Chapter 335: Shadow of a God

Dinner with Erza Grimhart was over. Luke lay on his bed, staring at the ceiling, replaying everything he’d learned: Divine Orders, factions, kingdoms, nobility, and atomic bombs.

Erza’s words still echoed in his mind. “Be ruled by a god, or stand beneath one’s wings and be protected.”

While he was stuck inside this so-called tutorial, a race was unfolding across his planet. People were fighting for divinity. The atomic bomb comparison had never felt so fitting. Just like in the Second World War, whoever built the bomb first would dominate the world.

Only now, the bomb was a person, someone with the power of a god.

A hundred years had passed since the System arrived. By now, humanity must be far along in that race.

Luke’s thoughts drifted to the families of the World Government and everything he’d learned along the way. They weren’t simply powerful System clans maintaining global order. They were people who had joined Divine Orders not to worship blindly, but to claim power. These families had become factions, alliances of high-level beings all working to elevate their leaders to godhood.

They must be unbelievably strong, and barely human anymore. At least, not in Erza’s or Allison’s generation. They were half-magical hybrids, their bloodlines crafted for power. Immortality, strength, divinity, that’s what they chased. Eventually, there would be many gods on his planet. It was only a matter of time.

He sat up, unable to sleep with the weight of all that in his head. For the first time, he didn’t feel small because of the vastness of the multiverse, but because of something closer. Just one planet. His own.

Damn it, that woman’s a hell of a recruiter.

She hadn’t tried to convert him with sermons about faith or obedience to her god. She’d made a deal, offering logic, protection, and the power of a faction.

She never once mentioned how powerful the God of Assassination supposedly was. No divine promises of strength, classes, or rare items. She hadn’t even explained how her Divine Order functioned. Every word had been calculated, pragmatic. She talked about Earth, about the world’s decline, and only afterward let her Order slip into the conversation like an afterthought.

And she’s completely right. If she’d tried preaching about how wonderful Lakarion was, I would’ve stopped listening halfway through.

Luke lay back down, eyes tracing the ceiling’s faint cracks. He thought of the kings of the world, imagining their strength, their deeds, the sheer scale of destruction they could unleash. Some were probably far ahead in the race. Maybe one of them was even close to crossing that final threshold. But as long as the others existed, they’d never let it happen. They’d smile, clasp hands in false alliance, and sharpen their knives behind each other’s backs, waiting for the moment one finally ascended and left the rest behind.

He wondered what kind of people these kings truly were. What kind of world it would be if one of them turned out like Paul or Kruger. What would Earth look like, ruled by a divine version of either of those maniacs?

The thought chilled him.

His planet was already at their mercy, really. Those same kings had ended humanity’s wars long ago. Now he understood how. The System had created a power gap no army could compete with. A small handful of people, the first generation of System users, had faced down entire militaries and won. That was how they’d become kings.

And now, they were racing to become gods.

He replayed Erza Grimhart’s words in his head:“Be ruled by a god, or stand beneath one’s wings and be protected.” Two options, she had said, not for him but for the entire planet. Everyone would be under a tyrant’s thumb, including his adoptive family.

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With a thought, Luke summoned a kukri from his inventory.