Chapter 210

[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]

Chapter 210: Soul Sword Evolution (1)

I took the Soul Sword out of my inventory.

Unlike usual, the entire sword had turned pure white.

A message window immediately appeared.

[Do you want to evolve the Soul Sword?]

When I pressed "Yes," the light began to fade.

The Soul Sword started to disappear from the tip, as if it was being dismantled.

As it vanished, the radiance of the sword spread out in all directions, then transformed into a pure white message window.

Then text began to appear.

[You have fully grown the Soul Sword.]

[You have obtained a clue to Soul Evolution.]

Evolution?

Expecting more messages, I kept watching.

Then, an unusual font covered the text above.

Scrawled handwriting.

I had never seen these characters before, but strangely, I could naturally understand their meaning just by looking at them.

—Congratulations. If you're seeing this message, you must be the one who became a Soul God against all odds.

Scratch, scratch.

The already displayed letters were erased, then rewritten from the beginning.

—I’ll keep it short due to limited space. Do not evolve using the Path of Chaos. If you do, you’ll eventually be devoured by the Left Arm.

Getting devoured by the Left Arm if I go with Chaos?

Was this about the absolute god of chaos, the "Creator’s Left Arm"?

A being known to surpass even EX-rank, an absolute entity of the Chaos faction.

Owner of the SP shop, and, like me, a god of the soul system.

—Remember. Do not choose Chaos. Do not offer the painstakingly sprouted seed to him……

Toward the end, the text gradually shrank until it vanished.

One-sidedly said his piece and disappeared.

I wanted to know who had sent this sword...

The message window returned to its original form.

[The Soul Sword is evolving to EX rank.]

[The Soul Sword merges with your soul form and evolves your soul.]

[Please select the evolution path of the Soul Sword. As an EX rank, a basic authority will be granted. The base name of the sword will be determined by the chosen faction.]

[Order]

[You have obtained a clue to becoming an EX rank of the Order faction. You gain the basic authority "Obedience."]

[Obedience]

[The user forces a target to obey. The target must be a member of the same planetary system and of a lower rank. An obedient target pledges eternal loyalty and becomes subordinate to the user.]

So the basic authority of Order was Obedience.

It didn’t seem very useful for my battle with Zeus.

It might make Ares confess, who had kept his mouth shut…

But it wasn’t a power that would directly help in combat.

So I skipped it for now.

[Neutral]

[You have obtained a clue to becoming an EX rank of the Neutral faction. You gain the basic authority "Growth."]

[Growth]

[The user's soul form grows. Through growth, you can control your soul more completely. The speed of growth varies depending on SP investment, and once a certain stage is reached, the soul transcends.]

Growth, huh...

It seemed better than Obedience, but the effect was too simple.

Of course, right now, I couldn’t fully utilize my strength out of fear of losing my ego, despite having excess SP.

So if I used this to grow my soul form, it might be better...

But it was uncertain when the effect would actually kick in.

Better than Order, but not exactly impressive either.

Then there was Chaos—the one the earlier message had explicitly warned me against.

Let’s see what it had to offer.

[Chaos]

[You have obtained a clue to becoming an EX rank of the Chaos faction. You gain the basic authority "Destruction."]

[The basic authority of the Chaos faction has been upgraded due to your status as a Pioneer. The basic authority has been upgraded to "Erasure."]

[Due to being a Pioneer, additional basic authorities have been added to the Chaos faction. Selecting Chaos will reveal the additional authorities.]

[The added authorities are also enhanced due to being a Pioneer. Selecting Chaos will reveal their enhanced states.]

……

With the status of a Pioneer, Chaos continued adding authority powers.

Though the details weren’t revealed until selection, five additional basic authorities had been added.

And all of them were enhanced due to my Pioneer status.

If not for that earlier message, I probably would’ve picked Chaos immediately.

Even now, I was wavering a bit.

"Erasure" seemed far more useful in battle than "Obedience" or "Growth."

Plus, there were still four unopened skills.

If those five skills were combined with my SP, suppressing Zeus might be a lot easier.

“Eh, I’ll just go with Neutral.”

If I went chasing after that power and ended up summoning a beast, it’d be a disaster.

If I chose Chaos because of Zeus, and then got devoured by the god of Chaos, that’d be a real screw-up.

I might be able to fight Zeus somehow, but not the god of Chaos.

Yeah.

Neutral it is!

After the explanation of the three evolution paths ended, the Soul Sword's window simply displayed "......"

What the—was it loading?

After five long minutes of waiting, a message finally appeared.

[The Solar System's rank is low. For gods originating from Earth, only one EX-rank weapon per faction is allowed.]

So that’s what took so long—it was assessing the Solar System’s rank?

Only one per faction...

Then if someone else picked one first, I couldn’t choose it?

As if confirming my thoughts, more messages appeared.

[One of Earth's EX-rank beings has claimed "Chaos." Chaos cannot be selected.]

[One of Earth's EX-rank beings has shown interest in "Order." He is in the process of creating it. Since "Order" is only 33% complete, the user may still choose it.]

[The user may currently choose between "Order" and "Neutral."]

Someone had already claimed Chaos?

Who?

If it’s an EX rank from Earth…

Zeus.

Yahweh.

Maybe Buddha too, since he attained enlightenment.

But it seemed like he had fully detached himself from everything.

It was likely to be Zeus or Yahweh.

“This is troublesome.”

Depending on what Zeus had claimed, my future strategy would have to change entirely.

If he held "Chaos"...

Then he would have all kinds of destructive powers, and I’d have to avoid fighting him while focusing on growth before opposing him.

But if he was building "Order," I’d need to actively interfere before he completed it.

The basic authority of Order, Obedience.

It forces lower-ranked beings into eternal submission.

It wouldn’t matter much for me, but Zeus, being a higher-ranked EX being, was a problem.

There was a gap between EX and SSS ranks, so if I slipped up, I might end up pledging loyalty to him.

“Should I safely choose Order?”

If I chose Order, at least I wouldn’t have to worry about being forced to obey.

[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]

Given our bad relationship, if either of us completed it, the other would try to force submission.

Unless I become EX rank before the 33% becomes 100%...

But how likely was that?

To avoid the worst-case scenario, Order seemed to be the safer choice...

“…Is this Skuld’s foresight at work?”

I had a feeling.

A gut instinct telling me not to choose Order.

It felt like if I picked it, I’d end up losing in the end.

“So… just trying to avoid the worst wouldn’t be enough to win, huh?”

Order was the safer option, sure—but it wasn’t the best one in every situation.

If Zeus held Chaos, then a power like Order, which was useless in battle, couldn’t compare to the evolving strength of Neutrality.

“On the other hand, if Zeus was the one creating Order… then picking Order would make sense.”

So it came down to a fifty-fifty chance.

But my hunch—something I couldn’t ignore—kept whispering that Order was being made by Yahweh.

This wasn’t an easy decision.

Hmm...

Yeah.

Why not take a shot?

“Connect me to Michael.”

Would he even answer?

Right now, Hades’s Chaos faction was probably attacking the angels.

Of course, there was no response.

“Try the connection again.”

Still, I figured I should try at least ten times.

If the call dropped, I’d reconnect.

Over and over again.

“Now that I think about it—if Chaos was on their side, Hades wouldn’t have attacked, would he?”

No matter how much SP I spent to lure him, he wouldn’t fully go to war against a top-ranking subordinate of his own faction.

So… was that feeling really foresight?

On my seventh attempt...

[...What is it, Soul God?]

“Oh. He answered.”

Michael appeared on the screen.

The solemn angel of light glared at me like he was ready to kill me right then and there.

He was the one who betrayed me, and yet here he was acting all offended.

Typical.

[To use the power of Chaos… how vile. Do you think that changes anything? The Lord’s army is eternal. Even in death, we will save mankind.]

“You’re the vile ones, bastard. You betrayed me and now you're acting like you’ve got the moral high ground? I don’t have time to bicker with you. Just deliver a message to your master.”

[What? You dare insult the Lord—?]

“EX-class weapon: Order.”

[What are you talking about?]

Michael replied calmly.

He didn’t know?

Well, he was just a divine apostle—maybe he really didn’t.

“If you don’t know, then pass it along to your master. The Lord of Chaos has already been chosen. And someone’s been working hard on Order… and now I’ve got the right to choose.”

[You… what are you plotting…?]

“No need to overthink it. Just relay the message. If there’s no reply, I’ll just pick Order. One of your creators worked really hard on it—got it to about 33%, apparently. Wouldn’t it suck if someone stole it halfway through?”

Michael didn’t say anything.

Was he delivering the message now?

He didn’t end the call.

Just stared at me with that robotic, blank face.

“Oh, and I get it. You might be thinking, ‘So what if I have the Order EX-weapon? What does that have to do with you crafting it?’ But just in case your master doesn’t know—since this solar system’s level is so low, each faction only gets one EX-class divine weapon. If I take Order, that’s the end of it. You lose yours.”

[...The Lord knows all. Enough talk, Soul God.]

Michael let out a long sigh.

That fierce glare from before?

Gone without a trace.

[Soul God. The Lord asks: What do you want?]

“Oh? That was fast. I thought you’d try to deny it at least.”

[Would I deny it when you already understand the situation? You contacted me with full knowledge, didn’t you? There's no point in denying something you already know.]

I hadn’t exactly contacted him after piecing everything together.

I just figured it out along the way during the call.

But hey—if he was giving me credit, I wasn’t going to argue.

“What do I want, huh?”

Honestly, all I wanted was to confirm whether their side was actually building Order or not.

But now he was the one groveling and asking what I wanted?

Guess that EX-class divine weapon was important.

“Why don’t you make the first offer? And don’t forget—you screwed with my father. Keep in mind I’ve got a personal grudge.”

Just thinking about it made me want to grab Order purely out of spite.

If I hadn’t had this unshakable feeling pushing me toward Neutrality, I would’ve picked Order just to watch them fall apart.

Michael still didn’t say anything.

Just kept that blank stare during the call.

And then, finally, he opened his mouth.

[We’ll cancel your designation as Satan and command all believers to worship you.]

Half of Earth’s population followed Yahweh.

That would definitely help strengthen the image of “Kim Jiho the God.”

But it also meant most of those people currently saw me as the enemy.

If they were already hostile, awakening them or manipulating their souls would take longer.

Not a bad offer.

But nowhere near enough.

In truth, it just made things a little easier.

I could still mess with the souls of Christians—it just took more time.

“That’s it? That’s all you’ve got?”

[...The Lord has almost no influence over Earth now because of the new creation. Please consider that.]

“Fine. Then start by promising not to use the Authority of Obedience on Earth.”

[That wouldn’t even be possible. The Lord has spent centuries crafting Order… and it’s only 33% complete. If it takes a few hundred more years, Earth will be entirely yours by then. Or Zeus’s.]

“It takes that long? Still, put it in writing. Now give me something that’ll actually satisfy me.”

Michael’s face twisted briefly before going blank again.

An unexpected bonus.

Maybe because this project had taken hundreds of years.

Michael was playing full-on underdog in this negotiation.

[...Fine. How about this—Zeus surrendered to us, and when he did, he offered us his divine weapon. We’ll give you Astrapē.]

Astrapē?

That was… the one Zeus used to wield, wasn’t it?

[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]