Myth: The Ruler of Spirituality

— Whoosh —

Space slightly distorted, and light and shadow coalesced and transformed.

Just after a strange hum sounded, not long after, accompanied by a streak of silver light, a white wolf leaped out from within the nascent Divine Kingdom shaped by Bear Balor.

The hazy moonlight flickered on its body, and it seemed that the newcomer could not yet control its existence very well. But seeing this scene, a hint of envy couldn't help but flash through Balor's eyes.

White Wolf Josser, the 'Wolf God,' the 'God of Twilight,' whom some barbarian tribes worship, was also a rival and friend he had known for a thousand years.

A thousand years ago, the two almost simultaneously obtained a treasured gift bestowed by the heavens, which they later learned to be named Divinity, and from then on, they broke free from ignorance and gained wisdom.

Afterward, driven by the instinct of their Divinity, they became the Totem Spirits worshipped by two barbarian tribes in the north on their separate paths of pursuing faith and fought against each other for a long time.

Of course, this didn't last too long, as tribes with Totem Spirits quickly stood out among the disorganized array of large and small tribes, grew strong, and thereby came into contact with the Olympian Pantheon and the humans to the south.

Under this unprecedented threat, they put aside their differences and banded together for warmth.

However, though friends they were, because of differences in strength, there was always some disparity in status between the two.

Over the past millennium, Balor, whose Divinity contained the Domain of 'Combat,' had always been the stronger one, even when it came to accumulating followers and becoming a true Faith God, he was significantly ahead.

However, all this changed after Josser too arrived at the fifth layer of the Spirit Realm; this old friend, whose original Divine Domain was only 'Twilight,' somehow came into the favor of the Spirit Moons.

His 'Twilight' Domain was taken away by one of the five Spirit Moons and transformed into 'Moon Light.' Thus Josser smoothly transitioned from a simple cultural Faith God into a Nature God.

This was evident from the commotion of his arrival, which was through "Divinity Ability: Altering Space" that crossed the vast Void of the fifth layer of the Spirit Realm.

This ability was rumored to be a privilege engraved into the foundation by the entity that created Divinity, allowing its possessor to spend a vast amount of Divine Power to have power almost akin to that of the Space Authority. Bear Balor tried it once when he was constructing the prototype of his Divine Kingdom but never again after that.

After all, such high-level Divine Power consumption was too extravagant for him, a newly ascended Faith God. Cultural Godhood is different from Natural Godhood; he did not have the Divine Power supplied spontaneously by his godhood. Every bit of his strength was painstakingly extracted from faith and worship.

"Why have you come? Did you also sense the disturbance just now? But it seems that this change is not really related to us, right? Why come here instead of quickly adapting to 'Spirit Moon's' blessing?"

Passing through the barrier of his nascent Divine Kingdom, Balor approached the white wolf.

The somewhat chaotic spacetime struck like the tide, but it was easily blocked by a layer of fine golden light.

This is why, in the beginning, Faith Gods sought out large, native outer realms like 'Seven Hills Paradise' and 'Wild Expanse' to attach themselves to, and near them, to establish their nascent Divine Kingdoms.

After all, the essence of the deep layers of the Spirit Realm's spacetime is inherently chaotic and disorganized. Unless one's own Divine Power is so strong as to fear no loss, one always needs to first find a 'sheltered harbor' and slowly build one's 'little boat.'

"Not really related? ...It looks like you didn't sense it."

When the white wolf opened its mouth, there was no ferocity of a wild beast, but rather a hint of sanctity.

"What sensation?"

Balor looked puzzled, as he hadn't sensed anything special. In front of him, however, the white wolf just shook its head slightly.

"A difficult to describe sensation of 'completeness' that comes from Divinity... But now it looks like this is a sensation transmitted by Natural Priesthood."

"Haha, I advise you to try and change the inclination of your priesthood too. After the previous ordeal, I always feel that to this world, only those who possess Natural Priesthood are considered half its 'own people,' while the rest... are merely insects."

Speaking lightly, Josser didn't continue, because he wasn't sure whether his guess was right or wrong.

What is Cultural Godhood? It is a man-made, inherently powerless godhood. Just like the original 'Twilight' that came with his Divinity.

'Twilight' also differs from starlight, moonlight, or firelight, sunlight—it's a man-made qualitative concept, a standard that isn't innately defined by the world. What kind of light counts as 'twilight' and what doesn't, what traits 'twilight' has, are all determined by humans; but of course, they also can be expanded upon later.

Josser had painstakingly explored little by little through the long years, gradually giving 'Twilight' some 'healing' abilities, by changing the beliefs of his followers and imitating related powers.

Of course, such an ability does not mean the creation of a new priesthood, it only makes the concept of 'twilight' seem more real and full instead of filled with artificiality and emptiness.

Of course, all this was now irrelevant to him; the Twilight Divinity that had accompanied Josser for a thousand years was already lost, replaced by the small Authority of 'Spirit Moon' at the third layer of the Spirit Realm.

Despite having only a small part of it, Josser felt deeply the fundamental difference between Natural Godhood and Cultural Godhood.

"Balor, this is my advice to you. Although your brain doesn't always work well, you should know that I wouldn't deceive you."

Smiling, the white wolf shook its tail and then once again activated his spatial power to return to his own nascent Divine Kingdom.

He had come to ascertain his guess, and the result was indeed as he had expected.

"...You're the one whose brain doesn't work well, hmph, as if I'd need your reminder if I had the chance."

With a low huff, the huge bear thumped its chest; of course, he also wanted to change his type, but there just hadn't been an opportunity.

But at that thought, his large bear eyes couldn't help but look towards where the sound had come from before.

The Void of the fifth layer of the Spirit Realm was pitch black, and the distant spacetime prevented him from seeing the core or the opposing black and white interfaces above and below, let alone knowing what had happened there.

If he could step into that place… he wondered if he could be as lucky as Josser and receive the favor of something, becoming a member of the nature deities.

...

Boom ——

Different from the slight movement at the edge, at the core of the fifth layer of the Spirit Realm, a massive spacetime vortex was swirling unpredictably.

The interface of Positive Energy was located 'above' on the spacetime plane, while the interface of Negative Energy subsided 'below' in the spacetime domain, and slightly to the east of their midpoint was where the spacetime vortex had formed.

There, cracks like lightning zigzagged and twisted, with the laws of the interface unprecedentedly condensed and active.

It seemed as if something was about to happen, delighting the origin of the fifth layer of the Spirit Realm.

Whoosh ——

Like the Milky Way tilting, or the ocean reversing flow. At a certain moment, as the rotation of the spacetime vortex reached its limit, it exploded with a thunderous blast.

A sky-blue light streaked through the center of the vortex and then burst forth explosively in all directions. Energy and Spirituality converged, and a nascent, small interface evolved.

In almost an instant, another interface composed purely of elements and energy was born at the core of the fifth layer of the Spirit Realm.

The Inner Realm · Wind Elemental Plane materialized, and with its birth, the other three positions on its unified plane also trembled slightly.
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In a location towards the south, similarly, fiery red light began to condense, and another elemental interface started to show its nascent form.

Energy assembled, the Void shimmered, and faint glimmers began to stir in the remaining two directions, but this was already the limit.

When the Inner Realm · Fire Elemental Plane also emerged, this change had to be forcibly halted.

At the center of the fifth layer of the Spirit Realm, the four elemental planes were arranged like a three-dimensional diamond, with the interfaces of Positive and Negative Energy as the sharp ends above and below.

The moment they coalesced into form, the origin of the fifth layer of the Spirit Realm suddenly trembled. It seemed to want to undergo some sort of sublimation, but ultimately it failed due to insufficient strength.

Even the two elemental interfaces that had already formed shook slightly, as if they were at risk of disintegration. However, the power of the interfaces immediately suppressed this, briefly stabilizing their structure.

"Has it finally arrived... Only two more, 'Earth' and 'Water'."

As these changes occurred in the Spirit Realm, deep in the Nine Hells, the Great Serpent seemed to sense something as well.

Within the Chaos plane, the presence of 'Earth' and 'Water' naturally far exceeded that of 'Wind' and 'Fire,' but because the former were so powerful, they had each given birth to corresponding deities at the dawn of creation.

The Spirit Realm's involvement with these two dominions couldn't be said to be nil, but it had always been on the fringes. However, to gather a complete set of the four elemental planes and allow them to cycle naturally, at least all four dominions needed to reach a level of divine power or higher.

The part of Crius's Meteorology power, along with Shu's 'Atmosphere' and 'Wind', undoubtedly met the requirement; 'Fire' needn't be mentioned separately, as the Great Serpent itself had received a portion of the power from the Flame Kingdom within the Nine Realms, but since it was now adequate, it continued to leave it within Hell.

But 'Earth' and 'Water'—having had no chance to intervene in this world from the beginning—could only rely on Hemenu's Nine Pillar Gods to continue their generous support.

Fortunately, in the Great Serpent's memory, among Egypt's Nine Pillar Gods were Set, signifying the desert, and Geb, representing the earth; as for water, even without mentioning the Primordial Water, the rain and Lake God were sufficient.

"Although I'm not quite clear on what's happening there, the efficiency of divinity is indeed fast enough."

"But it's also a necessary affair. After all, only when the fifth layer of the Spirit Realm is perfected will It be able to wield even greater power. If we only maintain the current level, even if the world of Hemenu comes to an end, we're likely to gain little benefit."

"The faster, the better. After 'Earth,' 'Water,' 'Wind,' and 'Fire' are perfected, not only is the power of Samsara likely to grow stronger, but the fifth layer of the Spirit Realm itself might also undergo some kind of transformation."

Whether taken sooner or later, the gods still aim to secure their spoils of war in advance, and this is the reason why.

Digesting the spoils of war within the Spirit Realm requires time. If we were to wait until everything ends before starting, the opportunity might have already slipped through our grasp, with no chance of a repeat.

Moreover, once the cycle is generated, the elemental forces will be able to convert into each other. If the origin of 'Earth' is a bit stronger and 'Water' a bit weaker, they can still return to balance in the cycle, it just takes some time.

The more balanced and stable, the stronger the erupting force will be, and the higher its resistance to destruction will become. But all of this demands that the cycle be constructed in advance before the world of Hemenu truly reaches its endpoint.

"Just wait a little longer, it shouldn't take much more time."

With its serpent head coiled, the Great Serpent's heart flickered with a hint of greed, and the aspect of 'evil' flashed across its mind.

In its memory, Hemenu lacked a world garbage dump like Tartarus to carry the chaos outside of order, the remnants of creation.

But just because the place didn't exist, didn't mean the chaos and remnants would vanish into thin air. So when these converged, dwelling beneath the earth and opposing La, the Chaotic Serpent Apep was born as a result.

Among the beings that had broken through the limits of a True God, its raw strength was actually the lowest, for it began as an incarnation with most of its power sourced from the three levels of Hell it controlled.

It might manage surprise attacks, but actual combat was a different story, and this situation was undoubtedly intolerable for it.

"Hiss —— Apep, my food..."

The serpent's tongue flickered in the air, and the Great Serpent closed its eyes, the Central Court growing dim along with it.

It intended to conserve its energy and then wait for its feast.