In the upper levels of Little Garden, every god above the 3-Digit rank in all pantheons was utterly shocked.
Only those who had stepped into the realm of Omnipotence could truly comprehend the magnitude of what had just occurred.
The Son of God, Jesus—who had until moments ago been filled with resentment toward Shiroyasha for arbitrarily triggering the Historical Cycle without the approval of all pantheons—now wore an expression of utter disbelief.
"What's happening in the Nexus of Little Garden!? We're detecting a pantheon greater in scale than the current Little Garden itself! That's impossible!"
As a 2-Digit being who had consolidated more than two domains and mastered all their Authorities, he could already be said to have merged with the Observable Universe itself.
Yet now, every Observable Universe was undergoing change. The alteration was minute—but it affected every existing world.
That meant the scope was too vast. The resulting variables were beyond imagination. Even if all 2-Digits combined their efforts to guide the changes, their influence would be no more than a single ripple in an endless ocean.
Furthermore, Pan-Human History itself had already begun to shift in response to the new variables detected by the Nexus of Little Garden.
This was terrifying beyond measure.
"Damn it! How could we suddenly detect pantheons greater than the current Little Garden—and all of them unknown!?"
Jesus was trembling in fear.
He knew that although the Biblical Pantheon remained one of the strongest in Little Garden, it had long since been riddled with cracks.
It was all because the Shiroyasha, in order to help Arcadia defeat the Dystopian Demon Lord, had arbitrarily triggered a Historical Cycle.
Not only had this rendered their investments in the Dystopian Demon Lord utterly meaningless, but even half of the Observable Worlds had begun to shift allegiance.
Especially after Nietzsche's declaration—"God is dead"—was collectively accepted by more than half of all human civilizations across the Observable Worlds.
Jehovah, the God of the Bible, had perished not long ago when his divinity collapsed.
Without their God, the Biblical Pantheon's control over the Observable Worlds had been halved, and even their legitimacy as a pantheon was now under doubt.
If that legitimacy were to be officially denied, more than half of the Biblical gods would perish, and even Jesus' own divinity could rapidly decay—he might fall from the 2-Digit rank altogether.
Just like the Zoroastrian, Aztec, and Takamagahara pantheons that had vanished from Little Garden, the Biblical Pantheon would be reduced to history.
He could not allow such a thing to happen.
He was already devising countermeasures—plans to target Shiroyasha and eliminate Arcadia, that massive human-led Community threatening the Biblical Pantheon's legitimacy.
He wasn't alone in his intent. Nearly seventy percent of the gods shared the same thought.
After all, Arcadia represented the human side, not the divine.
Unless Arcadia's leaders accepted the divinity of godhood and ascended into pantheonic status, most gods would never sit idly by.
This was tied to the ultimate question of Little Garden itself—whether gods were born from humanity, or humanity was created by gods.
If the human side's scripture triumphed, the gods would become vassals. If the divine side's doctrine prevailed, humanity would instead be subjugated.
To the gods, such an outcome was absolutely unacceptable.
Historically, the divine side had always held the advantage. Humanity never had a chance.
But now, Arcadia had made that possibility real.
In past Last Embryos (Final Trials of Humanity), the heroes who triumphed were always chosen by the gods. But this time, the victors had emerged from humanity itself—while the gods had proven powerless against the Dystopia.
The gods who feared humanity's victory had already formed an alliance—one fully supporting the divine side's scripture, aimed at completely suppressing humanity's.
And the one leading this alliance… was a 2-Digit.
He was preparing to act.
"Damn you, White Night Demon! Damn you, Arcadia!"
Jesus could no longer maintain his divine composure, cursing aloud in fury.
Such an enormous change—he could only pray that it wouldn't drag the Biblical Pantheon down with it. Otherwise, their downfall would be sealed in this very upheaval.
...
Western Paradise.
Buddha Shakyamuni gazed worriedly toward the direction where the colossal pantheon was descending. "Amitabha… This is not a 3-Digit pantheon—it's a 2-Digit one. And there's more than one."
Greek Pantheon—
The youngest child of Gaia, Typhon, cursed furiously. "What in the world did we just observe!? Did we just detect another Little Garden all at once!?"
It had been ages since the two primordial goddesses had intervened in anything—but now, both of them acted simultaneously, directly interfering with the Nexus of Little Garden.
Even though, as embodiments of Primordial Truth, their influence on the current Nexus was minimal, it was enough to prevent the distortion of laws from spreading too far into the lower realms.
[Warning… no, confirmation. Seven pantheons possessing full 2-Digit-level domains are about to descend. All beings, prepare yourselves.]
Greek Pantheon—
Athena was speechless. "What!? Seven pantheons of 2-Digits!?"
At present, setting aside the Primordial Four and exceptions like the barefoot Shiroyasha, the number of 2-Digits who had actually emerged from pantheons barely exceeded ten.
And now, seven more were arriving at once—and not as individuals, but each bringing their entire pantheon with them.
For a pantheon to have reached the 2-Digit level even before entering Little Garden—how many 3-Digits must it have? Likely not less than two figures. Each would have at least dozens.
Seven such pantheons meant there would be over a hundred 3-Digits descending.
This was absurd—an arrival on the scale of an entire Little Garden of gods.
Rumble, rumble, rumble…!
The Nexus of Little Garden erupted with blinding light. The sun, the moon, and the stars—all celestial spheres within Little Garden—manifested together in the heavens.
Those who possessed fragments of Solar Sovereignty could clearly sense the shifting tides of Pan-Human History itself.
Normally, the Solar Sovereignty would interfere with human history—but this time, human history was interfering with the Solar Sovereignty.
Such reversal was utterly unthinkable.
Even Shiroyasha, once the original wielder of Solar Sovereignty, was stunned beyond words.
"Th-this… how could this be possible!?"
"This change is far too abnormal—it's second only to the birth of Little Garden itself!"
But now was not the time to dwell on such anomalies. Her attention was drawn to the overwhelming might of the newcomers—the leaders of the newly descended pantheons, each wielding the power of a 2-Digit being.
Eleven immense divine auras descended all at once, each carrying its own supreme will that crushed the very laws of existence beneath their weight.
Eleven pillars of light pierced through the upper gates of the 2-Digit realm, linking heaven and earth in resplendent brilliance.
Even Shiroyasha could not suppress her shock any longer.
"Eleven 2-Digits—!"
"What!? Eleven 2-Digits!?"
All the gods of Little Garden's upper realm stared skyward, drenched in cold sweat as they beheld the descent of eleven overwhelming powers.
Since the establishment of Little Garden, it had undergone countless transformations. Innumerable gods had perished, and even once-glorious pantheons had vanished one after another. Only seventeen 2-Digits had ever come into existence.
And among those, only four had reached that realm without borrowing the power of Little Garden itself—those four being the Cosmic Truths.
Only a 2-Digit could truly understand the vast differences within their own rank.
The strongest remained the four Cosmic Truths.
Following them were those who had unified multiple domains into total Authority—known as the Full Authority Domain.
This domain represented the unification of all Authority within at least two observable-world domains, reaching the threshold of 2-Digit existence.
Merely unifying the Authority of a single domain was insufficient for a Full Authority Domain. Such beings, while powerful, would only possess the strength of an upper 3-Digit—those who had broken the norm through partial domain mastery.
The weakest 2-Digits were those who had ascended through the Savior Divinity, achieving godhood through great deeds alone.
The Savior Divinity signified one who had saved all of humanity once before.
If one compared this to the myths of the Great Desolation:
Cosmic Truths corresponded to attaining the Dao through sheer force—"Enlightenment through Power."
Full Authority Domains mirrored the path of Three Corpses—the "Enlightenment through Unity."
Savior Divinity reflected the path of Merit—the "Enlightenment through Deeds."
Within Little Garden, there was a unanimous understanding regarding what it meant to become a 2-Digit.
One could not attain 2-Digit rank outside of Little Garden.
It required the unification of countless pantheons, with the Cosmic Truths as the foundation—constructing a convergence point encompassing infinite worlds, timelines, and parallel universes.
Only by continually absorbing unknown worlds into observation and establishing an order that even the Cosmic Truths could not escape could one create the foundation to ascend to 2-Digit status.
Such a realization came only after the creation of Little Garden—and it had cost the lives of innumerable gods and the extinction of many pantheons.
Thus, beyond the Four Primordials, only thirteen others had reached 2-Digit rank.
Therefore, when all gods felt the descent of eleven 2-Digits—none of whom were Cosmic Truths—they unanimously concluded: another Observable World must exist beyond Little Garden.
And that world might even surpass Little Garden in strength.
After all, even among Little Garden's seventeen 2-Digits, not all ventured beyond its bounds to explore the unknown.
At present, only eleven 2-Digits remained within Little Garden. The other six hadn't appeared for ages.
The remaining 2-Digits within Little Garden rushed at full speed toward the site of descent.
After all, these were eleven 2-Digits—and by the feel of their power, all of them surpassed the local ones. Only the Twin Goddesses felt little pressure.
"What a terrifying aura! Boss, are those descending beings coming with hostility?"
Shiroyasha hurried back to the 2-Digit Gates. She had yet to shed her godhood and return to her original White Night Demon form.
Feeling pressure stronger even than that of her own boss, she asked nervously.
Her gaze turned toward a graceful figure slowly emerging from the light.
That silhouette—no matter how many times she saw it—always made her want to pull out her camera and take pictures.
But that thought remained only a fantasy. She would never dare act on it before her boss.
Her boss, though gentle and compassionate most of the time, could be terrifying when angered. Shiroyasha had once been beaten to near death and diced into pieces for misbehavior.
The only reason she lived comfortably now was because her boss had personally vouched for her before all pantheons.
As a defeated Demon Lord, she should have been nothing more than property of the victors—free for them to use as they pleased.
Yet her boss had treated her with kindness, which made her finally restrain her once-lawless nature.
From the light emerged two radiant goddesses—one with white hair and crimson eyes, the other with red hair and silver eyes.
Their expressions were emotionless, yet the moment they appeared, the air was saturated with Cosmic Truth itself.
Even Buddha Shakyamuni, the Son of God Jesus, and the Holy Sage Kṛṣṇa—all 2-Digits themselves—felt their hearts seize in awe.
"Ooh~ As expected of big sister… Just standing nearby feels suffocating," a small silver-haired, violet-eyed girl murmured softly.
A blue-haired young man looked around restlessly. "The other two still haven't shown up, huh? Ever since Little Garden's establishment, they've rarely appeared. Even now, with something this huge happening, they're still not coming?"
The youngest child of Gaia, Typhon, spoke in a low voice. "Those two have long left Little Garden, Matsya."
The two he spoke of were naturally also Cosmic Truths—Heaven Emperor and Earth Mother.
[I do not sense any malice. Perhaps they are not here with hostile intent.]
A voice resonated through the air—like the echo of the cosmos itself.
Everyone fell silent.
The Twin Goddesses had not spoken; this was the Echo of Truth.
[Their power levels are close to mine, yet they are not True Truths as we are. However, they carry the scent of Truth.]
[From the aura of Truth they bear, I have gleaned certain information.]
[On their side, another Little Garden has been established, and their Pan-Human History surpasses ours in completion.]
[Moreover, they have already resolved all paradoxes and ultimate propositions.]
The Son of God, Jesus, widened his eyes. "What? Their Pan-Human History surpasses ours—and they've resolved every paradox and final proposition!?"
"Could the other side truly be that powerful?"
Everyone froze in disbelief.
Shiroyasha narrowed her eyes. "What's that supposed to mean, Son of God? Are you doubting my boss?"
That guy was bad news—he'd even tried to pick a fight with her before.
Jesus' face darkened as he came to his senses, letting out a cold snort.
[They have arrived.]
The Echo of Truth reverberated once more.
Everyone fixed their gaze on the point of descent.
Within the radiant aurora pillars, eleven figures slowly took form—descending majestically toward where they stood.
—
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