Annihilation World

Watching the entire regional universe of the Spirit Realm's war zone being targeted for total destruction made my blood boil with such fury that my vision went red. If anything, I was even more stunned that a mere Creator Candidate ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠could pull off something like this at all.

'No matter how wide the power gap between Master Universes has grown, this should be impossible. Even I would need a long preparation period to do something on that scale, yet he's activating it instantly on the battlefield.'

The ones who were even more shocked were the Creator Gods of the 499th Master Universe waiting outside the Defense Divine Realm.

"His combat strength completely transcends the divinity of a Creator God. And he still has power to spare after an attack like that? This is impossible."

"Moreover, what in the worlds is that bastard doing right now? Everyone is watching, yet he doesn't seem to care about his reputation or the consequences at all. It's driving me insane."

The sight of the regional universe being obliterated and the 500th Master Universe's main headquarters crumbling was so horrific it made one instinctively shut their eyes.

'The battlefield here is already drawing the attention of every Master Universe.'

'This is the first time in history that a full-scale war between Master Universes is expected, so even the Absolute Realm is paying attention.'

'He must know that countless eyes are focused on this place, yet he shows zero concern and commits such an act.'

'The way he does it so boldly and naturally suggests this isn't the first time.'

The Creator Gods, who had pulled up the records on the Magic God of Dimensions that had briefly become a hot topic in the past, let out involuntary groans.

'When I only saw the simple list of results, I was impressed that a Main God was working quite diligently. But comparing the scale of the enemy forces in the battlefields he joined to the achievements he racked up, these numbers are absurd.'

'In nearly every battlefield, he single-handedly swept away more than half the enemy forces.'

'If we factor in some manipulation to preserve the Main God of the Divine Realm's dignity in the reports, it might actually exceed ninety percent.'

Considering that the battlefields he was deployed to had almost no proper divine race troops or allied forces, that assessment was likely correct.

It was a clear explanation for why the Main God of the Divine Realm would shoulder the burden of hiring a mercenary god with such terrible karma.

And the final evaluation given to this powerful war god who had accomplished such magnificent feats was 'Extremely dangerous to the Divine Realm. Elimination recommended.'

It meant that even his astonishing achievements could not hide their fear.

Seeing it with their own eyes now, they understood perfectly. They understood the hearts of the Main Gods of the Divine Realm who had hired him and chanted in unison that he must be eliminated no matter what, despite winning thanks to the Magic God of Dimensions.

Goosebumps prickled across their backs as they watched the scene unfold.

The Creator Gods and Creator General of the 500th Master Universe might be on the weaker side, but they were by no means so helpless as to be crushed this easily. Even if they had judged the war's opponent to be themselves, they would have been defeated without any means of resistance.

"So this is why he's called the worst and most vicious Magic God? Truly, his actions are so brutal they put the reputation of the Undefeated in Ascendance War God to shame."

"He's specialized for combat against great armies! No, against large-scale divine races. Even our Divine Realm and Creation Realm cannot guarantee victory."

"In a one-on-one frontal clash, I could finish him in a minute. But looking at how he operates, he clearly has no intention of fighting fair. If he keeps evading like this and wages war in that manner, there is truly no way to counter him."

"Isn't the Magic God famous for being cold and calculating? He'll probably charge straight in to destroy the Creator God Stars and the Divine Realms first. He's not the type to choose his methods, and since that would inflict the greatest damage, of course he'll do it."

"Indeed. Looking at his authority to manipulate planets so freely, there is no way to prevent the destruction of the Creator God Stars. After that, nearly every god in every Divine Realm except ours will lose almost all their power. And then... mutual destruction?"

"It means he refuses to die alone."

"The authority to control planets itself seems designed for that purpose. If it weren't meant to neutralize planet-based Divine Realms and the gods who rely on faith as the foundation of their authority, there would be no need to specialize in planetary operations that consume far more computational power and authority than their destructive output would suggest. If we try to classify him as a dangerous element, we'll have to prepare ourselves ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠to lose most of the regional universes' Main God Stars."

The Creator Gods' heads began to throb with splitting headaches.

In a large-scale war where the most important thing was securing justification, a mercenary god like this had entered a conflict that required defeat, and suddenly a chance of victory that had never existed before had appeared.

'The win rate of that minor war, which the egos of the Main Divine Realm and Creation Realm had been calculating with total mobilization, had shifted from '0' to '0.000000001%.'

Every Creator God understood just how monumental this change was.

Turning a completely nonexistent possibility of victory into a faint but real one was nothing short of a miracle. After all, even if one of them joined the fight personally, it would not transform total defeat into an extremely slim chance of winning.

Yet thanks to a single Creator Candidate whom any of them could dispose of within a minute, such a chance had been born.

'It is a feat truly worthy of the title Undefeated in Ascendance War God.'

'What is even more shocking is that the chance of victory continues to rise little by little.'

The situation on the battlefield was shifting in their favor with every passing moment. The egos of the Main Divine Realm and Creation Realm, reporting the updated information, were frantically extracting new analysis results.

The Creator Gods' expressions changed completely at the reports from the realm egos. In simple terms, it meant that his group combat power alone surpassed that of an ordinary Creator God. Seeing the war gods of the Defense Divine Realm under his command growing stronger only made the assessment seem too conservative.

'If Gaiana maximizes the growth of the entire divine race, then Origin draws out each individual's latent potential to its limit and develops it.'

'It will become increasingly obvious which is more powerful: universal growth or growth specialized for individuals.'

'The probability of producing irregular powerhouses like Almighty Hwi will likely be overwhelmingly high.'

'To ignore even growth limits and guarantee infinite development and vitality as long as the will to fight exists... what an incredible authority.'

Most Creator Gods were also war gods who led countless other war gods. Among them, there were many who possessed strength on that level. But that was precisely the problem.

The higher the level of a Divine Realm and the higher the divinity, the more enormous the effort and investment required to maintain their bodies and increase their power. Moreover, the amount of vitality needed to break through growth limits was beyond imagination. With dozens of targets requiring support, they simply could not provide it.

'As the level of affiliated gods rises, the vitality required for maintenance increases exponentially, to the point where even Main God Stars are starting to struggle.'

'At this rate, the Divine Realm will run out of vitality and divine power support will be cut off.'

'There is no greater shame or fatal failure for a Main God of the Divine Realm, which is why they are forcibly conserving resources.'

As a result, some Divine Realms were stagnating or even regressing. The situation desperately needed new avenues for development.

'Otherwise, why would he have sent ten direct descendants who only cause trouble and refuse to listen into that hopeless battle?'

'If they survived and accumulated merits, they would become Main Gods of the Divine Realm. If they died, they would start over from the beginning. That was the plan.'

The Creator Gods faced nearly identical circumstances. That was why they had unanimously approved the 500th Master Universe's invasion without hesitation.

'With just that title, there would be no need to bother conquering the 500th Master Universe. Not only themselves, but all the war gods under their command who had reached their limits could achieve further development through training alone.'

'If they could grow stronger through personal training rather than the faith of followers, the vitality required for maintenance would decrease dramatically.'

'The stronger one's innate divine power, the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠less external vitality is needed.'

'Most gods raise their divinity based on faith, so this path was abandoned because progress was far too slow. But with this, it becomes possible.'

'For gods who have already reached their growth limit, the effect would be even faster.'

Thus, the authority shown by the 'Origin' title awakened a greed they thought they had long forgotten, making them swallow involuntarily.

Yet the fact that he also possessed magic capable of wide-area planetary destruction on a regional universe scale made forced transfer or subordination seem nearly impossible.

'There are few opponents as exhausting as someone willing to drag everyone down with him in death.'

'Moreover, since he is the Magic God famous for being vicious and cold-blooded, it would be best to reconsider our approach for now.'

On one massive screen, the scene of the initial contact between the main headquarters and the Magic God of Dimensions played on repeat.

Wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiing—!

A single Creator Candidate charging toward a vast army of divine races supported by hundreds of Creator Gods appeared, with enormous planets rising behind his back.

"The Galactic System—! All-Heaven—!"

Flash after flash erupted as thousands of colossal planets began dimensional teleportation simultaneously.

The Origins, who had already witnessed the Creator General and titled Absolutes being struck by planetary spatial movement, urgently deployed authorities to block the teleportation, only to cry out in horror.

"Uwaaaaagh! It's spacetime manipulation!"

"All our attempts to block spatial movement are being bypassed into a timeline where those actions never occurred!"

The Origins who had rushed forward to stop the spacetime manipulation began coughing up blood and collapsing one after another. They simply could not withstand the unimaginable gap in authority.

While spitting divine blood, they forced out information between groans.

"Cough—! It's a transcendent-level time manipulation authority—! This isn't simple spatial movement!"

"He wasn't a spatial-ability Creator Candidate? He's handling both time and space, which are each difficult on their own?"

"Then it's a dimensional authority. And on the level of a highest-tier Creator God? This is unprecedented."

"A highest-tier dimensional Creator God is only a Creator Candidate? This is ridiculous—!"

Rather than the enemy's strength, their brains—grown sluggish from long peace—screamed as they calculated the outcome. The result that emerged drained every ounce of color from their faces.

This had been a fatal mistake.

'We should have blocked him from the front even if it meant sacrificing ourselves.'

'The main headquarters has almost no one strong enough to stop a wide-area attack of this scale!'

They urgently shouted toward the main forces behind them.

"Evacuate—! At this rate it's total annihilation! Run!"

"It's already too late! At least raise the defensive barriers to maximum!"

Only those above Creator God rank in the 500th Master Universe could withstand planetary destruction. Anyone below Main God rank would suffer critical injuries or die. Moreover, the chained explosions of thousands of colossal planets of that size meant even Creator Gods could not guarantee their safety.

Yet not a single one was stopped. Over a thousand colossal planets were being scattered across the main headquarters.

Puhahahahahahaha—!

Dududududududududuk!

The range across which the planets were deployed was beyond imagination. They had scattered across the entire regional universe to avoid the powerful counterattack from the 499th Master Universe's gods whose territory had been invaded, and to enable a swift retreat and avoidance of annihilation.

This was supposed to be a war to demonstrate their capabilities to the Creator and obtain the powerful divine races of the 499th Master Universe. It was never meant to be total war.

Yet the entire divine race army that had planned to retreat at any time was now caught in the attack, and the Origins stood frozen in despair as they foresaw total annihilation.

But they soon realized that even this was a more despairing mistake.

'At this rate it really will be total annihilation!'

'We must stop the manifestation of that authority somehow.'

'Even if it means sacrificing ourselves!'

Yet the Magic God of Dimensions' final chant, squeezing out every last ounce of his power, followed immediately.

Kwaaaaaaaaang—!

His wide-open palms clapped together above his head with a deafening roar. The maximally reinforced circles of magic power and divine power merged into one, forming twelve circles.

Even his body could not endure the strain of the chant. His limbs twisted violently and divine blood gushed out like a fountain as the price for exceeding his limits with the divine-demonic fusion authority. Yet his calm incantation, as if he had already anticipated this, reached its conclusion.

"12th-circle divine-demonic fusion authority, Annihilation World—! ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Within the collision of stars that are the origin of life, gods, demons, and matter shall all vanish—!"