Orsted had retreated until now. He was at a safe distance away while Badigadi's full attention was towards Julian.
The ground shook as he took off in Julian's direction.
"How long are you going to make me wait, Rudeus?"
Even if he wasn't looking, Julian could feel Rudeus smirk.
"Thought you'd never ask, brother."
[LIGHTNING - ZEUS' WRATH]
Once more, the entire battlefield became enveloped in a searing, blinding azure radiance.
And then, like a stone shot from a catapult, with a deafening thunder, the bolt of lightning hit Kalman. His body was convulsing heavily, and his eyes rolled to the back of his eyes, foam rising up from his mouth. Like a statue, charred and petrified, he stood standing, his body a wracking mess of spasms and convulsions.
With a weightless thud, he fell to the ground.
"What is the meaning of all this, Rudeus?!"
Badigadi's voice, despite being low and audibly composed was quivering. The Fighting God's reasoning was already in a state of jeopardy, however, the sudden turn of events started to speed the process. In the back of his head, the overwhelming strength that came with the armour darkened out all aspects of his lucidity, burying them in the graveyard---among his other emotions.
"Eh, what can I say, I am a pretty good actor, aren't I?" Rudeus shrugged his shoulders.
Orsted's eyes were as a wide as they could get, his eyeballs giving the impression as if they could pop out of their sockets at any given moment.
"Die!"
Badigadi rushed towards Rudeus.
A purple blur whisked up a huge amount of dust and debris. Blue lightning and purple flames scattered everywhere in a semi-tangible wisp and a red arc crossed the field, cleaving the ground and everything in between.
A huge crevice formed where Badigadi was moving, adding a huge fissure in the place between Badi and Rudeus.
"So, it was all a farce? Up until now?" Badi asked as slowly, like the grains of a sand in an hourglass, his cogency slipping away from his fingers like a desperate person slowly falling off a wet edge, no matter of clawing away at it helping him.
He had experienced it before. Yet it felt so alien that it sent a shiver down his spine. He felt scared but reassured at the same time. Scared he might lose control of himself. But reassured that unlike last time, his own fiancé, someone who he loved dearly won't die at his hands. If someone were to die, it won't be someone who lived in the deepest corners of his heart.
"Not always. Maybe it all happened that day."
Rudeus remembered, looking up at the sky.
"When I met Julian along with my family. It was at that moment that I came to know about that something was wrong. And Julian showed me."
Rudeus remembered the small, brief fight.
****Reference to Volume 5, Part 9****
"It was when he touched me. I saw everything that he experienced. With an additional note and an artefact in my pocket that said to act as usual. Against him. No matter how wrong I was." Rudeus explained, as if reminiscing over a fond, interesting memory. "Dear God, was it a hassle to mask my intentions from Man God. However, the artefact that he gave me did not let Hitogami to warn us of Randolph being a decoy and hence we continued to waste time to defeat Randolph, buying enough time for him to capture the throne for Ariel."
Badigadi and Orsted heard to the conversation with bared breaths.
"I have no idea why he wanted everyone to gather here. Too much information would've led in jeopardy, but why do you think I have been using spells that have an area of effect use?" Rudeus cocked his head to the side.
"To hinder us from getting too close to him..." Badigadi mumbled.
"That too, of course, was something he showed me. My lil bro is a genius. Just me like, AHAHAHAHA. What's wrong Badi? I don't see you laughing, right now, HAHA."
"You might not want to provoke him too much."
"Eeeeh. Won't you save me?"
"No."
"You're so mean." Rudeus snorted, rolling his eyes the other way.
"So, what is it that you want?" Badigadi asked. His eyes were fixed on Rudeus, but everyone there knew who he was talking to. The absolute puppeteer who had surpassed Hitogami's expectations and had led the situation to this point.
The absolute pinnacle of human strength.
"You are not required to know what I plan. Serve your purpose."
Julian said as he raised his sword in the air. Like a candle burning to life, flames erupted from the hilt and then moved upward. With a cacophonous explosion, the whole sword busted with flames.
"Give me a good fight and die."
As Badigadi's vision turned black, he bolted like a missile towards Julian.
The huge trail of flames extended upwards until it took shape of a serpent, flowing all around Julian like a viscous whip before solidifying as it cracked into a one huge sword. Julian swung it along the baseline of the ground and the twisted it upwards, aiming to cleave Badi in half.
However, a nauseous amount of aura began to release from Badi's aromour as he punched the gargantuan extension of the sword and smashed it to pieces. The solidified embers faded away amidst the crimson aura of Julian that was going haywire all around him.
The next moment, Badi's spear and Julian's sword collided. The ground broke and the sky seemed like it would splinter. There were visible cracks in space itself as golden aura oozed out of Badi, enhancing every aspect of his body as he went on a relentless barrage of fist strikes, while Julian's dark red aura continued to keep Badi's in check, his sword nothing more than a blur.
The scalding metal sizzled against bare bone, charring it black as the flesh around it melted. Water hissed as it hit the red iron, sending up a cloud of steam. Badi let out a groan, his consciousness despite being suppressed, still not entirely oblivious to pain.
"So, Rudeus Greyrat, you have been an ally all this time?" Orsted asked as Rudeus went by his side and bowed his head.
"Yes, it's a pleasure to finally meet you. Sorry that we met on such terms, but it was necessary."
"It is alright. Although, if you really were his ally, why did you trap him inside that barrier?"
Rudeus looked at Orsted for a while before answering. "Have you ever heard of the God Ranked Spell, Imprisonment?"
Orsted looked confused, conflicted even.
"No..."
"It is a technique that somehow Hitogami told me about. After many months, I was able to do a fraction of what I was able to manifest that day." Rudeus replied.
"I still do not understand. He can see future. How come your actions have not resulted in any doubt in his mind?"
Rudeus cracked a jeer. "You know his ability, right?" He pointed at Julian who backflipped and dodged a kick, but a punch caught him in the ribs, making him catapult behind like a bullet. "He can manipulate the brain itself. Even though he did tell me everything, there were a certain level of resistance towards as to what Hitogami could perceive with those "foreign" memories."
"But that would require extreme levels of...." Orsted paused as he realised. These past days, Julian was much pale than before and always seemed to be in an exhausted state. "Is a spell of the caliber even possible?"
"Back when I was imprisoning him, he overloaded Badigadi as well as me with information. But I wasn't dumped with useless, paralysing ones. The shock that I suffered was because of the things I had seen through his memories. "Back when he was still little, he was able to feel someone trying to locate him. So, he made up a spell that could change the nature of his own mana and make it mix in with the surrounding mana."
"A natural camouflage?"
------------------------
***REFERENCE TO Volume 1, Part 3***
------------------------
"Yes. And because I was the one in closest proximity to him most of the time, Hitogami couldn't locate me until metastasis even. However, since there were times when I was away, he still knew of my existence. Julian, on the other hand, was someone who never existed for him."
"That would explain his mana levels."
"Yes. A human's mana expands until they are 10. He was maintaining a barrier for 3-4 years. Hence, his mana was being replenished by new amounts anyways. But using that flashy spell in metastasis drained him of everything. And once he was above 10, aka after teleport incident, his reserves stopped growing, resulting in him never being at 100%. He was always in a camouflage against Man God."
"That makes sense."
Orsted and Rudeus finished their talks as Julian and Badigadi's fight decimated almost the entirety of the Ogre Island. Even the stray monsters and animals that were exposed to their hostile auras died, suffocated to death by the strangulating sensation of oppressive auras with only one motive.
To kill.
Badi's spear turned into a longspear and he thrust it again, but Julian's sword snapped out and caught the haft just below the forged tip, shearing it in two. Time began to slow.
The Fighting God Armour adapted according to the user and the opponent. And in the few hand-to-hand blows exchanged between Badi and Julian, it became painfully evident that Julian was leagues above him in martial arts. Coupled that with the explosive power of Convergence to drive him in and Divergence to enhance his own punch power, hand-to-hand became a nightmare fuel for him.
Suddenly the armour started transforming.
"Bro, what the fuck!" Rudeus gritted his teeth.
"It is adapting. I have to step in." Orsted rubbed his palms together, ready to call on the Godsword.
The real one this time.
"Wait, no. Everything he has worked on will be lost!"
"What do you mean?"
"You will find out. Please, do not use anything."
The Fighting God Armour's physical form swelled outwards, bumping into itself, scales racing over its bodies as the humanoid features melted away to become reptilian and monstrous. A grotesque imitation of a dragon. The palms shifted into talons and claws while the headpiece moulded into a mana shooting canon with the maw of a dragon.
"Bruh."
Rudeus was nervous. He nibbled on his nails; his fingers as white as a sheet around his staff.
Julian could only see a splash of colors: white and gold, blue-black, emerald, green, and the burning orange of distant fire before turning back to the more immediate threat.
The severed spear tip was still somersaulting through the air. He took hold of it, spun, and let it fly at the Bad's left eye. He suddenly conjured two weapons and the defending twin blades came up and knocked the projectile aside out of nowhere, but not before the Fighting God's eyes flinched shut.
A ripple in mana.
He looked to the side as he saw Rudeus forming a magic circle all over the Ogre Island.
"So, it was you."
"Ahaha, yeah... I thought I was being discreet but never knew you could sense it. As expected of Rank 2!"
-------------------------------
REFERENCES TO VOLUME 6, PART 4
-------------------------------
Julian's mana signature melted away as he channeled Void Step. Before his daggers could fully reach him, he pushed mana into every cell of his body and stepped out from between the twin blades. His eyes snapped open just as Julian's sword pierced his core.
"He became...faster?"
"Maybe he finally decided to dispel the veil of obscurity from Man God. He can finally give it his all."
Rudeus explained as the pendant around Julian's neck shattered, breaking into a million different pieces. The mana, highly reactive and potent that was held captive in it suddenly combusted.
As the dust cleared, Julian looked up, his golden locks shimmering under the sunlight.
"Good to have them back." Julian mumbled to himself as he remembered the talk with Norn about matching hair.
The slowly building weight of Badigadi's spell snapped like a frayed rope. His armour was generating all kinds of weapons to deal with newly awakened swordsman. But, no matter what it generated, it was being overwhelmed. Not by brute strength, no.
It was the sheer difference in skill. No matter what new things or attack pattern it threw, Julian adapted to it. If the armour adapted to Julian's pattern, he would shift his pattern. Even if his attack patterns changed, he would make a new one.
It was getting overwhelmed.
Pushing the ground, Julian landed on top of the armour and placed his feet on Badi's shoulders.
"I wonder if you would be laughing right now."
Saying that, Julian's fist covered in red aura pummeled through the head piece, denting the metal inwards as it cut Badi's face in half.
Kicking him, he pivoted and readjusted his position. Pirouetting, Julian carved a wide arc around him, projecting out a scything force. The battlefield rang with a sound like forge hammers falling on hot steel as the force crashed against it.
"Let's end this." Julian spoke to himself.
It wasn't long that Hitogami would be able to see him. He must be experiencing his own altered futures but won't be able to know how everything is happening. He had to finish things before he composed himself.
Badigadi's mana started to cave in as he began to give this shot his everything. Meanwhile, Julian also started preparing his decisive move.
Julian placed his hand on the sword and started chanting words on the sword itself. The balde seeped deep into his skin, drawing blood.
It was a technique he was unable to perform last time. In his fight against Gal Farion.
-------------------------
****REFERENCE TO TURNING POINT 3****
-------------------------
The absolute pinnacle of swordsmanship. Something that wasn't related to merely a sword school, but swordsmanship in itself. That was why almost no one was able to master this. Except those who had gained mastery over all 3 schools. And there were only 2 such individuals right now.
[Samadhi. Arahant. Samsara.]
Just as both finished talking, Badigadi extended both his hands forward and a huge meteor beam fueled by mana was fired towards Julian.
"We might have to take cover." Rudeus spoke, cold sweat dripping down his face as both Rudeus and Orsted casted a God Level protection veil.
A brilliant vermillion aura shimmered to life from Julian's sword as cryptic runes started to appear all over his sword.
"Woah. Dafuq is that? I've never heard about it before." Rudeus squinted his eyes to take a better look at Julian as the translucent, oily barrier manifested in front of him.
"That is because no one has been able to master all three styles to their absolute limit." Orsted replied.
Rudeus shut his mouth. Not because he couldn't understand what he just said. But because he didn't want to miss a single second of the spectacle in front of him.
A crimson radiance radiated outward from Julian, akin to daybreak. This luminous energy engulfed both the island and the sky itself. With a resolute swing of his sword, Julian unleashed an enormous red wave of energy that surged across the expanse of the island at remarkable speed.
As the ground beneath us started to tremble, in the blink of an eye, the earth split open, giving rise to yawning fissures that marred the landscape.
[Mind's Blade] (A/n This was a shameless plugin to promote my fic, Mind's Blade. Go read it)
The relentless crimson slash of light tore its way through the island's entirety, leaving a path of unfathomable destruction in its wake.
In a bewildered stupor, Badi watched as his attack helplessly rebounded from Julian's impervious barrier. Slowly, he lowered his sword and turned away, his realization settling in.
At that precise moment, the space enveloping Badi fragmented with all the fragility of glass shattering, and the eerie, inky energy was greedily siphoned into the gaping crevices of his armour.
Upon the pitiful remnants of what had once been a thriving island, the sheer devastation unfurled with unparalleled severity.
Gigantic boulders were being relentlessly drawn into the gaping maw of the boundless void, disappearing without a trace. The very landscape itself quivered and contorted under the merciless assault of the vacuuming force, every inch of soil and rock upturned and consumed by the abyss.
Nothing remained. As gigantic tsunamis formed around the island and clouds started rumbling over the sky, nothing remained safe. The island itself broke into 5 pieces, the once grand island was now a mere imitation of its past glory.
The battle had ended.
Julian Greyrat had defeated the Fighting God as a victorious smirk formed on Rudeus and Orsted's face.
In the center of the world, Hitogami was finally able to see what was going on. His eyes were wide, his jaw on the ground as sweat appeared on his forehead, or rather the notion of happening so crossed his senses.
He was defeated. In his own game.
"It is okay... I have time... I can just lay low until the day he dies... Yes. I won't interfere with him anymore. He is human after all. He will die one day... Yes, I will stay as far away as possible from him..."
However, as if Julian knew where he was, turned his head.
Rudeus and Orsted ran towards Julian with excited looks over their faces.
"Julian~"
"Stop. Ready the formation." Julian ordered, staggering to the sides.
"Huh? But why?"
"Just do it."
"Uh, ok."
The previous rippled that Orsted had felt were Rudeus' formation taking birth. All he needed was to activate it.
"What is happening?" Orsted asked, his face lined with a scowl.
"Your mana, how is it?"
"It is above 90%."
"Good."
Rudeus raised his staff above and closed his eyes.
"What are you doing? Mind telling me? Why did you hide all that from me?"
There were so many questions that Orsted wanted to ask. Anger bubbled inside him, at the same time, sympathy took birth too. Sympathy over how he was handling everything until now, alone, on his own.
"Do you know how my barrier works?"
It was an odd question. He never asked it before. Orsted couldn't figure out how to perform it and Julian never bothered to explain it.
"Imagine there is 1 meter distance between us. A meter is divided into 100 cms. Think of the space around us a piece of paper." Julian explained as Orsted felt chills run down his spine. "My technique allows me to manipulate polarity in a way that it helps me to fold a specific part of the piece of paper over and over again. So, 100 cms are folded on itself again and again."
"And?" Orsted was confused.
"Man God exists in the center of the world. You need artefacts to reach him. But..." Julian paused as Rudeus opened his eyes.
The pieces started to fall in place for Orsted.
"You can destroy space itself?"
"Look around us." Julian pointed at the place where he had just used Mind's Blade on Badigadi. The Island was dissected with the portions where his attack had touched was a distorted mess of a space.
"I am not destroying it. Think of it as the layers of 100 cms between him and us. I am just going to unfold the piece of paper."
"Even with your brother's mana, it is impossible."
Rudeus suddenly smirked, "Who said he was going to use my mana."
Saying that, Rudeus tapped his staff on the ground as mana started to converge into a single point.
"The reason why I wanted the World Powers to fight endlessly and had Rudeus fight in a way that would give them recovery time and use mana again and again was to use their lingering mana in connection to Rudeus' own reserves to compensate for my lack of mana."
"And how are you going to use someone else's mana?"
Julian sheathed his sword and slowly took out the teal coloured sword. The sword he had found with Roxy all those years ago and recently gifted it to Adam.
"It can absorb mana."
Orsted was speechless.
"How long had you planned all this for?"
"Ever since I saw him in my dream once. When I killed Grabel."
"Hm."
Orsted felt a little hurt. After all this time, he had developed some kind of attachment, a sense of camaraderie with him. Still the outcome was something he had strived for all this time.
And as all mana converged into a single point, Julian absorbed it all in his sword. The sword and the bones in his arms both rattled, quivering as the mana of multiple world powers seeped into it. It wasn't just the sheer amount, but the raw potency of it.
[Void Blade - Final Form - Quasar Cutter]
As if the space in front of them was a tangible object, Julian opened a rift. However, the next moment, his vision doubled as he fell to his knee. Orsted held him by his arm and straightened him up.
There was a lot he wanted to say. But he knew he didn't have enough time. Every second he stayed there; the rift was closing. All of Julian's plans would be sullied if he doesn't hurry up.
"Julian Greyrat." Straightening his back, Orsted spoke. "Thanks for everything. I will remember you." He spoke and extended his hand.
Julian extended his hand, his head still dizzy.
"Come on, you're making it sound like he can't come bac---oh, shit."
Rudeus pursed his lips as his eyes moved down.
"Don't lose to him." Julian mumbled as his conciousness flickered in and out.
"I won't." Orsted smiled, and for the first time his features didn't seem too scary. Leaning forward, he lightly hugged Julian before turning around, and entering the rift that was about half the height of Rudeus.
The next moment, it closed, fizzling out of existence as Julian leaned over Rudeus.
"Let's go home." Julian mumbled, his tongue heavy as he closed his eyes, drifting away into a realm of careless sleep that he hadn't felt in a long time.
The battle and the war were over. For the Greyrats at least. The fight between the Dragon God and Man God would last for eternity. But for them, it was all over.
Once again, despite deliberately making himself fall into wrong situations, Julian had appeared triumphant.
And despite winning, he felt a bitter taste in his mouth.
------------------------------
THE END
Author's Note.
With this, the main story line has ended. Auxiliary volumes of daily day-to-day life would be released every now and then with no fix schedule. But they won't be as frequent. Since the fic's main storyline has ended.
I am on a sleep deficit when I wrote it, so if it seems a bit rushed, I am sorry. I should've written it when I had rested, but I wanted to end it. And I seem to have no regrets with what I have written so far.
So, ending it in this way, despite being rushed, feels satisfactory to me.
I will publish more chapters for this fic, but once again, main plot has ended. After this, it would just Julian and his life devoid of complications...
Maybe. Hehe.