Chapter 67

Chapter 67. Gods Descending Upon Earth

What?

Did I just hear things?

My mind snapped to attention.

A chill crawled down my spine.

'The Twelve Sovereign Gods.'

Honestly, I knew almost nothing about them.

Even when I'd led humanity's Final Strike Force to the farthest reaches of the Tower in my previous life, I'd never so much as stepped on their shadow.

I'd spent everything I had just breaking through the walls of lesser, mid-tier, and high-ranking gods.

All I'd ever done was vaguely surmise that they existed.

The Twelve Sovereign Gods had been that kind of uncharted territory to me.

However, there was one thing I knew with absolute clarity.

'Excluding Force Majeure, they are the monsters who stand at the very apex of this Tower.'

The proof was spread out before my eyes.

The Supreme Tier gods, arrogant to the bone.

Aigis, Skadi, even Heimdal beside me.

Every last one of them had their heads bowed as if on cue, frozen stiff and at a loss.

Even Heimdal -- that stubborn, prideful man -- couldn't bring himself to look the Twelve Sovereign Gods in the eye, his gaze cast at the ground.

I replayed Hod's words once more.

-All twelve of us Sovereign Gods.

-Have resolved to create Avatars on Earth.

Wait.

'Resolved to create?'

My mind raced.

The subtle tense of the wording.

Not 'have created,' but 'have resolved to create.'

In other words, not all of them had made Avatars and descended to Earth yet.

It meant they would be building their shells and formally joining the fray going forward.

'So they're not there yet?'

They might not be, or they might be.

I couldn't rule out the possibility that some Sovereign Gods had already created Avatars and were enjoying the Game.

This could simply mean the rest were now joining the board as well.

Either way, it was the worst possible outcome.

The Twelve Sovereign Gods collectively running Avatars and interfering with Earth?

The thought alone was suffocating.

It was a certainty that a hell even more brutal than the catastrophic destruction of my previous life would unfold.

Hod, the Dark God, spoke again.

"World No. 400 has an unusually dense concentration of Mana and is overflowing with intriguing variables."

Hod twisted the corners of his mouth upward.

"And so, we Twelve Sovereign Gods have agreed to welcome this fresh world by indulging, for the first time in a long while, in a 'proper Game.'"

A proper Game.

But.

'Lies.'

I scoffed inwardly.

Not a single god in attendance was naive enough to take those words at face value.

I could tell just from the way the surrounding Supreme Tier gods' eyes were shaking.

A casual Game? Boredom?

All Twelve Sovereign Gods who govern the universe, mobilizing en masse to destroy a single world that had merely climbed from B-grade to A-grade?

That was like firing a cannon to kill a fly.

Beings who prize efficiency would never tolerate that kind of effort.

There was more to this.

A decisive factor that had motivated every last one of these haughty Sovereign Gods to haul themselves out of their seats.

'The past has changed.'

I searched my memories of my previous life.

Even when Earth was destroyed back then, the scale hadn't been this extreme.

The Avatars had been strong, yes, but there'd been no indication of all Twelve Sovereign Gods descending to ravage the world.

'The stakes have grown.'

Why had things escalated this far?

What had happened on Earth to make the creatures at the very top of the cosmos drool and crawl their way down?

The moment one thought chased the next.

A chill raced down my back.

A single hypothesis slammed into my mind.

Hold on. Could it be......

'......Is it because of me?'

Because I'd warped the history of Earth and the Tower of God?

Right after the Regression.

I'd detonated the Philosopher's Stone and annihilated the Absolute God, Force Majeure.

Then, upon re-creating my character, I'd birthed 'Rag' with fraudulent specs that shattered the system's limits -- 100 million Soul Points.

With that overwhelming Talent, I'd rocketed straight up to Floor 55 of the Tower.

And on Earth?

Under the name 'NONAME,' I'd swept the Hall of Fame.

I'd been the first to unlock the Incomprehensible difficulty, summoned the Astral Sovereign Adun, and even pried away his name tag.

Could all of these exploits, interlocking like cogwheels, have triggered a butterfly effect, cracking the foundations of everything?

Could my existence be what moved the Twelve Sovereign Gods?

My lips went dry.

The Twelve Sovereign Gods aren't coming for the Game.

They're descending to monopolize the Essence of this bloated, swollen Earth -- and to devour the unknown variable that caused it all.

"......"

I clenched my fist.

But I felt no regret.

I'd been planning to chew every last one of them up anyway.

No -- I reframed my thinking entirely.

'......A chance to devour the Tower's true masters has presented itself.'

They say crisis is opportunity.

They're going to create Avatars?

Consuming Avatars is far easier than facing the Twelve Sovereign Gods head-on.

Confronting them directly is next to impossible.

But if I can identify their Avatars and devour them with my right hand, my power will grow beyond imagination.

Overwhelming Authority and Divine Power that could be used to subjugate the Tower.

A golden opportunity to incinerate every parasite that's infested Earth.

I sharpened my ears.

I pushed my senses to the absolute limit.

If I could glean even the slightest hint.

If I could identify who their Avatars were -- the ones they'd already made, or the ones they planned to make.

I wouldn't let a single word, a single inflection, slip past me.

But.

Hod said nothing more.

Instead, the Twelve Sovereign Gods made a space of their own.

RUMMMBLE.

A tremendous vibration shook the air.

Twelve thrones materialized, each shaped from its Sovereign God's Authority -- light and darkness, storm and tidal wave.

They hovered at a height far above the seats of the existing Supreme Tier gods.

The Twelve settled into their thrones and crossed their legs.

A wordless declaration that they would personally attend the Banquet to its end.

"......Ahem."

Aigis, standing on the dais, cleared his throat.

Even he, hailed as the number one of Asgard's hierarchy, was visibly tense.

"The next item concerns major changes within the Tower."

Aigis's voice trembled faintly.

"Recently, the God of Frost, Cryos, was destroyed."

The garden rippled.

"The victor in the war against him was the newcomer 'Rag.' By right of conquest, he has become the new master of Floor 55."

Every gaze nailed itself to me again.

I was calmly absorbing those piercing stares when.

"One moment."

Someone rose from their seat.

The God of Typhoons, Heimdal.

As he cut in, Aigis on the dais furrowed his brow slightly.

It was a rude interruption of the proceedings.

But Heimdal paid it no mind.

As always, he wore his arrogance that casually trampled the Tower's protocols.

"Regarding that matter, I have an announcement of my own."

Heimdal's voice rang out with thunderous clarity.

Aigis's expression hardened, but he didn't dare block him.

Not with the Twelve Sovereign Gods watching from above.

He'd want to avoid letting this devolve into factional brawling.

Heimdal swept his gaze across the garden.

His eyes lingered for a moment on Skadi's frozen visage.

Grin.

A cold smile hung on Heimdal's lips.

"Let every ruler of Asgard gathered here listen well."

He pointed at me.

"The new master of Floor 55, Rag. I hereby proclaim that he has become my rightful Apostle God."

Murmuring exploded.

"He's making it official?"

"At this Banquet, of all places?"

"He must adore the lad."

Shock erupted among the Supreme Tier gods.

For the first time, the lone wolf Heimdal had recognized someone as his successor and Apostle.

The weight of that was beyond imagination.

"Rag. Come to my side."

Heimdal called.

I rose slowly from my seat.

And I walked to the most scrutinized spot in the garden, right beside him.

It stung.

The gazes of hundreds of Supreme Tier gods.

And from a height far more distant, the gazes of the Twelve Sovereign Gods themselves.

A pressure like tens of thousands of needles piercing my entire body.

An ordinary lesser god would have been crushed under the sheer force of it -- knees buckling, breath failing.

But.

I didn't flinch.

I squared my shoulders, lifted my chin with pride, and advanced.

Slowly. Unhurried.

"Take a good look."

As I drew beside him, Heimdal laid a hand on my shoulder.

"Rag is my face and my will."

He swept the garden with a growl.

"Touching Rag is the same as touching me, Heimdal. Any wretch who plays cheap tricks against my Apostle God will find my typhoon tearing his territory to shreds."

A warning.

I could see Skadi's face contort hideously.

But Heimdal's bombshell wasn't over.

"And one more thing."

Heimdal's mouth split ear to ear.

Like a child bursting to show off, he played his most devastating card.

"My Apostle God Rag has advanced Archangel Abriel to a 'Principality.'"

Silence fell.

The entire garden went quiet as if doused in cold water.

And then.

"......That's impossible!"

"A Principality?! There's no way!"

Disbelief. Chaos.

Gods leaped to their feet and shouted.

A Principality's evolution is a miracle.

A feat that even Supreme Tier gods struggle to achieve after centuries, millennia of effort.

They simply could not accept that a mere lesser god had accomplished it.

Let alone a Seed who'd only recently become a god.

"Prove it!"

A sharp voice cut through.

Skadi's faction.

A god standing behind her screamed, veins bulging.

"God of Typhoons or not, you cannot deceive us with such absurd lies! If this blade has truly evolved into a Principality, then draw the Holy Sword and prove it!"

He was convinced it was a lie.

Of course he was.

It was a realm their shallow understanding could never reach.

Heimdal didn't get angry.

On the contrary, he let out a scoff.

He turned to me and gave a light nod.

The signal to show them.

"Quite the skeptics."

I murmured softly and reached into my Inventory.

The cold touch of metal met my fingertips.

From the instant I drew it forth, the air changed.

SHING.

I gripped Abriel.

FLASH--!

Holy power exploded.

A blinding pillar of light erupted from the blade's tip, piercing the sky above the Banquet hall.

The majesty of a Principality.

The absolute wave of purification that only one who has slain great evil and proven their nobility may emit!

As that light swept through the garden.

"......!"

"I-it's real!"

"I can scarcely believe my own eyes......!"

The gods who had been loudest in their doubt shielded their eyes and groaned.

They were overwhelmed.

For the first time, within the eyes of the Supreme Tier gods who had looked at me as though I were an insect, the emotions of 'shock' and 'awe' began to bloom.

And.

"......"

"......"

The Twelve Sovereign Gods, too, watched me with inscrutable gazes.