The Eternal Judgment

The Dimensional Mage God had been reduced to dust and scattered by a single strike of the Sword of Ruin and Soul. Yet, independent of his will, the procedures dictated by the Karma Contract continued automatically.

A majestic resonance of divine power, like the tolling of a great bell from the Substitute God race, spread outward from the rainbow-colored, absolute-grade Karma Contract. Revolving around it were translucent copies of the contract itself.

The Creator General of the 500th Master Universe watched the scene with a look of utter dismay.

This is ridiculous. I only promised to stop the war and negotiate. How could that become a Karma Contract? Because it came from a Creator General? This can’t be happening.

He had sworn to halt the fighting to save his successor from crisis. This territory belonged to the 499th Master Universe, which he oversaw—a brutal realm where even ordinary gods and demon gods were strictly bound by contracts, and refusal meant immediate execution. The higher one’s position, the heavier every word carried. Unless one was the Chief God of the God Realm responsible for the entire divine collective, there was no escaping it.

Yet a promise made by a Creator General to another Master Universe had triggered the same binding restrictions as a Karma Contract. This was precisely why Sangharama, whose power surpassed any other Creator General, had kept silent in the face of every criticism. It was also why, the moment he stepped outside his jurisdiction and entered the Creator God Realm, he had mercilessly crushed everyone who dared insult him.

The others had dismissed it as mere barbarism and ignorance, no different from the Creator himself. They were now paying a steep price for that mistake.

Scenes replayed of the Dimensional Mage God annihilating the Origins and Creator Gods of the 500th Master Universe with his incomplete 11th-circle spell, Annihilation World. Some Origins and Creator Gods had survived that initial assault. The footage then showed them being rammed into the mechanical Creator Gods and driven straight into the defensive divine lines, where they were brutally ground to pieces.

He clearly swept away countless gods in a single strike, but some still survived.

It was undeniably tremendous compared to before, yet it fell short of the standard. One-Strike Certain Kill had not been established. Knowing this, the face of the Dimensional Mage God reflected on the screen showed more anxiety than triumph.

The judgment, as expected, was precise.

Woooooooong—!

The rainbow parchment turned a blood-red hue and spat out its authority. It was death itself—something even gods could not escape. But the one meant to receive it had already been annihilated into dust. He had erased it himself, calling it noisy.

However, an absolute-grade Karma Contract did not forgive the disappearance of the one to be judged. It instantly restored him and pronounced the sentence of death.

In the blink of an eye, the Dimensional Mage God was reconstructed from dust into human form. The crimson authority pierced straight into ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠his body. The point of impact instantly rotted and sloughed away, exposing bone. Blackened, decaying blood spread thickly through the vacuum of space.

“UAAAAAAGH—!”

With a wretched scream, the Dimensional Mage God helplessly succumbed to the death that eroded him. The bloodcurdling shriek torn from a warrior who had never uttered a groan even in the most horrific battles sent a chill through every being watching the scene.

Even after an aspiring Creator God had been erased, the Karma Contract restored him only to pronounce death again. Its tenacity was nauseating.

But it was not over.

Flash! Flash—!

The screen changed. Numbers representing vitality began to appear. On the 499th Master Universe’s display, the count rose endlessly. On the 500th’s, it plummeted in the opposite direction. A total of 210 trillion was confirmed for the 499th, while an equal deficit was subtracted from the 500th.

Every being watching the battlefield fell silent at the revealed vitality figures.

In the long, unfathomable history of Master Universes and the Absolute Realm, there has never been a victory this overwhelming.

A mere stellar-scale battle resulting in 210 trillion casualties? That’s an unimaginable defeat—even if the 500th lost for hundreds of millions of years at the Master Universe level.

The faces of the powerhouses observing from the 500th’s Divine Realm drained of all color. Exactly one-tenth of the entire Divine Realm’s vitality had been wiped out in one go. And this wasn’t just any Divine Realm—it was the one overseeing the entire Master Universe.

The 500th had been running on a tight budget while preparing for his test. No one could guess how long it would take to recover from this. Moreover, 250 key divine race Origins had been imprisoned inside the Dimensional Mage God’sDivine Spirit Purgatory. Even if the gods composing the Divine Realm still held their authorities for now, without the core Origins, their power would rapidly weaken.

On top of that, the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠main fighting force—the Divine Realm Guardians and Tyrant Gods—had suffered severe injuries, and most of their primary authorities had been exposed. That was the most fatal blow.

In the end, it was accurate to say that nearly thirty percent of the 500th Master Universe’s Divine Realm combat strength had been lost in this single war.

A loss that is simply unbelievable for a single battle.

The Creator General’s face, upon receiving the emergency report, turned pitch black with despair. This could no longer be allowed to end here—not just for the Dimensional Mage God’s sake. They had to recover the lost vitality and Origins somehow. Otherwise, the worst-case scenario awaited: all their powerful but vitality-hungry main forces would be forced into dormancy.

Without the Origins, even restoring vitality would be a distant dream.

Regardless of the surrounding circumstances, the Karma Contract continued its judgment.

However, the vitality the Dimensional Mage God had expended during the war became the issue. While restraining the Divine Realm Guardians and Tyrant Gods, he had spammed wide-area authorities and used dimensional power to restore even spiritual bodies, consuming an enormous amount. On top of that, the vitality spent during his forced transformation into a Substitute God caused a slight numerical decrease in the 499th Master Universe.

As a result, the Total Victory outcome fluctuated for a moment, but it was ultimately confirmed as an overwhelming triumph.

The Dimensional Mage God, still alive and experiencing endless death, ground his teeth. Though his body screamed in agony from dying over and over, his eyes remained fixed entirely on the Karma Contract’s judgment and the waves of divine power.

So everything went exactly as predicted? There’s no avoiding the Eternal Judgment?

It’s exactly what I expected, but this is too harsh. Can’t they at least give me some credit for the hard work? I did pretty well, didn’t I?

Even as he grumbled, the Dimensional Mage God fought fiercely against death, trying to fully reclaim control of himself.

Ugh…! Is death really trying to kill me—a black mage at the Creator God level?

Anyone would call it a great victory, a complete victory. Yet the absolute-grade Karma Contract, which allowed neither mercy nor exception, delivered its final verdict.

Up to this point, the process was identical to what he had witnessed for every Absolute who had fully unlocked their title but failed the One-Strike Certain Kill criterion.

As expected, I’m going to become a bug.

Only an extremely small number of powerhouses who fully unlocked their titles and surpassed their peers among the Substitute Gods could become one of them. The vast majority were judged as insects. No one could escape that ruling.

Kwaaaaaaaaang—!

Because of the final judgment, the Karma Contract opened a spatial gate leading to the Wind Star. A door materialized in the void of space as if it had always been there and swung open. Through the gap, an ordinary-sized planet came into view—a common blue world where ordinary sentient beings lived.

Yet every being who saw that star felt their bodies freeze solid.

It was clearly a planet located beyond more than 499 Master Universes. The ability to connect to it directly defied common sense. And the impossible amount of vitality emanating from that star was even more shocking.

A normal star of that size should only be able to hold about 10 billion vitality at most. Even the supermassive planet at the center of the universe where the old Main Divine Realm was located only held 100 billion. The Main God Star holds a hundred times that—1 trillion. A Creator God Star holds another hundred times that—100 trillion. But the vitality contained in that tiny star is beyond measurement.

It wasn’t the star itself that was special. It was the lifeforms living on it. This was the star where he resided, the place where the Transcendentals and Absolutes who had failed his Eternal Judgment were gathered.

Of course, as the lowest form of life—insects.

As the gate drew closer to the star, countless tiny insects floating in the atmosphere became visible. As if welcoming a new arrival, enormous numbers of creatures both large and small rose into the air.

His Wind Star—! The place where every defeated Absolute and spiritual being who failed to become a Substitute God due to insufficient power lives as insects or sentient beings!

The killing intent and fighting spirit radiating from the planet was so horrific it affected the entire stellar system. The rumor that it was the hell of Absolutes had been true.

Merely observing it from afar as a newly ascended Main God and trembling had been one thing. Experiencing it directly was on an entirely different level.

If I’m not careful, I’ll be stuck as one of them forever.

There was only one way to escape the lower ranks: challenge and defeat a higher being alone. One had to repeat this endlessly until regaining their original divinity to be freed. But throughout the history of the Master Universes, almost no one had ever achieved that freedom.

Even if one started as a bug on that star, won endlessly, and rose through the ranks, a single defeat would send them crashing back to the very bottom of the life hierarchy. Every single creature there lived with only one goal—ascension. Though their bodies were those of insects, they retained all the knowledge, memories, and authorities they had possessed as Absolutes who had once received his judgment.

A single moment of carelessness could allow even a god to be killed by a bug. And on that star, there was no such thing as true death or annihilation. Only endless struggle and challenge existed.

Originally, it had been a star where those defeated by him gathered to train endlessly so they would never lose again. But now that Substitute Gods had been created to suppress the Master Universe and the remaining failures had been disposed of as insects, it had become a hell where Absolutes killed one another.

Every lifeform living on ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠that star is at the Absolute level. Only Transcendent-level beings constantly hunt and kill each other for the chance to ascend. No wonder it’s called the Eternal Hell more often than the Eternal Judgment.

The spiritual bodies of the Origins and Creator Gods trapped inside his Divine Spirit Purgatory began to go completely berserk as they watched.

Even my annihilation didn’t free them from the Divine Spirit Purgatory. They were restored right alongside me. If I fall there now, they’ll suffer the same fate.

The crimson authority that had been pronouncing death withdrew, and his body rapidly recovered. In its place, an ochre-colored authority surged forward.

If ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠that hits me, I’ll turn into a bug and be dragged straight to that star. Looking at the celestial bodies of the Master Universe, my level really was nothing special. I won’t even become a proper Substitute God under his Eternal Judgment—I’ll start as a bug. In this state, where I can’t even stand against the successor of a Creator General, let alone a Creator General himself, there’s nothing I can do.

Wooooong!

Thirteen pairs of wings blazing with golden light spread open simultaneously. He poured every ounce of power into resisting the approaching authority of the Karma Contract.

The ochre authority that had been closing in faltered under the powerful dimensional authority. It was only a tiny fraction of the power he had created, yet it was utterly impossible to resist head-on. But his target wasn’t the Karma Contract itself—it was the surrounding space and time.

Using every ounce of dimensional authority, he slowed the flow of time until even light moved sluggishly. He overlapped space upon space, endlessly increasing the actual distance it had to travel.

Even the Karma Contract hesitated at the unexpected development.

This must be the first time a god of the Master Universe has ever rebelled against his authority. But now is the time to receive his punishment as a reward. I’ll do any crazy thing if it means paying the price for becoming his pride.

Seeing the swarm of insects and creatures that had turned the entire atmosphere of the blue planet pitch black, the incantation came to him naturally.

“Open the gate to the Otherworld. Dimensional Gate—!”

Behind the Dimensional Mage God, a dimensional gate opened—one just large enough for him to pass through in his current state. It was a conditioned reflex, an insurance policy, and material for blackmail.

I’m not trying to run away. I didn’t sign an absolute-grade Karma Contract just to flee like this. But I don’t know why I keep taking these steps backward.