So You've Finally Appeared
So you've finally appeared.
What, exactly, is a tower?
By the dictionary definition, a structure built high and stacked toward the sky. A place that exists solely to be climbed.
But in Pangenia, a tower is a place that delivers trials. The tower's master imposes those trials upon the challenger, and the challenger overcomes them, surpassing their own limits.
Which raises a question.
In a structure like that, what does the tower's master actually gain? If all they do is hand out trials and rewards, they walk away with nothing for themselves. And yet—how have so many towers taken root across Pangenia?
A tower is a god. A tower is everything. And a tower is one.
That was what the Fiend King had said.
A tower is a god. It is one, and it is everything. So he left me with a request that was not quite a request—rebuild the Fiend clan, and show the world that the clan still stands.
At the time, I couldn't understand those words. I took them for some cipher that ran through the world itself, nothing more.
A tower is the mirror that expresses everything I am.
…Only after I raised the Tower of Ruin did I finally understand that those words were no vague cipher at all.
The tower is me.
It is the proof that I exist in this world.
A god plants a tower upon the wretched earth and roots their presence there. In that way, a tower becomes the medium that joins mortal and immortal. And as the number of challengers grows, the tower's power swells—and as the tower's power swells, the god can express far more of themselves. Through harsher trials, fiercer rewards, and a mightier divine rank, they carve their existence into the world.
In short: a tower's stature is a god's stature.
Just as the Tower of the War God expanded the moment Martial God Karas reclaimed his full divinity.
Then—
The Tower of Ruin.
Just how much stature does the Tower of Ruin I raised actually hold?
Tremble—tremble—tremble!
The Outer God occupying Sonora's body shook from head to toe.
"There is no Ruin in this world—there can't be…!"
Ruin.
Even to the Outer Gods, that name was an object of terror. Ruin was the irresistible monster that annihilated worlds and erased even gods.
But it should not appear. Had it not already scoured Pangenia once? That existence that had sunk so many lands into the Abyss.
"Don't tell me it's already…? It shouldn't be time yet…!"
…There was no way it would show itself again. Even if it did, it would not be now. Far too soon.
Then was the "Ruin" standing before its eyes a fake?
But a false Ruin could never raise a true Tower of Ruin.
It was real.
That One… lent power to Ruin…?
There was simply too much that made no sense. That One, seated upon the highest star of the Heavenly Realm, had inscribed Their authority into Ruin's left arm. Ruin was a weapon of the Heavenly Realm—there could be no such thing as shared understanding between them.
This had never happened before. No—That One had always held to the stance of a bystander!
Something… has gone wrong.
Events were flowing in a direction utterly different from the plan. From the start, Ruin's appearance had never been part of it.
This was a world the Heavenly Realm had already ruined once. But Pangenia was the place where complete annihilation had failed. To bring Ruin forth again would require a civilization level equal to that of the old world—and present-day Pangenia had not even reached half that height.
Which made this land the most ideal ground for Outer Gods to grow their power. No high-ranking Chief Gods. No chance of Ruin appearing. And yet the stature of divinity still saturated the earth from end to end.
No interference. No natural enemy.
This place was paradise for an Outer God.
…And yet Ruin, which should not exist, stood right before its eyes.
In a flash, the Outer God's eyes went wide.
"You… were waiting for us, weren't you?"
If not, nothing else could explain it.
Ruin had been quietly waiting for the Outer Gods to appear. To the Heavenly Realm, Outer Gods were thorns in the eye. So if Ruin had deliberately left the world intact and waited for them to show themselves…
And if That One had joined in that intent?
Gulp.
The Outer God stared up at the Tower of Ruin rising high from the underground.
One way or another, Ruin and the tower had appeared. It had to climb. Fail to overcome the trial within the allotted time, and it would be the one Ruin devoured.
A temple stood clean and proud upon the vast earth.
The Church of the Earth God.
Around it, a crowd of unprecedented scale had gathered.
"O Earth God—!"
"Praise the Earth God!"
Every last one of them was a believer of the Earth God Church. The number already assembled ran into the tens of thousands. With the throng still pouring in without end, there was scarcely room left to set a foot.
And the reason they had come was simple.
A vast presence stood on two legs—a dog's face, a staff set with a crimson jewel in its hand. A monster fully twice the size of the Earth God Church's own temple.
That was the one they revered and called the Earth God.
The Earth God had been resurrected, and every believer of the Earth God Church across every land had flocked to this place. Its majesty and divine rank were more than enough to be called a god.
And yet—
The Tower of Ruin…?
The Earth God tilted its head. Far away, in Holy City Adrium, it had sensed the Tower of Ruin's appearance.
And it was not alone.
Across the continent, the eyes of every resurrected god turned toward Adrium.
Ruin…
Why?
Something that should not appear—something that could not appear—had arrived. As if it had been waiting for them to rise again.
And then—
"…At last."
…The Demon King.
The one who had seized Wilhelm's body and absorbed every scrap of his power.
"So you've finally appeared, Ruin."
Two eyes gleamed in the dark.
The Tower of Ruin had risen without warning.
Fail to conquer it within forty-eight hours, and the Goddess's power would wane.
"Climb the tower!"
"Protect our Goddess!"
The brainwashed faithful of the Goddess Church stormed the tower. The Outer God threw its strength behind them with desperate force.
But the moment they saw the first gatekeeper, they could only despair.
"What the hell is that bird…!"
"An eagle?"
"I-It's too strong!"
The Nameless Eagle.
To even enter the tower, they had to slip past the eyes of that absurd monster. And even if they somehow forced their way inside—
"R-Run!"
"Aaaagh!"
—within waited the perfected form of the curse: Lilith.
Lilith had crafted a hundred Cursed Dolls and stationed them throughout the tower. The dolls, identical to Lilith herself, delivered nothing but despair to every invader and barred every last climber from ascending.
It was an iron wall. A full day passed, and not a single soul broke through Lilith's barrier.
"Are you not the sacred Knights of the Round Table?"
"Why won't you help us climb the Tower of Ruin?"
In the end, after failure piled upon failure, they began to berate the Knights of the Round Table.
Vice Commander Abeloff only shrugged. Hadn't these same people attacked them only a day ago?
"The Round Table does not move without the commander's order."
And Commander Park Hyunmyung had given no such order. Besides—brainwashed or not—it had been the will of the Goddess Church's Pope that invited the Outer God in.
"You useless wretches—!"
At last the Outer God, patience spent, stepped forward itself. Wearing the Goddess's face, it began to climb the tower with its own hands.
But—
"Out of my way! You think dolls will stop me!"
Three hours of torment under the Nameless Eagle, and even after finally entering, the Outer God fared no better against the wall of wailing Lilith had built. The Outer God cloaked in the Goddess's authority was strong. But no matter how many dolls it shattered, more kept appearing—like a nightmare that would not end.
"Grrrk…!!"
Grind.
The Outer God clenched its teeth. There was no time. If this, too, was a trial, there had to be a way to break it. Just as one could enter without killing the Nameless Eagle—if it could only climb while avoiding Lilith's eyes…
Go on, then. Crawl up like a dog.
That was when it came—a single line that flashed unbidden through the Outer God's mind.
Crawl up?
Perhaps that was the answer. Lilith appeared no matter where one went. Hiding made no difference. But she could not be watching every inch of the tower.
Scrabble. Scrabble.
The Outer God flattened itself against the floor and began to climb. And just like that, as if by a lie, Lilith's pursuit vanished.
…No.
It had not vanished.
How far had it crawled along the floor?
"Wow."
Before the Outer God—
"A dog of a god?"
—stood not a doll, but Lilith herself. Smiling with pure, untroubled innocence.
The original doll.
The first human, Lilith.
A soul had taken root in a being who had once functioned only as the Evil God's puppet—who had possessed no soul at all. The moment Lilith first perceived the world, she needed more information. Everything was strange and awkward.
But that was fine. If it meant reaching her master, she was fully prepared to learn the entire world if she had to.
At a speed beyond imagination, Lilith learned everything. No one taught her; she simply came to know. She moved her body, mastered language, and recited curses. Half a day to grasp the structure of her flesh and the tongue her master used. In a single day, she could wield every curse the Evil God had ever employed.
Not enough. I want to know more.
The existence of a soul lies in learning. The desire to know. The hunger to grow stronger. None of those arise of their own will without a soul.
Though she had existed from the beginning, soulless Lilith had been nothing more than the Evil God's puppet, scattering curses. She had been used as the Evil God's strongest weapon without a shred of will of her own.
But now—with a soul, with a self, with will—Lilith thirsted.
For her master's love.
For the same greed her master carried.
The hundred dolls were nothing more than tools for her learning. A single body had its limits. The dolls took in information through contact with the outside world, and Lilith, receiving that information, grew stronger in real time.
Lilith had catalogued every climber of the tower. She analyzed every technique they used, every ability they displayed. Naturally, the Outer God was among them. Even a god was nothing more than a subject of study to Lilith. Thanks to the countless dolls it had destroyed, she now knew the Outer God in far greater detail.
"Tara-Shy."