They arrived without ceremony.
No thunder.No light.No divine announcement.
Just pressure.
The sky above Lugnica did not darken—it thinned, as if reality itself was being pressed flat. People stopped mid-step, instincts screaming even when their minds found no threat to name.
Subaru dropped to one knee. "Okay—yeah—this is bad."
Emilia struggled to stay standing, breath shallow. "This feels… wrong."
Anos Voldigoad did not react.
"That sensation," he said calmly, "is dependency asserting itself."
Above the capital, shapes took form—not bodies, but definitions. Concepts given will. Beings sustained not by power, but by belief.
Voices layered over one another.
"THIS WORLD HAS STRAYED.""ORDER HAS BEEN WITHDRAWN.""RESTORE NECESSITY."
Temples across the kingdom resonated at once. Statues cracked as divinity tried to pull meaning back into itself.
"These are gods?" Subaru croaked.
"Yes," Anos replied. "Low-order system deities. They exist because people expect them to."
The pressure increased.
Knees buckled. Faith-driven magic surged desperately, trying to re-anchor reality to something familiar.
One god stepped forward—its presence shaped like judgment.
"DEMON KING," it intoned."YOU HAVE INVALIDATED PURPOSE."
Anos finally looked up.
"Purpose is not granted," he said. "It is chosen."
The god's presence flared violently.
"WITHOUT US, THEY WILL FALL.""WITHOUT FATE, THEY WILL SUFFER.""WITHOUT WORSHIP, WE CEASE."
Anos' eyes were cold.
"Then cease."
The word carried no power.
It carried finality.
The god recoiled—not injured, but destabilized. Its form flickered as belief failed to cohere around it.
"No—wait!" another cried, its voice cracking."We maintained balance! We—"
"You maintained relevance," Anos corrected. "By convincing mortals they were incomplete."
He raised one hand.
Not to attack.
To disconnect.
Temples fell silent. Divine channels closed. Miracles stopped mid-function and gently unraveled.
Across the capital, priests collapsed—not dead, just suddenly… ordinary.
The gods screamed—not in pain, but in terror.
They were not being destroyed.
They were being ignored.
One by one, their presences thinned, unable to sustain themselves without acknowledgment.
Within minutes, the sky was empty again.
The pressure vanished.
Silence returned.
Subaru stared upward. "…You just erased gods."
"No," Anos said. "I removed their audience."
Emilia looked around at the people slowly standing back up, confused but alive.
"…So what happens now?"
Anos lowered his hand.
"Now," he said, "only those who can exist without being needed will remain."
Far away—beyond gods, beyond systems—something older shifted.
Something that had never required worship.
And for the first time since creation, it felt curious.