Chapter 25: "Sword"
Chapter 25: "Sword"
The projection swirled around Aucuses, depicting civilization's progress and development through the ages. As he looked at it, he became slightly depressed.
He is human, even if he is not biologically human, since he is now a mythical creature, or, more precisely, his existence is similar to that of an abstract entity that is anything but human.
However, despite the vastly different circumstances in this and previous lives, he still considers himself human, for he was born as a human in both of his lives.
So seeing all of this had a big impact on him for a moment, especially when some tried to combine with the characteristics that evoked some of his past memories, which he wanted to avoid.
Aucuses was born in the second epoch and had never met his parents; for all he knew, he was always all alone from the beginning.
He danced on the edge of a knife every day in that depraved era when humans were at the bottom of the food chain and were even raised as livestock by mythical races. There was no morality in that era for law of jungle reigned supreme.
You could just be looking for food one day, but there's also a huge chance you could have an accidental encounter with a mad ancient god. That time period was truly insane. Those who managed to survive that period went through literal hell.
And he was able to survive because he possessed power of light; to be more specific, he would be equivalent to sequence 5 of this era.
He also saw many people attempting to combine with the characteristics in order to become stronger and survive.
Despite the fact that he also accumulated many characteristics with which he felt affinity towards, but he never attempted to combine them recklessly. As he saw what could happen if it failed, the thought of losing all humanity and becoming a mindless monster, always haunted him.
But, his life was turned upside down when the war ravaged the land, destroying his hope and life in the process.
He still remembered, his teenage self running from the horde of demons chasing him, while holding the characteristics in his hand. The demons were far more powerful than him.
It drove him to desperation, to the point where he didn't care about the consequences and instead wanted to combine with the characteristics to just have silver of chance.
However, that's when his life changed, because he ran into someone at that precise moment.
It was a man dressed in black clergy robes with a silver cross around his neck. He had pure golden eyes that was like the sun. He also had a black slate in his hands.
When Aucuces looked at the man at the time, he had the illusion that he was looking at the literal sun itself for a brief moment.
That man saved him that day and forever changed his life...
Aucuces felt somewhat complex as memories of that time flashed through his mind, but he quickly pushed the thoughts aside and looked at Lilith, who was actually smiling.
"Your plan really worked." Lilith's voice was slightly trembling as she spoke. She didn't realise whether it was happiness or overwhelming relief that washed over her, finally knowing she wasn't going to die.
"Indeed." When Aucuces' eyes met Lilith's, he smiled slightly as the complexity in his eyes faded.
At the same time, a figure appeared out of thin air behind them, revealing Artisan.
"I didn't expect..." Artisan mumbled to himself as he looked at his work. It truly astounded him at the power of civilization at the time, which could block a pillar. He knew what a pillar represented, which only added to his astonishment at what they had accomplished.
"Even though humanity is small in the infinite cosmos, we are capable of performing impossible feats and miracles when we work together." Aucuces spoke lightly, his gaze fixed on the Aristan. He wasn't surprised by their success now; in fact, he expected it.
It wouldn't be wrong to say that the entire human civilization was shielding them and protecting them from the literal pillar of cosmos at the time.
This scroll is much stronger than it was in the original future, when artisan used it during Klein's apotheosis. This will also give artisan a significant advantage when he ascends to paragon.
Aucuces would not be surprised if the artisan named himself god of steam and machinery rather than god of craftsmanship.
Aucuces knew it was all because of his own decisions, which had drastically altered the future at this point.
However, given his current situation, he no longer cares about the future.
Roar!
A rage-filled roar shook the entire projection, as blood ocean covered it and waves of oceans trashed into the scroll, attempting to break it apart.
"This will only buy us some time, but it won't last long against 'Her.'" Lilith said as she gazed at the blood ocean, her heart finally calmed down.
"In this situation, there is only one way to win." Aucuces' face became solemn as he spoke. "Because if this continues, this situation will devolve into an attrition battle, which we will lose."
"So, let's annihilate this entire reality." Aucuces said it simply, as if it were nothing more than a simple task.
Artisan was once again taken aback by the sun god's bold new idea. But, after seeing what they had accomplished, he had no doubts in the sun god anymore.
"How are we going to pull it off?" Lilith immediately questioned, she also appeared to believe Aucuces' crazy plan.
"Can you make a weapon right away?" Aucuces did not respond to Lilith, instead questioning the artisan.
"Yes." Artisan nodded before pulling another golden-glittering scroll from his coat and opening it.
"We simply enter the information into this scroll. Then it will be completed, but there is a requirement for characteristics, for the weapon to have some power, or it will be nothing more than ordinary." Artisan explained.
"Give it to me." Aucuces grabbed the scroll right away, opened it, and instructed. "Ombella bless the authority of the "desolate" on the weapon while it is forming."
Lilith didn't hesitate to follow his instructions, pressing her hand against the scroll, brown light erupting from the contact and illuminating it.
Aucuces' tapped his finger on the golden scroll at the same time, and as light also appeared from the contact, an image of the weapon began to form on the scroll according to his memories. He also blessed his authority of "Sun" and "Order" at this moment.
Instead of using the characteristics, Aucuces' simply planned to replace it with their authorities, which the weapon should be able to withstand.
Soon, the image of the weapon was fully formed, thanks to the blessings of two gods and combination of various authorities.
Aucuces is doing this rather than simply combining Lilith and his authorities to pull an ultimate move, because while combining the authorities sounds simple, it takes a lot of time, which they don't have right now. As a result, he couldn't think of a more efficient solution than creating a weapon, which takes far less time.
Boom! Boom!
The projection around them was becoming increasingly blurry, as if it was about to break under the assault of the mother goddess of depravity.
Aucuces' didn't hesitate any longer, and tapped the image of the weapon, causing it to light up and ripples apprered around the scroll.
The weapon then slowly emerged from the scroll, under their attention.
It was a weapon that was golden and red in colour. It appeared to be a sword, but it had an unusual shape that did not correspond to what would normally be classified as something specialised like a sword. It felt more like something that existed before the concept known as a "sword" appeared in the world. As a result, it is not a true sword, nor does it have the shape of any known blade.
This weapon was based on the sword of rupture, Ea, which also had the ability to tear the entire reality apart.
Aucuces took the handle of the sword that had formed according to his memories.
The sword in his hands spun as the aura of annihilation began to radiate from it, with red light covering the entire sword.
"Take away the scroll."
Then he yelled at artisan as he noticed the projection dimming and the eyes of the mother goddess of depravity staring at him from behind it.
The projection vanished, and they were confronted by mother goddess of depravity, who was floating directly in front of them.
Aucuces' aimed the sword at 'Her,' and surprisingly, 'She' seemed to have anticipated this, as a crimson curtain appeared around her and protected her, while the blood ocean flowed towards them.
But Aucuces didn't care, and he poured all of his power into his weapon, causing it to visibly shake and crack.
A blazing ball of red light gathered at the tip of the sword, which looked like a red sun from afar.
"This will be your last time on earth!" As he looked at 'Her,' he said with a grin on his lips. "Die, Bitch!"
Boom!
The red sun in the sword imploded, causing scorching glare of red light to erupt and spread outward in all directions, submerging and annihilating everything in its path.
As, 'She' saw what this earth god managed to pull up again, her eyes were filled with genuine shock. 'She' used her reaming power without hesitation because she perceived a real threat from it.
However, it was useless....
The red light formed from their combined power tore the crimson curtain and immediately submerged 'Her.' The cries of anguish and rage echoed before dying away.
Soon, the red light then engulfed this entire reality, annihilating everything.
Crack! Crack!
The reality created by sefirot eventually started breaking under their combined power and began to show cracks all over, as if it were nothing more than a broken mirror.
Boom!
Finally, reality collapsed on itself, as everything crashed and broke before their eyes like shards of mirror.