Translator: Alpha0210
The sixty-ninth lords were, of course, powerful. Residue could not overwhelm them. There were many reasons for this...
His overall condition was in such a terrible state that even calling it complete ss would be an understatent. His mind and body were intricately connected, and his tattered mind negatively affected his body. Consequently, his deteriorated body gnawed away at his mind once again.
This horrific, inescapable cycle of decline was weakening Residue at this very mont.
The cause of his defeat was not solely his own doing.
The lords, who appeared to be mocking Residue.
Their sneers were not entirely false, but at the very least, they were not being careless. They had not been from the beginning, nor were they now.
They acknowledged Residue as an undeniable superior being and, after devising systematic tactics and strategies, launched a relentless assault. Anyone familiar with the nature of absolute beings would find this scene unbelievable. The lords were pressing Residue with an unprecedented level of caution and persistence.
Proud absolute beings would not even coordinate to this extent in the face of a universal catastrophe. The higher their rank, the more this held true.
While they were not as extre as the Rulers, who completely rejected the concept of cooperation, the lords below them still harbored infinite confidence in their own strength.
Smack!
Residue's face was sent soaring toward the sky. He saw a spray of blood and fragnts of teeth scattering into the air.
His jawbone might have been broken.
There was no ti to count the shattered pieces of his teeth, as the beating resud once more.
Swoosh-
The rain was ice-cold.
It was proof that his body temperature had dropped drastically, a warning that there was truly little blood left in his system. Because of this, Residue forcibly swallowed the rising blood once again.
The stench of blood.
And perhaps because stomach acid had mixed in, he felt a bitter and astringent taste in his throat.
“Enough.”
At that mont, Sytra quietly put an end to the violence. Leaving the panting Residue alone for a mont, she first glanced around at the faces of the lords standing nearby.
Their faces were flushed with excitent. Their expressions, betraying an uncharacteristic giddiness, were unbefitting of their long-lived dignity.
It was understandable.
Fundantally, the emotions of absolute beings were like vast lakes, unaffected by re pebbles tossed into them.
But now, a massive boulder had been thrown in.
It was ‘the right to unilaterally beat down a forr Ruler’.
The lords, swept up in primal emotions, realized anew just how satisfying violence could be.
Sytra looked down at Residue’s face once again.
He was not soone whose spirit could be broken by re violence or torture. The beating just now had been for their own sake.
So what should they do next?
How could they drag this forr Ruler’s mind even deeper into the abyss?
“What you just said is not wrong.”
“……”
“We have yet to surpass the Rulers. Of course, that’s only natural. We were subordinate to them for so long that we forgot ourselves. The fear imprinted in our instincts cannot be easily overco… That is why we still maintain a cautious attitude toward you. However.”
Without warning, Sytra kicked Residue. His solar plexus caved in. Residue spat out yet another mouthful of blood, for who knew how many tis.
“A being derived from them. No matter how weak you have beco, you are still a fragnt of a Ruler. The re act of driving such a being into a corner is aningful in itself.”
Sytra smiled brightly.
“If we kill you, our potential will multiply.”
Residue coughed violently and spoke.
“You plan to overthrow the existing Rulers and take their place?”
“Well, that is still undecided. Becoming a Ruler is not the only path. As you said, we can seize the existing positions or create new ones… Both are viable thods.”
“I’ll acknowledge that you have evolved. But the approach you are taking has a fundantal flaw.”
“I can guess what you are going to say. And of course, we are aware of it as well.”
Sytra spoke in a slightly lower voice.
“No matter what we do, not all of us can beco Rulers. The number of seats at the top of the universe is extrely limited…”
“And knowing that, you still band together?”
“Does it look like we are rely banding together? Do you not yet understand, O once-great being? We have co to a true understanding of cooperation.”
Residue looked up at Sytra with his cloudy eyes.
He muttered as if the words were passing by, just like the falling rain.
"It's not cooperation, but fusion."
"……!"
"Sytra, you've used an unification thod based on your sense-sharing. Did you reference the circumstances under which the 'Dragon' ca to be?"
This ti, Sytra was truly shocked.
The thod Residue ntioned was the lords’ hidden trump card, their final resort. Naturally, it was kept strictly confidential, never to be leaked beyond their group, not even by the slimst chance.
In other words, Residue had deduced the truth purely through conjecture.
"It doesn't seem like an effective thod. The beings that ford the foundation of the Dragon had a clear unity and a shared goal. Moreover, they had an interdiary, Doom Dragon, a being so powerful it was once called a universal catastrophe."
"We lack an interdiary, but our will is just as strong."
"Do you truly believe that? While your desires may be pure, your colors are different."
"…What do you an?"
"It ans you can never truly rge."
Swoosh-
Sytra's expression hardened. Raindrops trickled down her jawline and dripped from her chin.
She knew what kind of being Residue was.
Although he had grown weak, the analytical skill, judgnt, and foresight he possessed as the Lightning God had not disappeared.
That was why she found it so difficult to accept.
Sytra had never intended to keep the concept of fusion a secret from him until the very end. She had planned to bring it up when the conversation ripened, expecting to see his face twist in shock or disbelief.
But the opposite had happened.
Residue had instantly seen through their thods, and rather than showing admiration, he had only responded with bitter words.
"The Twelve Void Lords."
Because of that, she ended up revealing sothing she had no intention of sharing.
"We've co to know about beings called by that na. They are indeed powerful. Do you know? The [Giant] said that the reason the Void Lords are so strong is because 'the power of the absolute beings in the Three Thousand Worlds is concentrated into those twelve individuals.'"
"……."
"He added that it was just a guess, but I thought it made sense. The Void World is like the mirror opposite of the Three Thousand Worlds. It wouldn't be strange if not only the 'total existence' but also the 'total power' were identical."
If that were the case, then the existence of the Four Knights might have been an inevitable consequence under similar circumstances.
"And so."
"What if we killed one of the Void Lords?"
Residue fell silent.
Interpreting that silence in her own way, Sytra smiled again.
"Let make this clear, it was a direct confrontation. And yet, we won. Against a being so powerful that even the strongest Lord couldn't guarantee victory. Simply put, we have already transcended our previous limitations once."
"……."
"The first ti is always the hardest. Now that we know how to break through our limits, we can do it a second ti, a third ti. We will continue to evolve, and one day, we will beco Rulers."
Sytra reached out her hand.
"After we kill you, we plan to target the [Seven Fanged Dragon God]. Unlike you, who has completely fallen, he will be a far more difficult opponent. That trial will push us to evolve once more. …Ah. I almost forgot."
Her extended hand fumbled through Residue’s chest area.
"Co to think of it, you had sothing interesting. That mask that blocked my attack, it didn’t seem like an ordinary object…"
Residue twisted his body.
Seeing his reaction, Sytra laughed again.
"Do you not want to lose it? I see. That ans it's sothing precious to you. Now I’m even more intrigued."
Clink. Sytra’s hand grasped the shape of the mask. As she pulled it out, sothing else got caught and ca out with it.
Thud.
The item fell into the muddy water, glowing a vivid red.
"…Ah."
Residue unknowingly let out a sound.
Sytra picked up the necklace.
"And what is this?"
"…Don't touch it."
He didn’t even know why he had said that.
For a brief mont, the faces of Yong and Beniang flashed in his mind, bringing an indescribable emotion.
More than losing the Beginning Wizard's mask, it was the necklace that unsettled him.
Smack.
Residue's head snapped to the side. His cheek was struck hard, splitting his lip.
"Do not give orders. Do you still think you have the right to do so?"
"……."
"Now answer . What is this? It looks like a necklace… Hmm. It seems to have the sa properties as this mask."
"……."
"If you refuse to answer, that’s fine as well. I’ll take it and analyze it myself."
Sytra looked down at Residue.
This was the final mont. She took a few steps back and then spoke.
"Sera, finish him."
Sera nodded and drew her sword.
She looked down at Residue, her expression a mix of excitent and tension. She even felt gratitude toward her longti friend, Sytra, for entrusting her with the final blow to this 'once-great being'.
Crunch-
And then, Sera was crushed.
"……."
It wasn’t an illusion.
Sytra blinked.
She couldn't comprehend what had just happened. She couldn’t even think to wipe off the blood that had splattered onto her face.
It was a mass with a strange, shimring hue, like countless layers of transparent glass stacked upon each other. A slick, unpleasant mucus oozed over its surface.
Where had it co from? The sky?
"It's coming again…!"
The mont soone scread in panic, more masses began to fall from above. This ti, not just one, but many.
Only then did Sytra realize, they had the shape of enormous, thick tentacles.
"What is this?!"
"It's [Destruction]!"
"Attacks aren’t working! Sytra, what do we do?"
Panic spread among the absolute beings. They were not ones to easily lose their composure, but encountering Destruction was a different matter entirely.
Destruction had the power to invoke dread in all existence.
"Sytra!"
Should we fight?
But sothing was strange about these tentacles.
A Destruction entity capable of crushing a Lord in a single strike, she had never heard of such a thing. Moreover, she could sense that, even now, the lords who had been linked through shared perception were vanishing one by one.
'Ugh.'
Having reached a decision, Sytra bit her lip.
"We retreat. Maintain formation and fall back. Transform into transcendent forms and withdraw…."
The Lords followed Sytra's command without hesitation. They moved in perfect unison, showing not the slightest sha in choosing to flee.
"……."
Residue watched the entire scene unfold. He was just as shocked. With his mouth slightly open in a daze, he stared at the tentacle that had crushed a Lord.
It was a tentacle that extended from sowhere far away. Unlike what Sytra and the other Lords had initially assud, it had not fallen from the sky. Its roots were connected to the city center.
…And Residue recognized its appearance.
The Destruction that heralded the end.
If Frey was the Destruction that marked the beginning, then this was the one that signified the end.
Lastfall.
Gurgle, gurgle.
The ominous aura emanating from the tentacle was so overwhelming that even Residue couldn't grasp its depths.
It looked at him.
It was nothing more than a single tentacle, without eyes, without a nose, yet Residue felt as if their gazes had t.
Swish…
And then, it left.
It had devoured eight absolute beings, yet it did not so much as graze Residue before vanishing.
Swoosh-
The rain poured down once again.
Residue lay subrged in the muddy water for a long while before muttering in a low voice.
"…Luca."
He turned his gaze toward the direction the tentacle had extended from.
UMC.
The place where the ruler of this city resided.
Thump-
His heart began to pound violently.
Thump, thump-
Even after coughing up enough blood to be on the brink of death, his body, cold and lifeless, was now beginning to radiate heat.
Thump, thump, thump-
-Sothing,
was about to change.
*
"Huff, huff…"
Having retreated from the area, Sytra gasped for breath.
She had been serving as the interdiary that connected the senses of all the absolute beings. Normally, this power was invaluable for grasping the battlefield situation and directing forces, but in this case, only its drawbacks had surfaced.
The fear and terror felt by the absolute beings had overlapped and surged into Sytra all at once.
Her shoulders trembled violently. Grasping both of them tightly, she took a long mont to calm herself.
It’s fine.
She had experienced fear far greater than this before.
She could overco it. She could overco it…
…After a while, having finally regained her composure, she looked around. The other Lords, like her, seed to have regained their calm, appearing more stable than they had a mont ago.
"This city reeks of danger. It’d be best if we left as soon as possible."
One of the Lords murmured in a heavy voice.
Sytra let out a sigh.
"We haven't yet accomplished our objective."
"Haven’t we at least achieved the minimum goal?"
"…That’s true, but…"
The fact that she hadn’t been able to finish him with her own hands left a bitter taste in her mouth.
What should she do? Should she consult her father, Retip?
But her father had always viewed her plan negatively. That was why he had chosen not to participate in the hunt.
"That necklace… It feels ominous. Why not just get rid of it?"
One of her fellow Lords spoke up.
"Necklace? Ah."
Only then did Sytra realize she was still holding the necklace in her hand. It had cracked, perhaps from hitting sothing while they were fleeing.
She agreed it felt unsettling, but she wasn’t sure if discarding it was the right decision.
As she hesitated, she unconsciously tightened her grip around the necklace.
Flash-
The necklace emitted a sudden glow, and a faint light seeped through the cracks. At the sa ti, she felt a subtle vibration, almost imperceptible.
…What kind of chanism is this? Sytra couldn't understand the source of the glow.
Focusing her attention on the gem inside the necklace, she saw faint beams of light shooting out, pointing in various directions.
She lifted her head and scanned her surroundings.
Aside from her fellow Lords, no one else was present.
Then… was this a tool designed to detect the presence of absolute beings?
"…This is a necklace that the forr ruler had treasured dearly. It must have so purpose. I'll hold onto it for now."
It was then that Sytra suddenly realized sothing.
The atmosphere had grown eerily silent.
The lords around her had all fallen silent, standing expressionless as they stared at her.
"What is it?"
"……."
"Do you have sothing to say?"
"……."
Sytra glanced around, her lips parting slightly.
A brief mont of confusion flickered in her eyes.
"Wait, wait a mont. You… ‘Cursed’."
She called out the na of one of the Lords.
"Why are you here? Weren't you… annihilated during the battle just now…?"
The Lord known as ‘Cursed’, the one who governed curses, had perished in the fight against Residue.
Sytra had witnessed the exact mont of his annihilation, yet sohow, he was now standing among the lords, completely unhard.
Cursed tilted his head.
"Was I?"
"What?"
"Wa-was I-I?"
"What…?"
"W-w-wa-was I-I-I-I?"
Sytra took a stiff step backward.
And then-
Thud.
She bumped into soone.
Turning around with a face twisted in fear, she saw Sera standing there.
Sera, who had been crushed by the tentacle, annihilated without leaving a trace, was standing before her, perfectly intact.
"You all… don’t tell …"
And then, Sera grinned.
"Heehee."
"…Ah."
Sytra closed her eyes.
"The Ruler-"
Crunch-
*****
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