Part 2
Judging by the chaotic mana that leaked out when the gate was destroyed, it certainly wasn’t comfortable.
Lance looked up at the sky again, gesturing for Misha to look at the destroyed gate. From their height, the wreckage and the floating debris were below them. Looking at the dark purple mist from above felt subtly eerie. Misha once again thought that such strange mana didn’t seem like the magic gods would use.
“Inside the gate, that weird mana suppresses everything. The magic of the God Race becomes useless. But because of that, it was my greatest chance to escape.” Lance sighed softly. “He was ordered to capture me. He looked down on everything human and even considered cutting off my limbs before we reached the Divine Realm to prevent any more ‘pointless’ resistance.”
Misha was shocked. The High God Lance described was so brutal; it was nothing like the gods he knew.
“I should have just treated it as his rightful end and thought nothing of it,” Lance said quietly. “But I still felt guilty.”
Misha: “Youâ”
âDid you kill that powerless High God inside the gate?
He couldn’t ask.
Lance whispered, “After losing his mana, he was weak and desperate to leave the gate. I thought he was just afraid of getting lost, but I soon discovered that the so-called ‘High Gods’ are nothing more than puppet dolls of your beloved God King.”
He reached out again, opening his palm before Misha. This time, a soft ball of light gathered in his hand. It was undoubtedly magicâand magic Misha was intimately familiar with: the magic of the Divine Realm.
“What you call the ‘Divine Core’ of the gods is actually the core of a puppet,” Lance said calmly. “He was afraid of staying in the gate because an environment that nullifies all mana is no place for a puppet that relies on it.”
Misha struggled to repeat the word: “…Puppet?”
He couldn’t believe it.
This shock was far greater than any lie the gods could have told. If what Lance said was true, those elusive High Gods were just empty husks without souls or emotions. The God King had injected these magical cores into them, making them the elites of the Divine Realm, his most loyal servants and companions.
Mishaâs mouth hung open. “But… why would… no… it shouldn’t be like that…”
But as he looked down, he saw the soft light in the Hero’s handâthe exact same radiance as every divine miracle he had ever seen in the Divine Realm.
He had always felt that Lanceâs abilities far exceeded any human he had ever met. It wasn’t power a normal living being should possess. If the Divine Core was just a “core” injected by the God King, then after Lance “slew” a god in the gate, he must have taken the Interdimensional Stone, the treasures, and the “core.” It made perfect sense that he now possessed a portion of a god’s power.
Misha just couldn’t believe it… it was too sudden.
Lance turned to him and asked, “Think about it. Isn’t there a myth like that?”
Misha: “…”
There was.
In the human Holy Scripture, the chapter on the God Kingâs creation of the world.
The God King needed loyal followers. The newly created, empty Divine Realm needed life and masters. So, he crafted figures out of the world’s materials in his own image and divided his divine power, injecting it into puppets made of wood, stone, or clay.
They became the new gods, surrounding the God King and helping him continue the creation of the world.
“I kept him in the gate for too long, and his mana failed,” Lance continued. “He reverted to his original form, standing there motionless.”
The original form of a High Godâthe puppet form the God King had first created.
That was why the Interdimensional Stone had vanished and the Divine Realm had made no move. They likely thought the escaped human and the poor High God were both trapped in the gate. The Hero couldn’t find a way out, and the High God had stayed too long, lost all mana, and returned to being a lifeless puppet.
But the Hero had escaped. He spent a long time evading pursuit until the Divine Realm thought he was dead. Only then did he stay in this world for a bit longer.
Misha looked down at his hands in a panic.
Wait, if High Gods were puppets, what about them? He was of the God Race tooâwas he also a lifeless doll?
“Of course you aren’t,” Lance smiled. “Like I said, the God Race is just a race proficient in magic.”
Misha: “…You mean, us?”
Him, Arlo, Genesis, Teacher Alisa, and everyone he had grown up with in the Divine Realm.
They were just a long-lived race with an affinity for magic, not the omnipotent beings of human myth. Indeed, his magic couldn’t destroy the world. Even Alisa, who had trained countless Demon Kings, just had more profound mana than him.
As for others, Arlo’s magic was weaker than his, and Genesis only seemed to handle paperwork. Misha had never seen her fight or show any “divine power.” She was more like a low-level clerk taking orders from the High Gods, with none of the “divinity” humans boasted about.
As for life in the Divine Realm…
Misha felt it wasn’t much different from life in the human world.
It was just more comfortable and carefree. There were no great worries because everyone had their assigned tasks. The God King had planned their paths. They didn’t need to think; they just followed the track, and life was good.
And those who refused to follow the God King’s teachings…
Misha couldn’t quite remember.
Maybe there were such people. The Divine Realm always gave them “opportunities” to do other things they wanted. But after they left Misha’s side, he didn’t know where they went. Recalling it now, he couldn’t tell if they were sent elsewhere to pursue their interests, or…
Or if they, like the “disqualified” Hero, had faced punishment from the gods.
“I took the interesting things from that puppet and found a way out of the Interdimensional Gate,” Lance said. “When I finally reached the next world, this magical core glowed with a strange light again.”
Misha whispered, “Divine power.”
“Yes, what you call ‘divine power.'” Lance closed his hand, and the light vanished into his body. “And this power is quite easy to wield, even for a human.”
Misha: “…”
No wonder the rumors in the Divine Realm always spoke of those who slew gods becoming gods themselves.
Lance had taken the High God’s core, and thus, he possessed that god’s power.
That was why he could easily destroy an Interdimensional Gate and possessed such terrifying strength despite just “leaving the starting village.”
Even with Lance’s explanation, Misha found it hard to accept.
He scratched his head, feeling lost.
“You… it’s too complicated,” Misha said with difficulty. “I don’t know how to believe you.”
It was a lot to take in. Before today, he had doubts about the Divine Realm, but he was still a believer. After climbing the Tree of Life, he had first dismantled his own faith, and now he had to accept even deeper, more confusing doubts. Most of what Lance said had no proof. How could he believe such a massive claim based on a few words?
Lance didn’t expect him to accept it all at once.
He smiled and looked at the sky, propping up his chin. “Sunrise is coming.”
Misha: “…”
They had climbed the Tree of Life and stayed at this “Stargazing Point” for so long just to wait for this sunriseâthe moment between night and day that would bring them the truth.
“Zebulun said the sky of the Dragon Race is ‘thinner,'” Lance said, looking toward the distant horizon. “There, you will definitely see the truth.”
Misha: “The truth?”
Misha followed Lance’s gaze to the east, where the morning star was rising.
Lance said no more. They sat in silence, watching the sky turn pale and then fill with the morning glow. The sunlight pierced the clouds, spilling onto the distant snowy mountains and turning the ice into a golden field. It was breathtakingly beautiful, but to Misha, it looked like an ordinary sunrise, no different from any he had seen before.
Misha couldn’t help but ask, “We waited for the sunrise, and then what?”
Lance answered softly, “Look closely.”
Misha: “…”
Misha turned back to the morning clouds.
Nothing was wrong. Nothing was differentâ
No. His eyes widened as he finally understood the purpose of their night-long vigil.
Within the silhouette of the morning glow at the edge of the sky, a strange, dark smudge was faintly visible.
It was elusive, its edges blurred. Misha found it hard to tell what it actually was. It looked like it was hidden behind a mist, surrounded by a haze. But this morning was clear; there was no fog in the sky.
And the mist over the dark spot…
Though it was incredibly faint and almost imperceptible against the morning light, if one focused, one could just barely see a faint, purple shimmer at the edges.
A purple light… almost identical to the glow of the Interdimensional Gate.
Misha stared in disbelief, stunned to his core.
He didn’t know what the dark spot represented, but if the mana of the Interdimensional Gate was related to the God King, then this spot was surely connected to him too.
“The sun, moon, and stars have nothing to do with the God King.” Lance gazed at the sky just like Misha, his eyes seemingly piercing the clouds to land on that strange dark spot. “But these are the God King’s sun, moon, and stars.”
He seemed to speak in contradictions, but Misha’s heart pounded. It felt as if he had walked a long, long road and was finally approaching the truth of everything.
“Behind this sky,” Lance whispered in his ear, “lies the truth of everything.”
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