Chapter 1675: I Will Be Merciful The ritual Angy performed hadn’t just revived Gustav... it had brought him back in full. One hundred percent Outworldly strength. A level of power so absolute, so oppressive, so ancient that entire civilizations had been erased from history for merely attempting to study it. Just his presence alone began healing the cosmos. Dimensional fractures began repairing themselves, dying stars stabilized, lost energies realigned into harmony. His existence was a natural state of universal order. And with calm, unblinking eyes, Gustav turned toward the trembling deities. His voice echoed not through air, but directly into existence itself: "I am aware of all you did in my absence... And there will be consequences." A silence thicker than any vacuum in space, reigned. A silence so heavy it felt like the universe forgot how to breathe. Suddenly— "ENOUGH!" The Overseer’s roar shattered the oppressive reverence like a hammer smashing brittle glass. His divine aura exploded around him, forming a spherical cocoon of blinding gray energy. The cocoon expanded outward, washing over the kneeling deities like a wave. As it passed them, the suffocating weight of Gustav’s presence lifted. It only lifted sightly, but it was enough for them to gasp for breath and snap out of their enforced bowing. They staggered upright, panting with shame burning in their immortal eyes. The Overseer glared at them with fury. "You fools! Do not let your knees bend so easily! You know what he is! You know what he was designed to be!" His voice shook with both anger and fear. The deities exchanged looks, still trembling. The Overseer continued: "He was created to supersede us. To rule over us. To keep us in check. His very existence overrides ours!" He jabbed a finger toward Gustav, who merely stood still, watching silently. "And now that he has returned in full, he wields abilities that have been sealed—locked away—" Their faces paled. Because they knew he was right. Even at 10% of his strength, Gustav had once wiped out a deity with a casual gesture. Now he was at 100%. The gap was beyond astronomical. It was absolute. Freed from the reverent paralysis, the deities’ fear slowly morphed into resistance—fueled by pride, anger, and the Overseer’s words. When Gustav had spoken of consequences, their bodies had trembled. But now their eyes narrowed. Their fists clenched. Their auras flared in defiance. The Overseer, sensing their renewed determination, pressed on: "Have you forgotten his punishments? Should I remind you?" He pointed at the Deity of Flames. "You—once a divine inferno unmatched across ten thousand star clusters—he reduced you to ordinary fire, scattered across a barren planet like a campfire waiting to be extinguished by wind." He pointed next at the Deity of Oceans. "And you—he stripped your divinity until you became nothing but stagnant water in a forgotten wasteland." One by one, he reminded them. Of their humiliations. Of their demotions. Of how Gustav had once erased their sentience, dissolved their consciousness, and redistributed their essence across the cosmos as punishment. The memories were not merely painful—they were degrading on a cosmic scale. The Overseer’s words reignited old hatred. Deity after deity clenched their teeth, their eyes blazing. Nocturnis snarled as shadows rippled around him. "You do not need to remind me, Overseer. Because of him, I was locked in the Dark Dimension for hundred thousand years—stripped of contact, stripped of power, stripped of sight." A low murmur spread. Fear, resentment, defiance. They didn’t want to return to that. They wouldn’t. Not again. Not ever. Gustav’s patience was enormous, but not infinite. His eyes which glowed with swirling depths of cosmic law, swept over them. "My warning is simple," he said calmly. "Those who step forward willingly to accept their consequences will be spared harsh punishment." A few deities flinched. "I will be... merciful." His tone softened, but only slightly. "But those who resist..." His eyes hardened. "...will face the full weight of their past deeds." A wave of uneasy contemplation passed through the group. Could he truly be merciful? Had he changed? Had Angy’s sacrifice softened him? These were the questions flickering in their immortal minds. Some looked hopeful. Some looked doubtful. All looked afraid. But then— "DO NOT BE DECEIVED!" The Overseer roared again, drowning their hesitations. "He speaks of mercy, but he has never shown it! The only way out of this is to fight. Fight! And destroy him again!" The deities’ eyes widened. Destroy him? Again? Gustav exhaled slowly. "My destruction is temporary," he said coldly. "You forget who I am. No matter what happens, I will always return." The Overseer snarled. "Then we simply delay your return for as long as possible. Thousands of years, if we’re lucky. And this time, once you fall—" His eyes gleamed viciously. "—I will make sure your friends perish as well, so no ritual will bring you back early." Gustav’s eyes narrowed as a brief silence returned. Then, his voice thundered with primordial authority: "You forget who you speak to, Overseer. I am—" Before he could finish, a desperate deity appeared behind Gustav, launching a sneak attack. A blade of condensed dark matter, sharp enough to cleave a small universe, slashed toward Gustav’s spine. Everyone gasped. But Gustav... ...simply breathed out. A soft, effortless exhalation. The attack which was capable of annihilating galaxies, was immediately snuffed out, evaporating like smoke meeting a gust of wind. The deity froze. Gustav simply clenched his fist. The deity’s body convulsed, collapsing inward on itself, compressing violently— —atoms crushed together— —divine essence imploded— —sentience flickered— Until he disintegrated entirely, wiped from existence with casual indifference. Silence. Shock. Terror. Even the Overseer flinched. Then he pointed at the dissipating particles of the destroyed deity and shouted: "YOU SEE?! That is the fate that awaits all of us if we do not destroy him now!" His voice cracked with desperation. The deities’ eyes burned with a terrifying mixture of fear and rage. 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺 And the stage was set. Because whether they wanted it or not... A war was about to begin. A war against the Outworldly.