Chapter 311: Shiro Ascends to Mid-Stage Deity! Locating the God of Doubt!
.....
His eyes weren't deceiving him!
The object held tightly in Shiro's hands was a sealed vial of Divine Blood. The subtle, reality-bending energy pulsing from the liquid made Tet momentarily lose his focus.
Having a Mid-stage Deity like Maple around was already a huge anomaly that broke the balance of this war—but adding a second one like Shiro was completely out of line!
Yet, what Tet found most unbelievable was Shiro's sheer willingness to do it.
By the logic of their world, once someone drank Divine Blood, Shiro would permanently lower her status, becoming a Sub-Deity directly bound to Seito!
A Sub-Deity!
In the higher divine realms, how could a god willingly give up their own freedom just to become a subordinate to someone else?
Because Tet had lived in the high-tier divine realms for thousands of years, he thought very differently than those in the lower worlds. Up there, true gods would never surrender their autonomy to another deity; after all, a Sub-Deity's power and actions were entirely under the absolute control of their Master God!
As for the Divine Blood in Shiro's hands... Seito had carefully refined and prepared it specifically for her before they ever set foot on this planet. Tet wasn't the only one capable of keeping hidden aces up his sleeve.
Maintaining a quiet, detached silence, Seito and his companions shifted their sight, watching Shiro on the surface below.
Down on the shattered ground of Disboard, Shiro steadily uncapped the vial of Divine Blood.
She had already realized that running standard searches at her current strength would never uncover the hidden location of the God of Doubt. To force a breakthrough, she had to boost her own power.
Without a second thought, Shiro tilted her head back and drank the pure Divine Blood in a single gulp, calmly closing her eyes as the raw energy flooded her body.
BOOM—!
The divine energy inside her exploded!
With Shiro at the center, a massive, world-shaking wave of pure divine pressure erupted outward, sweeping across the entire planet! The overwhelming aura made every living creature remaining on Disboard freeze in fear.
Inside the royal palace of Elkia...
The Fatui Harbingers who had finished their tasks felt the massive surge of energy and immediately turned toward Shiro's location.
"Oh? Is Shiro breaking through?" Amou wiped the soot from her fingers, looking pleasantly surprised.
"Yes," Maple replied softly, stepping forward as her heavy shield hummed with power. "I'll go to her coordinates to help her out."
The other Harbingers nodded in agreement, raising no objections. After all, tracking down an entity like the God of Doubt was a tedious task.
Without wasting a single second, Maple vanished, warping away from the capital.
Back on the battlefield...
The massive wave of energy surging through Shiro's body was completely absorbed by her Chaos Divinity. With a deafening, sky-rending crash, her power surged upward at a terrifying speed!
Mid-stage Deity realm!
Upgrade complete!
Swoosh—!
Right at that exact second, Maple stepped out of a ripple in space, landing on the plain right in front of Shiro.
"Shiro, I'm here to back you up," Maple said with a bright, warm smile.
"Mm," Shiro nodded quietly.
Even though her power was now at the Mid-stage Deity level, searching alone still lacked the tracking power needed to pinpoint another god of the same rank who was actively hiding. Only by combining Maple's massive processing power with Shiro's spatial abilities could they break through the God of Doubt's concealment!
Being completely practical, Shiro didn't let pride get in the way and accepted the help.
She reached out, holding Maple's hand tightly. In the next instant, both goddesses unleashed a combined pulse of divine authority, scanning the planet's energy grid to lock onto the hidden god!
Five minutes passed in silence.
Then, both girls opened their eyes at the exact same time, their tracking locked in.
"Target found," Shiro murmured, a subtle glint of victory in her wide, translucent eyes.
"Let's go!" Maple agreed instantly.
Without missing a beat, both goddesses turned into a blinding flash of light, vanishing completely from the wasteland.
Deep within an ancient, isolated underground cave...
A tiny young girl with bright pinkish-purple hair and delicate features sat quietly on a massive, weathered boulder. She looked to be barely five feet tall. Her face was completely expressionless, making it impossible for anyone to guess what she was thinking.
This was none other than the hidden trump card of the Old Deus—Holou, the God of Doubt!
Staring into the dark void of the cave with her striking blue-and-pink mismatched eyes, Holou muttered softly, her voice echoing in the quiet space.
"Why did these foreign deities launch a full-scale attack on our world?"
"What does Tet hope to gain by allowing a total Divine War?"
"Does any of this actually benefit Disboard?"
An endless stream of complex philosophical questions spilled from her lips. Holou fell back into deep thought, her brow furrowing slightly in frustration.
Because she was the very embodiment of doubt, her nature forced her to endlessly question the meaning of everything.
Whenever she hit a wall and couldn't find a clear answer to her questions, she would spiral into deep existential confusion.
Swoosh! Swoosh!
Right at that moment, the space inside the cave tore open as Shiro and Maple appeared directly in front of her boulder.
Catching sight of the two uninvited guests, Holou's mind instantly started spinning with a whole new barrage of questions.
"Why does this foreign deity look so much like an Ex-Machina unit?"
"How did these two manage to reach the Mid-stage Deity realm so quickly?"
"Did they use Divine Blood? If so, doesn't that mean they surrendered their freedom to serve another god?"
Listening to the rapid-fire stream of existential questions coming from the tiny girl, Shiro and Maple looked at each other, trading deeply amused glances.
A realization hit them both at the same time: it seemed this final boss fight... wouldn't require any fighting at all.
Just think about it: if they took all these endless philosophical questions plaguing Holou and posted them directly onto the chaotic internet forums of Earth—letting millions of bored, chaotic internet trolls answer them—what would happen?
Holou probably wouldn't even want to look at Disboard ever again. Her most agonizing existential crises would be picked apart, turned into memes, and answered by millions of online users in seconds.
Having decided on a completely peaceful solution, Maple smiled gently. "I have access to a massive network that can give you clear, definitive answers to every single one of your questions. Tell me... would you like to try it?"
Holou: "???"
An answer to all my questions?
A system that can solve my doubts actually exists?
"I agree!" Holou accepted on the spot without a single moment of hesitation.
Seeing how easy that was, Maple and Shiro exchanged a satisfied smile. Moving together, they gently took Holou by both arms and warped out of the cave.
High above the planet, inside the divine chamber...
Tet: "..."
Seito: "..."
Sora: "..."
The three supreme deities sat in absolute, stunned silence. An awkward quiet filled the room as they stared at the screen, completely speechless at what had just happened.
Out of all of them, the one whose mind had completely broken down was, without a doubt, Tet.
Please!
Holou, you're supposed to be the smartest entity among all the native gods! Why on earth did you get tricked and carried away by a single sentence from Maple?!
Tet's logic had completely collapsed!
Coming back to his senses, Seito and Sora turned to look at Tet's frozen expression.
Seito: "So... this was your ultimate secret weapon?"
Sora: 0.0 "I have to admit, my horizons have truly been broadened today."
The two casually threw out a double-jab of sarcasm.
Good grief! They had fully expected this final boss, Holou, to be taken down in an intense battle against Shiro and Maple. Who could have ever predicted that the enemy's ultimate weapon would just surrender without a fight?
The outcome was completely ridiculous!
Still... no matter how silly the method was, the result was clear: their Divine War was officially a complete victory. How they got there didn't matter; as long as they won, the campaign was a total success.
A smooth, victorious smile appeared on Seito's face as his gaze landed on the glowing, multi-faceted Star Grail floating near Tet's seat.
"It looks like this Grail is ready for a new owner."
With a casual wave of his hand, the Star Grail vibrated slightly before floating smoothly across the table, landing right in Seito's palm.
Leaning back comfortably, Seito pulled out the shattered Grail pieces he had gathered earlier, aligning them against the broken corner of the Star Grail to begin the final restoration.
....
Thank you for reading.