Chapter 501: The Heavens Shall Fall (XLII)

“Fuuh… haaa…”

Four battles later, I stood in the recovery area adjacent to the arena, my body covered in fresh wounds from the last opponent.

He was some kind of crystalline golem that had nearly crushed me before I’d found a way to shatter its core.

“…Fucking hell,” I groaned slighly.

Four victories.

Four opponents who had pushed me to my absolute limits in different ways.

A wind elemental that could disperse and reform at will, requiring me to freeze the entire arena to trap it.

A warrior wielding twin hammers with the Authority of Gravity, who’d nearly compressed me into paste before I’d managed to get close enough to land a killing blow.

A shapeshifter with the Authority of Mirrors who’d created dozens of perfect copies, forcing me to destroy them all simultaneously.

And finally, the crystalline golem whose durability had tested every technique I possessed.

Like what the fuck!

That fucking golem was actually able to take my sixth move, and only an arm was torn up from his body!

So yeah, each fight had left me more exhausted than I already was.

I didn’t exactly have enough time between fights to rest… so yeah, I’m wondering if I can even fight anymore.

“Phew… fuuh..”

I sat in meditation now, trying to restore what energy I could, though I knew it wouldn’t be enough to bring me back to full strength.

Footsteps approached, soft and deliberate.

I opened my eyes to find the creator woman standing before me, her expression unreadable as always, but something flickering in her gaze that might have been concern.

『That was the fourth victory』

She stated with a satisfied smile.

『You’ve done remarkably well, my dear.』

“How many more?” I asked, my voice rough from exertion.

『Just one.』

I looked up at her sharply.

『This next fight will be your final battle』

She continued, settling down to sit beside me.

『Win this, and you can return to the Divine Realm. Your obligation to me will be fulfilled.』

Relief flooded through me despite the exhaustion.

One more fight.

Just one more, and I could go back home… and back to dealing with Nyarlathotep’s game, back to the invasion I’d left unfinished.

“Who’s the opponent?” I asked.

『You’ll see soon enough』

She said with that familiar enigmatic smile.

『But I will say this… they saved the best for last. Your final opponent is… special.』

…For fuck’s sake.

I really didn’t like the way she emphasized that word.

Time passed in silence as I continued my meditation, feeling my divine core slowly refill with chaos energy that I knew wouldn’t be sufficient but would have to be enough regardless.

Finally, the call came.

The arena was ready.

My final opponent was waiting.

I stood slowly and began walking toward the entrance to the combat floor.

Grip!

But just before I could take more than a few steps, I felt a hand catch my wrist.

I turned to find the creator woman looking at me with an expression I’d never seen on her face before… something almost vulnerable, almost worried.

She stepped closer, rising onto her toes slightly.

Then she planted a soft kiss on my cheek, her lips warm against my skin.

『Good luck.』

She whispered sweetly, her breath ghosting across my ear.

『You’re actually going to need it this time.』

I blinked in surprise, my hand automatically rising to touch where she’d kissed me.

I really didn’t expect her to kiss me… but, if she thought I really needed luck…

Then this final opponent was going to be something beyond anything I’d faced so far.

I nodded once, accepting the warning for what it was, and continued toward the arena.

The gates opened, and I stepped out onto the white stone floor for what I hoped would be the last time.

The crowd in the stands had grown quieter now, the mocking commentary from earlier fights replaced by genuine interest and anticipation.

They knew this was the final match.

GRRRRRRRRRRRRR!

The gates on the opposite side began to open.

I tensed, readying myself for whatever monstrosity would emerge.

…And what stepped through made my blood run cold.

“…A Hybrid Demon Angel?”

The words left my mouth before I could stop them, genuine shock coloring my voice.

She was young, probably appearing no older than twenty in human terms, though age meant nothing when it came to beings of this power level.

Six wings spread from her back in perfect symmetry, three on each side, but not matching sets.

The three wings on her left were deep black, darker than void itself, absorbing light rather than reflecting it and radiating an aura of pure darkness that made shadows deepen around her.

The three wings on her right were pristine white, so pure and bright they almost hurt to look at directly, radiating divine light that pushed back against the darkness in a constant state of balanced tension.

Her eyes were equally divided.

The right eye was golden, glowing with holy radiance that spoke of angelic heritage and divine authority.

The left eye was crimson red, burning with demonic power and infernal strength.

She wore simple combat attire that didn’t hide the obvious power radiating from her body, an actual 9✯ Peak True God.

Not to mention that I could feel her authority even from this distance.

The Authority of Light.

And the Authority of Darkness.

My weakness and my advantage, combined in a single opponent.

The Authority of Light was the natural counter to me.

The Fallen God race had an inherent vulnerability to pure divine light, a weakness built into our very nature from whatever fall had created us.

But the Authority of Darkness was something I could work with, something that my own Race would resonate with and potentially counter.

A perfectly balanced opponent.

An impossible hybrid that shouldn’t exist.

The daughter of an Arch-Angel and an Arch-Demon… two races that hated each other with such intensity that the idea of them producing offspring was absurd.

And yet here she stood.

She looked at me with those mismatched eyes, and when she spoke, her voice carried harmonics of both celestial choir and infernal chorus.

“So you’re the champion who’s been causing such a stir, huh?” she said, tilting her head slightly.

“The creator’s champion who went undefeated through four consecutive battles against opponents who should have crushed you.”

She smiled, and it was neither kind nor cruel, just interested.

“My name is Seraphiel. I am the hybrid that should not exist, the balance between opposing absolutes.”

Her wings spread wider, light and darkness radiating outward in waves that made the arena floor crack beneath her feet.

“And I’m going to be the one who ends your winning streak.”

I gripped my swords tighter, feeling the weight of exhaustion in every fiber of my being but also feeling something else rising to meet it.

The final fight.

Win or lose, after this, I could finally go home.

Fwooosh!

Seraphiel decided to move first.

She closed the distance in a blur of white and black feathers, her fist wreathed in holy light, driving toward my face.

I deflected with Midnight, the blade scraping against the divine energy coating her hand, and countered with a slash from the Heaven Swallowing Sword aimed at her exposed ribs.

She twisted mid-air, her dark wings folding inward to create a shield of compressed shadows that absorbed the strike.

CLANG!

We separated, circling each other.

She came in again, this time with darkness coiling around her left hand like living tendrils.

I met the attack with my Authority of the Abyss, our darkness clashing and creating a sphere of void between us that collapsed inward with a sound like reality screaming.

BOOOOM!

The shockwave sent us both sliding backward.

I launched forward before she could recover, both swords moving in coordinated strikes, high and low, forcing her to choose.

She chose neither, her wings carrying her upward in a vertical dodge that put her above my reach.

Light gathered in her right hand, brilliant and searing.

She threw it downward like a spear.

I rolled sideways, the light-spear hitting where I’d been standing and exploding in a burst of purifying radiance that burned my skin even from several meters away.

My turn.

I activated the Authority of Frost and created a platform of ice beneath my feet, launching myself upward to meet her in the air.

Midnight cut through her guard, the blade forcing her to block with crossed arms.

The impact sent her spinning, but she recovered instantly, dark wings stabilizing her flight.

BAAAM!

We exchanged another flurry of strikes, sword against hand-to-hand, ice against light and darkness, each impact creating shockwaves that cracked the arena floor below.

Then I saw it.

A gap in her defense, just for a fraction of a second as she overextended on a punch wreathed in shadow.

I twisted my body and drove my boot into her chest with all the strength my Fallen God bloodline could muster.

WHAM!

The kick connected solidly, and Seraphiel was sent flying backward, her body tumoring through the air before she caught herself with her wings several meters away.

I landed in a crouch, ready to press the advantage…

“Kurrrghhh!”

Pain suddenly exploded in my chest.

My vision went white, then red, then black around the edges.

A whole mouthful of thick, black blood erupted from my lips, spilling down my chin and onto the white stone floor.

I staggered, my hand instinctively going to my chest where the pain originated.

What…?

My divine core was pulsing irregularly… something was wrong… there was something really wrong happening inside me.

The black blood kept coming, more than should have been possible, pooling at my feet in a spreading puddle that looked wrong, infected, corrupted.

Seraphiel straightened across the arena, her eyes widening in genuine surprise.

And in the stands, I heard the creator woman’s voice.

『Aestrea—!!!』

Then my legs gave out, and I collapsed to my knees, more black blood pouring from my mouth as whatever was happening inside me continued to spread.

W-what is happening t-to me?

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