The True Face of the Sly Raccoon
The Goddess of Agriculture rushed forward the moment she saw her son’s face, only to be stopped by the other goddesses around her. The sight of his wife sobbing uncontrollably and his son screaming while sealed inside the Main God-Slaying Spear caused the Main God of the Divine Realm’s usual calm expression to crack. A completely different smile rose on his face—one that had nothing in common with the easygoing grin from before.
Hooooooo—!
From the bloodthirsty smile on the Main God’s face, the Black Magician sensed a stench of carnage that rivaled the primordial war gods, yet belonged to an entirely different level. So this is his true nature?
A vicious killing intent poured out from the Main God’s jovial tone.
“A private meeting and a spar? As the God of War? Or as the noble and mighty Black Magician?”
In the Black Magician’s eyes, this Main God of the Divine Realm was indeed completely insane. With this much murderous intent and fighting spirit, he’s been casually committing all sorts of madness without a second thought?
He finally understood why even the mighty Demon God had only hurled insults at the Main God without being able to finish him off. The Demon God must have found him troublesome to deal with. It was strange from the start that the son of the Sly Raccoon Main God would become the God of War.
Direct descendants of gods naturally inherited their parents’ personalities. Therefore, the true nature of this seemingly harmless mad Main God had always been war.
Still the weaker party, the Black Magician answered politely.
“Of course it’s as the God of War. That way, I can figure out how much you plan to use me, can’t I?”
“……”
The smile completely vanished from the Main God’s face. He stared silently at his heir—the former War God—who was now screaming as the decorative ornament on the head of the Main God-Slaying Spear. Shaking his head as if reflecting some complicated emotion, he stood up.
“A cowardly peace is better than any war. Even if something displeases you, there’s no need to clash head-on. It’s usually best to let things slide peacefully. You’ll understand that soon enough.”
“I like peace too. I just don’t tolerate anyone who messes with me.”
“Youth is wonderful. Once you live as long as I have, you learn that enduring hardship and letting it pass is often the wiser choice.”
“There’s still a long way to go. Isn’t an eternal life too exhausting to simply endure everything while thinking only of the future?”
“If you refuse to back down no matter what, then I’ll accept the spar.”
When the Main God looked up at the sky, the War God’s time-frozen body appeared from within the empty space. Whoosh—!Oooooong—!Vrrrrrr!
The divine spirit of the War God was released from the decorative headpiece of the Main God-Slaying Spear, sucked back into his body, and began convulsing violently. The Main God stared quietly at the Goddess of Agriculture, who was clutching her revived son and weeping, then strode ahead toward the plaza.
The primordial war gods tried to follow, but he stopped them with a wave of his hand. Turning to look at the Black Magician, he said,
“Come this way. This place is too cramped for us to fight properly.”
“I won’t refuse.”
The moment the Black Magician and the Main God of the Divine Realm prepared to spar, the highest-ranking gods began moving in a frenzy.
“Concentrate the defensive barriers of the Main God Temple on the plaza!”
“Summon the security gods immediately!”
The administrative gods could be heard shouting orders and contacting one another from all directions. The combat male gods who had only been holding shields in the plaza the Black Magician had passed through earlier were visibly startled by the sudden appearance of the Main God and hurriedly retreated.
Oooooooo—!
Since even intermediate gods could die from the mere shockwaves of a battle between a high lord and a main god, a curtain of light enveloped the grand plaza. The surrounding sounds were completely cut off, and the slight distortion in their vision suggested that even space itself had been sealed.
With no one else around, the Main God’s relaxed tone continued.
“You’re still not married, are you?”
“I’m not. Are you going to introduce me to a daughter?”
“I’d like to, but I don’t have a daughter. Just one son.”
At some point, gods had gathered around the plaza. The former War God was among them, shouting something. From the shape of his mouth, it looked like he was cursing the Black Magician. That gigolo needs to be dealt with too. I’ll beat him so badly he’ll never dare raise his head in front of me again.
For a weakling like the former War God, that reckless mouth of his was the root of all trouble. As the new God of War, the Black Magician needed to teach him quickly that silence was the only answer for the weak.
Even as the surroundings grew noisy, the Main God spoke calmly.
“My divinity is so strong that producing an heir with the highest-ranking goddess—the Goddess of the Earth and Agriculture—was nearly impossible. That’s why the child I created alone is my one and only direct descendant.”
“……”
Hoooooo!Oooooong!Goooooo!
It wasn’t uncommon for a god to create an heir alone, so the Black Magician once again manifested the triple chant he had used earlier. Even then, he didn’t think he could win, but he could not accept a future where he was looked down on, used, and then discarded. He was too busy securing his own survival to care about the Main God’s family matters.
“Is that why my wife became so obsessed with that child? She overprotected him, and this is how he turned out. She was always anxious that I might have children with another goddess and kept constant surveillance on me.”
“So that’s why they say marriage is the grave of life.”
“Hah! How would someone who’s never been married know? It’s not a grave. It’s simply the end of dreams and the beginning of reality. No one can easily bear the burden of not only themselves but another existence as well.”
Rumble rumble rumble!
The Main God’s expression turned bitter as his divine power began to rise. Regardless, the Black Magician felt he wouldn’t feel satisfied until he landed at least one solid blow on the Sly Raccoon Main God.
“My dream ended here. But is it wrong to wish for my child to carry on after me?”
“Don’t drag me into your midlife crisis.”
The Main God’s bitter expression completely shattered, revealing his true feelings.
“You’re overflowing with ability. What would it hurt to help a little? You’re just going to laze around at home and live off the fat of the land anyway, aren’t you? Do you really think that makes sense for someone with the power of a highest-ranking god? Do you even understand how hard it is to run the Divine Realm?”
“If you’re that jealous of me, why don’t you quit being the Main God, build yourself a retirement temple in the countryside, and live comfortably in seclusion?”
“Damn it—! If I could retire, I would have done it already! You think I could stand my wife’s nagging if I lived in a retirement temple? She’d constantly peck at me using social reputation and our child’s future as weapons! You should try living with that!”
“I don’t have a wife.”
“Hah! This is exactly why you need to get married quickly. There are some fine goddesses around—shall I introduce you to one?”
“I absolutely refuse any goddess from here. I’m going to live alone, studying magic and doing whatever I want. For the rest of my life—!”
“Who do you think will allow that? You need to get a good job, earn a lot, get married, have children, and raise them properly—! That’s how a healthy society is maintained—! Instead of thinking about living as a model citizen, you’re being so selfish. That’s why I’m like this, you know?”
“As long as the divine race and high elves stop bothering me, I’m perfectly satisfied with my current life. If you make them pick a fight with me again, next time I’ll just wipe them all out.”
When kind words failed, only surging fighting spirit could be felt from the Main God’s face.
“If you lose to me, you will continue as the God of War! I can’t possibly leave it to those idiots. The ones with brains refuse to go to the battlefield, and the ones with power are too stupid and ruin everything. That so-called God of War trusted his mother—who blindly sided with him—and refused to go to war—! A combat god who wears makeup just to look good in front of the goddesses! What kind of horrific nonsense is this for a God of War?”
“So your true feelings finally come out. It won’t be easy, though.”
The smile vanished completely from the Main God’s face as he warned,
“Say that after you reach the eleventh circle, new God of War.”
“Let’s find out.”
The Black Magician created thousands of Main God-Slaying Spears and formed a barrier, beginning to shrink the domain of the Main God’s authority—Reality Manipulation.
Kiiiiiii!Thududududu!
The excessive output made the Black Magician’s body scream as if it would shatter at any moment. Nevertheless, he poured all his mana forward and charged at the Main God. I’ll crush that condescending look on his face completely.
He first attempted to summon a colossal planet and strike the Main God directly.
“Clash Planet—! Gigantic Meteor—!”
He tried to teleport the miniaturized Gigantic Meteor inside the Main God’s body and detonate it. However, the moment the massive planet he had space-shifted collided with the Main God—who was protected by Reality Manipulation—it veered wildly off course and flew toward the outer edges of the Divine Realm.
“!?”
“Oh? So this is planet summoning.”
Booooooooooooom—!
The highest-ranking gods hurriedly raised defensive barriers or countered with divine artifacts to block the enormous planet that had suddenly appeared outside the Divine Realm. The battle between the Main God of the Divine Realm and the Black Magician—who had become the highest-ranking War God—could no longer be considered a mere personal duel.
Booooooong!Gooooooooo—!
The Black Magician continued summoning and hurling planets, but none could even approach the Main God before being deflected elsewhere.
“Is this Reality Manipulation? Or rather, Reality Reinforcement?”
With a simple activation of his authority, the Main God lightly bounced away the stars attacking from space.
All of my attacks are being altered inside the Main God’s authority domain. It’s not just changing their trajectories—even time is being reversed to make them never have happened. I’ve confirmed it.
Since the Main God’s authority domain covered not just the plaza but the entire Divine Realm, there was no way to land an effective hit. Damn it—! What kind of cheat authority is that? A wide-area defense that isn’t even single-target, with a domain over a thousand kilometers? How the hell am I supposed to break through that?
The Black Magician had already expected this, but even when he wildly bombarded the area with planetary attacks, the Main God didn’t budge an inch.
Rumble rumble!Drdrdrdrdr!
The barrier created with the Main God-Slaying Spear resisted the Main God’s power, but once it entered the authority domain, it began to emit a tremendous roar as it tried to disintegrate. The Black Magician barely prevented the tenth-circle reinforcement magic he had cast on himself from reverting to just before activation by using a dimensional barrier. Yet even that dimensional barrier was being violently shaken by the Main God’s Reality Reinforcement authority.
As expected, ordinary single-shot spells are just a waste of mana. Then I’ll go with quantity as planned.
He resummoned multiple planets, aiming at the Main God from all directions—front, back, left, and right.
“Clash Planet quadruple chant—!”
Gooooooooo—!
This time, four colossal stars hurtled toward the Divine Realm from the sky.
Rumble rumble rumble!Grrrrrrrrrrrrr—!
The approaching giant planets shook the gravity of the Divine Realm and caused the atmosphere to churn violently. Sensing that they could no longer block this, the highest-ranking gods panicked. At that moment, the primordial war gods flew up toward each planet.
Even while watching that, the Black Magician did not stop summoning planets. After I showed them how I summon planets while fighting the Demon King, they still didn’t reinforce their defenses? Well, with ninety-nine primordial war gods who are nearly at the demon emperor level, I suppose they felt no need for additional measures.
Paaaaah!Dudududududu!
The consecutively cast Clash Planet spells changed back to before activation and vanished the moment the Main God’s authority manifested. However, the Black Magician’s eyes gleamed. Even the Main God’s Reality Manipulation has a time lag when applied to massive objects like planets. Continuous planetary attacks are effective at shaving away his authority domain. Then now I’ll close in, make physical contact, and finish him with Gigantic Meteor.
Floating in the air, the Black Magician reinforced the barrier of the Main God-Slaying Spear and steadied his breathing. He had realized that even the slightest mistake inside the Main God’s Reality Reinforcement domain could turn him into an infant or erase him before his own birth. Therefore, he added one more measure.
“All Things Shall Return to the Sower.”
He added another layer to his existing defensive magic specifically for resisting authorities. I can’t make a mistake. If my defensive magic disappears now, the recovery magic will be canceled and all bodily functions will drop, leading to instant death.
Creak! Creak!
A quadruple tenth-circle chant was quite a strain even for the Black Magician. The blood vessels in his head swelled as if they would burst, and the rate at which his mana was being consumed began to exceed the supply capacity of the Magic Tower.
Pop! Pop! Pop!
The capillaries in his eyes burst repeatedly, turning his vision red before recovering again and again. Still, he compressed every muscle in his body to its absolute limit.
Thudududududududududu—!
“Chaaaaaaa—!”
He hurled over a thousand Main God-Slaying Spears concentrated on the Main God, then charged at the main god himself.
Baaaaaaaam!Baaaaaaaam!
The pressure from the countless spears rushing in unison caused the air to explode. The Black Magician tried to reach the Main God before them.
“!!!”
But the instant he was about to deliver the decisive blow, a spine-chilling premonition swept over his entire body. He immediately grabbed his spear and slammed it into the ground to stop himself.
Crack crack crack—!Crrrrrrunch!
The reckless maneuver of stopping a full-speed sprint by stabbing his spear into the ground made his muscles scream and sent a wave of blood surging through his body. Guh—!
In his momentarily blurred vision, he saw a thousand fully materialized Main God-Slaying Spears pierce the Main God without exception.
Thududududu!Pukagagagak—!
With a tremendous roar, a thousand Main God-Slaying Spears embedded themselves densely into the Main God’s body, sending him flying backward.
It worked! Although the Main God’s Reality Manipulation is a wide-area effect, the Main God-Slaying Spear itself resists a main god’s authority. And since it’s the spear that killed his successor—who possessed twenty-one billion divine power—the damage should be even greater.
It was clearly a fatal wound for any main god. Yet the Black Magician could not be certain of victory. Why did he let himself get hit so easily? And I still don’t understand what kind of premonition stopped me just now.
The Black Magician, who had felt certain that continuing to charge would have resulted in him being torn to pieces and killed, did not lower his guard. Then the Main God burst into laughter.
“Hahaha—! This is incredible! I was planning to take just a light hit and end it, but you landed a solid blow.”
Srrrrrr—!Puhahaha—!
All the Main God-Slaying Spears embedded in the Main God’s body turned to dust in an instant and scattered away.
What!? How can the Main God deal with the Main God-Slaying Spear so easily?
No matter how he thought about it, it should have been impossible. Yet the Main God’s bright, cheerful smile returned to his face.
“So this is the spear that killed my successor, who possessed twenty-one billion divine power. I’m surprised it resisted my Reality Reinforcement authority this well.”
Despite the praise, the thousand Main God-Slaying Spears vanished into the wind in utter futility.
“By the way, do you know how much divine power I have?”
At the Main God’s question, the Black Magician suddenly felt incredibly stupid. He had failed to consider the absurdly enormous size of the Main God Star.
“Two hundred billion. A mere God-Slaying Spear limited to twenty-one billion is far too weak against me.”
“……”