It’s over!
I’m really going to end up in this beast’s mouth!
Within a massive crater, Ares felt his throat tighten and his vision darken.
He had just been struck down again by the primordial monster’s earth-rending strength.
Now it felt as though every bone in his body had been pulverized.
Without several minutes to recover, he likely would not even be able to stand.
But would his opponent give him that chance?
Bitterness had only just surfaced on Ares’ face when the Bashe’s enormous maw opened wide.
Foul saliva cascaded over him like a waterfall, corroding his skin with a sharp sizzle.
The war god shut his eyes abruptly, a ruthless ferocity surging from his bones.
“Damn it!
Even if I die, I’ll drag you down with me!” Divine power surged again within him.
Spears of war radiating an aura of annihilation materialized out of thin air.
A killing intent at its absolute peak ravaged heaven and earth.
Merely the slight aftershock of its overflow crushed every unranked ferocious beast within dozens of miles into dust.
But it was useless— The war spears pierced through the void, shooting toward the Bashe from every direction, yet they could not even penetrate its coldly gleaming scales.
“What the hell is this thing made of?!” Ares ground his teeth, blood vessels crawling across his pupils.
In the next instant, a sensation of weightlessness struck him.
The world flipped upside down.
Just as he was about to fall completely into the giant serpent’s mouth— Time abruptly froze.
Hum— The vault of heaven split apart.
An indescribable pressure descended from above, as though the ancient azure sky itself were sinking.
The golden-haired giant remained suspended mid-flight, yet found himself fixed within the void.
The Bashe’s abyssal maw was less than a foot away from him, yet it could no longer close.
Heaven and earth became a painting, and they were nothing more than two specks of dust within it.
“Th-this is—” Ares’ pupils shrank to pinpoints.
The blood drained from his eyes, leaving only terror.
High above, the sea of clouds churned, transforming into an immeasurable sacred hand.
Its five fingers spread like pillars supporting the sky.
Lines upon its palm manifested as mountains and rivers.
Within its grasp, the five elements rotated, all phenomena arising and perishing in endless cycles.
Then the hand of heaven slowly closed.
Ares and the Bashe were compressed simultaneously by invisible, supreme force.
Their bodies shrank at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Three thousand feet.
Three hundred feet.
Thirty feet.
Three feet.
Three inches…
In the end, they became two specks of faint light, drifting lightly into the depths of the palm’s lines.
In but a moment, the giant hand dissipated.
The sea of clouds closed as if nothing had ever happened.
Only shattered mountain peaks and countless craters remained etched upon the earth, silently declaring that what had just occurred was no illusion.
…
When Ares opened his eyes again, he found himself within a sacred and majestic celestial palace.
White pillars carved with coiling dragons supported the vaulted ceiling.
Glazed tiles refracted immortal light like a pouring galaxy, dyeing every inch of space in holy gold.
Yet no matter how magnificent the surroundings—ten times, a hundred times, even a thousand times more splendid—they could not compare to the figure seated high upon the imperial throne.
The Celestial Emperor, Tian’el, lazily rested his chin upon one hand.
In the other, he casually toyed with what looked like a black obsidian marble.
No!
That was no marble.
It was clearly the Bashe, compressed into a “snake pellet”!
A colossal beast capable of devouring gods had been squeezed into a toy and played with at will?
Wait!
Was this being even human?
That ambiguous yet overwhelming aura…
hiss—the origin of Heaven…
had it birthed intelligence and taken human form?!!
At the thought of this possibility, every hair on Ares’ body stood on end.
Cold sweat poured from his brow.
“Among mid-tier ferocious beasts, this Bashe is not particularly powerful,” Tian’el said calmly.
“But it is sufficiently pure.” “Either overwhelm it with superior strength, or unleash extreme damage in a single burst.
Otherwise, in a clash between equals, few ferocious beasts—or gods—can gain the upper hand against it.” It possessed no flashy mechanisms.
The Bashe had only a single innate divine ability: devour the essence of all things to strengthen its body.
This resulted in a singular method of attack.
It had no elemental powers such as water, fire, wind, or thunder.
In battle, it either swept with its tail or opened its mouth to swallow.
Its specialty was ultimate physical offense, coupled with high defense and terrifying vitality.
In the myths of his previous life, it was a monster that required Hou Yi himself to slay with an arrow.
For Ares to encounter it after being severed from that world’s Heaven…
could only be called sheer misfortune.
But that was not important.
“So then, how do you think I should deal with you, war god from another domain?” The Celestial Emperor lowered his gaze.
His voice was soft, yet it caused the entirety of Heaven to resonate.
“Perhaps I should crush your divine body and soul, scatter them across the starry sky, and see if I can nurture a few interesting beasts from the remnants?” Each word was like ten thousand bolts of thunder grinding across Ares’ divinity.
He nearly had his soul scattered on the spot—not metaphorically.
He truly felt that if the being above so much as willed it, he would perish utterly in the next instant, without the slightest ability to resist.
“W-wait!!” Ares screamed even more shrilly than when he had been chased by the Bashe.
He scrambled forward and flung himself at Tian’el’s leg.
“Father—!!” “I am clearly your long-lost son, left behind in another world!” “You can feel it, can’t you?
This Heaven still carries my aura!
That’s right, I was born from this world!
My roots are pure and my loyalty absolute!” His words poured out so quickly they blurred together, as if he feared that before he could finish declaring his loyalty, he would be swallowed whole like a snack and stripped clean of his divine soul and authority.
As for whether it was unbecoming of a god…
Put any god in front of a walking embodiment of Heaven’s origin and see whether he trembles or not.
Destruction had always been easier than creation.
The origin of Heaven in his own world could effortlessly create countless gods, grant them supreme authority and eternal life.
Then what could this sentient, humanoid origin before him accomplish?
He did not even dare imagine it.
“…” For the sake of survival, he had even called him Father?
Tian’el had long known that the gods of that world lacked integrity, but this was an impressively smooth surrender.
“Let go.” “No!
The moment I let go, I’m finished!” “…” Tian’el lowered his gaze, golden light flickering at his fingertips.
Ares immediately went limp, as if his bones had been pulled out, collapsing weakly onto the floor.
“Do not call me Father.
Your father is Zeus.
I cannot bear that identity.” No!
No!
No!
That was just role-playing from when we were playing house.
That old fossil Zeus has no right to be my father.
All gods are born from Heaven’s origin.
And in this world, you are the incarnation of that origin.
Rounding up, that makes me your son.
At this moment, Ares’ will to survive reached its peak.
He nearly wanted to recite, “Drifting half a lifetime, regretting only that I never met a wise lord.” No wonder he had not seen a single god since arriving in this world.
The earth was filled with nothing but ferocious beasts.
So even Heaven’s origin had personally entered the game.
If that were all, it would still be manageable.
What he feared was that this world had originally possessed gods—but one day a brutal battle royale occurred.
A ruthless figure emerged, slaughtered all the other gods, and ascended to become the sole deity controlling Heaven’s origin…
That couldn’t be the truth, right?
It absolutely couldn’t be!
“Enough.
I will speak plainly.
The Vast Expanse has not long been opened.
The Three Realms are in chaos and unrest.
I intend to establish a Celestial Court to bring order.
At present, I lack hounds and hawks beneath my command.
What do you say?” Uh…
If I say I’m unwilling, does that mean I’ll be ‘voluntarily’ returned to the origin?
Thinking of how he had awakened only to be dragged into a foreign land, Ares could not help but complain inwardly.
But on the surface, he nodded frantically.
“Understood!
I understand!
From today onward, wherever you point, I strike!
The flames of war shall burn for you!!” Heh.
A fine joke.
If one truly relied on Ares to win wars, it would be easier to hope for pigs to climb trees.
“We will set aside matters of war for now.
The future Celestial Court will establish celestial armies in due time.
At present, the most important thing is to recruit sufficient manpower.” Tian’el cast him a meaningful glance.
Ares’ face immediately lit up with wild joy.
Thumping his chest, he declared, “Understood!
In my Rakia Kingdom, there are still quite a few subordinate gods.
I can bring them over as labor.” “If that’s not enough, give me some time to train an army.
As long as we find a way to topple Orario, gods will be plentiful!” With this great lord backing him, Ares simply could not imagine how he might lose.
He could finally give those bastards who looked down on him a profound lesson.
As for whether introducing a foreign Heaven’s origin into his world might be inappropriate…
Any god in his position would make the same choice.
After all, they had been bored for hundreds of millions of years.
Now that there was finally a chance to stir up a grand spectacle, how could anyone easily give it up?
This world filled with ferocious beasts was certainly dangerous—but it was interesting enough.
In theory, there was no need to even wage war.
Simply announcing the existence of another world openly would surely attract a swarm of idle gods eager to participate.
But of course, he would never do that.
He himself had been frightened half to death before managing to integrate here.
How could those bastards join without suffering at all?
In short—Celestial Emperor, please, after you!