Chapter 458: Chess Match
Translator: imperfectluck
There was a saying that the workings of the world were just like a game of chess. But if one compared the current situation in Eich to a chess match, then this would absolutely be a death match that would cause anyone to despair.
Not doing anything would end in total destruction of everything in Armageddon. Resisting against this fate would end in Armageddon. Winning this Holy War would still end in Armageddon. Even if one wanted to escape, there were no possible directions to escape to. The existence which would cause the total annihilation of everything was even higher up than the strongest existences on both sides of the Holy War. This was such an unfunny joke that n.o.body would be able to laugh at.
“Is there really no solution?”
Evidently, there would be no solution in all of Eich. This wasn’t even a guess. This was an a.n.a.lysis based on the pure facts of reality.
The two major factions of Chaos and Order which ruled the world would also end up destroying it. Since these two major factions possessed the great majority of all resources and all top-level strength, there would be zero chance of victory in their home turf.
This was the equivalent of game players trying to turn against the game masters (administrators) of a game. That would be the most foolish thing possible. If it wasn’t for the fact that the two “game masters” had already lost most of their “administrator” privileges due to fighting amongst themselves, there likely wouldn’t even be a way to resist.
“I’m so unwilling, truly unwilling to accept this! How can this be the only possible ending no matter how hard I work?”
If Roland had been a native of Eich with the same “cheat”, then he would have likely shaken his head and helplessly given up in the end when faced with this situation. That was because this was a world where the G.o.ds were tangibly real. The myths about the Creator G.o.ddess were well known to everyone. Having the creations disobey the creator was conceptually even more difficult than children disobeying their parents, not to mention that the possibility was basically zero from the very start.
However, Roland’s ident.i.ty as a transmigrator gave him the ability to think outside the box. He managed to find a solution when there was supposed to be none.
“Since it’s impossible to accomplish in the world of Eich, perhaps it’ll be possible if I create a new world! At the very least, I can create a safe location to escape to, like an ark of sorts.”
And that was the origin of the “h.e.l.l’s Ark” plan. Even the first edition of the plan had “Ark” in its name because it was originally intended to only be a safe haven from which to avoid the upcoming Armageddon. But as Roland gathered more and more pieces, the “h.e.l.l” part of it finally became possible. Of course, if Roland found that the h.e.l.l portion was still impossible in the end, he would have unhesitatingly reactivated the Ark part of the plan.
“Pride? Honor? Why don’t you try asking the billions of dead that will die in the upcoming Armageddon what meaning pride and honor have to them? Little brats, don’t be foolish just because you’re young. We’re nothing more than a group of pitiful worms that are struggling just to stay alive. We’re capable of doing anything just for the sake of survival.”
Although Roland kept talking about how there was no path of retreat, he had been preparing a path of retreat from the very start. In his “Plan B” that he didn’t wish to carry out, the new dimension of h.e.l.l would instead become a dimensional ark that would likely never have contact with the world of Eich again. But at the very least, Roland would be able to save specimens of as many species as possible along with the people that were important to him.
And that was why he decided to attempt at creating a world when he was in the Earth Elemental Plane. That was basically a practice session for trying out his true ace card. Since he was in the distant Earth Elemental Plane, it was highly unlikely that the Chaos and Order Factions would notice what he was doing. Ayer also personally acted to cut off the Earth Elemental Plane, which completely removed the possibility of information leaking altogether.
In fact, even Roland’s single combat against Emordilorcan had been a type of practice as well.
He used Frigidwinter Earth to cut off Emordilorcan’s connection to the Earth Elemental Plane. Roland then successfully defeated the undefeatable Earth Elemental G.o.d by using an otherworld weapon which didn’t exist in Eich… did all of this seem familiar?
That’s right, the current h.e.l.l was also the same type of battlefield. h.e.l.l cut off the Main G.o.ds from their own Divine Kingdoms and the mortal plane of Eich. h.e.l.l’s unique dimensional laws and magical creatures would become weapons capable of fighting even against the Main G.o.ds. No matter if you looked at basic strategy, foundational workings, or our combat tactics, this current battle was nothing more than an escalated version of the battle in the Earth Elemental Plane.
And if this type of battle was escalated even further…
“I shall cut off the G.o.ddesses of Chaos and Order’s connections to Eich, strip them of their cheat-like powers, and kill them by using human-wave tactics!”
Roland had uttered such an insane statement back in the year. But as he increased in power, this actually seemed like less and less of a possibility. Yet if he was able to kill off one or two Main G.o.ds here, that would mean that his “Plan C” which would foundationally solve all the problems would doubtlessly become far superior to “Plan A” which was simply to delay the two G.o.ddesses from waking up for as long as possible. Plan A simply had too many uncontrollable variables affecting it.
What exactly was Plan C? Obviously, this was the “G.o.dslaying” plan which the System had secretly blacklisted.
After paying an uncalculatable price and planning for well over a century, gaining tiny advantages over time to break the dead-end situation, it was finally time to reveal all the cards.
It could be said that this battle would directly decide the fate of the entire world.
h.e.l.l had already been cut off from the mortal plane and all other planes. The new Cycle of Reincarnation that was beginning to establish itself here was providing this new dimension with a limitless amount of power. Every single moment, this newly-born dimension was expanding its area. And in the Seven Circles of h.e.l.l, which would be the core-most section of h.e.l.l, the h.e.l.l Kings were currently battling against the Main G.o.ds.
h.e.l.l Kings? The newly-born h.e.l.l was separated into the Four Pillars, Four Halls, and Seven Circles of h.e.l.l. Pillars meant pillars of support that were also the ruling G.o.ds of h.e.l.l. The Four Halls would be the entire mechanism for running all of h.e.l.l, while the Seven Circles of h.e.l.l were naturally the location where souls would undergo h.e.l.l’s punishments after death. And, the rulers of the Seven Circles were the Seven Original Sins who now became the Seven h.e.l.l Kings.
If you treated h.e.l.l as a dimension a.n.a.logous to the mortal plane of Eich, h.e.l.l absolutely fit all the criteria for being a main plane. h.e.l.l was independent, had a dimensional ruler, and its own four elements. The Seven h.e.l.l Kings would become existences equivalent to High G.o.ds at the minimum with the power of their Concepts here. Plus, each Circle of h.e.l.l would additionally power them up even more, making them almost reach the level of being able to fight against Main G.o.ds. Main G.o.d was the only rank left higher than High G.o.d, after all.
“…This doesn’t seem in our favor.”
Just as how there would be huge differences between SemiG.o.ds, that was only because there was no power level a.s.sessment system for those at SemiG.o.d rank. The Main G.o.ds that had acc.u.mulated so much knowledge and experience throughout the eons had long since surpa.s.sed the a.n.a.lysis possible of any normal power level system. Although it seemed as if they were only one rank above the High G.o.ds, that was actually because there was far too limited a number of Main G.o.ds, so there was no need to separate the ranks even further.
The Chaos War G.o.d in fact didn’t even originally have a Divine Concept related to War. And as a Chaos Evil G.o.d, he didn’t require any belief to begin with. It was just that his overwhelming power and combat accomplishments along with his undefeated record all helped to attract countless fallen warriors who wors.h.i.+ped the strong. That was how his first Evil G.o.d Church began.
It was basically the same for the Demon Lords. No matter what the reason was, they had all reached their current levels by fighting other demons ever since being born. To use a common term, they were the victors in a society where “might was right.” But, precisely because of this, these sufficiently powerful individuals were able to break free from the Chaos Abyss’s restraints and mostly be treated as almost equal-level existences.
Actually, most Main G.o.d level existences had reached the peak slowly one step at a time. The Elf Main G.o.d Anslo was formerly the strongest Elf King in the past. The Order Main G.o.d of Wisdom Kalumandas had formerly been the strongest mage and scholar in the world.
Powerful individuals were typically pure and stubborn in their beliefs. Although power gained from belief in them would also bring benefits, this belief would also contain many impurities that would convey disadvantages.
The G.o.d of Holy Light was a G.o.d who had ascended purely through the power of belief. Yet, he could even be considered a G.o.d who used “wicked” ways, as he even specially raised other G.o.ds to provide him with belief power in his Divine Kingdom. The price that he paid for being a G.o.d powered by belief was that he completely lost his sense of self.
But even if he didn’t want to lose his sense of self, it would have been impossible for him to retain his sense of self due to the overwhelming amount of belief and faith in him. And so, his boss, the Source of Order, could now easily manipulate this puppet that had no self will at all, just as how Roland could easily manipulate Wumianzhe. Of course, these were divine secrets that the great majority of G.o.ds couldn’t possibly know about.
It was quite difficult to become a Main G.o.d. Their countless generations of experience and the River Styx’s baptism created these extraordinary existences that couldn’t be a.s.sessed. The repeated cruel Holy Wars were the best proving grounds of all. All that didn’t meet the “standards” had already been eliminated. Only the strongest of the top-level existences in all of Eich had been able to survive until today.
“…Three hundred and sixty-eight times.”
In just slightly over one hour, Bastian had already died three hundred and sixty-eight times already. War G.o.d Donatis’s breathing wasn’t even slightly ruffled at this point in time.
The magic hound of Wrath was now more than ten times his original size. His strength had multiplied by more than one hundred times already. Bastian’s tremendous body would be more than capable of easily crus.h.i.+ng Donatis under him. Yet, the only difference for the Chaos War G.o.d was that he was now using two sword swings instead of one to slay Bastian every time. Since Donatis had created far too dimensional tears here, even the speed of fixing the dimensional tears had slowed by half.
Donatis didn’t hesitate at all. He simply kept swinging his sword. His pure physical might was unstoppable.
“He’s too powerful. So he’s the strongest warrior in the entire universe? The most undefeatable existence in direct confrontations?”
I already heard from Ayer and Kamiltias about just how ridiculously strong the Main G.o.ds were. I didn’t plan for being able to kill all the Main G.o.ds that came here to begin with. I would be more than satisfied if I was able to kill even one or two Main G.o.ds. If the rest were trapped here in battles of attrition, that would be more than an acceptable result already.
It was quite common already that battles between G.o.ds would take several centuries or more. It wouldn’t be strange of battles between Main G.o.ds took millennium. For existences like Main G.o.ds, several years would pa.s.s by in the blink of an eye. As long as the dimension of h.e.l.l fully matured and its dimensional walls were completed, it would become simple enough to forcefully kick them out of h.e.l.l.
“If we’re able to kill two Main G.o.ds here, then we’ll activate Plan C, the G.o.dslaying plan. If not, we’ll activate Plan A, the Sleeping Beauty plan. The G.o.ddesses of Chaos and Order can simply slumber until the world ends.”
However, the Seven h.e.l.l Kings weren’t doing well at all. Although they were all undying, most of them were at a large disadvantage.
Although they were all dimensional rulers here, they were newly-ascended to their power level of High G.o.d. The dimension of h.e.l.l itself hadn’t even fully matured yet, so the dimensional rules powering them would naturally still be insufficient compared to ancient G.o.ds, not to mention that these were Main G.o.ds.
And, there were no idiots among the Main G.o.ds. Naturally, they weren’t simply wasting their time by continuously crus.h.i.+ng their undying opponents over and over again. It would take them time to a.n.a.lyze the dimensional laws of this world. Once they finished their a.n.a.lyses, they would naturally know what they needed to do next.
The dimensional laws here weren’t that difficult at all. While I provided the blueprint, the true “architects” were the Four Elemental Towers. These four towers were constantly replenis.h.i.+ng and strengthening this new world. But, everything would cease to exist if the Main G.o.ds simply destroyed the Four Elemental Towers. If that happened, the dimensional walls would be broken, and my Seven h.e.l.l Kings would naturally lose their abilities to be undying.
The Tower of Holy Light which represented Salvation was also the door between the worlds of the living and the dead. Naturally, this tower was at the very top level of h.e.l.l, the closest location in h.e.l.l to the Land of Spring and Heaven. A very special guardian was protecting this tower, so I wasn’t worried about that one at all.
The Tower of Law which represented Judgement was deep underground, located at the source of the River Styx. This was where all the dead would receive judgement. This tower was also connected to the Seven Circles of h.e.l.l and the Four Halls. Since this tower was the true core of the entirety of h.e.l.l, this was the single most important location to keep safe.
The Tower of Ice which represented Life was located in the Frozen Inferno, which was the Third Circle of h.e.l.l. It could be said that if this tower was lost, it would be a serious problem that would bring danger to the other two towers.
The guardian of this tower was myself, as I was also the King of the Third Circle of h.e.l.l. And, the Main G.o.d that was brought here was my foolish younger twin brother.
I didn’t need to worry one bit about the Tower of Death which represented Death and the foundation of h.e.l.l itself. That was because even I didn’t know where this tower was located. This black tower had already vanished completely together with Ayer’s corpse and soul crystal, but it was definitely somewhere within h.e.l.l.
But if the other three towers were all destroyed, it would be all alone and lose its powers of invisibility.
I was also unable to use that cheat-like ability to instantly teleport my enemies anymore. That was because it wasn’t instant teleportation to begin with. I simply cla.s.sified the coordinates that each Main G.o.d was standing on as different parts of h.e.l.l using the powers of Creation. But now, h.e.l.l’s basic blueprint had already been established, so I was naturally unable to do the same thing again to the Main G.o.ds. In the end, everything would still depend on power.
[…Roland, I’ve suddenly recalled a cla.s.sical anime from deep in your memories, Saint Seiya’s h.e.l.l arc…]
“You don’t say, I’ve suddenly recalled it as well. The battle between h.e.l.l and the G.o.ds? The situation really is quite similar. Still, I watched it so long ago. How am I supposed to remember the story of an anime I watched more than three hundred years ago? What was the final ending? Did justice win in the end?”
[I recently replayed it in your memories. Since Saint Seiya is a shonen story, naturally justice won in the end.]
“Wonderful. That’s a good sign for us.”
[But, the problem is that we’re the h.e.l.l Faction in this story, which is the antagonist side from Saint Seiya which was defeated so pitifully. It was the G.o.ddess Athena’s warriors that won in the end…]
I was instantly rendered speechless, as I now recalled how the h.e.l.l G.o.d and Death G.o.ds in Saint Seiya were all defeated by the G.o.ddess’s warriors. The G.o.ddess Athena even personally stuck a spear into Hades, which was quite vicious.
“…You jinxer. Can’t you reference some other anime instead?”
[Sure, another arc of Saint Seiya.]
“Which arc? I’ve forgotten all of them.”
[The Poseidon arc!]
“What? There’s no Death G.o.ds and h.e.l.l G.o.ds in that arc.”
[But there are pillars! Seven of them! Yep, and also seven guardian generals, just like us. Although, all the generals were defeated and all the pillars were destroyed…]
“Can’t you say something that’s luckier or better for us?”
[…Yep, the G.o.ddess is with you. Go, undying c.o.c.kroach! Am I using the right style now?]
“I’m no abnormal creature like a hot-blooded c.o.c.kroach! Those shonen story main character existences that were beaten half to death last chapter but suddenly revive with full HP and explode with new power are so unscientific!”
[But you really are undying, and personally carry the G.o.ddess with you! Oh, so you’re the legendary hot-blooded main character – Sei…]
“If you dare to call me that name, I’ll immediately take you to go on a gorilla sightseeing trip. Yep, together with Beifeng. You know exactly what you’ll see next. Don’t blame me if you go blind…”
[…]
Astrya finally fell silent. Alright then, it would seem that even the G.o.ddess of Order was afraid of this individual. So Beifeng was the real main character all along?
However, her silence didn’t last as long as I expected.
[Are you inviting me on a date? You’re even bringing along a wingman? So you were the shy type, eh?]
Alright then, I was rendered speechless yet again. Just what had I done to Astrya! Give me that legendary elegant, gentle, and venerated Mother G.o.ddess from the legends!