Screeeeech—
With the sharp sound ringing in his ears, Zeke awoke within his unique domain, the "Chamber of Time."
At the same time, the halted time began to flow once more.
The Flame of Execution, which had been rewound by Chronosʼs Clock, now faced the resuming flow of time.
Boom boom boom!
Along with the scorching heat trapped inside the unique domain, the spear of flame carrying the Constellationʼs fury tore through the air, spewing flames intent on incinerating everything.
The flame spear descended with a savage roar at ferocious speed.
The wrath of the gods struck Atlas.
Ruuuuumble!
The moment the flame spear pierced Atlas, a massive blaze clawed across the ground like a wave.
Rumble rumble rumble!
The flames that engulfed the entire city rose upward in a colossal pillar, while below, an intense heatwave swept away everything beyond the city limits.
In an instant, Atlas—the most radiant civilization in Midland—reduced to a pile of ashes.
As he gazed at Atlas swallowed by flames, with nothing left behind, Raguel slowly intoned.
"This is the end for those who defy the gods."
Raguel turned his head toward Zeke, who stared at the ruined Atlas, and addressed him.
"Foolish insect. No matter how you struggle with the power of a false god, it is futile."
Whoooosh!
Soon, light rippled from Raguelʼs avatar body.
A massive ring that he summoned flew in and attached itself to his back.
The radiant halo surged even more fiercely.
The second beast of the apocalypse, Hela, approached Raguel.
Raguel mounted Helaʼs back with his avatar body.
Raguel floated into the air just like that and looked down at Zeke.
"Arrogant human, now the time of ruin and despair begins."
Raguel raised a finger toward the sky.
Whoooosh!
A single beam of light shot upward from his finger into the sky.
Then, a massive ring of light formed in the air.
Rumble rumble rumble!
From that ring of light, an inverted city slowly emerged.
It was Raguelʼs unique domain.
To completely annihilate Zeke, the irreverent being who had challenged his divinity, Raguel had summoned not only Hela but also his unique domain.
A city composed of countless white, pointed spires.
Raguelʼs unique domain, manifested in a translucent state, stood on the verge of fully summoning into the Phenomenal World.
Fwoooosh!
Suddenly, from the spot where Atlas had seemingly been completely erased by the flame spear Raguel unleashed, a fierce blaze erupted.
The Flame of Execution was supposed to extinguish immediately after consuming its target.
Yet the flames showed no sign of dying down; instead, they blazed even more violently, swelling in size.
Zeke hovered in the air, silently watching those flames.
Raguel instinctively sensed something amiss and hurriedly tried to complete his unique domain.
But the situation did not unfold as he wished.
The summoning into the Phenomenal World had abruptly halted.
"What is this?"
Raguel, who had nearly succeeded in the summoning, could only panic as he felt the domainʼs range gradually shrink.
In all his long existence as a Constellation, after destroying countless civilizations, this was the first time he had encountered such a phenomenon.
"How can this be?"
Raguel panicked and tried to resume the summoning, but it was as if some restraint had been imposed—the cityʼs manifestation refused to proceed.
There was only one scenario that could cause this.
"Has another unique domain already encroached upon the entire space…?"
But Zekeʼs unique domain, the "Chamber of Time," had been shattered by Raguel himself.
He couldnʼt comprehend how another domain could have been deployed here.
At that moment, another massive blaze erupted from Atlas.
Rumble rumble rumble!
The flames surged upward in an unnaturally grand manner.
And from within those flames, something rose.
Ruuuumble!
A colossal bird composed entirely of flames let out a mystical, prolonged cry.
It was Raven, the phoenix, who unleashed its Phoenix Cry while scattering flames.
At that instant, the surrounding landscape shifted abruptly.
Fwoooosh!
Pillars of fire shot up from all directions, and the ground filled with scorched ruins and corpses piled like towers.
Boom boom boom!
Raguel could only stand astonished at the pillars of fire rising everywhere.
"This is not the Flame of Execution."
It was not the flames he had created with his authority but an entirely different kind of blaze formed from another authority.
Only then did he realize that the scene before him was not actually Atlas.
In that moment, Raguel felt his soul tremble violently.
Raguel looked up.
A long procession emerged from the burning city.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
Those who revealed themselves from the flames were warriors clad in bone armor.
At their forefront stood a warrior wearing a skull helmet that gleamed with crimson jewels.
Asmodi, captain of Morning Starʼs 2nd Battalion, the Bone Corps, raised his massive bone sword high.
[For our lord! We offer these souls!]
Asmodi, who had once blindly followed the Arrogant Savior, now led the Bone Corps in alignment with Zeke.
Another procession followed beside them.
Thud thud thud!
A knight in green armor led hundreds of death knights and demon realm knights mounted on ghost steeds.
Arataso, captain of Morning Starʼs 1st Battalion, the Dawn Battalion, had appeared with his subordinates.
Even Raguel, in his madness, knew of the demon realmʼs grand lord, the Arrogant Savior, and his loyal knight order, Morning Star.
Though the power of the fallen constellations couldnʼt reach the heavens, he had always been vigilant against their potential to ruin the Phenomenal World.
The Phenomenal World was their farm for extracting karma, so it was only natural to keep a close watch.
"Could it be that this place is…?"
Raguel finally realized where he was.
It was none other than the Arrogant Saviorʼs unique domain, "Purgatory."
While deploying the "Chamber of Time," Zeke had simultaneously prepared to unfold the domain of Purgatory.
The moment Raguel shattered the "Chamber of Time," as attention focused on the flame spear crashing to the ground, Zeke exploited it to deploy his unique domain "Purgatory" at the site of Atlas.
It was his first attempt to reconstruct Purgatory in the Phenomenal World, but fortunately, it succeeded.
Raguel realized too late that another domain had already encroached upon the space before he could summon his own, and he panicked.
"Insolent insects! You resort to petty tricks!"
He poured even more of his divinity to push back Purgatoryʼs domain and deploy his own.
Crackle crackle crackle!
As the inverted city forcibly tried to claim the space, it clashed with the existing domain, generating dimensional plasma.
Crackle crackle crackle!
Plasma sparks flew in all directions.
But Zekeʼs unique domain "Purgatory," created by the final sage, was far larger and more stable than the "Chamber of Time."
Thus, despite Raguel pouring in vast amounts of divine power to invade, Purgatory did not budge.
"This, this…."
Watching the flustered Raguel, Zeke issued commands to Arataso and Asmodi.
"Morning Star! Annihilate the enemy!"
At Zekeʼs words, Arataso and Asmodi led the members of Morning Star into the air, charging toward Raguel.
"Slaughter all those heavenly hypocrites!"
Asmodi shouted, swinging his bone sword from atop his beast mount.
The Bone Corps members followed Asmodi, charging bravely.
Arataso and the knights behind him did the same.
True to the 1st Battalion of Morning Star, they advanced with the dignity of knights.
Boom boom boom!
Seeing the members of Morning Star charging toward him, Raguel roared in fury at Hela.
"Obliterate all that demon realm trash!"
Controlling the holy beast Hela without his unique domain fully deployed was a great burden, but Raguel was too enraged to care.
Grooooar!
The second beast of the apocalypse, Hela, let out a massive roar and charged at Morning Star.
White flames poured from its four lion heads.
Boom boom boom!
As the white flames sought to engulf the members of Morning Star, a pillar of fire suddenly erupted from the ground.
Fwoooosh!
The flames of Purgatory devoured the white flames Hela unleashed, clearing a path for Morning Starʼs charge.
Hela cried out again at the flames of Purgatory that blocked its own blaze.
Raaaaawr!
It swung its forepaw, slashing at the flames of Purgatory with sharp claws, and whipped its tail—composed of white flames—to sweep away Morning Star.
Boom boom boom!
As the holy beastʼs empowered tail sought to scatter Morning Star, fireballs rained down on Hela.
Thud thud thud!
From the surging pillars of fire on all sides, fireballs exploded outward, assaulting Hela.
While Hela staggered, unable to steady itself amid the relentless barrage of fireballs, the members of Morning Star breached into Raguelʼs domain.
Thud thud thud!
Raguel, wrapped in his halo and watching this, bellowed in divine tongue as Morning Star entered his domain.
"You filthy maggots! Do you know where you dare trespass?!"
Flames erupted from the ring on Raguelʼs wrist, unleashing the Flame of Execution toward the members of Morning Star.
Fwoooosh!
The merciless blaze, which would not extinguish until it consumed its target, swept over all of Morning Star.
Raguel sneered at Zeke, who hovered above the burning Babel.
"Fool! Did you think these vermin could do anything to me?!"
Even in his rage, he mocked Zekeʼs foolishness.
But then—
Sizzle sizzle sizzle—
The members of Morning Star charged through the flames Raguel had unleashed, unscathed.
Seeing Morning Star unaffected by his authority, Raguel was at a loss for words.
"How… how is this possible?"
Flustered, he hesitated for a moment but soon resonated the entire ring, pouring out flames toward Morning Star.
Fwoooosh!
The flames infused with his divinity concentrated on Morning Star.
But the result was the same.
Arataso and Asmodi swung their swords, cleaving through the Flame of Execution, and pressed forward.
Dumbfounded, Raguel squeezed out all his remaining power, igniting even fiercer flames.
Boom boom boom!
The stronger the flames grew, the brighter the light emanating from Raguelʼs body became.
But then— Crack!
A cracking sound echoed from Raguelʼs avatar body, which had been barely holding together.
Raguel jolted in realization.
He had implanted dark matter in the avatar body and twisted causality to deceive the restrictions of karma for his descent into the Phenomenal World.
Conversely, if the avatar body shattered, he would face even stronger sanctions and backlash from karma.
"Iʼve dragged this out too long."
In response to Zekeʼs provocation, Raguel had not only fully descended into the avatar body but also exceeded the allowed limits of his divinity.
The amount of karma consumed was immense.
Raguel glared at Zeke, who had cornered him like this despite being a mere Constellation, unable to contain his fury.
"Iʼll annihilate that bastard and return immediately…!"
He commanded Hela, connected to his soul, to attack not Morning Star but Zeke, who stood alone.
Growl growl growl!
Hela changed direction, flying toward Zeke.
Then, massive pillars of fire surged up in front of Zeke.
Fwoooosh!
Purgatoryʼs domain was essentially Zeke himself, inheritor of the Arrogant Saviorʼs power.
Thud thud thud!
From the shattered Babel, colossal pillars of fire rose as if to protect Zeke, unleashing a rain of flames into the air.
The pillars and fiery rain obstructed Helaʼs path, making it difficult to target Zeke directly.
Feeling his avatar body gradually weaken, Raguel grew uncharacteristically anxious for a Constellation.
"Damn it…."
With his unique domainʼs deployment halted, he had no other options left.
"Iʼll obliterate everything."
Before the avatar body shattered, he intended to pour all his remaining power to blow away not just Zeke but his entire unique domain.
Raguel raised his two hands, adorned with glowing rings, toward the sky.
The halo-emitting rings began to resonate, emitting light.
As Raguelʼs amber eyes gleamed with eerie light, he bellowed.
"Insolent insects! I shall sink the very continent you stand upon!"