Maki Zen'in's growth had reached another level. Not only was she naturally gifted in martial arts and combat, but her raw tenacity in battle—willing to gamble everything, even her life—made her terrifyingly efficient at gaining experience from her Blessing. This reckless fighting style was one of the fastest paths to increasing one's Ability Scores and achieving the "Great Feat" needed to level up.
Add in her Heavenly Restriction, and it would honestly be more surprising if her growth wasn't absurdly fast.
After transcribing her updated status from the Blessing, Akiyama Ren handed the status sheet to Maki.
She glanced at it—and immediately, a bright smile spread across her face.
"All that suffering in the Dungeon... totally worth it!" she beamed, gripping the sheet tightly.
If there were results to show for her pain, then she'd willingly charge back into hell itself. That was just her way.
When the two exited the room, Hestia had just finished washing up. She was stretching and yawning exaggeratedly when she noticed them walk out together.
Breakfast time was a bit... tense. Maki and Hestia sat across from each other, silently staring like cats guarding their territory. Ren? He wisely chose to focus on his meal, feigning ignorance of the electric air around him.
After breakfast, Ren took both girls out into the bustling streets of Orario.
Since Maki had just returned from her solo expedition into the deeper floors of the Dungeon, she had planned to take the day off. Her armor was scratched to hell, her weapons dulled, and her clothes were in worse shape than a worn-out hand-me-down.
So first stop: equipment maintenance and a new set of adventurer gear.
Hestia also had her own list of things to buy. Though she had moved into Ren's ridiculously huge villa, her personal room still looked like a minimalist prison cell—just a bed, wardrobe, desk, and chair.
No decorations, no comfort items, not even a change of clothes.
So of course, she shamelessly advanced three months' worth of salary from Ren.
The trio wandered through several of Orario's main shopping districts, browsing shops both practical and luxurious. Hestia took the lead on being dramatic—she squealed over ribbons, spun around holding dresses, and practically begged for snacks.
By the time they returned home, their hands were filled with bags, their feet sore from walking, and their wallets significantly lighter.
Too tired to cook, they decided to eat out at the famous tavern: The Hostess of Fertility. Delicious food, good drinks, and a cozy atmosphere—it was the perfect way to end the day.
The next morning, Maki Zen'in rose before dawn. She geared up in her newly purchased armor, double-checked her sharpened weapons, and left for the Dungeon like a true warrior.
Hestia, on the other hand, was still happily snoring away in her room.
Ren also woke up a little earlier than usual. But instead of heading to the kitchen or jumping into a morning shower, he sat cross-legged on the tatami mat and began to meditate.
That was because—just a moment ago—the System had notified him with a new prompt:
[Ding! Star Gate has successfully connected to a new world: No Game No Life!]
Ren's heart skipped a beat. No Game No Life! The fantasy world of overwhelming intellect, spirit-based magic, and the god-tier artifact—Star Cup!
More importantly, the divine beings of that world were conceptual gods, each tied to the very laws of existence. The pinnacle of that hierarchy was Tet, the One True God who gained supremacy by claiming the Star Cup.
Ren's Rimuru template made this a jackpot.
If he could acquire a God Spirit Core in the No Game No Life world, he wouldn't just be a God—he would become a Conceptual God, a being capable of rewriting reality itself!
Still, no need to rush. He had just finished learning the last few complex spells from the God Slayer world and completed his training in modern-style Onmyōdō. With everything mastered, he could finally fuse it all into one Ultimate Skill usingCiel.
Once preparations were complete, Ren casually informed Hestia that he would be away for a while. "Try not to fight with Maki-chan too much, okay?" he said, half-joking.
Hestia saluted playfully. "Aye, aye~ I'll play nice. Probably."
With that, Ren soared into the skies and exited Orario's airspace. Ten kilometers out, atop a quiet forested hill, he summoned the shimmering Star Gate.
A swirling portal opened. Without hesitation, Ren stepped through.
--
[No Game No Life World - 6,000+ Years Ago]
The moment Ren arrived, his senses were assaulted by overwhelming chaos.
The sky was dark, thick with ash and despair. The landscape was littered with craters and floating debris—evidence of apocalyptic-scale battles. The twisted remains of spirits drifted through the air like falling snow.
This era was known as the Great War, a time when the sixteen sentient races of Disboard fought for dominance, long before the Ten Covenants brought peace.
The moment Akiyama Ren stepped into this chaotic world, he felt a surge of energy—an intrusive force that latched onto his divine body. It was the world's own laws, acting autonomously, beginning to reshape his godhood.
Ren instinctively prepared to resist, but after sensing that this transformation was not only harmless but beneficial, he allowed it to proceed.
Unlike many gods who forcibly impose themselves onto the worlds they enter, Ren was acknowledged by this realm as one of its own. However, there was one issue—the gods of this world, especially those of the Old Deus from Disboard, were embodiments of concepts and possessed "god spirit." Ren, while powerful, had no god spirit of his own. To this world, that was an error to be corrected.
The method of correction? The world itself would generate a god spirit for him.
Back in the Noragami world, Ren had received divine status as both a War God and a Calamity God. After devouring Veleslana and Melqart, he had inherited their authorities—War, Military, Sea, Fertility, and Hunting. With all these overlapping domains, the world's law-system became confused while trying to craft his god spirit.
There could only be one god spirit. But with all these divine domains, how would the world choose?
War God and Sea God were immediately ruled out; in this world, those positions were already filled by existing deities. So the potential narrowed down to Military God, Calamity God, God of Fertility, and God of Hunting.
But at that very moment, Ren activated the Rimuru template.
His divine essence surged.
In addition to his existing divinities, two new concept paths emerged—Dragon God and Demon God.
The Dragon God came from Rimuru's evolution after absorbing Veldora the Storm Dragon and becoming a fifth-generation pure-blooded dragon. As a result, Ren too was recognized as a true Dragon Species.
The Demon God emerged due to Rimuru's mastery over a vast number of magic disciplines and his transformation into the pinnacle of magical and monstrous existence. This encompassed both the God of Magic and God of Monsters concepts.
The system of world rules began to overload.
Seizing the chaos, Ren used a divine stratagem—he split his existence into three separate divine bodies.
The first self integrated the concepts of Calamity and Demon God, forming the entity known as the Evil God of Calamity.
The second fused War, Military, and Hunting, becoming the Fighting and Battle Saint God.
The third merged Dragon, Sea, and Fertility, giving birth to the Creation Dragon God.
Each of the three divine selves was then granted its own unique god spirit by the world, under the belief that they were distinct deities of the Old Deus.
Once the process completed, Ren brought the three back together, recombining into a single divine being—
Trinity Form: God Spirit Race, Origin Class.
The Evil God of Calamity, harbinger of misfortune.
The Fighting and Battle Saint God, embodiment of endless martial valor.
The Creation Dragon God, progenitor of dragonkind and bearer of life.
With all three god spirits combined, Akiyama Ren had ascended to the pinnacle of divine evolution in Disboard.
He could feel it in his bones—this wasn't just a power-up. It was transcendence.
Without even utilizing the Rimuru template's full might, a single blow from his Trinity Form could easily wipe out a star.
His current strength had multiplied over a hundredfold compared to his earlier self.
But there was more.
Ren turned his attention to the skills he had accumulated. He summoned Ciel and began the process of integrating all the Jujutsu, Magic, and Onmyōdō he had absorbed.
The sheer volume was immense, but Ciel began its work with ease, organizing, categorizing, and fusing skills based on attributes and compatibility.
The results?
A new tier of abilities—
[Divine Arts].
Each Divine Art was a fusion of countless techniques and spells from different worlds, compressed into their most optimal and devastating form.
Even so, Ren found gaps.
Some skills lacked the complementary abilities to reach their peak.
Without hesitation, he unleashed his divine consciousness across the entirety of Disboard, scanning every powerful race—the Old Deus, Dragonewts, Giant Species, Flügel, Mori Species, Elves, and even Ex Machina.
Within moments,Ciel had harvested the knowledge of every spell, chant, and combat method worth copying.
In just a short moment, Akiyama Ren obtained all the magic and spirit-breaking formulas of the Mori Species, including the widely feared Null First Protection, the First Protection of Motion, the Second Protection of Stillness, the Third Protection of the End, and the Fourth Protection of Eternity!
He didn't stop there. Ren also acquired the Divine Strike, Heavenly Strike, and Instantaneous Movement of the Flügel , the Roar of the Dragonewt, the Blood Rampage of the Beastmen, and more.
With Ciel analyzing everything, these magics, spirit arts, jujutsu, and modern Onmyōdō were all integrated into his system, provided their affinities aligned. The process was swift—within mere minutes, countless skills were refined and categorized.
"Man... this Ciel is seriously busted," Ren muttered, watching the flood of new techniques organize themselves.
A sudden idea struck him like a bolt of lightning.
"Wait... If I create a vessel and embed it with core-level abilities using Ciel... what if those abilities remain even after the template fades?" His eyes sparkled with a dangerous glint.
The revelation hit him like a spark igniting a fuel tank.
Immediately, Ren created a clone of himself using Divine Split. Then, drawing from the essence of his Rimuru template, he used Ciel to bestow upon this clone four foundational Ultimate Skills: [Raphael, Lord of Wisdom], [Beelzebuth, Lord of Gluttony], [Uriel, Lord of Vows], and [Merciless]!
Although he couldn't create the complete [Azathoth, Lord of the Void] or [Ciel, Lord of Wisdom] outright, these four abilities formed the groundwork for their future evolution. All he needed now was time, experience—and battles.
Having organized everything, Ren loosened up, stretching his arms while smirking.
"Time to shake up this world."
He had originally assumed he'd arrived during Disboard's blank period, but now realized this was 6,000 years before the events of Sora and Shiro—during the old gods' war.
And if he was here... then the Star Grail, the primordial artifact that conferred godhood over the entire world—was too tempting to pass up.
As for the War God Artosh? With Trinity form and the Rimuru template in full swing, that muscle-brained deity was just a slightly larger mob boss.
Without hesitation, Ren flew into the sky, raising one hand above his head. Divine energy gathered and condensed into his fist before he swung it down with unstoppable force.
BOOM!!
Like an iron hammer smashing glass, the atmosphere split open, shattering the Spirit Circuit—a divine plane connecting higher divinities.
This was akin to what the Ex-Machina had done in the canon timeline when they tried to summon the Star Grail by targeting the most powerful being.
But this time, Ren didn't leave anything to chance.
"I am the strongest in this world," Ren declared, his aura radiating outward like a collapsing star.
All across Disboard, divine entities and high races trembled as the Spirit Circuit exploded in the skies above.
A torrent of spirit particles surged into the air like a divine flood.
And then—it appeared.
A multi-faceted crystal-like object, reflecting infinite colors and vibrating with the pulse of the world itself—the [Star Grail].
It drifted down, drawn toward the strongest entity it recognized—Ren.
He reached out, gently touching it with one finger.
SHOOM—
The Star Grail instantly merged into Ren's divine soul.
At that moment, his entire being became one with the world.
He wasn't just a god—he was The One True God of Disboard.
Omniscient. Omnipotent. One thought to birth a universe, one thought to annihilate it. One thought for eternity itself.
In this world—he reigned supreme.
Of course, outside Disboard, the Star Grail became just an absurdly powerful battery. No omnipotence, no omniscience, but it still granted incredible power.
Even so, this was more than Ren had hoped for.
"With this, I can sweep through the God Slayer World with ease," he grinned.
No more hiding, no more inching forward cautiously.
He'd turn the God Slayer World into his personal garden of divine power. Those Authorities he'd been eyeing? They were as good as his.
Just as he was basking in his victory, a pressure unlike any other crashed into the skies.
A massive form emerged—broad-shouldered, nearly four meters tall, a warrior covered in gold-lined white armor. Eighteen glowing wings flared from his back like a divine peacock.
Eyes burning with holy fire locked onto Ren.
"You... Who are you?! I've never sensed a God Spirit Race like you before!" the newcomer bellowed.
Ren recognized him instantly.
"War God Artosh," Ren said, smiling.
Artosh's brows furrowed. Despite his usual confidence, this being before him—Ren—was throwing off signals of incomprehensible danger.
Behind Artosh, the Flügel began to appear one after another, each flanking their god with reverence. They sensed the anomaly too, but with their creator before them, they had no fear.
Some even cracked their knuckles, itching for a fight. To them, Ren was just another god to slay.
"You've made a mistake coming here," Artosh warned, drawing a divine spear etched with runes.
But Ren only chuckled.
"Nah. I'm exactly where I need to be. In fact, you're the one who should be worried."
He raised his right hand.
A sphere the size of a ping-pong ball formed—pitch black, devouring even light.
It was [Azathoth, Lord of the Void]—his most dangerous attack.
The black hole pulsed, gravity twisting the fabric of reality.
Artosh's expression changed in an instant.
The gravitational pull hit him like a tsunami. His wings flared to resist, but even his divine body began to bend toward the sphere.
He tried to teleport, but the space around him warped too violently. No spatial magic could get him out now.
"Impossible! You—what even are you?!" Artosh shouted.
Ren's expression didn't change.
"I'm the one who'll devour you."
And then the War God was pulled forward, wings fluttering wildly as the gravitational force drew him into the void. The Flügel panicked, trying to interfere, but none could breach the collapsing gravity field.
A few moments later, only silence remained.
Artosh, War God of ancient Disboard, had been erased.
With a deep breath, he smiled.
"One down. The rest of the pantheon to go."
He turned toward the distant horizon, eyes gleaming.
"Now... who's next?"