Outside Dark Night City.
Looking out from atop the towering walls, one colossal being after another stood on the wasteland outside the city, occupying an area thousands of kilometers across, with Dark Night City almost at its center.
Ever since the war ended, all the origins in Hell had remained there.
Waiting for the final outcome.
Their eyes were filled with complicated emotions.
There were deities from the first and second falls, and origins who had fallen even earlier.
Throughout that time, almost none of them had left.
Especially after they learned the true identity of the black-robed figure, the turmoil and torment left them at a loss as to how to face the matter.
Because almost every origin.
Had accepted the gift of those laws during the war, whether willingly or otherwise.
He had laid out the workings of the laws clearly before them all, allowing them to see exactly how the laws acted as a medium in every move they used. This had an enormous impact on whether they could embark on that path.
Some origins were furious.
They felt they had been deceived, that this was all an act staged in collusion with Dark Night City.
They tried to charge inside and drag out the black-robed figure.
But more origins chose silence.
Because however absurd the course of that war had been, one thing was undeniable: it had shown them the immense gulf between mortals and a True God, and just how pitiful their systems of power were compared to genuine laws.
"Before power, pride is worthless."
Some origins raised their heads.
Especially those Fallen.
Their crushing defeat and death in the Main Universe had long since taught them that.
Precisely for that reason.
In the days after the war, they waited silently outside the city. They