Chapter 1367.2
Beyond the completely erased space lay a realm of pure chaos with no rules at all.
Illyna, drifting through that space, carefully spoke up and asked, “Are... are they dead?”
“They’ll come back alive, so be quiet,” Davey calmly answered.
Neltarid was a god of thorough preparation. Davey knew they wouldn’t die from just that, but like Illyna and Isildi said, their presence had completely disappeared.
After contemplating for a while, he suggested, “It’ll be hard to search for them, so let's go back.”
They didn’t have the time to search for Neltarid, so Illyna and Isildi entered the rift he opened to check on Willow’s condition, confident he would follow along.
“You go first.”
After he saw them completely emerge on the other side, he abruptly closed the passageway. He knew that even if Illyna could tear open dimensional rifts, it’d be hard for her to find the exact place he was in.
“Wait! Davey...”
He heard her urgently shout, but he had already closed the door. “I guess I must’ve really gotten comfortable and soft with all the peace.”
When his life felt threatened to that extent, he knew he had become too complacent.
“Even so, I’ve become that much stronger.” As he muttered and turned around, the dimensional rift completely tore open, and someone slowly walked out from within.
He instantly recognized the familiar figure, remarking, “I’ll really have to put my life on the line now.”
Neltarid, who reappeared by tearing the rift, was in his perfect human form. Through his torn shirt, Davey could see an intact human upper body. He also noticed their form’s fairly handsome face.
Davey figured that was how Neltarid looked before he became a god.
“If you were always this strong, you should have just torn Thanatos apart from the start.”
Of course, that was nonsense. The Neltarid of the past didn't possess such power. He was like a butterfly that had emerged from a chrysalis.
However, perhaps because of that, the rift space around him was visibly being completely contaminated. The contamination began to spread infinitely as his domain disappeared.
“How amusing it is for a horne, one of the most repulsive beings, to say such a thing.”
“Huh?”
Neltarid was the god who loved humans the most. Davey couldn’t believe that he could say something like that, even if he had turned into an evil god.
“It is also a pitiful thing to not know the truth.” He put on a chilling smile, and his eyes glowed a dark red. “Present yourself, worthy of my hatred.”
The evil god, consumed by rage, was gradually losing his former appearance entirely.
Clang!!
Super Ribbon clashed with his energy sword.
[Kyaaak!!!]
However, unlike before, her will began to scream.
“Expected. Your sword is screaming.”
Davey raised his eyes slightly and plunged straight toward him.
“Freyja, are you even aware? You may not know much about me, but I have watched you for a long time. And that child in your hand as well.”
“Why are you talking so much?”
Clang!!!
Davey struck a heavy blow before distancing himself, and Neltarid shrugged. “That child. How much longer can she endure?”
“What?”
Facing Neltarid’s taunt, he looked down at Super Ribbon and noticed her blade trembling.
[I... I'm fine, Father.]
'Fine? There’s no way. Still, I also can’t put you away...’
“Foolish.”
Boom!!
Neltarid sprang forward and swung his energy sword straight at Davey. It was an honest, single strike with no feints.
Davey tried to counter it, intending to parry his sword.
However.
Clang!! Swoosh!!
Slash!!
Seeing the power contained in Neltarid’s energy sword, he instinctively changed his sword path, avoiding a head-on clash. As a result, Neltarid managed to slash him on the shoulder.
“One arm is badly injured, and your other shoulder is wounded too. No matter how much of a divine transformation you’ve undergone, you can’t just brush that off.”
As Neltarid said, the power that inflicted a fatal blow on Super Ribbon was extremely abnormal.
However, something else was currently disturbing Davey.
[AHHH!]
Super Ribbon cried out in pain once again.
Davey lowered his head, surprised, and his eyes widened. He saw a crack on her blade!
After reaching her first completed form, she had even gone through a second enhancement.
Thanks to those buffs, she was even capable of withstanding supernova explosions. Yet, the fact that her blade was damaged meant Neltarid’s power nonetheless posed an extreme threat.
Davey figured it was because Willow was no longer with her. Knowing it couldn’t last, he retracted all the power wrapped around her.
[Father!!! Don't!!!]
He immediately heard her flustered cry. However, he knew that if she didn’t stabilize and heal up, her injury could turn into the worst-case scenario—the sword breaking apart.
Becoming a broken blade would be nothing short of a fatal wound for Super Ribbon.
Simply having such strong emotion for a sword was a failure for a warrior. Yet, as a father, it was only natural for Davey.
“Rest up for now.”
Davey pushed the resisting Super Ribbon into his Pocket Plane and then sealed it with divine power.
He knew she wouldn’t try to come out recklessly, since she was aware that forcing her way out by breaking his divine power could cause him internal damage.
He began to condense his power and compress an energy sword. Though it might prove less sharp than Super Ribbon, he figured it at least wouldn't be unusable.
As he looked for a way to buy time, needing a moment to complete his energy sword, Neltarid muttered, “Trying to buy time, huh? As expected, you have too much emotion. Even so, I suppose a bit of amusement is fine.”
“Did you just call this amusement, you bastard?” Davey growled out.
“Don't get angry. What do you expect from an evil... No, that's not it. What do you think an evil god is, Freyja?”
Facing that unexpected question, Davey briefly relaxed his stance and wasn’t sure how to respond.
“Why do you think an evil god would exist in this world which was created by a perfect Primordial God?”
“It probably means that this world Goddess Freyja created isn't as perfect. Aren’t I right?” he said with a frown.
Then Neltarid moved to collide once more.
Davey reflected on his words and clashed head-on with him.
The condensing completed, he held a sword that was much sharper and more solid than usual.
Davey had bought enough time, and every time Neltarid spoke, he ended up losing his concentration.
The two clashed multiple times, and their divine powers intertwined head-on.
Perhaps because Neltarid felt he was gradually being pushed back in the clash, he started using a different approach.
“Isn't it funny? That girl Willow, the child who loved you so much and liked the world. That child.”
“Do you think you have the right to say her name?!”
Clang!!
There was no need for Davey to answer Neltarid’s questions or listen closely.
He didn't stop talking, as if he was trying to force Davey to listen.
“What did she see that made her so angry and tormented?”
No response.
“What made that child momentarily hate the world?”
Clang! Clang!!
After hearing something that he couldn’t possibly ignore, Davey ended up allowing an opening.
Neltarid slipped into the opening and tried to stab him right in a vital spot.
Davey barely managed to evade it, still getting a slight scratch.
“The answer is simple—there were too many sacrifices made to protect the creations. And they were condemned, as if it was a matter of course.”
Davey took a short breath. “I know that living beings, including humans, can be cruel.”
“What if it’s not the creations, but gods themselves?”
“What?” Davey knew he couldn’t afford to expose an opening to him, but Neltarid managed to outplay him.
What he was saying wasn't even a lie.
No, he knew it from the start.
The evidence for that—
“Hehe. If you’re still in denial even after seeing the mad angels and twisted divinities, I have nothing more to say.”
“Why was there no problem with Goddess Freyja and the original Neltarid?”
He no longer equated the evil god Neltarid with the old Tranquility.
Since he had already exposed his weakness, he figured it’d be more beneficial to find answers while he was there.
“Because they never had emotions.”
Davey didn't know what to say to that.
“It’s just that simple. They have no emotions. They pursue extreme pragmatism, efficiency, and order. They don’t question the sacrificed higher beings reaped to protect the creations and the world in that process.”
Davey finally understood why Neltarid had gone mad. There were currently two gods without emotions, Goddess Freyja and Neltarid. Putting her aside, Neltarid had no emotions, so even after learning the truth, they didn’t show much of a reaction.
However, the changes that came when the goddess implanted emotions in them this time drove even a god who had lived for over ten thousand years into madness with guilt.
That's why it was strange. Neltarid had become an evil god, yet it sounded like he was constantly begging Davey to know this one thing, to not look away from this one thing.
There were many other questionable points. If something had truly happened to Willow, the safeguards he had secretly placed on her should have reacted already.
Davey had simply thought he had some time. But if that wasn’t the case—
As he continued to contemplate, Neltarid charged toward him with a chilling smile.
‘I need to counterattack.’
Neltarid didn't miss even the slightest moments of vulnerability.
The moment Davey drove his energy sword into his shoulder and activated magic, he foolishly failed to fully avoid Neltarid’s sword as it pierced his abdomen.
“That's quite a blow. Even if I know you well, facing you directly is not easy.” Neltarid frowned and backed away from Davey.
Just as he had pierced his abdomen, his own shoulder was also pierced, turning his insides to mush.
Davey knew that it must’ve had an impact.
Neltarid went on. “Let me tell you one more interesting story. Why do you think the vampire race became beings who betrayed the gods?”
“I never really thought about it.”
“The Primordial True Ancestors were divinities created by the Goddess.”
His heart sank at those words.
In other words, Neltarid was saying that the vampires were cursed by Goddess Freyja because they were Primordial True Ancestors.
'He's trying to make me lose my focus again.’
“Fufu. Would you like to hear more?”
Davey let out a short sigh and raised his injured hand. He was now able to move it to some extent.
Shaking slightly, he lightly spat out some blood and raised his middle finger at him. He knew that if he kept getting played by Neltarid’s mind games like this, he’d eventually end up taking a fatal hit.
“Fuck you.”
He had one chance to make a decisive move, and that one moment would completely determine the outcome.
Davey plunged in without hesitation and scattered his energy sword.
Neltarid's eyes widened slightly. However, he quickly regained his focus and drove his energy sword straight toward Davey’s heart. It was a single sword stroke at a speed no mere creation could endure.
However, Davey was ultimately in the same position as him.
Neltarid knew Davey too well. That meant it’d be hard to deal any serious damage to Neltarid with the methods he had used so far.
That being said, if he couldn't deliver a proper blow with his energy sword, his magic wouldn’t work on him either.
His holy magic was currently focused entirely on amplifying his physical body, and his other powers weren't of much help right now either.
All that left was a single close-range exchange.
Although he had learned most of his martial arts from the King of Martial Arts Ylgr, one thing was from a different source—the self-proclaimed survival expert, the God of War Hercules.
The single blow he occasionally used was not merely created by the power of taboo he possessed.
While Davey didn’t expect the exact same effect since he had only seen him use it, he figured that things would be different if a primordial predator, whose interference power was strong enough to interfere with the world's laws, was involved.
He thought that, if he integrated all the insights of the martial arts he had learned from Dokgo Jun and Ylgr, he’d be able to imitate the flow of the punch Hercules had always used.
The strongest being in the Hall of Heroes, a precedent monster Davey still couldn't confidently say he’d defeat.
Hercules.
As Davey used a completely different move than expected, Neltarid’s eyes widened in surprise and alarm.
However, it was already too late.
[God of War Hercules Annihilation Strike]
[Primordial Predator]
[Compound Strike]
[God Annihilation]
Hercules had once thrown a punch while uttering the language of his era.
When Davey thought about what that meant, he figured it probably meant god annihilation.
“This is?!”
Thud!!!
A very clear, yet not explosive or sharp, and nonetheless soft punch landed on him.
Poof!!
Blue light particles scattered behind his back, and a colossal maw made of light swallowed them and vanished through him.
“Holy shit.” Davey quickly realized what the light particles were.
The evil god’s presence instantly vanished.
Even though he suffered a massive internal injury, he accidentally ended up creating a technique that could annihilate a god.
Creating something new, whether in swordsmanship or martial arts, was not an easy feat.
“I guess this is a huge win?”
