As that power returned to him, blazing light combined with the unique golden energy. "Damn fake Burning Mode g-flash Heat Ray!"
Compared to the earlier Red Lotus Dragon, it carried less intimidation but shone far more brilliantly, filled with a unique power. It pierced deep into the Void. At the same instant, facing the mountain of blades before her, she let out a relieved breath, her smile blooming naturally amid a rain of light.
The wide-mouthed Crimson God only felt a sudden flash before its eyes. "It is over… huh?"
Closing his mouth, the golden light faded. Belial looked at his friend list and tilted his head. "Why did she log off so quickly? We did not even chat a bit more." "Forget it. It is always like this. She probably has a lot to deal with and cannot always come support me."
With that thought, he closed the now-dimmed entry of his very first friend.
"...?" "How exactly did Fate get shattered into a Shard?"
After receiving the materials provided by Ham, Safas frowned as he asked the question. He had studied through the night and still could not make sense of it. In the end, he had to swallow his pride and go ask the one who had just stepped out of the Clone Pod, namely Ham.
It was not that he truly did not understand, but after examining Ham's bodily structure while in a Fate state, Safas found the whole thing far too absurd. What was even more absurd was that all of this had been completely smashed apart by that Black Dragon. The matter was important enough that he had no choice but to ask.
"Eh? Wasn't I clear enough already? My body in that state is less a body and more a revived Fate timeline mixed together with space." "It's like countless versions of me from past timelines, plus other possibilities, all blended together..."
"No, I understand all of that, but precisely because I understand, I don't get how Belial managed to do it." Safas wiped cold sweat from his temples as he spoke. He had tested it himself. Belial's high-temperature Heat Ray type attacks had absurd output and heat.
But for someone at his level, reproducing something similar, even if weaker, was not difficult. The problem was that these replicated attacks could be easily handled by him using spatial magic, whether by transfer, Teleportation, or even sending them back along the original path. By all evaluations, attacks at that level were nearly useless against high-tier Laws and domains.
That went doubly so for someone like Bahamut at a true Orthodox God level. After understanding Bahamut's composition and Authority, this became even clearer. Both attacks and body were the result of countless layers of time and Fate, and what looked like lightning was actually a mix of every concept that could be called damage.
To be blunt, even a single stray spark of that lightning would have been enough to blow him apart several times over. Leaving aside how Belial managed to tank it head-on and even absorb such a result, the fact that Heat Ray alone could directly shatter the Fate body of Bahamut was already unbelievable.
Because to truly injure Bahamut, it was not just about destruction. If his defense had a value of 100, then Bahamut was effectively 100 layers of stacked Fate and timelines. The key question was how you could land a punch on an adult's face while also punching him at every single moment of his infancy, youth, and all points leading up to adulthood.
"Good question. I don't know either."
When Bahamut was getting beaten, Ham had been watching from the inside. Who knew how it was done? Did anyone think Bahamut had not tried to repair himself while being hit? Why did it fail? It was not because he did not want to.
The real outcome was even more extreme than Safas imagined. Each strike evaporated entire bundles of timelines spanning hundreds or thousands of years. If Bahamut's life were turned into a visible number, it would be infinite.
When the value is infinite, ordinary numbers mean nothing. Yet Belial's attacks directly reduced the maximum of the life bar itself. In strict terms, Bahamut was beaten until that maximum was forced down to absolute zero.
As for how this was achieved, even Ham, once the true the Lord tied to Fate Authority, did not know. Based on past observation, she and people like Dawn could only identify two consistent traits in Belial. First, he was almost unaffected by any system or mechanism other than his own. Second, he carried a built-in rule that ensured any attack he made, regardless of method, would always deal real damage.
That was why he was so strong. It was like forcing a swimmer into a sprinting contest, except the swimmer was also a player with hacked stats. Under those conditions, there was no fight to be had.
"Just looking at you, it's obvious you're hiding something, right? Can't you just say it outright?" "I'm just a little dragon that's not even three days old yet. Don't assume I know everything. Fate got blown away along with the rest."
"And along with it went most of my old memories."
As she complained, Ham stretched her current body. It was not much different from before, but it had only been cloned by Bella a few days ago, so it still needed some getting used to. The genetic sample used for the cloning came from an eggshell that Sylvia carried with her.
At the beginning, Bella had even jokingly suggested trying to clone using Belial's cells. In the end, that reckless idea was shut down by Lilith with a swing of her Magic Staff. She did not feel much regret about it anyway, since that kind of power was never something that simple methods could replicate.
Safas kept frowning because he really had been called out. He did have another issue, and that was what the Lord wanted to know. His friend, Chloe, had lost contact a few days ago.
Her condition had not been clearly stated, but it was likely bad. What moved around outside was only a conscious Clone, while the true body was probably still seated on some Throne. That place symbolized the Demon King and was also connected to the largest Abyssal Rift in history.
Called a Throne, it was in truth a cage.
"...It's about the Demon King, about Chloe. You gods should know, right?" "I want to try to save her. If I had something like Belial's strange trait, maybe it would be possible to break the Throne!"
After a moment of silence, Safas finally spoke the truth. His expression was grave, as this had weighed on him for a long time. Back then, when victory seemed close, that thing had turned on them.
In both mind and reality, he had fallen straight into the Abyss. The feeling had been unbearable, and the wound it left in his heart had lasted for a thousand years.
Hearing those familiar words, Ham's eyes widened slightly, her body shifting. There was no way she did not know. After a pause, she spoke hesitantly.
"Then why don't you go ask the person directly? I mean, go find Belial himself..."
Yes, why not go directly to him? The reasons were simple and grounded. First, Safas was afraid of being crushed by the connection to the Divine Kingdom. Second, he feared that Belial might very well wipe out Chloe along with everything else.
Third was the cursed issue of pride. He really could not bring himself to keep begging others. Still, if he got no answers here, that would be the only thing left to do.
That was why he had tried to study Belial's Heat Ray, hoping it might break through the Abyss Throne and rescue Chloe. But looking at Ham's evasive expression, he suddenly realized something else.
"Wait... is there something being hidden here?"
From her earlier reactions, it was clear that Belial knew the goddess Dawn. So why had Goddess never tried to use Belial to deal with the Demon King? Not just dealing with the Demon King, but even wiping out all of Demonkind would have been fine.
Why keep something like that around at all? It was the kind of thing that should be destroyed no matter the occasion. If even he thought so, the goddess certainly would.
So did that mean there was another reason? Something that even Chloe would rather return to the Throne than tell him. A reason that required the Demon King to continue existing.
"Don't overthink it. We're not as cold-blooded as you imagine. We never wanted to keep the Demon King around." "Alright... it's just that Chloe's situation is such a mess that even we don't know how to solve it. That's why Dawn has already gone to handle something. Don't go jumping to conclusions."
Seeing the direction of his thoughts, Ham waved her hands quickly to stop his wild theories. But her reaction only made Safas frown deeper.
"What kind of situation is it, if even you gods can't solve it?!"
That response meant she had admitted there was a reason the Demon King had to exist. His eyes widened, anger flashing, and he nearly shouted. Still, seeing her expression and recalling her words, his anger cooled a little.