34-45

Chapter 45 

World Government. 

Inside the world where the Supreme Leader resides. 

Rankers from each country waited for the Supreme Leader’s next words. 

“...So what is the true source of superpowers?” 

“Before that, let me show you a video.” 

Bzzzt  

A huge hologram, like a movie screen, appeared before the rankers. 

The footage showed outer space, beyond Earth. Stars, nebulae... but something was different from the universe as we know it. 

An ordinary person wouldn’t notice, but these were the strongest from each country. 

“...Gasp!” 

“What is this...” 

“....” 

Cries of shock erupted from all sides. Even the world’s top fighters were stunned by what they saw1 

. 

“You’ve noticed.” 

“...Why are the stars moving?” 

Stars do move by gravity, when they die, and so on but this wasn’t that kind of “normal” movement. 

“It’s like... a ‘hand,’ isn’t it?” 

Stars can move by chance into the shape of a hand, but for them to move like a hand was clearly unnatural. 

“Only ten people in the world... That’s a grim number.” 

“...Explain. What is that?” 

No one here could do something like that. They couldn’t even control a planet, let alone move stars. This had to be the work of something non-human. 

“...God.” 

  God...? 

  ...Oh my god, I’m an atheist... 

“That’s what I decided to call it. Because before you saw this, I was the only one who had ever observed it.” 

“Fine, let’s call it God. But what does that have to do with us?” 

“Don’t tell me our superpowers come from that thing...?” 

“No... That’s not it. That being has just stayed in place for decades...” 

“...For decades? Then can’t we just leave it alone?” 

“But just yesterday, an anomaly was observed with ‘God.’” 

  Take a look. This was filmed just yesterday. 

After showing “God,” the Supreme Leader played a second video, also related to it. 

“...Do you see it?” 

“....” 

The rankers fell silent. 

  Uh... it looks the same as before to me... 

  Me too... 

But some didn’t see the second video at all. 

“...Ah, a ‘restriction’ has kicked in here...” 

“...Restriction?” 

“It’s simply a matter of qualification. In other words... you’re not qualified to see it.” 

  What, what? 

  ...I’m not qualified? 

As you’d expect from top rankers, their egos were strong. 

“Did no one see it?” 

“...I did.” 

“Me too.” 

The ones who answered were Lena from Korea and Jessica from the US. Only those two saw it; the rest only saw the first video. 

“...What kind of qualification is needed? Is it personal power?” 

“No. The qualification isn’t mine to give... It’s decided by ‘God.’” 

“....” 

“What the hell is this God...!” 

The rankers who couldn’t see the second video were upset, feeling as if they’d lost. 

“Those who saw the second video... What did you see?” 

“...I...” 

“I saw salvation. God plans to reset this world. God personally chose me, I am God’s agent, I must carry out God’s will I am his faithful servant%$#%” 

“Whoa, what’s wrong with her?” 

“Damn! I even isolated the space, and still...!” 

Jessica from the US went berserk. Or rather, she unleashed a storm of flames. She soared into the sky, raining fire everywhere. 

“AHAHAHAHA...!” 

“Damn! What the hell is happening?!” 

“...Why did she go crazy all of a sudden?” 

Jessica summoned meteors from the sky. Not ordinary meteors, but orbs of pure fire. Jessica’s fireballs were special. Unlike normal fire, her fire had mass. That was the power that made her America’s top superpowered individual. 

She could control the element of fire and not just that, she had absolute dominion over it. She could even give fire mass, defying the laws of physics. 

Boom! 

Meteors rained down on the gathering of rankers, one after another. But these were the world’s strongest, not amateurs. 

“...So that’s ‘Jessica of Fire.’ What brute force.” 

Takeda of Japan. 

His trait: [Returned from Another World with Retained Power]. He had many tricks. The semi-transparent barrier he generated easily blocked Jessica’s meteors. 

Crack... crack! 

Clang! 

“...My barrier broke from just one skill?” 

It was shocking. In Japan, no one could even scratch his barrier. That meant Takeda was overwhelmingly strong in his country. 

  How long has it been since this happened... 

His mutterings suggested it had happened before. Strange, since no one in Japan could break his barrier. 

If reporters heard this, they’d have a field day: “Takeda really did return from another world!” But none of the superpowered here paid attention. 

“Hmph, out of my way!” 

Shao of China. 

Also unrivaled in China, and with a population of over a billion, being number one there meant something. 

“Haat! Ilchangkwon!!” 

Ilchangkwon, a punch like a spear. Normally, a fist is much shorter than a spear, but Shao’s “qi” made his punch function like a spear. 

Thus, his punch released a sharp, spear-like burst of qi. 

Whoosh  

But Jessica turned that energy to flame with a wave of her hand. 

“Praise be to God, follow God’s path, those who defy God even death will reject you...” 

Cough!! 

In the middle of her rant, Jessica coughed up blood and collapsed. 

Thud  

She crashed to the ground, with no one to catch her. Falling head-first from 10 meters would kill a normal person, but Jessica was America’s strongest. Even a 1km fall wouldn’t scratch her. 

But suddenly coughing blood? Did she overuse her power? 

The rankers rushed over to check her condition. 

“...Is she dead?” 

“...She died as soon as she coughed up blood?” 

No one could understand it. After seeing the video, the atheist Jessica suddenly praised God, attacked everyone, and then died? 

“...Wasn’t there one more?” 

“Who... Oh!” 

Clang! 

Arthur, the British superpowered, drew his sword at her. 

“...Are you okay? Or are you hiding something?” 

They turned to Korea’s Sword Saint. 

“...I’m fine.” 

“....” 

But the rankers didn’t trust her easily. 

Jessica, America’s top power, was instantly brainwashed. How could a mere Korean awakened resist what Jessica couldn’t? 

Jessica was among the top three here. 

“How can we trust you?” 

“...Honestly, no matter what you do, I doubt we’ll trust you.” 

“....” 

“...Let’s stop. I vouch for her in the name of the Supreme Leader.” 

Only then did Arthur sheathe his sword. 

“...Should I tell you what was in the video?” 

“No... Don’t. It seems ‘God’ doesn’t like people talking about Him.” 

“...How are you still okay?” 

Arthur asked the Supreme Leader not with hostility, but genuine curiosity. 

“...I exist only as a [Recorder]. Haha, no matter how you glare at me, I have no hidden power, I’m not secretly the mastermind... nothing like that.” 

Some had suspected the Supreme Leader was actually God. How could he talk about things that killed others when spoken of? 

“My mission is [Observation of the World] and [Record]. I’ve spent decades, no, centuries, observing this Earth. Because... there’s someone who doesn’t want this planet to disappear.” 

“The Earth... disappear?” 

“...Who is that?” 

“The one who gave me the mission of ‘recording’ and gifted humanity with ‘superpowers’ is...” 

“The very land you live on [Earth] itself.”