Chapter 336: Trial Question
|¬Begone. ¬|
A surge of dense purple light erupted from his palm, crackling with a potent combination of destructive and time law energy, and swirling with an aura of anti-divinity.
With precision, the beam found its mark, striking the body of the Malevolent god.
The impact was swift and profound, disintegrating his entire form into oblivion.
In the aftermath, there was no explosion, only a lingering silence as the dust settled.
Suspended in the air, was a solitary black crystal that glowed with a dark light—all that was left of the Malevolent god’s once formidable presence.
The absence of an explosion left an eerie silence, as the power of the attack had vanquished the god without the need for a fiery spectacle.
"Attraction."
With a word, the black crystal shot through the air and into the outstretched palm of the silver-haired boy, like a metal attracted to a magnet.
Then, the massive bounded field surrounding them broke apart and the energy dispersed back into the surroundings.
The boy then dropped the corpse of the wood god onto the ground, tossing the crystal in his hand into the air and catching it once before saying.
"I saw you guys were in a bit of a bind so I pitched in to help."
Turning towards Layla who was down on one knee, he continued.
"Was that unnecessary?"
In the face of this question, the teenage devil only stared at the boy with her green eyes in silence for a few moments, before suddenly bursting out into laughter.
A depreciating smile appeared on her face as she let her body fall back onto the ground, taking a deep breath before replying.
"No, it most certainly was not."
The boy was a little bit confused about her reaction, but he shrugged his shoulders and played it off, before turning his focus towards the sky.
’I feel like there’s someone there.
My cosmic energy perception is showing me two blank spots there; like the ambient cosmic energy is going around something rather than through it like normal.’
Keeping his guard up just in case, the boy then turned his gaze back to the injured quintet who were now being encapsulated in a large bubble of water with small tiny fish-shaped lesser water spirits swimming around in it while their injuries visibly healed.
In less than a minute, they were all good as new, if you ignored their currently abysmal energy reserves.
"Thanks, Undine."
[No problem.]
After thanking the Great Spirit for Healing their wounds using her Deity Realm healing abilities, Layla got back up to her feet and turned towards the boy before saying.
"You really know how to make one hell of an entrance, Arthur."
"Don’t I?"
Arthur replied with a smug grin on his face as he fist-bumped Edward before opening his arms and pulling Layla into a hug.
While the two childhood friends were reuniting after being separated for a while, the other Benevolent gods who had now been freed from Arthur’s aura suppression all had shocked expressions on their faces.
Due to Ayaan, they knew that Layla’s group had a fifth member called ’Arthur’ who had been separated from them earlier in the month.
And from her words right now, this boy who just appeared and killed the Malevolent god of Darkness in a single strike, was that ’Arthur’.
Even Ayaan who held the most curiosity towards Arthur was shocked shitless as he could tell Arthur was only a Superior Epic Realm like him, but his entire being was screaming to him that he would not even last a few seconds if he were to dare to challenge the boy.
If someone told him before that there existed 16-year-old Epic Superior Stage Realm existences, he would have laughed at the person and called them a dreamer.
Worst of all, he and all the other gods present could instinctively tell; that Arthur was the same as Esna, a being who somehow had the power to weaken them considerably.
And seeing as he dropped an Intermediate Legendary to the bottom of the Inferior Stage, his ability was far greater than hers.
"It might have only been a bit over two weeks for you guys, but it’s been months for me.
I missed you guys a lot more than I thought I would."
Arthur spoke while trying to calculate the actual time difference between Lucifer’s domain and the outside world but he gave up on it a few seconds later.
’It’s not really important.’
"You seem to have undergone a bit of a makeover."
Such was his comment upon fully taking in Nicole’s appearance and spotting how very much different her current battle dress was compared to before.
"Mhmm...I got stronger, so I upgraded it."
Nicole replied in a quiet voice as always, but anyone who know her could tell that there was a tinge of ’excitement’ in her tone.
Her indigo-purple eyes seemed to sparkle as she gazed at Arthur, something that brought a wry smile to the boy’s face as she encircled her arms around his waist.
Half-Replicating the gesture, he ran his right hand through her hair, smoothening it a bit while whispering something in her ears. The others didn’t hear what he said, but whatever it was warranted a light chuckle from the girl.
"This bastard..."
Edward spoke with narrowed eyes upon noticing this while Undine suddenly appeared behind Nicole and abruptly pulled her away with a back hug.
Seemingly not caring about this, Arthur shrugged his shoulders and then turned back to Layla and commented on her own appearance change.
"Speaking of makeovers, you seem to have undergone a little one with your eyes."
"Huh? What are you talking about?"
The girl tilted her head to the side in confusion, wondering what Arthur was referring to, but the boy only pulled out a mirror and silently held it up in front of her.
It was then she noticed the change in her pupils and saw that they had gone from a normal round circle shape to a gear symbol shape.
"What?!"
Leaving her to sort that issue out herself, Arthur then shifted his attention to Esna, an appraising gaze flashing in his eyes for a moment before he nodded to himself.
"Good. Your control is better."
He patted her head lightly as he spoke about her racial ability control, eliciting a light pout from her as she replied.
"I’m not a kid, you know?"
"Yeah, but you’re kinda like a lil sis for me, so no much difference there."
"Why do I have to be the little sis?"
"Because you’re younger by close to two years."
While they were having this little conversation, Arthur kept patting Esna’s head and the girl made zero attempts to take his hand off.
"Now then..."
"Hmm?"
Esna looked at him with a questioning gaze upon hearing his words, but in the next moment, his energy suddenly burst out and she felt her blood boil, making her reflexively take a step back from the boy.
"Authority of the Progenitor Godslayer."
The moment Arthur invoked his ability, an overwhelming aura descended upon the area, with waves of existential fear penetrating the very cores of all the Benevolent gods present.
They had been wondering how to speak to Layla and the others without interfering with their little reunion when Arthur suddenly pulled this stunt and caught them off guard.
Then again, even if they were on their guard, they still would not have been able to do a thing.
A potent suppression gripped their realms of existence, causing them to plummet by a full realm, their divine sparks waning in the face of Arthur’s racial ability.
His anti-divinity surged forward, permeating the air with its suffocating presence that caused the gods to stumble and fall to their knees, their bodies tingling with the sensation of countless needles pricking their skin.
’-If you feel suffocated just by being near me, then you might as well be half-dead near him-’
It was now that Ayaan truly understood that Esna wasn’t kidding when she told him this.
"Wait up, what the heck are you doing Arthur?!"
"Yeah. They’re allies!"
The moment the word ’Allies’ escaped Esna’s lips, Arthur’s own lips curled up into a grin as he turned to her and asked.
|¬Esna. ¬|
Although he spoke with his Faux true voice, the sound did not resound across the city like before but only remained within the area.
|¬Do you really think it’s possible for ’Us’, members of the ’godslayer’ race, to ever be ’Allies’ with ’gods’? ¬|
"Arthur, what a-? Huh?"
Layla wanted to question Arthur’s reason for suddenly asking that question at this point in time, but she was silently stopped by Nicole.
|¬I’m waiting for your answer. ¬|
