America, Land of the Gods
After clearing immigration, I was escorted inside.
Our destination was a hotel. Word had it that they'd prepared a five-star establishment since it would be housing the students of Korea Hero Academy.
"...Wow, this is actually really nice."
"Anywhere's fine for me, as long as I'm with you, Seoha."
Seo Gayeon, who had subtly glued herself to my side, said this to me. I gave a noncommittal nod and took a seat nearby.
The hotel lounge was genuinely impressive. A quick glance around revealed a breakfast area as well.
I am pretty hungry. Maybe I'll grab a meal over there.
"Having breakfast over there, are you? Then how about joining me?"
Erciel settled into the seat across from me with a bright, winsome smile, propping her chin on her hands and making a show of being pretty. When a girl that beautiful pulls a move like that, even I wavered a little.
"M-me too."
"Lovely. Shall the three of us then enjoy a cozy little academic exchange on the subject of magic?"
Erciel beamed as she said it.
"...Just the two of us. At the villa."
"Hmm. Well, three is not so bad compared to two, I suppose."
Erciel answered with a smile. The truth was, though, Erciel was feeling quite a bit of danger. I let out an awkward laugh.
Thanks to arriving first at admission, I had become known at Korea Hero Academy as someone who did nothing but physical training.
There was a rumor going around that because I occasionally used sorcery, I'd entered the school deliberately concealing my magical power. And the person who believed that rumor was none other than Erciel.
As Erciel looked at me, her mind drifted to the Student Council President.
Seong Hanbyeol.
'It's not like she's that pretty.'
Kim Ara, Erciel, Hong Yuhwa. Those were the women around Lee Seoha. The three of them might differ in taste, but their level of beauty was on par — the very pinnacle of the human race. It was impossible to be any prettier. That was Erciel's personal opinion.
Seong Hanbyeol felt like she was running on a slightly different track from that tier entirely.
'No, wait. Does that even matter?'
Erciel smiled bitterly to herself.
The expression on Seoha's face whenever he looked at Seong Hanbyeol was exactly like a fan being granted an audience with their idol.
"Shall we, then? Gayeon, want to come?"
"Yeah."
At my words, Seo Gayeon nodded. Erciel wore a pleasantly agreeable smile.
Seo Gayeon. She was another one I needed to keep a careful eye on. She was someone I'd be butting heads with, and she had proudly made it into the top hundred at the midterm evaluations last semester.
'Her magic is anything but ordinary.'
She couldn't match me, of course — someone taught magic by a Transcendent like Melanie — but she was an extraordinarily capable talent. In terms of growth alone, she'd rank within the top three in the history of Korea Hero Academy.
No harm in being on good terms with her.
"Then I'll cover dessert. What do you say to mint chocolate, chosen by we Britons as the most beautiful dessert of all?"
As Erciel said this with a grin, Seo Gayeon and I thought the same thing.
'This is what's wrong with British people.'
After breakfast, I retreated to my private room.
The exchange event with Divine Academy started tomorrow, which meant I had a full day today to do whatever I wanted.
So here I was, in my room, training.
'Nope.'
The top ranks of Divine Academy had long since shed the mask of "student" altogether.
Kim Seohyun, aiming for the late-game apex — and Seong Hanbyeol, whom nobody in the early game, myself included, could ever have predicted a win against.
What Divine Academy had was something in between — a deer of an existence: strong in the early game, stronger in the mid-game, then falling just short of Kim Seohyun in the late game.
'It's starting to come into view, little by little.'
I could picture Yeongcheon going rigid with shock. She was a fox spirit — how on earth did she even show expressions like that?
'Yep. I can see the thread that leads to the Transcendent stage.'
That wasn't to say I could reach Transcendence right away. The wall was high, and the absolute volume of my Heaven-Defying energy was still insufficient.
From the Transcendent stage onward, you carve your own law into the world. To put it in extreme terms — like a blade that cuts anything.
Transcendence means inscribing your law upon the world.
From that, all manner of abilities are born.
The first Transcendent I'd met in this world was the Sword Demon Napcheon, whose law maximized sharpness. His blade sheared through anything — cave walls, whatever — with effortless ease.
Then there was Tak Yoonil, with his power to stretch his hands. Crude, but he'd fought with the skill of a true master.
Harun of the Retribution Brigade possessed a passive-form law, the Mind of the Martial Way — the more his fighting spirit flared, the deeper the enlightenment he could attain.
The most singular of them all was Magongnyeo. She commanded the power to descend an Asura and fight through it.
'The ability that suits me best, honestly.'
Though it was a little short on realism.
Even someone with as flexible a conscience as mine looked at that and thought, wait, you're seriously allowed to do that?
Buzzzz!
My phone vibrated. I checked it — a single text message. It was from Kim Seohyun.
I'd typed up to no— and then changed my mind. If I wanted to resolve the incident that would unfold in Heaven, Seo Gayeon's role was critical.
Her debut.
I'd been keeping Gayeon hidden all this time. The Starlight Mana she carried was a power capable of exterminating demons entirely.
Which meant that until her power grew strong enough, every demon out there would try to kill her. By any means necessary.
I mulled it over for a moment, then sent another message.
We stepped outside.
Kim Seohyun and Seo Gayeon had changed into casual clothes.
Kim Seohyun wore a black tank top with slim white pants and a white bucket hat with suspenders.
Seo Gayeon had on an oversized T-shirt and black shorts.
"Still in a hoodie even out here, huh, Seoha."
"...It's comfortable."
Maybe I should've put a little more effort in.
'...Nothing to be done about it.'
The coat Erciel had given me did have decent style to it, at least.
"America really does feel... American."
"That's because it's America."
Kim Seohyun answered Seo Gayeon.
"Mm, I kind of expected it to feel more... I don't know, sacred?"
"Ah, people do get that impression sometimes. Because of the Pantheon of a Hundred Gods."
As the world's boundaries crumbled and the dimensions layered over one another, America had reaped the greatest benefits of all.
The Pantheon of a Hundred Gods.
Gods presiding over different concepts had descended upon this world — and it was there that they'd gathered.
"If you're a reasonably decent person, there's nowhere in the world better to live than America."
"...America?"
"Yep. America is a nation of gods. It's a radically unconventional country — its people receive the grace of the gods, and they've woven that grace directly into their governance."
"...The gods are involved in administration?"
Seo Gayeon's expression turned strange.
"Take taxes, for example. In America they're remarkably simple — none of that nickel-and-diming you at every turn like back home. But the rates are brutal. Forty to eighty percent of your income goes to taxes."
"Ugh."
Seo Gayeon went pale.
"...Let's set that aside. Here's the real point: if anyone gets greedy and lays a hand on the tax money, a god intervenes and delivers divine punishment down upon them. And once you've received that punishment, your descendants can never receive a god's blessing again — for generations."
"......"
"That's why America is 'fair.' The most ideal communist nation on Earth. There's something pretty funny about the land of liberty that once conquered the world becoming the most ideal communist state, but..."
At that point, Kim Seohyun's expression sharpened.
"Thief! A thief!"
"A thief, huh."
A man who certainly looked the part had snatched a bag from an old man. But I watched the scene with perfect calm.
"Come to think of it, Gayeon, you haven't seen this yet, have you? Why America is called Heaven."
"No, I haven't."
"Then watch closely. Chances like this don't come often."
The eyes of the people nearby changed.
America is called Heaven. The kingdom in the sky. That was because of the gods dwelling in the Pantheon of a Hundred Gods.
And America was also an absurd country in which every single citizen was capable of 'combat.'
"O God of Light!"
"O God of Flames!"
"Goddess of Winter!"
Residents began calling upon their own gods all around us. They offered their faith, and the gods answered by granting divine power.
From the highest of the high down to the lowliest of people.
"...What is all that?"
"A common sight in America. Ever since faith became a thing, performing good deeds raises your divine power too."
The rate of increase was vanishingly small. But it beat having none at all.
"...They don't kill him."
"I don't know what kind of fantasy you had about America, but they generally avoid killing here. Even most Villains are expected to reform and turn over a new leaf."
But even America, tolerant as it was, refused to forgive one thing.
"Unless you're a demon, that is."
"I see."
Seo Gayeon nodded quietly.
Her face was expressionless.
"So, where should we go next?"
"Wherever you want to go, Seoha?"
Seo Gayeon answered my question, and Kim Seohyun gave a wry smile.
"If it's Seoha, he'll probably drag us to a gym."
"...Me?"
"Yeah. You're a training addict. Word is the Master of the Purple Tower built a gym around here as a hobby. Want to check it out?"
The Master of the Purple Tower — that meant gravity magic.
In other words, that gym would be full of gravity-based training equipment designed to load the body down.
"Then shall we head over for a bit—"
"...We came all the way to America, though?"
At Seo Gayeon's words, I froze. I'd come here to get closer to her, after all. I should be focusing on Seo Gayeon.
"Is there somewhere you'd like to go, Gayeon?"
".........The gym, maybe?"
Seo Gayeon seemed to hesitate for a moment — and then said that.
I stole a glance at the time. Lunch was coming up soon. Maybe I'd steer us toward a restaurant nearby.
That was right about when it happened.
"Hm! Halt there, you! Are you the top student of Korea Hero Academy?"
Some peacock of a snob addressed me, nose in the air. His speech was odd — like he'd learned Korean from a historical drama.
"Um, e-excuse me. Th-that's, that's rather rude to say."
A frail, androgynous boy with delicate features spoke up. He looked almost girlishly fragile, but he was a boy.
I knew these two.
There was a figure at Divine Academy who stood as Kim Seohyun's rival. These two were the ones who appeared just before that figure did.
"Hey there."
A brimming-with-confidence voice rang out from behind me. I ignored it. Because that particular existence was an incredibly annoying type to get tangled up with.
The best policy was to not get involved at all.
Hey! Hey! Where do you think you're goooing!
Ignoring the shouts behind me, I grabbed Kim Seohyun and Seo Gayeon and bolted.