945——————==

True Martial Home

I headed straight towards Dharma’s direction, and for a moment, I stopped, stunned by the scene before me.

“ ……!!”

What on earth is that…?

My shock wasn’t due to the Sea God. The Sea God seemed temporarily sealed by Dharma’s sorcery, bound in black chains that looked like a sinister magic circle, but I was actually taken aback by the state of the Old Ruler, Izanagi no Mikoto.

Kuuooohhh

With a bizarre sound, Izanagi no Mikoto’s body was swelling up like a massive chunk of meat. Just watching that horrifying form spread out was enough to drain a human’s mental strength, and even worse, tentacles were oozing out from his body, wildly thrashing around in the void. In the midst of all this, a mask was floating right in the center of Izanagi no Mikoto’s body.

Creeeeak

Creeeeak!!

Izanagi no Mikoto was desperately trying to remove the mask, but it seemed futile as he flailed around. The mask, probably due to the Old Ruler’s magic, wiggled and kept burrowing into Izanagi no Mikoto’s flesh, and from where the mask was digging in, dark nightmare blood was oozing out.

I shouted at Dharma.

“ Where’s the Divine Thief?!”

[ ……]

Dharma, without answering, crossed his arms and just watched the scene unfold, and eventually opened his mouth.

[ Almost done…]

Swoosh!!

Suddenly, the mask embedded in the center of Izanagi no Mikoto erupted in a brilliant light! That light was undoubtedly infused with pure chaotic energy, and as it spread, Izanagi no Mikoto let out a massive roar.

[ Oooooooh…!! My essence… is splitting apart…!!]

Chwaaa

Izanagi no Mikoto’s body began to split accurately in two, as if sliced by a sword. The severed body briefly enveloped in mist swayed, and from the cut surface, hundreds of red eyeballs sprouted. It was a sight so grotesque that I couldn’t tear my gaze away from it, as I struggled to comprehend what was happening right in front of me.

Crack!

Moments later, the right half of the body fell apart and condensed into a blinding white light, which flew off into the vast universe, while the left half trembled and screamed.

[ Izanami…!! My soul in the yellow heaven…]

Right as that scream ended, a gigantic black hand appeared from behind and began to press down hard on Izanagi no Mikoto. What had until now been merely suppressive became an intense battle, as if it meant to crush his existence; Izanagi no Mikoto fiercely struggled, unleashing his magic, but ultimately began to be overwhelmed by Dharma’s attack.

Paaah…

The shrunken Izanagi no Mikoto disintegrated into dust. I guess that’s what ‘death of a god’ looks like. I watched in shock, then turned to the master Dharma, who was reaching out next to me.

“ Can I just kill him?! I need to steal that guy’s soul…”

If I just put the god’s body in a state of death like that, I can’t steal his soul!

[ No need for that. Now that you’ve stolen one, there’s no use in acquiring more… Plus, my space to seal a ruler’s soul is limited, so it can’t be helped.]

Dharma replied, and I tilted my head.

“ … Huh, wouldn’t more be better?”

[ If one could easily process or store a ruler’s soul, it would be one thing… However, no one in this universe can easily acquire such tools…]

“ So you can only seal a god’s soul in one place?”

[ ……]

Dharma didn’t respond. It seemed like my question touched on some uncomfortable spots. Instead, he raised his hand and aimed at the Sea God.

[ I seal you!!]

Kraaaah

In that moment, countless palms surrounded the Sea God’s body, pulling it into another dimension, completely obliterating it. Of course, since it was said to be a seal, it was likely banished to another world rather than destroyed. I still didn’t understand that.

“ Why did you seal the weakest among the Old Ruler instead of just killing him?”

[ If I were to kill him outright, I might provoke the Evil God’s ire… Whether it’s stealing the soul or sealing it, it doesn’t matter, but killing is a different matter… The Sea God is the Evil God’s guard.]

“ ……!!”

[ Unless the situation is such that everyone else wishes for the Sea God’s death… this is the best option. I will avoid dangerous paths as much as possible…]

Is that so?

From my perspective, even if the Sea God died, the likelihood of the Evil God intervening seemed low. After all, based on my previous life experiences, the Evil God didn’t seem to care much about the Sea God’s whereabouts anyway. But Dharma took a cautious approach, treating every step as a risky bridge, desperate to eliminate even the smallest chance of danger.

Just when I thought the situation was settled, the Divine Thief suddenly appeared before us.

“ Is it all sorted now?”

“ Divine Thief!”

I glared at him.

“ Where have you been?”

“ I was fighting hard~”

“ You were totally missing from the battlefield until just now!! Where did you even go?”

That guy had transformed into a demon and had been holding down Tezcatlipoca for a bit, but while I was busy risking my life using Peerless Techniques right above his forehead, he had suddenly vanished. Now that I thought about it, it didn’t make sense why he wasn’t fighting alongside me.

“ You just didn’t see it, junior.”

The Divine Thief responded and then turned to Dharma and said.

“ Dharma, is it true that this guy stole the soul of the god?”

[ Indeed…]

Booom

As Dharma raised his palm, a shimmering rainbow-colored orb floated above it. It seemed that with Dharma’s power, it was possible to maintain the compressed form of the god’s soul. Dharma quietly gazed at Tezcatlipoca’s soul, then clenched his fist and destroyed it, saying,

[ Because of you, the position of the world’s best seems precarious… Divine Thief.]

“ ……”

The Divine Thief’s expression twisted slightly. He glanced at me briefly and grumbled,

“ Ah, whatever! It’s not like I can’t do it. So now that the ‘materials’ are ready, when are we doing the ritual?”

[ Tomorrow…]

Tomorrow?!

The two of us, me and the Divine Thief, exchanged startled looks at Dharma.

“ … That’s quick! Are we rushing it?”

Dharma nodded slowly.

[ Yes… The act of sealing the god and stealing the soul must have undoubtedly caused a massive deviation in the law of cause and effect in this world… Before the waves of cause and effect start spreading out, we must complete the ritual as quickly as possible.]

“ But if we rush too much, won’t the chances of failure go up?”

I spoke with concern, but Dharma replied.

[ No… What we will perform tomorrow is a preliminary ritual.]

“ Preliminary?”

[ It’s not the main ritual of True Martial Home; it’s to convey to the heavens that we will perform a proper ritual later. We are merely securing confirmation for the next highest being before other great existences can intervene.]

“ ……?”

What does that even mean?

I wasn’t smart enough to easily grasp Dharma’s true intentions. While I was racking my brain, the Divine Thief seemed to finally understand his words and spoke up.

“ I see. So there’s a procedure for offering to the ‘Father’ too.”

[ Correct… It’s questionable whether the greatest being can even hear our voices… Therefore, we must first ask the next being whether it’s permissible to perform the ritual… Without this procedure, performing the main ritual of True Martial Home would certainly end in failure.]

“ I got the situation.”

The Divine Thief paused and then said,

“ But… junior. About you.”

“ Huh?”

“ You do know what the True Martial Home is, yet you’re still helping Dharma, right? Hmmm?”

“ ……”

“ If this world is such a complete mess that it leads to the utter destruction of both gods and humans, that’s what the True Martial Home would be. In other words, you would die too. Knowing that, why are you putting so much effort into helping?”

The Divine Thief looked into my eyes with a sly grin.

“ The end of the True Martial Home is suicide and the destruction of the world. Do you really want to die like that?”

“ ……”

That was a tough question.

‘Hmm…’

Honestly, I didn’t have to reply to the Divine Thief’s question. Why should I even care about his nonsense? But Dharma was also here, and he seemed interested as he gazed at me.

‘ Surely… this must seem odd.’

Logically – no, no normal person would ever agree to the True Martial Home.

Complete annihilation and destruction of this world, that is the essence of the True Martial Home.

As the Divine Thief said, striving for the True Martial Home ultimately meant inviting my own demise. Unless one was a madman, it would be impossible to get on board with Dharma’s ideals. No matter how desperate the misdeeds of this world’s gods seemed, ordinary folks couldn’t possibly choose the True Martial Home.

And yet here I was, desperately aiding the True Martial Home… not just on a surface level of loyalty, but repeatedly crossing dangerous lines, which would certainly seem strange to anyone looking in. I needed to avoid arousing Dharma’s suspicion in this situation.

I calmly responded.

“ Regardless, the world will still be ruled by gods after I die. If I’m going to suffer eternally after death, it would be better for this world to perish.”

“ That’s the story of ordinary folks. You’re not one of them. From the perspective of being my junior, you’re anything but ordinary…”

A strange yet somehow familiar light sparked in the Divine Thief’s eyes.

“ With your level of power and ability, you should be able to escape the cycle of reincarnation and enjoy life to its fullest, yet you still want to die? Whether it’s reincarnation or returning to another universe, there must be a way.”

“ You’re persistent.”

“ Heh heh, after an exhilarating fight, it’s normal to talk a bit more.”

I thought for a moment and replied.

“ If I can die while embracing the world, that wouldn’t be so bad. It would ease my guilt.”

“ ……?”

The Divine Thief stared at me in disbelief.

But I was really thinking that way.

‘ After all, from the perspective of a reincarnate like me, my death might not differ much from the world’s death…’

I’m not entirely certain, but my companions and I have been operating on that assumption in succession of our lives. If I die, everything dies. Having repeated this cycle a dozen times or so, my perspective on death inevitably changed.

For ordinary humans, death would represent annihilation, and naturally, they would be nervous. They would also likely feel guilt and rejection at the prospect of choosing to annihilate the world themselves. However, I had long been burdened with the thought that the moment I, as an unwilling participant, chose death, I might also be destroying the ‘world’. Considering that feeling of helplessness, it seems far easier to formally challenge it.

With conviction, I spoke out.

“ Call me crazy if you want. But I’m going to strive for the True Martial Home!”

I must witness what Dharma’s True Martial Home is, and what the outcome will be.

That result would surely have a significant impact on the goals of my previous life.

And since Dharma mentioned that he would grant me the Four Great Spirit Deities, for now, I have no choice but to place my trust in those words and continue forward.

“ You’re a lunatic! Are you serious?”

“ I’m serious!”

“ Hah… I can’t believe my junior is such a lunatic…”

The Divine Thief made a face like he was going to retch before muttering displeasure.

“ Dharma, you’ve got a really good buddy here… heh.”

[ ……]

Dharma didn’t say a word.

Swoosh

As the Divine Thief vanished silently, Dharma turned to me.

[ Baek Woong, when we perform the ritual tomorrow, what you must do is…]

“ Are you asking me to guard you?”

[ No. That’s what you do in the main ritual.]

“ Then…”

[ First, follow me. I’ll explain…]

Boom

As Dharma activated his teleportation ability, I was instantly moved somewhere along with him. I regained my bearings and looked around my surroundings.

“ This is… the Altar of Heavenly Darkness!”

Standing near the altar, on a higher platform than me, Dharma looked down and spoke.

[ Baek Woong, you said before… if the existence of ‘Father’ is akin to the world itself, then even if his creatures offer a piece of their flesh, it can’t possibly be a sacrifice… Thus, offering to ‘Father’ is impossible.]

“ That’s right.”

To be precise, I was merely echoing the knowledge Zhuge Sa had imparted to me, but it was essentially the central issue of True Martial Home.

No existing being could be subordinate to the absolute divinity known as ‘everything’.

After all, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that an omnipotent being encompasses everything in the universe, and because of this subordination, offerings cannot be established. Can one really consider accepting something that already belongs to them as an ‘offering’?

Bzzz

Dharma, emanating a black aura, slowly raised his palm to extract Tezcatlipoca’s soul. As he carefully examined the rainbow-blinking soul of the god, Dharma said,

[ This Tezcatlipoca’s soul is worth more than a hundred million… Probably even more. But even this incredible soul still cannot be an offering for ‘Father’… No matter how great its value, it’s merely the equivalent of nibbling on one’s own flesh before the absolute being of the universe.]

“ Then how do you plan to resolve that issue?”

[ Baek Woong, have you ever thought about it? What exists outside the union of sets?]

“ ……?”

It seemed that he was going to use mathematical concepts as a metaphor for his explanation. I recalled the definition of a union in my mind and replied.

“ Uhm… there’s nothing really outside it, right? Ultimately, a set is something created to define a certain existence, so I guess anything outside that definition is nothing.”

[ Then… if we assume that the infinite union has no ‘outside’, then you and I are simply minor and inconsequential creatures, just small sets. ‘Father’ encompasses everything in this world.]

“ I suppose that’s true. What’s your point?”

[ Then can it be said that you and I are manifestations of ‘Father’?]

“ ……?!”

What the hell is this?

With a puzzled expression, I replied.

“ Ah, that can’t be right.”

[ Why not? Why can we not be regarded as manifestations of that absolute divinity?]

“ Well, a manifestation is…”

I trailed off, feeling a contradiction while trying to define a manifestation.

As I hesitated, Dharma continued.

[ Baek Woong, if that’s the case, what happens if we are indeed manifestations of ‘Father’?]

“ That’s… even if we are manifestations, we’re neither granted powers nor do we have any strength. We’re just mortals; how can we call ourselves manifestations?”

[ Manifestations inherently possess a will distinct from their original being. Strength can vary as well.]

“ That feels forced…”

[ Yes… it may be forced. But it could also be true. We might be manifestations of ‘Father’, or we might not… Even the lightest breeze, a handful of dirt, or a single ant could likewise be manifestations… ‘Father’ is such an existence… the God of gods is incomprehensible beyond measure.]

“ ……”

[ Do you understand…? And since we are manifestations, offerings become impossible. Ultimately, whether mortal or immortal, we are one with the absolute being…]

“ Hmm… what are you getting at?”

Dharma fell silent before finally broaching the main subject.

[ Baek Woong. Do you know? There’s only one being in this universe that is not subordinate to ‘Father’… That being can never possibly be a manifestation of ‘Father’…]

What?!

I stared at Dharma in shock, as he closed his otherworldly eyes slowly and opened them.

[ Watch closely. You must see this…]

Plop

As Dharma dropped the soul of Tezcatlipoca, which he held in his palm, into the stone coffin on the Altar of Heavenly Darkness, a sound reverberated as if something were falling into water. Moments later, the soul floated and seemingly vanished somewhere.

Then suddenly, with a loud pop, a brand disappeared from Dharma’s arm, accompanied by black blood. The flame of the brand was extinguished, and it was clearly seen disappearing without a trace.

[ Ugh…]

As Dharma staggered, I asked him,

“ What just happened?”

[ … I paid the rental fee. Now one contract with the Old Ruler has diminished…]

“ So you sealed the god’s soul in the Altar of Heavenly Darkness?”

[ No. This altar is merely a ‘passage’. Its actual role is a form of transfer… The only place capable of holding a god’s soul is that specific location.]

“ Transfer? To where?”

[ Void Record.]

As he slowly closed the lid of the stone coffin, he continued.

[ There’s only one way to proceed with the True Martial Home. It’s by borrowing the wisdom of the universe, the chronicle of the void… and the true king of the Old Ruler. Only that is the way to utilize the power of that great outer god.]