Celestial God Kingdom.
After the event in the Northern Lands—neither truly spectacular nor lacking in undercurrents—the gods all kept a much lower profile.
Under Fernando's orders, most gods devoted most of their energy to repairing the Divine Power Pool, leaving them no time to concern themselves with worlds beyond the god kingdom.
No wonder Stephenson's prophets had dared to use such irreverent words as the era of the gods' concealment.
There was nothing to be done about it.
The God of Fear had failed in his reincarnation, lost the Throne of Fear, and vanished long ago; meanwhile, Giggs, the God of War, who had yearned for Earth more than anyone else, had "accidentally" discovered the Wizard King's trail amid the temporal currents. The two had fought until both were severely wounded, and Giggs was likely hiding in some corner of the multiverse, licking his wounds.
Fernando himself, the sole ruler of the god kingdom and a man of unparalleled cunning, had also been ambushed by Du Gelin during the Wildfire City Incident. He had announced the closure of the god kingdom for five hundred years early on—regardless of whether the news was true, that declaration at least revealed the weakness of the Celestial God Kingdom.
The mad expansion of recent years had certainly brought the Pro Gods many benefits.
But none of the opponents they had defeated had been easy prey, and every one of them had torn several chunks of flesh from the gods.
They needed time to recuperate.
They needed a true leader even more.
Every day, weaker gods heading to repair the Divine Power Pool would "happen" to pass by the God of Day Palace, usually making a point of discreetly probing for Fernando's true condition.
Unfortunately, the Celestial Giants guarding the God of Day Palace came