful Splendor, he mobilized his entire forces.
However, with no way to stop the Absolute Beings who possessed titles, he threatened to fully release those titles. It was a story from another dimension where they barely held the front lines, only to be denounced as cowards by the direct bloodlines of the Creator Gods. Of course, here he was not yet the Magic God of Dimensions. He was merely one of many Creator Candidates, which made the war all the more desperate and brutal.
In this flow, the Dimensional Lord was forcibly dragged into the conflict as if pulled by invisible strings. The moment the collapsing defensive barrier was replaced, the Great Magic that would one day become his signature revealed itself across the entire universe and annihilated the enemy forces. Then, just before the barrier could be destroyed, he threatened the title-bearing Absolute Beings by saying he would force them to summon him through complete title release, binding their feet in place.
The survival condition upon fully releasing a title was 'complete victory.' Since both sides shared the same condition, the enemies froze in confusion and could not move. In that opening, the barrier recovered once more. He then poured all remaining forces into a concentrated assault on the other Highest Creator Gods, killing them and reducing the enemy's strength to seize the advantage.
Now the battle had shifted from victory or defeat into a life-or-death struggle over each other's vitality. At the same time, internal power struggles over military achievements began in earnest.
The surrounding Lord Gods deliberately ignored the words of the Dimensional Creator Candidate and turned their heads away. It was a silent affirmation and a backlash against him. In response, he let out a scoff filled with ridicule and acknowledgment of their foolishness.
…….
Even the Highest Lord God who had stepped forward to criticize him shut his mouth and hastily averted his gaze.
The current battlefield is a razor-thin advantage that every major universe is watching.
If someone makes a mistake here and they lose, it will be a complete burial.
They would suffer such humiliation that they could never raise their heads as Lord Gods again.
If they had a good alternative, they would have used it long ago.
Their opposition had come purely from a sense of repulsion toward such a dirty method as blackmail. It was certainly not because they had any real alternatives. Seeing the reactions of these direct bloodline Lord Gods, killing intent slowly rose in the eyes of the All-Powerful Splendor, who was still a Creator Candidate.
This battlefield was forced upon me because of my past mistakes, but it is mine. If we lose here, it will leave a stain on my name for ages to come.
Of course, he agreed that it was not particularly honorable for the Dimensional Lord to have blackmailed his way into pulling back the front lines and buying them a breather. Yet when the Dimensional Lord suddenly stepped forward expecting constructive suggestions, all he received was the classic behavior of allies stabbing each other in the back. If the Dimensional Lord—who actually had a winning strategy—began to act uncooperatively because of this, the probability of defeat would only increase.
That bastard was letting jealousy over the Dimensional Lord's achievements drive him to inflict fatal damage on the career of someone who should become a Creator General. His hands trembled with rage, ready to crush the fool on the spot, but something felt off. Any sane god of war would know that causing discord on the battlefield was a capital offense. They wouldn't behave like this.
Are there still such insane Highest Lord Gods left? How did he even pass the certification trial? With that kind of mentality, forget defeating the Substitute Gods—the Demon God faction would be too much for him... Damn it!
A quick look at the information on that utterly detestable Highest Lord God who was a Creator Candidate revealed something absurd. Even without ability or will, he had managed to survive this long. All five direct subordinate Lord Gods who had received support from the Creation Realm shared a common point.
They're direct bloodlines of the Creator Gods. They received long-term education in the Creation Realm before being appointed as Highest Lord Gods. So they were still greenhorns who hadn't even undergone the certification trial yet. Damn it. The mercenary gods used to shudder and say, 'I can't stand the cute antics of these young masters,' and it seems they were absolutely right. These are truly spoiled brats through and through.
A sigh escaped him involuntarily.
Haa. What am I supposed to do with them? And of all times, I have to babysit these infants too? If I lay a hand on them, they'll run straight off crying to tattle.
To the Dimensional Lord, who was glaring with icy eyes at this absurd accusation of honor on a battlefield, he gave a light wink. Then he turned his fist in the direction of the Highest Lord God who had looked away and raised his thumb upward. Since the Creator Gods might be able to read their intent, he conveyed the meaning using the slang and symbolic gestures of the mercenary gods.
As expected of someone who had rolled around quite a bit as a mercenary god, the other immediately understood and withdrew his fighting spirit. It was a situation that made one sigh on its own.
So that's what a 'talented young master' means. It also carries the message of 'since you're so great, do everything yourself.' And on top of that, it's practically begging, 'Please don't get involved with me.' For now, it seems to have worked.
At any rate, since he didn't even want to look at the fool, he could simply transfer him back to the rear. If the man refused to go quietly and continued to erode morale like this, he had even resolved himself to deal with him right here on the spot.
Damn these direct bloodline Lord Gods! With only their precious honor, how do they expect to gather allies and mercenary gods to pass the certification trial? Even I wouldn't go with them.
Of course, the other Highest Lord Gods had only gone along with it out of displeasure at the victory achieved through such absurd means. Once they calmed down, they would realize it was an action deserving of thorough condemnation.
To insult the one who made the decisive contribution to victory? That's nonsense. What honor is there in a dirty war like this anyway?
It was the madness of searching for fragrance in a garbage dump. War ended the moment you won. How could the Chief God of the God Realm run things if he only ever performed honorable and clean actions?
The owner of the Divine Realm is the one who handles unspeakable hardships in the most difficult and painful places without telling anyone.
The honorable war that young master speaks of only exists inside books. On the real battlefield, where it's truly a matter of life or death, only the strong who use any means necessary survive.
If he had experienced even one real, brutal certification trial, he wouldn't be doing something so insane. But because he had only fought safe battles against inferior opponents, his liver had swelled to the size of a boulder.
Looking at it now, most of the Highest Lord Gods who agreed with him are also direct bloodlines of Creator Gods. It seems the standards of the Creator Gods have fallen quite far. To have given birth to such bloodlines and raised them to this point.
In that case, it would be cheaper to simply hire mercenary gods. As he was thinking this, the Dimensional Lord's fighting spirit vanished. Believing his opinion had gotten through, the All-Powerful Splendor began to raise his voice again in triumph—when an anomaly occurred.
KWOOOOOOOOONG—!
Tearing apart space itself, divine weapons materialized from killing intent so thick it had taken physical form. The divine power contained within was at a level even he could not possibly handle, and there were not just one or two, but five of them. Before anyone could even prepare, they struck directly at the five Highest direct bloodline Lord Gods who had just criticized the Dimensional Lord for being cowardly and underhanded.
BOOOOOOOOOOM—!
CRAAAAAACK—!
Beams of authority far beyond their current level exploded. Of the five struck by the divine weapons, three died instantly while screaming. The remaining two Highest Lord Gods couldn't even let out a scream from the overwhelming impact and were shattered into pieces. Their spirits, despite having the weak will of children, possessed divine power strong enough to have been pressuring the Highest Creator Gods of external major universes just moments ago. Yet they could not endure even slightly and perished.
The divine spirits of the Highest Lord Gods, appearing with faces twisted in screams after losing their bodies so pathetically, shook the Lord God Temple with their howls and left everyone completely frozen.
The Creator Gods were so enraged that they had personally executed the punishment. The slight contempt he had felt for leaving the foolish direct bloodlines alone completely vanished.
What harsh and decisive punishment. They killed even their own direct bloodlines just for saying a few wrong words.
But that was not the end. The space shook once more as several trillion units of divine power moved in addition. A resonant voice like a formal pronouncement rang out.
It was not a threat to kill them and lower their circles. It was a declaration that he would enforce complete annihilation, erasing even their bodies.
Oh my god—! Does he really intend to annihilate them?
The faces of the Creator Candidate All-Powerful Splendor and the Dimensional Lord changed drastically.
No matter how much nonsense they spouted on the battlefield, they were still Highest Lord Gods and direct bloodlines. To handle them like this? Just how harsh and decisive are the Creator Gods?
Even if that's the case, if they annihilate over ten percent of total forces—including core defensive power in the form of Highest Lord Gods at the Creator Candidate level—how are we supposed to maintain the front lines?
Neither of them had the power to stop the Creator Gods' decision. They could barely even block a long-range strike from those divine weapons. As additional annihilation attacks were about to follow, the divine spirits screamed and tried to flee—when suddenly sharp female voices rang out and the attacks stopped.
A black spatial gate appeared before the divine spirits and blocked the attacks. At the intrusion of these female Creator Gods, the voices of the enraged Creator Gods thundered out.
In the midst of this, the divine spirits were urgently sucked into the spatial gate and vanished. The Lord God Temple of the Defense Divine Realm regained its silence as if nothing had happened.
Although they had come as a show of support, the five Highest direct subordinate Lord Gods from the Creation Realm—who could have been used for defense—had been killed by the Creator Gods' fury and disappeared. The remaining Dimensional Lord and Creator Candidate Hwi could not relax their frowns, and headaches began to pound in their skulls.
Throb! Throb!
The Dimensional Lord's expression in particular was completely twisted.
I had finally cut the enemy's forces drastically and gained some breathing room with our advantage, but now their lordships' tantrum has brought us right back to square one.
He had heard plenty of such nonsense during his mercenary god days, so it didn't bother him at all. But the loss of forces that could have been used as scarecrows left them with no room to breathe.
A major revision of our tactics is necessary.
Seeming to have read the mood, the hesitant voice of the All-Powerful Splendor reached him.
The sighs the two exchanged seemed to perfectly describe the current situation. And so, one possible future that might have come to pass flowed by and disappeared beyond the current.