PHASE 96 - PAYBACK TO THE CURSED CONTRACT

“Dad...”

Seeing my father in his near-death situation made me unleash tears in my eyes. I never thought that my father would be beaten up so easily in just one counter-attack.

“Dad…”

That Outsider is truly terrifying. There is no way we remaining Gate Guardians of the universe can defeat such enemy. He can stop time at will with his ability. If this continues, we’ll fall down one by one without putting up a fight.

“Daaaaad!!!” I hollered out loud.

A thick all-powerful shockwave exploded, with me as the epicenter. As the shockwave hits my allies, they are immediately converted to their divine forms. Rikkun is now Freyr, Eliseo is now Venus, Emily is now Hel, Key is now Athena, Asumi is now Haliya, Diadem is now Ra, Heushac is now Surtr, and Helena is now activating the remaining six God Cores on her body.

“This is…” Rikkun/Freyr said as he checked on his golden gauntlets filled with prana. Everybody else was awed when they saw themselves transform in their strongest existence.

Due to the outburst of my willpower, I managed to delegate the power of the Twelve God Cores to my friends. The God Cores are still in my heart, but I can share their power due to the bond and connection I have with them.

The Outsider finally gritted his teeth for the very first time, as if he’s scared of my power. His crimson eyes glared at my very soul, silently telling me that he will kill me next.

“Tiara Hikari... I never thought you can do that. You’re more powerful than I thought. You’re the biggest threat to the Frozen Soul.”

The Outsider raised his shield, ready to smash my unconscious father’s face for the killing blow, but-

“”!!!

Helena spawned blue hologram wings on her back as he charged with a speed faster than teleportation. She immediately grabbed my unconscious father’s body, and then dashed back, away from the Outsider.

“Damn, you’re too fast.” The Outsider laughed as he just watched Helena rescue my father.

Helena gently dropped my father near me, and Venus started to use to repair my father’s body. is a spell where Venus will wrap the injured person with his Rapunzel hair which is enhanced with healing energy.

“!!!” Freyr stabbed his sword to the ground, and colorful tulips and lilies sprouted on our feet. The flowers unleashed balls of light that enhanced Venus’ healing speed.

“Alaric.” Helena grabbed Freyr’s attention. Her eyes are filled with determination and the urge to give revenge and justice. “Please let me do the honor to defeat that guy. He has done a lot of sinful things to us, especially Lironeo. He made us into his pawn in his game of chess. I want him to pay for making fun of us.”

“Do it, Helena.” Freyr smiled.

“I’ll help too.” Heushac in the form of Surtr stepped forward as he swung his giant sword left and right. “I will never forgive the man responsible for inflicting the curse to big bro Lironeo and big sis Helena.”

“Baby brother…” Helena was about to cry, but she has this smile on her face instead. She raised her sword and made a gentle strike to his sibling’s blade as if they just made a wine toast while silently saying cheers. “Then let’s fight together!”

“Right!”

“Oh, how touching. I almost cried. Too bad, one of you will die at the end of the day.” The Outsider mocked. “Come, stink sword siblings!”

“Haaaah!!!” Heushac, in the flame giant’s form, rushed forward, leaving flames on his trail.

“Haaaah!!!” Helena followed. Lightning sparked on her body, only leaving a blue streak on her way.

The giant flame blade and the swift lightning blade was about to hit the man with the red scarf, but then, everything became black and white again. Time stopped. The Outsider used the opportunity to raise his shield and block the first attack, which came from Helena.

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Time regained its flow. A loud clang echoed, followed by sparks. Then in a one-tenth of a split second, time stopped once again. This time, The Outsider positioned his shield to block the next attack which will come from Heushac.

Blam! Flame sword and astral shield collided.

“What the-” Heushac/Surtr exclaimed.

“One more time!” Helena shouted. “Haaaah!”

“Haaaah!” Heushac followed.

The Outsider did the same time-stopping trick again, but this time, he will do a counter-attack.

“!!!” Two kite-shaped hologram shields protected the Outsider from the attack of the swordswoman with six gods and the swordsman with the power of an anti-god. A loud blast engulfed the area, and two persons were launched to the air.

Heushac and Helena fell and rolled to the ground. They sustained heavy wounds from their arms and shoulders. Both of their attacks has been returned to them. Vishnu’s shield didn’t protect Helena because it only nullifies attacks that are inflicted by the enemy. It doesn’t protect her from self-inflicted wounds.

“Haaa… Ha…” The siblings panted as they slowly lose blood from their wounds.

“You guys are done already?” The Outsider laughed. “I’m not even attacking. You siblings are really suicidal.”

“Don’t forget that you have to pay for your sins you have done to me too!” There was a loud shout closing into the Outsider’s position!

It was Diadem, in Ra’s divine form! His golden armor unleashes flames as he flies like a fighter jet, ready to charge the lone enemy! He prepared his burning claws to make a swift strike to the Outsider’s throat!

But...

The Outsider’s crimson eyes glowed, and everything became black and white again. Everything is back to being a diorama. Even if the time has completely stopped, we are completely aware of the happening.

“Diadem, Diadem.”

The Outsider casually walked in front of Ra’s face. He gently touched the Egyptian God’s winged helmet on the side of the forehead.

“How many times do you have to struggle? I told you before, there is no way you can defeat me. You may have the power of the golden sun god, but you can never match the man who never existed in the first place.”

“Y-You….” Ra spoke! He spoke, even though that time already froze. “Y-Yes… I can never defeat you… B-But I’m not alone…!!!”

Slowly, Ra struggled to move his claws close to The Outsider’s chest. He struggled and struggled. He used his sheer willpower to break through the shackles of time that has been inflicted upon him.

“What the-” The Outsider is awed.

“Y-You tricked me... You hurt my father… And you played my sister’s fate…”

Ra’s heat level started to rise to a hundred-thousand degree Celsius as he whispered words of pure anger.

“THERE IS NO WAY I CAN EVER FORGIVE YOU!!!”

The fabric of reality shattered and the time resumed its flow. Slash, slash, slash! Ra used the opportunity to make swift seven claw strikes with his flaming hands, but in the nick of time, The Outsider barely managed to block the attacks with his shield.

“There’s no way that a time-manipulating Gate Guardian Ability can stop a god like me!” Ra roared, and then he projected his ultimate attack! “!!!”

The golden sun god raised his arms and created a gigantic energy pyramid above him. With all the power he can muster, he threw the blazing pyramid straight to the enemy!

“!!!” The Outsider blocked the attack with his shield. He’s supposed to return the very same attack to Ra, but something is wrong! It seems that he can’t reflect a full-power God Core Release spell, especially that my twin brother is now defying logic with his willpower!

“Hraaaaaaagh!!!” Diadem/Ra released an invisible force to push his pyramid deeper so that the Outsider will be burnt and crushed.

The Outsider is barely holding his ground. His feet started to slide backward, and the crystal ice where he’s standing started to shatter!

“Diadem, you-!!!” The Outsider muttered.

“Heushac, we will help!” Helena shouted as she activated all the power of the six God Cores. Her body is now coated with black slim armor. Her sword elongated and shaped itself into a gigantic winged spear that is buffed with lightning and ice.

“Right!” Heushac the flame giant created blue flames that engulfed his body. He’s now Blue Surtr, the perfect anti-god killing machine! He raised his gigantic skull shield and charged his ultimate attack!

“!!!” Helena’s sword unleashed an existence-deletion beam.

“!!!” Heushac’s shield released a gigantic world-ending flame laser.

“HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!” The three shouted in full force.

Everything became white. A deafening roar of the explosion echoed. Normally, a dimension would evaporate because of this merged attacks of gods and anti-gods, but the Realm of the Frozen Soul maintained its existence.

There is no way an entity can withstand that full-force attack.

But…

The Outsider is not an entity.

He can take the attack and still survive.

He revealed himself, with burnt clothes and skin. Half of his body is now converted to a muscular system model you can find in schools. Three-fourths of his face is suffering from a third-degree burn, and the remaining one-fourth of his face which covers his left eye is now a skull. His eyes remained intact nonetheless.

What’s grosser is that we can see his beating heart through his shattered rib cage.

“Darn, you almost killed me.” The Outsider laughed. Then he gazed upon the three who gave him those attacks. He was surprised that even though Heushac and Diadem used their ultimate attack, they didn’t revert to their base forms.

It’s all because of me. It’s all because of my power. It’s all because of my wish. I can still supply them the power of God Cores, so they can use and spam God Core Release spells anytime they want.

“Okay, playtime is over. I think this is the time to kill you all.”

The Outsider held his beating heart, which glowed a bright gray light.

Everybody succumbed to fear as we felt the presence of the ultimate power that can match the Frozen Soul.

“!!!”