The Absolute Power Gap
The war in the Spirit Realm was urgent, but there was something far more pressing: stopping the newcomer’s endless winning streak. His promotion speed was already so absurdly fast that ascending to human rank was practically within reach. If he passed the Eternal Judgment, he would earn the right to become a member of one of the highest-ranking clans in the Absolute Realm and could even challenge a clan representative without fear of repercussions.
The authority of every clan on Wind Star rested on the fact that the Eternal Judgment was brutally difficult—bordering on impossible. They could not allow anyone to clear it this easily. If some talented being passes the Eternal Judgment, which normally takes tens of thousands of years, in just a few minutes, the entire Absolute Realm will laugh at us.
Once a species lost its prestige and reputation, recovering it was extremely difficult. Even though becoming the Black Flame Absolute and the leader of the Black Flame Clan had not been his choice, he could not simply give up now. Being one of the ten supreme species that upheld the Absolute Realm with overwhelming power and wisdom no other race in any Master Universe could match guaranteed both the strength and authority to survive even his attacks.
Of course, if the clan messes up, I’ll beat them so badly with the Sword of Ruin and Soul that their bones turn to powder… but that’s the end of it. They wouldn’t be turned into insects, and the entire clan wouldn’t be erased. To him, that was how important the clan was. As long as they proved their strength, wisdom, and potential for growth, they could reign as the ruling clan in the domain he governed.
They can grasp a level of prosperity and glory completely different from the past, when I was merely a titled Absolute. The other clans on Wind Star, which had now become almost independent from his management, were living proof of that.
But the problem lay right here. The only ones who still received his thorough management and protection were the Black Flame Clan and himself.
“Then why the hell is the Black Flame Clan in this state? Is it my fault as their leader? No, that’s not it. I’m confident I could beat any successor of the other eight Absolutes. Hell, I could wipe out all the other clans and every successor of the eight Absolutes combined. I’m strong. Unless it’s him or the higher Origin beings of the Wind Family, I could single-handedly smash the entire Absolute Realm to pieces.”
“Puhahahahaha—!”
The moment he grew even slightly excited, black flame-shaped fighting spirit exploded outward like a volcanic eruption.
“Agh—! Damn this black flame again—! Can’t you stay still—!”
Through his recovering vision, he saw his own clansmen hurriedly retreating. Their eyes were those of people staring at deadly poison that would kill on contact.
Well, if they get caught up in this black flame fighting spirit, the lower-ranked members of the Black Flame Clan are finished.
The Authority of Black Flame was, true to its color, closer to lethal magic power. Specialized purely in killing and destruction, even a graze could annihilate most matter, sever the lives of living beings, and erase spiritual entities. On top of that, its ability to enhance physical capabilities surpassed even the secret arts of the Wind Family’s successors. In terms of pure physical bodies, the Black Flame Clan surpassed even the Dragon God Clan, which was considered the strongest individual species in the Absolute Realm.
The price for this mighty and explosive power is that I can’t learn most authorities that require complex thinking, but it doesn’t matter at all.
This infinite mass of fighting spirit known as the Authority of Black Flame was something that naturally accumulated only through endless battles and promotions. The countless struggles required to rise from insect to human on Wind Star formed the very foundation of becoming a member of the Black Flame Clan. Even at the level of a mere sparrow, the Authority of Black Flame granted power that ordinary spiritual beings couldn’t even compare to.
Then, a sudden question arose. It was the moment his mind cleared after suppressing the Black Flame fighting spirit, which had momentarily weakened.
“Wait a second…? How did that newcomer activate the Authority of Dimensions after absorbing the Black Flame vitality? He’s already surpassed the dog level, hasn’t he? The Authority of Dimensions requires the most computational power of any authority. How could a Black Flame Clan member, who shouldn’t even be able to dream of such complex thinking, manage it? Huh?”
The moment he briefly suppressed the Black Flame fighting spirit, his old senses returned and detected the anomaly. They picked up the shockwaves of a battle occurring in another dimension.
Of all places, it was right behind me. No wonder the other Black Flame clansmen couldn’t approach their leader and were wasting their time in the wrong spots.
There was no greater humiliation than failing to notice something happening so close to him.
“Why the hell did it have to be right behind me? Damn it—! Do I seriously need to borrow the Sword of Ruin and Soul from him just to teach these kids some discipline? He’s so weak he might get erased if I hit him carelessly, so consider this your lucky day—! Get out here already!”
Puhaha!
Ku-kung!
Though rage boiled inside him, if he attacked directly at that level, the target would be erased instantly. So instead, he lightly flicked his finger from a great distance toward the anomaly he had sensed, sending out a shockwave.
The result of that casual flick—mixed with a trace of Black Flame—was catastrophic.
The entire visible space split apart, and the absolute-grade dimensional barrier shattered completely.
“Kuaaaagh—!”
“Kuuuuurgh—!”
“Puuu—!”
The former Origin beings who had been reinforcing and maintaining the dimensional barrier were sent flying in all directions, coughing up blood from the tremendous shockwave. Some had their limbs severed or crushed. The dimensional barrier, created by countless overlapping layers of time and space, was supposed to be nearly invincible against physical force.
Yet it had been brutally torn apart by a mere air wave from the Black Flame Absolute’s careful flick. The former Origin beings were so shocked they nearly lost their minds. Looking at the Black Flame Absolute’s exhausted expression, they could tell just how much he had held back and how precisely he had tried to make the attack only graze the barrier.
With such a playful attack, an absolute-grade dimensional barrier reinforced by two hundred Creator Gods was mercilessly ripped apart.
The Black Flame Absolute stared at them with an incredulous look as they collapsed from the remaining shock after the barrier’s destruction, unable to endure the aftereffects. Their entire bodies trembled.
This isn’t a difference in level. It’s a difference in existence itself.
Seventh circle meant Transcendent. Up to tenth circle were gods. Eleventh circle were Lord Gods. Twelfth circle were Creator Gods. Thirteenth circle were Creator Generals, and the immortal Creator Lords were fourteenth circle.
Though they were currently weakened, the Origin beings were twelfth-circle Creator Gods. Even they could not measure the Black Flame Absolute’s power.
If it were first circle or higher, we could at least gauge the difference, but we can’t sense anything. All we feel is endless reverence.
That meant the Black Flame Absolute was at least fourteenth circle or above. The gap between higher circles was incomparable to the difference between lower ones. A gap from twelfth to fourteenth circle was like the difference between an ordinary human and a god.
What was even more terrifying was that the Black Flame Clan could not use any spiritual authorities. They reached the pinnacle of fourteenth circle with nothing but their physical bodies. To the spiritual Creator Gods, that was pure terror.
Such a monster—! And we’re supposed to fight something like this?
We prepared to fight an opponent like him?
What they felt was an endless black flame of fighting spirit that seemed capable of burning and annihilating everything. Even as the giant radiating that black flame looked down on them with contempt, they could not move a single muscle.
It was a huge blow that the Magic God of Dimensions, who had been supporting the mass promotion from first circle, had withdrawn his support to fight at full strength alone.
Right now, by the standards of the 499th Master Universe, we are only equivalent to lower-rank Lord Gods.
Therefore, they could not possibly oppose a being of fourteenth circle or higher—two whole circles above them. As the Creator Gods stood frozen in terror, the Black Flame Absolute’s exasperated voice rang out.
“You’re telling me it wasn’t even the Creator General of the Absolute Realm or the Origin beings of the clans? Just two hundred lower-rank Lord Gods from a Master Universe helping you? How did you manage to defeat Wind Star lifeforms above sparrow level so quickly with this kind of power? No matter how many of you there are, it should be impossible to surpass a being with the Authority of Black Flame. This is making me use my head for the first time in ages. Well, can’t be helped. All of you, come here.”
Flick—!
Puaaak—!
The Black Flame Absolute lightly curled and extended the second finger of his right hand. Yet that seemingly playful motion generated an irresistible pressure. The two hundred Creator Gods, who had been trying to recover, were helplessly dragged toward his feet like leaves caught in a storm.
The Black Flame Absolute grabbed the neck of the closest former Origin being with one hand, lifting him up, while clenching his other hand into a fist and lightly pressing it against the being’s forehead. Though the contact was extremely gentle, the impact was enough to shake the very existence of a god.
A voice filled with chilling killing intent rang out.
“Spit it out before I erase you with one hit, you worthless trash. How the hell did you win? And where is the newcomer? Explain it so I can understand before I start beating you.”
The former Origin beings were stunned that the first time he actually used his head resulted in violence-based threats. But the next moment, their minds snapped back to full alertness.
The Magic God of Dimensions is really nowhere to be seen.
Although their power was lacking, their other authorities and senses had once belonged to the highest-ranking Creator Gods.
Even with a Creator God’s senses, we cannot locate the Magic God of Dimensions.
He definitely vanished during that fierce hand-to-hand battle with the Wind Star lifeform that came after the dog.
No… we lost track of him the moment the absolute-grade dimensional barrier shattered.
Their avatar bodies showed no abnormalities, so he had to be here. Only when they focused their senses with full power could they barely pinpoint his location. Or rather, it was thanks to their avatar bodies that they could detect him at all. And even now, that location was changing at a frantic pace.
He is fighting while freely shifting his position and location, transcending the constraints of space and time.
But this was Wind Star. In a place overflowing with countless lifeforms of vastly different strengths, recklessly using spatial movement was suicidal.
If two beings of equal rank overlap in the same space, they explode and disappear.
A higher-ranked being overlapping with a lower one can endure it.
That was why martial gods who specialized in space as their main authority were restricted to fighting only within familiar locations inside their field of vision to display their full power. Yet there was only one authority that allowed someone to ignore that limitation and move so freely during battle.
It was a space-type offensive and movement technique said to be impossible even for spiritual beings.
It allowed movement to any location, enabling unrestricted spatial attacks and evasion. It could forcibly transfer all matter and spiritual entities to another dimension, indiscriminately annihilating them or permanently banishing them to the Otherworld. Furthermore, it weaponized the greatest weakness of space-type powers—mutual annihilation from spatial overlap—turning it into lethal force.
Any authority attack or defense of the same level becomes meaningless once this is activated.
Unless it was an attack surpassing an absolute-grade space authority that ignored time and space, everything would either be bounced into another space or time or reflected back at the attacker.
The authority that ruled over all space and time was once called the Absolute Dimensional Authority, but its acquisition difficulty and the extreme danger of using it caused it to be abandoned. Even with authority support, the massive shock of continuous spatial movement was too much for even a spiritual body to withstand.
Absurdly, the space-type absolute-grade authority that required the highest computational power actually demanded an even greater physical body.
That was why even the first Creator General, its original developer, could only use it for a short time.
When the first Creator General used it and still suffered a self-destructive defeat at the hands of the eight Absolutes and two Transcendentals, its value was lost and it completely disappeared.
It was evaluated as having power too low compared to its acquisition difficulty and physical burden, and very few beings could actually learn it. However, it was said that if the first Creator General’s body had been able to endure the shock and continue using it, the outcome might have been completely different. Such was the absolute authority it was considered to be.
The Magic God of Dimensions is freely wielding a legendary authority of the divine race while fighting the lifeforms of Wind Star.
He was using it so naturally that only their avatar bodies could barely perceive it, tearing through all of Wind Star and crushing his opponents. They could sense the Wind Star wolf that had been captured again being relentlessly torn apart by the continuous activation of dimensional shifts and the shock of dimensional movement.
That is the most terrifying aspect of this authority. The user moves through space with it and receives the exact same shock.
Compared to the user who is accustomed to the shock, the unfamiliar target suffers the full, tremendous impact.
Of course, spiritual beings had some resistance to spatial movement. But this was the shock of forced dimensional travel that even a Creator General’s body could not properly withstand. If that shock was added on top of the user’s direct attack, almost no opponent at the same level could endure it.
That was why the divine race had attached the infinitely lofty prefix “Absolute” to this art, soothing their regret over a past that could never return.
The former Origin beings let out gasps of admiration at the astonishingly faithful recreation of the technique.
“Absolute Dimensional Maneuver—!”
“There’s no doubt about it. Continuous dimensional movement within the same space can only be explained by that.”
“It is the unique authority of the first Creator General. And it is currently overwhelming those powerful lifeforms of Wind Star.”
“He won again! Puhahahahahaha—! He’s defeating the lifeforms of Wind Star this easily? It truly is the absolute authority of the Creator General we once served.”
But on the other hand, lamentations also burst forth.
“What is this? How can he use dimensional movement without receiving any damage and keep doing it continuously?”
Why was it being manifested so perfectly now?
“If he had been at this level back then, we wouldn’t have ended up like this. It’s too late—!”
“Yes, it’s too late. Far too late.”
While the former Origin beings murmured in a mix of ecstasy and bitter regret, the Black Flame Absolute, who had no idea what they were talking about, shook his head and scanned the area. After gaining a rough understanding of the newcomer from the Lord God he had grabbed by the collar and threatened, he could now track him to some extent.
In the Absolute Realm, the characteristics of the Black Flame Clan were defined like this:
Black Flame finds its target faster than anything and kills it in a single strike.
Since the Black Flame Absolute had originally been a hunter, his authority reflected that nature. Although it was the weakest in every aspect except raw power, its fundamental senses and capabilities were incomparably higher than those of spiritual beings from a Master Universe. And due to the nature of the Black Flame Authority as a mass of fighting spirit, it was specialized not only in destruction but also in locating prey.
Once I know what the opponent is like, I can find them anywhere in the Absolute Realm and finish them off.
The power to kill enemies was strongest with black flame, and its tracking ability that never lost its target was also superb. That was why other authorities were unnecessary. It wasn’t that black flame couldn’t use other authorities—it was that this single Black Flame Authority was more than enough to qualify him.
The current Black Flame Absolute had entered the test alone, proving the power of the physically strongest Black Flame Authority, overwhelming the rest of Wind Star and claiming the seat of the highest ruling species in the Absolute Realm.
When the tracking senses of such a being activated upon detecting prey, his mouth fell open.
The newcomer has definitely been detected, but the coordinates are changing rapidly all over the place. The newcomer is moving through space, but he’s so weak that the signal is extremely faint.
He was supposed to be a Creator Candidate of the Master Universe, so his divine power should exceed a hundred billion, yet what he sensed was only around ten billion. At that level, he really would be erased from a mere graze of their Black Flame Authority, just like the lower gods below him. The same would probably apply if other Black Flame Clan members stepped in.
Moreover, an opponent who fought while running away like this was easy to erase but extremely difficult to catch.
Even though he’s somehow winning against the lifeforms of Wind Star in that state, it’s only because he’s artificially boosting his output with authority.
Those balloon-like tricks would instantly vanish the moment they clashed directly with their black flame.
His forehead creased naturally, and a grumbling voice slipped out.
“Huh? What the hell is this? Why is it buzzing around like a fly? Did the newcomer fall back down to fly level? How am I supposed to catch him alive like this?”
“……”
“……”
At the Black Flame Absolute’s irritated tone, the faces of the former Origin beings—who had once been the rulers of all divine races and served the first Creator General whose authority was called absolute—crumpled in utter humiliation. Yet what he said was true.
Five hundred billion years ago, the absolute authority of the Creator General was considered nothing more than a minor annoyance within the Absolute Realm under his rule.
It might work against the lifeforms of Wind Star due to authority compatibility, but it would never work against the Black Flame Clan.
It was the kind of power that the mighty Creator Gods of the 499th Master Universe would possess as standard.
Meanwhile, the situation for the Magic God of Dimensions was also extremely bad. The absolute-grade dimensional barrier had been discovered and shattered by the Black Flame Absolute, forcing him to activate this technique. But it consumed far too much computational power, preventing him from using any other magic to enhance his abilities.
Even when combining the Black Flame Authority accumulated through battles with Wind Star lifeforms using time acceleration, ten billion is my limit.
That was why he was desperately clinging to his opponent and collapsing them through continuous dimensional movement.
But the difference in divine power was so vast that a single mistake would mean death.
I’m secretly approaching through dimensional movement and winning with the shock of continuous dimensional shifts, but if I allow even one counterattack, I die. The only reason I can even activate this is thanks to the strengthened body gained from absorbing the Black Flame Authority, but no matter how I look at it, this technique is insanely dangerous. The slightest mistake and I’ll be trapped forever between dimensions, or if the enemy counters, we both die.
Damn it—! Absolute Dimensional Maneuver? The absolute unique authority of the first Creator General? Right now it’s barely hanging onto absolute-grade, let alone absolute. What kind of inefficient space authority is this? The insane divine power consumption aside, if I have to focus all my computational power and authority here, how am I supposed to attack? If the opponent holds on while we both fly around smashing into things like this, what then? Once my divine power runs out, I’ll self-destruct, won’t I? It’s so inefficient that it was even excluded from the eleventh-circle dimensional magic tome he gave me. Just die quietly already, damn it—!
Terribly enough, even under the indiscriminate continuous shocks of dimensional movement capable of pulverizing a spiritual being’s divine soul, the Wind Star wolf was stubbornly enduring with nothing but the strength of its body. The Magic God of Dimensions tore through that body, triggering partial dimensional shifts that covered him in blood as he searched for the next opponent and moved through space once more.