The Substitute Gods' Surrender

The Spirit Realm war had reached a point where a single wing of the Dimensions now completely covered the entire Divine Defense Realm. In the Absolute Realm, the Magic God of Dimensions was considered nothing more than an ordinary giant deity, a wasteful expenditure of divine power. Yet at the very least, within a Master Universe, he had obtained a level of strength that no one below a Creator General could possibly withstand.

‘If the battle continues like this, even the main forces representing the Master Universe will be unable to avoid total annihilation.’

‘There was a chance of victory if they had attacked during the transformation phase, but now they’re completely frozen by waves of divine power dozens of times stronger than before.’

‘Of course, if the hidden beings were to emerge, the situation would change, but the timing doesn’t match.’

With nothing more than the rapid-fire deployment of the area-of-effect destruction authority called Annihilation World that he had shown earlier—a regional universe-scale wide-area annihilation—he could cleanly sweep the entire battlefield.

Yet before that simple battle could even begin, the lips of the Substitute God trembled as a voice rang out.

The Substitute God’s voice, heard for the first time, trembled. Yet it overflowed with such majestic divine power that the content itself was utterly incomprehensible.

‘To gain such strength and still urge surrender… I don’t understand it at all.’

‘If we wipe out the main forces of the 500th Master Universe here, the amount of vitality we’d obtain would exceed a hundred trillion and could be used immediately.’

The ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Magic God of Dimensions possessed computational power so advanced that he could even engage in conversations normally forbidden to the Substitute Gods. Even after growing strong enough to liberate them, he was still attempting negotiation.

‘As expected of the God of Light—truly ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠remarkable patience and mercy.’

Eventually, after watching the scene, the Absolute Being standing in the middle of the three let out a sigh of admiration.

“Strength is not everything. To show consideration for the weak even in a place like that… truly worthy of the title Father bestowed upon you—gahk—!”

“You half-baked son of a—!”

Thwack—!

Instead of an answer, the Sword of Ruin and Soul swung down without mercy, smashing into the middle figure’s head. The being screamed, completely forgetting his dignity as he rolled across the floor.

The fact that he was still alive after taking that blow was only natural due to the non-killing property contained within that divine artifact. The reason his body hadn’t been shattered to pieces was thanks to the incredible toughness of his physique.

Originally, the Sword of Ruin and Soul was not a simple wooden sword but an absolute divine weapon specialized for use against Absolute Beings possessing non-killing or immortality traits. It would shatter not only the body but the soul itself, preventing any action or activation of authorities and even blocking resurrection.

To endure a strike from the Sword of Ruin and Soul, whose hardness increased infinitely with divine power, was only possible for beings of equivalent output. Thus, while it was nothing more than an ordinary wooden sword to regular gods, it was an absolute divine weapon whose rank rose exponentially the higher one’s realm.

‘Which is why, if it reaches the ears of Grandfather Truth, it becomes the ultimate weapon capable of erasing even an Eternal Being right before the final blow.’

Although swung lightly, had it not been for Yuil Yongsinje, who possessed the most powerful body in the Absolute Realm, the target would have been reduced to dust. And the terrifying part was that even if turned to dust, he would still be alive.

However, even with a mighty body that prevented physical destruction, the blow was by no means light enough to endure without screaming. The life force of a body so powerful that it would not even register damage in a fight against every ruler of the Absolute Realm was instantly reduced to the brink of death. All he could do was clutch his head with both hands and writhe in maddening pain.

The fact that it ended with nothing more than a small bump was only possible because it was him. But the furious voice that followed immediately made him tense up.

“More importantly, have you still not carried out my order to breed the Dragon God race until their numbers exceed one hundred million? After waiting five hundred billion years, the result is adopting them as a protected species? If you can’t do it, you should at least increase the numbers of your direct descendants, yet your answer is still ‘I only love my partner’? Fine, let’s see how you like this—!”

Thudthudthudthudthud—!

As the Sword of Ruin and Soul vanished, countless impact sounds began to ring out. Of course, as if familiar with it, he curled up as much as possible to endure the blows, but the pain was so excruciating that he couldn’t even scream.

Each strike carried enough force to cleave the universe, ringing out endlessly. A voice filled with equal rage thundered alongside them.

“You half-baked son! Consideration for the weak? You think I’d give you a title and authority based on such a standard? What insane Absolute or Eternal Being would do that? With that kind of judgment, are you planning to ruin not only the Dragon God race but the entire Absolute Realm and Master Universe later? Because you’re like this, even though the Dragon God race possesses such power, they’ve ended up in this state—! They were selected as one of the extremely few protected species in this time’s Ruler Assembly? In the early days of the Absolute Realm, you were the mightiest tribe with transcendent bodies and authorities, yet now you’re only focused on maintaining the status quo and have fallen to this—! Looking purely at the potential of the Dragon God race, whose basic abilities already surpass those of a Creator General, there was no need to create the Substitute Gods at all. Until you became the Dragon God Emperor, I planned to step forward and make it happen myself. But because you begged so desperately, even putting your mother forward, claiming they were your own race, I handed them over. Instead of revival, you couldn’t even maintain the status quo and reduced them to a tiny tribe of less than a hundred million? And then you say we must respect individual human rights and freedom of choice? That ruling the world should be done through true love rather than desire? So you just sat back and watched the birth rate of your tribe plummet until they reached this state? From the original hundred million, now even ten million is barely hanging on, isn’t it? And you still call yourself the Origin of the Dragon God race?”

A serious sense of crisis washed over Yuil Yongsinje.

‘If this continues, I’m really going to get beaten like always.’

It was something that had happened countless times over the past five hundred billion years. Forming a ruling force in the Absolute Realm that went beyond mere tribal revival was something that absolutely had to be done in order to manage the vitality that would eventually fill the vast space of the Master Universe. Population was more important than individual ability here.

‘Raising output is easy, but expanding territory is difficult. To take full responsibility for such a vast Master Universe, we need at least ten trillion individuals at minimum.’

No matter how powerful an individual Dragon God might be, they needed to exceed one trillion in number, yet their population was still decreasing. There were many reasons, but the main one was excessive individualism and self-awareness.

With high enough ability to live alone and computational power that allowed them to predict everything, most Dragon Gods prioritized themselves over family or groups. They lived solitary lives, each claiming a planet or star system for themselves. Coldly speaking, the general sentiment among the Dragon God race was that family, children, and partners were ultimately nothing but burdens. As a result, the birth rate had come to a complete standstill.

Those who grew tired of such freedom would simply choose to self-destruct. Therefore, rather than increasing, the immortal and undying Dragon God race continued to decline. That was why their supreme leader was always receiving this kind of brutal education.

‘But I can’t force them to have children, nor can I stop those who say living is too tiresome and choose to disappear, can I? Moreover, the moment they are handed over to Father, the majority would be purged in a great cleansing and operated similarly to the Substitute Gods, so I had to desperately prevent that.’

He tried to respond, but the conversation immediately moved on to the next stage. This was hardly the first or second time this had happened between them.

“The excuse you barely came up with is that the pursuit of individual freedom and true love was Grandfather’s choice when he was still a Transcendent? Argh—! This half-baked son of mine—! What good is high individual ability? As the head of a group, you’re a complete failure! The only son with any potential to lead the entire family in my stead has turned out like this, so I can’t take risks like in the past and just let you do whatever you want. Just what have you been doing for five hundred billion years? And how dare you utter such lines alongside incompetent vagrants and rootless traitors? A half-baked failure like you dares to speak of your great father—!”

Thwack—!

Watching him gulp down the liquor bottle in one hand in a single swig before swinging the Sword of Ruin and Soul again, the other two who had already distanced themselves quite far stared at the screen.

They personally respected Yuil Yongsinje as their father, but when it came to managing the race, his indecisiveness and the Dragon God race’s extreme individualism had caused their numbers to plummet. As the Origin who represented the entire tribe, this was an unacceptable situation.

‘If it weren’t for the unparalleled abilities Father possesses as the Second Generation Wind Absolute, the tribe would have gone extinct long ago.’

Even if his descendants tried to stop him, he wouldn’t listen, and since they could empathize with much of that education, they simply turned away and focused on the screen.

‘The Substitute Gods we know have no reason in any situation.’

‘They cannot calculate profit or loss. They only prioritize instinct and purpose for the development and evolution of the universe.’

The basic premise was the loss of conversational ability with other races, yet it was attempting to speak. Even a liberated Substitute God should find that impossible.

Eventually, the Absolute Being on the right nodded and spoke.

“Even though the body is moving without any thought and spouting nonsense, it has become an appropriate bluff and deception for the situation. It’s absurd.”

Only Eternal Beings above the level of Creator Gods could precisely examine the Creator Gods of the Substitute Gods, who represented the pinnacle of spiritual body evolution. Therefore, after thoroughly examining the entire body and even the consciousness, the result became clear.

The fact that a mere reserve Creator God of a Master Universe could not possibly handle a liberated Substitute God’s body should have already given away the answer. Yet it had been so natural that even the Eternal Beings had nearly been fooled.

The results of the detailed examination were simply ridiculous.

“It is not conversation. It is a conditioned reflex. The consciousness that cannot handle the Substitute God’s body has been completely severed. In place of that will, the body is instinctively performing defensive actions.”

“Conversation is controlled by will—how is that possible? Communication is impossible through instinct alone, isn’t it? How can instinct attempt a conversation tailored to the situation?”

The Absolute Being on the left hurriedly performed the same examination on the consciousness and body, and could only nod in agreement.

‘There really is no consciousness. It is purely conditioned reflex activity from the body.’

‘The weak consciousness that cannot handle the powerful body has sealed itself away. Only the survival instincts accumulated over time are active, moving the body.’

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

‘Yet it goes beyond simply moving limbs. It is making the body speak the most effective words possible.’

If the Magic God of Dimensions had no will, his power would naturally drop sharply and he would be unable to win. Therefore, the instincts had no choice but to move the body and fabricate the most appropriate words for this remembered situation.

It was like sleep-talking that coincidentally matched the surrounding circumstances perfectly. The fact that such a thing was happening was enough to draw involuntary admiration.

“What a marvelous being. To think something like this is possible purely through instinct despite having neither consciousness nor reason. There are plenty of battle gods who continue fighting instinctively without consciousness, but this is the first time I’ve seen an entity attempt conversation and negotiation through instinct alone. Instinct is supposed to handle combat while reason governs dialogue, yet it has completely transcended that law.”

“…I’ve never seen anything like it either. Truly impressive.”

The Origins, who had lived for more than five hundred billion years and managed tens of trillions of divine and demonic races in the Absolute Realm, could not stop their words of admiration.

And from beside them came the voice that had now begun the real education in earnest. It was an argument and education that had continued without end for five hundred billion years. The fact that both of them possessed endless patience proved that they were indeed father and son.

“You rotten son who would rather die than stop running that sentimental mouth—! The Master Universe and Absolute Realm are overflowing with beings who struggle desperately like that, even spouting nonsense perfectly matched to the situation just to survive. And the one who must become the leader of such beings and lead them to prosperity says that love is the only truth? Are you the Absolute Being of ‘Love’? You can’t even manage a tiny tribe of less than a hundred million Dragon Gods and have turned everything into a mess, yet you dare run your mouth—!”

“Still, love is eternal while desire is momentary! I believe that only true love and harmony can guarantee eternal happiness—gahk—!”

Thwack—!

Twitch twitch—!

This time he must have struck properly. Watching Yuil Yongsinje sprawled on the floor, trembling violently, he shouted.

“Stop talking pretty and show results! Forget about the process or the outcome—just raise the numbers above a hundred million no matter what! At the very least, restore them to the population they had before you took over—!”

As expected, he didn’t yield a single word and kept talking back even as he was beaten. Seeing that this mental education would likely continue for a long time, they turned their gaze toward ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the Magic God of Dimensions on the screen.

Having completely lost consciousness to a liberated Substitute God’s body while freely raising his output, the fact that he had somehow survived until now by moving his body purely through instinct and was now making threats through sleep-talk-like nonsense drew both bitter smiles and admiration.

‘If he somehow survives and regains his senses, he probably won’t even remember what he said or what kind of bluff he was putting on.’

However, the spiritual beings who were not Eternal Beings did not know this fact, and the Eternal Beings who did know could not interfere due to his foresight. For once, even they had become interested.

“Uuuung—! Three… uuuung—!”

To those who knew the truth, it was absurd nonsense and a ridiculous bluff. But to those who did not know, the moment passed as one of terror from the liberated Substitute God’s overwhelming waves of divine power.