"Our great Empress, our Snezhnaya Divine System… no, the Snezhnaya Divine Collective, has finally caught up with those old friends of ours."
Pucinella wiped the tears from the corners of his eyes with his fingers, his voice filled with emotion as he spoke to the noble and gentle Empress seated upon the throne.
For the sake of Snezhnaya, they had already given their all—and at last, they had achieved results.
Though dedicating themselves to Snezhnaya's advancement was something every god in Snezhnaya was passionate about, being able to help the Empress activate a Pseudo Star Map Creation was the highest honor among all gods.
Now, finally, they could raise their heads high in front of the other Divine Collectives.
Of course, this referred specifically to the original Seven Divine Systems of Teyvat.
Before Lord Heavenly Principle lifted the original sin hanging over the Snezhnaya Divine System, any interaction with the other nations had felt like trying to speak through an invisible wall—they were constantly cold-shouldered.
And truthfully, they held no resentment. On the contrary, they were grateful. After all, they had brought it upon themselves. Even so, Lord Heavenly Principle's grace still descended upon them. Without that, they never would have reached where they were now.
What had truly pained them was seeing their beloved Empress being ignored—even outright dismissed—by the supreme gods of the other Divine Collectives.
Sandrone spoke: "Our efforts don't need recognition from other Divine Collectives. Otherwise, it would be an insult to the trials we've endured, would it not?"
She was now a Primary God. Her puppet body had already transformed into a true divine form when she reached Upper God rank.
As an embodiment of a Rule, she could naturally decide what form her body would take.
Rosalyne crossed her arms. "Exactly. The effort, the suffering, the trials, the calamities, and now our transcendence—if anyone dares belittle it in front of me, I'll rip out their tongue."
Capitano responded, "Hmm… Rosalyne is as blunt as ever. That's not exactly ideal in diplomacy."
Tartaglia shrugged and spread his hands. "That's why, after the fallout with Olympus, Her Majesty no longer lets Rosalyne serve as a diplomat. Didn't you know?"
"Oh? Is that so? My apologies—I hadn't heard."
Pantalone smiled politely. "It's only natural Captain Capitano wouldn't know. After all, such incidents damage both sides' images, so both parties quietly sealed the information. Only those directly involved knew the details."
Tartaglia explained, "Rosalyne got used to throwing her weight around with the small divine systems. She wasn't familiar with Olympus, and ended up butting heads with the equally hot-tempered goddess of beauty, Aphrodite. Their argument over tone quickly turned into a brawl."
"And then, the clueless gods from Olympus rushed in, and the whole mess devolved into a battle between our diplomatic team and theirs."
"In the end, it took our Empress and their goddess Athena to finally restore order."
"Ah~ So that's how it went."
Rosalyne snorted, her expression sour. "That was years ago. Tartaglia, weren't you enjoying the fight too? And now you're still bringing it up."
Pantalone smiled again. "Ah, it seems our camaraderie as colleagues is still quite harmonious."
Arlecchino spoke plainly: "Now doesn't seem like the time for such discussions, does it, everyone?"
Pucinella gently tapped the ground with the cane he leaned on and said with a smile:
"Though Her Majesty wouldn't mind such trivial matters, I believe it's best we remain quiet at this time."
"After all, even if we have some petty disagreements among ourselves, in front of Her Majesty, it is necessary to at least show a united front."
Rosalyne snorted again. "Hmph, you're all more fake than the next." And with that, she fell silent.
Her Majesty didn't care whether they clashed in public or not—what mattered was that they listened to what she said.
Of course, as the supreme god of Snezhnaya, Her Majesty Tsaritsa understood perfectly well what truly went on among her subordinates.
The Snezhnaya Divine System was highly united. They all supported each other, and at most, their conflicts amounted to verbal spats.
Besides, they had already clashed in front of Her Majesty more than once. Since the Empress didn't mind, they naturally didn't either.
The gods of the minor pantheons newly incorporated into the Snezhnaya Divine Collective looked on in shock at the bickering among the high gods, and at the Empress's kindness and tolerance toward her subordinate deities.
The largest of these new minor pantheons was the Slavic pantheon, which shared the same origin as Snezhnaya. It had a moderate number of gods—enough to compare to a mid-sized pantheon.
However, its highest god was only at the Primary God level.
That god was Svantovit, the war god revered by the Slavic people. The other major deities were all at the True God level, while the rest of the pantheon consisted of Lower Gods who had not even reached True God rank.
Currently, the strongest members of the Snezhnaya Divine Collective were still the original Harbingers who had followed the Empress from the beginning.
The strongest among them was Arlecchino, leader of the House of the Hearth community, and currently the acting spokesperson of the Snezhnaya Divine System. She had just broken through from Primary God to God-King.
Next were Pucinella, Sandrone, Rosalyne, Pantalone, Capitano, and Tartaglia—all had received rank promotions beyond Primary God, and with time and merit, were expected to break through to God-King.
This was the result of the reallocation of merit that had previously been halved by the Cosmic Nexus due to Heavenly Principle's judgment. With merit fully restored, the gods of the pantheon were now rapidly advancing.
"Alright, everyone. I shall now bestow the Cosmology's blessing upon our Divine Collective."
Tsaritsa returned from communion with the power of the Pseudo Star Map Creation and looked gently at the gods now all gazing up at her.
As soon as she spoke, the blessing of the Pseudo Star Map Creation radiated outward across the universe.
As the leader of the Divine Collective, she could directly see the endpoints and partial destinies of all its gods.
Every one of the Harbingers who had followed her from the beginning could one day reach Supreme God level, and Arlecchino could even ascend to Primordial God.
A great weight lifted from her heart, and the pressure on her shoulders lessened by more than half.
Snezhnaya's struggles mirrored Mond's.
Their Divine Collective oversaw far too many galaxies and space-time planes, yet none among the gods had been capable of fully maintaining them. Besides her, a Supreme God, there hadn't even been a single God-King.
Even though she had given her all, it still hadn't been enough.
Fortunately, the Adventurers' Guild had effectively mobilized the strength of local civilizations across space-time, relieving some of her burden.
Tsaritsa drew the armillary sphere back into her body.
She silently recited the activation chant of the Pseudo Star Map Creation in her heart:
Orochi, World Serpent—activate. Let the endless connect head to tail—Pseudo Star Map Creation.
A glowing ouroboros ring appeared behind her.
Her own power instantly surged to weak single-universe level.
This was just the result of invoking the Pseudo Star Map Creation's power. She hadn't fully deployed it—if she did, a domain would form instantly, and her strength would rise to full single-universe level.
Lord Heavenly Principle, I will not let you down...
...
Cosmic Truth, Cosmic Law,, the Cosmic Nexus, and Pan-Human History gradually receded from the Supreme Divine Domain, like a tide ebbing after its peak.
The Gift Game for Cosmology activation quietly came to an end.
As the final two Divine Collectives were established, all the ultimate mysteries slowly vanished from perception—their presence could no longer be felt.
The great gods of every nation within the Supreme Divine Domain couldn't help but sigh—this had been the grandest Gift Game in recorded history, and now it was drawing to a close.
Such a Gift Game would likely never happen again within the lifetime of any divine being. Even if more Pseudo Star Map Creations were activated in the future, nothing would match the cosmic spectacle that had just unfolded.
The end of a Gift Game that had shaken the entire universe—only those gods above the level of True God could retain a full memory of this cosmic celebration.
The Lower Gods could only remember fragments of their trial during the Journey of Civilization.
The weaker one's power, the less they could retain. As for intelligent beings below godhood, they could barely retain anything at all, perhaps only recalling it as a strange and fleeting dream.
The Journey of Civilization was not something beings below godhood could fully remember.
Yet even a tiny sliver of retained memory would bring unimaginable benefits after one ascended to godhood.
After all, what one experienced during the Journey of Civilization was the deep essence of a god's very soul.
...
Inazuma.
Raiden Makoto and Raiden Ei sat beneath the Sacred Sakura, savoring some confections, their violet eyes gazing into the cosmic void beyond Inazuma's Divine Domain.
Raiden Ei gently licked away a crumb at the corner of her mouth. "So the last of the Gift Games has ended. I never imagined there would be a Divine Collective unable to obtain a Pseudo Star Map Creation."
Raiden Makoto smiled. "It's only natural. The Hindu and Buddhist pantheons have spent years stirring up trouble and testing the limits of us, the original Seven Divine Systems."
"With such attitudes and divine characters, how could they possibly be recognized by a Pseudo Star Map Creation?"
"What Lord Heavenly Principle seeks is not Divine Collectives that fight amongst themselves, but those willing to expand Teyvat's reach outward."
"Even if a pantheon lacks the means for expansion, they must at least be capable of sacrificing themselves for Teyvat. We, all of us, are willing to give our lives for our people."
"As for the Hindu and Buddhist pantheons—I don't think they can bring themselves to make that kind of sacrifice."
Yae Miko chuckled. "Hehehe… looks like the Solar King Collective they formed will now become the laughingstock of the entire universe."
Amaterasu couldn't help but laugh quietly. "A Divine Collective without a leader—can that even be called a Divine Collective?"
Yae Miko smirked. "Of course not. It's just a Cosmology activation, nothing more. It can't provide blessings to the entire pantheon."
"We've all become Supreme Gods by now, while they're probably still stuck in place."
Raiden Makoto said, "Olympus, on the other hand, has done quite well. Miko, send them our congratulations on behalf of the Inazuma Divine Collective. They are, after all, the first non-original Seven pantheon to become a Divine Collective."
Olympus was special—it had become a Divine Collective entirely on its own, proving that its Cosmology was singular in nature.
A single Cosmology alone would not normally be enough to form an independent Divine Collective.
The Hindu and Buddhist pantheons were different. Their mythologies were deeply intertwined, often described as father-son conjugates—Shakyamuni was one of Vishnu's ten incarnations, and Vishnu was listed as one of Buddhism's ten great Asuras.
In essence, the two pantheons could be considered a single entity.
...
As soon as the Gift Game ended and all Divine Collectives took form, the great gods within each Collective could sense the existence of the others.
Upon sensing the state of the Solar King Collective, they couldn't help but laugh.
The God-Kings of the Solar King Collective wore extremely sour expressions. They had only received a one-time blessing during the Cosmology activation—just enough to bring them to the brink of ascending to Supreme God.
But that single blessing wasn't enough. Now they were stuck, halted just short of the threshold.
Though it was just the final step, breaking through it could take an untold amount of time and effort—perhaps tens or even hundreds of millions of years.
By then, other Divine Collectives might already have multiple Primordial Gods.
In contrast to the dismal state of the Solar King Collective, the Olympus Divine Collective was in celebration—on Mount Olympus, all the gods were singing and dancing with joy.
The gods of Olympus loved nothing more than gathering for grand feasts.
Athena sat upon the main throne, an armillary sphere in her hand. Only now had she truly become the master of a Divine Collective, ruling over all of Olympus.
As she watched the gods before her singing and dancing—some pausing now and then to bow reverently or offer her wine—the corners of her lips slowly rose.
How could she describe the feeling in her heart?
Her long-cherished wish had finally come true.
In the beginning, all she had wanted was to return to her original Trinity—the ancient status of the Threefold Queen.
But now? What was an ancient trinity compared to being the leader of an entire Divine Collective?
"Alright, gods of Olympus."
Athena stood gracefully and spoke softly.
At her words, all the gods stopped their revelry and turned to her with reverence and anticipation in their eyes.
Gaia, the Earth Mother—already a God-King and just a step away from becoming a Supreme God—bowed slightly. "Your Majesty Athena, are you ready to bestow the blessings?"
Nyx, the Goddess of Night, also asked, "Your Majesty Athena, may I ask what blessing I might receive?"
Tartarus nodded excitedly.
Erebus added, "As Olympus' supreme god, you will surely be the most just."
The four God-Kings of Olympus had spoken.
The Primary Gods watched with eyes full of eager hope.
Zeus, who was on the verge of ascending to God-King, took a deep breath.
Now that Athena had become the leader of the Divine Collective, the mythology of Pan-Human History had long since changed.
Even if it hadn't, Zeus was no father of Athena—not in this cosmology. He was a god born in the world of Campione.
Half the gods present had originated from the world of the Godslayers.
Athena raised her star-and-moon staff. "You truly are impatient. But yes—it's time to bestow the blessings, to unlock the ultimate secret of our Divine Collective, and fully reveal the divine seats of you all."
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