Chapter 409: Persuasion |
In the beginning, there was a God who created the world.
He created the divine realms, then the heavens and hells, and based on that experience, He created the earth, plants, animals, and humans.
The creator of all life.
Living beings called this being “Him,” who was everywhere and nowhere.
He had two sons, and one of them was Deorant.
Deorant wanted to be like his father and mother, Him.
To assist Him, he took on the role of managing the expanding dimensions, and thus he was called the God of Dimensions.
But the increase in the number of dimensions to the point of becoming unmanageable created an obsession that became an organizational barrier.
“The increase in dimensions doesn’t help Him. All unnecessary dimensions must be eliminated.”
To eliminate them, he used hosts and seeds, living beings created by him.
But recently, a problem arose.
“Why have so many dimensions suddenly formed?”
Every time the axis of time shook, the number of dimensions increased.
He could only see this as a dimensional copy created by the power of time.
“If it’s the power of time, could it be Cronos...?”
He thought this might be the work of the God of Time, Cronos, and was about to warn him to stop the indiscriminate creation of dimensions as soon as he found him.
But no matter how much he searched, he couldn’t find Cronos, so he finally had to proceed without any warnings.
“Eliminate all unnecessarily copied timelines.”
He began planting seeds and hosts of destruction in every timeline that needed to be eliminated.
And he chose Earth as the target.
The reason for choosing Earth was simple.
It was the place with the most life, spanning from the divine realms to the heavens and the hells.
“A massive amount of life energy is needed to shake the dimensional axes. Earth is perfect as the epicenter of the collapse.”
In his heart, he would have erased all dimensions in one go, but even a God of Dimensions couldn’t do that.
It took a long time to create the seeds and hosts, and he wasn’t yet finished preparing them.
But now, there was no need to wait any longer.
“Everything is ready. 300 hosts and 12 seeds have been completed.”
In a dimensional rift, there were rows of 312 incubators.
The children he had created were about to awaken from their slumber.
“The seeds are ready. Should I plant them in another dimension?”
With that thought, Deorant opened a rift in the timeline and began observing.
[Hmm?]
Someone entered his space.
“A human?”
Deorant soon dismissed the thought.
How could a human enter a dimensional rift?
“It’s probably someone imitating human appearance.”
No matter who it was, the fact that they entered unannounced disgusted Deorant.
“Who are you?”
—————-
“There he is. The much-sought-after Deorant.”
Although he couldn’t read the opponent’s thoughts, Ryu Min was certain.
The mere fact that he couldn’t read him proved that this being transcended humans.
And above all, he looked exactly like the Deorant he had seen through the rewinding function.
“If I eliminate him here and now... I could stop the collapse of the timelines!”
But Ryu Min didn’t rush.
Wouldn’t it be dangerous to provoke someone without knowing their true power?
Attacking hastily without understanding the opponent’s strength would only lead to trouble.
“First, I need to observe calmly. As Cronos said, it seems this guy knows nothing about me.”
If the other knew who he was, he would have asked.
[Who are you? And how dare you intrude into my space without permission?]
He didn’t respond and simply stared, until Deorant’s patience ran out.
[Are you not going to speak? Are you trying to make violence inevitable?]
Deorant began releasing a massive amount of tera energy.
“This is more than Chaos or Gaia...!”
Ryu Min thought he had done well not to rush.
Clearly, his opponent was much more powerful than him, who had 70 billion tera energy.
Seeing that his judgment was correct, Ryu Min lowered his head.
[...I’m sorry.]
Ryu Min responded with a tone filled with divinity, just like his opponent.
Emitting a bit of tera energy in his voice to resemble a God wasn’t that difficult.
[I was supervising the dimensions when I felt something strange and came to investigate... If it was rude, I sincerely apologize.]
[Supervising the dimensions? What nonsense is that?]
Ryu Min calmly wove a lie.
[I delayed my introductions. I am Deathside, sent to oversee all dimensions.]
[Overseer...?]
In the world, there are countless Gods.
Some are so famous they are known only by their names, like Chaos, Gaia, and Cronos.
But many other Gods are less known.
“If I simply invent a title and a false name, they have no choice but to believe me.”
Since he could feel the divinity in his voice, it was inevitable they would believe in him.
The only thing that proved he was a God was the possession of tera energy.
Otherwise, Deorant wouldn’t even have considered that he could be human.
[I delayed my introductions. I am Death Scythe, sent by the order of Thanatos.]
[Thanatos? The God of Death?]
It seemed he knew of Thanatos, but that was all.
In the first place, he didn’t have such a close relationship with the Gods.
“If it weren’t like that, he wouldn’t have heard of Deorant.”
As expected, Deorant didn’t ask any more questions.
[Why have you come here?]
“As I said, I’m detecting dimensional anomalies and conducting an investigation. But I never expected you to be involved in something like this...”
Ryu Min casually approached where the hosts and seeds were being cultivated.
“What were you doing with these creatures, Deorant?”
“You know me?”
“Of course. Who in this world doesn’t know the dimensional God Deorant?”
“Hmm, I didn’t know I was that famous.”
After lowering his guard a little, Deorant became more relaxed.
He also changed his tone of voice.
“Are you asking what I’m doing? I’m carrying out the task of collapsing dimensions.”
“Collapsing dimensions?”
“Recently, there has been an excessive increase in unnecessary dimensions. The hosts and seeds created there are also my children.”
“Ah, is that so?”
He had suspected it.
The creatures cultivated here were undoubtedly hosts and seeds.
“Just as Cronos said. Deorant, with his obsession for order, is collapsing worlds to clean up the timelines that have increased.”
It was information he already knew, but it still wasn’t useless.
Now he knew that although Deorant was powerful, he wasn’t astute enough to deceive humans.
“With this level of intelligence, could it be possible to persuade him?”
Ryu Min changed his mind.
He decided to try persuading Deorant.
Perhaps, surprisingly, they could reach a peaceful resolution.
It was worth trying.
“How many timelines do you plan to collapse?”
“All unnecessary dimensions must be collapsed without exception.”
“Is it really necessary to clean up all dimensions? Wouldn’t it be enough to leave them alone? They wouldn’t cause any harm, would they?”
“No harm, you say? Should we just sit idly by while unnecessary dimensions multiply in the universe?”
“After all, the space of the universe is infinite, isn’t it? Besides, being in separate dimensions, there’s no risk of collision.”
“I can’t allow it. Unnecessary dimensions must be eliminated.”
“And what about the countless beings living in those dimensions?”
“What problem is there with human life?”
Deorant truly didn’t understand.
He looked at Ryu Min as if he were a stranger.
“You. Are you taking sides with humans?”
“Of course not. To me, humans are no more than insects. But even insects have their uses, don’t they?”
“Humans do not. They are simply pests consuming Earth. It would be better if they went extinct.”
“Wasn’t it the creator God Him who created them, knowing that?”
There was a flicker of confusion in Deorant’s brows for a moment.
“Are you trying to teach me about Him’s beliefs in front of his descendant?”
“...I’m sorry. I’ve spoken out of turn.”
Ryu Min lowered his head, but inside, he felt slightly amused.
“Is this guy claiming to be the descendant of Him, the creator God?”
If that were true, then the Elsis function wouldn’t work against Deorant.
After all, Elsis was a system created by the creator God Him.
“Him wouldn’t let his own system affect his descendants. I must assume that the Elsis function won’t work on Deorant.”
That was valuable information.
If he relied on Elsis, he could be vulnerable.
“Anyway, it seems that persuasion won’t work.”
Seeing Deorant’s stubborn expression, it seemed impossible to break his resolve.
“Then, Deorant, after eliminating all dimensions, what do you plan to do next?”
“What else can I do? I’ll continue managing dimensions as I am now.”
“Who is creating these additional dimensions? I wonder who’s bothering Deorant in this way.”
“Even I don’t know. Judging by the creation of timelines, it seems to be Cronos, the God of Time, who holds the power over time. But I can’t find him anywhere...”
Deorant, unaware that he was sharing information with his enemy, revealed useful information on his own.
“What happened to Cronos? I don’t know that either, and I don’t realize I’m the one creating the timelines. Even the fact that other Gods like Chaos and Gaia have been degraded to humans and are repeating the survival game would shock him.”
In the end, Deorant knew nothing.
His only concern was the dimensional collapse.
“The situation isn’t so bad, is it?”
Although he didn’t know who his enemy was, Ryu Min knew a lot about him.
Even if he might lag behind in power, he was ahead in terms of information.
“I must take advantage of this and attack Deorant.”
He wanted to ask more questions and gather more information, but Deorant seemed tired of answering.
“Now that all my questions have been answered, should I leave your space, Death Scythe? I also need to start my work of collapsing dimensions.”
“Isn’t there something I can assist with?”
“I’m fine. Take care of your own affairs.”
Although it was an expulsion spell, Ryu Min seriously considered striking Deorant from behind before leaving.
Was there any chance of winning?
But he decided it wasn’t the right time and nodded.
“I understand. Although it was brief, it was a pleasure meeting you, Deorant.”
“Indeed. Take care.”
“Ah, by the way.”
Before leaving, Ryu Min asked one last thing that intrigued him.
“Could you tell me the list of dimensions where the seeds have been planted?”