Chapter 339

Rè​ａd‌ õ&n;​ K&a;​tＲ&e;adi‌&n;g​Càf​ҽ

Stopped.

Everything that moved came to a standstill.

The thoughts of sentient beings.

The animosity that clashed.

The intense trembling of the air.

The compressed sun.

The scorching heat.

The fluctuating sounds.

The cracking earth.

Even the spreading light.

It stopped like a scene from a photograph. In an instant, a void descended. A world of emptiness where all external stimuli vanished. Nothing acted, nothing made a sound, and nothing perceived the situation. 

Stasis. The world literally stopped.

Time.

A flow.

Time was a constant flow.

The past becomes the present, and the present becomes the future.

No one can seize the passing years, and they cannot be turned back.

It always flows in one direction, never changing course.

Domination.

He dominates the flow.

Just as Angelica dominates the concept of earth.

Just as Murmur dominates the concept of space.

He dominates the concept of time.

Time, which should never stop, halted.

When time stops, the world stops.

In the frozen world, the only exception is the dominator of time.

Agares clenched his fist even tighter.

It was as if he was holding onto something, and indeed he was.

What he was holding was none other than ‘time’.

Time, which should flow freely, was bound in the Noble Prince’s hand.

“…I see.”

A subtle tremor.

Agares watched his fist tremble against his will.

It was as if the captured time was writhing, trying to escape.

“The current ‘Paradise’ is your world, is it?”

An eerie ghastliness flowed from the Blue Rakshasa mask.

The figure was truly an ogre rakshasa.

Agares spoke in an inorganic voice.

“Four Seasons.”

He felt a gaze.

Something that should not exist in this place where everything was frozen.

A frozen world allowed only to Agares.

However, it was not strange if it was a gaze from the ‘outside’, beyond the world.

Four pairs of eyes stared at the Noble Prince.

The Gods of Humans.

The dominator of Paradise.

The master of Supernatural Abilities.

The Chosen One’s creator.

“Just as you imprisoned the original me under the pretext of Regression, are you now interfering with the stopped time?”

The time stop was forcibly trying to be undone.

It was not particularly surprising as it was an expected phenomenon.

The current time stop was closer to a procedure to confirm predictions.

“Time is space. Space eventually becomes the world. To dominate time is to dominate the world. If you tamper with the foundation of the world, not just narrow manipulations like the singularity Murmur, it will naturally turn out like this.”

This is not the world of the Devil Gods.

The second Paradise created by the ‘Ancient One’ mimicking the Paradise of the Four Seasons.

And now, the world of monsters that has fallen into the hands of the Four Seasons.

If one were to stop the world’s time, the world’s owners would not stand idly by.

“‘The Dull and Blind Father’ was killed by the Gods of Humans. If you move, even the original me would have no choice but to hesitate.”

That is why the Devil Gods hid their identities and melted into the shadows.

Possessing human bodies to become devils.

Hiding their presence with masks.

All to avoid the eyes of the Four Seasons.

They accepted humiliation to deceive the omniscient and omnipotent.

“But what are you doing? The original me is here. Now, here, I have tampered with the foundation of the world. Surely you should come to eliminate the original me? Why aren’t you coming? Why are you trying to stop me in an indirect way?”

It took the form of a question, but it was not a question.

It was a sneer, a conviction.

“You can’t, or rather, you can’t do it.”

As expected, the Four Seasons cannot move easily.

He didn’t know how it was in the past, but that’s how it is now.

The dreaming, lazy king has risen from his throne.

Even the Four Seasons could not act rashly.

Even though the Noble Prince revealed his existence himself.

Even though eliminating him now would eliminate a great future threat.

Even so, they could not descend carelessly.

The Four Seasons were in a situation where they had no room to spare.

“You cannot step forward. The Chosen One of the previous era is sealed, and the Chosen One of the modern era has been robbed of his body.”

This means.

“It means this is the world of the original me.”

The flow of time writhed, trying to escape.

Agares obediently let go of time.

As he opened his clenched fist, everything that had stopped regained its original flow.

As the time stop was released, the compressed sun began to bear down again. Rotating and compressing. A sun sword boasting extreme cutting power and explosive force. Agares looked at the blazing heat and extended his open hand. He folded his fingers one by one, starting with his ring finger. The only one left was his index finger. He pointed at the sun.

“Deletion.”

Without warning.

Without any signs.

The sun, which had been dragged down to the ground, vanished.

“What?!”

For the first time, composure broke on Astaroth’s face.

Sweat beaded on the face that had been so relaxed even when fighting the God of War.

“Instead of simply releasing firepower, you repeatedly compress it to increase the explosive power and maintain its shape with rotation. Simple, but a truly interesting technique. The balance is quite good. Executor. This is not your technique, is it? So you are the Chosen One. Even a newly hatched fledgling is quite skilled.”

“You… what the hell did you do…?”

“I deleted it.”

“What…?”

“If you didn’t understand, I’ll say it again. I deleted it. The time.”

He erased the time the sun sword existed.

Since it never existed in the first place, it cannot exist.

Since it does not exist, it is inevitable that it disappears.

“…Is that even possible?”

She knew Agares was strong. The second-ranked Devil God. Close to Bael. That strength was unparalleled among all the Devil Gods. Many Devil Gods had challenged Agares, but none had managed to inflict even a scratch on him. At best, Vassago, the third-ranked, and Amon, the seventh-ranked, had managed to engage Agares in battle, but the result was the same as with the other Devil Gods. They fought and lost.

“Time deletion… you could use it on others…?”

Agares is the dominator of time.

He has temporarily become invincible by deleting his own time.

Since there is no time, he cannot exist, and since he cannot exist, he cannot be struck.

But never.

Agares had never used time deletion on anyone other than himself.

She had never seen it, never heard of it.

Not once in thousands of years.

“I just didn’t bother to do it. Why did you mistakenly think I couldn’t?”

“But, you… even when you gouged out Vassago’s eyes, when you cut off Amon’s right arm, you never showed such skill…”

“I can win without using it. That was all.”

He can win without using his full power.

So he didn’t use his full power.

It was just that.

Nothing more, nothing less.

“…”

Astaroth felt a cold chill.

A shiver ran down her neck.

Even when Yoo-seong’s full power was divided into thirds, she didn’t feel such goosebumps.

“You… don’t tell me you’ve never…”

“I’ve never used my full power. It’s only natural since there was no opponent worthy of it, isn’t it?”

“…Ahahaha.”

Astaroth let out a hollow laugh. Her face was bloodless. It was a misjudgment. Could it be that the power of Agares that she had known until now was actually only a fraction of his true power? 

The Noble Prince had become the second-in-command of the Devil Gods with just that fraction of power? This is bad. The thought that she could last for a few minutes was wrong. 

Time was not on my side. No, it wasn’t from the beginning. I was just deluding myself. Time is always. At any moment. Always on the side of the dominator.

‘Escape is difficult as long as Murmur is here. Even if she wasn’t, it would have been difficult. I was going to leave some power in reserve, considering the danger after Agares and Murmur… and even the participation of the captains… it was an arrogant idea.’

This is not the time to consider the aftermath.

Those are concerns that can only be had while alive.

Astaroth unhesitatingly concentrated all her power on the Scarlet Blade.

Time deletion cannot be invincible. There is a limit to the time that can be deleted. If he could delete all time in the first place, he would have deleted himself. There must be restrictions. For example, an existence with a long existence… a Devil God who has lived for thousands of years has a lot of accumulated time, so it is difficult to delete?

‘I’ll fire the sun sword indiscriminately. Don’t leave any power in reserve. Don’t leave any room for error. Surviving right now is the priority.’

The Scarlet Blade burns brightly.

Once again, the sun is dragged down to the ground.

The sun, reforged into a sword, illuminates all things.

Astaroth grips the Scarlet Blade again.

Grips the Scarlet Blade again.

Grips the Scarlet Blade again.

Grips the Scarlet Blade…

Grips the Scarlet…

Grips the…

…

“?”

What’s wrong?

Astaroth felt extreme confusion.

Why am I not doing anything?

Engulfed in flames, taking a stance.

Why am I only repeating the action of gripping the Scarlet Blade?

I can’t move on to the next action.

Why?

“I’ll tell you one last time.”

Agares approaches.

One step at a time. Slowly.

But surely.

“I have deleted the future.”

He deleted the future of wielding the Scarlet Blade.

He deleted the future of plowing the earth with the sun sword.

Astaroth, unaware of this fact, takes the same action again.

And again, he deletes that future.

As a result, Astaroth took no action.

“The original me does not enjoy such acts. To senselessly trample on the courage, the will, the conviction, and the determination to stand against the original me… it seems like a pointless act. If we compete on equal terms, both sides will have no regrets, wouldn’t they? So, I apologize. I will kill you with all my power, without leaving any room for retaliation.”

“…I thought I knew you well, but that was a ridiculous misjudgment.”

I knew he was a monster.

But I didn’t know he was a monster of this caliber.

‘The solution… a future that cannot be deleted. If my future to be deleted also includes Agares himself, he won’t delete it. Because even the future where he attacks will be deleted together. So, from now on, he can’t delete the future. Then, the clue to counterattack…’

Astaroth chuckled.

“There’s no way.”

The Scarlet Blade is swung.

An oblivion drawing a semicircle.

Even this future cannot be deleted.

He could, but then it would be meaningless.

Because even Agares’ response would be deleted.

Thwack.

Blood and flesh stick to her face.

Astaroth’s right arm was crushed.

The Scarlet Blade, colliding with immense physical force, shatters.

“…Ah, how boring.”

Astaroth said, licking the blood on her lips with her tongue.

“Time acceleration. On top of that, even increasing the power with time superposition. You know, you could have overwhelmed me without having to delete the future, right? You didn’t need to use your full power, did you?”

“It’s the original me’s own courtesy.”

“It’s mockery.”

“You are strong. So I just didn’t let my guard down.”

“I don’t like flattery. Hearing that I’m strong from you only sounds like ridicule.”

With those words.

Flesh, brain matter, and bone fragments scattered.

Astaroth’s head exploded.

“It’s neither ridicule nor mockery, Astaroth.”

Thwack. Thud. Crack.

The body without a head is butchered.

It bursts, torn apart, and is crushed.

Bones are broken, muscles are mashed, and internal organs are pulverized.

Astaroth’s form quickly collapses as if kneading clay.

“A courtesy sent to the descendants of the same Ancient One. To my brothers and sisters. It’s a shame you don’t appreciate it.”

Soon.

All that remains are bloodstains.

Even those are swept away by the accelerated time and disappear.

No trace of Astaroth’s existence remains.

“Farewell. Executor. My sister who harbored excessive ambition.”

Author Note

A/N (Author’s note):
Today’s author note…

You already know what I’d say, don’t you?

Ehehe.

Translator Note

T/N (Translator’s note):
Stupid to the end, what a noob Astaroth!

What caused her to lose is stupidity like always!!!

Smh!