Chapter 343: Ch 343 : The Weeds in The Garden

“Now, I can finally focus on capturing this entire multiverse in the palm of my hand,” Sunny whispered to the cold, echoing stillness of the throne room. “But a gardener cannot cultivate a paradise until he has plucked the weeds from his garden.”

Sunny’s eyes ignited with a brilliant, molten gold. He leaned back, expanding his consciousness until his God’s Domain blanketed every star system, every nebulous cloud, and every hidden rift within the bubble. In this state, he was no longer a man; he was the sentient nervous system of the multiverse.

He saw them.

Far out on the fringes of the territory, where the light of the central stars began to fray into the void, a darkness was manifesting. It wasn’t the natural dark of space, but a greasy shadow. At the heart of this rot stood a handsome, smiling figure with eyes that held the warmth of a frozen sun.

Belial, the Demon Lord of Lies. Behind him, arrayed in a terrifying formation that stretched across light-years, were more than 2,000 Demon Gods. It was an armada of sin, a force capable of snuffing out entire civilizations in a single breath.

Sunny didn’t hesitate. He focused his gaze directly onto the center of the demonic horde.

The Demon Gods shuddered. It felt as if an invisible, titanic hand had descended from the heavens, pushing them downward toward an abyss of absolute nothingness.

The vacuum of space seemed to thicken, turning into lead. Even the strongest among them felt their knees buckle against this terrifying pressure.

They looked around frantically, searching for a fleet or a titan, but they saw only the silent stars. They realized then that the source of this pressure was out of their reach, a power that looked down on them from a higher plane of existence.

“Cosmos…” Belial’s voice drifted through the void, smooth and melodic. He adjusted his silk-like robes, moving his hand in a slow, circular motion. “I gave you a few years to play king, to enjoy the little life you’ve built. But it seems you are in a hurry to reach the end of your story.”

With a flick of Belial’s wrist, the initial pressure dissipated. The Demon Gods sucked in gasps of tainted mana, feeling their hearts beat once more.

But Sunny wasn’t finished. “You think a small breeze can move a mountain, Belial?”

The pressure returned, ten times more powerful than before. Sunny began to cycle through his God’s Authority, stacking ten separate SS-Grade talents purely focused on Aura, Gravity, and Spiritual Pressure.

The space around the demonic army began to warp and groan. The Handsome Face of Belial finally lost its composure; his brow furrowed, and a vein pulsed in his temple. He snapped his fingers, creating a shimmering, obsidian domain that shielded his subordinates.

The Demon Gods fell to their knees inside the dome, panting like dogs.

“It must be exhausting to baby-sit so many weaklings,” Sunny’s voice echoed through the void, sounding amused and dangerously casual. “Why don’t you let me do you a favor and kill them all for good? It would save us both a lot of paperwork.”

Belial regained his smile, though it didn’t reach his eyes. “The same logic could be applied to your precious ’Gods,’ Cosmos. They are even more fragile than these mongrels. How about you let me slaughter them for you? Taking care of 6 billion ants would be a piece of cake for a Lord.”

Sunny chuckled. He had expected the retort. He was about to escalate the psychological warfare, to plant the seeds of doubt that would make Belial hesitate, when another voice, ancient, heavy, and resonant intervened.

“The Gods of our empire are growing with every second that passes, Belial. But these ’good-for-nothings’ behind you? They reached their ceiling eons ago.”

The voice didn’t come from a single point. It vibrated from the very fabric of the multiverse, as if the space itself were speaking.

Belial’s face went pale. The blood drained from his lips. “Adam?” he whispered under his breath. The name was so low that even his Demon Gods couldn’t hear it, but to Sunny and the speaker, it was a thunderclap.

“Yes,” the voice boomed. “And I have too much to say to you, and a few techniques I’ve been dying to practice on a Lord’s hide.”

The space in front of Belial screamed as it was torn apart from the inside. From the rift stepped a man who looked like the very concept of vitality.

Adam, the Ex-God King and God of Growth, stood in the open void, his aura expanding until it rivaled Belial’s own.

“Long time no see, Belial,” Adam said, his eyes burning with a cold, focused light. “How about we take this little dispute outside this multiverse? You can even call your brothers. I’ll show you why your whole race once feared the God of Growth.”

Sunny watched the exchange through his mental link. ’Adam, what are you doing?’ Sunny projected. ’I know you’re trying to help, but if you fight him out there, you’re risking a one of your lives.. or maybe lifetime of torture”

Sunny’s strategy was simple: bluff Belial into believing that the City of Gods possessed a “hidden trump card” so terrifying that the Demon Lord would retreat to consolidate his forces.

To capture the entire multiverse into his soul, Sunny needed the absolute submission of every lifeform. The presence of 2,000 hostile Demon Gods was a “variable” that prevented the final integration.

’It is the minimum I can do for our empire, Emperor,’ Adam replied, his mental voice steady and profound. ’I have nine lives to give. I will spend one to buy you the time you need.’

Sunny felt a pang of appreciation for the old King’s loyalty. But Belial was not easily swayed.

The Demon Lord of Lies looked at Adam, then at the unseen presence of Cosmos. “Why go outside?” Belial asked, his voice dripping with sudden, venomous resolve.

“I think I’ll stay right here. Even if I die… I will have the satisfaction of watching your little garden burn. At least then, I can show my face to the other Lords.”

The cold water of reality hit Sunny. The bluff had failed; Belial’s pride…. or perhaps his fear of the other Lords was greater than his fear of death.

’Well… what now, Emperor?’ Adam asked mentally, his posture shifting into a combat stance as the Demon Gods behind Belial began to chant.

“What else can we do?” Sunny’s voice resonated through the space.

Just beside Adam, the air distorted into a violet-gold vortex. Sunny stepped out of the rift, his cosmic robes fluttering in the vacuum, his mask gleaming under the light of distant stars.

“…apart from fighting?” Sunny completed his sentence, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Adam.

Belial stared at Cosmos. For a moment, he found himself being pulled into the swirling, multi-tonal eyes of the mask… a sensation of falling into a bottomless well of history. He shook his head violently, his eyes narrowing.

“Your aura…” Belial whispered, a genuine tremor of confusion in his voice. “It’s familiar. It’s like a scent I haven’t smelled in an age. I felt this… a long time ago, before even demonic realm was even a concept”

Belial’s eyes went wide. “Who… or what are you really, Cosmos?”

Sunny didn’t answer. He simply raised his Void Hand, and the stars around the demonic army began to dim as he started to use the Law of Annihilation of Thera.

“I am the gardener,” Sunny said, his voice cold and absolute. “And you are the weed.”

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