### Chapter: 425
Succession Gate.
The moment Kraush rode through it, his eyes were filled with light.
An endless torrent of light flooded in, creating a strange sensation that even made Kraush shudder.
Kraush’s body continued to ascend into the sky.
But with everything around him being pure light, he couldn’t tell how high he had climbed.
However, one thing was certain: he was starting to feel the strain on his body.
‘This should have been mentioned ahead of time.’
To endure the pressure building up within, Kraush began to draw out his magic internally.
The star nestled within him started to radiate a powerful light.
As it did so, the domain of the Holy Realm surrounding his body began to alleviate the pressure from the light coming through the Succession Gate.
With the pressure lessening, he finally could breathe again.
If he hadn’t followed Swordmaster into the domain of the Holy Realm, he would have been crushed by the light.
Kraush was fine.
‘This is nothing I can’t handle.’
‘But what about Arthur?’
His thoughts drifted to Arthur, who had come along with him, and his expression stiffened.
The surroundings were all light, and he couldn’t see Arthur anywhere.
Would she really be okay?
‘That’s Arthur we’re talking about.’
But soon, Kraush shook off his worries.
She was someone who had faced countless challenges before.
If anyone could reach the end of the Succession Gate without issue, it was her.
Deciding to trust Arthur, Kraush looked up.
Finally, he began to see a white hole at the end of the light.
Just a bit more.
Thud, thud, thud, thud!
As he reached the end, the pressure from the light intensified again.
Kraush gritted his teeth, determined to endure this pressure.
At last, the moment he passed through the hole,
Kraush rolled onto the ground, his vision turning completely white.
Crash!
He must have arrived at a breakneck speed; his head was spinning.
“Ugh, damn son of the God of Thieves.”
As he rolled on the ground, Kraush swallowed hard, shaking his head side to side.
Then, just as he was about to lift his head,
Chill!
A strange sensation washed over him, freezing him in place.
“What the hell is this?”
“The Inferior Gate wasn’t functioning, but suddenly something shows up?”
Kraush heard voices in his ears.
He hurriedly looked up, and there was a cluster of beings gathered around.
They looked like humans at first glance, but to Kraush’s eyes, they definitely did not appear human.
Inside each of them, fierce starlight burst forth.
Kraush scanned his surroundings.
He saw a field dyed in yellow with a setting sun.
The problem was that there were supposed to be one sun setting, but instead, there were three setting at the same time.
The horizon stretched endlessly wide.
Kraush couldn’t even guess how vast the ground he was standing on truly was.
The Divine Realm.
He had finally reached the Divine Realm using the Succession Gate.
‘Then…’
Those who were buzzing while looking at Kraush were clearly the weak gods trying to make it to the Middle Realm via the Inferior Gate.
“Is that… a human?”
“No, I can sense a star. Is it a god? That power feels divine.”
“Is it a god disguised as a human?”
Seeing them made Kraush’s hair stand on end.
Each one was a monster that could rival the Spirit King.
Roughly thirty of them.
If they all descended into the Middle Realm,
‘I don’t even want to imagine.’
Countries would be obliterated.
“Hey, you.”
Just then, one of the gods called out to Kraush.
He looked like a pretty boy on the outside, but inside, he was anything but.
“Hmm, I feel like I recognize that face.”
And he started remembering Kraush’s face.
Kraush had a history of causing chaos against the gods that appeared in the Middle Realm.
Naturally, his face was well-known.
The gods had been busy doing their own thing before they came here.
“Oh, that’s the kid! Son of the God of Thieves!”
“The God of Thieves’ kid?”
“Then he’s just a human?”
“A human stepping into the Divine Realm?”
Kraush didn’t hesitate to act.
The other side was currently in a state of panic.
Now was the perfect time to strike and take one of them down.
Magic coursed through Kraush’s body, igniting the grey flames on his Astral Sword.
As horns and scales sprouted from him in an instant, his foot shot forward.
The color of Kraush’s hair started turning grey.
Annihilation Erosion.
Technique Five: Annihilating Celestial Flames.
Swish!
With a scorching strike, Kraush’s sword pierced the neck of the boy-god.
As the boy-god’s head tilted at an odd angle,
“Eh?”
In that moment of confusion, dark grey flames exploded out from the severed neck.
Fwoosh!
The Inferior gods watched the scene in shock.
It was only natural.
Out of nowhere, something had popped up from the Middle Realm, and with one swing, a god’s head was gone and now on fire.
Though gods aren’t typically killed by beheading,
the flames erupting from Kraush’s sword were gnawing at the weak god, preventing him from regenerating.
‘Thank goodness I managed to swallow the Aura.’
During the time the Succession Gate opened, Kraush had traversed the seams of the world.
Aura was the power that the world constantly emitted.
Upon hearing it again after so long, it was as expected: the Aura filled the seams of the world.
Without hesitation, he quickly gathered it up.
Then he processed the Aura through Seasons before mixing it with his magic.
The result of holding onto both the powers existing in the world and the very force of the world itself,
Kraush had come into possession of a power equal to that when he was about to confront Abella.
Moreover, the situation was much different from before when he was unstable.
His body, created through the domain of the Holy Realm and Holy Sword magic,
was now complemented with safety in mind, unlike the glass cannon Kraush once was.
Right now, he could unleash his full power without restraint.
A body that had once been completely drained had now regained its prime!
‘And with me here…’
He held the most malignant weapon against the gods.
Standing before the burning weak god, Kraush raised his hand.
The gods were still staring at the spectacle in shock.
They appeared completely out of touch with reality.
As he extended his arm toward the weak god, light began to seep from his palm.
The light’s substance was none other than the Black Hood.
The gods could be resurrected infinitely as long as they didn’t completely disintegrate in the Divine Realm.
Their physical forms were not their entirety.
But what would happen if he removed the magic that was their essence?
‘What would happen?’
The Black Hood had conditions.
Of course, the gods would have their own conditions too.
The moment Kraush recalled that conditions would appear while activating the Black Hood,
[ Grrr, AAAGH! ]
Kraush began extracting the divine power residing in the weak god with the Black Hood.
The shrieking echoed from the wrecked body of the god through the spell.
Kraush’s eyes widened.
‘No conditions?’
No, there were conditions, just not the ones he expected.
Instead, they had become absurdly simple.
[ Deplete the opponent. ]
Most of the original conditions disappeared, leaving only this one.
“Deplete your opponent.”
Kraush’s eyes lit up.
‘Got it.’
Now he understood how the Black Hood was created.
‘The Black Hood was initially made for the purpose of stealing divine power.’
Kraush finally realized the origins of the Black Hood.
‘The reason there were conditions attached when I stole skills or curses was that those weren’t divine powers.’
Skills were powers granted by the gods, but not divine power itself.
They were more like permissions granted by the gods.
Stealing divine powers and stealing permissions were completely different.
[ GRAAAAAH! ]
The weak god couldn’t oppose Kraush’s Black Hood and lost all his divine power.
The weak god began to dissolve into ash.
Having lost his divine essence, its physical form couldn’t hold together any longer.
Kraush devoured the divine power he obtained from the weak god entirely.
The divine power that flowed inside him became Kraush’s strength.
The grey flames that made up Kraush’s body swirled more fiercely.
The power dramatically increased compared to before.
Kraush’s eyes lit up.
Who would’ve thought that just by devouring a weak god, his divine power would increase to such an extent?
Now he understood why the God of Thieves had recklessly taken down gods and stolen their power.
Kraush slowly turned his head.
Behind him, the dissolving weak god scattered into ash, carried away by the wind.
And that sight was chilling!
For gods who lived eternally, it was an incredibly terrifying spectacle.
Gods who were infinitely far from death were now witnessing their total annihilation right in front of their eyes.
A thick feeling of malevolence flowed from Kraush’s body as it swept across the necks of the gods.
The flames flaring from his body made their eyes flicker.
When the weak gods locked eyes with Kraush, they realized.
The figure before them was not just some plaything that popped out of the Middle Realm.
He was a predator.
The one staring at them was a predator who viewed them as prey.
The power that had just been seized from the weak god was evidence enough.
The weak gods recognized that Kraush intended to rob them of their strength as well through the Black Hood.
Their actions were swift.
“Run! He’s going to take our divine power!”
In a panic, they scattered in all directions in an instant.
Seeing this, Kraush froze for a moment.
He had expected a fierce battle with the weak gods, but they fled as soon as they saw him.
‘If they had all attacked together, they may have had a chance, right? Why?’
Kraush soon realized the reason.
Even in the Middle Realm, gods were preoccupied with wielding their powers; they were all individualistic and would rarely cooperate.
The individualistic mindset prevalent among gods led them to imagine defeating Kraush alone rather than working together to bring him down.
If they clashed with Kraush now, they’d surely become his prey and face annihilation.
So they excluded the option of fighting together from the start, busying themselves with escape instead.
“Hah.”
A chuckle escaped Kraush’s lips.
Now he understood why the God of Thieves had suggested he could easily deal with weak gods.
When facing off against a weak god individually, Kraush wouldn’t lose.
“After all that tension.”
It felt like a loss for nothing.
Kraush was about to chase the fleeing weak gods but then sheathed his sword instead.
Because Arthur hadn’t arrived yet.
Kraush strapped his Astral Sword back to his waist.
The weak gods could be caught at any time.
But getting separated from Arthur in this vast Divine Realm would be a hassle.
So, Kraush decided to patiently wait for her.
From the looks of the weak gods, it seemed they wouldn’t be coming back, so he could regroup with Arthur and discuss what to do next.
With that thought, Kraush waited where the Succession Gate had been.
And then a day passed.
“……Crap?”
Kraush’s expression twisted into a scowl after a long time of cursing.
Three suns had risen, and that marked the point in time when Arthur still hadn’t appeared beyond the Succession Gate.
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