Ch.174174. The Final War (12)

The greatsword that struck precisely on the shoulder of the Banner of Horror immediately emerged through the opposite side of its waist, cleaving the Banner of Horror in two.

It was such a clean cut, filled with the power Bjorn had accumulated, that the Banner of Horror moved for just a brief moment…. But only for an instant.

As a result of the destruction of its summoned physical form affecting its divine realm, the Banner of Horror’s original body in the divine realm was completely annihilated by Bjorn’s demon sword.

Normally, beings summoned from non-material planes to the material world would simply return to their original place when killed, but the soul-destroying and absorbing effect contained in Bjorn’s demon sword affected even the original body existing in the divine realm, completely erasing it.

Perhaps because the original body itself was destroyed.

The Banner of Horror, which should have simply dissipated as the magical energy constituting its body scattered, instead turned to stone dust—sand—as it fell to the ground, scattering across the floor.

And all the divine servants who witnessed this scene became certain.

That greatsword wielded by Bjorn—that demon sword—could directly attack and destroy the soul in its original world even if the being it cut down was merely a summoned entity.

In other words, it was something that could deliver true death—an end—to the semi-immortal and undying servants of the gods.

[[[[[[…….]]]]]]

The gazes of all the pantheon’s divine servants in this space focused on Bjorn and the demon sword he held, which seemed to condense the abyss itself.

No one made even a sound of breath, nor did they attempt to move.

The fear brought by death—complete annihilation—felt for the first time by those who had never once thought they would face death in their eternal lives, was truly shocking.

Therefore, to avoid drawing Bjorn’s attention, the divine servants stopped all movement, trying not to stand out—

[Have you forgotten about us?!!]

[We are the agents of vengeance, the sword of our Lord!!!]

Those who had witnessed the shocking focus on the “divine servant” had completely forgotten about the ones they had been fighting until just moments ago.

Swoosh───!!

[Die!!!]

Naturally, there was no reason for them not to exploit this opening.

[Yes! Kill me!!]

[I must die by your hands!!!]

But the divine servants exposed to these attacks from the God of Vengeance’s servants and high-ranking vampires actually welcomed their attacks with joy, celebrating the destruction of their physical forms.

After all, as long as they weren’t killed by that demon sword, even if they died, their souls would simply return to the divine realm, meaning they could be summoned again or resurrected….

Here’s the question.

Did Bjorn really not know this?

[……Get out of my way!!]

KWAAAAAAANG───!!!

Kicking through the air and shouting at the avatars and vampires around him, Bjorn cut down two Celestial Warriors who were in his path as he advanced rapidly.

Slash! Slash! Slash!

With each swing of his demon sword, divine servants were split in two and collapsed to the ground, while Celestial Warriors were torn to pieces by mere aftershocks.

The battle between Bjorn and the pantheon’s servants was so one-sided that it needed no separate description, nor did his movements require any embellishment.

He approached at a speed no one could react to, swung his demon sword to cut down his enemies, made sure they were dead, then immediately approached the next opponent.

And as he cut down more and more servants, Bjorn realized a clear change was occurring within himself.

‘……..What is this?!!’

In the process of absorbing the souls of those slain by the divine weapon after they were broken down, surprisingly, the boundary between the demon sword and himself was gradually fading.

In other words, Bjorn was now… merging with this extraordinary demon sword.

In fact, thinking about it carefully, it wasn’t completely nonsensical.

Originally, the chaos power contained in his aura had gradually seeped into the divine weapon as he wrapped his aura around the demon sword once named the Blood Demon Sword.

As time passed, the chaos power completely consumed the essence of the sword, completing the current demon sword that destroyed and absorbed souls.

However, looking at the current situation, it didn’t seem like the demon sword was simply completed.

Not only had the chaos energy been absorbed into the divine greatsword as a result of wrapping his chaos-attribute aura around it, but now the soul particles that had constituted the decomposed souls were flowing into him from the sword.

So as they exchanged power with each other, the boundary became blurrier, gradually erasing the distinction between the divine weapon and himself, becoming one.

….Well, from a somewhat objective perspective, this was certainly a forced conjecture, but Bjorn could intuitively feel that this was the truth.

After all, since divine weapons were objects but simultaneously not objects, being “something” derived from divine power, it wasn’t strange at all for any kind of change to occur.

Anyway, now that he realized he was merging with the divine weapon, Bjorn saw no need to wait until the fusion happened naturally.

While his unconscious mind moved his body to slice through the divine servants, Bjorn focused on the connection with the demon sword and widened it—

[—Ah.]

At that moment, as a refreshing and transcendent “certain” sensation filled his mind, Bjorn finally realized that he had reached the final stage of mortal beings beyond even the high rank.

The supreme rank.

His outward appearance hadn’t changed at all, and the power he emitted was no different from before… but Bjorn instinctively realized that he had become stronger to a level incomparable to before reaching the supreme rank.

To put it simply, the efficiency with which he wielded his power had risen to an incomparable level.

Moreover, he could now use his aura itself like magical power, and all his senses, including his “eyes,” had improved to a degree incomparable to that of mortal beings.

To the extent that he could grasp the entire battlefield in real-time, instantly detect the presence of someone he thought was dead, and simultaneously confirm the “eyes” of gods watching this point.

—Slash!!

Thus, as the somehow changed Bjorn, who had finally cut down the last divine servant while thinking this, landed silently on the ground.

Thud!

Thump!

Sensing that something about Bjorn had changed through their high-rank perception, they knelt on one knee and showed respect toward Bjorn, who had ascended to the realm of transcendence.

And while he would normally have detested such polite attitudes and told them to stop…

For some reason, the current Bjorn not only didn’t mind being received with such an attitude but even thought this treatment was justified.

But regardless, what the current Bjorn needed to do was already determined:

[……..Tell the others to retreat. If they’re not careful, they’ll get caught up in this.]

He had decided to end this war.

※ ※ ※

At the same time, on the front lines.

A major incident was occurring beyond, with the gods’ high-ranking servants being cut down one after another, but how could the soldiers on the front lines, who were about to die at any moment, care about such things?

For soldiers who had fought dozens of life-or-death battles just today, surviving the immediate danger was naturally more important.

“Block, thrust!!”

“KEEEEEE──!!”

Stab!!

Among the soldiers fighting for their lives against enemies on the front lines, there were also soldiers hunting a strange beast-undead through cooperation among five of them.

While three soldiers somehow blocked its attacks with shields, two soldiers pierced its neck with spears (pilum) to decisively cut off its breath.

And indeed, the soldiers did pierce the undead’s neck with their spears, but the vitality of this vampire, though a lowly one, was extraordinary.

Slash!

Thud.

“Huh, huh, huh…. Am I the only one alive?”

As four soldiers were killed by the vampire’s desperate struggle even as it was dying, the soldier who finally finished it off with his gladius exhaled heavily but remained vigilant.

This came from his experience of surviving on the front lines until now, certain that the enemy would try to finish him off in his exhausted state.

‘….Huh?’

For some reason, what entered the soldier’s eyes was the sight of monsters retreating hastily.

The sight of those monsters urgently retreating was what they had longed for, but somehow, as he watched those scenes, he sensed something strange.

And that perception wasn’t far from reality:

“”””””””””──────?!!!””””””””””

Everyone present, including the surviving soldier, noticed it.

Something, something of a different caliber, was approaching.