Chapter 333: Folded Time and Space

The world in which all things lived was called the Material Realm. No one knew its vastness. But ever since that war which caused the gods to fall, everything in the Material Realm had been subjected to annihilation by a certain existence. Countless lives were erased by that existence’s will, until finally only the present-day ‘Earth’ still retained life.

If ‘Earth’ was a speck of dust, then the endless Material Realm was a vast ocean.

So many lives had been wiped out. After that existence tore apart the covenant with the Original Sins, the Original Sins, unwilling to be toyed with in such a way, released the wills of those lives they had gathered and lost.

Thus, Annihilation was born.

It was the reverse side of the Material Realm. When within the Material Realm, Annihilation could not be perceived.

Precisely because of this, after Annihilation came into being, it avoided being slain by that existence.

As time flowed, the wills released by the Original Sins within Annihilation combined with remnants of their own will, giving birth to twenty-four Lords of Annihilation.

These Lords of Annihilation longed ceaselessly to return to the Material Realm. They had launched three Annihilation Crises, all of which were repelled by Aivas, who had awakened in those times.

Until the fourth Annihilation Crisis, when they encountered the awakened Pegira.

Thus, the twenty-four Lords of Annihilation were reduced to the seventeen of today. Though they still yearned for the Material Realm, they no longer dared to allow Annihilation and the Material Realm to directly connect.

They were afraid.

Through endless years, they chose slumber to endure the passage of time. They knew that no matter how strong Pegira was, he himself had been cursed by the stronger Progenitor Gods. Pegira would one day die.

At last, one day, someone stirred the authority of the Lord of Dominion. The Lord of Dominion awakened, and from the remnants of a certain will, read the information that Pegira was about to die.

So He tested, lowering His authority, releasing the breath of Annihilation.

No one came.

Thus, Annihilation began to riot. One by one, the Lords of Annihilation awakened. They stared greedily at the Material Realm. They waited for Pegira to die, for Aivas to die.

Yet now, just before Aivas’s death, a life born of the Material Realm dared to provoke the Lords of Annihilation?

The anger suppressed for countless ages made the Lord of Dominion extend His finger, forging a true link between Annihilation and the Material Realm.

Even though they sensed that Aivas was not yet completely dead, once His fury erupted, He was unwilling to wait.

So what if Aivas still lived? At worst, this would be the fifth repulsion. They had endless life. They could wait for the sixth invasion.

Then the Lord of Dominion discovered that Aivas had finally died. But the one who provoked Him was not as He imagined—not merely a being of their level.

Twisting, illusory, chaotic, both real and unreal. Without color—pure gray. At times, a corner of the Material Realm was projected, like rare splashes of color in Annihilation.

Yet these colors were soon captured by a certain will, swiftly stripped, then wrapped in a thin bubble. This projection was corrupted by a Lord’s will, turning into that Lord’s paradise.

This was Annihilation—complete annihilation, forever gray.

Yet a beam of golden light pierced the gloom.

It was a dazzling golden pillar of light, seemingly magic, yet also sheer will.

Within it, Corleon’s golden eyes gazed into Annihilation.

Pop, pop, pop…

Countless bubbles within his sight shattered instantly, disappearing as suddenly as they had appeared.

“……” The warped fluctuations of Annihilation grew sharper—that was the furious and terrified will of the Lords of Annihilation.

Corleon said nothing. He simply raised his hand, and the Holy Sword appeared.

The Lords of Annihilation sensed a familiar power. Just like Pegira, who once charged into Annihilation wielding the Holy Spear.

Escape!

They did not hesitate. Each fled in a different direction.

Pegira had slain Lords of Annihilation with the Holy Spear. They would not foolishly think that this sword, radiating the same aura, could not do the same.

What’s more, the will shrouding this man was even more terrifying than Pegira’s. They could not even summon the resolve to fight, as they once had.

Delay!

They must delay.

Delay until Annihilation itself rejected him, until it suppressed him. At that time, he would either withdraw or be assimilated, becoming one of the Lords of Annihilation.

They were already among the closest to the Progenitors. They did not believe that if this sword-bearer became one of them, his will could remain so pure.

That pure, singular will of the world.

Without such extremity, they would dare to fight.

Moreover, they knew others waiting for Aivas’s death would not allow another Pegira to rise.

Corleon’s eyes widened slightly. He swung the Holy Sword casually.

Instantly, a pure golden arc slashed through Annihilation, like striking color into gray space, and swallowed a Lord of Annihilation’s will.

The Lords had no true body—their wills were their bodies.

Annihilation itself was void, unable to bear bodies. That belonged to the Material Realm.

“……It’s time! This one folded time!” The engulfed Lord of Annihilation roared before being erased.

The Lord was One, and also Many. The Lord was Omniscient, and Omnipotent.

When Corleon entered Annihilation, it was no longer beyond his perception. He anchored it. Thus the omniscient and omnipotent power manifested.

But Corleon had not erased his own being fully. He was not yet the pure ‘Lord’.

He could not obliterate a Lord of Annihilation by thought alone. Instead, he used the power of time—forcing them into collision with the Holy Sword’s will, erasing them through raw will.

He saw the future, folded time, and arrived ahead of it.

Yet the Lords of Annihilation were powerful. Even as one was erased, a final struggle distorted the spacetime of their will.

Corleon was unsurprised. He had already ‘seen’ this.

He swung the sword again. With higher will, he forcibly rewound a Lord’s time back before its distortion, then swallowed it too.

“……He’s a madman! Madder than Pegira!” That Lord’s last words echoed.

The others’ time had already flowed in Corleon’s anchored span. He could not rewind them further.

So he reached out. A chain and a rusted greatsword appeared before him.

It was the Lord of Dominion’s ‘Anchor’, and the ‘Token’ of Antigone, the Lord he had once spoken with.

His golden eyes flared, and through the Anchor, Corleon saw the Lord of Dominion.

“……” Overwhelming terror filled the Lord of Dominion as he sensed Corleon’s gaze descend from destiny.

Since birth, he had been outside destiny. His future was not recorded. Yet now, he was ‘seen’ by destiny.

Golden threads erupted in his distorted space, piercing his ‘body’, binding him.

Thread by thread, they eroded him, synchronizing his disrupted time with Corleon’s anchor. The Lord of Dominion was exposed, frozen, voiceless.

Corleon ignored him. He turned to the rusted sword.

He reversed its time, back before the altar was activated. At once he felt its faint link to a hidden Lord of Annihilation.

Through it, Corleon saw Antigone, furious and terrified.

Golden light grasped him, enclosing him in a bubble—an arena. Within, Antigone faced two Lords already erased by Corleon.

At last Corleon paused. He sensed another will awakening, greedily watching him.

The Will of Annihilation.

It did not care for the Lords, its children. Their erasure merely stirred it from slumber.

It was hunger itself.

And Corleon was One, and also Many.

Take Him! I must take Him!

Come! Become one with me! The Will of Annihilation cried in greed.

But Corleon only lifted the Holy Sword and struck.

No golden light—just a sword falling.

And Annihilation split.

A vast scar cut across it, revealing pure Nothing—the Nothing that existed before creation.

“……” Annihilation rippled.

It did not know pain. It only understood: this prey could kill it.

So it gathered its will, crushing toward Corleon’s golden pillar.

“Buzz…” Waves rippled along the pillar as Annihilation tried to force him out.

It had lost all. It had only itself. It could not lose itself. Instinct overpowered hunger.

Corleon struck again.

Another scar split Annihilation.

This was the true use of the Holy Sword—cutting all roots, slaying all bound to the source.

His earlier use was merely to channel will without loss through time and fate.

Now, he wielded the Sword’s real power—cutting away a fragment of Annihilation itself.

With the third strike, a triangular fragment was severed.

But he could not swing a fourth. The Will of Annihilation hurled that fragment like a stone, casting Corleon out.

Yet Corleon showed no disappointment. He had already seen this end.

Looking down, he saw a massive iceberg. Above, Aivas’s heart-anchor grasped the gray triangular fragment.

Just as Annihilation assimilated the Material Realm’s projections, so too would the Material Realm assimilate fragments of Annihilation.

He watched as the gray triangle slowly gained color.

From his eyes flew a golden Light Orb, his companion. It followed the anchor into the fragment.

At the center, countless threads emerged, nailing it into place.

When secured, the threads vanished. The Light Orb shone like a small sun. Beneath it appeared a colossal stone figure, robed, faceless, holding the orb aloft.

At its feet, earth spread. White jade walls grew, rising into an open-air palace.

No life dwelled within. Only endless meat and endless wine.

At the center, the stone giant seemed to gaze upon it all.

…

Beneath the golden funnel, Hode witnessed everything.

He saw the Pope enter Annihilation. He saw Annihilation split. At the end of the ‘Bridge of Heroes’, a palace rose.

“……The Bridge of Heroes, fight until death, Hall of Heroes……” Hode murmured. A smile broke across his face.

He had seen the Hall of Heroes.

As the Prophecy foretold.

As the Lord had spoken.

After joy, sorrow struck.

Those close to him were gone.

Cooper was slain by Aureus with a mere finger, too fast to react.

Aureus had been cut down by his own hand, without resistance.

Beo had released his will to sweep away a Lord’s will—yet that was not true battle.

Would they enter the Hall of Heroes?

Hode did not know.

But suddenly he realized—was he himself, now, truly one who had fought to the death?

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