The Monarch

"Really, I don't have much to fear in this world for now," Kayden replied, sipping his tea calmly.

"The problem is when you become a god." Orpheus seemed to be smiling at the possibilities of the future.

"I don't see great problems, Lord Orpheus." Kayden actually knew exactly what awaited him in the future; he knew the size of the battle he was about to provoke. Ascending to the divine level had to be something completely flawless.

"Thoth must have explained it to you the same way he explained it to me." Kayden smiled and didn't answer. After a few seconds, Orpheus continued, "All the gods of Atherion will rise against you. We will not accept the presence of a King among the gods."

"I still don't see problems in that, Lord Orpheus." This time it was clear what Kayden was insinuating to the god.

His ascension would not be something light, nor simple. Kayden was making it very clear that not even the union of the gods would be enough to kill him. It was absolute self-confidence, an insane level of arrogance — to sit before a god who had been alive since the beginning of life itself and place himself above was bizarre.

"Do you know the reason I do this kind of recruitment in my organization?" Kayden raised an eyebrow.

"I didn't know you were the owner of this region," Kayden answered, while not really answering the question at the same time. His response left the god somewhat unsettled.

"In a way, I am, but that's not the point now." The talking tree paid little attention to Kayden's disregard. "There is a very special place in Atherion where mages are sent when they have a certain degree of abnormal talent." Kayden raised his eyebrows. "Talents of gods, capable of naturally ascending into a perfect divine being within ten years."

Kayden had never even heard of a perfect god within just ten years. A mage capable of becoming a god in that time was not truly extraordinary — there were mages who were born already at the divine level, for example. The real matter was the existence of perfect gods.

A perfect god was capable of adapting perfectly to his own laws. Not only that, but he would naturally rise to the third level simply by existing. The final maturation of his strength would already be enough to place him at the level of a third-level god. But to become a god above that would be intensely difficult, even with such talent.

"What's your reason for taking someone there? There's no free lunch in this world," Kayden replied.

"The celestials grant certain rewards to all gods who bring mages of this caliber." The god did not hide this from Kayden for obvious reasons — he was not dealing with an idiot.

"What kind of rewards?" Kayden was curious as to what could lead a god of such standing to pursue this so actively.

"Information, paths, and related matters." Kayden nodded. For gods at such peaks of power, treasures capable of moving them were practically nonexistent. Only information could bring such motivation.

"This place, what exactly is it?" Kayden had already understood where this god was heading with his words.

"It is a lesser world. It's not very large; just a few years of walking and a normal god could cross it. But there are many environments with rich laws and many capable mages within this world. There are mortals probably on the same level of strength as you." Kayden raised an eyebrow.

This statement made little sense, considering he was the first mortal mage capable of killing a god — something that had never been done before in history. His title was not a decoration; it had been given directly by the celestials.

"The problem is that one cannot leave that place without first becoming a god." At this point, Kayden understood the catch. Mages would enter and reach his level of power, but afterwards, they could not leave until they became gods.

The second problem was that Kayden understood how special he was. Then why weren't there other gods at the same level of alert as him? Or did they exist, and he simply did not know? Kayden was left with doubts at that moment.

"So the gods shouldn't accept other divine kings? Coming out at the same level of strength as me wouldn't imply being able to subjugate all the other gods?" Kayden raised an eyebrow and asked this question directly.

"Most are killed before being able to achieve anything like that. Becoming a god is not synonymous with having unquestionable strength, even if your confidence says otherwise." The tree opened Kayden's ignorant mind to another world. "Besides, we are on the borders of Atherion, so you may not know this, but there have already been some divine kings before. At the moment, we don't have any reigning."

Kayden became thoughtful about how much he was really a frog at the bottom of the well. While there was more information and places for him to discover, the saying that arrogance precedes downfall would be correct. But the point was that Kayden only had arrogance in his strength, not in his knowledge about the world or other matters.

A divine king should be a mage capable of defeating all the gods of Atherion and prevailing. The gods from outside did not count much; most of them were pathetic. Probably not even fourth-level gods existed outside Atherion, or if they did, they were an absolute minority.

"Then let's go." Kayden didn't need to think any further. As soon as he said his words, something strange happened: he felt a golden palm appearing in the skies. It covered trillions of kilometers and purified everything around it.

All living beings were killed. Not even peak third-level gods were spared. Absolutely all of them were killed in a single instant. It didn't even make sense how easily this was done. Only Kayden, the god Orpheus, and Jordan remained — Jordan's mental pressure completely shattered, leaving him visibly lost and stunned.

"Why?" Kayden asked without any feeling. The waiter who had served him only minutes ago had been killed without even being able to react.

"Me taking you to that place invalidates my presence here. I don't want to attract negative karma by having them use my name in the future." Kayden was about to continue, but saw the karmic clouds gathering. It didn't take even a single second for dozens of green lightning bolts to start falling upon them.