Ch.109Rebirth Begins with Destruction (2)

Boom…

“Another earthquake… What on earth is happening?”

[I don’t know. But one thing I do know… All my believers are dead.]

“That monster… flew to your island and slaughtered everyone? Then what’s causing these tremors…?”

[I don’t know. Judging by how my power is gradually fading… If it doesn’t come back, I’ll likely disappear.]

“Kyaaaah—!!!”

Two people, one god, one demon, and one sacred beast.

Since Khan disappeared, Cain had been continuously swinging his greatsword at them, forcing the four to restrain him.

They created a prison of light and reinforced it with a wall of fire, establishing a double prison. Now they anxiously watched the increasingly unstable island.

Kyah!?

And then.

Cain, who had been swinging his greatsword, lifted his head to look at the invisible sky, and everyone else followed his gaze upward.

“Damn it… Everyone, prepare yourselves.”

From the sky, a massive island was falling toward them.

They wanted to believe the Sky Island had returned, but if it were truly the Sky Island approaching, it wouldn’t be falling while burning red.

“Everyone, prepare a powerful strike…!”

[Wait… This is…]

Drip… Pitter… Patter…

“Rain?”

“No, it’s a storm—!”

Behind Hero Lepil’s group, two waterspouts resembling ascending dragons shot toward them, spraying water.

Swooosh—!!!

An enormous volume of water struck the falling island, which began emitting steam that could be mistaken for smoke, gradually losing its falling momentum.

“Holy Spear of Light—!”

“El Zeria’s Red Trajectory—!”

[Prominence!]

[Blue Wind!]

The four seized the opportunity.

The Light Spear and Red Trajectory flew through the weakened spot created by the powerful water stream, piercing through the island and exploding at its center, causing it to begin splitting apart.

For the finishing blow, Agni’s blue flame—not his usual black flame—grew even more powerful with the wind from Jerome’s horn, exploding at the front of the island and shattering it completely.

“Phew… But who created that water stream…?”

[Graaaaaaah—!!!!]

“Heretical god!?”

“What’s happening… Ah, aaaaargh—!!!!”

“Kyaaaaaaah———!!!”

Neeeeeigh—!!!

Shortly after the island exploded, Agni’s body of black flames began to tremble as he screamed in agony. The Hero, Cardinal Baxter, and the unicorn Jerome were experiencing the same pain.

The pain, like violating some forbidden taboo, turned Agni’s black flames even darker, while the faces of the Hero’s group gradually blackened.

Shaaaaa—

At that moment, light broke through the dark clouds where the island had exploded, enveloping the Hero’s group.

The light drove away the darkness that had been staining their bodies, but Agni remained unaffected. His once divine appearance transformed into something resembling a fire demon.

The sun god, with his snake-like lower body and face, grew horns on his serpent head, making his appearance even more ferocious. The fingernails on his human arms elongated, transforming him from a god into something demonic.

The sacred black flames that had enveloped his body disappeared, replaced by malevolent crimson flames that seemed capable of burning everything.

“Corruption…”

Cardinal Baxter, being purified by the light, seemed to recognize this phenomenon as he uttered the word “corruption.”

“Corruption, you say?”

“Yes. It usually happens to angels, but sometimes fallen gods or weaker deities suffer the same fate, according to ancient records… We were purified by Uldur’s miracle, but that creature wasn’t Uldur’s believer, so he escaped its influence… He has fallen from a divine being to an evil one.”

“Then…”

“Yes. The corrupted sun god will absolutely not be friendly toward us.”

Clap clap clap clap—

Hmm hm hm hm

Watching this scene, Khan applauded and laughed.

As if everything had gone according to his plan, the Hero drew out his Light Spear again and Cardinal Baxter began chanting a spell when—

-When all humans on an island die, those called gods become corrupted. I’ve learned something good.

“You monster!!!! And yet… Kuhek—!!”

Whoosh—!

“Cardinal Baxter—!!”

Though Khan hadn’t opened his mouth, his voice penetrated their minds. Cardinal Baxter raged at the voice, but distracted by Khan’s mental intrusion, he failed to notice the massive fist that struck him, sending him flying far away.

Now, Agni, corrupted into an evil deity, was looking down at Lepil.

* * * * *

While Agni began fighting the Hero and Cain broke free from his weakened light restraints to join the battle.

Khan gazed at the enormous stingray visible in the distance. That creature was likely the last participant besides the three fighting on the ground.

Intending to kill it with a single blow, Khan grasped lightning in his hand, transforming it into a massive spear, and hurled it at the giant stingray.

Moo—!!

The black lightning spear illuminated the dark, cloud-covered area as it flew.

Combining Khan’s strength with the lightning’s speed, it closed the vast distance instantly and struck the stingray.

Moo?

But instead of falling from the sky when hit by the black lightning, the stingray wrapped the spear around its body, making it its own.

Crackle—!

Then it fired a blue lightning trident from its tail.

Like Khan’s black spear, it flew at incredible speed and struck Khan.

Grooooar———!!!

Engulfed in blue lightning, Khan roared toward the sky.

Despite not feeling pain from the lightning, he let out this roar as a declaration of war against the weak water beast that dared to challenge him.

Sssssss

The stingray responded with strange sounds, taunting Khan.

Lightning from its five tails formed shapes like hearts or middle fingers, successfully provoking Khan.

Crack—

The provocation worked.

Since lightning proved ineffective, Khan decided to kill the monster with stones, pulling rocks from the surrounding land and hurling them at the stingray.

Crash—

Hundreds of rocks the size of Khan flew toward the stingray at lightning speed, but the stingray defended itself by expelling wind.

The two waterspouts multiplied into more than ten, becoming small typhoons that seemed to escort the stingray. It also created a powerful water net that sliced through the incoming rocks.

The rocks shattered the waterspouts but were cut by the rapidly vibrating water, leaving only smaller rocks to hit the stingray.

Of course, these “smaller” rocks were still almost human-sized, but relatively small compared to the flying stingray’s enormous size.

The stingray, suffering only minor bleeding, increased its altitude while closing the distance with Khan.

Khan continued throwing rocks to keep the stingray at bay, while the stingray kept rising until it reached its desired height. Then it stopped ascending and fired water streams at Khan.

But Khan, due to Tyrant Ratel’s influence, had become extremely resistant to physical damage.

The stingray’s water streams, which had easily sliced through massive rocks, couldn’t penetrate Khan’s skin, only changing his dark red skin to a lighter red.

Seeing this, the stingray realized its current approach wasn’t working and prepared to expel more powerful water from its mouth when—

Boom…!!

Khan, determined to bring the stingray down from the sky, caused rocks to rise from the ground toward the heavens.

The waterspouts engulfed Khan, and water streams cut through the rising stone pillars, but Khan had already risen considerably high.

Moo—!

With a single jump, Khan closed the distance significantly, using the stone pillars as stepping stones to climb through the air.

Mooooo——!!

In Khan’s hand was a massive stone chain.

Grrrr…!

The stone chain flew toward the stingray and nearly hit, but… the stingray was a 10-year veteran participant who had survived countless battles.

The alarmed stingray wrapped lightning around its tail and cut through the incoming chain. Khan, with no more footholds, fell from the sky toward the ground. As the stingray looked down at him mockingly—

BOOM…!!!!

Whoosh—

A massive meteor broke through the sky—completely covered by dark clouds from Khan’s lightning and the stingray’s rain clouds—and fell directly toward the stingray, which was too focused on Khan to notice the threat from above.

Sssssss—!?

The stingray looked up and expelled water and wind from its entire body, trying to destroy the meteor as it approached with friction heat from breaking through the atmosphere and pressure from its mass.

Crash—!

Seizing the opportunity, Khan traveled along a lightning bolt, grabbed the stingray’s tail firmly, and swung it toward the meteor.

Boom—!!

Sssssss—!!

The stingray expelled water and wind, trying to wound Khan, but couldn’t inflict significant damage against his overwhelming durability.

As a last resort, it controlled the blade-like tip of its tail and stabbed it into Khan’s forearm.

Though it couldn’t penetrate deep into Khan’s muscles, it succeeded in breaking the skin, and the stingray roared triumphantly.

Sssssss——!!

Green liquid sprayed out.

This liquid was the stingray’s most powerful weapon—a deadly poison it had possessed since birth.

Even the strongest enemies had fallen to this poison, which is why the stingray considered it its ultimate attack as it injected the poison into Khan’s forearm.

The stingray expected this powerful bull to cough blood and die, but…

Mooooo——!!!

Bang—! Bang—! Bang bang bang—!!

After being injected with the poison, Khan became even more enraged and violent.

He easily swung the stingray—several times larger than himself—toward the falling meteor. As the stingray began to lose its strength against Khan’s power, its tail started to tear when—

BOOM——!!!

The massive meteor crashed down, engulfing everyone on the ground.

Not just Khan and the stingray, but also Hero Lepil, Jerome, Agni, and Cain.

The meteor devastated an area with a radius of about 1 kilometer, creating a crater resembling the moon’s surface.

In this catastrophe where no survivors should exist… Khan emerged first.

He threw away the stingray’s torn tail, tossed aside meteor debris, and pulled out the battered body of the stingray.

Repeatedly smashed against the meteor and taking the full impact when Khan swung it between the meteor and ground at the moment of impact, the stingray was gasping as if on the verge of death.

Khan thrust his hand into the stingray’s mouth, then caused a massive stone spear to rise from the ground and swung the stingray toward it.

Squelch——

The stingray, which had once commanded typhoons, met a miserable end impaled on a stone spear befitting its enormous size.