The Grey Absolute's Own World

Amid the war in the Otherworld, fourteen layers of magical circles now blazed from the back of the Grey Absolute—the Magic God of Dimensions from another realm.

Events that should have been impossible were unfolding around him. A single world was forming in the void of space. Land, sky, and the matter deliberately arranged between them all manifested without a planet to anchor them, floating atop the black cosmos. At a glance it was clearly artificial, a world crafted by intent.

Standing atop that world and looking down at the blood-soaked Black Flame Absolute, the Grey Absolute’s smile was pure insanity.

“Kahahahahahahat—! The Authority of Dimensions is none other than the creation of worlds—! It is My Own World. In this place even the infallible Authority of Always Coin Heads is weakened. To think you’d be flailing around like this… The damage I dealt you in the past must have cut deeper than I realized. Revenge in that state? Kehehehe—! I’ll kill you again and seal you away properly this time.”

Bwahahahahaha! Fwoooooosh—!

Countless Coas rose like mountains and surged like tidal waves, swallowing the Black Flame Absolute whole.

The instant the Black Flame Absolute broke free from the deluge of explosions created by the Coas—tiny spacetime bombs—he found himself facing a world detached from reality itself. The realm created solely for the Grey Absolute endured even the destructive Authority of Black Flame. Though it lay right before his eyes, it permitted neither approach nor attack.

And under the ceaseless onslaught of the Coas, even the Black Flame Absolute’s body was beginning to tear apart.

‘Spacetime bombs deliver the worst possible destruction to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠matter. There can be no exceptions.’

Tuhahahaha—!

The Black Flame Absolute erased every approaching Coa with his Black Flame Fighting Spirit, but it was a reckless move that devoured colossal amounts of divine power. This battle was like pouring seawater onto a volcano; whichever side ran out of divine power first would lose.

‘The damage to my body has almost reached its limit.’

The real problem was his physical condition. He could no longer charge forward mindlessly as he had before. Yet he could not retreat either.

Once the ranking battles ended, combat between members of the 10 Mainstays was forbidden unless Jinri would accept the reason. The Grey Absolute had neither subordinates nor a clan, so there would be no complications. The dominant species of the Grey region he controlled were already locked in a desperate struggle against the Substitute Gods, who had devoured forty percent of their territory; they could not afford ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠friction with other regions. Moreover, after the recent purge of leadership across all dominant forces, no other clan or regional power would dare provoke a 10 Mainstay who had already etched his name with madness and terror.

This, then, might be the last chance to fight before the next ranking battle. He had endured too much to hold back any longer. His wounds were severe and the future worried him, but he could no longer withdraw.

“Grey—! You fucking bastard—! Eat this—! Exploding Blood Stage Two, Thunder Roar, Pahoton—!”

Kwarurururung—! Kwaaaaaaaaaaang—!

Lightning crackled across the Black Flame Absolute’s body as the Pahoton in his grip swelled without limit. The colossal black double-headed axe, large enough to cleave planets, split the world guarded by the Grey Absolute in a single stroke. The sky collapsed. The earth overturned and surged upward. Every scrap of matter between them was annihilated. The world floating in space was torn in two and burned away completely.

The moment the Grey Absolute at the center became clearly visible, the Black Flame Absolute charged through a mouthful of blood.

The Black Flame Fighting Spirit, pushed to its extreme, became a black sun hurtling forward at terrifying speed, yet the Grey Absolute only laughed.

“Kle kle kle kle—! Utterly useless. Have you forgotten who I am? My Authority is Dimension—! And I am a fourteenth-circle Magic God—! Recreating My Own World is child’s play. Begone once more—! Black Flame!”

The fourteen circles of magical power and the circle of divine power above his head radiated light simultaneously. The shattered, annihilated world was restored in an instant.

Ooooooo—! Fwoooooooosh—!

The world, returned to its original state in the blink of an eye, rejected the Black Flame Absolute—its creator’s enemy. The world’s refusal was so overwhelming it halted the Black Flame Absolute’s charge completely. Or rather, the world itself had changed, preventing the Authority of Black Flame from displaying its full power. He had charged with all his strength only to be repelled—an absurd result.

‘Does My Own World reject everyone except the Grey Absolute himself? To create a world with such an extreme and inefficient effect…’

Considering the computational power and life force required to produce a world with such absolute authority, the notion was ridiculous. Yet no matter how bizarre the Authority, its effect was just as certain. Once rejected, the target was forcibly repelled. The shock the Black Flame Absolute received from being rejected and hurled away by the world was not simple physical damage; it inflicted severe mental trauma. It was a psychological pain he had never grown accustomed to.

“Guh—!”

A short scream escaped him as blood fountained from the Black Flame Absolute’s mouth while he was flung backward. Despite the catastrophic physical damage and the mental blow that followed, his reason remained coldly functional and reached a conclusion.

‘With my heart already destroyed once by the backlash of my racial Authority and only barely restored, fighting a 10 Mainstay is pure foolishness. I cannot display even one-tenth of my true strength. I must withdraw.’

Yet the moment he saw the Grey Absolute—the root of all his suffering—his patience vanished and the Authority of Black Flame threatened to run wild.

‘This means I have acknowledged him as a definite threat that must be eliminated even at the risk of death.’

Even Always Coin Heads, which had been warning him of mortal danger and urging retreat, fell silent and now searched solely for a path to victory, operating at full power.

‘Always Coin Heads is issuing its highest-level danger warning yet refuses to show me a path of retreat. It only reveals methods of attack. Does that mean he is an opponent I must deal with no matter what dangers I face? It never behaved this way against Gold, Yuil Yongsinje, or Daeshin. How interesting. Shall I loosen the reins a little?’

Until now the Authority of Black Flame had been under strict rational control. Now, out of necessity, only its leash was held as it was released. He had raised the assimilation between the Authority of Black Flame and his divine spirit by a tiny fraction. Yet his reason grew clearer with every passing moment, moving in perfect harmony as it adjusted his physical reinforcement and the Authority’s control. Body and mind, which he had deliberately kept somewhat separate, were beginning to merge into one.

To a being on the level of the 10 Mainstays, even that tiny fraction represented an enormous evolution.

Go go go! Oooooooong! Fwaaaaa—!

His speed rose. His strength increased. His wounds healed. These were not minor changes but a complete ascension to an entirely different level of existence. The small shift was enough to instantly heal all injuries and unleash, if only temporarily, a full-power attack meant solely to kill, annihilate, and erase the enemy.

The muscles and bones of his body swelled for an instant before condensing. He gripped the Pahoton with both hands and swung it behind his back. In that stance of gathering power, black flames erupted and began to consume and burn away the world that rejected him.

Fwoooooooooooooooosh—!

Even the preparatory stage produced flames powerful enough to incinerate an entire world. The Black Flame Authority tolerated no tricks; a direct hit would be unbearable even for higher-ranked beings. The movements of the Wind Family’s Origins grew frantic as they anticipated the scale of the coming damage.

‘The more intense the duel becomes, the harder it is to contain the collateral damage.’

During the decisive match between Gold and the venerable Yuil Yongsinje for first and second place, only two had been needed to maintain the barrier. Yet four of them were already positioned in all four directions to block the aftereffects of the duel between the Black Flame Absolute and the Grey Absolute.

Blocking the Pahoton was difficult enough, but the greatest problem was the swarm of Coas—tiny spacetime bombs. Their dust-like size and uncountable numbers made complete interception impossible. The Coa swarm could not be fully dispersed, so many were slipping through to the periphery in an attempt to cause secondary damage. To prevent harm to the Absolute Realm they were only weakened before being hurled into the boundary region between the Main Universe and the Absolute Realm. Even so, their power was so great that they threatened to tear through the Main Universe’s defensive barrier on impact.

Tuhahahaha! Rumble rumble rumble!

Because this was the aftershock of an absolute Authority exceeding one quadrillion in divine power, the consequences of it penetrating the Main Universe would be beyond imagination. The Authority of Black Flame would burn and erase everything without exception, while the Grey Absolute’s spacetime bombs would shatter the very order of time and space. Either outcome meant the destruction of the Main Universe.

A warning had to be issued.

The Creator Gods and Eternal Beings, their eyes wide like startled rabbits at the sudden danger warning from the Wind Family, urgently summoned every available Creator God to reinforce the barrier. And just as the warning had stated, the situation unfolded exactly as predicted.

The aftereffects of the occasional Pahoton that flew their way could be blocked when the Eternal Beings worked together. But the Coas, smaller than dust, could not be completely stopped. Explosions erupted everywhere, mercilessly shredding the barrier.

Rumble! Papapapa! Kraaaaa! Oooooooook!

Creator Gods who had underestimated the dust-sized threat and focused first on blocking the Pahoton’s aftershocks ended up with their entire bodies exploding. They had not known that Coas, as spacetime bombs, possessed an Authority that destroyed all matter regardless of divine rank. Only after dozens of Creator Gods lost their bodies in an instant did the rest realize the truth. In a panic, the surviving Creator Gods began a chaotic scramble, using divine power radiation to push everything away except themselves.

High-ranking Creator Gods from the Main Universe who had been urgently summoned rushed in and strengthened the barrier several times over, finally managing to block the Coa infiltration and restore stability.

Even at this level of power, the Black Flame Absolute’s current output had already surpassed imagination. The face of the Origin of the Mage God, who had roughly calculated the force and resulting damage, hardened like stone.

‘Four members of the Wind Family are no longer enough to contain the damage.’

The Absolute Realm could be protected by their efforts, with the aftershocks redirected toward the boundary with the Main Universe, but the Main Universe itself would be shattered. Given that even the Creator Gods had been reduced to such a sorry state, it seemed any Eternal Being or other entity in the path of the attack would have to prepare for death.

‘The aftershocks alone could bisect the Main Universe. It must be stopped before activation. But that is impossible.’

This was not an official ranking battle, so intervention was forbidden. The rights and authority of the 10 Mainstays—those directly beneath Jinri—had been granted by Jinri himself. Among those rights, the most important was the right to speak according to rank.

‘Higher ranks speak and decide before lower ranks, and their decisions are absolute. Lower ranks must obey. To refuse or deny them, one must defeat the higher rank. Therefore, duels between 10 Mainstays must neither be disturbed nor interrupted.’

A duel that was not even an official ranking battle meant both sides were entangled in interests they could not back down from. Interference would earn the hatred of both parties, and since no force or individual could withstand that, no one could get involved. There was, in fact, an even more serious reason.

‘Ranking battles are team fights with many variables, but one-on-one duels have none. Victory decided here becomes undeniable proof of superiority over the opponent.’

The ranking of the 10 Mainstays—the strongest of each faction—effectively determined the ranking of every faction. Although this was a duel between the Black Flame Absolute and the Grey Absolute, it was also a match between the current fourth-ranked warrior and the tenth-ranked sage. Since the Magic God belonged to the sage lineage, he wanted to see the outcome. More than that, he very much wanted to witness the growth of his disciple, who had already surpassed him.

No matter how injured the Black Flame Absolute was, he should not be losing in a head-on confrontation, yet the Grey Absolute was holding his own surprisingly well.

‘Win—! Grey! Show them the power of the sages.’

While silently cheering in his own way and diligently redirecting aftershocks he could not handle into the gap toward the Main Universe, the troublemaking descendant approached and spoke to him.

‘It seems he finally grew tired of blocking.’

The descendant had opened an entire section of space in the defensive zone he was responsible for and wrapped it around himself like a wall. All the destructive Authorities unleashed by the Black Flame Absolute and the Grey Absolute were sucked into it and hurled toward the Main Universe’s barrier. No weakening measures were applied; it was pure one-way transport. Thanks to that, the Eternal Beings and Creator Gods were working desperately with deathly pale faces to hold the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠line.

“Kaaaaaaaah—! How magnificent. Is that the full power of the Black Flame Absolute? Ahem—!”

He cleared his throat, then suddenly began speaking in a terrified voice.

“Aaaah—! The world is collapsing! Despair descends upon us! It’s so frightening—!”

The Main Universe was on the verge of annihilation—never mind the Absolute Realm—and yet here was this lunatic. No, because of his own convenience the First Main Universe was already facing destruction.

“I’ve always wanted to deliver that line. It fits the situation perfectly, doesn’t it?”

The descendant’s face, filled with mischief, waited for evaluation after delivering a terrified voice that completely clashed with his expression. A sigh escaped naturally.

“Huuuuuuuuuuu—! Is this level of crisis not even worth worrying about to you? You are strong, but your mental state is rotten. I’ll deal with you later.”

The words naturally carried the meaning that he would not let this slide, but the descendant simply shrugged as if it did not matter and began asking questions with an innocent face.

“Oh? It looks like the Grey Absolute ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠is about to do something too. You know what it is, right? What could it be? What is it?”

It seemed he had come because he did not fully understand the Grey Absolute’s Authority and wanted an explanation. After all, there was no one left who did not know that he had been the Grey Absolute’s master.

But the situation began to change rapidly. The first to detect the ominous shift in the Black Flame Absolute was, naturally, the Grey Absolute who was fighting him. His response was thorough.

“Tsk—! Going all out? You don’t care about collateral damage anymore? Then I won’t hold back either.”

Clicking his tongue, he used his own world as a shield and began to chant. Even without sharp instincts one could tell that a sloppy response would end in a single strike. Since the Black Flame Absolute’s maximum attack power had already exceeded his predictions by more than ten times, there was no room to conserve strength. Self-inflicted defeat or strategic retreat would no longer be tolerated.

‘I am now one of the 10 Mainstays under Jinri.’

A voice completely different from before—solemn and majestic—began to resonate.

The Origin of the Mage God let out a low groan.

‘As I feared, it has come to that.’

He had prayed it would remain sealed forever, but given the situation there seemed to be no other choice.

“The formal incantation for Yggdrasil…”