With all the normal ants nearly wiped out, the Queen was left completely undefended. The surviving lizards wasted no time leaping onto her massive form, biting, clawing, and tearing through her thick carapace with savage precision. The Queen screeched, her legs flailing helplessly as the lizards swarmed her from every direction. Her massive mandibles snapped shut with a loud crack, crushing a few attackers, but it was already too late. The Queen's thick, black shell once a symbol of dominance was now slick with greenish blood and punctured by countless wounds. She thrashed one final time, releasing a shrill cry that echoed through the tunnels before her body went limp. The once-thriving hive had fallen silent, the Queen's death marking the definitive end of the ants' reign.
For a moment, there was stillness. The rhythmic chittering of the ants had vanished, replaced only by the faint dripping of fluid from the broken chambers. Dust hung in the air, illuminated by faint shafts of light from the cracked ceiling above. The surviving lizards stood among the carnage, their scales streaked with dirt and blood, panting heavily as if realizing for the first time what they had accomplished. The battle that had consumed nearly a full day of planet time was finally over.
But victory did not mean rest. The remaining lizards turned their attention to cleaning up what was left of the hive. Groups spread throughout the tunnels, working in instinctive coordination to hunt down any ants that had survived. The clicking and hissing of their movements echoed through the cavern as they crushed stragglers hiding between walls or under broken nests. The egg chambers were no exception hundreds of white, jelly-like eggs were destroyed or devoured. The thick, fleshy walls of the chambers were torn apart until not a trace of new life remained. It was brutal, but necessary. If even a handful of eggs had been left to hatch, a new queen may have been born.
The air was thick with the stench of decay and damp soil. Steam rose from the bodies of the ants, mingling with the scent of blood and pheromones. The deeper tunnels were littered with fragments of chitin, twitching limbs, and cracked mandibles. The lizards did not linger in disgust they moved with cold determination, finishing what they had started. By the time the last struggling ant was crushed beneath their claws, the hive had become nothing more than a grave.
After a few more hours of planet time, the war was officially over. The lizards emerged victorious, though the cost had been steep, more than half of their numbers were gone. The battlefield was a haunting sight: thousands of ant corpses piled in dark mounds while exhausted lizards dragged themselves out of the tunnels. Still, it was a necessary sacrifice. Had the ants been allowed to expand unchecked, their endless reproduction could have stripped the island bare of life. Even the forests would have been reduced to barren soil. The lizards' instinctual decision to strike first had saved the balance of the island, even if they could not comprehend the scale of what they had done.
As I observed the aftermath, I couldn't help but feel a quiet sense of awe. Nature, even in its most primitive state, found ways to correct itself. One species rose too far, and another rose up to tear it back down. It was a brutal, cyclical harmony, an endless chain of growth and destruction. The lizards returned to their territory in silence, many carrying injuries that would mark them for the rest of their short lives. Yet there was a sense of victory among them, a primal satisfaction that came from survival.
With the battle concluded, I shifted my focus away from the ruined hive and onto the wider world. My vision expanded across the island, stretching across dense forests, cracked plains, and glimmering coasts. Aside from scavengers feasting on remains, there was little else of note. The land was calm again. The creatures were either rebuilding their nests or spreading into the newly opened regions once dominated by the ants. For the first time in what felt like a long while, the ecosystem seemed… stable.
Seeing this, I decided it was finally time to move forward with my next goal, expanding the island itself. The world had grown stagnant, and if it was to evolve further, it needed more space to breathe.
Channeling my divinity, I extended my influence deep into the crust of the planet. I could feel the hum of energy flowing beneath the surface, resonating with my will. The ground began to shift and tremble, land stretching outward like ripples in water. Mountains rose, valleys deepened, and oceans expanded to fill the gaps. The process that would have taken millennia happened within seconds beneath my gaze.
When it was done, the once-small island had become something far greater, a continent sprawling with potential. Its jagged coasts reached farther than before, bordered by cliffs and beaches that glimmered under the distant sun. Vast plains stretched inland, dotted with craters and hills that would one day host new life. It was raw, unshaped land, waiting for the touch of nature.
Now, all that remained was for life to take root once more, for forests to sprout, rivers to form, and ecosystems to flourish upon this newborn land.
With that done the only thing left to do was wait. So wait I did.
After another 3 hours a system notification appeared before my eyes.
[Congratulations to all gods on surviving the third day]
[Calculating the rank of each planet]
[1. Nova]
[2. Nexus]
[3. Fission]
[4. Pharmacist]
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[Rewards for each rank will now be calculated]
[The rewards will be as follows]
[1000th to 501st: 20 divinity]
[500th to 101st: 50 divinity]
[100th to 11th: 50 divinity and a common blessing]
[10th to 4th: 60 divinity and a random uncommon blessing]
[3rd: 100 divinity and a B rank guild token]
[2nd: 150 divinity and a A rank guild token]
[1st: 200 divinity and a random S rank guild token ]
[Congratulations to those that received rewards, and better luck next time to those that didn't get rewards]
[The private message feature has now been added]