[The Primordial God?]
All the gods who had gathered at the Punishment God’s words were horrified.
Even the gods who had come to handle Lee Geon, and even Lee Geon himself and the vassal gods on his side.
The name just spoken carried that much weight.
And sure enough, in the silence, someone let out a hollow laugh tinged with lament.
[The Primordial God!]
[Are you making any sense right now?!]
They were not just laughing hollowly—they were growing enraged.
[Th-that… no, he is the king of us gods!]
[Though, by cruel chance, he was murdered by those evil gods…!!]
The Primordial God was the king of the gods, standing above even the Great Sages, and at the time, he was also the god whom the Créateurs served.
He was the very one who had given orders to the Créateurs to create not only the divine realm but also the early divine artifacts, and furthermore, the numerous systems of the divine realm.
Of course, the Primordial God was toyed with by the Monarch, and when he was weakened, he was murdered by his closest attendants—the Five Calamities.
‘And wasn’t it those five who stole the Primordial God’s power back then and sold it to the Monarchs?’
As proof of their corruption in killing the Primordial God, their appearances had changed.
‘Because of that, they were immediately taken away without even the need for interrogation.’
‘Because of those bastards, the divine realm nearly collapsed—how much hardship the Great Sages went through!’
And yet, one of those five was the Primordial God?
At that preposterous fact, the gods seemed thrown into a mental breakdown.
As expected.
[Are you jesting right now? No matter how loose your lips are, how could an evil god possibly be the Primordial God…!]
[Shut your mouth. There is no way the Punishment Gods would mistake an opponent!]
[……!!]
The gods who had come to subjugate Lee Geon broke out in a cold sweat.
Since the Punishment Gods had to be able to control the power of gods, they could analyze an opponent’s power. Hence, there was no way they could misidentify the nature of that power.
By then, the gods stood frozen, murmuring restlessly.
[No, then… right now, we are… raising our hands against the king of the gods….]
They could not hide their bewilderment.
And on top of that, the very beings they had been trying to use were actually on Lee Geon’s side?
It was at that moment.
[Master! Are you all right?!]
Yeonwoo and the vassal gods who had been with her came running.
The fools who had been spouting nonsense about subjugation had been dealt with by Yeonwoo’s awakening, but the problem was the evil gods.
[All five evil gods converged on you, Master, so we rushed over!]
[Are you unhurt…]
However, the moment they saw Lee Geon, their eyes turned hostile.
It was because of the enormous evil god standing behind Lee Geon.
[That bastard! So he really was here…!]
“Geon, get out of the way!”
Yeonwoo’s eyes flashed murderously at once, but Lee Geon restrained their power as if telling her not to.
“Geon?!”
“Mm… I don’t think you need to attack. Looks like he’s not an enemy for now.”
[Master!!!]
[What are you saying!! How can you make such a dangerously reckless statement?!]
“This fucker says he’s the Primordial God.”
[No matter if it’s the Primordial God! Even if he’s the Primordial God, wait… what?]
[…what?]
“What?!”
Their faces turned pale as they looked back and forth between Lee Geon and the evil god.
They stood frozen as if asking what kind of nonsense was being spouted.
[The Primordial God…!]
[Are you telling us that the Primordial God is right now standing together with the ones who murdered him?]
Their faces were bewildered, but they soon seemed to realize something astonishing.
“Wait. There were five evil gods from the start.”
The leaders of the evil gods, the Five Calamities, were five in total.
And indeed, there had been five close attendants following the Primordial God.
But if one of them was the Primordial God himself…
“Then where did the remaining one go?”
At those words, Lee Geon smiled.
“One of them went over there. The Scorpio Star God.”
“!”
Having spoken with the Scorpio Star God, Lee Geon knew. The fact that the Scorpio Star God had been one of the leaders of the Créateurs.
Even though, thanks to the Monarch’s schemes, he had become a monstrous form and was rendered unable to use the Créateurs’ power.
“They said all the evil gods are Créateurs. So wouldn’t that one fill the empty spot?”
[Ah, the evil gods are all Créateurs?]
The vassal gods appeared shocked, and Yeonwoo seemed to understand something.
‘So that’s how they simply broke through the barrier of Scorpio’s sanctuary.’
The Scorpio Star God was a Créateur. Since they were kin, the barrier must not have recognized them as enemies.
And that wasn’t all.
‘Then the reason those evil gods came seeking the master…’
The reason they had carried out a jailbreak to come to Asran, and even clung obsessively enough to seek out that tomb—was it to protect their descendant?
Of course, that wasn’t what mattered right now.
[Wait a moment. If that is true, the story becomes completely strange.]
[That’s right. If the evil gods are Créateurs… that means they sold the corpse of their own kin to the Monarch…!!]
It didn’t make sense by common reasoning.
And as if sharing the same thought, the subjugation force stirred with rare bewilderment.
[No matter what, even we find it hard to imagine going so far as selling out one’s own kin…. The karmic retribution alone would have made their existence vanish already.]
When one incurred karmic retribution, a god’s appearance turned hideous. And if that karma became heavy enough to crush them, they would even face annihilation.
Because of this, it was very easy for gods to find a turncoat, and even deceiving each other was extremely hard.
[Then who killed the Primordial God?]
[Is it a false charge?]
At that shout, the high-ranking gods who had come as part of the subjugation force glared fiercely.
[A false charge! Do not speak such disastrous words!]
Back then, it was none other than the Great Sages who had subdued and arrested the evil gods.
Because of this, the gods who realized the gravity of the situation could not easily voice their true thoughts.
In the end, all they could say was one thing.
[Look at that form!]
[The Primordial God has also fallen into corruption…!]
Then the other gods who had joined hands in this matter emitted a rough killing intent.
[Look here, do you really think that makes any sense?]
[The Primordial God is the standard for all gods, and the absolute rule of the divine realm. If the Primordial God had fallen, then we would not be normal either.]
At that, the gods fell silent.
No one could readily open their mouths.
Except for one.
“So. You’ve finished your business now, haven’t you?”
[!]
“Even the evil gods say they have no intention of killing me since I’m their descendant. Are you going to continue?”
At Lee Geon’s smile, the gods who had come with the subjugation force froze.
They had no other choice.
One was Lee Geon, who wielded the power that had belonged to the Primordial God, and another was an evil god with mighty strength. And on top of that, there was even a god who appeared to be the Primordial God.
‘Damn it. What kind of… dog’s dinner of a situation is this…!’
Yet in that situation, Lee Geon alone remained composed, and only then did he laugh as if it all finally made sense.
‘The reason I couldn’t use my power was because my opponent was the Primordial God.’
Wasn’t it said that the Primordial God was once the master of the Créateurs? I don’t know for certain, but perhaps it remained in the blood.
A spell of disarmament, that one cannot attack one’s master.
Well, that restriction wouldn’t last forever, probably.
“Anyway, this is your king of the gods, right? You guys, is it okay to attack him?”
[……!!]
The gods froze.
“And it seems your king is more on my side than yours. Well, if you want, you can keep going.”
In the end, they had no choice but to bite their lips.
“We shall withdraw.”
“Ah. You came all the way here, talking about subjugation this and that, and you’re going to end it with that?”
At those words, the gods lowered their heads.
[……We apologize! Th-this matter… will be put on hold for now….]
[…We apologize for trespassing into a Star God’s territory without permission!]
As the high-ranking gods and even the Punishment Gods—whom all gods feared—bowed their heads, Lee Geon’s vassal gods appeared utterly astonished.
‘Those beings are apologizing.’
But they had to first return to the divine realm without causing any greater incident.
This was far too grave a matter to simply let slide.
And Lee Geon smiled as if that was enough for him.
“Good. You thought wisely. Ah, I’ll have to tell you to let the Great Sages know I’ll be visiting soon.”
[Understood. We will go at once and relay those words to the venerable ones without fail….]
“What are you saying.”
Lee Geon’s eyes flashed.
“You lot have to go bury yourselves.”
[…Bury ourselves? What?]
“Your heads.”
Lee Geon unleashed his Deicide Instinct.
* * *
“Right now, what did you say?”
“The Primordial God?”
At the unexpected news, the divine realm seemed to be thrown into a daze.
And they were the ones who had sent out a subjugation force and were merely waiting for results.
Yet out of nowhere, what was this?
“An evil god was the Primordial God?”
This subjugation of the Snake God had been an action where all factions united as one. And yet, the evil gods whom they were supposed to keep in check were their own king!
And just as they were busy spreading this shocking fact around.
The Great Sage of Kunlun was letting out a hollow laugh.
[The Primordial God? You mean the very thing we tried to use?]
“Yes…! But no matter how I think about it, isn’t this situation strange? Clearly, it was the Great Sages who said that the evil gods had killed the Primordial God….”
The vassal god looked at his master with uneasy eyes.
And this was the Great Sage who had tried to take Lee Geon as his groom, only to suddenly be struck by a hammer and changed into a strange form.
Of course, the Great Sage of Kunlun, who had now barely recovered a little of his original appearance (?), raised the corners of his mouth.
[Those bastards, they were up to something.]
“Pardon? When you say they were up to something…”
[Among the current Great Sages, only about four can remember the affairs of the Primordial God.]
“That is correct. The Great Sages of the Ennead, Valhalla, Eden, and Mahabharata.”
Among the Eight Factions, only those four had never been succeeded and existed from the very beginning.
The rest had been succeeded once or twice, and some had been succeeded as many as over ten times.
In other words, only those bastards knew the truth of the Primordial God’s murder incident.
Soon the vassal god glanced around cautiously.
“Then, with all due respect… could it be that those five were framed….”
[No. It is a matter that cannot be rashly concluded.]
That was true.
If the Great Sages had framed those five, and if the Great Sages themselves were the ones who killed the Primordial God, then it would have certainly shown.
‘Their appearances would have changed due to that karmic retribution.’
Wasn’t it because their appearances had changed that the evil gods were arrested at the time?
[Well, I don’t know what happened, but there’s no doubt that my predecessor and those bastards were involved in something back then.]
“Th-then, what shall we do?”
[The attack on the Snake God will be postponed.]
“What? Are you serious?!”
The Great Sage of Kunlun smiled fiercely.
[I am now convinced the enemy is someone else.]
And this news, spreading like wildfire, finally reached the ears of the Great Sage of Valhalla as well.
Of course, the Great Sage of Valhalla, upon hearing the news, wore an extremely displeased expression.
[So, you are telling me that one of those evil gods was the Primordial God.]
“Yes. And as confirmed, the Scorpio Star God appears to be a Créateur….”
No sooner had the words ended than a pillar of the palace burst apart.
BANG!!!
The Thunder God, who had come to report, closed his eyes. Then he continued his words.
“It seems to be the work of the Monarch of Lust. He must have turned one of the five into a monster back then, so no one noticed.”
At that, the Great Sage of Valhalla, laughed as if disgusted.
He had wondered why no one noticed even though the Primordial God was among the five.
[The numbers were unchanged, so we failed to notice.]
At that time, the Primordial God’s form could not be found, and the number of remaining evil gods was five.
Naturally, wouldn’t they have thought the Primordial God was dead, and five evil gods remained?
‘Back then, as long as the Primordial God disappeared, that was the end of it.’
That was what happened.
[That conniving bastard pulled a number on us….]
And on top of that, he even rendered them unable to use their Créateur divinity so we couldn’t notice?
[Well, he was always the sort who only cared about his own amusement.]
In truth, wasn’t the reason he invaded the divine realm alone and targeted the Primordial God utterly preposterous?
“He was a fellow who barged into the Primordial God’s bedchamber after merely hearing rumors of his appearance.”
[…….]
“Turning the Scorpio Star God into a monster must have been a simple whim of his as well.”
But as he continued to listen, the Great Sage’s raven thought to himself.
‘Was turning this Scorpio Star God into a monster truly just coincidence?’
However, the Great Sage of Valhalla soon let out a sigh.
[Well, never mind.]
“Great Sage?”
[First, go and bring that Primordial God who has appeared.]
“……!”
[He is our king. Escort him with the utmost respect.]
At those words, the expression of the Star God who was making the report turned strange.
[What is it?]
“It’s nothing. I intended to escort him… but, well, that Snake God….”
Soon after hearing the story, the Great Sage’s eyebrows shot up.
Now, what on earth was this?
(To be continued in the next episode)