The Burden of Absolute Power
Having declared the opening of the Otherworld War, he gazed at the spirit deities of the Otherworld. They could not even dare to resist; their mouths remained clamped shut in defeat.
They cannot even attempt to break the suppression. It was only natural. They did not even understand how they had been subdued in the first place. Only after witnessing those who had once defied him, who had tried to stand above their own contractor, now rendered utterly silent, did the truth finally sink in.
I have become strong. Not completely, perhaps, but all the patience and endurance were worth it.
How many long years had he spent biting back his frustration because he lacked the confidence to subdue them completely? No, he could not fight them with full strength anyway. He needed them to properly exercise his creative power. Honestly, if they had all rushed him at once, he would have been forced to flee. Moreover, as a Main God level Mage God, facing five Elemental Lord Gods who wielded transcendent authorities specialized in close-quarters combat was simply too much.
After watching and waiting for the perfect moment, I have finally established my dignity as their contractor. No, I have overwhelmed them.
It was a moment so profound that tears threatened to spill, yet he held them back. The Sage of Omniscience stood before him, observing him with wide, startled eyes. He had barely shaped the board to this point. Just a little more and it would be nearly perfect. The time to repay the Origin of the Mage God, who had forged him into this strength, was drawing near.
The thirty thousand years of hardship that had already passed now felt like sweet memories as he looked upon the dazed faces of the Otherworld’s spirit deities, all subdued by his hand. At this point, even the price demanded by complete revival through reality denial no longer mattered. No, it felt ridiculous to even concern himself with the rewards he had already received. His resolve hardened around a single thought: he must live up to expectations with everything he had.
Even during the final stages of that brutally harsh forced training, though he had eventually lost consciousness, the results had been impossibly sweet.
Wooooooooong—!
Control over his body gradually returned. The authority that had activated on its own had judged the battle over. Fortunately, the Incomprehensible Eight Founders was not a vicious power like the Black Flame, which eroded one’s sanity and burned it as fuel. It was content merely to protect the body rather than seize it.
Thank the heavens. With the Black Flame settled deep in my instincts, I already cannot afford to lower my guard. If an authority I cannot handle were to rampage on top of that tension, it would truly be the end. As expected, the Wind Family is far easier to deal with than the Black Flame. But this support is so overwhelmingly strong it’s driving me insane.
When another authority seized the body, computational power and cognitive ability naturally declined. Yet right now his senses and perception had grown so razor-sharp it was almost painful. He could perceive everything around him. The breathing, the muscle movements of every being hostile to him, even the tiniest fluctuations in their authorities and the direction of their will, all transmitted to him instantly.
He could now discern in minute detail how the Sage of Omniscience’s powerful body and magical energy fused together and targeted both him and the Otherworld spirit deities—something that had been invisible to him before. He could even automatically grasp the position and exact degree of power of the Demon God King who stood above him.
These maximally expanded and reinforced senses connected directly to his body, moving in conditioned, reflexive ways beyond his control, yet no one had died. Though weaker than him, a Creator Candidate, they were numerous Main Gods who possessed not only transcendent authorities but absolute-level ones as well.
I, their contractor, know better than anyone that the spirit deities of the Otherworld are not the sort who would be subdued so easily and suppressed like this. And yet I have suffered no damage whatsoever.
To subdue them so effortlessly while leaving them almost uninjured was astounding. Yet seeing them completely overpowered, unable to do anything or even entertain thoughts of resistance, confirmed that this was indeed an absolute authority. Still, a deep unease crept over him. No matter how docile and helpful it seemed, it was a power he could not control. Sooner or later, it would cause problems.
Is the Incomprehensible Eight Founders an authority of the battlefield specialized in reason, unlike the Black Flame that runs wild on pure killing intent and fighting spirit? It subdues without killing. In the past, among the 10 Mainstays, the Black Flame would take the vanguard, but the Wind Family usually delivered the finishing blow. If the enemy had to die, the Black Flame struck. If they needed to be captured, the Wind Family took over. As a new and minority force, their priority was recruitment, so the Wind Family bore the brunt of the fighting. In that war they subdued the majority of their enemies without killing or annihilating them, turning them into allies, and eventually claimed the entire Absolute Realm intact.
Therefore, is the Incomprehensible Eight Founders an absolute authority whose fundamental purpose is capture—to subdue enemies on a battlefield ruled by death and annihilation, turning both weak and strong into allies? Subduing is naturally far more difficult than killing. Yet that is its default? What an arrogantly confident absolute authority. Will I truly be able to control this?
His thoughts grew increasingly tangled, yet he forced his body upright. Because the superior authority had been controlling his flesh, its release left him with a faint sense of alienation. Then he noticed something was wrong.
Control over both hands has been stolen again, just for an instant!
They moved as though they belonged to someone else. Joints and muscles bent and contracted in bizarre, unrestricted ways, generating irregular waves.
Crack! Crunch! Snap!
His arms and muscles screamed at movements they had never known. The result appeared immediately. The target of those arms was the two Otherworld spirit deities he was suppressing. The moment he had regained bodily control, they must have spotted an opening and tried to act.
A scream tore from his throat involuntarily. He knew exactly what this was. It would be absurd if he did not after experiencing it himself.
No—! Stop—! These beings do not possess regenerative ability on the level of mine, who bears the title of Origin. If my contracted deities are injured because of me, I will have to heal them with my own vitality in the end.
Rip! Crackle! Crunch!
But there was no mercy. The sounds of twisting muscle and tearing tendon filled the air. He did not know what secret art triggered it, but its power was horrific. Even those venomous goddesses screamed.
“Kyaaaaack—!”
“Aaaaagh—!”
With those wretched cries, their bodies went completely limp. Yet even that was not enough. Something seemed to suck their entire forms inward as they clung tightly to his arms, wrapping around them. The hands that had pinned their arms and legs now gripped their slender throats and slammed them back to the ground.
His awareness had blacked out again midway; it seemed he had performed movements beyond what he could consciously handle. It looked as if he were embracing the two Otherworld spirit deities tightly against his whole body, one in each arm, but the scene was anything but romantic.
Upon closer inspection, in a single instant he had twisted and nearly destroyed every muscle, tendon, and joint they possessed. Fortunately their level was low, so it only dealt damage, but the sheer viciousness of the power is terrifying.
Yet one thing remained incomprehensible. As a Mage God, he could not fathom how mere muscle and joint manipulation could produce such results. Of course, this kind of ruined body was intimately familiar. During forced training, no matter how desperately he tried to avoid it, the moment he counterattacked with kill-or-be-killed resolve, he would end up exactly like this and be sent flying countless times.
The Origin of the Mage God who performed the technique had perfectly mastered every secret art of the Wind Family. That was why he himself had rolled across the ground in even more horrific, octopus-like shapes far worse than this.
A faint, hallucination-like voice seemed to echo from somewhere.
The most basic defensive counter of the Wind Family
“Graaaaaagh—! W-what did you say?”
“It is the most basic defensive secret technique of the Wind Family.”
“And that matters because…?”
“It is the Wind Family’s absolute secret art for instantly organizing annoyances that possess immortal, undying, or indomitable bodies and charge endlessly. A single defense converts every enemy attack into a counter-strike that completely shatters them. Once you master it fully, you need not strike unnecessarily to subdue. In fact, attack itself becomes unnecessary.”
“Agh—! Who asked for any of that? I don’t understand a thing and I’m dying from the pain!”
“Tsk—! How dare you!”
Thooooomp—!
His still-somewhat-intact forehead was struck, sending fresh agony surging through him. His already shattered body rolled helplessly across the ground. Having endured so much, it seemed his muscles and joints could still move even when broken. As he tumbled in pain, he protested with the only weapon left to him—his mouth.
“Oooooow—! You’ve already smashed my entire body! Where is there left to hit?!”
“To think you can still speak properly in that state proves the training is progressing nicely. My direct disciples burned with desire to learn the absolute secret art that could instantly render their overwhelmingly powerful bodies combat-incapable. They naturally threw themselves into full training. So why is your reaction so pathetic? The Whole Body Wave Strike is among the greatest defensive counter-techniques even among the countless absolute authorities, unrivaled in the physical domain. It appears simple, yet by moving the entire body to generate special waves and power, it returns any contact attack and pulverizes the enemy’s body using the attacker’s own force. And because the destruction is caused by the enemy’s own power, no defense can stop it. It is one of the ultimates capable of perfectly defending even against the body and combat instincts of the Black Flame, which can only be the strongest because it is a mad beast. Does this not tempt you? Do you not wish to become stronger than anyone?”
At those words he suppressed the pain for a moment and answered. Back then he had frantically tried to change the course of this forced training. As a Mage God, raising his computational power and authorities naturally required broader knowledge and meditative internalization. Yet all this so-called forced training did was beat him senseless, so he understood nothing. Besides, he needed at least some feel for it before he could even feel greedy; it was not something he could simply do.
When I tried to attack, I saw the Origin of the Mage God’s body tremble faintly, and then it immediately ended up like this.
In childhood he had naturally learned some body-related fundamentals, but the Root School ultimately focused on evasion and escape. It emphasized speed and reflexes enhanced by mage aura to maximize evasion. Generally, however, a mage on the battlefield struggled even to protect his own body while manifesting spells and chanting. Possessing knight-level speed and evasion while casting high-tier magic at the front lines was enough to dominate any battlefield. But that was the limit.
How could I possibly raise physical ability when I’m already busy raising my circles?
Moreover, physical training and high-level computational training produced strong opposing side effects, so progress halted at a certain point.
How could I possibly understand such advanced bodily manipulation?
It was like showing a newly initiated mage a 10th Circle spell and telling him to master it. Above all, he sensed it. This was a treasure his own talent could never obtain.
At that time, quick surrender and choosing another path was wiser. Approaching the sweet fruit near the World Tree often ended with one becoming a pincushion for arrows. He had learned early that the sweeter the fruit, the more terrible the price. Giving up was the correct answer.
“That is because I, a Mage God, cannot learn it. Since there is no hope of mastering such an absolute martial secret of the war gods, please teach me magic instead. What even is this situation?”
“Ugh—! We are simply entering forced training. For a Mage God to endure the close-combat assaults of top-tier transcendent war gods, this is indispensable.”
“W-wait! War gods? Why plural? I was only supposed to serve as bait for the Black Flame…”
“Silence—!”
Something about the words felt wrong, so he protested, but it was already too late. He tried to shake off the goddess whose body was still wrapped around his arm from the aftermath of the Whole Body Wave Strike, yet his hands slipped control once more. No, the grip only tightened, restraining her even more firmly.
Even after being reduced to this state, the Otherworld spirit deities were still judged capable of counterattacking. Control returned to every part of his body except the minimum required to maintain suppression, yet the situation was absurd. It only performed the exact role needed to compensate for his lacking close-combat ability and prevent mistakes, but the sensation was even more alien than the rampaging Black Flame. No, it recognized the situation more accurately than his own conscious mind and moved his body with superior reflexive precision, leaving him deeply unsettled.
Even after losing consciousness and ending up like this, they believe counterattack remains possible? Well, they are no ordinary stubborn bunch. Still, this is truly vicious. It feels as if three completely different versions of myself are inside my body. Or four? How am I supposed to organize this?
In the end, he moved while still in that state. The bodies of the two female lord gods of the Otherworld, necks gripped in his hands, hung unconscious while their arms and legs remained wrapped around his own. Their extremely trained yet softly undulating breasts and firm abdomens pressed tightly against his arms, jiggling with every step. Beneath the robes covering their faces, however, their tightly pressed lips showed no emotion whatsoever.
It was only half a day of neglect. Yet the Divine Realm has been reduced to half its former state. The rampaging Main Gods are a problem, but the Lower Gods who abandoned the Divine Realm without the slightest hesitation, fleeing with only their own bodies, are an even greater one. Had they offered even minimal resistance despite their limited power, that dog bastard and the snake bastard could not have run so wild. They had their own temples; simply defending would have sufficed. Instead they all fled in panic. In the end, with these alone, we cannot participate in the Main God Battle.