Granraha's Maturation and the Clash Between Past and Future

The new Main God Star Granraha, floating in the void of the Otherworld War, appears to halt for a single instant. Yet that is nothing more than a reactive flicker caused by time flowing far too quickly. No—it was the definitive sign that the planet had fully submitted to the authority of dimensions.

A long, drawn-out saaaaaarrrrrk—like the sound of an apple peel being stripped away—echoes in the ears of every being in the Divine Realm and all those watching from afar. In truth, the transparent membrane enveloping the planet was turning translucent before vanishing ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠completely.

The faces of the primordial War Gods and Goddesses who had once fought the previous Main God Star to the death turned deathly pale at the sight.

In the past, piercing that same barrier on an upper-rank Main God Star had cost them half the entire military strength of the Divine Realm just to create a small hole. A planet is a single, colossal complete lifeform. Though it lacks higher-dimensional thought, it possesses its own defense system and excludes every external stimulus or threat except the lifeforms it itself generates.

Even if a god from outside claims to protect and manage the planet to let life flourish, from the planet’s perspective they are merely foreign matter. It will charge at them with full force to eliminate them. Only after suppressing that resistance and authenticating the Divine Realm to the planet’s core does vitality begin to flow. That was why they had no choice but to be desperate.

Of course, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠even now that the planet is under the management and protection of the Divine Realm, that reaction remains. This is precisely why gods or dark gods who descend directly onto a planet consume more than ninety percent of their divine power.

Yet right now that barrier was vanishing completely. It meant the dimensional authority had utterly overpowered the highest-tier Main God Star’s self-defense and cognition.

At this rate, the gods will be able to exert their full strength even on the planet’s surface.

But if such a thing were easily possible, the gods would never have chosen to break through directly at the cost of such sacrifices. The established theory was that spiritual beings had no choice but forceful breakthrough when facing the ego or defense system of a complete-lifeform planet.

The dimensional authority, however, ignored all of that and placed it under total control. It was an act that defied even the common sense of the gods.

Perceiving the bewilderment on the high gods’ faces and the confused wills of every living being, the future Magic God of Dimensions continued his work in silence.

Kwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaang—!

The planet’s surface suddenly convulsed and began to move. The irregularly curved and warped terrain flattened out. Mountain ranges of impossible height and valleys like endless cliffs sank and filled. Even continent-sized boulders flew about as if alive, rearranging themselves. In the blink of an eye, a single vast circular continent took shape across the planet’s surface.

Shwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaak—!

An astronomical volume of water poured down from the void above the planet. It filled the space around the newly formed circular continent like a sea. Within the continent itself, bodies of blue water appeared everywhere and began to flow.

The faces of the Transcendents watching the scene twisted in utter horror. They no longer had the capacity to be shocked by an authority that could remodel an entire star. The sight of the Main God Star’s surface floating in the void was simply too familiar.

They knew it all too well—the surface of the planet they lived on, sustained by will alone after transcending the limits of the flesh. It was identical to the Creation Star of Dimensions where they resided.

It made the owner of this planet unmistakably clear.

Radiant light burst from the Divine Realm and poured onto the star that now possessed both sea and continent. That light was no ordinary radiance. It carried the origins of life—souls of every living being waiting for reincarnation in the underworld—cheering as they raced toward their new home. A silver moon vibrated, emitting vitality to aid their sprouting.

The expanded planetary surface was soon thickly covered in green moss, then grass, then trees.

Groans and gasps of pure astonishment erupted from gods, Transcendents, and every single being present. The process had been completed in an instant, yet it normally took tens of thousands of years. One mistake could easily reset everything back to an uninhabitable primordial state. Yet the planet had been turned into a fully habitable world in mere minutes, as if it were a casual game.

This was impossible with mere divine power. The authority itself had to be specialized in this domain. It was a sight so shocking that no Creator God could replicate it.

And then the changes began to accelerate even further.

Watching the scene, the Magic God of Dimensions finally shouted in restraint.

This was supposed to end here. It could not be allowed to go further.

But the future Magic God of Dimensions ignored the warning and continued without pause.

The planet’s surface trembled. The ground split open as gigantic lifeforms of grotesque shape roared into existence. Some resembled reptiles, others insects. The smaller ones were hundreds of meters long, while the largest rivaled mountain ranges. These colossal beings appeared across the continent and began shrieking toward the Divine Realm.

The planet’s rebellious will, thick with hostility, transmitted itself directly. These were beings that had evolved to the absolute limit as single organisms in order to protect the planet.

"Have the Giant Race appeared? What about the Titan Race?"

As expected, human-shaped figures began appearing everywhere. The only difference was their size—far beyond anything a human could imagine—and their beast-like appearance devoid of reason.

Yet these mountain-sized lifeforms immediately began emitting savage auras, devouring and fighting one another. The gods’ thought processes accelerated rapidly at the sight. By consuming each other and absorbing only the superior specimens, the Titan Race and Dragon Race would eventually emerge. This was the final form of the complete lifeform planet’s autonomous defense system.

It was something they had already experienced once. Only by completely suppressing and eliminating them could one reach the planet’s core. The planet’s near-perfect defensive barrier was absurd, but it weakened at the moment of its greatest prosperity.

The moment it expends enormous vitality to create the Titan Race and Dragon Race is the perfect opportunity to fully authenticate the Divine Realm.

Of course, defeat meant total annihilation and having to start over.

The Magic God of Dimensions clicked his tongue as he watched the giant monsters devour and be devoured. He had budgeted an entire month just for environmental shaping, never imagining his future self would complete even the tens-of-thousands-of-years maturation process in mere minutes.

Moreover, it seemed his future self was far more of a perfectionist than he was. The plan to create only the minimum viable environment and proceed gradually had collapsed. The planet had now fully matured and ripened.

If they missed this window, the matured planetary ego might awaken and reject the Divine Realm outright. Resetting it would then be necessary, but the gap in ability between himself and his future self was so vast that it would take far too long.

Above all, once the ranking war ended and Gold arrived, it would be over. He could not afford to miss this groundbreaking chance to strengthen his forces.

A collective shudder ran through the gods who heard the declaration.

No Creator God could create a Main God Star and mature it this easily. Even though it was the future Magic God of Dimensions, they had just witnessed a Main God Star capable of elevating its master to Chief God of the God Realm reach full maturity in mere minutes.

Though the current Magic God of Dimensions, a mere Creator Candidate, could not compare to the future Grey, he had proven he could mass-produce Main God Stars at a speed no ordinary Creator God could dream of.

Moreover, if even a planet’s barrier could be neutralized so thoroughly by dimensional authority, then on the planetary surface there would be no need to fear even the once-invincible Titan Race.

They were the Divine Race, rulers of the Main Universe. The chance to become Chief God of the God Realm stood right before them.

The gods bowed deeply and immediately moved toward the Main God Star. Battles between monsters and gods erupted across the planetary surface. No matter how powerful the monsters’ bodies were, they could not match the gods who could now exert their full strength thanks to the dimensional authority.

With the Main God of the revived Titan Race fully armed and reinforcing their power, the gods achieved complete suppression.

The Magic God of Dimensions had kept The Tower of Babylonia Does Not Fall and Stands in the Sky active, broadcasting every scene across the void. Yet his incantation was not yet finished.

This time the future Magic God of Dimensions directed his divine power toward the Creation Star of Dimensions beneath the God Realm. Sun-like divine power surged from the Divine Realm and locked onto its target. Once activated, every living being on the planet would perish and the world would reset. It was the fire of judgment that burned evil—the strongest authority of the Divine Race that no living being could possibly evade. It had originally existed for exactly this purpose.

Baaaaang—!

Crackle—!

But the authority was canceled mid-activation. A mass of compressed black magic power shaped into a perfect hexahedron performed a dimensional shift, disrupting the future Magic God of Dimensions’ incantation and shaking his body.

At the Magic God of Dimensions’ furious voice, the future Magic God of Dimensions instantly recovered from the backlash of the interrupted incantation and the physical jolt. He spoke in a frigid tone.

The response to his well-meaning advice meant to awaken him from foolishness was utterly scathing.

He was the form of the Magic God of Dimensions who had become Grey—an existence that should not be possible in the future. Brought into being through the great reality denial of the Origin of the Mage God, he was an impossible entity.

Defeated by Almighty ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Hwi, his body slain and bound to the Spirit Realm, he had been judged by Gold. Even now, Gold’s voice echoed in his ears.

Thus every trace of his existence had been erased by Gold, and the rest of the 10 Mainstays had naturally agreed. He held no resentment. It had been a disgrace worthy of such a fate.

Yet he could never forgive Origin, who had tracked him down as he tried to flee to the Otherworld using dimensional authority with only his soul barely preserved by the power of the Origin title, and finished him off.

Origin’s authority was the only destructive force capable of surpassing Origin’s own life force. He had not lasted long. No power could evade Origin’s Always Coin Heads. Even as he had struggled pathetically, begging for the continued existence of his soul, he who had ultimately been erased could not accept it.

It was the Origin of the Mage God who denied the erased reality by defying time and space in that miserable final moment and manifested me like this. I have been given another chance.

In exchange, the Origin had remained in a reality more hollow than hell itself, making an enormous sacrifice by intervening, yet he showed no sign of it and simply continued to protect him as the Origin.

This time, he would eliminate Origin—the only one capable of erasing him by surpassing the power of the Origin title. No, simply making the 10 Mainstays realize he was not an existence to be disregarded would be purpose enough for this life.

Yet this foolish past self of mine is still bound by human emotions.

Even though tomorrow he would die, the day after he would be annihilated, and after that erased, he still felt sympathy for living beings who would die anyway and tried to help them—interfering with him.

But to him, who had already been erased and then reimplemented, this was an unforgivable luxury and hypocrisy.

Should I just kill and erase him with my own hands? It might be better than watching him suffer such disgrace and humiliation. It seems far more likely that I alone could find a way to kill Origin and repay the debt. I cannot work with this idiot.

Saaaaaaaaah—!

When the future Magic God of Dimensions released a killing intent different from anything before, the very air seemed to freeze solid. Yet the current Magic God of Dimensions’ eyes, burning with fighting spirit, did not waver. On the contrary, he drew forth even more divine and magical power, summoning countless masses of magic to stand in his future self’s way.

If his future self moved solely for the purpose of ‘Harvest,’ then as the current Chief God of the God Realm he had to stop him. Even if he could never hope to match him.

Thus a confrontation unfolded: the future Magic God of Dimensions insisting on the total-annihilation ‘Harvest,’ while the current Magic God of Dimensions insisted on ‘Selection,’ in which more than half would survive.

Watching the scene in utter bewilderment, not knowing what to do, was the Hero God. He had been left alone in the Main God Temple after most of the gods departed to suppress the monsters on the Main God Star. Even his direct superior, the Platinum Divine Dragon Erendra, had rushed off to attack the monsters. With nothing else to rely on, he clutched his divine sword tightly and poured out frantic questions.

It was the former hero, now the Hero God, being forcibly transported through space to the Main God Star by his own divine sword.