Underworld.
The Goddess of Flowers Malikata sat on the throne of the Lord of the Underworld, looking at the assembled gods in the hall.
The God of Salt Havria sat in the seat of the Vice Lord of the Underworld.
Leading the group, Fairy Inukimi gave a slight bow. "All the gods and Underworld envoys have arrived. Please issue your instructions."
The eyes of all the gods burned with blazing flas.
This was a monuntal event, one that concerned their future.
Although it was easiest to earn rit in the Underworld, who could resist the exaggerated speed of promotion after completing such a mission?
Who didn't want to beco a Upper God, or even a Primary God?
Primary Gods were the supre leaders of their own pantheons, kings among the gods. Who wouldn't want to be a God King?
Malikata spoke: "The operation of the Underworld cannot afford any mistakes. I must remain here to oversee it. This conquest plan will be led by the God of Salt, with Inukimi as the commander. Any objections?"
Fairy Inukimi raised her head, her face radiating confidence. "No objections at all, Lord Malikata."
Malikata said, "I hope that when you return, you will at least beco a Middle God. If possible, strive to beco a Upper God."
"Only as a Upper God will you barely be qualified."
The other gods rely assud the Lord of the Underworld was referring to Inukimi taking on an important role in the Underworld.
But only Havria and Inukimi knew that Malikata was referring to the qualifications to enter the Courtyard and stand at the feet of the Heavenly Principle.
Inukimi's gaze sharpened. "Understood."
She had ambition. Before becoming a god, she did not comprehend the vast gap between gods and the Heavenly Principle.
But now she understood clearly: the gap between a low-ranking god and the Heavenly Principle was even greater than that between the weakest mortal and a god.
Even a Primary God might struggle in vain to receive a single glance from the Heavenly Principle. How fortunate she was.
Inukimi was ambitious, and the Lord of Heavenly Principle had even reserved the position of Moon Primary God for her.
The Heavenly Principle had high hopes for her. If she did not work hard, the seat of Primary God would surely go to another god.
Havria stood up and waved her hand, opening the great gate from the Underworld to the Divine Realm within the great hall.
She was no longer the weak god she once was.
Though she remained near the bottom among the Primary Gods, she had reached the level of a great nation. Even if the rules of Salt were weak, she had achieved complete mastery over them.
In every aspect of the Teyvat Universe, she now held a certain level of influence.
Throughout various lower realms, there were legends that evildoers would be turned into salt and forever stand in the Underworld, eternally suffering.
Even in daily life, she held significant importance—after all, humans couldn't live without salt, and the sea was saltwater.
"Depart!"
The fighting spirit of the gods collided and condensed into a phantom fla—it was easy to imagine just how determined they were.
...
Divine Realm
Gates opened one after another, and from within the realms of the Primary Gods, armies of gods marched out.
Every god wore divine armor, and the divine power they faintly emitted instantly cast the Divine Realm in multicolored auroras.
Behind the divine army was a group of demigods and holders of Vision who had not yet joined a god's pantheon.
Led by their respective Primary Gods, the armies gathered beneath the Celestia at the very heart of the Divine Realm.
Here, one could clearly see the power of each Primary God's pantheon.
The Lower Gods observed one another. For these new gods who had ascended from the lower realms, this was their chance to see which pantheon had the stronger Primary God.
After all, a pantheon's ranking didn't necessarily reflect its influence.
So Primary Gods might not rank high in personal strength but held great influence and had many followers.
The faction from Liyue, led by Morax, was clearly the strongest—three Primary Gods, one Upper God, and dozens of Lower Gods.
Next were Inazuma, Fontaine, and Suru.
The worst off was Mondstadt. Aside from Jean, who had just beco a god, there were only a few Vision holders—not even a single demigod.
Venti wore a troubled expression. Only when he saw Tsaritsa did he find soone sharing his misfortune.
"Tsaritsa and I are probably the most miserable Primary Gods. I only have Jean. At least you have a bunch of demigods."
Tsaritsa, hearing Venti hit a sore spot, snorted and turned his head. "Hmph..."
Venti shrugged helplessly, showing that he didn't an it.
"Who says you two are the most miserable? I'm the most miserable, okay!"
Lumine walked over with a gloomy face, as if a cloud hung over her head.
"At least you each have subordinates. I'm the only Primary God with no one. Even after begging, no one wants to team up with ."
She looked hopefully toward the leading group of the Seven, rubbing her hands with a smile.
"Hehe, Geo Archon, Anemo Archon, Electro Archon~"
Venti shuddered. "What are you up to? Just to be clear, anything's negotiable except poaching my people."
Zhongli, calm as ever, gazed at Celestia. "Wishing to buy osmanthus wine with you again..."
Raiden Shogun smiled. "Traveler, even my subordinates don't want to go with you."
The Lower Gods behind her all looked around, avoiding Lumine's gaze.
It was obvious who had the most promising future. They weren't foolish—why would they choose to follow a Primary God who had nothing and start from scratch?
Lumine's mouth twitched. She forced a smile. "Hehe... I'm not trying to poach anyone, just hoping you could share a few people to team up with ..."
Furina rolled her eyes. "Your little sche is so obvious it's embarrassing to even point out."
Rumble—
An ominous aura surged. All the gods turned to look.
Aether approached with a blank expression, followed by three Upper God–level Abyssal gods and several lower-level Abyssal beasts of god-tier.
On the head of one such god-tier beast, Rhinedottir nervously looked toward the gate of Celestia.
Even Zhongli was surprised by this formation, which was no weaker than Liyue's, let alone the other factions.
The Primary Gods were aware that the Abyss was now under the command of Aether and had seen the three gods before.
But they hadn't known the Abyss had so many god-level beasts.
However, when the Seven Primary Gods saw Rhinedottir, they understood.
Other Lower Gods swallowed nervously, their scalps tingling.
So this... was the Abyss faction?
A faction personally led by a Supre God—no wonder it was terrifying.
And this was surely only a portion of their true power...
The power of the Abyss countered them, so naturally, they felt fear and dread.
Instinctively, they wanted to distance themselves from the Abyss faction.
Aether looked down at his deflated sister and said, "Oh, my silly sister~ If it's really that bad, why not just co join in the Abyss?"
Lumine looked disgusted. "Join your Abyss, which even dogs avoid? I haven't fallen that far yet."
The Abyss was obviously the villain faction. How could she possibly coax—er, build rapport with the demigods who had just joined a pantheon?
Crack—
Just then, the gate to Celestia opened.
Phanes led the five Supre Gods of Celestia out, overlooking the gathered divine army, and spoke coldly:
"Since everyone has arrived, let us now open the Gate of the World."
At that mont, three golden sources of light appeared on the land of the Divine Realm.
From within the light, three colossal gates—each over a thousand ters tall—slowly erged.
One of the gates began to open slowly.
Asmoday and Esdeath stepped out from behind Phanes.
Esdeath grinned, and the domineering, icy aura of a queen burst forth, commanding the entire scene.
"Those gods who wish to conquer One Punch Earth, follow behind . Army, advance—"
The Lower Gods were still stunned by the sight of the Holy God and the Supre Gods when a domineering voice snapped them back to reality.
They looked toward the two Supre Gods already walking toward the colossal World Gate, each a thousand ters tall.
There was no ti to hesitate. As previously planned, demigods and Vision holders, along with over a dozen Lower and Middle Gods, stepped forward and followed behind the Supre Gods.
The fighting spirit of the gods blazed, radiating in beams of different colors.
Asmoday and Esdeath led the way through the World Gate.
More than a hundred figures followed behind them.
Even the weakest among them, the Lower Gods, would be capable of destroying a tropolis of tens of millions with a single strike upon arriving in the world of One Punch.
This level of power was standard for a Dragon-level threat in the One Punch world—equivalent to the top S-Class heroes in the Hero Association.
Middle Gods were even more terrifying—they could effortlessly destroy a country the size of new zealand and shake the structural foundations of a continent.
Upper Gods and Primary Gods didn't even need to be ntioned.
Moreover, Middle Gods and above had mastered Rules—powers of absolute authority, incomparable to re superpowers or energy.
...
One Punch Earth.
Over a hundred years ago, Earth experienced a nuclear war. All nations were destroyed, plunging the world into a stateless, anarchic state.
Humanity established massive gacities on the only remaining habitable continent. Each city housed tens of millions, even up to hundreds of millions.
These cities were nad with letters of the alphabet, totaling twenty-six.
Due to the altered environnt and various other factors, beings that broke the biological limits—"monsters"—erged.
Monsters ca from mutated human genes, artificially created beings from science, environntal pollution, special intelligent lifeforms, and more.
Any being that abandoned humanity, completely broke from the human world, and turned hostile toward it, could be defined as a monster.
To fight these monsters and protect humanity, the Hero Association was established less than ten years ago, formalizing heroism into a profession.
Before its formation, humans had relied on volunteers to fight monsters.
The Hero Association classified monster threats to humanity into five levels:
Wolf: presents danger
Tiger: could cause mass casualties
Demon: can cripple a city
Dragon: could destroy one or more cities
God: could result in human extinction
At this mont, the Hero Association had grown panicked. A highly respected prophet, Mada Shibabawa, had left behind a final prophecy before dying, foretelling a God-level disaster.
All S-Class heroes had been urgently summoned to the Association's headquarters in City A.
Of course, S-Class heroes were proud and individualistic—so didn't even show up.
Even those who arrived had different thoughts in mind, making it impossible for them to work as a unified group.
Association official Sitch was struggling to communicate with the S-Class heroes.
"Mada Shibabawa's final words... though she choked on a lozenge, she still used all her strength to write down one sentence."
"A God-level disaster is 100% certain to descend right here! This is it!"
A projection appeared in front of the S-Class heroes seated around the table in all kinds of postures.
Those familiar with Shibabawa's powers widened their eyes in shock, cold sweat dripping down.
"Earth! Is it done for!?"
S-Class heroes who didn't believe in prophecies scoffed.
A boy around ten years old, carrying a backpack, said, "What? So boring. I have cram school. Can I go now?"
Sitch frowned, his expression serious. "S-Class Rank 5, Child Emperor, I've heard you're a genius boy. But if you can't even recognize this kind of crisis, all I can say is—a child is still a child."
Child Emperor was imdiately provoked and glared. "What did you say!"
"Listen carefully—Mada Shibabawa's prophecies have a 100% accuracy rate. To this day, more than half of the Hero Association's major successful preventions of disasters were thanks to her."
"She's saved countless lives."
"And even in the face of multiple Dragon-level disasters, she never once described Earth as being dood."
"Which ans—what's about to happen is even more dangerous than any Dragon-level threat."
Sitch, drenched in sweat, forced the words out.
"And it will happen within six months!"
Thump, thump...
King's heart pounded wildly in fear—only he knew that among all S-Class heroes, he was just an ordinary human.
He was about to cry. He'd only co because he was afraid of getting exposed.
He was dood. Totally dood...
S-Class Rank 12, Watchdog Man, said, "Understood. But if it's within six months, we don't know exactly when."
S-Class Rank 13, Flashy Flash, said, "Right. So how do we formulate a counterasure?"
Sitch responded heavily, "You're right. But please be prepared for a massive war within the next six months."
At the far end of the table, a B-Class hero who had snuck in—bald-headed Saitama, the Caped Baldy—raised his hand, expression deadpan.
"Within six months? Maybe tomorrow. Maybe today?"
Saitama, due to his complete lack of fa, had randomly decided to attend the eting just for the chance that soone would ask, "Who are you?" so he could deliver a cool self-introduction.
"Exactly... Wait, who are you?"
Saitama lit up with joy. This was the mont he had been waiting for. Just as he was about to deliver his cool line, a massive explosion shook the building.
BOOM BOOM BOOM—
"Are we under attack?"
"Impossible! This is the Association's headquarters!"
Outside the Association.
In the streets around HQ, civilians who had been going about their daily lives now looked up in terror as a group of flying monsters launched light-based attacks at the Hero Association.
"Aaaah! Monsters!"
The flying monsters laughed wildly. "Hahaha! Tough building, huh? Minions, let's charge in together!"
"Wipe out the heroes, and the surface world is ours! Ahahaha!"
"The screams of humans on the surface sound so sweet, ahahaha!"
But what they didn't expect—was that the screaming on the ground wasn't because of them.
A massive spaceship, the size of a city with tens of millions of people, had appeared overhead, blotting out the sky and slowly descending.
If sothing that large landed, all of City A would be flattened.
"Aaaaah! What is that!? A spaceship!?"
"Aliens!? Run for your lives!"
"Aaaaah...!"
Faced with such a colossal, sudden force, all the people could do was scream in fear.
At the sa ti—
Thousands of kiloters from City A, a golden gate over a thousand ters tall slowly appeared in the sky.
The gate gradually opened.
Asmoday was the first to step through. Her golden eyes instantly locked onto the direction of City A.
"Right on ti. As expected of Lord Heavenly Principle."
A golden cube of space appeared in her hand. The space before her split open, and she tossed the golden cube into the rift.
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