The Weight of Power and the Harem's Complicated Peace

The answer from the Spirit Realm was short, but its implications were enormous. Every face in the room hardened at once. The fact that the Magic God of Dimensions had laughed and called it “fun” meant the situation held that much value. And the birth of a new Creator God of Dimensions could only mean one thing: territorial expansion.

‘From the position of leading the dominant force in the Absolute Realm, one cannot help but be sensitive to changes in the Master Universe.’

Anyone not leading a faction had no choice but to take the news of a new Creator God of Dimensions seriously. The three beings stared at the screen for a moment, observing the Magic God of Dimensions, before identical expressions of utter bewilderment spread across their faces.

Their opinions diverged because they belonged to different races and thus held different perspectives, yet they all reached the same conclusion.

However, his own thoughts differed slightly. Yes, the man had laughed, but if one ignored that purely combative aspect, the authority was powerful enough to rank among the highest in the Absolute Realm.

“As a supportive authority, it is supremely useful. Beings who have experienced a Creator God’s divinity gain an overwhelming advantage in growth compared to those who haven’t. And with the authority of dimensions, support can even be provided remotely.”

“But Grandfather, it makes no sense for the man himself to become so weakened.”

Normally she would never dare refute him, but this was simply too bizarre. If it had been the Creator God King with absolute command authority, perhaps it would be different. But the Creator God of Dimensions was, by all appearances, the Magic God of Dimensions—a former dark mage. There was no way he could control subordinates who had surpassed him in power.

‘For a dark mage or Magic God who believes only in strength, controlling beings stronger than himself through personal charm or virtue is utterly ridiculous.’

‘Even ordinary gods of light would face impeachment or outright rebellion the moment the power dynamic with their subordinates reversed.’

‘The Magic God he resurrected from annihilation and promoted to Magic God King would never have accepted such a contract without the dimensional authority guaranteeing he wouldn’t be annihilated again. To an existence of that caliber, the gratitude of the past naturally weighs far less than the losses of the present.’

“Exactly. The Magic God of Dimensions has no choice but to fight on the front lines alone, which is why he’s laughing. I wonder how he plans to handle this? Hahahahahaha!”

“Now that I think about it, a Creator God of Dimensions with an authority like that? Heh! How fascinating.”

The three of them now laughed together as if they finally understood, their gazes turning complicated as they analyzed the screen. Slowly, a new possibility began to dawn in their eyes.

‘No matter how I look at it, the authority is terrible for personal use. But if he treats it as something to grant to subordinates… the effect would ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠be tremendous.’

In the Absolute Realm, it didn’t matter whether one was born human, god, or dark god. Because they themselves were everything.

On the other hand, the Dimensional Divine Realm was perfectly peaceful. This was thanks to the Magic God of Dimensions ordering the realm’s ego to maintain absolute silence about the battle situation, fearing the negative effects his less-than-proud combat tendencies might have.

Of course, the truth would come out eventually. But seeing the battlefield in person and reading about it in records later were two entirely different things. And with destruction on that scale, even accurate records would be difficult to produce.

The only one who knew the true state of the battlefield was Granzoa, who had received the ‘Infinite Restoration’ support essential for maintaining dimensional creation. However, having only just returned to Main God level, she had no choice but to rely on authority support through the divine realm when the battlefield was judged to be at the level of a battle between beings above Creator Gods.

She had been strictly ordered by the Magic God of Dimensions—not merely requested, but commanded—to say nothing, and as a subordinate god she had no reason to disobey since it posed no threat to her. Her current priority was to focus on recovering her body, which had reached ‘extreme good’ karma ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠after she converted hundreds of billions of ordinary elves into High Elves and dramatically advanced the Middle World’s natural environment, freeing her from ‘extreme evil.’

When she returned to the divine realm filled with joy, she found everything completely changed. Most of the gods were strangers to her. In order to understand the situation, she sought out the goddess lords, only to be told they had all become members of the harem and were staying in the Main God’s temple. She was utterly stunned.

Knowing full well how much the goddess lords distrusted and despised the male gods, she ignored all etiquette and prying eyes and stormed straight in. What she found was the enormous bath of the Cosmic Tree inside the Main God’s temple, filled with overwhelming killing intent swirling between the goddess lords and the spirit goddess lords.

They were simply soaking together in the Cosmic Tree’s grand bath attached to the Main God’s temple to recover while keeping wary eyes on one another. The situation here was no less complicated. A sigh escaped her lips involuntarily.

“Haaaa… The situation has become incredibly complicated, Mother.”

“Y-yes, it has. But it will sort itself out.”

The sight of Granraha unable to meet her eyes properly, her face flushed bright red as she changed the subject, felt strangely unfamiliar. Even more bizarre was the sight of those incredibly powerful aunts of hers wearing troubled expressions while soaking in the bath and warily watching the beings around them.

‘These are women who used to act arrogantly even toward Upper Main Gods, yet now they all look so complicated.’

On the opposite side of the grand bath, the number of Main God level beings—who were once considered precious in the divine realm—had somehow multiplied. They now crowded the vast bath, glaring daggers at the goddess lords. The spirit goddess lords glaring back numbered well over two hundred.

‘We have eight Main Gods and only five Main God level beings. Even considering the spirit gods’ lack of physical bodies, they still hold at least double our combat power.’

The biggest problem was the black-haired spirit god in the center, radiating wave after wave of dimensional authority from a body that was only Highest God rank yet felt impossible for even her to handle alone.

‘It’s definitely dimensional authority, but it feels alien and strangely enhanced. It’s strong.’

On top of that, the authority was also helping restore the fragile bodies of the other spirit gods.

‘If this were an enemy, the situation would be dire. If they’re part of the same divine realm, we must form an alliance somehow, just like in the past.’

Since the goddess lords had already formed such an alliance, she hadn’t thought it would be difficult. But judging by the atmosphere around them, it clearly wasn’t going to be easy.

‘They’re looking at each other like mortal enemies.’

If the Dimensional Lord had not issued a strict order forbidding conflict within the divine realm—stating that violators would be imprisoned in the Dimensional Spirit Realm—battles would have already broken out everywhere.

“Old enemies, I see? Survivors of the First Main God War? The male Main Gods who were mostly war gods had their vitality and authority confiscated and were disposed of, so these must be their consorts or affiliated goddess lords. There’s zero chance of an alliance. Since we were the ones driven from the top to the bottom, the moment they entered the divine realm they would have tried to exact the same revenge. So this is a stalemate, correct? That’s the truth, isn’t it?”

“Y-yes…”

Granraha and the goddess lords began pointing out the spirit goddess lords one by one with helpless expressions and explaining. With every new piece of information, Granzoa’s brows furrowed tighter.

‘The more I hear, the more I realize these spirit Main Gods are no pushovers. If they had normal bodies, they would be powerful war gods so strong that even I couldn’t let my guard down.’

The fact that they had fought on equal footing with the goddess lords despite lacking bodies was already astonishing. That they were survivors of the Main God War and had endured in the Spirit Realm until now made perfect sense.

‘At least my return to the divine realm has somewhat balanced the military strength. If we fight again, I’m confident we can win through Mother and the goddess lords’ unified divine power connection. However, even if we can handle those spirit Main Gods, the sheer difference in numbers means mutual destruction is unavoidable. Even if the goddess lords survive, all the goddesses under them would be annihilated. The only solution is a short, decisive battle, but the problems are Lokina with her bizarre dark magic authority called the ‘Lord of the Flipside’ and Hephais, who is currently flicking compressed planets around on the surface of the water like marbles with her fingers.’

‘At a glance, both their computational power and physical bodies are superior to ours.’

Although Hephais had lost to Torina due to her lack of combat experience, when asked if she could win in a rematch, Granzoa could only shake her head. It would take an extremely long time. Any attack using the divine realm’s defensive barrier would be useless against her now.

The only way to damage a body that had learned his secrets would be to undergo a Devotion Pledge to ascend to a higher divinity and launch a focused assault. But that would leave them unable to block attacks from the other spirit goddess lords, risking the annihilation of their entire faction.

Using Granraha as a last resort to assassinate key figures was also impossible because the Chief God of the God Realm had forbidden any fighting outside of official duels. Ignoring an order that recognized only official duels was dangerous when the Dimensional Lord had already become a Creator Candidate.

Since it was the first order he had given after becoming the Chief God of the Divine Realm, he would show no mercy in punishment. And if the newly incorporated spirit gods joined in at this moment, their faction would collapse completely.

In the end, unable to advance or retreat, after reaching a stalemate in their first battle they had opened the Main God’s temple ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠and were now soaking in the grand bath to restore their past divine power and divinity, locked in this tense standoff.

They couldn’t even pay attention to what was happening outside. Fearing they would fall behind in capability, they remained fully armed while submerged in the bath. Hundreds of high-ranking goddesses above Main God level were all doing the same, completely oblivious to external changes.

‘The only one who knows that the Dimensional Lord is currently in the middle of a brutal mercenary war overflowing with enemies above Creator God level is me.’

The Dimensional Lord’s temple was structured as an entirely independent world completely isolated from the outside. Only beings above Main God level who had been granted entry and a handful of the highest gods maintaining contact had any communication channels. The fact that the divine realm and planets outside were undergoing explosive development into Creator God Stars was known only to her—connected through dimensional authority—and that dark mage Lokina. The information was only now beginning to spread.

Yet no one was willing to leave the grand bath overflowing with the Cosmic Tree’s vitality, the ideal environment for restoring divine power and reconstructing their bodies. They remained locked in this confrontation.

‘Their mortal enemies are recovering at terrifying speed right before their eyes. They can’t afford to step away even if a battle broke out immediately.’

The planets and divine realm of the Creator God Star had grown with ridiculous ease, yet because of the past they could not easily enjoy the fruits of that growth. It was a truly pathetic sight.

“The past, when we only had to keep the Upper Main God Chief God of the God Realm in check, seems so much better now. If goddesses have to keep each other in check, we won’t be able to stop the male gods or the Chief God of the God Realm from running unchecked. If goddesses are no longer a united front against a common enemy but instead wary of one another, we will have no choice but to rely on the Chief God of the God Realm. That would completely destroy the existing goddess-centered order that was built for the development of the entire divine realm. We would have to start everything over from the beginning.”

In the end, troublesome words were spilling from Granzoa’s lips. Therefore, in the current situation, restoring their power was the absolute priority.

‘Although I have returned to the transcendent strength I possessed as a Main God in the past, it is still not enough to respond to the changed circumstances of the divine realm. Moreover, the management of the divine realm and planets that have been promoted to Creator God Stars must be left to the realm’s ego until they stabilize naturally. Only by quickly meeting the strengthened qualifications for the Divine Realm Management Main God while it is a Creator God Star can we receive proper support from the divine realm and widen the gap in military strength. The other side is in the same position, so everyone is desperately focused on recovery. This stalemate will likely continue for the time being.’

Probably only when the Chief God of the God Realm returned from the mercenary battles would any change occur.

After hesitating for a long time, Granzoa finally looked at Granraha and the goddess lords surrounding her protectively and spoke with great difficulty. Given that she was Granraha’s daughter and that these goddess lords had practically taken turns raising her since childhood, asking this question was incredibly hard. But she absolutely needed to hear the truth.

“Mother. And aunts. I heard that you all voluntarily became members of the harem? All of you together? Didn’t you hate the male gods? And not even official consorts, but all of you as concubines? What kind of absurd and unfair situation is this? Especially you, Mother?”

The goddess lords, who had been expecting this question, immediately poured out the answers they had already prepared. They themselves had lived through the era when the Chief God of the God Realm wielded absolute power and lived like a king, so their resistance was relatively low. But for a goddess like Granzoa, who had grown up in a goddess-centered divine realm, the idea of the Chief God of the God Realm having multiple concubines was utterly unacceptable.

‘If she finds out that even the respected Mother Granraha took the lead in performing the Devotion Pledge, she will probably try to fight the Dimensional Lord to the death.’

‘Of course, even as a Main God, she could never defeat the Dimensional Lord, who is strong enough to stand equal to the Substitute Race’s Main Gods and has already reached the level of a Creator Candidate.’

‘That future must be prevented for Granzoa’s sake. She possesses transcendent authority and will definitely become a Creator God someday.’

Above all, they had no idea when they would ever meet another Creator God this generous to his subordinates again. They had to maintain this system for as long as possible.

The goddess lords broke into a cold sweat as they faced Granzoa, who wore an expression that clearly said she didn’t believe a single word and refused to let go of her suspicions. Their excuses were flimsy, yet they were still based on truth.

Meanwhile, in the bath assigned to the male gods on the far opposite side, cheerful and harmonious conversations were taking place everywhere. Simply soaking in the Cosmic Tree’s sap replenished their lacking vitality, so they talked among themselves while envisioning the future.

The God of Knowledge and the primordial war gods were so vastly outnumbered that they had given up on any power struggle with the goddess lords. They had decided to simply follow the orders of the powerful Chief God of the God Realm and enjoy the current situation. Moreover, since Gaiana—a member of the Omnipotent Clan ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠and currently the strongest Upper Main God—had taken on the role of their representative, she was successfully buffering external pressure.

‘After living such a difficult life as a mercenary god and finally securing a position in the Main God Star, only to engage in fierce conflict with the goddess lords, this peaceful era has finally arrived.’

Of course, this peace was only possible thanks to the powerful Creator Candidate, the Dimensional Lord. If an even stronger god appeared, things would change, but it didn’t seem like that would happen anytime soon, so everyone was simply enjoying themselves.

Furthermore, becoming a god affiliated with a Creator God Star was an opportunity and an honor that ordinary gods could never obtain. Their expectations for the future were therefore enormous.