The Unwilling Banners of Jinri
The forces deployed in a full encirclement around the planet for the Otherworld War had thousands of enormous banners fluttering above them, each emblazoned with the word Jinri.
The faces of the Transcendents forced to carry those banners were utterly twisted. They had no justification or courage to refuse after the Dimension Creator God Coa demanded they serve as Jinri’s royal guard according to his documents. The troops had been split into groups of ten, handed a banner each, and that was that.
Even the overall commander who had dared to protest ended up with swollen lips and a shattered jaw, unconscious. The next in line had answered like a dog with its tail between its legs, nodding frantically, so there was nothing anyone could do.
What truly broke their spirits was the overwhelming creative power that had restored the faith and divine energy of over a hundred thousand Transcendents at once, then produced the banners on top of it. But the real problem came immediately afterward, when Coa used his Dimensional Authority to forcibly relocate them.
The capital planet of the current world, Seourina, sprawled beneath their feet.
“What the hell!”
“This is the capital?”
“Are we inside the defense line?”
“This can’t be happening—!”
As they frantically scanned their surroundings, they saw the planetary defense barrier created from two satellites behind them. They had assaulted and completely surrounded the interior of the capital’s satellite barrier, a zone that external forces were strictly forbidden from entering.
What do you even call a hundred-thousand-strong army that encircles the capital without a single order from the committee? Rebels, obviously. And if they were also carrying the banners of Jinri, the Creator of the Void Realm, there was nothing more to say.
“Guh—! We’ve actually rebelled?”
“What is this? How did it come to this?”
The Dimension Creator God Coa gazed down at the Otherworld’s capital, Seourina, after using his dimensional power to relocate the hundred-thousand-strong force in one go. The army—nominally Jinri’s royal guard but in truth the Void Realm Blockade Force—had fallen into complete panic after being turned into rebels.
Compared to the Main Divine Realm, the Substitute Gods’ ultimate defensive fortress, this planet’s defenses looked laughably weak. The capital’s barrier could barely block low-level spatial movement and Main God-rank authorities. It stood no chance against Dimensional Authority.
In the end, it was a planetary defense that struggled to stop even ordinary Main Gods. That was why Coa had pierced the satellite-core barrier like an open field and teleported the entire army inside.
All that remained were troops so weak it was questionable whether they truly qualified as Transcendents, along with frail lower gods who were too busy fleeing in terror to mount any response. Their chaotic scrambling was almost painful to watch. And the longer he watched, the more laughter threatened to burst from his chest.
There are no powerful beings or restrictions capable of stopping me. At this rate, killing them will be far too easy and far too enjoyable.
Weaklings who could barely protect their own lives could never offer decent compensation to the Mercenary God. For years he had been shoved aside by those stronger than himself, always chasing contracts with better rewards. When he remembered how he used to cower in fear of karmic backlash every time the danger level spiked, the current situation felt so joyful and effortless that it nearly brought tears to his eyes.
"World Bomb Core!"
⟨ WORLD BOMB CORE ⟩
It was now a single entity he could activate at will. In terms of raw power, it surpassed even Yggdrasil, the greatest weapon of the Sage line. When first manifested through the dimensional authority granted by the Wind Family’s origin and the signature of the Ten Mainstays, it had been a compressed black orb the size of a house. But when summoned with its original strength, it swelled to the size of a satellite and appeared beneath his feet.
Compression was no longer possible in this state, which would weaken its power, but it still possessed more than enough force to devour the entire capital of the Otherworld. Of course, the situation would change if a Creator God with the authority to stop it appeared.
Whoooooooosh—!
The Dimension Creator God Coa began descending toward Seourina with the satellite-sized black sphere beneath his feet. The defensive barriers and authorities activated in a desperate attempt to halt him were mercilessly swallowed whole as he continued his unhindered descent. Countless divine-energy cannons and defensive powers fired from the planet’s surface had no effect whatsoever. They were simply absorbed by the World Bomb Core, only making the sphere larger.
“Please pull yourself together, sir. This is an ultra-emergency situation.”
“Keoheoheok—! My jaw… my jaw…”
The overall commander—who had become the leader of the rebel army surrounding the planet completely against his will while unconscious—regained his senses through the desperate efforts of the Transcendent who had become the vice-commander.
“What… what is this? This is the capital!? Why are we here—!”
The instant he realized their location, he nearly fainted again. He immediately began searching for the Dimension Creator God Coa to resolve the crisis.
“Please wait—! You must return us at once!”
Instead of the answer he wanted, only shocking and utterly irresponsible words describing their cruel new reality reached his ears.
Endless manic laughter echoed as spatial gates began opening behind them. Other forces, having received word of the capital’s emergency, were performing emergency spatial jumps. These Transcendents had real combat experience, and their auras were anything but ordinary. The overall commander recognized their identity instantly and groaned. He had commanded some of them himself.
“The frontline defense army—! The entire Third Army has been mobilized?”
All reserve forces except the two hundred thousand guarding the traitors’ defensive line had been urgently deployed. Since they were responsible for immediate reinforcement on the frontlines as well as capital defense, their response was extremely swift.
The sound of footsteps from Transcendents pouring out like a tidal wave through the countless spatial gates and rapidly forming ranks shook the vacuum of space.
Kukukukukukukung—!
Though they were lower-ranked than his own troops, the sight of elite Transcendents slicing through space and straightening their formation made the overall commander grit his teeth.
How did it come to this?
There was no longer any time to hesitate or worry. An unknown but clearly superior number of Transcendents had begun surrounding them, viewing them as rebels. Their average strength was naturally lower than that of the current world’s strongest force, the Void Realm Blockade Army, so there was no need to fear them in battle. But there was also no reason to fight. No—they absolutely must not fight.
I, the man destined to become chairman of the committee, a rebel? Absurd! Yet this situation cannot be overlooked.
Most mistakes could be forgiven if one mobilized their family and connections. But surrounding the capital with armed troops without orders or communication was a grave crime that would never be tolerated.
The opposing Transcendents already saw them as rebels who had joined the Void Realm’s Jinri. The killing intent and fighting spirit they emitted caused the troops’ bodies to react instinctively, hands reaching for and gripping their divine weapons. The same was true for the rest of the army. A battle could erupt at any moment.
Yet the reason that had grown ice-cold in the face of this once-in-a-lifetime crisis desperately searched for a solution. Fighting the defense force now would confirm them as rebels.
It’s already too late to clear up the misunderstanding. The Void Realm Blockade Force that used dimensional movement to enter the satellite defense line is holding a blade to the capital’s throat. But we cannot become rebels according to that Void Realm Creator God’s plan. If we disarm and explain ourselves, perhaps it will work.
As his thoughts tilted toward surrendering defenselessly and offering an explanation, the strength left the hand gripping his divine weapon. The killing intent that had risen in response to the enemy’s fighting spirit began to subside—when suddenly someone beside him clapped lightly.
Clap—!
When he turned toward the sound, he saw a Transcendent with the number “2” written on his chest instead of a formal rank insignia. The same warrior who had woken him earlier now wore a rigid expression as he raised his right hand.
“……”
As if telling him to abandon any thought of negotiation, the warrior shook his head and pointed his finger in various directions around them. Then the overall commander saw them—enormous, utterly unfamiliar military banners.
“What the—! Those military banners—! And they say Jinri?”
Banners bearing the name of Jinri, the Creator of the Void Realm, were everywhere. It wasn’t just one or two. The Transcendents carrying nearly ten thousand of them were unmistakably the Void Realm Blockade Force. The sight of Jinri’s banners covering the entire army while surrounding the capital made any explanation impossible.
Even if it were me, if I saw an army holding those banners surrounding the capital, I wouldn’t believe they weren’t rebels no matter what they said.
Pure rage at the uncontrollable situation—something he had never experienced since his new life—exploded out of him in front of everyone.
“Goddammit—! Have you all gone insane? Have you lost your minds? Why are you holding those things here? This makes us rebels without any escape—!”
Number 2 spoke quietly beside the fuming overall commander.
“…If we hadn’t heard it back then, we would all have died.”
Coa had dragged them here and turned them into rebels without any detailed explanation, persuasion, or compensation—only threats and force. An elite army of over a hundred thousand, including multiple Main Gods, had been reduced to rabbits fleeing a lion, unable to withstand the killing intent of a single Creator God.
A few quick-witted, rebellious individuals who sensed the danger and refused to take the banners had their limbs severed right before everyone’s eyes. Like a child innocently plucking the legs off insects for fun, Coa had thrown them around, restored them immediately, and repeated the process until they obeyed. There had been no way to endure it.
“Of course, if I had known it would turn out like this, I would never have done it. But what can we do about what’s already happened? Even if we surrender without resistance, we cannot avoid the death penalty for invading the capital while carrying Lord Jinri’s banner. Just the unauthorized movement of troops is enough for immediate dismissal from our positions.”
“……”
It was obvious. The military was never allowed to move without the committee’s control. If commanders could operate freely according to their own will, it would no longer be an army but a warlord faction that could instantly become a rebel force. That was why commanders’ posts were rotated frequently. They even accepted reduced operational effectiveness from short tenures so that no commander could remain in one place long enough to build a personal power base.
Moreover, the current world—already nearly ruined by the traitors who were mostly lower-ranked Transcendents—had especially strict military oversight.
In such a tightly controlled environment, any unit movement required prior reporting to the committee. Claiming they had been unknowingly moved by force was far beyond the level of any forgivable excuse. And if the destination of that unauthorized movement was the capital itself, it was immediately the crime of rebellion.
It was an impossible dilemma. As things stood, both he and the upper echelons would not escape execution. If any damage occurred to the capital, their entire clans would be punished under the joint-liability system. They had to prevent the battle itself.
A simple explanation would never suffice; they needed to explain the full circumstances. The immediate priority was stopping the enemy from charging.
“Full combat readiness—! Do not panic no matter what happens. We are the strongest Void Realm Blockade Force. Make sure the likes of the defense army don’t even dare to think about attacking us—! Buy me time, and I will speak with them.”
Though he had shown some disgrace, his words as overall commander still carried weight with the army. True to their elite status, the troops completed their combat readiness in an instant and overwhelmed the frontline defense army with powerful fighting spirit. Seeing both sides enter a standoff, the commander let out a sigh of relief.
Whew—! At least we’ve avoided the worst situation for now. I cannot bear the stigma of being a rebel. Not when my brilliant future is guaranteed.
But the exhausted voice that came from beside him, sounding as if it had seen the entire world, once again dragged him back to reality.
“It’s already past the point where we can simply let this slide. Even if we avoid the death penalty, there seems to be no path left for advancement in the military or society. It would be better to simply carry out the duty of Jinri’s royal guard as written in the documents. And though I don’t know how long it will last, congratulations for now. You alone were personally written by the Dimension Creator God Coa himself, Number 1.”
“……”