This was the method Ham had come up with. After Belial killed dozens of Crimson God, she had already felt the Laws of the World slowly repairing itself. It was still a very long process, one that even the lifespan of a planet might not witness fully.
Still, most rules had returned. If they could use the power of the Holy Sword to mobilize these Laws and forcibly erase the influence of The End, there was hope. The End was the ending of the story, so perhaps the World as the story itself could oppose it.
As for smaller issues, they were easy to solve. For example, where would the massive energy for the Holy Sword come from? There were still more than ten Crimson God left in the Abyss. Belial could just make a trip and capture them all.
With the souls of more than ten Crimson God as backup fuel, fully releasing the Holy Sword might clear the mark on Belial. As for whether the Holy Sword would hurt him, it was probably like a toy water gun in his eyes.
And those Crimson God that died in the process? "Don't worry," Ham thought. "I'll never think of you again. You'll just get swept into the trash pile of my memory."
At that moment, a group of Crimson God hiding in the Abyss and peeking out from behind a toilet door suddenly felt their hair stand on end.
Who is trying to harm us?
Chloe stood outside the World, holding the familiar Holy Sword, and her expression was still a bit dazed. It was not only because she had been forcibly pulled out just as she was about to be knocked out. Everything had moved so fast that her mind had not caught up yet.
Just as planned earlier, once the decision was made, they acted at once. Ham made a quick trip and personally went up the mountain to pull the sword out. In the past, this thing had constantly endured the pollution of the Abyss Crimson God and the suppression of that old fox Elfido.
Because of that, most of the time it could only stay stuck there, acting like a light bulb that released Holy Light. Now, however, almost everything capable of suppressing Holy Sword was dead, and those not dead were nearly scared to death by Belial. As for Elfido, if it were not for worrying that Twilight had not returned yet, that bastard would have been scattered long ago.
Beside them, Belial was also ready. What that meant was the massive pile of Crimson God souls stacked in Beyond the Void, burning like a red giant star yet tightly restrained within a layer of black mist. They had all been properly neutralized, and Divine Kingdom had also been casually eaten by Belial, ensuring that only refined soul essence remained, with absolutely no power to resist.
"All right, do not just stand there. It is ready. Keep it simple and treat that group over there as firewood," Ham said, patting her shoulder. Chloe snapped back to her senses and raised the sword, feeling a bit complicated inside.
The sword in her hand had just been pulled out, and the Crimson God beside her had been killed on the spot. All she had to do was stand here as a tool and fire the shot. Overall there was nothing bad about it, and it was even too easy, yet something felt off.
Chloe remembered that in the past, none of the monsters she fought had ever been a true Crimson God-level existence. Even at her strongest, risking her life with the support of an entire Sanctuary Tier squad, she might barely trade her life for one weaker Crimson God. And then there was Belial, who casually walked into the Abyss and wiped Crimson God out as a species.
The difference between people could not possibly be this large. Chloe found herself thinking again about the question that Ham, Bella, and the others had all considered before. Just what kind of existence was Belial?
She looked at the boundless black-blue storm before her, vaguely forming the savage outline of a Great Dragon in extreme darkness. Around it drifted scenes of destruction belonging to The End, and a pair of star-like eyes looked down at them. Before, Chloe had thought Belial might be some old Crimson Ascension survivor like Ham, but the act of exterminating the Crimson Gods alone almost completely ruled that out.
Deciding to stop thinking about it, she reacted and thrust the shining Holy Sword into the massive cluster of souls beside her. The effect was immediate. Golden light spread across the crimson souls and rapidly broke them down, assimilating them into an even greater power.
The brilliance was dazzling and contained countless things, gathering knowledge and intent far beyond itself. This was the logic of the World that had long fallen silent, now revealed once more through the sword, showing a fragment of its former foundation. It was drawn not only from the souls, but also from the broken World behind her, which slowly awakened a trace of itself due to the vast mass of more than ten souls.
That radiant light was brighter than the convergence of countless star rivers. Innumerable rays gathered onto the comparatively tiny Holy Sword, each thread holding staggering power. The spiraling light formed a tower that seemed to reach beyond the sky.
Chloe had seen this sight many times in the past when she was still the Chosen Hero releasing the sword. Yet none of those moments compared to this, and even all the brilliance the Holy Sword had once shown felt insignificant by comparison. This time, the setup was simply too extravagant.
It was the power and souls of more than ten Crimson God, along with the logic of the World that could be mobilized now. Even though the world was not fully repaired and still restricted, what was displayed far surpassed anything before. Under such power, Chloe, who barely maintained a connection with the sword, had no doubt that without its protection, she would already have been assimilated into the World.
Especially when her hand closed around the hilt, the light shone brighter than a star, and the light tower, with a diameter rivaling a planet, rested in her grasp. Though she had long since learned not to get carried away, she could not help but wonder. If she swung this sword, every enemy she had ever faced would certainly be wiped out, even all together.
Could Belial really withstand it? That thought was shattered when Belial curiously stared at the Holy Sword and yawned from boredom. After all, even the fuel driving the sword had just been killed by him.
"Are you ready? Honestly, I am not sure I can take this strike either. Is it fine?" Belial asked. "Wait a moment. All right. The acceleration rings are adjusted. Now release the light of the Holy Sword through the channel and test it," came the reply.
Ham and Bella acted as technicians on the side, escorting the process and controlling the terrifying light. Several temporary orbital acceleration channels, enhanced with g-particles, were finally completed. The purpose of this channel was to use Belial's strange mechanism to add another layer of enhancement to the sword's light.
At the very least, it needed to reach the minimum level required to break through all defenses that Belial shut down. Otherwise, if he casually swallowed the light, there would be no second chance. After all, the Crimson God were likely already extinct, with at most a few hiding in some corner.
Belial himself was cautious. "Does this count as chemotherapy in some sense? I never thought I would see a day like this," he said. He adjusted himself into a more comfortable lying position, preparing to let the light of the Holy Sword wash over him.
His thoughts were the complete opposite of Chloe's earlier worries. She feared the strike might hurt him, while he feared that after all this effort, it would not even break his defenses. Burning more than ten Crimson God souls and adding the logic of the World sounded impressive, but his resistance and the unreasonable nature of the world made it unclear who this enhancement truly favored.
As for the souls, they were still only souls and far weaker than their peak bodies. Belial's current scale already exceeded dozens of Crimson God combined with Divine Kingdom. Even if he turned off Energy Field, Photon Reflection Shield, Electromagnetic Shield, and all passive surface defenses, it was uncertain whether the strike could pierce the layer of Energy Stream motion that he simply could not shut down.
That was because Holy Sword relied less on direct damage and more on overwhelming through World Laws. Belial did not take that kind of attack. After all the buildup, the sword that had completely burned through the souls was finally ready.
The sheer scale alone made it look terrifying, strong enough that one could stand on Earth and slice Venus like an apple. The vast light gathered into the acceleration rings, becoming denser, and with the eternal-motion g-particles inside, it accelerated to an unbelievable speed in a short time. It easily surpassed the usual cosmic limit known as light speed and poured entirely into the boundless black clouds.