The barrage of questions silenced the Lava Tyrant.
"Abandon this vast but false battlefield." The Forest Goddess's will swept over the other gods. "Pull back all our defenses. Concentrate our Divine Might and our wills within our own Divine Kingdom Clusters. Turn our domains into Absolute Barriers."
"Then, even if the World Will can conceal the entire planet for him, he'll have nowhere to hide if he approaches our cores. We can wait for him on our own ground and crush him completely."
Her argument was clear and tightly reasoned.
Even the coldest of them, the Lich God, showed a trace of agreement in his deathly soul fire.
Driven into a corner, this was the safest choice—and the only correct one.
Abandon their illusions. Abandon their arrogance. Admit they were half-blind in this land, then hold fast to the one patch of ground they could see clearly.
Yet just as the Forest Goddess's will laid out this strategy, she jolted.
A thought surfaced without warning, chilling her to the core.
Wait.
Pull back our defenses.
Hold fast to our Divine Kingdoms.
Stop interfering pointlessly with the outside world.
Concentrate all our strength within our own domains...
The strategy was so sound, so wise.
Then why did it feel so familiar?
As though someone was already doing exactly that.
And had been doing it from the very beginning.
The Forest Goddess turned her will toward the Radiant Divine Kingdom Cluster, which had hung high in the sky all along, as unchanging as a star.
At last, she understood.
Why the God of Light had remained silent.
Why, while the others built the Law Cage and poured Divine Might into it, he had contributed only a token share.
Why, while they suspected one another and roared over their prey's provocations, his domain