The Nebula's Civilization

Chapter 256: One Imperfect Empire

Chapter 256: One Imperfect Empire

Before the battle of the two gods ended, a small miracle occurred in a corner of the Rasdasil Ruins.

The storm caused by the fight of the two gods flung a large stone, which spun and struck Del's shoulder. The pin of a grenade was pulled out, and it flew into the air.

Ramin Solost Muel, with her extraordinary skills, threw a dagger at the grenade. It fell beside Del and didn’t explode. The blade had cut the grenade's fuse.

"Incredible..."

Del, the Canine agent, was bewildered and attempted to stab Ramin, but Ramin acted first. She twisted Del's forearm and bent the blade toward Del's chest.

"Night Sky will win. Why not surrender?"

Del's eyes narrowed. "I always hated that certainty."

"...Always?"

"I was born in the Empire. So I know well about faith in Night Sky and the Pantheon."

Del was strong enough to push the blade away.

Ramin had predicted this, so while Del was focused on pushing the blade, Ramin quickly tripped Del off their feet. The moment Del’s back hit the ground, the blade slightly pierced Del's chest and then was pushed back, but couldn’t be pushed back further. Ramin was slowly driving the blade in with the weight of her body.

Ramin provoked Del to distract them. "I knew you were an apostate just by the color of your scales."

"Apostate?" Del growled. "Both my parents were devout priests of Night Sky, stationed in a pioneering temple on a small island of the southern continent. The island still had savage indigenous tribes, and my parents volunteered to bring them to the Pantheon. But... huph!"

As the blade neared Del’s chest again, Del took a deep breath and pushed Ramin off with their last remaining strength.

"But the temple was attacked and burned. Until the last moment, they cried out to the gods of the Pantheon, but no one helped. Night Sky's help only exists in stories. Even when I was captured by those tribes and became a slave, until the armed merchant ships of the Union Kingdom came to the island, I suffered, and Night Sky never once helped me."

Ramin wanted to deny this because she had received countless help from Night Sky and the Pantheon. However, she realized that there could be people who hadn’t received such help. In fact, believing that the gods could look after everyone could be a deception itself.

Even the greatest gods couldn’t care for everyone. Gods were wondrous beings, but they couldn’t completely correct the world's injustices. Therefore, it wasn’t surprising or strange that there were some who slipped through the fingers of gods. It was a natural occurrence.

Del said, "My apostasy...is justified."

Ramin replied in a hoarse voice, "You’re right."

Despite agreeing, Ramin didn’t stop herself from pushing the dagger further into Del's chest. Del's words and actions were valid, but Ramin had to stop them. It was her duty.

"Unfortunate."

Ramin’s dagger penetrated Del's chest.

Del grimaced and clenched their teeth. As the blade reached Del’s heart, blood spurted from its sharp edge, and Del's body lost its strength after the second pulse of their heart. It had been a prolonged struggle to push the blade an inch in, yet it took not even the time of one breath for the rest of the blade to disappear into Del's chest. Then, the Light of Pasa enveloped the battlefield.

***

[...Afterward, the battle briefly known as the Rasdasil Battle was recorded as one of the most intense battles fought in the narrowest area in history.

Apostles from both the Empire and the Union Kingdom participated directly and indirectly, and according to records by the priests involved in the war, almost all gods of the Pantheon interfered in the battlefield simultaneously. Since most battles were known to involve gods only partially, this battle showed its importance to the gods beyond what was visible to mortals.

The battle that was seen was marvelous in itself. The largest battles known to each continent took place during the continental unification wars between the Empire and the Union Kingdom, but the Rasdasil Battle was the first witnessed fight between two Hierophanies, transcending to their essential forms, known as Incarnations. Even before the fight escalated to a clash of Incarnations, it had been a colossal battle where mountains rose, peaks crumbled, and stars moved, beyond the reach of even apostles. But this was just a part of a larger conflict.

The Angry One, who manifested as War, brought forth an army from the underworld, and displayed a wonder capable of conquering not just the small area of the Rasdasil Ruins, but entire continents. However, even such a wonder collapsed under the divine light brought about by Night Sky. Night Sky's light swept away not only war incarnate, but also all the apostles of the Angry One.

What was significant was not the Rasdasil Battle itself, but the world after it. The world, once divided between the Empire and the Union Kingdom, became one. The Union Kingdom dissolved back into its former kingdoms and fell under imperial rule. The separatists, who had been running a rebellion against the Union Kingdom, had complicated feelings, but aside from a few separatists, everyone accepted the Empire’s rule, partly due to the Empire granting some autonomous rights to its territories.

Many more changes occurred. The last emperor of the Union Kingdom was dethroned, and secularists and atheists gained prominence. The Empire and the Pantheon gained immense authority, but paradoxically existed as the sole authority that faced countless challenges.

Among many challenges, two small countries in the eastern continent were noteworthy. Sodan Kingdom, a small nation on the eastern continent that the Empire confronted during its unification process, maintained an isolationist policy despite the changing world. They resisted to the end, not joining the massive trend of the Empire.

According to descendants of Sodan Kingdom, their god, The Silent One, insisted on remaining a solitary entity, despite the Pantheon's attempts of persuasion, claiming that it was their duty to exist independently, regardless of the Pantheon's good or evil.

More interestingly, there was the Burein Republic, which had been a republic for a long time and, like the Empire, gathered those who shared their thoughts in various territories across continents. They called their guiding principle communism.

Their god, known as The Ever-Moving Machine God, denied private property and argued that all states and races should live in a fair and equal world. This ideology resonated with many, attracting followers regardless of nationality, age, or gender. Particularly, The Ever-Moving Machine God criticized the Pantheon, with its priests claiming the Pantheon was the filthy offspring of capitalism and villains who oppressed the marginalized under the guise of freedom. The Pantheon did not deem that much of a response, but eventually, the Burein Republic met a similar fate to the Sodan Kingdom.

However, there still existed a state not subjugated to the Empire—the Black Order. This nation, mainly composed of Deep Ones, has consistently threatened the central continent since the time of the Black Scale Empire…]

An amateur astronomer, a Kobold, Ion, read the comments under the post titled Rasdasil Battle and the Subsequent World Situation.

[Abail: Is the writer a priest of the Pantheon?]

[StarNight: Enjoyed reading.]

[BookRecommendation: I’m more curious about the Rasdasil Battle. Any book recommendations?]

[GateOfTheDemonWorld: I recommend Defense of Rasdasil Ruins written by Dordol, the supreme commander and apostle of the Pantheon during the battle.]

[FirstPage: That one is too rigid for beginners. Try Operation Code: Red Land by Lupeni, a transport officer of the Union Kingdom. It's dramatic and fun.]

[PointyEars: This post seems a bit biased, but isn't it mostly factual?]

[GreenPlains: I also think with a bit more editing, it could even go into an encyclopedia.]

[SpearOfTheEmpire: Why is the guy at the top picking a fight? Do they live in the Union Kingdom?]

[Abail: Are you talking about me? Think logically. If gods are so great, why don't they get me a job first?]

[SpearOfTheEmpire: Do you think Night Sky has time to find jobs for lazy people like you?]

[Administrator: Abail and SpearOfTheEmpire, this is a warning. Abail, it's your second warning, and a third will result in a ban.]

[SpearOfTheEmpire: "Why me though?]

[Administrator: It's a warning for regional discrimination.]

Ion clicked his tongue.

‘What a mess.’

The World Dictionary History Forum was a space where interested individuals gathered in Sky Net—an online network connecting the entire world—to create an online encyclopedia. Due to the diverse mix of people from various countries and species, the level of writing found on the forum ranged from university lectures to market banter full of crude language.

‘Still, it would be nice if even such comments were left.’

Ion exited the history forum and entered the astronomy forum he had visited earlier to check the post he had made. Ten people had read it, but no one had commented. The title of the post was simple: Evidence that there are Two Moons.

Ion clicked on the post intending to review his own writing. The content was straightforward. There were superficially known facts about the moon's size and its gravitational pull. However, the tidal forces measured through actual observations produced values that seemed inconsistent with the known composition of the moon.

In simple terms, the moon was heavier than it appeared. It wasn’t uncommon for the orbits of revolving satellites to match, and although the difference in values was not significant, the essence of the post was that there could be a second smaller moon behind the existing one.

‘As expected.’

Seeing no comments on the post, Ion moved on to search for posts in other forums. The next forum Ion clicked on was the Conspiracy Theory forum.

***

27 years after the conflict in Rasdasil, the number of players in the Pantheon was now 25. Sung-Woon had revived all the players that became vassals through Trial points and brought them into their fold.

There were several reasons for this. Firstly, even if these players opposed Sung-Woon and his allies, they couldn't oppose him effectively due to systemic restrictions as members of the Pantheon. Reviving them also meant exerting influence, ensuring social stability by subjugating those who still remembered the gods who became vassals to the Pantheon. And there was, of course, the even more important reason.

"You were just a college student?"

"Yes."

"You could think a bit more about it. Why do you think you came here?"

"I don't know, even if you say so..." In front of Sung-Woon, player Ovenwave trailed off.

Ovenwave was one of the players who had opposed Hegemonia until the end, but wasn't particularly skilled.

Ovenwave said, "If I had to guess a reason..."

"Go on."

"Perhaps it's because I like this game?"

Sung-Woon, who thought for a moment, waved his hand dismissively.

"Go now. We'll talk more later."

"Oh, okay."

As Ovenwave left, Eldar walked in, passing Ovenwave.

"Any progress today…?"

"None at all."

"That's troubling."

Sung-Woon shook his head.

"We have plenty of time."

Sung-Woon's reason for reviving the players was straightforward. He aimed to gather information from the players to understand why they had been brought into this game.

The process was not easy. Reviving players required trials, and to gather resources for these trials, undiscovered ancient ruins were needed. However, the number of ancient ruins was limited, and Sung-Woon had not yet managed to revive the three players who had fallen most recently.

Previously, such mysteries were less important tasks, but not anymore. The only nation yet to be subdued was The Black Order. In the original game of The Lost World, The Black Order would naturally have surrendered, but Sha-Cha, the evil god and ruler of The Black Order, stubbornly resisted from the deep sea.

'Sha-Cha, with just a bit more advancement in science and technology, we could capture you. But...'

Sung-Woon was concerned about something else. Excluding two evil gods and three ordinary players stored as vassal statues in his inventory, the total number of players in the Pantheon was 24. Adding Sha-Cha should then bring the total player count to 25. Yet the system screen Sung-Woon was looking at displayed a different number.

[Current number of players: 26.]

And at the end of the player list was a player ID he had never seen before.

[...

????5?