The Personal History That Erases the Past
The power gap was obvious. On one side stood the Magic God of Dimensions, who had barely reached the 11th circle during the Otherworld War. On the other was the Grey Absolute, who had attained the absolute pinnacle of the 14th circle. With a look of utter contempt, the Grey Absolute clenched his hand and yanked hard.
Crack!Thud!
The Magic God of Dimensions was dragged forcibly out of the dimensional gate, his head gripped tight. He was not alone. Sun Goddess Amaterasu and Storm Annihilation Enlil had been pulled out with him. They had been snatched straight from his throne in the Dimensional Divine Realm, where he had been in the middle of enhancing the elemental powers of the spirit deities from the Otherworld. The timing could not have been worse. He had both goddesses draped over his knees, spanking them as both punishment and reinforcement.
In front of his own goddesses, the sight carried a certain chilling dignity. Before the 10 Centers, however, it was nothing short of catastrophic. Yet the Grey Absolute, smiling with clear amusement, showed no mercy whatsoever.
"Ho? Did I interrupt your personal and rather busy hobby? Or perhaps..."
Fourteen circles blazed brilliantly along the back of the Grey Absolute's robe. It was the manifestation of 14th-circle magic. With a sharp gesture, a mountain of documents began stacking above the Magic God of Dimensions' head. There was no way he wouldn't recognize it.
"Personal History!"
⟨ PERSONAL HISTORY ⟩
It was the very magic he had created to examine the pasts of subordinates he could not trust. He had always considered it thorough and rational. Experiencing it firsthand, however, felt like a living nightmare. The sheer volume of documents recording his own past defied imagination. He had not lived for billions of years. Even counting all his training periods, his life totaled less than a hundred thousand years. Yet the records rivaled those of ancient gods who had existed for over a billion years.
In his panic he noticed the function had been enhanced. Annotations now accompanied the main text, recording even the fluctuations of his heart. It's recording emotional conflicts I don't even remember? That means it understands the subject better than the person himself. What kind of twisted sorcery is this? Does it completely ignore the target's feelings or personal circumstances? Ah, damn it. I made this first. I never should have created it.
Fury boiled up inside him and he tried to protest, but he had done the exact same thing to the spirit deities in the past. When he remembered that, he no longer had any ground to stand on. The 10 Centers, who did not understand the nature of this magic, simply watched the exchange between past and future with keen interest.
"The past version of me would never obsess over women. And right after becoming Main God, this sudden elemental power enhancement? Let's see exactly what you're doing. I'll search using your worries about the future as the key."
He snapped his fingers lightly. Click.
From the towering stack of documents that blocked his vision, countless pages began flying out. Nearly half the pile. The careful classification had been completely pointless. The Grey Absolute looked at the Magic God of Dimensions with an expression of genuine astonishment.
"I forgot. The past version of me really was burdened with endless worries about the future. Seeing it with my own eyes, it's almost comical. Let's search again using only the concerns you had after becoming Main God."
This time only a few documents flew out. After reading them all, the Grey Absolute lightly returned them to the stack and let out a long sigh.
"Haa... So the past continues to hold you back after all. The overreach you committed as the God of Mercenaries and Main God of the Divine Realm was erased from official records once you became Main God, but the special-duty Main Gods responsible for oversight kept separate copies? And because it harms your standing in the hierarchy, you feel you must resolve it? The method you came up with was to create a Main God Star and a Creator God Star, then pay them off with silence? As expected of my past self, always trying to resolve things in the most favorable way possible."
No matter how high he had risen, the Magic God of Dimensions was still just a human-born mercenary god with no supporting faction. Even the smallest flaw or mistake remained a fatal weakness. His defensive tendency to yield his own interests first in order to avoid making enemies was unavoidable. However, now that he had become a Main God equal to the Creator Gods, such methods would no longer work. Even Creator Gods were ruthlessly culled when the organization no longer needed them. If the Main Gods who managed planets were like sheepdogs protecting their flocks, then the Creator Gods who managed them were true apex predators. Weak predators were naturally disposed of.
"Let me tell you the conclusion first. What you're doing is pointless. From the rank of Main God onward, goodwill and compromise never end well. Superior power decides everything. You already know this, don't you? The goodwill or consideration of someone branded as weak is never properly received. It is simply seen as submission to the strong, which only reinforces the brand of weakness. It might serve as a temporary patch, but it will become an even greater weakness later, one that will be exploited again and again."
Seeing the Magic God of Dimensions' face twist in despair, the Grey Absolute nodded. Even his past self had known it was only a stopgap. But when completely isolated, there had not been many options available. The number of special-duty Main Gods he needed to deal with exceeded two thousand. He could have handled them all eventually, but if the Creator Gods got involved during the process, it would be over. Purging the special-duty Main Gods to cover up past mistakes would never be tolerated.
"How convenient. It seems we can solve each other's problems. Isn't this fair?"
"......"
The past version of himself, who had been glaring silently at the unilateral declaration, finally spoke.
"It may be fair, but it isn't equal, is it?"
"Of course not! Fairness has always been for the strong. If the current me, as the Grey Absolute, and the past me, as the weak, had to share the same level of profit, there would be no reason to take risks and become stronger, would there? It would be better for everyone to remain weak and simply wait for the sympathy of some future strong being. Still, since it is my own past self, I could grant that if you wish. I am generous, after all. Do you desire equality for the weak, past me?"
The tone was exactly like a teacher administering a test. The Magic God of Dimensions ground his teeth as he answered. If we were alone, I would have grabbed him by the collar immediately, but the other 10 Centers are watching this like it's an entertaining play. One wrong word here and it would all be over.
"Fine. I choose the fairness that favors the strong. So how exactly will you solve my problem? Force won't work. Simply recovering the documents won't work either. The related parties still remember, so the records will simply be recreated eventually."
This was precisely why he had brought out the appeasement policy of buying them off. Even if the documents disappeared, the memories remained, and there was no guarantee that only the special-duty Main Gods possessed copies. Complete deletion of all records was impossible. In the end, the only method had been to win their favor and move on.
The self of the Creator General Realm of the 499th Master Universe shall receive the will of the Grey Absolute.
I am the pinnacle of sages and the sovereign of all created selves.
The tremendous voice, filled with divine power that shook the entire Absolute Realm, crossed the dimensional gate and reached the Creator General Realm of the 499th Master Universe. It became a compulsory force that dragged the realm's self directly to the scene.
Woooong—!
The translucent figure of a Creator God possessing twenty-seven pairs of wings of light materialized in the air and expressed its respect through sound.
"The comprehensive self of the 499th Master Universe greets the Grey Absolute of the Absolute Realm."
"You already know the matter at hand, yes? Delete all records regarding my past self, the Magic God of Dimensions. Erase everything, whether meritorious achievements or overreaches before he became Main God. Change the records so that he entered the divine realm through my recommendation rather than as a mercenary god."
It was exactly like a superior giving routine instructions to a subordinate. Originally, the Divine Realm managed by the Eternal Beings and the Absolute Realm managed by the 10 Centers had an insurmountable gap in power, yet they had stood as equals. Commanding the self of the Creator General Realm, which oversaw all divine realm selves, should have been impossible. Yet the realm's self obeyed without the slightest resistance.
"Deletion completed. However, I cannot affect data stored in individual information systems or their personal memories."
"Locations?"
"I will display them on screen."
Countless coordinates floated in the air. After scanning them, numerous grey dots rose around the Grey Absolute. They were different in color from Coa's miniature spatiotemporal bombs, yet they emanated something far more sinister. It was the aura emitted by a collective of identical wills, as if mass-produced. Because it felt so familiar, he recognized it immediately.
"Magic brains? A cluster of ultra-miniaturized artificial selves?"
The miniaturized form of the magic brains he had created to replace the disobedient artificial selves of the divine realms floated there. However, the Grey Absolute denied it.
"No. It is not that crude thing. It is Idea, which you conceived but abandoned due to insufficient computational power and fear of backlash. Every artificial self in the Absolute Realm and the Master Universes is already under my control. Even the Cyber Realm is no exception. The ability to control all information and management systems is the true proof of the Grey Absolute. If this is possible, my personal power becomes secondary. The first generation required mobilizing countless Cyber Gods to achieve it, but since I can do it alone, I am the second generation."
At those words, the other 10 Centers nodded in agreement. The Grey Absolute stood at the pinnacle of all sages—that is, all administrative gods excluding the God of Combat. What mattered most was not military force but administrative ability and control over them. He had to be able to manage all information in the Absolute Realm and Master Universes and operate it according to his will. If he could control every artificial self, everything would be resolved. If he could do it alone, any deficiency in raw power could be overlooked.
"In the worst case, I could paralyze the present completely by controlling all artificial selves."
Even if more than half of all forces could not be used, they would still be completely neutralized. The order that formed the present would collapse. The current prosperous divine realms could not be maintained without the help of the realm selves. Even the Absolute Realm could not exert even half its current power without the Cyber Realm's assistance. In practical terms, this meant the Grey Absolute controlled more than half of the Absolute Realm and the Master Universes.
Because long-distance movement through the Cyber Realm was restricted, even the Black Flame Absolute could not return immediately and was forced to rush over in person. A trip that would take less than a second through the Cyber Realm was estimated to require over a thousand years by their own power. It was a situation even the 10 Centers could not ignore.
If such a situation occurred regularly, the Absolute Realm itself would not survive. Truth would intervene and perform a reset.
The Grey Absolute casually uttered words that carried such terrifying implications, then opened the dimensional gate and sent the Ideas through.
Fwaaaaaah—!
Along with a blinding light, the coordinates floating in the void vanished in an instant. It meant every piece of data in the individual information systems had been deleted. However, the memories still remained.
"Next are the individual memories?"
Fwaaaaaaaaaah—!
Radiant magical power blazed from the fourteen layers of magic circles. It was a wide-area "Personal History." The magic that recorded even memories and emotions spread across the entire 499th Master Universe through the dimensional gate. Now a mechanical voice that seemed stripped of all emotion rang out. It was proof that even for the Grey Absolute, it consumed tremendous computational power.
"Search target: Magic God of Dimensions, the noble and great dark mage..."
The title he had used instead of a name in the past rose up, and a mountain of documents gathered. They were memories collected from every being across the entire 499th Master Universe.
Pararararara—!
The endless sea of accumulating documents finally stopped.
"Complete deletion..."
Along with a resonant chant, every single document was torn in half and shredded into pieces that scattered away.
Riiiiiiip—!Shred-shred-shred—!
"No way..."
The mountain of documents containing memories of the Magic God of Dimensions from every living being vanished. The memories had only been readable before. The fact that they were disappearing like this could only mean one thing.
"Partial erasure of memory! You erased every memory of my past?"
From the memories of every sentient being in the 499th Master Universe, all recollection of the Magic God of Dimensions had just been deleted. In their place remained only the fact that he had entered the divine realm through the recommendation of the Grey Absolute. Both his life as remembered by others and his new life had been completely erased. This was an unforgivable atrocity.
"You denied my entire life? You grey—! Uh..."
The other 10 Centers also looked on in shock, never expecting this. The moment he was about to explode in rightful fury as the victim, a thought suddenly occurred to him and his mind calmed. Any normal human would be enraged, but he was not normal. From his human days until becoming Main God, excluding his relationship with his Master and the incident with Truth, he had no good connections or memories worth keeping. He realized there was nothing in his past that he would regret losing, so deletion made no difference.
Wait—this isn't a bad thing. After all, there wasn't a single good thing about others remembering my past, was there? Nothing to regret, and it's clean. Let's start over from the beginning. The rumor that I'm a crazy grey might remain, but at least the record has changed to entering through the recommendation of one of the 10 Centers. The situation has improved.
Before the expression of rage could even fade from his face, the Grey Absolute's voice reached him.
"Do not worry, past me. I am not so cold-hearted. On the contrary, because I am generous, I excluded your Dimensional Divine Realm from the deletion zone. All the gods and living beings in your divine realm remember everything exactly as it was."
"......"
He was at a loss for words. The one who had arbitrarily seized others' artificial selves and erased memories was now praising himself for being generous. Most problematic of all was the announcement that he had left his subordinates' memories completely intact. If he got angry and demanded they be erased as well, the gazes around him would be terrifying. At the very least, he recognized that his own situation and judgment would appear abnormal to others. If he said it out loud, he would be treated exactly like this grey bastard. So he could only suffer in silence.
Ugh! This is driving me insane. Just erase everything! Did you leave them on purpose to make things harder for me? You damned future self.
With that, his own problem had been resolved for now. The notification regarding his Main God rank, which had been delayed until now, arrived immediately. The processing speed was astonishing. It was so fast it would have been impossible unless he truly controlled all the artificial selves.
"Evaluation places you at first rank among Main Gods? Well, that makes sense. The past has been rewritten through my recommendation, and you defeated Almighty Hwi, who held first place. Now all your problems are resolved, correct? My concerns remain."
The Magic God of Dimensions could not deny the Grey Absolute's words. The Dimensional Divine Realm that preserved the original memories was a problem, but it had always been in the farthest hinterlands. If returned to its original position, its influence on the Divine Realm from such a distant place would be negligible. There would be noise later, but it was a simple matter for him, now ranked first among Main Gods.
No matter what facts about the past emerge, I can simply treat them as ordinary complaints and false accusations from lower ranks. It is certainly better than being caught with a weakness by the special-duty Main Gods and having to pay them off with Main God Stars or Creator God Stars.
He could not deny that his own concerns had been cleanly resolved. Rather, entering the divine realm through the recommendation of the Grey Absolute was a far greater advantage than the truth of having been deceived by the Main God of the Divine Realm. At the very least, all the problems that came from being looked down upon for having no supporting faction had disappeared. He even felt grateful enough to actively help solve his future self's problems.
"My concern is that the 10 Centers must find a way to defeat Truth. Since I have given up, you should think about it."
The moment he heard those words, he immediately regretted his gratitude. His future self was truly out of his mind.
"You really are crazy. How could the 10 Centers, who were trained by Truth, possibly become his opponents?"
To the Magic God of Dimensions, whose face had turned red with agitation, the Grey Absolute spoke in a languid tone.
"It is perfectly reasonable. If you cannot do it with your own power, you should obviously borrow the strength of others. Standing still would be the stupid choice. My current problem lies in having become strong and wise enough to be the Grey Absolute. Except for the aspect of raw force, there is almost nothing I cannot do. However, I have also lost something because of it. I realized it when I saw you become a Main God, something that should have been impossible. The recklessness to solve any problem somehow and the foolishness to take risks that my past self possessed have disappeared. Challenging Truth is the height of recklessness, and thinking of winning is foolishness itself. Such a useless and impossible concern could never be possible for me, the Grey Absolute. However, if it is my extremely reckless and foolish past self, it might be possible."
"Hah... Does that even make sense?"
Whether it would work or not was unknown, but since he himself had no solution, he was simply passing it on. In the end, as the Magic God of Dimensions was about to explode, the Grey Absolute grabbed his head with one hand.
Grab!
The difference in level was so overwhelming that he could not even react, let alone dodge. With his only vital point helplessly seized, an utterly emotionless voice that sent chills down his spine entered the Magic God of Dimensions' ear.
"The very fact of defeating Truth is naturally impossible. However, who can argue when I, the Grey Absolute at the pinnacle of the sage lineage, think that my past self can do it? And have you forgotten that the Magic God also belongs to the sage lineage? It is also within my jurisdiction as the Grey Absolute. That is why I can step forward like this, but I must receive appropriate compensation. It is obviously impossible, but if I tell you to worry about defeating Truth, then do it! Unless you want to die at the hands of your future self right after achieving your long-cherished desire of becoming Main God."
Squeeze—!
The terrifying pressure applied by the hand transmitted straight through his skull. It felt as if his head would be crushed at any moment. It was killing intent. As a high-ranking 2nd-circle mage god, he could not resist, let alone move.
"Even if you are my past, I will not forgive disobedience. I am even stricter with myself. Just like Truth."
This is wrong! You bastard! You're a reality-denying mage god, so whether your past self dies or not doesn't matter to you, right? That's why you're acting so recklessly! So you shouldn't be saying that in this situation! Above all, you're displeased that your past self succeeded in becoming Main God when you failed, aren't you? A human shouldn't live like this. Why did I turn out this way? It is helpful, but the follow-up measures are driving me crazy.
With his head gripped tight, the Magic God of Dimensions flailed helplessly. Fearing the consequences, he could not spit the curses out loud and could only hurl insults at his future self internally. The immediate problem had been resolved, but an even greater concern had been born.