Chapter 1957: Destroying All Heaven! Stepping Into Floor 100!
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"For you, All Heaven, I have the perfect punishment."
Bright stars erupted across the void as Maria’s surroundings transformed into a vast galaxy.
"For daring to stand in the way of this great venerable...!"
Maria’s seven eyes burned deep red, her aura twisting into a spiraling storm of distorted space, time, and void.
"I sentence you to the Eternal Mourning Spiral!"
She manifested a colossal spiral of silver light that pierced All Heaven’s Embodiment and began devouring every white cloud in the surroundings.
The spiral relentlessly pushed the entity to its limits. No matter how desperately All Heaven fought back, it could not match her overwhelming might.
Its dimensional-warping powers proved useless against her. Maria remained completely unmoved.
The reason was simple: Cosmic Monarchs were dimensions themselves. Warping the space where they existed had little to no effect.
"GYAAAAHHHH!"
As All Heaven’s agonized scream echoed, Maria calmly reviewed the description of her first Ascendant Cosmic Root once more.
{Eternal Mourning Spiral (High Galaxy Tier)}: [A time-looping curse that traps enemies in recursive grief.]
The description was simple—almost too vague. Yet that very lack of detail meant it could be shaped, bent, and transformed in countless ways.
As many ways as Maria desired.
With a thought, she reshaped the technique into a gigantic sword and split All Heaven apart with it.
"This time, I’ll split the heavens for good!"
The sword, forged from spiraling time and curses, carried an endless loop of agony and grief. Maria gripped it with her cosmic hands and swung it down with all her strength.
SLAAASH!
A single horizontal slash tore through space, time, and reality itself, fueled by the full power of her Cosmic Monarch authority.
TRUUUM!
The force carved open a black hole in the shape of her slash, vast enough to swallow a solar system.
"T-THIS IS IMPOSSIBLEEEEEE! MY...! MY LORD!"
All Heaven screamed in terror as the black hole devoured every remaining white cloud until nothing but empty black void surrounded them once again.
The rest of the heavenly army and the eleven Archangels remained untouched. Maria had deliberately spared them. Though unconscious, they were still alive.
She swiftly revived those she had slain earlier during her tests, then sealed them all inside her Soul Realm within a desolate prison of void.
Satisfied, Maria turned her gaze toward the golden gate hovering above the darkness.
"Is everyone ready?"
She and her divine army stepped forward. With a gentle wave of her hand, Maria split the golden gate open. It shattered into countless glittering golden fragments.
BOOOM!
Before their eyes, Floor 100—the final floor—revealed itself.
An endless cosmic garden stretched out in breathtaking beauty, filled with cosmic flowers, ancient trees, and majestic beasts. The entire realm overflowed with boundless energy and richness.
How could the Heavenly Father ever have known hunger in such a place?
Yet the moment Maria stepped onto Floor 100...
Five figures descended from the starry sky, bathed in rays of golden light.
They looked down at her and Michael with cold disdain. Behind them loomed a massive golden throne the size of a planet.
Seated upon it was a titan of planetary scale, glaring at them with eyes made of burning stars. A long white beard and flowing white robes framed his form, crowned by a giant golden halo surrounded by countless smaller halos shaped like watchful eyes.
At first glance, the old man appeared almost human—until one noticed that his skin was not flesh, but hard stone and jagged mountains.
He was, after all, a Cosmic Monarch.
The Creator.
The Heavenly Father himself.
"You’ve done it now," a voice rang out from among the five angels. A handsome, cocky angel with long blonde hair and sharp blue eyes stared down at Maria—and especially at Michael—with visible frustration. "Congratulations. Even after everything you’ve done, you still managed to surprise us."
Gabriel clapped slowly, his applause dripping with cynicism. Though clearly exhausted by the situation, his surging aura made it clear he was more than ready to fight.
Both Michael and Maria immediately sensed something unnatural about Gabriel’s aura. It felt wrong, far too powerful and twisted to belong to a mere Archangel, let alone a Cosmic Herald of the Heavenly Father.
"You greedily devoured all ninety worlds beneath us and even dragged All Heaven into the chaotic void..." Gabriel continued clapping. "Bravo! Bravo! Both of you—bravo!"
Then he stopped. His expression turned calm and indifferent as he glared at them.
The four Archangels standing beside him felt equally strange the more Maria and Michael studied their auras.
"Unfortunately for you..." Gabriel smiled wickedly. "The Heavenly Father is dead."
"...?!"
Before everyone’s eyes, the shocking truth was revealed.
The towering figure seated on the throne was nothing more than a lifeless husk, pierced through by countless golden spears.
"T-The Heavenly Father...!" Michael gasped, his voice cracking. "What is the meaning of this?! Have you... No! I hoped to at least speak with him!"
"Hahaha..." Gabriel laughed softly. "Oh, my dear brother Michael. If it weren’t for you, our father would have slowly faded away, and everything would have gone according to plan. But you just had to speak. You made him doubt us... He realized something was wrong and confronted us. It took a few years, but with the power I drained from him, we finally slew him and claimed everything for ourselves."
"Y-You bastards...! So Father was... He was innocent!" Michael cried out in horror, tears streaming down his face. "Father...! No...! What are you doing to him, Gabriel?!"
"Isn’t it obvious?" Gabriel asked, turning to the others. "We all thought the same, didn’t we, my siblings?"
"He was too foolish. Too old. Too stupid."
"He could no longer rule properly."
"We simply took what was ours."
"And decided to rule in his place."
Raphael, Uriel, Jophiel, and Zadkiel spoke one after another, their faces calm and eerily composed as they casually discussed their father’s murder.
"But then why did Camael call for Father when we defeated him?!" Michael demanded.
"Oh, that fool?" Gabriel laughed. "Camael was too loyal—just like you. He had no idea he was actually following my orders. I was manipulating Father’s body like a puppet the entire time."
"You bastards...! So everything up until now was your doing?" Maria asked coldly. "But why devour all the worlds?!"
"Ah, that?" Gabriel shrugged. "Why not?"
"Those lowly creatures our father cared so much about... Mortals are nothing but disgusting, imperfect beings," Raphael said.
"We will create a new Tower—with a hundred new, perfect worlds!" Uriel declared with a smile.
"Father was obsessed with you mortals... He never gave us the same attention, the same love..." Jophiel muttered bitterly.
"But now that we’ve slain him, we are free from his rule. We are no longer mere fragments of him. We possess his power! We are Creators... and Destroyers!" Zadkiel roared.
"No... You’re all mad!" Michael shouted. "You damn bastards...! Camael... He was the only one who..."
"Camael, huh?" Maria nodded calmly. "Good thing I kept his soul."
With a thought, she manifested a new Cosmic Herald—a blazing Archangel. "Camael, you’ve heard the truth, haven’t you?"
"...Yes," Camael replied, materializing beside her and shocking the other Archangels. "Gabriel... everyone...! You deceived me...! My brother Michael was right all along...!"
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