Ch.8686. The Chaotic Anti-Violence Operation (3)

Perhaps it was due to the massive size of Titan Philemon.

Out of the 1,000 shells fired, only about half actually hit their target.

The attack was so sparse that it barely covered his entire body, so naturally, the damage Titan Philemon sustained couldn’t be considered significant.

At most, he suffered several light bruises—comparable to being hit by a casually thrown baseball.

Therefore, regardless of the pain, it would be difficult to bring down Philemon, a Titan and apostle of the evil god of violence, with the War-Machines’ attacks alone…

In truth, I never intended to defeat the Titan with War-Machines, nor was there even the slightest possibility of doing so.

The War-Machines’ attacks were merely meant to divert his attention and gradually wear him down. The real work had to be done by Bjorn.

“—Hnngh!”

Slash!

Taking advantage of the moment when Philemon’s attention was diverted by the bombardment, Bjorn roughly carved out a portion of the monster’s wrist joint with his sword.

“UOOOOOOOH!!! YOU INSECT!!!”

Enraged by the wound that was bleeding profusely, Titan Philemon roared while simultaneously placing his hand over the injury, muttering some kind of prayer as if trying to heal it, but…

Hiss!

“W-Why?! Why isn’t it healing?! You coward! Speak! Tell me now!”

BOOM BOOM BOOM!!! THUD THUD!!

Seemingly bewildered by the excruciating pain he’d rarely experienced before, he shouted and rampaged, but the wound—cursed by the mystical Blood Sword Vlad—not only refused to heal but actually grew worse with each attempt at treatment.

Of course, this too was an additional effect of the incurable curse placed by the Blood Sword.

This was the resource I had invested in after my original ability to change aura properties became useless due to the Lord of Chaos skill that converted aura to chaos property.

The result of using some of those invested resources to strengthen the incurable curse.

Now that wound would never heal if left alone, and any attempt to heal it would only make it worse. Even without doing anything, the wound would continuously widen…

Fighting a war of attrition like this, gradually wearing him down, gave us the greatest chance of victory.

And the God of Vengeance, who must be watching this scene unfold, wouldn’t let this course of events continue.

《You goddamn skull-faced bastard! How dare you touch my servants!》

As the thunderous divine voice echoed in all directions, an enormous amount of light burst forth from Titan Philemon’s body.

Divine power given form. An evil god manifested in physical form.

Partios, the God of Violence, had directly descended into his servant’s flesh.

Divine power so concentrated it distorted space erupted from the giant body, and in every area touched by Partios’s rage, the world’s screams could be heard—the sound of space being forcibly torn apart by overwhelming mass.

A being that functioned as violence against everything around it merely by existing…

No, one of the absolute concepts originally formed in such a way—violence itself, yet paradoxically, a being that couldn’t be equated with the concept of violence.

This was roughly what it felt like when Partios directly descended into Titan Philemon’s body.

And certainly, this method would be more useful than anything else in changing the course of battle.

Despite borrowing an apostle’s body, the aftermath of Partios’s descent to earth not only annihilated all the War-Machines but also flattened the terrain, creating the perfect environment for a 14-meter giant to rampage.

Moreover, Bjorn was barely holding on, paralyzed by the overwhelming pressure, while Titan Philemon’s body, now directly inhabited by the god, had mostly recovered.

Additionally, as a Titan—a fallen ancient divine race—the body could withstand prolonged divine possession, and even if I were to descend into Bjorn, his body wouldn’t last as long as a Titan’s.

So Partios likely thought he would definitely win in a war of attrition…

On top of that, he probably believed that since the Titan’s spiritual vessel was larger than Bjorn’s, he possessed an invincible power that could never lose no matter what I did.

Thus, while he clearly thought he had made the best move possible…

There was one thing that such a being had overlooked.

《…Hmm.》

Namely, that Bjorn’s capacity as a vessel for divine power was transcendent—in the original story, he had withstood the descent of seven gods for weeks and slaughtered all the gods of the old pantheon.

Rumble… KABOOOOOOM!!!

Therefore, I too descended into Bjorn’s body in the form of red lightning.

I, who descended into Bjorn’s body, became an entity that was both Bjorn and Marduk.

As Bjorn-duk, I imprinted myself upon this world.

There was no flashy entrance, no warping of reality by my mere presence.

Such phenomena, while outwardly magnificent and impressive, were in truth merely symptoms of an unstable existence—like a fever caused by bacterial invasion.

In other words, I—momentarily in perfect harmony with the world—was not so unstable that the world would recognize me as an improper existence, unlike that fellow.

《Kuhehe! What is that appearance? A truly pathetic sight, nameless god.》

But was he unaware of this obvious fact?

Toward Partios, who was blatantly flaunting his ignorance, I looked with eyes that conveyed my contempt and—opened my mouth.

《【Kneel】.》

Rumble rumble rumble—THUD!

CRASH!!!

I had simply uttered a single word with strong will behind it, but the 【language imbued with will】 that left my mouth created ripples in reality the moment it was expressed, manifesting as a force that pressed down on the Titan’s body possessed by Partios.

《Ugh……..Ugghhh…………!!》

CRASH!!!

Of course, perhaps befitting his status as one of the seven prospective evil gods.

Using the overwhelming density of energy from his body, Partios shook off the force pressing down on him and immediately swung his club, wrapped in an enormous amount of divine power, with a slightly frightened look but without hesitation…

《【Back】【Retreat】【Fall】.》

Just three words, just three words were enough.

WHOOSH!!!

Having temporarily merged with the world itself and being regarded by the world as a god who made reality his divine domain, my will and the words that left my mouth were, so to speak, the will of the world itself.

《…T-This…..how….how is this possible….?!》

Therefore, following my 【words】, he was pushed back, lost his balance, and fell on his backside. Seeing my appearance, so different from his own, he muttered without any divine dignity…

《Is this, is this how it ends, in a place like this?!!!》

Then, instantly releasing his descent, he returned to his divine realm.

‘…What? A god just turned tail and ran without looking back?’

In vulgar terms, he simply fled without any divine pride whatsoever.

※ ※ ※

Analyzing this situation as coolly and objectively as possible, Partios’s judgment was actually the most efficient approach in this situation.

I, his enemy, had somehow acquired Bjorn—an apostle whose capacity as a vessel surpassed even that of the Titans who were divine beings, a vessel whose very existence would be questioned by common sense, perhaps the finest in this world.

And because of this, I had gained the ability to use language imbued with power, possessing might comparable to a direct divine descent.

Considering that if an apostle dies while possessed by their god, the god’s divinity would suffer critical damage, the best choice available to him was indeed to flee…

However, to simply run away like this…

‘…It’s disgusting.’

While it might have been the best choice, it certainly wasn’t the greatest choice.

The act of being worshipped as a god was unimaginably important in this world.

Because gods hold authority over the afterlife—a second life, so to speak—mortals believe in and rely on gods to secure their future.

And therefore, at the very minimum, if one is to live as a god and proudly declare oneself divine, one should never abandon believers who trust and depend on them first.

This was a matter of basic trust beyond concepts of good and evil.

Partios, the evil god of violence, who refused to take even that much responsibility for his actions, had essentially forfeited his qualification by acting so disgracefully.

“Ugh…uhhh…”

Therefore, still descended in Bjorn’s body, I approached Titan Philemon, who was slowly dying, stripped of all his authority as an apostle, apparently by Partios’s actions out of fear of pursuit.

《…Do you desire revenge?》

I decided to fulfill my responsibility as a god.