Chapter 703: Celestia’s ‘Ability’
"Das Ende des Hurrikans!"
A spiralling vortex of wind and destruction energy tore through the air toward Arthur. It struck him mid-dodge, sending him hurtling through the sky before he crashed into the ground far in the distance, leaving a crater in his wake.
Arthur groaned, immediately rolling to the side as a chain of death law energy shot down from above and struck the ground where he was a moment ago.
It left a deep fissure that radiated necrotic energy, and upon looking upwards, Arthur saw dozens of them raining down from above.
"Ketten der Sterblichkeit!"
|¬Shattered Horizon! ¬|
Arthur unleashed a burst of law energy, creating countless laser-like beams that erupted in all directions from his body.
Each beam bent and twisted, colliding with the chains of mortality converging on Arthur and exploding in a stunning display of power.
Arthur forced himself upright and charged forward, but the man vanished and reappeared behind him. Before Arthur could react, the man unleashed a destruction-infused punch that sent Arthur crashing to the ground, the impact echoing through the desolate wasteland.
From the distance, Beatrix and Artemisia watched in growing alarm, unable to interfere in the fight which was far beyond their level.
Artemisia consumed one divine spark fragment after the other, determined to maintain her buffs on Arthur, while Beatrix pushed herself to generate her illusions of the future faster, giving Arthur more time to attack.
In their vision, Arthur and the man appeared to be streaks of crimson and silver light repeatedly clashing in the air, moving further into the distance.
The growing distance forced the girls, especially Beatrix, to move closer so she could keep Arthur within the range of her Chrono-Space Dominion.
As they grew closer, gauging the distance so they didn’t get too close and ended up being collateral damage, Arthur and the man continued their clash in the air.
"Nekrotischer Kataklysmus + Konvergenz!"
The man combined two death law attacks, unleashing a wave of destruction energy that surged towards Arthur, and then manipulating that wave like water, compressing it into a torrent that radiated outward in a spiral.
The attack turned the ground to ash and the air to poison, but Arthur used an Annihilation Pulse to erase the poison around him as he charged through the air to close the distance.
"Brennende Apokalypse!"
The battlefield ignited with flames again, a hellish inferno roaring toward Arthur. Before Arthur could fully swing Lostvayne to split the inferno apart, the man’s voice rang out once more.
"Die Herrschaft des Donners!"
The inferno was immediately followed by an electrified shockwave that caught Arthur mid-counter, hurling him backwards.
The randomization of the laws made the onslaught impossible to predict, even with Beatrix’s illusions showing Arthur glimpses of the future.
What’s more, there was little delay between attacks, giving Arthur far too little time to handle them.
Just as the lightning descended, the man combined destruction and death laws once more, forming a massive pulsating sphere of blackened energy.
He hurled the sphere at Arthur, its size increasing as it approached.
In response, Arthur activated AGSD, utilizing the gravitational singularity to absorb the sphere. As soon as it was fully consumed, Arthur condensed the energy into his palm and teleported through space, reappearing beneath the man as he threw his fist forward.
The man turned around to block, but Arthur conjured a wormhole in front of his hand, redirecting his fist through it. The fist emerged from the man’s left side, striking him unimpeded.
The energy in Arthur’s fist detonated upon impact, unleashing an explosion of death and destruction energy that devastated the landscape for miles.
Both combatants were blown back by the blast, their bodies tearing through crumbling structures and leaving trails of destruction as they slid across the battered battlefield.
As the man crashed to the ground, the cracks on his body deepened, and he coughed up blood. His fingers began to disintegrate into dust, but he halted his body with his time power.
’Not yet...! I need to exhaust that Sword’s power!’
With a sweeping motion of his hand, the man conjured an array of elemental weapons—flaming spears, jagged icicles, bolts of lightning hardened into blades, and whirling shards of earth.
Each weapon shimmered with cosmic energy as they took flight, hurtling toward Arthur with terrifying speed.
"Elementares Arsenal."
He calmly declared the name of his attack, imbuing power into it and enabling the projectiles to cross space and reach Arthur instantaneously.
Arthur’s eyes narrowed as he raised Lostvayne, using his Time Pseudo-Authority to slow the oncoming projectiles.
The weapons slowed mid-air, their paths bending as if wading through thick molasses. But the man raised his hand, and the Time Sigil on the back of his palm glowed.
"Zeitrückgewinnung."
The slowed projectiles suddenly snapped back to their original hypersonic speed, reaching Arthur faster than he could escape their range.
He tried to teleport, but the man used his Time Sigil to distort time and affect space, preventing him from achieving a stable teleportation.
Left with no choice, Arthur swung Lostvayne in wide arcs, meeting each weapon head-on.
Flaming spears exploded into embers as his blade cut through them, icicles shattered into glittering shards, and hardened lightning disintegrated under the overwhelming force of his destruction energy.
The man conjured more weapons, increasing the intensity of the barrage. Arthur slashed and countered relentlessly, but as the barrage intensified, the sheer volume overwhelmed him.
Forced to change tactics, Arthur summoned Celestia in his left hand.
Now wielding both Lostvayne and Celestia, Arthur deflected the storm of weapons with renewed vigour.
For any projectile Lostvayne missed or couldn’t reach, Celestia intercepted it and vice versa.
But the man wasn’t done.
"Dimensionales Warp-Sperrfeuer."
The elemental weapons began to warp through space, vanishing and reappearing closer to Arthur. Some bypassed time itself, striking instantly with no warning.
Beatrix and Artemisia closed the distance with Evan’s help, but even with the time illusions she showed Arthur, the sheer number and speed of the weapons left him with cuts that began to accumulate across his body.
However, the constant flux of energy flowing through him healed each wound almost as quickly as it appeared.
Arthur planted his feet onto the ground with gravity law energy, expanding his gravity field into a spherical shield that bent space around him and distorted the trajectories of the weapons.
But the man’s next technique rendered his shield useless.
"Zerstörerische Spirale."
The man conjured weapons with destruction energy, their nature allowing them to tear through Arthur’s gravity shield.
Suddenly, Arthur felt a strange tremor in Celestia’s blade. He glanced at the weapon as he swung it and his eyes widened in disbelief.
The semi-transparent sword, which had always gleamed like glass, now began to melt.
"Wha-?!"
The blade’s surface turned molten, flowing like a liquid. Part of Celestia’s mass surged across his body, forming a second layer of metal skin that shimmered lightly.
’Celestia?!’
[Don’t ask me, Master. I don’t know what I’m doing either.]
The sword’s response left Arthur even more confused. How could she not know what she was doing?
Yet the molten metal continued to surge across his body, forming a semi-transparent layer of metal over his flesh, blocking any weapons that pierced through his gravity shield or skipped through time and space to reach him.
The attacks bounced harmlessly off the metallic layer, leaving Arthur only to endure the impact of being hit.
However, as his feet were rooted firmly to the ground, he didn’t stumble and fall from the impacts.
Arthur was taken aback.
What was this ability of Celestia’s? When had she acquired it? And why hadn’t she told him?
But the truth was, just as Celestia had mentioned, she had no clue what she was doing.
So how had she managed to pull it off? The answer was simple—she had been following Lostvayne’s instructions.
To understand those instructions, we need to rewind the timeline by a few minutes, right after Arthur had activated Soul Devouring Oblivion.
◇ ◇ ◇
Lostvayne’s dark humanoid silhouette turned to face another silhouette behind it.
Unlike its black form outlined in crimson and silver, the other silhouette was silver, its edges glowing with a golden hue.
Its distinctly feminine shape and long, curly hair made its identity unmistakable.
Lostvayne looked right at Celestia in silence for a moment, before finally speaking.
[Celestial Darkness.]
A reminder; this was the weapon’s full name—one that Arthur had shortened to simply ’Celestia’, deeming the original too much of a mouthful.
[Master is in a rather dire situation right now.]
[...]
Celestia said nothing in response to Lostvayne’s words.
[If he continues to take damage and relies on my power to heal, the time he can sustain my ’Released’ state will be drastically reduced.
When that happens, I’ll be left with only two options: disengage my release state or begin devouring his soul to maintain it.]
[!!]
Celestia visibly reacted to this statement, and noticing this, Lostvayne seemed to smile as it continued.
[But we both know we can’t let that happen. We can’t let Master’s soul take damage—not when he’s so close to becoming a Deity.]
... ...
[Why are you telling me something I already know?]
Celestia finally spoke, and in response, Lostvayne stepped closer, hands clasped behind its back.
[Because you can help him. You can reduce the damage he’s taking.]
[I can?]
Celestia’s voice carried a note of skepticism.
[Have you forgotten which one of us is the stronger weapon?]
Lostvayne chuckled at her response, shaking its head as though amused.
[True. I am the stronger one... for now.]
At this, Celestia’s glow dimmed, her features twisting into what could only be interpreted as a frown. When she finally spoke, her tone was tinged with annoyance.
[I’m not what you think I am, Lostvayne.]
[Oh, but you are.]
Lostvayne countered without hesitation, stepping even closer. Its silhouette seemed to radiate a confident energy as it approached, stopping just before her.
[There are two reasons I accepted our current Master. And make no mistake, his power over Null is not the more important one.]
Raising a hand, Lostvayne reached out and poked Celestia lightly in the chest as it declared.
[You are the number one reason, Celestial Darkness.]
Celestia opened her mouth to protest, but before she could utter a word, Lostvayne pressed on.
[I’m not surprised you don’t believe me. It’s only natural.
You see, during my time with Lucifer, I encountered Astravalor quite frequently.]
The name struck a chord, and Celestia’s expression darkened.
Astravalor—the Rule Breaker with the Serial Number 6.
The mere mention of the name conjured knowledge she couldn’t explain. She knew it was Number 6. She even knew its Weapon Authority.
How did she know this? She had no idea.
It was just like when she had seen Alvey’s weapon and instantly knew it was Rule Breaker Number 93: Morphic Edge.
Lostvayne noticed her reaction but continued speaking.
[Astravalor once told me about finding fragments of you in a universe called Camelot.
Apparently, they were in the hands of one of its Main Entities—what were they called? The Twelve Knights of the Round Table?]
