No modern weapon stands a chance in front of Mike's real body. Perhaps some advanced civilizations can create anti-matter bombs powerful enough to damage Mike's outer skin, but the UFKS is a modern civilization with nukes as its strongest weapons.
Mike didn't even bother reacting. The nuclear missile hit him with the mushroom cloud and all, but it didn't hinder him in the slightest; it didn't even tickle him; it wasn't even as strong as the sting of a mosquito.
"Time to take my revenge!" Mike looked at the sky without paying attention to the dozens of other fighter jets that had just arrived. To him, they were no more threatening than ants; he wouldn't waste his time worrying about them. As long as he takes over the world's will, the whole world can be considered his.
"Two hundred and seven times! That's how many times you shattered me! Now it's time for you to taste how painful it is to be shattered into countless pieces!" He smiled cruelly and cast a spell.
After being tempered over 200 times, his strength is now at least 100 times greater than at the beginning. His spells are already a level stronger than divine spells, midway between divine and immortal spells.
Spells in this world are ranked as low rank, high rank, legendary, divine, and immortal. Divine spells are already as strong as rank 9 spells; as for immortal spells, they are as powerful as rank 10!
Mike has not cultivated immortality or studied magic; his power originates from his system. Without the system, he would turn into an ordinary person. He plans to formally devour this world to officially earn rank 10 battle strength that is independent of the system, but that is for the distant future.
"Shatter!" Mike cast his spell, which was quasi-immortal rank.
This world itself is rank 10 and can externally resist a few rank 10 spells, but once someone attacks from within, it can't do much about it.
Cracks appeared in the sky. They were small at first but gradually joined together and formed larger ones. The whole sky seemed to be shattering and falling apart.
However, the will of heaven also possesses quasi-rank 10 strength. It summoned strange, shining silver clouds from all over, which filled the gaps and alleviated the cracks. Right after, horrifying red clouds gathered above Mike's head.
"Tribulation clouds!" Mike smiled, not worried. Tribulation clouds are the favorite means of most worlds for suppressing rebels that appear within them. The reason is simple: thunder greatly harms living beings and the undead but is very weak against inanimate objects. If the world used fire, for instance, it would not only kill the rebellious mortal but also potentially destroy a wide swath of land. For the world, the destruction of land is akin to self-harm.
"But do you really see me as a rebellious mortal?" Mike laughed. The world had tried to deal with him for years and failed; there's no way it could actually kill him. If it could have, it would have already done so.
The thunderclouds grew thicker and thicker, to the point where the whole world turned red. Then, the moon, the sun, and other stars all appeared in the sky simultaneously and shone brightly—brighter than they ever had, visible even from below the thick tribulation clouds.
Mike saw all of this and started having a creepy feeling.
"I'm afraid I overestimated my own strength!" he thought; he didn't expect the world to still have this much energy.
"But how many times can you pull it off?" Mike smirked; his energy reserves should be much greater, so he wasn't worried.
"Disperse!" Mike cast, trying to weaken the thunder buildup.
His spell was about to hit the tribulation clouds but was stopped at the last moment. The moon, usually far above, descended and shielded the tribulation clouds. The spell hit the moon, and nothing happened. The moon is quasi-immortal and excels in defense; it can easily take an ordinary quasi-immortal spell without being greatly damaged.
As if the moon weren't enough, the sun and stars also descended, forming a formation to shield the tribulation clouds. The sun was about the same size as the moon, while the stars were shining balls the size of a house.
The moon, the sun, and the stars are all equivalent to quasi-immortal magic weapons; using them requires unbelievable amounts of energy. But it was more than that; the tribulation clouds can also be considered quasi-immortal magic weapons.
"I am made of countless individual pieces, which is both a good thing and a bad thing. It's good because it makes me extremely hard to kill or seal; even if one piece of me survives, it can act as a base for my resurrection. The disadvantage is that I am too easy to break apart!" he sighed.
The moon, the sun, and the stars shone even brighter; the tribulation cloud behind them rumbled. Suddenly, a massive tribulation bolt was shot down straight toward Mike.
"Moonshield!" Mike cast the spell Moondemon used to cast.
The real moon in the sky shook and was forcibly pulled toward Mike with incredible speed. The lightning bolt hit the moon and pierced through it as if it were paper. But after all, it was the real moon, extremely huge and thick. Moreover, the core part was much harder than the external part. The lightning bolt reached the core of the moon before stopping.
The tribulation clouds rumbled angrily; the moon quickly broke free from Mike's control and went back into the sky.
Mike smiled bitterly; the Moonshield spell just now consumed 10% of his entire energy reserves. Once out of energy, he would be completely defenseless and would be shattered again.
The tribulation clouds rumbled again, and the moon, the sun, and the stars shone even brighter than before. Then, another bolt of lightning shot toward him.
"Moonshield!" Mike cast the same spell. Using the real moon as a shield was the most efficient way of defending against this tribulation.
The moon was about to be pulled toward Mike again, but its speed was many times slower this time.
"The will of the world is slowing time down!" Mike immediately realized what the issue was. Mike could not compete with the world's will when it came to local time control. After all, the will of the world is entrenched in the world, with deep roots. It has exquisite and precise control and can accelerate the speed of time flow in one location while leaving other parts unaffected. Mike can try to slow down the time of the entire world but cannot control his spell as precisely as the will of the world.
"Energy shield!", "Moonshield," "Starshield," and "Reflection," Mike cast a few spells simultaneously.
The Moonshield spell this time didn't try to pull the real moon but summoned a projection of the moon, far smaller than the real one, but better than nothing.
The Starshield likewise didn't try to pull real stars but summoned projections to create a powerful defensive shield.
The Reflection spell was a big, thin mirror that appeared, blocking the path. This spell is very specialized; against brutal physical attacks, it cannot do much, but against thunder, soul attacks, illusion attacks, etc., it provides good protection.
The last layer was the Energy Shield, which was a perfect shield. As long as Mike had energy, the shield would protect him against everything and anything that could harm him and be detected.
The lightning hit the moon's projection and directly melted it; the moon projection is by no means comparable to the real moon.
It hit the Starshield and smashed it on the first touch.
Next, it hit the big mirror and shattered it on the first contact. Its momentum remained strong despite destroying three divine defenses in a row.
Finally, it hit the Energy Shield.
A massive boom, the shock alone completely wiped away an area within a radius of 500 kilometers instantly. The whole world shook, and firestorms began to take shape. Perhaps the aftermath of this one attack destroyed all life in the world.
The aftermath of a battle between two quasi-immortal powerhouses is not something mortals can even watch from thousands of kilometers away. The moon absorbed the previous bolt of lightning's attack, so the aftermath was not so terrible. This time, however, it hit Mike's Energy Shield; there was nothing to absorb the impact.
"I lost 35% of my energy defending against this one lightning bolt!" Mike gritted his teeth; the world's will had far more energy reserves than he expected.
The stars, the sun, and the moon began shining even more brightly, the tribulation clouds behind them rumbling even louder.
"What?" Mike watched with doubt as some of the stars in the sky shone so brightly that their size visibly shrank; some even completely disappeared. Even the sun looked smaller and less imposing.
"It is burning the essence of the world, turning it into energy to provide the massive power needed to fight me! This cannot go on! Even if I win, I'll be left with a skeleton, with nothing of value left," he thought.
The extent of the authority of the will of the world depends on the codes of the world; nearly no creator would give the world will the authority to burn its essence for energy. This is akin to burning muscles and even internal organs to alleviate hunger. But this world's code seems to allow it.
The sky rumbled, and another bolt of lightning shot toward Mike!
"Self-shatter!" Mike cast the spell he kept for emergencies. At this point, fighting would bear no results; even if he won, he would be left with a skeleton of a world, leaving him with nothing to gain.
Before the lightning bolt could hit, Mike shattered, turning into countless pieces circulating the world.
The lightning bolt lost its target but was already cast; it could not disable itself. Inevitably, it hit the already melted surface.
The world shook; lava tsunamis kilometers long swept across the world, burning and melting everything. After this, the whole world would be a wasteland with no living creatures.
However, the will of the world didn't want to preside over a sea of magma; it was programmed to keep the world fertile. Therefore, it decided to erase this timeline entirely.
Erasing a timeline is much more energy-intensive than simply resetting it. Erasing timelines with more depth and effect on the overall situation is especially expensive. This timeline was very important; the whole world was destroyed, and Mike self-shattered. The will of the world had nowhere near enough energy to erase it.
Therefore, it decided to burn its own essence. The sun, moon, and the few remaining stars began shining intensely. Soon, all the stars disappeared, the sun only shone dimly, and the moon was only 50% of its previous size.
But still, the will of the world gathered enough energy and removed this timeline.
All the destruction disappeared, returning the world to its previous peaceful state—with some minor differences.
The moon is now much smaller, the sun much dimmer, and the stars are nowhere to be found. Nobody even remembers that stars were a thing before.