Chapter 1041: Collapse of the Chaos Gate
Chaos existed since the creation of this world. It formed the main melody of the world where everything was born, and yet disappeared in it. Only Chaos lasted forever. It was the controller, ruler, and dominator of this world. Anyone or anything couldn’t go against its will and the same went for Order. No rules lasted for long, as laws and rules changed constantly, eventually twisting into nothingness. This was the process of birth, growth, and destruction that all things went through.
There was no exception.
“Everything shall be destroyed; only Chaos exists forever!”
“Who gives a d.a.m.n about you!”
Mini Bubble Gum snarled, raising her arms and a translucent barrier emerged before her to stop the fluttering attack of slimy tentacles. The face on the rotten octopus head let out an indiscernible roar that resembled screaming and howling. Just hearing it made one uncomfortable. Not only that, but the shapeless sound waves also tore through the land, carrying a burst of loose, flying sand around the young lady. If it weren’t for the fact that Mini Bubble Gum was different from ordinary people, perhaps the sharp sound waves would have exploded her brains out of her skull. But even so, the ear-deafening scream left Mini Bubble Gum in discontent. She knitted her brows, let out a strong snort, and pointed her right hand forward. Then, along with her movement, several rays were released from the air behind her, penetrating the monster in front of her. The holy and fiery rays sliced the rotten skin like sharp blades and slashed into the body. Murky, revolting liquid gushed out, raising billows of green smoke upon splas.h.i.+ng on the ground. In a single glance, one knew that one should definitely not approach that thing.
“Ahhh!”
The sharp scream erupted once more and invisible sound waves swept across the land yet again. The solid ground under Mini Bubble Gum’s feet cracked before crumbling down. She swayed a little, but swiftly kept her balance in midair and didn’t fall through it. But even so, she presented a dissatisfied look on her face.
“… Enough already, what in the world are you screaming for? It seems like Leader was right; I don’t have time to waste on dumb trash like you! Die!” Mini Bubble Gum said and her expression turned grim. She spread her arms apart and along with her movements, four dazzling wings of light as though formed by circuit boards emerged on her back. She glared at the creature of Chaos before her and said, “I hereby declare with supreme authority: light barrier, unfold! Authority—Light Judgment, fully unlock!”
As Mini Bubble Gum summoned, the wings on her back s.h.i.+ned in fluctuation. Then, a spot of light appeared in midair and flew along the circuit lines, fusing into her body. She raised her right arm and clenched the air when suddenly, a light longsword of several meters long appeared in her hand.
“Taste my power! This is the strength of the Zaku II Red Comet. Attack! Bardiche, holy blade mode! Ooooooh!”
Yelling words that the natives didn’t understand, Mini Bubble Gum clutched the light longsword and raised it high. The air spun in her movements as though surging upward to the attraction of the blade. Upon sensing this powerful strength, the Fey Devil was terrified. The Fey Devils betrayed themselves for the sake of power which was why it sharply sensed how strong and scary this enormous strength of hers was. The light longsword was like a Sword of Damocles hovering above its head, bringing forth an incomparable fear and overwhelming pressure. Upon sensing the fear, the Fey Devil resisted strongly. Several tentacles drilled out of the surface and lashed out at the pet.i.te young lady. But at this moment, the light longsword was brandished.
“Take that! Soar of the heavenly dragon! Ahhhhhh!”
The raised tentacles weren’t able to resist the blade strike of lightning. Along with Mini Bubble Gum’s scream that made no sense, the light longsword sliced through the Fey Devil’s tentacles effortlessly like b.u.t.ter, before hacking into its murky and soft body. The enormous octopus devil was devastated. The instant the light longsword pierced its core, its wild, uncontrollable strength flowed away in all directions. Its swollen skin started to bulge and burst as several bright rays shone from within its body. Meanwhile, light energy rose from the ground, devouring and breaking the devil completely. In the blink of an eye, there was nothing left in front of Mini Bubble Gum after the light faded away.
“Phew… how disgusting.”
Gazing at the ruptured ground, Mini Bubble Gum muttered under her breath. Then, she flew backward to quickly stay away from the crumbling defensive barrier. “That settles it then!”
***
The elegant blazing flames burned everything decisively. Canary extended her arms forward, gracefully drawing a string of runes in midair. Along with her movements, the roaring gales and raging flames coalesced into an enormous lion, snapping its jaws open and crunching on the Fey Devil that shuddered constantly. The power of flame and wind pumped into the bulging body continuously. The tentacles that attempted to resist her earlier were already shredded into bits and burned to ashes without leaving behind any traces of blood. As one of the top players, Chaos devils that were ten levels lower than her presented no threat at all. Even though Canary couldn’t instant-kill one with her strength, it wasn’t challenging for her to defeat it in a few blows.
In fact, Canary’s battle was much more one-sided than Mini Bubble Gum’s. After entering the enchanted field and under the attack of Canary’s wind and fire spirits, the Fey Devil lost its battle strength completely, just in the blink of an eye. And now, the only thing remained for it was to struggle on whilst at death’s door. But Canary wouldn’t allow it to stay alive.
“Time is pressing, so please die soon.”
Canary glanced at the sky above. After witnessing the light column that erupted from the ground, she smiled, lowered her head, and said to the devil. As she spoke, the gigantic spirit monster widened its mouth and blasted flames at the devil, engulfing it completely. Shortly after, the flames dispersed and there were no more movements from the struggling devil.
“Alright then… Next…”
Canary murmured and shook her head slightly. Then, she lifted her head, transformed into a dazzling light, and burst out of the shattered barrier.
***
“Devils will ultimately be devils.”
Alice hovered in midair despite the large tentacles whipping and las.h.i.+ng at her. She lowered her gaze with half-opened eyes at the devil before her. Even though the devil spouted profanity and launched all-out attacks on the young lady, they weren’t effective at all. The situation was similar to the battle against Boulder, where all attacks were restored to a state before they were launched the instant they were about to land on Alice. Therefore, it could be said that the devil’s attacks were basically useless. But even so, it didn’t give up despite the terrified and uncertain look on its face.
“Why? Why? Why! Why can’t my attacks. .h.i.t her? I clearly possess the power. My lord has given me such mighty powers. Why…!”
“What a sad soul.”
Alice mumbled, gazing at the devil. She raised her right arm and along with her movement, the thick, heavy tome flipped open gradually and floated before her steadily.
“You’re so blinded by Chaos that you can’t recognize your limitations? In the end, you’re just a chess piece to Chaos.”
Alice gently pinched one of the pages and turned it over.
“No… this is impossible. I… impossible… I…”
But those were its last words. In a single move, the devil stopped moving. Then, as though after countless years, its body began to crumble, turning into ashes and fading away in the wind. In a few moments, there were no traces of the devil in front of Alice anymore. Alice, who was quietly witnessing everything, closed her eyes. Then, she closed the tome and retreated, before vanis.h.i.+ng into the endless void.
***
Swis.h.!.+
The octopus devil brandished its enormous tentacle at Rhode, but he raised Slaughter without giving it a single look. Rhode flourished the sword forward and an extreme, razor-sharp wind blades split the tentacle into two effortlessly. But shortly after, the sliced tentacle shook and regenerated fully.
“Frankly, I don’t care what you say.”
Rhode slashed the sword in his hand once again, spraying beads of blood to the ground. Then, the tentacle in front him instantly flew off like sliced wheat crumbling to the ground. Upon sensing the tremendous pain, Nakvard’s determined face twitched. However, he continued to gnash his teeth and tolerated the agony. Even after detecting the power Rhode possessed, Nakvard didn’t give up.
“You can’t possibly understand the destiny we humans have for ourselves…!”
But before Nakvard finished his sentence, Rhode penetrated his chest with the razor-sharp, scarlet blade.
“I said, I don’t care. Besides, please don’t try to represent most humans as perhaps their understanding of destiny is different from yours.” Rhode responded and the steel chains wrapped around his arm spun and rose like menacing vipers. Then, the steel chains punctured Nakvard’s face, stirring and ruining the acceptable-looking face into a b.l.o.o.d.y mess of flesh. Shortly after, Nakvard’s swelling body shriveled and deflated like a rubber ball.
“… Your… struggles… are meaningless…”
Nakvard’s voice didn’t vanish from the dried, trembling body.
“The power of Chaos… is far stronger than you imagine… And… you don’t have much… time left…. Even if I fail… it is… only temporary… because all of you will eventually peris.h.!.+”
As though responding to Nakvard’s words, the stable Chaos Gate started distorting and shaking, unable to maintain its balance after losing its cores. Then, a storm from the void erupted.
The spatial turbulence began with a round dark hole appearing in the center of the Chaos Gate. The enormous force of attraction swiftly devoured everything, be it the sky or earth, dead or alive.
However, Rhode had already made his way out.