As Christopher remained in the void of space, his eyes silently stared at the countless blinking stars before him. In this moment of unusual peace and silence, he couldn’t help but have a certain thought, Now that I look back at things… Meeting Braun was essentially a miracle in itself.

I was born into a family of rich businessmen, a bloodline that held great power and influence. It was essentially an unorthodox idea of my father to put me in a public school, much less in an undeveloped city like Civer City.

It would have been more logical if I were to be raised in the capital of Dela, studied in one of the most prestigious academies in the country, and received the greatest form of education I could have received.

However, thanks to studying in Dela’s public school, I was able to meet Braun, became his friend, and everything snowballed from there. If… If we didn’t met, never became friends, and the meteor incident never happened…

He sighed at his train of thought and closed his eyes. Inside the metaphysical space within his body, a strange orb of chaotic light of endless colors swirled with brilliance. The overflowing energy from the orb started to stabilize as Christopher took a deep breath.

Strange… Iridescent light flashed in his eyes as he felt his intuition was vaguely informing him of something, a peculiarity that only now had he had a vague notion of.

Reality around him transitioned between different appearances, from the spiritual plane, the mental plane, and the physical plane. Every time he shifted between different states, he could faintly pick out that peculiarity but never fully grasp it. It was always just out of arm’s reach, invisible—without presence.

As he struggled to grab at the elusive trail, his eyes flickered and he looked at two different points in space.

The world was seemingly overwritten by heavenly laws.

A grand library and a desolate world forcefully implanted themselves in the universe, overwriting reality.

A black sky, white floor, and a swirling sea of stars painted over the world like a canvas, abstracting itself with beautiful profundities.

Just as the four different worlds descended to reality, a formless connection formed between Herald of Destruction and Wanderer of Stars.

I’ll forgive you for your past transgressions for now. Let’s work together. Wanderer of Stars wisely suggested.

I would have usually rejected such a cowardly notion, but who gives a damn anymore. This is a fight to the death! Herald of Destruction blinked its countless eyes as it tried to say yes.

So… You or me? Wanderer of Stars asked a cryptic question that only the two understood.

I hate to say this, but you’re better off using my powers. Herald of Destruction begrudgingly admitted.

Very well… Wanderer of Stars blinked its eye.

Less than a nanosecond had passed as the two finished communicating. As the four heavenly kingdoms clashed and collided with one another, Wanderer of Stars suddenly willed its heavenly kingdom to disappear as he arrived right atop Herald of Destruction.

Its massive frame increased in size, large enough to fully wrap around the living meteor spanning a hundred meters wide. Without resisting the tentacled alien, the Herald of Destruction quietly closed its eyes as it was assimilated into an endless darkness.

What’s happening? Crowley and Zen couldn’t help but question the strangeness of the situation, but as the two felt the alien’s presence rapidly grow stronger, they pushed their questions to the back of their minds and rushed to attack.

“The honored one across heaven and earth, the one deemed enlightened across all! I beseech your help to rid the world of evil!” Crowley clasped his hands and the countless books in the library behind him opened, causing an endless stream of golden dharmic text to float into the air, gathering into one spot.

Zen, although shaken by the familiar sight, quickly willed the white sky and black ground behind him to descend their influence onto reality.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

“Good begets good, bad begets bad!” Black light flooded out of his hands and rushed towards the Wanderer of Stars whose aura had greatly grown in the few seconds that had passed.

A faint green desolate red flame formed at the surface of its eyes as it slowly assimilated the Herald of Destruction completely.

The black light arrived, drowning the newly ascended Level 7 god with the punishment of its aggravated sins that belonged to its master—Freidrich Braun. Its strength greatly weakened, and a potent enough attack would severely damage it at the moment.

Crowley’s eyes flashed with ruthless light as the flowing dharmic text behind him finished gathering, and would transform into an illusory version of the enlightened one who would then launch a divine attack, finally putting the monster to a stop for good.

However, when the golden light finally receded, what appeared was Buddha with a grave wound on its chest, causing golden blood to follow.

“W-What?” Crowley stared at the Buddha in front of him with widened eyes. “Why… Why is Buddha injured?!”

Buddha being injured is already strange by itself, but this Buddha that was currently injured is only a projection Crowley created, an illusion that gained a semblance of truth! It was physically impossible for an illusion he himself created to be injured, so why?

The golden deity grabbed its chest as it stared at Zen with surprised eyes, and muttered with a smile, “Zen… My disciple, I see that you have grown.”

“You’re already so close to achieving enlightenment,” said the man. Dim golden blood continued to flow out of his chest as he coughed weakly.

Zen gazed at the golden man with trembling eyes, but before he could even speak, Buddha continued to speak.

“It’s quite sad that I would never be able to lend my strength to humanity once more. That otherworldly being, Freidrich Braun, his strength is one full of malice and destruction. I could only advise you to run, run as far as you can!”

“Evacuate humanity to the stars, this place… It’s already unsafe! Even Adam himself might not be able to take on that Devil by himself at this rate!”

Green flames burst out of Buddha’s chest, engulfing his divine figure in the blazing light of hell. Zen and Crowley stared at the man, dumbfounded by the words he had uttered.

Even Adam might not defeat Lucas Hum… No, Freidrich Braun?

…

Braun calmly raised his arm as green flames cascaded from his hand, covering the golden man in fiery transcendence.

“To kill the man I once prayed to when I was losing my mind over a quiz back in high school… I’m sorry, like honestly,” Braun muttered with a helpless look on his face. His flame continued to burn the man alive, destroying him across space-time, erasing his existence from the annals of history.

“It’s fine, dear child,” Buddha said while coughing out dim golden blood. “I’ve already died long ago, this much is nothing.”

“Don’t worry, I haven’t actually killed you all completely. When I finally conquer humanity and expand into the skies, I might need to borrow the power of historical figures, so I’ll give preferential treatment to the humans—well, only if they deserve that treatment.”

“I’ll be a fair and benevolent god once I start my own intergalactic empire,” Braun added with a grin.

“Such ambitions…” Buddha sighed. “Well, what can an old fossil like me do anyway? Although I don’t want to see you succeed in defeating Aegis, if you do, I hope that the day I get pulled back from the river of time, I will bear witness to a humanity that has entered its golden age.”

Braun chuckled and watched as Buddha’s divine figure slowly withered into ash. Waving his hand, he looked back at the endless sea of carnage presented before him, his eyes turning dark with malevolence and bloodthirst.

Blood covered the once lush green grass of Eden, with the corpses of countless gods littering the ground and the ashes of the fallen scattering with the wind. He calmly flew down onto the ground and stepped on the surface of the bloody red sea, a faint smile forming on his warped, distorted face.

Green flames continuously flickered in his hollow eyes as eight arachnid limbs weaved a crystalline web on his back. Although not much had changed about him physically, the aura he released was far more terrifying than before as the death of countless gods fueled his growth.

“Thank you, Adam. Because of you, I’ve managed to acquire a new technique, the ability to devour the progress of others for my own.” His faint smile widened and countless threads formed from the tips of his fingers.

Adam stared at the countless dead gods, quiet and silent without uttering a single word. He calmly raised his hand and the corpses burrowed into the ground, disappearing completely with no signs of their previous existence.

“You’re strong… Much stronger than what any of us could have ever expected,” Adam admitted with a monotonous tone.

Braun chuckled at the strange praise and shrugged his shoulders, “It’s honestly just me being lucky. The amount of coincidences I had needed to encounter in my early days to create my destiny is a considerable amount.”

“Your destiny, huh?” Adam laughed softly.

“Well, I suppose I’m still going to die under your hands, captured like some guinea pig if I don’t resist with all my might,” Braun murmured blandly. “So I guess this is it… the true final fight between me and you.”

“Along with the rest of Aegis of course,” Braun added with a mocking grin.

All of the remaining council members inside Adam’s heavenly kingdom wore grim expressions as they felt the oppressive madness emanating from the warped entity before them. They tightened their fists and let their heart thump loudly.

Adam stepped forward clutching a black blade.

Braun slammed his palms together, pulling them apart to reveal a dizzying complex of threads in between. The threads splashed into the air, covering the area around him in invisible crystalline destiny, before they then slammed into his back and skin, creating an impenetrable layer of colorful crystals.

Here comes the fun part. Braun licked his lips and relished the height of the battle.