Chapter 172
Chapter 172
Chapter 172
The Queen and the Witch (2)
"Gack! Cough!"
Dirmara, the God of Law, showed clear signs of being unable to believe the situation unfolding before his eyes.
In fact, even battles with gods weren't particularly flashy affairs unless they involved deities who governed natural attributes like Raihon.
The battles of divine beings who could freely manipulate the compression of time, space, and matter using divinity often appeared extremely static and quiet on the surface.
There were cases like Apophis who made a loud fuss in their struggle, but such instances usually occurred when their authority didn't work and they decided to cause a ruckus just once.
"H-how is this...?"
That's why Dirmara never imagined that Dirmara himself would be the one doing the 'struggling,' not the opponent.
"Is it over?"
At Rebecca's emotionless gaze looking up at Dirmara, Dirmara realized the emotion called fear again after 10,000 years.
"Why doesn't my authority work...?"
Dirmara, the God of Law, had the authority to bind opponents within the 'laws' Dirmara had established, true to the name of law.
Whether weak or strong beings, once caught in Dirmara's authority, the opponent would be forced by Dirmara's laws until they found the 'answer' within or died of exhaustion.
But for some reason, Dirmara's domain of authority lost its power the moment it touched the crimson magic energy emanating from the human woman.
No, rather, a strange phenomenon occurred where all of Dirmara's authority was absorbed by that magic energy.
Having grasped the identity of the power Rebecca had unleashed, Dirmara broke into a cold sweat and was horrified.
"Th-this power, I've seen it only once before... During the Heaven-Demon Great War, those cursed Seven Seats that devoured countless gods..."
CRUNCH!
"Baal's power...!"
The moment those words ended, Dirmara's body began to shrivel up like a mummy.
"Kraaaagh!"
All power and life force transformed into red threads and flowed into Rebecca.
Gluttony that devours everything.
But a mere human cannot devour a god's power in this manner.
Moreover, since Rebecca's trait is a Demon Eater specialized in magic energy, even more so.
Setting aside why Rebecca could wield Baal's power, the source that allowed Rebecca to display such power without absorbing any particular magic energy was surely...
"Red World?"
Rudian muttered that answer in a daze.
If Rudian hadn't experienced handling other Seven-Colored Worlds, Rudian wouldn't have been able to realize that fact.
It was a power that could be called the source of magic energy, and would be a priceless treasure that Baal would cherish more than Baal's own life, but why...
'Baal, what have you done? No, what are you planning to do?'
It made sense why Adi couldn't find any abnormalities in Rebecca's body before.
The status of the Seven-Colored Worlds was that elevated.
But that aside.
'No matter how temporary our alliance was, isn't our bet still ongoing?'
If it was true that Rebecca possessed the Red World or was wielding its power, the bet would end with Rudian's victory as the holder of four Seven-Colored Worlds.
There was no way Baal would have put the Red World into Rebecca's body without knowing this.
Rudian glared at Diablo and said.
'Diablo, do you... know what Baal is thinking?'
-Oh! To be honest, I don't know exactly either. I'm just making guesses.
'What's that guess? Tell me.'
Seeing Rudian's urgent state, Diablo deflected the topic with a playful tone like a loach.
-It's not particularly a problem to tell you that, but when there's a golden opportunity right in front of your eyes, are you going to miss it listening to my explanation?
"...!"
Rudian gritted his teeth slightly.
There was no way Rudian didn't know what Diablo was talking about.
The performance Rebecca had just shown was a tremendous spectacle that instantly captured the attention of everyone on the battlefield.
Naturally, the two gods who had been dealing with this side also had their minds distracted in that direction.
'You better explain properly later!'
Rudian decided to seize that opportunity for now.
Spatial Leap!
Using spacetime-type psionic energy, Rudian immediately approached within close range of those guys and launched a surprise attack with chaos infused in his sword.
"Th-this!"
Although chaos is often treated as a lower level than divinity in magic, conversely, chaos is exactly what can deal proper damage to divinity.
SLASH!
The chaos mixed with six powers excluding divinity took on a perfect achromatic color and severed Karon, the God of Shadows, at the waist.
"...H-how?"
Karon's eyes, with his waist cut in half, contorted in shock.
The surprise attack was certainly fast and accurate, but at the last moment, Karon had raised shadows to prepare.
But the result was this.
"Wondering why you couldn't block it?"
"...Guk!"
Karon was flustered.
No matter how much it was an attack using chaos, the shadow barrier should have been able to block all interference with spacetime.
Karon had absolute confidence in defense and evasion, but that was now shattered today by a single human!
"This bastard... mmph!"
Karon wanted to spit out curses, but blood that had refluxed from the human body blocked his throat.
Moreover, Rudian's follow-up attack came immediately, so Karon didn't even have the leisure for that.
"Calm down, Karon."
Unfortunately, Rudian couldn't finish off Karon.
PSSSSS!
With a sound like bubbles boiling, Karon's severed body disappeared right before Rudian's eyes.
Blamir, the God of Blood, who had come to his senses, had deployed a blood curtain and spirited Karon away.
'...Tch!'
As expected when dealing with gods, their response was incredibly fast.
Moreover, Blamir instantly regenerated Karon's body with his blood-manipulating ability.
Karon felt around his regenerated waist area with his hand and frowned.
"Ugh! It's been so long since I felt pain..."
"He's not an opponent to take lightly. I used too much power to purify the chaos."
"...The suffering of the believers will increase."
"What does it matter if those mere humans are sacrificed? You're too soft-hearted."
After scolding Karon, Blamir turned his head to face Rudian directly.
"Impressive. Chaos made through fusion rather than reduction."
"Did you notice?"
There are two ways to reach chaos.
Either gain such an extreme understanding of the power you're already handling—commonly magic or psionic energy—that you can return it to its original state of chaos.
Or mix various powers of completely different systems to entirely erase the color that existing powers have, turning them into chaos.
Both methods are meaningless to compare in terms of difficulty of achievement, but when comparing power, the latter is overwhelmingly stronger.
"It's not just three or four. You've obtained all the powers of this world except divinity."
"......"
"Frightening, and also fearsome... How did the heavenly realm remain unaware until you gained such power?"
That was naturally because the Pantheon had no interest in the middle realm, but also because there was information manipulation by the 'Archangels' in between.
"Moreover, you're earnestly collecting the Seven-Colored Worlds..."
Blamir looked directly at Rudian with fear, unbecoming of a high-ranking god.
"You are truly a demon who will bring the avatar of destruction to this world."
"...!"
The moment those words were uttered, Rudian's eyes widened greatly.
A moment when reason snapped completely.
What bullshit were the very perpetrators who had summoned that thing in the original work and ruined everything now spouting?
"What a fucking harvest of nonsense..."
Rudian muttered a curse mixed with soliloquy in a low voice.
final boss, the Avatar of Destruction. The beast of the Creator God that truly destroys worlds, which neither the Seven Great Gods, nor the Outer Gods from outer space, nor any god or Demon King could oppose.
"That great destruction is the result you bastards will cause, so what's all this about?"
"...What?"
The so-called 'sweet potato' mixed with the original work's disastrous development. Until Abel finally sorted everything out, how many times did 'Kim Seong-jun' feel the urge to close the book in the middle while watching that? And until now, since possessing this world under the name Rudian, how much hell had Rudian raised to avoid seeing that wretched scene? -Control your anger, you brat! To the extent that Diablo, the Demon King of Wrath, would say such words, Rudian's reason was perfectly twisted in that moment.
"I'll kill you."
Thud! Just as Rudian, consumed by rage, was about to rush at Karon and Blamir.
"Rudian! I'll help!"
Rebecca, who had completely devoured Dirmara, approached Rudian along with Rowen. With Rebecca's power, having instantly slain a god, Rebecca would surely be of great help. But Rudian, whose top had completely blown, coldly rejected Rebecca's help.
"I don't need it."
"Huh? O-okay?"
At the direct rejection, Rebecca's spirits immediately dampened.
"I'll kill those bastards myself. You either join up with Maria or help Evangeline."
"...Evangeline."
When the name Evangeline came from Rudian's mouth, Rebecca's expression completely changed. Normally, Rudian would have felt something like strange fear toward Rebecca who was savoring that name, but the current Rudian was too immersed in deep anger to care about such things.
"......"
Perhaps sensing something ominous about such a Rudian, Rebecca set aside her personal emotions and showed a more cautious demeanor.
"Got it. Be careful, Rudian."
"Yeah, you be careful too."
Rebecca flew toward the battlefield where Maria was fighting with a hesitant air. Conversely, Rowen went to Evangeline, his younger sister, but since Rowen's power couldn't do anything in a battlefield facing five opponents, it was an understandable choice.
"Now then..."
Having sent Rebecca away, Rudian turned his gaze back to Karon and Blamir. 'Thanks to Rebecca coming, the steam cooled a bit.' Still, Blamir's absurd statement hadn't completely left his mind.
"Why are you so angry? Moreover, that anger is directed at us."
"Anyone would be angry if they were falsely accused."
So prepare to die obediently, you rotten bastards. Still, the surprise attack wasn't completely in vain, as Blamir and Karon's momentum had visibly decreased.
"...False accusation?"
"Don't pay deep attention to that bastard's words, Karon. With our current situation, he's a difficult opponent. There's no need to fall for his rhetoric."
The power the two gods could currently exert was about 20% of their main bodies. Even that alone was equivalent to a decent Demon King class level, but the opponent was Rudian. GOOOOO! The silence stirred. At Rudian's appearance creating that contradictory atmosphere, the two gods unconsciously let out groans.
"Mmm, I can feel Leviathan's aura!"
"That's not all. I can feel the power of the Underworld King, that heretic."
Even with the same world's aura, the quality and magnitude naturally differ depending on whose power it is. Blamir and Karon, feeling the tremendous sense of crisis in that moment, kicked off their positions and rushed forward before Rudian could approach.
"Letting him come first seems like a bad move!"
"I agree."
Among the two gods, Blamir made the first move. Blamir's authority that ignored space bound Rudian's entire body. Mad Blood Explosion!
"Explode!"
Blamir, the God of Blood who could freely manipulate all blood in living beings, was in some ways an existence that could be called the natural enemy of mortals. Without the ability to super-regenerate or a method to offset divine authority, no matter how strong a being made of organic matter was, they had no choice but to kneel before Blamir's power. ...Gurgle! As Blamir's authority manifested, all the blood in the body was breaking free from Rudian's control and trying to explode on its own.
"Don't make me laugh!"
But Rudian had two methods to offset Blamir's terrifying authority. Authority of Domination! Rudian cast Leviathan's authority of 'Domination' on his own body. As the Authority of Domination manifested, the body that was trying to move on its own began to quiet down again.
"Mmm!"
When the authority Blamir thought was a killing blow was lightly offset, Blamir's expression hardened rapidly.
"It's not over yet."
Karon, who had been running alongside Blamir, gathered all his power without reserve and deployed the authority of shadows.
"...!"
The shadow Karon summoned didn't simply cast the influence of darkness on the earth, but began to cover the sun and create an artificial eclipse phenomenon!
"...How flashy."
But even at such a grand miracle, Rudian responded with a chuckle. Darkness was the domain of Karon, the God of Shadows. Naturally, when the world was covered in darkness, Karon could temporarily reach even the domain of North, one of the Seven Great Gods, surpassing even Raihon.
"But darkness isn't only your domain."
If Karon was like North's secretary, Rudian was the first contractor of the Underworld King Tartian Lil. Moreover, didn't Rudian possess the source of all 'darkness' in this world? Even as the world was being dyed in darkness, Rudian calmly infused the Underworld King's energy into the sword decorated with a black pearl-like orb in his hand. Black World, activate. Just as the shadow Karon had summoned was about to envelop Rudian's entire body. Without anyone knowing where or how it happened. As if pitch-black threads suddenly appeared overlapping on the surface of the shadow. Slice, slice, slice, slice! Karon's divine body, hidden within the shadow, was cut into dozens of pieces.