Chapter 25
Chapter 25
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 25
Chapter Title: Betrayal in the Pantheon
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A colossal beam of destruction sliced through his entire body.
His flesh was crumbling away.
This indomitable body, forged by condensing his divinity.
It was shattering into pieces like a broken piece of pottery.
Arms, legs, chest, head... and even the part that had brought him the greatest pleasure.
As everything collapsed around him,
Anumaesi had no choice but to make the only decision he could.
The absolute worst option, one he truly didn't want to choose.
But right now, he had no other way.
If he stayed like this, his very existence would clearly vanish completely...
'Damn it! I'll... I'll come back! I swear I'll have my revenge!'
With that thought, Anumaesi abandoned his avatar's body.
The form that had barely held together lost all power and crumbled into a heap of dirt.
The moment he relinquished his avatar's flesh,
Anumaesi's soul—his true self—returned to its birthplace, the Pantheon of All Gods high above.
⚠️ AGONY ⚠️ "Kuh... heuk... heuk..." The God of War collapsed to the floor like he had been struck down.
Amid the lingering pain that refused to fade, Anumaesi let out labored groans.
It was a blunder.
He had underestimated the enemy far too much.
And he had placed blind faith in his own power.
"No matter how you look at it... how... how did it end up like this? To a mere angel... no... how could an angel like that have such power...?" An angel who nullified the Genesis Strike, a blow even gods couldn't block.
It was a scene that made no sense no matter how many times he replayed it.
And at the same time, it was a memory that cut him to the bone.
To dare defeat the God of War like this.
This was an unforgivable sin, a grudge that demanded retribution.
Yet, separate from his burning desire for revenge, Anumaesi couldn't move for a while.
His avatar body was powerful, but it had a fatal flaw.
Once the flesh was destroyed, all the power contained within vanished completely.
In other words, Anumaesi's current strength was only about a third of his original might.
Knowing this, he had clung to the avatar until the very end, but in a crisis tied directly to his survival, he had no choice but to let it go.
In this weakened state, charging back in would only lead to an even more humiliating defeat.
It was infuriating, but for now, he had no option but to hide and focus on recovery.
"This won't be the end. Once I regain my strength, I'll make sure to avenge this humiliation..." "That's what I told you, didn't I?" {!}
In that instant, a sudden quiet voice echoed.
On any other day, he might have ignored it completely, but in this moment, it filled him with a heavy dread. Anumaesi slowly turned his head.
Baal God.
And behind him stood his sister, Ishiris, silently watching.
Her expression darker than usual...
"Judging by your state, it looks like you lost. And thoroughly at that." "Th-this... this was just a mistake! I went in my avatar body to ravish his woman, and things went wrong! If I'd gone with my true body from the start, a guy like that would've been..." "That's why I warned you. Not to underestimate him. Ignoring my advice was your foolish choice, and this is the result." 💥 PAIN 💥 "Kuh...!" Baal's words scraped at his pride.
Yet even Anumaesi, with his foul temperament, couldn't retort.
It was a fact that he had ignored Baal's repeated warnings.
Then,
as he trembled with rage, Baal placed a hand on Anumaesi's shoulder
and continued in a calm voice.
"Well, no need to blame yourself too much. Battles have wins and losses, after all. You lost this time, but in the end, we'll be the ones victorious." ⚠️ AGONY ⚠️ "Mm..." His brother's unexpectedly straightforward words.
Anumaesi felt a rare twinge of guilt.
Unlike what he'd expected—a greater outburst of anger—his brother had ended it with light rebuke for his sibling's sake, stirring a bit of gratitude...
"Then, time to settle accounts." "Hm? Settle... what do you... Kuheeeek!!!!!!"
In that moment,
Baal's hand pierced straight through Anumaesi's chest.
Grasping the core at the center of his divinity in an instant, he began crushing it with immense force.
💥 BETRAYAL 💥 "Wh... what... what are you... Kuh! Heuk!" "I told you, didn't I? If you failed, you'd pay the price. Your pathetic defeat tarnished our honor, and you dared lust after the wife of I, the great Baal God. This is a capital crime deserving death. I'll execute you here and now!" 💥 CRITICAL HIT! 💥 "Kuhuuuk!! You... you bastaaard!!"
Baal's voice was chillingly cold.
Not a trace of mercy or hesitation,
just icy rage that Anumaesi instinctively understood.
This was real.
Baal, this god,
was truly trying to kill him.
⚠️ DESPAIR ⚠️ "Ah... nooo... not like... this... not endiiing... like thiiiis...!!!" Writhing in excruciating agony, Anumaesi desperately tried to resist.
In his prime, he could have unleashed his divine power to shake it off.
But the aftermath of his crushing defeat had left his soul riddled with wounds, and the avatar's destruction had drained his true power to its limits.
In this state, escape was impossible.
Without meaningful resistance, Anumaesi's core began to shatter in Baal's grip.
Death.
The annihilation of existence itself, a miserable end even gods feared.
Something he never thought he'd face was now upon him, and screams of torment poured from Anumaesi's lips.
And one person watched this.
The goddess Ishiris.
Her face uncharacteristically dark, she merely observed in silence.
💥 FINAL SCREAM 💥 "Kwaaaah!!!! S-sis...ter... sp-spare... me... p-pleeease... pleeease..." As his core shattered, Anumaesi's true form crumbled alongside it.
There was no dignity or beauty left to the end.
A pathetic sight, screeching in misery and begging for his life from the sister he always scorned.
Yet...
Why was that?
Ishiris's heart wasn't at ease watching this.
Her loathsome brother's death throes as he called to her.
Though she lacked the power, authority, or will to stop it...
A faint unease bloomed in her chest, making her tremble slightly.
'...What a shame... to end up like this...'
💥 DEATH 💥 "Kwaaaaaaaaah!!!!!!!!" -Pak!
In the end, his core fully shattered, and Anumaesi's body exploded into fragments.
Bidding a quiet farewell to her fallen brother,
Ishiris's gaze turned to Baal God, who had ended his own family with his own hands.
Then came a familiar sight.
Baal absorbing the shattered pieces of the god's core,
claiming the power within as his own.
"The Reenactment of the Great Rift... Heh, don't be too resentful, little brother. I'll make sure to exact your revenge with your own power." "...Did it have to come to this? Now the seat of the God of War sits empty." Ishiris's question laced with bitterness and faint defiance.
Baal withdrew his hand, glowing with red divinity, and replied with a deep smile.
"He was a hard-to-handle brute with his willful nature. His arrogance eroded the faith of our followers. And this time, he even eyed my wife. The nerve of him, coveting what belongs to me." Baal's face smiled, yet it clearly expressed fury.
Watching him pretend otherwise while never forgetting a grudge and paying it back in full, Ishiris felt a chill in her heart.
Of course, separate from his cruelty, she agreed that Anumaesi had brought this on himself.
"He was useless without his power anyway. Better to clean house now and bring in fresh blood." "Fresh blood... you don't mean him, do you?" "Heh heh..." A certain figure flashed in her mind.
Baal offered no further answer, simply chuckling softly before vanishing into the depths of the Pantheon.
⚠️ SIGH ⚠️ "Ha..." Watching him go, Ishiris suppressed her inner unease and let out a soft sigh.
Then...
{...}
Something small caught her eye.
It was
a small fragment on the floor,
glowing faintly red.
Twitching slightly like a seed still clinging to life.
Ishiris knew what it was.
It should be destroyed here or reported to Baal for a clean finish.
Gazing at it,
she silently flicked her finger.
In that final moment,
recalling her brother's pleading gaze as he begged her to save him.
-Whoosh.
The seed plummeted from the Pantheon to the mortal world.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ After the situation resolved, Solomon—with Seraphim's help—returned to Kanan Kingdom for now.
Though it was the whim of a capricious god acting on his own,
it was still an attempt to violate a princess of a nation.
And with her escorts wiped out in the process, Kanan Kingdom decided to formally dispatch envoys to Kirga Kingdom to lodge a protest.
The finer political details would be handled by those in high places...
As the victim of this incident and someone saved by a god once more,
Princess Solomon was spending some time alone in her room.
Her original schedule was, of course, entirely canceled.
At this moment, she was seen by many as the pitiful virgin nearly defiled by a god,
drawing sympathy and concern from countless people.
How tragic for such a beautiful, innocent princess to endure such horror.
Traumas like this don't fade easily from memory and can haunt one for life, so such reactions were only natural.
However,
right now,
alone on her bed hugging a pillow,
Princess Solomon's mind held not a trace of the Anumaesi who tried to assault her.
Filling her thoughts was a single being.
The one who saved her before her eyes.
The one still making her heart race even now.
'Lord Seraphim... ahh...'
When she first saw him, she'd felt only fear, but now just thinking of him warmed her chest.
Those searing red eyes that pierced everything.
His massive, magnificent form.
The soft feathers and warm touch she'd felt when he carried her back to the palace.
And that impossibly alluring scent—not of this world (and indeed, not from it).
Recalling him who'd given her such profound joy from mere brief contact, Solomon hugged the pillow tighter as her body heated up once more.
'No doubt about it... this must be... that feeling I'd only heard about... love, for sure!'
The emotion she'd thought impossible for someone born a princess.
Astonished and delighted to feel it this way,
Solomon steeled her resolve and rose from the bed.
'I can't just sit here. I need to start figuring out how to become Lord Seraphim's woman right now. For that, I need more info on angels...'
One piece of information naturally came to mind.
Though difficult, she felt the need to dispatch someone there and began pondering how.
Then.
-Flash!
"Hm?"
The next moment, the room blazed with light.
Feeling the sacred aura, Solomon's heart pounded fiercely.
From past experiences, she knew.
This sensation meant an angel's visit.
Which could only mean...
"Se... Lord Seraphim...?"
[...]
Captured by intense excitement for a moment,
Solomon's emotions rapidly cooled
upon seeing the 'angel' who appeared.
"...So, if I may confirm your name..."
⚙ ARCHANGEL ARCROYAL ⚙ [I am Arcroyal.]