The pressure leaking from him felt furious. The distorted figure stared at me while the empire collapsed below us.
Then he spoke.
"Who are you?"
The question carried actual anger this time.
I chuckled softly at that.
"You’re asking that now?" I said while another province vanished beneath the storms below.
The projection remained fixed on me. The pressure around it intensified further.
I looked at him for a moment before asking casually, "Tell me something first."
The storms behind me roared louder.
"When all of this ends..." I said slowly, "will I have to face you personally?"
For a brief second the projection remained silent.
Then Goldius laughed.
"You will pay for this," he said.
The projection vanished instantly afterward, leaving only the collapsing empire beneath the sky.
I stared at the empty space for a moment before exhaling slowly.
"Does not matter."
The destruction continued.
There was no real resistance left anymore. The believers were collapsing faster than they could organize while the combined laws tearing through the empire had already exceeded anything this world could defend against.
Storms consumed continents. Lightning erased cities. Space itself fractured across certain regions where the pressure became too great.
And within less than two minutes, the Castell Empire fell completely. The storms slowly settled afterward while the remaining safe zones turned gold one after another across the system map.
Then the notifications appeared.
[Castell Empire Conquered]
[All Provinces Under Control]
[Defier Authority Established]
[Imperial Authority Available]
I accepted it immediately.
The golden throne mark on the back of my hand expanded slightly, new lines spreading around the original symbol as the second empire connected itself to me.
Then another notification appeared.
[Divinity Detected]
[Would the Authority Holder like to distribute Divinity across the Empire?]
[Alternative Option Available:]
[Absorb Divinity Into Self]
I selected absorb.
The golden beam descended from the sky once more, flooding enormous amounts of divinity into my body, but unlike before, I didn’t use it immediately. I guided it inward instead, storing the divinity deep within my soul where it shone like a second sun resting beneath my consciousness.
The pressure around me increased again. I looked across the ruined empire beneath the storm-filled sky.
Then toward the final remaining nation in this world.
While I tore through the Castell Empire, Knight and Lyrate moved through the republic with an entirely different style of destruction.
Knight handled movement and assassination while Lyrate reshaped entire battlefields around him.
The moment they entered the republic, darkness spread across the skies of the major cities as Knight unfolded his laws fully for the first time since recovering his soul. Entire safe zones lost all sense of direction as shadows consumed streets and people, cutting off vision while spatial fractures silently opened across the battlefield.
Enemy commanders disappeared one after another without warning, dragged through folded space before being executed instantly.
At the same time, Lyrate turned the republic itself against its defenders.
Forests erupted from the ground beneath cities while enormous roots broke through walls, towers, and barriers alike.
Her Major Law of Creation continuously expanded through the territory, creating massive living forms that absorbed attacks and spread deeper into occupied zones. Entire capitals were buried beneath gigantic blooming forests while alien races found themselves overwhelmed by endlessly growing lifeforms born directly from her law.
Where Knight erased resistance, Lyrate replaced it.
By the end of the assault, the republic no longer resembled a nation at war. It had become an enormous living territory under their control, and soon after, the final notifications appeared.
The republic had fallen.
The moment the republic fully fell under Defier control, the system notifications appeared before all three of us simultaneously, confirming what had already become obvious.
[Republic Conquered]
[All Provinces Under Control]
[Defier Authority Established]
[Imperial Authority Available]
Without hesitation, I accepted the authority once again.
The throne mark on the back of my hand expanded further, the golden lines spreading outward across my skin before stabilizing into a far more intricate symbol than before, and the moment the process completed, the final remaining territory of Oriel connected itself to my awareness.
The entire world opened before me.
Then the final notification appeared.
[Divinity Detected]
[Would the Authority Holder like to distribute Divinity across the Republic?]
[Alternative Option Available:]
[Absorb Divinity Into Self]
I selected absorb again.
Another pillar of golden light descended from the heavens and poured directly into my body, flooding me with the accumulated divinity of the republic before settling deep within my soul beside the earlier reserves.
The pressure leaking from my body intensified slightly afterward, enough that even the surrounding space distorted faintly around me.
Then finally, a new notification appeared above all the others.
[World of Oriel Successfully Unified Under Defier Control]
[Conflict Resolution Conditions Fulfilled]
[Awaiting Final Evaluation...]
For a few moments, nothing happened. Then suddenly the system notifications shifted.
The tone changed entirely. Every previous message vanished as a new screen appeared before all of us.
[External Request Detected]
[Request Origin: Goldius — God of Fortune]
Knight frowned immediately when the notification became visible to all of us. "That doesn’t sound good."
More lines appeared beneath it.
[The requesting entity wishes to initiate a regulated Divine Conflict]
[Conditions Proposed:]
→ One versus one combat
→ Both participants restricted to equalized system levels
→ Outside interference prohibited
→ Victory conditions determined by system arbitration
Then another line appeared.
[In exchange for acceptance, the requesting entity offers:]
[Crimson Fortune Key]
The moment those words appeared, even Lyrate’s expression changed slightly.
I opened my status almost instinctively after that.
[Level: 199 (MAX)]
I stared at the word for a moment before asking calmly, "System, why is it capped?"
The response came immediately.
[Level 199 is the maximum permitted growth threshold within the World of Oriel]
[Further advancement is restricted by world limitations established during system integration]
[The host cannot exceed current threshold under existing world conditions]
Knight let out a slow breath. "So this world literally can’t handle anything above that."
"Seems like it," I muttered.
Then I focused on the other notification again.
"The Crimson Fortune Key," I said. "Explain it to me."
A brief pause followed before the system answered.
[The Crimson Fortune Key grants a single authorized entry into the Crimson Treasury]
[The Crimson Treasury contains artifacts, authorities, resources, and sealed inheritances gathered by the Crimson Authorities across multiple worlds and timelines]
[Access opportunities are considered extremely rare]
[Possession of the key guarantees selection priority upon entry]
This time I went silent for several seconds.
"The Crimson Treasury..." Lyrate muttered quietly. "That’s not something gods usually get access to."
Knight looked toward me. "Which means Goldius really wants this fight."
I smiled faintly at that.
"Yeah," I said while looking at the system screen again. "He does."
The notification remained waiting in front of me.
[Would the Authority Holder like to accept the Divine Conflict Request?]
I looked toward the sky for a moment, thinking about the projection earlier, about the way Goldius had reacted once he realized what I had become.
Then I selected yes.
The system responded instantly.
[Request Accepted]
[Divine Conflict Preparing...]
[Opponent Synchronization Initiated]