System: Daily login!!, jackpot on the first day!!!-Chapter 500 - The Null Pantheon [ll]

"I believed in you," he added quietly. "At least... I tried to"

The silence deepened.

Then...

"Do you have a reason?" Taufik asked softly. "If so, tell me this"

His gaze sharpened, not with anger, but with absolute clarity.

’Why did you allow the Outer Gods to do such a thing here..." A pause. "...on my Earth?"

Zeus fell silent.

No one moved.

Even the Sanctum Aeterna itself seemed to hold its breath.

The word that left Taufik’s mouth was soft, clear, almost gentle.

Yet the weight behind it eclipsed even the greatest catastrophe ever recorded.

"...Fik, there is a reason behind it. Everything had a reason behind it," Zeus finally spoke, his voice strained. "Let’s stay calm and talk this through-"

"I am calm, Zeus," Taufik replied, resting his head against his palm.

He looked directly at Zeus, then slowly let his gaze sweep across the chamber. His eyebrow rose slightly as he took in the unfamiliar faces that had joined the Sanctum Aeterna.

"And I see there are a few new faces here," he continued evenly. "The name is Taufik D’Archy Hidayat, known as the Dafient"

As he spoke, his attention drifted, almost unconsciously to Odin, who had remained silent since the beginning.

The moment Odin heard the title ’The Dafient,’ something stirred violently at the edge of his mind.

A memory, one he never knew existed, surfaced with terrifying clarity.

Odin shot to his feet.

"Y-You..." His voice trembled. "Is that you?!"

"Hm?" Taufik hummed, a faint smile touching his lips as he met Odin’s gaze. "Good to see you again, Odin. And thank you for the Verdant Star, it helped me a great deal"

He tilted his head slightly.

"How is Yggdrasil? And the gift I left for humanity... is it serving its purpose?"

Odin didn’t answer immediately.

He looked... tired.

Around them, the other gods watched in rapt silence, curiosity thick in the air.

Zeus frowned, confused, he was certain Taufik had never met Odin. And yet, what unfolded before him told a very different story.

The Verdant Star.

The Fruit of Yggdrasil.

That was not something Odin would ever give lightly.

Odin finally slumped back into his throne, exhaustion written plainly across his face.

"Yggdrasil... is not in good condition," Odin said at last. He hesitated, then glanced around the Sanctum Aeterna. "...Can we speak in private later?"

Taufik frowned slightly, confusion flickering across his expression. He considered it only briefly before nodding.

"Alright," he said. "We’ll talk later"

At that, Taufik finally withdrew his attention from Odin and turned back toward the others.

"I would like to speak with each of you," he said calmly, his gaze sweeping across the assembled gods. "But this is not the right time. We’ll get to know each other better later"

His eyes returned to Zeus.

"So," Taufik continued evenly, "your reason?"

Hearing his name, Zeus shook away his earlier thoughts and studied Taufik more carefully, no longer as a presence, but as a being who demanded answers.

"...What do you want to know first?" Zeus asked.

Taufik clicked his tongue softly.

"I already asked," he said. "Why did you allow the Outer Gods to do such a thing, run rampant, act without restraint, here... on my Earth?"

Zeus exhaled.

"About that," he began, "you must first understand this: the Outer Gods you speak of never joined the Sanctum Aeterna"

His gaze moved across the chamber, lingering briefly on each god present.

"Everyone here can bear witness to my words. Because they are not part of this Sanctum, we have no authority over them. Even if we wished to act, we cannot"

His expression darkened.

"They are difficult to track. Difficult to define. It is not that we refused to intervene, Fik... It is that we could not"

Taufik’s eyes narrowed slightly.

"Outer Gods," he repeated. "And you even gave them a name? Null Pantheon"

He tilted his head.

"So what, do they move as a group?" He looked directly at Zeus. "Are you serious right now?"

"No," Zeus replied immediately. "They mostly act alone. We call them the Null Pantheon simply because we mostly do not know their true names, their origins, or their full number"

Taufik’s gaze sharpened.

"Mostly?" he echoed. "So you know some of them"

At that, Zeus hesitated. He glanced around the chamber once more before returning his gaze to Taufik.

"...A few," he admitted. "Some of the Null Pantheon were once known beings who originated from established pantheons"

Taufik crossed his arms slightly.

"Example"

"One of them," Zeus said slowly, "is... strong. Too strong"

His eyes shifted toward another throne.

The Jade Emperor met Zeus’s gaze and gave a slow, solemn nod before turning to Taufik.

"...He is known as The One Who Defied Heaven and Lived," the Jade Emperor said. "Victorious Fighting Buddha"

A pause.

"The Monkey King," he continued quietly. "Sun Wukong"

"Sun Wukong?" Taufik echoed. That name was unmistakable. There was not a single human on Earth who didn’t know it. "...That Sun Wukong?"

"Yes," the Jade Emperor replied calmly. "That Sun Wukong"

"Interesting," Taufik said, a faint glint passing through his eyes. "So in my absence, even Sun Wukong descended to Earth, huh?"

He leaned back slightly.

"Tell me, what did he do? Did he cause trouble?"

"No," the Jade Emperor answered at once. "Sun Wukong is no longer the rebellious figure recorded in Earth’s literature"

He folded his hands behind his back.

"After his journey among humans, what mortals call Journey to the West, and after attaining Buddhahood, he conquered his own chaos. His rage. His ego. His defiance," A pause. "He changed... through struggle"

"Hm," Taufik hummed thoughtfully. "If that’s true, then why didn’t he join the Sanctum Aeterna?"

The Jade Emperor fell silent for a moment, as if choosing his words carefully.

Then he spoke.

"Then tell me, Human God, do you know why Sun Wukong always clashes with Tathāgata Buddha?"

Taufik raised an eyebrow at the title Human God, but he didn’t object.

He knew fragments of Sun Wukong’s tale from books written long ago, but like most divine histories, human records were distorted, reshaped by time and belief.

Hearing it from someone who lived it was different.

"...Please," Taufik said at last. "Tell me"

"The reason Sun Wukong opposes the Buddha," the Jade Emperor said slowly, "is not hatred"

He lifted his gaze.

"It is a limitation"

"He does not hate the Buddha," he continued. "He hates being confined"

Silence followed.

"We should not be here," the Jade Emperor went on quietly. "Not on Earth. Not anymore"

"But because Sun Wukong descended, the Celestial Court (Tiāntíng (天庭)) was forced to withdraw from the heavens and once again set foot on Earth," His eyes darkened. "All of this... because Tathāgata Buddha has already spoken"

"He is watching Sun Wukong"

"I see," Taufik murmured, nodding slowly.

He understood now, how Sun Wukong fell into the category of the Null Pantheon.

But understanding did not mean acceptance.

Earth was no longer in the era of angels and demons waging open war.

No longer an age where gods descended freely, claiming ownership of the world.

This was not their era.

This was his.

"...Still," Taufik continued calmly, "I’m interested in meeting him in person"

He lifted his gaze, sharp yet measured.

"I already understand your reasons. As long as you have no hidden agenda... feel free to remain on Earth"

"...I’ll remember that," the Jade Emperor replied with a slight bow before sitting back on his throne.

Taufik nodded, then turned his attention back to the others gathered in the Sanctum.

"That’s one," he said. "Do we know of any other gods classified under the Null Pantheon?"

The gods exchanged glances.

Then one by one, they began to speak, each naming figures from their own mythologies, beings once known, now unbound... Gods who no longer belonged to any throne.

---

A list was spoken.

Names drawn from myths that should have remained buried in humanity’s oldest fears.

Apep(Apophis) and Nun, the endless abyss from which creation itself once trembled.

Sun Wukong... and Hundun, chaos without shape or reason.

Izanami, Queen of Yomi, and Kagutsuchi, the fire that birthed death among the gods.

Tiamat, the primordial mother of monsters.

Cipactli, the devourer upon whose corpse the world was carved.

And Whiro, the devouring darkness of the Polynesian seas.

That was the list.

The Known beings of the Null Pantheon.

Taufik recognized every name.

Or at least... he had read about them.

And that alone unsettled him.

Because each of them was not merely a god, but a calamity given will, existences that, if fully unrestrained, could erase continents, drown civilizations, or return the world to a state before order itself existed.

Just one of them would have been enough to eclipse the First, Second, and Third Calamities combined.

And yet...

Earth still stood.

The sky had not cracked.

The seas had not swallowed the continents.

Reality had not collapsed into primordial chaos.

That contradiction troubled him.

"...That list," Taufik said at last, doubt threading through his calm voice. "Is it accurate?"

"It is, Fik," Zeus answered without hesitation. His tone was heavy, tired. "That is everything we know"

He clenched his fist against the arm of his throne.

"The only thing we don’t understand is why they haven’t acted yet"

Zeus looked around the chamber, at gods who ruled storms, death, fate, and war, none of whom could hide the unease in their eyes.

"Since their descent, we’ve been unable to trace them. No divine signatures. No domains. No interference we can confirm"

He exhaled slowly.

"But now that you’re here..." Zeus continued, meeting Taufik’s gaze directly. "You might be able to do something about it, right?"

A pause.

"Because believe me," Zeus said quietly, "like you... I- We don’t want anything bad to happen to Earth"

The words were sincere.

But they were also a confession.

That the gods, once rulers of the world were now watching it from the sidelines... hoping its true owner would fix what they no longer could.

....

...

..

.