Thunder's Claim
The black-haired female main god approached Hera, who was radiating charm while commanding lightning. All the lightning flowed into her. Crackle-crackle-crackle! The absorbed lightning ran down her legs and into the floor without leaving a trace. The lightning that sank into the earth surged back several times stronger, gathering in her right hand. Crackle-crackle-crackle! The lightning, unable to inflict any damage, screamed in frustration and took the shape of a massive, threatening lightning hammer. The enormous fighting spirit contained within it targeted Hera.
“Hohohohoho! I am not merely the Sky Lightning—I am thunder itself. I was stronger than the Main God of the Divine Realm! That is why Karma recognized me as a female main god separate from the main gods, so Lord Slayer does not work on me!”
She let the coalesced lightning itself flow through her right hand as if hurling it into the air, only for it to be completely absorbed back into her right arm. Rumble-rumble-rumble! She casually spun her hand once, gathering all the absorbed lightning into her black hair, where it converted into her own divine power. The lightning now completely gone, she crossed the lounge and plopped down on the sofa beside Hera.
“Hey, Granraha! I was the goddess of marriage too, but I never forced chastity or exclusivity before marriage. If you make sex taboo, the population drops, you know.”
“……”
“In a harsh world where you never know when you might die, what’s the point of chastity and exclusivity? If you think a male god is worth it, you grab him by any means necessary. If you get discarded later, that’s just how it goes. After marriage I would have burned them down to the soul, but still. When the Main God of the Divine Realm’s brothers mistook their elder for dead and tried to violate his consort, roasting them was quite satisfying. Kyahahaha!”
She burst into hearty laughter at her own terrifying words and smacked Hera on the back.
“Male gods are lust-crazed thieves anyway—you can’t tie them down. Besides, we’re not even in a position to get married, are we? If you act like this after marriage, I’ll roast you together with him.”
“……Understood.”
“Then let’s enjoy our new lives! When else can we relax except now, when that damn raccoon Main God and the primordial war gods are absent from the Divine Realm? Those rotten bastards! I wish they’d just pick a fight already.”
“We haven’t completely defeated them yet.”
“They’re monstrous. I was invincible in my own divine realm, but even setting the Main God of the Divine Realm aside, fifteen primordial war gods is the limit.”
That statement was terrifying in its own right. It meant she was nearly on par with a high-ranking demon god—though, of course, not the irregular Demon God of the Demon Realm here on this bizarre Main God Star.
“If you want to enjoy yourselves too, come over.”
“Not right now. We need to replenish our divine power at the Main God Temple, so we’ll take our leave.”
“Cheer up, Granraha. You knew this was going to happen anyway, didn’t you?”
“In our position, unable to even marry, when else would we meet a main god of this caliber?”
“I’ll definitely repay this debt later.”
As the female main gods left, Hera sighed.
“Huu… I suspected it might come to this, but it really has.”
“Kyahahahaha! You shouldn’t underestimate married women who’ve been through everything. Ah! One of them is still a virgin, though.”
“I thought they’d at least have some pride.”
“Look who’s talking. Did you have pride when you resorted to the Vow of Devotion?”
“Did it really have to come to that?”
“If you want to catch a main god of that level, you have no choice. But why that method of all things? No wonder those girls’ eyes flipped over. Where else would you find a main god with six billion innate divine power and creator-god-level authority? On top of that, he has an excellent personality, is rational, ascetic, and skilled in bed. Even if you can’t marry him, just securing the position of lover is a profitable deal.”
She spoke without the slightest hesitation even with the person in question right in front of her. The black-haired female main god speaks exactly as she thinks during will exchanges. Passionate and pure, so trustworthy, yet also easy to deceive. Well, at least things seem roughly settled, so that’s a relief.
The black-haired female main god smiled and guided the protagonist, who was about to sit on the sofa, to sit between herself and Hera. Then she lightly reached for his lower body.
“Now then, our Dimensional and War God. Come here. I’ll finish what we started earlier.”
“I really can’t help it, can I?”
Hera, seated on his right, sighed and looked at him.
“Haa. If you act like this even after marriage, I really won’t let it slide. You have to do it after properly taking me in.”
“I’ll help then too. Roasting a main god isn’t something you do just once or twice.”
A chill ran down his spine at the words he heard, and he resolved inwardly. I must never even think about marriage while I’m with these female main gods.
As if she had guessed his inner thoughts, the black-haired female main god smirked.
“As long as it’s before marriage, it doesn’t matter, so enjoy yourselves to your heart’s content.”
“That’s not… Haa.”
Hera let out a sigh as if she had completely given up, then smiled faintly and pulled his head into her massive breasts.
“Please take care of us, our Dimensional and War God.”
Hearing the sincerity in her words, he nodded while gently grasping her overly ample chest. First, I gained an additional five hundred million divine power and obtained the authority of Lord Slayer. With two and a half billion innate divine power, I should be able to maintain both solar and dimensional divine power to some extent. At this level, I can probably hold my own against the main gods of the Substitute Gods to a degree.
Having grown stronger, it was time to revise his tactics and spoils. Originally, there was no reason for me to intervene in the war between the main god of the Substitute Gods and the Main God of this planet alongside the Demon God of the Demon Realm. It is purely a battle between main gods competing for the fate of the planet. As the God of War who is not this planet’s Main God, I only need to oversee the larger framework of the war.
The enormous risk of fighting the main god of the Substitute Gods did not match the reward. However, if they jointly subjugated the main god of the Substitute Gods, the scales would balance somewhat. I need to earn while I can. Obtaining eight life-bearing habitable planets will be extremely difficult.
Among the many stars in the universe, planets with life are surprisingly rare. Among them, ownerless planets that also possess moons are almost nonexistent. He had initially planned to create them, but the effort and time required were too precious, so he switched to purchasing. If I add another three and a half billion innate divine power through the Devotion Pledge, my total divine power will reach six billion, and then even greater plans can be completed.
It was an enormous price, but there was far too much to accomplish in return. A sigh escaped him unconsciously, yet the hopeful future made it bearable.
Hera fully recovered in just one week, resealed herself as a highest-ranking god, and returned to the Main God Temple. The black-haired female main god, who had thrown a tantrum about not wanting to leave, was knocked unconscious by the other female main gods and taken away.
These female main gods are truly terrifying.
They took turns mercilessly striking the black-haired female main god, who had transformed into thunder, one by one until it was over.
“We are terribly sorry for disturbing your rest. The war situation remains unchanged, and we are establishing positions at the Boundary. We hope for your swift recovery.”
One of the female main gods spoke in a businesslike tone, then lifted the rag-like black-haired female main god into the air and departed. It was truly fortunate for him as well—if Hera had not been there, that female main god would have tormented him without rest. Married women are truly frightening.
Afterward, his innate divine power fully stabilized, and his understanding of the newly acquired Lord Slayer authority was complete. To put Lord Slayer simply, it forces triple damage against main gods. If I attack a main god with two and a half billion divine power, it will inflict seven and a half billion damage.
If Hera, with one and a half billion divine power, were to assassinate him, one and a half billion divine power would simply vanish, and he would suffer an additional three billion damage. A direct hit would mean instant death. Since it kills in one blow, I should avoid provoking them if possible.
Lord Slayer was a truly fearsome authority limited to main gods. Moreover, when fused with the fastest and strongest Sky Lightning for attacks, dozens of main gods had fallen helplessly. The silver lining is that Lord Slayer is, as the name suggests, limited to main gods. As a main god myself, I would die just the same, but if I were a mage, I would take less damage.
He named it, quite literally as Hera’s unique authority, the Sky Lightning of Lord Slayer. Fortunately, as a post-acquired authority, Lord Slayer was a divinity that would never appear unless a main god killed dozens of other main gods. It was probably only acquirable in the early universe during the main god wars. In the present age stabilized by Karma, if he were to kill that many ‘extremely good’ main gods, his judgment would likely descend.
His divine power was insufficient to fully combine with other divinities. I’ve mastered it, but it’s incomplete. Shall I call it the ‘Degraded Lord Slayer’?
He had trained to the death because combining the divinity of dimensions with the divinity of Lord Slayer would leave no main god capable of stopping him, but in the end, only a defensive attribute settled into his body. I nearly died from a divinity clash due to insufficient divine power after pushing further. After two months of effort, the result is twenty-five billion in attack and defense divine power plus seventy-five billion in temporary defense divine power. Though there are limitations, I can now withstand even an attack from that monstrous Main God of the Divine Realm without taking damage once.
Having finished his rest and training, he stood once more at the center of the Main God Temple to move the planet. Around him, eight female main gods concentrated and directed the divine power of all goddesses in the Divine Realm.
Whoosh-whoosh-whoosh!
The divine power swirling through the Main God Temple was so intense that no god below the highest rank could approach. The female main gods’ businesslike reports followed.
“All god races and demon races at the Boundary have completed preparations.”
“Main God Temple divine power charging complete. Please proceed with planetary movement.”
“Fighting—our darling! Aack! Why did you hit me?”
“I’ll deal with you later. I told you to separate work and personal matters!”
“There’s no one else here but us, though?”
Watching the black-haired female main god being scolded by the others, he spread his wings of light. Fwoosh!Crackle! The sun blazed and lightning began to strike. It was because the five hundred million divine power he had received from Hera carried the Sky Lightning attribute. That combined with his solar divine power, generating flames and lightning.
The female main gods seemed momentarily surprised but soon nodded and began concentrating their divine power into him.
Whoosh!
His senses of dimension and space extended beyond the Divine Realm into the universe, passing the Boundary, the Main God of the Divine Realm, and the Demon God of the Demon Realm. When his senses brushed against the Demon God of the Demon Realm and the Main God of the Divine Realm, he saw them briefly turn their heads toward the Divine Realm. At this level, space and sight were meaningless to those stronger than main gods, so their gazes were felt directly.
The Demon God of the Demon Realm and the Main God of the Demon Realm have two hundred twenty billion and two hundred billion divine power respectively.
Both had slightly increased their innate divine power, but there were no major changes. When the Dimensional and War God lightly bowed his head in greeting to their gazes, they nodded in acknowledgment.
Rumble-rumble-rumble!Whoosh!
A multi-layered mixed barrier of gods and demons, created with dozens of layers to combat the Substitute Gods who possessed the authority of god-slaying, surrounded the Boundary, and the morale of the army was high. Passing them, he crossed a long distance and reached the six planets that served as the forward bases of the Substitute Gods.
The Substitute Gods had drilled a massive cavity at the center of each planet, exposing the core where tremendous divine power pulsed. Countless layers of barriers and boundary membranes were spread without gaps. Above all, the main god of the Substitute Gods at the center seemed to have sensed his gaze and was sending killing intent.
Like a beast whose territory has been invaded. It seems he remembers the previous reconnaissance.
The Dimensional and War God clicked his tongue lightly and, unable to see inside the planets, examined their surroundings and the planets as a whole. The battlefield situation has not changed. If there are no reinforcements or unforeseen events we failed to predict, this battle is already won.
Nine circles glowed from his black robe as he chanted the activation words.
“Clash Planet!”
It was the beginning of the war against the Substitute Gods, waged for the ownership of the planets.