Chapter 491: The Heavens Shall Fall (XXXII)

By the time I reached the third level, the structure of the stronghold opened into a wide intersection where five separate corridors fed into a single circular chamber

And the moment I stepped into that space, I understood why the resistance behind me had felt a little scattered and desperate.

They had been buying time.

Seven 8✯ True Gods stood waiting in a loose semicircle that sealed every path forward, each one positioned with enough space to move freely but close enough to support the others the moment a fight broke out.

Their presence alone distorted the air, waves of divine pressure rolling off their bodies in slow pulses that made the stone beneath my boots creak and shift, and even without moving, they carried the weight of fighters who had survived centuries of war.

For a brief moment, nothing happened.

Then the one in the center took a single step forward, his body thick and scarred like carved granite, his shoulders broad enough to block the corridor behind him as pressure rippled outward from his stance.

The stone floor beneath his foot cracked with a sharp, echoing crack as his authority pressed down.

“You’ve come far enough,” he stated coldly, his voice steady and heavy, like something that had already decided the outcome.

“Drop your weapons, and I will make this quick.”

I did not answer him.

There was no point in wasting breath on something like that.

Instead, I let my power rise… I guess this was the perfect time for me to use my domain.

“[The Domain of Silence]”

FWOOOOOOOOM!

The moment I uttered those words, my domain instantly unfolded from my position in a slow, expanding sphere, and the moment it took hold, the world changed in a way that no one ever adjusted to quickly.

Sound did not fade or dull; it vanished completely, as if the concept itself had been removed from reality, leaving behind a hollow, unnatural stillness that pressed against the mind.

Every movement became wrong.

Every impact became empty.

Even their own breathing disappeared from their awareness.

I watched their expressions change as they realized it, first confusion, then sharp focus, and finally the flicker of unease when they attempted to respond with their own domains and found nothing taking shape.

Their divine energy flared, their will pushed outward, but the space refused to accept it.

After all, this place solely belonged to me.

They did not hesitate for long.

Experienced fighters did not need words to coordinate, and all seven moved at once, their bodies cutting through the silent air with speed that would have shattered sound barriers if sound still existed.

The scarred god reached me first.

His Authority of Pressure collapsed inward around my body, and I felt space tighten, the invisible weight of his power trying to crush me from every direction at once.

The force drove into my ribs and shoulders, compressing the air around me until it burned against my skin.

I answered with ice.

The temperature dropped in an instant, and the compressed air around me crystallized into sharp fragments of ice that burst outward in a violent expansion.

The pressure shattered against it, breaking apart as the frozen particles tore through the force holding them together.

KRSHHH!

The moment it broke, I stepped forward.

To my left, a goddess unleashed a stream of white-hot flame, her hands thrust forward as fire surged toward me in a wide arc meant to swallow the entire space.

The Heaven Swallowing Sword moved before the flames reached me.

The blade passed through the fire, and the divine energy behind it collapsed as if it had never existed, leaving nothing but ordinary heat that died the moment my frost touched it.

Her eyes widened.

I was already in front of her.

Splurt!

Midnight rose and fell in a clean, direct motion, and the blade passed through her chest without resistance, the impact driving her backward as her body jerked once.

Her mouth opened in a scream that never came.

I pulled the blade free, blood spilling out in a slow arc that froze midair into dark crystals before they touched the ground.

Movement to the right.

Lightning.

A god closed in with his body wrapped in crackling arcs of energy, his arm snapping forward as a concentrated bolt shot toward my head with blinding speed.

I tilted slightly.

The bolt passed close enough that I felt the heat along my cheek, the space behind me fracturing with a silent crack as the energy tore through it.

I stepped in.

The Heaven Swallowing Sword swept across his body in a wide arc, and the moment it touched him, the divine reinforcement around him vanished.

The blade cut through him cleanly, splitting his torso from shoulder to hip.

His body came apart before he hit the ground.

No sound.

No scream.

Just motion and blood and stillness.

The remaining five closed in together, abandoning any attempt to fight individually.

The scarred god formed a massive warhammer out of compressed energy and brought it down toward my head with enough force to shatter the entire chamber, while another twisted the air into a vortex of slicing wind that closed in from the side.

I did not step back, and instead, let the frost surge again.

The temperature plunged so low that the wind itself began to freeze, its motion slowing as ice formed within it, and I raised Midnight to meet the descending hammer.

The blade cut through it.

Fwip!

The construct split apart, dissolving into fragments that scattered across the air.

But he had expected that.

His real attack came a fraction of a second later, his fist driving into my side with brutal force.

THUD!

Pain flared through my ribs, sharp and deep, and I felt something crack under the impact as my body slid backward across the frozen ground.

“Fuuu…” I exhaled, a short, controlled breath, blood rising into my mouth.

It froze as it left my lips.

I moved forward again before the pain could settle.

Both swords came down together, forcing him to react, and when he chose to block the wrong angle, Midnight took his hand off at the wrist in a clean, precise cut.

His body jerked.

I stepped in.

The second strike landed across his shoulder, cutting deep, and he dropped to one knee as blood poured out in thick streams that froze against his skin.

I did not hesitate.

The final thrust drove straight through his throat.

Three left.

They changed tactics again.

The ground beneath me erupted as jagged spikes of stone shot upward, forcing me to shift my footing as the terrain itself turned against me, while blades of compressed air sliced through the space from multiple angles.

One of them caught my shoulder.

Swoop!

The cut went deep, and I felt the warmth of blood against the cold.

I ignored it.

I pushed through the opening it created.

The Heaven Swallowing Sword passed over the stone spikes, and their divine force collapsed, turning them into brittle rock that shattered under the frost spreading across them.

I reached the one controlling them.

SPLURT!

Midnight drove forward without hesitation, piercing through his eye and into his skull.

His body dropped instantly.

Two left.

The wind goddess tried to create distance, surrounding herself with a rotating storm of cutting air that formed a barrier meant to tear apart anything that came near her.

I did not approach.

I threw Midnight.

The blade spun once, then cut straight through the storm without slowing, passing through her chest and out the other side.

The vortex collapsed immediately.

She fell where she stood.

One remained.

He had not moved until now.

He had been watching.

When he finally acted, the world twisted.

Gravity shifted in ways that made no sense, pulling my body sideways and then upward, my balance collapsing as the direction of force changed without warning.

The ground vanished from under me, and I felt myself fall through space that no longer followed any rule I understood.

He appeared beside me, swinging his sword directly at my throat with perfect timing and angle, as if he had been waiting for this moment.

Instantly, I brought the Heaven Swallowing Sword across without thinking.

The blades met.

CLAAAANG!

His sword shattered.

I forced the frost outward in every direction at once, a sudden burst that froze everything within reach, and the disruption broke his control long enough for the world to settle back into something stable.

I hit the ground hard, pain flaring through my ribs.

“Ugh…”

But I obviously did not stay down.

I retrieved Midnight and moved forward again, closing the distance before he could recover.

Zoom!

He raised a barrier, a sphere of compressed gravity that bent the air around it. Seeing this, I simply touched the edge of the barrier with the tip of the Heaven Swallowing Sword.

The barrier of compressed gravity dissipated in an instant, as if it had never been there, and this caused his expression to change greatly.

For the first time, there was fear deeply etched in his eyes, as he fell on his back and started crawling back.

I waved my hand, and a black barrier appeared behind him, ceasing his movements and locking him in place.

“Goodbye.”

I deactivated my Domain and spoke those words, causing his face to contort in complete panic as he tried to bring his hands in front of him to protect himself.

…That was unnecessary.

SPLURT!

Both swords drove forward together.

Midnight pierced his core.

The Heaven Swallowing Sword erased any last defense he tried to raise.

His body went completely still before dissipating into ounces of divinity that I directly absorbed.

“…Phew.”

My domain completely dissipated, revealing the chambers once again.

“…Just a little more, Aestrea…”

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