Panic ensued in every corner, news of the descent reached the Bureau the very second it happened.
"Commissioner, it's a full Descent! What do we do?!"
The Commissioner, Percy Finch, frowned.
"We're too late. We even failed with Doctor Lyn's. What can we do..." His eyes drifted up to look at his underling, "Send everyone, I'll be at the forefront." He stood up.
...
"Hit me if you can!" Nihil cackled as he moved about like a ghost, shifting through walls and collapsed rubble, avoiding all of the Book of Infatuation's attacks.
When his soul body was close to dying, he would find a human close by and infect them, turning them into another soul body he could use and expend.
"This is so fun! To think I would get to fight a being such as this and hold my own!"
The Lower Gods should not be underestimated, and Nihil knew this. Each of the Gods had the power to destroy the whole planet if it were not for Doom overseeing everything. If the descent was completed, Nihil would be the first to have a horrific end.
Yet, that was why he was doing all of this, because he had the advantage, and he knew he could win with some elbow grease.
Soul energy condensed into massive chains around the book, the chains dug into the earth and anchored it. Above, soul energy turned into insidious lines and circles, opening a path to the colorless world above where more of its power dove into its new body.
It was holy and not, for the Book of Infatuation was an evil god that corrupted its believers through their infatuation, that being something as natural as lust, or something as noble as knowledge.
All the while, the many horrid eyes locked onto Nihil and sent out one psychic attack after another. Luckily, Nihil was heavily resistant, so even when a god attacked him with such a method, he would be slightly wounded and could heal himself fast enough to defend against another.
To others, it appeared as if Nihil's soul was randomly melted with each invisible strike, only for it to come back for the next. It was nightmarish and even grown men would feel their skin crawl.
"Let's see if you can take my attacks as well!" Nihil turned around, his soul body being torn to pieces as all the attacks chasing after him connected all at once.
Soul energy condensed like a lake flowing into one center point, defending Nihil like a last stand.
Boom Boom Boom!
Even with a planned defense, Nihil was ragged.
"Well, time to start using everything I have."
Deep in his mindscape, Nihil appeared and whirled his collected pure energy.
"Now, let's see if I can do this. Doom said the cores were not the only way to control pure energy. Humans too can collect it, but it is a slow process requiring one to look for the purest pieces."
He began to move the pure energy around his fingertips, "Where life exists, so does energy, pure energy! And so, all life harnessed it to turn it into a medium for all things! So goes the myth of creation! Now, let us see if I can do the same!"
In reality, the damaged soul body lifted its hand, staring into the sky, it watched as its pure energy funneled out of it along with its soul energy.
'This...this is how I should fight.'
Above the city, multiple black burning stars formed. Like water droplets, they fused until there was one massive star in the sky.
"Go..."
The star's descent was imminent. The Book of Infatuation tried to stop it but the Fire Dao fused with Nihil's strong soul surprised the deity and there was not enough time to defend against it fully.
Far away, the higher-ups of the Bureau raced to the scene only to see a giant burning black ball fall upon a gigantic book surrounded by chains and magical circles.
"A battle of gods...." The Commissioner was at a loss for words, the power he was seeing was beyond even him.
Collision struck, the dark star melting the leather book's surface. The smell of sulfur and burnt leather spread for miles as Nihil closed in on his target.
"Now, I may not have finished the path of voice, but as I am now I don't need to!" In his mindscape, the Dream core activated at full capacity.
With power fueling his words, Nihil's soul projected a word that was sure to destroy his enemy.
"Nonexistence!"
The sound of the echoing four-syllable word was silent as if there was no way for the world to make sense of it.
Chains that once bound the Lower God to the mortal world disappeared at some point, and then the circles above the being's head. As fast as light, the book shrunk until it was left with the tiniest mass possible.
By this attack, one would suspect nonexistence was the wilting of life, the sapping of strength until nothing was left.
"So I can't kill a god with one word. Sad, I thought I was stronger."
By relying on the Path of Voice and copying it, Nihil used his cores and the path as one attack. This was possible because the Path had a creator!
Similar but not the same as the entity of Exchange, the creator of the Path of Voice still lived, albeit in another form. Yet, that being still had a small connection, and it too wished for the Book of Infatuation to die.
Of course, Nihil didn't know this, he was simply incredibly lucky.
By now, a few groups had gathered at the base of the battle, looking upon the frail book and the dark figure hovering above it.
"W-What is that? Are they an Apostle of a god? How could they have such power?!"
"Because he's not a human at all." From the gathered crowd, a youth known by many came forward.
It was none other than the rising star from the Empire of Stars, the General of Moons, Kain.
Kain looked up at Nihil, raising his arm to point at him. "You!! I know who you are, do not think of getting away you thief!"
Nihil wasn't surprised, "So your god told you. Well, they don't seem dumb, I should be wary of them...." He nonchalantly turned back to the Book of Infatuation.
"Well, that was a good surprise, now I don't even need the mortals' help to kill you. Thanks for making this easy!" Black crescent blades formed from the wave of his hand.
Nihil indiscriminately cut at the Book until it was defenseless, its celestial soul leaking from its vessel.
"And now, I get to devour you!"
"Hurry! We must stop him!" Kain realized what was happening, but it was too late.
Nihil's soul body shattered as he reached for the book. However, even if his solid form couldn't reach, the last remaining wisps of that form did.
The second Kain jumped into the sky using a spell to stop Nihil, it happened...
Nihil's soul touched a god's.
Immediately, the reaction occurred and another explosion of force resounded.
Mad laughter plastered itself throughout the city. "Although I can not gain a celestial soul by devouring it, I can still use it as fuel to create as big an ascended soul as possible. From a drop to a pond, and a pond into an ocean that can cover the entire planet!"
Pouring out from the book's bindings, a black soul condensed over and over as it expended so much soul energy that the air was below freezing.
Akin to a black cloud, a new soul rose from the corpse of god. Once it filled the sky, it became a dark rain that poured down on the land and quickly retreated into the earth. No one could stop this event, not even the gods.
All that was left above was the tattered soul body Nihil used to get such gains. In its destruction, it looked down at the heroes who came to save their world. It looked and smiled, knowing the world wasn't going to last, and that their efforts were meaningless.
"Until we meet again." Its last message sounded like nails on a chalkboard, it dispersed immediately after.
Everyone was silent.