Chapter 151: Desperate Struggle

I can't stop this smile from creeping up my face.

Was this moment a machination of fate? Was it merely a coincidence?

Either way, the conclusion wouldn't change.

Bzoom-!

Time is a relative thing to higher beings like gods. They work on a different flow of time compared to humans. It is merely a small advantage at first, but for gods who mastered their craft and sat in the highest positions…

Blitz-!

…it becomes a harrowing gap.

A literal sea of lightning flooded my sight. They looked extremely threatening as they are capable of turning mere mortals to dust by stepping within their radius.

The weakest of the bunch contained around one hundred million amperes, with the strongest ones being as high as several billion amperes.

Hum-!

Unfortunately, they didn't have what it takes to cross over "infinity".

Not yet, at least.

I didn't have the time to rest as a huge wave of seawater appeared out of nowhere. It is more than enough to collapse an entire nation at once due to how devastatingly wide it was.

'The third time…'

I decided it was time to unveil one of my biggest trump cards, Black Barrel.

Although I have several moves that could kill a god, it is best left unused as a means of surprise.

If I could shift their thinking to their opponent relying on external means…

'They aren't stupid.'

I thought as [Camelot] activated and blocked the sea wave. As it did so, an ordinary longsword appeared right in my face.

Clang-!

It collided with [Camelot] as it manifested. The sword's edge moved inch-by-inch, showing its potential to bypass the "infinity" from Satoru-san's [Limitless] prior to his [True Infinity].

"You were testing things out."

The man in front of me wore a war helmet. He wielded a round shield and an ordinary-yet-chilling longsword as a proof of his domain over war.

The god of war, Ares.

At this moment, my [Revelation] started working as it started providing me with more information about him.

One thing that stood out was his singular battle against another foreign invader, the one known as the "White Titan". It was the same archenemy who was felled through Excalibur's full potential.

As a result of that battle, Ares died and his personal sword was taken by her, resulting in his current "Divine Spirit" form to lack that blade.

"It's time to sleep a second time."

Tick.

Things came to a standstill. The world turned colorless as a miracle was weaved into existence.

'Miracle: Have the complete control of time within a domain.'

'Purpose: To defeat a mighty foe.'

'Confirmed.'

The gun akin to a Mossin Nagant was already loaded the moment I stepped into this place. An entire magazine's worth of bullets was generated, totalling to nine shots.

Pointing the gun's muzzle towards the god—

Bang-!

—the sound of silence was broken by a loud gunshot.

Thud-!

Ares' body fell to the ground with a huge hole on his forehead.

The relic that could grant the concept of death to long-lived species worked the best to gods who have long lives. It is precisely one of the biggest reasons why Miss Mash was able to defeat three [Machine Gods] through its replica.

Just as I was aiming it at Hera, a trident was thrown straight to my face.

Clang-!

This time, it was able to bypass [Infinity], cruising straight to the "sure-hit" effect of my previous Noble Phantasm.

Bzzt-!

Seeing its failure, the trident flew away.

"Detorquere veritas." (Distort the truth.)

A small space crack, enough to fit the trident in, popped up in its trajectory of return. The distorting force made it unable to return to Poseidon's reach as it was redirected into a special space that I created.

Inspired by the Prison Realm and this world's Imaginary Number Space, it is a place similar to Gluttony's stomach. Once something goes in, it could never get out. Its boundaries are as infinite as it could get.

Paired with [Probability Distortion], it is the best place to seal troublesome things.

"..?!"

Suddenly, another god blitzed past me. His speed was enough to know who it was.

In his hand lies the treasure that they seek—the longsword engraved with Lapis Judaicus.

Seeing this made me feel complex feelings because…

Just like how dreams are made, they could disappear instantly. It could also become a little bit explosive, just like what Archer did with his projected Noble Phantasms.

In the end, one of my contingencies became real at this moment.

'A nigh-infinite amount of energy… I hope everyone's ready for it.'

BOOM-!

*****

A world-ending explosion.

That was how it felt to the denizens of the Reverse Side. A huge "explosion" consisting of nigh-limitless energy occurred. Be it the space or time, they felt their surroundings fluctuate to a large degree.

Everything turned into a mess. It became a free-for-all for these immortal beings to look for the source and reason behind this disturbance.

"..."

At this moment, one of the twelve Main Gods of Olympus looked at the man in front of her.

"...Thank you."

The goddess' light-blue hair swayed along the wind. Her clear blue pupils processed everything that occurred at this time.

"Your Artemis is surely head-over-heels for you."

"...You could say that." The man awkwardly replied. "Nevertheless, you were planning something dangerous earlier."

Out of the twelve gods, three stood still. One of them was the goddess Artemis of this world.

"I couldn't sit still knowing they targeted you… even if you're not my Orion."

The surroundings cleared up as they spoke. Two other gods remained unharmed during this fiasco.

"...How incredulous."

The god of smithing, Hephaestus, muttered with a disbelieving look.

"How?"

"Well… You can ask her, actually." Nobu replied. "Things happened as it should. That's how it is."

"...I will believe my other selves' vision."

In this world, Hephaestus is the ugliest man in Olympus. His scarred face and body is one thing, his face is also disproportionate in certain areas, making him as ugly as he could be.

It is the reason why he is constantly spurned over due to his looks. It didn't help that Aphrodite, his supposed-to-be wife, cheated on him on numerous occasions.

Nevertheless, his assistance was always sought for by Olympus. It is an ironic situation that highlighted the absurdity of Olympus' ethical doings—and how gods are vastly different compared to mortals' accepted morals.

The final god that was spared from this explosion is none other than Hestia. The goddess of hearths' appearance looked overwhelmingly different compared to the Hestia that Nobu knew from Gekai. She had the same black hair as her, but her mature look is on a whole another level.

Seeing Nobu's look, Hestia already knew what he was about to say.

"There's no need to be concerned. I cannot stand by when such injustice occurs. If it wasn't for his authority, I could've assisted you on the surface." She explained. "Though it seemed like you didn't need such assistance."

"The thought itself is appreciated." He replied. "I didn't expect him to make things easier."

Nobu talked about Hermes and his ability to "steal". Due to his reputation, he received varying abilities. One of them is his ability to steal something from his target, be it a concept or a physical thing.

Instead of attempting to steal something from Nobu's plethora of magicka or his abilities, it was the Lapis Judaicus that he targeted.

As such, the most convenient thing to do is to instantly release a universe's worth of energy.

Their "bodies" were blasted into pieces due to the explosion. No sight of life could be seen on the place of explosion. Only one god remained alive after everything.

'As expected of Zeus...'

The head of the Olympus, Zeus, managed to survive with manifestation of 'death' such as blood and wounds all over his body.

It is the reason why there are specific god-slaying techniques required to "truly" kill a god. Things are still simple when fighting against mortals, but when it comes to higher-order beings, things become more tedious.

Click.

As he reloaded the Black Barrel, the Lapis Judaicus had long reappeared in his left hand as a form of precaution.

Since the day he summoned it with Revelation, its existence became firmly tied to him. No matter how much it disappears, he could recall it through his dreamland. Stealing it from his grasp was a futile attempt in the first place. Nobody could use it except for him.

By the time Nobu came over to Zeus' side, both of his weapons were prepared. Zeus knelt down on the ground, using his divine thunderbolt as a form of clutch.

The God King of Olympus received the strongest brunt of Lapis Judaicus' self-destruction. Even so, he managed to survive as opposed to the other gods who died in an instant.

"How was its power?"

"It would've pushed our plans to success."

Zeus possesses the power of omniscience. He could see through endless amounts of possibilities within this world he was anchored in. It was even more potent during his [Machine God] form that was destroyed during their fight against Sefar.

However, his weakness became clear.

Fighting against foreigners hailing from other worlds and his "true end" having been killed by a foreigner, his Divine Spirit form (that is already weaker compared to his true counterpart) is severely weakened against a foreigner like Nobu.

"You should be more polite when greeting strangers. The Zeus of my world is much more refined than you." Nobu replied to him with a straight face. "Until next time, God King of Olympus."

Bang-!

A desperate struggle was ceased with a gunshot.

*****

My hands are slightly shaking. Chills are going through all over my body as the hollow feeling becomes more dominant. While the replica of [Ein Sof]'s destruction didn't require impossible amounts of energy, it still placed a great burden on my dream organs.

It is even worse than that time with Goetia. I wanted to try something new out, in which case it worked wonders.

Every time I enter a new iteration, the anchor formed by [Ein Sof] disappears along with the holy grail. It made it so that I couldn't resummon [Ein Sof] the moment it gets self-destructed.

I have only manifested a fraction of its full power at self-destruction, yet it was enough to obliterate the surrounding space within this Reverse Side. The moment I felt something was wrong in the anchor that holds the Reverse Side, Rhongomyniad, I stopped it.

Nevertheless, it was enough to wipe out a team of Divine Spirits (formerly Machine Gods).

While I was musing, the voice of the young girl from earlier returned.

"Those rude people..! Interrupting when I was saying something—!"

"Calm down. I dealt with everything."

"Oh… Uh… You did."

She muttered as she looked around the "corpses" of the gods.

"As expected…"

She cut off her remaining words, keeping it to herself on what it was.

"You were about to tell me something earlier. Is it related to your wish?"

"Yes!"

Despite the fact that this "strange" girl appeared out of nowhere, I saw my shadow on her. I was lucky enough to be set in the right path. If I became someone nefarious along with my inability to feel emotions…

Somehow, that possibility became evident to this girl. No matter her identity, I could see that she hasn't done evil things—my senses and Revelation would've known it.

"Actually—"

Unfortunately, the wrong timing hit it off again. This time, it was me who suddenly got transported away. The voices of everyone were cut off as silence greeted me once again.

It wasn't until the light died down that I could clearly see the presence I felt. It was a seraphim with six pairs of white-feathered wings. He kept an outward appearance as opposed to his "true form" that my eyes saw the moment we made contact.

His appearance kept changing for every moment I blinked. It seemed like he didn't have any fixed appearance as he kept on donning several forms at once.

In the end, I fixed my perception to see him as a man with long blonde hair. It is one of his appearances found in religious paintings and interpretations.

"It has been quite a long time… Sir Michael."

I deliberated for a moment before deciding to address him the same way as the angels of my world.

"You look far better than before."

The right hand of the Abrahamic God.

Heaven's Greatest General.

He is none other than the Seraphim Michael.

"He is waiting. Shall we?"