Little Pink Starfish

Eagle pulled out a large, luxurious-looking couch from his storage ring and gestured for Pei Sen to come sit with him.

Pei Sen glanced at it, then sat down beside him. With a flick of his hand, he cast a levitation spell on the couch. The two of them floated in mid-air, calmly watching the massive skeleton army surging below, and the growing number of enormous skeletal birds in the sky, nearly blotting out the sun.

The tiny light sparrows were almost completely obscured, their small forms flickering like brief flashes as they darted among the undead horde.

Of course gods could fly. Night Ancestor glared grimly at the bone birds in the sky. He could fly, but his power in the air was diminished by nearly half.

The gods of the Gate of Eternity were realistic gods—not omnipotent, not all-powerful. Their strength had limits. Each had areas of expertise, and weaknesses too.

Worse yet… Night Ancestor was afraid.

Yes. He knew it was shameful—but fear was fear. Pretending otherwise wouldn’t help.

And so, he hesitated.

He didn’t move forward. He could only watch as the undead army swelled with every passing second.

“What is he doing?!” The God of Silence, who rarely spoke, was finally growing anxious. “If he delays any longer, the undead army will become unmanageable.” His power relied on silence, so he rarely spoke, preferring to conserve his strength.

The Mirror Goddess sighed. “Do you know why he calls himself Night Ancestor?”

The God of Silence paused. He actually didn’t know.

The three of them were the last among the gods to ascend and had always maintained a decent relationship. But that didn’t mean they knew everything about each other—especially since the Mirror Goddess and the God of Silence came from the Anser Empire, while Night Ancestor hailed from the Xia Dynasty.

“His one great weakness is the dark. That’s why he gave himself that title—to conquer his fear of night,” said the Mirror Goddess softly. “But I think… he doesn’t actually fear the night itself. He fears what comes with it.”

The God of Silence was quiet for a while, then said, “So basically… he’s scared of ghosts, specters, and skeletons?”

The Mirror Goddess nodded. “Most likely.”

The God of Silence: “…”

He was actually falling silent now. Letting Night Ancestor go first was clearly a mistake.

This dithering would only let the undead multiply further.

“Don’t worry too much. No matter how powerful the mage, their mana isn’t infinite—” the Mirror Goddess tried to reassure, only to see the mage on the couch below take out one, two, three bottles of mana potion… and chug them all in one go.

……

……

Okay. Clearly, they had come prepared.

“Even if he has a lot of potions, consuming too many has consequences. High-tier alchemists can’t completely eliminate impurities from potions, and the more impurities, the greater the damage to the body—” she began, but before she finished, a beam of light descended on the mage. The damage caused by the potions was instantly healed.

Mirror Goddess: “……”

God of Silence: “……”

Down below, Night Ancestor had already been submerged by the undead tide. Any time he tried to fly up, he was besieged by bone birds. Though he could cut them down in swathes, they weren’t living beings—no matter how many he destroyed, they never stopped coming.

If anything, their numbers were only growing.

Eagle watched for a moment and sighed, “The natural enemy of the undead is light.”

Indeed, if Night Ancestor were a light-based god, the undead army would’ve never reached this scale. Light magic was necromancy’s natural nemesis.

But unfortunately… the one most proficient in light divine magic right now was Pei Sen’s teammate.

“This really isn’t going well.” Night Ancestor was beginning to panic. He tried to peer through the hordes to see the two on the floating couch, but his vision was completely blocked. “No choice then…” He took a deep breath, and a curtain of darkness suddenly spread around him like the fall of night.

In theory, there was no day or night within the divine realms behind the Gate of Eternity. Each god shaped their own space. Their current battlefield was a sky realm perpetually blanketed in clouds. The undead had cast a shadow over it, but not true night.

The Mirror Goddess looked down. “Finally using his trump card. This black night of his will obscure their vision. That necromancer can’t control his army without sight. If he can’t see, they’re useless.”

Night Ancestor’s signature move wasn’t conjuring night—it was removing light itself, creating a darkness even deeper than night.

But just then, spheres of light suddenly burst forth. The previously hidden light sparrows among the undead erupted like little suns, each illuminating their surroundings.

Night Ancestor, trying to stealthily rush toward Pei Sen and Eagle, was immediately exposed.

The Mirror Goddess was speechless. Seriously, how are they this prepared?

“Enough,” said the God of Silence. “If Night Ancestor keeps stalling, the situation will only worsen.”

The Mirror Goddess nodded. “Agreed.”

They immediately contacted Night Ancestor, telling him to concede and step down. They needed to switch.

That was the rule. Gods could only battle one at a time. The challengers could do whatever they wanted—only needed to defeat the three gatekeeper gods.

There was no loophole. It was a direct challenge. Few had ever succeeded.

But…

Night Ancestor refused.

It had been a thousand years. Though he was the weakest of the gods, no one had defeated him in all that time. This was his pride. His proof of strength. He wasn’t weak—those gods were just stronger.

Over a millennium, his confidence had only grown. He wouldn’t back down. These two were still mortals, no matter how powerful.

“To surrender so easily—what would that make me? I know my weakness. That’s why I became Night Ancestor. I developed the Night Veil technique. I’ve worked endlessly to grow stronger. Now, when facing two mortals, how could I just give up?”

He couldn’t. He wouldn’t listen to the Mirror Goddess.

The other two gods were dumbfounded. “Why is he being like this now?”

“This is getting worse.”

“But unless he concedes, we can’t step in.”

“This is… absurd.”

Pei Sen had already noticed. He wasn’t rushing at all—he simply kept expanding his undead army. Night Ancestor, believing himself to be strong, kept hacking away, building a false sense of dominance.

But the fallen skeletons and bone birds simply stood back up. The undead never stopped coming.

To the gods above, the horde below seemed only to grow and grow.

Eventually, they stopped reacting entirely—too numb to even feel anxious.

“Looks like we’re getting two new colleagues.”

“They climbed the Eternal Stair together. Took the trial together. Likely, they’ll share one godhood.”

“Not unusual. The Earth Goddess is also two people.” That’s right—the Anser Empire’s main gods were the God of War and the Earth Goddess. The God of War, Helromins, was a solo deity. But the Earth Goddess, Nassa-Aegia, was actually a pair of twin sisters. Almost no followers knew this, since they never appeared together and looked identical.

And there were other cases too—some gods were married couples, like the Education Gods. One god, Hawk Ancestor, was actually three siblings.

It wasn’t uncommon for multiple beings to share one godhood.

“We’ve been gatekeeping for a thousand years… That’s not bad.”

“So, we’re giving up?”

“Yes. Honestly, just looking at the size of that army is exhausting.”

“True.”

As gods, they could afford to be capricious. The Three-God Trial was entirely at their discretion. If they didn’t feel like fighting, they could let people pass.

And right now, they really didn’t feel like fighting anymore.

Even if they could win, it wasn’t worth the effort.

Night Ancestor was still struggling. The others had already lost interest.

They looked instead at the two floating figures—far more relaxed than the god they were battling.

“Their abilities complement each other well.”

“Necromancer and light magic… And light magic hasn’t been seen in the Anser Empire for years. There is a Goddess of Light in the Gate of Eternity, but she practices light-elemental magic, not divine magic.”

“A necromancer reaching this level is rare too. Most of that inheritance is lost…”

“When they become fellow gods, we should talk to them. I’m curious where they came from.”

“Though, once they’re gods, you’ll have to go through another Three-God Trial, won’t you?” the Mirror Goddess sighed.

Among the three, the God of Silence was the strongest. But the Three-God Trial always required three gods. If new gods appeared, he could potentially retire from this tiresome duty.

Back when Night Ancestor was ascending, his gatekeeper had deliberately thrown the fight just to avoid another trial.

The God of Silence smiled faintly. He was in a good mood.

In the end, though reluctant, Night Ancestor admitted defeat.

He glanced bitterly at the other two. After all this embarrassment, you two better suffer a little too!

But…

They gave up without a fight.

Night Ancestor: “…”

So in the end, I’m the only one who looked like an idiot?

The Mirror Goddess was smiling as she stepped forward, ready to greet the newcomers and maybe start building rapport—after all, they’d be working together soon.

But just then, Pei Sen and Eagle officially passed the trial.

Faith poured into them like a golden river, forming a shining bridge of stars. Their bodies absorbed the energy, and in an instant, their auras became unrecognizably powerful.

Pei Sen stared at his hand in shock. “…So this is divine power?”

Eagle’s golden hair whipped in the wind. He was still holding Pei Sen’s hand tightly. “I guess so.”

The three gods nearby: “…”

The Mirror Goddess took a shaky breath. “Silence… looks like you’ll still be doing the Three-God Trials with us in the future.”

These two were nothing like the weak gods of the past.

For a moment, the trio of gods felt like crying.

A thousand years of gathering faith—and they were surpassed in an instant.

How… how were they supposed to accept that?!