Chapter 255
Chapter 255
Chapter 255
Shambala (2)
—...
Unlike before, the spirit of light was silent.
No, it wasn't just silent—it seemed to lack any will at all.
It looked like nothing more than a puppet that destroyed enemies according to Berus' will.
—This bastard...
Yev, who had taken an unexpected blow, tried to regenerate her torn upper body, but it didn't seem to be working well.
Her limbs were intact, but if she were human, it would be like having her heart and all her internal organs swept away.
However, no matter how much damage she had taken, there was no time to rest.
It was because Elli's proxy weapons had all been fired at once toward where Berus was.
Pure white lightning, flames in the shape of a phoenix, and pure plasma energy all struck Berus' entire body.
But...
"Imitations that mimic divine authority... They might be useful in the lower world, but not here."
Even as everything around was swept away, Berus' main body remained steadfast.
SWISH!
Berus raised one finger toward the sky.
Rudian, sensing ominousness from that action, shouted toward the sky.
"Dodge!"
FLASH!
As soon as Rudian's words ended, a beam of light shot from Berus' fingertip.
The beam wasn't particularly thick, nor did it look dangerous, but...
As Berus lightly drew his finger in a straight line...
BAAAAANG!
Elli's small bodies that had filled the sky began to explode all at once!
"Damn...!"
This was an explosion severe enough to make one wonder if even Elli's main body was still alive.
"I should deal with the annoying things first."
After disposing of Elli's small bodies, Berus' hand turned toward Dilmun.
However, Rudian's group hadn't been idle enough to allow consecutive attacks.
"Where do you think you're looking while ignoring me?"
BAAAAANG!
"...Hmm?"
Along with dark red energy rushing like a tidal wave, the momentum of the light surrounding Berus weakened for just a moment.
"Is that Diablo?"
"Hmph!"
Berus turned his gaze to Diablo, who had somehow compressed his body to a size similar to a human.
No, it wasn't simply that he had just shrunk.
Rather than his original appearance that matched the typical image of a demon, except for his horns and wings, his entire body had completely transformed to look human.
"As expected, you're not completely lacking in brains until the end. If you had stayed large, I would have finished you quickly."
"Don't talk nonsense. In terms of battle experience, I have so much that even you couldn't approach it."
Diablo in human form looked remarkably similar to Baal's human form for some reason.
However, unlike Baal who seemed like a languid nobleman, he had an irritable appearance, making his impression completely different.
"Hmm, you too, Yev?"
Before long, both Yev and Ktuna had also changed into the forms of human girls.
However, since neither Diablo nor Yev had changed to avoid the constraints of causality, despite their human appearance, the aura they emitted was fierce enough to distort the surrounding space.
"There's no way your true form is only that size. Why are you deliberately fighting at such an insect-like size?"
At Diablo's question, Berus' head tilted slightly.
"You're making quite a big mistake."
"...A mistake?"
"If the size of the body shrinks, the size of perception is also affected. Certainly, that's common sense in battles between divine beings, but..."
The moment Berus blinked his eyes...
THWACK!
As if time had been deleted, Diablo's right arm flew off.
"...!"
"It's commendable that you compressed your size to reduce the defensive area and increase mobility, but... the result doesn't change."
Diablo grimaced and shouted.
"Causality... ignored!"
"Correct."
What had blown off Diablo's arm without even moving a finger was none other than the power to distort the causality of the Creator God.
Diablo quickly tried to spread his power to regenerate his arm, but...
"I forbid regeneration."
CRACK!
With the sound of something breaking grotesquely, Diablo's regenerating arm began to crumble like hardened mud.
"AAAAH!"
Along with the power poured into regeneration flowing backward, Diablo let out a pained scream.
"If you could use time interference, which the Creator God has forbidden, you might be able to resist to some degree, but... no matter how mighty physical force you can wield, if you're under the laws, it's all meaningless."
"Uugh!"
"If you had been born in the previous genesis when the laws were more free, a more interesting fight would have been possible... What a pity."
WHOOSH!
While Berus was distracted by Diablo, Yev with her silver spear and Ktuna with concentrated Outer Force ambushed Berus.
"Die!"
Along with Ktuna's hatred-filled voice, the attacks of both gods struck down toward Berus.
However...
CRACKLE!
As soon as they touched Berus' light, Yev's spearpoint shattered, and Ktuna's orb also broke into pieces.
"No matter how much divine power is considered the highest authority system... before me, everything is equal."
"...Damn it."
For a moment, sensing the end, Yev let out a quiet curse.
WHOOSH!
As Berus' light grew even stronger...
The bodies of Diablo, Yev, and Ktuna were consumed and swept away by the light.
"Diablo! Yev! Damn...!"
Diablo's power of wrath and Yev's Outer Force that had filled the sky were immediately devoured by Berus' power and shrinking.
'The difference is too... overwhelming!'
Instead of the now-vanished demon sword Diablo, Rudian gripped both Daylight and Grandia and charged at Berus.
THRUM! THRUM!
Leviathan's core pulsed.
Seven-Colored World Resonance!
Thanks to the three buying some time, he had managed to buy enough time to fully activate the resonance.
Watching Rudian's group charging at him, Berus spoke in a rather interested tone.
"Have you reached the level where you can battle while activating the power of resonance?"
"Shut up!"
Originally, the power obtained by resonating the seven-colored worlds could only be concentrated on one person, or simply serve as a power plant that produced energy.
However, even after the Space War ended, his comrades had not neglected handling the seven-colored worlds, and they had finally completed power distribution and could stably achieve amplification through resonance.
'I can't see Diablo and Yev. Don't tell me they were defeated?'
Distinguishing friend from foe in a world filled with Berus' light in all directions was quite difficult.
'Damn, whatever happens, if I eliminate Berus, the root cause, it'll be over!'
Having made up his mind, Rudian asked Adi for help.
"Adi!"
—Preparations are complete, but... are you really sure about this? The aftermath will be on a different level from before.
"But I can't just stand here and take it!"
—...Understood.
As soon as Adi's words ended, the massive exhaustion Rudian had experienced before overwhelmed his body.
—Genesis Domain.
Adi's spell that had previously sealed Krakar's purple world.
For now, this was the only possibility of landing a blow on Berus.
—Absolute Origin Annihilation.
Light cuts through light.
Unlike before when it spread in all directions, this time Adi condensed the power of Origin Annihilation magic into the form of a slash, implementing it in a form that could cut through Berus' domain.
"...!"
Berus showed signs of being surprised for the first time.
"I see. Even if you didn't agree, you too had prepared countermeasures."
For the first time, Berus withdrew his light and went on the defensive.
With a momentary illusion of aurora flowing, the light that had spread from Berus' hands began to converge.
And the gathered light began to create massive waves as it collided with Rudian's strike of Origin Annihilation.
CRACK!
CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!
"...!"
—Master, this is!
The moment the two powers collided, Rudian felt that something had gone wrong.
The massive power condensed from the seven-colored worlds' strength, and the power to overturn the laws condensed in Berus' sphere.
Rudian instinctively sensed how far the aftermath would reach.
CRACK!
For the first time, a crack appeared on Berus' lips, which had been smooth as an egg until now.
That crack looked like a smile.
"Got you."
"...You!"
"Yes, this was my purpose from the beginning."
This place, the Creator God's temple, was special.
It was a place that had maintained its position for hundreds of millions of years, even as countless worlds including the heavens were created and collapsed.
Therefore, even when all sorts of higher gods including the Seven Great Gods rampaged, only the 'components' maintaining this world would disappear while the space itself remained intact.
"To collapse this place was impossible with my power alone. Only when all seven complete colored worlds gathered and exerted their power was there a possibility."
"...Seven-colored worlds?"
"That's right."
Only then did Rudian realize why Abel and Gray hadn't used the blue world and white world.
Those two had been in Berus' hands from the beginning!
"I used Luciel and Medaiel, along with the Avatar of Destruction, as materials! The seven-colored worlds and the primordial fragments you carry...! Now enough power has gathered to collapse the Creator God's laws beyond the world!"
Not distortion of the laws, but collapse.
But before that, Rudian's eyes widened at what Berus had mentioned first.
"What... do you mean? Materials?"
"Ah, you mean Luciel and Medaiel?"
Berus' other hand pointed toward Abel's group in the distance.
"How do you think they gained such power and characteristics? Not dying even when hit by divine authority, but rather absorbing all kinds of divine power while... How did they create monsters with infinite limits?"
"You damn... bastard...!"
Whatever method he had used, Berus had extracted the power of the Avatar of Destruction, Archangel Luciel, and the Seven Great Gods' Medaiel, and injected it all into Abel's group!
"Now, true Destruction."
Even if he wanted to withdraw his power, he couldn't.
The moment he withdrew even a little power, not only Rudian but also the comrades supporting him from behind would surely be swept away.
But that brief hesitation returned in the worst possible form.
CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!
Cracks slowly appeared in the space created by the Creator God in the beginning.
—Master! We must escape from here! If we don't...!
Adi urgently warned of the crisis.
'Damn! But even if I want to escape, there's no way!'
Due to Berus' power, Dilmun had already been half-destroyed and shot down.
Eldorado was also disappearing, making its name as the golden city meaningless, and while Utopia remained intact, it wasn't much help in the current situation.
"Rudian!"
Perhaps recognizing the severity of the situation, Maria and Luciella ambushed Berus.
"No!"
The difference in power was too stark.
No matter how much power was clashing with power, Berus had more than enough capacity to handle the rest of the group.
"No matter how much you possess the power of the seven-colored worlds... you're too foolish."
THUD!
The bodies of Luciella and Maria who had reached Berus began to disappear, unable to pierce through the light, just like Diablo and Yev.
"...Ah."
Rudian could only watch that scene in a daze.
"Rudi..."
In the last moment, he saw Luciella and Maria smiling as they looked this way.
"Ah, aah...!"
"It's over."
Before Rudian could lose his reason, Berus coldly announced the end of this situation.
"I will destroy this world once more and create it anew."
Cracks appeared in the blades of Daylight and Grandia as Adi's Origin Annihilation spell began to lose power.
POP! POP! POP! BANG!
And not long after... Rudian realized that his arm had burst, unable to withstand the backlash.
"Rudian, no!"
Rebecca, who had been watching the situation, desperately grabbed Rudian's shattered arm and began to resist Berus' power.
However, the red world alone couldn't do anything against Berus' power, which had broken through so many forces until now.
"Heh, hehe..."
"Rebecca."
"Your predictions can be wrong sometimes too."
"Rebecca! Stop!"
Rebecca laughed weakly and blocked Rudian's front, beginning to draw Demon Eater's power to its maximum.
She seemed to be planning to absorb Berus' power with her characteristic now.
"Don't worry. No matter how the situation turns out... I'll definitely protect you."
"Stop talking nonsense and get out of the way!"
Even for Rebecca, absorbing that power was impossible.
Sure enough, even though only 2-3 seconds had passed, Rebecca's body began to disappear, unable to withstand that power.
"No, don't..."
Just as Rebecca's body was disappearing futilely, Berus' voice pierced Rudian's ears.
"Now all seven-colored worlds will disappear along with this space. Including the primordial fragments and the Avatar of Destruction, all of the Creator God's arrangements will disappear and my plan will be complete."
Ruura, Garganta, Elvin, Gray, the higher gods and the remaining archangels...
All the great beings who had entered the Creator God's temple began to be swept away by Berus' power and return to primordial nothingness.
"Farewell, karma that the Creator God imposed upon me."
With those words ending, Rudian perceived his body shattering completely and was perfectly annihilated.
***
—Master.
True nothingness was not white, but perfect black where not even a texture could be felt.
—It's not over yet.
Sight, smell, touch, taste... In the perfect primordial space where all senses had disappeared...
One familiar voice echoed emptily.