Ch.175175. The Final War (13)

The approach of someone felt by all survivors among the 500,000 troops was like the sun slowly revealing itself at dawn from below the horizon.

Something overwhelmingly powerful, beyond what could be described as mere presence, enveloped everyone like the warm body of the sun.

However, this “something” was by no means as gentle to them as the sun.

“…The sun, the light spreads the dawn.”

One of the Thousand-Man Commanders exposed to this “something” spoke with a voice filled with strange longing.

The soldiers nearby had no idea what meaning was contained in those peculiar words.

But even they could empathize with one fact.

“It’s coming… something is coming…!!”

The commander’s adjutant, staring blankly at some point in the distance, squeezed out these words from deep within his throat.

As the adjutant muttered while rubbing his eyes discolored by intense fatigue, at that moment—finally, that “something” truly revealed itself before them.

The soldiers turned their heads to look at each other.

The fatigue that had covered their faces had somehow disappeared, replaced by a deep fear that seemed to emanate from their very souls.

Above the fear and despair, dust risen from the ground danced before slowly settling.

“What, what on earth is happening?”

“I, I don’t know…”

To the question the adjutant barely managed to summon the courage to ask, the Thousand-Man Commander stammered an excuse-like response while sharing his thoughts.

“But it seems something terrible has happened…”

And from the realm that had been nothing but unknown darkness, the presence finally revealed its true form.

The darkness of infinite emptiness, condensed from the abyss, slowly but steadily flowed over the soldiers’ armor and the commander’s skin.

His presence undoubtedly carried physical force—especially pressure.

It was more terrifying than any monster crawling out of nightmares. Yet simultaneously, it was a kind of physical force with definite existence.

The exhausted soldiers’ bodies tensed as they felt this presence that had taken physical form, like ice-cold water dripping onto their skin.

The soldiers—advertised as the Empire’s protectors but in essence mere tools—finally lost even the minimal order they had maintained in the face of his presence.

And at last, he revealed himself.

In a place where corpses were piled high, deserving the expression “scene from hell” more than anywhere else, Destruction revealed himself with footsteps that squelched through the bodies.

Destruction, like condensed darkness, walked effortlessly across the battlefield layered with corpses.

Despite walking on ground soaked with blood, Destruction left not a single bloodstain on his armor.

Destruction was completely wrapped in armor stained with the abyss, with two red light sources emitting an eerie glow from within his helmet.

Behind him, a cape made of fresh blood fluttered majestically even at that moment, and the crown occupying the upper part of his helmet gleamed with achievement.

Bjorn walked proudly toward the Imperial Legion.

As he gradually approached the trembling soldiers, the eerie presence surrounding them grew stronger.

The fog covering those who had lost their fighting spirit darkened into the abyss, filling it with something created from hideous darkness and the emotion of despair.

Every soldier present was completely frozen, unable to move even slightly.

No sound from the battlefield reached the soldiers’ ears anymore.

The terrifying monsters and warriors they had been fighting were no longer visible.

They could have died horribly at the hands of those monsters in an enemy counterattack.

They could have been killed by giant warriors who seemed inhuman.

But even those they had feared so terribly were now entranced by the approaching figure of Destruction, devoted like a sacrifice.

They barely managed to part their trembling lips, and with voices choked by endless despair and fear, they squeezed out words while looking down at his feet, avoiding his gaze.

“I, I don’t want to die…”

Among them, only a single common soldier spoke up.

As his single sentence, squeezed out with the greatest courage of his life, echoed in the void, ‘Destruction’ finally unleashed his power in all directions.

RUMBLE───!!!!

The soldiers exposed to Destruction’s power gradually had the flesh constituting their bodies collapse, until finally their bodies completely evaporated like shattering dust, returning to a handful of ashes.

The stronger ones, beings above the intermediate level, writhed and thrashed their bodies wildly, not knowing what to do with the terrible pain bestowed by Destruction’s power.

Their skin and flesh split open, slowly decomposing into powder.

Their eyes, tongues, ears, and all manner of weak parts burst.

Those whose bodies crumbled under the overwhelming power screamed and wailed.

Ah, aaaah─ah─ah───

These screams echoing in all directions were screams but not screams.

They were the death cries of souls being decomposed by the overwhelming amount of aura, the essence of Destruction that created this catastrophe, and the chaotic power contained within it.

And the humans who had been frozen, these pitiful created lives, began to flee.

To get even a little bit away from that Destruction, the humans who had been soldiers began to run wildly in the opposite direction from which Destruction approached.

A wave of humans spread out from the direction Destruction was passing, but the overwhelming power released by Destruction spread faster than the human wave.

Resistance was impossible.

Grayish particles like dust, once human, from which all things of value that constituted humans had been sucked out, scattered in the air.

The ‘power’ decomposed everything equally regardless of what it was, and this was no exception for the wooden or leather equipment they wore.

In the case of metals, they didn’t completely decompose, but seemed to melt under overwhelming heat before breaking down into powder.

Those who had reached the intermediate level or higher could withstand it to some extent, but eventually they too decomposed as time passed.

Thus, as mountains of gray dust made of what had once been human gradually formed, the elites who had seemed intent on waiting until the end in the rear finally revealed themselves.

Of course, even they felt great fear before the transcendent power of ‘Destruction,’ and so they barely dragged their trembling bodies to stand before him.

The apostles of Vulcanus and Anat led them, followed by 5 people who had reached the superior level and dozens at the intermediate level, barely standing before him.

Every face was stained with fear and the urge to flee, yet they proudly revealed themselves directly before ‘Destruction.’

……..Shing.

Perhaps sensing something in their appearance, Destruction drew his demon sword, which looked like condensed abyss, which he hadn’t even drawn until now, and pointed it at them.

“Ta, ta, take this!!!”

The apostle of Vulcanus, the battle blacksmith, completely unlike before, tried to lift his battle-hammer with a terrified expression to swing at him, but….

For some reason, his body wouldn’t move.

He was flustered and confused, but the reason was simple.

‘……Huh?’

A body that is being dismembered and decomposed cannot move.

And finally, Destruction arrived right in front of him.

“….Hahaha.”

Letting out a faint, dry laugh, he drew his adamantium sword.

The golden armor made of orichalcum began to decompose slowly, and wind started to pass through the holes that had formed, but……

He, the apostle of Makius and Commander-in-Chief, who had directly witnessed the last of the Empire’s forces crumbling and melting away, smiled dejectedly while simultaneously vowing not to lose his fighting spirit, and stepped forward.

Then, a slight surprise began to be felt from Destruction.

It wasn’t even funny that Destruction, who had turned all the Empire’s forces except himself into dust, showed such a reaction to his actions.

But Destruction had already approached right in front of him, so the Commander-in-Chief, taking responsibility for his position, swung his sword at him and—

“—Well done, warrior.”

The next moment, the Commander-in-Chief was sprawled on the ground with only his upper body severed.

All that could be seen was the trajectory where the sword had passed.

Thus, the last Imperial Legionnaire, who maintained consciousness for just a brief moment, shattered along with his soul and completely disappeared from the world.

And so, the battle in the material world came to an end.