Several more days passed.
World of Toril.
Faced with gods roaming everywhere.
Perhaps people felt that the current gods were somewhat unworthy of their positions, or perhaps it stemmed from the self-mocking thoughts of certain gods.
The term Sage Form gradually came into being, specifically referring to the gods' current state.
Stronger than mortals, yet unable to reach the rank of true gods—it had an awkward, neither-here-nor-there quality.
Though they had all descended in their true forms, the essence belonging to true gods simply could not be displayed...
At the same time.
During this period, for unknown reasons, a battle between two Sages suddenly erupted without warning in a certain frontier city.
Although little strength remained to either side.
That city, with a population of only thirty thousand, was still blown apart beneath the power of two gods of unknown origin...
Ninety percent of its buildings were utterly leveled on the spot, reduced to ruins strewn across the ground.
The residents, too, suffered catastrophic losses in that upheaval. Fewer than two thousand lucky survivors remained.
Moreover, many of the injured would most likely succumb to the severity of their wounds in the days to come.
So, all in all, that city could practically be described as having been wiped out, dead and wounded alike.
However, with so many people having game over, large numbers of newcomers swiftly flooded into the vacant land—especially after discovering that they could pick through the dead people's remains for belongings...
The dead, the dead people's families, and those profiting from the dead—because their positions differed, they truly had no way of sharing the same grief or joy.
It had to be said, the atmosphere of one group sighing endlessly and weeping while another celebrated in delight carried a rather biting mockery of reality...
It was