[Translator - Night]
[Proofreader - Gun]
Chapter 210: Soul Sword Evolution (1)
I took the Soul Sword out of my inventory.
Unlike usual, the entire sword had turned pure white.
A ssage window imdiately appeared.
[Do you want to evolve the Soul Sword?]
When I pressed "Yes," the light began to fade.
The Soul Sword started to disappear from the tip, as if it was being dismantled.
As it vanished, the radiance of the sword spread out in all directions, then transford into a pure white ssage window.
Then text began to appear.
[You have fully grown the Soul Sword.]
[You have obtained a clue to Soul Evolution.]
Evolution?
Expecting more ssages, I kept watching.
Then, an unusual font covered the text above.
Scrawled handwriting.
I had never seen these characters before, but strangely, I could naturally understand their aning just by looking at them.
—Congratulations. If you're seeing this ssage, you must be the one who beca a Soul God against all odds.
Scratch, scratch.
The already displayed letters were erased, then rewritten from the beginning.
—I’ll keep it short due to limited space. Do not evolve using the Path of Chaos. If you do, you’ll eventually be devoured by the Left Arm.
Getting devoured by the Left Arm if I go with Chaos?
Was this about the absolute god of chaos, the "Creator’s Left Arm"?
A being known to surpass even EX-rank, an absolute entity of the Chaos faction.
Owner of the SP shop, and, like , a god of the soul system.
—Rember. Do not choose Chaos. Do not offer the painstakingly sprouted seed to him……
Toward the end, the text gradually shrank until it vanished.
One-sidedly said his piece and disappeared.
I wanted to know who had sent this sword...
The ssage window returned to its original form.
[The Soul Sword is evolving to EX rank.]
[The Soul Sword rges with your soul form and evolves your soul.]
[Please select the evolution path of the Soul Sword. As an EX rank, a basic authority will be granted. The base na of the sword will be determined by the chosen faction.]
[Order]
[You have obtained a clue to becoming an EX rank of the Order faction. You gain the basic authority "Obedience."]
[Obedience]
[The user forces a target to obey. The target must be a mber of the sa planetary system and of a lower rank. An obedient target pledges eternal loyalty and becos subordinate to the user.]
So the basic authority of Order was Obedience.
It didn’t seem very useful for my battle with Zeus.
It might make Ares confess, who had kept his mouth shut…
But it wasn’t a power that would directly help in combat.
So I skipped it for now.
[Neutral]
[You have obtained a clue to becoming an EX rank of the Neutral faction. You gain the basic authority "Growth."]
[Growth]
[The user's soul form grows. Through growth, you can control your soul more completely. The speed of growth varies depending on SP investnt, and once a certain stage is reached, the soul transcends.]
Growth, huh...
It seed better than Obedience, but the effect was too simple.
Of course, right now, I couldn’t fully utilize my strength out of fear of losing my ego, despite having excess SP.
So if I used this to grow my soul form, it might be better...
But it was uncertain when the effect would actually kick in.
Better than Order, but not exactly impressive either.
Then there was Chaos—the one the earlier ssage had explicitly warned
against.
Let’s see what it had to offer.
[Chaos]
[You have obtained a clue to becoming an EX rank of the Chaos faction. You gain the basic authority "Destruction."]
[The basic authority of the Chaos faction has been upgraded due to your status as a Pioneer. The basic authority has been upgraded to "Erasure."]
[Due to being a Pioneer, additional basic authorities have been added to the Chaos faction. Selecting Chaos will reveal the additional authorities.]
[The added authorities are also enhanced due to being a Pioneer. Selecting Chaos will reveal their enhanced states.]
……
With the status of a Pioneer, Chaos continued adding authority powers.
Though the details weren’t revealed until selection, five additional basic authorities had been added.
And all of them were enhanced due to my Pioneer status.
If not for that earlier ssage, I probably would’ve picked Chaos imdiately.
Even now, I was wavering a bit.
"Erasure" seed far more useful in battle than "Obedience" or "Growth."
Plus, there were still four unopened skills.
If those five skills were combined with my SP, suppressing Zeus might be a lot easier.
“Eh, I’ll just go with Neutral.”
If I went chasing after that power and ended up summoning a beast, it’d be a disaster.
If I chose Chaos because of Zeus, and then got devoured by the god of Chaos, that’d be a real screw-up.
I might be able to fight Zeus sohow, but not the god of Chaos.
Yeah.
Neutral it is!
After the explanation of the three evolution paths ended, the Soul Sword's window simply displayed "......"
What the—was it loading?
After five long minutes of waiting, a ssage finally appeared.
[The Solar System's rank is low. For gods originating from Earth, only one EX-rank weapon per faction is allowed.]
So that’s what took so long—it was assessing the Solar System’s rank?
Only one per faction...
Then if soone else picked one first, I couldn’t choose it?
As if confirming my thoughts, more ssages appeared.
[One of Earth's EX-rank beings has claid "Chaos." Chaos cannot be selected.]
[One of Earth's EX-rank beings has shown interest in "Order." He is in the process of creating it. Since "Order" is only 33% complete, the user may still choose it.]
[The user may currently choose between "Order" and "Neutral."]
Soone had already claid Chaos?
Who?
If it’s an EX rank from Earth…
Zeus.
Yahweh.
Maybe Buddha too, since he attained enlightennt.
But it seed like he had fully detached himself from everything.
It was likely to be Zeus or Yahweh.
“This is troubleso.”
Depending on what Zeus had claid, my future strategy would have to change entirely.
If he held "Chaos"...
Then he would have all kinds of destructive powers, and I’d have to avoid fighting him while focusing on growth before opposing him.
But if he was building "Order," I’d need to actively interfere before he completed it.
The basic authority of Order, Obedience.
It forces lower-ranked beings into eternal submission.
It wouldn’t matter much for , but Zeus, being a higher-ranked EX being, was a problem.
There was a gap between EX and SSS ranks, so if I slipped up, I might end up pledging loyalty to him.
“Should I safely choose Order?”
If I chose Order, at least I wouldn’t have to worry about being forced to obey.
[Translator - Night]
[Proofreader - Gun]
Given our bad relationship, if either of us completed it, the other would try to force submission.
Unless I beco EX rank before the 33% becos 100%...
But how likely was that?
To avoid the worst-case scenario, Order seed to be the safer choice...
“…Is this Skuld’s foresight at work?”
I had a feeling.
A gut instinct telling
not to choose Order.
It felt like if I picked it, I’d end up losing in the end.
“So… just trying to avoid the worst wouldn’t be enough to win, huh?”
Order was the safer option, sure—but it wasn’t the best one in every situation.
If Zeus held Chaos, then a power like Order, which was useless in battle, couldn’t compare to the evolving strength of Neutrality.
“On the other hand, if Zeus was the one creating Order… then picking Order would make sense.”
So it ca down to a fifty-fifty chance.
But my hunch—sothing I couldn’t ignore—kept whispering that Order was being made by Yahweh.
This wasn’t an easy decision.
Hmm...
Yeah.
Why not take a shot?
“Connect
to Michael.”
Would he even answer?
Right now, Hades’s Chaos faction was probably attacking the angels.
Of course, there was no response.
“Try the connection again.”
Still, I figured I should try at least ten tis.
If the call dropped, I’d reconnect.
Over and over again.
“Now that I think about it—if Chaos was on their side, Hades wouldn’t have attacked, would he?”
No matter how much SP I spent to lure him, he wouldn’t fully go to war against a top-ranking subordinate of his own faction.
So… was that feeling really foresight?
On my seventh attempt...
[...What is it, Soul God?]
“Oh. He answered.”
Michael appeared on the screen.
The solemn angel of light glared at
like he was ready to kill
right then and there.
He was the one who betrayed , and yet here he was acting all offended.
Typical.
[To use the power of Chaos… how vile. Do you think that changes anything? The Lord’s army is eternal. Even in death, we will save mankind.]
“You’re the vile ones, bastard. You betrayed
and now you're acting like you’ve got the moral high ground? I don’t have ti to bicker with you. Just deliver a ssage to your master.”
[What? You dare insult the Lord—?]
“EX-class weapon: Order.”
[What are you talking about?]
Michael replied calmly.
He didn’t know?
Well, he was just a divine apostle—maybe he really didn’t.
“If you don’t know, then pass it along to your master. The Lord of Chaos has already been chosen. And soone’s been working hard on Order… and now I’ve got the right to choose.”
[You… what are you plotting…?]
“No need to overthink it. Just relay the ssage. If there’s no reply, I’ll just pick Order. One of your creators worked really hard on it—got it to about 33%, apparently. Wouldn’t it suck if soone stole it halfway through?”
Michael didn’t say anything.
Was he delivering the ssage now?
He didn’t end the call.
Just stared at
with that robotic, blank face.
“Oh, and I get it. You might be thinking, ‘So what if I have the Order EX-weapon? What does that have to do with you crafting it?’ But just in case your master doesn’t know—since this solar system’s level is so low, each faction only gets one EX-class divine weapon. If I take Order, that’s the end of it. You lose yours.”
[...The Lord knows all. Enough talk, Soul God.]
Michael let out a long sigh.
That fierce glare from before?
Gone without a trace.
[Soul God. The Lord asks: What do you want?]
“Oh? That was fast. I thought you’d try to deny it at least.”
[Would I deny it when you already understand the situation? You contacted
with full knowledge, didn’t you? There's no point in denying sothing you already know.]
I hadn’t exactly contacted him after piecing everything together.
I just figured it out along the way during the call.
But hey—if he was giving
credit, I wasn’t going to argue.
“What do I want, huh?”
Honestly, all I wanted was to confirm whether their side was actually building Order or not.
But now he was the one groveling and asking what I wanted?
Guess that EX-class divine weapon was important.
“Why don’t you make the first offer? And don’t forget—you screwed with my father. Keep in mind I’ve got a personal grudge.”
Just thinking about it made
want to grab Order purely out of spite.
If I hadn’t had this unshakable feeling pushing
toward Neutrality, I would’ve picked Order just to watch them fall apart.
Michael still didn’t say anything.
Just kept that blank stare during the call.
And then, finally, he opened his mouth.
[We’ll cancel your designation as Satan and command all believers to worship you.]
Half of Earth’s population followed Yahweh.
That would definitely help strengthen the image of “Kim Jiho the God.”
But it also ant most of those people currently saw
as the enemy.
If they were already hostile, awakening them or manipulating their souls would take longer.
Not a bad offer.
But nowhere near enough.
In truth, it just made things a little easier.
I could still ss with the souls of Christians—it just took more ti.
“That’s it? That’s all you’ve got?”
[...The Lord has almost no influence over Earth now because of the new creation. Please consider that.]
“Fine. Then start by promising not to use the Authority of Obedience on Earth.”
[That wouldn’t even be possible. The Lord has spent centuries crafting Order… and it’s only 33% complete. If it takes a few hundred more years, Earth will be entirely yours by then. Or Zeus’s.]
“It takes that long? Still, put it in writing. Now give
sothing that’ll actually satisfy .”
Michael’s face twisted briefly before going blank again.
An unexpected bonus.
Maybe because this project had taken hundreds of years.
Michael was playing full-on underdog in this negotiation.
[...Fine. How about this—Zeus surrendered to us, and when he did, he offered us his divine weapon. We’ll give you Astrapē.]
Astrapē?
That was… the one Zeus used to wield, wasn’t it?
[Translator - Night]
[Proofreader - Gun]
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