A being, his divine name incomprehensible by mortals, enters a dark room. He takes one knee on the floor and casts his gaze down to what is presumed to be the ground. One after another silhouettes with all their details obscured by the darkness surrounds him, and he remains in his position, at their centre.
"Hmmm, great work once again," one of them starts the conversation by complimenting him. The voice belonged to an elderly man, judging from his tone.
"Haha, that's to be expected. Compared to his previous targets this one is of no concern," another said with a hearty laugh.
"@#%!$@, it might be true that compared to his previous targets this one was a baby, but that is no reason to discredit his achievements. The god was still ranked with AA level difficulty," a gentle feminine tone lectured the figure next to her.
"Hahaha, yeah, yeah," the voice shrugged her off without a second thought.
"Listen, yo-" she attempted to pursue the matter further but was abruptly interrupted by the one who stood at the forefront of them all, appearing to be the leader.
"Now, now. Enough of your battering! Quiet down!" The figure was little, and the voice was of a girl who spoke like a dignified old man. "We did not summon him here so he could listen to your dull back and forth."
"But-" The woman tried to put her point but was once more rejected, now by the figure on the other side of her.
"Let's calm down everyone, shall we~?" A playful voice of a teen boy echoed throughout the room. "We were going to reward him, remember?~"
"A reward?" The divine being on one knee questions in an indifferent tone.
"That's right, we have decided to give you a reward~"
"You little, that was supposed to be my line," the figure of the little girl held contempt toward the playful boy for stealing her spotlight and role.
The rest remained quiet as they observed the rest of their group have their childish fight. Some shook their head in dismay, and others sighed. Despite how they acted, every one of those present was of great importance and had abilities worthy of their important positions.
"Ahem," the petite girl cleared her throat, ready to speak up.
"So, decide, how do you want to be rewarded?" the playful boy spoke up once more, stealing the petite shadows' thunder.
"Damn you! How dare you do it once again! Do I look like a joke to you?!" the petite girl yelled at the boy in fury.
"A reward? A reward?" The divine being continuously repeated multiple times, each time with an increase of emotion in his words. The divine being looked up, revealing the face of a young man. His hair was dark blue, his eyes red. His pale, well-featured face had a magical allure and was void of expression, and his eyes regarded all with a sense of indifference. "If I may, I would like a vacation."
"A vacation? Haha, I guess you do deserve a break after millions of years of service. It's more of a surprise how it took you this long to ask for one," the man spoke in his usual hearty voice.
"A vacation, huh? What kind would you like?" the petite girl asked the divine being.
"I would like to experience more things. Things outside of killing and capturing gods, outside of punishing them. I want to broaden my horizon. I want to see a world outside heaven," the divine being returned to his indifferent tone, yet his voice was eager with anticipation.
"Outside of heaven, you mean-?"
"Yes. I would like to be permitted to visit the human world, and live amongst them as a human."
"Hmmm," the petite girl mused to herself.
"Let him go, he deserves a break as I've said," the hearty man encouraged his request to be accepted.
"Yeah~. He should have fun every once in a while~," the playful boy chimed in.
"I don't need you whippersnappers to tell me that," she snapped back to the two. "Ahem, your request is obviously accepted," she turned back to him.
"Thank you," he cast his gaze back down to the ground.
The meeting with the guild masters was over, and the divine being walked out into the large reception area of the even larger building. This place is the headquarters of the Heavenly Guild. This large building was the only place in the entirety of the infinite heaven where Divine Hunters could select quests from. There exists criminal gods, and those that hunt them, Divine Hunters. In the Heavenly Guild, Divine Hunters select bounty targets that are criminal gods from the options available. Upon completion, they are rewarded with the appropriate compensation.
Divine Hunters are ranked, as well as criminal gods. Divine Hunters are restricted in the targets that are available to them. One cannot pursue a target that surpasses their rank. The lowest ranking among Divine Hunters is F, and the highest is SS.
"Elton," the voice of a cheery young woman called out. Her eyes were crystal blue, and Elton's image was reflected in them. Her long dark blue hair, tied in a twin tail shared many similarities with Elton's, mainly speaking, the colour. It sway as she jogged toward Elton, stopping right in front of him.
The residents of Heaven were all divine beings. Their divine names grew in power as they did. Those who are weak are unable to comprehend the divine names of those that are in a different league in terms of power and abilities. To address the issue, common names were devised. Common names, unlike divine names which a divine being is born with, are issued by the Heavenly Order. Common names can be comprehended by all, regardless of the difference in strength. The idea was much like those that the humans used because they were indeed taken from the human system.
"Rena?" Elton spoke the common name of the divine being in front of him.
"Did you come to collect your bounty rewards?" Rena interrogated as to the reason for Elton's visit.
Elton nodded lightly in response.
"I see. Did your rank go up? I finally became a B rank. Guess I've become very important now."
"Is that so, good for you? I'm still a D rank as usual," Elton responded with a blank expression.
Divine Hunters were ranked so they could identify bounties that were of their levels. No one was allowed to take up a bounty that surpassed their rank. Elton's rank was SS, the highest possible rank. The reason he had that hidden was because of what it entailed.
An average Divine Hunter is ranked D. Those ranked C are considered geniuses and are given above-average treatment. B rank is enough to earn respect and special treatment from various little to mid-sized nations. A-ranks are considered once-in-a-thousand-year geniuses and are treated as a treasure no matter where they travel since their strength is both valuable and extremely rare. Above that are the AA-ranks, S ranks, and finally, SS ranks.
Even though extremely rare, it would not be impossible to find an AA-rank expert. But for S ranks, only a few hundred are recorded to have reached that level in the Heavenly Record. As for SS ranks, they have surpasses all things that are currently in heaven. Only a small number of them exist, and they can be counted on one hand. If an SS rank so desired it, nothing in the entire infinite heaven could stop them.
Even AA-ranks are considered to be non-existent, much less S ranks and SS ranks. Those above A-ranks have their identity hidden and are issued a public rank that is at best A-rank.
"Hey, Rena!!!" A voice resounded from behind them.
"Oh, it's Siden and the others. Sorry, Elton, my teammates are calling, gotta go," she explained as she hurriedly rushed off. "Oh, by the way, don't be too sad about your rank. You should also try finding a team. Having friends that watch your back makes life so much easier," she turned around for an instant, advising him with a smile, before returning to her team.
Elton watched as they happily chatted among themselves, teasing each other.
'A team, huh? They will only get in my way.' he thought as he exited the large gate of the headquarters.
********************
After the meeting had ended, Elton was having a meeting with one of his long-time friends. The room had two couches that faced each other from opposite ends of the room, with a round table in between them. Elton stood on one of those couches, looking ahead of him. On the other couch, sat a petite girl. She was the silhouette of the leader of the guild masters, her common name was Lilian.
"So, when are you planning on going?" Lilian asked in her elderly accent. It was as if she was a long-lived old woman instead of a young petite girl like her body suggested. As a matter of fact, it was not 'as if', but 'she was' indeed a long-lived woman in a petite form. Having lived a few million years, Lilian is one of Elton's childhood friends.
"I was planning on departing immediately after our conversation had ended..." Elton's voice trailed off. He took notice of the slight hint of worry that was on Lilian's small face, "By the look on your face, you have something for me to do, don't you?" Elton was no longer speaking in the same manner as he was the last time they had met. During the meeting with all the guild masters, Elton opted for a more formal manner of speech but was now casually speaking with little regard for respect.
"Does it show on my face?" Lilian felt her face and then forced a strained smile.
"How long do you think we have known each other? There is no way I won't notice when something clearly bothering my childhood friend," Elton who always displayed an indifferent blank expression, smiled gently. It was a small smile, but it was a smile nonetheless.
Lilian found some comfort in his words and smiled back at him. "Just when you were given a vacation for what is the first time, this has to happen," Lilian cast her gaze down on her lap, a little regretful of having to involve Elton.
"What happened?" Elton asked her, the smile still on his face.
"It's the Kingdom of Rior."
"Kingdom of Rior?"
"Yes," Lilian hesitantly nodded her head.
The Empire of Liol, Elton's home country, had an enemy that was in simple terms, one possessing an awful relationship with the Empire. Countless wars had been waged between the two nations with no clear winner each time, just chaos and suffering were the only visible results. These two nations were one of the largest powerhouses known to each other. Heaven is infinite in size, each nation floats in the infinite space that is Heaven, and an infinite amount of nations exist in this realm. It is impossible to know all of them.
The ones the Empire of Liol knows of and has contact with are:
Asgard- The home of the gods of Aesir.
Realm Of Olympus- Realm where the Greek pantheons live.
The Urdhva Lokas- Inhabited by the Devas and Devis.
Deva-gati- The nation belonging to those who have reached Nirvana.
The Otherworld- Those who are the citizens of this nation are referred to as the "Celtic Deities."
Samsatu- Occupied by the Igigi.
There is another nation that is secluded and has not made any attempts to contact us since the Empire discovered its existence ten thousand years ago.
And the last one is the Kingdom of Rior.
"What about the Kingdom of Rior?" Elton inquired with a blank expression.
Lilian closed her eyes momentarily before continuing, "A god is wreaking havoc."
"Wreaking havoc? In the Empire?"
Lilian nodded in response to Elton's question. "Records say he was a B rank criminal god who had gone into hiding 2 years ago, but..." Lilian paused, causing Elton to pay close attention to her next words.
"But...?"
"We dispatched an AA-rank to deal with him, but he never returned."
"Are you telling me he was defeated?"
Lilian shook her head, "Only if it was that simple. The Divine Hunter had no traces left of him or at least none that we could find."
"So you are saying a B rank overwhelmed an AA-rank and annihilated him without a trace left?"
"We are not sure, but that is the only possibility."
"What about another person helping the gone-berserk criminal god?" Elton proposed another possibility.
"Unlikely," Lilian shot down the idea instantly.
"Oh? What makes you so confident?" Elton asked with an amused tone.
"Someone was observing their confrontation. An A-rank Divine Hunter who possessed the [Divine Trait: Clairvoyance]."
"Observing? So you mean they saw what happened?"
Lilian quietly nodded her head, meeting Elton's gaze. His image reflected in her eyes and hers in his.
'If somebody saw it and they still don't know what happened, it must be because of a Divine Trait that the criminal god possesses.' Elton mused to himself as he organized the information inwardly, hypothesizing feasible possibilities.
"Tell me what he saw," Elton queried with a gesture of his hand.
"When the A-rank confronted the criminal god, he just vanished without a trace. According to the A-rank who was watching, he just vanished in thin air when he was asking the criminal god to surrender."
Elton narrowed his eyes. 'Disappeared?' It was possible that his ability forcefully teleported the AA-rank to a random or set coordinate. If that was not correct, then the only other answer Elton could arrive at was that it was an extremely dangerous ability, able to erase someone from existence. 'If he really can erase someone from existence, then he is dangerous. I will have to take care of him with my Divine Trait. So far I am not sensing any danger, so it should be fine.'
Divine Traits are a special ability that divine beings are born with. It is connected to their divine names and requires no power source to use as their source are the divine names of the being who possesses them. As a result, Divine Traits can be used infinitely without any limits, meaning they are infinite in power. A single destruction type Divine Trait is capable of destroying the entirety of Heaven in its infinity. Which is why all Divine Traits are under a seal from another Divine Trait. Under this seal, how much power of their Divine Trait they are able to unleash depends on the strength of their divine names. But to begin with, Divine Traits are as rare, if not rarer that S-rank gods, so there are not many gods who possess it.
The only beings truly and completely unaffected by this seal are SS-rank gods, including Elton.
Elton possessed a rare second Divine Trait. Since a Divine Trait is directly linked with a divine being's name, for them to possess more than one would require them to have more than one name, if not then they would have to possess a divine name strong enough of withstanding two Divine Traits, Elton was the latter. Even then, to be born with multiple Divine Traits is a matter of luck, but in that case, Elton was a little different.
Not only that, the second Divine Trait Elton possessed was that of an extremely rare type. Most Divine Traits have names, and therefore to use them, the user would have to call them. Only those who have mastered their Divine Traits at a high enough level can call them from within their mind through a method called 'Mind Chant', most have to use their voice.
But there are still Divine Traits that do not require their names to be called to be used and are always active. Passive [Divine Trait: Ready For Trouble] is the second Divine Trait possessed by Elton. Allowing him to sense danger via a sixth sense before it occurs is the purpose of this Divine Trait.
"So, how is he related to the Kingdom of Rior?" Elton posed a relevant question that bought them back to the topic they had steered off from.
"Said got escaped the Empire and hid in the Kingdom of Rior. His whereabouts were unknown until he appeared on the outskirts of the Empire and started to destroy everything indiscriminately and massacre innocent citizens," Lilian looked out the window at the cloudy sky.
"So you believe that his appearance has something to do with the Kingdom?"
Lilian shook her head and denied his statement, "That's not all. We received information that some Kingdom spies were spotted with him before his murder spree. Though the validity of the information is questionable, we can't still just ignore it."
"Fine, where is he?" Elton asked, having accepted Lilian's request.
"I'm really sorry about your vacation..." Lilian closed her eyes and lapsed into silence.
"... It's just a vacation, it doesn't really matter if I have to take care of one criminal god before that. Just tell me where he is so I can get this over with," Elton sighed as he leaned back on the couch.
Lilian nodded before giving him an explanation, "His first target was the City of Nelly. It is a small city on the outskirts of the Empire. After destroying the whole city without a trace he moved on to his second target, Port City of Miles. This is where he fought with and defeated the AA-rank Divine Hunter. As for his current whereabouts, we should be receiving a report about that soon enough."
Just as Lilian had finished, a loud knock resounded from the other side of the door, accompanied by a scream of a report.
"Who is it?" Lilian questioned the unknown man on the other side.
"I am a messenger from the Intelligence department, and I have bought the latest report on the criminal god, code number 343," the man on the other side responded.
"343, that's the one we're talking about," Lilian jumped from the couch in surprise. "You can come in."
The door flew open and a tall rushed man entered. He was greeted by Lilian and Elton who had stood up from their couches.
"Give us the report," Lilian requested.
"Yes, ma'am," the rushed man hurriedly straightened his back and respectfully relayed the report. "Yes, 343 has completely annihilated the Port City of Miles without a trace, and is said to be headed for Saner, the City of Trading and Commerce."
"Oh no," Lilian mumbled with frustration. "Saner is one of the most important cities in the Empire. 79% of all the goods arrive through that city. Losing it will be a big hit to the Empire's economy."
"I see, that's how it is," Elton closed his eyes, having organized and comprehended all the information that had been disclosed to him.
"So, anyway, I'll have to rely on you for this one. Though I feel bad about it, you are the only readily available option," Lilian sighed as she informed Elton in a hurry.
"I understand the situation. Just reward me by increasing the duration of my vacation on Earth," he smiled at her in response.
"Fine. I'll increase your vacation by double," she shrugged and smiled back at him.
"Looks like we have a deal. I'll go complete my part," Elton headed for the opened door.
"And I'll hold my end of the bargain. By the time you come back, you will have 200 years of vacation."
"Great, looking forward to it," he walked out and closed the door behind him, leaving Lilian and the messenger in the room.
"Give me the finer details," Lilian told the messenger.
"Y-yes," he complied with a stutter.
Once outside, the remaining traces of a smile vanished from Elton's face. 'Let's take care of this so I can get back to going on my vacation. How I hate violence, but somethings must be done,' Elton sighed as he disappeared with the intention of going to Saner.
To a divine being, death was a foreign concept. Unlike mortals, divine beings had no lifespan and would never die. They could be destroyed, but that was different from the death that the mortals experienced. As such, 200 years to them was a short time. Despite having been a Divine Hunter for a million years, and having lived a few million more, 200 years of vacation would most likely feel like an instant. Even then, he was looking forward to his visit to Earth, to live as a human.