Ch.113Ep.113: Betting Everything

“It’s… over…”

[What?]

Namgung Ihyun was shocked to see Arsia speaking as if she had given up.

Despite being warned not to look into the future, she had clearly done so anyway.

Blood continued to flow from her eyes without stopping.

Namgung Ihyun, who had been treating her eyes through verbal commands, gritted her teeth.

With her eyes in such a state, they couldn’t be healed. From now on, she would be unable to see.

[You fool! I told you that if you used your foresight again, you’d lose your eyesight!]

“But… I had to see it. I absolutely had to see that scene where we win…”

[It’s an irreversible condition! Do you know what that means?! Even if this battle ends in victory, you’ll never be able to see again!]

Namgung Ihyun couldn’t help but feel furious.

As a subordinate who already shared some of Radios’s memories, she understood.

She knew how deep the relationship between Arsia and Radios was.

Yet Arsia had sacrificed both her eyes solely for Radios’s victory.

No matter what methods they tried, her sight would likely never recover.

Arsia’s eyes were the medium that contained the power of her Divine Order, “Foresight.”

With her eyes burned out from the backlash of her foresight, it meant her Divine Order had been destroyed.

In other words, unless her Divine Order could be regenerated, her eyes would never regain their sight.

[What was so important about seeing the future?!]

“I saw it, so it’s fine. Even if I can no longer see…”

[What?]

“The boss will win. And he’ll restore everyone’s power…”

Splash.

Arsia finally collapsed before she could finish speaking.

It was exhaustion from excessive use of magical power and the destruction of her Divine Order.

Namgung Ihyun was about to yell at her but could only continue healing her with verbal commands.

[That crazy girl! They say lovers become alike, don’t they? She’s acting exactly like her boyfriend!]

Still, Namgung Ihyun could feel reassured.

Arsia had clearly seen Radios’s victory with her own eyes.

That must be why she could pass out with such a calm expression despite losing her Divine Order.

[So… win, master.]

As Namgung Ihyun watched the collision of light against light,

She focused all her attention on treating Brina and Arsia.

**********

“Hyaaaah!”

Clang!

Radios swung Excalibur with a powerful battle cry.

Azathoth, having apparently absorbed Chaos’s power, blocked the sword more easily than before.

Simultaneously, he thrust his sword toward Radios’s collarbone.

However, Radios used his excellent reflexes to dodge and then activated the Divine Order of his 32nd reincarnation.

Whoosh.

The Divine Order of the 32nd reincarnation, known as the Divine Order of Swiftness, allowed movement at speeds imperceptible to opponents.

But Azathoth was not one to miss such things.

“There you are!”

When Azathoth, who had precisely pinpointed Radios’s position, sent a wind blast,

Radios used the Divine Order of his 46th reincarnation, Time Manipulation, to slow down the attack and dodge it with ease.

“Do you think you can defeat me just by nimbly dodging!”

“You seem to be enjoying yourself.”

Currently, Radios was continuing the fight without wearing his goblin mask.

For some reason, Azathoth couldn’t use all the skills he had absorbed and copied from Chaos.

If Radios were to use the goblin mask, his skills would be copied in the same way.

That would only make the fight more troublesome, so

Radios wanted to face him using only his own power.

‘Azathoth’s weak point is neither his heart, nor his neck, nor anything else.’

Then he remembered.

The final teaching of Larga D’Wheil.

He was Radios’s reincarnation who had first and last inflicted a wound on Azathoth, and

That wound remained on his body as a scar, serving as a weak point.

When he had used the Jahashingum before, he had aimed for the neck because the situation was urgent.

Now that he had some breathing room, he began searching for where Azathoth’s scar might be.

Larga hadn’t told him the location of the scar. Perhaps he couldn’t speak of it.

Come to think of it, the reason he could exist in the deep world was

Because he had managed to hide himself from Azathoth’s eyes.

He might have been at risk of disappearing if he interfered too much.

Rather than providing information, Larga had chosen to strengthen Radios’s power at the cost of his own disappearance.

And that choice had been the right one.

‘I can win!’

Clang!

Radios, continuously swinging Excalibur, gained confidence.

Right now, the wishes of many were with him.

Poseidon’s Triaina.

Kraud’s numerous forms of help.

Brina’s training.

Arsia’s foresight.

Veichel’s spirit control.

Everyone was infusing Radios with their strength.

It wasn’t just that he could win. He had to win, and he would win.

“Uoooooh!!”

Radios opened all 100 Divine Orders simultaneously, even as he felt his body overheating.

Azathoth momentarily faltered at the immense pressure, but

He soon began devouring the Divine Orders using his Ascended Order of Devouring.

“Foolish child! Do you think it’s possible to challenge me with such power!”

Crunch. Crunch. Crack!

Azathoth’s devouring power was chewing through Radios’s Divine Orders.

His Ascended Order of Judgment was protecting the Divine Orders and destroying the Ascended Order of Devouring, but

The rate of erosion was faster than the rate of destruction.

“Kuhahaha! In the end, you amount to nothing more than this!!”

“Ugh.”

Radios felt the Divine Orders disappearing from him in real-time and suffered in agony.

The feeling of a full vessel gradually emptying.

Enduring that sense of loss, Radios wanted nothing more than to end this fight immediately.

But he couldn’t.

‘Strip away everything. Then you will see the path.’

That was the final message from the Sword Spirit who had taught him the true essence of the Jahashingum.

He didn’t know where these words came from.

However, he believed that the spirit also didn’t want Azathoth to destroy the world.

That’s why he believed.

If he shed all the Divine Orders constraining him, surely a path would become visible.

Crack!

“Kuhuk!”

Eventually, when all the Divine Orders Radios possessed except for the Ascended Order of Judgment were torn away by Azathoth,

Radios coughed up blood from severe internal injuries.

Azathoth, seemingly satisfied with his condition, smiled brightly, revealing his fangs.

Radios used his goblin mask to heal his internal injuries without Azathoth noticing.

“You’re so proud… even though you don’t know what your future holds.”

“I can’t help but be proud… because I’ve understood what it means to empty oneself.”

“What?”

Azathoth tilted his head, looking at Radios who maintained his smile despite struggling.

He had lost all 100 Divine Orders he had accumulated until now.

All that remained was the Ascended Order of Judgment.

But with just that alone, he couldn’t face the Ascended Order of Devouring that had accumulated power over countless ages.

Or so he thought.

Whoosh!

“Wh-what..!”

“When everything is emptied, isn’t the right answer to fill it all back up?”

“…What did you say?”

“My Ascended Order has filled all the spaces where the Divine Orders you took used to be.”

“..!”

Azathoth was shocked by his words.

The reason he was even having this conversation was to digest the Divine Orders he had devoured.

There were simply too many.

But now, the Ascended Order had occupied all the vast spaces where those Divine Orders had been?

“You… you couldn’t possibly..!”

“So this is the world that he sees.”

“!!!!”

Radios’s eyes were no longer directed at Azathoth.

Though his gaze remained on him,

What he was seeing wasn’t Azathoth, but something far beyond.

‘He’s not… looking at me?’

The strongest adversary was right here.

The enemy that had to be defeated was right here.

So why wasn’t he focusing?

Look at me, face me.

Isn’t that why you obtained that power?

Azathoth, about to shout these words, flinched when he saw Radios looking down at him.

As if a giant palm was blocking his path.

Such an absurd sight flashed before his eyes.

“K-kuhahahahaha! Hahahahaha!!”

Azathoth couldn’t help but burst into laughter from the unbearable sense of futility.

Mere human, useless soul born from him.

“Are you saying you’ve evolved to a dimension higher than me?! Don’t spout nonsense!”

How had he come this far?

He had risen relentlessly.

He had devoured even the only being who had lived alongside him, approaching solitude.

He might regret it later, but Azathoth was thinking of the present.

But… but..!

“A mere human! Surpassing me?!”

He never imagined

That someone would ascend to a place so much higher than where he stood, at such an unbelievable speed.

He couldn’t even begin to imagine it.

“I’ll kill you right here!!”

Boom.

Finally, unable to contain his rage, Azathoth abandoned his form and transformed into a monstrous maw.

But even to that, Radios looked with indifferent eyes as he raised Excalibur.

“You’re not even worth using a technique on now.”

[Aaaaaaah!!]

“Die.”

He could see it clearly.

The scar that Larga had mentioned as Azathoth’s weak point.

It was Azathoth himself.

Slash!

A dark blade of energy surged from Radios’s casually swung sword toward Azathoth.

He tried to devour that too, opening his mouth wide, but

The blade expanded, becoming larger and more massive than the speed at which he could open his mouth.

Swoosh!

It bisected the monster that was Azathoth.