Chapter 406

Chapter 406

For Sale. Fallen Lady. Never Used.

Episode 406: Declaration Of Dawn

“Whew… that was a close call.”

When they go berserk, things never end well for anyone.

Even if they somehow succeed in battle, they eventually crumble due to other problems.

As I let out a sigh of relief, the two-headed giant, who had watched me on the verge of succumbing to madness, began to panic.

-What is this? What in the world just happened?!

-No way… how can he burn with this much rage and still maintain his sanity…?

The God of Tainted Unity urged the Reckless Roar’s reckless bellow, and the Reckless Roar, the master of authority, was rambling as if witnessing the impossible.

I can roughly guess why they’re acting like this. Right now, I’ve regained my sanity while still being enhanced by the berserk state.

Something impossible even for the Reckless Roar, the God of Fury. That’s why he usually wanders around without reason, only regaining his cold fury and rationality when certain conditions are met.

I lightly clenched and unclenched my fist. I felt an overwhelming power, beyond just strength, almost a sense of omnipotence.

Perhaps it’s thanks to the mental resistance I’ve built up through various means and the blessing of the Clashing Steel that I can maintain my sanity.

Is it because my mind has cleared? Even though I used a considerable amount of mana, my condition feels much better.

I slightly lowered my stance and took a fighting posture. I know my specs have increased, but I’m not sure exactly by how much, so I’ll start by lightly kicking off the ground…

Thwack!

“Huh.”

My body shot into the air as if propelled, even though I only put a little strength into my legs. What in the world is this?

I was momentarily taken aback by the propulsion that far exceeded the creator’s expectations.

My speed was too fast, and it was already too late to regain my balance. While panicking, I saw the two-headed giant reflexively clenching its fists and drew up my mana.

Fzzzt.

Bluish electricity flowed through my entire body. Dazzling lightning began to illuminate the still-dark dawn sky.

But it didn’t end there. I pushed myself a little harder and cast a second spell.

A sense of incongruity enveloped me. The space seemed distorted, or perhaps it was just tinged with darkness. A smirk crept onto my lips at this phenomenon.

Gravity Amplification.

My body felt so heavy that it was difficult to move even with my greatly enhanced specs. Naturally, my arms and legs curled up into a ball.

“Magical… no, uh, what was it…? Anyway, Meteor!”

Falling with this much mass, it’s practically a meteor.

A meteor fell.

The golem, wreathed in pale lightning and bright red flames simultaneously, certainly looked the part.

As if to counter this, the two-headed giant raised its arm. A dark red aura began to rise above its body.

Wrapped in an ominous energy, the giant raised its fist towards the meteor falling from the sky.

It’s a mythical spectacle, and it is indeed an Evil God… but as with most myths, this battle would not end in the god’s victory.

Because this was a story of a God Slayer defeating an Evil God.

Kwoooong!

It was a fist imbued with a force that could crush even mountains, but the moment it collided with the golem, its body was paralyzed by the electricity, and its muscles contracted from the flames, preventing it from exerting proper force.

Then, all that remained was to be crushed by the immense mass.

-Kuaaaaak!

-Damn it! How in the world?! Why is it you and not me…?!

Thanks to desperately twisting its body, it managed to avoid a direct hit, but it couldn’t prevent one of its arms from being completely severed.

The two-headed giant spat out curses as it regenerated its severed half. Its height had noticeably decreased, but there was nothing it could do.

Recovering the severed arm would be close to impossible.

From the deeply cratered ground, the enormous golem slowly rose.

A hunched posture due to its enlarged muscles and warped armor. Unextinguished flames blazed above it.

Perhaps it had hit headfirst during the earlier collision. For some reason, the golem had the giant’s mangled arm in its mouth.

Crunch.

It chewed once and then spat it out. With just that, the giant’s tough arm instantly turned to ashes.

It must have been because the flames of the Clashing Steel had been directly implanted.

The blood dripping from the golem’s mouth instantly evaporated in the heat. A faint mist obscured its muzzle.

At the same time, a white fog spewed from its entire body, concealing the golem’s massive form.

The two-headed giant instinctively knew that this was the golem’s way of releasing the burden on itself and charged without delay.

Its arm, still not fully regenerated and barely holding its shape, dangled, but thanks to that, the giant closed the distance in an instant.

At that moment. Violet light exploded from within the fog like a flash.

“!!!”

Letting out an unknown roar, the golem leaped out from within. The giant was momentarily taken aback by its beast-like posture as it kicked off the ground on all fours.

However, for the two Evil Gods, it didn’t matter that Yandel was running on all fours because he couldn’t control his overflowing power, or that he was screaming in terror at the unbelievable speed.

They simply gritted their teeth and focused on timing their kick off the ground. Their intention was to deliver a knee strike to the charging golem’s jaw.

Combined with the already immense power of the giant and their respective speeds, it would be a blow worthy of being called a divine strike.

However, even though he was running on all fours, the opponent was not a beast but a magician.

“Hmph…!”

As the knee drew closer, Yandel’s concentration reached its peak. What he imagined was a solid shield.

A semi-transparent shield appeared at an angle in front of the golem. He quickly stepped onto it and kicked off with his leg.

Claaaaang!

With a sharp sound like shattering glass, the golem’s body instantly floated into the air.

Thinking that the giant was trying to attack using gravity again, he hastily lowered his raised knee. Instead of stopping, he continued to run, trying to evade the attack.

But Yandel’s next magic wasn’t gravity magic.

Clang!

Shatter!

The shields broke with such a small time difference that the sounds of shattering were almost simultaneous.

Having kicked off two shields in mid-air in quick succession, the golem changed direction, aiming for the giant’s back.

A sword of light rose above the straight hand. The Light Saber, further enhanced by incantation, deeply cleaved the two-headed giant’s back.

-Aaaaaaaargh!

-I’ll kill you! I’ll definitely kill you!

Perhaps realizing things couldn’t continue like this, the Reckless Roar once again clouded his reason and drew upon his fury.

The blood pouring from the wound on his back instantly subsided, and the deep gash that revealed bone also healed.

Yandel clicked his tongue, muttering at the clearly accelerated regeneration speed.

“That’s why I was aiming to sever it completely.”

Of course, no answer came back.

-Yes! It’s better this way! If you’ve become stronger, the reward upon harvest will be even greater!

-Strike! Destroy!

The giant’s dark red muscles, inflamed with rage, began to swell. Its body, which had clearly shrunk after regenerating the severed limb, instantly returned to its initial size.

A manifestation of authority, transmuting fury into power at its peak. In other words, a final phase with no turning back, causing Yandel to smirk.

“Now I’m starting to get a feel for it.”

The golem’s new form, still lowered but with both arms off the ground and firmly standing on two legs, wavered.

It was a simple illusion magic to distort the vision, but the two-headed giant wasn’t fooled and calmly reached out.

Clang!

A large hammer, created out of earth magic, was already approaching, and the golem’s arm was deflected upwards.

The hammer flew uselessly behind. The giant’s kick swung towards the golem’s exposed torso.

Yandel, who had been on guard, quickly twisted his body, but couldn’t avoid a slight graze on his shoulder.

Crack!

The armor, already forcibly bent and its connections severed once before, couldn’t withstand the impact and tore off.

Shards of metal scattered into the sky. The God of Tainted Unity, seizing the opportunity, snapped his jaws in the air. And then came the gruesome chewing sound.

Crunch.

The golem’s shoulder was cleanly torn off as if the space itself had been chewed away. The arm on the unsupported side drooped lifelessly.

But what did that matter?

Yandel, his face still fiercely contorted, swung his numb arm.

The limp arm became a flail and struck the God of Tainted Unity’s head.

-Kuhak!

A half-collapsed head. A blurred consciousness. Regenerating the head consumed much more power, but a smile flickered across the God of Tainted Unity’s lips.

After all, unlike himself, who could regenerate as long as he had divine power, the golem couldn’t regenerate before being repaired, no matter how much mana it had.

However, by the time the God of Tainted Unity regained his briefly lost consciousness, it was already too late.

-Ubbeup? Ubbeubbeup?!

The golem’s severed arm was blocking his mouth. It wasn’t a special function; it was crudely fixed in place with telekinetic magic!

He could use his authority without opening his mouth, but the power was somewhat reduced. And Yandel’s golem wasn’t made of such soft material.

The God of Tainted Unity, effectively having his own authority sealed, tried to remove the hand blocking his mouth.

“Where do you think you’re going?!”

Thwack! Thwack-thwack-thwack!

The remnants of the gauntlet that had been rolling around. Sharp metal fragments moved as if alive, tearing through the raised arm.

Because they relentlessly targeted joints and tendons, his strength kept draining, and he couldn’t properly tear off the hand.

So, the moment he raised his other hand…

“[Light Saber!!]”

Yandel’s golem, seizing the opportunity, swung the light sword.

The giant, whose reason had flown away, instinctively twisted its arm, just barely preventing its waist from being split in two. Instead, the arm it used as a shield was severed.

-Damn it! Damn it…!!

One arm was severed, and the other couldn’t move properly due to the relentlessly stabbing metal fragments.

The severed side was regenerating, but Yandel wouldn’t just stand by and wait, so he effectively couldn’t use either arm.

Unlike the Reckless Roar, who seemed to have completely lost his mind and was only letting out strange cries, the God of Tainted Unity, whose mind was clear, had a face distorted by anxiety.

At this rate, he would lose his life in vain, just like the Grotesque Proliferation and the Boiling Silence.

-I-I can’t end things here yet!!

Perhaps his desperation got through. The Reckless Roar’s instincts and intuition flowed into the God of Tainted Unity.

It was probably because the two Evil Gods had become more deeply connected over time.

But even this was far from enough to turn the tide of the battle.

The stance he unknowingly adopted, the authority of Unity that tried to erode upon contact, the warcry erupting from the Reckless Roar’s mouth. All of it was blocked or missed.

Too skillful, far too skillful.

It was as if the opponent knew everything he was aiming for, everything he could do, and was dismantling it piece by piece.

Even knowing it was impossible, the God of Tainted Unity couldn’t help but ask.

-You… could it be that this isn’t the first time you’ve killed me, us?

Instead of answering, Yandel swung the light sword and cut off one of the giant’s legs. Unable to support its weight, the massive body tilted precariously.

Thud!

It fell backward, looking up at the sky, as a massive rock stake impaled the giant’s regenerating arm and remaining leg.

-Kuaaaaaak!!

-Kuweoooooh!!

Perhaps sensing their end. The god who maintained reason and the god who lost it cried out in the same voice.

Leaving the two-headed giant forcibly pinned to the ground, the golem jumped high.

The golem, having fixed its massive form with flight magic, slowly raised one hand.

Whoosh!

Just before sunrise, at the darkest time of the world, the sacred fire engulfing the golem’s entire body illuminated the surroundings.

At the same time, a massive magic circle covered the sky. The God of Tainted Unity, looking up at the burning greatsword emerging from its end, let out a hollow laugh.

-Crazy bastard. Are you planning to die?

It wasn’t wrong. The current Yandel was maintaining the blessing of the Clashing Steel at its maximum output to definitively corner the two Evil Gods.

It was a blessing already activated to resist the berserk state. Having drawn upon power again to increase its output without giving it any rest, it was bound to overload.

Moreover, he was now squeezing out every last bit of mana to prepare for the final blow.

No matter how well-made the golem was, it would inevitably melt under its own heat. Not even if it were made of true dragon scale would it be an exception.

However, the golem, engulfed in flames like a small sun, still maintained its form.

It was a golem made with Faye’s conviction fully imbued.

A moment when a weapon must not betray its master. It was made for someone who had nothing but their weapon to rely on.

It might break someday, but that day was not today.

-Ah…

Yandel grasped the fully revealed greatsword like a spear.

His somehow solemn appearance seemed as if he were about to end this dark night and declare the dawn.

-It was always like this. The ones who performed true miracles were never gods.

A memory from a distant past, now hazy. The God of Tainted Unity desperately tried to recall his former divine name, but ultimately failed.

Like the Reckless Roar, who was being devoured by rage and writhing even at this moment, he had gone too far.

Yandel hurled the greatsword in his hand.

Thwack.

The greatsword pierced the heart accurately. Or perhaps it was a cross that had sprung from the earth, beginning to glow incandescently.

The end of a long, long night.

And finally, dawn arrived in the world.