Crowley and Zen stepped forward, their auras rising to the extreme. Brilliant blue light surged from Crowley while black and white light emanated from Zen.
Herald of Destruction and Wanderer of Stars flew forward, their respective enemies already designated by Braun.
“Do you want to know the difference between Level 6 and Level 7?” Crowley murmured with an amicable smile, showing his benevolence.
“The difference?” Braun asked, unphased by the obvious provocation.
“If the qualitative change between Level 5 and Level 6 is transforming one’s authority core to a divine core and intertwining its transcendence to one’s existence—“ His eyes flashed with excitement as if the mere thought of dissecting this curious specimen before him would rile up his heart. “—then at Level 7, one would connect one’s divine core to the world!”
A grand library appeared behind him. Its grandeur appearance spanned hundreds of meters tall and tens of kilometers long. Crowley slammed his hands together and formed a strange hand seal, flashing a grin.
Zen raised his hand as if in prayer, and the chaotic yet orderly aura of karma formed a massive clump of black-white light around him. Staring intently at Braun, he slowly opened his mouth.
“Heavenly Kingdom!” Crowley shouted. “Akashic Library!”
“Heavenly Kingdom.” Endless profound light surged within Zen’s calm eyes. “Samsara.”
The grand Akashic library underwent a qualitative change as it swallowed the giant flaming meteor whole alongside Crowley, with its blue walls and illusory shelves becoming solid; becoming real, before promptly disappearing.
The black and white light surrounding Zen spun in a vortex and an inescapable suction force dragged both the Detached Buddhist and the Wanderer of Stars into the center of the swirling karma, transporting the two to an unknown place.
Braun stood alone in the middle of the empty void, with seven Level 6 divine beings and one Level 7 divine being surrounding him.
“I suppose you too have a Heavenly Kingdom?” Braun murmured. His face was emotionless and as unreadable as ever, with an ever-present smile.
Adam quietly raised his arm to his chest, as if grabbing his heart. His dark brown eyes turned a shade darker, appearing black, and in the next moment, an endless darkness engulfed everything, rendering escape futile.
“Heavenly Kingdom.” His voice fell, and the darkness turned to light. “Garden of Eden.”
The blinding light receded and all nine of them found themselves in a strange realm, with an endless expanse of grass and trees. In the very center of this realm, a gargantuan tree that reached the sky stood tall, with a single, bright red fruit dangling on one of its many branches.
All of the core members of Aegis gazed at the strange realm, and their minds were shaken. According to various myths and legends surrounding the inception of man, the firstborn human was said to have been birthed in this very place, the garden that God had created.
Before anyone could ask any questions, Adam manipulated the space, and his divine authority over origin was fully unleashed. All of the countless trees in the area abruptly transformed into humans… no, gods!
Gods all across humanity sprung to life as if responding to the call of their ancestor. Their aura madly surged like a tidal wave, encapsulating the entirety of the strange realm.
This was the collective might of humanity’s army—the very same army that had fought in the war between gods, in Ragnarok!
“Half-step Level 8 God? No…” Braun murmured, his eyes turning serious. The countless colorful threads spun around his body seemed to glow brightly as if it were discerning the past. “I knew it, there was no way the first human to have been born into this world would be so weak.”
“You’re the sole living Level 8 God of humanity!” His words were like thunder, shocking everyone in the nameless realm.
Adam didn’t reject what Braun had guessed, and his repressed aura was unsealed. His body floated to the air, with the presence of a god wildly overflowing from him. His hair grew long and his eyes turned pitch balck. An ancient, timeworn aura of years long past could be felt from his divine figure.
Divine Form: Ancestor of Mankind.
His body expanded in size as his muscles grew large. His frame turned two meters tall, like a tiny giant. Strange golden markings formed on the surface of his dark skin with a desolate aura from bygone days.
Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.
Level 6 meant one had stepped onto the stage of divinity and had connected one’s own existence with their divine core, transforming into a divine being. At Level 7, one would connect one’s divine core with the world, gaining the ability to establish one’s incomplete Heavenly Kingdom.
With Level 8, one would have fused their divine core with the world and with themselves completely, becoming one with the world and with their authority, reforming themselves into a true, divine existence made not out of flesh or matter—but of divinity.
A transcendental existence, a higher dimensional being!
“Heed my call, children of mine!” Adam loudly declared as the ancient gods regained their spirits.
“We answer your call, ancestor of all mankind!” their voice echoed and boomed with dignity and authority.
Fuck… Braun stared at the army of gods presented before him. Why didn’t I try to run again? Am I too stupid to have believed that I could take on ten divine beings all alone, even if I had Level 7 strength?
He clicked his tongue and the four pairs of arachnid legs behind him weaved a complex web.
“Well, who gives a damn!”
…
Crowley grabbed at the empty air and a miniature star formed in his hand. He stared at the rapidly approaching meteor and harrumphed.
“Take this!” The star flew forward and rapidly expanded in size. From a few centimeters, to then meters, to tens of meters, to kilometers, to thousands of kilometers!
The endlessly expanding library didn’t struggle to accommodate the humongous star as what was once an illusion turned into reality. Countless bookshelves opened and words could be read in various languages, detailing out the truth: The star Crowley Veritas has conjured is real!
“Petty tricks!” The living meteor expanded in size, with the bright red flames bathing its body turning into a darker shade of crimson.
Everything around it was destroyed, from the heat of the star to the truth of the world, erasing them to nothingness. It shouted loudly as it exerted its newfound divine authority, bringing destruction to all.
“Become my blade and guide me to victory, the sword lost across time, wielded by the great king and knight—Excalibur!”
“Pierce my enemies without fail, the spear belonging to the wisest god of Asgard—Gungir!”
An illusory blade and an illusory spear materialized in his hand as they turned solid and real.
“Go!” The two weapons shot forward as if possessed with a mind of their own.
“Mere illusions!” The meteor roared loudly as it defied the fictional truth. Its body was lit ablaze by dark red light, engulfing everything, destroying everything.
Foolish brute. Crowley smiled as the meteor soon fell to his trap. The previous star he had created moments prior was merely a weak attack that was far from his full power. Because the meteor found the attack so weak, it gained some level of arrogance and believed that Crowley wasn’t shit.
That was wrong, however, for the two were currently in Crowley’s heavenly kingdom, his personal domain where his authority is nigh-absolute. Only a Level 7 who had also made their heavenly kingdom descend or a Level 8 god could ever defeat him in this place.
“Unleash the wrath of heavens, king of Olympus—Zeus!”
A gargantuan man clad in white robes and heavenly sparks appeared behind Crowley. The divine figure appeared to have some semblance of consciousness and was slightly offended by Crowley’s disrespectful summoning, but the god couldn’t really give a damn anymore.
Instead, the illusory Zeus directed his gaze at the incoming meteor and summoned a streak of divine lightning above his hand.
“Smite all those who stand against Olympus—Wrath of Heaven!” Zeus proudly declared, and his divine attack pushed to the very pinnacle of what a Level 7 could ever hope to achieve, shot forward, destabilizing the foundation of the heavenly kingdom wherever the lightning trail followed.
Oh crap! The meteor seemed to have finally understood just how bad the situation they were in right now, but the three attacks rapidly approached with seemingly no way out.
…
Two figures silently stood still in a world of black and white.
The floor was black, the sky was black.
The floor was white, the sky was black.
In this strange realm where up and down seemed to be one and the same, Zen raised his hand and the heavens stirred.
So this is the so-called Heavenly Kingdom of Stage 7 entities… Although Wanderer of Stars was now under Braun’s control, due to the profoundness of destiny, he still retained his sense of self and could act with his own will.
Wanderer of Stars swiftly transformed into a stream of starlight as he distanced himself from the Stage 7 entity known as Crowley Veritas. Whirlpools of light and space gathered in his numerous tentacles as he readied himself for combat.
“I could sense you had never wished to direct your malice against humanity, Wanderer of Stars.” Profound light suffused from Zen’s eyes as he sighed helplessly. “Unfortunately, you’ve become that man’s puppet, and it appears that I have no way of breaking you out of that state.”
“If I let you be, humanity’s destruction would be imminent, so I can only go all out…”
Wanderer of Stars gazed at the man, with its one lone eye turning into slits, “Heh, showing mercy to even your enemy… Very well!”
Wanderer of Stars didn’t hesitate any longer as gates of starlight formed around him. He launched the vortexes of space and starlight through those starlight gates, but Zen was faster to react.
Karma flowed through his body as he was bathed in white light. All of the good deeds he had done turned to empower him, while the overflowing bad karma that belonged to Braun which now overflows the Wanderer of Stars reduced his strength, cursing him!
He spread out his hands to the side and swirls of black and white formed at the ends of his palms. Pressing both of his hands forward, a chaotic mass of black and white formed, harboring the aura of chaos.
The Wander of Stars instinctively felt the serious threat the whirlpool of karma held, and just being grazed by it would seriously harm him. It was as if the very idea of any existence touching that mass of light would end their being.
Actions begets their own consequences. The innumerable sins Braun had committed now became the deadly knife aimed at his puppet.
“This is judgement,” he coldly declared as a ring of black light formed around the Wanderer of Stars, restricting its every movement.
Damn it, how am I going to avoid this?!