Divine Realm.
─To be precise, it’s a region referred to as the Outer Divine Realm by the Evil Gods.
Leah, the Goddess of Earth and Eternity, gazed at the world behind her writhing in chaotic black.
“You accomplished most of it yourself, didn’t you?”
The deity with long platinum hair slowly continued her words.
“You mentioned that after breaking free from being a mere mortal, you could bloom into a divine being. Now you’ve truly become a full-fledged possibility. A human can take on Evil Gods… I honestly thought it was impossible. And yet, you’ve already killed two. Incredible.”
Muttering continued.
There was no reply from beyond the chaos to Leah’s words.
Since that wasn’t what she hoped for, Leah kept speaking.
“As you advised, we emphasized that we came together to bring ourselves here. I hope your choice is right this time.”
Leah deeply bowed toward the gray wall.
There was no reply to her worship and words.
*
Divine Realm.
Not the Outer Divine Realm, but the pantheon of the Evil Gods—who take up half of the Divine Realm, led by the Eight Deities.
In addition to the thirty gods gathered last time, there were now fifty gods present.
Gathered around a massive round table, the gods looked at each other.
“You.”
The god spilling red flames all over his body wore a strange smile.
“So, the human who couldn’t kill a thousand people was defeated by Barbatos and annihilated all your golems? Was it the Resen Kingdom?”
At the words of Agneth, the God of Burning Destruction, the golden-armored blonde god, Gulan, twisted his lips.
“…Do you want to die, Agneth?”
Gulan, the Father of All Soldiers and Alchemy, didn’t hide his anger.
Despite Gulan’s display of fury, Agneth continued to taunt without pause.
“Don’t be too angry, Gulan. You’ve learned a lot from losing so many children. Yuma. That guy definitely has immense power, but in the end, he’s still just a human. He can’t protect all of the Intermediate World.”
Agneth slowly rose to his feet.
Many gods came into view in Agneth’s eyes.
“Even if Yuma transcends humans as an extraordinary being, he’s still just a human. We cannot protect the members of other countries as we invade.”
“There’s no way that’s happening.”
Gulan also stood up, following Agneth.
It was true that Gulan felt considerable anger towards Yuma. After wiping out the royal family of the Resen Kingdom, he had planned to seize control completely. However, within just a few hours of starting the invasion, he was thwarted by Yuma.
And it happened way too easily.
He had delivered a warning filled with anger through the last remaining golem, but he still had no intention of confronting Yuma directly.
It wasn’t just vague fear. However, it was obvious that it resembled fear closely.
Gulan couldn’t accept that as a 1st-tier god he was feeling emotions similar to fear towards a mere human.
For a while, he thought of channeling his anger elsewhere.
“I just need to invade the other continents, excluding the tightly guarded Gehergen continent. After maximizing my divine power through destruction, I can deal with that guy on the Gehergen continent.”
As soon as Gulan’s words ended, a mocking voice from a goddess behind him interrupted.
“Heh heh, Gulan. It’s so clear that you’re scared of a mere human.”
Gulan frowned at the words of the 1st-tier goddess, the Goddess of the Dead Bones, Angelica.
Angelica slowly rose to her feet.
Her entire body was close to a dark gray. Unlike her skeletal lower body, her upper body resembled that of a naked woman, and Angelica wore a seductive smile.
“But it seems like Gulan has indeed indicated the right course of action we should take.”
Angelica continued, her face adorned with a crazed smile.
“We need to destroy properly. Only then will the divine power we gain in recovery be more delicious.”
All the gods sitting at the round table agreed with Angelica’s words.
While there might be some gods who didn’t like Angelica herself, none could argue that what she just said was incorrect.
“First, we hit the surrounding continents before going after Geherden.”
*
On the third day of the journey toward the ancient Join Tribe kingdom, Purma.
The Empire’s 3rd Legion Commander, Ella Brighton, was on watch, while Yuma was inside a makeshift tent that had been hastily set up.
“….”
Yuma was frowning, holding Balmung in his hands.
The voice of Balmung echoed continuously in Yuma’s head.
– It’s definitely true that the Master’s body seems to have escaped the state of being unable to manipulate mana at all.
It seems that getting out of an unusable state is correct, but…
Even using the [Heder’s Method] of mana manipulation from the Lord Dekan, who once ruled half of the Geherden Continent, all I gather is a pool of mana like water in my dantian!
How many years will it take to accumulate enough to be usable in real battles? I don’t even know!
This guy…
Yuma tapped Balmung twice, a signal to shut up.
Following the signal, Balmung stopped talking but then continued.
One, the Divine Awakening… It’s hard to believe that a human can awaken divinity so easily. But considering Yuma-san has certainly surpassed the first rank by defeating two of the Eight Evil Gods, maybe he really can awaken divinity. I doubt the god who even revealed his name doesn’t have a way to do it.
Yuma thought the same as Balmung. He still couldn’t grasp the idea of becoming a god, but if a god came down and spoke, he felt there had to be some solid evidence.
– Now I understand why the Master was so desperate to help me break free from being a mere mortal.
Balmung shared this thought too. Shedding the status of a mere mortal seemed like just an intermediate step towards awakening divinity.
The sun rose.
As darkness receded, light began to brighten the world again. Yuma and Ella started moving once more.
There was no need to search for the road leading to the old Join Tribe kingdom, Furma. A beam of light from the sky continued to guide them.
[You’ll see a light in the sky. Move as it directs you. That way, you can arrive at the Ascension Ceremony without being detected by the Divine Realm.]
[Since they can hinder the awakening of divinity, it’s better to completely eliminate any potential dangers, regardless of whether you can confront them.]
It was the notification that appeared before them yesterday morning when they started this journey.
The veil of disguise.
That veil was being spread by the Goddess of Earth and Eternity, Leah.
Traveling on horseback without riding the griffon, Ethan, naturally took longer.
No obstacles showed up on the way to the Transcendence Altar.
The only thing that appeared was a handful of ogres, and those were all taken care of by the Empire’s third commander, Ella Brighton.
Ella thrust her spear forward with both hands.
He launched the spear with both hands.
Whoosh!
The spear spun and mercilessly stabbed through the heart that was nestled in the ogre’s left chest, piercing through to the other side.
Ella delivered a powerful kick to the ogre’s abdomen and swiftly pulled out the spear using the recoil.
Ella declared vigorously, “All done! Your Excellency!”
“Good job,” replied Yuma.
Days passed, and Yuma and Ella stopped walking. Before them lay a desolate land.
A territory that had perished a thousand years ago.
Countless broken remnants of structures filled their sights.
There were giant birds, or rather, the corpses of the Join Tribe, fossilized before them. It was hard to imagine what kind of events had transpired here.
The fossils lay stretched out, their heads frozen in a gaze of horror, as if staring at something.
At the end of their line of sight stood a massive dais that resembled a transcendent altar.
[Ignite the flames.]
Yuma easily grasped the meaning of those words. Before the altar was a single candle, transparent like glass.
He took out a fire-starting artifact from his Spatial Pocket.
It resembled a lighter.
Flames ignited on the candle’s wick.
Flicker…!
Strange smoke rose from the altar.
And beyond the smoke, something was steadily emerging.
An aurora.
It was a sight that seemed appropriately named for the gate.
Yuma turned to look at Ella Brighton.
“I’ll be back.”
Ella’s eyes widened.
“Yes, Your Excellency!”
She was only told that he would be going to another dimension for a moment.
Having lived her entire life as a member of the military, Ella had the habit of not questioning what her superior didn’t mention.
“Wait outside for a week, just a week. If I haven’t returned by then, head straight back to the Empire.”
“Understood! Have a safe trip!”
Yuma smirked, then walked towards the aurora.
Step.
In an instant, Yuma’s body, stepping through the aurora of the altar, completely vanished.
The flame of the candle extinguished with a puff.
The emergence of divine presence began.
Whether it would lead to a successful flowering or a dismal failure of annihilation, no one knew yet.
