Chapter 285: Karma (IV)

His face drained of color at the words in the sky.

“Y-y-you… ARE YOU FUCKING CRAZY?!” The dark-skinned blonde man pointed a finger at me, his voice cracking in disbelief.

I didn’t even spare him a glance.

I simply turned away, as if he wasn’t even worth acknowledging.

FWOOOOM!

The blonde man’s aura exploded, a tidal wave of divine pressure tearing across the battlefield, shaking the canyon walls.

Dust rose in spirals, the ground cracked open, and even Lucas stumbled back, choking under the suffocating weight.

But I didn’t even look at him.

Instead, a faint ripple of Chaotic Energy stirred inside me.

The world itself seemed to shudder.

“Disappear from existence.”

The words left my lips like a decree.

FWOOOOOM—!

Reality warped.

The blonde man’s golden aura shattered like glass, his form flickering as if being erased.

“—BELUGHH!”

But before he could vanish, my chest seized. A torrent of blood spilled from my mouth, splattering the ground.

My body swayed slighly, trembling violently under the recoil.

“Aestrea!” Lucas shouted, rushing toward me in panic.

I raised a hand lazily, silencing him without even looking.

“…Heh.” I smiled through blood, crimson dripping down my chin.

So that’s the catch.

The Words of Law.

If the world cannot recognize your command… the backlash bites into your very soul. The closer to impossibility, the harsher the punishment.

“…Interesting,” I muttered hoarsely, wiping the blood with the back of my hand.

My eyes glimmered with dangerous curiosity.

The blonde man staggered back into form, gasping for breath. Then his shock gave way to mocking laughter.

“You idiot! You’re killing yourself! Playing with a power beyond your reach, pathetic!” He sneered, blood still dripping from his nose.

I tilted my head, watching him with calm, empty eyes.

“…Then let’s test something else.”

My gaze locked onto him.

“Kneel.”

FWOOP!

The air ruptured with invisible weight.

His knees buckled instantly, spine folding against his will. His cheek smashed into the dirt, his divine aura scattering like smoke before a storm.

The earth cratered beneath his skull.

CRAAAACK!

The ground split as if bowing with him, the canyon trembling under the invisible decree.

The blonde man screamed, not from pain, but humiliation.

His body refused to rise. His arms trembled, straining, yet slammed back down by a force beyond his comprehension.

“I… can’t… move…!” His teeth gnashed, golden ichor dripping from his mouth.

“HOW?! How is your divinity… superior to mine?! You’re just a mortal with the power of a god! How can you… bind me like this?!” His eyes flared in fury as he forced out.

I didn’t bother answering.

Step.

The sound of my foot echoed as I closed the distance. His eyes widened, rage twisting with a flicker of fear.

CRACK!

My foot collided with his face like I was punting a ball.

His nose split wide open, cartilage shattering, blood spraying in an arc as his head snapped sideways with a guttural grunt.

Teeth scattered across the dirt, and his golden aura flickered like a dying flame.

“RRRRAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!”

His roar ripped through the place, almost animalistic.

His veins bulged, golden blood gushing as he tried to force himself free, his screams echoing with madness and disbelief.

“I’LL TEAR YOU APART! I’LL RIP OUT YOUR SOUL! I’LL—”

I crouched slowly, and I slid my hand onto his hair, fingers curling deep into the roots, and I yanked his head up until his broken, blood-smeared face met mine.

His wild, bloodshot eyes, burning with hatred, locked onto my calm, detached stare.

“Don’t worry,” I whispered teasingly.

“You’ll be going up… with the other twelve.”

With that, I lifted him by the hair, his body dangling like a broken puppet.

My arm swung.

FWOOOOOP!

The air exploded as his body was hurled like a meteor, vanishing in a blazing streak toward the Grand Canyon.

The shockwave left the ground fractured in his wake.

“Hah…”

I exhaled, straightening, my gaze turning lazily to the two remaining Demon Generals.

Their eyes widened, caught between fight and flight, the tremor of death crawling up their spines.

“You cores…” I muttered softly, almost to myself, “…can be useful for Lumi.”

At that, Lucas stepped forward sharply.

“Aestrea, wait!”

His hand shot out, stopping me in my stride.

“…It’s my job,” he said.

His grip on Excalibur tightened, its holy light flickering faintly.

“They’re Demon Generals. It’s the Hero’s duty to kill them. Mine… not yours.”

The silence that followed was heavy.

Slowly, I turned my head, eyes locking directly onto his. My lips curved into a sharp, mocking smile.

“Your job?” I repeated softly, tilting my head.

“Don’t you know… you’re being played around like a puppet?”

Lucas froze.

His face stiffened, eyes widening as if the word itself had struck him harder than any blade.

“W-what do you mean?” he stammered, voice breaking just slightly, though he tried to hold his ground.

“…You know it yourself,” I replied mysteriously.

“Why do you think they let you fight alone against monsters leagues above your strength? Why do they ‘bless’ you at just the right moment, then abandon you the next?”

I added casually, seeing his face change slighly.

Turning away from him, I let my gaze fall on the two Demon Generals. Their twisted features had gone pale, bodies trembling under my presence.

“…Y-You’re… A-Aestrea Moon, aren’t you?” Wrath stammered, his voice breaking as his head lowered in submission

I raised an eyebrow at this.

“O-Our Demon King has long wished to meet you,” Wrath continued, bowing deeper. “If you’d honor us with a visit to the Demon Kingdom… you’ll be received with the utmost respect.”

My eyes widened slighly.

I never thought that the Demon King would personally want me to pay him a visit… I guess I’ll spare them for now.

“Sure, when I have time, I’ll pay a visit.”

“W-What?!” Lucas snapped back into himself, his eyes wide, almost panicked.

“Aestr—!”

Before he could finish his words, I vanished from that place, reappearing at the Grand Canyon.

“Damn…”

And there, half-buried in a crater of his own making, lay the dark-skinned blonde man.

His body twitched under the weight of my earlier strike, golden ichor still leaking from the cracked ground.

…My power truly is different from that of ordinary gods.

I wasn’t shocked.

Not after the fact that I fought with a one-star True God and survived, even if it cost me almost all of my lifespan.

I wonder if… the values that the status window displays are true…

I’ve been quite suspicious about it.

I slowly walked towards the dark-skinned man.

“Uuugh… that fucking hurts…” he groaned, clutching his chest before lifting his head. His eyes locked on mine, then froze.

“H-Hi…?” he said awkwardly, forcing a crooked smile.

SQUISH!

His skull collapsed into pulp under my palm, spraying meat and ichor across the ground.

Of course, his head reformed seconds later.

“What the hell was that for?!” he shouted, clutching his now-intact face.

“I don’t like your face,” I replied flatly, wiping blood from my knuckles.

His expression twisted in disbelief.

“…You’re insane.”

I crouched low, my eyes locking onto his, voice dipping into a whisper.

“Elohim. Tell me everything you know.”

His gaze faltered instantly.

“…I-I can’t.” He looked anywhere but at me.

Crack!

I shattered his arm, letting him howl before it knitted back together.

“You can.” My tone was almost bored.

“I said I—AHHHHH!” His words broke into a scream as I ripped his leg off and tossed it aside like garbage.

It regrew slowly, his body twitching under the pain.

“You gods think regeneration means immunity to suffering. But pain… pain always stays.” I twisted his neck until it snapped.

As it reformed, blood dripping down his lips, he finally broke.

“E-Elohim… h-he… h-he’s the one—”

THRUUUM!

A suffocating aura dropped from the sky like a falling mountain, black energy spilling across the canyon.

I rose to my feet, my eyes narrowing.

From the darkness, a figure stepped forth, its body cloaked in shadows so deep that no features could be seen.

[Rank: Peak High God]

My lips curved slightly.

Much stronger than this blonde fool.

“Shadow?!” the dark-skinned man shouted, panic lacing his voice.

“Let the God of Netorare go, Aestrea.”

Shadow’s voice echoed like a heavy drum.

The blonde god looked up in relief at his words.

…The God of Netorare?

I turned to him, my eyes colder than ice.

“You… are fucking disgusting.”

I pulled back my fist, ready to smash his head again.

FWOOOSH!

Long threads of shadow shot forward, wrapping around my arm, locking it in place.

“I don’t know where you found the courage to face us,” the shadow god said flatly.

“Your rank is weaker than the weakest of us. You are still nothing but—”

I laughed softly, mocking him.

“Does rank really matter?”

CRACK!

The threads froze solid in an instant and shattered into pieces of ice. White mist spread from my body, chilling the ground under my feet.

The shadow man staggered back as frost spread up his body, crawling higher and higher.

“Freeze.”

With just that one word, his entire body turned into an ice statue, his eyes wide inside the frozen shell.

I stepped close, mist swirling around me, my breath white in the air.

“…Let me answer my own question.” I leaned in until my face was inches from his frozen one.

“It doesn’t.”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep