In the center of the newly created City of Gods, the grand garden buzzed with a joyous energy.

Six billion Gods were celebrating their new unity, their voices a mixture of excitement and ambition.

But amidst the joy, one figure stood apart.

God Venus stood silently behind Sunny, his aura dim, his eyes hollow.

He felt like a ghost at a feast, a prisoner in a paradise he did not deserve. He watched the other Gods and felt a bitter distance.

They were the same during all these years. But he… he had lived these years in solitary confinement. He felt withered and utterly left behind.

"Don't you want to talk with them? Maybe eat something?" Sunny's voice broke through Venus's dark thoughts.

The Emperor waved a hand, and the reality of the garden warped. A small round table with three seats manifested, effectively distancing them off from the crowd.

"Hey, Adam, come here. Let's eat," Sunny called out. Adam appeared out of nowhere, looking relaxed, he didn't sit but just looked at Venus quietly.

Sunny gestured for Venus to take the third chair.

Venus sat stiffly, his hands resting on his knees, his gaze fixed on the table.

"Do you want something in this city too, Venus?" Sunny asked, popping a grape into his mouth. A mischievous glint danced in his cosmic eyes, hidden behind the mask but felt in the air.

"You will be living here too, in just… oh, around seven thousand, four hundred more years."

"Just… you say?" Venus's voice trembled. The casual mention of the remaining millennia broke his composure. "Seven thousand years is an eternity, Your Majesty. It is a lifetime of lifetimes."

Adam sighed, shaking his head as he sat between them. "Why are you making him even angrier, Cosmos?"

He then looked at Venus with a gaze that held both pity and a strange respect. "Boy, you should be thanking him for giving you such an opportunity. The others… they won't be as fortunate as you."

Venus froze. His hands clenched into fists, the knuckles turning white. The bitterness that had festered in him for twenty six centuries finally started to erupt.

"Thank him?" he hissed, his voice rising, attracting the glances of nearby Gods. "Opportunity? Have you both gone mad in the last two thousand years? You want me to thank the one who locked me in that place for so long? Do you think I am so weak that I will do anything you say?!"

He had spent a lot of time in that silence. He had reflected. He had repented. But he had also festered.

He thought his world was gone, his lifeforms dead, his demigod forgotten. He thought he had lost everything while the universe moved on without him.

"See, Cosmos?" Adam laughed, slapping the table. "You should have told him sooner. This cruelty is too much." He paused, then grinned. "Though I finally understand why you love to joke. The look on his face is priceless."

"So, who is going to tell him?" Sunny asked, reaching for another grape, his demeanor maddeningly casual.

"Let me," Adam replied. His expression turned serious, his aura flaring slightly to command Venus's attention.

"Venus," Adam said, his voice heavy with truth. "The two thousand, six hundred years you spent in that realm… they were just around seven hours out here."

Venus blinked. He stared at Adam. Then at Sunny. Then at the bustling crowd of Gods who looked exactly as they had when he was sentenced. The math didn't add up in his head. Seven hours?

"The realm you were in," Adam explained, "was accelerated more than three million times. It consumes a colossal amount of faith to maintain, a cost that would bankrupt all the Gods. But Cosmos… he took that hit for you."

Venus sat frozen, his mind reeling as the shattered pieces of reality clicked back into place. The dots connected.

Why the other Gods looked the same. Why the multiverse hadn't changed. Why Sunny was so casual.

"So…" Venus stammered, a desperate hope blooming in his chest. "Does that mean… my lifeforms? My world? Are they…?"

"They are fine," Sunny said, his voice calm. "It has been just around 85 years for them. Your new demigod is also doing well, and none of your lifeforms died, apart from few beast offcourse... if you care about them."

Venus slumped back in his chair, a wave of relief reaching his soul. He had thought Sunny had sent his creations to be cannon fodder in a cosmic war while he rotted in prison. But it had been… nothing. A blink of an eye.

"Venus," Sunny said, his tone shifting, becoming lighter. "I hereby declare you free from your imprisonment. Go. Live like before. Just… don't repeat your mistakes."

It was a joke offcourse, it was to tease Venus, by taking away the chance to get stronger.

But Venus didn't move, he didn't understand the joke. He looked at his hands, hands that had practiced magic for 2,500 years in isolation.

He felt the reservoir of mana within him, deeper and purer than any other God in the garden.

He realized the truth. This hadn't been a prison. It had been a Accelerated Time Chamber.

He was now one of the most learned and powerful mages in the Pantheon. He was millennia ahead of his peers.

"Your Majesty," Venus said, his voice trembling, but this time with conviction. He stood up and bowed deeply, his hands clasped in a plea.

"How can that be? I respect your orders. I respect your law. If word got out that the Emperor's punishment was a lie, no one would take your justice seriously next time."

He looked up, his eyes burning with a new fire. "Let me live out the remaining seven thousand years, Your Majesty. You can even extend the time if you wish."

He understood. This was the path to supremacy. If he finished the sentence, he would emerge as a monster, a being with ten thousand years of experience over his peers who had lived only days.

"Jokes apart," Sunny said, his voice softening. "The reason I gave you this imprisonment was because I felt… wrong. I killed your creation. I tore his soul apart. I would have done the same thing in your shoes to protect my people, so I didn't want to look like a hypocrite. The apology was the punishment. The time… that was compensation."

Adam nodded slowly. 'The Treasure and the Stick,' he thought. Sunny had broken Venus's pride with the public apology (the Stick), but he had given him the ultimate tool for growth (the Treasure). It was a terrifyingly effective leadership style.

"Thank you, Your Majesty," Venus wept, falling to his knees. A massive surge of faith flowed from him into Sunny.

"And here I thought you wished to take revenge on me," Sunny laughed, gesturing for him to rise. "Go back to your realm. Learn. Grow."

Venus vanished, teleporting back to his prison with a smile on his face.

Sunny stood up from the table and turned to the gathered Gods, clapping his hands to draw their attention. "So! Do any of you have suggestions for the city? For our future?"

A hesitant hand raised from the back. It was a God clad in colorful, paint-stained robes.

"Your Majesty… apart from the arena and fighting… is there any other way to grow? My talent is Artistic Creation. How will I gain an epiphany by punching things?"

Several other Gods stood up: the Gods with talents related to Music, Farming, Weaving etc.

They all nodded in agreement. They were not warriors. The tournament had been fun to watch, but it offered them no path. They felt left behind by the other Gods.

"Yes," Sunny said, his smile widening. "I have a way to make all of you grow. You are the creations of Adam, the God of Growth. You have no limits. The only thing you lack… is time."

The faces of all the Gods fell. They knew this. They knew they could become strong in a few hundred thousand years. But the Demon Lords were at the door now. They didn't have such luxury.

"You guys just don't listen to me completely," Sunny sighed, shaking his head at their pitiful expressions. "Stop making those faces."

He spread his arms wide. "You know I possess Time Affinity. I have created a realm where time is bent to my will. A realm where you can train, study, and comprehend your laws without the fear of the demons knocking on your door."

The Gods leaned in, their interest piqued.

"Boss," Zir asked, "what is the time difference? Is it ten times? A hundred?" Even a ten-times multiplier would be a godsend.

Sunny's grin was blinding. "Well… in this realm, eight Godly hours equal one century."

All the Gods gasped, it was more than hundred thousand times acceleration.

"You can buy a pass," Sunny continued, his inner merchant rubbing his hands together in glee. "You can live a century inside, perfecting your art, your magic, your technique. Any threat to your real world will be notified to you instantly by Thea. You can come out, solve the problem, and resume your training. You can stay until the years run out, and then… you can simply buy another pass."

The Gods were stunned into silence. Then, the realization hit them. They could have the experience of thousands of years in the span of just four days.

They could master their talents. They could become strong.

Sunny watched their expressions shift from shock to hunger. He didn't mention the price yet. He knew he didn't have to. For this… for time… they would pay anything.

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