Capture

The Celestial Realm, the Kingdom of Heaven.

In a radiant sky of layered clouds, the Lord of Heaven shone at the zenith of the celestial firmament in the form of a massive light orb. His brilliance pierced through the mountain-like clouds, scattering in all directions as angels of various forms soared through the mists, launching attacks against the intruders.

Beneath the clouds, the three chief gods of the Norse, Greek, and Persian pantheons displayed their full might. Zeus used his staff to summon a sky full of arrogant thunder, striking down angel after angel. Odin led from the front, fending off enemies with his spear and weaving powerful magic through profound runes. Ahura shook his illusory wings, sending spreading fires along the cloud layers to burn directly toward the zenith.

"To... not be forgotten, may the Age of Gods be eternal!"

A roar of battle echoed through the clouds. This rallying cry also signaled another reason why these three gods fought together.

The modern gods wished for the Age of Gods to continue indefinitely, not just for eternal rule, but to avoid being forgotten by the people of their homelands. As the Age of Gods faded, the influence of the modern gods over the mortal world grew smaller and smaller, making it increasingly difficult for them to control the faith of mortals. Under the powerful proselytization of foreign faiths, their former homelands were often stripped of their original beliefs and culture, their people becoming loyal followers at the feet of another god. This phenomenon was particularly severe for these three gods.

The current regions of the Norse, Greek, and Persian lands had almost entirely ceased to believe in them. The cause of all this was the incomparable influence of the Lord of Heaven in the mortal world. What they sought now was not only to reclaim dominion over the mortal world but also to exact revenge.

Facing the onslaught of the three chief gods, the Lord of Heaven responded with ease and a myriad of techniques. He rained down meteor showers from the sky and commanded rolling thunders. Majestic torrential rains transformed into a deluge that swept downward, while freezing auras extinguished the fires that sought to burn the heavens. Pure white beams of light pierced through all defenses; it seemed he could dominate any imaginable phenomenon.

Whatever authority the three gods possessed, he held as well. Whatever authority they lacked, he possessed regardless.

Rather than a single god, he was more like a composite entity of three mythologies forcibly blended together. Rather than a conscious chief god, he was more like a phenomenon of aggregated divine power.

In a sense, it was meaningless for the three chief gods to hate the Lord of Heaven. He had no way to govern his own followers; his followers were each other's greatest enemies. Lacking a normal consciousness, he did not even stop the large-scale mutual slaughter of his own believers, let alone command them to proselytize.

Thus, even in a one-on-three fight, the Lord of Heaven maintained the advantage in this divine war, firmly suppressing the three chief gods. This advantage grew steadily. The three chief gods were forced from an offensive posture into a defensive one; it was only a matter of time before their defenses were dismantled and they met defeat.

As the battle raged on, the defenses of the three chief gods grew weary under the Lord of Heaven's assault. During this process, strange changes began to occur in their bodies. A faint purple light began to flicker in their eyes, and a sinister purple aura was released from their forms.

During the Ancient God Tokoyo Butterfly's assault, the divine domains of the three chief gods had already been breached. The Prophetic Book of Investiture protected within them had been bitten by the Great Snake's clones, and their entire pantheons had been corrupted. Under the Great Snake's deliberate control, the three chief gods were left for last to be corrupted simultaneously, preventing them from sensing any abnormality.

The sinister aura of the ancient god of snakes diffused from the three chief gods at once. Their wills were being eroded by the Great Snake's venom transmitted through the Prophetic Book of Investiture, gradually turning them into the Great Snake's puppets. The Lord of Heaven at the zenith seemed to instinctively sense the strangeness of these three gods and immediately intensified his assault, attempting to defeat them then and there.

Instantly, floods, storms, frost, lightning, and fire—countless calamities—rolled down from the zenith toward those below. The three chief gods were currently in the painful process of being corrupted and could not respond in time. It seemed the victory of this divine war would be decided in the next second.

However, at that very moment, the Boundary Wall of the Kingdom of Heaven shattered. Dazzling, massive wings flapped as they flew into this battlefield of gods. After consecutively breaching three divine domains, the Ancient God Tokoyo Butterfly had finally invaded the territory of the most powerful chief god in the West.

The moment the Ancient God Tokoyo Butterfly appeared, the entire Kingdom of Heaven trembled. The bewitching and magnificent butterfly of reincarnation vibrated its wings, and an invisible force rippled out, affecting the many calamities sweeping down from the zenith.

The flames extinguished after reaching their peak, the ice melted rapidly, the floods evaporated into steam, the light dimmed, the thunder vanished, the storms ceased, and the spells collapsed.

Beneath the wings of the God of Reincarnation, all things have a beginning, a peak, and a moment of decay... so-called eternity was nothing but a joke.

"He is different from the others. It seems he is the standout among these false gods..." Looking at the light orb in the sky, the Ancient God Tokoyo Butterfly murmured. The Great Snake's clone upon its body also spoke.

"He should be the strongest false god, and he can become the strongest servant. Crush him. I will have the puppets here assist you."

"Of course..."

Murmuring, the Ancient God Tokoyo Butterfly flapped its wings and flew straight toward the zenith of heaven. Behind it, the three chief gods, now fully corrupted, followed closely.

The three gods, now puppets of the Great Snake, once again unleashed vast divine power to attack the Lord of Heaven. The Lord of Heaven retaliated immediately, raining down disasters manifested from his numerous authorities. Yet, all of this turned to nothingness the moment the Ancient God Tokoyo Butterfly vibrated its wings.

With the three chief gods plus the ancient god Tokoyo Butterfly, the situation was no longer something the Lord of Heaven could handle.

Perhaps as a Lord of Heaven who embodied three mythologies, he could have dealt with the Ancient God Tokoyo Butterfly, who did not specialize in combat, but it was a different story with the addition of three corrupted chief gods. Under the assisting assault of the three gods, the Ancient God Tokoyo Butterfly flapped its brilliant wings and advanced toward the zenith. Countless angels attacking it were imbued with the concept of decay and crumbled into ash. The heaven among the clouds began to collapse into rot.

...

On the other side of the planet, in a forest somewhere in the Kanto region of the Japanese Archipelago, the body of the Ancient God of Earth, Suwako, towered like a mountain range, standing as motionless as a true peak.

Atop the head of the Ancient God of Earth, the small, translucent Suwako squinted her eyes toward the western sky, her expression focused as if she were locating and confirming something.

"Hmm... according to the aura, it should be in this position..." Having confirmed the direction, Suwako breathed a sigh of relief and patted the rock-like, sturdy skin beneath her.

"Well then, it's time to begin... Ready~"

At Suwako's word, the Ancient God of Earth, which had been as still as a mountain, began to move. Its massive head turned to one side, its cheeks and entire mouth bulging greatly, and massive cracks split across its rock-like surface.

"Fire!"

The moment Suwako's voice fell, the Ancient God of Earth's massive mouth opened. From within, a thick tongue shot out like a cannonball. It broke the sound barrier the instant it left the mouth, streaking toward the distant horizon in a sonic boom.

Accelerating continuously, the seemingly infinitely extendable tongue of the Ancient God of Earth flew westward at high speed. It crossed oceans, leaped over plains, high mountains, and deserts, traversing almost the entire continent. A single flick of the tongue stretched from East Asia to Western Europe.

Then, in the sky above Europe, this ultra-long tongue pierced through the boundary.

...

In the Kingdom of Heaven, with the assistance of the three corrupted gods, the Ancient God Tokoyo Butterfly flapped its wings and gradually flew toward the very peak amidst the destruction. Angels died in massive numbers, and the Lord of Heaven's light grew dim. The Ancient God Tokoyo Butterfly was now very close to the light orb at the zenith; the defeat of heaven seemed imminent.

"It's over..." Looking at the deity right before it, the Ancient God Tokoyo Butterfly's voice echoed through the clouds.

Suddenly, the space in the sky below split with numerous cracks. Then, in a burst of shattering, a thick tongue reached out from within, striking with extreme speed toward the flying Ancient God Tokoyo Butterfly. Before it could even react, the tongue coiled around its massive body in several loops.

"What... this is..."

Without waiting for the Ancient God Tokoyo Butterfly to show more shock, the thick tongue immediately tightened and retracted. Under a massive force that was impossible to resist, the butterfly's enormous divine body was yanked downward and pulled out of the celestial realm.

In an instant, the Ancient God Tokoyo Butterfly, which had been rampaging just moments ago, suddenly vanished. The light orb at the zenith witnessed all of this, silently emitting its glow.