The meeting proceeded with a few hesitant confirmations. After Erice confirmed she had hung up the divine union, Jal approached.
“How was it?”
“No problems. We’ll proceed as planned.” Erice nodded at Jal’s confirmation.
Erice had been confirming the details of the divine judgment with Kousuke.
“So, Kousuke is the one deciding on the judgment?”
“Naturally. He’s the one directly involved.”
There would likely be no complaints from the other gods about this.
While the specifics of the judgment were not yet decided, no one would object to whatever Kousuke decided.
The Kingdom of Gates’ objective was not to debase gods, but to draw Kousuke out as a god into the open.
Ideally, they hoped to control him once he emerged.
This alone was enough to make one question their motives, but unfortunately, unless something extraordinary happened, the gods could not manifest in the world.
One such instance was the descent of gods, but it could not be easily executed without meeting certain conditions.
The Kingdom of Gates was attempting to fulfill those conditions now.
Not in a good way, but in a bad one.
Unless something truly drastic occurred, the actions of the Kingdom of Gates probably couldn’t be stopped.
Such drastic events could be orchestrated by the gods if they were serious, but causing natural disasters for such a purpose would have too great an impact on the world.
In that sense, it was far better to keep the matter within the scope of a divine judgment.
“That’s all well and good… but what about the descent?”
Erice’s expression soured at Jal’s question.
“That… is something we need to adjust from here.”
“Whoa. That sounds tough. Good luck… ‘What are you saying? You’re involved too!’… Huh?! Really!?”
“Really.” Erice nodded with a serious face at Jal, who had suddenly paled.
So far, negotiations between Kousuke and the Kingdom of Gates had not yet begun.
Therefore, it was not yet decided whether or not the descent would actually happen.
However, it was certain that the divine judgment would lead to the gods’ descent.
The conditions for that were already in place.
Even the gods residing in the divine realm were reaching their limit with the current situation.
From their perspective, they themselves were pulling the trigger.
Negotiations would undoubtedly take place, and the divine judgment would certainly be passed down.
As a result, the gods’ descent into the world was also decided.
The problem was how this descent would be carried out.
Naturally, Erice would be in charge of making those arrangements, but this time, neither Jal nor Spica could afford to be mere spectators.
♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦
In the clamoring venue, the Three Great Gods were uncharacteristically gathered, their faces a picture of distress.
When it came to gods, unlike meetings in some countries, there was no shouting or heated arguments.
It was during these quiet (?) moments of commotion that decisions were difficult to reach.
In short, it meant they were in disagreement.
The role of the Three Great Gods was to take all of this into account and somehow manage a skillful adjustment…
“This is impossible to organize,” Jal thought to himself.
After all, almost all existing gods had gathered in this venue.
And each god was making their own arbitrary claims.
If the descent were limited to a single city, it might be possible for everyone to appear at once, but that was not the case this time.
However, if everyone descended at once, the world below would be thrown into chaos, a scenario that rarely happened even from the gods’ perspective.
This time, the plan was for them to descend upon multiple cities around the world simultaneously.
Which cities and which gods would descend where was entirely up to them to decide, which was the reason for this commotion.
After all, for the gods in the divine realm, opportunities to descend were few and far between.
Even if the reason was not good, the gods were eager to descend whenever the chance arose.
Someone like Kousuke was, in a way, an exception.
Jal sent a questioning glance to Spica, wondering what to do.
Spica quietly shook her head from side to side.
Erice, caught between them, let out a sigh.
Seeing this, Spica and Jal on either side, their faces contorted for a different reason.
She was angry.
In this situation, Erice was undoubtedly angry.
Erice, who rarely got angry, was terrifying when she did.
Ideally, one would not want to deal with an angry Erice, but that was not an option.
Jal prayed that they would notice Erice’s state quickly, but the gods, preoccupied with their own matters, didn’t seem to notice for a while.
However, after some time, the gods close to Erice began to quiet down.
They had likely noticed Erice’s state.
That wave spread, and eventually, all the gods gathered in the venue fell silent.
Even though she was showing her anger, Erice was probably the only one who could silence the clamoring gods just by being silent and still.
Incidentally, in Asura’s case, the gods wouldn’t be rowdy from the start.
If Asura appeared, it meant the decision had already been made, and there was no need for a commotion.
Seeing the venue fall silent, Erice smiled.
It goes without saying that everyone shuddered at that expression.
“I believe everyone has had their say, so shall we decide now?”
There was no opposition to these words, and one by one, the places where the gods would descend and which gods would descend were determined.
♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦
With the descent into the world successfully completed, Jal let out a big sigh and slumped onto the desk.
“Haaah. That’s done, that’s done.”
“That’s a sight the humans shouldn’t see.” Spica looked at him with a hint of sympathy.
The Three Great Gods had been tasked with adjusting the locations for the gods’ descent and many other minor details.
While they weren’t in the same state as Jal, Spica felt similarly.
Even Erice, who would normally scold them, just offered a wry smile and looked at Jal.
“You shouldn’t show yourselves like that not just to humans, but to gods either?”
“Well, well, since it’s just us here now, let’s overlook it a bit, shall we?” Asura said with a smile at the end.
Asura had nothing to do with this matter.
In fact, Asura rarely interfered with the human species, including the humanoid species.
Asura would only act if it concerned other gods.
Another instance would be the birth of new gods, as was the case with Kousuke.
“Well, even so, it was a close call.”
“Yes. This should hold them off for a while.”
The meaning behind Asura and Erice’s conversation was that the gods’ anger had reached a critical point.
By passing down the judgment, their anger had temporarily subsided.
Even without Kousuke’s involvement, there was a high possibility that some form of descent or other action would have occurred soon.
However, it was also certain that this incident had brought things to a head.
In fact, divine judgments of this nature had occurred many times in the past.
This was not because humanity failed to learn, but because over long periods, historical records were lost, or oral traditions were not passed down correctly.
However, that was no excuse, and divine judgments had been carried out each time.
“I hope this never happens again~”
“I also wish for that.”
Erice replied to Jal’s grumbling with all her heart, but Asura thought that, unfortunately, that wish would likely not be granted.
