Chapter 980: Five Seconds
Arthur breathed heavily, and as his trembling hand released Celestia, the weapon fell and clattered onto the ground.
Luka also released her sword, the weapon dropping to the ground as she reached out with her hand to clutch her chest, her head lowered with her hair covering her face.
Then, her shoulders began to shake, and she looked up, bursting into laughter while staggering back once more, more golden blood spilling from her wound as her body trembled.
"I have witnessed many a thing, but a direct connection to the Concept of Destruction, forced comprehension of a universal law, and a forced elevation of your Existence Realm all at once? That’s a first, even for me."
Luka extended her left hand and summoned her sword into it, and the moment she did, Arthur gripped Celestia, tensing as he tried to force himself to stand, only to fall back onto his knees.
Seeing this, Luka waved her bloodied right hand dismissively and said, "Don’t be so tense. I’m satisfied. For now, at least."
Her sword vanished with a flash of light, and she traced the wound cutting through her chest, chuckling as she continued, "That was a good blow. You completely ignored all my existing durability as if it wasn’t even there.
It’s been so long since I last bled, I’d forgotten what my blood even smelled like."
The woman heaved a deep sigh, shaking her head lightly.
"I’d love to play more with you, but unfortunately, it seems our private bonding time is about to get interrupted."
The moment Luka said that, space ruptured and a long hammer shot out from it, barrelling straight toward her.
She reached out with her left hand and caught the incoming hammer, stopping it for a moment before gripping its handle with her right hand and forcing it down onto the ground beside her.
Looking up at the rupture the hammer had come through, she spoke in a tone tinged with faint amusement.
"Quinn, I thought we were friends, and yet you kept this beautiful discovery from me."
Just as she spoke, a palm appeared beside her face, and before Luka’s pupils could dart toward it, a blast of cosmic energy erupted from the palm, crashing into her body and sending her flying.
She slammed into one of the nearby icy mountains, the entire structure collapsing over her, but when the dust cleared, Luka’s body, without any additional damage, was revealed.
A cracked and faintly flickering shield of cosmic energy hovered at her right side, the direction from which the blast of cosmic energy had come.
Luka then looked up at the one responsible, a deeply frowning Aleksas, and spoke. "Now, now, Aleksas, this is the clone that my dear Slayer actually managed to damage, so I’d rather you don’t, you know, obliterate it."
Cosmic energy gathered around Aleksas’ palm, and at the same time, the hammer on the ground lifted and curved through the air, shooting straight toward Luka from behind.
However, before Aleksas could release his cosmic energy and before the hammer reached Luka, her body vanished in a star-shaped flash of light, and the hammer passed through empty space.
Aleksas silently clenched his fist and lowered his hand, and at the same moment, the airborne hammer flew straight back into the hand of the just-arriving Quinn.
She caught it, clicking her tongue in irritation before turning a worried gaze toward Arthur.
He was still down on his knees, his body barely able to move, tendrils of crimson light crackling around his limbs. His silver hair had taken on that crimson hue, and both of his eyes glowed with the light of destruction.
"This...! fucking crazy!"
Quinn immediately dismissed Starbreaker when she realised what had happened to Arthur, but before she could take a step forward, Celestia, in her humanoid form, appeared in front of him, placing her hands on the sides of his face and lifting his head.
Meeting his fully crimson eyes with her golden ones, she spoke in a calm voice.
[Deep breaths, Master. Deep breaths.]
As she spoke, ambient cosmic energy flowed into her body, and before Quinn and Aleksas’ shocked eyes, Celestia channelled that energy into Arthur, causing the crimson staining his existence to recede.
’Is she pushing back Destruction?!’
Quinn couldn’t believe the thought that had just crossed her mind, even as she watched it happen.
Arthur’s hair lost its crimson tint, returning to pure silver, and the light in his eyes withdrew from his sclera back into his irises alone.
[There there, Master. Don’t let yourself sink into that chaotic mire. That voice has no control over you. You’re not that thing’s puppet.]
With every word Celestia spoke, more of the destruction withdrew from Arthur’s body, and his breathing gradually stabilised.
Aleksas, Quinn, and even Lostvayne were all stunned by the sight.
In his attempt to survive, Arthur had gone beyond drawing power from the Aspect of Destruction he possessed and had tapped into the Concept of Destruction itself through the link between the Aspect and the Concept.
That Chaotic Conceptual power of Destruction had entered his body, forcibly elevating his comprehension of the universal law of destruction derived from the Concept so that he could meet the requirements to wield the greater power he had drawn.
But he had pulled in excess power, far more than he could handle even with the new qualifications he had gained, all to deliver that final hit on Luka.
Now, Celestia was returning that excess power, forcing it back to where it came from.
That was exactly what baffled Aleksas, Quinn, and Lostvayne—the fact that Celestia could push the power of Destruction back.
How was she able to do that? And why was the Chaotic Conceptual Power of Destruction recoiling from Celestia’s cosmic energy?
A conjecture immediately formed in Lostvayne’s mind, and she manifested her humanoid form, her expression dark as she spoke.
[Lady Celestia, did you—]
[Shut up, Lostvayne,] Celestia said, cutting Lostvayne off before the question could be finished.
However, her actions only served to confirm the conjecture Lostvayne had formed.
While Celestia was vehemently opposed to Arthur gaining power directly tied to Concepts or becoming any closer to the Cosmic Forces than necessary, she herself was aligned with one of those Cosmic Forces, and it was neither the Cosmic Force of Chaos nor of Order.
The last of the excessive destructive energy finally left Arthur’s body, returning to the Concept from which it came, and he regained enough clarity of mind to speak.
His left hand rose to his chest, brushing against the tear in his shirt still wet with his blood, feeling the scab forming over the wound beneath.
He immediately turned toward Aleksas, but before he could speak, Celestia forced his head back toward her.
[Master, now isn’t the time for any talk. Your body and soul need rest. The strain you just endured was too great.]
She attempted to lift him to his feet as she spoke, but perhaps looking into his eyes while saying that had been a mistake, because Arthur, meeting her gaze, immediately understood her intention.
Yes, his body and soul had endured enormous strain. Yes, he needed rest.
But the reason Celestia mentioned these already obvious facts was to distract him.
"Aleksas... Quinn..." Arthur muttered, a breath spilling from his lips as he asked, "How did you know...?"
Arthur wanted to know how the two of them had known to come here.
No, it wasn’t that he didn’t know.
He knew.
He only sought confirmation, and that confirmation was precisely what Celestia did not want him to receive.
The thought of using cosmic energy to forcibly cut off Arthur’s consciousness crossed her mind, but before she could act on it, Aleksas spoke.
"You’re aware that we are capable of sensing the changes in our numbers, aren’t you?"
Celestia immediately turned her gaze toward him, her expression filled with fury as she opened her mouth.
[Progenitor of Dragons, do not say another word]—is what Celestia would have said if she hadn’t suddenly lost the ability to speak.
Her eyes widened, and she clutched her throat before snapping her gaze toward Arthur, the only one with the power to restrict her in such a way.
Arthur did not meet her gaze, looking directly at Aleksas as the man spoke the words Celestia did not want him to say.
"Five seconds. For five seconds, that number reduced by one."
The moment Arthur heard those words, it felt as though a dump truck had slammed into his head.
Dizziness overcame him, his right hand clutching his head as his breath grew erratic.
Progenitors, the Origins of all Races in the Cosmos, were all capable of sensing any change to their number.
With that knowledge, no one needed to be a genius to understand what Aleksas meant when he said their number had reduced by one for five seconds.
It confirmed the terrifying reality of what had just happened to Arthur.
It had only been for five seconds, but Luka had definitely killed him.
