Annihilation of the Origins

The war in the Spirit Realm erupted with a deafening BOOOOOOOM—!

A colossal explosion. For one fleeting instant, silence swallowed everything, and every star’s twinkle vanished from sight. Then the true cataclysm broke loose.

KABLOOOOOOOOOOOM—!

He had hunted down every major planet across the local universe and forced them into mutual collisions. The gods’ enormous mobile fortresses received the same treatment without exception. In the empty reaches of space where no planets existed, he simply triggered self-destruction. When more than a thousand planets overlapped with another thousand through dimensional shifts and detonated simultaneously, the fabric of space itself screamed and shuddered, unable to endure the strain.

CREEEEEEEAK—! CRAAAAAASH!

The sound of the universe fracturing rolled over the Origins like a nightmare. Every elite force they had brought to the battlefield died in an instant, without even time to scream. The sheer scale of the casualties was so horrific that even the faces of the Creator Gods from the 500th Master Universe, watching from afar, stiffened into masks of disbelief.

How horrifying.

There are few gods in the 500th Master Universe capable of surviving a local-universe-level explosion of that magnitude. At least ninety percent must be dead.

The main forces of the 500th Master Universe are essentially annihilated.

Of course the gods would resurrect eventually, since they possessed divine spirits. But the personal guard legions of two hundred and fifty major god clans had been vaporized in a single stroke. The price for failing to stop one wide-area attack was unbearably steep.

Bitter regret surged through them—the realization that they could have stopped the Origins if only they had risked their own lives. That regret quickly ignited into pure fury toward their enemy.

GOOOOOOONG—!

Yet the aftershock of the explosion reached even them. With no time for anger, they frantically raised defensive barriers. The shockwave, however, felt powerful enough to shred those shields ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠instantly, nearly tearing involuntary screams from their throats.

In the very moment they staggered beneath the detonating stars, excruciating pain stabbed through every inch of their bodies.

THUDTHUDTHUDTHUDTHUDTHUD—!

Without warning, dozens of ominous spears had bypassed their barriers completely and buried themselves in their flesh. Thousands more spears impaled every Origin present. The sudden agony of having their divine bodies torn apart drew screams from beings who had never experienced such pain before.

Then a chilling roar slammed into their ears.

The spatial transfer authority embedded in the spears activated. There was no time to resist. In the blink of an eye, they were forcibly relocated into the territory of the Defense Divine Realm.

“The Main God-Slaying Spear’s Forced Dimensional Transfer.”

They were not battle gods but the progenitors and administrative deities of their clans. In the midst of such agony and chaotic melee, they could not display their true strength. Though their opponent’s ability clearly outclassed them, the shock of being rendered completely helpless despite their superior numbers was overwhelming.

The lack of real combat experience preventing proper responses in continuous battle was far too great a factor.

They remembered how the Creator General, the young battle gods, and their successors had desperately tried to stop them, warning that someone else would step forward for the sake of the god race’s safety. Combat experience mattered more than divinity or raw divine power, they had insisted. The Origins had ignored every warning and forced their participation anyway. This was the result.

More than a dozen had died to the enemy’s highest-ranking Main Gods in the opening clash. Now every direct force under their command had been wiped out by a single Creator Candidate. The outcome was unspeakably惨.

If only those children had been here instead…

We grew far too weak, content with results handed to us while we focused on politics and neglected training. In the past, we would never have suffered like this.

No matter the sacrifice, I should have stopped myself—even if it meant returning to the past to do it.

But the Origins’ regrets had come far too late.

The dimensional Creator Candidate ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠had no intention of relinquishing the momentum he had seized. The moment the Origins materialized inside the Defense Divine Realm’s territory, agonized screams tore from their throats.

“GYAAAAAAAAAAH—!”

“AAAAAAAAAAH—!”

Vitality poured out of them uncontrollably through the Main God-Slaying Spears embedded in their bodies. Their divine forms began to collapse. The wounds from stopping the chain of stellar detonations and the gaping holes left by the spears widened mercilessly. The vitality that formed their very beings gushed out like a waterfall.

“This is the Spirit Realm’s Creator God-level vitality absorption authority, Guerrilla Volcano. I set it to maximum output before the battle precisely to do this ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠from the start. With those injuries, you fake Origins—who possess only Creator God divinity but merely Main God-level ability—cannot escape. Offer every last drop of vitality in your bodies to me, the victor. And…”

KRrrrrrrrrk—! Krrrrrrrrrr—!

Countless Main God-Slaying Spears spun into existence throughout the void. The moment the magical spears bearing the ferocious authority of Lord Slayer appeared, the surrounding divine power itself was suppressed. Their numbers had already surpassed the hundreds of thousands.

Originally, a Main God’s divinity could only control about a thousand of these spears. But with the physical restrictions lifted and computational power vastly increased, the fusion of enhanced magic and authority had produced this miracle. Amid an army of nearly a million spears, the Magic God of Dimensions’ teeth-grinding voice rang out.

The Magic God of Dimensions lowered his head for a brief moment of silence, then checked the overall battle situation again. He shook his head and shouted.

“Damn it—! No matter how incomplete this 12th-circle magic is, what the hell is this number? Why are so many still alive after a local-universe-level stellar explosion? Are they truly the elite? Or is my magic just that weak? Either way, this is the end. Activating the Lord Slayer’s barrier. Dimensional launch of the Main God-Slaying Spears—!”

SWOOOOOOSH—!

The spears vanished from their positions and instantly pierced the bodies of the gods who had barely survived the earlier explosions. Without giving them even a moment to scream, the spears dragged them straight into the Guerrilla Volcano.

Those who were neither Origins nor Creator Gods could not endure for even a second. Their vitality was stripped away, leaving only their divine spirits behind. The number of victims already exceeded tens of thousands. The sheer volume of vitality being squeezed out by the Guerrilla Volcano was so immense it could not be sent to the Divine Realm in time and instead blazed like a newborn sun. Around that radiant sphere, the screams of divine spirits whose bodies had been forcibly torn away echoed endlessly.

The Origins watched the merciless extraction of both vitality and divine spirits. At last, tears flowed from their eyes.

Those were not expendable troops we raised so carefully just to lose their bodies like this.

They were the forces we cultivated desperately to reclaim the influence we were gradually losing to the new god clans and the young gods of our own bloodlines.

With enough achievements, they would have become direct Creator Gods in their own right.

The main forces of the 500th Master Universe that the Origins had brought this time were all mighty beings destined to lead the next generation of the god race. Their potential had been enormous, and the investment poured into them had been equally vast. Yet because of the Origins’ foolish vanity and stubbornness, they had been erased in vain. No one could guess how much vitality and time would be required for them to resurrect and regain their original strength. Even that would only be possible if the Origins themselves managed to escape this place and return to their clans.

GOOOOOOONG—!

They activated their authorities with desperate intensity. At last they began to resist the Guerrilla Volcano’s vitality absorption to some degree. As Creator Gods, they were pouring out every ounce of their power in an attempt to restore their original might.

But even that faint hope was soon crushed.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOONG—!

Enormous crimson planets descended upon the already dying Origins. Screams tore free of their own accord.

Uwaaaah! Once you’re pushed back like this, there’s no escaping!

Just how much power has he been hiding?

The fact that he had planned this from the very beginning was terrifying in itself.

So this is the Magic God of Dimensions—a battle god who plans and executes every fight and strategy with perfect precision?

A heretic god who even uses magic power and Machine Gods as mere tools for combat?

Does the 499th Master Universe overflow with battle gods like this?

We chose wrong. Bringing those children here was a terrible mistake.

Even if I hate the sight of him, we should have brought that bastard if we wanted victory!

In the face of death, the beings that surfaced in the Origins’ minds were the ones who would never have allowed such a one-sided slaughter. Yet regret, as always, came far too late.

KWOOOOOOOOOONG—! CRAAAAAASH—!

The immense mass of the blazing red giant stars, combined with the divinity of the mechanical Creator Gods, slammed directly into the Origins. Even the powerful bodies of beings who could shrug off stellar explosions were smashed to pieces. Creator God-level flames pulverized their forms and reduced them to ash. There was no time to wonder what kind of Machine God could ignore their divinity and still inflict such damage.

Every Creator God-level existence that had somehow withstood the mechanical Creator Gods’ advance was ground into dust. As if to finish the job perfectly, eighteen red giant stars swept through the entire space without leaving a single gap.

THUDTHUDTHUDTHUDTHUD—! CRRRRRRRRR—!

Every Origin and Creator God-level powerhouse in their path was crushed by overwhelming physical mass and solar divine power, reduced to dust and scattered. Even the highest-ranking Origins, their fading consciousnesses filled with the deranged laughter of the dimensional Creator Candidate.

This madman—!

The surviving high-ranking Origins struggled desperately to break free from the crushing weight of the mechanical Creator Gods. But that, too, had been calculated.

BOOOOOOOOOOM—! CRAAAAAACK—!

The eighteen Antares collided after smashing the Origins and the final barrier of the Defense Divine Realm together. The impact was so powerful that the entire Creator God-level defensive realm was shoved backward. The bodies of the Origins caught between the mechanical Creator Gods and the realm’s barrier were pulverized into fragments. Still unsatisfied, the red giant stars began to rotate, grinding the remains into fine powder. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠The horrifying sight made the Creator General’s furious roar echo across every screen.

But the true nightmare was only beginning.

GRIIIIIIIIND—! GRIIIIIIIIND—! KWOOOOOONG—!

The sound of the red giant stars rotating and grinding both the Defense Divine Realm’s barrier and the bodies of the Origins and gods into powder was utterly bone-chilling. With eighteen of them performing the same action simultaneously, the entire Defense Divine Realm shook and was pushed back. No matter how divine their bodies were, being reduced to dust was inevitable.

The Creator General watched in stunned silence as the Origins who had somehow endured between the planets and the barrier finally let out their last screams and lost their physical forms, reduced to nothing but divine spirits.

The divine spirits of those who die tragically return to their clan’s divine realm within the Master Universe and resurrect.

Since gods were fundamentally spiritual beings, they could simply create new bodies. Ordinary gods were not a major concern. It would take time, but replenishing their vitality would eventually restore them. However, the Origins of the clans were different. They were existences that dictated the overall power of their entire bloodline. The absence of Origins would cause the capabilities of the entire god race to fluctuate.

Though they were useless elders who lacked combat experience, held outdated ideas, and actively hindered the development of the god race, their mere existence provided support. The Creator General had repeatedly warned them not to step onto the front lines. Yet the main force had been raided and annihilated. As a result, the overall power of the god race would plummet until the Origins regained their original strong bodies.

Moreover, since these were the Origins of two hundred and fifty top-tier god clans, even a rough estimate suggested their collective strength would drop by more than half for the time being. It would take at least ten thousand years of the 500th Master Universe devoting its full resources to help the Origins resurrect.

With the threat of the Substitute Gods and an all-out war against the 499th Master Universe looming, such losses were catastrophic. It was an impossible situation.

To slaughter the pillars of the god race—the very Origins who were the source of their authorities—in such a brutal manner was practically a criminal act that accepted mutual annihilation. Even the demon race avoided touching the Origins. Yet this mercenary god had completely ignored that taboo and targeted them from the very beginning.

For the first time in his existence, a violent emotion the Creator General had never felt even toward the leader of the demon race surged within him.