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What is a god, really?

Let’s throw out all those boring ideas about omnipotent beings or those who created the world. Honestly, there’s no one out there better than me, so what does omnipotence even mean?

The gods I want to talk about are those birthed from human belief. They are born from the desire to solve human questions.

They don’t have a body that can exist independently. They create a body through the devotion of others, relying on their followers to prove their own existence—pathetic little beings.

Yet, despite this, they pride themselves on being superior to other forms of life, using that very faith to claim their importance.

I think of them as almost like a fleeting illusion, existing only by feeding off the faith of their believers.

Of course, there are exceptions like me and my children, who have a separate physical form.

You could argue that if they create a body through faith, isn’t that their true body? But if that body can’t be sustained without a constant influx of faith, and if that faith stops, the body will go through a process of annihilation.

Anyway, you can think of them as a kind of spiritual parasite, living off human belief.

So, how can such gods meet their end?

Thinking about Baal, one potential method might be to utterly shatter their physical body with immense shock, leading to their destruction. But realistically, that’s a tough gig. Unless you’re at least as powerful as a dragon, it’s nearly impossible.

I’m not sure how much shock it takes to wipe out Baal’s body, but if it’s enough to raise a continent from the ocean, that’s not a small amount.

During wartime, dragons could probably bring that level of destruction, but that means only dragons could do it.

Even if you manage to destroy their body, if their followers keep believing in them… it’s just a temporary demolition. They’ll soon manifest in a new body.

Ah, in Baal’s case, he still has believers, but he’s currently rejecting the idea of recreating his body, so let’s just mark that as an exception.

Well, unless you can deal direct damage to a god’s soul or spirit, it’s still tough to decide on a method for killing them. Initially, I learned that gods have souls through studying Baal.

For now, let’s put a pin in ideas for killing a god through physical shock and move on.

Another way to kill a god is to sever their faith without directly intervening.

Isn’t that a theme in those famous boy comics? The moment you’re forgotten by all is the instant of your death.

For gods that exist relying on faith, that realization must sting even more.

They gain faith because someone believes in them, use that faith to collect more followers, and grow stronger.

Thus, the most effective way to eliminate a god would be to completely cut off all faith directed toward them.

You could say it’s like cutting off their supply line.

The simplest method of doing this would obviously be to wipe out all the humans who believe in that god, but… that’s just plain slaughter, so it’s not even worth considering.

Another option could be to convert those humans to believe in other gods, but since conversion is a pretty fuzzy concept, and each person’s faith varies greatly, it’s hard to gauge its effectiveness.

What if there’s someone who prioritizes their faith over their life? Well, I really don’t want to think about that.

So then, another possible method would be to undermine the god’s authority and make humans lose their faith in them.

If the god they believe in commits acts they can’t bear to witness, their worshippers will likely decrease.

Thinking about it, I just had a bright idea.

The twilight of the gods. Ragnarok. A period marking the end of Norse mythology.

Gigantomachy. A signal that indicates the end of Greek mythology.

While other mythologies may not lack an end, these two are the most representative.

If I could mimic these events… I could unnecessarily reduce the number of gods.

Not just Olympus and Aesir, but even the numbers of other factions could be dropped. If I demote them from their divine positions and reincarnate their souls as humans… I could reduce their numbers to a manageable level.

Besides, since one of my names is Gaia… it feels like the right time to initiate Gigantomachy.

Oh, creating new gigas might be a hassle, so maybe I’ll just mobilize some dragons. Dragons wouldn’t be lacking compared to gods.

If I find the numbers a bit short, hmm… maybe I should use some golems too?

Like Talos, the giant made of rock who guards the underworld… but it doesn’t necessarily have to be rock.

I could also use giants made from bubbling lava or frozen icebergs as materials.

Giants… the giants from the Ainsworth tribe are strong enough, but compared to gods, they’d be weak. They wouldn’t be suitable for this task.

Anyway, I need to inform the dragons and create golems. Should I also stoke some discord among the gods? If they get into a brawl and create a mess, it’ll make everything easier for me.

Yeah. Let’s do that. That sounds good.

Those who toppled Baal, the king of the gods I appointed, should pay a price for their actions.

“So, what’s your intention in telling me this story?”

“Well, I just thought it’d be good to prepare your heart a bit?”

“Prepare my heart?”

I chuckled quietly at the flabbergasted Ifrit.

“Other gods do have their share of arrogance, but dealing with all of them at once… wouldn’t that be a problem?”

“A problem, you say…”

“Yes. While they do cause a lot of trouble, it’s also true that they hold significant shares in keeping the balance of this world. If such gods were to suddenly vanish all at once, wouldn’t that create chaos?”

Hmm. Balance. So Ifrit believes that the existence of gods maintains balance.

But really, there’s no need for balance or anything. The world exists simply as it is, whether there are gods or not.

Is it a difference of perspective between me, who remembers a world without gods, and Ifrit, who has watched over the world since gaining their own existence?

“You’re underestimating this world too much. It doesn’t crumble that easily.”

“Is that so…? It looks incredibly fragile from where I stand.”

Ifrit looked straight at me when they spoke. Hmm… was the world really in such a precarious situation?

Is there some danger element I’m not aware of? I can’t quite tell.

“By the way, does mother dislike the other gods?”

“Huh? Why do you ask that all of a sudden?”

“Well, it’s pretty obvious, isn’t it? Even if you don’t say it directly, your demeanor speaks volumes about how you feel towards the other gods.”

Hmm… do I really dislike the gods?

Umm… well, it’s hard to say. If I had to classify it, I’d lean more toward the dislike side.

But then again, as the caretaker of this model garden where life has been planted and managed to thrive through evolution, do I have a reason to look kindly upon beings that can only exist by leeching off of life and wielding the faith they gather from others?

Why should I regard those gods, who are weaker than me, capable of less than me, more arrogant than me, and who look down on other forms of life, in a positive light?

No matter how I think about it, I can’t see a reason to.

Especially since if life develops and explores knowledge to understand the laws of the world, those gods would naturally fade away.

At least Baal showed some responsibility and a willingness to try, which was decent… but still, it seems I really have no reason to like the gods.

“Still, watching them is kind of entertaining. It’s amusing to see those inadequate beings bicker and squabble among themselves.”

“If the other forms of life aren’t suffering in between, I might’ve thought the same.”

Even if I separated the divinity of the Goddess of Life and made it a fragment, the responsibility of birthing life still remains.

“Though you don’t dislike all the gods, right? There’s us, Baal, Sirius, oh, and Nyx as well.”

“That’s true, but… hmm. Nyx. I wonder how that child is doing?”

“After Baal’s disappearance, she’s been busy filling in the gaps here and there. She is managing Baal’s temple and all of his possessions too. There were just so many greedy gods eyeing them.”

“Hmm…”

Thinking back, I hadn’t really cared about what happened to Baal’s things.

Each of those items must be something other gods covet, and I may have been too indifferent.

In that case, I should take a bit of time to visit the Divine Hall.

 

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