Epic of Caterpillar

Within the Lower Realm, there were a large group of Demon Gods, often cataloged as "Mad Gods" by other local Gods due to their insane tendencies.

They were mostly Gods born from monsters of the ancient Genesis, beings that thrive with animalistic and savage instincts, and as they grew stronger and developed "intelligence" such tendencies only intensified, to the point of becoming part of their very selves and even embody their divinities.

The exception to these rules might have been Thanatos and the other Gods of his Pantheon, although, in the end, Kinesis seemed to still be incredibly vicious, and betrayed them at the end, showing that it was very hard to find Demon Gods who held some level of sanity or reason within their minds.

And as they grew older, such madness simply became worse, more animalistic, savage, and monstrous.

The only time that such Gods would decide to not act savagely is if their very lives depended on it.

Against strong foes, like any animal, they would run away and try to survive as much as possible, and this is how they had also survived for so long, this was also why they became Gods to begin with, even when they were born formerly as beasts and monsters of the ancient past, due to their strong survival instincts, these beings managed to survive against the odds and reached the pinnacle of the mortal hood, representing whole species and becoming Gods, beings that fought against those that dominated the world, humans, dragons, titans, and demi-humans.

Anyone that would know these being's history of survival, challenges, and more would immediately feel admiration for them.

No matter how mad, insane, and animalistic they were, they had survived for thousands of years through their methods, which had proven to be effective in the long run.

They were the pinnacle of their species, the representatives of species other than the dominant ones, they represented that Genesis was more than just them, that it was overflowing with life and beings of all kinds, shapes, and sizes.

And that each tiny life had the potential to reach the heavens and become a God.

Within this group of Mad Demon Gods, there was a trio of exceptional survivors.

In an incredibly unlikely case in all of creation, they were triplets that survived all the way into becoming Gods and seeing their former home be destroyed into pieces, shattered, and then reformed as a new world of multiple realms as if it had evolved from a sphere in the middle of the void into its own mini-universe.

Born within the flames of an area with high concentrations of Fire Attribute Particles, they were entities made of flames, three siblings.

At first, they were unaware of the world around them.

They lacked any type of vision, could not smell, nor hear anything, and had a very bad sense of touch. They moved aimlessly based on the changes of temperature, and by instinctively keeping each other together to maintain their high temperature, they slowly absorbed the residual mana within the environment.

Unlike many other of their species, these three siblings were born from a single body, which separated itself into three when the former body was filled with too much mana, exploding, and dividing.

And through mere instinct, the three parts remained together to survive, realizing that by sticking together they felt more protected and also managed to maintain their temperature, unlike others of their species.

The three little flames absorbed mana and wandered through the volcanic lands they were born in for years and years, until finally, a qualitative change emerged within their very beings and souls, causing evolution due to the excess of mana absorbed through this entire time.

When they evolved, they gained sight, a sense of smell, and hearing.

And that is where their journey truly started.

They explored everywhere, found new sources of mana other than residual energy, prey.

They hunted and ate their prey, and always remained together instinctively, sharing their food, and always making sure to remain together…

As the years went by, they grew stronger and accumulated more power, evolving further and further…

Until one day, after they defeated an enormous Dragon and devoured their entire body… they raised to godhood.

Within the blink of an eye, their souls became divine, and they fought against three strange natural disasters, divine trials.

After defeating such trials, they were official Living Deities, gaining completely intelligence and a true understanding of the world.

However, as they were guided by their initial instincts, intelligence did not change how they were, they simply became better at what they already were good at.

And as they became Gods, they received names, each name and divinity was related to their appearance and the different color of flames they had evolved.

Zogthal, the God of Purple Flames.

Trarzanar, the God of Blue Flames.

Mekoroz, the God of Black Flames.

But even with names or not, they still saw themselves as they saw themselves before, becoming Gods for them wasn't a big change other than giving them a new scope of prey they could take.

At some point, they participated in the Ragnarök and survived by fighting together and defeating and devouring other Gods' physical bodies and assimilating their soul's divinities, becoming stronger than formerly.

As they worked exceptionally well together, these Demon Gods survived until the latest day of the Ragnarök and saw as this dispute between Gods which they did not completely understand destroyed their former world.

When they saw their planet be destroyed, even as animalistic and savage beings, they felt a certain sorrow within their hearts.

However, after that, they saw the world be reborn by the grace of the World's Will and the Supreme Gods.

They saw the Realms be reborn, one by one. Gods flew towards them and made such enormous floating pieces of the planet into their new homes.

They filled them with life, atmospheres, and life.

However, they did not participate in this, the three dark flames decided to watch as others did the big work, while they decided to hide beneath the surface of the Realm of Vida, in the old Lower Realm, when it was empty and dry of lava and other things.

However, unknowingly for them, their mere presence brought changes to it, and volcanic lands, flames, and more emerged from within these areas.

As more Gods joined the Realm and others decided to run away into this underground area, many Gods began to fight for the territory, and this trio was one of the fiercest of them all.

However, they quickly realized that the sheer amount of Gods here would make it impossible to win against them all, and by obeying their animalistic instinct of surviving, they decided to cooperate with Gods that thought similarly to them and created the first pantheon within the Lower Realm.

When this pantheon was made and disputes over territory were settled down, two other pantheons of the surviving gods were made, and each pantheon governed a large area of the Lower Realm, living in peace and stillness, while slowly developing themselves.

Dungeons came to existence as the invention of the Great God of Dungeons, and then the System itself by the System Master, a "child" of the World's Will itself.

With Dungeons, Gods finally had new ways to gain energy over time, and even the Lower Realm became filled with it, alongside the descendants of such Gods, who became their source of prayers and faith, which also brought more energy and power to their creators and progenitors.

And as the years went by, these Gods grew more intelligent and cautious, alongside being scheming and cunning…

And as any enemy emerged, they commanded their army of mad demon gods against them, destroying the insolence that dared to come to pick up a fight.

And as other new Gods joined their pantheon, the Divine Area they set in the middle of their territory grew bigger and richer in precious resources, which these Gods cultivated and slowly added to their Divine Realms… raising in the Ranks.

Perhaps in a few hundred or thousands of years more… they would finally reach Great God Realm.

And moving to the present, they discovered that the world would not wait for them to slowly cultivate, as a new item that granted everyone the power to eat and assimilate gods appeared inside the Interdimensional Merchant Shop.

This power… was too much.

Although they immediately grabbed one for each of them, they also felt like the world was changing way too fast compared to their pace of growth, they needed to hurry up and become stronger.

Alongside this news, Kireina, an infamous mortal had reached Godhood and had made of the Lower Realm her home, appearing right at the west area of their territory.

However, because they were wary, they had decided to let her be as long as she did not do anything wrong nor provoked their wrath.

And they had hoped that nothing such as that were to occur, as they were about to concentrate on other issues, such as growing as strong as they could and as fast as they could…

But then, Kireina crossed the thin line that these Gods had left specifically for her, thanks to her fame as the mortal who devours Gods…

She shamelessly conquered their dungeons.

Well, perhaps that would not have mattered as that was the intent of dungeons, and only her mortal family did so, which at the end was beneficial to them as they kept the cycle of energy transmission by killing the monsters and bosses inside dungeons.

Yes, if it had only been that it would not have really been a problem but… something interesting.

But nope, Kireina… right after conquering all three dungeons, stole them.

And all three dungeons ended up being the very dungeons of these three Gods too.

The rage and wrath that they had been trying to suppress this whole time emerged within their souls as they felt completely engulfed in these animalistic and savage emotions.

The moment they felt their connection with their dungeons weaken, they immediately roared in anger, Kireina had crossed the line.

They began to quickly disregard their concerns about their powers, blinded by rage and also by the new powers they had, thinking of her as "not as special anymore".

If they had the "same" power as her, was she that threatening anymore?

Even if she defeated several Gods as a mortal and now raised to godhood, she surely had a limit, perhaps she was now resting and stole dungeons to regain her power.

So, was not it the best opportunity to strike, based on her current position and state?

She had also invaded their territory, and they had many Gods at their side as subordinates, loyal subordinates.

They thought of themselves as better than the sentimental Thanatos and his group of nobodies, and decided to plan Kireina's demise!

Even more, if they could actually accomplish it and defeat her, wouldn't they get immense power as well?

Enough power to change everything as they know it, and to obtain the same fame as her!

They would be known as the Gods that defeated Kireina, as the Gods that defied such an entity as her!

They would change the Era once more, and it would become their Era, the Era of the Three Dark Flames!

Filled with wrath, greed, and a lack of common sense or complete reason, the Gods plotted against Kireina disregarding all the powers and abilities she had showcased.

"We really gave her an opportunity!"

"But she simply ignored it, and decided to act insolently against us!"

"She stole our Dungeons!"

"Our source of power…"

"She must pay with her life!"

"We shall steal everything she has, and strip her off all her belongings!"

"We'll devour her soul and flesh, and feast on her large family!"

"We'll grill them alive and make delicious skewers with them!"

"Soon, my siblings… Soon…"

As the Gods plotted and roared in anger like savage monsters, a sudden message from a mysterious God…

Who was this mysterious entity?