The Final Gambit
The war in the Otherworld had reached a critical juncture. Even though the Grey Absolute had weakened the enemy’s momentum with Exploding Blood and Pahoton, it still wasn’t enough. Not even the Creator Great God Seongmyeol’s defensive power and authority could withstand the Black Flame Absolute’s full-force assault.
‘He’s still pushing through.’
Yet the moment the Thunderclap Pahoton attack paused, the Black Flame Absolute—his face twisted in shock—poured even more divine power and raw strength into his advance. He shattered the resistance and surged forward. At this rate, the Grey Absolute would be split in two from the head down, just like before.
‘The advance has stopped for now, but the breach is coming. Then I’m finished too.’
Fortunately, one last card remained in hand. The 8th-circle version of himself—who had been clutching his head in agony from the sudden expansion of power—had finally regained some semblance of sanity. He looked as if he had been overwhelmed by the Black Flame Absolute’s killing intent and fighting spirit, but in his own case, it wasn’t much of a problem.
‘My past self may only be 8th-circle, but like me, he can momentarily wield 14th-circle power through his racial authority. And right now, the Black Flame Absolute is too busy forcing his way through our combined assault to move freely. What’s more, we’re inside a spatial transit corridor, so his omnidirectional attacks are restricted. This is an opportunity.’
The decisive current that would decide the battle’s outcome lay right before him. Hiding a sliver of truth to seize that current was nothing at all.
‘I swore I would never tarnish the honor of a Creator God with such tricks again… but I have no choice.’
It wasn’t a lie, so he shouted with genuine feeling.
They say sincerity reaches the heart. On top of that, there was the baseless belief that his future self—who shared a Common Destiny with him—would never deceive his past. Thanks to that, the effect was dramatic.
The Black Flame Absolute suddenly displayed monstrous rage, as if he had never been intimidated by the fighting spirit and killing intent at all. He looked ready to charge at any second. His limbs trembled violently, contracting and expanding in rapid succession. He truly seemed on the verge of lunging at the Black Flame Absolute.
The Dimensional Mage God was extremely satisfied with the expected reaction.
‘How naïve. The common sense that your future self is on your side should be discarded in the present. And back then, I was in complete despair because even with the title and authority granted by Jinri, I couldn’t defeat the High Elf Empire with magic alone. I believed someone was toying with my life. In the end, it was just my own lack of talent and effort. Still, telling kids it’s someone else’s fault works like a charm. Anyway, the Thunderclap Pahoton is blocked for now. What next?’
Just as he was considering his next move, a sharp gasp escaped the Dimensional Mage God’s lips.
‘Huk—!’
BOOOOOOM—!
SWOOOSH—!
A tremendous sonic boom rang out, and the past version of himself—who had been under close observation—vanished. It wasn’t spatial movement. He had moved using pure physical ability, disappearing from the senses and sight of a 14th-circle Creator God. It was an unbelievable speed that not even a peer-level close-combat transcendent could match.
Blood spurted from the Black Flame Absolute’s throat. It looked as if he had been slashed by fingertips reinforced with Wizard Aura, yet the mighty Black Flame body had actually taken damage. At the tips of both hands—fingers gathered and thrust forward—were claws of demonic power far denser than anything the Demon God race could produce. Those claws transformed into swords and spears of pure magic power, driving the Black Flame Absolute back.
‘Even a 14th-circle close-combat transcendent could never damage the Black Flame body so easily.’
He hurriedly rewound time slightly to review the battlefield. The spatial gate burning with the Authority of Black Flame was being mercilessly shredded by the sword of magic power unleashed by his past self’s charge. The blades sliced wildly through the surrounding space, aiming straight for the Black Flame Absolute’s throat. Naturally, the Black Flame Absolute had tried to ignore it—yet his skin split open, muscles were severed, and blood gushed forth.
‘He cut the Black Flame Absolute’s body with a normal attack? Is that even possible?’
Not even the other 10 Mainstays could destroy that body without a full-power strike. This was a miracle born from physical ability so fast that even a 14th-circle Creator God’s senses couldn’t detect it, combined with perfectly refined magical power.
The Black Flame Absolute, his face stunned after taking damage in close combat with the Mage God, immediately abandoned Thunderclap Pahoton and redirected his attack toward his past self. But the past self did not fall easily.
Though he was hit by attacks that always landed thanks to Always Coin Heads, he deflected them as much as possible, minimized the damage, and immediately counterattacked—actually gaining the upper hand. The Black Flame Absolute was clearly bewildered by this utterly alien fighting style that focused entirely on evasion while delivering occasional lethal counterstrikes.
The sight was so unexpected that the thought slipped from the Dimensional Mage God’s mouth before he could stop it.
The Grey Absolute stared at him with a look of utter disdain after hearing that reflexively self-centered answer.
The Dimensional Mage God, having revealed his extremely selfish true nature and now at a loss for words, heard the Grey Absolute click his tongue.
‘!’
The divine-demonic joint annihilation technique Ayuta was the absolute collaborative art created by the 499th Master Universe. By colliding divine power and magic power, it could annihilate an opponent several circles above the user if it landed. However, because of its absurdly high difficulty and the massive backlash on failure, it was also known by another name.
‘Why is the divine-demonic joint suicide technique Ayuta coming out here? If it goes wrong, I’m definitely dead!’
It was only natural that the weaker side suffered more from the recoil of a failed joint technique. Even if the Grey Absolute survived, the probability that he himself would be annihilated was extremely high.
But there was no longer any room to retreat. In the flow of fate, the past self—who could be considered the most important of the three—was slowly being pushed into a corner.
Blinding light of divine power and magic power began blazing from both arms of the Grey Absolute. As the Dimensional Mage God reluctantly prepared Ayuta, the Grey Absolute’s will secretly reached his ears. It was a precaution to avoid Always Coin Heads as much as possible.
‘Ayuta is already known to the Black Flame Absolute and this world. So Always Coin Heads will have prepared for it, rendering it useless. The already-known Ego Ayuta can be blocked or defended against. Therefore, we will each manifest our own Ego Ayuta to create a double-layered Ayuta and suppress him in one strike. I’ll go first. Match the activation and impact point to me.’
‘!!!’
Using Ayuta was already an enormous burden, yet he wanted to add variation on top of that? There was no way not to protest.
‘Ugh—! Not regular Ayuta, but double the difficulty Ego Ayuta used as the activation? And then striking the Black Flame Absolute with Ayuta created from Ego Ayuta? Without any practice? Is there even a chance of success?’
‘Heh—! If you’re a Creator God of the 499th Master Universe, that level of difficulty is only natural. As the rank 1 Highest Creator who surpasses even Creator Gods, you should be able to pull it off. Or do you have another way? If you don’t like it, just run away right now and handle everything yourself. Isn’t this reality originally yours? Isn’t that right, present me?’
‘Goddammit—! Let’s hurry! My past self is going to die!’
The slight advantage quickly reached its limit. Although his past self had sliced into the Black Flame Absolute’s muscles with 14th-circle speed and magic claws, bones were another matter. Once the Black Flame Absolute began focusing, the probability of successful evasion decreased rapidly. Since he had failed to take the head with that first surprise strike, a head-on fight was impossible for his past self, no matter how specialized he was in ultra-high-speed close combat.
‘One solid hit and it’s over. We’re in trouble.’
And no matter how much he complained to the future about such reckless tactics, the one ultimately being pushed back was his present self. He desperately wanted to retreat, but he couldn’t. No matter how strong the future or past might be, the responsibility ultimately lay with the self living in the present. He had not forgotten that everything was decided in the here and now, even if one regretted the past or relied on the future.
The Grey Absolute, having completely excluded the authority of the highest Black Flame race and revealed the Mage God’s authority, charged forward with a roar.
CRAAAAAASH—!
The Black Flame Absolute whipped his head around at the shout of the Grey Absolute, who closed the distance in an instant by kicking off the ground. He saw the condensed light of divine power and magic power gathered in both hands.
BOOOOOOOOOOM—!
In a single instant, the Black Flame Absolute detonated his Authority of Black Flame, burning everything around him and forcing the past self to retreat. Then he recreated Pahoton. Though the consumption was far greater than before, the weapon’s momentum had not died. It grew large enough to incinerate the sky as scorching heat surged upward.
CRAAAAAACK—!BOOM—!CRACKLE—!
The horrifying sound of both hands gripping the handle of the now fully-formed double-headed axe echoed. Just like the Grey Absolute, the Black Flame Absolute kicked off the ground and charged straight at his opponent. His entire body passed through the narrow spatial gate, Pahoton swung behind his back before being brought forward in a crushing downward strike.
CRRRRRRRRR—!
The massive fiery axe descended toward the Grey Absolute’s head with enough force to bisect everything in its path. It was a full-power strike carrying every ounce of strength and body weight. It possessed enough power to instantly kill even another member of the 10 Mainstays.
And at that moment, the Grey Absolute completed his secret art.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOM—!
The 14th-circle divine power and magic power concentrated in each hand collided directly in front of his face. The unprecedented power born from the fusion of divine and demonic energy shot straight toward the edge of Pahoton’s blade. The instant Ego Ayuta activated, it caught the descending axe blade as naturally as clapping hands.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOM—!
The explosive force of Ego Ayuta neutralized the destructive power of the Black Flame Absolute’s Pahoton. The materialized axe blade was held back by the pressure of both hands gripping it, producing a terrifying, bone-chilling screech.
CRRRRRRRRRRR—!
The Grey Absolute stared at the ominous blue axe blade halted right before his forehead and began laughing like a madman.
Behind the Black Flame Absolute stood the Dimensional Mage God, blood trickling from a hole in his forehead. Drip. Drip. The blood flowing from the wound in his brow ran down between his eyebrows, along the bridge of his nose, past the corner of his mouth, and dripped from his chin. It was a wretched sight, yet a victorious smile was etched on his lips.
With no strength left to block his wounds, he had poured every last ounce of divine and magical power into the Guide of the Origin fired from his forehead. It had pierced cleanly through the Black Flame Absolute’s heart. He no longer had the strength to stand, but because the heart was the source of the Absolute Realm’s strongest physical enhancement authority—Exploding Blood—the injury was unquestionably fatal.
Feeling the pressure of Pahoton slowly fading, the Grey Absolute sneered.
At those words, the Black Flame Absolute—whose heart had been pierced and whose Authority of Black Flame was slowly scattering—twisted his face into a demonic scowl of pure agony. Seeing the enemy who had once boasted of being the strongest and the greatest suffer because of a single defeat was the greatest pleasure imaginable. He wanted to mock him even more, but the Dimensional Mage God’s urgent voice cut in.
‘!!!’
His mind snapped back to reality. The pressure from Pahoton had returned. No—it was pressing down with a force completely different in intensity from before. CRRRRR—! The hands that had been holding back Pahoton’s blade using the power of the highest Black Flame race began to be pushed backward. It was hard to believe this was the same opponent whose heart had been destroyed and whose divine power was nearly exhausted. The blade of Pahoton touched the Grey Absolute’s forehead, and blood began to flow.
‘Goddammit—! He still had strength left? And leisure against the Black Flame Absolute? What the hell did I do at the end? I was blinded by the pleasure of revenge.’
Watching the Grey Absolute’s forehead skin split open as blood spurted out, the Black Flame Absolute gritted his teeth, poured on more power, and let out a faint chant.