The Eternal Judgment
The Spirit Realm War had ended. “It’s over. I thought the Substitute Gods were a solid hand to play, but what a shame.”
The Demon God Emperor’s position should have been one of satisfaction. After all, a being powerful enough to threaten the Demon Gods as a future Creator God had vanished from the Divine Race. Yet his expression and emotions were far more complicated than that.
As the supreme leader of the Demon Gods, who competed with the Substitute Gods for survival, any weakening of their divine allies was potentially fatal. ‘Ugh—! He was dragged off to Wind Star as an insect. Even if he does well, it’ll be at least ten billion years before he returns. The question is whether this Master Universe will even survive that long. He was a Dimensional Magic God… if things had gone right, he could have become one of the Demon Gods. That would have been a huge help when we move to take over the Demon Realm of another Master Universe.’
Wind Star was a place the Demon Gods knew well. Absolute Beings who held titles originating from the Demon Race were frequently dragged there due to their volatile tempers, and just as many were eventually released. In short, it was an experimental grounds created five hundred billion years ago to produce the eight Absolute-level powerhouses who would become the strongest of their respective factions—and his rivals.
Until they proved their potential, there was no escape. ‘The fastest one to get out was that arrogant bastard. It took him nearly a hundred years per stage, right? About fifteen thousand years total. After that, instead of fully unlocking his title, the guy who was supposed to be one of the Demon God Emperors ran away. These days they say he’s finally finished his training and everyone can breathe easier… but that Dimensional Magic God has no chance.’
There was simply no comparison between the Demon God Emperor—who had been created from birth as the strongest Demon God and earned his power through desperate effort—and the Dimensional Magic God. Even forcing the issue, the gap in talent was nearly one in a hundred thousand.
‘He showed off that incredible wide-area authority that temporarily promotes Demons to Demon Kings, but that’s the extent of it. He’s clearly demonstrating the limits of a lone Magic God.’
The Creator General ‘Garam,’ who had glanced over at him, wore a similarly furrowed expression. As one of his affiliated gods had been punished, he ought to be angry. Yet the Dimensional Magic God had arbitrarily restored Demons annihilated during the defensive war against the 500th Master Universe, restrained divine spirits, and even massacred hundreds of Origins—the very source of the gods’ authorities.
‘Even if they were invaders, it’s not something that can be easily forgiven. Still, since he did it to the enemy, it’s difficult to immediately judge it as punishable.’
Moreover, he had achieved a victory so overwhelming that no one would believe it without seeing it themselves. Of course, whether it was punishment or reward, the moment the target was dragged to Wind Star, it was over.
“That’s enough. For now, let’s consider the 100 quadrillion as a loan.”
They had received 100 quadrillion as payment for participating in the 500th Master Universe war. Asking for it back now would be truly inconvenient. He needed to slip away before anyone mentioned breaking the contract. The Demon God Emperor’s realm was in dire straits; every bit of vitality received as down payment had already been invested just to keep them breathing.
‘Obviously we can’t return it.’
So while Garam was distracted, he planned to quietly withdraw. And Jinmyeol, for whatever reason, wore a faint smile as he openly slept. The occasional twitches suggested he was enjoying something pleasant in his dreams, but the Demon God Emperor had no desire to find out what. The last time he had tried to sneak a peek, he had nearly gone berserk from the mental backlash.
It seemed they had decided to trade territories and authorities with the 500th Master Universe instead of continuing the war, so the good fortune brought by war had come to an end. For now, he had to be satisfied with replenishing their lacking vitality, normalizing the Demon God Emperor’s realm, and preventing the highest-ranking Demon Kings from exploding in discontent.
‘Look at them stubbornly hanging on with those expectant eyes. How truly detestable. After growing somewhat stronger and becoming Demon Realm gods who receive faith from living beings, they’ve grown far too bold. If I acted like a proper Demon God and slaughtered the challengers, these four or more would gang up on me, and in a prolonged fight I wouldn’t last.’
They were powerful enough that if more than that number attacked together, even the Demon God Emperor would have to flee to preserve his dignity. That was why he had to handle them gently. It was unavoidable in order to face the powerful Divine Race and Substitute Gods, yet it still filled him with irritation.
‘Once I solve the stamina issue, I’ll show you all what real heat feels like.’
He was just about to turn away after giving the highest-ranking Demon Kings a meaningful look when a very urgent sound burst forth. An Absolute-grade Karma Contract was suddenly spitting out results in rapid succession.
Mayfly Victory—! Promotion—! Fruit Fly Victory—! Promotion—! Victory—! Victory—!
“What—?”
“What the hell—!”
Shocked exclamations erupted among those who knew the circumstances of the Eternal Judgment. Victory judgments were falling in near one-second intervals.
‘The higher the rank, the slightly slower it becomes, but these are still extremely rapid victories and promotions.’
‘No god, no matter how talented, can clear stages that normally take over a hundred years in mere seconds.’
The moment the Dimensional Magic God had been sent to Wind Star, every god who had lost interest suddenly focused again. But the interior could not be observed by ordinary beings. Only the one undergoing the trial and a few Absolute Beings who possessed titles that granted them unlimited information in exchange for restrictions could witness the scene.
When their perception was fully mobilized, they saw a space-time collision phenomenon that had suddenly appeared on Wind Star—compressed into a sphere the size of a house. Inside, the Dimensional Magic God was engaged in a fierce struggle against insects. It was faintly visible.
‘His punishment as an insect was definitely confirmed, yet he still has a human form.’
Jinma’s eyes widened as he watched the blurry image of the human-shaped Dimensional Magic God engaged in a bloody, flesh-flying battle against Wind Star’s insects while the surrounding space-time warped violently. He had roughly grasped the truth.
“Don’t tell me that bastard—! He induced the time and space authority of an Absolute-grade Karma Contract and borrowed it directly?”
“And on top of that, he added his own ‘Dimension’ authority to slow the execution time of his transformation from human to insect to the absolute limit. Meanwhile, he accelerated the surrounding space to create a flow of time almost completely separated from reality, and is carrying out the Eternal Judgment that way?”
“Using Dimensional Authority to block external interference and minimize the test duration? Even for a Magic God, using such a loophole?”
“You’re saying he entered the mercenary battle fully prepared for the Eternal Judgment? What about the flow of time inside? Oh my god. A hundred years per second. That’s already at the level of an Absolute-grade authority.”
Googogoogogo—! Inside, a hundred years flowed every single second. Though the sphere was only house-sized, the space within was equally boundless. The silhouette floating above the barrier appeared to move slowly, but the overlapping scenes of him fighting represented an enormous amount of time compressed into phantom images.
‘Inside that space-time barrier, the Dimensional Magic God and the insects are engaged in a desperate struggle for survival, each trying to surpass the other.’
The defeated fell back to the lowest rank of mayflies and had to offer their accumulated vitality and authorities to the victor. It was a vicious battle to the death. That was why a thick blood mist rose within the space-time collision barrier.
“Still, winning streak on his first attempt? What the hell is going on?”
“Did all the creatures on Wind Star catch a cold or something? Why are they so weakened? Huh?”
As Jinma stared in utter disbelief at the absurd situation, he noticed something flashing here and there across Wind Star.
Pasut—! Pasut—! The sound of space splitting open for an instant before returning. It was happening with extreme stealth. Only by concentrating his full attention did he finally catch the scene. Every time a spatial rift appeared and vanished, one insect from that location disappeared, replaced by an old, cracked brick falling to the ground.
In other words, the insects were being forcibly replaced with bricks and dimensionally relocated.
‘Forced dimensional transfer? It’s so stealthy and terrifyingly precise that even Wind Star’s powerful creatures can’t resist and are taken without a fight.’
If those bricks had been aimed at Jinma himself for a dimensional shift, he would have needed to be fully alert and moving to completely evade them.
“No matter how powerful, they’re just bricks? And he’s throwing them out of a space-time collision zone where a hundred years pass per second, selecting his opponents? Is this even possible?”
The mouth of Creator General Garam, who had been frowning in complicated thought, finally opened. No matter how troublesome the method, a warrior who could endure so fiercely in any situation was a blessing by his mere existence. Especially against the Substitute Gods, he was essential.
“The proficiency is terrifying. Just how long has he been training to reach this level?”
Pasut—! Pasut—! Even Garam, who had worn a thoroughly displeased expression, could not help but admire the high-difficulty technique.
‘It feels more desperate and complete than any authority or combat technique he has shown before.’
He wondered why the man hadn’t used this technique from the beginning, but soon understood. Garam nodded as he reviewed the data on the Dimensional Magic God that was beginning to be analyzed back in the Main Divine Realm.
His computational power was irregularly hitting its limit, causing him to lose consciousness to a transcendent degree before returning within bounds. He was repeating this roughly once per second. It meant he was concentrating to the point of near unconsciousness and then recovering. If that happened once every hundred years, it explained the terrifying precision of his forced dimensional transfers.
“Using that forced dimensional transfer leaves him completely defenseless? Without an Absolute-grade defensive authority, it’s not a technique one could use. Even with the fusion of time and space that is Dimensional Authority, it’s a miraculous skill that requires concentrating all his consciousness to the level of the unconscious.”
“It’s truly incredible. I’ve never seen a being who could so accurately predict and calculate the uncertain and fluid fluctuations of time and space to force a dimensional transfer. It’s only brick-sized on each attempt, but the effort and emotion I feel from it is deeply moving.”
To Jinma—the pinnacle of the Demon Race, who maintained his body through destructive vitality and emotion—such things were visible. He could read the desperate emotions and processes accumulated in any authority or technique, then analyze the opponent in detail based on that to bring them down.
‘By completely reading the past based on current techniques, he can find weaknesses and defeat them. That is why the Demon God Emperor is the strongest Spiritual Being in the Master Universe when acting alone. Of course, this excludes that monstrous Jinmyeol, who has grown unfathomably strong in the 499th Master Universe.’
Even if he knew Jinmyeol’s past, there was no need to analyze him since he only engaged in pure, rampaging combat as a Demon. Jinmyeol was a powerhouse cultivated purely through large-scale battles. But the Dimensional Magic God was different.
‘The technique that allows him to perform forced dimensional transfers skilled enough to surprise even the Creator General and Demon God Emperor is filled with nothing but desperation.’
The moment he began analyzing the technique, a scene rose before him: a beautiful boy with black hair who had only just shed his childish features, crying as he hurled bricks into a space-time collision phenomenon.
Veins bulging, red eyes endlessly shedding tears, both hands trembling violently as he endlessly created bricks with magic power and threw them into the space-time rift.
‘It’s the contact point and axis between the Demon Realm and Middle World on the Main God Star. Powerful demonic energy and vitality collide, simultaneously causing spatial distortion and temporal chaos. I see. So this is the root of how the Dimensional Magic God trained his ‘Dimension’ to that level. He doesn’t seem fully sane even now, but in the past… he was completely insane.’
The bricks that flowed into the space-time rift produced faint bursting sounds as if something had gone wrong. Then, on the Demon Realm and Middle World side, the buildings made of bricks that had faintly appeared inside the space-time collision all shattered into pieces and scattered, with debris falling downward.
On the ground, a small mountain’s worth of broken bricks—evidence of countless attempts—lay scattered everywhere. And every time the majority of the brick houses he threw in collapsed so futilely and scattered, he bit his lip and muttered as if in a daze.
“I have to do it. The title I received from him can only barely keep me alive at this level of release. I no longer have a master to advise me, and with this level of Dimensional Authority I can’t handle the High Elf Queens and the Empire. If things stay like this, I’ll die the next time the Demon Realm Gate opens. Somehow I must build a Magic Tower to strengthen my magic power, open a passage to the Demon Realm, and contract with a Demon God. Only then can I escape this damned Great Cavity in the Great Forest.”
Even to the eyes of the Demon Gods, the sight of him struggling so pathetically was enough to make the Demon God Emperor unconsciously nod.
‘Now that I see it, that mad bastard desperately fighting for his life is on the same level of absurdity as Jinmyeol.’
Screams and shouts never ceased.
“I absolutely cannot die like this—! Uwaaaaaaaaagh—! Why is Dimensional Authority so difficult to calculate coordinates and adjust power for? Move exactly as I want, damn it—! ‘Dimension’—! My body—!”
No matter how much Dimensional Authority he possessed, who would think of building a Magic Tower inside that space-time torrent to escape to the Demon Realm? First, the Demon Gods of the Demon Realm would never allow it. And even if he avoided that, the slightest calculation error or mistake would cause the extremely precise magic amplification device—the Magic Tower, which required tens of thousands of bricks to be stacked without a single gap—to collapse meaninglessly. That would mean starting the insane labor of building the Magic Tower from scratch again, and from the most difficult point.
‘It is the height of reckless behavior that no one with even a shred of common sense would ever attempt. Looking into the past only adds to the pity.’
He looked further into the past, but there were no weaknesses in the technique.
‘After becoming a teenager, he continued that same act for decades.’
In the end, that astonishing forced dimensional transfer was a miraculous technique born purely from endless repetition and proficiency.
‘The only thing that can block something like that is a defensive authority built up through the same kind of effort.’
Even the Demon God Emperor himself could dodge it, but he had no confidence he could completely nullify it. Any being would have to avoid it if a brick targeted their vital point. Unless they wanted to trade part of their body for a brick.
“A Dimensional Magic God who possesses a Survival Magic Tower built by throwing a total of 102,700 bricks beyond the space-time collision phenomenon without a single mistake? At this level, it wouldn’t be shameful to call him Absolute.”
“But even so, he cannot surpass the creatures of Wind Star. There are countless beings there who are called ‘Absolute’ in their own fields.”
“That’s true. So in the end, it stops at the pigeon stage? It seems he still can’t perform forced dimensional transfers larger than brick size.”
“Have Wind Star’s arrogant ones finally felt a sense of crisis? They’re starting to appear.”
The pigeons that had been observing now gathered, chirping and flapping their wings in unison. It was visible even from here.
Kwaaaaaang—! Kwoooooong—! Fighting spirit carrying even rage billowed up from the pigeons like clouds.
The Dimensional Magic God had passed the fifty stages from mayfly to sparrow in just a few minutes. He had now completed roughly one-third of the Eternal Judgment. By slowing the test time to the maximum, forcibly dimensionally transferring weak opponents into the barrier to deal with them easily, and reaching their level, they had finally joined forces.
From the perspective of the watching Spiritual Beings, an abnormal phenomenon occurred that made their heads throb.
Googoogo—! Papapapapa—! The pigeons’ wingbeats caused space to shake violently, and the waves emitted by their noisy chirping twisted the flow of time. It was on a completely different level from the power the sparrows had shown earlier when they destroyed a giant planet with shockwaves. Extreme physical force was now interfering with the very phenomenon itself.
At that sight, even beings above the level of Creator Generals lost confidence in dealing with it.
‘One would be no problem, but the number of pigeons has already exceeded the hundred million mark.’
It was a force that even Creator Generals with infinite authorities could not handle. That enormous army was charging toward the space-time collision barrier that the Dimensional Magic God had manifested on Wind Star using the authority of an Absolute-grade Karma Contract. They could not forgive him for shortening one-third of the trial through such a loophole after they had spent tremendous time and effort to reach this point. Their will and killing intent aligned perfectly.
But inside the space-time collision barrier, another anomaly was occurring.
“Kik—! Kiiiiik—! Kik—! You’re too late! You should have moved earlier. I win this time too! Kiiiiiiiiik—!”
A voice that sounded like both laughter and bird cries burst from the Dimensional Magic God as the space-time collision barrier began to contract.