Chapter 246
Chapter 246
Chapter 246
Metatron (3)
Eden.
The moment he heard those words, Rudian's expression changed drastically.
"...Eden?"
"That's right. Eden, one of the fragments of the Machine God."
One of the remaining two terminals that couldn't be found on the surface along with Shambhala.
And perhaps the terminal that might be the 'strongest' among all of Adi's terminals.
6th generation restoration-type artificial intelligence Eden.
It wasn't that he hadn't considered the possibility that someone might have obtained it, but of all people, it had to fall into Berus' hands?
'...How?'
Rudian was genuinely confused.
'No, Gardin, who was previously an apostle of Garganta, discovered Elli, and the receiver was also keeping his life through Utopia. The fact that it was discovered isn't that strange.'
By the way... Machine God Deus?
'Adi, is your real name Deus?'
-No, my name is Arcadia through and through.
Adi firmly denied it.
'But that guy calls you Deus?'
-I don't know such a guy.
'.......'
Adi's answer was clear and firm.
He was so adamant about putting up a wall that it actually made him suspicious.
Rudian asked Metatron a question, thinking to extract a bit more information.
"The Machine God... isn't it a being that doesn't interfere with this world?"
Metatron's eyes narrowed as he immediately grasped Rudian's intention.
"...You're trying to get something for nothing."
"...Ugh!"
"But fine. The thirstier you get, the more you'll have no choice but to accept my proposal."
Metatron continued with a faint smile.
"Basically, it's known that Berus was the final victor of the previous Genesis, but in reality, there were four, including Berus."
"...I know."
Berus the God of Light, the Outer God Shub, the Machine God Deus, and the Demon God.
"They have no interest in this world, but that doesn't mean they haven't left traces behind."
These beings, who were essentially above the Seven Great Gods, never appeared in the original work until the story's completion.
At best, Shub only showed her face once, and even that ended her appearance after handing over the purple world.
Berus was helplessly defeated by the Avatar of Destruction before the story ended and never even showed his face to Abel's party.
The Machine God and Demon God were only mentioned by name.
Then why didn't they appear?
Obviously, because their very existence was balance breakers that would ruin the story's flow.
The prevailing opinion among readers at the time was that the original author had included them for worldbuilding but left them as mere lore because they were too powerful to actually introduce into the story.
No matter how much the original was a world with terrible power inflation, it at least tried to create the minimum plausibility for the protagonist party to overcome challenges.
"In the case of the Machine God Deus, he split himself into several fragments and hid them throughout the world. Originally, without Deus' core, even if you obtained the fragments, you couldn't use them properly...."
Metatron's gaze turned toward Rudian's shoulder.
"You already possess not only the core but most of the fragments."
"...Adi?"
-...I'm truly innocent. I don't know such a guy.
Should I tell him that this way of speaking is the typical example of reading from a textbook?
"Well, if you say so, then that's how it is."
Rudian chuckled and drew Diablo.
Seeing this, Metatron asked Rudian with surprise.
"...You won't press further?"
Heh!
Rudian smiled softly and poked Adi's orb with his index finger.
"This one and I are partners. It would be rude to pry too much into my partner's circumstances."
"Even if it becomes something that strangles you later?"
"Then I'll take one hit to the back of the head. Anyway, without this one, I couldn't have made it this far."
-Master....
Adi looked at Rudian with wide eyes.
"First, let's prepare for battle. There's a lot I need to hear from that guy."
-Understood!
As soon as Rudian gave the order, his companions activated their Seven-Colored Worlds and raised their fighting spirit.
"Whew...."
Luciella, who had fully activated the purple world, began to see her hair color turning purple from the tips.
In addition, Rebecca with her deep red color.
Maria glowing emerald.
Evangeline dyed in jet black.
And Elvin radiating brilliant gold.
The five members excluding Rudian and Gray each activated their own Seven-Colored Worlds and began pressuring Metatron.
Metatron watched the party's majesty and let out a brief observation.
"Quite a decent amplification rate."
Then... he moved through space and appeared in front of Gray.
"What!"
"So the basic thing would be to strike at the loosest gap first."
CRACKLE!
Before anyone knew it, Metatron held a golden spear formed from divine power in his right hand.
"It's useless to try to block with chaos. Accept death obediently."
Metatron, who had shattered all of Gray's protective barriers with just his 'gaze', emotionlessly thrust his spear toward Gray's neck.
"Where do you think you're going!"
Rudian immediately unleashed Diablo's power and blocked the movement of Metatron's spear.
And through that gap....
"Hup!"
Gray, who had already finished preparing his spell, began pouring out the 10th class magic he had created at close range toward Metatron.
"Damn it, how long... I can't just be dead weight because I don't have a Seven-Colored World!"
-Chaos Eruption!
A 10th class divine spell created to deal definitive damage to divine beings, though with a narrow range.
Dark red chaos began gnawing at Metatron's upper body and exploding outward.
CRACKLE!
"...Grrrugh!"
Firing artillery at close range meant there was also a possibility of injuring oneself.
Immediately, both of Gray's arms became like rags and began being dyed with chaos.
"Gray! You idiot!"
Rudian frowned and had Utopia heal Gray's wounds.
"...Listen carefully, brother."
"Speak."
"That guy is a monster. He was blown far away, but he definitely didn't take any real damage."
Sure enough, just as Gray said, Metatron was slowly getting up in the distance, brushing himself off.
"...That's probably right. The opponent is someone who might be difficult to handle even if all of us combined our strength with our current capabilities."
This is what enemies at the level of the Seven Great Gods who can use their full power are like.
Even stronger than the twin gods they fought in outer space... a being who truly stands at the pinnacle of the worldview.
Rudian pushed Gray back and said:
"This definitely isn't Heaven."
Hearing that muttering, Metatron slowly approached and answered.
"Correct. This is one of the secret spaces where dimensional rifts overlap. If I had to compare it to something, it would be similar to Helheim."
Helheim, the intermediate region between Heaven and the Demon Realm.
A special region with no particular ruler and no constraints from causality.
"That's why you can use your full power even though this isn't Heaven."
"That's right."
"Then I can do the same... you seem to be forgetting that."
"...!"
CRACK!
Above Rudian, space split apart and something like a massive warship began to appear.
Its identity was none other than Dilmun, one of Adi's terminals.
"...Another fragment of the Machine God!"
"As was the case when I went to Helheim before, Dilmun has the power to break through dimensions. Moreover, when transporting with Dilmun, there's also a function that can ignore causality."
It could be said to be the most overpowered ability among all the terminals' functions.
Rudian smiled coldly and said to Metatron:
"Here's what I thought. If I wanted to utilize this causality-ignoring function to its maximum, how should I do it?"
"......"
"The answer I found was to transport 'gods'...!"
"...!"
Metatron's eyes turned toward the sky.
There, a massive giant shining in silver and a slim cephalopod monster with thousands of eyes embedded in its body were looking down at Metatron.
"Yev and... Ktuna!"
"Correct."
There was a reason why these two gods, who had become Rudian's trump cards, hadn't appeared until now.
First, these two from outer space had too many enemies in Heaven to wander around carelessly.
Second, it was to deploy them at decisive moments like this situation.
-Hah, hahaha... To think the day would come when I'd take Metatron's life with my own hands.
-......
Yev didn't say much, but Ktuna seemed to enjoy this situation, letting out a pleasant laugh and beginning to emit Outer Force.
Moreover, it wasn't just the two gods who emerged from Dilmun.
The former legion commanders under Leviathan, whom Rudian had brought as reserve forces just in case, also appeared one by one and were surrounding Metatron.
Metatron, standing alone and radiating brilliant light.
And the demons and outer gods dominating the sky, emitting gloomy demonic energy and Outer Force.
At this overwhelming good-versus-evil structure, Gray muttered awkwardly:
"...If you didn't know the situation, you'd be confused about who the villain is."
"...Shut up."
Even though the situation had reached this point, Metatron showed no signs of backing down.
Instead, he began spreading twelve wings while emitting even greater light.
WHOOSH!
Massive golden divinity began driving away the darkness.
But Rudian knew this was only temporary.
'No matter how strong Metatron is, he has no chance of winning in this situation... yet he insists on fighting?'
This was a situation where even Yev and Ktuna, who were equivalent to the Seven Great Gods, had joined the battle.
With the companions who wielded the Seven-Colored Worlds joining the assault, they could subdue Metatron without even using Resonance.
'There must be some scheme....'
Even while Rudian was thinking this, the battle was flowing into an intense phase.
"Hup!"
BOOM!
Metatron's spear and Yev's spear collided head-on.
-...!
Certainly, in terms of rank, Metatron seemed to have a slight advantage, as Yev's silver spear was being pushed back a bit.
However....
-Die, Metatron!
Ktuna emotionally held down Metatron's domain.
Taking advantage of that gap, Yev's silver spear tore through Metatron's wings.
And the five companions who took the main offensive each unleashed the power of their Seven-Colored Worlds and began pummeling Metatron's immobilized body.
The twelve wings that had shone brilliantly were rapidly losing power and breaking as time passed.
His body, which should have been harder than steel, was also gradually allowing attacks through and bleeding divine blood.
"...The battle is definitely flowing one-sidedly."
With the remaining legion commanders perfectly supporting by blocking escape routes, Metatron would surely fall before long.
"Something's strange."
Gray also seemed to feel something was off, frowning as he glared at Metatron.
"It's like he's fighting with his own defeat as a premise."
"...You felt that too?"
"Even without the guys you brought, the battle situation was evenly matched. But even in this situation, that guy isn't running away and is rather confronting us."
"......"
"If I had to find a possibility...."
Metatron's hidden intention flowed from Gray's lips.
"He might be thinking of using his life as collateral to break the seal on the Goddesses of Fate."
"...Using his life as collateral?"
We're the ones who suffered damage from Metatron's troublemaking....
Rudian sighed deeply and shook his head.
"...When you put it that way, we sound like the villains."
"Well, from the outside, we completely look like villains...."
Gray also muttered awkwardly.