“What… is this?”
The physical body collapses.
Divinity, soul, and very existence are cut down and fall to the ground.
Even the effort to rise proves futile as the floor draws near and touches the body.
Sounds are feeble. The fragmented flesh cannot even reach the average size of a human.
It was perplexing.
It was incomprehensible.
It was an unfathomable technique.
Even the combat skills that had grown infinitely after reaching the rank of Supreme Divinity couldn’t pierce through this technique.
However, while the principle was unknown, the phenomenon itself could be understood.
Supreme Divinity had been cut.
Even the fact that countless slashes across the stars were delivered had been severed, rendering all attacks useless.
Defense was meaningless. The sword strikes came before the will to defend could arise.
Though the sword strike was infinitely slow and deliberate, Supreme Divinity was not faster than that deliberate strike.
Evasion, defense, and attack were successively cut away and vanished.
The flesh was torn, the divinity encasing it split, and the soul and existence drawing power from within were cut and fell.
This was the result.
Supreme Divinity lay trembling on the ground.
“God-slaying?”
It was a technique he had never heard of before.
Through such a technique, the divine body of Supreme Divinity was losing its divinity and dying.
That implied one thing. Supreme Divinity raised his head to look at Aslan.
Supreme Divinity had failed.
Unlike the Aslan before him, he had not achieved what needed to be accomplished and had failed.
Failure.
That familiar word brought back terrifying memories for him.
The memory of when he, once Aslan, had completely failed and lost.
It still came vividly to mind when he closed his eyes.
It was raining that day.
In the rain, Aslan held a sword, its edge sharply tearing into someone’s abdomen.
The blade emerging on the other side looked strange, and through the hilt, the texture of muscles and even the pulse could be felt.
Aslan killed Angie.
At least, the Aslan of that time believed there was no other choice.
Indeed, there wasn’t much he could do.
Angie, once one of his most trusted comrades, had betrayed them.
Whether it was by her own will or not, the result was clear.
Angie became a high priest of the Dark Ram.
A strength capable of shattering mountains and shaking the world killed people, and a resilient life that wouldn’t die even if buried deep in the ocean devoured other lives.
Aslan tried to stop Angie.
Holding his sword with resolve, he stood firm.
Yet Angie did not stop and charged at Aslan.
Aslan fought, trying desperately to find a way to stop Angie, encountering peril several times.
It was a terrible battle.
If anything, the outcome was even more terrible.
Aslan clenched his teeth around the hilt.
The sword embedded deeply would not come out.
Not that he thought of removing it, but the transcendent cutting power of purity was ineffective against the ancient deity and white steel.
As Angie’s body turned into white steel while dying, there was no way to extract the purity.
There was nothing Aslan could do for Angie as she was dying.
Even as his last remaining comrade was dying, all he could do was refrain from twisting the hilt.
Aslan looked at Angie, and Angie, her eyes turning pale and rigid, looked at Aslan.
“It’s okay.”
In his memory, Angie smiled and said those words.
When Angie’s hand caressing Aslan’s cheek stiffened and turned to white steel, Aslan realized he had failed.
The purity embedded in her body wouldn’t come out, and Aslan had no intention of removing it.
Aslan picked up the victory Angie had used and surrendered to Supreme Divinity.
All the veterans were dead, and humanity’s domain was almost gone.
Aslan had no choice but to choose the lesser evil.
As always, he could fight like that.
Holding onto the anger directed at himself, he refused to acknowledge failure and defeat.
He believed that if given another chance, he could overcome this time.
Even as he tore apart every evil deity, he thought that way until the pain of the past faded.
Supreme Divinity rose from the memory and opened his eyes.
The present pain assaulted him.
His entire body was collapsing.
Taking even a single step was painful.
The shredded soul and body twitched as if they were about to collapse entirely any moment.
It was a body that couldn’t exist without divine power.
Without divine power, it was a monster whose very existence couldn’t be sustained.
It was neither Lee Hyun-woo nor Aslan; just Supreme Divinity.
He shouldn’t have been able to rise.
Lying down and dying was only natural.
He was a failure, a loser.
He couldn’t win, and once again, he disappointed himself.
Even if he died lying down, it would be fine.
But he rose.
Despite the terrible pain and suffering.
Despite the helplessness and frustration wrapping around his whole body, he wobbled to his feet.
Aslan tightened his expression and stepped forward as if to protect Ho 13 who had approached.
Moving the broken hilt of purity to his left hand, he pointed the intact purity at Supreme Divinity.
Though caution showed on his face, there was no tension.
Because Supreme Divinity already had no chance of winning.
He had already lost and failed.
That was certain, yet Supreme Divinity refused to acknowledge his failure and defeat.
With hot breath and spitting blood, he drew a faint trace of divine power to pull out a sword.
The stuck sword wasn’t very long—just the length of an ordinary broadsword.
Victory had shattered with the previous blow.
Perhaps because he forcibly drew out the broadsword with divine power, dust-like particles resembling the universe began to fall from his crumbling body.
Still, Supreme Divinity stood on his legs.
And he extended his sword, pointing it at Aslan.
He couldn’t give up.
He intended to kill Aslan, take his place, and succeed this time.
Even if it meant dying in the process.
Aslan knew he wouldn’t give up and thus raised the purity.
Only the sound of Ho 13 preparing magic behind him could be heard as the two men faced each other.
Crack!
Suddenly, a dark shadow burst forth from Supreme Divinity’s chest.
It was a shadow eerily resembling a blade.
An omnipotent substance capable of becoming anything, and an evil deity that had consumed some human, where that human’s self remained deep within.
“You…”
Instead of blood, a black universe poured out of his mouth, and Supreme Divinity turned to look at the Abyss that had pierced his back.
A man who had lost everything to Supreme Divinity and ultimately gave in to being consumed by the evil deity.
He desired revenge.
He sought vengeance against the Supreme Divinity who had taken everything from him.
Even though that Supreme Divinity was himself and had already taken everything.
His desire for revenge was endless.
But something else surfaced first.
As the Abyss dissipated, Aslan’s true nature awakened.
“We’ve come this far.”
Snap! He twisted the blade.
The final blade forged from the Abyss crushed the heart, and Supreme Divinity spat out a gush of blood.
“You too, me too. We’re failures. Let’s accept our final path with dignity.”
Supreme Divinity tried to resist.
How could he give up here?
How could he give up after so much pain and so many deaths? He tried to respond, intending to say that all he needed was one more chance.
His strangely rasping voice, no longer human but that of a monster, attempted to protest.
Had he not seen the expression on that face when he unconsciously turned his head.
In the nearly fading spot where the Abyss had receded, Aslan’s facial features emerged.
The composed face of Aslan accepting his own defeat.
Seeing that face, Supreme Divinity forgot what he was about to say.
The obsession with defeat, unresolved resentment, and pain all spilled out from his mouth.
Only then could Supreme Divinity stop.
Because he understood what the Abyss hadn’t finished saying.
“I wanted to… save the world…”
The muttering words of Supreme Divinity.
The Abyss shook his head.
They understood.
They couldn’t save the world.
They were merely evil deities, beings who caused harm rather than saving the world.
So the Abyss looked at Supreme Divinity. His gaze asked if he didn’t know.
‘There are too many evil deities in this Geladridion.’
Aslan, now Supreme Divinity, and Aslan, now Abyss, recalled a conversation they had long ago.
“I’ll kill all the evil deities and change the world.”
They remembered the bold statement Aslan once made confidently.
The moment they became evil deities, they realized they had been failures all along.
That’s why perhaps.
Supreme Divinity quietly bowed his head.
Then Supreme Divinity’s body collapsed.
The crumbling legs shattered completely, causing Supreme Divinity to crumble into ash-like debris.
The blood mixed with divine power falling from his mouth disappeared before hitting the ground, and a faint sense of relief mingled with the pain appeared on Supreme Divinity’s pale face.
When the Abyss leaned over and fell to the ground, Supreme Divinity knelt and looked at Aslan.
No trace of an evil deity’s divinity could be found in those emerald-green shining eyes.
Though the left arm was that of an evil deity, his appearance bore few traces of it.
Aslan, who hadn’t lost much, hadn’t yet despaired, and couldn’t yet be called a failure or loser.
Yet Aslan, who had come farther than any other version of himself.
Supreme Divinity envied such a version of himself.
He envied Aslan for possessing what he could not.
Thus, he found a little solace.
Maybe this Aslan could truly find happiness.
Thinking so, he found some comfort.
A helpless smile spread across Supreme Divinity’s face.
Thinking that all this struggle was meaningless somehow brought both relief and sorrow.
But he thought that if there was something to pass on, it wouldn’t be entirely meaningless.
He soon raised his head toward Aslan looking down at him.
There wasn’t much to say.
“If you fight the Dark Ram…”
“Huh?”
“Don’t rely on strength.”
And with those words, Supreme Divinity’s head shattered.
Starting from the head, it crumbled, and his entire body turned to dust and scattered.
The end of a mighty godhood, unable to maintain even his physical form.
Amidst the fittingly pitiful scattering of dust, the remains of Supreme Divinity and the Abyss slowly disappeared.
Then a wind blew across the violet desert.
Once gods and failures, they vanished carried by the wind.
