Ch.108Ep.108: Betting Everything

“I’ve cut off all escape routes. It would be better not to think about running away anymore.”

“Kukukuk… I knew it would come to this in the end.”

Crack!

Yog-Sothoth broke all the branch-like things that were healing his arms and stood up.

For the past few days, he had been running away whenever Azathoth or Chaos appeared.

His power hadn’t fully recovered, and those who had sacrificed themselves had provided him with escape routes.

But that ends today.

Sacrificing Arsia or Brina wouldn’t even buy him time anymore.

Moreover, Arsia was a valuable resource who could see the future.

And Brina had been giving her all to help recover Yog-Sothoth’s body with various spells.

“You’ve got to earn your keep!”

Boom!

As Yog-Sothoth stomped his foot, the ground beneath him shattered into fragments.

“Surge forth.”

Following his gesture, the earth’s fragments flew toward Azathoth.

“How pathetic.”

But Azathoth was a being with the Ascended Order of Devouring.

To him, such mass attacks were nothing but meaningless.

“You must know this is pointless, yet you still waste power on such actions?”

“When the scales are already tipped completely, adding more weights won’t change anything.”

“Scales?”

“But if the weight of those additions is unknown, I can’t help but have hope.”

“You’ve been speaking nonsense for a while now.”

At Azathoth’s words, Yog-Sothoth let out a mocking laugh.

Azathoth narrowed his eyes at Yog-Sothoth’s appearance and began using his power of devouring to drain Yog-Sothoth’s strength.

“My, aren’t you impatient. Are you that eager to steal your son’s power, Father?”

“Calling me father now won’t help you.”

“I always knew I was no match for you anyway.”

“..? What are you doing?”

In an instant, Yog-Sothoth released all his magical power and willingly submitted to being devoured.

Azathoth was taken aback by this behavior, which Yog-Sothoth had never shown before, and stopped his devouring power.

“Cough!”

“Ah, if you had swallowed just a bit more, it might have been a lethal dose.”

“Ngh… NAAAARGH!!”

“That’s what happens when you eat anything without thinking—you get a stomachache. Understand, Father?”

Dash!

Yog-Sothoth charged at Azathoth, his crescent blade of Barzai coated thickly with Ascended Order power.

Azathoth’s vision and senses were impaired, making it impossible to track Yog-Sothoth’s movements.

Why had he fallen into such a strange state?

It all began with Brina’s scheme.

“Yog-Sothoth. You know you’re as good as dead, right?”

“What are you getting at?”

“I heard that Outer Gods can’t resist Azathoth. When he uses his devouring power, even if you resist, you’ll eventually be consumed.”

The proof was that Yog-Sothoth hadn’t regained his strength despite days of recovery.

Azathoth’s power of devouring was Yog-Sothoth’s natural enemy.

If he used his devouring power, Yog-Sothoth’s very existence would be consumed without resistance.

So, Brina suggested an ingenious plan.

“We’ll fill your body with all kinds of deadly poisons. Then you’ll deliberately let Azathoth absorb you and poison him.”

“…Hoo, quite a decent plan.”

“But the Ascended Order of Devouring can consume even poison itself. So…”

“I’ll use Divine Fragment: Intervention to interfere with his Ascended Order itself.”

Yog-Sothoth liked Brina’s plan and immediately filled his body with every poison known to exist.

And now.

When Azathoth activated his devouring power, he was already writhing in pain from absorbing just a portion.

‘This is the only chance to kill Azathoth!’

If Azathoth developed immunity to the poison despite using Divine Fragment: Intervention, everything would be over.

Yog-Sothoth struck down with the crescent blade of Barzai with all his might, putting his life on the line.

“Die!! Azathooooooth!”

However.

“Do I really have to step in like this? Azathoth.”

“Ch-Chaos!!”

Chaos suddenly appeared and sliced the crescent blade of Barzai in two with his Ascended Order of Void.

Faced with this insane divine power, Yog-Sothoth’s body froze in place.

“Kuk!”

“You damn sooooon!”

“AAAAARGH!”

Azathoth, now completely immune to the poison, grabbed Yog-Sothoth’s neck in rage.

He began draining all of Yog-Sothoth’s magical power at once.

“Blood Sealing Formation!”

Screech!

Brina, realizing the dire situation, hurriedly activated a sealing spell.

“Such futile struggling.”

Crash!

With a single gesture from Chaos, the new spell that had taken an hour to prepare was completely shattered.

“Cough!”

It was only natural that she suffered internal injuries as a result.

“Damn… it…”

As his energy continued to be drained, Yog-Sothoth vanished without leaving even a white skeleton behind.

“Kuhahahahaha! It’s finally over! Finally!”

“You’re too noisy. It’s been 7 days since we decided to take action. And yet we’ve only managed to recover our strength to this level.”

Chaos honestly didn’t like this situation.

If they had searched together, they could have reset the world much faster.

“This happened because of your ridiculous stubbornness.”

“The control of this world belongs to me, which is why you went along with it. You can create the next world however you want—”

“It’s not over yet!”

Azathoth and Chaos turned their heads toward the voice.

There stood Arsia, treating Brina’s wounds with magic.

“You must be mistaken! Do you think we’ll die so easily?”

“If you won’t die easily. What do you think you can do?”

Chaos immediately gathered the power of void to kill her, but.

Azathoth raised his hand to stop him and attempted to talk with Arsia.

“Think about it, Arsia Cromwell. Everyone else is dead. Do you really think you alone can overcome this situation?”

Kraud, Poseidon, and Yog-Sothoth were all dead.

The only being with an awakened Divine Order left by her side was Brina.

And even she was gasping for breath, suffering from deep internal injuries due to the backlash from her shattered spell.

“It’s over, Arsia Cromwell! Your struggle was entertaining! Let me make you an offer!”

Azathoth extended his hand to Arsia, who was glaring at him through gritted teeth.

“Join us. You are the only being who survived until the end in this chaos!”

“Azathoth. What are you saying—”

“This is my unilateral decision. It has nothing to do with our bet.”

“…Tch.”

When Azathoth spoke so firmly, Chaos folded his arms and decided to continue listening to him.

“Think about it, Arsia Cromwell. If you come with me, you can live forever.”

No matter how many times the world collapses, no matter how many times the world is created.

“You alone can continue to live. I will grant you that.”

Making an exception for one person was nothing to him.

That’s what Azathoth was saying.

But Arsia.

“Hahahahaha! Hahahahahahaha!!”

Upon hearing Azathoth’s offer, she burst into laughter.

Live together forever no matter how many times the world collapses and is created?

“That’s nothing but a curse, you monster. Aren’t you and Chaos repeating this cycle of creating and destroying worlds to escape that very curse!?”

“..!”

“My eyes see far more futures than you think!”

Drip.

As Arsia pushed beyond her limits to use her foresight, blood tears streamed from her eyes.

The pain was so intense that she would go blind if she didn’t stop using the skill immediately.

But because her inner pain was greater than any physical suffering.

She could endure such pain easily.

“You are beings who have transcended everything! You can exist forever, but you can never die by your own will!”

“Silence! What do you know!”

“I will never sell my soul to cursed beings like you!!”

“This woman really…!”

Azathoth was furious after hearing Arsia’s rejection.

Living forever is a curse? Yes, it is a curse.

But he didn’t want to hear it from someone else’s mouth.

Especially not from a human who would live barely 100 years at most.

He didn’t want to hear that being unable to die was a curse.

“Die—”

“We’ve stalled for enough time, Captain.”

“What?”

Just as he was about to deliver the final blow to her.

Azathoth froze in place the moment he heard Arsia say “Captain.”

Then he clearly felt an immense power.

One that was certainly not beneath his own.

“Good job, Arsia.”

Boom!

A massive sword plunged into the ground before Azathoth’s eyes as a man with an awe-inspiring aura descended from the sky.

“We meet again? Azathoth.”

“Radios… Magnum..!”

Radios Magnum.

The audacious apostle whom he had thought was surely dead had returned, much stronger than before.

“Captain…”

Arsia deactivated her foresight as she watched Radios standing with his hands behind his back, calmly staring at Azathoth.

Her vision was distorting, suggesting her eyesight had deteriorated rapidly.

But because she had known this future would come.

She had been using her foresight all this time without telling anyone, to ensure it wouldn’t change.

She believed he would surely achieve victory.

Arsia, who trusted the man named Radios Magnum more than anyone else.

Could pass out with a smile at his appearance.

“I leave it to you… Captain…”