Chapter 265
Chapter 265
Chapter 265
Reunion (1)
WHOOOOSH!
The body of Abel, who had become a monster, began to disappear.
Like particles of light, Abel quietly exited the stage.
Rudian, who had withdrawn his technique, quietly bowed his head while watching the place where Abel had vanished.
The Administrator approached from behind Rudian.
"Hmm, not a bad performance."
"......"
"But you know, don't you? What you just defeated was only one out of five."
Abel, Rebecca, Gray, Evangeline, Crux.
The protagonist party from the original story, and figures from different timelines created by Berus.
"Moreover, if you consider Berus as well, your chances of victory are hopeless. With your current power, you cannot handle all of them."
"I suppose so..."
At Rudian's calm response, a glint appeared in the Administrator's eyes.
"You don't look particularly tense. Do you have something you're relying on?"
"Not particularly. However..."
"However?"
"I'm still not alone. They can't be called companions, but there are still those who walk the same path remaining."
"Hmm..."
"I plan to struggle as much as possible. I have to try everything I can. If there's even a thread-like possibility, I plan to cling to it until the end and struggle pathetically."
"And if that still doesn't work?"
"I've decided not to think about such possibilities from the start. The time for calculating possibilities has already passed."
"Hehe, I see..."
The Administrator sensed fragments of will to challenge him in Rudian's words.
"Good, very good."
SWISH!
The Heavenly Demon Divine Sword that had been in Rudian's hand returned to the Administrator.
"If you pass this trial... I'll give you something very good."
"...Something good, you say?"
"I'm confident you'll be 1000% delighted. How about it, are you somewhat motivated now?"
If the Administrator was saying such things, it must be no ordinary item.
"Very well. I'll try to surpass you once."
Rudian slowly activated his own divinity, Reduction.
—.......
For some reason, he was still connected to Adi's soul, but both Rudian and Adi knew that for this matter, they must not interfere with each other.
'If I drag this out even a little, I'll lose.'
Gooooo!
The tremendous aura emanating from the Administrator.
It was an overwhelming sense of pressure that was hard to believe came from a mere avatar of a god... that is, someone of apostle level.
Even if he used Shambhala, it was questionable whether his chances would exceed fifty percent.
But even so, Rudian had to break through the Administrator.
'From the meeting with the Demon God... there will be clues to defeat Berus.'
It was nothing more than a weak speculation without basis, but Rudian's instincts were certainly telling him so.
GRIN!
The Administrator, who had read Rudian's resolve, smiled.
"You plan to settle it with one strike."
"...Yes."
"Good. Then I too must provide appropriate treatment."
The demonic energy that appeared behind the Administrator formed the shape of a giant.
Three heads and six arms.
The giant figure, clearly an Asura, revealed its majesty with six arms and a sword in its mouth.
"This is one of the techniques I used to enjoy during my human days. Well, compared to that time, the power has increased quite a bit... but there's no technique better than this for testing divinity."
"......"
"I'm being really generous. If you survive being hit by this, I'll consider it a pass."
As those words ended, nine blades began to trace different trajectories.
SLASH!
It was clearly a series of ordinary slashes, yet Rudian couldn't move a muscle even with the black wave drawn by those blades right before his eyes.
'I can't... dodge!'
Aura? No.
Space slash? That's not it either.
It's not a divine authority, and although it contains demonic energy, it's not an attack using demonic nature either.
Surprisingly, that was a martial arts technique that the Administrator was unleashing with his own capabilities.
Yet that technique was cutting through causality.
'It's the same type as Abel's technique.'
If the power of the Avatar of Destruction that Berus granted overturned the laws of the world, that one cut through the laws of the world.
"Here I go. Asura Heaven Breaking."
As if casually going for a stroll in the neighborhood, the Administrator revealed the technique's name with a light voice.
AAAAAA!
'It's coming!'
A true God-Slaying Slash in every sense of the word.
It was flying toward Rudian!
Regardless of whether defense was possible or impossible, Rudian's instincts were moving his body to steadily find the best method.
CLICK!
Rudian generated an energy sword and extended his arm toward the attack before him.
'I'll put all my capabilities into definitely blocking it.'
Even if his limbs are torn off, as long as he stays alive, it's fine.
The Administrator himself just said 'if you're alive, it's a pass'!
But...
—If you prioritize only survival, you'll definitely die.
Just as the dark slash was about to engulf Rudian.
The Administrator's spirit speech stirred Rudian's mind.
"...!"
This was the Administrator's final kindness toward Rudian.
The moment the massive darkness covered his entire field of vision.
Rudian unconsciously took one step forward.
At first glance, it seemed like a disorderly slash that would butcher his entire body, but Rudian noticed that within that disorder lay a very faint order.
'This is...!'
It's the same as Abel's but different.
More precisely, it's different in terms of completion level.
'Is this teaching that the Administrator is giving me?'
Even though he had completed Reduction and obtained Shambhala, how to wield it and how to deal damage to Berus were still matters of concern.
Simply pushing forward with Shambhala's power like he did with Abel would surely have limits.
The Administrator seemed to be trying to tell Rudian the answer to that.
'Order within disorder, that contradiction is the clue to breaking Berus' power.'
Even if it's an existence that has escaped the laws, that doesn't make it invincible.
Rudian's arm very naturally brought his sword down from top to bottom.
The sword body concentrated with Reduction directly collided with the black wave.
SLASH!
Just like that, both of Rudian's arms were helplessly cut off.
"......"
Even with his arms cut off, Rudian stared blankly at the Administrator.
"You read the flow."
But the Administrator who had actually unleashed that slash smiled contentedly while sheathing his sword.
"This is...?"
"Yes, it's a sword for cutting beings who seek to escape the laws like Berus did in the past. Throughout numerous genesis cycles, there weren't any such cases."
"......"
"The greatest self-contradiction that those who escape the laws face is that, ironically, they are more greatly affected by the laws they originally belonged to than anyone else."
A water spirit wanted to escape from the waterside that bound it, so it twisted the laws to make its body out of fire.
Thus the water spirit gained a fire body that could evaporate the water that was its essence, but ironically, it became more vulnerable to water, its original essence, than anyone else.
"Berus' case is similar to this. Though the details are somewhat different..."
"...How absurd."
"Well, it's a kind of risk. Whether to become a new creator god, or disappear from the world's records without leaving even a trace of existence. Berus made such a gamble."
'...Huh?'
Rudian tilted his head slightly.
In just a brief moment that he hadn't even noticed, the Administrator's face had somehow aged about ten years.
No, saying he aged was somewhat inappropriate.
The young face of his early twenties had changed to the mature appearance of his thirties.
'When on earth...'
No, now is not the time to worry about that.
Rudian recognized that the 'Administrator' before him now had become a different existence from the Administrator he knew.
"...Are you the Demon God?"
"That's right."
SWISH!
When the Administrator... no, the Demon God lightly waved his hand, Rudian's severed arms had somehow returned to normal.
"Your final response was excellent. To accurately read the point where nine ever-changing sword energies intersect just once... That must be a characteristic brought by the power you completed."
Reduction.
That applied not only to the realm of energy but also to eyesight.
"Even so, I couldn't break the technique and my arms were cut off..."
"It's merely a lack of power. If you had used Shambhala, offsetting it would have been sufficiently possible."
The Demon God accurately understood the exchange that had just occurred.
"But ending with just offsetting won't do. To definitely land a blow on Berus, you need to complete something beyond that."
...Nod!
Rudian was aware of that as well.
The technique the Administrator had shown.
Having experienced its flow once with his body, implementing it wasn't impossible.
Rudian too had now risen to the ranks of gods, after all.
"During the time remaining in this space, I'll teach you. The method to make your power into its complete form."
"...!"
The Demon God's guidance!
Though unintended, it was an unexpected harvest.
"And... there's something additional you need to know."
"Something I need to know..."
"Defeating Berus doesn't end everything. The entire dimensional realm has already collapsed, so if things continue as they are, the world will collapse even if Berus disappears."
...Nod!
Rudian nodded heavily in agreement with those words.
It was reckless bravado and irresponsible thinking to vaguely speculate that somehow it might be possible with the Eden obtained by defeating Berus.
And the Demon God instilled certainty in Rudian's thoughts.
"Naturally, even using Eden won't make restoring the world possible. It's a matter of absolute quantity, not quality of power, so at best it would stop at restoring about one small stellar system."
"...Ugh!"
Even restoring that stellar system belonged to miracles so great they could be considered one of Adi's terminals...
'It's ridiculously insufficient.'
Even if they scraped together all the remaining forces' power and poured it into Eden, restoring the entire dimensional realm would be a distant task.
"Then what should I do?"
"......"
For some reason, the Demon God didn't answer immediately and fell silent.
"You have experience of parting with precious ones. Not just one or two, either."
"...Why bring that up now..."
"You can't hold everything in your hands. No matter how much of a god you are, such a thing doesn't exist in this world. If there are meetings, there are partings, and if there are beginnings, endings also exist."
"Uh, excuse me..."
"Whatever the case... it's better not to experience it if possible, but it's a process that must be experienced and overcome at least once in life. Think of it as similar to going to the military."
I can't understand what he means at all.
However, one thing - is it Rudian's imagination that the Demon God's somewhat incoherent statements carry some kind of absurdly ominous feeling?
—.......
Before Rudian could say anything, the Demon God quickly continued.
"However, before accepting that, I'll give you one gift. What my avatar promised is the same as my promise."
"...A gift?"
"Heh, hehehe..."
Before he could even think about what that gift might be, a very familiar and very missed cheerful laughter reached Rudian's ears.
"...Huh?"
The characteristic orange bob cut. An innocent expression and a childhood friend from the past who never lost her purity to the end.
And currently...
"Well, I wanted to meet with a bit more atmosphere, but as expected, things don't go as planned. Hehe!"
When on earth did she appear?
No, how did she come back to life?
Before he could ponder those thoughts, Rudian ran out calling the other person's name.
"Rebecca!"