Episode 638
A piercing sound shattered the silence of the “Chamber of Time,” breaking the stillness that had enveloped the space.
Time, which had been frozen, resumed its relentless march forward.
The execution flames, rewound by Chronos’s clock, were once again caught in the flow of time.
BOOM!
With a roar, the flames of divine wrath, trapped within the unique domain, surged forth, tearing through the air with the fury of a celestial spear.
The fiery lance descended with a ferocious speed, its roar echoing like the wrath of a god striking Atlas.
CRASH!
As the spear of flames struck Atlas, a massive wave of fire swept across the land, leaving nothing but scorched earth in its wake.
The inferno engulfed the entire city, rising into a towering pillar of fire that consumed everything in its path, reducing the once-glorious civilization of Atlas to ashes in an instant.
Watching the city burn to nothingness, Raguel murmured softly.
“This is the fate of those who defy the gods.”
Turning to Zeke, who stood amidst the ruins of Atlas, Raguel spoke with disdain.
“Foolish mortal. No matter how you struggle with your false god’s power, it is futile.”
A hum resonated as light flickered around Raguel’s avatar.
A massive ring of light appeared, attaching itself to his back, its radiant halo blazing even brighter.
Hela, the second beast of the apocalypse, approached Raguel.
Raguel mounted Hela, rising into the air, looking down at Zeke.
“Arrogant human, the time of destruction and despair begins now.”
Raguel raised a finger to the sky.
A beam of light shot from his fingertip, forming a colossal ring of light in the air.
RUMBLE!
From the ring emerged an inverted city, slowly materializing.
It was Raguel’s unique domain.
He had summoned his domain to utterly annihilate Zeke, the blasphemous being who dared challenge his divinity.
A city of countless white, spire-like towers began to take shape, its translucent form on the verge of fully manifesting in the physical realm.
Suddenly, from the spot where Atlas had been obliterated by Raguel’s fiery spear, a powerful flame erupted.
The execution flames were designed to extinguish immediately after consuming their target.
Yet, the flames continued to burn fiercely, growing larger and more intense.
Zeke hovered in the air, silently observing the flames.
Sensing something amiss, Raguel hurried to complete his domain.
But things did not go as he intended.
The summoning process abruptly halted.
“What is this?”
Raguel, who had nearly succeeded in summoning his domain, was taken aback as he felt the domain’s presence shrinking.
In all his years as a celestial, having destroyed countless civilizations, he had never encountered such a phenomenon.
‘How is this possible?’
Despite his efforts to resume the summoning, the process was inexplicably blocked.
There was only one possible explanation for such an occurrence.
‘Could it be that another domain has already enveloped the entire space…?’
But Zeke’s “Chamber of Time” had been shattered.
How could another domain be present here?
At that moment, another massive flame erupted from Atlas.
RUMBLE!
The flames rose to an unusual height.
And from within the flames, something emerged.
A colossal bird, its body composed entirely of fire, let out a mystical cry.
The phoenix, Lavin, had appeared, its fiery presence filling the air.
In an instant, the surroundings transformed.
Pillars of fire shot up from all directions, and the ground was littered with burning ruins and piles of corpses.
BOOM!
Raguel was stunned by the sight of the fiery pillars rising all around him.
‘This isn’t the execution flame.’
These flames were of a completely different nature, not created by his divine power.
Only then did he realize that the scene before him was not Atlas.
At that moment, Raguel felt his soul tremble violently.
He looked up.
A long procession emerged from the burning city.
THUD! THUD! THUD! THUD!
Warriors clad in bone armor appeared from the flames.
At their forefront was a warrior wearing a skull helmet adorned with a ruby.
Asmodi, the captain of the second battalion of the Morning Star, raised his massive bone sword.
“For our lord! We offer our souls!”
Once a blind follower of the arrogant savior, Asmodi now led the Bone Battalion in formation with Zeke.
Another procession followed beside them.
RUMBLE!
Hundreds of Death Knights and demonic knights, led by a knight in green armor, rode ghostly steeds.
Arataso, the captain of the first battalion of the Morning Star, had arrived with his subordinates.
Even the proud Raguel was aware of the Morning Star, the loyal knights of the arrogant savior, a great demon lord.
Though the fallen celestials’ power did not reach the heavens, they were always vigilant, knowing the potential for chaos in the physical realm.
The physical realm was their farm for harvesting karma, so they kept a close watch.
“Could this be…?”
Raguel finally realized where he was.
He was in the unique domain of the arrogant savior, “Purgatory.”
Zeke had prepared to deploy Purgatory’s domain while maintaining the “Chamber of Time.”
When Raguel shattered the Chamber of Time, Zeke had used the distraction of the fiery spear to deploy Purgatory where Atlas once stood.
For the first time, Purgatory had been reconstructed in the physical realm, and it had succeeded.
Raguel, realizing that another domain had already occupied the space before he could summon his own, was taken aback.
“Insignificant creature! You dare use such tricks!”
He attempted to forcefully inject more divine power to push back Purgatory’s domain and establish his own.
CRACKLE!
The inverted city clashed with the existing domain, causing dimensional plasma to erupt as the domains collided.
CRACKLE!
Plasma scattered in all directions.
However, Zeke’s “Purgatory” was far larger and more stable than the “Chamber of Time” created by the last sage.
Despite Raguel pouring his divine power into invading the domain, Purgatory remained unmoved.
“This… this can’t be…”
Seeing Raguel’s panic, Zeke commanded Arataso and Asmodi.
“Morning Star! Annihilate the enemy!”
With Zeke’s command, Arataso and Asmodi led the Morning Star’s forces, charging through the air towards Raguel.
“Slay those hypocrites of the heavens!”
Asmodi shouted, swinging his bone sword from atop his beast.
The Bone Battalion followed Asmodi, charging fearlessly.
Arataso and his knights advanced with the dignity befitting the first battalion of the Morning Star.
BOOM!
Seeing the Morning Star’s forces charging at him, Raguel, enraged, shouted at Hela.
“Destroy those demonic scum!”
Though commanding Hela, the sacred beast, without his domain was taxing, Raguel was too furious to care.
ROAR!
Hela, the second beast of the apocalypse, charged at the Morning Star with a mighty roar.
White flames spewed from its four lion heads.
BOOM!
Just as the white flames were about to engulf the Morning Star’s forces, a pillar of fire shot up from the ground.
WHOOSH!
The flames of Purgatory swallowed Hela’s white flames, clearing a path for the Morning Star’s charge.
Hela, seeing its flames blocked by Purgatory’s fire, roared again.
SCREECH!
It swung its claws to slash through the flames, and its tail of white flames lashed out to sweep away the Morning Star.
BOOM!
As the sacred beast’s tail was about to strike the Morning Star, fireballs rained down on Hela.
RUMBLE!
Fireballs erupted from the pillars of fire, bombarding Hela.
Caught off guard by the relentless barrage, Hela struggled to maintain its balance, allowing the Morning Star’s forces to breach Raguel’s domain.
RUMBLE!
Enveloped in a halo, Raguel watched in fury as the Morning Star entered his domain, shouting in divine language.
“How dare these filthy maggots invade this place!”
Flames erupted from the shackles on Raguel’s wrists, unleashing a torrent of execution fire upon the Morning Star operatives.
Whoosh!
The terrifying blaze, said to never extinguish until its target was consumed, swept across the entire Morning Star.
Watching this, Raguel shouted at Zeke, who hovered above the burning Babel.
“You fool! Did you really think these insects could do anything to me?”
Even in his fury, he mocked Zeke’s naivety.
But then, something unexpected happened.
Sssshhh—
The Morning Star operatives charged through the flames Raguel had unleashed, emerging unscathed.
Raguel was at a loss for words, seeing his power have no effect on them.
“How… how is this possible?”
Momentarily stunned, he quickly regained his composure and resonated the entire ring, sending another wave of fire at the Morning Star.
Whoosh!
The divine flames, imbued with his godly essence, concentrated on the Morning Star.
Yet again, the result was the same.
Arataso and Asmodi sliced through the execution fire with their swords, pressing forward.
Seeing this, Raguel, bewildered, summoned every ounce of his strength to conjure an even fiercer blaze.
Boom!
The stronger the flames grew, the brighter the light emanating from Raguel’s body became.
And then it happened.
Crack!
A sound of fracturing echoed from Raguel’s avatar, which was barely holding together.
Realizing this, Raguel was taken aback.
He had embedded dark matter within his avatar to manipulate twisted causality, bypassing karma’s restrictions to descend into the physical realm.
This meant that if his avatar shattered, he would face even harsher repercussions from karma.
“I’ve lingered too long.”
Raguel had fallen for Zeke’s provocation, fully descending into his avatar and using more divine power than permitted.
The karma expended was immense.
Raguel couldn’t contain his anger at Zeke, who had driven him, a celestial being, into such a corner.
“I’ll obliterate him and return immediately…”
He commanded Hela, connected to his soul, to attack Zeke, who stood apart from the Morning Star.
Rumble!
Hela shifted direction, aiming to strike Zeke.
But then, massive pillars of fire erupted once more in front of Zeke.
Whoosh!
The domain of purgatory was practically an extension of Zeke, who had inherited the power of the arrogant savior.
Thud, thud, thud!
The towering fire pillars, rising from the shattered Babel, seemed to protect Zeke, raining down fiery debris from above.
The pillars and fiery rain obstructed Hela’s path, making it difficult to attack Zeke directly.
Raguel felt his avatar’s power waning, an unusual anxiety creeping in for a celestial being.
“Damn it…”
With his unique domain no longer active, he had no options left.
“I’ll annihilate everything.”
Before his avatar shattered, he intended to use all his remaining power to obliterate Zeke and his entire domain.
Raguel raised his hands, adorned with glowing rings, into the air.
The rings, radiating a halo, began to resonate.
As Raguel’s amber eyes glowed with a chilling light, he bellowed,
“Insignificant creatures! I’ll sink this entire continent you stand upon!”