The Forgotten God
Mangshin (Forgotten God)
"That's better now."
A flat tone.
After achieving the feat of severing the Chief God's legs in one stroke, Nanar felt a strange emotion at the complete lack of expression on the man's face.
It was the same annoyance he had only felt during the height of the gods' struggle for supremacy.
More than any interest or amusement toward an unknown existence, Nanar felt irritation at being unable to approach Dre.
"Aha. So that's how Dre mastered skills without proper support—there was a god inside him?"
Nanar spoke as if he understood, and his legs had already regenerated in an instant.
But the same was true for Dre... no, for Mangshin as well.
After regenerating both legs and his left arm, Mangshin rested his chin on his index finger and thumb, gazing up at the sky as if deep in thought.
Surely he wasn't letting his guard down just because he'd landed one successful attack.
Nanar thought that wounds of this level were commonplace in battles between divine beings.
Yet the penalty for manifesting in the present world should affect the other side as well. The fact that he had still managed to damage Nanar meant he was quite strong in his own right... Nanar acknowledged that too.
Curiosity.
"What kind of god are you?"
"Hmm?"
"At the very least, you're not a god I know. That means you're one of the forgotten gods I've never encountered..."
Forgotten gods.
The losers of the divine supremacy struggles.
Nanar was certain the being before him was a forgotten god.
Even Almiraj had formed a contract with a forgotten god, after all.
'But what bothers me is that even I have no idea what his true identity is.'
Nanar possessed a contradictory nature—both impulsive and thorough.
At least when he had been destroying the gods known as forgotten gods, he had moved with calculation and kept every threatening existence recorded in his mind.
No, he had even memorized all available information on lower-ranking divine beings, just in case.
But there was no information on the being before him.
Either he was an insignificant small fry who had achieved nothing,
or... a heavyweight Nanar simply didn't know.
'How ambiguous.'
Cutting off his legs from outside his perception was praiseworthy, but any reasonably strong divine being could accomplish that much if they used their full power.
In battles between gods, what mattered was whether the opponent could move again after a successful attack. Right now, Nanar was still full of energy.
'I'll know if I attack again.'
Divine beast summoning.
A flash of light.
Rainbow colors.
A light that blinded the eyes of fools.
Bright.
And all authorities he hadn't felt the need to use until now manifested at once.
This was merely a greeting.
Whatever god it was, they would counter with their specialty, and then he would know what kind of god—
Puak.
"......"
His field of vision lowered.
"I told you your head was too high, you insect."
With a thud, Nanar felt a heavy sensation on his shoulder and blankly looked up.
The enemy was perched on his shoulder, still lost in thought.
And all his authorities had cleanly vanished.
'...What the hell just happened?'
The danger alarm in his mind rose several levels.
This guy... was a heavyweight he hadn't known about.
With that judgment, Nanar summoned new power.
If he had wielded light under the name of the Light God until now, he would now use the combat methods under his other alias, the Mad God.
Distinguishing between close and long range was laughable for Nanar, who was overwhelmingly powerful in both, but if the previous attack had been specialized for long range, this one was closer to close combat.
Nanar's eyes, which had displayed his emblem, flashed with a golden hue mixed with black.
Makia's body, which he wore, transformed like a beast.
Claws on both hands and feet. In a way, it resembled a lycanthrope, but the level was incomparable.
Rather, it would make sense to compare him to the Frostia, the pinnacle of monsters and head of the Eight Calamities.
In reality, his strength was worthy of that title.
Whether he drew upon his true body's power in the present world or not, he couldn't use the full power of a god in Elyunar, but in this state, his strength was on par with those whose mere name in Elyunar drove people mad.
Huaaang!
Claws of light sliced through the air.
Large, deep scars the size of claws were left on the heaven that had already been cracked.
In this mode, he could easily overwhelm the combined assault of Kaits, Mullin, and Reina from earlier.
But...
'Missed again?'
He thought the enemy had disappeared from his sight, but then felt a thud on his back.
Back to back, still thinking.
"I'm thinking, you insect."
"Ha!"
A barrage of attacks.
Yet they were so fast and powerful that even mixing a god's strength with light speed felt like cheating.
But the enemy dodged them one by one without breaking his initial posture at all.
This was an opponent that required vigilance...
'...Huh?'
Hadn't he had a similar thought just moments ago?
A sense of unease.
As if trying to erase his doubts, Nanar poured immense divine power into his hand.
Immediately after, as he swung his fist, the enemy casually caught it with his hand.
His right hand had regenerated.
His other hand and legs... hadn't been destroyed.
Every part of his body had regenerated perfectly.
The moment Nanar widened his eyes, the enemy spoke.
"Let me correct you—the little one's god isn't me."
Right after, he was sent flying.
A shock so intense it briefly cut off his consciousness.
"...Hurk."
"Does it hurt?"
Still in that flat tone.
Nanar broke out in a cold sweat.
His power... no, a god's power fundamentally contained all sorts of attributes, and Nanar also possessed the attribute of destruction.
Normally, if the opponent's rank was lower than Nanar's, they couldn't regenerate destroyed parts, and even if they did, it would break again immediately.
At best, if they were of equal rank, they might use other methods or maintain regeneration, but it would be painful.
But the being before him regenerated his body far too casually.
That meant only one thing.
The divine rank of that god was higher than Nanar's.
"Uha!! To think you'd provide me with new amusement even now. As expected, Dre is amazing!!"
Papapat
The Mad God dashed across the ground.
His leaping body carried the power to twist space-time.
"I want to talk to him, so get out of the way, you nuisance?!"
Kuaaaaa!!
The ground caved in deeply.
A technique that would destroy a planet if it struck one.
A taboo even Nanar, the Chief God, shouldn't perform.
But the destruction was minimal.
The enemy had blocked it with a casually raised ankle.
There were beings in Elyunar capable of destroying planets.
Divine beings, if unconstrained by stages, could even destroy dimensions.
But the reason they couldn't execute that was because others of equal strength blocked the destruction.
Just like the being before him.
Nanar had no choice but to acknowledge it.
At the very least, this guy in front of him... possessed strength on the same level as Nanar in Mad God mode...
"The same? You think you're on equal footing with me?"
His neck was grabbed.
He had tried to slash with both claws, but... his arms were gone.
A burning pain rose up.
They had been severed.
"K, huk...!"
"Looks like it hurts? Must be the first pain you've felt in a while."
As Nanar staggered backward, he heard the sound of joints cracking.
Crack. Pop.
The enemy had finally assumed a proper stance.
Nanar felt a sense of crisis, but he couldn't resist.
"I've been thinking. It would be best for the little one to be the first to make you suffer, but... that would be incomplete combustion."
"Huh?"
Incomplete combustion—what did that mean?
"If I just let the mastermind behind everything go without any punishment, trusting only in the distant future, wouldn't that leave a bitter aftertaste?"
Tuquang!
At the end of his words, a fist shot out and punched through Nanar's solar plexus.
Blood and vomit mixed and spilled out, and tears leaked from Nanar's eyes from the stabbing pain.
"Hurk..!"
The enemy whispered to Nanar, who was writhing in pain.
"You're far from it."
Tuquang! Tuquang! Tukwakwakwang!
Pain pounded into his entire body.
The hand gripping his neck was impossibly solid.
Nanar tore off his own neck to escape the enemy's grasp and regenerated his body.
Reassessing the situation once more.
This was an opponent against whom he had to squeeze out every possible move beyond his full power.
Despite experiencing pain for the first time since Dre, Nanar grinned widely and shouted.
"Mind Realm Declaration. Light—"
"......?"
What? What just happened?
Nanar couldn't understand what was going on.
When he came to his senses, all of Nanar's limbs had been severed, and the enemy was standing leisurely beside him, yawning.
The heaven Nanar had created was crumbling, riddled with cracks.
'...Something definitely happened. I just don't know what. Is it space-time manipulation? No... no. Even if it's a higher concept, there's no way I wouldn't know... Is it nothingness or nullification? No. Even those powers can't explain this phenomenon... More than that, why am I...'
He didn't even remember what he had been hit with?
Had he lost consciousness from the pain? Or had he briefly blacked out?
As his mind raced, pain surged through his entire body.
Pain so intense that tears naturally welled up.
The agony that made Poseid's suffering seem trivial tore through Nanar.
"Huuuuu...!"
Seeing Nanar crying while laughing, the enemy looked down indifferently and let out a chuckle.
Light flashed, and Nanar's body regenerated again, only to be sliced into pieces once more.
The infuriating part was that even in the midst of this, Makia's body was left untouched while only Nanar was chopped up.
It wasn't out of consideration for Makia.
It was purely to look down on Nanar.
At the same time, two or three divine beings under Nanar's command collapsed.
Nanar was a god who was quick to acknowledge even if he didn't give up.
'...I can't win against this opponent.'
Nanar let out a bitter laugh.
From the being before him... he recalled those he hadn't been able to reach even after becoming the Chief God.
First, even among those of equal rank after becoming Chief God, there were Amastia, All-Nist, and a few others. Several from the evil god faction that he couldn't treat carelessly.
Still, there were ways to deal with them.
But the man before him far surpassed that.
Similar to Gaia, the closest to the Creator God.
The closest to the Destruction God of the evil god faction.
He was clearly a forgotten god, but the reason he had been forgotten was unknown... The god before him was simply of too high a rank.
Curiosity dominated Nanar.
Unable to endure the urge, the Mad God opened his mouth.
"What are you?"
"In the present era, there's no particularly fitting name... Hmm. There is one."
He stroked his chin, and before he knew it, he was holding a smoking pipe in his hand.
As he brought the pipe to his mouth, he spoke.
"Mangshin. It's a good name."
"Mangshin..."
Mangshin, pipe in mouth, puffed away vigorously.
Huu. He exhaled smoke into the sky and made a face as if he were alive.
Then suddenly furrowed his brow.
"Huh? What's the big deal, kid? Let me smoke once. You promised."
"......"
Seeing Mangshin talking as if conversing with Dre, Nanar's doubts deepened.
'It's not like his body was taken over...? No matter how talented Dre is, did he really form an equal relationship with such a powerful being? Just what...'
While casually conversing, countless formless blades like needles stabbed at Nanar.
Feeling the burning pain, Nanar sensed one more fact on top of everything else.
The divine beings under his command... were falling rapidly.
'Loveheart?'
No, even if she was stronger than expected, she wasn't enough to take them all down.
Something was wrong...
What stopped Nanar's thoughts was Mangshin's smirking words.
"I don't even need to do anything."
Mangshin raised his hand.
"I expected it might be a bit fun, but... it was just that. As expected, effort types like you are boring."
"...You know me?"
Effort type.
Clearly, he knew Nanar and what he had done.
It wasn't the tone of someone who had heard about it—it was the tone of someone who had seen it directly.
He definitely knew him.
But he seemed to have no interest in Nanar despite having met him.
Just what kind of being was he to look down on him with such arrogance... no, such dignity?
Why couldn't he even remember such a divine being...
...Remember?
'...Ah.'
Aa.
Aaaaaa.
Aaaaaaaaaa!!!
"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!"
Nanar let out a scream of ecstasy.
The heaven echoed loudly with his laughter.
Paying no mind to the heaven turning to dust and scattering, the Mad God shouted.
"That's right! You're that! Uhe, uhehahahahahaha!!"
Pueong!
Breaking free from the formless restraints, a massive hand of light tried to crush Mangshin.
That hand contained insane power that could turn a planet into rags multiple times over, but Mangshin remained calm.
Just by glaring, the hand of light split vertically, and once again Nanar's limbs were severed.
Every time they were cut off, he regenerated, only to be cut again, and as he regenerated, Nanar advanced.
It hurt. It was terrifying.
And above all, it was exhilarating.
Facing a third transcendent divine being on par with Gaia or the Destruction God, completely beyond his expectations.
And feeling exhilaration toward the lovely existence named Dre, who had built an equal partnership with that god.
"You're insane! You're insane, Dre!! Mangshin?! Your sense is killer!! Whether you knew it or not, it's a really good name, Dre! Uwahhahahaha!!"
A planet made of light that seemed capable of overturning the world appeared.
Nanar was extracting every last bit of causality.
Enough to even threaten the position of Chief God now.
But the planet turned to dust and scattered the moment it appeared.
Mangshin looked at Nanar and puffed vigorously on his pipe.
On top of that, Nanar created several more planets, but the next moment, the heaven was pierced through, a hole appeared in the center of his own body, and he saw a space where all power had vanished.
Aa. It's powerless.
It's so good.
"Kuhhahahaha!"
"You've accumulated quite a lot."
Mangshin spoke indifferently as he watched Nanar consuming causality again.
"Kid. Watch carefully. I'll show you the trick."
"You're insane, Dre!! To think you had something like that inside you! I'm ashamed to have called myself the Mad God in front of you!!!"
While shedding bloody tears from the pain, Nanar reached out desperately as he walked, and there was only one thing in his mind.
Destroy Dre? That was absolutely out of the question.
He would have him.
That. That person was his.
He was the one and only existence he must cherish and love!!
"You're mine, Dre!! Mine!!"
As the echo resounded and the heaven crumbled, Mangshin quietly declared.
"Mind Realm Declaration."
And then.
"Mineeeeeeeee!!!"
The world stopped for an instant.
The world began moving again, leaving only the echoing voice of Nanar... and everything had cleanly disappeared.
No, a few beings remained.
As a spirit, it was questionable whether this state could be called unconscious, but the Water Dragon was in a fainted state.
And Makia, whose wrist was grabbed by Mangshin in the exact posture she had reached out with just before.
She had been watching everything from inside since Poseid had manifested.
She had tried to stop it, but even if it was Poseid, Nanar was too powerful for her to come out.
'Just what...'
What was the being before her?
No divine being... had ever been this powerful.
Was this Dre's patron god?
'No... He denied it himself, and that was the truth. Just who is this person...'
Only one thing was certain.
She was going to die.
Even against Nanar, Makia had means to resist in a normal fight, but the being before her had no answer.
'Neither Divine Possession nor the power of my eyes works...'
She was going to die.
She would be cut into thousands, tens of thousands of pieces like this... and become a corpse.
"Hmm."
Mangshin narrowed his eyes.
It was Dre's face, but a very unfamiliar, cold face.
And death approached...
"Hey."
"Hmm?"
"......"
Makia slightly opened her mouth.
Half of the face was an unknown god. The other half... had changed into the face of Dre she knew.
"She's done, right? From what I saw, it didn't seem like you had any intention of killing her in the first place, whether it was me or someone else."
"People are nice too. No, is this rationalization?"
"What the fuck are you saying."
It was Dre who cursed, but Makia flinched for no reason.
But Mangshin only clicked his tongue and showed no sign of anger.
"Got it, kid. Let's switch."
"Hey, wait. That bastard might come back, right? He has a lot of subordinates. What if he offers them as sacrifices or they come themselves."
"Weren't you the one who didn't want to switch earlier?"
"Ah, I didn't know you were this strong. Lord, please show off a bit lol"
"Scared?"
"What the fuck??"
Makia was dumbfounded by the very familiar conversation.
Then Mangshin scratched his head and spoke.
"It's fine. I was going to stay in this state a bit longer to prepare for when he comes back, but that guy has already suffered the worst possible situation after taking as much damage as he could. He can't come anymore."
"Ung?"
"I smoked, so I'll go back in. Keep your promise."
And then.
Sruruk. He completely returned to Dre's face.
'To think there was such a trump card... What an incredible man.'
Makia acknowledged her complete defeat.
She had never dreamed he was hiding the fact that he could manifest such a divine being on top of the authority of Equality.
It was understandable that she had felt ruin from him.
Moreover, from what he said, it seemed like a different power from the final means Dre had originally intended to use...
At that moment, Dre's face drew closer.
Makia was startled, then unconsciously looked at his lips.
...Suddenly, she remembered their first kiss.
"Uh, ugh."
Her mind was in disarray for a different reason than before.
She didn't know how to treat Dre.
Should she fight?
Since Dre wouldn't just let her go, of course...
But why?
Even excluding Mangshin, why didn't she want to fight Dre?
At that moment, Dre reached out his hand.
A thick hand touched Makia's cheek as she reacted with a start.
"Makia."
"...."
"Makia?"
"Y-yes..."
Why was her voice trembling?
Makia swallowed hard and waited for Dre's next words.
"Let's call it a draw for today."
"...What?"
Makia looked up at Dre blankly, and unlike his earlier violence, he gently caressed her cheek with a kind expression.
"Strange guys interfered on both sides. You're kind of a victim too."
"No..."
"If you had tried to kill me, it would be different, but thinking about it now, your actions were the best to prevent me or others from dying. I was impressed."
"......"
That was true.
The reason she had deliberately used the powerful combatants of the Sword Emperor Coalition and Revelation clans for surveillance by others was because she didn't want unnecessary sacrifices.
But there was no reason for the man targeted by them to be impressed.
Unless he was even more despicable.
Makia felt a large vessel within him.
When she remained silent, Dre also stayed silent.
A long silence followed, and eventually Dre spoke softly.
"...Just look the other way this once."
At this point, was he really lowering his pride?
And to an enemy who had struck first.
Makia acknowledged defeat deep in her heart... no, before that, she felt a strange heat and trembling.
"...Yes."
She could only nod blankly.
***
Whoa, fuck, that was close.
I almost died.
[If Makia had stayed as she was, you would have died.]
"That's why I desperately sent you out."
Makia was stronger than Poseid.
In my current state, no, even in perfect condition, I would have been beaten to death.
Because damaging Nanar was almost entirely thanks to the artifact.
In the end, I begged with all my sincerity for him to help, and Makia, perhaps feeling guilty for summoning Poseid wrongly, just left.
She would probably retrieve the Sword Emperor Coalition and Revelation, who had been blocking the Mind Realm Declaration, and return.
With this, all threats had disappeared.
"Then. The main dish remains."
At my words, Mangshin chuckled and replied.
[Crazy bastard.]
What. You want to see it too.
But there was still something bothering me.
"? Hey, but you said you'd demand something from me."
[I'll save it for later enjoyment]
Why hide it so tightly?
Whatever. Do what you want.
Then, Mangshin.
I'll show you something fun for your sake.
...But why is Nanar the worst situation?
[There's a scary big sister.]
......? Bullshit.
Whatever.
***
"Uhe, uhehehe..."
Divine Realm.
Lying spread-eagled, Nanar checked both his hands and laughed madly.
He would return immediately.
He would go back and bring Dre with him.
He would make him his.
With him... even Kaits' past life or whatever would pale in comparison.
Although he had essentially lost everything he had accumulated and possessed until now, with him, he would obtain endless power that was more than enough to recover and beyond.
...No. Actually, that wasn't the issue.
"It'll be fun...!"
Being with Dre would definitely breathe life into this boring existence.
Nanar, who had raised his body in joy, closed his mouth upon seeing the surrounding situation.
Nanar's temple, reduced to ruins.
And the divine beings sprawled about.
Before manifesting in the present world, he had summoned the gods of wind, fire, earth, darkness, lightning, and others who followed Nanar to his temple and had other divine beings summoned to guard it.
To prepare for possible attacks from Amastia or All-Nist.
Since they were divine beings close to Dre, he had thought they might come.
He had stopped the system and made all sorts of preparations, so there was no way interference would come until the matter was over.
In reality, whether because of the even more powerful authorities due to designating and restricting only the highest-ranking divine beings, or for some other reason, they didn't come to interfere.
He hadn't considered Loveheart, so she had invaded up to this temple...
That Loveheart was kneeling with both hands raised high, sniffling.
There was a large lump on her head.
The gods sprawled near her looked swollen as if they had been punched.
However. Other divine beings.
Among the divine beings lying frozen, high-ranking gods including the Fire God had collapsed as if struck in one blow.
"N-Nanar... save... me..."
"......"
Poseid's voice, as if it would break at any moment.
Facing death, complete annihilation, Poseid recalled the past.
That damn sea cucumber bastard. He had subdued Azathoth.
But in reality, he had only attacked a weakened opponent at the end.
Yet he had embellished himself.
He was unlucky to be a high-ranking god, but not inferior to the highest-ranking divine beings.
But... faced with this situation, he had no choice but to realize.
That he was nothing.
Tears streamed down Poseid's face from the fear of death.
With his neck severed, held in delicate hands, he was freezing over.
"Nanar... save... me... I'll do anything... kuhk...!!"
Crack.
Frozen, he crumbled.
If the system had been active, it would have announced Poseid's annihilation.
"...Wow. You're coming out here?"
An existence looking down at him with freezing eyes.
A fellow highest-ranking divine being, but of a different rank.
And the one who had left Dre unattended.
The being who had taken down over a hundred of Nanar's subordinates in this short time—there was only one such person in the Divine Realm.
"Gaia."
"How dare you."
The goddess spat as if she didn't even want to hear Nanar's words.
Just Gaia's voice seemed to freeze the Divine Realm.
"You laid hands on my beloved?"
"...Umm..."
Nanar, looking troubled, raised a finger.
"Cut me some slack. If I deal with you now, I'll really die."
"......"
Gaia silently raised her hand.
"But let me correct one thing."
Grinning, Nanar chattered.
"Dre isn't your love—he's my love."
Gaia didn't say a word.
She simply swung her hand.
Soon, Nanar's temple froze solid.
***
"My lord! Are you alright!"
At Marien's voice, as if spitting blood, Leor, who had been sprawled out, shook his head and pointed forward with his finger as if to hurry.
His ring finger had been cleanly severed.
"El, we must save El. El..."
He didn't know what was happening over there... but the powers he felt had surpassed common sense.
What had happened to his daughter who had gone there?
He had been unable to move, crushed by the power, but suddenly all the energies had disappeared at once and he could move again.
Leor ordered them to go there immediately without worrying about his own body.
He was worried sick about El.
The Graise knights bowed to carry out their lord's will...
"Hey. Leor."
At a certain voice, everyone including Leor froze stiff.
When they raised their heads... there he was.
The man who looked far too unscathed despite facing two gods.
"I was worried."
"...Yeo Deure."
Dre smiled.
"You can't die before I torture you, you fucking bastard."