Above the Sea of Chaos, countless angels of strange and twisted forms dove in formation toward the attackers.
A scorching wind swept through the air. Dark red firelight came crashing down from above, and Samael spread his arms, grasped at the void, and pulled the flaming demon sword Laevatein from the Magecraft array with a furrowed brow. He held it across his chest and clashed head-on with Michael, the Deputy Lord of Heaven, before swinging his arm and knocking him away.
At the same time, the recoil sent the Ancient Serpent flying backward. Only after beating his metallic wings several times in succession did he finally disperse the remaining force.
This guy had not only healed. He had gotten even stronger!
Samael's gaze darkened, and his expression stiffened. When he looked around, he found that his companions nearby had already been forced into hard battles, besieged from every direction by blazing white figures of light.
Among them, Rama, Quetzalcoatl, and Tamamo-no-Mae were each facing one of three Archangels with beautiful human appearances.
One was a cold female angel holding a lily branch in her left hand and a golden trumpet in her right. Mist curled around her body, and sword-like shards of ice rose from the sea, shooting toward Rama like a dense rain of arrows.
At the left of the divine throne stood Gabriel, Archangel of Water, guide of souls, overseer of reincarnation, one who possessed power rivaling a god!
Another held a flaming sword, her form graceful and elusive. The scent of medicine drifted around her, while a mass of wind elements formed nearby, shielding her as she fought Quetzalcoatl.
The Divine Healer, Raphael, Archangel of Wind, who presided over healing and represented intellect, also known as "God Shall Heal"!
The last held a harp adorned with stars and the moon. Lightning leapt from the fingertips plucking its strings, and arcs of thunder flashed around them, striking wildly at Tamamo-no-Mae until the fox's fur stood straight on end from the static.
The Light of God, Uriel, Archangel of Earth, who presided over thunder, judgment, law, and wrath, also known as "Divine Justice."
And with Michael, the Right Hand of God and Deputy Lord of Heaven, standing before Samael himself, the four supreme angels commonly seen in Jewish mythology had all appeared.
Worse still, every one of them possessed strength close to that of a Main God!
As everyone was tied down and blocked, the white colossus continued advancing toward Greece. The chaotic sea beneath its feet was drained of spirit particles one stretch after another, reduced to dead water steeped in nothingness.
Not only that, but the monster's movement also twisted and shattered the nearby rules of the world. The hollow in the World Wall above expanded rapidly, as if a gate was opening to welcome something from beyond the cosmos.
Then three more Archangels, each no weaker than Michael and the others, flew out from the pillars of light and moved to intercept Scáthach, Skadi, Holo, and the rest, locking the battle into an even deeper stalemate.
At the same time, as the Gates of Heaven opened further and the Sea of Void spread, the Ether concentration within the angels' bodies rose noticeably.
And even if their heads were cut off or their limbs smashed apart, the angels would break down into light dust and flow back into the Gates of Heaven. After a few dozen breaths, new angels would condense and descend in their place.
Wait. The aura of Planetary Fragments!
That familiar yet unfamiliar sensation made Samael's pupils contract sharply.
Self-evolution, constant regeneration, acting according to combat orders, gathering spirit particles...
Velber vanguards! These angels were degraded Velber vanguards adapted to Earth's environment!
And the host through which Velber's consciousness had descended, God Jehovah, was their information terminal, the commander of these combat weapons.
So this was the truth behind the present God and the angelic host!
"Holy! Holy! Holy is Jehovah, Lord of Hosts. His glory fills all the earth...
Glory, majesty, power, authority, and kingdom all belong to him, from before all ages, to now, and forevermore!
Holy! Holy! Holy! God beyond the heavens, Lord upon the earth, King of Kings, Holy of Holies, God of Gods!"
At that moment, the smaller angels circling the white colossus played their harps and sang hymns. The rhythm of the divine words echoed in every direction, causing the Ether within the angelic army to boil and surge, their fighting spirit soaring.
God beyond the heavens. Lord upon the earth...
Outer God... God?!
All at once, Samael seemed to realize something, and his expression changed drastically as he murmured.
Bang!
Just as the Ancient Serpent's mind wavered, a blazing cross of fire came slashing toward him. Samael instinctively raised the flaming demon sword to block.
But because he had not brought out his full strength in time, Michael struck him down from above and sent him crashing into the sea, throwing up a churning pillar of water.
"Let the unrighteous remain unrighteous, and the filthy remain filthy.
Behold, I come swiftly. Reward and punishment are mine. Blood for blood, tooth for tooth! I shall repay him according to his deeds!
Ancient Serpent who deceived our Lord, Son of Darkness, you who brought down the nations shall be cut down to the earth! The Last Judgment!"
Michael gripped his dark red cross-sword, its blade burning with flames ten thousand zhang high. As his wings slowly beat, he chanted solemnly, as if singing a prophecy, and as if proclaiming an inevitable fate.
As the ten-thousand-zhang cross blade of light slashed toward the sea where Samael had fallen, a blazing sun shot up from beneath the water like a crimson-black crown of fire.
Shine upon the sun, Sword of Fire!
Boom!
In an instant, the two flaming swords collided. A terrifying shockwave boiled outward in every direction, the seawater violently steamed, and a massive fiery-red mushroom cloud rose into the sky. Angels and allies within a hundred li were all blown away.
"What did you just call me?"
"By the command of the Lord, you are the Son of Darkness, the Antichrist! The filth of this world that must be destroyed! The light has come. We, four hundred ninety-six thousand of our brethren, have descended here to sweep away the remaining enemies for the Lord. Darkness will have nowhere left to hide!"
Michael's crimson eyes reflected a blazing resolve that would burn all things away. He raised the cross-sword in his hand once more and charged at Samael.
Son of Darkness! Son of Darkness!
He understood. He understood everything!
As Samael swung his sword to meet the Deputy Lord of Heaven, countless thoughts whirled through his mind, and a sense of absurdity welled up in his chest.
The Dead Sea Scrolls, the buried scriptures of Judaism, had once recorded a "Battle of Light and Darkness."
The Children of Light and the Children of Darkness fought a great war. For the first three days, the Children of Light prevailed; for the last three days, the Children of Darkness counterattacked.
And on the final day, Jehovah descended and defeated the Son of Darkness!
By coincidence, during the first three days of the Battle of Thermopylae, the Persian army had pressed forward step by step, their momentum overwhelming.
Only in the last three days had the Athenian army rushed in as reinforcements, Greece launched its counterattack, and Michael suffered setback after setback before finally fleeing in defeat.
But as the sun rose, Samael's true nemesis, Jehovah, Lord of Hosts, had descended in the form of a Giant God, sounding the death knell of the world.
The legendary Child of Light was naturally Michael, the Deputy Lord of Heaven, while the Son of Darkness was undoubtedly him.
Everything before his eyes was unfolding exactly like the Battle of Light and Darkness recorded in the Dead Sea Scrolls.
Likewise, Persian mythology also contained records of a Battle of Light and Darkness. The true god Ahura Mazda and the evil god Angra Mainyu clashed once every three thousand years, deciding the course of the world.
That evil god had already fallen by his hand, and by accepting that Curse upon this world, he had, in a sense, become the newly born evil god.
What lay before them now was undoubtedly the final Battle of Light and Darkness foretold by the Persians.
Everything seemed like coincidence, yet all of it was inevitable.
He had thought he had changed fate. But after all those twists and turns, he had ended up creating the original history.
Could he really win?
Before he knew it, Samael felt lost.
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