The Tyrant's Shadow
The Hero God who had been protesting so vehemently finally left the room, but the conflict between the Magic God of Dimensions and Grey showed no signs of easing. In truth, neither of them had paid the slightest attention to the words of a mere Lower God from the very beginning.
From the Magic God of Dimensions' perspective, while he could admit the creature possessed remarkable talent, once someone became part of the divine race they had to start from the very bottom as the lowest-ranked deity. Yet here he was—already the Main God of the Highest Creator Realm, receiving the full support of an entire divine realm. The gap in talent is already beyond comparison. On top of that, having passed the Eternal Judgment with a title and ascended to Creator God status, there is simply no possibility he could ever surpass me.
The only reason he had beaten the Former War God back in the early days was mild personal resentment. There will be plenty of opportunities to repay him properly later.
Even if he tried to move to another divine realm, no one would accept a god born from lowly human stock. Becoming a mercenary god would mean preparing for near-certain annihilation. So he could not leave. Which meant the real problem standing before him right now was his own future self.
He had no idea from which timeline this version had been manifested, but the bastard had clearly grown into an utterly vicious personality. Killing every living thing in sight and harvesting their vitality as faith? Not even the worst dark gods pulled stunts like that. His infamy would spread like wildfire.
Above all, he needed to draw a clear line here and now. If things continued this way, he would be dragged along helplessly and fail completely.
“I am the Main God of this realm. What I do with my star and my divine realm is entirely my business. You’re Grey, so why don’t you stick to managing your territory in the Absolute Realm? Most of the requests I’ve received are under my jurisdiction anyway, so I will decide both the method and the outcome.”
But the reply that came back was ice-cold.
“Pfft—! Trying to thrash around and self-destruct again? I already tried that. It didn’t work. And you think a mere Creator Candidate like you can stand against the Black Flame Absolute? Also, if you’re under the delusion that killing your past self would erase your future self so I can’t touch you, let me correct that misconception right now. You should have a rough idea of what a Mage God’s future manifestation actually is, right? It ignores all common sense and only implements the result. That’s precisely why it’s so overwhelmingly powerful. Therefore, even if you die, as long as the Mage God’s path continues to be realized, I will still exist. Curious why I’m so different from the past version of myself? Why I’m trying to judge you without giving you even a chance? Fine, I’ll say it plainly—I am you, one week from now, in a timeline where the Origin of the Mage God has not yet intervened.”
A vicious killing intent and hatred radiated from Grey. This was not the atmosphere of the current self, but of a cold, cruel ruler.
“Hehehe—! Want to find out what kind of mess you’ll be in shortly?”
There were many things he still didn’t understand, but one fact had become crystal clear. His future self, despite being treated as the lowest-ranked member among the 10 Mainstays—receiving nothing but contempt and never even acknowledged as the youngest—had become a tyrant.
“Hey, you. Want to know what kind of state you’ll be in soon…? Ahahaha! It’s fine to tell him, isn’t it? With a mental state like this, no amount of help will do any good anyway.”
“Shut your mouth. Both of you are utterly hopeless.”
The moment the Origin of the Mage God spoke with clear killing intent, Grey—who had been about to spill more about the future—suddenly broke into a cold sweat and forced an awkward smile.
He had momentarily forgotten. The Origin of the Mage God was by no means a gentle person. No, a god who chose even magic power itself as nothing more than a tool could never be normal. Realizing that forgetting what happened when this being’s temper exploded had been a grave mistake, he quickly shut up.
The Origin of the Mage God, who had been quietly watching the entire exchange, suddenly pulled a wooden sword from somewhere. Of course, it was the Sword of Ruin and Soul that enforced the rule of non-killing. The problem was that the blade was caked with thick layers of dried blood. The fact that he had given up on cleaning it suggested it had absorbed so much that no amount of wiping would help. And the divine power radiating from those bloodstains was absolutely not below 1,000 trillion.
In other words, it meant he had indiscriminately beaten beings who possessed over 1,000 trillion in divine power.
The target was obvious.
“This is the first time I’ve had to do this since training my direct disciples. That guy kept blabbering about being a free spirit, refused to see his descendants, and charged at me saying he didn’t want to look at his own bloodline. Right in front of his grandfathers, no less. You two really have no manners either. How dare you release killing intent in front of your elders? And what nonsense were you spouting just now? Which Mage God would let his emotions run wild and say things that could negatively affect the outcome? It must be our clumsy little Grey here. Do you really want to become the self-destructing Mage God that badly? Well, looking at the results so far, self-destruction has proven more effective than dimensional manipulation, so maybe I should just modify you accordingly?”
“Ahahaha! I will only do as you command and assist my past self. So please, I beg you, put that thing away. Ow—! It hurts! If you keep hitting only my head like this, my computational power might decrease. I’m telling you, regular training is far more effective now!”
“I’m doing this for your own good. When will you ever come to your senses and do your part? This isn’t even raising a direct descendant, yet it requires this much effort?”
Though it sounded like exaggeration and joking, it was completely serious. After the erased version of himself had been re-manifested, he had been educated until he grew accustomed to a body containing 1,000 trillion in divine power. Whenever he made a mistake or progressed too slowly, before he even realized it, the tip of the wooden sword would already be pressing against his forehead and spinning. Each time the Sword of Ruin and Soul pressed firmly against his forehead and rotated, it felt like blood would burst out, but the force was exquisitely controlled to transmit only impact to the brain, accelerating his thought processes.
It was the Wind Family’s unique style of combining corporal punishment with training. Extremely effective for ability enhancement, but the pain was beyond excessive.
If my brain is forcibly accelerated like this, even the lowest-ranked among the 10 Mainstays would be too ashamed to speak. At that point, it would be better to just vomit blood while training normally.
Yet there was no escaping this discipline. The basic ability of the Wind Family granted the power of a War God and Fighting God ranked second in the Absolute Realm across all fields. On top of that, as the Origin of the Mage God, he possessed additional authorities. There was simply no countermeasure for a lower-ranked Mage God. He was even more troublesome than the Black Flame Absolute.
And because the Lower God who had just been acting arrogantly had vanished, preventing him from disciplining that one, the Origin of the Mage God seemed even more irritated and struck harder. His head felt like it was going to spin off.
“Magic God of Dimensions! How on earth do you manage your subordinates that you let a mere Lower God spout such nonsense in public? How does a freshly ascended lowest-ranked god dare challenge a Creator Candidate-level Main God? Just watching you makes my insides burn. Explain yourself—!”
“I believed that as an ideal Main God, if I loved and respected my subordinates as if they were myself, they would eventually understand and reciprocate. If that didn’t work, at the very least, once they recognized my usefulness we could at least maintain mutual respect… Hngh—!”
Watching his future self get hit by the Sword of Ruin and Soul sent chills down the Magic God of Dimensions’ spine. He stammered out an answer, but it clearly wasn’t the one the Origin of the Mage God wanted. The same sword that had been spinning against Grey’s forehead was now pressed firmly against his own.
“This one’s lost his mind too. Are there two immature brats here? When will they ever grow up? And you—did you only learn subordinate management from books? What do you mean by mutual respect? Love your subordinates like your own body? In the worst case, gain recognition of your usefulness? In what lifetime? An ideal Main God loved and respected by everyone? How many beings like that even exist? And you, a clueless rookie who just became a Main God, chose that path? Above all, how can your subordinates understand thoughts and feelings you yourself aren’t even certain about? If you can’t be sure of yourself, your resolve will waver midway, and what will you do when you have to change methods like this? It won’t just torment you—it will destroy everyone around you. Instead, if you start with a clear give-and-take relationship, you can withstand some fluctuation. But if you only give and then suddenly stop, do you think your subordinates will stay quiet? Are you a Main God or a slave? This is exactly why, instead of being respected as a Main God, you were merely used and then betrayed. That’s enough for now. I’ll educate you on this slowly later. You’ll only understand once you experience it yourself, so words are unnecessary. By the way, that arrogant little Lower God who was just running his mouth—is he from that human race on the star below?”
“Ah—! Yes, that is correct.”
The Origin of the Mage God turned his gaze toward the Creation Star below. He could sense roughly five hundred billion humans. Although the quality of their vitality was low, the fact that such a population could be managed on a single planet truly proved it was worthy of being called a Main God Star.
Thanks to that, irregular beings occasionally appeared. But forgiveness was impossible. For the lowest-ranked god to speak rudely and challenge the strongest active Mage God in reality was an unacceptable situation.
Once authority collapsed, it was extremely difficult to restore. He could now fully understand how the Black Flame Absolute had felt during the Eternal Judgment when he had caused such a scene.
Therefore, he declared to all of humanity living on the Creation Star.
“There is no being capable of safely opposing the public actions of a Main God except for gods of Main God rank or higher. However, the human-born Hero God, while still a Lower God, publicly issued inflammatory opposition against the Main God without following proper procedure. This is an act of treason that threatens the safety of the divine realm, which is maintained by the divine race’s recognition of the Main God’s absolute authority, order, and hierarchy. Nevertheless, holding a being who has only just become a Lower God fully accountable would be cruel, and since it likely stems from the nature of his original species, responsibility cannot be placed entirely on the individual. Therefore, I shall impose a one-month curse of infertility upon the entire human race from which he originates as punishment. Furthermore, if they fail to produce results satisfactory to the Main God during the selection process, they shall all be disposed of.”
“Huk—! Shouldn’t you be less harsh than me? Also, directly intervening in reality like this will cause you problems, won’t it? You are bound by karma in the real world.”
“Origin—! You must not kill off the species with the largest number of sentient beings. Moreover, we need to preserve them for the upcoming request.”
The moment his declaration ended, the Origin of the Mage God casually cast the curse of infertility upon all five hundred billion humans.
Watching the scene, Grey wore a dumbfounded expression while the Magic God of Dimensions looked utterly horrified. The Origin of the Mage God answered them in a businesslike tone.
“There is no need for such concern. An intervention of this scale is trivial compared to the contributions I have made to the Absolute Realm so far. Therefore, even if I destroyed several Main God Stars, my absolute good karma would not change, and Grandfather Truth would not punish me. It is a loss, but I shall use this much for the sake of a lower-ranked Mage God. And Magic God of Dimensions, I am a blood relative of Truth who upholds non-killing as our creed. Therefore, there shall be no massacre or judgment. I am simply accelerating the flow of time on that planet—applying one second of real time as one hundred years—while the curse of infertility remains active. Only those strong enough to endure and survive a full one hundred years of aging will be selected. This is precisely why living beings were originally given limited lifespans. I am merely executing it normally using your authority over dimensions.”
“Aaaaaagh—! I am a Mage God, not a dark god! I want to be loved rather than feared… Ack!”
The moment the Magic God of Dimensions panicked and blurted out what was truly in his heart, the punishment immediately descended.
WHAM—!CRASH—!
Struck squarely in the head by the mercilessly swung Sword of Ruin and Soul, the Magic God of Dimensions was slammed straight into the ground. The Origin of the Mage God, not even hiding his fury, roared.
“Shut up, you fool! This is exactly why you ended up thrashing around alone and dying! It’s embarrassing for both me and Grey who stepped in to stop or mitigate it! And if you want to be loved so badly, why didn’t you just date someone? If being a Main God could be done with love alone, who would suffer through it? A Main God’s fundamental duty is to exclude emotion, judge what is wrong, select the excellent, accept the sacrifice of subordinates, and drive progress. Being loved by everyone means you cannot issue compulsory orders to all your subordinates. Therefore, if a Main God is loved by every member of the divine race, that divine realm will either stagnate or collapse. That is why the most necessary thing for a Main God is unshakable authority, and that authority comes from decisive punishment for wrongdoing. But your weak heart will reject that, won’t it? Then let me ask you, Magic God of Dimensions.”
“Ughhh—! Yes…”
The Magic God of Dimensions staggered to his feet, his face horribly contorted. As expected, they are not my enemies. Both his future self Grey and the Origin of the Mage God were pushing this matter forward. As the lowest-ranked among the 10 Mainstays, they were the only allies he had—forced to handle all the dirty work ordered by Truth, despite the fact that he himself had broken taboos by reviving or imprisoning spiritual beings forbidden to Main Gods.
They didn’t tell him the exact details about the future, but he could more or less guess. Just how miserably his future self had met his end, and that the time remaining until that point was not long.
I can understand why they are acting so forcefully to change that outcome. But I still cannot accept their methods.
If he followed this approach, he would no longer be himself. It would be the same as denying everything he had endured through countless battles to reach this point.
“Fate cannot be changed. It is determined by one’s own disposition and surrounding environment, so it will inevitably turn out that way. However, the result can be delayed or weakened. What is that?”
“Do I really have to answer? You’re being cruel.”
“Shall I naturally cull not only that human race that showed me disrespect, but all the other sentient beings as well? It would only take two seconds to produce a good result.”
“No. I will answer immediately.”