Redevelopment, Not Civil War
The instant the roar of the Otherworld war reached the Divine Realm, the sound of something slamming into a leather sack rang out at the exact same moment. Almost simultaneously, the giant wolf god’s flank crumpled inward as if struck by a colossal force.
“Kyaaee….”
KRRRRAAAAAASH—!
Before the wolf god could even finish its scream, its consciousness had already fled; its four legs splayed out limply. Then, as if delivering the final note, a thunderous boom that shook the entire Divine Realm followed.
GRRRRRUMBLE!
The mountain-sized giant wolf god’s body was sent flying like a mere pebble, tumbling into the distance. The sight froze the surrounding primordial war gods where they stood, bodies stiff as ice. They had suffered endlessly because of that common-sense-defying beast, yet a single strike had reduced it to this.
What was worse, something had just smashed through their encirclement with speed and power that defied all logic, and none of them had even registered its passage. Right after that breakthrough, the giant wolf god that had tormented them so badly was hurled away like a skipping stone.
Only now did the voice reach them clearly. It belonged to the Main God of the Divine Realm—the Dimensional Mage God. But this was impossible.
‘We may not have reached the Authority of Transcendence, but we are first-rate war gods.’
‘There shouldn’t be any Main God capable of movement so fast we can’t even react.’
Moreover, that strike had been so fast the impact sound only arrived after the shock. Only the rarest few war gods who had attained the Authority of Transcendence through pure physical ability and swordsmanship could manage such a feat. To display this level of destructive power while completely ignoring the laws of physics was beyond even a Main God. They had rarely witnessed it firsthand.
Even the previous Main God of the Divine Realm, who had reached the Authority of Transcendence as the Sword God, had only revealed that divine feat after an extensive preparation period. Yet the figure now standing where the wolf god had been launched, holding a simple forward punch stance with a grey robe covering even his face, was unmistakably the Dimensional Mage God, the Main God of the Divine Realm.
The situation had spiraled far beyond control. They had tried to clean everything up before he awakened, but it seemed they were too late. The primordial war gods hurriedly lowered their heads.
GOOOOOO—!
UUUUUUUUNG—!
The fighting spirit and killing intent radiating from his body were anything but ordinary. It wasn’t the Dimensional Mage God’s unique divine power or magical energy—it was the all-too-familiar fighting spirit of a war god. From long experience, they instantly recognized the danger: at this rate, they too could be sent flying in a single blow just like the wolf god.
They hastily reported the situation.
“We were suppressing the final resistance. Just a little more time and we will have them completely under control.”
“Shut your mouth—! What kind of suppression is this, handling it so crudely? Can’t you see the pitiful state of the Divine Realm?”
At the Dimensional Mage God’s sharp rebuke, the primordial war gods’ heads drooped even lower. The Divine Realm around them had almost no intact structures left. Nearly half of it lay in ruins.
‘One glance is enough to see it’s completely finished.’
The silver lining was that the lower gods below Main God rank had fled the Divine Realm the moment they sensed something catastrophic was coming, so there were almost no casualties. The other goddess lords had accepted the necessity of confining the Main Gods in the Main God Temple to prepare for the upcoming selection. They had understood the urgency and their responsibility in this state of emergency.
The real problem had been the spirit gods and spirit lords from the Otherworld. The word “confinement” sent them into a frenzy of violent resistance, and in the blink of an eye the situation had become this. When they desperately unleashed the mobile fortresses—the giant wolf god and giant snake god—to rampage outside, the Divine Realm’s collapse was instantaneous.
Only now did they truly understand why the giant wolf god had been designed as a mobile fortress for the Divine Realm’s total annihilation. It was perfectly specialized for destroying this very realm. The goddess lords, shocked by the rapid external devastation, had tried to intervene personally, but the representatives of the spirit goddess lords blocked them. In the end, even the Sage of Omniscience had stepped forward, yet she still couldn’t stop it from reaching this point.
The Otherworld spirit gods and beast lords had resisted with everything they had, tying down the Sage of Omniscience’s hands. The primordial war gods had charged in to prevent the complete devastation of the Divine Realm, but after half a day they had only managed to subdue the giant snake god. Fortunately, the wolf god had been reluctant to approach the Dimensional Mage God’s temple, so half the realm had survived. Still, the fact that the Divine Realm had been brought to the brink of destruction in merely half a day was undeniable.
They stood tense, unsure what to say, when the Dimensional Mage God let out a long sigh and made his decision.
“Pardon?”
“The Divine Realm has entered the selection process for the Main Gods who will participate in the Main God Selection. As part of that process, the old Divine Realm was demolished.”
“???”
“We smashed everything to build a new grand temple worthy of the Main Gods who will enter the Main God Temple.”
“Huhhh? With the Divine Realm half-destroyed, this is clearly a civil war. There’s no way such nonsense will—”
The God of Knowledge, standing in the corner, was so flustered by the Main God of the Divine Realm’s words that he tried to cut in. Excuses to the Main Divine Realm were supposed to be the administrator god’s job. This wasn’t the work of the Divine Realm Administrator, but a collective rebellion by the highest-ranking gods of the Round Table against the acting representative of the Main God of the Divine Realm. If the result was half the Divine Realm lying in ruins, it was naturally a civil war. No excuse would ever fly with the Main Divine Realm.
But he couldn’t finish speaking.
BAAAAAAM—!
The moment he glimpsed the blurry shadow of a fist striking his own abdomen, he was sent flying backward while coughing up blood. His consciousness cut off so abruptly it was ridiculous for a Main God.
BOOM—!
As expected, the sound of the impact against his body only arrived long after he had been launched. It was a shock that transcended sound itself, proof that the attack had far surpassed his recognition speed. Responding to an attack like that was impossible for a Main God. They couldn’t defend against something outside their perception. A single blow could not only inflict critical damage—it could kill them outright.
Even the God of Knowledge, a war god and administrator, couldn’t keep his mind intact. The Dimensional Mage God clicked his tongue as he looked at the God of Knowledge sprawled in the exact same legs-splayed posture as the wolf god he had just sent flying.
“Tsk—! It’s not a civil war. It’s redevelopment. Diplomacy and national defense are my responsibility as the Main God of the Divine Realm. And I, that very Main God, just said nothing happened. Therefore, shut up.”
“Haa?”
The primordial war gods stood with their mouths agape at the sudden outbreak of violence. For the Main God of the Divine Realm to beat a member of the Round Table was an almost unheard-of event. No, for the Dimensional Mage God—who had only ever responded mildly while observing the political situation until now—it was completely unthinkable.
Yet strangely, it felt refreshing. Satisfying, even. Looking at him now, the atmosphere had changed completely. The gloomy figure who only schemed from the shadows had been replaced by a valiant war god rampaging fearlessly on the front lines. It overlapped with the image of the previous Main God of the Divine Realm, the one who had always taken the lead. The strength of a leader who stood at the forefront, the righteous actions taken without hesitation—these things had captivated many comrades into choosing the same fated path.
Even if that light later faded, what the primordial war gods truly desired was something close to the chivalry humans spoke of. They offered their loyalty to the Main God of the Divine Realm. If that Main God was a brave powerhouse who would stand at the front and fight for the Divine Realm, they could even give their lives. Because that was the ideal of every war god.
Despite the changed atmosphere, the cold words continued. It seemed he intended to push through with brute force, framing everything as self-demolition rather than civil war.
“Has the selection of Main Gods to participate in the Main God Selection not been completed yet?”
“Yes—! Lady Gaiana and the goddess lords threw everything they had into it. They have nearly finished suppressing the spirit lords. However, some of the highest-ranking Round Table gods are still in a standoff inside the Main God Temple.”
“So it’s Lokina, Hephais, the Otherworld spirit gods, and the beast lords? Even Gaiana of the Omnipotent Clan and the Sage of Omniscience, the Origin of the Almighty Race, haven’t suppressed them yet? Don’t tell me you tried to handle them all at once instead of separately? That was never going to work. They aren’t beings who submit easily just because you overpower them with force. They would have used every trick—alliances, negotiations, flipping the board, anything—to hold out. And this is the result? It matches the worst-case scenario so perfectly it’s almost comical.”
The Dimensional Mage God had grasped the entire situation in an instant, leaving them unable to offer any excuses. Even with Gaiana, all the goddess lords, and every primordial god joining the fray, they still hadn’t managed to suppress the representatives of the spirit lords.
At the front line, Hephais—overwhelming Torina, who possessed the greatest physical ability among the goddess lords—had enlarged herself to house-size and was swinging a massive hammer, blocking all approach. No one had any countermeasure. All they could do was desperately combine their strength to hold her back. There was simply no way to defeat an absolute war god who could move compressed planets like pebbles using nothing but pure physical strength.
In fact, they couldn’t understand how a Divine Realm that possessed such a powerful war god had fallen in the first place. On top of that, Lokina was unleashing her full power from the rear, freely wielding dimensional authority and magic amplified by the Lord of the Flipside’s authority that strengthened the Main God of the Divine Realm’s own power. Once her safety was assured, she chanted without restraint, amplifying authorities that were already overwhelming and pouring them forth.
The power was so great that Gaiana, the upper-rank goddess lord of the Omnipotent Clan, and her eight goddess lords had to receive it with everything they had. When the spirit forces then sent the giant wolf god and giant snake god rampaging through the Divine Realm in a suicidal frenzy, the already desperate goddess lords were pushed even further onto the defensive.
As the damage to the Divine Realm snowballed, the honored guest—the Sage of Omniscience—finally stepped forward. The Otherworld spirit gods and beast lords had been waiting for exactly that moment. They charged in unison. Although she was the Origin of the Omnipotent Clan and could manifest every god’s ability, the authorities of these unfamiliar Otherworld deities were still outside her reach. Their combat strength and level of authority were astonishing even to the primordial war gods.
A transcendence-level Sword God swinging seven blades at once, charging with the sun’s divine power running wild. Countless arrows of divine power pouring down endlessly behind him, filling the sky. A female war god transformed into transparent wind delivering full-powered kicks that left no time to activate authorities, creating openings from every blind spot. Endlessly elongating black hair that distorted the Sage of Omniscience’s own authorities, surrounding and charging her. From behind, the earth mother goddess with her lower body transformed into a snake endlessly absorbed divine power from the land to scatter a rain of life, forcing the Sage into a full-power divine deployment state instead of pregnancy.
They had even neutralized and amplified the enraged Sage’s attack authorities using the beast lords’ elemental powers. It was a long-prepared combined assault, as meticulously composed as a painting. An artistic union attack created by repeatedly testing and refining tactics against enemies with superior abilities that could not be faced alone.
It was threatening enough to force the Sage of Omniscience to abandon offense and switch entirely to defense. The moment she did, even stronger continuous attacks pressed in without giving her a chance to breathe, endlessly draining her divine power and authorities. Tied down by a perfect combined assault designed specifically to suppress higher beings, even the Sage of Omniscience was so dumbfounded she couldn’t summon any anger. Even she would be in serious trouble if she made a single mistake.
In a battlefield where war gods wielding not only transcendence authorities but absolute ones were running wild, the primordial war gods couldn’t even provide support. Their limit had been chasing down the giant wolf god and giant snake god that were destroying the Divine Realm from outside. After half a day they had barely captured the giant snake god, pulverized its remains, and scattered them beyond the realm—yet it was already regenerating, requiring complete annihilation measures. The rampaging giant wolf god’s interference had made that impossible.
They had been grinding their teeth and chasing it down when the Dimensional Mage God, who had been in deep sleep, finally awakened.
With one punch he had silenced the giant wolf god that had tormented them with its incredible mobility, vitality, and defense. It was a clean strike utterly different from the incomprehensible magic authorities he usually wielded. Knowing exactly how much physical training and effort such a blow required, they were deeply moved.
When he sent the God of Knowledge—who had only been nagging noisily from the rear—flying with a single refreshing punch, loyalty naturally began to bloom within them.
“We’re heading to the Main God Temple.”
“Yes—!”
Listening to the vigorous replies of the primordial war gods, the Dimensional Mage God’s eyes burned with rage rather than his usual reason as he advanced toward the Main God Temple. It was the primal fury of a beast whose territory had been invaded.
Moreover, unlike a proper Mage God, he showed no awareness that he had suppressed both the wolf god and the God of Knowledge using nothing but simple fist strikes without any magic. Sending flying the highest-ranking god of the Round Table simply because he was noisy was behavior completely unlike his usual self, who only ever considered political consequences. Normally he would have issued a warning or caution and moved on.
Yet he felt no discomfort at all acting this way on reflex.
‘First, use force to suppress whatever is the most immediate problem and annoyance right in front of you.’
This was the basic behavioral pattern of the Black Flame clan that reigned supreme among war gods. He didn’t realize that the Authority of Black Flame, now settled deep in his instincts, was subtly influencing him by using the enormous irritation that had piled up as fuel. Without knowing it, he was acting in the most Black Flame-like manner possible.
“Suppress every last one of those who don’t know their place and are still acting up. With force—!”
“Yes—! Leave it to us!”
“Let’s go—!”
“Clear the path for the Main God of the Divine Realm!”
The primordial war gods, fully adapted and filled with nostalgia for their mercenary-god days at the Dimensional Mage God’s completely changed tone, excitedly raced toward the Main God Temple. Yet the Dimensional Mage God was already ahead of them, charging forward. His speed and power were impossible to associate with an administrator god. When he rammed straight into the front gate of the Main God Temple with his own body, the others froze involuntarily.
GOOOOOOONG!
KWAAAAAAAANG!
The sight of the still-pristine front gate being completely obliterated made even the primordial war gods swallow hard. The atmosphere of smashing the gate of one’s own Main God Temple to enter was exactly like the vanguard of an all-out decisive invasion. Admiration rose unbidden.
“He came out of closed-door training and turned completely hot-blooded. At this rate, though… will anything be left of the Divine Realm?”
“Still, I like it. Political considerations were starting to give me a headache.”
“We have to carry out the Main God Selection properly too. I don’t know what kind of honor this is supposed to be.”
“Kuk kuk—! Yeah, if we do it right, we might finally find a place to be honorably annihilated after all this time.”
“Will we even get the chance? Look at how many powerful Main Gods are charging even at the Sage of Omniscience, the Origin of the Omnipotent Clan.”
“You saw those powerful goddess lords of the Goddess Alliance with their transcendence authorities struggling pathetically against just two spirit lords, right? The other spirit lords were no pushovers either.”
“After the Main God Selection, the Divine Realm will be overflowing with such powerful Main Gods. Is this even possible for the same Divine Realm that used to hand over half its vitality to the Demon Realm?”
“It’s changed so much. For the better. There’s real meaning in living as a god of the Divine Realm now.”
For some reason, smiles naturally rose on the faces of the primordial war gods. Although half the Divine Realm had been smashed to pieces and they had been on the verge of mutual destruction, the overwhelming strength displayed by the Dimensional Mage God filled them with absolute conviction that it wouldn’t end that way.
Moreover, seeing him smash even the front gate of his own Main God Temple in his rage, it didn’t seem like he would hold anyone accountable no matter how wildly they rampaged. It was a refreshing feeling they hadn’t experienced in a very, very long time.