His 12 familiars gave him a menacing look before spreading out in all directions around the Celestial.
His third familiar, the space dragon, made the first move; its body filled with energy as a barrier began to encircle them all.
The barrier extended for almost half of the entire solar system, blocking any teleportation. Naturally, for this type of block to work on a Celestial, Damian himself couldn't teleport.
At that moment, Regulus and Al-Nasl-Minium attacked from opposite directions.
Arishem looked calmly at the two creatures attacking him and created a large barrier around himself, stopping the attacks.
Damian saw this deadlock and took hold of his familiar, which was a sword, in its complete form of 100 meters long.
Putting his hand on the hilt, he quickly rose above the celestial's head before swinging the sword with all his strength.
Arishem looked up and struck with his fist imbued with cosmic energy. A large amount of energy released from the punch caused the barrier to collapse, allowing the attacks from his familiars to hit Arishem's body, creating an even larger explosion.
At that moment, his eighth familiar, Shaula-Viola, charged towards Arishem's back.
The white tiger with wings had a potent poison that could absorb the energy of those affected.
Damian wasn't sure if something like the poison could affect celestials, but it was worth a try.
This battle was going to be a very long one; both he and Arishem had almost infinite energy. They could shoot at each other for months without a clear winner.
The white tiger leaped onto Arishem's back before biting his neck, injecting all the poison it could.
Arishem quickly reached for his neck, trying to grab the tiger, but it had already retreated.
An arm and a leg of Arishem had been vaporized by the attacks of his familiars, but at a rapid pace, his limbs regenerated.
As far as Damian knew, the easiest way to kill a celestial is by decapitating it or vaporizing its entire body with immense energy.
He just had to wear him down a bit before delivering a precise attack.
His familiars continued besieging Arishem, hitting him from all directions while trying to create opportunities for Damian.
Damian waited patiently before launching himself towards Arishem, swinging the sword towards his neck.
Arishem quickly reached out to stop the sword, but at that moment Regulus attacked by biting his hand and pulling it in another direction, preventing him from defending himself.
The sword touched Arishem's neck before beginning to cut, but he was fast enough to lean to the side, avoiding the complete cut.
Nevertheless, a good portion of his neck was cut, causing blood to start flowing.
Arishem quickly placed his hand on his wound before attacking a familiar that looked like a silver crab.
This one had no offensive abilities, so it managed to escape the encirclement while its wound fully regenerated.
Arishem looked at the 12 monsters that were watching him attentively, hoping he would lower his guard even for a moment so they could pounce on him.
He doesn't know how many millions of years have passed since he had a fight.
Most beings in the universe cannot withstand the deformation of reality caused by him and inevitably die.
But the being in front of him seemed unfazed no matter how much he tried to deform reality to deny its existence.
''You... are a creature outside the multiverse,'' Arishem said, looking at Damian. He's sure he's never seen any race similar to that man.
Who knows,'' Damian said without denying or confirming; in fact, he didn't know himself.
''What I do know is that you are a threat to my plans,'' Damian said, looking at him.
''What are your plans?'' Arishem asked, wanting to know if they could resolve it without fighting.
His race was creators, not a warrior race despite their incredible cosmic powers; he felt no emotion or satisfaction in fighting.
''I just want a safe place for my family. I know about the Celestial sleeping on the planet, but it's impossible to let it out for a long time,'' Damian said.
''The birth of celestials must not be delayed; you will disrupt the order,'' Arishem said, looking at Damian.
''It seems we couldn't come to an agreement. We can only fight,'' Damian said, launching himself towards Arishem again with his familiars surrounding him as they conversed.
...
A few minutes earlier, just as Damian disappeared.
The whole family immediately noticed, and as they were somewhat on guard knowing the celestial might come, they all immediately surrounded the girls.
''Cortana, where?'' Carol asked, looking at her.
''There,'' Cortana said, pointing to the sky.
Everyone immediately looked in that direction and enhanced their eyes with their respective methods.
They immediately saw a colossal being emerging from a black hole.
''Damn,'' Ophelia said, looking with astonishment.
It's about 500 kilometres long,' Carol said with a frown.
''Cortana, will we be okay?'' Sophia asked, looking at her.
''Hm, I'm sure the master can defeat the celestial. The situation isn't so bad; the problem is the consequences of this fight. Whether he kills or scares off the celestial, more may come one day,'' Cortana said nodding.
''According to the master's personality, he will try to kill him without using too incredible means and save his true power for the hypothetical next wave of celestials''
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
"Do you think I can help him?'' Carol asked, looking at Cortana.
''I'm connected to my master, so I can sense the situation. The celestial constantly tried to deform reality to attack him; of course, this didn't affect him at all, but I'm not sure if you could withstand it. You would die instantly if you couldn't,'' Cortana said, looking at Carol.
''Let's leave him to deal with this,'' Cortana said one last time before focusing on the fight.
The fight unfolded as everyone gasped in amazement, their faces filled with concern as they watched the celestial attack destroy Damian's sword and the large wound made in his chest.
They all breathed a sigh of relief seeing him recover instantly and summon all his familiars.
''I haven't seen them all together for a long time,'' Carol said, looking at the familiars.
''It seems he wasn't doing his best. Does he really not think about how nervous he makes us when he toys with a celestial?'' Natasha sighed.
...
The repercussions of the fight outside Earth were powerful enough for some sensitive individuals to detect it.
''That guy again,'' Circe said, looking up at the sky with an annoyed expression.
Wanda looked at her with a questioning expression.
''A celestial, he's come again. He's the one who destroyed Earth 12,000 years ago,'' Circe said, looking at the sky.
Circe made a gesture with her hand, causing a rectangle to appear, displaying the fight that was happening.
''Isn't that King Damian?'' Wanda asked, looking at the handsome face reflected in the image.
''Hm, he's facing that guy. If he loses, it's game over for everyone. Those guys don't know what mercy is; resetting a planet is no different from rebooting a computer,'' Circe said, watching the fight with concern; she didn't want to return to the pocket dimension.
''Can't you help him?'' Wanda asked, looking at her.
''Are you crazy? Intervening in that kind of fight with my strength is like suicide,'' Circe said, shaking her head.
''If you reached your full potential, I'm sure you could, but now just prepare to escape,'' Circe said, looking at Wanda before turning her attention back to the battle.
Wanda's expression turned worried as she clenched her fists; if Damian lost the fight, all her people would die.
...
Hela leaned against the window frame, looking up at the sky with a serious expression.
This fight would decide the future of Earth, yet she was amazed that Damian could face Arishem. Although he's not the strongest Celestial, he's at least in the top 10.
Her annoyance couldn't help but grow as she watched the fight; she didn't like the feeling of just watching and not doing anything.
Without her powers, she can't do something like fly or fight in space.
If Damian loses and Arishem blows the surface of Midgard for a cleanup, she won't die, but it'll be a terrible experience.
The feeling of having her future in the hands of another made her really angry, crushing the window frame with her hands.
....
Zilla, who was sunbathing on the shore of Madripoor Island, suddenly lifted his head, feeling that familiar energy.
The spikes on his back were immediately filled with electrifying blue energy as he roared loudly toward the sky.
Longing to fly and tear apart the celestial that destroyed Earth 12,000 years ago.
As if his roar were a trigger, the world suddenly filled with roars.
Almost all Titans awoke in anger from the slight energy waves coming from Arishem; they all had good memory and remembered clearly who destroyed their home and forced them to live underground.
....
Zeus floated above Olympus with a displeased expression, unsure whether to support Arishem or Damian.
He would really like both of them to die fighting.
"Sir, should we prepare for evacuation?" Hermes asked, approaching.
"Hm, let's just prepare ourselves. That Damian guy is also tough; I don't think he'll lose easily," Zeus said, watching the state of the battle. Damian seemed to have the upper hand for the moment.
"And what about Hercules?" Hermes asked.
"Hm, should we go save him? Those women are still there. No, we should focus on escaping if necessary. If Hercules is still alive, he won't die from the celestial's attack anyway," Zeus said, shaking his head.
....
Jen looked up at the sky with a worried expression.
These were the kind of situations she feared when deviating from the foreseen future, events that could end everything.
Her hand went to her necklace, and she couldn't help but squeeze it. If they made it out of this, she would hand the time stone over to Damian. She had given up on following the predetermined future, so she should support him until the end.
Her eyes focused on the fight with great attention; she herself didn't fully realize the anxiety she felt watching Damian fight.
She had no way of knowing if her concern was for Earth or for Damian.
....
Damian continued fighting against Arishem; more than an hour had passed, and he really didn't see an end to the battle.
No matter how many feints or multiple attacks he made, he couldn't decapitate him; he always sacrificed limbs to protect himself.
Furthermore, Arishem had begun to become increasingly skilled as if he had remembered how to fight.
His energy beams had become increasingly lethal, and only with his first familiar had he been able to protect himself safely.
The diamonds he created could reflect the beams shot by Arishem.
He almost felt like he was fighting against himself, full of tricks and absurd regeneration.
Their fight was very fast and they were constantly moving back and forth, mainly Damian chasing Arishem with his familiars.
Al-Meissa-Mercury, his space dragon, had tried several times to devour him, but somehow, he managed to stop it. However, his power was weakened by the sealing of space.
Whether the poison was effective or not, the amount was not enough, or not enough time had passed, because instead of looking weaker, Arishem reacted faster and faster.
Seeing that Arishem was getting more serious, Damian also started using more tricks.
Something he had always wanted but unfortunately never could do was use electromagnetic attacks.
Ten magic circles suddenly appeared on his back and moved a few meters away from him.
Looking at the distance, he could only sigh since 10 meters was the current distance limit.
The magic circles filled with electricity before shooting small spheres made of a Vibranium and adamantium alloy, focusing on making them as durable as possible.
The spheres shot out at ridiculous speeds, piercing directly through Arishem. The spheres didn't lose speed and continued advancing at high speeds.
Damian was astonished as he watched the ten spheres disappear simultaneously; he couldn't help but feel sad since he couldn't teleport to retrieve them either.
Ten large holes were made in Arishem's body, overflowing with blood. This made him stop for a moment; his familiars didn't miss that opportunity and launched devastating attacks.
Al-Meissa-Mercury and Regulus quickly lunged and bit one arm each, holding him tightly.
His sonic unicorn took advantage of that opportunity to charge at the celestial's stomach while unleashing a powerful vibrational wave that tore molecules apart, destroying his armor around the abdomen.
His first familiar, a diamond goat, lunged at Arishem's legs before wrapping them up, creating a diamond prison.
Seeing the situation, Damian lowered the power of his attacks, serving as support and cover for his familiars.
With his familiars holding him down, Arishem couldn't move anymore; his arms constantly tried to free themselves, but every time he tried, he was hit hard in the abdomen.
At that moment, Damian took his sword before quickly launching himself at Arishem, swinging his sword towards his neck.
Arishem, who saw that he was in a mortal situation, quickly did something that surprised Damian.
From the broken openings of his armor that were regenerating more and more slowly, orange energy shot out at high speeds before reforming at a good distance from everyone.
The armor remained like an empty shell.
Damian saw the humanoid energy figure; it was somewhat inexplicable because despite looking made of energy, it had several bleeding wounds.
His familiars slowly began to surround him again while Damian maintained some caution, not knowing what would change when he removed his armor.
To his surprise, Arishem quickly began to form armor around himself again.
Damian looked at him confused, not understanding why he was doing it; perhaps there was a pretty big mystery as to why celestials wore armor.
Nevertheless, Damian didn't interrupt him, and in a few seconds, his armor formed again.
'Here we go again,' Damian thought, smiling ironically before launching himself at Arishem along with his familiars.
Not to kill him was impossible, even if he let him go he would surely return to his companions, at least by killing him he could buy more time.
He also didn't want to use his best abilities; he didn't know if even by killing him or before dying, he could give away information. He had to assume that more celestials would come in the future.
Hours and days passed as Damian fought against Arishem.
After so long, almost the entire Earth had heard about the fight.
They weren't so far away, and almost any telescope could see them.
Earth, which was calming down after the world changed, was like pouring water on boiling oil.
Seeing the images of those giant beings fighting, plus the roars of the titans that had begun to emerge, made most people think it was the end of the world.
The gods had a field day amidst the stress of waiting for the outcome.
After all, very few humans truly believed in them.
But now, as if clinging desperately to their last hope, they turned to them fervently.
Cortana watched this with interest and made sure to record all the data.
Time passed, and it had been a week since Damian started fighting the celestial.