The Mage Who Devours Disasters - Chapter 68

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 68.
The gazes of those seated upon their thrones converged upon Abriel, whom I held in my hand, all at once.
Honestly, I was bewildered.
‘Is promoting Kwon Cheonsa to such a rank truly such a momentous achievement?’
Certainly, she had grown stronger.
But in the end, she was merely a weapon.
Why would these Supreme-tier monsters, who had condensed eons of divine essence into their very beings, be so astounded by the mere evolution of a single instrument?
Moreover, the reaction of the Twelve Sovereigns was equally peculiar.
“Hahahaha!”
That was when it happened.
Heimdall shattered the silence with a booming laugh.
His face was brimming with satisfaction.
He wore an expression of utter contentment.
Heimdall showed no deference whatsoever before the gaze of the Twelve Sovereigns.
Rather.
“Behold!”
He spread both arms wide, his voice ringing out boldly toward the twelve thrones suspended in the air.
As if to provoke them, he tilted his chin upward and cried out.
“I, Heimdall, God of Tempests and Sovereign of All Things, hereby declare!”
His resonant voice shook the entire Banquet Hall.
“This is merely the beginning.”
The beginning.
He was casually proclaiming that the emergence of Kwon Cheonsa was nothing more than the first step, utterly disregarding me, the one directly involved.
“How far will my Apostle Deity ascend? What miracles will he inscribe within this Tower? Surely you are all anticipating this?”
Heimdall slowly turned his gaze.
Where his eyes came to rest.
Skadi, the Goddess of Winter.
Toward her.
“So listen well.”
Heimdall exhaled killing intent.
“Unless you wish to witness the end.”
Toward Skadi’s Faction.
And moreover, toward every Deity gathered in this place.
“Do not bark thoughtlessly, nor bare your fangs.”
…That madman.
I barely suppressed the curses threatening to spill forth.
The atmosphere turned treacherous in an instant.
Not even the breathing of the Deities could be heard.
I too found myself unable to do anything but tense.
Even if I were to concede a hundred, a thousand, ten thousand steps.
No matter how much I sanitize my words.
‘Is he insane? Truly.’
I can think of nothing but that he’s lost his mind.
However reckless an outsider Heimdall may be.
Not only does he turn all the Supreme-tier Rulers into enemies, but to unleash such a sweeping provocation right before the Twelve Sovereigns themselves—it’s beyond comprehension.
It was the pinnacle of arrogance that transcended mere confidence.
One wrong move and a war among the deities could erupt in this very place.
Murderous intent was about to explode from Skadi’s eyes.
Her Apostle Deity was gripping the sword hilt, stepping forward—at that precise moment.
Clap. Clap. Clap.
From somewhere, slow and heavy applause cut through the silence of the Garden.
“…!”
All eyes turned toward the throne suspended in the void.
One of the Twelve Sovereigns.
Hod, the God of Darkness.
He reclined with his chin tilted, wearing a leisurely smile.
“Indeed.”
Hod’s voice pressed down upon the atmosphere.
“Master of All Things, Heimdall. Your boldness
is admirable.”
His tone was mocking, yet somehow tinged with genuine interest.
“I shall watch with keen attention to see how far your arrogance will carry you.”
Fortunately, it passed.
With a single word from Hod, the murderous intent that had gripped the Garden dissipated like mist.
Skadi bit her lips hard, swallowing her tears of rage, and the other deities hastily averted their gazes.
When a Sovereign of the Twelve declares they will watch, who would dare provoke a confrontation here?
“Hmph.”
Heimdall snorted derisively, turning his body with undiminished arrogance.
“Let’s go.”
He moved his steps back to where we stood.
I gathered Abriel and quietly followed in his wake.
The gazes pouring down on my back were sharp, but they lacked the overt killing intent from before.
Aigis, standing on the Platform, cleared his throat and salvaged the atmosphere.
“Ahem. Well then.”
He smiled awkwardly and resumed the Divine Banquet.
“The preamble was lengthy. Now, let us proceed to the main event and commence our ‘true banquet.'”
The true feast.
Aigis spread both arms wide and shouted.
“Let each of you bring forth the banquet you have prepared!”
As the command fell, the atmosphere of the Garden shifted once more into something grotesque.
As if they had been waiting, Silver-Armored Angels filed into the Garden in orderly procession.
Thick iron chains hung from their hands.
And.
Clank. Clank.
Beings dragged forth, bound to the ends of those chains.
I doubted my own eyes.
“…?”
The large, elongated white table positioned in the center of the Garden.
That empty table I had found puzzling—its purpose now became clear.
At last, I understood the reason.
The Angels pulled the chains, arranging the women they had brought before me in rows atop that cold Marble Table.
Women radiating breathtaking beauty, yet their eyes were hollow with despair, lifeless and vacant.
‘Surely not…?’
Humans.
Or rather, life forms from other dimensions resembling humans.
Aigis cried out from the Platform above, his expression brimming with satisfaction as he gazed down upon them.
“Behold, the banquet is prepared.”
His voice dripped with thick avarice.
“Priestesses selected from each world—beings of pure and noble souls.”
The eyes of the Deities gleamed like those of beasts.
The sound of lips smacking echoed throughout the Garden.
“These fresh sacrifices, so willing to offer their bodies and souls for us.”
Aigis laughed with unbridled greed.
“I wonder who among us shall savor and consume this banquet most thoroughly. The anticipation is already exquisite, is it not?”
My premonition had proven grimly accurate.
‘So this was the truth of the Divine Banquet.’
I clenched my lips tightly.
Something vile rose from within me.
Nausea washed over me.
I remembered.
The casual counsel Heimdall had once imparted to me.
-Gather believers and place them upon the Altar of Sacrifice. As those living offerings burn with sacred flame, the faith they emit—once refined—becomes Nectar of the highest purity. The most efficient method.
Those words were now manifesting before my eyes as reality.
That white table was the Altar of Sacrifice itself.
Dozens of Priestesses burned alive.
Their noble souls and vitality wrung dry.
Refined into a single drop of the purest Nectar to be consumed—a conception as demonic as it was abhorrent.
‘…These accursed wretches.’
How could these beings ever be called true Deities?
They were nothing but ravenous predators draped in power.
They were nothing but sadistic monsters who savored pleasure from the despair of others.
“The delicacies for this Divine Banquet have been meticulously selected, refined again and again.”
Aigis continued his explanation from the platform, his expression radiating satisfaction.
“Children discovered after years of painstaking effort.”
At his gesture, the Silver-Armored Angels roughly pressed down on the Priestesses’ shoulders, forcing them to their knees.
“All are pure maidens, raised as Priestesses their entire lives solely for the glory of this Divine Banquet.”
His voice rose as though he were announcing some magnificent achievement.
“Never tainted by the mundane world since birth. Fed leaves of the World Tree daily to purify their souls.”
Leaves of the World Tree.
That sacred relic fed like fodder for such a horrific purpose.
“Their bodies and souls alike—all immaculately pure and transparent, these children.”
Aigis licked his lips with undisguised greed.
“Surely this is the finest delicacy, perfectly befitting this sacred occasion?”
Murmurs of satisfaction erupted throughout the Garden.
The Deities caressed their golden chalices, savoring the anticipation.
That supreme Nectar those sacrifices would emit as they burned.
Eyes gleaming like beasts already imagining that sweet fragrance.
“However.”
Aigis raised his hand, silencing the commotion in the Garden.
“Not just anyone may taste this precious delicacy.”
A natural progression.
They always incite competition.
“Only the strongest, the true victor, shall have the privilege of monopolizing this exquisite essence.”
Monopolize.
At that word, several Deities’ eyes flashed with sinister intent.
“However, it would be problematic for us Supreme-tier Rulers gathered here to settle this directly, would it not?”
Aigis adopted an expression of feigned difficulty.
“Such a confrontation could escalate into a catastrophic war that shakes the entire Tower. Direct conflict among us is forbidden.”
Justification.
A convenient pretext.
“Therefore, those who shall represent our will—your cherished ‘Apostle Deities’—shall conduct this sacred contest in our stead!”
A proxy war.
A battle between Apostle Deities.
I felt my brow furrow involuntarily.
‘Wait. I have to fight?’
This meant I would have to resort to violence here.
My mind raced rapidly.
‘…I cannot win right now.’
It cannot happen.
I cannot win.
No matter how frantically I’d ascended from the First Floor to Floor 55.
No matter that I wielded Kwon Cheonsa’s blade and was an Irregular who commanded primordial flame.
That was only relevant among the ‘lesser deities.’
Defeating Cryos had only been possible because of the Nectar trap and controlled variables.
But these creatures before me now?
Those shadowy Apostle Deities standing as guards for the Supreme-tier Rulers.
They were genuine monsters—at minimum mid-tier, with most having ascended to the rank of ‘superior deities.’
If I faced them head-on, in pure one-on-one combat?
‘I’d lose every single time.’
The weight class difference was too vast.
I was overwhelmingly outmatched in every conceivable way.
“….”
Cold sweat beaded on my skin.
I glanced sideways without moving my head.
Heimdall’s expression hadn’t shifted at all—arms crossed, radiating composure as if this were nothing.
That faint, bloodthirsty smile playing at his lips seemed to say:
-Go on, then. Show me what you’re capable of.
It felt like silent coercion.
‘This is insane.’
Was he actually confident in me, or had he simply thrown me to the wolves?
Had he mistaken me for someone capable of standing against superior Apostle Deities just because I’d drawn Kwon Cheonsa’s blade?
But if I went out there and fought, I’d die like a dog.
Yet I couldn’t retreat either.
A true dilemma.
“The rules are quite simple.”
Aigis continued his explanation.
“A contest between deities. However, since this is the Banquet Hall, we shall refrain from a full collision of divine authority.”
At his gesture, the Silver-Armored Angels produced heavy metal shackles.
“‘Shackles’ that suppress divine power by 99%. All Apostle Deities entering the contest must wear them.”
Shackles.
Aigis smiled.
“Naturally, you won’t be able to use your powers properly. In the end, it will come down to the most primal struggle—’flesh’ and ‘violence.'”
In other words, a brawl.
Not a noble contest of deities, but a blood-soaked melee of shackled gladiators for the gods to sip wine and watch.
‘These people are dopamine addicts of the highest order.’
I clicked my tongue inwardly.
Their tastes were brutality incarnate.
But simultaneously, relief bloomed within me.
‘…They suppress divine power by 99%.’
If that were true, everything changed.
If their overwhelming divine essence were restrained, victory would be determined solely by pure physical prowess, the performance of their weapons, and combat instinct.
Nothing more.
‘This could be interesting.’
It might even be advantageous for me.
“We shall proceed by designation.”
Aigis declared the rules.
“You may designate your desired opponent, and if they accept, the match is set. Only the victor shall have the right to covet the offerings upon that table.”
Before the explanation even finished.
A flash.
The Apostle Deity standing behind Skadi raised her hand without a moment’s hesitation.
“May I be the first to designate?”
Aigis nodded.
“Very well. Make your designation.”
At the same moment.
…her gaze turned toward me, unwavering.
“Apostle Rag.”
She slowly twisted her lips into a smile as she spoke.
“Come. I’ll crush you.”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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