Seeing the state of Antares' shattered, broken body, Judas felt his tense shoulders easing ever so slightly.
Antares was probably the strongest and most difficult opponent he had fought in this life so far.
His figure vanished.
A sonic burst rippled through the thinning debris field as he shot downward toward where Antares had landed.
The world below grew larger with every passing second, clouds rushing past his face, violently torn apart by the sheer momentum of his descent.
When he finally arrived at the crash site, Antares, despite looking half-dead, was still moving.
The monster was weakly crawling out of the smoking crater, desperately trying to drag itself back onto its feet.
Judas narrowed his eyes, spotting a stubborn crimson glow still flickering within its singular eye.
"You're too dangerous to be kept alive… allow me to end this."
Light condensed around his palm as he aimed at Antares, who was still crawling across the ground.
Suddenly, Antares mustered all the Arcanum left within its body and forced it into the ground.
A massive, magic-circle-like construct manifested on the ground beneath it, written in the ancient language of the Gods and rotating at an erratic, blinding speed.
Simultaneously, Antares' broken body suddenly began to glow, growing brighter and brighter with every passing second.
'Such an overwhelming concentration of energy… Is it pulling out every single ounce of Arcanum it has left?'
Judas stared at the ultra-dense divine energy that had condensed into a sphere.
Then, as he looked closely at the monster standing in the epicenter of the light... its cracking body expanding slightly... Judas's eyes widened in sudden realization.
"Shit! It's trying to self-destruct!"
Knowing it could no longer win and was already on the verge of death, Antares had decided that if it was going to die, it might as well take everyone with it.
If it still had its mouth, Antares would have been grinning at him.
Seeing the malice reflected in its crimson eye, Judas' expression tightened as he fired a blast toward Antares, trying to stop it before it was too late.
However, instead of reaching Antares, the ultra-dense Arcanum surrounding it acted as a barrier, dissipating his attack before it could even get close.
"Tsk…"
Judas clicked his tongue as the glow surrounding Antares grew brighter and brighter, like a ticking time bomb about to explode, resembling a miniature flickering sun.
Judas lifted his head as the blinding sphere of light slowly detached from the crater and floated into the air.
Intense winds burst outward, uprooting nearby trees and causing the entire forest to sway and shake violently.
Spiderweb fractures tore across the terrain, illuminated by the volatile divine energy seeping through the cracks.
"If this thing goes off, it's going to swallow the whole continent."
A bead of sweat trailed down Judas' face as he moved closer.
The winds whipped violently around him, causing the cloak that had already been heavily damaged during the battle to flutter uncontrollably before finally tearing away and disappearing into the distance.
But Judas never looked back as he stepped toward the edge of the light.
'I have to contain this somehow before it explodes…'
Closing his eyes, he reached into the core of the storm with both hands.
The energy had compressed to such an extreme degree that it felt almost solid to the touch, pushing violently against his palms.
Judas sank his mind into extreme focus, commanding the energy and forcing it into his body.
'There's so much…'
Judas bit his lip as his eyes began to glow.
He felt like a balloon being filled with too much air.
His body felt as though it was swelling apart as dense waves of Arcanum poured into him faster than his vessel could adapt.
'Control the flow of energy… I can't afford to make a single mistake.'
Still, Judas endured, refusing to let up as he continued containing the Arcanum bomb little by little.
'Just hold on a little longer…'
With trembling hands, Judas slowly pulled the ball of light inward, and its size visibly began to shrink.
The violent winds weakened.
The spreading cracks across the ground finally stopped.
'I'm doing it…'
Just as the thought crossed his mind, a mangled, clawed hand suddenly pierced straight through his stomach from behind.
Judas coughed up a mouthful of blood.
"You really love causing me trouble…"
He spat out the words as he looked over his shoulder and saw Antares standing behind him.
The sudden interruption shattered his concentration.
Waves of white-hot pain flooded his senses, making it impossible to focus.
The torrential energy immediately reacted violently, destabilizing by the second.
"Damn it…"
Judas cursed, frantically trying to re-establish control., only for Antares to wrap its other arm around his neck and tighten its grip.
'For something that's practically half-dead… its grip is ridiculously strong.'
Blood splattered outward as Judas struggled to break free.
At the same time, he desperately tried to suppress the Arcanum bomb.
However, with every passing second, the unstable mass of energy continued to grow while Antares' grip tightened harder and harder, cutting off his breathing completely.
Judas gritted his teeth as blood continued to seep from his lips.
'I… have to get… out of this…'
Darkness slowly began to creep into the edges of his vision. He clamped his fingers onto Antares's clamping arm, digging his nails deep into the monster's charred flesh.
swoosh
His ears twitched.
'The Arrow of Orion?'
His eyes caught sight of it… a silvery spear hurtling toward them at tremendous speed, turning into a streak of light.
In less than a second, the flying arrow pierced straight through Antares' midsection, punching a massive hole clean through its body and forcing it to release its chokehold.
…
In the distance, atop a tall hill…
"Are you sure we actually hit anything?"
Belle asked with a puzzled expression, her body still frozen in the posture of someone who had just thrown a spear.
"As the Goddess of the Hunt, as long as I tell you where to throw, I assure you… you will never miss."
Artemis spoke confidently as her hair swayed gently in the wind.
'To think Belle could wield the arrow as well… interesting.'
Hermes thought as he looked at Belle's back before shifting his gaze toward the distant light where the spear had landed.
'Now all that's left… is for you to land the finishing blow, Judas.'
…
'Thank you, Belle… Artemis.'
Judas grinned weakly, rubbing his bruised neck as he watched Antares writhe in agony, clutching the massive hole in its stomach.
He quickly regained control over the Arcanum bomb.
A vein throbbed at the side of his forehead as he exerted every ounce of concentration he had.
The Arcanum bomb rapidly shrank at a visible rate until it had compressed down to the size of a baseball.
'It's difficult… but manageable.'
Judas breathed heavily, drenched in sweat, as the condensed sphere of energy hovered above his palm.
Then his gaze slowly shifted toward Antares.
His figure flickered.
And in the next instant, he appeared directly in front of the monster.
Noticing this, Antares looked at Judas with fear for the very first time.
Realizing the danger, it immediately turned and tried to flee.
"Goodbye."
Without wasting another second, Judas thrust his hand forward and unleashed the contained energy as a concentrated beam of pure Arcanum.
The moment it touched Antares, its body began to break apart.
Particle by particle, its form dissolved into drifting motes of light, each fragment fading before it could even scatter away.
Judas slowly lowered his arm, watching the final remnants of Antares disappear into nothingness as a beam of light streaked across the horizon before eventually fading into outer space.
It was only then, staring into the night sky, that he knew.
"It's finally over."
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