But then, amidst the growing dread, a calm presence seemed to envelop the room. She spun around, heart racing, only to find herself face-to-face with a middle-aged man standing casually on the bridge.
His attire—a simple, everyday outfit—was completely out of place in the midst of a high-stakes battle.
Yet his demeanor exuded an air of absolute calm as if the chaos around him didn't matter in the slightest.
"Who the hell…?" Rhea's voice faltered, but before she could finish, the man smiled at her—a warm, reassuring smile that carried with it an undeniable sense of control.
"Captain Rhea," he said, his voice smooth and commanding despite the chaos, "start the warp drive immediately."
Rhea blinked, momentarily frozen. Who was this man? How did he even get onto the bridge? But there was no time for questions. The authority in his voice left no room for doubt.
"I'll hold the Nightmare God back," he continued, his eyes flicking briefly toward the monstrous figure still looming outside, "while you initiate the space jump."
Rhea hesitated for only a split second before nodding, snapping back into action. "Engage the warp drive!" she ordered her crew, voice steely once again.
The bridge buzzed with activity as the crew scrambled to obey, setting the coordinates and charging the ship's warp systems.
As the engines began to hum with the rising power of the warp drive, Rhea's eyes flicked back to the middle-aged man.
Captain Rhea watched in awe as the mysterious man stepped forward. With each stride, the space around him distorted and disintegrated, collapsing into nothingness before reforming in front of the Nightmare God.
Captain Rhea, standing on the Redeemer's bridge, could only watch in stunned silence, her heart pounding in her chest. Her crew, too, were frozen, their attention locked on the holographic display, showing the escalating confrontation.
As he neared the Nightmare God, a sense of anticipation filled the air, the tension palpable even amidst the chaos of the warp drive's activation.
Captain Rhea held her breath, her eyes fixed on the spot where the middle-aged man had disappeared into the void. In a hushed tone, she uttered a single word, heavy with reverence and awe, "Official War Gods!"
Despite her own strength as a Hero Profession, the title of War God was something entirely beyond her reach.
It represented the highest echelon of power within the Super God Civilization—'Official War God' is the title given to individuals who have ascended to rule from thrones perched atop the Eternal Divine Leaves.
Both she and the man hailed from the same origin, a Super God Civilization born from the Eternal God Tree, a civilization that had reached the apex of super strength, super technology, and divine power.
Their people were unique—a Destiny race, evolved from humans, blessed with the potential to ascend to godhood through the Eternal Divine Tree's influence.
Millions of War Gods roamed the stars, each comparable to True Gods, and though only a fraction could claim the title of Great War God comparable to powerful Great Gods of God Level 20.
Every Official War God, like the middle-aged man, was a force to be reckoned with. Captain Rhea, despite her own demigod status, had fallen short of becoming one of them.
They descended into the infinite planes and various habitable and deserted planets in the Void Sea of Chaos, opened up territories, cultivated dependents, formed armies, and plundered resources and ancient relics from the Monster Gods, Nightmare Gods, Alien Gods, and Zerg worlds that ruled the chaotic expanse.
Through their own efforts, they gradually expanded their divine domain, laying the groundwork to condense War God Throne and ascend to the status of True Gods.
However, their path to divinity differed significantly from that of traditional gods. While traditional gods relied on the power of faith generated by their believers to condense their Godhead, the War Lords followed a different path.
They drew their strength from understanding the rules and with the power of the Eternal God Tree, to condense the Godhead much like the ancient gods of legend, well they also collect the power of faith to increase their divine power, but mostly relied on God Tree to become War Gods.
The middle-aged man who appeared before was a War God who had successfully opened his Divine Domain, condensed his Throne, and achieved the status of an Official War God.
As for Captain Rhea, she failed to awaken her Divine Domain and became a Hero. While she possessed the power of a high-level demigod, her status paled in comparison to that of the Official War God.
As the middle-aged man stood steadfast on the deck of the battleship, his eyes locked onto the figure of the Nightmare God.
Despite the vastness of space surrounding them, neither he nor the Nightmare God seemed affected by its vacuum.
The Nightmare God, on the other hand, exuded an air of menace and power.
His body was completely made of distorted darkness, shifting and twisting like smoke, yet his eyes burned with an eerie intensity, sending shivers down the spines of those who dared to stand against him.
The Nightmare Civilization, an ancient Super God Level Civilization, was born from the depths of darkness.
Masters of nightmare technology, wielded their power with ruthless efficiency, spreading their influence across the stars by ensnaring entire civilizations in nightmares.
Countless civilizations fell beneath their oppressive rule, their populations enslaved, and their worlds transformed into nightmarish realms where terror reigned supreme.
The Nightmare Civilization showed no mercy to those who dared oppose them, crushing all resistance with merciless brutality.
As Rhea's mind raced, the warp drive thrummed louder, nearing the critical point of activation. Fifteen seconds. Just fifteen more seconds until they could escape this nightmare.
But those seconds felt like an eternity with the Nightmare God looming just beyond their reach.
The Nightmare God laughed, a deep, sinister sound that reverberated through the vacuum of space, reaching even the crew within the ship. His eyes, glowing with malice, fixed on the War God standing before him.
"Ah... a Potress Warlord. It has been thousands of years since I last tasted one of your kind." His voice was a twisted mockery, dripping with hunger and malevolence.
For a moment, the Nightmare God's gaze flicked to the Redeemer, its warp drive building power. Yet, he made no move to stop it.
There was no need for haste. Fifteen seconds was more than enough time to deal with this Human God and then crush the ship.
His confidence radiated from him in waves, as though this entire confrontation were nothing more than a game to him.
But the middle-aged man only grinned, his eyes sharp and focused. "Hahaha... nice try, buddy. You're not the first Nightmare God to spout those same words," he retorted, his voice carrying across the void with a mix of amusement and disdain.
"And the last one who said it? Let's just say he didn't live long enough to regret it." His tone was casual, but there was an undercurrent of calculation in his words.
Despite his confidence, he knew the truth. This was not his true body, merely an incarnation, a Clone.
Facing a full-fledged Nightmare God with just an incarnation would be reckless in any other circumstance, but here, he didn't need to win. He only needed to buy time.