TIME
In a world of smokey whiteness, a Nomad giant stood, his expression furious. He must have been at least 20 meters tall, and it made all the peaks and crevices of his ugly expression all the more obvious.
He knew that the moment he attacked, there was no going back. But he also couldn't allow his people to be wiped out to the last man like that. So the moment he did take action, he had already signaled to everybody else. This bloody war would have to start now.
Just like Leonel had thought, there was simply no way that everyone would be so casual about the actions of the Gods... in particular, those in favor of the culling. They too had become Gods, wading through piles and miles of corpses just for the chance to sit at this height and then what... to watch as their people were massacred year after year just so that those at the top could continue to sit pretty and unperturbed? How could they be willing?
Of course, this was just the surface reason for all of this as there was a secondary reason for it all as well... Though, for many, this "secondary" reason was likely to be the main reason. If their people were wiped out, who would worship their Dharmas and Idols? Who would give them strength and power through the Dimensions?
In a way, it seemed like the Gods were just acting for the greater good of humanity and Existence at large, but in truth, they were killing two birds with a single stone. On the one hand, they were lessening the load on Existence by killing the useless. But on the other, they were also weakening the influence of the Gods that had risen up from the Mortal Realms and would eventually have all the right to target the Gods that rose up from the Demi-God Worlds as well.
This was the cycle of life and the impact of greed. The turnover among Gods wasn't high in the normal sense, but it was well known that no reign could last forever.
The Pluto were already on the verge of reaching the end of their rope. Before them, the God Beasts of Destruction and Creation fell. And before them, the Celestial Terras, or the Primordial Terrors, fell before even them.
History didn't seem to reach back far enough to know if there was an existence that came before even the Primordial Terrors. This was also part of the reason that they had the word Primordial in their names, representing the beginning and origin... but even if there was something that came before them, who was to say that this was ridiculous or not?
This was simply the way of the world and it was something that nothing could escape. It was just that this time, these Gods had a convenient method of slowing this process down and stopping others from rising up. They crushed the Fawkes before they could rise up and become the next overlords, and now they were even preemptively doing the same with Mortal Races, all under the guise of helping Existence as a whole.
It could be said that much of the internal conflict amongst those of Existence right now was triggered precisely by this, and there was simply no escaping responsibility for it all.
However... morality and uprightness wasn't something that could move these large game players. They were just obsessed with cornering off their own piece of the world, allowing themselves to gain the most while they were still here.
The God that had acted this time was known as Solaraan. He was a mighty man born three generations ago. Legends of him were still told to the Nomad Race even now, however, that didn't stop the apprehension on his face from showing. He knew that a bloody culling was coming.
"Lord Zoltene. It is time."
Solaraan spoke solemnly and a man whose name that Leonel had heard many times before rose up. owns all content.
"It seems that it is..."
The voice was ancient beyond compare and filled with the vicissitudes of life. He only spoke once, but his voice echoed through the foggy land without stop or repair. Space rippled and shook before settling down.
It had to be understood that the lands of the God Realm were on an entirely different level. If Leonel stepped foot into this Realm now, it would feel like he had returned to his days in the Void Palace where he couldn't even cause a crack in the earth. And yet, with just a casual voice, this Zoltene the Almighty was capable of causing such a thing.
In the fog, a throne obscured by the greyish white seemed to appear. No... it had always been there, but it was more like most didn't have the ability to see through it until the behemoth sitting on it allowed it to happen. He stood to his feet slowly, and he dwarfed Solaraan by almost double.
Space continued to shudder as several senses appeared in the region. But what was shocking was that rather than it solely being due to Solaraan's interference with the Mortal Realm, it seemed that many more had appeared because they sensed Zoltene's awakening.
It seemed that even compared to breaking such an ironclad rule, Zoltene was seen as the far more dangerous party.
"I would advise that you all return," Zoltene said lightly. "Unless you come with your true bodies, you have no right to speak to me. And even in the case that you do..."
Zoltene reached out and an Ancestor God let out a horrible scream. The skies became colored with a crimson-gold as rain fell down from above.
"... I would still advise you all that you be cautious..."
In that moment, all of the senses vanished at once, and in their place, several more auras appeared instead. But this time, they were existences that Zoltene didn't have any antagonism toward.
If Leonel had been here, he would immediately recognize two auras...
Goddess Evergreen.
And...
The Demoness.