Chapter 424: Finale, and Another End.
"Human upstarts! You dare lecture me, a god who has lived through countless millennia!? Insolent! Uncouth! Receive judgmenttttt!"
Even as my [Gladius] was penetrating his body, the roaring evil god let out thousands of lightning strikes. Each one had a huge amount of force behind it, and the slower models, Suu's Ortlinde Overlord and Leen's Grimgerde received the rain of lightning directly.
"Are you two alright!?"
"I'm fine-ja. However, the barrier wall was cut down by about 40%-no."
"It's about the same on my end. We can take at most another one of that thing."
The barrier walls that are installed on Reginleiv and the Valkyrias will automatically defend against attacks. However, it's not impregnable by any means; if an attack with strength exceeding its limit hits it, it would be broken through, and it would also disappear if it's hit enough times.
Those barrier walls were made by pouring quite a bit of magic power into them; that proves the power the evil god's lighting strikes just now carried.
Those lightnings are too fast for [Teleport], too. Except for Sakura, everyone else who's still unused to transfer magic would probably have difficulty dodging them.
"Petty tricks! Then how about this!?"
Laser beams were fired out from each finger on the evil god's six arms. Thirty streaks of light assaulted us from all directions.
"Guh!"
"Kyaa!"
"Mumu!"
Hilda, Linze, and Yae were hit directly by the lasers. While their barrier walls didn't break, they were blown back by the force, and their balances were broken. And like that, they would eat another laser and be blown away again. Not good! At that rate, their barriers won't last long!
"Stardust Shell!"
Suu's Ortlinde Overlord stood in front of everyone else; from its outstretched left hand, several star-shaped lights were produced.
Those lights turned into a protective barrier, and blocked the lasers for everyone else.
And, the moment the lasers stopped shooting, Ortlinde Overlord shot out its right arm from the elbow down at high speed.
"Cannon Knuckle Spiral!"
The rocket punch that turned into a golden arrow splendidly struck the evil god's throat, and although it was only to a slight degree, a part of the armor near that spot was broken. The right arm then returned back to Ortlinde.
"How's that-ja!"
"How dare you…! That brat over there can still be tolerated, but you, you mere humans managed to injure me who is a god…! Unacceptable…! Unacceptable! Like hell I can accept thissssss!"
The evil god released rainbow-colored divinity from his whole body, and together with that roar, unleashed lightning strikes in all directions.
"You're no longer a god, you know. You're an evil god who's born here in this world. You're below a proper god, just a demigod now."
"Shut upppppppppp!"
The six palms of the evil god began to glow red, blue, green, brown, yellow and black respectively. Those lights are…!
"Attribute magics are coming! Be careful!"
Leen's voice reached my cockpit. The next instant, a super-sized fireball from the palm glowing red, a freezing blizzard from the palm glowing blue, a fierce tornado from the palm glowing green, innumerable rock pellets from the palm glowing brown, a huge laser from the palm glowing yellow, and black smoke that took the shape of countless evil ghosts from the palm glowing blacked assaulted us all.
Everyone first took large motions to dodge the laser that reached us first. We then defended against the fireball, blizzard, tornado and rocks with [Shield] and [Reflection], and lastly, used [Teleport] to get away from the black smoke which is likely a kind of curse similar to [Energy Drain].
The laser blew away a mountain far behind us, the scattered fireball burned the ground, and the blizzard froze the air.
The textbook definition of environmental destruction. Well, since he's an evil god, it's natural for him to be destroying the world, I guess.
"I am a god! An immortal and supreme deity! The only god of this world, and one who rules over all! That is why you all should kneel! That is your natural form!"
"I'm really getting tired of this… Don't make me say it so many times. You're not a god, and there's no reason for us to kneel before you. In the end, you're just a pathetic guy spewing delusions left and right."
Well, it's no use talking to this guy anyway. Words no longer reach him anymore. I'm even starting to pity the guy a little.
He can't recognize the fact that he wasn't recognized. He himself is right. Everyone else is wrong. Those who can't understand the way he thinks are incompetent. It's clear as day that his thought process is currently like that.
It's like a child's tantrum. Did he learn nothing from living for thousands of years as a subordinate god? Just how much of those years did he waste away…
"You're quite the sad existence, aren't you."
"Hold your tongue! You insolent fool who defies god!"
"… You, I guess you can't notice it yourself, but you're currently receiving the full influence of a whole bunch of negative human emotions, you know? Rage, hate, jealousy; you're just going hysterical driven by those emotions."
"I am the same as… A human…? Don't you kid with meeeeee!"
Several dozen thorns were fired from the evil god's tail into the sky. Those thorns then exploded, and smaller thorns, which were probably packed inside the larger ones, rained down upon us.
It's the same thing as that cluster bomb used by advanced-classes…!
"[Prison]!"
I casted barrier magic. If it was before, the [Prison] would've been broken due to the evil god's divinity, but now, with platinum divinity clad around it, it doesn't even budge in front of the rain of thorns.
Everyone else also protected themselves using defensive magic. However, at that time, the evil god suddenly swung all six of his arms upwards.
That instant, a huge amount of golden powder blew out of the thorns that have struck the ground, and assaulted everyone else except me who was protected by a [Prison].
"This is…!"
"What is this!?"
"Nu, kuh! Strength is… Leaving my body…!"
Everyone's frames, which were all painted over by the golden powders, lost their balances and fell to the ground. At the same time, I also began feeling dizzy and nauseous. This is…!
"Kuhahahahaha! Painful, isn't it! That was all the [Godslaying Poison] I had left inside my body! First I'll grant your dependants a slow and torturous death. After that, you brat that dared to defy god, I'll—"
"Shut up…"
Godslaying Poison? You'll kill Yumina and the others…? Some kid-like idiot god who couldn't become a proper god came down on earth and threw a tantrum because of that, and in the end, he would take my precious ones away just like that?
Like hell something like that can be forgiven. Don't screw around with me. Don't screw around with me!
"Don't screw with me, you bastard…! You damn NEET bastard who made everything to be other's faults and shamelessly vented your stupid anger all over the place…!"
"Damn you…! You still dare to insult—"
The divinity that was flowing out from within me surged up larger and larger, and eventually exploded.
Every single blood vessel in my body felt filled with strength, and I feel like every single pore on my skin was releasing divinity. A platinum light like a roaring blaze enveloped everything. The dizziness and nausea that I had was blown away in an instant.
"Wh, what is with the size of that divinity!?"
"Mode change: Greatsword."
The forty-eight daggers gathered and formed an isosceles triangle-shaped greatsword once again. This is too small. I need a bigger sword to cut that piece of sh*t down.
When I thought that, platinum divinity gathered around the sword and formed an even larger shape.
The divinity solidified, and a huge, beautiful platinum-colored holy sword was created. I can tell; this is a sword made to smite evil, which would be able to bury the evil god for good.
This is… A power that uses divinity to create various things, is it?
It's a strange feeling. The way to use this power came to me as naturally as breathing. It's like it was a part of me from the beginning.
"Im-impossible! [Artifact Creation] in an instant!? That is an upper-ranked god's…!"
"I'll erase your existence from this world."
Reginleiv held up the holy sword with ease, and with a speed exceeding any it had displayed to this point, charged towards the evil god and cut off one of its arms.
"Gugyaaaaaaaa!? Wh, what is this searing pain!?"
The arm that was cut off turned to ash before falling to the ground.
I descended just like that, and cut off the evil god's tail with a vertical swing. Like cutting a radish, the rainbow-colored tail was severed easily.
"Gigyaaaaaaa!? Brat! You bastard, you bastarddddd!"
"You're really noisy, you know. Aren't you the supreme god? Endure something like this with your supreme-ness or something. Or is the god that you spoke of a pitiful existence like yours who keep constantly shouting and crying over nothing?"
"I'll kill youuuuuuuu!!"
The evil god tried to catch Reginleiv with its arms, but there's no way I'll be caught by something like that. On the contrary, I cut off quite a few of his fingers while he was trying.
"Gyoeaaaaaaaa!? Damn you! Damn you! Why!? Why is something like this happening to me, who have worked under the gods for thousands, tens of thousands of years!? Isn't a single world not tolerable compared to that!? Are the gods so narrow-minded as to not even want to give a tiny, insignificant world like this over to me!?"
"It might be tiny and insignificant to you, but to us, it's the only world we'll ever live in. It's because you can't understand that that you never became, and will never become, a god."
He only thinks of a world as a tool to satisfy his own pride. To him, the people working hard to live their lives on that world are nothing but replaceable filler. No one would ever want to revere a god like that.
World God-sama and the others don't interfere with the human realm too much. That's because they believe in those people. Even if they fall down, or head towards a dead end, they would learn from those mistakes and continue striving towards a better world; it's because the gods believe that.
They're nothing like this guy who thought of the people living in the world to be foolish from the start.
He can't even emphasize with the other party. Someone like him doesn't have the barest qualifications to be a god.
I still havn't grasped all the qualifications needed to become a proper god yet as well. However, I'll definitely not become someone like him. For the sake of everyone whom I've met, and helped me so far on this journey.
"[Copy]."
The sword releasing a brilliant platinum light in Reginleiv's hands left its grasp, and became two. They then became four, then eight, until finally, forty-eight giant holy swords floated around Reginleiv like orbiting satellites.
I don't know about a null-attribute magic called [Copy]. I just somehow knew that I can do this. It might be a part of the [Artifact Creation] ability that guy talked about. Well, whatever.
Reginleiv's right arm pointed up straight towards the sky. The tips of the 48 holy swords all pointed towards the evil god.
"Yo, you bastard! What do you plan to do with those!? Stop it! Stop it stop it stop it stop it sto—!!"
"Sorry, can't hear ya. [Claíomh Solais]."
Forty-eight holy greatswords launched themselves towards the evil god like missiles, leaving behind platinum-colored light trails.
Shoulder, chest, arms, legs, abdomen, head; the holy swords mercilessly stabbed into the evil god.
"GugyaooooaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAaaaaaa!!!!"
Raising a piercing death scream, the evil god's body began to crack all over. On top of those, the holy swords continued their attacks, further widening the cracks.
The evil god bent his body backwards largely, possible due to intense pain, and fell over grandly just like that.
The holy swords that are sticking in the evil god's body as he lied on the ground spread-eagled looked almost like grave marks.
"I am, a god… The great, and supreme…"
One of the holy swords broke up into twelve crystal boards, and returned to their positions on Reginleiv's back. At the same time, the other 47 holy swords stuck on the evil god's body disappeared like the morning mist.
Together with that, the evil god's body also began crumbling down, turning into rainbow- colored sand. Those rainbow sands, too, began dissolving and disappearing together with black smoke before long.
Giving that a sidelong glance, I then pointed my hand at everyone's Valkyrias which are still fallen on the ground.
"[Delete]."
The dark golden powder sticking to everyone's frames dissolved like cotton candy. With this, the Godslaying Poison should be eliminated too.
"Is everyone alright?"
"Ee… There's still a bit of powerlessness, but I should be fine… Sorry, in the end, we relied on Touya-san for everything…"
"It's fine. To begin with, this was something like my promotion test, anyway."
Yumina's Brunnhilde began slowly standing up. Following that, everyone else also stood up gradually. It seems that none of them suffered any serious injuries.
"Now then, let's start wrapping this up."
In order to contact everyone else, I reached my hand towards the smartphone placed on Reginleiv's console, and touched the "Contact" icon.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Impossible…! The god was defeated…? Just what is that human called Mochizuki Touya!? Inconceivable! Like this, isn't…!?"
Inside the barrier world he made himself, [Niflheim], Yura was standing in a daze.
It's a nightmare. He tried to obtain the power of a god, control it as he wishes, and get his hands on a world for himself. His ambition of one day controlling his birthplace, Phrasia, with that power one day also burst like a bubble.
Where did he make a miscalculation? The god that was born from carefully feeding the cocoon with power, and sacrificing countless humans; it was done in just like that.
Was it just like what Mochizuki Touya had said, and that god was only a lowest-ranked god…? Did he foolish believe that god's words and got overjoyed at obtaining the strongest trump card while wallowing in a misunderstanding? If so, then it's just much too ridiculous. Yura, furious at his stupidity, slammed his fist into a barrier wall.
That fist suddenly lost its color.
"Wh…!?"
The blessing of a god is disappearing from his whole body. Yura's body was painted over by a heavy lead color.
Together with that, [Niflheim] also disappeared while breaking down. It's only natural. It's beyond impossible for someone who doesn't have any divine powers to maintain a world with enough power to imprison a god.
On the images projected in the air, the variants all over the place also began turning lead- colored.
"At this rate, my plan is…! Damn, now that it's come to this, I'll have to somehow make it back to Phrasia, and make the young [Sovereign] into a puppet before planning my return…"
"We won't let you do that."
"Geeh!?"
When he turned around upon hearing a sudden voice, there stood his former superior. Behind her, there are the figures of the two ruler-classes who, although he never saw eye-to-eye with, had travelled with him for a long period of time, and a young man with white hair, wearing a muffler.
"[Sovereign]…! How did you get here…!?"
"A friend from a different world gave me information regarding you."
Mel lightly waved her smartphone towards Yura. If it's dimensional transfer, Ende who's standing behind is also familiar with it. Now that [Niflheim] had broken, it's a simple matter for Ende to search for Yura's position using his divinity.
"Kuh!"
"[Prisma Rose]."
Mel used the vines growing from her right hand to catch Yura, who was trying to escape, and slammed him to the ground just like that.
"Guhah!?"
"You're a persistent man. It's time to pay your dues, Yura."
The words spoken towards him have nothing but coldness in them. Yura recalled the ice-cold ruthlessness that the [Sovereign] before him had shown in the past, and felt shivers run down his spine.
"The fact that I couldn't detect your ambition… That is my sin. Rather, I did not even try to see it, so it's only a matter of course. In the end, that resulted in many worlds being thrown into chaos and destroyed, and it had become a huge matter to this degree. Touya-san had dealt with most of the things himself, but at least, I shall close the curtains on this with my own hands."
While one of her hands continued to restrain Yura, Mel raised her other hand, from which a new crystal vine extended upwards. At its tip, a large machete-like blade glimmered with light.
Yura tried to activate [Supreme Crystal Armament], but his lead-colored body, which had lost both the blessing from a god and the characteristics as a Phrase, did not react. He finally realized that what is waiting for him is a "death without meaning", and shook in fear at that fact.
"Wa, please wait! O [Sovereign]! Please grant me your mercy! Please at least grant me a glorious death in Phrasia according to our traditions…!"
"Just where in you do you think there is glory? It's unsightly to beg, you know. At least crumble beautifully in the end."
"Wait! It's wrong! I'm, I'm not a person who should die here—!"
"[Prisma Guillotine]."
The swung-down blade bisected Yura's neck, and crushed the core that was there to pieces.
Yura's body crumbled into pieces, and began dissolving while raising black smoke.
"Not, like this… I, am…"
The man who had led countless Phrase and drove many worlds into destruction, who wielded that power for the sake of his own ambition.
In the end, that man's life ended in the dark gap between dimensions, not belonging to any world, where no one would remember his name.