Chapter 243: Chapter 242: The Battle For Humanity Conclusion

The Final Surrenders

As Carl disappeared, the goddess’ departed, as Tiamutael told his mums he was pulling them back.

“No, gather the others and those who surrendered, we’re up against a tricky one so send them to recruit or decimate the others together.” Kyubi’s words were a surprise, but he could see what they meant.

For whatever reason, the one they were against hadn’t been effected by Kitsunoko’s attack and was proving far more difficult than the others, whilst at the same time a bad match for Klaire and Kyubi.

Doing as his mum had told him, he gathered the others together; Amaterasu, Squidge, Sol-Devourer, Equinox, Sol and Venusiah.

He then updated them all on the situation and passed along his mothers’ orders.

“Tiamutael, honestly, what chance does your father have in an all-out battle against Gilgamesh?” Sol gave Jupiterran a look as he spoke so casually to their vanquishers, which Tiamutael took as dissent and pushed his presence onto him.

Even weakened, the sight of Sol trembling made the others acknowledge the young dragon’s power. “Gilgamesh stands no chance, Dad will destroy him without issue. What worries me is how Ki-ko must know that but still did something insane, so I have to think there is something else at play even I can’t see.”

Everyone nodded, deciding it would be best to get a move on so they were ready if called for.

“So how many of us are actually left?”

“Three and a bit, Tenko is taking his time with Terra.”

“Good, Gilgamesh really pushed his luck asking me to defend the witch.”

“Enough. I’m sending you all now, but I’m getting pretty tired so try to portal over to the others while I head back.”

As they all found themselves in a courtyard the surrendered recognised as Satur’s domain.

He was standing ready, a blade in each hand and for a moment, they thought he was going to resist surrendering. When he saw those accompanying his old compatriots however, he planted the blades into the ground.

“Thank the laws, for a moment I thought I was a goner. I surrender, totally. No need to worry, Infinity itself warned me of the price of defiance when it ran screaming from Kitsunoko.”

Equinox couldn’t resist chuckling, having experienced a similar sensation from both Chaos and Order and though he didn’t know it, Tiamutael had felt it from Infinity and Nothingness.

As he chuckled, he prepared the contract and presented it to Satur. “You mentioned the young lady by name, what else did Infinity tell you? We’re rather in the dark ourselves.”

“Nothing really, they speak more through feelings than actual words, I just happen to be good at reading those. That’s how I saved you from the witch, didn’t I tell you to practice, Jupiterran? It would have come in handy for what happens next.”

When Equinox narrowed his eyes, Satur signed quickly to show he wasn’t stalling and then explained that he could sense that aside from those present, only Mercurian was alive and not in combat.

His uncertainty regarding what decision Mercurian would make filled the others with trepidation, but the surprisingly light-hearted Satur didn’t seem overly concerned, more like it would have just made things easier.

When he was all signed up, Satur extended a hand to Equinox, saying he could implant the location for Mercurian. Equinox looked at him, then took his hand.

The truth was that he had already memorised the coordinates of every location he might need to open a portal to, because he could sense Klaire and Kyubi, he already knew exactly where to go and yet it seemed a good opportunity to test his trustworthiness.

When it proved valid, he opened the portal and stepped was about to step through, but then they all froze.

Their attention pulled to where Carl was with Gilgamesh, sensing something abhorrent emerging at their location.

The stomachs of all those that had been keeping an eye on the situation churned, Squidge found himself completely reduced to a puddle.

“What the hell is that!?” Equinox growled, semi-transforming out of sheer repulsion.

“It’s revolting, we have to go!” Sol-Devourer roared.

“It’s him, Carl needs us!” Amaterasu added, about to open a portal.

“Ahem! Please do continue, it is time for me to take the stage, I’ll make sure this story gets an ending that leaves us all happy.” The voice they heard was undoubtedly that of Illerion and they knew she had more hope than any to be of assistance.

“Tiamutael, Squidge is in no shape to stay, get him to Lillim until he can recover. Everyone else, let’s get this over with, we can’t waste any time now.”

“Equinox, I know I’m just a prisoner of war, but breathe…” Satur found his soul partially separated from nothing but the glare Equinox gave him. “…Seriously, if we go into this riled up, Mercurian won’t trust you.”

“It’s true. He always says “The righteous have no need to rush”, if it looks like we’re in haste he will doubt us and slow us, trying to determine our true nature. Remember, he can’t use his senses to see what’s going on elsewhere, he might assume this is a coup.”

Equinox listened, for any hint of deception and did his best to compose himself when he found none.

He then opened the portal and they all stepped through.

Mercurian’s domain was akin to museum, the walls lined with flags, the ground littered with display cases that protected articles within.

Whilst some pieces were entirely unique, the theme was obvious. Everything in his collection was what could be salvaged of the country he had founded, a shrine in honour of what used to be.

It was akin to the way a father might cherish the items left behind by a lost son. Some items seemed to be preserved regalia, others common tools and even a timeline formed by maps to show the nation’s development and decline over hundreds of years.

It was a collection that had been loved and well-tended, with some showing signs of restoration and others showing signs that the founding father disapproved of what it represented and only kept it for prosperity’s sake.

Equinox immediately moved them all away and erected a barrier over as much as he could, conjuring a laugh from the man standing amongst the mementos of his fallen legacy.

“Why do you encase my collection?”

“To put it simply, my creator is a father. I think he would be displeased with us if we accidentally destroyed any of it.” It was clear from his uneven tone that Equinox himself was struggling to understand, despite his use of the word “simply”.

“So… Sol, Venusiah, Juppiterran, Marsian and Satur. More than half our number stand with you and I have seen enough war to know that means we’ve lost.”

“I hate to admit it, but no. Our leader now confronts yours, but he must have sensed the same thing, because he decided to call on Margo.”

The man had almost struck the case he was next to out of reflexive anger, but stopped himself just short. “He has shown his true colours, but I have yet to know yours.”

“Mine are irrelevant, I am his creation and will not defy his will. It will be him you are surrendering to, besides, mine are technically shades as I am as black and white as they come.”

“No one who has emotions is black and white, emotions mix us all into shades of grey. How old are you dragon? a few hundred? A few thousand years?”

“About four months old give or take. As I said, I am a creation of Carl’s.”

“Surely you are like that creature born of Bakunawa though, I’m just not familiar with the essence at your core.”

“Afraid not, I started as many that then became two and finally one. My creator is truly gifted at his specialty. Even if you added the ages of every creature used to make me, it would scarcely be enough time to hatch a dragon egg.”

“So he rushes….”

Equinox groaned, seeing the meaning of what the others had warned him in Mercurian’s eyes. “Yes, he does. I know your thoughts on those who rush, but if he hadn’t been rushing this whole time, how many would have died?

I’m sure my creator would have loved to ignore you all for a few years, in fact he said so several times. To hold his children, to play with them, to love his wife and fiancé and be a husband and partner to them, but how could he?

How could he have held his children and loves with hands stained by blood through inaction? How could he enjoy time with his family and friends while watching people plot to take them away?…”

Equinox found himself growing angry at the implication and gestured to everything around him.

“…How did taking your time help, until it came time to remember rather than save? He may be immortal, but that is new, he still remembers clearly how quickly time can slip through your fingers…”

The Final Battle

It wasn’t by luck that Klaire and Kyubi had found themselves together where they did, but recognition. From any distance it was clear that their opponent had somehow retained much more strength than the others and they didn’t want to take chances.

A war is a delicate thing and any disruption and every second can shift the course of the entire thing.

The being in question was entirely dependant on psychic and spiritual means, though Klaire’s title of quickest kill against Plutinas had rendered the latter neutralised in light of her greater degree of mastery.

Of course he still had access to those means, but separating from your soul in the presence of a banshee made you a take-out meal, not a tactician. Especially when that banshee was a light eater normally and found herself famished amidst the physical and mental fatigue of battle.

It was such an unexpected and distracting level of hunger, the moment it hit left her on the defensive, but when Kyubi arrived again her heart leapt as the battle changed.

The most annoying thing was that his defensive abilities were superb. twinned Soul and Mind affinities were rare and having them was vital for defending their aspects in your own being i.e. your soul and mind forms.

Being a master in both meant he could protect every layer of himself at the same time and resist Klaire’s howling,

“You should have surrendered. We may be a bad match for you, but if one of the others with the brute strength to smash through that barrier comes…”

“Don’t get arrogant because you killed Plutinas girl.”

“How about me? I just left Tenko torturing Terra.” Kyubi’s plan worked and it made him falter, if but for an instant.

The moment it did, Klaire took aim and fired a round from the marksman rifle she was using to probe his barrier for a precise weak spot. She was getting tempted to just recreate her attack that had decimate Plutinas’ planet, but that was something even she considered overkill and was an accident in the first place.

Still the brewing temptation didn’t go unnoticed by her opponent.

Sensing a desire in her to flip the board and end the game instantly, he realised that playing defensive was not an option. He had assumed that everyone was staying put in their own domains to await orders, or to divide forces, but if what Kyubi said about leaving Tenko to torture Terra was true then there must be something else going on.

’Don’t tell me that thing with the fox-spirit phantoms weakened them all… If it did, I have made a gross miscalculation.’

Suddenly the great hall marred in darkness where they fought broke apart, reforming to create a barrier between himself and the intruders. He then released dozens of fragments of his soul and imbued them with fragments of his mind, turning them into a legion of phantoms of his own.

He then sent them to harang the enemy, who unbeknownst to him had let their guard down for a second as they convened regarding a message they had just received from their son asking them to retreat and take charge of those who had surrendered.

As a result, they didn’t sense what was going on behind cover and the phantoms phasing through the rock shield, pushed them back in order to have enough time to deal with them.

Each one they destroyed would damage him, Neptunia knew this, but if he could deal with them and get to one of the others then…

’What!? Where did they all go? I can only sense Terra and she has clearly weakened and become useless, the only other option is…’

His mind fell silent as he honed in on Gilgamesh.

He, his legion, Kyubi and Klaire all fell still.

There is little in existence as harrowing as a battlefield that made the world shake around it, suddenly falling so quiet that a baby could slumber with ease, but that is nothing compared to the harrowing sensation of Margo arriving where Carl and Gilgamesh both were.

The combatants became a spellbound audience, Klaire trembled at the memory of dying, of the broken body of Carl being cast out of his realm and slamming into the table, sights burned into her mind which remained a festering wound Margo’s presence scratched at.

Kyubi pulled herself together just enough to regroup with her and take over responsibility for their defence if anything changed.

What she didn’t know, is that the moment it happened Neptunia realised that their leader had essentially cast any hope of recovery aside and in doing so robbed him of any hope of survival.

He had grossly misread the situation, acted on the assumption they held the power, that the enemies blatant guerilla tactics were a sign of their lack of individual powers.

Every such notion had been proven wrong, he had slapped away the young girl’s seemingly ludicrous notion of surrender, attacked the enemy’s matriarch even though Plutinas’ harsh words alone had cost him greatly.

In his mind, he was already dead.

Venusiah’s ravings about the unblinking eyes of a dragon-god tracking them had sounded like delusions born of cowardice. Reframed by the precision strikes employed against them though, maddened ravings warped into insightful warnings dismissed in ignorance.

He was alone, rejected what was surely a one time chance to surrender, outwitted, outgunned, out maneuvered and in short out of options.

He decided the moment Margo’s power froze them to use what time it afforded to hope they calmed down and reproposed surrender, but what followed was a haunting voice that echoed through his domain as he heard the message his opponents received from an ally.

“Ahem! Please do continue, it is time for me to take the stage, I’ll make sure all is well.”

The power behind the voice was easily on par with any of the powers that left a chaotic tangle of auras emanating from the place where only Carl, Gilgamesh and Margo had been a fraction of an instant before.

Whilst he had been robbed of his actual ascension, he had retained the enhanced perception, but as they watched with bated breath.

It was the moment that followed Ishtar’s bisection of Margo’s neck and head however that left him resigned. As Gilgamesh impacted the wall and began to scream as he was eaten from the inside out by a star that burned away existence and non-existence alike.

Watching their master fall by Carl’s hand was practically poetic tragedy. The two-third god that had fought the gods as an underdog before rising to the position of shadow leader, beaten by what they thought to be a fully human child with no desire to lead or even fight.

On top of that, he seemed to have a strange gift for making allies, even amongst the committee there were some becoming vocal supporters. Gilgamesh had allowed it, but his mind was clear that he did so only to eliminate them all together and sent an example that scared the fence-sitters into submission.

If only they had known the extent of his power, of his network of allies. As high as their estimations and expectations were, this battle proved they were hopes of a best case scenario.

They had only one hope and it was to kneel and obey the moment they learnt of him, but no. Instead they chose to incite hatred toward those he cherished, Isolate him from those he cherished, attack the ones he cherished, let others attack the ones he cherished and then even as he gave them a demonstration of his ability to defend against the undefendable and smash through his limits.

How did they respond? “On your way, grab any dissidents you want, we don’t need them in our faction.”

They should have all seen the madness of Gilgamesh in that moment, but they were too busy hiding from the aftermath of Carl sending his curse back at them to notice.

When they saw the base on Pluto crumble apart, he thought his life would end immediately, but then he noticed the fox more concerned about the banshee than finishing their fight.

He felt a glimmer of hope, a chance to flee in their distraction, hope which died as he heard a thought.

’Sweetie, don’t lose him.’

That was his first time experiencing what had been named “Venusiah’s Phantom” as a way to mock her, but as the piercing gaze fell upon him bearing the combined weight of Nothingness and Infinity,

The words slipped out, desperate and pitiful, the dying wish of a broken man. “I’ll do anything. Please, just don’t kill me.”

When he heard laughter, he smiled having thought as much. He couldn’t blame them, if their positions were reversed, he’d have done no different. The only thing that did surprise him and confuse him just as much, were the words that followed.

“Why don’t we just get our precious little boy to look at people looking for a fight from the start?”

“Because, there is a certain elf that found it adorable and I would rather him not catch the eye of anymore like that one.”

’Me either, Mum.’

“Good boy. I’m okay now Kyubi, thank you. Go and get him contracted, the sooner he is, the sooner we can put an end to Margo.”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep