The vastness of Leo's power within his spell was far greater than even he had ever imagined. It surged through him like an endless tide, a force that no longer simply obeyed him, it resonated with him. And now, thanks to that automaton and the God of Knowledge, he finally possessed the understanding required to shape that overwhelming power with precision. Every time he invoked Obscurae, every time another circle within his domain filled, he gained more than strength. He gained understanding. Insight. The kind of knowledge that redefined what power truly meant.
Of course, it wasn't all the knowledge in existence, but it was enough. Leo could now feel everything within his sphere of creation. Every clash, every ripple of mana, every heartbeat of his allies and enemies alike.
With nothing more than a thought, a glance, he extended his will and drew Luciana into his domain. And now she was one of his gathered members.
Yet even with this newfound mastery, the enemies standing before him were almost too much to face. Two beings of godlike origin, and one S2-ranked. The battlefield trembled under the weight of their combined power.
Behind Leo, his colossal statue, an embodiment of his domain's divinity, moved. The massive figure, carved of seamless white stone that glowed faintly from within, raised one of its immense hands. The air cracked under the force of its movement as the hand shot forward, aiming to seize Nikolaus. But he was too fast. He sliced through the fabric of space, vanishing before the hand could reach him. The blow struck the ground instead, shaking the battlefield with a thunderous impact that sent clouds of dust spiraling upward like smoke.
"He sure is fast," Leo whispered to himself, his voice calm, steady, like a god observing the world below.
The powers of the Beast God and the Void strained against the boundaries of the world itself. For now, their presence was incomplete, fragments forcing their way through the thin veil between realms. A being of their magnitude could not simply emerge whole into existence; it took time for their essence to anchor, for their power to manifest fully.
Even so, their strength was growing. Each heartbeat, each tremor in the air, fed their presence. And among them, the Void swelled faster, its hunger spreading like a shadowed storm pressing against the edges of creation, eager to consume all that stood before it.
"No matter how strong you become, you can't stop all these forces alone," Lucius said, his words dripping with anger and pride. His expression twisted, a storm of conflicting emotions, rage, envy, and something like despair, flickering across his face.
Leo didn't respond. He merely lifted his gaze toward where the rift continued to tear open. From the endless darkness, two more tentacles burst forth, writhing violently. The air warped around them as hundreds of living branches erupted from the ground, thick and luminous with divine green light. They twisted upward, entangling the tentacles, binding them in place. The earth groaned beneath the strain.
More branches rose near Lucius, coiling around him like serpents of living wood, locking him in place.
But the Void was relentless. A third tentacle emerged from the gap, larger and heavier than the rest, dripping shadows that ate the light around it as it lunged directly toward Leo.
At that moment, the battlefield itself seemed to awaken. From the right side of the field, nature answered his will. The soil cracked and roots surged upward, intertwining and spiraling higher until they formed the towering figure of a woman, graceful, immense, her form woven from bark, vines, and blooming flowers. Her presence radiated a quiet, divine strength.
The wooden goddess extended one of her great hands, its surface rippling with veins of green light, and caught the charging tentacle midair. The impact shook the ground, but her grip held firm.
Lucius's eyes widened in disbelief. "The Goddess of Nature? But she perished!"
Leo turned his gaze toward her radiant figure, his voice calm and certain. "I brought her back."
The Goddess's eyes glowed with a deep, verdant light, ancient and endless. The green radiance pulsed through her form, flowing like sap through veins of wood and root. Slowly, she lifted her head toward the rift, the gaping wound in reality, and her gaze met the colossal eye watching from within it.
The world seemed to hold its breath. That single, monstrous eye, vast and void-black, fixed upon her with equal intensity. The air between them vibrated as their gazes locked, two primordial forces, bound by a history of enmity older than the stars. For an instant, all other sounds vanished. Only the silent weight of recognition lingered.
Lucius's composure shattered. He clenched his teeth until his jaw trembled, fury and disbelief twisting his expression. All the emotions within him, rage, hate, envy, the echo of fear, boiled together into chaos. "Do not underestimate me," he growled, his voice breaking with wrath.
Blood surged around his body like a living tide. It devoured the branches restraining him, burning through them with sheer force. His skin flushed crimson, darkening until it gleamed like liquid gore. The transformation consumed him, his form expanding, his limbs stretching, until he stood as tall as Leo's own statue. A towering colossus of blood and wrath.
A sword materialized in his hand, forged from his very essence. The blade pulsed, its surface shifting like boiling blood.
Behind Leo, the white statue stirred once more. Its divine hand, the same that had failed to grasp Nikolaus, rose into the air, gathering light as if drawing breath. The weapon in Leo's grasp, Thorn, trembled and tore free from his hand, ascending toward the statue. It grew as it rose, lengthening and broadening until it became a blade vast enough to split mountains. The statue's open hand caught it with effortless grace, and for a moment, the weapon glowed like a second sun.
Then came the clash.
Both titans, one of blood, one of stone, swung their blades in perfect unison. The two colossal swords carved through the air, and when they collided, the world erupted. The sound was not a simple impact, it was an explosion of existence itself, a shockwave that tore through land and sky alike. The force split the ground beneath them into four deep valleys that crossed in an X-shaped scar stretching all the way to the city's edge.
Leo watched with a knowing smile. He understood illusion better than anyone. Illusion spells should not have been able to touch the minds of beings like Lucius. But illusion was not just deception, it was opportunity.
All the groundwork he had laid until now had planted a single, vital seed in Lucius, despair. That seed, left unattended, had begun to fester and gave the opportunity for Illusion to work on his mind. With despair came imbalance. Leo needed only to give it the smallest nudge, turning grief into rage, pride into blindness.
A man consumed by anger could no longer think clearly, and a person who could not think could not fight with his full power. Lucius had already stepped into that trap, too far gone to notice.
As Leo prepared to release the sun above the battlefield, his last great strike, a shiver ran through the air. The energy shifted, subtle but sharp, enough to make him pause. His eyes turned toward the edges of the city. Something new was stirring there. No two things.
…
Luciana and Elna stared at the abomination before them, despair tightening in their chests. They had exhausted everything, every spell, every drop of mana. Edgarth lay unconscious behind them, his breathing shallow. Yet the creature that had once been an S-rank vampire stood reborn, its presence heavier, its power far greater than before.
For a brief moment, the monster tilted its head, studying them with eyes devoid of humanity. Then it opened its mouth and unleashed another deafening scream.
The air vibrated with the sound. Agony tore through their skulls as blood streamed from their ears and eyes. Their bodies trembled, too drained to summon even a flicker of mana in defense.
Just as the creature gathered itself to strike, space rippled behind it. A portal tore open, smooth and silent, and from within emerged a massive hand of white stone. It shot forward, gripping the monster with unrelenting force.
The creature shrieked and writhed, its claws raking against the unyielding stone, but it was useless. In one swift motion, the hand yanked it backward into the portal. The tear in reality sealed shut with a soft thrum, leaving behind only silence and drifting dust.
Luciana and Elna stood frozen, barely able to process what had just happened.
The only thing they could see now was the massive sun above the city.
…
Arthur stared at the monstrous wolf before him, his knuckles white around the hilt of his sword. Though he had managed to draw another blade, his heart carried no hope, he knew he couldn't possibly defeat that creature.
The werewolf's blazing blue eyes swept over them, and for a heartbeat, the world seemed to still. Then it threw back its head and howled. The sound split the air like thunder, and waves of raw mana burst outward from its body, tearing through the ground like a raging storm.
Before the surge could reach them, the earth itself seemed to awaken. A colossal giant formed of wood and living vines raised one of its hands, curving its arm protectively around Arthur and the fallen Ryan. The blow struck the barrier of bark and roots with a booming crash, but the giant held firm, shielding them from the storm.
A whirlwind of wind and lightning erupted around the wolf, an immense tornado wrapped it in a cage of fury, while bolts from the heavens struck its body. From within the wooden giant's form, Briva emerged, her steps firm, her expression resolute. A heartbeat later, Ashen swooped through the air and landed gracefully on her shoulder, wings crackling faintly with sparks.
Arthur managed a weary smile. "Briva… you saved us."
Briva didn't answer at first. Her gaze remained locked on the raging storm she had summoned with her new item of power. "I can't contain him for long," she said through clenched teeth.
Before Arthur could respond, the very air split apart. Space itself tore open, and from within the rift a massive hand of white stone thrust outward. It pierced straight through the raging tornado, unaffected by the chaos, and seized the stunned wolf in its colossal grip.
In the blink of an eye, the creature was dragged into the portal, vanishing as the rift sealed shut behind it.
Briva's eyes widened. "What… what was that?"
Arthur's expression hardened, his gaze lifting toward the radiant sun blazing over the distant city. "I think that was the Creator," he said quietly. After a pause, he exhaled, his voice lower, urgent. "And I think we should get away from here."
…
The instant Leo felt the surge of power from the two S-ranks, his eyes narrowed. He exhaled slowly, closing them, centering himself in the maelstrom of his own mana. It was time to end this.
Every thread of energy within him began to stir. Shadows around the battlefield twisted as though alive, bending under his will, drawn toward him in a spiraling torrent. They rose and coiled like a storm of black wind, wrapping around his throne in a dance of power and death.
A thin layer of red and white mana began to pulse across his skin, glowing brighter with each heartbeat until his body seemed carved from divine power. When he opened his eyes, they blazed, twin orbs of red light, radiant and inhuman.
Behind him, the statue of white stone responded. Two new hands burst forth from its back, moving with terrifying precision. Each hand plunged into a different portal, the ripples of space shuddering from the impact, and a second later, both hands reemerged, each gripping an S-rank opponent struggling vainly in its grasp.
Leo rose from his throne. The motion alone sent a deep tremor through his domain, as if the very air acknowledged his will. When his foot touched the ground, a shockwave of red and white mist burst outward, rolling across the shattered earth like a tide of divine wrath. The ground quaked beneath its weight, and far in the distance, ten colossal buildings began to rise from beneath the surface, stone grinding against stone, earth splitting open to make way for them. His domain was no longer contained; it was merging with the world itself.
He knew this couldn't last. He couldn't hold these forces at bay forever. Every moment he hesitated, the balance tilted closer to chaos. Now or never.
He lifted his hand, and the world obeyed.
Mana surged through him, pouring into the sun that blazed high above. It began to expand, growing brighter and hotter, its dark crimson hue bleeding away into molten gold. The air trembled beneath the weight of that power.
His gaze flicked to Ilandra. She met his eyes, silent understanding passing between them. Then a smaller image of her, woven from nature, stepped into a portal that opened behind her and vanished.
Leo turned back to the sun, every fiber of his being focused. He poured everything, his strength, his will, his mana, into that sphere.
The ground beneath them ignited. White and yellow flames burst forth, devouring everything in sight. The air was molten, the sky split in half. The two S-ranks writhed in agony within the statue's grip, their forms blackening under the holy fire.
From the rift, two more tentacles surged outward, thrashing wildly as they reached to stop him. At the same time, Lucius jumped back, his colossal form rising once more, fury burning through his veins. He charged forward, his blade of blood raised for another strike—
Leo lowered his hand.
And the sun obeyed.
It fell from the sky like the wrath of gods. The statue drew the struggling S-ranks close, forcing them beneath the descending star.
The sun collided with Lucius's blade, and the world went white. A blinding light engulfed everything, the heavens, the land, the endless shadow.
Boom.
The explosion vaporized everything in its path.