Chapter 64 - Baldur vs Celestial

Space, near the Green Planet.

2010.

The celestial paid no heed to my presence and stood facing the green planet for some reason. Its energy was wreaking havoc across the planet; if it continues like this, it won't be long before it collapses.

Celestials are the most powerful race in the universe. If the One Above All created the multiverse, it was the Celestials who shaped it. They roamed the universe, creating various forms of life. Their abilities, such as manipulating cosmic energy, practically make them entities. There are Celestials more powerful than Galactus, and not even Odin with all his might would stand much of a chance against some of them.

Luckily, this celestial is not one of the heavyweights I know. It seems to be siphoning cosmic energy from the planet and feeding off it. Celestials only destroy planets that haven't passed what's called the Celestials' test, and the one tasked with destroying these worlds is called Exitar, a celestial so powerful it can affect reality on a universal scale.

The behavior of the celestial in front of me is strange; it seems to be one of the mad Celestials that don't follow their leader or any logic. But any celestial, even a lesser-known one, is a powerful foe, but it's also an opportunity.

My future self didn't send me to this planet to observe its rich flora; I know the reason now.

(Saving this planet is also a bonus.)

As I was contemplating, the celestial extends its hand toward the planet, and I feel the planet's energy being drained at an alarming rate, increasing the speed at which the planet collapses. I rush towards it as fast as I can, concentrating all my power into my spear, which glows in golden light. When I reach the side of its enormous hand, I spin Sigel and strike, creating a vertical gash in its wrist.

Celestials' armor can easily protect them from nuclear explosions. In stories, Thor attacked one of them with all his might and only managed to destroy a small part of its armor, but my spear has the same enchantment I used to pierce Apocalypse's armor during our fight. My blow manages to pierce its armor, but only by a few centimeters; from the celestial's wound, I see a small drop of its luminescent silver blood.

A minor injury worthy of an insect bite, that's all I achieved. The celestial seems to have thought the same; it shakes its hand in my direction, the same motion anyone makes to swat a fly, but this movement has the force to destroy entire mountains.

The back of its hand hits me, sending me hurtling through space until I collide with one of the moons orbiting the green planet; unfortunately, not much of it remains after my impact.

(I guess there's nothing else I can do but go all out.)

A blow with all my strength only managed a minor scratch on its wrist; a blow from it sent me crashing into a moon and split it in half. If it had used a blast of cosmic energy, I would have been seriously injured. So I begin to prepare.

First, I let the energy of my dimension flow through my body. I always maintain an acceptable level of energy usage during my fights to avoid harming my physical body, but now I exceed the limit. I feel my entire body roaring in pain, then activate my rune to enhance my regeneration, attempting to strike a balance in using this power. While my energy destroys my body, I heal it using my rune. Unfortunately, there is a limit to how much the rune can heal my body, so I cannot use all my energy to fight. If I lose concentration and stop healing myself, my body will be destroyed within seconds due to the amount of energy I'm using.

To conclude, I use my secret weapon, the energy of Gorr that was within my dimension and activated and channeled into the blade of Sigel, tinting it black. The black energy has the same capabilities to harm celestial beings and devour, albeit to a lesser extent than the All-Black, but it will be a great advantage for me.

The golden energy is concentrated around my skin, ready to erupt at any moment. With the preparations complete, I explode, flying towards the celestial. The recoil of the energy behind me was so powerful that it destroyed what was left of the moon of the planet.

When I crossed halfway between us, the celestial seems to have noticed me. He finally turns to me, considering me a threat. He points his hand towards me, and I see that he has a circle in the palm of his hand that fires a huge blast of cosmic energy at me. I twist my body, dodging the energy blast, which hits the center of the planet's second moon. The energy blast pierces the moon, leaving a hole the size of a continent in the center of it.

In less than a second, I am in front of the celestial, heading towards his face. When I'm about to thrust Sigel into his eye, I see them shine, and my instinct tells me to immediately dodge. That's what I do, avoiding being hit by an optic blast. But I don't miss the chance to attack. I spin my spear, cutting his throat completely, and this time he bleeds more than just a drop of blood.

Unfortunately, Sigel is not large enough, or my blow is powerful enough to decapitate him, ending this fight. I doubt he will give me a chance like that again. Proving my thought correct, the celestial begins to shrink to about four hundred meters in height, a great decrease compared to how large he was, making a planet look like a soccer ball.

A giant palm glowing red appears above me at a speed faster than mine. The celestial is manipulating cosmic energy to increase his speed. If it weren't for that, it would be impossible for such a massive being to move so quickly. With no way to escape, I shoot a blast of golden energy from Sigel, which loses only a little power compared to the blast he used to create a hole in the moon. My attack diminishes the power of the enemy's blow, but I am still hit by the palm, throwing me so far away that I don't even know how far.

I think I blacked out for some time, I'm not sure how long. I look around and can see several orphaned planets. These are planets that are not bound by the gravitational force of a star, so they are lost in space. I also can't see any light. This place doesn't have a single star. The damn celestial threw me into another galaxy with a simple slap. A red glow appears in front of me, and when it fades, I see the celestial there. It seems that I somehow caught his attention. If not, he wouldn't bother coming here and could continue feeding on the planet until I return.

The attack begins more fiercely than before, beams of light fired from his two hands and his eyes, all calculated shots, making it practically impossible to dodge them all without damage. Since I am using my regeneration to heal the damage caused by my use of energy from my dimension, I cannot divert attention from it to heal the wounds caused by the celestial. I have to be very careful.

The celestial's attacks are meticulously aimed at me, but he's disregarding all the destruction they're causing. The explosions from the cosmic energy bring light, perhaps for the first time in this corner of the galaxy, as several orphaned planets are destroyed, turning the area into a belt of asteroids around us. I use this to my advantage and finally close in on him.

He tries to crush me with his hands, but I hurl my spear at him, hitting him squarely in the chest and creating a massive explosion that disrupts his attack. Sigel lodges itself deep in the celestial's chest, and as I approach, I grasp it and pull downward with all my might, opening a vertical wound down his trunk.

As I prepare for another attack, I sense cosmic energy swirling around me. Before I know it, the celestial is behind me, and I'm struck by a blast of energy from his eyes. When my consciousness returns, I realize my body is in a terrible state, my back burned raw, and to make matters worse, my runic magic is nearing its limit. The arm holding Sigel is cracking, and through these fissures, golden energy from my dimension threatens to destroy my body. But I've also inflicted significant damage on him. From the wounds on his chest and neck, I can see dark roots of All-Black energy; he's been successfully infected, and his strength is diminishing as we speak, unfortunately not quickly enough.

Behind me, a golden light appears out of nowhere, as if a sun had been created. Shortly after, four swords made of manipulated light, each over two hundred meters wide, point toward the celestial.

(It's been years since I've had this much fun!)

I look at the gigantic light swords I've created and think of something new.

(I can do better than this.)

Then golden flames envelop the blades of the four swords, flames so powerful that if they were a few inches above the ocean, they would cause it to boil and evaporate within seconds.

(This is the first time I've let loose since the battle against the Jotuns!)

(T/N: 👀 I'm pretty sure you where about to die to gorr)

The four swords streak towards the celestial at high speed. He retaliates by firing three blasts of cosmic energy, which strike the first three swords, causing them to explode in a blast so powerful it could even confuse a celestial's sensors long enough for the fourth sword, which lagged behind, to pierce the explosion and strike him head-on.

Unlike the other three, which were merely meant to conceal the true strike, the fourth sword was charged with the maximum energy I could muster. The explosion created by this sword upon hitting the target surpasses the supernova used against Gorr.

When the display of lights subsides, I'm not surprised to see the celestial still alive; his armor appears undamaged. Now, I know the only way to pierce it is by using Sigel. Of course, the attack wasn't in vain; he has a limit to how much cosmic energy he can use, and it's also being consumed by the dark energy. The more energy he expends, the greater my chance of victory.

As if indicating it was his turn, the celestial raises his arm upwards, emitting cosmic energy that spreads through space. Shortly after, above him, I see something that shocks me—a stray planet larger than Earth has been drawn toward him using his energy.

The celestial lowers his hand, and I know what's about to happen. The planet hurtles toward me like a missile; the celestial was using an entire planet as a weapon of war.

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