“......!”
Ayleth was taken aback. In the midst of their confrontation, Reed suddenly let go of the cursed sword.
He twisted his wrist in a delicate motion, sliding most of Ayleth’s strength away with ease.
As he brushed past her shoulder, unbothered by the wound, he extended his right hand.
The hand that had held the cursed sword moments ago was now empty.
He once again made his plea with his unprotected hand.
“Live with me in this destroyed world.”
Ayleth’s response, amidst the overwhelming temptation, was already determined.
“No.”
“Such a pity.”
Reed shifted his right foot. A massive wave of force spread across the ground where his foot struck, sweeping Ayleth’s body away.
With astonishing reflexes, Ayleth regained her balance and charged toward Reed.
The cursed sword that had been resummoned in his right hand collided with Ayleth’s pure white divine weapon.
In the ballroom atop the snow-covered mountain, the two transcendent beings began to dance their unparalleled sword dance.
Exchanging unconventional strikes, Ayleth tried to engage in conversation.
“I’ve been thinking. Your goal... it’s pretty strange, you know?”
“What part?”
“How can you believe in demons if you don’t believe in gods?”
“Gods and demons are different. I have enough control over the will of the Chaos Demon God to manage it.”
“Control it, you say?”
Reed calmly and politely continued his explanation despite the astonishment in Ayleth’s golden eyes.
Though those eyes burned with a desire to possess her, and his hands unleashed fierce attacks as though to crush her under his power.
“The true nature of Chaos Evil isn’t that of an extraordinary being; it’s a conglomeration of countless evils. The intelligence and will formed by creatures clustering together aren’t that advanced. I can control them using the resonance of the powers I possess.”
“Oh, really?”
“Yeah.”
“Thanks for the explanation, Reed. But, you know...”
Ayleth’s cold evaluation came at the end of her listening.
“Humans who are so full of themselves tend to mess things up in the end!”
“Well, the world will end inevitably then.”
“Don’t say it so casually.”
“You think I’m saying it casually?”
As Ayleth closed her mouth, Reed pressed the blade closer to her, speaking again.
“It’s better to follow the fate of destruction than to cling to a miserable life depending on the mercy of the gods.”
“......”
The attitude of choosing a dignified end over a miserable existence. The foundation of his beliefs was consistent.
He couldn’t trust the gods.
So, he stuck to his method of controlling beings equal to gods and replacing them.
As the conversation stopped, a fierce exchange of blows followed. Ayleth’s scythe attacks were blocked by Reed, who used the blade of his cursed sword as a shield.
Then, Reed’s counterattack came, which Ayleth’s scythe deflected with precision, sending the blows to the side.
While they repeatedly twisted the flow of attacks, the light of brilliant destruction illuminated the surroundings.
Beneath the icy blue winter sky, the towering summit of the snow-covered mountain was gradually being laid out across the flat snowy field.
“Reed!”
With a harsh breath, Ayleth put all her strength into one point.
The sparks generated by the collision of their attacks were nearly as powerful as divine punishment.
However, the destruction and the screaming weren’t directed at Reed but at the eternal ice of the snow-capped mountain.
After exchanging a powerful strike, the two of them leaned back from the straight recoil, creating space between them.
Instead of dust, white fractal particles soared into the air as they were pushed in opposite directions, their eyes meeting.
“......”
“......”
In that fleeting moment, both sensed it. That in the next attack, they would clash with all their might.
Ayleth made the first move. Bending at the waist, she placed both hands on the ground and braced herself with her heels.
Then, she released her aura through her palms, pouring queenly strength into her legs to transition into a powerful burst of speed.
Bang!
Her silver hair spread out like wings. Her body pierced the air faster than a raptor.
At the same moment, Reed planted his sword into the ground to stop his movement and, as he pulled the cursed sword from the earth, he launched an attack toward Ayleth.
The perfect straight line drawn by his cursed sword was a slash that seemed capable of dividing the world itself, speeding toward Ayleth.
In response, her divine weapon focused a tremendous amount of holy aura at a single point, aiming for the center of the black horizontal line.
When the point and the line met—
Boom!
With a tremendous shake of the earth, the two were sent flying backward. Blood flowers bloomed on their bodies as they regained their stance.
Reed, catching his breath, asked.
“How about it? Have you changed your mind a bit?”
“No, not at all.”
“Your resolve is unwavering.”
“Your persuasion is lacking, what can I do?”
“I’ll try harder. But, Ayleth...”
Reed’s gaze briefly shifted to the side. He was looking at the long strands of her hair fluttering in the wind.
“It looks like the time limit on your Divine Descent is about to end.”
As he watched the pinkish tint gradually begin to appear in her silver hair, his eyes sparkled with interest.
“Really? Thanks for letting me know.”
It was at that moment that Ayleth mercilessly crushed the belief and expectation that time was on Reed’s side.
She unfolded her aura blade, shielding herself with it, then dug through her spatial inventory.
She pulled out a potion, removed the stopper with her teeth, and quickly drank half of it.
Her original color was now erased once again by the divine silver and gold.
“Is that enough?”
“A fever-reducing medicine for the divine fever, huh?”
Reed sighed quietly at the disappointing sight.
“Sigh, there really is no luck for me in this world. What a shame.”
His indifferent voice couldn’t hide the deep disappointment.
“Ultimately, I’ll only be able to rely on my own strength.”
He waved his hand. At his gesture, a legion of black cursed blades flowed like water.
The cursed blades swirled around him, then soared high into the sky, and soon rained down like a storm of lightning.
In response, Ayleth shot her white cursed blades straight up into the air.
Boom!
The horizontal line of battle erupted in countless explosions as the aura blades destroyed each other. The aftermath tore through the thin air with a violent storm.
Ayleth swallowed her breath, which had been pushed to the edge, as she braced herself against the storm, firmly holding her scythe again.
As if it was her turn, she struck first, her anger and frustration seeping into her shout.
“Take it easy, Reed!”
It wasn’t a comment about the ongoing intense battle. What she was targeting was Reed’s more fundamental actions.
“You’ve already shouldered enough of the world’s responsibility! Why are you still trying to bear it?”
“Responsibility? Me?”
“You can’t trust the gods! You can’t let them take your role, can you?”
“......”
Ayleth had pinpointed the sacrifice hidden within Reed’s plan.
“Control the Evil God? Then what about you? Doesn’t that mean your consciousness will merge with the Evil God? Is that human life? Why do you keep doing this? Why can’t you break free from this world and stop pretending to be a part of it?”
“......”
“Why are you so foolish, sacrificing yourself again?”
Even if the will was at a low level and the evil god was a created being, the target was a chaotic evil god whose very existence was power. Controlling its will wouldn’t be easy.
To suppress the monstrous nature that could go out of control at any time, he would likely have to remain conscious at all times, watching and controlling it.
This was more than a curse—it was a fate that could never fall asleep.
“......”
Reed remained silent. But despite her desperate words, he [N O V E L I G H T] made no change in his thoughts.
“If the reward for that sacrifice is you, I wouldn’t hesitate.”
Reed’s resolve was firm. He had long since forgotten life as an ordinary human.
“You stubborn child!”
Ayleth, pouring all her emotions into her strike, lashed out at Reed with her scythe.
“Your words are harsh, Ayleth.”
Of course, he easily deflected the affectionate attack.
“You wouldn’t have used such harsh words with 117th, would you?”
“Enough.”
With a sharp retort, Ayleth’s eyes shifted. The light atmosphere suddenly shifted to one of tension.
“Alright, Reed. If that’s truly your intention...”
“......”
“I’ll free you from that obsessive sense of responsibility.”
Ayleth, too, was merely ‘persuading’ him.
“See? Ayleth. You too, prefer this method.”
“I’m just adapting to your methods!”
Sliding backward, Ayleth deployed her aura blades. The light blades swirled through the air, distorting Reed’s field of vision.
Using this distraction, she created a blind spot in his sensory range and launched her real attack.
Swish!
Dozens of threads formed curved lines as they shot toward Reed.
He easily dodged most of the lines meant to bind his limbs, but one of them wrapped around his left arm.
Of course, he wasn’t worried. He casually flicked his fingers.
“You’ve already tried this. With those wires, you can’t...”
His confident voice faltered.
With a clear ringing sound, the spirit king’s harp string, which should have been severed, did not move.
Instead, it melted through his clothes and began to dig into the skin of his left arm.
“This is...”
“Surprised?”
Only then did Reed properly examine the wire wrapped around his wrist.
The unpleasant black lines, reminiscent of thorned wire. Its true nature was...
“It’s called the Golden Black Chains.”
It was the artifact that helped seal the 3rd power of Tesilid Arzent in the Abyss.
"Did you let your guard down thinking it was the Spirit King's harp string?"
“Honestly, yeah. I didn’t expect you to exploit a loophole in my consciousness, Ayleth Rodeline.”
A special privilege for the possessor.
