Huge thrones.
No, calling them huge was not enough. This was because they were so large that they far exceeded what a mortal being could conceive.
To put it in simple terms, every single one of these thrones was as large as a planet.
There were four of these thrones floating in this space.
It was a sight so magnificent that it would leave anyone who saw it speechless.
At first glance, it seemed that no one was sitting on these thrones, but Lukas and the other Absolutes knew that wasn’t the case.
On each of these huge thrones sat a Ruler.
Of course, their physical bodies weren’t here.
There was an infinite number of universes in the multiverse, but there was no universe that could hold all four of the Rulers at the same time.
Instead, they all sent their wills to this place.
Nevertheless, that was enough to place immense pressure on all of the Absolutes who entered this space.
The Thunderous Lightning God.
The Black Horned Demon God.
The Sun God. (1)
And…
“…”
It was only then when Lukas realised something.
Although there were four thrones in this space, one of them was empty.
[Kneel.]
It was a heavy voice that said this word.
Letip knelt on one knee with a soft smile on his lips. Nodiesop also knelt with a strange emotion on his face.
Only Lukas didn’t kneel. No. It wasn’t just Lukas.
Kasajin wasn’t kneeling, either.
“…”
The Black Horned Demon King was also sitting on one of the thrones. According to Letip, Kasajin was his right hand, his Conqueror.
Nevertheless, Kasajin didn’t seem to have the slightest hint of subservience for the Demon God.
Lukas felt that there might be some significance behind this fact, but he refrained from making any hasty conclusions.
[All of the main characters have arrived.]
This voice was strangely heavy but also light at the same time, creating a contradictory feeling.
This was a voice that Lukas had heard before.
[There are people I’ve met and people I’ve never seen before… But since we don’t have any time to waste, let’s just skip the introductions and get straight to the point.]
The Thunderous Lightning God.
He seemed to be sitting on a throne made of pure gold.
[What I’m about to tell you is the will of us Rulers.]
‘Us’ Rulers.
Those words caught Lukas’ ear.
He knew very well how good the relationship between the four Rulers was.
They had been at odds for a very long time, and not once had they ever tried to compromise or negotiate among themselves.
This was the fate of a Ruler.
For them, compromise was similar to lowering their head to another person. And for Rulers, such a thing was tantamount to ‘denying the foundation of their existence’, which was to ‘rule’ over all things.
In the first place, the reason they were praised as Rulers and were able to stand above all Absolutes was because of their strong sense of independence that couldn’t be influenced by any other being.
But now, all of the Rulers had agreed and were now going to tell them their unified opinion.
“…”
Lukas’ expression subconsciously became more serious at that moment.
* * *
[The Great Game will begin soon.]
This remark was basically a statement.
The Lightning God’s voice seemed to have a strange compulsion in it, as though anything he said would come to pass.
No matter how absurd it might have been.
[In fact, to be completely honest, it would have started already.]
It was another Ruler who said those words in a deep, gloomy voice.
It was probably the Ruler sitting on the black throne, the Black Horned Demon God. He wasn’t visible, but Lukas could clearly feel the overwhelming killing intent that he emitted.
[If it weren’t for your existence, Lukas Trowman.]
He was completely different from the Lightning God.
In fact, of all the Rulers, the killing intent that the Demon God had towards Lukas was by far the strongest. If the other Rulers weren’t there, he probably would have crushed him to dust already.
He was the Ruler who had the hardest time putting his murderous thoughts to rest.
[That isn’t something you were supposed to say.]
If lava had a voice, this was probably what it would sound like.
It was a calm voice, but it seemed to be filled with boundless heat.
The being sitting on the crimson throne was probably the Sun God.
This was Lukas’ first time meeting him personally, but he had heard many rumors about this Ruler.
Sun Giants were special beings in the multiverse who were birthed directly from solar bodies. They were one of the races that God had mentioned in the past who were transcendent beings from birth.
Nevertheless, the being who sat on the crimson throne could be considered a mutant among his race.
The Sun Giants in the multiverse were usually born with varying characteristics depending on which body they were birthed from.
The Sun God had been birthed from a supergiant star, something that was incredibly rare even in the multiverse.
In fact, the vast majority of Sun Giants hadn’t believed that he would be born.
This was because the temperature of the supergiant was so high that they believed his entire body would melt before he, a fetus, could even begin to take shape.
In fact, the Sun God had taken an extremely long time to be born. He had been silent for billions of years. (2)
And when most of the Sun Giants had all but forgot his existence, the supergiant star suddenly stopped burning. This was quite strange. After all, the supergiant still had much of its lifespan left.
Curious, the Sun Giants went to investigate the dying star and soon found a flickering sign of life within its core.
Soon after they discovered him, immense flames erupted from the core and the Sun God was born.
And in the aftermath of his birth, all living beings in that universe died. Although there was a bit of a delay, no one had been able to escape the disaster.
This vast, expansive universe, the end of which was completely unknown, soon became completely red simply because of the heat emitted from the Sun God’s body.
In an instant, there was only one living being in the entire universe.
‘The heat he radiates gets progressively stronger.’
There was no way to know how much time had passed since the Sun God had been born. Likewise, no one knew just how hot he was now.
In any case, it was rumoured that his personality was considerably moderate among the Rulers.
Of course, it could just be a meaningless rumour considering the extremely arrogant Lightning God or the crazy, bloodthirsty Demon God.
[Respect the Lightning God. We already decided that he would be the one to represent us. Demon God, do you intend to go back on your word?]
“…”
The Demon God fell silent at those words, and the Lightning God continued to speak in a voice that carried a hint of laughter.
[As fun as it is to watch you two bicker, we should continue. This universe is quite stifling, but… that won’t matter anymore. As soon as the Great Game is over, I won’t have to see you anymore.]
“…there is one thing I’d like to ask.”
It was Nodiesop who started to speak.
The Lightning God asked as if he already knew what he wanted.
[Why are there only three of us here?]
(TL: I guess the author still intends to keep the last Ruler a secret. And it seems that it’s the Ruler Nodiesop follows.)
(Note:
1. I changed Sun Giant to Sun God for two reasons, one to match the other Rulers, and two because the author made ‘sun giants’ a race, but the title and the race name can only really be translated as the same thing in English.
2. This isn’t too accurate, supergiants usually only survive for millions of years at most.)