Chapter 696
Chapter 696
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 696
Chapter Title: Zero
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696.
[System Error: An unauthorized being has invaded the world.]
"What?"
Gias could only freeze at the message that appeared before his eyes.
"What is this...!"
Gias understood at once that this was no longer the world of the Legion.
He didn't know what had been done, but a moment ago, the master of this world had changed.
It wasn't hard to guess who that new master was.
Gias's face twisted.
'Looking at the situation, nothing has changed.'
Even if it had become the World of Heroes, the dungeon rampage was still ongoing.
While he might not have perfect control like he did in the world of the Legion, he could still maintain the dungeon now that it had already gone wild.
'No, even if the plan has gone awry, I just need to kill Kyle.'
That alone was enough.
No, it was more than enough.
It was the very desire of Tartaros itself.
"Uwoooooooh!"
Gias let out a roar.
*Fwoooosh-! Sizzle!*
Dark magic and the flames of Erebos swirled from his body.
'First, I must finish Kyle!'
Dweno would be here soon.
In this moment when nothing was certain.
The one thing that was clear was the fact that Dweno was coming.
*BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM-!*
Raising his sword, Gias charged toward the castle wall.
"Block him!"
"Concentrate fire on Gias!"
The mages of Ivaldi focused their magical bombardment on Gias.
"Do you think such pathetic magic could ever work on me!"
Gias roared.
The mages' barrage dissipated before it could reach him.
Watching Gias, Leo closed his eyes.
"B-Black Rabbit! I'll help too..."
"-"
"Eeeek?!"
Ar's eyes widened as she stared at Leo, who stood atop the castle wall.
Runic words had begun to flow from Leo's lips.
*Fwoooooosh-!*
Pale silver mana billowed from Leo's body, causing his clothes to flutter.
"M-magic in this situation?"
And it wasn't just any magic.
It was clearly a grand spell that required a long time to complete.
Ar wore a bewildered expression.
Gias, too, stared wide-eyed at Leo.
The sight of the surging pale silver mana reminded him of someone.
'Luna Rubinance!'
The witch who beckoned destruction.
The symbol of terror who had dealt Tartaros an impossible defeat time and time again.
Gias knew all too well what awaited at the end of that spell.
A nightmarish scene came to mind.
'The End.'
"Grwoooooooooooh!"
The terrifying killing intent and fighting spirit Gias emitted focused on Leo.
"----."
But Leo paid it no mind, continuing his incantation.
Even with the same spell, the longer a mage's chant, the more its power is amplified.
Gias was nearly upon the section of the wall where Leo stood.
Ar, who had been fidgeting anxiously, gritted her teeth and kicked off the wall.
Leo's chant showed no signs of stopping.
Ar knew it too.
A chant of this short duration wasn't enough to defeat Gias.
Yet, for him to have started chanting meant he was confident he could win once the spell was complete.
If that was the case...
'I'll buy you time!'
With a resolute expression, a golden aura erupted from Ar's body.
"Haaaaah!"
She yelled, charging at Gias.
"How pathetic."
A sneer formed on Gias's lips as he watched her.
No matter how strong she was, she was still a greenhorn who smelled of milk.
Perhaps in the future, it might be different.
But right now, the most Ar could do against Gias was buy a fleeting moment.
For an instant, Gias's eyes met Ar's.
And he felt a shiver.
For a split second, he saw a glimpse of Ar-on in her.
Overwhelmed by the killing intent and fighting spirit Ar was emitting, Gias faltered.
"This wench!"
But Gias, enraged by the fact that he had been momentarily overwhelmed, quickly raised his sword.
Ar clenched her fist as she watched him.
Just before Ar's fist and Gias's sword were about to collide.
*Fwoooosh-!*
A golden flame shot down from the sky like a meteor.
"Wha-?"
Dweno, who had flown toward Gias at incredible speed, grabbed Ar by the scruff of her neck and tossed her backward.
He then swung the battle hammer in his hand toward Gias's sword.
-!
For a moment, a silent shockwave erupted.
*CRUMMMMMBLE-!*
A shockwave similar to the one from Leo and Gias's earlier clash swept through the area.
"Hmph?!"
Gias's eyes flew open.
*Thud! Thud!*
Taking two steps back, Gias roared, "Graaaaaaah!"
*Whoosh-!*
Dweno was sent flying toward the castle wall.
*CRASH-! CRUMBLE-!*
Like a cannonball, Dweno's body slammed into the wall.
The section of the wall where Dweno had crashed collapsed.
"Aaaaaah!"
Ar, who was below that section, screamed.
"Khuhuhu. Even if he is Dweno, he's just a version from the past."
Just as Ar, who had barely managed to crawl out of the wall's debris, gritted her teeth.
*Crack! Thud! Rummble! Thump-!*
Dweno, having finally broken through the rubble that had buried him, dusted himself off.
"A-Are you okay, Lord Dweno! Are you hurt... Ouch ouch ouch ouch! That hurts!"
"Honestly! Your personalities are complete opposites, so why do you act the same! Rushing out so recklessly just because things went south! You almost got yourself killed! Good grief! There's a limit to how similar you can be!"
"Ehehehe. I guess I do take after Lord Ar-on a bit..."
"That was not a compliment!"
"Aaaack!"
Ar screamed as Dweno twisted her ear.
"If you pull another stunt like that, I'll fold you in half backward!"
"Y-Yes, sir!"
Ar hunched her shoulders and replied hastily.
"Hoo... fine. It's my own damn fault for being an idiot, I suppose."
Letting out a deep sigh, Dweno handed Brave to Ar.
"Take it."
With a trembling hand, Ar accepted Brave.
She then drew the sword.
Seeing the blade, Ar's jaw dropped.
"This is... Brave!"
"That's right. It's Brave."
The sword that symbolized the Brave Hero.
"It's my third masterpiece. It will likely never break again."
Dweno spoke with conviction and stepped forward.
*Thump- Thump-*
Shouldering his battle hammer, Dweno walked toward Gias.
Ar clutched the sword and followed behind him.
"Huhuhu... Have you come here to die, Dweno?"
"No. I've come to kill you, Gias."
The corners of Dweno's mouth curled up.
"Looks like you reattached your head just fine."
"You... you have your memories?"
"Oh, I do indeed. I have all my memories, right up to the moment of my death."
At Dweno's words, Gias's face hardened.
But a moment later.
Returning to his original expression, Gias's lips curled into a smile.
"It seems you only have your memories."
Dweno's power was not at the level of his prime.
He had the memories and experience, but the world had manifested a time from the past.
Therefore, his power itself could not return to its complete state.
"Then this will be easy."
"Huhuhu. Mwahahahahahaha!"
At Gias's words, Dweno burst into loud laughter.
"What's so funny?"
"You must be afraid of me, Gias."
"What nonsense is that?"
"It seems you're so focused on me that you haven't grasped the situation at all."
"What?"
At Dweno's words, Gias hastily surveyed his surroundings.
And his face stiffened.
Earlier, when he had clashed with Leo, the entire area had been devastated by a single blow.
His clash with Dweno just now had been a collision of similar power.
But the only thing damaged was the castle wall that Dweno had crashed into and destroyed.
Even so, the place where Leo stood remained intact.
And even now, Leo had not stopped his incantation.
He had perfectly fulfilled the role of a vanguard protecting a mage.
"It's true that compared to my power in my prime, I'm significantly weaker now."
Dweno's cold gaze turned to Gias.
"However. I can certainly buy enough time for that friend over there to kill you."
"Don't make me laugh!"
Gias roared and charged.
Dweno gripped his battle hammer and charged toward Gias.
*CLANG-!*
Dweno's battle hammer and Gias's sword clashed.
*CRACKLE! CRUMBLE-!*
"What do you think, Dweno! Of the sword I created!"
The veins on Gias's arm, which held the sword, bulged.
"Hmph!"
For a moment, Dweno lost his balance and staggered.
Gritting his teeth, he swung his battle hammer upward, deflecting Gias's sword.
"Hahaha! Your weapon is indeed sturdy! But!"
*FWOOSH-!*
Gias's massive sword swung down on Dweno again like a guillotine.
*CRAAANG-!*
"That's all it is! I have honed my skills for the last five thousand years! And after visiting your world last time, I achieved a level that surpasses you! And the sword I made with the finest materials is this very blade!"
*Thud-!*
One of Dweno's knees buckled.
"Your weapon! And you! It's over!"
"Impressive."
"Hahahahahaha!"
"How on earth did you manage to improve so little in five thousand years?"
"What?"
"It's an astonishingly crude piece of work. A waste of material."
A sneer appeared on Dweno's face.
"You bastard...!"
"Take a good look at your weapon."
"What are you..."
Gias's face, which had been contorting in rage, stiffened.
The spot where his sword had clashed with Dweno's battle hammer was chipped.
'As expected of Kyle.'
Dweno glanced back at Leo behind him.
He must have focused his impacts on one part of the sword during his fight with Gias.
Of course, this was a sword made from Gias's own spine.
On top of that, it was a sword into which Gias had poured all his skill.
In this world, there would have been nothing harder than Gias's sword, save for one exception.
Just one.
'Posteritas.'
The smithing techniques Gias knew of were from before Dweno had created Posteritas.
And.
The moment Dweno, as a smith, created his own masterpiece.
His skills had advanced to another level.
In the end, despite pouring five thousand years of effort into it, Gias's ability could not reach Dweno's.
As a result.
There were now three weapons more durable than Gias's sword.
Posteritas.
Brave, which Dweno had reforged.
And...
Dweno tightened his grip on the battle hammer in his hands.
"Hmph!"
He pushed Gias back with all his might.
"Haaaaaaaaah!"
*CLANG-!*
Dweno's second masterpiece struck Gias's sword.
It was the final blow to the damage already inflicted by Posteritas.
*Craaack-!*
"Impossible...!"
"You went through a lot of trouble for nothing these past five thousand years."
"You son of a biiiiiiiitch!"
*Shatter-!*
Gias's sword broke, sending fragments flying everywhere.
"But the fact that you will be defeated remains unchaaaaanged!"
Gias's giant hand came down on Dweno.
*SLAM-!*
"The End of a surviving hero cannot defeat the me of now!"
The chant had already stopped.
Leo's mana had reached its peak, meaning the spell was complete.
Seeing this, Gias realized.
Leo was not Luna.
Therefore, that spell was not Luna's The End.
It held insufficient power to defeat him.
A look of elation appeared on Gias's face.
He had been afraid for nothing.
"In the end, victory is mine!"
The moment Gias was certain.
"-"
Leo's chant began anew.
The moment he had finished the incantation for The End using Luna's mana.
Leo was certain that his version of The End could not defeat Gias.
He had seen through combat that Gias, blessed with Authority and the protection of Erebos, possessed the ultimate defense.
His destructive power might be inferior to Jormungandr's, but his defensive capabilities surpassed even the World Serpent's.
But he didn't mind.
He knew from the start that The End alone would not be enough to defeat him.
Leo began to chant again.
In time with the runic words, a gray mana swirled from his body.
The name of the magic was...
'Innocent.'
The spell the Progenitor of the Nebula had given him.
The only magic that could defeat Erebos.
But even this could not defeat Gias.
Innocent was, after all, a spell for defeating Erebos.
The End and Innocence were merely ingredients.
'In a world where all things have met their end, nothing would exist.'
Perhaps that was the scenery Erebos desired most.
A landscape of emptiness.
'But perhaps, because nothing exists, it is the purest state of being.'
Before he met Lisinas and Luna, Ar-on and Dweno.
He had desired nothing and was merely empty.
Thanks to that emptiness, he was able to fill himself with the things his friends had given him.
Wasn't magic a way of expressing one's inner world?
'If so, this might be the image that suits me best.'
Beyond the end.
That pure moment where nothing exists.
'A state where one can become anything.'
The pale silver starlight mana and the gray mana of purity began to fuse.
The absolute power of destruction and the infinitely pure power met, creating a colorless, odorless, absolute void.
Having completed the spell, Leo spoke its name.
A word signifying the moment just before the beginning.
"Zero."