Schrodinger’s Cat Shirley’s figure blitzed across the sky as her figure overlapped with multiple phantom images of herself. They waved their arms, manipulating the quantum probability of the world.
Reality warped, and Burning Lotus’ bright flames abruptly faded into a wormhole in space that formed by pure chance, with its other end aimed straight at Suppressing River.
Suppressing River widened his eyes and hastily manipulated the flowing water around his body, erecting a wall of flowing blue waves to defend himself from the incoming attack. The two opposing elements clashed, covering the area in a layer of mist.
Knight of Apocalypse Regie raised his obsidian black shield, and desolate red runes shone brightly on its surface. An aura of disaster surrounded him as he bent his legs. With a loud harrumph, a dark red beam pierced through the air, arriving right before Wilting Autumn, to be more exact, to the person behind Wilting Autumn, Ice Dragon Ri Haneul!
“Wither and rot—Blade of Destruction!” The energy gathered from his shield was transferred into his blade, covering it in a desolate red glow.
Wilting Autumn and Ice Dragon quickly reacted to his attack.
Barks of aging trees and wilting leaves, along with a frigid wall of ice obstructed his way.
He, however, snorted coldly, and the aura of destruction surrounding his blade intensified. His blade transformed into a gigantic red sword, and with a swing of his arm, it crashed against the authorities of Wilting Autumn and Ice Dragon Ri Haneul.
In the fight between demigods, it’s not a battle between raw strength, but a battle of authorities! Even if a mortal were to have the strength to shatter mountains with their bare fist, what could they do against a Demigod like Ri Haneul who could simply ‘freeze’ her body’s status, nullifying any damage brought by mortal means? Although her authority was limited, she could still ignore a majority of non-demigod attacks directed her way.
Only with an authority could they attempt to break through her authority, and inflict major damage on her body.
This was the universal rule of this world and was the distinguishing factor between mortal men and those belonging to the ranks of gods.
Only an anomaly like Braun, a Level 3 being, could suppress Christopher due to his transcendental nature that pushed him out of the universe’s binding rules.
Knight of Apocalypse Regie’s eyes shone brightly with an intense green light, and his power surged beyond his current limits.
Authority Augmentation!
He forcefully stirred the foundation of his authority and tapped into powers belonging to those only wielded by beings with complete authority cores. His entry-level control over his respective domains underwent sudden growth, and the baleful aura he constantly emitted turned thicker, more desolate, and more destructive.
The authority of the Knight of Apocalypse was fully unleashed, bringing total destruction in its wake.
Wilting Autumn immediately noticed the change and didn’t even try to contest his authority with the overflowing power of destruction. Instead, the aura of aging time around him surged, and space-time began to deteriorate.
As the blade approached him, it began to slow down, and its aura started to weaken.
“Grow old and weak—Wilting Autumn!”
As the two Demigods struggled against Knight of Apocalypse Regie, Suppressing River and Burning Lotus didn’t fare any better, because what Knight of Apocalypse Regie can do, so can the other avatars!
Authority Augmentation!
Nuclear Void Tyrel wore a maniacal smile as his authority level rose far beyond what should be possible for a Level 4. Against Level 4 Demigods like Suppressing River and Burning Lotus, they would basically be suppressed by his greater rule over reality.
An explosive manifestation of nothingness gathered in his hand, transforming into a sphere of pitch darkness with a bright orange center. Flicking his hand, the nuclear void bomb erased everything in its path, including time, and arrived right between the two Demigods.
In the time it took between him flicking his hand and the nuclear void bomb reaching them, zero seconds had passed.
“Explode into nothingness—Nuclear Void Bomb!” His eyes glowed brightly with an intense green light.
Just like before, in zero seconds, the nuclear void bomb exploded and erased everything in its domain, leaving behind a pitch-black sphere made out of nothing. There was no light, no matter, no atoms, no space, no time—it was absolute destruction.
“You two are gobbling all the fun, leave some for me, won’t ya?” Schrodinger’s Cat Shirley clicked her tongue and the same green light flooded her eyes.
Authority Augmentation!
Although most of their bodies were erased, the two Demigods remained alive, albeit on the brink of death. As they struggled to maintain consciousness, Shirley grinned mockingly and snatched a random pebble out of thin air.
“Die with certainty—Guaranteed Death Throw!” She slammed the pebble into the ground and manipulated its chances of killing Suppressing River and Burning Lotus to a hundred percent!
Control probability and you can control causality!
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Although she knew her random throw would succeed, even Shirley herself didn’t exactly know how it would somehow kill the two of them. For all she knew, it could just bounce off the ground and collide with a bird, which would then undergo rapid evolution, become a dragon, and eat the two of them.
As she watched with an anticipated gaze, the pebble unexpectedly encountered an unstable part of reality, an aftereffect of Nuclear Void Tyrel’s attack. The pebble slid through a tiny hole in space, teleporting to the place where Knight of Apocalypse Regie was singlehandedly suppressing both Wilting Autumn and Ice Dragon Ri Haneul.
His aura of apocalypse surged with the illusory image of doomsday forming around his figure. The red light slowly swallowed the area around Wilting Autumn and Ice Dragon Ri Haneul, cutting off their chances at escape, doomed to die under the overwhelming presence of devastation.
The pebble coincidentally arrived just as Knight of Apocalypse Regie’s aura surged, pushing it away from the battlefield and instead towards Suppressing River and Burning Lotus’ destroyed bodies.
A faint aura of apocalypse was left on the normal pebble, and as it flew across the air, it appeared like a faint red beam of light. The moment it arrived in the unstable area between the two Demigods, the aura of ruin reacted with the aura of nothingness, collapsing the recovering reality.
Space caved inwards, sucking in their destroyed bodies. A loud explosion rang and the two disappeared entirely, leaving behind a completely empty area with edges akin to shattered glass.
Oh wow… Schrodinger’s Cat Shirley raised her eyebrow as her comprehension of causality solidified. Perhaps I could even evolve my authority to causality by transcending the rules of this world a bit using the surge of zenithral power during ascension.
Nuclear Void Tyrel quietly shot a glance at the distance and noticed that Knight of Apocalypse Regie was about to kill the two of them, and mumbled, “The ten seats are already on the move… Just how long will it take for the barrier to be broken?”
As if jinxing himself, the whole world was abruptly illuminated by a blinding pink light high in the sky. Above the clouds, a figure stepped out of a pink wormhole, revealing the appearance of a strange petite woman wearing a frilly pink and white dress, wielding a pink and white staff.
“There’s no fucking way,” Nuclear Void Tyrel mumbled with a dumbfounded look.
“I… I can’t believe it…” Schrodinger’s Cat Shirley felt her mind explode into countless pieces as she gazed at what could only be described as a real-life magical girl.
W-Were saved! Wilting Autumn and Ice Dragon Ri Haneul held the same thought as the two gazed at the woman with bright eyes. Their bodies scattered into pink motes of light and were transported high above the clouds.
The 9th Seat Magical Girl has arrived!
She slammed her staff at the solid ground, and a massive pink magic circle formed beneath her. A horrifying amount of magical energy bloated the sky, and two bodies began to reform beside her.
Suppressing River opened his eyes as a vast blue river formed behind him.
Burning Lotus slammed his fist to his palm, and blazing sparks transformed into countless orange lotuses around his figure.
“We lend our power to Lord 9th Seat!” The two shouted in tandem as if they already knew what 9th Seat Magical Girl wanted from them.
“Much appreciated.” 9th Seat Magical Girl waved her staff, and the suppressing river and burning lotuses surged into her staff.
“Suppress and burn!” Their authorities, strengthened by her divine status, transformed into a dazzling display of power as a giant burning river covered the sky.
At the same time the burning river appeared, another magic circle formed beside her, with both Wilting Autumn and Ice Dragon Haneul standing beside it.
“We lend our power to Lord 9th Seat!” The two also shouted the moment they arrived.
A massive ice dragon and a wilting autumn tree surged into her staff, giving her more authority.
“Freeze and wilt!” She waved her staff, and a gigantic frozen tree with crystalline wilting leaves appeared.
Space around them was frozen and suppressed, while time burned and wilted.
We’re gonna fucking die…
The trio didn’t even believe for a second that they were gonna survive that attack as they are now. Even with their authorities temporarily pushed to be on par with Level 5 Demigods with Authority Cores, that wouldn’t help against the godlike power of the magical girl wielding divine authority.
Demigods wielded authority, while gods wielded divine authority. Their authority has surpassed the world itself, and they were capable of overwriting reality to their wishes.
It’s not the same as a demigod capable of burning time with their flame by utilizing their corresponding authority. Their very existence warps reality around them, allowing a normal candlewick to burn time if they so wished.
A Divine Authority entailed a being’s transcendence, surpassing the limitations of the normal world. Whatever they do is a manifestation of their divinity.
The divine power of a god was fully unleashed, and the two attacks crashed against the ground.
Knight of Apocalypse Regie withered into obsidian fragments.
Nuclear Void Tyrel dissipated with the wind, transforming into a cloud of dark smoke.
Schrodinger’s Cat Shirley was destabilized to the extreme and was erased from reality.
The four Demigods behind 9th Seat Magical Girl stared dazedly at the empty air. Although they knew a demigod had no way of beating a Level 6 god, witnessing a god’s strength firsthand still sent shivers down their spine.
Against the enemy that they struggled to defeat, 9th Seat Magical Girl took them down in the blink of an eye and completely overpowered them.
Just as they relaxed, a sudden surge of endless power was felt in the far distance. The sky was drowned in a bright purple light, and a beam of divine power reached for the clouds.
Even from kilometers away, the force exuded by the pillar of purple light was felt clearly, causing buildings to collapse and trees to shake.
Ice Dragon Ri Haneul, Suppressing River, Burning Lotus, and Wilting Autumn felt their souls shake in response to the pressure the pillar emitted.
It was akin to a nuclear bomb, a power so immense that even demigods would fear it.
Only 9th Seat Magical Girl remained calm and composed. She squinted her eyes and stared at the sky where an invisible barrier was outlined. Cracks began to cover the entirety of Dela’s horizon as the once previously invisible seal was quickly broken, opening up the cage that trapped all of Braun’s avatars inside the country.
She then looked back at the empty air beneath her, and mumbled, “Is this perhaps another one of his schemes?”
9th Seat Magical Girl, although appearing young and naive, had been alive for decades already. Even if she was the second youngest member of the ten council members of Aegis, she still knew that the three avatars seemed to be part of a grander plan, because it only took a casual glance to realize something was off.
Why are their authority matrices missing?
Just like how when supers die, so too would Demigods leave behind the foundation of their power. Assimilating those authority matrices would serve the same purpose as assimilating crystals, and allow a demigod’s authority matrix to stabilize and allow for easier transition to Level 5.
Moreover, if the two demigods held control over corresponding domains, they could even increase their authority over those respective domains and achieve the same results as what a Level 5 Demigod can achieve—cultivate authority.
Because of that, authority matrices were precious resources that could be used to increase the strength of Aegis’ demigods and was one of the major reasons why Aegis had poured so much manpower into this scenario.
Crowley had already divined that hundreds of avatars would ascend, and we let it happen because we had long planned on erasing Dela out of existence, and make a profit out of the situation, but just like the other council members… 9th Seat Magical Girl narrowed her eyes. Not a single authority matrix was left upon their death.