Chapter 215: Slimy God of Shadows and His Foolish Avatar
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"W-what's going on?" When half of the world darkened with a veil of darkness that spread through the skies, the population shivered in fear. The retreating forces of Pangeal were no exception.
The soldiers: humans, orcs, vampires, and other monsters alike, who had all been fighting against the invading otherworldly horde, found the divine spectacle alarming. They were far from the battlefield, yet the effect of whatever this was extended till here.
Is it covering the entire world?—some even wondered, through the soul-chilling ominous vibe that came along, leaving their bones to tremble.
"Let's speed up!" Even the brave orc warriors, led by the Orc General, chose to run faster. So the humans riding horses decided to speed up too, followed by the others.
Princess Thalia felt self-conscious. Was this the bare limit of their united strength? To flee from any sign of evil divinity? If their Goddess hadn't bought these foreign allies, and the Hero, would they have truly met the fate of slaughtered pigs?
I hope he wins, the current Princess didn't want to see her empire fall. She had never dreamt of becoming the Empress since she had older brothers, but now they were dead. She saw them die on the same battlefield she fought on, crumbling to her knees as she had screamed, yet they fell without anyone able to help them. Those demons from the otherworld had sucked this land of its very vitality, both literally and figuratively.
All the responsibility of the Crown fell on her shoulders, so she had learned to think for the greater mass already. So, she hoped the Hero would bring victory, that he'd free this Empire of the demonic invasion.
The sky in the back distance exploded with shimmering points of light blooming in the sky. What was its source, she wondered, as the pressure from earlier multi-folded. Some horses collapsed immediately, as did some of the weaker soldiers. Thankfully the mages cast telekinesis to carry them through the air.
Thalia looked back at the sky, where lights of purple, red, and black clashed with lights of white, golden, and gold-green. That fight right there… it determined the future of Pangeal in real-time.
"For the Hero!" Thalia's eardrums filled with a cheer, and she turned to find the source. It was Barbarian tribesmen running ahead, the last remnant of Fire Island's barbarians. They were passing by wastelands, where once cities stood. If the Hero lost the fight, this was what the entire world would look like. So when they had someone to save them, someone to place their hopes upon, they could only cheer him on.
"For the Hero!" Their former King's rival, the Hero, was a well-respected figure in their culture. The barbarians yelled, and the elves followed, and at one point Thalia found herself cheering too.
"For the Hero!" The desperation in her voice surprised her. When she was fighting in the frontlines, she didn't feel desperate, she fought with the expectation of death every minute. Because there was no real hope remaining, only the bare desire of inflicting one last wound on the demons.
Now?
Their man of hope was shining like the twin stars in the distant sky, letting out a golden light, mixing with the green of another. Hope filled the air to the brim.
"For the Hero…!"
****
"What the hell…!" Umbrithar clashed with Aqua's sword with his dark scythe, using the Space Icon to teleport behind him, to his side, or hide his visage, yet he failed to land one scratch on his body.
It wasn't surprising why; he was using the Time Icon…! One of the rarest Icons. He had only heard legends about it, never having seen it with his own two eyes, but this young human wielded it skillfully.
Was that all?
The Crown Icon shone right beside it, accompanying his strikes, as Umbrithar felt the wrath of a Chrono Sovereign. Each strike of his sword grew faster, and harder to block, and Umbrithar was beginning to find it difficult to continue matching his lethality. As an assassin, he was more adept in sneak attacks, not this head-on aggression.
Umbrithar, the greatest assassin in the twelve local universes around his homeworld, found it difficult to get Aqua off his tail. If this human was weaker than him, it wouldn't have mattered that his fighting style was head-on, Umbrithar would have slaughtered him with ease. But no, this bastard was not weak.
Umbrithar had no choice but to resort to sneakier tactics, "Let's talk, Hero," he said, pausing his attacks, just as Aqua's blade weaved through his neck. However, it only passed through a mirage, as Umbrithar phased into another dimension.
"Rat," Aqua said, turning his head to the side to look for Umbrithar. He was nowhere to be seen.
"You can't find me like this, so let's talk," the Outer God said, the voice coming from five directions at once.
"...." Aqua closed his eyes and then reopened them. Since he had the Emperor's image overlapped with his, his eyes were golden, his hair black, and his veins shimmered with star particles. His eyes let out a sheen as he looked around his surroundings another time.
Around him, his three wives fought against the Enchantress of Shadows, and the Dragon Goddess fought against the Maddened Clown. Mountains perished, craters were born every other second, and the sky was exploding with myriads of techniques. The Clown was throwing marbles at Quetzalcoatl, which turned into mountain-sized orbs midair. The Enchantress was controlling a wave of shadowy insects that swarmed toward the girls, giving them a hard time by their sheer number.
Their battle was quite intense, while Aqua's enemy was a sneaky bastard. Whatever the case, now he could see.
There you are, Aqua counted five of Umbrithar, one real, and four others half transparent. Normal eyes wouldn't be able to see them, and not even Aqua's Jade Perception could sense him. He only perceived them through the use of the Wise Eyes of the Emperor, the Imperial Gaze.
He blitzed behind him, and Umbrithar's visage trembled in shock. He was in another dimension entirely, Limbo, but the Time Icon allowed Aqua's attacks to phase in, as his sword slashed against the surprised Umbrithar's chest. Black blood gushed out.
How the hell can he-?! Umbrithar couldn't even express his shock properly, as his attacks continued. This technique, [Limbo: Border Jail], was nigh impossible to counter. Only two Gods among the twelve in his world would counter it. Yet this young bastard was doing it so easily!
As Umbrithar groaned, slipping from one dimension to another, the Time Icon allowed Aqua to follow. The wise choice would have been to flee this area entirely, but the willpower of a Sage stopped him from doing that. He could probably still force his way out, but that'd give Aqua an opening. He was trapped.
"Freeze!" Aqua commanded with the Time Icon, and everything froze. A paint of green spread across the skies, freezing everything in Pangeal for three seconds, and only Umbrithar and Aqua moved.
Lucky bastard, Aqua frowned. Umbrithar wasn't supposed to move, he was panicking from his demeanor, however, he got lucky by timing. He had slipped into another dimension just when Aqua froze the world, in that little interval he managed to avoid the frozen world.
Aqua clicked his tongue as the world returned to normal, and Umbrithar blocked his sword with his scythe. Slimy enemies like him took longer to take care of, even though he was no danger to Aqua. He felt impatient.
Especially because his opponent used the Space Icon, considered twin and counter to the Time Icon, even if he wasn't that proficient of a user in it, it was annoying how slippery that made him. If only he had the Eternal Sorcery on the tips of his fingers, he'd have been able to do a lot more with the Time Icon.
Eternal Magic was like a speed dial for Time Icon, specifically designed after a thousand years of continuous use. But without it, Aqua had to manually control it, which was taxing and therefore came with lesser effects. After all, unlike the other Icons, the Time Icon affected the whole world with most of its commands, which took a lot more than the individual effects of the other Icons.
Whatever. That injury isn't small, he's not in a good condition. I can end this soon, Aqua noted. No matter how slimy an enemy was, they couldn't last forever. Aqua's eyes narrowed as he focused on Umbrithar, who was desperately trying to mask his injuries and maintain his composure. The assassin's movements were becoming erratic, his teleportations less precise. Good. Let me drive him to a corner.
Aqua rushed ahead with a barrage of attacks. Umbrithar phased in and out of existence, flickering like a dying light. He tried to hide in the shadows, but Aqua's keen senses tracked his every move. Each time Umbrithar reappeared, Aqua was there, his sword slicing through the air, narrowly missing its mark, and sometimes gushing blood. The dance of death continued, with Aqua relentlessly pursuing his quarry.
"You can't keep running forever, Outer God," Aqua taunted, his voice echoing through the battlefield. "Face your end with some dignity."
Umbrithar snarled, blood dripping from the gash on his chest and other small cuts around his body. His eyes darted around, searching for an escape, but finding none. "You... you don't understand," he gasped, trying to catch his breath. "This isn't over, human. It's pointless to end me."
Aqua's expression remained cold like steel. He could feel the weight of the Time Icon humming within him, urging him to finish this quickly. It was time, now that he was busy catering, for Aqua to end this. He shifted his stance, preparing for his next move.
"[Time Icon: Reflection of the Timelines]," Aqua whispered, and his command pressed upon reality. His body turned into a blur, into a shadow. In the next instant, he appeared in multiple spots at the same time. He's been preparing this for a while now, but it had taken longer than expected to cast this technique, while Eternal Magic could do the same in seconds.
Five of him surrounded Umbrithar and his clones, swords gleaming under the darkened sky.
Umbrithar's eyes widened under his goggles in panic as he found himself encircled. He could feel the oppressive power radiating from Aqua's time clones, each one a perfect mirror of the original. Desperation clawed at him, and he decided to try one last gambit.
"S-stop this," Umbrithar stammered, his voice quivering with fear. "My avatar has invaded this world's Heaven and must be wreaking havoc there by now. If you let me live, I'll call him back. Otherwise, all your loved ones and billions of souls in heaven would perish...!"
Aqua paused, a moment of surprise flickering in his eyes. He thought of the countless souls in Heaven, of the people he had sworn to protect. However, where surprise found its way into his mind, doubt did not. They'll be fine, Aqua knew.
He scoffed, "Fool." Aqua's voice was cold and unyielding. "Your avatar is trapped with my people, not the other way around. "
Umbrithar frowned in confusion. "What...?" he whispered, unable to comprehend the certainty in Aqua's voice.
Aqua pointed at the twin suns. "You sent a rat in a lion's den."
****
In Pangeal's Heaven, the ethereal realm bathed in a radiant glow, the pristine streets and towering spires shimmered with divine energy. The very air hummed with an aura of peace and power. In this smaller sun, the heaven, billions of souls rested, almost nearing a trillion.
The realm was a mixture of divine beauty and calm, with cascading waterfalls of light and gardens blooming with celestial flowers. Every corner of this heaven spoke of serenity and the sanctity of the souls who resided here. They were cheering as they were observing the battle in the mortal world on big screens.
Umbrithar's Avatar, a shadowy figure cloaked in darkness, moved stealthily through this celestial realm, his gleaming eyes settling on a screen. "Damn, the Dark Phoenix isn't holding back."
This sector of heaven was watching the fight happening at the North Pole, where the Dark Phoenix, with the other two Gods, were fighting against the local Goddess of this world and her foreign allies.
The Phoenix God chose to play it strategically. With the help of his fellow divinity, Zarthak, the Tumultuous Stormbringer, God of Tempests and Chaos, whose Avatar is a Storm Spirit, the entire weather of the North Pole was under the control of the Gods of Atlanton. They could manipulate the terrain and weather to their advantage, and they did just that. Separating the enemy team into portions was easy after that, and through that, each of the three Gods took on a group that suited them.
The sight was quite disastrous there. Umbrithar's Avatar wondered for a moment how the fight in the South Pole was going, but if the North Pole was in that state, the South wouldn't be different either. Besides, even if things got dangerous, his master would be fine. While he was far from being the strongest God of Atlanton, even the Chief God couldn't catch his shadows if he chose to run.
Bored of the fight, the Avatar marveled at the divine structures, and the sheer purity of the place. The stark contrast between his dark form and the radiant surroundings made his presence even more sinister. If someone could see him, they'd have fled, but of course, he was hiding very well with his abilities. Still, each step he took was a blight upon the sacred ground, his shadow tainting the ethereal light.
He loved that.
"Such a perfect, beautiful world," he whispered to himself, his voice a sinister whisper that seemed to absorb the light around him. "How delightful it will be to bring chaos to this tranquility?" He would love to end the peace of this peaceful realm. That should be enough revenge for how hard it was to get into this realm. Even with his space powers, it took a lot of trouble to enter here undetected.
His chuckle echoed through the realm, hidden by his power, a dark sound that twisted the peaceful atmosphere that only he could hear. Creeping through the shadows, he moved with the silent grace of a predator stalking its prey. His mind raced with the possibilities of destruction. Where should he start? Who should he start with?
He imagined the screams, the panic, the utter despair that he would sow in this heavenly domain. The prospect was intoxicating.
"Let's get moving, shall we?" he muttered, his voice dripping with anticipation, as he took out his daggers. A pair of little children seemed to be a good choice to start this endeavor. "Time to turn this paradise into a nightmare, keke-"
Just as he prepared to strike, a strong, majestic voice suddenly echoed behind him, shattering his dark thoughts. "Hey."
A large, imposing hand fell on his shoulder, the grip like iron. The shadow of a titan seemed to fall over him, radiating an aura of overwhelming strength. Umbrithar's Avatar froze. The divine energy emanating from this presence was suffocating, the avatar found it hard to turn back and look.
"...."
"Where do you think you're going?" the voice demanded, filled with authority and a hint of amusement.
Umbrithar's avatar slowly turned his head, his eyes widening in horror as he faced a dark-skinned man with clenched jaws.
With his presence like a force of nature, the muscular man exuded raw power. His eyes blazed with an intensity that seemed to pierce through Umbrithar's very soul.
The light of an Icon, manifesting for the first time among a denizen of Pangeal, shone brilliantly overhead, illuminating his fearsome visage.
The [Strength Icon] manifested.
"...Fuck," Umbrithar's Avatar cursed, his voice trembling.
Barolt, the Barbarian's grip tightened on his shoulder, a smirk widening his lips. His shoulder cracked with force.
"YOU OUTER GOD BASTARD!!" The heaven itself seemed to explode with rage.
****
Back on Pangeal, Umbrithar's face twisted in disbelief as he felt the sudden severance of his connection with his avatar. "What?!"
"Oh,"
His mind raced, refusing to accept what his senses told him. My Avatar... it can't be!
"What's up with your reaction?" Aqua could guess since the reaction was so abrupt. Did he try to contact his avatar, and fail? He must have noticed the severed connection.
"This is impossible," his raspy voice convinced no one. "Even you're having trouble with me, despite using your Time Icon, my Avatar has similar abilities to me, he couldn't have-"
He tried to convince himself, clinging to the belief that his avatar, a part of his own essence, could not be defeated. He was in Heaven, he should be unstoppable there due to the lower suppression of his abilities. 'In Heaven, the suppression is weaker. He must be wreaking havoc...!'—was the gist of his delusion.
Aqua observed the turmoil in Umbrithar's eyes, a storm of emotions brewing as the Outer God wrestled with the grim reality. "You fool," he scoffed, his voice slicing through Umbrithar's spiraling thoughts like a blade. "You don't realize whose presence you are in, do you?"
When the Eternal Samsara is born in a world, the balance of the universe shifts. The world would open itself to a higher realm, higher connections. From his 5th life, when he first touched an Icon, that had been the case.
Now that he has returned to his 2nd life's world, that rule shouldn't change. Icons would make their way here.
And if Icons came, if even the Goddess failed to awaken one, there was someone who would touch one. Aqua knew one such individual.
Barolt, the King of Barbarians, who if received the Hero's blessing would have defeated the Demon King in less than a year, was an individual beyond common sense.
With him in heaven, who would dare step into his realm?
Umbrithar's eyes widened in confusion and fear, a mixture of dread and disbelief clouding his expression. "You will pay for this."
"I won't, you'll simply watch me destroy your pantheon from whatever afterlife you might have," he wouldn't have any afterlife in this foreign world. Aqua took a step forward, his presence commanding. His other four reflections followed the same, moving towards the clones of Umbrithar. "Denial won't change the truth. Your avatar, just like you, was nothing but a small obstacle."
The words struck Umbrithar like a hammer, shattering the last of his denial. He could feel the truth settling in, a cold, hard reality that left no room for doubt. His avatar, his child in all but name, was gone. Defeated. Destroyed.
And now it was his turn.
"[Vagabond Style Form Two,]" Aqua let out a sigh, gathering his energy, as he took a pose. "[Sword That Beheads the Ocean.]"
Five Aquas moved, five swords lashed out.
The dark sky grew brighter, a blinding white light emanating from Aqua's sword. It was as if five mini suns exploded in the air. The air crackled with raw power, the very fabric of spacetime rippling under the force of his technique. The world seemed to hold its breath, the impending strike promising absolute destruction.
White blades, sharp as celestial spears, erupted from Aqua's sword, cutting through the air with a deafening roar. Each blade was a manifestation of his willpower, surging through the underpass of Time Icon and Crown Icon, slicing through the dimensions, and converging on their target.
The five Umbrithars, as if they were mere shadows and illusions, trembled under the overwhelming force. Their forms flickered, struggling to maintain coherence, but the onslaught was relentless. The blades cut through them, their essence unraveling as the attack disintegrated their very being. The power of the Time Icon intertwined with the strike, ensuring that no remnant of Umbrithar could escape.
The ground beneath them shook, cracks spreading out from the point of impact. Trees were uprooted, rocks pulverized, and the very air seemed to scream in agony as the technique reached its zenith. The intensity of the attack was blinding, a radiant burst of energy that seemed to tear apart the very world.
Umbrithar tried to teleport far from the South Pole in a desperate last attempt, but Aqua's willpower made that impossible. A simple "No," was all it took. The Outer God's forms exploded into a million pieces, each fragment caught in the storm of Aqua's swordsmanship. The shards of his existence were cut so thin, so finely, that they dissolved into the air, vanishing like dust in the wind.
As the light faded and the echoes of the attack died down, a heavy silence fell over the battlefield. The once formidable Umbrithar was no more, erased from existence by the sheer might of the Vagabond's Sword. He didn't even have to mix it up with Grand Chariot, nor did he have to use the Third Form, for such a weak and slimy bastard.
Aqua stood amidst the devastation, his sword still glowing faintly with residual energy, as his reflections dissipated in the air. He took a deep breath, steely gaze moving to look at the surprised onlookers.
Umbrithar, the Obsidian Stalker, God of Shadows and Portals was dead. Two more to go.
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