Ch.179179. Yupiterius (1)

The Divine King’s Palace reception hall.

It was sealed by two massive mythril doors intricately carved with murals depicting the achievements of the twelve main gods of the Pantheon.

As I stood before the doors, momentarily pausing to read the murals, I couldn’t help but snicker, knowing the truth as I did.

《Kh, khuhuhu… These fellows, truly shameless indeed.》

The false history depicted in these murals was so artfully distorted that it could be considered a masterpiece of historical fabrication, forcing me to let out a vulgar laugh.

How much time had passed?

《…Hoo, well then. Time to end this.》

As I approached the arched doorway after taking a deep breath to calm myself, the doors naturally parted, revealing the scene beyond.

‘Quite magnificent, I must say.’

The reception hall of the Divine King’s Palace that I witnessed with my own eyes was undeniably splendid and beautiful.

Upon first entering the hall—spacious enough to accommodate hundreds of people with room to spare—what caught my eye was the ceiling high enough to allow aerial combat within, and the mythril walls inlaid with gold.

Countless luxurious chandeliers made of precious gems hung from that impossibly high ceiling, while ten marble pillars stood on either side.

These pillars, lavishly crafted with divine gold (orichalcum) and true silver (mythril), displayed the emblems of the twelve main gods, except for Jupiterius and Bacchius.

At the far end of the interior stood about a dozen low steps, atop which sat the throne of Jupiterius, the master of this Divine King’s Palace.

The throne was primarily made of mythril with a backrest that seemed to pierce the heavens, while the crystal armrests were adorned with orichalcum engravings.

And naturally, upon that throne sat its rightful owner—Jupiterius.

*Jupiterius, High Minister and Celestial God, the Greatest King of Gods.

《…An intruder.》

Surrounded by lightning that could shake heaven and earth, he slowly rose from his throne, grasping a blue bolt of lightning in his hand as he raised it above his head—

《—Disappear, false monarch.》

BOOM!!!

To an outside observer, it happened with startling suddenness.

The moment he grasped the blue lightning crackling around him, Jupiterius’s head suddenly swelled and then—pop!—exploded.

Thud!

It was a complete death, without any twist or turn.

Bone fragments, flesh, and brain matter from the exploded head scattered in all directions. The headless corpse collapsed to the floor and tumbled down the steps before the throne.

It was an inglorious end for one called the Celestial God, King of Gods, and Supreme Deity—and indeed, I thought it was appropriately pathetic.

‘…As expected, a fake.’

Of course, this being was a false god, not the real Jupiterius.

To be precise, this was a subordinate deity created by nine traitors to serve as a proxy for Jupiterius—a fake Jupiterius.

He could draw some power from the real Jupiterius and even perfectly believed himself to be the genuine article.

However, to draw power from the real one, he needed the approval of the other twelve main gods, which meant that at best, he ranked among the upper tier of lesser gods.

From my perspective, having absorbed a significant portion of the twelve main gods’ powers as nourishment, he was someone I could kill without the slightest effort.

Anyway, as I absorbed the power contained in the headless corpse, I approached the throne, trampling the body as it began to crumble into gray dust.

The throne was magnificent—adorned with various precious metals and gems, yet lacking that subtle vulgarity often found in nouveau riche ostentation.

‘……’

After gazing at it briefly, I placed my hand on the armrest of the throne and used it as an axis to ‘flip’ the Divine King’s Palace—

In the next moment, I arrived at the ‘true’ reception hall of the Divine King’s Palace from this reception room.

The true reception hall presented a completely different scene from the one I had just left.

The walls were made of adamantium with a predominantly black tone, without ornate pillars, and the only lighting came from candles mounted on the walls.

This was the true reception hall—a desolate space devoid of any splendor or nobility.

All I could see was another throne opposite the one I stood before.

Unlike the key throne whose armrest I was touching, the throne on the opposite side—where the entrance should have been—was utterly bleak.

Made solely of colorless adamantium without any decoration, this throne was connected to the floor by various lines and circuits, giving it a mechanical appearance.

It resembled a machine with its surface peeled away, exposing all the internal wiring and circuits.

This mechanical throne was eerily barren yet simultaneously bizarre with its many attached components.

And bound to this mechanical throne was someone in a horrific state.

Beyond merely emaciated, he was little more than skin stretched over bone, completely trapped in this mechanical throne in a grotesque condition.

His limbs were firmly secured to the throne by what appeared to be metal shackles, and metal wires extended from the throne into every orifice of his body.

Additionally, a dagger emanating a strange aura was embedded in the left side of his chest where his heart should be, and nails connected to what looked like electrical wires were driven into his skull, which was clearly visible.

This ghastly appearance evoked the image of a condemned criminal rather than a ruler.

This was the true form of Jupiterius, the leader of the twelve main gods of the Pantheon.

The various wires, pipes, and tubes connected to his body were mercilessly extracting divine faith from Jupiterius.

《AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!》

He screamed in divine agony as the faith was forcibly extracted from his body, and even the divinity contained in his screams was being absorbed by the antenna-like structures around him.

That sinister aura-emitting dagger embedded in his heart was the source of his pain—it had the power to amplify and induce constant suffering through the wound it created.

The nails driven into his head appeared to be devices designed to strip away his intelligence and consciousness, preventing any resistance.

These cursed nails, which even I could sense were extraordinary, had robbed him of the mental capacity to resist while injecting ignorance into him.

A literally “preserved” corpse being endlessly exploited.

This was the true state of Jupiterius, the supposed ruler of the Pantheon.

This temple-palace called the Divine King’s Palace was, in fact, a prison for Jupiterius and a facility for exploitation.

Preserved in a state unable to resist, having his power drained from the faithful, he served as the linchpin maintaining the Pantheon and its council chambers.

The power being extracted from him was consumed somewhere in the Divine King’s Palace to produce and maintain the Pantheon’s common familiars.

Simultaneously, he had become a battery, transferring his power to the ten… no, nine main gods who had imprisoned him.

‘You too… what a pitiful state.’

Knowing his past, I couldn’t help but sympathize with the miserable fate Jupiterius had met.

※ ※ ※

In truth, Jupiterius was originally a god like his namesake Jupiter or Zeus.

That is to say, he was an incredibly promiscuous god who faithfully followed his Greco-Roman mythological instincts as a tremendous womanizer.

Of course, even back then, the Pantheon existed and the system of twelve main gods was maintained, but they hadn’t yet degenerated to their current state.

Unlike the Roman Empire on the brink of collapse—where the terrible culture of not offering food to guests and eating among themselves had taken root—

The ancient society, while perhaps unreasonable by modern standards, had a functioning social ethic that was reasonable for its time.

But the empire on the verge of collapse was different.

Contracts were made solely to do things not specified in the contract clauses, a value system prioritizing unlimited selfishness and pleasure permeated society, and crime was fine as long as one wasn’t caught—that kind of mindset.

It might seem similar to modern individualism, but it lacked even minimal goodness, and trust was completely absent from this strange world.

There were naturally many reasons why such a world came to be, but if I had to pinpoint it… yes.

It began when Bacchius, the god of wine, revelry, and festivals, accidentally discovered the divine nature of pleasure.