Chapter 490: The Heavens Shall Fall (XXXI)

KAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAM!

The world turned white.

The frost did not spread so much as detonate, expanding outward in a perfect sphere of killing cold that erased the boundary between solid and air.

The reinforced wall did not crack or fracture in any dramatic display, because there was no resistance left in it to break; the structure lost cohesion entirely, every particle frozen so completely that it could no longer hold shape, collapsing into a fine, drifting powder that fell soundlessly to the ground like snow.

When the light faded, there was simply space where a barrier had once existed.

“Ugh…”

Chill….!

“I’ll continue using the Authority of Ice…” I mumbled lightly as a chill started spreading throughout my body.

The air around me responded almost immediately, thin strands of frost forming along the edges of stone and metal before thickening into pale, branching patterns that crawled outward across the walls, the floor, the ceiling, until the entire chamber began to look as if it had been abandoned to winter for years instead of seconds.

“Haaa…”

Each breath left my mouth in heavy white clouds.

Beyond the wall that I had just broken, a corridor stretched forward, already occupied.

Court soldiers had been moving toward our position when the wall disappeared, and now they stood there in a loose formation that had not yet decided whether to advance or retreat.

“Huh…”

Frost still crept along the edges of the breach, spilling into the corridor in slow waves, and the temperature dropped enough that even their armor began to gather thin layers of ice.

I stepped through without hesitation.

CRACKLE!

The first attack came quickly, a reflex more than a decision, a bolt of condensed divine lightning thrown with enough force to tear through ordinary defenses.

Fwip!

It never reached me.

The Heaven Swallowing Sword brushed the forming construct, and the divinity inside it unraveled before it could stabilize, collapsing into nothing as though it had never existed.

I was already inside their line.

Splat!

Midnight moved once, a clean horizontal cut that passed through armor, flesh, and bone without slowing, the blade carrying through into open space as the soldier’s head separated cleanly and his body dropped where he stood.

The heat of his blood hit my face and cooled almost instantly, the droplets turning thick as the temperature continued to fall.

Someone to my right tried to raise a barrier, hands shaking as they forced more power into the construct, desperation pushing them to overcommit.

The Heaven Swallowing Sword touched it, and the entire formation vanished in an instant, the energy dispersing like mist under sunlight.

SPLUUURTT!

Midnight followed through without pause, driving forward into her chest, the resistance of her body no greater than air as the blade pierced through her core.

The corridor began to break apart into chaos.

More soldiers poured in from the sides, drawn by the breach and whatever alarms had already spread through the stronghold, their formation collapsing as they tried to respond to something that did not fit into any of the patterns they had trained for.

“KILLL HIMMM!!!”

“BE CAREFUL OF THAT WHITE SWORD! IT CAN DESTROY DIVINITY!”

Orders were shouted, some clear, some contradictory, voices rising over one another as discipline struggled against the simple fact that they were watching people die too quickly to process.

The frost deepened.

Freezeeee!

Ice formed under their feet, thin at first, then thick enough to shift their footing as they tried to move.

One soldier slipped while attempting to charge; his balance was gone for a split second, and that was all I needed.

Midnight opened his throat before he could recover, and I was already turning, already moving, the rhythm of the fight settling into something steady and inevitable.

They tried to surround me.

It did not help.

The ice started spreading even further with every step I took, the air itself beginning to crystallize into fine, cutting particles that scraped across exposed skin and clouded vision.

Spikes of ice erupted without warning from the floor and walls, not random but guided by intent, forcing movement where I wanted it, breaking lines before they could stabilize.

A cluster of soldiers attempted to coordinate, one of them calling out positions, trying to anchor the others with something resembling control.

I moved through them before the formation could take shape, Midnight cutting through the first, the Heaven Swallowing Sword dissolving the defensive technique of the second, my shoulder driving into the third hard enough to knock him off balance before the follow-up strike ended him.

The corridor was now filled with bodies.

Some of them tried to retreat, some tried to hold their ground, and a few kept pushing forward with the kind of stubborn resolve that came from training drilled too deep to break under pressure.

None of it changed the outcome.

A 7✯ True God stepped forward through the chaos, his presence forcing space around him as the others instinctively gave way.

He did not hesitate, pulling his authority inward as he began to manifest his domain, the air distorting as reality itself bent toward his will.

But of course, I wouldn’t let that happen.

FWIP!

The Heaven Swallowing Sword moved before the domain could take shape.

The moment its edge touched the forming boundary, the structure collapsed, the backlash slamming into him hard enough to break his concentration completely.

His body locked for an instant, the shock traveling through his core, and that instant was enough.

SPLAT!

Midnight drove upward through his jaw and into his skull, the force of the strike carrying through until the blade stopped.

He dropped without a sound.

I did not slow.

By the time I reached the stairwell, the fighting behind me had already dissolved into scattered resistance, small groups trying to reorganize in a corridor that no longer offered them any advantage.

I descended through the bodies of those who had tried to hold the position, their blood spreading across the steps and freezing into dark, slick patterns that made footing uncertain for anyone who followed.

Second level.

More resistance, more soldiers drawn from deeper within the stronghold, their numbers swelling as alarms continued to spread.

They came in waves now, less organized but heavier, trying to overwhelm through sheer volume.

To answer them, I increased the potency of the『 ✯ Authority of Ice ✯ 』.

The temperature dropped further, beyond what even divine bodies handled comfortably, the air thick with ice crystals that turned every breath into a struggle.

“Haagkkk!”

“Ughhh!!!”

Some of them slowed, some faltered, and some froze where they stood, caught mid-motion as the cold overtook them faster than they could compensate.

I moved through them like a fixed point in the middle of a storm, both blades working in constant motion, one cutting, one erasing, leaving nothing behind that could resist.

An 8✯ True God blocked the corridor ahead, his presence forcing the frost back slightly as heat radiated from him in visible waves.

Swoosh!

He did not attempt a domain, choosing instead to close the distance immediately, a glaive appearing in his head before swing it at me.

Clang!

His first blow met Midnight and drove force up my arm hard enough to make the impact worth noting.

Then, he spun the glaive, swinging the other edge at my ribs.

I sidestepped to the left, and twisted my body slighly to avoid before stabbing with Midnight directly at his neck.

Clank!

He quickly parried with, but that exchange was enough for his balance to change lightly, and so I took the opportunity.

Fwip!

Midnight cut through his weapon on the third clash, the blade passing through the divine metal as though it had no structure at all, and from there the end came quickly.

Splurt, splat!

One strike to break his guard, one to open him, and then both blades moved together, one through his chest, the other through his throat.

“H-how…?!”

He fell staring, as though the outcome had arrived too quickly for him to accept.

Third level.

The pressure of the control nexus became clearer, a dense concentration of energy and layered constructs that marked it as the heart of the stronghold’s defensive system.

Between me and that point stood the last line, a larger force gathered in the corridors ahead, their formation tighter, their discipline restored by the presence of higher-ranked commanders.

I did not slow.

The frost surged again, the cold pressing down on everything at once until movement itself became difficult.

Ice formed over armor, over weapons, over skin, locking joints and freezing limbs where they stood.

Some of them tried to break free, pouring power into their bodies to resist, but the environment itself had turned against them, every effort costing more than it returned.

I walked through their line as it broke.

Midnight shattered frozen bodies as easily as it cut living ones, the impact sending fragments scattering across the floor, while the Heaven Swallowing Sword erased every last attempt to respond with divine techniques.

The corridor became a path of white and red, ice and blood layered together in a trail that marked every step forward.

…

Back at the High Chamber entrance, the fighting had not stopped.

BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAM

KAAAABOOOOOOOOM!

Even as positions were being established and reinforced, the Court’s forces continued to press from multiple directions, testing the lines with probing attacks that escalated in intensity with each attempt.

The sound of combat carried through the halls in uneven waves, bursts of shouting, the crack of weapons, the low, heavy impacts of abilities meeting barriers.

Christina was in the middle of it, issuing orders, adjusting formations, tracking movement across multiple fronts at once when a thought surfaced that refused to settle.

She had not seen him since the meeting ended.

At first, she dismissed it as movement within the chaos, as he had probably changed positions, but as seconds stretched into minutes and no report came through, the absence began to feel wrong in a way she could not ignore.

“Has anyone seen Lord Aestrea?” she asked over the channel, keeping her tone steady even as the question cut through ongoing reports.

There was a pause, longer than she liked, before Torres answered.

“Negative. Haven’t had eyes on him since we broke from the chamber.”

That was enough.

She moved immediately, pushing past soldiers moving in and out of position, heading back toward the side room where they had finalized their plan.

The sounds of fighting dimmed slightly as she entered the corridor, replaced by something colder, a shift in the air that reached her before she even touched the door.

She pushed it open and stopped.

The wall at the far end was gone.

It had been simply erased, leaving behind a wide breach rimmed with thick frost that continued to spread outward.

The temperature inside the room had dropped enough that her breath fogged instantly, the cold biting through her uniform as she stepped inside.

Seeing this scene, she let out a deep breath.

“You absolute idiot,” she muttered, though there was no real anger in it.

He had gone alone.

He had taken the decision out of her hands and turned it into an opportunity, whether she liked it or not, carving a path straight toward the control nexus in the most direct way possible and trusting that they would follow.

She closed her eyes for a few seconds, then opened them and switched channels.

“All squads, this is Command. Immediate update,” she said, her voice cutting cleanly through the noise across every line.

“Lord Aestrea has created a breach path toward the control nexus. We are shifting from defensive hold to forward advance. Gamma and Delta, reform and prepare to move through the breach. Epsilon, maintain rear security and protect Alpha Squad until extraction completes. Medical teams, move with the advance and establish forward support positions.”

There was a brief silence, then Torres answered, his tone carrying a mix of disbelief and grim approval.

“Understood. Gamma is reforming now. He went ahead on his own, didn’t he?”

“Yes,” Christina said, already stepping toward the breach, the cold intensifying with every step.

“And we are not leaving him down there without support.”

She paused at the edge, looking down the corridor lined with frost, the path clear in a way that no planned route could have been.

“Follow the ice,” she ordered.

“He’s already clearing the way. We move fast, we stay together, and we finish this before the Court can respond in force.”

Behind her, the soldiers immediately began to change formations to adapt.

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