The War God's Accession and the Divine Realm's Cowardly History
When Origin's staff, which had gathered more than eight billion in magical power, drove straight into the Main God of the Divine Realm's chest, it punched a clean hole through him.
"Ugh!?"
Thud—! Crunch—! Slice—!
The Black Mage was not unscathed either. He had barely avoided the transparent divine energy slashing down from the sky toward the ground, but he had sacrificed his shoulder and his heart had been split in two. Once the heart was severed, the Main God of the Divine Realm's divine energy revealed its true form as a greatsword, and the Black Mage realized one more mistake.
Damn it—! The Main God of the Divine Realm's true specialty wasn't his authority but swordsmanship.
He had witnessed the overwhelming power of 'Reality Manipulation' and assumed the god belonged to the administrative faction. But because the opponent was a sword god, the attack speed had far exceeded expectations and he had missed the moment to evade.
The lofty level and lethal power of the Main God of the Divine Realm's swordsmanship was something he—who had received the blade strikes of the High Elf Queens countless times—could recognize instantly.
This bastard's swordsmanship is thoroughly honed for killing. It is a real-combat style forged through endless wars. Otherwise, there is no way I, with my battle foresight, would have failed to avoid it completely.
The Black Mage acknowledged his defeat.
A mage charging a swordsman with a staff in hand? Of course I lost.
Whoosh—!
The moment the summoner suffered a fatal wound, the Dimensional Net unraveled on its own. The Black Mage, whose upper body had been half-severed, and the Main God of the Divine Realm, who had a hole in his chest, slowly descended from the sky.
"Your Majesty!"
"Are you all right?"
"Healing God! Call the Healing God at once!"
The Main God of the Divine Realm had also sustained a serious injury with a hole pierced through his chest. The highest-ranking gods nearby paled and shouted, while the primordial gods rushed forward with divine weapons in hand.
"Aah, this much is nothing. Do not make a fuss."
Even with a hole in his chest, the Main God of the Divine Realm—true to his exceptional creative power—immediately healed the wound with Reality Manipulation. Yet the Black Mage, whose heart had been split in two, also began recovering at once.
Ooooooo—!
Wounds received from the Dimensional Net, even if fatal, carry little meaning.
Watching the Main God of the Divine Realm recover in the blink of an eye, he analyzed the battle.
I had my heart cut out. He only took a hole in the chest. My loss.
Since it had been a spar, the Black Mage readily admitted defeat.
"You have won. From now on, I am the War God."
"Is that so? Still, that final strike was truly chilling. That speed did not look like it belonged to a Black Mage at all."
The Sly Raccoon Main God had never expected a Main God-level Black Mage to pierce a hole in his chest. Yet he had allowed a strike from an ultra-high-speed attack that fell only slightly short of his own.
"But were you a swordsman? I had taken you for an administrative god."
"I am indeed a swordsman. It has been a long era of peace, so I set the sword aside. More than that, I simply did not want to wield a blade with hands that now hold a child and a family."
The Main God of the Divine Realm separated the divine sword in his grasp, rendered it transparent once more, and stored it in space. The Black Mage nodded.
"Any issues?"
"None. I will hand over the War God's seat once that gigolo regains his senses."
The position of War God was a core role meant for the Divine Realm's successor. A being of Black Mage origin could not occupy it permanently. The Main God of the Divine Realm readily agreed.
"I would not mind continuing, but a wife's nagging about her child's future is a terrifying thing. Do you have any desires? I will grant them if possible."
"None. Just do not interfere when I eventually move to another dimension."
"Of course. I swear upon the name of the Main God of the Divine Realm to guarantee you a safe retirement. Shall we write a Karma Contract?"
"Let's do it."
Oooo—!
The noble and great Black Mage shall assume the position of War God and transfer it when the former War God becomes a warrior acknowledged by the Main God of the Divine Realm.
The Main God of the Divine Realm and the Divine Realm shall not interfere when the Black Mage retires and travels to another dimension.
Additional detailed clauses recorded below. Violation shall result in soul-crushing agony or regression into a bug, as overseen by the Creator.
Both the Black Mage—who knew the danger all too well—and the Main God of the Divine Realm wore grim expressions.
Another Karma Contract? Yet it is also the only shield an individual has against the tyranny of the Divine Realm. I cannot refuse it.
I really wish I never had to look at this soul-chilling contract again.
The two stared at each other as they completed the Karma Contract.
There has to be someone in this world you can trust.
Since they had already reached an understanding, the contract was finished quickly.
After the spar that had taken place in the Main God Temple, some time passed. A black-robed male god with black-gold hair entered the enormous book-shaped library of the Divine Realm. A goddess immediately blocked his path.
This is the Goddess-Only Library. Male gods are prohibited from entering.
"Ah—!"
"……"
The black-gold-haired male god said nothing. He walked past her and snapped the fingers of his right hand.
Snap—!
The goddess who had blocked him was instantly suspended upside down in the air like a fish on a line.
"Mmph—!"
Her mouth had been sealed as well; she could not even scream. The black-gold-haired male god, hair fluttering, ignored the flustered goddesses around him and walked silently toward the section containing the largest tomes.
Inside were roughly ten goddesses. The moment they saw the male god, they rose with furious expressions.
"Who do you think you are, barging into the women-only library—mmph!"
"What the—mmph—!"
Snap—! Snap—!
Once again the black-gold-haired male god said nothing. He sealed their mouths and hung all ten upside down in the air.
He was the Black Mage who had been reborn as the War God with the full support of the Divine Realm.
It has been one month since I began living in the Divine Realm. I have nearly finished touring the entire place. My new body is complete, yet I still cannot adapt.
The moment he became the War God, the other highest gods at the round table had immediately demanded he march to the battlefield. But he could not possibly go without knowing anything.
It will be a complete mess anyway. Going in blind would be the end of me.
He believed there was no one in the Divine Realm to fear except the Sly Raccoon Main God. Therefore he simply ignored every demand from the other top gods and spent his time in the library or touring the realm.
Moreover, since the former War God had never once stepped onto the front lines—shifting all responsibility onto the Beast God—there was no justification to force him out.
Didn't the former War God claim a general had no need to go to the front? That gigolo is useful at times like these.
After declaring he would first investigate the current war situation, the War God had made it routine to shut the mouths of any goddesses who tried to stop him with cries of "Goddess-Only" and hang them upside down. The sight of goddesses dangling and struggling in the air along his path had become an everyday occurrence.
"Open—! Jusinseong, History of the Divine Realm."
Flap flap flap flap!
The enormous book unfolded and a three-dimensional image rose.
Rooooar—!
In a pitch-black space, a massive rocky planet suddenly appeared, overwhelming everything around it. Roughly a thousand gods knelt around the planet. At the very front, a Creator God bearing thirteen pairs of wings of light gazed at the rocky planet, and blue water bloomed into existence.
Is that the creative power of a Creator God? The scale is completely different from what I do as a Spirit God.
The Creator God on the screen was performing creation and evolution simultaneously. Soon a colossal planet teeming with life was completed. The Creator God vanished, and the gods descended onto the planet. They wore full plate armor and carried divine weapons as they began their struggle against the powerful planetary gods born from Jusinseong.
So those are the Main God of the Divine Realm and the thousand primordial gods.
It was an unbroken chain of endless battles. At first they fought giants and monsters that had naturally arisen within the Jusinseong created by the presumed Creator God. Afterward they waged desperate wars against giant gods and monster gods that had evolved into planetary deities large enough to pierce the heavens, battling for dominance over the matured control of Jusinseong.
While fighting the planetary gods without end, the primordial gods dwindled one by one.
The seemingly eternal, grueling struggle finally ended in the victory of the Main God of the Divine Realm. Once Jusinseong had been stabilized and sentient beings began to flourish, the Demon Realm issued a challenge for a certification war.
The eternally ruling Demon God and Demon Kings of the Demon Realm waged war to claim ownership of this star. Once again the number of primordial gods decreased.
Rooooar! Clash—!
The Demon God and Main God collided after raising all their magic power and divine power. Demon Kings and primordial gods slaughtered one another. To protect Jusinseong from damage, the moon that served as the battlefield was reduced to scorched earth. Both sides repeated death and regeneration countless times.
Strangely, the fierce battle ended in victory for the Main God of the Divine Realm, who had been at a clear disadvantage in military strength.
They must have fallen for a trick. So that's why the Demon God grinds his teeth.
It had been dressed up like an epic of glorious victory, but he knew the secret.
The Main God of the Divine Realm proposed a single decisive battle on the moon. The Demon Realm accepted. However, the Main God of the Divine Realm secretly installed regenerators across the moon and trapped the entire battlefield inside a barrier.
They had agreed not to resurrect or regenerate from their respective realms, yet the gods had covertly installed simple regenerators on the moon without the demons' knowledge and fought a desperate battle.
The Demon Kings cannot regenerate from the Demon Realm because they are blocked by the barrier. In contrast, the power gap with the primordial gods—who regenerate instantly on the moon and resume fighting—is obvious.
The number of Demon Kings trapped by the barrier and unable to return to the Demon Realm to resurrect rapidly dwindled. Therefore the victory of the primordial gods, who could endlessly regenerate on the battlefield and keep fighting, had been inevitable.
The War God pictured the battle in his mind.
To destroy the regenerator, the eternally ruling Demon God with his god-slaying authority charged in despite his injuries. The Main God of the Divine Realm, wielding the divine sword, blocked him while the primordial gods—who had already subdued the Demon Kings—combined their strength to attack.
In this way the Divine Realm had won against the Demon Realm through cowardice. Yet even the rampaging Demon God and Demon Kings had inflicted catastrophic damage. In the end, the only survivors were the Main God of the Divine Realm on the brink of death and roughly fifty primordial gods.
The Demon God, having lost every Demon King, was shown being forcibly summoned back to the Demon Realm in a mangled state, howling.
You cheating bastard—! We agreed to settle it cleanly in one go without resurrection or regeneration—!
"……"
The history of the Divine Realm was roughly like this.
The Divine Realm won against the Demon Realm through cowardly means. However, most of the primordial gods could not endure the repeated deaths and regenerations and perished. The Demon Realm, having lost all its Demon Kings and with even the Demon God driven to the edge of death, could not launch direct invasions for a long time afterward.
Regardless of the process, peace had finally arrived for both Jusinseong and the Divine Realm. The Main God of the Divine Realm had become the true ruler, and other gods began to migrate. Among them was a familiar goddess.
Granzoa?
The Goddess of the Earth and Agriculture, who would become the Main God of the Divine Realm's consort, led more than several hundred goddesses in applying for migration. At the head were Granzoa, whose green hair flowed like living water, and the highest-ranking goddesses. The figures of the top-grade goddesses followed.
The Main God of the Divine Realm and the primordial gods were shown cheering at the beauty of the incomparably beautiful goddesses.
Involuntary admiration and curses spilled from the War God's lips.
Haa—! What a bunch of idiots.