Chapter 359

Ȓėａđ οɴ ǨａｔṚėαｄ​ｉṅցϹａｆė

Incantation · Divine Punishment.

A pillar of light pierced through the fire giant.

The penetrated body was completely burning away.

At that fact, Surtr felt bewilderment more than a sense of crisis.

He, who was no different from living fire, was being burned by an external force.

An unfamiliar pain, one he had never known despite always burning, sharply tore through Surtr’s nerves.

Burning pain.

It was a sensation he was experiencing for the first time in his existence.

“Huh…”

Light is heat.

Extremely compressed light became a heat ray and pierced through Surtr.

The only thought that arose in the fire giant’s mind was: Is this even possible? It’s happening in reality, so it must be possible. But even while seeing it with his eyes and feeling it with his senses, his cognitive abilities couldn’t keep up.

His durability was close to invincible. This wasn’t just empty words or exaggeration, but the truth. The solid exterior deflected any attack, and the constantly burning flames incinerated everything. 

He took what he burned as nourishment, so it wouldn’t be wrong to say that he grew stronger the more he was attacked. That was Surtr’s most troublesome aspect, and the reason Lucia was attempting the gamble of entering his body.

Of course, there were limits to Surtr’s durability.

If attacked with enough force, even the solid exterior would eventually be breached.

But if that were easy, he wouldn’t be called invincible. Even the Devil Gods were troubled by Surtr’s durability. A ridiculously tough guy was protected by constantly burning flames, and he burned attacks to use as nourishment. It was no different from growing stronger with each attack. Therefore, if the Devil Gods were to face Surtr, they would target the troublesome flames first. For example, Belial, Surtr’s creator, would have created life that could extinguish Surtr’s fire.

Extinguish the flames, which were like Surtr’s armor, and then attack the exterior.

That was the standard way to attack Surtr.

But to pierce through the flames and exterior in one strike…

And with a heat ray that surpassed Surtr’s flames.

It couldn’t be burned.

Because the pillar of light was hotter than Surtr’s flames.

If it couldn’t be burned, it couldn’t be used as nourishment.

Surtr’s greatest advantage was easily thwarted.

The giant crumbled. The flowing lava was like blood. From the pierced chest, crimson lava surged and poured out. 

The ground melted. Surtr’s knees buckled, but his massive body still stood. The pillar of light that pierced him became a support, holding Surtr up. Surtr’s head slowly turned. His ruby-like pupils reflected the sky.

The dark clouds parted, and a ray of light descended.

In the backlight, there was an infinitely small human.

A small, tiny human, not even the size of one of Surtr’s finger joints.

But the presence it held was enough to overwhelm even Surtr.

[Devil God…]

No.

Surtr himself denied the words he had uttered.

That was not a Devil God. It was fundamentally different from a Devil God. A human. No, was it even human? Could something like that be called merely human? It was like… like…

“God…”

He understood the gap in an instant.

Whatever that thing was, he couldn’t win.

Was that the Four Seasons that the Devil Gods were so wary of?

Why now of all times? Why is a human god appearing now?

The Four Seasons clearly… the Devil Gods… the King of the Devil Gods…

He had heard that they couldn’t act recklessly because they were keeping them in check.

“…”

…There’s no way a human god would descend just to kill a single demonic beast. Surtr, apart from his high pride, knew how to coldly assess reality. It wasn’t difficult to judge his own worth. 

He was a formidable foe, but that was all. He wasn’t worth the Four Seasons directly descending to take his life. If the Four Seasons were directly after his life, the target would be…

“…That cannot be.”

Creak.

Surtr’s pointed teeth ground together as if they would break.

The energy that had been drained from his body by the shock quickly returned.

A greatsword as huge as the pillar of light soared as if it would tear the sky apart.

“That is my prey.”

If a human god had descended,

It must be to kill a god of monsters.

He couldn’t allow it. It was his prey. His firewood.

[Only I can kill my creator!]

He wouldn’t let it be taken away. His mother.

He wouldn’t let her be killed. By anyone but him.

It didn’t matter if the opponent was a human god. He was the Twilight of the Gods. A doomsday device for killing gods. Whether it was a Demon God or a human god, they were ultimately just targets to be destroyed. 

Even in the face of overwhelming disadvantage, Surtr stood up. The pillar of light began to be engulfed in blazing flames. Surtr took a step forward. The pillar that had been firmly planted in the ground trembled. The giant advanced. He aimed the greatsword (Laevatein) that held the sun at the sun god.

“I’m not sure what misunderstanding you’re having.”

Azazel clicked her tongue at Surtr, who was spouting nonsense.

Perhaps it was because she had been watching Karma, who always distorted (unconsciously) and manipulated (unconsciously) people’s perceptions, from right next to him.

She intuitively realized that there was a discrepancy in perception.

She didn’t know what misunderstanding he was having, and she didn’t really care.

“Let’s finish this quickly, I don’t have time.”

In her hand was the divine sword that had returned to its former master after more than 100 years. Azazel spun the divine sword around her finger and suddenly let go of it. But the divine sword didn’t fall. 

As if defying gravity, the divine sword floated in the air. She pulled an invisible bowstring taut. The divine sword became an arrow. Azazel ignored the pain that her body was crying out and slowly chanted.

“I have to defeat you and go to Riel.”

Light gathered.

Azazel wrapped herself in light.

No, light took the form of a person and grabbed the bowstring.

“■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■────!!”

A shriek erupted.

Surtr roared and swung his greatsword.

A strike that could overturn the surface of the earth for several kilometers burned the sky.

The target was the human god.

He would burn it. All gods. The human god was no exception.

At the same time as the greatsword was swung, the divine sword became an arrowhead and shot out a dazzling light.

The principle was simple. The strike that pierced Surtr, ‘Incantation · Divine Punishment’, was compressed through the divine sword. That huge pillar of light was forged into a single arrow. At the moment of firing, Azazel’s body was pushed back as if repelled by the insane reaction force. Her thumb and index finger were twisted in a strange direction, and her dislocated right arm shook from the recoil.

“Fuck, that hurts like hell!”

‘I have to save Riel and solve the problem of the Demonic Realm.’

Oops, my thoughts and words were reversed.

I was trying to look cool, but what is this embarrassment?

“So I don’t have time to waste on the likes of you. Why don’t you just die quietly?”

The sea of flames that consumed the sky collided with the arrowhead of light.

Immediately after, there was no strange noise or shockwave.

The light silently tore through the flames, piercing and breaking through.

It rushed to the source of the fire without any resistance.

“…”

Surtr’s pupils widened in astonishment.

Only one word came to his mind.

Death.

An unavoidable death.

Block it. Impossible. That’s far more destructive than the pillar of light.

Evade it. Impossible. The light will pierce him faster than he can attempt to evade.

The feeling of anger that had been burning in his chest until just now was covered by something else. Fear.

He couldn’t die. Did they think he would give up? He hadn’t accomplished anything yet. He hadn’t fulfilled his destiny. He hadn’t become the Twilight of the Gods. His creator… He hadn’t achieved anything yet. Not here. Not like this. He couldn’t die in vain!

[“UOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO───!!!”]

He swung his greatsword with all his might.

The wind pressure alone would crush everything.

But what it contained was not spirit, but desperation.

Death itself was not scary. Surtr was fire, and fire burns itself and eventually goes out. Fire is inevitably destined to go out someday. But he couldn’t just go out in vain like this. There was so much he hadn’t burned yet. Too much. Everything. Everything in the world. Until there was nothing left to burn. He could never stop until then.

When the greatsword and the arrow collided, this time the aftermath clearly lashed out in all directions. A screeching sound that scraped the ears and a shockwave that instantly blew away Surtr’s flames spread out. 

The ground was overturned, and Surtr’s massive body was helplessly pushed back. If anyone had witnessed that scene, they would have been astonished. The sight of a fire giant dozens of meters tall being bounced like a piece of paper was surreal.

He couldn’t withstand it head-on. He couldn’t intercept it either. Then…!

Surtr’s solid exterior began to crumble. Cracks that could not be hidden appeared on the greatsword. As if in proportion to that, the direction of the arrowhead was also twisted. 

Creeak. 

He deflected it. The greatsword distorted the trajectory of the arrowhead in a different direction. The strike that would have blown away Surtr’s upper body turned in a completely unexpected direction.

Heavy. It was suffocatingly heavy. But Surtr didn’t stop. Even more forcefully. He concentrated all his strength on the greatsword. The more he did so, the faster the fire giant was carved away.

Kllaaaanggg! His desperate efforts resulted in an outcome. The divine sword missed Surtr. He couldn’t completely nullify the impact, so Surtr’s arms were horribly mangled. The flames also lost their momentum. The crumbled exterior scattered into dust.

He endured. The damage was not small, but he could recover with flames. Surtr quickly drew up the flames. He managed to endure this time, but he couldn’t guarantee the next attack. 

No matter how much of a human god she was, she wouldn’t be able to fire off an attack like that without any burden. He would reorganize his body. He couldn’t end it like this. Yes, he couldn’t end it. He still had to…

“Amazing.”

At that moment, a small voice tickled Surtr’s ear. He couldn’t hear it well. It seemed like his hearing had been damaged by the previous attack. It didn’t matter. Even if he left it alone, his hearing would be restored soon. More important than that was to examine the source of this sound right now.

“I wouldn’t have been confident in withstanding a direct hit myself. To think you could deflect it. I’m sincerely impressed.”

Thud. A human wearing a white coat landed on Surtr’s shoulder. Under normal circumstances, it would have been a foolish act to be burned to death by the flames, but Surtr’s flames had all been extinguished or had only embers left due to being caught up in Azazel’s attack. Surtr’s gaze turned to the man. Even though the giant eyes were directed at him, the man’s expression didn’t change at all. Only a faint smile lingered on his lips.

“So you could call it a demonic beast’s strength. It’s always amazing to see. The vitality of demonic beasts. It’s more than just tough, it’s tenacious.”

“You…”

The man was not alone.

He was holding a girl in his arms.

She was leaning limply against Karma, seemingly unconscious.

Limbs that were torn and melted. Sweat-soaked hair stuck to her face.

It was Lucia, the girl who Surtr had been fighting until just now.

[Give her back! That is, that is mine…!]

That was his prey.

A Devil God that he had to kill.

His nemesis. His enemy. His purpose.

The one who created him, his…

[Oh, do you want this child?]

To Surtr’s cry mixed with all sorts of emotions, Karma smiled and replied.

“But what should I do? Finder’s keepers.”

Author Note

A/N (Author’s note):
*Karma’s actual meaning:

“I don’t intend to hand her to a vicious beast like you. This child will be kept by my side.”

Translator Note

T/N (Translator’s note):
He is fire, but historically, fire people never end up well.

Look at Xiao (PM) for example, what a noob… 

Dead husband and now husbandless, so noob! 

A star is infinitely more than the mere heat of the sun, a delusion never wins~