Thud!
I’m going to kill it.
Thud!
Right in front of me, standing there, is the Nameless One.
As soon as I thought that, no, as soon as I made that decision, the pure white Divine Realm of the Nameless One stained a grim red.
Not a trace of white can be found in its Divine Realm.
A Realm filled entirely with a grim red.
A Divine Realm so engulfed in darkness that even the sunlight above, high in the sky, cannot reach it.
In that space, I walked.
Scratch- Thud-
Pure intent to kill.
This is the first time I’ve ever contemplated killing the enemy in front of me. It’s not about winning, nor saving my friends, my people, or Rubia.
It’s truly, purely the thought of killing.
Is that why?
My mind, which felt like it was about to burn with anger, cooled down. My heart, boiling with rage, my breath, ignited with passion, all seemed to hold their breath as if reaching a critical point.
The laughter of the Nameless One, the noise it made, all quieted as well.
Scratch- Thud-
In this silence, only the sound of the Great Sword being drawn broke through. A rough sound echoed beneath my feet.
Was it because my sturdy foot stomp couldn’t hold against the ground? This is my Divine Realm, and yet is my power failing here?
I don’t know.
I didn’t care.
If only I could kill that thing.
Now, it doesn’t matter anymore.
I want to cause it pain.
I want to see the despair on its face.
I want to hear its screams of begging.
I cast those thoughts aside.
Scratch- Thud-
It has crossed the line.
It’s not that I forgot about Rubia.
Her body, surrounded by Divine Power more intricately woven than my own, was right there.
Yet, the tentacles of the Nameless One touched Rubia’s body. It splattered her blood and absorbed it.
I don’t know what it plans to do with Rubia’s blood.
It laughed, looking satisfied at hurting her.
That action alone was enough reason for it to die. ‘I’ will understand that!
So, I walked. Opened my eyes and looked ahead.
The Nameless One, now silent, stood still, staring at me.
I gazed back at it.
Even in that pitch darkness, I could clearly see its form. The writhing tentacles, the tightly closed mouths, and…
Its trembling body.
Seeing that didn’t bring me exhilaration or a giddy feeling. Instead, it pierced deep into my heart.
Scratch- Thud-
Such a thing…
To think it ruined this world,
To think it killed my friend,
To think it shed so much blood and caused so many deaths,
To think it created Rubia’s tears, blood, and pain.
There was no light in my heart.
What does my face look like right now?
What sort of expression do I have?
What do I look like?
I’m sure these are all looks I can’t show Rubia. So, I cautiously turned my head.
Rubia was still asleep.
I’m relieved I could hide this side of me.
That I can conceal the sight of me tearing that thing apart starting now.
Crack—
I’m so glad.
*
―――.
A gigantic boom.
With that sound, Noah stood in front of the Nameless One, swinging the Great Sword. He reached out and tore off a tentacle. He kicked, severing the remaining tentacles anchoring it to the ground.
Whoosh. The creature’s shape was so indistinct that it didn’t fall but instead floated in the air.
Noah’s palm reached out toward it.
And, he grabbed it.
Wham!
Noah could feel the tremors from the Nameless One’s body transmitted to his fingertips. Ignoring it, he pulled it down to the ground.
Creek- Creaky- The numerous newly sprouted tentacles on the shabby surface reached for the air. They resisted Noah’s strength. But it meant nothing. Because the swung Great Sword cut off its tentacles immediately.
With that, Noah swung his Great Sword at the Nameless One’s body pulled down to the ground.
Rustle. He sliced through the air, smoke, and mist, yet the sound came through.
Pfft- The Nameless One’s body made a sound as if water was splashed on a campfire, and it disappeared limply. It didn’t die. It fled.
Noah took off running immediately.
He knew where it would come out.
There was no doubt about it.
His instincts painted the future.
His intuition whispered.
His Divine Power informed him.
His blood-red eyes, soaked in murderous intent, looked toward that place.
A color began to faintly appear.
Noah swung his Great Sword toward it. Simultaneously, time rewound. He returned to the spot he had just been standing. He bit through it and charged toward the creature.
The fully restored body of the Nameless One had numerous tentacles sprouting from its center. He dodged, sliced, and crushed. While Noah had many choices, he simply kept charging.
After all, it was the final battle.
If he kills it, there will be no further battles.
So, it was fine if he got hurt. As long as he had his head attached, as long as his heart kept beating, he could kill it.
Noah made that stupid calculation and dashed forward.
Thwack- A tentacle stabbed into his arm. It pierced his thigh. It stabbed into his side and stomped down on his foot.
Yet, Noah, who now carried the Divine Power, could withstand that. So he ignored it and ran. Then he swung the Great Sword.
Clang! An ethereal energy sliced through the twisted time.
Time did not get tangled. Noah’s body stayed in place. His speed did not decrease. Seeing that, the Nameless One trembled and unleashed its ethereal energy once more. This time, there was no need to cut it. Noah’s fist smashed it.
Thus, Noah arrived in front of the Nameless One.
In the pitch darkness, the only light radiating was the red eyes staring intently at the Nameless One.
The light contained in those red eyes wasn’t as brilliant as the sun. It didn’t possess the beauty of the stars and moon in the night sky.
It was a sinister light.
The light of a maleficent star meant to ruin the world.
A dark light wishing solely for the death of its opponent gazed at the Nameless One.
In that moment, the Nameless One recalled the feeling of fear, an emotion that should not be experienced. Having shed its human form, its appearance, break free from its confines, and return to its true self, the Nameless One shouldn’t feel emotion. It shouldn’t have been capable of feeling.
Yet, right now, at this moment…
The feeling of fear was strikingly clear.
Thus, it felt unpleasant. It felt rage. It felt anxious.
It felt emotion once more.
It couldn’t understand. Was it due to that spirit user’s magic?
It wasn’t something it had ever felt when facing any god before.
The Nameless One began to thrash about to throw off the fear piercing into its mind.
From its murky, hazy body, numerous faces emerged. Countless arms stretched out. A sickly goo dripped from its swollen skin.
The lost halo reemerged. Mouths opened. Teeth cracked– sprouted. A dreadful tongue licked the grim red Realm of Power.
Finally, a face protruding from the body began to chant spells. Those spells became magic, sorcery, incantations, and ancient magic.
Arms pricked out like a hedgehog, reaching for Noah. At first glance, they seemed to be nothing but bones, yet each one contained the power to obliterate everything.
Slime squish! The hot goo splattered, perhaps hotter than the hellfire that Brunhilde handled. It seemed to splash everywhere, but it exclusively reached for Noah.
Meanwhile, the mouths, teeth, and tongues that had emerged from the halo seeped into the Nameless One’s body, blending into its attacks.
Noah, watching that silently, spoke quietly.
“You are.”
He raised the Great Sword high.
“Nothing at all.”
He swung.
“You have no name, no power, no divinity.”
All attacks shattered.
“Do you really think someone like you can defeat me?”
He followed through with a punch. No, a hand.
It ripped the Nameless One’s body apart.
Hazy smoke, mist, and colors—unknown things were easily torn apart by that tiny hand.
“Only taking everything from others, can you, defeat me?”
And then.
[Ugh, ah, ah, aah!]
A scream that couldn’t form words, a cry imitating human speech, blended with an unrecognizable roar reverberated.
A scream from an unknown source.
But Noah could ascertain its origin. He pushed his hand inside, where the sound was coming from.
“You cannot win against me. No matter what you use, there’s no way you can win.”
And then, again, Bam! He ripped it apart.
The sound ceased.
As a result, the faces that had emerged from its body, the skin of those faces, the mouths sprouting from the halo let out a scream.
The scream became magic. It became a catastrophe. It began to harvest an immense amount of Divine Power, warping time itself. The Nameless One’s body began to recover. It regenerated.
Whether that was the Nameless One’s will or not didn’t matter.
Noah merely extended his fist and swung his Great Sword.
“On the contrary. I can,
Crack.
“Kill you.”
Bam.
“I will kill you.”
Rustle.
“Without fail.”
Bam.
Even if the incoming tentacles pierced his arms, he punched forward. Even if blood gushed from the holes in his thighs, he swung the Great Sword. Even if his arms were bound, he bit down with his teeth. He kicked his knees up.
Even if time tangled and spots swapped, even if they got far apart, he stubbornly clung to the Nameless One’s body and smashed it to pieces.
In the meantime, the repulsive goo bursting from the Nameless One’s body soared into the sky.
Noah’s hand reached out quickly to grab it, but it was a moment too late.
Thus, the Nameless One, about to touch the sun, opened its mouth wide in its body.
To swallow the sunlight.
Noah didn’t know what would happen if that occurred. He couldn’t allow it to just be.
He’s going to bring it down.
Thud. With a heavy step, he lifted the Great Sword.
“Fallen Heaven.”
Rumble—!
The sky falls. The Nameless One that ruled above falls. The mouth that was going to swallow the light, the light of Lilith, closes emptily. The fallen form of the Nameless One crumples pathetically to the ground.
The Great Sword descended on it, sending goo splattering everywhere. The color drained away. Noah’s blood-red Divine Power began to break into the Nameless One’s body from the inside out.
In agony, the Nameless One twisted as if in pain, spewing out Noah’s crimson Divine Power.
“Eat it.”
Noah, seeing this, refused to remain still. He shoved the amassed Divine Power from within himself into the Nameless One’s mouth.
Crack! Bones broke, skin tore, but Noah’s hand dug even deeper.
“Eat it.”
Then, Boom! The aura of killing intent rushed from within. It exploded. That explosion flowed through Noah’s hand, stuffed into the Nameless One’s mouth, throat, and body.
“Just like you’ve been doing until now.”
Boom!
Continuing to push forward made the Nameless One’s body gradually grow larger. Despite that, Noah didn’t stop.
“Try and eat this.”
Boom!
The absorbed blood of Rubia shattered.
Boom!
The absorbed essence of Lilith shattered.
Boom!
The divine power robbed from another world’s god shattered too.
Boom!
Even the feeling of fear shattered completely.
Boom!
Only despair remained.
The Nameless One’s despair was what Noah and ‘Noah’ desired, yet, it held no value to Noah now.
I’m going to kill it. I’m going to kill it.
That is the only purpose and the driving force behind my actions.
But the Nameless One did not die.
It couldn’t die. It was a body that couldn’t die until everything internal had escaped it.
Noah knew that.
The Divine Realm, his instinct, told him so.
Thus, he continued mercilessly assaulting the Nameless One.
Pouring the vast sea, no, beyond that, perhaps an infinite amount of Divine Power into the Nameless One.
The Nameless One, which did not yet hold the concept of death, accepted death as pain. A terrible agony. The worst pain it had ever experienced.
It was tough to endure. Even if it wanted to scream, the pain pressed ahead and covered its mouth. Any scream that tried to escape was severed by Noah’s fist.
Any attack swung around to avert its gaze toward Rubia was, naturally, blocked.
In that horrific torture, the Nameless One thought.
The last move. The move it had left behind. Should it use that?
If it did, it couldn’t enter paradise’s false haven. Again, it would have to hold its breath for eons, seizing the chance to devour another world’s god.
But still, it could live.
It could survive here.
Moreover, it could kill this human.
It could end this world forever.
Enduring the eons? For itself, living eternally, that’s nothing difficult.
Rather than dying at the hands of a human like this, it was better to withstand that time.
Would that be enough?
In the final moment, the expression of despair on that human’s face.
That alone would make the endless time worth it.
An unavoidable choice.
Perhaps it would be an eternal pleasure.
The Nameless One made its decision.
Simultaneously, it began to dismantle the body it had barely maintained.
Boom! Noah’s fist and body struck the vacuous air fiercely.
[Noah.]
Suddenly, from the empty air, the voice of the Nameless One echoed.
Noah’s eyes, his instincts, and his Divine Realm searched everywhere for the creature’s presence but couldn’t find it.
Thus, he took a breath and listened to its voice.
[If you kill me here and now, a being like me, perhaps even stronger, will invade this world.]
A voice imitating Rubia’s tone.
[So, I will block that in your place.]
The claim that outsiders would invade was not a lie.
However, saying it would block them was a falsehood.
A lie prepared for its final move.
Yet the Nameless One’s words carried such sincerity they felt hard to dismiss as lies.
[Without letting this world suffer, I will protect it. If you want, I can help you cross to another world.]
Such blatant deceit, such familiar act of deception.
The Nameless One had lived this way for a lifetime.
Hearing that voice caused Noah’s expression to calm.
The Divine Power that had been surging out like it wanted to crush everything also quieted.
[If you want, I can also save your friends who have already died… those who have left this world. Yes, I will somehow assist ‘Noah’ in the future.]
The tension that had gripped Noah’s shoulders eased slightly. Even the Great Sword he was firmly gripping, the fist that was clenched, loosened gently.
[How about that?]
The Nameless One, witnessing that, felt elated.
Three seconds. Just three seconds.
Everything would come to an end.
Yet, it swallowed a laugh.
Thinking of the possible scenarios.
The variable that human might carry, it couldn’t predict that.
It held its breath and concealed its existence.
That was the one thing it excelled at—its best trick.
In that moment.
Noah’s mouth opened.
Three seconds.
“I told you.”
Two seconds.
“You are.”
One second.
“You cannot win against me.”
Noah lifted his head.
With crimson eyes that seemed to see through the Nameless One’s unique ability to conceal its existence.
The Nameless One locked eyes with Noah.
An unspeakable dread enveloped it.
But, it was already too late.
That human could not stop it.
It could not halt the world’s destruction, the reset.
Confident in this, the Nameless One burst into laughter.
At that moment, sunlight poured, flooding the Divine Realm filled with darkness and illuminating it.
In that light, the Nameless One emerged, writhing tentacles welcoming the sunlight.
And it was to declare the key, the incantation that would lead this world to ruin—
[…What, hey.]
It could not say it.
A shadow loomed over it.
In the instant when the Divine Realm brightened, a shadow cast over it.
Feeling the anomaly, the Nameless One’s head twisted rigidly.
There stood.
“And I will.”
Not the brilliant sun.
“I will kill you.”
Stood a black sun.
“Without fail.”
