[Divine Sacrifice]
Edward watched as countless screams echoed from the Divine Kingdom Projection. Then, something odder appeared. The cracks on the kingdom heal, followed by a strange aura fluctuation.
The kingdom's aura drastically decreased before exponentially rising.
'He sacrificed the souls of his followers to increase his strength?' thought Edward, who realized the screams were the result of all these souls dying.
He did not know the exact number of sacrifices but guessed they should be in the trillions.
'This is the fate of handing your soul to a God.'
Edward felt pity for all these lives lost. However, there was nothing he could do about this situation. Even after defeating Guzznad, he can't do anything about these souls since they've experienced True Death.
However, this experience reinforced his animosity and mistrust of these Gods. When cornered, they will not hesitate to sacrifice the souls of their believers.
[Divine Spell: Song of the Fallen]
Guzznad controlled the grievances of all the people he killed, guiding them to hurt Edward; it was like he placed the blame for these people's deaths on Edward.
However, the latter's reaction was beyond him.
Edward allowed all these grievances, which manifested in the form of black phantoms making horrible grimaces, to enter his body. A special magic circle inside his Soul Dimension swallowed all the grievances, forming a small black cube.
[Karma Crystal]
Edward used Hermione's method. He used all of Guzznad's grievances to condense a karma crystal from all his sins.
[Law Spell: Curse of Hatred]
Guzznad suffered a terrible backlash. The grievances of all the believers he sacrificed returned to attack him. They gnaw at his soul, refusing to let go as if they were maggots.
He reacted swiftly by using his Divine Flame to purify these grievances, keeping his soul as pure as possible. Sadly, this curse was not as easy to deal with as he anticipated.
"You're a Law Magus?" he asked, not hiding the shock in his voice. He sensed the [Curse Authority] from this attack and put two and two together.
"Legendary Arcanist, but yes," replied Edward.
Guzznad gritted his teeth, knowing this battle would be harder than expected. Law Magus uses their Willpower to force the Planar Will to grant them control of any [Authority].
As such, they are usually more powerful than the Gods, who are in a more special relationship with the Planar Will.
Guzznad sighed deeply, thinking about how to delay more time. Using his Death Authority and Divine Flame, he dealt with most of the grievances in his soul.
After all, as a person in charge of death, one of his abilities is to deal with the grievances and unwillingness to die. However, the curse was not a joke, so his soul was filled with holes and injuries.
Unfortunately for him, Edward was no longer playing around; he sensed something was wrong with Guzznad's behavior.
So, he used one of his most powerful spells:
[Law Spell: Purple Destruction Ball]
A large purple ball full of ominous aura appeared before Edward; the thing was as big as a large star. Then, without pause or hesitation, he dropped on the Death God.
Edward's Destruction Rule was already scary, but this attack was also boosted by his Domain. So, when it arrived at its destination, Guzznad's body trembled, showing his fear.
"[Destruction Authority]," he yelled. [Authorities] have levels. After all, you cannot equate the power of time with something like flame. So, among the many authorities, destruction has always been one of the most potent ones.
Shush!
Guzznad's Divine Kingdom Projection did not last a few seconds before being annihilated into nonexistence. Luckily, the thing bought him enough time to teleport away.
'Damn it, how could it be so powerful?' thought Guzznad. He detected cracks that appeared in the genuine Divine Kingdom located in the Outer Realm. Such a thing should not be possible–even if the projection were destroyed.
"Let's see how you run now," sneered Edward before an undetectable fluctuation emanated from his body. Following this, he controlled his Destruction Ball to attack his opponent.
"Space-Time Authority?"
Guzznad's face was ugly as he discovered the surrounding space was blocked by a powerful spell, forcing him to directly counter this terrifying spell.
A ferocious look appeared on his face under the hood. Then, he summoned a small disk that created a shield around. Then, unexpectedly, he survived perfectly intact from the attack.
'Is this the Magus Artifact he used to protect the galaxy?'
Based on the power of that shield, he guessed it must be the work of the Magus Race.
'He's cornered and desperate,' he analyzed. Guzznad was using his last trump card. Many thoughts flashed in his mind as he prepared the best spell for this situation.
[Arcane Spell: Energy Drain]
Immediately, Guzznad felt terrible. His artifact could protect the galaxy from so many Tier 10 Gods for many reasons. The first one was because of its power, but that was not the main one.
This galaxy is considered the birthplace of the Magus Race, so there is a weird power that the artifact can resonate with, allowing it to perform beyond its normal limits.
Secondly, Cronai bent the rules as much as she could, using her power to boost the effect of the artifact, protecting the birthplace of the Magus Race and the home of the Arcane Empire.
Now, Guzznad discovered he had lost the support of these two factions, and he had to rely on the power of the artifact alone. Sadly, his energy reserve was not much.
He did not use all the energy from the crystal he blackmailed from Edward, reserving them for such a possibility. However, with the Energy Draining Spell, his artifact will soon become useless.
The Death God's first instinct was to continue the [Divine Sacrifice]. However, he soon realized his Tier would drop if he lost any more believers. So, he had to change idea.
As a last resort, Guzznad sacrificed his second authority–fear. He had never used this authority since he considered it a lesser rule. However, he also never discarded it in case it became useful later.
Today, that day finally arrived.
His action proved to be the correct one. With enough energy, the flicking shield became bright and strong. The effect of Edward's spell was also reduced, forcing him to use the technique of Spell Layering.
He superimposed many Energy Draining Spells to make the effect more powerful.
A few minutes later, cracks appeared on the shield, but it was still holding on. However, Edward had a bad feeling as Guzznad began to laugh maniacally, shaking the surrounding void.
Then, Morgana appeared before him out of nowhere, murmuring something to him.
"What did you do?" yelled Edward.
"Hahaha, it's too late."
Edward ignored him as he looked in the distance. He activated his Space-Time Rule, showing him something beyond the Mirror Dimension, something that occurred far away on Planet Earth.
His eyes turned red as he looked at Guzznad.
"You dare!"
The response he received was a sneer, " I should be saying this to you. You dare use me as a pawn to control the galaxy without any resistance from foreign powers.
"Your greatest mistake was not to use all your strength to annihilate me."
Edward felt the world had turned red; his anger was so overwhelming, almost overwriting his reason.
"Don't you want to know how I did it?" said Guzznad, not hiding his arrogant laughter. However, this was only a show; the result was not to his satisfaction, so he needed to buy a little more time.
"I'll gladly tell you."