Rebirth of the 8th-Circle Mage

It felt as though Henry had blown out the only candle in the middle of the night. There were no stars and no moon in the sky. Absolute darkness engulfed him.

Indeed, this was the first time the heavens were plunged into darkness. Ever since their creation, they had never once seen darkness thanks to the eternal sun of the Heavenly God. And so, midnight suns were extremely common in this realm.

However, darkness had descended into this realm of light, only because of the death of one god.

“Light.” Henry’s voice echoed far into the darkness.

At that moment, the heavens lit up as though they had never been plunged into darkness in the first place.

Henry hadn’t cast some basic 1st-Circle magic to bring back the light. In fact, he had just shouted out loud because he was annoyed that he couldn’t see anything.

The result of his irritation was nothing short of amazing. The basic 1st-Circle light magic had gone beyond its limits as if grateful that the almighty god of magic had chosen it for a spell.

Thanks to Henry’s transcendent magic, the heavens were shining brightly once again.

- Sisibaba, sisibaba…

All the Sisibabas had witnessed what had happened, which made them witnesses to a historical moment, one they would pass on to future generations.

“If the heavens still exist, that is.”

The Sisibabas hurriedly retreated into the ground when Henry’s gaze fell upon them. After they disappeared, Henry directed his gaze toward the Heavenly God. The light in his eyes had long disappeared, and his golden laurel wreath was on the ground.

Seeing him like this, Henry couldn’t help thinking how gods were no different from humans. In fact, he pitied him.

He hadn’t imagined that the Heavenly God would meet such a miserable end. No sane person would’ve thought that the god who had ruled over the heavens since the beginning of time, enforcing his ridiculous philosophy onto others with his power of time, would end up like this.

In fact, Henry was certain that not a single soul in the heavens would’ve ever imagined that something like this would befall them.

As he maintained his gold gaze on the corpse, Henry remembered the things he had learned after becoming a complete god through death, things that only those that were part of the God Realm were aware of.

That information consisted of rules and ideas that some gods regarded as the absolute truth, the irrefutable law of the universe.

However, most of that information was rather trivial to Henry. He was more interested in two specific facts, one being that gods were allowed to kill other gods, and the other that gods could not use the powers bestowed by the King of Gods to harm other gods.

Those two facts made Henry realize that he had made the right decision, and that he would ultimately be able to achieve what he wanted, even though he had almost given up as an incomplete god.

Following this realization, Henry immediately sketched out a new plan. This one was more to his liking, and the death of the Heavenly God had already set it in motion.

The Heavenly God was no longer relevant to Henry, for now, his next target was the King of Gods.

The King of Gods was called as such by all the other deities. The thing about him was that he had shared some of his powers with the other gods so as to establish order in the world, or what he perceived to be order.

Of course, none of the gods knew how the world worked, given that they knew virtually nothing about it. They just simply followed whatever the King of Gods said because he was their supreme ruler.

Henry wasn’t aiming for something grand like ruling the world. Rather, he was focused on what the King of Gods did—sharing his power amongst other gods. This reminded Henry of when he had received the dimensional powers from the Demon God.

The Demon God could still use the power of dimensions even after sharing it with Henry. And with that logic, Henry figured that the King of Gods could share the power of time with him as he had done so with the Heavenly God.

Henry snorted and shook his head as he thought about the fact that there had been two deities who possessed the power of time. He had been terribly foolish to stoop that low and beg to the Heavenly God for that power.

Henry wished he had figured this out sooner so that he could’ve taken care of the Heavenly God way earlier. If he had done so, he would’ve already been in front of the King of Gods, asking him for his power.

Of course, it wasn’t certain whether the King of Gods would help him, and given that Henry had already given up on his goal once, he wasn’t planning to grovel before the King of Gods as he had done with the Heavenly God. He was sick and tired of begging.

If the King of Gods refused to help him, he would just stop asking.

‘If nothing works, I might just challenge the King of Gods.’

Given how overwhelmingly powerful Henry had become after his ascension, he wasn’t scared of anything anymore. In addition, since it was allowed for one god to slay another, Henry also considered the option of taking down the King of Gods.

Having organized his thoughts, Henry looked back up at the sky.

The God Realm—the area where all the gods of the world dwelled. La, the protector of Shahatra, and Irene, the goddess of love and peace, were there as well.

Henry had learned how to reach that realm after becoming a complete god. He had also learned how many gods dwelled there and what he would have to go through to meet the King of Gods.

In all honesty, none of that mattered anymore. He had gotten sick of bowing down to the Heavenly God, and he certainly wouldn’t do that with the King of Gods. Whatever happened, he would do things his way regardless of what the outcome would be.

Henry took a step forward, and then…

Whoosh!

The scenery changed instantly as if someone had teleported him.

“So this is…”

Henry noticed that he was stepping on a cloud. His surroundings were pink, and the sky was of the same color.

He was in the God Realm.

Henry looked across the horizon, only to see an endless stream of pink. At the very end of the horizon, he saw what looked like an elongated fence.

But after another quick glance, Henry realized that it wasn’t a fence, and he smirked. He was actually looking at the gods, who looked like a long fence because they were lined up and stood upright.

Maintaining his smile, Henry continued to walk toward them. As he got closer, he could see their faces more clearly. Most of them didn’t look very human-like. They all looked like gods in their respectable ways.

‘There sure are a lot of them.’

Given how many gods there were here, Henry felt that being a god wasn’t that special anymore. He believed that someone was truly outstanding and noble if there wasn’t anyone like them.

Once he was able to see their faces clearly, Henry stopped walking. He took a quick look at everyone, only to notice that he had never seen any of them before. However, he could still tell which god was which because of the information he had received after becoming a complete god.

He then noticed something beyond the gods that he hadn’t seen from afar—a white staircase leading up into the skies.

‘Hmm, I see.’

Henry knew it was the only set of stairs in the God Realm and that it didn’t have a name, not that it needed one. He also knew that those stairs would lead him to his target: the King of Gods.

Even though he had been standing in front of the gods for a while, none of them reacted at all. At this, Henry greeted them in a friendly tone.

“It’s nice to meet every single one of you. I’m Henry Morris, the god of magic. I’ve just become a complete god.”

“...”

The gods remained impassive, gazing at Henry with cold eyes. Reading the room, Henry scratched his back out of embarrassment and chuckled sheepishly.

“Haha, I'm feeling incredibly grateful for this warm welcome. I’m sure everyone’s gathered here to congratulate me on ascending to godhood, right?”

Henry tried to lighten the mood one more time, but not a single god smiled or greeted him. He even put on a fake smile, but his efforts were in vain.

Henry knew why the gods weren’t reacting and why they had all gathered here in the first place. Everyone in the God Realm had to have instantly found out about the Heavenly God’s death.

He was the first god that had ever committed deicide. And so, his sin was most grave. Even though the gods respected each other’s freedom, no one welcomed those who harmed their own kind.

It wasn’t that they didn’t welcome Henry in this realm; they outright rejected him for his sin.

At that moment, a familiar god stepped forward

“Henry…”

It was La. The desert god had very mixed feelings for Henry, to say the least. He cared deeply for Henry, so he was naturally saddened by his terrible crime.

Henry noticed La’s rueful expression, but in stark contrast to the god’s sadness, he replied in a cheery tone, “Oh, who do we have here! La! What’s going on here? Are you also here to congratulate me on ascending to godhood?”

“Henry…”

La didn’t know what to say to him. He knew that the other gods were already furious, and he had to go along with them and punish Henry. All he managed was to repeatedly call out his name in a voice filled with helplessness.

At this, Henry took a step forward and spoke to La in a more relaxed voice.

“I know what’s going on.”

“I’m sure you do…”

“And I also know that you know there’s something I have to do, even if that means committing deicide.”

“...”

La was more than aware of what Henry was going through, as the desert god had paid close attention to the human realm. But he also knew that Henry couldn’t go back to his world anymore.

However, Henry’s goals aligned with La’s, which was why the desert god couldn’t say anything to Henry.

After he was done talking to La, Henry moved his gaze toward Irene. Just as La, she had a helpless and uneasy expression. She, too, was well aware of what situation Henry was in. But then, the god closest to Henry spoke up.

“Henry Morris.”

The god that called out his name was wearing a helmet that had bright red feathers running across its center like a rooster’s comb. He wasn’t wearing anything on his torso, so Henry could clearly see his muscular and bulky build. Lastly, the god wielded a shield with one hand and a short spear with the other.

He was none other than Walmet, the god of war.

“Nice to meet you,” Henry said in a nonchalant tone as if he hadn’t done anything. “So you’re the god of war. Is that why you’re in the forefront?”

Henry knew what they wanted, which was why he spoke in a light-hearted tone and kept joking around.

Walmet frowned at Henry’s attitude, but Henry couldn’t see that since the helmet was covering the god’s eyebrows. Then, Walmet spoke in a tone that signified just how disturbing he found Henry’s crime.

“Henry, by killing a god as a god, you've committed an unforgivable crime, one that is most dishonorable and shameful. Therefore, you must receive just punishment according to the law."

“The law?”

"Yes."

“The law, huh… You mean that promise you gods came up with?”

“What are you…?”

“Why should I have to abide by that unwritten rule of yours when I didn’t even make that promise? Don’t you think it’s unfair? I sure think it is.”

“You bastard! Do you know what you’re saying right now?!”

“Shh, quiet down. You’re not the only one who has power and strength here.”

Henry dropped the politeness and started speaking informally. He decided to stop playing around.

“La and Irene, step out of this if you don’t want to get yourselves killed with him,” said Henry as he glared at Walmet.

“Thanks…”

Without the slightest hesitation, La lowered his head and quickly walked past Henry. Some of the gods that saw him sighed deeply. However, Henry considered La to be the wisest one.

“Whoever thinks they can take me on, come at me. I know there’s no one stronger than me here!”

“You bastard…!”

“Why, am I wrong? I have the most believers here, no?”

Henry was confident, and he remained undeterred even though there were multiple angry gods facing him. He would take every single one of them down if he had to.

“Don’t you get what I’m saying? If you’re so damn confident, fight me right now. Or else, get lost!”