The Frontline Collapses
The commander of the Otherworld War Defense Forces let out a silent sigh of relief as the tense atmosphere suddenly shifted into something strangely amicable. ‘Phew! At least he doesn’t seem to be an enemy. But I’ve never seen a Creator God like that before. Who the hell is he?’
With only around two hundred Creator Gods in total, there was no way he wouldn’t know them all. Yet this was truly a face he had never seen before.
“Do you know him?”
At the Defense Force Commander’s question, the Creator Gods of the Supreme Council paused in thought, but their conclusion was unanimous.
He turned the Void Realm blockade forces into the Truth Royal Guard, occupied the Capital Planet, and annihilated the traitors’ armies without the slightest hesitation. We have no choice but to avoid provoking him and steer things in the direction we desire as much as possible.
They couldn’t possibly overpower him with force, and his temper was notoriously foul. If he got even slightly upset and started rampaging, there would be no countermeasures left. Even after pouring out that much divine power, the wounds inflicted by Coa’s Demon God King’s Claw of Power were still gaping open, threatening to tear wider at any moment.
“Treat him with the utmost respect.”
Since he had proven both his overwhelming strength and belligerence, opposing him would only bring losses. The odds of getting beaten in front of everyone were far higher than any successful negotiation. There was no reason to pick a fight.
‘Above all, we must achieve our objective. Temporarily delegating supreme authority is something we can afford.’
However, from the Defense Force Commander’s perspective, such a vague order was impossible to understand.
“Pardon?”
“He is the Gray Present, Dimension Genesis God Coa, who has come as the Truth Deputy. He holds supreme dominion over the Current World. Obey his commands.”
“The Void Realm—!”
He himself possessed fairly accurate information about the Void Realm. Although the recreation limit reduced their power to one ten-thousandth, there existed beings so powerful they could ignore that restriction entirely.
‘They’re called the 10 Mainstays, right? Beings who surpass 1,000 trillion in divine power and possess absolute authorities—unimaginably strong.’
If it was one of the 10 Mainstays, that level of power made perfect sense. But the real problem lay elsewhere. No matter how strong, handing over supreme dominion of the Current World to a being from the Void Realm who had no connection to it was utterly absurd.
“You truly granted supreme dominion to a being from the Void Realm? This isn’t mere cooperation?”
“……”
Faced with such an obvious question, the Creator Gods of the Supreme Council could not answer. They could not possibly admit that the Capital Planet and they themselves had already been defeated, and that the Void Realm blockade forces—now flying the banner of the Truth Royal Guard—were currently surrounding them.
‘Just thinking about what that Dimension Genesis God Coa did to us makes my blood boil.’
The former blockade forces, now the Truth Royal Guard, were still refusing all communication and standing off against the 3rd Defense Forces. The blockade of the Capital Planet remained unbroken, and the shattered Joint Divine Temple was still being cleaned up. The body mangled by the Demon God King’s Claw of Power had barely been stitched back together, but it felt like it would fall apart again at the slightest jolt.
‘Damn it—! How the hell do we tell them we’ve already been completely defeated in both power and forces?’
‘If we don’t hand over dominion, he’ll probably just kill us all and do everything himself.’
‘How are we supposed to explain this?’
Unable to reveal their humiliating situation, the Supreme Council burned with frustration. The Defense Force Commander, however, interpreted it differently. While the visitor did seem to be from the Void Realm, granting supreme dominion to anyone other than the Creator himself, Jinri, was simply impossible. It was ridiculous to suddenly hand over supreme authority to someone they had never even met.
He had no idea how to respond. ‘He’s still trying to figure out how to handle this.’‘If he ends up provoking Coa’s temper, even the Defense Forces might get wiped out.’‘We need to warn him.’
If the Defense Force Commander made a mistake, the same fate that had befallen them could easily befall their own allied forces. Given how the intruder had smashed the Capital Planet the moment he arrived and swept through the frontlines, it was entirely possible.
“Even if he kills you for rudeness, we won’t be able to do anything about it. Be extremely cautious.”
“!!!”
The statement that the Supreme Council could not hold anyone accountable even if he—the Defense Force Commander—was killed at will finally made the reality sink in. The communication cut off abruptly, and after a long silence in the command center, the Lord Gods who could no longer endure it finally spoke up.
While the Creator God from the Void Realm who had been identified as an ally was certainly a problem, the greater issue was the traitors’ forces that had seized part of the frontlines. With the defensive line broken, there was no telling how they would react.
“Commander, what are your orders?”
The commander, who had been unable to speak immediately and had pondered for a long time, finally issued his directive. The atmosphere was extremely strange, but he had absolutely no intention of fighting a mighty Creator God who had instantly annihilated forces equal to his own. At the same time, he could not simply do nothing.
“All troops, enter emergency standby. This is a full-scale war level situation.”
“Yes, sir!”
Although he had ordered the highest level of combat readiness, the Supreme Council’s warning continued to weigh on his mind. It had been a clear statement that even if the Creator God from the Void Realm annihilated him, no protest would be possible. He could not believe that someone with supreme dominion could treat a fellow Creator God this way. Something was seriously wrong.
In times like this, other preparations were necessary as well.
“You two, summon the military band and prepare a formal welcome ceremony. It must exceed the level reserved for a visit from the Supreme Council’s Creator Gods.”
“Understood.”
The Defense Forces moved urgently, implementing two completely contradictory measures—heightened vigilance and a grand welcome—at the same time.
And Dimension Genesis God Coa’s irritation was growing worse by the second.
‘I gave those traitorous bastards a solid beating, so I figured they’d desperately rush over with all their hidden forces, but there’s been no word at all.’
He was dumbfounded to see even the surrounding traitors’ forces hastily retreating. A single Creator God had shown up and was running wild, yet instead of coming to repel him, they were pulling their Transcendents back behind the frontlines. There was only one meaning behind that action.
It meant they had no more high-ranking forces left.
For someone who had come fully prepared, it was truly absurd.
“Haah? Don’t tell me this is all your forces? You pushed all the way here five hundred billion years ago, so you must have something, right? Don’t you have any secret weapons or hidden powerhouses?”
But no one answered him. It seemed the problem was that he had completely annihilated all the pathetic Creator Gods and Lord Gods who had charged at him with such vigor.
Even the armies stationed far beyond the frontlines were pulling back like the tide receding. Left completely alone, Coa’s anger finally exploded.
‘My own allies are so pathetic it’s infuriating, and the enemy is even weaker. I’m starting to wonder why I even came here.’
He glared at the Defense Force Transcendents who were watching nervously from behind and sent his will.
“Hey—! You lot—! Tell your person in charge to get over here right now—!”
“Huh?”
The Lord God in charge had already fled to the commander to report directly. But Coa had no patience left to listen to explanations. The moment he heard the dazed reply, something resembling a wooden club shot out of thin air and began smashing the Transcendents’ heads in rapid succession.
Thwack thwack thwack thwack thwack—!
“!!!”
“!!!”
There was no way ordinary Transcendents could endure the Sword of Ruin and Soul, an attack that even Creator Gods could not withstand without screaming. Thousands of Transcendents who had been on combat standby were struck in the head and collapsed like flies sprayed with insecticide. Amidst the chaos, a rare sight unfolded.
“Grrrrr—! This is pissing me off—! Why did I even prepare all this?”
Fwooooooooosh—!
Dimension Genesis God Coa was literally spitting fire from his mouth. And it was black flame that burned while gleaming with murderous intent and fighting spirit.
“Kaaaaaaaah! Call the incompetent frontline supreme commander who couldn’t handle these weaklings for five hundred billion years! Before I kill you all—!”
He had fought several battles since arriving in the Otherworld, but every single one had been depressingly easy. Each time, he had thought this one will be different and activated the full-body armor made from his own body along with the black flames, tensing up completely. Yet he had never gotten the chance to use any of it and had been forced to suppress it all.
‘Even when I provoked the traitors who were supposed to be my main enemies, no crisis came. Thanks to that, the black flames—condensed from the fighting spirit and killing intent I activated and then forcibly suppressed several times—are now on the verge of exploding from sheer disappointment.’
Puhahahahaha—!
The sight of the black flames spewing from Dimension Genesis God Coa’s mouth burning and devouring the surrounding space was being watched live from the military headquarters. So was the image of the Transcendents collapsing after being struck in the head, unable to even scream.
“……”
“……”
The unbelievable scene of thousands of Transcendents losing consciousness and being incapacitated from a single attack, while the surrounding space burned entirely from the released divine power, caused cold sweat to break out involuntarily. Moreover, the enemy’s defensive line visible on the screen was truly empty.
‘Only empty space remains where planets and stars used to be.’
They had also received reports that the enemies who suffered such an attack were retreating rather than counterattacking, leaving them unable to shake off their bewilderment. A defensive frontline maintained for five hundred billion years had completely collapsed due to the intrusion of a single Creator God.
Of course, from the traitors’ perspective, losing two Creator Gods to annihilation was an unprecedented emergency. And since they had been defeated so quickly that they couldn’t even understand what had happened, retreat was the only correct choice. They had lost ten thousand elite troops responsible for ten percent of the frontlines. Recovering from such damage would likely require a hundred million years.
The power balance had been shattered that severely.
‘They only knew how to provoke with superior numbers, and now they’re getting what they deserve. Still, I don’t understand why he’s looking for the person in charge. In any case, the best course of action is to avoid encountering a Creator God like that. We should send the on-site commander.’
However, even after giving meaningful glances to the Lord God who commanded the sector, the man showed no sign of moving.
‘You, hurry up and go—!’
‘I can’t. A Lord God cannot handle that opponent.’
Since he couldn’t do anything with his own power, it seemed he was determined to push the responsibility strictly upward. Though the commander was boiling with rage and wanted to execute him on the spot, there was a reason he could not.
The family he belonged to was weaker than the other man’s family. ‘He’s also evaluated as someone who will naturally become a Creator God with time, which makes him even harder to deal with.’
With an outstanding family background and exceptional ability, the man kept acting arrogantly. As a superior, there was no greater headache than such a subordinate. In the end, the commander sent a message mixed with curses.
‘You damn bastard—! If you don’t go right now, I’ll punish you under military law—!’
‘Even if a Lord God goes, it won’t help. And isn’t he looking for the supreme commander? Please go quickly.’
While the commander and the Lord God were exchanging glances, urging each other to go, Dimension Genesis God Coa, who had been smashing the Transcendents’ heads while demanding the person in charge, finally found his exact target. The Transcendents who had been mindlessly beaten finally uttered the title of the responsible party.
“This is the 1st Army Defense Sector? 1st Army Defense Force Commander, get over here right now—! You can’t even handle this and yet you dare act all high and mighty just because you’re a Creator God? Fine—! I’ll kill you and all your useless staff and turn you into vitality!”
“!!!”
“!!!”
He had been directly named. Moreover, the shout about killing all the staff as well made them panic. Since it came from the Creator God who had annihilated tens of thousands of the opposing army in an instant, it could not possibly be a bluff. Since they did not know the spatial coordinates, he looked ready to come straight to them. Left with no choice, they urgently opened an ultra-long-distance spatial gate and immediately descended to the scene.
“I am the 1st Army Defense Force Comman—”
Thuuuuud—!
His answer and consciousness did not continue. The wooden-sword-like object he had seen on the screen swung toward his head. He tried to block it, but it struck his forehead directly, blurring his consciousness.
‘I clearly saw it and tried to block…’
Yet even his authority-based defense had no effect whatsoever. Coa grabbed the now almost unconscious Creator God—who had been struck completely defenseless—by the collar with his right hand, lifted him up, and poured out his fury.
“You incompetent bastard—! You’ve been pushed back for five hundred billion years while only dealing with enemies like these? Huh? What the—? You pass out from just this? Why is a weakling like you a Defense Force Commander and a Creator God? Argh—! Damn this pathetic Otherworld—! You’re all way too weak—! I came here to build up my career, not to babysit brats!”
Slap—! Slap—!
The fierce hands slapping the Defense Force Commander’s cheeks left and right made his head swing violently as if it would fly off.
“Wake up, you idiot—!”
With every blow, his mouth burst open and he coughed up blood, looking like he would die at any moment. But the Transcendents around him who should have helped were already unconscious, and the few lucky ones who hadn’t been hit were fleeing with all their might. Thus, the Defense Force Commander had no choice but to continue receiving the slaps alone. The physical crisis of possibly being beaten to death forcibly awakened his consciousness.
The intense pain from both cheeks and the dizzying left-right shaking finally made him realize the situation. Being slapped out of nowhere made him hesitate about what to say.
Smack—! Smack—!
However, when his mouth burst open to the point his teeth began to rattle, he realized he could no longer endure.
“Grrrrrr—! I’m awake, sir!”
The polite speech that came out instinctively made Coa finally stop hitting him. He pointed with his finger at the area he had completely obliterated with Annihilation World.
“Were the Transcendents stationed here the enemy’s entire force?”
The commander, still held by the collar, immediately understood the meaning of the question and answered.
“That is correct.”
Upon hearing those words, Dimension Genesis God Coa let out a hollow laugh.
“Hahahahahahaha.”
“……”
Pathetic allies and even more pathetic enemies. He should be happy about it, but he was so drained he wondered why he had bothered coming here in person. The Defense Force Commander, who had been grabbed by the collar and beaten, was equally dumbfounded. Seeing with his own eyes that the enemy forces responsible for a massive stellar system had been wiped out—planets, stars, and all—left him speechless.
‘No, more importantly, I’m in greater danger.’
The fact that this being could so easily overpower and disrespect him—a Creator God and military commander—without killing him offered no guarantee of safety. Only now did he truly understand what the Supreme Council’s Creator Gods had meant when they said this Truth Deputy could kill him and there would be nothing they could do about it.
‘The Supreme Council has been completely overwhelmed by force. But is that even possible? Can one person defeat over a hundred Creator Gods alone?’
Dimension Genesis God Coa, who had been thinking for a moment, gave a short command.
“Advance and secure the territory.”
“!!!”