—–

“Haaa… Unnnggh… It is still not completely healed. Why? It is as if that black hole was composed of millions of curses… What sort of monster could have created something like this? He? He did it? No, that is impossible… I cannot believe it. I refuse to believe such a thing!”

Lisette gasped for air, coughing violently as she quickly stood up. She looked around, exhausted. She was deep inside a giant burning crater of her own creation.

After Louis had unleashed that deadly black hole, she and Minato had been pulled into it. They had taken massive damage before barely managing to escape.

“It is still there… the entire dungeon is coming apart,” she muttered, gazing around in confusion. “This is strange. This dungeon should be much tougher… Minato said the Venerable was completely gone? But how… ugh?!”

Lisette suddenly vomited a mouthful of blood. She realized a part of her power was completely gone. Her eyes widened in shock as she understood that the power granted to her by the Venerable had vanished without a trace.

“T-The Venerable’s Stigma! It is gone?! The power I possessed as his Apostle is gone too! W-Why?! What is happening?!” she screamed, smashing the ground with her fist. Cracks spread across the surface, forcing the core to combust as lava poured everywhere. She ignored it completely. “Grrrr… No matter! I can finish him off! I can kill this damn remnant as many times as I need!”

She spread her ten wings and soared into the skies. Her body resembled a serpentine white-and-gray dragon covered in bright red eyes that dotted her horrible form.

As she reached the upper atmosphere, another powerful presence found her. Minato teleported to her side through a Gate of the Abyss. He emerged completely unscathed, unlike her.

“Lisette, don’t tell me you took damage from that…” he said.

“Minato?! You fell into the black hole as well. How are you unharmed?!” Lisette gasped.

“I managed to escape in time and received no substantial damage,” Minato explained. “More importantly… Where is he?! I cannot feel his presence! Has he used that bizarre technique again or…”

“No, he is completely gone, but not… entirely,” Lisette groaned. “He has gone into hiding somewhere…”

“Could it be that such a spell was all he could manage after all this time?” Minato wondered.

“It would make sense now, seeing how he did not try to kill us while the black hole sucked us inside,” Lisette said, thinking. “Perhaps the coward does not know how to deal with us beyond that spell?”

“It was gigantic. Whatever it was, it must have cost him all his energy. By now he must have expended most of his reserves…” Minato said. “Or not… We cannot be too sure.”

“You are being too cautious again, Minato. That bastard is merely a weak remnant. We have killed thousands before, right?” Lisette asked. “Some could put up a good fight, but none would ever compare to the Original, let alone to us, the Apostles of the Venerables.”

“The problem is, the Venerables are gone,” Minato said. “Or at least the one helping us… our master.”

“He must be hiding his presence…” Lisette said. She did not want to believe anything could ever happen to a Venerable.

“Why would you say such a stupid thing? Our Stigmas are gone. The Venerable either ran away and left us here without his power or… he was killed,” Minato narrowed his eyes.

“Killed?! Hahaha! What sort of nonsense are you speaking now, you utter fool?!” Lisette laughed.

“It would not be the first time… The Calendar Venerable, Lord Oblivion’s Eyes, is completely gone now,” Minato said. “And…”

“That was only because that damned Fairy weakened him!” Lisette snapped. “Who would have thought that nasty Oberon had left a powerful concentration of his primordial divinity within Louis? And especially this Louis. It had never happened anywhere else…”

“Perhaps the other Louis never met the conditions,” Minato explained. “But this one was chosen by Fate to receive the Heart of Time… You would have thought the second or the third would be chosen, but not… the eleven thousandth.”

“It was indeed a random pattern… Nonetheless, he has no such power on his own!” Lisette said. “And there is no way he could have grown so strong while dying endlessly, right? Even if he did! It is utterly impossible for him to reach our level! We are Tier 0 Beyonders! Unlike the Venerables, who were artificially made and assimilated, we are much more than them.”

“Are you implying we are stronger?” Minato asked. “I suppose so… Unlike the Venerables, who specialized in Cosmic Body Projection to spread their power everywhere, we have kept ours concentrated within our physical vessels…”

Indeed, that was the major difference that made them so distinct and considerably stronger than the Venerables in one-on-one combat. Minato and Lisette had not expanded their cosmic power and selves across the universe to serve as Oblivion’s senses.

Thus, they were much more comparable to the “Venerables” on Earth, such as the Great Headless Venerable of Nine Suns and The One-Hundred Limbed Fallen Abyssal Mother. Two total opposites that were always fighting for resources and territory within the planet.

“See now? There is nothing to fear. Ah! He is coming!”

Lisette smiled as the sky above them cracked open as if shattered. A titanic being emerged, shocking them both.

“Wha…?”

“W-What is… that?!”

Their mouths fell open at the sight of a gigantic, planet-sized monstrosity. A massive dragon of white and golden scales, with eight wings, eight arms, ten tails, immense musculature, and long horns.

He was so massive that each of his scales was the size of a continent!

“An illusion?” Lisette asked.

“No… this is… his true body?” Minato gasped. “He… he truly… wait… no, but that is…!”

Minato then realized the worst-case scenario. Louis’s true body exuded the power of not one but two Venerables within him.

The Seat of Observation and Judgement, the Ancient Celestial Calendar Venerable, and the Seat of Devouring Hunger, the Abyss-Devouring Gluttonous Tyrant.

“Dragon… Claw.”

Louis did not even give them time to accept reality. His gigantic, titanic golden claws rushed down, crashing through the planet’s surface and splitting it apart. Its core combusted and exploded everywhere.

BOOOMMM!!!

Lisette and Minato had narrowly escaped by bending space and dimensions through their unique techniques.

“It is real. This is real… This damn bastard! What… What did he do?! How could he become this powerful?!”

“It is reality. We must accept it and fight… Even in his current form, he is susceptible to damage, especially now that he is so massive.”

“GRRRRR! I HAVE HAD ENOUGH!!! YOU ARE NOT THE ONLY ONE THAT CAN GET BIG, LOUIS DRAKEHEART!!!”

RUMBLE!

Lisette immediately transformed, growing immensely large and almost matching Louis’s body size. But she was aberrant. Unlike his beautiful, almost angelic dragon form, she was marked by death and madness. A path Louis could have taken if circumstances had been different.

Her dozens of heads, claws, wings, eyes, and more reached toward him, attacking fiercely. Claws dug deep into his flesh and tore apart his scales, while her jaws bit into his body and ripped out large chunks of flesh.

“GRAAAHHHH!”

“Hmph.”

However, Louis did not even seem to falter. He smiled as Lisette coughed ashes, realizing he had turned into a giant mass of ashes, light, darkness, and ice. The ashes exploded in her claws, constantly freezing her.

“G-GAAAAAHHHH?!”

As she screamed in surprise, her Aura surged, shattering and melting the ice. She reached for Louis once more, gathering her soul energy into her claws and aiming to destroy his soul instead.

However, Louis quickly disappeared from where he stood. He moved through the Mirror Dimension and reappeared above her, using Stealth followed by Knife Throwing.

At his current size, the skill adjusted. The knives became enormous, almost moon-sized. They fell upon her, piercing her entire body by the dozens, then hundreds.

“NNNGGH?! W-WHA…! KNIVES?! WHAT IS THIS?! A SOUL TREASURE?!”

“No, a Tier 1 Class Skill, actually.”

“?!”

BOOOM! BOOOM! BOOOM! BOOOM! BOOOM! BOOOM! BOOOM! BOOOM!

Lisette was bombarded endlessly. Her entire body exploded and tore apart as she screamed in agony and despair…

But also in madness and wrath.

Even as she exploded, her pieces turned into countless aberrant chimeric dragons. They roared back at Louis, surrounded him, tore through his flesh, and tried to devour him again.

Louis rapidly switched into his elemental form once more, then used his buffing skills to become stronger. Finally, he divided himself as well.

“I can do that too.”

He used Wyrm Soul Division at Level 10 and fused his divided wyrm souls with the Echoes of his friends created by the crown, alongside the spiritual copies of each one of his regression selves.

Suddenly, two immense armies composed of powerful dragons clashed. Blood and explosions spread everywhere. Cosmic energy and divinity, demonic power and draconic energy erupted in all directions, shattering space itself and making time bleed. Time slowed down and then accelerated constantly.

“YOU MAGGOT!!!” Lisette roared. She returned to her dragon form once she realized it was pointless to fight this way. She fused over a dozen heads together into a gigantic dragon flesh cannon, charging energy before firing a titanic, star-destroying breath attack. “BREATH OF ANNIHILATION!”

Louis easily avoided the attack by entering the Mirror Dimension and then altering reality using his Command Reality Ability. He moved space itself and redirected the beam toward Minato.

Minato was fighting Mirai in her strongest form. The girl unleashed countless powerful attacks while wielding a giant divine cosmic katana, Gungnir’s child, which she had named Masamune.

Minato was easily avoiding her attacks, but he began to notice she was still quite fast. That katana was not just a sword. It coated her with a barrier made of powerful cosmic energy, which also melded with her.

The more she fought, the stronger she grew as her body absorbed the power of her weapon… It was nothing he had ever seen before.

But at the same time, he thought it was pathetic.

“You are so weak you have to rely on a weapon your boyfriend made for you?” Minato laughed, mocking her as he kicked her in the face and sent her flying, crashing through dozens of huge meteorites. “How pathetic! And look! No matter how much you rely on a single weapon, if your body is not strong enough, you cannot even fight me. At most, you can survive… but for how long?”

“Hey!”

“She is not fighting alone!”

“…”

Minato’s sharp red eyes glared at the people behind him. Selene and Melisa were coated with blazing red and white armor made of divine and cosmic energy. The girls had merged with their Incarnations to enhance their power while also gaining the ability to breathe in space.

Both held their weapons of preference. For Selene, it was a pair of long metallic claws attached to her fists, which she called “Ares.” Melisa held a long golden staff radiating golden divinity. Her wings were now six after receiving her weapon’s enhancement, which she had named “Aurora.”

Minato did not even pay attention to them. He waved three of his six hands and unleashed piercing beams of Nightmarish Chaos, consuming everything within a wide vicinity and disintegrating matter as they pierced through space.

TRUUUUMMM!!!

BOOOOMMMMM!!!

A massive explosion erupted as both girls were engulfed by the attack. Minato heard them screaming and felt their bodies disappear, assuming they had disintegrated.

“Weaklings. You are not even worth my time—”

“Infernal Assault.”

SLASH! SLASH! SLASH! SLASH! SLASH! SLASH! SLASH! SLASH! SLASH! SLASH!

“Nnggh?!”

Minato was caught off guard. Mirai had suddenly disappeared from where he had seen her and reappeared behind him, swinging her katana at the speed of light. Dozens of slices covered his body. Blood poured out everywhere, burning with Nirvana Flames.

“What…?! How did you?! Come here!”

Minato roared. His gigantic demonic body moved rapidly as his giant claws aimed toward Mirai. She was around a third of his size, and he seemed to possess a much more advanced and monstrous form, easily surpassing hers in power and demonic authority.

And yet…

FLASH!

She disappeared.

“Some sort of concealment? No, she escaped to another realm. No, that is not it either. I could have destroyed it when I struck space…! Where are you?!” Minato lost his patience as he looked around, realizing Mirai had suddenly vanished.

On the other side of the world, in the Mirror Dimension, Mirai moved through it. She saw the Living Reflection of Minato and swung her katana against him.

“Louis was right. This ability is incredible!”

When crafting the weapons, Louis had infused into them a special Ability built based on his own skills and powers, using fragments of his own Crown Incarnation.

The ability was called [Mirror Shift]. It allowed anyone who used it to move to the Mirror Dimension for up to 30 seconds before being automatically sent back.

It was limited and nowhere near as powerful as what Louis could do, but it allowed everyone to easily escape danger, though it had a cooldown of 1 minute.

There, Selene and Melisa were also present. All of them attacked Minato’s Living Reflection, who was completely clueless and lacked his intelligence.

“Everyone, now!”

“Yeah!”

“RAAAHHH!”

Selene roared mightily, moving like a golden star as she swung her giant claws, slashing through Minato’s Reflection alongside Mirai, who used her katana.

Meanwhile, Melisa conjured her magic. Dozens of holy chains appeared around his body and wrapped around him, stopping him from moving.

Right behind them, several more figures that had been moving around the Mirror World appeared.

Timothy swung his giant golden-and-green axe, Atlas, cutting through a large part of the Mirror Reflection.

Zorba swung his scythe and unleashed a sea of ghostly flames and specters, consuming the entire body of the stupid creature and cursing it.

Anastasia used her giant hammer, Hephaestus, to smash the creature’s head and spread countless cracks across it.

And lastly, Anastasia rushed in. Using her long sword, Skadi, she cut through the monster and froze it, giving Mirai and Selene the opportunity to finish it off.

The Mirror World was not what one might guess. Attacking and damaging the Living Reflection of a target did not affect the real one in the real world.

However, that was never the intention of the girls. They were hunting this dumber, monster-like Reflection made of purple phantasmal energies and mirror crystals.

And thanks to Mirror Shift increasing damage dealt in the Mirror Dimension, they ultimately shattered it!

CRAAASH!

Then, EXP flooded in. The girls gained dozens of levels in mere seconds. No, hundreds! Their stats skyrocketed, their skills leveled up, and much more.

Then, as Mirror Shift ended, they found Minato struck by Lisette’s beam that Louis had easily redirected. It burned his entire body and began to disintegrate half of it.

“NNGAAAAAHHHH! LISETTE! YOU STUPID BITCH! WHAT…! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!”

As this happened, Lisette stopped her attack and rapidly shapeshifted, realizing that Louis had somehow shifted space itself to an incredible level in mere seconds.

“You redirected the attack?! But he is so far away. HOW?!”

Louis did not answer. He summoned Gungnir and thrust it forward, piercing through Lisette’s entire body. He activated her Skill, Absolute Pierce, driving through her defenses, barriers, and into her very soul despite her incredible toughness.

“Nine Celestial Heavens Holy Piercing Dragon Spear Art.”

“First Form.”

“Devastating Soul Dragon Nova!”

His spear coiled with dozens of dragons made of his own Draconic Energy, Fantasium, and several other spiritual powers. They fused into a single point of blinding white light and struck Lisette with everything he had.

BOOOMMM!!!

“UNNNGGH?!”

Lisette had imagined she could take it, that she could actually tank that blow, but she was terribly wrong. A huge hole appeared in her very soul, and the fragment of her soul that was struck disappeared, devoured by Gungnir.

“RAAAAHHHHH!”

She went completely mad, spreading her Aura, Soul, and Body into a giant Domain of flesh and blood. She surprised Louis as she did the same thing the Venerables could do.

“I WILL DEVOUR YOU NO MATTER WHAT!!!”

Countless jaws rushed toward Louis, attempting to pierce and gnaw at his body. Only for Louis to explode into ashes and light, then shapeshift to create dozens of swords and spears from his own body and elements. His Intent flared up as he unleashed the power of the [Primordial Hollow Spiral Galaxy Sovereign Sutra]!

“Primordial Hollow Sovereign Cosmic Sword-Spear Intent – Eternal Garden of Swords and Spears.”

“E-EH?”

SLASH! SLASH! SLASH! SLASH! SLASH! CLASH! CLASH! CLASH! CLASH!

“GAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!”

The aberrant dragon empress cried in agonizing horror as her entire body was impaled by millions of swords and spears born from Louis’s Intent. A combination of his own Soul and Psychic Power, further enhanced by his Cosmic Qi to ridiculous levels.

BOOOOMMMM!!!

She was completely blown apart into shreds. Blood and guts scattered everywhere as they fell over dozens of planets, only to explode.

“Hmm, you are good at surviving. Like a cockroach too.”

Louis, however, noticed her soul had escaped. Then, above him, Lisette had rapidly regenerated completely.

She possessed a “cheat” that was above his own: the Legendary Unique Skill “Immortal Body” that his grandfather, the Dragon King of Yggdrasil, possessed.

His descendants all had the potential to obtain such power, but only his direct children ever had a version of it.

This skill was the very reason why his mother had been alive this entire time despite being inflicted with such a devastatingly powerful curse.

And Lisette… as a grandchild like him, should not even have had such power.

“Not bad, not bad at all, Prince Louis!” laughed the dragoness. She rapidly began to shapeshift her body, becoming more and more humanoid and compact. She matched his size but became slender. Giant cannons appeared all over her body, forged from her own flesh, bones, and scales. Her wings turned into blazing blue flames born from biological propulsors that surged from the back of her body. “Wondering how I survived? The power of Immortal Body makes me unkillable! And I obtained it after I finally devoured my mother… fufufu. Isn’t it amazing what it can do? Even if you destroy my entire body, I will return, endlessly! And so will my soul! It is also immortal! I AM INVINCIBLEEEEEEE! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!”

“We will see about that.”

Louis had fought beings like her already. Both of the Venerables possessed insanely powerful regenerative abilities, and it was not impossible to kill them.

He only had to strike hard enough and fast enough while weakening her sufficiently…

To make it happen.

“Ugh, you are so boring. At least show some surprise or despair in that ugly mug of yours! Well, whatever. Die.”

Lisette moved through space, shattering dimensional membranes and reaching Louis before he could even react. Her legs struck his head, sending him crashing down through an entire planet, breaking his neck and destroying his entire head into pieces, leaving his corpse completely headless.

BOOOMMM!!!

The planet he crashed through quickly exploded in a devastating show of power. Lisette glared at the headless Louis and summoned a spear of flesh, blood, bones, and fangs born from her own body, which was also her Soul Treasure.

“Primordial Dragon Empress Flesh and Bone Spear – Tiamat.”

Within the spear, the agonizing souls of hundreds of dragons and even that of Tiamat from another dimension cried in pain. The countless eyes of the aberrant spear cried blood as darkness flooded Lisette’s body, boosting her power through the roof.

“You know what my Spiral is? Yes, it is my own creation. It is the Spiral of Aberrations. It allows for wonderful things, such as this incredible weapon which I am going to use to dissect you alive. Because I know you are still alive, Louis Drakeheart!”

RUMBLE!

She charged and reached him. Her spear rushed toward him as she thought Louis was playing dead. The spear pierced him, only for Louis’s entire body to explode into ashes and light, consuming and burning her body.

“What the— AAAAAGGGHH!”

As his body exploded, Lisette’s body burned as millions of swords and spears pierced her completely again, her soul, everything!

“D-Did he just kill himself?! I cannot detect him anywhere!”

Indeed, he was gone.

Or so she thought.

Within the Mirror World, Louis unleashed his techniques against her Reflection.

“As I thought, I need more power, but… I am close.”

He unleashed dozens of powerful techniques, devastating her Living Reflection, who fought only physically and barely offered any resistance.

“Nine Celestial Heavens Holy Piercing Dragon Spear Art.”

“First Form.”

“Devastating Soul Dragon Nova!”

“Second Form.”

“Planet-Destroying Dragon Star Descent!”

“Third Form.”

“Star-Devouring Dragon Ascension!”

“Fourth Form.”

“Endless Dragon Cosmic Coil!”

BOOOM! BOOOM! BOOOM! BOOOM! BOOOM!

Unlike the real Lisette, her Reflection, although possessing her raw power and physical strength, lacked her Immortal Body Unique Skill. It was ultimately overwhelmed by Louis’s immense attack power and exploded apart, dying on the spot.

[Level Up!]

[Level Up!]

[Level Up!]

[Level Up!]

[Level Up!]

[Level Up!]

[Level Up!]

[Level Up!]

[Level Up!]

[Level Up!]

[…]

[Your Level has increased from Level 419 to Level 562/800!]

[Your Class has Leveled Up!]

[Your Class has Leveled Up!]

[Your Class has Leveled Up!]

[Your Class has Leveled Up!]

[Your Class has Leveled Up!]

[Your Class has Leveled Up!]

[…]

[Your Class has Leveled Up from Level 1 to Level 15/30!]

[Your Class Skill: [Stealth: Level 1] has Leveled Up to Level 3!]

[Your Class Skill: [Knife Throw: Level 1] has Leveled Up to Level 3!]

“I am done.”

Louis shattered the Mirror Dimension and returned to reality, greeting Lisette with his spear as he unleashed the coiling attack, trapping her in an instant. She was unable to detect him as he used Stealth. Now at Level 3, it had become even better than before.

“Now let us see. Can you take all of this? Let us experiment.”

“Wha…?!”

Lisette’s countless eyes widened as she saw Louis’s Aura and Power Level suddenly skyrocket out of nowhere! He had disappeared and then returned, stronger than before. It barely made any sense!

Louis unleashed a rain of magic upon Lisette.

Celestial Judgement fell upon her. Thousands of beams of celestial light pierced her body, burned her, and boiled her apart, disintegrating her.

But she endured it and freed herself from the coiling technique, regenerating at lightning speed and striking Louis’s face with all her force.

BOOOM!

However, her hands exploded into pieces as she did. Her eyes widened once more as Louis dug his claws into her mouth and tore her jaws open.

Then he froze her from the inside out using his Physique’s power.

“Abyssal Frost Titan Galaxy Devourer Physique – Absolute Zero – Glacial Devour Aura – Titan’s Eternal Winter Heart: Absolute Zero Blizzard.”

Louis unleashed all the powers of his Physique at once. His entire body exploded and transformed as he attained a hybrid form between his dragon form and his titan form, shocking Lisette.

“W-Wha?! You..! Y-You attained— AAAAAAGGGHHHHHHH!”

Her entire body froze and then, while frozen, it was rapidly devoured! However, she resisted. New flesh grew out of her endlessly.

Louis pushed even further, using Abyssal Void Shadow Extraction, Soul Extraction, Soul Sealing, and altering Fate and Destiny to favor him while tearing apart her fortune using his Villain Ability.

“A-AAAAHHH! W-WHAT ARE YOU DOING! G-GET YOUR HANDS OFF MEEEEEEEE!!!”

Lisette screamed. From a small tendril of flesh Louis had missed, her entire body regrew not once, but dozens of times. She attacked Louis with everything she had, but whenever she struck him, her limbs exploded into pieces.

“Just how tough are you?!”

“Can you pierce time?”

“…!”

Louis had used the Heart of Time and several other time-based spells to coat himself in “Stopped Time,” effectively making him as indestructible as time itself.

However, Lisette was strong.

Despite her cries, despite her whining, and despite how much she screamed when she was harmed.

She was a madwoman with the power to back her madness!

“I can.”

Her eyes gleamed. Her bodies merged again and then she compacted herself even further. Using her spear, she thrust forward, piercing Louis’s chest and… his heart.

CRAAASH!

“…?!”

Louis vomited blood as he glared at her grasping his beating heart and crushing it apart.

But it did not end there. Lisette’s spear slithered inside his body, piercing him from the inside out.

Hundreds of bone and flesh spears pierced his entire body from within. His soul wavered in agony as he was being shredded!

“Nnnggh…!”

“All the same, all the same! You could resist more now, but you are still a weakling, Louis Drakeheart! You killed the Venerable?! Don’t make me laugh! HAHAHAHAHAHA! You can only kill fragments of the Great Lord, but you cannot even defeat a True Beyonder like me!!!”

—–

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep