Esdeath gazed up at the god who had torn through space, realizing that she was the target of this divine being's words.
She didn't know why, nor did she need to know.
Wrapping her arms around herself, Esdeath couldn't stop her body from trembling uncontrollably, as if she were an ordinary person standing before a volcanic eruption or an apocalyptic tsunami.
Yet, she felt an undeniable heat within her—a burning desire to fight.
To fight!
To challenge this incomprehensibly powerful god. To fill the void in her heart that no one else could satisfy.
Hehehe, so strong, so terrifying, but so exhilarating…
Esdeath's heart roared with excitement, and a look of anticipation lit up her face. "Defying the Heavenly Principle? I don't know what that means, but I'm the target, right? If it's me, then let's skip the talking!"
"Let me see just how vast the gap between a god and me truly is!"
The moment she shouted these words, her trembling body sprang into motion, leaping with wild abandon as she unleashed the full power of her ice abilities.
"Haah—!"
With a swing of her sword-wielding arm, she aimed at the god in the sky.
In an instant, blue light erupted in the space before her.
Crack! Crack!
The deafening sound of glaciers grinding against the earth filled the air as towering ice mountains, thousands of meters tall, rose in the blink of an eye, reaching toward the god in the heavens.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Hundreds of these massive ice peaks emerged with speeds far beyond human comprehension.
One moment, the landscape was a grassland. The next, it had transformed into a glacial expanse spanning dozens of miles. The temperature plummeted by 200 degrees Celsius, nearing absolute zero.
Asmoday, her expression cold and unflinching, raised her hand. A crimson spatial cube materialized in her palm—the condensed manifestation of the laws of space.
This was not merely the control of laws that an ordinary demon god might wield. It was the mastery of authority, achieved only when the laws were fully integrated.
"Hmph."
With a cold snort, she acted.
Buzz—
The space around Esdeath froze in an instant, as though she were encased in a transparent block of glass.
Mid-leap in the air, Esdeath's body came to an abrupt halt. Yet, she paid no mind to her immobilization. Her attack had already been launched at the god, and her ice-blue eyes burned with unrelenting fervor.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Hundreds of colossal ice mountains and sharp peaks crashed into Asmoday. For a moment, the sky for miles around was consumed by a massive, inverted pyramid of ice.
The inverted ice mountains didn't last more than two seconds before being obliterated by a torrent of crimson spatial cubes.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
No, not obliterated—consumed. The massive glaciers spanning several kilometers were devoured in an instant by the countless crimson cubes, surging like a flood.
The cubes then coalesced into massive serpentine forms, dozens in number, and surged toward the immobilized Esdeath.
Esdeath's ice-blue eyes reflected the unscathed figure of the god, not even a single strand of her hair disturbed.
"What? My full strength… it didn't even so much as touch her hair!"
"Ahhhhhhhhh—!"
Perhaps from the sheer force of pouring all her energy into the attack, her body felt like it was pushing past its limits. Esdeath screamed as she tried to break through the spatial seal that bound her.
An even brighter blue aura flared around her, illuminating her body.
Crack! Crack!
Under the glow of her ice power, even time itself seemed to slow, on the verge of freezing at absolute zero.
But before she could shatter the seal, the serpentine streams of spatial cubes overwhelmed her, flooding her entire being.
Thousands upon thousands of cubes rapidly closed in on Esdeath, shrinking into a single golden cube that encapsulated her.
In the blink of an eye, the golden cube appeared in Asmoday's hand.
"A near-complete mastery of rules, yet still unrefined into authority," she said coldly as she stared at the golden cube containing Esdeath.
Without sparing even a glance at the million-strong army, whose faces were twisted in terror, Asmoday turned.
Behind her, space ripped open, forming a massive portal. She stepped through, and the spatial tear closed swiftly behind her.
What remained was a vast field of glaciers, spanning tens of kilometers—the aftermath of a single exchange—and a million soldiers paralyzed in fear, unable to process what had just occurred.
When the overwhelming pressure finally dissipated, Esdeath's direct subordinates, the Three Beasts, were the first to regain their senses.
Liver, trembling and his face pale with terror, stammered, "G-Gen-General Esdeath… was k-killed by a god…"
Nyau glanced down at his soaking trousers, his voice shaking as he whispered, "In an instant… General Esdeath was defeated in a single instant. This… this is what a god is…"
The million-strong army remained in a stupor, their minds blank with terror. Most of them had already lost their sanity, with their mounts collapsing, eyes rolled back, unable to recover.
Not long ago, they had been consumed by the madness of wanting to challenge a god. Now, their leader had been confronted by that god and instantly defeated.
So… was it true? To blaspheme a god was to be marked by the god's gaze?
One officer finally broke down, sobbing and wailing, not from grief at Esdeath's defeat but from sheer terror at the unfathomable display of divine power.
"The General has been killed by a god! Quickly, send word to the Imperial Capital!"
…
Amidst the chaos of the million-strong army, Asmoday had already returned to Celestia.
Emerging from the world gate, she lowered her head respectfully toward Noah, seated on his throne, resting his cheek against his hand as he watched her.
"Master, the task is complete," she reported.
She presented the golden cube in her palm to him.
Noah reached out and plucked the golden cube from her hand, smiling approvingly. "Well done. As expected of my most reliable subordinate."
Although Asmoday's expression remained stoic, her golden eyes softened slightly, revealing her satisfaction at the praise.
The sight made Noah inwardly smirk. Phanes truly was an expert at cultivating loyalty. Just a few words of praise, and she's this happy.
She doesn't even expect tangible rewards—just a compliment or two. Yet even that was something Phanes was stingy about.
Noah tossed the golden cube to the ground at his feet. It expanded to two meters in size, revealing Esdeath, frozen within.
The cube vanished, and Esdeath emerged, kneeling on both knees before him.
Noah leaned on his throne, gazing at her with amusement.
Her white naval-style uniform, reminiscent of a major, did little to contain her ample chest, leaving two buttons undone. Her ice-blue hair cascaded to the floor as she knelt.
"I'm… not dead?"
Esdeath felt a heavy dizziness in her head, though her mind was surprisingly clear.
If she wasn't dead, it meant she had been captured by the god. She wasn't bound like a prisoner, which made sense—mortal restraints were unnecessary in the presence of a god.
Raising her head, the first thing she saw was the figure sitting casually on a grand, divine throne.
The young god who had captured her sat with an air of authority, his servant standing deferentially by his side.
Her eyes met his golden gaze, and she froze, her very soul seemingly ensnared.
The aura of absolute supremacy overwhelmed her. Resistance was futile; even the thought of opposing him failed to surface in her mind.
In his eyes, she saw the rise and fall of civilizations, the end of time, the creation of worlds, and the destruction of apocalypses…
He spoke, his voice pulling her back to reality.
"Esdeath, from this moment forward, you are mine. You… don't have any objections, do you?"
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