Chapter 38
Clash of the Titans (1)
Arthur tried to move to stop Howard,
but at that exact moment—
a dark, terrifyingly powerful light shot toward the sky.
The light emanated from the staff in Howard's hand.
It pierced the atmosphere,
then violently tore through the heavens,
surged into space,
circled the planets,
ripped through the void,
then returned to settle before the Earth once more.
And there…
a gate formed.
A colossal gate,
made of a nauseating green light—
a light unlike anything humanity had ever known.
The instant the gate opened—
the universe trembled.
A true tremor…
as if the very laws of existence were screaming.
Then…
something moved from within the gate.
Something long…
slimy…
revolting.
A massive tentacle,
resembling those of an octopus,
but of a size the mind could not comprehend.
The first tentacle emerged,
then the second,
then dozens more after them.
They twisted through space,
moving with dreadful slowness,
as if sensing the existence around them.
Then…
the true catastrophe occurred.
The entity emerged.
A savage being…
colossal…
terrifying beyond description.
The moment it stepped out of the gate,
the entire universe shook.
A violent tremor,
as though everything screamed at once.
The entity's foot emerged from the gate,
then its full body,
and the gate closed behind it.
Its size was immense…
perhaps equal to Pluto,
or slightly smaller—
but even that description
failed to capture its reality.
Its form was a manifested nightmare.
A horrifying face,
from which dense octopus-like tentacles dangled,
stretching from beneath its eyes into infinity.
A solid green neck,
as though forged from an unbreakable substance.
A chest covered in lethal, hardened scales,
each one bearing the meaning of annihilation.
And from its back—
two enormous, dreadful wings,
their sharp claws
tearing through the void with a single motion.
As for its feet—
they were terrifyingly solid,
each ending in slicing talons.
This was the mysterious entity…
the dreadful…
Cthulhu, Destroyer of Worlds.
Cthulhu lowered its monstrous eye
and looked at Earth.
And in that moment—
its eye encompassed the entire planet.
To Arthur and Howard,
the eye was no longer merely an eye…
it had become the sky itself.
Cthulhu looked.
And from space—
it saw Arthur…
and Howard.
In that same instant,
Howard's body began to disintegrate.
His skin faded,
his body vanished,
as though existence itself rejected him.
Howard smiled.
The smile of a man
who had achieved his life's goal.
He did not care about his death.
Arthur looked at the madman Howard,
and in his final moments—
raised his sword
and severed Howard's hand.
The staff fell from his grasp.
Howard did not care,
and disappeared from the world…
dissolving into space.
Meanwhile,
Cthulhu's expression was strange
as it gazed at Arthur.
Then it shifted its gaze to the surrounding planets,
to the vast galaxy before it.
A disgusting green saliva
began to drip from its mouth.
Then—
in the blink of an eye—
its body vanished from before Earth
and appeared beside Pluto.
Cthulhu moved its hand.
With every passing moment—
its hand grew larger.
Within mere seconds,
it transformed into a colossal hand
that encompassed the entirety of Pluto within its palm.
Then—
Pluto disappeared.
Cthulhu's body grew larger…
and larger.
It was absorbing the power of the planets
to restore its original strength.
Within a minute—
or less—
the planets vanished one after another.
Only Earth,
Mercury,
Venus,
and the gigantic Sun remained.
Cthulhu's size now
was overwhelming…
terrifying…
beyond description.
Even if all the planets of the solar system were aligned,
they would not reach its shoulder.
And when Cthulhu approached Earth—
its colossal shadow covered the entire planet.
In that moment,
its destructive dark aura
pressed upon Earth with unbearable might and tyranny.
All forms of life
began to vanish…
simply from the pressure of that aura.
Meanwhile—
that pressure struck Arthur's body.
He was crushed into the ground
with unbelievable force.
His body began carving into the soil
from the pressure alone.
Arthur felt
as though his internal organs
were shattering.
He clenched his teeth hard,
tried to move—
but to no avail.
He could only
lie there…
and endure.
After a few seconds—
he felt something else.
A power…
beyond the ordinary.
A force that pierced the boundaries of space and place.
A force he had never felt before…
ever.
It began to approach.
Arthur forced himself,
crawled in pain and agony,
until his right hand reached the staff.
He grabbed it.
The moment he touched it—
the pressure vanished.
It faded…
as though it had never existed.
Arthur realized the truth.
The staff was the fusion of the old man's staff
and the inscribed stone—
both carrying a fragment of Cthulhu's power.
Through it…
he became capable of enduring the destructive pressure.
Arthur began breathing heavily,
then looked upward.
Every instinct in his body
screamed at him:
Do not look. Run.
But instinct…
no longer mattered.
He slowly raised his head.
And the moment he did—
fear overwhelmed him.
Fear of the unknown.
Fear of death.
Fear of absolute power.
There was no longer a sky.
Nothing remained but space.
The sky had vanished—
or rather…
it had been absorbed.
And in space…
stood an incomprehensible colossal being.
Cthulhu was unleashed.
And it had begun its war against the universe.
The terror that seized Arthur
was beyond endurance.
Sweat poured from his body.
At that moment—
the System window appeared.
|You have failed your mission.
You will be sent to the world of One Piece no—%¥#@&…|
The System distorted.
Fear intensified in Arthur's heart.
At that same instant—
Cthulhu's gigantic eye moved.
That eye,
despite its immense size,
was directed at him.
Arthur knew with certainty—
that eye…
was looking at him now.
With a single glance…
Cthulhu halted Arthur's System.
That glance was not an attack,
nor a spell,
nor a visible force.
It was will.
The moment Cthulhu's eye met Arthur's existence,
the System distorted.
Commands collapsed,
responses severed,
and the structure Arthur had long relied upon dissolved.
Then—
Cthulhu's eye moved slowly,
turning away from Arthur toward space once more.
As though his existence…
no longer warranted attention.
As though tampering with his System
had been nothing more than a passing whim.
Arthur trembled where he stood,
and for the first time felt that the System—
which had saved him countless times—
was silent.
'System… what happened?'
No answer.
|...|
Arthur clenched his teeth.
'Damn it… System, I have a request.
Give me a miraculous healing potion and—'
He lowered his voice,
as though whispering into a void that could not hear.
Heavy seconds passed.
Then—
four bottles appeared before his eyes.
His eyes widened slightly.
He immediately grabbed one,
and drank it in a single gulp.
Warmth spread through his body,
his wounds healed,
his strength returned…
his energy…
his steadiness.
He placed three bottles into his trouser pocket,
then slowly stood.
He fastened the staff behind his back with his belt,
and looked around.
Nothing remained.
All traces of life on this planet had vanished.
With a single glance from Cthulhu's eye…
all meanings of existence were destroyed beyond return.
Nothing remained on Earth but dust.
That beautiful green planet…
had become a red world,
dry,
empty,
soulless.
Arthur stood firm.
He gathered all his strength beneath his feet,
then struck the ground with force.
And launched himself.
He launched toward space.
It was not solely due to his physical strength—
but because the sky…
no longer existed.
Because of the fracture that had struck the universe.
The laws of physics shattered,
scattered aside.
Time…
space…
logic…
none of them applied anymore.
One leap—
and Arthur was in outer space.
He breathed.
Yes…
he breathed in the void.
The cosmic imbalance caused by Cthulhu, Destroyer of Worlds,
made the impossible possible.
For when the wall of impossibility collides with the truth of nihilism,
everything becomes real.
His body floated in space,
and he looked around.
Earth…
the Moon…
the planets…
all destroyed.
The stars had vanished.
More than three hundred million planets
had been consumed.
The Milky Way galaxy…
emptied entirely.
Only the Sun remained.
And it was clear—
Cthulhu had left it for last.
Arthur stared at that being whose size could not be described.
He exhaled softly.
'So… this is the mysterious entity.
Cthulhu.'
Its size was something
his eyes had never witnessed before.
Nor could his mind
comprehend it.
He exhaled once more.
'I will truly die this time…
The System cannot return me to the world of One Piece because of the distortion Cthulhu caused.
It is as if he infected the System with a lethal virus…'
He raised his eyes.
"And now…
I must face this monster myself."
Arthur let out a faint, truly pitiful scoff as he laughed—
a short, bitter laugh
that escaped his chest.
"For hell's sake…
my life is nothing but layers of hell piled upon hell."
Arthur gripped his sword,
and raised it firmly toward Cthulhu's body.
He knew.
He knew with certainty
that he could not defeat it.
But—
even if death was inevitable…
he would not meet it kneeling.
"I will not fall without a fight."
His voice was steady,
despite the terror tearing through him.
"I would rather die fighting…
than die a coward fleeing."
And in the empty void of space…
one human stood,
raising his sword
against an entity
that was waging war upon the entire universe.
---
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