The Folly of Beauty and the Forging of a New World
Watching the Light Spirit God wave her war fan and laugh in a spine-chilling manner, the Magic God of Dimensions could only regret his foolishness in choosing her based solely on appearance.
A woman must first have a kind and gentle heart. Looks come second. Those had been the words of his master, a lifelong bachelor whose only hobby was collecting portraits of beautiful women. Naturally, he had ignored them.
Now his eyes stung with remorse at his own stupidity—how he had been utterly bewitched by their radiant beauty and contracted them anyway. Did I annihilate a world in a past life? Why do I always end up stuck with spirit gods like this? Let's just finish the work while they're not at each other's throats.
Puhahahahaha! Soil conjured from pure creative force began pouring onto the empty floor. Drawing on the Earth Spirit God's attribute, it transformed into rich, fertile earth that steadily filled the base of the Survival Magic Tower.
The earth wolf shuddered as waves of vitality surged into its body, causing it to swell. It threw back its head and howled, lost in memories of the era when it had been truly great.
“Awooooooooooo!”
The wolf god’s cry rang out, noble and sorrowful. It was reminiscing about its golden age, when it had been feared as the wolf of destruction—the beast that would swallow the sun and slay gods, ruling through terror and despair.
Yet now it had lost the majestic form that once towered into the heavens. It could only barely cling to existence by shaping a body from earth. And the price for that rare, refreshing howl was swift and brutal.
Thwack! Kyeeeeeeeeng!
The Goddess of the Moon poured overwhelming divine power into her bow—a pillar of light spanning hundreds of meters—and savagely smashed the giant wolf’s skull.
“Shut up.”
“Grrrrrr! Sniff!”
The giant wolf knew it could never overpower its absurdly strong master. Any hint of defiance would only earn it an endless beating, so it submitted instantly.
“Whiiiiiiine!”
It covered its head with both front paws and tucked its tail between its hind legs in a perfect display of submission.
Her name was Artemis. Her power fluctuated wildly with the moon’s phases, yet she symbolized the moon itself. She had once led tens of thousands of divine beings and stood among the greatest gods of war, presiding over nocturnal battles. As a direct descendant of the Chief God of the God Realm, she had held the highest status.
The reason she had fallen all the way to the Spirit Realm was entirely her twisted personality.
Even the Chief God couldn’t match her on the night of a full moon. Yet she treated male gods like insects, acting superior until she was isolated in the middle of a battlefield.
In that isolated state she had detonated her divine power in front of the enemy’s main force, self-destructing and destroying the magnificent body of the giant wolf that had accompanied her. That was the root of it all.
That single explosion took out the entire enemy vanguard and more than half our own forces. The worst part was that the moon itself was shattered, creating distorted gravity that triggered apocalyptic tsunamis and earthquakes. The planet nearly died.
Direct lineage or not, the situation had been unsalvageable. The enraged Chief God stripped her of her physical form and exiled her to the Spirit Realm as a spirit god. The subordinate wolf god was condemned as an accomplice and imprisoned alongside her.
If things looked bad, she could have just run away. And why do I have to suffer this pathetic form too!
The giant wolf had offered countless pieces of advice to the Moon Spirit God, but all it ever received in return was endless beatings.
She claimed she could never show weakness to male gods. The moment she decided someone was male, she attacked without hesitation. There was simply no reasoning with her.
In short, among all spirit gods she was famous for having the filthiest temper and for killing contractors she disliked.
Her personality is so foul that even spirit gods of different elements avoid her. Despite that dazzling beauty, no male god dares approach. She remains a virgin goddess.
As a direct descendant of the Chief God, her silver hair flowed like gentle moonlight all the way to her toes without a single imperfection. Her round, moon-like eyes glowed with a mysterious silver light that mercilessly shook any man who gazed into them.
Her skin was so pale it seemed to glow, and her body—honed by archery and hunting—was firm and radiant with health. Even the Goddess of Beauty would sigh in admiration.
When she wore clothes woven from World Tree leaves and set out to hunt, her beauty was enough to make animals forget to flee. Yet her vile temper overshadowed all of it.
One of the Sea God’s sons, chosen as her marriage candidate, made the mistake of looking at her with lust during their meeting. She beat him half to death on the spot. Then, despite having shown zero interest, she shot an arrow through his head in rage when he rejected her.
The bewildered Chief God of the God Realm resolved the incident by elevating the dead son into a star god of the heavens. Bowing his head in apology to the Sea God and giving up on her marriage was not even considered an “incident.”
She even bragged about it, proudly calling herself a virgin goddess. I really want to crack open that Magic God of Dimensions’ skull and see what he was thinking when he accepted a woman like this as his contracted spirit.
Even now, she looked ready to plant an arrow in the center of his forehead the moment an opening appeared.
Why do I have such a bad feeling? Is that bastard the cause?
It was no illusion that the giant wolf—currently being pummeled by the Goddess of the Moon—seemed to be giving him a pitying look. Of course it was.
I don’t get beaten like that. Still… why has my forehead been itching and crawling with dread since earlier? Is this battle precognition?
Even while maintaining the defensive magic All Things Shall Return to the Sower, he recognized the lingering aftereffects of injury and began modifications.
Puhahahahaha! The flat floor danced and undulated in response to his raised hands. A mountain rose in the center, the left side was hollowed out, and the right side was lifted high.
Sssssss! Puhahahahak! With simple gestures, hundreds of thousands of tons of earth swirled like dust, reshaping the terrain. As if decorating a tiny fishbowl, a single flick of his wrist created an entire mountain range in the center and a colossal pit on the left.
Even the spirit gods of the Otherworld—who harbored hostility toward the Magic God of Dimensions—could only gasp in admiration at his flawless, godlike control over such immense quantities of earth.
Could I manage even a tenth of that?
Is he really a former dark mage?
The hand that had scooped up the earth drew it into a perfect circle and gathered it at the center. The five-kilometer-wide mass of soil floating in the air emitted a skin-crawling roar as it began compressing.
Kiiiiiiiiing!
The compacted earth hardened like stone, then was flattened once more. When his hands spread wide and nearly touched, friction heat sent smoke billowing from the compressed mass. Finally, the now rock-like flattened circle was dropped back into place.
Thuuuuuuuuuump!
A perfectly circular stone plateau roughly twenty kilometers across materialized in the middle of the space.
Pwoooooong!
He flicked his right thumb upward. The central ten-kilometer section of the plateau erupted skyward with a deafening roar.
Urk—! There’s no warning at all. What would happen if something like that hit me?
Even in its prime as a mid-tier god, the giant wolf doubted it could withstand a sudden attack of that scale and mass. The more experienced spirit gods could only stare in silence at the scene that defied common sense.
The scale is small, yet it’s something ordinary gods would need tens of thousands of years to accomplish.
Creating an environment the size of a country in one breath… this is beyond common sense.
The Light Spirit God, who had once led divine forces in creating islands atop the sea while warring against continental gods, felt veins bulge on her forehead. She remembered the backbreaking labor of building a massive island after losing her territory.
At the time, my eight million lesser divine beings had to dredge the ocean for nearly ten thousand years. The land we finally created was so unstable that major earthquakes and tsunamis struck constantly.
On that hard-won island, all gods below mid-tier had taken human form, acting as heroes to guide primitive tribes while suffering for thousands of years.
I had to abandon everything and live solely for survival, while the gods on the continent sipped tea elegantly and sang songs. I even had to endure them calling us barbaric gods behind our backs. And just when things were finally stabilizing, my worthless younger brother allied with the native gods I had nearly wiped out, stabbed us in the back, and caused the Divine Realm to fall.
Crack!
Lost in those bitter memories, the fan in her hand shattered.
There isn’t much time left. I will repay the humiliation I suffered a hundredfold. And those bitches who flaunted the silk clothes and jewels offered by humans in front of me—I will tear every last garment to shreds.
She didn’t realize that her solitary rage and brooding made her look exactly like the contractor she always mocked.
Suddenly, lightning began to flash as if a torrential downpour was imminent.
Rumble rumble rumble!
Boom!
The Magic God of Dimensions was supplying vitality to the Water Spirit God, causing her to generate water without limit.
Gurgle—! Rumble—!
The air grew thick with moisture and rain began to pour. The Water Spirit God twitched in surprise at the sudden surge in her water attribute, but she could not defy the will of the mighty dark mage.
Whoooooooosh!
When the Magic God of Dimensions lightly swirled his left hand in a circle and pointed, the pouring rain concentrated on the elevated terrain to the right. In an instant it formed a vast lake.
Ziiiiing!
His right index finger drew a straight line from left to right in front of him.
Crack crack crack—!
A river instantly pierced through the center of the high ground and the central rock plateau. Debris sprayed into the air, dust rose like a storm, and the channel immediately became a flowing river. Water followed the channel into the excavated pit within the stone plateau, forming a small lake.
Rumble rumble rumble!
The water from the small lake flowed along the river into the deeply excavated area on the right and became a small sea.
The Water Spirit God covered her mouth with both hands, writhing.
“Mmmph! Mmmmmmph!”
The overwhelming pleasure rising from the massive vitality suddenly granted to her threatened to rob her of reason. Because her divine body was deeply connected to snakes, her sexual desire was exceptionally strong.
Unlike the virgin goddess who knew nothing of men, left all matters to her subordinate wolf god, and merely mimicked the Earth Spirit God, she had shared many sexual experiences with her now-vanished partner.
“Mmmmmm! Nnnngh!”
Her cloud-like, meticulously arranged black hair came undone strand by strand as she writhed, clinging to her extremely pale golden skin. A scent that instinctively drew men radiated from her body, turning the surrounding water gray and accelerating her arousal.
The golden waist cord that had bound her luxurious robes had come undone at some point; her naked body was about to be revealed.
“Aaaahmmph! Hnnngh!”
Sweet, heated moans kept slipping through the fingers desperately clamped over her lips. Had the other spirit gods not been present, she would have lost control and pounced on the dark mage right then and there.
“Hmm? What is this indecent behavior in front of the children? And you still dare call yourself the creator of the continental humans?”
The Light Spirit God noticed the Water Spirit God’s state. She slowed the influx of vitality with her light divine power and suppressed the water attribute. The Water Spirit God’s desire gradually subsided, and the explosive surge of vitality calmed as well.
Flustered, the Water Spirit God hurriedly straightened her clothes and composed herself. The other spirit gods seemed completely absorbed in the dark mage’s transcendent terraforming and had noticed nothing.
“Thank you. I almost showed an embarrassing sight.”
“I did not do it to earn gratitude. I simply dislike seeing my faithful subordinate defiled by a lowly mortal.”
Though the reply made her blood pressure spike, she had received help this time and could only let it pass. Still, there was something she had to say.
“I was once a God King as well. Now that I have no subjects, citizens, or territory, don’t you think it’s rather unbecoming to act like a queen?”
“Ha! How laughable. Are you boasting about a throne you inherited from your husband? I earned my title as God King through battle. That insignificant country? Given ten thousand more years, the Chief God position of the planetary Divine Realm would have been mine!”
The tiny shred of gratitude she felt was swallowed along with the words that nearly escaped.
She had only become God King after sending her still-young younger brother to the front lines.
That throne you stole from your naïve little brother can’t be something to be so proud of, can it?
Once the sea was filled with clear, blue water, the dark mage swept both hands in a wide circle.
Whooooooosh!
The light motion resonated with the atmosphere. Wind began to circulate throughout the interior of the Survival Magic Tower.
Puhahahahaha! Rumble rumble rumble!
This time an enormous torrent of vitality poured into the Wind Spirit God. However, she repelled the incoming vitality with a massively amplified wind divine power.
“Get lost. I am the atmosphere and the storm itself! I need no more of this dark mage’s vitality.”
Under the tremendous wind pressure her previously transparent form was revealed, exposing healthy brown skin that looked sun-kissed. A snow-white dress that bared her shoulders and the upper half of her modest, rounded breasts suited her perfectly. Below the round chest, a slender waist drew soft curves before flaring into an overwhelmingly large, perfectly circular backside that the dress barely contained, followed by long, straight brown legs.
Crack! Crack!
When she tensed her legs, her right thigh—twice as thick as an ordinary woman’s—lifted high above her head as if pressing down on her own chest. Naturally, the short skirt flared wide, and she brought her leg crashing down toward the mage with savage force.
BOOM—!
“This is the purification of the wind attribute you wanted.”
The wind kicked up by her kick instantly became a typhoon. A colossal storm that tore at the atmosphere exploded around the mage. An enormous tornado formed with enough power to pulverize even the Survival Magic Tower.
“Use it as much as you like—if you can.”
Immense divine power erupted from the Wind Spirit God. Yet the ornaments in her black hair—each strand meticulously gathered in groups of ten, braided with golden thread and decorated with jewels—did not stir in the slightest. The crystal-and-gold crown atop her head glowed strangely, as if forming horns of light.
Whoooooooooosh!
What shone in her black eyes against that brown skin was the fury of a tyrannical ruler. Arms crossed over her modest chest, the Wind Spirit God radiated the aura of a God King and displayed only cold, desert-night wrath.
When it became clear she had no intention of cooperating, the Magic God of Dimensions’ expression hardened.
In the past she executed over ten million of her own subjects who had turned their backs on her and fallen into corruption.
The Wind Spirit God had been a God King who used storms and floods summoned by her divine authority to pass impartial judgment on men, women, young and old alike, regardless of the severity of their sins.
Of course, that excessive harvest is exactly why she was exiled to the Spirit Realm.
Whoooooooosh—!
The tornado lifted even the immeasurably heavy bedrock he had just created and rampaged wildly.
Crunch!
Small fragments of rock sucked into the vortex were pulverized into dust. It seemed no living thing could possibly survive inside that maelstrom.
Yet the tenth-circle Magic God of Dimensions was on another level.
Oooooooong! Creeeeeeeak!
The tornado’s scale suddenly began to shrink. The smaller it became, the faster it spun. The storm’s roar grew into a deafening shriek that threatened to rupture eardrums. Finally, it was lifted and imprisoned in the Magic God of Dimensions’ right hand.
Gugugugugugung!
The colossal tornado was compressed intact inside a transparent cubic barrier formed in his palm.
“A dimensional barrier? What a monstrous Magic God of Dimensions.”
Even at full power, the tornado that could pulverize entire mountain ranges had been captured in his hand without dealing a single blow. Further attacks were pointless. The Wind Spirit God turned her gaze away and retreated into a semi-transparent state behind an ultra-high-speed wind barrier.
Today is not the only day. I will definitely tear him to pieces one day.
It was the vow of the Wind Spirit God, whose pride had been wounded by defeat and forced into a compulsory contract.
Thud!
The Magic God of Dimensions hurled the compressed mega-tornado onto the island in the sea.
Puhahaha—!
When he released the upper portion of the dimensional barrier just a tiny amount, the atmosphere surged upward, circulating all the air in a convection current.
It’s a measure to keep the air circulating until the environment stabilizes.
The tornado generated by the Wind Spirit God would purify and cycle the air in this place into its cleanest state.
Until the sea warms and naturally drives air flow, this should be sufficient.
Now it was time to handle the most important part. He had to generate light and darkness so that life could flourish here.
“Hmm. How truly interesting. Are you planning to create an independent world rather than a mere temporary residence?”