This was troublesome. If the next gate had simply been within another city, it wouldn’t be hard to sneak through and find my way to the fortieth floor with Petra’s help. However, the fact that it was within a bath meant that that bath was likely in an important location, like a palace. Even if I was able to force my way in to get to the fortieth floor, the same could not be said for future travelers.
Granted, as long as Aurivy gave her blessing to Petra, future travelers could simply skip that gate. The same thing was still happening on the twenty-fourth floor, where Scarlet was negotiating with the Solii to get them to open their lands up to adventurers. Until a consensus was reached there, people would need to continue bypassing that level.
However, given that this was the layer of gods, I didn’t want to do such a thing. Rather, I wanted to try to open this place up as a place to cultivate divinities. If my senses were correct that everything in this layer had some level of divinity, that meant that there was likely a unique way of obtaining godhood within this layer. “Looks like I’m going to have to talk to them.” I shook my head, glancing back to Petra.
“You go ahead and head back to the core to deposit all of those crystals. At the very least, that will increase the level enough to let me move freely.” And on that note… Aurivy, can you grant Petra your blessing, and let her become a priest? She can use the World’s Shadow to travel already, but I need her to have a plausible excuse to bring others here easily.
You got it, boss! Aurivy’s energetic voice spoke up, and I could feel a brief divine energy descending on Petra, who gasped in surprise.
“Like I said, tell Thelsa what I said. I’ll find the two of you on the twenty-eighth floor when I’m done here.” After I said that, Petra hesitated for a moment, before nodding her head and vanishing in a burst of darkness.
With that taken care of, it was now just myself within this new city, left to ponder on my course of action. The soldier that appeared before had the Sword domain, predictably enough, so I could be reasonably certain between that and his attitude that he was a soldier of some nation in this layer. The problem was that I didn’t know if it was the same nation as the one where the other gate is.
Thankfully, their voice was infused with their divine energy naturally, so there was no such thing as a language barrier here. Udona, how are the others doing on their circuits?
They’ve just about finished. Udona said in a self-satisfied tone. Now that we know what we’re doing with this, it is easy to take care of everything. Do you need them for something?
I don’t know yet, to be honest. I would like you to look at the layout of the current layer I’m on, and tell me how many nations there are. Additionally, if there are any differences in the races, that would be good to know.
Sure, let me check that out real fast! It was likely that she was just waiting for Lifre and Tsubaki to finish up, giving her plenty of free time. As for what Dana and Gerard were up to, I was sure that I’d find that out later. It looks like there are seventeen different nations in this layer. Each one is ruled by a different type of divine being. For instance, the ones nearest you… let’s call those the Angel faction.
What about the ones where the other gate is? If there were that many nations, my luck could not be that good.
That would be… let’s call them the Archons. They have no wings, pale skin, and brightly glowing eyes.
And let me guess… the Angels and Archons are at war with each other?
To my surprise, Udona quickly denied my suspicions. Nope! From what I can tell, all of the nations have come to an agreement. There is no hostility between them, so long as none of them strike first. Going through some of their records now, and it looks like this is because a great war in the past absolutely devastated this layer.
Well, that was some good news at least. Or… does that mean that all seventeen nations will turn against us, now that we are here? That would certainly be the worst case scenario, at which point I would need to suppress them by force. After all, they had the numbers advantage here.
That I can’t say. It’s possible that some of them will seek to ally with you, or perhaps all will once you make your power known. I’m not familiar enough with their culture yet to predict that.
I gave a small sigh at that, nodding my head. At the very least, this city should be safe. I overlaid numerous different trinities on various parts of the defenses. As long as there is ambient divine energy in the air like this, the barrier and turrets would be able to stay online.
“Well, let’s go meet the neighbors, then.” Assuming that the soldier had gone and told the commander of the angels, they should be expecting me. My mirror shifted, looking at the local territory. There were numerous cities in the distance, though the closest one was over five hundred kilometers away. Sadly, from what I could see, that was unlikely to be the capital. Aurivy, one ticket to the Angel’s castle?
There was a moment’s delay, before golden mist wrapped around me. I prepared my defenses, knowing that I was being sent to potential enemy territory, before I felt a heavy weight pressing on my shoulders. “That’s him, my lord!” A familiar voice called out.
Kneeling not far away was the same angel that I had sent away before, and in front of him was another clad in golden armor. His eyes focused heavily on me, and I could tell that he was the king. Mostly because one of his domains was literally ‘Kings’, while the other was ‘Creation’.
“You are the Azoth that dared to call himself the creator of this world?” The king asked in a heavy tone, though his pressure didn’t really bother me. It was… weird. After creating my Divine Circuits, I could feel how uneven his divinity was. Like I was a stable island amidst an unruly tide.
“I only told the truth.” I said in a calm tone. “Though I am no Azoth. In fact, I’m not even sure what an Azoth is. I’m guessing that they are a race that looks like myself.”
“You claim to be the creator of the world, yet also are ignorant to it?” The king asked as his brows furrowed. “Your king commands you to kneel.”
I could feel the divinity in his voice rushing towards me, attempting to force me into submission. I took a deep breath, tapping into my Keeper powers and taking a step forward. There was the sound of a crash as my foot hit the ground, rocking the entire palace. “Sorry, but if I were to kneel to you, you would be dead in a few seconds. There are a few people who would heavily take offense to such a thing.”
My footsteps continued, each one shaking the building as if an earthquake were wreaking havoc. When I came before the king, the soldiers on either side, as well as the one kneeling, all deployed their weapons in an attempt to attack me. I activated my divine powers, keeping my eyes locked on the king while remembering Mara’s words.
Who has the right to decide what is real and what is fake? The answer to that question seemed simple to me, after I took some time to think it over. I do.
The weapons of the soldiers, as well as their bodies, simply passed through me, even as they continued to attack. “I am not here to declare war. I am not here to attack your people. As I said before, I am the one who created this world. The black stone pillar where your soldier found me is a gate, which has now been opened to let others in. If I wish it, your people will also be allowed through. Otherwise, the path will be forever barred to you.”
The king furrowed his brow, his soldiers shouting for him to get to safety as he stared at me, my body repeatedly ‘pierced’ by various weapons. “Then, what is it that you are wanting?”
“I want peace between those who come through the gate and the nations of this world. Additionally, there is another pillar like the one I emerged through. Just as we can come and go through the pillar I came from, we can also do the same from that one, though it has a different destination.”
When he heard me say this, the king gave a small nod. “And where is this other passage, then?”
I had a slightly awkward expression on my face, which only made him narrow his eyes before I gave my answer. “From what I have seen, it is in the bathing chamber of an Archon. Given its status, likely the royal palace.”
Even the soldiers that had been attacking me couldn’t help but pause at that, staring incredulously at me. “You… want to break into the bathing chamber of the Archon Queen?” The King asked with his eyes twitching.
“I am not the one who decided to build a bath around an indestructible slab of black stone.” I retorted with a long groan. “Preferably, I would relocate the entire palace. I would be… inconvenient if my people were to frequently emerge in that location.”
“Then why not simply move the passage?” The king asked with narrowed eyes. “If you are indeed this world’s creator, such a task should be simple.”
“Would that it were so.” I said with a long sigh. “Unfortunately, the location of the gates is an immutable law of the world, just as the crystal pillar which brings day and night. Now that the world is formed, I can no more change the location of the gates than I can change the order of events that led to the palace being built in that location. And were that possible, we would not be having this conversation. Now, would you kindly ask your men to stop attacking me? It is quite difficult not to undo their existence at this time.”
What I said wasn’t a threat, nor a boast, but the honest truth. In order to prevent them from damaging me, I was constantly turning them into an illusion, and then back again when their attack passed. If I kept them as an illusion for too long, I was worried that they would disbelieve themselves.
The king’s eye twitched again, and he lifted his hand. Immediately, the soldiers jumped back, and the pressure on me receded. “Very well… if you can offer me some modicum of proof to your claim, I will believe you, and reach out to the other rulers.”
“Finally.” I grinned, causing him to blink in confusion. “Aurivy, send the two of us to the void.” It was impossible for me to bring him through the gate without purchasing his race or giving him a system stone. However, the black stone walls did not halt void travel. They did make it more difficult, especially for someone trying to break their way in, but it was not impossible.
Golden mist surged up to engulf the two of us, before we stood within the dark abyss. Countless glittering spheres wrapped in metal cages could be seen hovering in the distance, causing the king to gasp out in shock. “Where is this?” He asked, looking around.
“This is the void, the genesis of all things.” I told him simply, pointing at the spheres. “Each of these is a fully self-contained world, created either personally by me, or by the people I lead.”
After saying that, I turned, pointing towards an absolutely massive sphere in the distance. “And that is Fyor, the world where I pulled you from. Unlike the others, it has a layered structure, with ninety floors in total. Each floor is more powerful than the last, and only by reaching the top can you claim to be at the pinnacle of power.”
The king looked at the world, which was being swarmed by a number of dark beasts. “Those…”
“Those are void beasts. They are attempting to enter the world and devour the information within. While Fyor is the greatest feast for them, it also has the greatest defense.”
The king gave a brief, shaky nod. “In that case… how high is the ‘layer’ in which we reside?” It was clear that he was thinking that he was near the top, as his was a world of gods. However…
“You are on the thirty-ninth layer, less than one half of the way to the top. Any random creature from the final layer would be able to completely destroy everything you know, and you would be powerless to resist it.” The color drained from the king’s face as I said that. “Each floor must be climbed in sequence, as there is an impenetrable barrier between them. Those who climb the floors are blessed with a system that allows them to continuously grow stronger, facing the challenges that lie ahead. That is why, before we can reach the fortieth floor, we must come to an agreement with the Archon who ‘controls’ that gate.”
The king nodded his head again, causing me to smile. “I think he’s had enough, Aurivy. Take us back.”
Once more, golden mist surrounded us, and we returned to the throne room. Yet again, the knights began attacking me, asking me what I did to their king… yeah, this was going to be a long day.
