The Monster's Final Command
The Magic God of Dimensions stood alone, blocking the sole path into the Spirit Realm. Even the Subduer Gods, who had spent their existence crushing demonkind, found him an overwhelming opponent.
Two transcendent authorities? In the 500th Master Universe, that would make him an Demon Emperor-class powerhouse.
What the others couldn’t sense was the faint but unmistakable flow of divine power beneath that demonic energy. It was proof of a true ruler—one who received genuine faith from the sentient beings of his domain. And the scale of that faith far exceeded the billions.
The pure vitality offered by living beings, fused with the power of a spiritual body, produces miracles that multiply output several times over.
If a demon god like this one moved with planetary-level faith behind him, the destructive force would be incalculable.
Is he a Lord God from the demon faction that once ruled a Main God Star-class planet in the 499th Master Universe?
A Magic God King capable of inflicting fatal wounds even on the Lord Gods of the Substitute God Clan, who possess more than ten times the power of ordinary deities. Why did something like this have to appear and ruin every plan?
If we push forward like this, we’ll suffer at least tens of trillions in vitality loss. We won’t even be able to start the war against them. We have to retreat here.
The safety of the Creator God King and the weakening of the God Realm’s unique authorities that the Origins desired were secondary. What truly mattered was victory in the coming war. Proving the 499th Master Universe’s superiority—surpassing the 500th’s achievement of two days by reaching beyond it—was the 500th Creator’s long-cherished wish.
It’s absurd for an Eternal Being who possesses everything and exists forever to feel longing, yet the first thing he ever asked of us was exactly that. Now there is no path left but to obey.
For a billion years they had prepared through countless sacrifices. The result was the ultimate offensive force—the Subduer Gods—and the ultimate defensive force—the God Realm Guardians. Their power stood at the pinnacle of every Master Universe, nearly perfected, yet still incomplete.
They could only be maintained when the Creator God King and his successor poured in their full strength. And because they had been created solely to oppose a single individual, they possessed no effective countermeasures against the countless powerhouses of the Substitute God Clan.
Moreover, this incident had revealed one more critical flaw.
The God Realm Guardians and Subduer Gods are easily crushed if they don’t fight together. And without the Creator God King and his successor at the core, they are pathetically weak. We must find the successor as quickly as possible if we are to defeat the enemy.
WHOOOOOOONG—!
The Subduer Gods reached a unanimous decision and opened a spatial gate leading back to the God Realm. The God Realm Guardians reluctantly did the same. Knowing the problems, they could not continue the fight.
Without an offensive force centered on the Subduer Gods and the successor, we can never defeat the Creator Gods of the 499th Master Universe.
The Creator Candidate of Dimensions blocking the path to the defensive God Realm was already a problem, but what lay beyond him was even worse.
Yet the spatial gate refused to open.
“???”
“!?”
The most critical spatial coordinates had completely vanished. The entire sector was sealed. Even beings with power above that of a Creator God could not move through space. Only a transcendent existence in the spatial lineage—something beyond a Creator God—could accomplish such a feat.
And there was only one such being here.
GOOOOOOOOO—!
WHOOOOOOOOO—!
“You’re not going anywhere. All of you are my achievements.”
From behind them, a horrifyingly vast wave of divine power and a storm of fighting spirit began to surge forward.
Shuddering March, watching the enemy attempt to retreat, let out a sharp breath. She didn’t understand the situation, but the other side clearly held the advantage yet was choosing to withdraw.
“That’s fortunate. With this, the defensive contract for the defensive God Realm is complete. Our contract is also finished. Is this… farewell? Y-you—!”
UUUUUUUUUUUUUUNG—!
UUUUUUUUUUNG—!
UUUUUUUUUUNG—!
The Magic God of Dimensions turned around. His magic power was running completely wild. The twelve circles of magic power twisted and repeated rapid expansion and contraction—an overload caused by computational power exceeding its limits.
At the same time, from the glowing jewel floating in the air, a vibration erupted alongside a scream that could no longer be called an incantation.
“Uuuuuuuu—! Uuuuuuuung—! Uuuuuuuung—!”
The body that had returned to human form began to undergo drastic mutation. The magic he had once conceptualized merely as a temporary means to obtain the Substitute God Clan’s authority through the Machine God had reached the 12th circle. It had surpassed all limits.
In the end, control has failed—! Is it truly impossible to force a 12th-circle magic ascension using only the vitality of a Magic God King? Just as I feared, reality is flowing backward against me.
He had no choice but to attempt it in order to block the parallel divine power connection attack exceeding five hundred billion. The real problem was that success had never been possible in the first place.
My computational power may surpass that of the Substitute Gods, but in other aspects I am actually inferior to an ordinary Creator God. Yet by forcibly activating magic using the life core of a Substitute God Lord, my own body is transforming into one of the Substitute God Clan.
The danger that always accompanied existence conversion—the risk that even the manifester would change—was now upon him. His body was abandoning its humanity and converting into a Substitute God against his will.
He had nearly perfectly analyzed the core of a living being and attempted to use only its authority, but the parts that remained unclear due to insufficient understanding created errors that now devoured the entire magic system and swallowed the Magic God of Dimensions.
WHOOOOOOOOOOONG—!
His body abandoned its human shape and began to take on a spherical form as it arbitrarily activated control functions.
CRRRRRRRACK—!
CRRRRRRACK—!
He eventually gave up trying to stop the transformation. No—he accelerated it further, forcing even more magic and divine power into the process.
There’s no other way. Ordinary Substitute Gods could never defeat the God Realm Guardians and these newly appeared beings overflowing with fighting spirit and killing intent.
Since an ordinary Substitute God wouldn’t suffice, he needed to become an even more powerful one. He poured every ounce of his dimensional authority and magic power into the transformation.
“Uuuung—! Uuuuuuuuung—! Uuuuung—!”
Even his speech began to lose control. At this point, all he could do was laugh.
Kkklk! KHAHAHAHA—! So in the end, like the wicked and vicious black mage I am, I turn into a monster and meet my end in self-destruction? Even if I resist, I’ll become something that is neither one thing nor the other and go on a rampage. But it doesn’t matter. As long as I win and survive, there’s no problem. No matter what I look like, I am a black mage of the Root School. Besides…
He had once become a pure god of light and gained extreme beauty. Yet in the end, unable to bear the change, he had hidden his face with full divine power deployment or worn his robe over his head while carrying out the Chief God of the God Realm’s missions.
Whether he became an incomparably handsome man or a nauseating monster, the label of “human-born god” never disappeared. And the past he had committed in order to survive now gripped his present self.
I have broken every taboo here. Even if I win, survival will be difficult. Those who created this outcome seem ready to retreat, but I cannot let them go. If that happens, the battle he foresaw will collapse too meaninglessly and disappoint him.
The expectation of the one who had helped the Magic God of Dimensions—who had grown so disillusioned with this world—was his only support. Therefore, he no longer cared about appearances.
No. To be precise, he no longer felt any lingering attachment to a world that would only point out problems no matter what achievements he piled up.
“Aoooooooooooooooooong—!”
With a final human-like scream, he focused his consciousness and inserted a command rather than an incantation. Enduring the computational overload, he engraved an absolute order into the newly transformed mechanical Substitute God.
This will probably be my final moment of consciousness. The Substitute Gods are pure gods who exist solely for the creation and development of planets. Their emotions are extremely suppressed; only goal fulfillment remains.
He input that goal in a mechanical voice.
CRRRRRRRRRRRACK—!
The body of the Magic God of Dimensions, previously fixed in space due to insufficient computational power, shattered its restraints and began to move. The original ability of a Substitute God Creator was more than ten times that of an ordinary Creator God, allowing it to easily handle even dimensional authority.
By no longer resisting the Substitute God transformation and instead accelerating it with dimensional authority, a reinforcement phenomenon occurred.
The greatest advantage of dimensional authority is that it modifies laws within its domain to be as favorable as possible to the manifester. Moreover, dimensional authority that has reached the level of a Creator God can create worlds. Although it cannot prevent the side effects caused by the rampage of 12th-circle magic equal to or greater than its own, it possesses the power to steer those effects in the desired direction.
The body of the Magic God of Dimensions curled into a perfect sphere as a silver membrane began to envelop it. Within a consciousness growing increasingly faint, he repeated the command endlessly.
“You must annihilate them all… The complete annihilation of the enemy is the only ending to the war that he foresaw. I will never accept some shabby conclusion decided by political reasons rather than victory or defeat in war. This is my final repayment for the favor he has shown me…”
UUUUUUUUUUUUNG—!
UUUUUUUUUUUUUNG—!
Now completely encased in a silver spherical membrane, the form of the Magic God of Dimensions could no longer be seen. The perfectly round silver sphere began absorbing the surrounding vitality and expanding.
“My 12th-circle magic, and the current ultimate magic—‘False Authentication.’ I will not blame your imperfection on the shortcomings of my computational power. Instead, engrave upon this world that I am an existence beyond the Substitute God Clan. Although I could not pay the proper price and become his pride, I will at least show every Master Universe what kind of being receives his title and magic. Even if it means consuming every last bit of vitality I gained from them, you must win. I leave it… to you.”
Passing by Shuddering March, who had been defending the front, the transformed Magic God of Dimensions began advancing while leading seventeen mechanical Substitute Gods.
The Substitute God that the Magic God of Dimensions had become had already devoured every ounce of vitality obtained from crushing the God Realm Guardians, endlessly increasing its volume and divine power. Delicate lines of magic power resembling black pearls now carved countless magic circles across what could no longer be called anything but a planetary surface, overlapping them repeatedly.
“Uuuuuuuuuuuung—! Uuuuuuuung—!”
├─ Wide-Area Ascension Initiated
└─ All Mechanical Substitute God Lords — Begin Ascension to Creator God Rank ★
As the silver surface became so densely covered in magic circles that it turned completely black, twenty-three pairs of golden wings burst forth like a hatching egg, wrapping around the entire planet. Each of the dimensional wings took the form of a massive cannon turret, orbiting the planet in every direction like satellites.
At the tips of the cannon-shaped wings, enormous divine power began to condense in preparation for firing. Dimensional authority rippled outward, enveloping the surrounding mechanical Substitute Gods. Their already planet-sized bodies grew even larger, radiating overwhelming pressure.
This was the moment the true terror of a Substitute God Creator’s ‘God Destruction’ became known throughout every Master Universe.
The one who reacted most sensitively was, of course, the 499th Creator God, who had fought the most desperately.
Even a Substitute God Lord requires fighting with the resolve to die. Against a Creator God version, fifteen of them attacking simultaneously would still require preparing for annihilation.
Yet nineteen of them had appeared at once. The 499th Creator God was horrified.
To deal with one Substitute God Creator and its faction requires either fifteen Creator Gods working together or five Creator Gods allied with a Magic God King.
The bigger problem is that the Substitute God Clan’s divine power connection simultaneously possesses the output amplification of the demon faction and the continuity of the god faction.
Nineteen of them? I can’t even begin to estimate how much military force would be needed.
The moment the Magic God of Dimensions and the defensive God Realm were annihilated, the Creator Gods who had been advancing triumphantly to slaughter the God Realm Guardians of the 500th Master Universe suddenly froze in place.
“Nineteen Substitute God Creators? Each enhanced Substitute God is equal to fifteen gods of the same rank, so by simple calculation that’s 285 Creator Gods? And a mere Creator Candidate mobilized them?”
“You idiot—! Do you really think numerical calculations apply to an opponent like that? For a normal Substitute God Creator, you’d need to multiply that number by at least ten—!”