System: Daily login!!, jackpot on the first day!!!-Chapter 419 - The Third Calamity [lll]

The leaves of the Great Tree rustled softly as Taufik rose to his feet. Sunlight spilled between branches, painting golden patterns across the grass.

He looked up. The sky above no longer felt still.

It watched.

A presence.

Many.

Taufik inhaled deeply. Then, he spoke:

"...System, start it"

A moment of silence.

Then...

A familiar voice, cool and ever-loyal, echoed back in his mind:

[... Start what, Master?]

His lips curled in quiet amusement.

"The things we talked about a few months ago"

Another pause.

A pulse of hesitation.

[... You mean?]

Taufik nodded once, eyes sharp.

"Yes. The Gods are getting restless. But they can't just be let loose to run rampant across Earth… So we'll give them exactly what they 'think' they need"

He began to walk slowly, casually, yet every step rippled through the ground like distant thunder.

"In the old age, gods grew stronger by gaining followers. The more prayers they received, the greater their Authority"

"But it was always a one-way transaction. They took. The mortals gave. And only the gods profited"

His voice dropped slightly, measured, calm… dangerous.

"But now? It will be different"

"Now… It's mutual"

"They want believers? Fine. But to earn them, they must offer something in return"

"Blessings. Boons. Techniques. Gifts. Teachings"

"A divine marketplace. A contract between god and a follower"

He stopped.

Turned to the horizon.

"If they want to remain relevant in this new world, they'll have to compete. Not a rule"

Silence followed.

Then: [Understood, Master. Initiating Protocol...]

The world shivered.

Across Earth, a new presence awakened.

Not loud. Not violent.

But undeniable.

Like a signal sent to every corner of creation.

To every god who had gathered in the Sanctum Aeterna.

A pulse of opportunity.

---

- SYSTEM NOTIFICATION -

[Sponsorship Protocol Activated]

• Gods may now form Divine Contracts with mortals.

Requirements:

Offer a blessing or Teaching.

Bind a portion of Authority to the Contract.

Mutual growth guaranteed.

• Balance Clause Initiated: Overreach will lead to expulsion from Earth.

• Authority and Influence will now be monitored by the System.

---

In the Sanctum Aeterna, every god paused.

Each one felt it.

A door opening.

Not to Earth, but to relevance.

To power.

To a new game.

Zeus opened his eyes. A faint smile touched his lips.

"So… he's done it"

Even the Outer Ones stirred.

One of them whispered into the void:

"...So this is his move. Interesting. Very… mortal of him"

--------

- Back beneath the Great Tree, Taufik exhaled.

The breeze stirred gently beneath the massive boughs, sunlight dappling Taufik's shoulders as he turned to leave.

The System's hum still echoed in his mind, processing divine pings from all directions, contracts offered, demands made, gods moving like chess pieces.

"Those gods sure move fast…" Taufik murmured. His lips curled slightly. "Hmm~ Let's see who adapts fastest... and who burns first"

He took one step forward...

"…Father"

Taufik paused.

Aksara stood there, calm as ever, his usual composure tinged with hesitation.

"About the new feature on the System…"

Taufik turned to face him fully. "What about it? Did you receive an offer already?"

Aksara nodded, eyes still fixed on the flickering interface before him.

"…Many," he said flatly. "Should I accept one of them?"

Taufik's expression tightened, not in anger, but in thought.

Aksara, his son.

His blood. His legacy.

To imagine him bound under another god's Authority, even in a mutual contract, sat wrong in Taufik's chest.

He narrowed his eyes.

"…Wait," he said quietly. "Let me think"

'System, I'm a god too. Can I offer a contract?'

[... Affirmatif, Master. As a deity with active Authority, you were able to issue a Sponsorship Contract]

'Good… Even if I couldn't, I'd make it happen. I've already gifted humanity the Replica System, my blessing to the world. But none of them counted as my followers… Not really'

He frowned slightly.

'If I offer Aksa a Contract… what could I possibly give him? He already has my teachings and he's already has the System Replica too'

A beat.

'Wait… What about Authority? Can I offer that?'

[Offering full Authority is Impossible, Master, but if it is a small portion of your authority, you can]

Taufik's eyes sharpened.

'Perfect. Let's do that'

He looked at Aksara.

Steady. Clear.

"…Aksa. Reject all of their offers"

Aksara blinked. "What? Why-?"

"Because I'll become your sponsor," Taufik said, calm but firm. "From this point on… You walk under no banner but mine"

A moment passed.

And then... Aksara's System lit up.

---

- SYSTEM NOTIFICATION -

• [Sponsorship Contract Received]

Deity: The One Who Defied The Fate: Taufik D'Archy Hidayat.

• Offered Boon:

- Fragment of Divine Authority: Darkness.

- Direct Growth Under Master Domain.

- Absolute Compatibility with Replica System.

•

Cost: -

# This contract supersedes all divine offers due to origin Authority.

Accept?

---

Aksara's eyes widened slightly.

This wasn't just a father protecting his son.

This was a god choosing a champion.

And Aksara… smiled faintly.

"Of course, Father"

He tapped Accept.

And in that moment, the bond was sealed.

Taufik felt it immediately.

A thread of golden light shimmered between them, intangible but undeniable.

Two soul-signatures. Now tied.

Not in servitude.

Not in fear.

But in shared will.

Aksara exhaled, the power washing over him like warm rain.

"…Feels different"

Taufik nodded. "It should. You're not just my son anymore"

He smiled, tired but proud.

"You're my champion now"

--------

- A Few Months Later.

The world had changed.

Since the [Sponsorship Protocol] began, humanity's view of divinity shifted forever. Gods were no longer distant myths or forgotten names, they were real. Present. Accessible.

People no longer just believed in gods.

They chose them.

And the gods, in turn, chose them back.

Contracts were signed daily. Boons were granted. Powers awakened.

What once was sacred became systematic.

And at the top of it all, the gods humanity already knew, the ones whose names had been etched into history, worshiped in temples, told in stories, rose again as the most prominent.

Zeus, the Sky-King.

Amaterasu, the Radiant Flame.

Ra, the Eternal Sun.

Brahma, the Mind Eternal.

Odin, the All-Father.

They gathered followers by the millions.

Even Zeus himself had offered contracts to mortals, not from arrogance, but necessity. The more followers, the stronger the Authority. The stronger the Authority, the greater their presence in this new Earth.

But not Taufik.

His path was different.

He only offered contracts to those he knew.

Those he trusted.

And because of that, his follower count remained small.

But each one of them was exceptional.

And among them, stood Aksara, the boy who carried a fragment of his Authority.

Yet amidst the rise of these "Known Gods," there lurked a silent pressure.

The Outer Gods.

Unmapped. Unnamed.

Alien in form and thought.

They had no mythos. No temples. No songs.

And thus… no foothold in human belief.

Few humans accepted their contracts.

Fewer still survived them.

Their blessings came at cost. Their authority, tainted by concepts no mortal soul was designed to comprehend.

But unlike the Known Gods…

They were many.

Uncountable.

And slowly, inevitably…

They began to move.

Some whispered. Some bargained. Some infected.

They slithered through weak minds and cultic shadows.

And others… simply invaded.

It began subtly.

A village gone mad overnight.

A city where no one could dream.

A child born with too many eyes… and a voice that didn't stop echoing.

At first, these were dismissed as isolated anomalies.

But they weren't.

They were symptoms.

And when the veil thinned enough, when Earth's ley lines twisted once more under the weight of too many contracts.

They came.

Not all at once.

But enough.

Enough to rewrite the sky.

To defile the oceans.

To make the stars weep in patterns no one could explain.

It didn't feel like the First or Second Calamity.

It was worse.

Because this time, it didn't strike from above, or below, or beyond.

It grew within.

Within minds. ƒreeωebnovel.ƈom

Within cities.

Within reality itself.

This era… would one day be written not in ink, but in ash and echoes.

The historians who survived it would give it a name.

The Third Calamity... The Calamity of Choice.

An age not born from monsters or warlords, but from something far more insidious:

Freedom.

Where gods descended not as saviors, but as merchants, hawking miracles like commodities.

Where faith became currency.

Where divine contracts were signed in glowing light… and broken in blood.

And where the forgotten, those the people refused, those deemed too strange, too alien, too monstrous... took that rejection personally.

Because gods, even the most ancient... crave belief.

And when belief is withheld… they twist.

What began as a noble idea, the Sponsorship Protocol, was meant to balance power between mortals and gods.

To replace worship with mutual exchange.

To turn divine authority into earned trust.

But instead, it opened the floodgates.

Old gods, once revered, began clawing their way back into relevance.

Outer gods, who should have remained beyond the veil, now stalked among the desperate, disguising themselves behind symbols and dreams.

And mortals, given the power to choose, chose poorly, chose easily... Chose wrong.

Taufik, creator of the System, the Aboriginal of Earth, the one who watched everything from beneath the Great Tree, remained silent at first.

He watched the world turn.

He watched followers become pawns... Slaves.

He watched belief become a battlefield.

But there is only so much a god can tolerate.

And so, one day…

When the stars began to pulse with unnatural rhythms…

When the wind carried whispers in tongues not born of Earth…

When the dreams of children turned to shrines of madness…

Taufik stood.

He stepped through space.

And arrived at the place built by his will.

Sanctum Aeterna.

The Eternal Gathering Place.

A realm not bound by physics or prayer.

Forged not of stone or sky, but of Intent.

The moment he entered, the very air recoiled.

Not in fear, no... But in recognition.

Pillars bearing stilled galaxies vibrated.

The mirrored floor reflected not his image, but his essence.

And every divine presence seated within… stilled.

Even Zeus, first among equals, rose from his throne, eyes narrowing with unspoken tension.

The others followed.

Odin. Brahma. Ra. Amaterasu. And in the distance, behind veils of unknowing, even the Outer Gods stirred.

Taufik walked slowly into the center.

No crown.

No cloak.

No army.

Only conviction.

He looked around, eyes dark and cold, and then he spoke...

"... This ends now"

....

...

..

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