Chapter 246: Ch 246 : Edgar’s Curse

“That is all there is to the City of Gods for now,” Sunny announced, his voice echoed across the vast city of the Gods.

He spread his arms, encompassing the gleaming spires, the bustling districts, and the endless potential of his new capital.

“I am open to any suggestions you might have. After all, this is the City of Gods, not just mine.”

With that final decree, the assembly dispersed. Six billion Gods, buzzing with excitement and ambition, scattered like a flock of divine birds, eager to claim their mansions, explore the bazaars, and test the limits of their new home.

Sunny watched them go, a faint smile on his lips, before turning and walking toward the center of the city.

There, dwarfing even the grandest structures of the subordinate Gods, stood the Emperor’s Palace.

It was a colossal palace woven from the fabric of the cosmos itself, a building larger than some worlds, mirroring the scale of the palace Adam had once inhabited in the ancient era.

But there was a difference. Adam had lived surrounded by his peers. But Sunny walked through the titanic gates alone.

The silence of the palace was heavy, a stark contrast to the chaotic joy outside. His footsteps on the star-forged floor echoed in the vast emptiness.

’Should I create a few maids and butlers?’ he mused, glancing at the empty halls. ’It feels… quiet.’ But he shook his head, dismissing the thought.

He was too tired for creation right now. The mental toll of the tournament, the soul-splitting battle, and the construction of the city had drained him. He needed a moment of stillness.

He entered his throne room and sank onto his throne. With a wave of his hand, he opened the system clock. And his eyes lit up.

“Just a few Godly minutes left,” he whispered.

In the accelerated time flow of his territory, a century was about to pass. The cooldown for his Skill-Resonance was nearly over.

He leaned back, his mind drifting to the prize that awaited him: Adam’s First-Born talent.

It made him contemplate the very nature of power in this universe.

The Hierarchy. It was the invisible skeleton upon which all reality hung, and among Gods, it was absolute.

At the bottom were the Gods of Faith. They were the beggars of the cosmos, beings whose power was entirely dependent on the belief of mortals.

Without their lifeforms, they were nothing. They were batteries that could run dry.

Above them stood the Gods of Laws. These were the masters. They did not just borrow power; they understood it.

A God of Fire who comprehended the Law of Fire was infinitely stronger than a God who merely gathered faith to cast a fireball.

They were the scholars, the warriors, the beings who had etched their will onto the reality itself. But even they had limits. A single Law could only have one God.

And then, towering above them all, were the Void-born.

They were not just strong; they were unfair. They were the children of the void that existed before time.

They were born with innate, SSS-Grade talent. While others spent eons trying to glimpse a Law, the Void-born breathed it.

They could comprehend faster, grow endlessly, and, most terrifyingly, they possessed an innate authority, a hierarchy that allowed them to bless, command, or suppress those below them.

“Luckily… I am a Void-born,” Sunny murmured, looking at his hands.

He thought of Skill-Resonance, the cheat-like ability gifted to him by his ’Mother,’ the Void. He thought of Manifestation Affinity, the power to create something from nothing.

“I will see you soon, Mother,” he whispered to the empty air, closing his eyes to wait out the final ticking minutes of the cooldown.

Snap.

His eyes flew open. A sudden thought, a loose thread had jerked him back to alertness.

“How did I forget about this little guy?”

He snapped his fingers. Space warped at the foot of his throne, and a small, shimmering cage materialized.

It was forged from the SSS-Grade Iron of Sealing Dao. Inside, huddled in the corner, was a creature the size of a house cat.

“You bug!” the tiny creature shrieked, its voice a high-pitched squeak of pure rage. “How dare you leave me alone in the dark and then summon me when I was resting?!”

It was Edgar. The terrifying Legion-Born, the demon who had nearly ended Sunny’s reign, was now a furious, miniature pet.

“You don’t seem to be afraid,” Sunny chuckled, leaning forward, “even though you are caught in a prison you cannot break.”

Edgar opened his mouth to boast, to spew his usual venom, but Sunny moved faster.

He reached out his finger and flicked the demon god on the forehead.

Thwack.

“Ouch!” Edgar tumbled backward, rolling across the floor of his cage. He glared up at Sunny, his red circular eyes burning. “Why should I be afraid? You can’t kill me! I can’t hit me….”

He stopped. He looked at the cage. He looked at Sunny’s mask.

The realization finally hit him. He wasn’t the hunter anymore. He was the toy.

Sunny was smacking him so that Edgar could grow. Grow so much that his body will be needed to be packed inside the cage, as it wouldn’t be able to break the cage even with it’s increasing size.

“Hey…” Edgar’s tone shifted instantly, becoming pleading and pathetic. “We can talk this out, right? No need to go too far. I… I didn’t actually kill any of your Gods. Or your demigods. Technically. So, you shouldn’t have any real hatred for me, right?”

Sunny tilted his head. “You didn’t kill them? Or you simply didn’t get the chance to?” He reached out and flicked Edgar again.

Thwack.

“Stop that!” Edgar cried, curling into a defensive ball. “Fine! As you say! Just stop hitting me!”

“Edgar,” Sunny said, his voice dropping the playful tone, becoming heavy and serious. “I have wanted to ask you something since the moment I understood your talent. Since the moment I saw your weakness.”

Edgar peeked out from behind his hands. “Why would I… ask away,” he grumbled, seeing Sunny’s finger tensing for a third flick.

“Good boy,” Sunny said, patting the cage with a terrifying gentleness. “I want to know… why didn’t you learn Size Manipulation?”

Edgar blinked.

“Or,” Sunny continued, “why didn’t the Demon Lords bless you with it? You are a Legion-Born. Your weakness is that you burn your own mass for fuel. If you had a talent to manipulate your size, to compress your energy or fake your stature… you could have hidden that weakness. You might have won.”

It was a glaring mistake. For a being as old and powerful as Edgar, it seemed impossible that he hadn’t thought about mending this fatal weakness of his.

For a long minute, Edgar just stared at Sunny. The silence stretched, heavy and confused.

And then, slowly, a sound began to bubble up from the demon’s throat. It started as a chuckle, then grew into a cackle, and finally exploded into a loud laughter.

“Hahaha! You think… you think I didn’t want to?” Edgar wheezed, wiping a tear of golden blood from his eye. “My talent… it is not just a power, little God. It is a curse. A shackle.”

He sat up, his expression turning strangely solemn, his red smile twisting into something that looked almost like nostalgia.

“Let me tell you a story,” Edgar whispered.

“Once upon a time, in the deeper parts of the Void… in the places where the light of your universes does not reach… there lived the strongest of the Void Beasts.”

“Wait before that, I think you don’t know about the void beasts that much….” Edgar said as he saw Sunny’s body language.

Sunny frowned. “Void Beasts? I know about them. I fought one. They are mindless beasts, who only think about hunger. If released, they devour multiverses like candies. What does that have to do with you?”

Edgar shook his head, a look of genuine pity on his face. “You are right. And you are wrong. The beast you fought… the ones that wander the shallow void… those are the strays. The mindless runts.”

He leaned against the bars of his cage, his voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper.

“I am talking about the Royal Family.”

Sunny’s eyes widened behind his mask.

“They live in the Core of the Void,” Edgar continued. “Far, far away from this little bubble of reality you call a home. They are not mindless animals, Cosmos. They have families. They have a hierarchy. And unlike the strays… they possess intelligence.”

A chill ran down Sunny’s spine. Intelligent Void Beasts. Beings with the power to eat multiverses, but with the mind to plan, to hate, and to conquer.

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