The Thief-God’s Gambit

The spell was a success.

“The physical attributes of this body are merely passable; even unleashing but one-billionth of my true power, it has indeed reached the expected standard for a 10th-tier being. Though this world’s inherent quality is somewhat lacking, it nonetheless appears to hold a great deal of amusement.”

The Sistia World was a multiverse, spawned from a single world core, distinguishing it from conventional worlds formed by discrete units and loosely interconnected crystal networks. Furthermore, existing beyond the strictures of the Laws of Reason, it maintained a self-contained logical structure, resulting in an exceptionally smooth framework. Consequently, it generated no magical energy and was rarely plagued by invasions from otherworldly beings.

In essence, the Sistia World constituted a low-tier reality, governed primarily by materialism, its worldview constrained, thus impeding the emergence of formidable individuals or advanced civilizations. It was also a realm where entities possessing divine essence could not naturally manifest. In other words, it was an atheistic world. This perfectly aligned with Gloria’s stereotypical image of a desolate, backwater region.

Yet, as Gloria delved deeper into the annals of its history, the true essence of the Sistia World remained stubbornly veiled. Instead of clarity, a series of ominous black clouds began to surface, prompting her to involuntarily press her lips into a thin line.

These black clouds, unmistakably, represented a principle capable of distorting perception, their origin most likely another Outer God. This realization struck her: Gloria was unequivocally not the first Outer God to have set foot in this place.

Gloria’s own physical body, a divine vessel of the 20th tier, bearing the certification of the Laws of Reason, possessed ample power to counteract such perception-distorting principles.

Yet, even after Gloria focused her perception on the Sistia World’s core and sifted through the very genesis of its existence, she uncovered no trace of her own body. It must have been obscured by a force transcending the very principles of law itself.

Considering all the gathered clues, the whereabouts of her physical body became startlingly clear.

Another Outer God, having arrived in the Sistia World prior to Gloria, had meticulously laid a trap. Utilizing otherworldly divine power, a force superior to mere laws, they had, at the precise moment of Gloria’s descent, forcibly stripped away her physical body and simultaneously masked it from her detection. Their motive, undoubtedly, was to exploit that very flesh—either to bolster their own strength or to facilitate some form of resurrection. Such occurrences were far too common in her experience. Those depraved beasts, utterly devoid of limits, were never sated. Merely consuming blood and flesh was insufficient for them; they craved even the bones and souls of their victims.

“I can sense the lingering aura of that divinely crafted body, yet I am utterly unable to pinpoint its coordinates.”

Her finger swept through the air before her, and the spatial rift instantly sealed itself. She nodded slightly, releasing a soft sigh.

“Truly, the world has fallen into such decline… Hmph, to think a petty thief-god would dare pilfer from me, a formidable Demon God! Do you truly not comprehend the meaning of death?”

Gloria had no patience for dilly-dallying. The moment she discerned an enemy’s stratagem, she would immediately seek a countermeasure and spring into action. She would never, like some dim-witted protagonists, deliberately ignore a lurking threat, only to have it fester into a catastrophic disaster later on.

“Source of Dark Arts, Seventh Form: Penetration! In the name of ultimate evil, I shall purge the fount of disaster!”

Within her mental space, Gloria adopted a standard throwing stance, launching a small dagger towards the distant reaches of her psychic sea. There, a few dark gray cloud masses lurked. If her conjecture proved accurate, these insidious entities had simultaneously parasitized her mental space the very instant she had attempted to observe the thieving deity. Should Gloria fail to address them immediately, her mental sanctuary would forever lose its privacy.

For in many instances, confrontations between divine beings were inherently reciprocal. Between parties of comparable rank, the act of mutual probing itself constituted a formal declaration of attack.

Yet the dagger did not seem to fly from Gloria’s hand. It remained firmly fixed in her small palm. However, imbued with a subtle ripple of the End, it had already locked onto the owner of these nebulous masses. It vanished into the dark clouds, much like a single raindrop plunging into the vast ocean; it stirred not a ripple, yet it carried an alien hue into the profound depths.

This was the formidable nature of the Penetration Art: so long as an object bore even the most tenuous connection to its owner—even a purely conceptual link within the mental space—’Penetration,’ when meticulously aimed, could bypass all defenses to strike directly at the true body, inflicting immense spiritual damage.

For instance, if an individual, ‘A’, once used a shampoo named ‘Little Tyrant,’ then merely by thoroughly investigating the general information of that shampoo, the Seventh Form of the Source of Dark Arts could arbitrarily designate any bottle of ‘Little Tyrant’ to inflict harm upon ‘A’ directly.

“Let me see some fireworks,” Gloria murmured, hands on her hips, as she silently observed the power surge into the nebulous masses. From within, a sound echoed, akin to the very earth being rent asunder.

Someone was gravely wounded.

“Hoh, that’s quite a thick hide they have. Shall I deliver another strike?” She twirled the dagger between her fingers as if it were a playing card, a cruel and playful smile gracing her lips. “If you’re wise, you’ll meekly return what you stole, then lick the soles of my feet ten thousand times and sell your soul to me for a pittance. Only then will I, with great reluctance and magnanimity, consider this matter settled. Do not, I warn you, wait for me to come calling, for you truly do not wish to learn the consequences of evading my wrath.”

As if in response to Gloria’s villainous declaration, the black cloud masses dissipated with a soft ‘poof,’ vanishing into thin air. Even the ominous clouds that Gloria had discerned within the world’s historical records, uncovered through her silhouette investigations, disappeared. This was hardly good news, for the departure of these dark clouds had also spirited away the very history they obscured, rendering the Sistia World’s past a disconcerting blank slate.

This act was akin to someone losing a duel against Gloria, then fleeing with a provocative swagger, daring her, “Catch me if you can!” How could Gloria tolerate such provocation?

Sharp golden eyes flared with fire in the darkness. “Oh, so you want to play hide-and-seek, do you? Whatever vile scheme you intend with my body, you had best hide it well, and pray I don’t catch so much as a glimpse of your tail! On my assassination list, you are already more than dead!”

Of course, she yearned to breach the world barrier instantly, to pursue the thief’s true form and deliver the coup de grâce. However, it was painfully clear that her current body’s capabilities were utterly insufficient for such a feat.

World barriers typically possessed law-level defenses, requiring at least a 15th-tier being to breach them.

Attempting to break through solely with her soul would carry a high probability of the world itself, unable to withstand a 45th-tier super-soul, choosing to banish her. This would, effectively, be putting the cart before the horse. Gloria’s initial intent had been to establish the Sistia World as a base, to gradually cultivate her strength and push back into the Ruin Realm, ultimately liberating her main body.

Given these circumstances, she had only one option: to temporarily share a body with this minor life-form named X, and slowly devise a way to reclaim her physical form. Meanwhile, the grievously wounded thief-god would assuredly not escape far, for their soul was already tainted with the aura of the End. She hoped X wouldn’t mind sharing perceptions.

“No, to share a body with a Demon God such as myself is your distinct honor. You should prostrate yourself before me, licking the back of my hand like a loyal hound.”

Despite her words, Gloria had no intention of acting imperious or forcefully compelling X into submission.