Epic of Caterpillar

The Dragon Gods deposited their Divine Realms into the Spatial Layers of the Lower Realm and began to assess things after Kireina's first attack.

After having taken over the bodies of the mortals they cultivated and after having eaten their souls, they had acquired new and stronger bodies, and they fused their fates with the Epics of these Heroes, become favored by Fate.

However, the first attack of Kireina seemed to have brought the demise of many "fodder" Demon Gods that Zeus recruited, but after that, Kireina exploded ad damaged Zeus greatly.

After that, all fights ended abruptly, and they were forced to wait until news to where Kireina could exactly be to emerge.

This greatly frustrated the Dragon Gods, who were looking forward to defeating Zudig who had said that he had joined hands with Kireina, and the fools had believed him incredibly quickly as if they had forged a bond of trust with the malicious zombie dragon god.

Within the Divine Realm of Brulzrayn, the Dragon Gods sat down around Blaire, who the Dragon God of Fire had taken over and made of his new vessel, although this changed his gender to female, he never cared about such things other than gaining power, much like many other Gods such as Megusan or Geggoron, who had very loosen concepts of gender anyways.

The three Gods began to cultivate by sharing their Souls together and their Divine Energy, without wasting any precious time to grow a bit stronger, they also used hundreds of Divine Materials to boost their cultivation like this, which was possible now that they had transcended certain limitations that normal Gods had.

"So Kireina has come, exploded, and then damaged Zeus…" sighed Blaire Brulzrayn.

"And then she stole the Yggdrasil Sprout right below our noses. How… amazing. I have to admit it, but she is truly a scheming master," sighed Leonia Qondress.

"I-It is hard to admit it. But yes… She stole that legendary tree that has been guarded for so many years like nothing… And it is also said she stole the Sin of Envy's Kingdom, the one with Elves…" said Kaze Nymbais.

"But there's something I am beginning to suspect… She is probably weak somehow. If she were to have so much power, shouldn't she had slain us all already? She is probably hiding and running away because she knows she's not strong enough!" said Blaire Brulzrayn.

"Maybe she stole the Yggdrasil Sprout to use it as a way to grow stronger?" asked Leonia Qondress.

"But isn't she a Goddess of Chaotic Sins and Commandments? How can she use the power of the Yggdrasil Sprout effectively? She requires Life and Nature Understanding, and with her age, she is not even a year old! She can't comprehend the Law of Life," laughed Kaze Nymbais. He was a God of Life, and naturally held great understanding over it which he had nurtured for thousands of years. Meanwhile, Kireina was a mere mortal a few weeks ago, and she is not even a year old, she couldn't acquire any inner understanding in so little time.

However, the Gods were completely unaware that she was able to get memories from anything she ate, and she gathered enormous knowledge and proficiency of any god she ate.

If she were to eat a God of Fire, she would learn to use the Fire Divinity just as proficiently as the God itself, but this was not the case for other Gods who got the Divinity Devouring Skill from the market.

After all, this power that Kireina had was coming from her Devour and her newest and evolved Sin of Gula, Divinity Devouring alone would never give her memories.

The only exception to this was Zubekh, who had the parasitism divinity mixed in with the Uroboros Primordial Beast, which gave him a mildly similar effect, but to a very lower extent compared to Kireina.

"Indeed…! She is a foolish mortal, after all, being a god for so little has made her incredibly stupid. It will be impossible for her to get much power from the tree if she cannot even comprehend the Life Attribute!" said Blaire Brulzrayn.

"Hah! For now, let's keep increasing our Attribute Particles to defeat her and her bunch soon enough, we won't be alone either, so things shouldn't be as hard… Zeus committed a mistake by attacking her head-on, but we should be able to find a way to fight her. Especially if you said that she must be weakened and that all of that strength she shows is just a bluff," said Leonia Qondress.

"Yes, and after that, we shall finally get David back from the claws of the damned Zudig! If we have him back, we could perform the special ritual we have been preparing and fuse with him, becoming a single God with strength comparable to Great Gods!" laughed Kaze Nymbais.

Much like many other ambitious Gods, the Dragon Gods desired power above everything and were even willing to merge together for that sole purpose.

And now with this new era, there was a race between Gods for power and to survive what was to come.

Even if it meant disregarding whatever sense of self they held and becoming a single entity… Gods had lived for so long that their very sense of selves was warped, the thought of fusing was not as badly seen, even less with Gods that were never humans, to begin with.

Meanwhile, as the enemies of Zudig were fooled by him, Zudig- No, Zubekh himself, was moving towards his next target, the Realm of Aztlan.

"Even though Spatial Layers traveling, it is taking very long to cross such a long distance!"

"That's because Kireina took a large chunk of my original divinity, which ended weakening my original spatial abilities… Although we had developed it more, it still not as great as its former glory…"

"If we could have eaten any Spatial God… but they're as rare as water in a desert…"

"Spatial Gods are indeed rare, and the Divine Beasts are not near as enough to give us proficiency… We can only be patient as we move to our next destination. After we finally arrive, we shall take over that Dungeon and devour the hidden Origin Core Fragment within it!"

"Kireina might have eaten the one at Vida, but she most probably doesn't have any idea about the one in Aztlan. If we can devour it, we will be able to acquire new abilities, and transcend our limits once more!"

"But it is taking so long… ugh…"

"Agh, shut up! Be patient!"

As the three minds within the grotesque fused God spoke to pass time, within the innermost of their very fused and monstrous soul, inside a vast Inner Realm that not even them were able to completely see in detail due to its vastness, the figure of a human-shaped soul walked was navigating through an ocean of blood over a boat made of flesh and bones.

Although his appearance was almost unrecognizable, his red hair and shiny eyes said it all, he was no one else than David, the hero that Zudig had eaten and taken over with.

Through what has seemed to be hundreds of years for him, he had somehow awakened in this place, even though he should have already disappeared long ago.

He traveled through this mysterious and grotesque world, seeking pieces of his own self and the companion at his side.

Now, after having gathered many lost memories, he was slowly regaining a sense of self, remade from his very fragments alongside his companion, he was seeking the truth about this world, about who he was, and what has happened to him.

"I feel like we are getting closer… the last fragments of our own selves are close…" he said while glancing at the dark sky.

"I can't help but be a bit scared to find out what we really are, maybe we will end up being enemies!" said the other figure resembling a small wyvern, although it was made of flesh pieces ad bones of different colors, and looked grotesque.

Their boat suddenly stopped on the shores of the island containing two of their fragments, as the two figures jumped out of their boat and started to glance at the place.

It was a similar island to the ones they had come by several times ago, but this time it was a mass of black flesh with oozy coverture, and the floor was constantly secreting black fluids that had a rancid smell.

There were several crimson red eyes spread all over, but they seemed to only observe…

David and the Wyvern walked over it slowly, spreading their senses around them to feel if there was any monster lurking around the forest of tentacles.

And there was.

"GRYAR!"

A large, car-sized mass of black flesh with a large jaw filled with razor-sharp teeth rolled towards them the moment they entered the forest, and David and his companion quickly braced themselves.

"Soul Blaze!"

David released an attack made from the blade he shaped from his very soul, unleashing a powerful tornado of flames, engulfing the sphere of flesh and roasting it alive!

"Well, that was easy…" said the wyvern, as a second after, many rolling spheres of flesh with jaws moved towards them!

"S-Shit, I should have not spoken too early!" he said, as he jumped into the air and opened his skeletal jaw, releasing a breath attack made from his very soul as well, which began to burn the tender flesh of the creatures one by one!

David quickly raised his Soul Blade, as he jumped towards the nearest sphere of flesh and sliced it in half!

Slash!

"GROAR!"

However, another one jumped to his back, biting him, and taking a chunk of his soul!

"Nngh…! SOUL BLAZE!"

David, however, did not back down and attacked the beast right away, burning it alive until it was roasted.

Slash! Slash! Slash!

David and his companion continued fighting what seemed to be an endless army of spheres of black flesh, which made their souls grow tired as they used their abilities!

In this world, they were mere beings made up of soul fragments, and could not properly fight through physical means unlike the monsters, and had to spend their soul fragments energy to fight.

Each time they unleashed their attacks, they would lose a piece of their very beings, but could recover by eating the flesh of these monsters!

However, if they were constantly attacked, there was no time for them to eat, they had to desperately fight if they didn't want to be eaten!

"I am going to use it!" said David.

"Wait, you idiot, that might end up making your soul…!" said the wyvern, trying to stop David.

"No, I think these are the last ones, they are rolling slowly due to recognizing our strength, but will sooner or later tear us down… I have to use it! After that… Help me out eating them…" said David.

"Hahh… Okay then!"

The Wyvern suddenly jumped over David, as the two merged together!

Flash!

David's appearance changed, as he was covered in flesh and bones shaped as an armor of the depths of hell, with large draconic wings!

"RAAAAAHH! SOUL BLAZE EXPLOSION!"

As the spheres of flesh began to jump over him and tear him apart, David's soul fragments shined brightly, as they released a strong detonation, release an explosion of soul flames all over the place!

BOOOOOOOOM!

"GRRYAAAAAARRHH…!"

The beasts groaned in agony as they were consumed by the flames of the hero's soul, one by one they were roasted alive until everything fell into silence.

Their bodies quickly separated, as the wyvern saw David beginning to slowly crack and fragment like a delicate piece of glass.

"Damn it, kid, you are way too reckless! Here, eat this, quickly!" he said, giving David some monster meat.

"Thanks…"

David began to eat the monsters one by one, regaining his strength and even gaining more power too.

After a few hours of resting, the duo began to explore the now-burnt tentacle forest, finding the ruins of a temple made of black bones… within it, the two could sense the presence of new fragments…