Calculated Retribution
In the Otherworld War, he ultimately had no choice but to lower his head and withdraw from the Dimensional Temple. As the spirit gods of the Otherworld left without uttering a single word, the Dimensional Mage God fell back into thought within the reception room.
As a superior being, when I consider my actions, the path I must take becomes clear. I cannot repeat the Grey Absolute's failure—overturning his entire domain over a subordinate rebellion and now suffering the headache of damage recovery. To minimize harm, I must limit my targets to the core figures involved in this incident rather than the entire lower main god realm. That means the nine Creator Generals possessing Creator God divinity, roughly 324 Creator Candidates, and the approximately 3,000 Main Gods who follow them? What a pointless waste of numbers. It seems a short-term decisive battle will prove difficult through conventional means.
If he had enough time, the Dimensional Mage God alone would suffice, but the Creator General who would immediately rush over upon learning of the main god war he had initiated in the Creator Realm posed a serious problem. Had he followed the original plan and dismantled them one by one, there would have been no issue. But to resolve it quickly, he needed to gather them all at once.
The Main God of the Divine Realm will be furious over the Grey Absolute's nuisance and the preemption of the Dimensional Origin, so I cannot give him any opening to intervene. From the future I observed, his intervention would come in roughly one hour. I will finish within that time. I will also minimize my own involvement, framing this as nothing more than a clash between subordinates. The Creator Generals will face the Creator Candidates I promote to full Creator Gods, while the promoted Main Gods will handle the Creator Candidates. Even a Creator General would have no grounds to object. Though the promotions occurred through my authority, he can only discipline the weak lower main god realm that failed to stop even Creator Candidates and Main Gods. After that, I simply declare my departure for the Otherworld and refrain from returning until I can fully wield the Dimensional Origin's power. I will delegate all matters here, returning unexpectedly only if problems arise. Perfect—!
First, I will prepare the powerful Main Gods promoted from Creator Candidates to serve as their opponents.
Once a rough plan took shape with no potential losses on any side, a sly smile formed on his lips of its own accord. There were many powerful Main Gods. Individually weak, their combined strength had once threatened even him, which was why he had left them untouched. But now that he had become the Dimensional Origin and obtained complete Dimensional Authority, such restraint was unnecessary.
I overlooked them before because they were essential to maintaining the divine realm, but the time has come to advance little by little through battle. In the end, this is what I prefer. The struggle for survival is fine, but I'm beginning to enjoy these political wars to maintain my position as well.
There were too many watchful eyes to wander around searching openly. The goddess lords of the Goddess Alliance, the spirit main gods, and even the primordial war gods had established surveillance networks around their personal temples. However, the Main God of this Dimensional Divine Realm was the Dimensional Mage God himself. He faced no restrictions in using Dimensional Authority, nor in entering any personal temple. As the ruler of the divine realm, he could pass through and inspect anywhere he wished. Naturally, the main gods had anticipated this and installed internal defensive barriers, but those were only effective against peers of equal rank. Against Creator Generals equivalent to Creator Gods, they held no power whatsoever.
After briefly scanning the situation around the divine realm, he teleported at once.
Paht—!
He appeared directly inside the door of the personal temple. Thanks to the Dimensional Authority granting expansion functions based on each individual's divine power, the interior was vastly larger than its exterior suggested. Within the temple, striking with its red marble and softly glowing white marble, divine powers of flame and lightning surged upward. The violent reaction to the sudden manifestation of Creator God divinity through Dimensional Authority—as if it might explode at any moment—proved beyond doubt that this was an authority carrying divinity above the level of a main god.
While lightly suppressing it, he found himself impressed by the repulsive force.
Even after converting to the god race and suffering a drop in authority, they possess this much power? They have already recovered up to the intermediate main god level. The location is the recovery room created from the Cosmic Tree sap I provided? Since they must fight the goddess lords of the Goddess Alliance directly, they are recovering at full strength.
The first place he visited belonged to Riasna and Himejina. Once candidates for the Demon King and his opponents in the certification battle, they had been deceived by the handsome faction, converted to the god race, and fallen from grace—the wielders of God-destroying Red Flame and God-slaying Black Lightning.
During their time as Demon King candidates, the combined power they displayed had been enough to make their opposing Creator Candidate abandon the fight entirely.
Even now, their joint ultimate technique—God-Destroying Explosive Thunder Flame—can inflict fatal wounds on high-ranking main gods. When they activate the wide-area authority through God-Destroying Killing Purgatory Red Flame Abyss Thunder Prison Summoning, they possess a powerful ability that inflicts a one-circle drop and additional damage upon the god race.
Had they remained with the demon race, they would have held an almost guaranteed victory against equal-rank god race opponents. Even weakened by their conversion, they remained formidable. Moreover, their valuable wide-area authority that could weaken enemy forces made them ideal. If promoted to Creator Gods and granted additional strength, they could utterly devastate at least one lower main god realm.
Under normal conditions, they should be able to withstand even the power of the Shuddering March. Yet how could Demon King candidates possessing such strength be deceived by the handsome faction, dumped into the Spirit Realm, and ultimately reduced to acting like honey traps? Does this even make sense?
As the Main God of the Divine Realm, he instantly knew the location of the recovery room where the pair rested. He teleported directly to its entrance.
Swoosh—!
Bang—!
The moment he threw open the recovery room door and stepped inside, everyone he had come to meet was present. They appeared to have rushed out in panic at the sudden intrusion of powerful authority, still soaked from head to toe in transparent sap and in the middle of hastily dressing.
The recovery room followed a basic two-tier structure: an area containing a large bathtub filled with Cosmic Tree sap, and a preceding waiting room where clothing was removed before entry. Since occupants were nearly defenseless during recovery, a powerful barrier stood between the bathroom and changing area. He had intended to speak only from the changing room while they remained in the tub, but he had not expected such a swift response to his intrusion.
The two naked figures—with nothing covering their upper bodies, wet breasts glistening, and hands frozen while pulling up their lower garments—stiffened completely at the sight of the Dimensional Mage God who had suddenly appeared through the door.
“!!!”
“???”
The Dimensional Mage God clicked his tongue at the sight of Riasna's naked form, still retaining her youthful, girl-like features with appropriately swelling breasts, and Himejina's dazzling nude body that possessed a voluptuous, sensual physique.
“Tsk—!”
No matter how one viewed it, this looked exactly like the lecherous Main God of the Divine Realm secretly invading the personal temple of subordinate goddess lords he had been eyeing and catching them mid-bath. Even if that were true, now that he had become the Dimensional Origin, his authority within his own divine realm could not be shaken by such rumors alone—though it would certainly become quite troublesome. The fact that the Dimensional Divine Realm itself overflowed with goddesses created a significant problem.
This is going to create a very awkward situation. If word spreads that the lecherous Main God of the Divine Realm—who had been restraining himself due to insufficient power in a realm filled with goddess lords—has finally begun to act now that he has become the Dimensional Origin, it will spark outright terror.
Many goddesses hoped for easy increases in divine power through essence exchange with higher beings, but just as many opposed it desperately. If this became known, the situation would turn extremely unfavorable.
The moment Riasna realized she was nearly naked and that the male Main God of the Divine Realm was staring openly, an instinctive reaction burst forth—a scream that seemed capable of tearing her throat apart.
“Kyaaa! Hup—!”
Before the scream could fully escape, however, the Dimensional Mage God—with an exceedingly annoyed expression—lightly flicked the thumb of his right hand.
Paht—!
Splash—!
Riasna's body flew backward before she could react, plunging into the bathtub filled with Cosmic Tree sap. Having swallowed a considerable amount of the sap, she urgently pushed herself up.
“Ugh—! Hack—!”
But when she realized the pants she had been halfway into pulling on had been stripped away by the impact, leaving her completely exposed, she immediately submerged her body within the tub.
She already knew the Dimensional Mage God had grown so powerful that main gods could not even consider opposing him. Moreover, now that he possessed the same divinity as a Creator God and had become a Creator General, there was no force capable of stopping him if he chose to act by force. He also treated her like a child in particular and did not hesitate to spank her as punishment, making him the most terrifying figure of all. Above all, as one rumored to be a lecher, he inspired even greater fear from the perspective of a virgin goddess.
In a situation where they possessed neither the power nor the forces to oppose a Creator God, the sudden intrusion into their naked recovery room left her with nothing but trembling as she hid within the tub.
Yet the voice that rang out was coldly different from anything she had anticipated.
“Stop making noise. I'm busy to the point of death and have no interest in such farces, so continue your recovery. I will hear the story here and show the document containing the detailed contents to Himejina, the God-Slaying Black Lightning.”
Himejina, suddenly called by name, was initially startled by the Dimensional Mage God's unexpected visit to the personal temple but soon regained her composure. Honestly, the situation held no downside for them, so she instead moved to calm her shaken superior.
If he intended to force himself upon us, he would have done so earlier. And even if he truly did, it is not a situation where we could refuse. Rather, if we can directly share in a Creator God's divine power and divinity, we could regain our past strength much faster. This is a situation where we should be seducing him, so please come out quickly.
I... I hate it.
Understood. Then I will handle it myself. Even in the worst-case scenario, I will finish things, so do not worry.
Sending her will to soothe the terrified Riasna within the bath, she slowly dressed. Though she belonged to the god race now, her origins in the demon race caused her gravity-defying breasts and perfectly round buttocks to emerge enticingly as they were gradually covered, radiating a breathtaking allure. Because she dressed without first removing the Cosmic Tree sap, the fabric clung wetly and turned semi-transparent, intensifying the effect. When she gathered her moist, loosened black hair with both hands and let it fall between her breasts, the result was the seductive image of a peerless beauty. She looked like a beautiful black-haired goddess who had just finished bathing and stepped out. She was confident that, combined with a bewitching gaze, any male god would immediately rush forward—yet she soon felt disappointment.
The Dimensional Mage God showed no reaction whatsoever to such blatant seduction, as if completely indifferent. No—he was not even looking, instead retrieving a file from his subspace.
No reaction at all. A failure? To show such disinterest toward the Main God of the Divine Realm is truly problematic.
In a peaceful divine realm, main gods could live without worry, but here the realm faced constant destruction and stood perpetually on the brink of civil war, forcing them to fear even for their lives. Even Lokina, the Lord of the Flipside and leader of the spirit main gods, had provided this temple and preferential treatment only because she required their military strength, offering nothing beyond that.
Though we are the same spirit main gods, the wall created by the difference in experience—between ourselves sealed in the Spirit Realm waiting area and those who suffered in the spirit god realm—is considerable.
Their circumstances differed so greatly that they simply could not integrate well no matter what they did. On top of that, a fatal problem from their past haunted them.
Rumors of our conversion from the demon race to the god race seem to be causing gradual ostracization. If we regained our original level of power there would be no issue, but in our current god race state, even with this level of full support, it takes far too much time.
With the spirit main gods turning away and no faction of their own, they remained in near-constant standby outside of battle. As a result, unless combat broke out in the divine realm, they spent nearly all their time immersed in the Cosmic Tree sap. Yet even when recovering at full power by replenishing vitality this way, they remained far from their original level. Having reached the extremes as members of the demon race, their personal authorities as gods remained incomplete, and their history of conversion from the demon race made building an independent faction extremely difficult.
Thus, the support of the Main God of the Divine Realm was quite literally a matter of life and death for them, who still lacked any power or influence within the Dimensional Divine Realm. With desperate resolve, she had even attempted blatant seduction, but it produced almost no effect.
To be met with such complete disinterest hurts my pride as a woman, but there is nothing to be done. We are the ones in desperate need right now, so we can only endure.
Believing that any clumsy or flustered behavior in this situation would backfire, she composed herself once more. The Dimensional Mage God, however, seemed utterly uninterested as he sent a single document flying toward her.
Thud—!
Himejina's eyes widened as she caught the document that flew at a leisurely pace and began to read.
“!”
It contained the current circumstances and past deeds of the enemy who had seduced them—the promising stars of the demon race—and reduced them to this state. Their power and authority had clearly been overwhelmingly superior at the time. This was the despicable opponent who had avoided direct certification battles, seduced the innocent Riasna through the handsome faction to convert her to the god race, and sent her straight to the Spirit Realm.
Though she had suspected and even felt convinced before, reading the detailed contents multiple times caused her to grind her teeth audibly.
Grind—!
It stated that by converting them—the opponents in the Creator Candidate certification battle—into the god race and sending them to the Spirit Realm, he had passed the test immediately. While personal strength mattered, the ability to employ schemes to win before fighting was recognized even more highly. It was undeniable evidence that everything had been planned from the beginning.
A voice laced with chilling aura escaped her lips.
“Thank you so much. To think you could still become a Creator General after resorting to any means without hesitation? How fortunate. There is still a chance for revenge. You will help us to the very end, yes? Then we will do anything for you.”
As she spoke, she naturally drew the Dimensional Mage God's entire left hand into both of hers, pressing his arm into the valley between her breasts. His palm, pulled downward, brushed against the space between her thighs, but it did not matter. The opportunity to repay the suffering they had endured in the Spirit Realm after losing most of their authorities and powers upon becoming part of the god race had been granted. Moreover, the powerful Creator God's divinity and divine power flowed directly into her heart through the tight press of her breasts and spread throughout her body. The sensation of her divinity rising in an instant was an ecstasy she had never experienced before in her life.
I already know the effects of the Dimensional Mage God's wide-area authority that raises divinity. If I can obtain support for a divinity increase and secure a duel location with equal divinity, I can take revenge with my own hands.
Though they had weakened by becoming part of the god race, their joint authority—now enhanced with Creator God divinity—could kill even a powerful Creator General. Strangely, maintaining direct physical contact with the Dimensional Mage God's body caused the demonic energy of the demon race—which they had believed completely erased after their conversion—to stir. Killing intent and fighting spirit slowly awakened. Feeling as if even their original demon god authority was reviving, she unconsciously pulled his hand deeper into her embrace.
Watching Himejina tremble while clutching his arm so tightly, the Dimensional Mage God offered a deeply satisfied smile at the reaction he had anticipated and spoke.
“The sloppy conversion to the god race seems to have helped instead. I will honor the contract we made in the Spirit Realm. I will grant you both the opportunity and the power to take revenge directly. If you defeat that bastard with your own hands, it will create justification to forgive your clan as well. With your clan's support, a faction should form quickly.”
“Aah—! If that is possible, we will do anything at all.”
After feeling the past glory and power she had lost forever due to a moment of emotional temptation and error, Himejina's eyes sparkled with excitement. Riasna, who seemed to have sensed the situation, forgot her nakedness and rushed out in a panic, only to lose her mind completely upon reading the document.
No matter how one looked at it, the facts lined up to form only one conclusion: they had been deceived and done something utterly foolish.
Decisively, the date he had been recognized as a Creator General was the exact same day they had been sent to the main god realm. Afterward, he had immediately obtained a direct partner from the Creator God's lineage, risen smoothly, and become a Creator General—yet stopped there. The rumors about their incident had spread, preventing the demon king candidates, burning with murderous intent, from even daring to face the certification battles that would surely kill them.
Yet it was a truth they absolutely refused to acknowledge.
“No! He could not have done that! No!”
Seeing her cling to the hope that she had not been abandoned or deceived, now fallen into complete despair and repeating the same words, the Dimensional Mage God spoke coldly.
“Being deceived by the enemy's honeyed words is pathetic enough, but I cannot allow one who committed such despicable acts to avoid a proper certification battle to rise easily to high-ranking Creator God. This is a disgrace to the god race. In this main god war, I entrust you with handling the opponents from that bastard's main god realm. Recover your bodies to the fullest. The time for revenge has come.”
Having obtained the desired result through a simple statement of facts, the Dimensional Mage God felt satisfied for the first time in a while.
This should secure their participation. It is also a path to avenging their grudge and regaining their clan's recognition, so they have no reason to refuse. I will persuade the other main gods to join in the same manner, one by one.
Had this been his past self, he would not have persuaded them personally like this. He would have spoken where everyone gathered, and if opposition arose, he would have grown angry like during the Creator General battle with the Almighty Hwi and overturned the entire board. He knew all too well how annoying and irritating it was to persuade others with differing thoughts one by one rather than simply fighting.
Even he—who had known only how to charge forward—had changed somewhat.
Persuading main gods is far easier than obtaining signatures from the 10 Mainstays. During the main god war with the Almighty Hwi, I was too naive, seeking only the easy path instead of persuading them individually like this from the start.
Having been severely beaten while attempting to obtain the 10 Mainstays' signatures this time, the act of persuading them now seemed so simple that he proceeded this way. He was rather satisfied with the positive results brought by this small change when an absurd voice rang out.
Riasna, who had been denying reality until now, suddenly stood and shouted in a fit.
“This cannot be! I will go find out myself!”
The Dimensional Mage God's voice, filled with anger after briefly considering what he had just heard, followed immediately.
“You foolish little child—! With the main god war against them right before us, you plan to go find the enemy and ask questions? Do you intend to ruin everything again? You still have not come to your senses. Come here right now—! After I spank you a few times and you grow up, we will talk again.”
“Kyak—! Kyak—! Help me—! Himejina—!”
“Lady Riasna….”