Growth-type planets

No one knew how or when it happened but all of a sudden the gods who loved showing off, who would orchestrate disasters, and who loved having flings with the mortals they 'despised' more like disdained, simply vanished. There were no signs, no great battle fought, no worlds destroyed, no nothing. It was like they went up in smoke. People slept and when they woke up, there were just no gods showing up with bragging rights or forcefully staking claim over a new planet, they were just gone with the wind.

What's more, even their most devout believers can't seem to recall what they looked like. All the gods' statues from the past had one thing in common, they were whole from their necks down but that was all, up above, there was nothing, just air.

One thing was certain though, even if the gods were present, they wouldn't dare to approach Earth carelessly because although it seemed that Earth's laws only defended against extra-terrestrial beings ranging from tier one to four, she also had a little something that made all God's quake in their boots, if they had one of course, it was the firmament.

The glorious firmament was special in the fact that it only appeared around growth-type planets, basically speaking, planets with the ability to advance tiers. A special boundary surrounds these planets like a dome, typically keeping the lifeforms on these planets sealed in and the lifeforms outside of these planets sealed out.

But this alone isn't enough to threaten beings as strong as gods and immortals, rather it's the strange ability this firmament has, the ability to strip away godhood and immortality. Any foreign God that enters the range of growth-type planets would have their God core extracted from them in the most painful way, same for immortals. That is, you would not be the son of your father if you entered the range of a growth-type planet without belonging to that planet in the first place, only a fool would try that and your father would feel reluctant to call a foolish person 'son', a pity indeed.

In ancient times, it was known that growth-type planets devoured gods like snacks. However it had been eons since the last growth-type planet was discovered, what's more, in this era, all gods seemed to have vanished. It was such a sad era to be born in.

"Time to head back I guess."

Teke who was done admiring his gains put away his smile and remembered that his day wasn't over, in fact, his grief was probably just beginning.

*sigh*

"They're probably gone already huh? And due to the commotion caused by the golden beam when it tore through the firmament, the whole city must have been evacuated too. I just wish I could see them one last time; my parents, my sister, why did they have to take you from me not once but twice."

Conflicting emotions wrought havoc within Teke. Given his second chance at life, he knew what had to be done even at the expense of his happiness. He was sent back to save the world and not aid in its destruction instead, according to the queen mother, saving his family in advance would only turn to shreds the plan to save humanity.

They were only bait, set out to lure him from what had to be done. To further convince him, Queen Mother Gaia showed him a scene of a future when he saved his family and instead allowed the golden beam to strike the earth's core. In that future there was nothing, he ended up with nothing at all, it was a future worse than his previous life, there was just void and emptiness.

At least right now he knew his family was safe, somewhere, they couldn't be harmed now that the dangerous phase had passed, he had grown stronger and so too had the earth. Nevertheless, it still wasn't definite that nothing would change in the future, so what he needed now more than ever was absolute strength, enough to deter his foes, past, present, and future. He was really something, wasn't he?

Wiping away the tears building up in his eyes and with a determined gait, he left the desolate area he was in.

"Let's head home and see what's left behind."

Just like that, after a day's worth of torturous experiences felt one after the other, Teke took the long way home, he couldn't fly after all and neither was there any available taxi waiting to take him to his destination. So with no other choice, he walked.

"On second thought, I should have really forged a nice pair of wings for myself. They'd really come in handy. Hey Queen Mother, do I get a do-over? No? Tch, stingy."

For a while, the only thing that could be heard in the surroundings were Teke's distant grumbles and the sound of the wind blowing.

...

In a dimly lit room, a figure could be seen albeit barely. As still as a statue the figure was, it seemed to be waiting patiently for something.

*whoosh*

"Great, you're here, give me good news."

"Sire, it has been done and just like you said, the four beams have hit their respective targets."

"What about the boy?"

"Target has successfully forged his body, his estimated strength level should have reached peak tier two borderline early stage tier three sire."

"Good, good, keep watching. At my signal, begin phase two."

"Understood."

*whoosh*

Sigh

"Finally, it seems the game is about to begin. I look forward to seeing your performance, make this interesting for both of us."