Chapter 207

[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]

Chapter 207: Persuasion, Coaxing (1)

Ares’ limbs were bound, and his SP was being drained.

Tentacles struck from all directions.

As if repaying the massacres he had committed, a brutal beatdown commenced.

Whack! Whack!

“Guh…!”

The tentacles began to strike with a brute force that bordered on savage.

They weren't shaped like octopus limbs, but more like swords—if they'd looked like actual tentacles, it would’ve been rather unpleasant to watch.

With each strike, the already cracked armor began to disappear.

His helmet completely vanished, revealing the exhausted face of Ares.

“Soul God… at least don’t humiliate me like this…”

Whack! Whack!

The tentacles struck his mouth—though I hadn’t exactly meant to.

Thinking of the SP I wasted because of this bastard, I found myself hitting him unconsciously.

“Guh… let me… ugh… speak a little…!”

Seeing his handsome face get smashed up felt oddly satisfying.

All those Greek gods are ridiculously good-looking.

Annoyingly so.

After hitting him a bit more, my mood improved and I spoke.

“What were you trying to say?”

“…If you know honor, do not disgrace the defeated. Just give me a swift death.”

“Honor? I don’t care, bastard. Just take your beating and get sealed.”

Rumble…

The collapse of the world was accelerating.

I couldn’t afford to waste any more time, so I continued the beatdown.

Tentacles struck his entire body.

With blows raining in from all directions, Ares’ presence began to fade.

Zeus, even as Ares was about to be sealed, showed no signs of intervening.

“To be sealed like this…”

Even after taking countless blows, Ares still wouldn't let go of the Divine Realm Core.

When I tried to cut off his hand, he drove the core into his chest.

Persistent bastard.

Not even human—just a soul body—so I could just cleave his chest and retrieve the core.

But every time I tried to tear his chest apart to get the core, black lightning blocked my tentacles.

Was this Zeus?

So he wants to protect the core fragment…?

I kept hammering at his chest, and then Zeus’s voice echoed.

[Ares. Will you really not give up?]

“I… won’t… give up.”

[Heh… Foolish. Then continue to be toyed with by the Soul God.]

With that, Zeus’s voice disappeared.

As it did, the Divine Realm Core that Ares held slightly diminished.

From the original fragment size, about 10% was torn away.

A human wouldn’t have noticed, but both Ares and I were in the ranks of higher deities, so we could tell.

“…So he’s really gone.”

Ares gritted his teeth, a look of despair on his face.

Taking advantage of that moment, I retrieved the Divine Realm Core from his chest.

It was only possible because Zeus’s presence had vanished.

No matter how desperately Ares resisted, if Zeus had kept defending the core fragment like before, I wouldn’t have been able to recover it.

“So it’s over.”

Ares’s face showed total resignation.

He was slowly disappearing.

Must be that his SP was depleted and he was now being sealed.

If he gets sealed because he ran out of SP…

Wouldn’t that mean he’ll be sealed into this collapsing world?

If I leave him here, wouldn’t he just get destroyed with the world?

Zeus almost seemed to want Ares to die…

I can’t let him die like this.

“SP Store.”

I opened the SP Store and searched for divine sealing tools.

As expected from a store that has everything, a divine sealing orb popped up immediately.

“Filter out Hephaestus as a seller…”

I got burned last time buying from a Greek god, so I filter them all out.

Hephaestus’ orb was about 30% cheaper than average, but SP is practically meaningless to me.

I bought one from a different seller and sealed Ares with it.

[Deity ‘Ares’ has been sealed within the seal orb.]

During the entire process, Zeus didn’t intervene at all.

After he disappeared earlier, he stayed gone.

He had no problem exerting his power to protect the core fragment, but after grabbing just a sliver of it, he left his son to rot.

Well, he has been known to eat his own kids since that incident with Apollo.

Rumble…

The Taoist divine realm was shrinking into a single point.

No reason to stay any longer—time to leave.

I dismissed my clones one by one, except for the one holding the seal orb, which I had return.

Even during that, Zeus just stood by, doing nothing.

Unopposed, I successfully obtained the seal orb containing Ares.

“Inventory.”

[This deity is sealed. Cannot be placed in inventory.]

Tried storing the orb safely after bringing it home, but got this message.

Guess it’s different from Apollo, who was fragmented—maybe that’s why I could store him before.

“For now, let’s leave this here.”

I set it on a shelf in front of the sofa and placed the core and its fragments in another room.

No telling what might happen if I left them together.

I instructed a clone to monitor Ares’s orb, then turned my attention to the Divine Realm Core.

“What is this even used for?”

Ares’s invasion of the three divine realms seems to have been for this thing.

Most of his forces in the Taoist realm were wiped out by my self-destruct attack, but he did invade other realms too.

“Asura. How’s the battle going?”

I opened a communication window and heard slicing sounds.

After some screen shake, the three-headed, six-armed Asura popped up.

[We’re slaughtering them one-sidedly. The enemy suddenly self-destructed, and their formation collapsed.]

“Yeah? Any sudden surge in enemy strength? Zeus stepping in, maybe?”

[Some of them are turning into Black Thunder types, but we’re handling it. Seems like they don’t have any higher-tier deities. Thanks to your SP, I’m having a blast! Hahaha!]

Then the camera turned.

Asura swung his blade, cleaving through Olympus forces as the earth split.

With ample SP, his power was immense.

What about the Hindu realm?

[Our side? Also one-sidedly pushing through.]

Indra responded to my comm with a fresh-looking face.

So no higher-tier gods from Olympus stepped in.

Which means only Ares acted, essentially?

Dionysus’s wine stuff caused some issues, but their surprise force wasn’t as strong as I thought.

Well, flooding the field with SP really helped.

“The enemy’s surprise attack is stopped…”

Now the question is: what is this Divine Realm Core?

No matter how long I stare at it, I can’t figure it out, so I contacted some gods I know.

[Divine Realm Core? What’s that?]

Artemis had no clue.

[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]

[That thing. I think I’ve heard of it somewhere. Maybe Odin knows?]

Loki, lacking detailed knowledge, suggested Odin.

[The Core of the Divine Realm... I think I saw a message that it forms when the Divine Realm is established. I haven't had the chance to encounter it since, so I don’t know much.]

"I see. They seemed desperate to get their hands on it."

[Hmm. Is that so? I wonder why they'd go to such lengths to obtain it.]

Even Odin didn’t seem to know much.

Geez… what is this even used for?

Would Chaos know?

Let’s try contacting Hades.

Unexpectedly, he responded right away.

[Hehehe. Are you talking about the Core of the Divine Realm? I know it well.]

"Oh? You do?"

[Yes. We've handled it quite a lot.]

"What is it used for?"

[The Core of the Divine Realm is the embodiment of faith.]

Hades continued, giggling.

[We have two methods for 'purifying' a world. One is to completely overturn it and start anew—like in Earth's case. The other is to simply clean up the Divine Realm of the problematic deities.]

"Hmm. I see."

[The latter—cleansing just the Divine Realm—is actually used more often. Hehehe. The Lords of Chaos conquer the Divine Realm, retrieve the core, and then…]

Hades twirled his finger as if casting a hypnotic spell.

[We manipulate the Core of the Divine Realm and nullify that 'faith'. It's how we eliminate the foundation—the root cause—of a deity that distorts the world.]

"The embodiment of faith, huh? That kind of manipulation is really possible?"

[Yes. But you’re saying Zeus was after it? Hehehe. Then it probably wasn’t to nullify it like we do…]

Right.

He wouldn’t go to such desperate lengths just to neutralize it.

If it’s the embodiment of faith…

Could it be… converted?

If the faith that once sustained Taoism could be converted into belief in Zeus, then all Taoist believers would essentially become Zeus worshipers.

When I shared my theory, Hades nodded in agreement.

[Hehehe. We merely spread faith, but if it’s Zeus—the creator—it’s entirely possible. So that’s what he’s after.]

"He only managed to grab a tiny fragment though. Can he still make use of it?"

[Hehehe. With just that much… it wouldn’t work for beings like us. But he’s an EX-rank. He’ll find a way. You said it was the Core of the Taoist Divine Realm, right? You’d best keep an eye on China. Hehehe…]

Normally, such a minuscule fragment wouldn’t have any influence.

But the problem is Zeus being EX-rank.

With his mysterious powers, he might just be able to affect the Chinese Taoist believers.

"Scanning now."

I scanned the general population in China.

I examined their soul forms to see if there were any changes.

But even after checking, there was nothing particularly abnormal…

"This… just got easier?"

I hadn’t been able to fully draw out the power of an SSS-rank Soul God.

It’s not like I couldn’t—just that if I tried, the ego of "Kim Jiho" would get swallowed, so I’d been holding back.

I had a limit set.

When I scanned before, that cap was at 100.

But now, that cap didn’t even feel like half of my potential.

"Let’s speed it up a bit."

I expanded my sense and scanned more soul forms.

Even scanning at twice the speed, I felt no strain.

When I quadrupled the speed, there was just a slight hint of strain…

At five times the speed, I figured I shouldn’t push it any further.

"I’ve… evolved?"

What caused this sudden jump?

The only major event lately was that one of my avatars was slaughtered by Ares.

Hmm.

My soul barrier adapted to EX-rank attacks, so maybe that helped upgrade things—like gaining experience points.

Scanning the 1.3 billion soul forms in China had become dramatically faster, but still, I didn’t notice any striking changes.

"Guess that tiny shard really isn’t enough."

For now, everything looks normal.

Hmm.

At this rate, even catching the souls of drunk, passed-out Earthlings will be much faster.

Zeus, that bastard.

He practically helped me instead?

In that case, I’ll keep my control over Earth…

"Ares. Can you hear me?"

I approached Ares’s seal and called out to him.

No verbal reply, but I sensed a faint stir in his soul energy.

Judging by that, he’s probably listening.

"What deal did you make with Zeus? And what’s Hera’s involvement?"

[...]

"Hey. My only target is Zeus. I’m not interested in the other Olympians. If I can take him down, I don’t mind leaving Olympus intact."

The rest of the gods aren't much of a threat anyway.

As long as I deal with that one pesky EX-rank…

"Hey. I can even swear an oath. I’m SSS-rank, so oaths still work on me."

[...]

"Judging from your soul wave, you’re definitely listening… think about it. You know Zeus got rid of Apollo, right? That guy doesn’t care if it’s his own son. I, on the other hand, have no interest in ruling. Running an SP exchange is way more worthwhile for me than ruling over gods."

[...]

"I’ll give you the throne of Olympus. So how about we cooperate?"

But Ares still remained silent.

That guy.

Does he want to respond but can’t?

But if that were the case, there would be a change in his energy… and there isn’t.

Looks like I won’t be getting an answer right now.

As I stared at Ares’s sealed sphere, I thought of Apollo’s soul fragment.

Right.

Maybe I should wake him up and ask him.

[Apollo’s Soul Fragment – Seal 85% Released.]

[As the owner becomes a god, the soul fragment is regaining power on its own.]

[Would you like to spend SP to accelerate the unsealing?]

Apollo’s soul fragment costs 500 million SP per 1%.

Now that’s basically pocket change.

Let’s unseal it.

Fwoooosh.

Light burst forth from the soul fragment in my palm.

It was clearly the divine power of the sun god.

Even though it was just a tiny fragment, the power was intense enough to almost set the house on fire.

"Soul Barrier."

I threw up a barrier, and the light was blocked from leaking out.

The bright light flickered for a good five minutes.

Eventually, it started to fade, and I felt a tiny presence in my palm.

"Where… is this…?"

A sense of presence began to stir in my hand.

It was Apollo.

Shrunken to the size of a finger, Apollo stood atop my palm.

[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]