Chapter 270
Chapter 270
Chapter 270
The Final Battle (1)
The center of the world.
The reason Berus came here was none other than this.
He would want to prove that he had reached the realm of the creator god by creating a new world here.
Before countless spheres of light came crashing down on Rudian's party like that.
Berus spoke to Rudian.
"Before we begin fighting in earnest... there's just one thing I want to ask."
"Go ahead."
"What do you think about the creator god?"
"...What?"
Berus swept his ash-colored hair back once and continued speaking.
"The world has become like this, yet the creator god doesn't step forward directly—what is he doing? Have you ever thought about this fact?"
"...Not particularly."
Rudian shook his head with an indifferent expression.
"He's the creator god of such a world. It's natural that he's a being who transcends ordinary principles and laws. It would be unreasonable to think of him as a god with personality..."
Berus cut off Rudian's words.
"I know that well too. A being who is the very laws of this world. That's why when I could rewrite new laws, I considered that I had reached the realm of the creator god."
The backlash of causality and such things—all of that is the creator god directly intervening to judge.
That's why all gods react sensitively to that word called causality.
"But you see."
Berus' eyes gleamed sharply.
"The creator god gains personality and looks down upon the world when certain conditions are met."
Typically, when a new genesis begins.
"But even though the world has become like this, the creator god hasn't revealed himself."
WHOOSH!
At that moment, Rudian and his companions saw color being painted onto the center of the world that had been made of white.
"Look. This is the world I want to create."
"......"
Though it was just a small part, Rudian saw what form the world Berus wanted to create would take.
A world without supernatural abilities.
A world without magic.
A world where countless lives lived in harmony.
It was a scene as if the ancient paradise had been transplanted exactly as it was.
"The last genesis. I became the victor of the era and ascended to the throne of the main god. And based on the data of the previous world, I created this world. However..."
"......?"
In Berus' eyes that Rudian was looking at, there was some unknowable regret.
"It was never satisfactory."
In this world, Berus is known as the creator god in place of the creator god whose name isn't even known.
That statement was half correct.
After all, the god who actually created the seven worlds and built their ecosystems was Berus himself.
"I merely assembled what the creator god threw to me. The freedom I gained as a victor was nothing. I hated that so much."
To put it in comparison, Berus had gained the right to create a game himself, but what he actually got was merely downloading mods or tools made by the creator god as a developer within an already-made game.
"I petitioned the creator god about this fact several times, but it wasn't accepted. No, the creator god didn't even respond in the first place."
"Hmm..."
"If he intended not to respond to the end, I decided to do as I pleased."
"So that's the current situation..."
"Yes. But while the creator god didn't respond to my wishes, he steadily prepared for my rebellion."
Looking at Berus' intense gaze directed this way, it wasn't difficult to infer that this preparation meant Rudian himself.
"You too must be in a position where you need to meet the creator god. If you want to return to your homeland."
"......"
"But the creator god won't respond. No matter what longing you call out with. Even if you kill me and return everything to the way it was..."
Berus' words were probably true.
On top of that, with the guarantee of Euryale, one of the three goddesses of fate...
'I really won't have a chance to meet the creator god.'
Rudian smiled.
"Still, it doesn't particularly matter."
"...It doesn't matter?"
"Because now I don't need to meet him."
He had thought a lot.
Why he couldn't meet the creator god?
And why he couldn't return to his homeland.
And he had gotten the answer.
'Maybe I wanted to become a character in this world.'
Or perhaps, even if he doesn't remember, 'Kim Seong-jun' might have made some kind of contract with the creator god before entering this world.
If that weren't the case, regardless of the process, it would have been impossible for 'Rudian' to be standing in this place.
"I'm satisfied enough right now. And I'll continue to live satisfactorily in the future, as long as you disappear."
"......"
"From what I can see, you're being greedy. Excessive greed beyond your station..."
"...Greed?"
Berus' expression became distorted.
For the first time, the emotion of anger arose from him.
"I overcame all those sacrifices and adversities and ultimately achieved victory. Though the Machine God, Outer God, and Demon God stand in the same position as me, the actual victor was me alone. I have the qualifications!"
"Ah, well... I don't care about old stories."
Rudian sighed and shook his head.
"Looking at both the original work and the current situation, I've come to one conclusion."
"...A conclusion?"
"Whatever it is, the creator god is absolutely neutral."
The creator god thoroughly treats living beings within the rules he set—that is, within the rules of causality.
"He doesn't favor anyone, and he doesn't discriminate against anyone. That's the rule the absolute god who created this world made for himself."
"......"
"Breaking that means you yourself violated the rules and were greedy."
The simplest example: the right to create laws for a new world.
Perhaps that was something that even the final victor of the apocalypse couldn't obtain.
'If someone who achieved rank 1 demanded operator rights...'
It would certainly be an impossible demand.
But Berus, seemingly unable to accept this, spat out his anger and shouted at Rudian.
"In the end, our conversation can only run parallel!"
"That's right. So... let's end this parallel line."
Rudian immediately activated his mandala and rushed at Berus.
"Rushing like a moth to flame!"
The sphere around Berus began shooting directly at Rudian.
Intense heat that would melt away any ordinary living being just by perceiving the existence of those orbs.
"Heat is the best for breaking the power of scrap metal."
Berus, with a bitter smile, detonated the spheres as they were.
KUUUUU!
There wasn't any particularly loud explosion sound.
Just a massive wave and tsunami of heat burst out centered on Rudian.
"You must have experienced it several times, right? These are spheres mixed with the power of the avatar of destruction. They contain power that can easily create hundreds of star systems."
"...If this power explodes, the world you created will evaporate instantly—is that okay?"
"I can just kill you and remake it. It's just a trivial matter."
"...I think I understand why the creator god didn't give you authority."
Each one had overwhelming physical force that could be considered a sun.
If he let his guard down, even a god's body would melt away instantly.
Trapped in that alien heat, Rudian quietly opened his mouth.
"Restoration."
"......!"
The power to return solar heat to primordial elements.
The newly awakened divine power that Rudian had realized began to nullify Berus' attack.
"...How?"
As the boiling heat quickly cooled as if it had met cold air, Berus' expression changed greatly.
"What do you mean 'how'? You should know I dealt with Abel, so don't you understand yet?"
Rudian, having broken through that heat, rushed at Berus and swung his sword.
STRIKE!
Though it was a strike with considerable force, Rudian's slash barely penetrated Berus' barrier and ended with just giving one wound to his cheek.
"......!"
But that single wound seemed to be a great shock, as Berus' expression became viciously distorted.
"...You bastard!"
"Sorry, but... your power's special nature doesn't work on me."
The divine power Rudian had awakened was, in terms of pure power itself, just as the Demon God had said, at a level slightly superior to a mid-level god.
However, Rudian's divinity applied as a counter to those who had stepped outside the laws like Berus, and the insufficient output was sufficiently compensated by the power of Machine God Deus.
In other words, it was enough to deal sufficient damage to Berus.
"Special nature? Even if that's so, do you think you can do anything to me with your paltry power!"
AAAAHHHHHHHH!
Along with Berus' anger, an ash-colored wolf-shaped beast appeared near him.
-Grrr, urgh, urgh, urgh...
'...A light spirit.'
The light spirit that had served as Berus' spear and shield doing all sorts of work from the genesis until now had appeared.
But...
'It looks... to be in pain.'
The light spirit, having lost its original pure white color and become ash-colored, was shedding tears while forcibly embracing power it couldn't handle.
'It must have been forcibly subordinated to Berus and had no choice but to step outside the laws together.'
However, while Berus' vessel could handle those laws he had stepped outside of, the problem was that the light spirit couldn't do the same.
"...I'll put you to rest."
From behind Rudian, his companions who had been watching until now rushed toward the light spirit.
Seeing them, Berus let out a sneer.
"Do you think the likes of you, not even him, can do anything to my familiar? You who don't even have the Seven-Colored World anymore... Hmm?"
At that moment, Berus felt some strange ominous feeling.
Chaos Domain.
Chaos Ball!
"Haaaap!"
Along with the 10th class magic extending from Gray's hand, Maria's battle cry mixed with space-time supernatural power directly struck the light spirit.
AAHHHH!
-Kraaaak!
"......!"
At the clearly fatal hit, Berus' gaze turned toward Rudian's party for a moment.
"Where are you looking away to?"
BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!
At Rudian's grinning words, Berus came to his senses and hastily blocked the surprise attack while frowning.
"You... just how..."
To Berus, who wore an expression of disbelief, Rudian triumphantly revealed his move.
"I used the same method as you."
"The same method...? Don't tell me!"
Berus immediately understood Rudian's words.
Originally, Berus had granted power outside the rules to his familiar, the light spirit, and Abel's party of five.
However, that was only possible because they were treated as Berus' familiars under contract.
But conversely, if the condition of being a 'familiar' was satisfied, the power of granting itself was possible not only for Berus but also for Rudian.
"The divine power I obtained. I overlaid that onto Adi's power to change the essence of the power, then granted it to my companions as is."
SHEESH!
In that case, it would be like having five more people with Rudian's reduction power that countered Berus' power.
This was a situation far more threatening to Berus than even the Seven-Colored World.
"This is power developed solely to defeat you."
"You bastaaaaard!"
"Let's play to the end!"
KWAAK!
Rudian's jet-black sword penetrated Berus' defense and split his torso open.