Chapter 311
Chapter 311
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 311
Chapter Title: Enemy of the World (3)
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A dazzling light burst from Heinrich's back.
Paaat—
Like a butterfly emerging from its chrysalis, a pair of wings slowly took shape amid a beautiful halo of light.
Finally, as the completed wings shimmered with radiant glow and fluttered lightly,
the surrounding energies were sucked in all at once, causing the concentration of divine power within his body to surge dramatically once more.
'This is...'
Heinrich's eyes naturally widened a fraction.
But this wasn't the time to get distracted by anything else.
He could examine the additional features later at his leisure.
For now...
He gripped the hilts of the swords in both hands even tighter.
Woooong—
Thick divine power poured out along the brilliantly shining blades of the holy swords.
It burrowed into the target like a toxin, relentlessly destroying everything that resisted it, one by one.
"Cough...!"
Considering the usually warm and gentle nature of divine power, this was violently aggressive.
Yet the energy, responding to its user's will, bit savagely at the conflicting divinity as if to say it had never been gentle.
After all, wars born from differences in faith were commonplace, so there was nothing particularly strange about it.
And the victor of this war was already decided.
"Kuhuhu... This is ridiculous."
The Reverse Heaven Sovereign, with a sword blade buried in his chest, let out a hollow laugh, blood trickling from his mouth.
Unlike the pure white blood flowing from his wings, the blood from his body was still red.
"When exactly did you prepare all this? I never imagined I'd end up like this."
Had he given up?
His face, which had been twisted in rage just moments ago, now settled into calm indifference.
His eyes, suddenly devoid of emotion as if he'd attained enlightenment, stared straight at Heinrich.
'What trick is he trying now?'
Heinrich didn't answer the unspoken question.
He simply twisted the hilt in his hand harder, pouring even more divine power into him.
He could feel the enemy's life force plummeting sharply through the sword tip.
'Still, better to make sure.'
Following that, attacks from the other avatars and holy spells from the Church of the Main God rained down in succession.
"Kahaha! One pair isn't quite enough, huh? If you're giving, toss in the rest too, friend!"
"Mm, feels a bit queasy. Not bad, though."
Harris, with pure white blood and a few feathers smeared on his lips, and Heinz 2nd, who appeared like a ghost, charged in swiftly.
Mixed among the holy lights flying from all directions was a long-range snipe shot from Harris far away.
The attacks poured down mercilessly, as if determined to finish it once and for all.
In the midst of that torrent sweeping the area...
"...No choice."
A small voice escaped the Reverse Heaven Sovereign, audible only to Heinrich up close.
"...!"
And the moment those words ended.
Kiiiiing—
All those attacks.
No, the entire space in the area.
Stopped dead, as if time itself had frozen.
'Time stop?'
Energy clumps frozen in mid-air like a painting, avatars and crowds halted mid-motion with ferocious momentum.
As if a dynamic instant had been perfectly captured in a photograph, everything—even each breath and energy particle—was fixed in place within the embalmed time.
'No, it's not that. This is...'
Heinrich momentarily panicked at the majestic scene that seemed to forcibly halt time, but thanks to his thoughts accelerating rapidly, he quickly grasped the situation.
Right, this wasn't a miracle that stopped the world's time itself.
Impressive. To think you'd follow me this far. It was merely accelerating thought infinitely, lingering in an eternally stretched split-second.
Of course, maintaining such a perfect stasis wasn't possible with mere mental strength.
Hm, because of the divine power linked to this sword? Even so, this is a first... Well, it shouldn't matter at this level. The other avatars were here too, but only Heinrich could properly perceive this split-second.
Perhaps because he'd stabbed the holy sword directly into the enemy's body, maintaining physical contact, as the Reverse Heaven Sovereign said.
This loss is no small thing. How long has it been since I failed before even doing anything? The enemy's will transmitted clearly as their eyes locked.
Fortunately, the enemy couldn't move in this state either; the holy sword remained buried in his chest.
The life force felt through it was still scraping bottom.
No matter the restrictions preventing full power, with things having come this far, I can't deny it. Looks like this world is a bust. Was he making excuses for his defeat?
Heinrich wanted to chide the one-sided rambling as if it were a complaint, but his own will didn't transmit—perhaps because he wasn't used to this yet.
...Time's up. Guess that's it, then. Evidently, the enemy hadn't wasted time idly either.
Right after that final will transmitted, anomalies arose in the frozen world.
'This is...?'
One change amid the halted time.
Its source was the Reverse Heaven Sovereign, his body mangled with a holy sword in his chest.
Sususu—
The life force at the sword tip began slowly replenishing, wounds sealing without a trace.
Like reverse playback, he slipped free of the sword piercing him, and a pristine pair of wings now adorned his back.
'Interfering with time...? So it's not just spatial manipulation from his unique skill?'
A rollback defying time.
But Heinrich quickly noticed it wasn't complete.
'Can't touch the wing Harris tore off or the blood Heinz took. Seems it can't affect parts already outside his control.'
That was a relief, at least.
Having lost his wings, his total power had undeniably diminished.
Considering the energy they'd contained, the enemy's loss was no trifle.
I'll remember you, champion of Outerica. Next time, I won't go down so easily. At that moment, the final message came from the Reverse Heaven Sovereign, reverted to his initial arrival form.
He'd already rewinded out of sight, so Heinrich, unable to turn, could only sense his presence.
'...Frustrating.'
By the time the Reverse Heaven Sovereign's presence fully vanished and movement returned, he was long gone from the holy site.
All that remained: one half-eaten wing from Harris and a bit of blood Heinz had pocketed.
"The heretic vanished! Everyone, stay alert—"
"3rd and 4th squads, activate detection barriers! The rest, defensive formation—!"
Heinrich turned his head to one side, ignoring the church members scanning their surroundings for the suddenly vanished target.
Yeah, he definitely wasn't here.
Not here.
***
The chaotic scenery blurred past as his body's time rewound.
The Reverse Heaven Sovereign entrusted himself to the flow and closed his eyes gently.
'I didn't want to use time's power if I could help it.'
Long ago, severe overload from overuse beyond limits had left it incompletely recovered—even now, elevated to a lesser god's rank, he had to wield it cautiously.
Its effects were weaker than before, the burden heavier...
'No helping it.'
But this time, no other option existed.
Dying there once would massively damage his divinity, plus incur penalties for breaching his contract with the abyssal deity.
'Troubling. Wonder if investing more in this world is wise.'
He'd told the Main God's champion they'd meet again, but objectively, wasting more time here was inefficient.
Clashing before properly adapting to the dimension's environment had botched the start; better to void the contract, abandon this dimension, and move on.
Breaching unilaterally demanded a price, but weighing prophets and other difficulties here, it was worth considering seriously.
'I'd rather not abandon it if possible... Guess I'll observe a bit more before deciding.'
Process aside, success justified some losses.
As he pondered next steps with that resolve...
The rewind finally ended.
The Reverse Heaven Sovereign realized he'd returned to his initial earthly arrival point.
And as he slowly opened his eyes—
Kukuku— Fancy meeting you here again. How delightful. A pair of ghostly flames blazed in a skull, meeting his gaze head-on.
Along with that eerie voice, now so familiar it felt intimate.
"...Hah, damn it..."
A crude curse slipped out unwittingly.
Puwook—!
Cold fingers pierced his weakened body from time control's backlash, seizing his heart.
His limbs were already bound by black thorns and chains sprouting everywhere; he couldn't even twitch, let alone react.
'He read this far ahead?'
Myriad thoughts swirled chaotically.
But that wasn't important now.
Death's power invaded his vulnerable state, spreading through his body in an instant.
The clashing force directly corrupted the accumulated divinity bit by bit.
'Dangerous.'
Urgent alarms blared in his mind.
This differed from before.
It wouldn't end with mere loss of some divinity.
This could unravel his foundational divinity built for godhood...
'No time to observe.'
To minimize damage, only one choice remained.
Endure the loss and withdraw.
"...Contract voided."
He spat the words through gritted teeth, grimacing at the hand crushing his heart.
Right then.
Kuoooo—
A massive flash erupted anew from the northeastern mountains, site of the recent uproar.
***
After the storm passed.
Kuh— Quite the violent one. Anyway, this is... Hans dispelled the flying dust with mana.
Repairing his explosion-damaged body, he tilted his head at the black aura in his hand.
He'd surely gripped the heart, yet what squirmed resistantly in his grasp felt eerily familiar.
'Nothing left besides this...? Thorough bastard.'
Encountering the Reverse Heaven Sovereign was pure coincidence.
After rotating shifts with Heinrich and the others to recover, he'd come to investigate the abyssal rift of the enemy's debut— who could've predicted it'd spit him out right in front?
'Tried to figure out how he crossed before the rift's traces vanished.'
He was startled by the sudden reappearance from the holy site, but no fool to miss a gift horse.
The enemy's unhesitating self-detonation did catch him off-guard, though.
'Somehow, Hans ended up delivering the finishing blow.'
Watching Heinrich handle the holy site aftermath, he refocused on the aura struggling to escape to the rift.
He'd been forcibly holding it back; ignoring it was impossible.
Even the Immortal King risked losing it with a moment's lapse.
'As I thought...'
By now, he naturally knew what it was.
'Linked to the god sealed in the abyss.'
Instinct told him.
This shared origins with his foundational Undying Heart.
Likely granted to the Reverse Heaven Sovereign for some reason.
Imbued with the enemy's aura too—seemingly, he'd stolen a portion alongside the detonation.
This amount... must've hit his accumulated divinity hard.
'Feels like an unexpected gift.'
Living righteously really brought blessings.
He'd braced for no reward, yet here was a bonus for him too!
'Then, right away...'
Holding this dangerous item longer risked trouble; better handle it quickly.
The method was instinctive.
Hans slipped his hand through holes in his tattered robe, stashing it into the subordinate subspace at his heart.
After all, his heart and this shared origins...
Thump—
His dormant heart pounded fiercely.
The aura resisted as if sentient, but the fused abyssal energies could no longer separate.
Only a struggle for dominance remained.
And it ended simpler than expected.
Of course—a robust aura, but no match for pure death's condensation.
Kukuku, the abyss overflows. He couldn't fully sense the changes yet, but intuition said:
This incident had narrowed the gap with the Reverse Heaven Sovereign another step.
'No, he'd fallen further—maybe two steps.'
And right after.
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