The Arrogance of Absolute Power
The Otherworld War left the Magic God of Dimensions scanning his surroundings with eyes full of suspicion. He checked once more, but when nothing changed, his expression shifted to one of understanding.
“I figured becoming a Creator God would at least draw out a few other Creator Gods. Ah—! Right. I just became one, so I don’t have the connections yet. Or maybe my sudden promotion has shaken up my existing ties with the Main Gods? That’s why you shouldn’t outpace others too recklessly when climbing the ladder.”
“What are you even talking about?”
The Creative Sword of Radiance stood frozen, momentarily unable to grasp the meaning. A storm of scolding slammed into his ears.
“Ugh, come on! You died at the hands of the successor to the Creator General of the 500th Master Universe and got resurrected, right? And even though you’re one of the highest-ranking Mercenary Main Gods, your equipment is just ordinary divine artifacts? Did you even properly recover the massive divine power you burned through and the physical injuries you suffered in the Spirit Realm battle? It’s not that they didn’t come—it’s that they couldn’t come! You’re all just empty shells that only look fine on the outside. Who the hell do you think you’re facing? And you call that a threat? Are you messing with me?”
He continued without pause, as if the tension and excitement had already drained away. “And most importantly, haven’t you heard this kind of talk from the Origin of the Mage God or the Creator Gods before?”
With that, he immediately resumed walking. If this was their final line of defense, there was nothing to fear. In fact, the anticlimax was so severe it was starting to kill his motivation.
He had already analyzed and prepared countermeasures for the pressure emanating from the Main Divine Realm. The footsteps of a God of War whose power surpassed even that of a Creator God began to thunder across the realm.
Thud—! Thud—!
“In any world, any faction, the one who holds the number one rank is special. That was a very thoughtful warning—be especially careful when facing them.”
Gooooooo—!
Uuuuuuuuuuuuung—!
"The power of magic that surpasses even a Creator God flows like breath,"
"completely nullifying the Round Table’s defenses."
⟨ Absolute Authority: Magic Nullification ⟩
Uuuuuuuuuuuuung—!
The bodies of the Preliminary Creator Gods guarding the Round Table were forcibly lifted into the air.
“Whoa—!”
“What kind of magic is this—!”
“We don’t have enough divine power to respond!”
They had already expended so many authorities that they lacked the strength to resist. If they clashed with the Creative Sword of Radiance, they might even die from the aftershock. Killing them cleanly was risky since they were direct descendants of Creator Gods—the future consequences would be troublesome. So he mercilessly hurled anything that got in his way to the outskirts and stood before their final line of defense.
One Preliminary Creator God who was a swordsman, and four highest-ranking Mercenary Main Gods who had only brought their divine artifacts. No matter how he looked at it, they were far too weak to face him now. That overwhelming confidence alone crushed even the fighting spirit of the Creative Sword of Radiance and the highest-ranking Mercenary Main Gods.
“I am the Magic God of Dimensions, ranked first among all Magic Gods! I am also a member of the Black Flame Clan who holds the title of Origin. A sword god who has only just been resurrected is no match for me. All of you should go rest and recuperate. Oh, and by the way, this is how you deliver a proper threat.”
The gaze of the Magic God of Dimensions turned toward the divine artifacts floating in the air. Since their vision was shared with their main bodies, he could clearly feel them flinch.
“You rude Mercenary Main Gods. If you’re hurting from the injuries you took in the Spirit Realm battle, you should’ve just stayed in bed. Why did you even come out? Even though you’re human-born, you’re still fellow Mercenary Main Gods. One of you is trying to rise in the ranks, yet instead of staying quiet, you’re trying to trip him up? You really can’t stand to see others succeed, can you? After the Main God Selection Tournament ends, all of you will have a nice little meeting with me.”
The divine artifacts of the Mercenary Main Gods trembled violently as their fighting spirit evaporated at terrifying speed.
Some of the Mercenary Gods still conveyed their determination not to give up because of their individual circumstances. But the next words froze them completely.
“You don’t need to come find me. I know very well that all you Mercenary Main Gods live right next door to me. Shall I give you my divine realm coordinates? Or should I cleanly smash your divine realms and Main God Stars to pieces before we settle this? You already know that all my authorities are wide-area powers specialized in planet destruction and divine realm annihilation, right? Win or lose the Main God Selection Tournament, I’ll take care of everything. Before you become wandering Mercenary Gods without a realm again, you’d better behave yourselves. There’s a nice phrase called ‘benevolent neutrality.’ The excuse that you had no choice because of the threat to destroy your divine realm works too. Then even Almighty Hwi won’t be able to say anything to the Main Gods of the independent divine realms. And if I win, I’ll become the Main God General anyway, so it won’t matter at all. In fact, I might even treat you and your successors a little better as an official gesture. Since we’re all from the same mercenary background, I’ll give you one free pass. But everything depends on what you do from now on.”
This was the biggest problem and source of worry for those who had decided to join Almighty Hwi’s side in the Main God Selection Tournament. The Main Gods of the independent divine realms were all gathered in one area—and the divine realm of the Magic God of Dimensions was right next door. If anything happened, the Main Divine Realm wouldn’t have time to help. In fact, no matter where they were, they couldn’t even imagine stopping a Magic God of Dimensions who could teleport straight to a Creator Star while charging at them.
The Creative Sword of Radiance watched with a dumbfounded gaze as the once-arrogant divine artifacts of the highest-ranking Mercenary Main Gods slowly sank back toward the ground as if they were trying to bury themselves.
“Wait—! Are you really planning to betray Almighty Hwi?”
At the Creative Sword of Radiance’s rebuke, a unified will flowed from the divine artifacts.
Seeing how things were unfolding, it seemed nothing he said would make them move. With just a few words from the Magic God of Dimensions, most of their fighting force had vanished before the battle even began. This kind of bewildering situation was a first for him.
And yet, the enemy’s advice, sharp as a blade, seemed to tear his heart to shreds.
“Did you see that? A proper threat starts by understanding what the opponent values most. And you must always negotiate at the same time. If you only try to suppress them with force without knowing that, you’ll only breed anger and resistance. With your current physical condition, a prolonged battle is impossible. You can only fight at full power for about five minutes. So the best move is to fling them far away with a wide-area authority and finish with rapid-fire attacks. If you die again right after being resurrected, won’t that damage your original realm? Now that you’re a Creator God, are you really willing to go that far for beings who no longer have anything to do with you?”
In an instant, even his physical condition and the overall situation had been seen through. Strength drained from the cross-shaped sword gripped in the Creative Sword of Radiance’s hand. With just a few words striking at his weaknesses, even his own will to fight had completely vanished. He had no choice but to let him pass. At this point, he probably wouldn’t even be able to stop him if he brushed right past.
But then an anomaly occurred.
Thump—!
Suddenly, the Magic God of Dimensions slammed the Guide of the Origin straight into the ground.
“There is an easy path like this, but right now—I dare to be arrogant—!”
With his arms spread wide in the shape of a cross, the Magic God of Dimensions shouted.
“I will take the full-powered attacks of the Creative Sword of Radiance, the greatest sword god in the Main Divine Realm, and the strongest gods of war—the highest-ranking Mercenary Main Gods—with my bare body!”
The declaration that a Magic God—whose weakness was well-known to be his physical body due to his preference for long-range wide-area authorities—would willingly receive direct attacks from close-combat specialized gods of war left every god listening in utter shock. The divine words were carved into their ears.
“I will prove to every god in the Main Divine Realm that the second rank, who dares to challenge the great and special first rank who has mastered the absolute authority known as the Incomprehensible Eight Ancestors, is by no means ordinary either. I too am a member of the great Black Flame Clan who possesses an absolute authority. I will let you test with your own bodies just how much power a Magic God who also holds the title of Origin and the authority of dimensions possesses. Furthermore, even to you who chose to become my enemies for a moment but then gave up, I will give you the chance to save face before Almighty Hwi. For I am a generous and merciful god of light. So come at me—!”
They were enemies who had already given up on the fight. So even though he could have simply sat on the seat of glory and won, the sight of the Magic God of Dimensions provoking them instead left both Grey Absolute and the Origin of the Mage God staring with their mouths agape in disbelief.
The current battle was being watched with great interest by the 10 Mainstays, who had temporarily called a truce. If they rushed over now to snap him out of it, there was a risk that the Black Flame Absolute, who had almost been baited, would become startled and grow wary. Sending their will to coordinate was also impossible. Always Coin Heads was an absolute authority. There was no way he wouldn’t notice the intervention of someone as strong as them who could threaten the Black Flame Absolute.
Above all, they couldn’t understand what he was thinking, making things difficult for himself like this. In the end, the Origin of the Mage God glared with axe-like eyes at Grey Absolute.
“What the hell are you thinking? The plan was clearly for the Magic God of Dimensions to ridiculously lose the position of Main God General, go berserk with the Authority of Black Flame, and suffer a miserable defeat—thereby summoning the Black Flame Absolute, who would be enraged by his clan’s loss. That’s why we gave him the near-perfect resurrection lives. What are you doing? Suddenly activating the Authority of Black Flame from the start and then somehow suppressing it? How did you even manage that? Once the Black Flame goes berserk, it can’t stop until it completely burns through all its divine power and stamina. And why are you creating a crisis for another opponent? If that kid Almighty Hwi wins like this, everything will go up in smoke. Above all, after winning so completely, what is this useless leisure? Is this something a Magic God who has staked everything on victory in war should be doing? Since it’s something the past version of you is doing, you should at least have some idea why he’s acting like this, right?”
“Th… that… I don’t really know either.”
He couldn’t think of what to say, but there was definitely something he could guess. No—he had originally known the reason. He knew better than anyone what the version of himself back then had desired most. It was just that after becoming Grey Absolute, it had become such a trivial thing that he hadn’t even recognized it.
Seeing his hesitant expression, the Origin of the Mage God finally reached the answer. Having trained him for so many long years and spent so much time together, he could roughly read everything from the slightest change in expression. Though the answer was utterly absurd.
“Don’t tell me you’re doing this because you feel sorry about wasting the near-perfect resurrection lives? And yet you’re risking your life over the mere position of Main God General of a Master Universe? Don’t tell me you want to have both the reward and the honor, so you’re pulling this insane stunt?”
“!”
As expected of the Origin of the Mage God. The moment Grey Absolute nodded, having been struck right at the vital point, the response came immediately.
“You pathetic lunatics—!”
Grab—! Shake shake shake—!
Unable to contain his fury, the Origin of the Mage God grabbed Grey Absolute by the neck, lifted him up, and began shaking him violently in the air. Whether he was one of the 10 Mainstays or Grey Absolute, as the Origin of the Mage God, he could not tolerate such reckless foolishness.
“You bastards—! Why don’t you understand that trying to have everything can make you lose everything? Risking your life is fine, but your goal is just the position of Main God General? You still haven’t shaken off the habits of a low-ranking Mercenary God? And all the schemes of a Magic God are based on exploiting the opponent’s desires—yet you fall for it yourself? On top of that, showing leisure in the middle of a fight? Are you lot seriously trying to pick a fight with me, the Origin of the Mage God of the Wind Family?”
“Gack—! Calm down—! Please calm down. There must be some kind of plan. And the odds of success will be even higher with better results, so please just endure it for a moment.”
He could have shaken him off with force right away, but the atmosphere didn’t allow it. What the past version of himself was doing was truly like walking a tightrope. No—he was creating the tightrope himself with his own blood and sweat.
‘I will become the Main God General and obtain all three near-perfect resurrections. For that purpose, I will subjugate not only the Black Flame Absolute but every single being in the Main Divine Realm.’
He was planning and attempting something that an ordinary being could never even imagine. All while trusting only in the power he had painstakingly built up through hellish suffering.